Certain systems with slow driving and avalanche–like dissipation events are naturally close to a critical point when the ratio of two energy scales is large. The first energy scale is the threshold above which an avalanche is triggered, the second scale is the threshold above which a site is affected by an avalanche. I present results of computer simulations, and a mean–field theory. PACS numbe...

The probability distribution function of the avalanche size in the sandpile model does not verify strict self-similarity under changes of the sandpile size. Here we show the existence of avalanches with different space-time structure, and each type of avalanche has a different scaling with the sandpile size. This is the main cause of the lack of self-similarity of the probability distribution f...

Power estimation and optimization has become a key issue in embedded system design, especially in the rapidly growing market of mobile handheld computing, communication, internet devices that are driven by battery power. It is of paramount importance to estimate and optimize power of those systems during an early design stage at a high level of abstraction in order to efficiently explore the de...

The design and development of large scale, high quantum efficiency and high resolution silicon and silicon-germanium (Si/SiGe) avalanche photodiode (APD) focal plane arrays (FPAs) is an active topic of research due to the wide range of scientific, medical and industrial applications for such high sensitivity imagers. Avalanche photodiodes can attain single photon sensitive operation due the lar...

Snow avalanches pose a threat to settlements and infrastructure in alpine environments. Due to the catastrophic events in recent years, the public is more aware of this phenomenon. Alpine settlements have always been confronted with natural hazards, but changes in land use and in dealing with avalanche hazards lead to an altering perception of this threat. In this study, a multi-temporal risk a...

Glacial reworking of paraglacial rock slope material has been inferred from long-deglaciated terrains to be an important component of glacial sediment transfer. We provide the first description from a contemporary glacial environment of the geomorphological consequences of glacier advance (of the Feegletscher Nord, Switzerland) across a paraglacial rock avalanche deposit. The landform-sediment ...

We present a silicon avalanche photodetector (APD) fabricated with standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology without any process modification or special substrates. The CMOS-APD is based on N+/P-well junction, and its current-voltage characteristics, responsivity, avalanche gain, and photodetection frequency response are measured. Gain-bandwidth product over 1 THz is ac...

The dynamics of the avalanche width in the evolution model is described using a random walk picture. In this approach the critical exponents for avalanche distribution, τ , and avalanche average time, γ, are found to be the same as in the previous mean field approximation but SOC appear at λ critical = 2/3, which is very close to numerical value. A continuous time random walk is studied numeric...