A comprehensive particle scale model for pyrolysis of biomass has been developed by coupling the reaction mechanisms and transport phenomena. The model, which also accounts for the combined effect of various parameters such as particle shrinkage and drying, was validated using available experimental data from the literature. The validated model was then used to study the effect of operating tem...

The Barrett-Crane model [?] [?] is a constrained topological state sum model for quantum gravity. Recently [?] it was proposed that this model might incorporate matter and gauge interactions if the condition on triangulations to be manifolds were relaxed. That is, conical singularities would act as seeds of matter in the quantum geometry of the state sum. The purpose of this paper is to examine...

The term Spacetime Foam was introduced for the first time by J.A. Wheeler at the end of the fifties to indicate that quantum fluctuations come into play at the Planckian scale, changing topology and metric [1]. Apart the pioneering path integral approach to Spacetime Foam, considered by S.W. Hawking [2], only recently the subject has been widely reconsidered in the context of brane physics [3],...

A phenomenological model of the Landau type forms the basis for a study of elastic distortions near the spin-Peierls transition T c in CuGeO 3. The atomic displacements proposed by Hirota et al. are accounted for by the model which includes linear coupling between Cu and O distortions. Cu displacements are seen to be responsible for anomalies in the elastic properties at T c , whereas incipient...

A suggestive phenomenological relation is found among the lepton and quark masses which suggests a new insight into the problem of generations and also gives a prediction for the top quark mass in agreement with the range of values which is actually expected.

A novel numerical formulation of the two-phase macroscopic balance equations governing the flow field in incompressible porous media is presented. The numerical model makes use of the Weighted Average Flux (WAF) method and Total Variation Diminishing (TVD) flux limiting techniques, and results in a second-order accurate scheme. A shock tube study was carried out to examine the interaction of a ...

a SPECIAL ISSUE II, pp. 20 – 33, 2008 PHENOMENOLOGY, NEUROSCIENCE AND IMPAIRMENT

The discovery of strong γ–ray and hard X–ray emission and the results from various multifrequency campaigns have disclosed new aspects of the blazar phenomenology, leading to a much more robust understanding of the mechanisms underlying their emission, and offering clues for the energetics of their relativistic jets. I review these aspects, and propose that all the diversity in the blazar pheno...

A phenomenological model for species spreading which incorporates the Allee effect, a species’ maximum attainable growth rate, collective dispersal rate and dispersal adaptability is presented. This builds on a well-established reaction-diffusion model for spatial spreading of invading organisms. The model is phrased in terms of the “hostility” (which quantifies the Allee threshold in relation ...