A method that is used to generate synthetic interferograms of the atmospheric phase delay temporal changes is presented. The Weather Research and Forecasting Model is used to forecast the spatial distribution of the main atmospheric parameters at the acquisition times of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. The method is applied to mitigate atmospheric artifacts in SAR interferograms. The Lisbon Region and the Pico and Faial Islands in the Azores archipelago are chosen as case studies. They are characterized by a different temporal behavior of atmospheric phase delay properties. Results are assessed by means of a statistical analysis.

The geomorphological evolution of the Pliocene-Quaternary Auletta basin, a wide fault-bounded depression of the southern Apennines axial zone, Italy, was reconstructed using both DEM-based morphometric analysis and classical morphotectonic investigations. Morphotectonic analyses have been integrated with geological, structural and paleomagnetic data in order to reconstruct the Quaternary evolution of the area. The Auletta basin coincides with the lower valley of the Tanagro River and is filled by Pliocene to Pleistocene marine and continental sediments. The strike of the basin is N120-130 degrees, according to the main fault systems of the area. Long-term landscape evolution results from interaction and feedback of geomorphic stages with the morphogenesis of erosional land surfaces alternating with tectonic pulses in which also block-tectonic rotation occurred. The ages of the morphological de-activation of such terraced surfaces have been roughly defined on the grounds of their morpho-stratigraphic relationships with Pliocene and Quaternary deposits, and better constrained by radiometric dating. Tectonic tilting has been established from morphological relationships between rotated blocks related to the activity of the Alburni fault line and the several generations of erosional and depositional land surfaces. The stratigraphic, structural, paleomagnetic and geomorphological data presented here suggest that the studied basin appears to have a more complex tectonic evolution than an extensional graben. Transtensional tectonics along NW-SE striking, listric faults of the Alburni margin system created the depression since Pliocene times, whereas extensional tectonics plays a key role in the middle to late Pleistocene morphotectonic evolution of the basin. This work demonstrates the usefulness of an integrated analysis in order to extract information on tectonic activity and landscape evolution in the Auletta basin, as an example for other study areas.

We consider a simple model for signal transport in the cytoplasm. Following some recent experimental evidences, the standard diffusion model is supplemented by advection operated through an attachement/detachement mechanism along microtubules. This model is given by a system of partial differential equations which are cast in different dimensions and connected by suitable exchange rules. A numerical scheme is introduced and some simulations are presented and discussed to show the performances of our model.

Motivation: The human immune system evolved a multi-layered control mechanism to eliminate self-reactive cells. Of these so-called tolerance induction mechanisms, lymphocytes T education in the thymus gland represents the very first one. This complicated process is not fully understood and quantitative models able to help in this endeavor are lacking. Here, we present a stochastic computational model of the thymus which combines data-driven prediction methods and a novel method based on protein-protein potential measurements for assessing molecular binding among cell receptors, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules, and self-peptides. Results: Of all possible specificities of immature T cells entering the thymus, only a small fraction is actually selected for maturation. Monte Carlo simulations of thymocytes selection in the thymus are performed varying the size of the self and a parameter determining the number of encounter with antigen-presenting cells (APCs). We score the fraction of self-reacting thymocytes leaving the thymus as mature naive T cells and show that self-reactivity is only marginally dependent on the number of self-molecules presented by APCs, while it is strongly affected by a parameter proportional to the time spent in the thymus. We study how this measure changes when we vary the number of MHC alleles and found an optimal number not too different from what we have in reality. The main result of this study is more methodological than biological as we show that immunoinformatics data and methods can be used in systemic level simulation of immune processes. © 2011 Informa UK, Ltd.

This paper discusses the early phase of the ignition transient of the VEGA Launcher's third stage solid rocket motor, Zefiro 9A. During the first two firing tests of the Z9A SRM (QM2 and VT1) a peculiar unexpected negative force peak and a significant pressure unbalance in the motor chamber were measured during the very first phase of the ignition transient. In order to fix the unexpected negative force, out of the system specifications, a modification of the igniter re-design was decided for the Z9A SRM and a third static firing test was successfully carried out (VT2), with a reduction of the negative differential pressure of at least around a factor 3, followed by a reduction of the negative thrust by around the same factor. This paper wants to analyze the scenario outlined by the VT2 static firing test by means of three dimensional unsteady multi-component numerical simulations of the SRM pre-ignition transient. © 2011 IEEE.

