Reply to "Comment on Renormalization group picture of the Lifshitz critical behaviors"

We reply to a recent comment by Diehl and Shpot (cond-mat/0305131) criticizing a new approach to the Lifshitz critical behavior just presented (M. M. Leite Phys. Rev. B 67, 104415(2003)). We show that this approach is free of inconsistencies in the ultraviolet regime. We recall that the orthogonal approximation employed to solve arbitrary loop diagrams worked out at the criticized paper even at three-loop level is consistent with homogeneity for arbitrary loop momenta. We show that the criticism is incorrect.Comment: RevTex, 6 page

Bioclimatic modelling in the holocene and in future warming scenarios in Arbutus unedo L.

Growing forests wildfires in Portugal are an increasing concern since forests in the Mediterranean region are vulnerable to recent global warming. Long-term negative effects are expected on the vegetation with the coming increasing drought. The strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo L.) displays potential to be a successfully business-like cultured in several regions of Portugal and southern Europe, as it is well adapted to climate and soils. In Portugal, this species has been used by local populations particularly for spirit production and for fruit consumption, although it has different possible commercial uses, from processed and fresh fruit production to ornamental, pharmaceutical and chemical applications. In addition, due to its pioneer status, it is valuable for land recovery and desertification avoidance, besides being fire resistant. The available strawberry tree’s data is presence-only. For modelling purposes, a set of placements within the landscape of interest (Portugal) was applied. The species, observed in 318 plots, together with a vector of environmental covariates (7 bioclimatic attributes, slope and altitude) and a defined background were used for modeling purposes. Maxent 3.4.1 was the used software, where the estimated quantity is the probability of the presence of the species, conditioned on the environment. Maxent uses the environmental covariate data from the occurrence records and the background sample, to estimate the ratio between the conditional density of the covariates at the presence sites and the marginal (i.e., unconditional) density of covariates across the study area and so, estimating the relative suitability of one place vs. another. Three different climate scenarios (control run; 2050 and 2070) were tested for two emission scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5, WorldClim), besides the past, 6,000 BP (Mid-Holocene). The reduction of habitat suitable for this species is very significant in the southern regions, even for the best warming scenario (RCP 4.5) in 2050. Central and Northern mountain regions are predicted refuge for this species. Forest policies and management should consider the impact of climate change on the usable areas for forestry, seeing a case-study species particularly adapted to the Mediterranean regions and wildfires, such as strawberry tree. The distribution of the species in the Middle Holocene agrees with previous genetic and fossils studies in the region, which supported two putative refuges for the species since the Last Glacial Maximum and a cryptic refugia in the East-Central mountain region.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessing forest species biogeophysical suitability by spatial multicriteria analysis: a study case for the Centro region of Portugal.

It is generally agreed that the choice of the most suitable uses based in soil and climatic factors, complemented with socio-economic criteria, promotes sustainable use of rural land. There are, however, different methodologies for defining soil suitability to agroforestal systems or natural and seminatural ecosystems, including agricultural uses, forest plantations, agroforestry areas and priority areas for conservation. Many of these methods rely on decision support systems based on multicriteria spatial analysis. In this study it was intended to determine the different levels of suitability for the most representative forest species in the central region of Portugal. For that purpose a set of climatic, soil and topographic variables based in a geographic information system, soil and biogeographic mapping were used. A stochastic approach was undertaken in order to estimate several bioclimatic indices and the associated spatial uncertainty. Results were duly discussed and addressed in this framework. In the end, forest species suitability evaluation was performed using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), methodology that allows the exploitation of natural fitness of the territory, contributing to a reflection on the adequacy of current and future occupations face the carrying capacity of the environment. The use of this methodology will be important as a supporting tool to public administration agents that work in forestry planning and management.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Os SIG como ferramenta de apoio à gestão sustentável da floresta

