The Fractal Dimension of Projected Clouds

The interstellar medium seems to have an underlying fractal structure which can be characterized through its fractal dimension. However, interstellar clouds are observed as projected two-dimensional images, and the projection of a tri-dimensional fractal distorts its measured properties. Here we use simulated fractal clouds to study the relationship between the tri-dimensional fractal dimension (D_f) of modeled clouds and the dimension resulting from their projected images. We analyze different fractal dimension estimators: the correlation and mass dimensions of the clouds, and the perimeter-based dimension of their boundaries (D_per). We find the functional forms relating D_f with the projected fractal dimensions, as well as the dependence on the image resolution, which allow to estimatethe "real" D_f value of a cloud from its projection. The application of these results to Orion A indicates in a self-consistent way that 2.5 < D_f < 2.7 for this molecular cloud, a value higher than the result D_per+1 = 2.3 some times assumed in literature for interstellar clouds.Comment: 27 pages, 13 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in ApJ. Minor change

On the properties of fractal cloud complexes

We study the physical properties derived from interstellar cloud complexes having a fractal structure. We first generate fractal clouds with a given fractal dimension and associate each clump with a maximum in the resulting density field. Then, we discuss the effect that different criteria for clump selection has on the derived global properties. We calculate the masses, sizes and average densities of the clumps as a function of the fractal dimension (D_f) and the fraction of the total mass in the form of clumps (epsilon). In general, clump mass does not fulfill a simple power law with size of the type M_cl ~ (R_cl)**(gamma), instead the power changes, from gamma ~ 3 at small sizes to gamma<3 at larger sizes. The number of clumps per logarithmic mass interval can be fitted to a power law N_cl ~ (M_cl)**(-alpha_M) in the range of relatively large masses, and the corresponding size distribution is N_cl ~ (R_cl)**(-alpha_R) at large sizes. When all the mass is forming clumps (epsilon=1) we obtain that as D_f increases from 2 to 3 alpha_M increases from ~0.3 to ~0.6 and alpha_R increases from ~1.0 to ~2.1. Comparison with observations suggests that D_f ~ 2.6 is roughly consistent with the average properties of the ISM. On the other hand, as the fraction of mass in clumps decreases (epsilon<1) alpha_M increases and alpha_R decreases. When only ~10% of the complex mass is in the form of dense clumps we obtain alpha_M ~ 1.2 for D_f=2.6 (not very different from the Salpeter value 1.35), suggesting this a likely link between the stellar initial mass function and the internal structure of molecular cloud complexes.Comment: 32 pages, 13 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in Ap

Primary progressive aphasia: a tale of two syndromes and the rest

Objective: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) has been proposed to comprise 3 discrete clinical subtypes: semantic, agrammatic/nonfluent, and logopenic. Recent consensus recommendations suggest a diagnostic framework based primarily on clinical and neuropsychological findings to classify these variants. Our objective was to evaluate the extent to which patients with PPA would conform to the proposed tripartite system and whether the clustering pattern of elements of the linguistic profile suggests discrete clinical syndromes. Methods: A total of 46 patients with PPA were prospectively recruited to the Cambridge Longitudinal Study of PPA. Sufficient data were collected to assess all consensus-proposed diagnostic domains. By comparing patients' performances against those of 30 age- and education-matched healthy volunteers, z scores were calculated, and values of 1.5 SDs outside control participants' means were considered abnormal. Raw test scores were used to undertake a principal factor analysis to identify the clustering pattern of individual measures. Results: Of the patients, 28.3%, 26.1%, and 4.3% fitted semantic, nonfluent/agrammatic, and logopenic categories respectively, and 41.3% did not fulfill the diagnostic recommendations for any of the 3 proposed variants. There was no significant between-group difference in age, education, or disease duration. Furthermore, the outcome of the factor analysis was in keeping with discrete semantic and nonfluent/agrammatic syndromes but did not support a logopenic variant. Conclusion: Taken together, the results of this prospective data-driven study suggest that although a substantial proportion of patients with PPA have neither the semantic nor the nonfluent variants, they do not necessarily conform to a discrete logopenic variant

How the cation 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium impacts the interaction between the entrapped water and the reverse micelle interface created with an ionic liquid-like surfactant

