Universality classes in directed sandpile models

We perform large scale numerical simulations of a directed version of the two-state stochastic sandpile model. Numerical results show that this stochastic model defines a new universality class with respect to the Abelian directed sandpile. The physical origin of the different critical behavior has to be ascribed to the presence of multiple topplings in the stochastic model. These results provide new insights onto the long debated question of universality in abelian and stochastic sandpiles.Comment: 5 pages, RevTex, includes 9 EPS figures. Minor english corrections. One reference adde

Corrections to scaling in the forest-fire model

We present a systematic study of corrections to scaling in the self-organized critical forest-fire model. The analysis of the steady-state condition for the density of trees allows us to pinpoint the presence of these corrections, which take the form of subdominant exponents modifying the standard finite-size scaling form. Applying an extended version of the moment analysis technique, we find the scaling region of the model and compute the first non-trivial corrections to scaling.Comment: RevTeX, 7 pages, 7 eps figure

Advances in human-computer interactions: methods, algorithms, and applications

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The universality class of absorbing phase transitions with a conserved field

We investigate the critical behavior of systems exhibiting a continuous absorbing phase transition in the presence of a conserved field coupled to the order parameter. The results obtained point out the existence of a new universality class of nonequilibrium phase transitions that characterizes a vast set of systems including conserved threshold transfer processes and stochastic sandpile models.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, 3 EPS figure

Field theory of absorbing phase transitions with a non-diffusive conserved field

We investigate the critical behavior of a reaction-diffusion system exhibiting a continuous absorbing-state phase transition. The reaction-diffusion system strictly conserves the total density of particles, represented as a non-diffusive conserved field, and allows an infinite number of absorbing configurations. Numerical results show that it belongs to a wide universality class that also includes stochastic sandpile models. We derive microscopically the field theory representing this universality class.Comment: 13 pages, 1 eps figure, RevTex styl

Gravity model in the Korean highway

We investigate the traffic flows of the Korean highway system, which contains both public and private transportation information. We find that the traffic flow T(ij) between city i and j forms a gravity model, the metaphor of physical gravity as described in Newton's law of gravity, P(i)P(j)/r(ij)^2, where P(i) represents the population of city i and r(ij) the distance between cities i and j. It is also shown that the highway network has a heavy tail even though the road network is a rather uniform and homogeneous one. Compared to the highway network, air and public ground transportation establish inhomogeneous systems and have power-law behaviors.Comment: 13 page

Plasma-Induced Frequency Chirp of Intense Femtosecond Lasers and Its Role in Shaping High-Order Harmonic Spectral Lines

We investigate the self-phase modulation of intense femtosecond laser pulses propagating in an ionizing gas and its effects on collective properties of high-order harmonics generated in the medium. Plasmas produced in the medium are shown to induce a positive frequency chirp on the leading edge of the propagating laser pulse, which subsequently drives high harmonics to become positively chirped. In certain parameter regimes, the plasma-induced positive chirp can help to generate sharply peaked high harmonics, by compensating for the dynamically-induced negative chirp that is caused by the steep intensity profile of intense short laser pulses.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Universal 1/f Noise from Dissipative SOC Models

We introduce a model able to reproduce the main features of 1/f noise: hyper-universality (the power-law exponents are independent on the dimension of the system; we show here results in d=1,2) and apparent lack of a low-frequency cutoff in the power spectrum. Essential ingredients of this model are an activation-deactivation process and dissipation.Comment: 3 Latex pages, 2 eps Figure

Driving, conservation and absorbing states in sandpiles

We use a phenomenological field theory, reflecting the symmetries and conservation laws of sandpiles, to compare the driven dissipative sandpile, widely studied in the context of self-organized criticality, with the corresponding fixed-energy model. The latter displays an absorbing-state phase transition with upper critical dimension $d_c=4$. We show that the driven model exhibits a fundamentally different approach to the critical point, and compute a subset of critical exponents. We present numerical simulations in support of our theoretical predictions.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures; revised version with substantial changes and improvement

A hierarchical system for a distributed representation of the peripersonal space of a humanoid robot

Reaching a target object in an unknown and unstructured environment is easily performed by human beings. However, designing a humanoid robot that executes the same task requires the implementation of complex abilities, such as identifying the target in the visual field, estimating its spatial location, and precisely driving the motors of the arm to reach it. While research usually tackles the development of such abilities singularly, in this work we integrate a number of computational models into a unified framework, and demonstrate in a humanoid torso the feasibility of an integrated working representation of its peripersonal space. To achieve this goal, we propose a cognitive architecture that connects several models inspired by neural circuits of the visual, frontal and posterior parietal cortices of the brain. The outcome of the integration process is a system that allows the robot to create its internal model and its representation of the surrounding space by interacting with the environment directly, through a mutual adaptation of perception and action. The robot is eventually capable of executing a set of tasks, such as recognizing, gazing and reaching target objects, which can work separately or cooperate for supporting more structured and effective behaviors