Segundo os dados do último Inventário Florestal Nacional (IFN6 – 2010), a floresta representa 35% da ocupação do solo de Portugal Continental. O eucalipto é a principal ocupação florestal do Continente seguindo-se o sobreiro e o pinheiro bravo. A área total de pinheiro bravo tem vindo a diminuir por contraste ao aumento da área de eucalipto, uma espécie exótica. A ocorrência dos incêndios florestais tem tido uma influência muito importante na dinâmica anterior. Daí a análise dos padrões da paisagem e dos vetores de mudança serem essenciais para efeitos da conservação/promoção da biodiversidade e da mitigação do perigo de incêndio os quais devem ser incorporados nos programas de gestão florestal. Os Sistemas de Informação Geográfica (SIG) têm vindo a ser extensivamente usados em Silvicultura para apoiar a gestão florestal, quer ao nível do inventário e monitorização de recursos mas também na análise, modelação e simulação para o apoio à tomada de decisão. Visto que os SIG têm a possibilidade de incorporar a componente espacial no planeamento do uso do solo e nos modelos de simulação, o desenvolvimento de ligações entre os modelos florestais e o SIG proporciona aos gestores florestais uma maior flexibilidade na determinação da produtividade das espécies e das suas exigências, e permite aos decisores políticos uma oportunidade acrescida para avaliar os efeitos de critérios de gestão alternativos da floresta. Pretende-se com este trabalho apresentar dois estudos de caso de aplicações SIG desenvolvidas respetivamente, no âmbito dos cursos de mestrado em SIG e em Tecnologias da Sustentabilidade dos Sistemas Florestais do IPCB, cujos resultados constituem elementos de suporte fundamentais para a gestão sustentável dos espaços florestais. Assim, apresentam-se as cartas de aptidão para quatro espécies e a carta de potencialidade produtiva para o pinheiro bravo desenvolvidas em ambiente SIG para uma área de estudo dominantemente ocupada por florestas e de elevado perigo de incêndio. A cartografia de aptidão das espécies recomendadas para a área de estudo em conjugação com a cartografia da potencialidade produtiva do pinheiro bravo permite suportar a planificação do uso do solo segundo as funções identificadas nos Planos Regionais de Ordenamento Florestal: produção; proteção; conservação dos habitats, de espécies de fauna e da flora e de geomonumentos; silvopastorícia, caça e pesca em águas interiores; e recreio, enquadramento e estética paisagem. Nas áreas com função produção permitirá implementar um plano de gestão florestal sustentável por forma a aumentar a produtividade da floresta de pinheiro bravo. Em projetos futuros pretende-se desenvolver aplicações SIG para a simulação ou o processamento de modelos, sabendo porém que esta é uma das áreas mais desafiadoras em SIG. Perspetiva-se porém, que se venham a observar futuros desenvolvimentos nesta área à medida que a investigação e as ferramentas para apoiar este tipo de aplicação se tornem mais frequentes

Bioclimatic modelling and environmental tolerance to global change in strawberry tree

The strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo L.) displays potential to be successfully businesslike-cultured in several areas of Portugal and southern Europe, but remains largely a neglected crop. This region is also particularly vulnerable to global warming, reduction of precipitations and a long-term negative effect on vegetation. To investigate interactions between the species’ distribution and ecological factors we used 319 plots (1km grid level), where the species are present in Portugal, characterized with 8 ecological attributes: ombrothermic Index (OI), thermicity Index (TI) and continentality Index (CI), pH, organic matter (OM), sand, topographic position index (TPI), number of fires (NF) and burned area (BA). The obtained matrix was firstly analyzed through PCA to reduce the space of analysis by a construction of synthesis variables (Spearman’s rank correlation matrix) and thus to detect patterns within the data set and possible collinear covariates. Finally, the vulnerability of strawberry tree to the effects of global climate change was examined. For that purpose, two ‘representative concentration pathways’ (RCPs) scenarios were predicted (RCP 2.6 and RCP 6.0) using climatic data, extracted from WorldClim, for distribution changes characterization in two periods (2050 and 2070). The MaxEnt allowed spatial Interpolation using the 319 1K plots. The PCA showed that the climatic attributes (OI, and TI) displayed the highest components’ correlation values. The strawberry tree prefers areas with higher TI and lower acidity values within the mesomediterranean and termomediterranean belts. Additionally, with lower correlation values, the presence of the species is explained by lower OI values, OM, BA and NF. The prediction results revealed reduction of the potential area of the species, providing a key tool to support conservation management decisions, to design regions of provenance, and to manage genetic improvement programs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Yang-Lee Zeros of the Two- and Three-State Potts Model Defined on ϕ3\phi^3 Feynman Diagrams

We present both analytic and numerical results on the position of the partition function zeros on the complex magnetic field plane of the $q=2$ (Ising) and $q=3$ states Potts model defined on $\phi^3$ Feynman diagrams (thin random graphs). Our analytic results are based on the ideas of destructive interference of coexisting phases and low temperature expansions. For the case of the Ising model an argument based on a symmetry of the saddle point equations leads us to a nonperturbative proof that the Yang-Lee zeros are located on the unit circle, although no circle theorem is known in this case of random graphs. For the $q=3$ states Potts model our perturbative results indicate that the Yang-Lee zeros lie outside the unit circle. Both analytic results are confirmed by finite lattice numerical calculations.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures. Third version: the title was slightly changed. To be published in Physical Review