The behavior of the interfacial water entrapped in reverse micelles (RMs) formed by the ionic liquid-like surfactant 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium 1,4-bis-2-ethylhexylsulfosuccinate (bmim-AOT) dissolved in benzene (or chlorobenzene) was investigated using noninvasive techniques such as dynamic light scattering (DLS), static light scattering (SLS), FT-IR and 1H NMR. The DLS and SLS results reveal the formation of discrete spherical and non-interacting water droplets stabilized by the bmim-AOT surfactant. Moreover, since the droplet size increases as the W0 (W0 = [water]/[surfactant]) value increases, water interacts with the RM interface. From FT-IR and 1H NMR data, a weaker water-surfactant interaction in bmim-AOT RMs in comparison with the RMs created by sodium 1,4-bis-2-ethylhexylsulfosuccinate (Na-AOT) is detected. Consequently, there are less water molecules interacting with the interface in bmim-AOT RMs, and their hydrogen bond network is not completely disrupted as they are in Na-AOT RMs. The results show how the nature of the new cation impacts the interaction between the entrapped water and the RM interface, modifying the interfacial water structure in comparison with the results known for Na-AOT.Fil: Lépori, Cristian Marcelo Oscar. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Química; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Correa, Nestor Mariano. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Química; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Silber, Juana J.. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Química; ArgentinaFil: Falcone, R. Darío. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Química; Argentin

Radiation effects in Zr and Hf containing garnets

Garnets have been considered as host phases for the safe immobilisation of high-level nuclear waste, as they have been shown to accommodate a wide range of elements across three different cation sites, such as Ca, Y, Mn on the a-site, Fe, Al, U, Zr, and Ti on the b-site, and Si, Fe, Al on the c-site. Garnets, due to their ability to have variable composition, make ideal model materials for the examination of radiation damage and recovery in nuclear materials, including as potential waste forms. Kimzeyite, Ca3Zr2FeAlSiO12, has been shown naturally to contain up to 30 wt% Zr, and has previously been examined to elucidate both the structure and ordering within the lattice. This study examines the effects of radiation damage and recovery using in-situ ion beam irradiation with 1 MeV Kr ions at the IVEM-TANDEM facility, Argonne National Laboratory. The complementary Hf containing system Ca3Hf2FeAlSiO12 was also examined, and found to have a different response to irradiation damage. A sample of irradiated Ca3Zr2FeAlSiO12, at 1000 K, was characterised using aberration corrected (S)TEM and found to contain discreet, nano-sized, crystalline Fe rich particles, indicating a competing process during recovery is occurring

The Influence of Land and Tree Tenure on Participation of Smallholder and Community Forestry in the Philippines

Key impediments to forestry development have been identified as part of a research program on smallholder and community forestry currently being conducted on Leyte Island, the Philippines, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). A number of studies conducted as part of that research program have identified land and tree tenure issues as being a key impediment to the expansions of smallholder and community forestry. This paper examines the impacts of uncertainty of land and tree tenure on woodlot establishment, based on the results of three separate studies. A study of household needs and attitudes in relation to forestry development identified a number of policy issues associated with land and tree tenure as needing to be addressed. A second study investigated why microfinancing of woodlots was not an option for many smallholders. That study revealed that landholders are unwilling to commit resources to forestry because they do not have land titling and hence regard their land tenure as insecure. Similarly, banks appear unwilling to lend to smallholders for investment in forestry, being influenced by lack of collateral associated with insecure land tenure. A third study of tree nursery practices revealed that land ownership appears to play an important role in the sustainability of nurseries that are raising seedlings for sale. In addition, nursery owners with secure land tenure were more likely to attend training sessions

Opinion Dynamics of Learning Agents: Does Seeking Consensus Lead to Disagreement?

We study opinion dynamics in a population of interacting adaptive agents voting on a set of complex multidimensional issues. We consider agents which can classify issues into for or against. The agents arrive at the opinions about each issue in question using an adaptive algorithm. Adaptation comes from learning and the information for the learning process comes from interacting with other neighboring agents and trying to change the internal state in order to concur with their opinions. The change in the internal state is driven by the information contained in the issue and in the opinion of the other agent. We present results in a simple yet rich context where each agent uses a Boolean Perceptron to state its opinion. If there is no internal clock, so the update occurs with asynchronously exchanged information among pairs of agents, then the typical case, if the number of issues is kept small, is the evolution into a society thorn by the emergence of factions with extreme opposite beliefs. This occurs even when seeking consensus with agents with opposite opinions. The curious result is that it is learning from those that hold the same opinions that drives the emergence of factions. This results follows from the fact that factions are prevented by not learning at all from those agents that hold the same opinion. If the number of issues is large, the dynamics becomes trapped and the society does not evolve into factions and a distribution of moderate opinions is observed. We also study the less realistic, but technically simpler synchronous case showing that global consensus is a fixed point. However, the approach to this consensus is glassy in the limit of large societies if agents adapt even in the case of agreement.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, revised versio

String amplitudes in arbitrary dimensions

We calculate gravitational dressed tachyon correlators in non critcal dimensions. The 2D gravity part of our theory is constrained to constant curvature. Then scaling dimensions of gravitational dressed vertex operators are equal to their bare conformal dimensions. Considering the model as d+2 dimensional critical string we calculate poles of generalized Shapiro-Virasoro amplitudes.Comment: 14 page