Critical behavior in the site-diluted three-dimensional three-state Potts model

We have studied numerically the effect of quenched site dilution on a weak first-order phase transition in three dimensions. We have simulated the site diluted three-states Potts model studying in detail the secondorder region of its phase diagram. We have found that the n exponent is compatible with the one of the three-dimensional diluted Ising model, whereas the h exponent is definitely different.

South European welfare regime model and the turkish case

The rise of neoliberalism and the experience of several economic crises throughout 1960’s and 70’s have opened the way to question the ability of welfare state to satisfy the basic needs of the societies. Therefore the term “welfare state” left its place to “welfare regime” in which the responsibilities for the well being of the societies are distributed among state, market and families. Following the introduction of this new term, several typologies of welfare regimes are started to be discussed. Esping-Andersen’s (1990) regime typology is considered to be one of the most significant one which covers most of the European countries. On the other hand, it has also led to criticisms for being lack of several aspects. One of them was done by Ferrera (1996), Moreno (2001), Boboli (1997) and Liebfreid (1992), which discusses that the grouping of Mediterranean countries of Europe -Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal- within the conservative regime type. Those authors affirm that Southern European countries have their peculiar features in terms of structure of welfare provision and they form a fourth type which may be called "Mediterranean/ Southern European Regime". At this point, this doctoral thesis carries the discussion one step further and covers a profound research to answer some fundamental questions. Chiefly, clarifying whether it is possible to talk about a coherent grouping between the Mediterranean countries of Southern Europe in terms of their welfare regimes is our first objective. Then by assuming that it has an affirmative response, it is aimed to reflect the characteristics of this grouping. On the other hand, those group features are not static in time and they are sensible to various economic changes...

Phenomenological model of visual acuity

We propose in this work a model for describing visual acuity (VV) as a function of defocus and pupil diameter. Although the model is mainly based on geometrical optics, it also incorporates nongeometrical effects phenomenologically. Compared to similar visual acuity models, the proposed one considers the effect of astigmatism and the variability of best corrected VV among individuals; it also takes into account the accommodation and the “tolerance to defocus,” the latter through a phenomenological parameter. We have fitted the model to the VV data provided in the works of Holladay et al. and Peters, showing the ability of this model to accurately describe the variation of VV against blur and pupil diameter. We have also performed a comparison between the proposed model and others previously published in the literature. The model is mainly intended for use in the design of ophthalmic compensations, but it can also be useful in other fields such as visual ergonomics, design of visual tests, and optical instrumentation.