A análise espacial multicritério na determinação do potencial biogeofísico de espécies florestais na região Centro de Portugal

É consensual que a escolha dos usos mais adequados às aptidões edafo-climáticas, complementada com critérios socioeconómicos, promove uma utilização sustentável dos espaços rurais. Existem, no entanto, diferentes metodologias utilizadas para a definição da capacidade e potencialidade do solo para a implementação de usos agroflorestais ou para a manutenção de ecossistemas naturais e seminaturais, nomeadamente culturas agrícolas, povoamentos florestais, territórios agro-silvo-pastoris e áreas prioritárias para a conservação da natureza. Muitas dessas metodologias recorrem a sistemas de apoio à decisão, baseados na análise espacial multicritério. Neste estudo pretendeu-se determinar os diferentes níveis de aptidão para as espécies florestais mais representativas da região centro de Portugal. Para o efeito recorreu-se a um conjunto de variáveis climáticas, edáficas e topográficas, tendo como base um modelo digital do terreno, cartografia de solos e cartografia fitossociológica e biogeográfica. Paralelamente, foram recolhidos dados das normais climatológicas de várias estações meteorológicas para o cálculo de índices bioclimáticos. Foi, ainda, utilizada uma abordagem estocástica, na estimativa dos valores dos índices bioclimáticos ensaiados, e discutidos os resultados no contexto da incerteza espacial associada. Por fim, a avaliação da aptidão das espécies florestais consideradas foi efetuada com recurso ao método de análise espacial multicritério Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) metodologia que permite a exploração da aptidão natural do território, contribuindo para uma reflexão sobre a adequação das ocupações atuais e futuras face à capacidade de carga do meio. Do ponto de vista instrumental, a exploração da metodologia pode assumir um interesse como auxiliar para os agentes da administração pública com funções na área do planeamento e gestão do território

Strings on pp-waves and Hadrons in (softly broken) N=1 gauge theories

We study the Penrose limit of Type IIB duals of softly broken N=1 SU(N) gauge theories in four dimensions, obtained as deformations of the Maldacena-Nunez and Klebanov-Strassler backgrounds. We extract the string spectrum on the resulting pp-wave backgrounds and discuss some properties of the conjectured dual gauge theory hadrons, the so called "Annulons". The string zero-point energy on the light-cone is nontrivial, due to the loss of linearly realized worldsheet supersymmetry, and negative, even in the unbroken supersymmetric case. This causes the appearance of non-perturbative corrections to the hadronic mass spectrum. We briefly discuss the thermodynamic behavior of these string models, calculating the corresponding Hagedorn temperatures.Comment: 20 page

A topological optimization procedure applied to multiple region problems with embedded sources

The main objective of this work is the application of the topological optimization procedure to heat transfer problems considering multiple materials. The topological derivative (DT) is employed for evaluating the domain sensitivity when perturbed by inserting a small inclusion. Electronic components such as printed circuit boards (PCBs) are an important area for the application of topological optimization. Generally, geometrical optimization involving heat transfer in PCBs considers only isotropic behavior and/or a single material. Multiple domains with anisotropic characteristics take an important role on many industrial products, for instance when considering PCBs which are often connected to other components of different materials. In this sense, a methodology for solving topological optimization problems considering anisotropy and multiple regions with embedded heat sources is developed in this paper. A direct boundary element method (BEM) is employed for solving the proposed numerical problem.CNPQ – Brazil through the Science without Borders program and from Brunel University

Boundary element formulations for the numerical solution of two-dimensional diffusion problems with variable coefficients

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Computers & Mathematics with Applications. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2012 Elsevier B.V.This paper presents new formulations of the radial integration boundary integral equation (RIBIE) and the radial integration boundary integro-differential equation (RIBIDE) methods for the numerical solution of two-dimensional diffusion problems with variable coefficients. The methods use either a specially constructed parametrix (Levi function) or the standard fundamental solution for the Laplace equation to reduce the boundary-value problem (BVP) to a boundary–domain integral equation (BDIE) or boundary–domain integro-differential equation (BDIDE). The radial integration method (RIM) is then employed to convert the domain integrals arising in both BDIE and BDIDE methods into equivalent boundary integrals. The resulting formulations lead to pure boundary integral and integro-differential equations with no domain integrals. Furthermore, a subdomain decomposition technique (SDBDIE) is proposed, which leads to a sparse system of linear equations, thus avoiding the need to calculate a large number of domain integrals. Numerical examples are presented for several simple problems, for which exact solutions are available, to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed approaches