Available online 12 November 2008

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The main focus of this paper is to determine whether the thermodynamic magnetization is a physically relevant estimator of the finite-size magnetization. This is done by comparing the asymptotic behaviors of these two quantities along parameter sequences converging to either a second-order point or the tricritical point in the mean-field BlumeCapel model. We show that the thermodynamic magnetiz...

In an earlier paper [6] we presented a declarative approach for agent control. In that work we described how control can be specified in terms of cycle theories, which define declaratively the possible alternative behaviours of agents, depending on their internal state and (their perception of) the external environment in which they are situated. This form of control has been adopted for logicb...

Avalanche dynamics has been described in organotypic cultures and acute slices from rat cortex. Its distinctive feature is a statistical distribution of avalanche size and duration following a power law with specific exponents, corresponding to near-critical state. We asked whether the same dynamics is present in dissociated cultures from rat embryos, which are characterized by complete lack of...

We show that the spectrum of linear delay differential equations with large delay splits into two different parts. One part, called the strong spectrum, converges to isolated points when the delay parameter tends to infinity. The other part, called the pseudocontinuous spectrum, accumulates near criticality and converges after rescaling to a set of spectral curves, called the asymptotic continu...