The problem of asymptotic features of front propagation in stirred media is addressed for laminar and turbulent velocity fields. In particular we consider the problem in two dimensional steady and unsteady cellular flows in the limit of very fast reaction and sharp front, i.e., in the geometrical optics limit. In the steady case we provide an analytical approximation for the front speed, vf, as a function of the stirring intensity, U, in good agreement with the numerical results. In the unsteady (time-periodic) case, albeit the Lagrangian dynamics is chaotic, chaos in the front dynamics is relevant only for a transient. Asymptotically the front evolves periodically and chaos manifests only in the spatially wrinkled structure of the front. In addition we study front propagation of reactive fields in systems whose diffusive behavior is anomalous. The features of the front propagation depend, not only on the scaling exponent ?, which characterizes the diffusion properties, ((x(t) - x(0))2 ~ t2?), but also on the detailed shape of the probability distribution of the diffusive process.

The results of accurate compressible Navier-Stokes simulations of aerodynamic heating of the Vega launcher are presented. Three selected steady conditions of the Vega mission profile are considered: the first corresponding to the altitude of 18 km, the second to 25 km and the last to 33 km. The numerical code is based on the mathematical model described by the Favre-Average-Navier-Stokes equations; the turbulent model chosen for closure is the one-equation model by Spalart-Allmaras. The equations are discretized by a finite volume approach, that can handle block-structured meshes with partial overlap ("Chimera" grid-overlapping technique). The isothermal boundary condition has been applied to the lancher wall. Particular care was devoted to the construction of the discrete model; as a matter of facts, the launcher is equipped with many protrusions and geometrical peculiarities (as antennas, raceways, inter-stage connection flanges and retrorockets) that are expected to affect considerably the local thermal flow-field and the level of heat fluxes, because the flow have to undergo strong variation in space; consequently, special attention was devoted to the definition of a tailored mesh, capable of catching local details of the aerothermal flow field (shocks, expansion fans, boundary layer, etc..). The computed results are reported together with uncertainty and actual convergence order, that were estimated by the standard procedures suggested by AIAA.

In this work the numerical simulations of a submarine in straight ahead motion with the appendages at several prescribed deflection angles are performed. Due to the complex geometry involved (the presence of moving appendages), these simulations are rather demanding form the point of view of both grid generation and accuracy of the numerical method. In order to analyze these aspects, the numerical solutions are computed by means of an unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations solver, which is particularly effective because of the high order discretization schemes adopted. From the point of view of mesh construction, a dynamic overset grid technique is used, where each geometrical element of the whole geometry is discretized with a set of block-structured body-conformal mesh with partial overlapping (Chimera approach). In the present paper, the details of the method and numerical results for several deflection angles of the bow and stern planes are presented.

The realization of innovative transport services requires greater flexibility and inexpensive service. In many cases the solution is to realize demand responsive transportation system. A Demand Responsive Transport System (DRTS) requires the planning of travel paths (routing) and customer pick-up and drop-off times (scheduling) according to received requests. In particular, the problem has to deal with multiple vehicles, limited capacity of the fleet vehicles and temporal constraints (time windows). A DRTS may operate according to static or dynamic mode. In the static setting, all the customer requests are known beforehand and the DRTS solves a Dial-a-Ride Problem (DaRP) instance, to produce the tour of each bus, respecting the pick up and delivery time windows while minimising the solution cost. In the dynamic mode, the customer requests arrive over time to a control station and, consequently, the solution may also change over time. In this work, we address a Demand Responsive Transport System capable of managing incoming transport demand using a two-stage algorithm by solving a DaRP instance. The solutions provided by the heuristics are simulated in a discrete events environment in which it is possible to reproduce the movement of the buses, the passengers' arrival to the stops, the delays due to the traffic congestion and possible anomalies in the behaviour of the passengers. Finally, a set of performance indicators evaluate the solution planned by the heuristics. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee.

Premixed combustion modes in compression ignition engines are studied as a promising solution to meet fuel economy and increasingly stringent emissions regulations. Nevertheless, PCCI combustion systems are not yet consolidated enough for practical applications. The high complexity of such combustion systems in terms of both air-fuel charge preparation and combustion process control requires the employment of robust and reliable numerical tools to provide adequate comprehension of the phenomena. Object of this work is the development and validation of suitable models to evaluate the effects of charge premixing levels in Diesel combustion. This activity was performed using the Lib-ICE code, which is a set of applications and libraries for IC engine simulations developed using the OpenFOAM® technology. In particular, a turbulence-chemistry interaction model, based on the simple Eddy Dissipation Approach, was introduced to account for the effects of turbulent mixing on chemical reaction rates. It is a tentative solution to represent the effects of sub-grid mixing on the chemical reaction rates when detailed reaction mechanisms are adopted. Chemical reaction rates were computed by a robust semi-implicit extrapolation method for integrating stiff Ordinary Differential Equations with monitoring of both local and global error to adjust stepsize. To reduce the CPU time when detailed chemistry was used, both the ISAT (in-situ adaptive tabulation) and DAC (dynamic adaptive chemistry) techniques were adopted in combination. Simulations were performed by varying the charge premixing level from the typical diesel combustion mode towards an almost completely premixed/HCCI mode using n-heptane, whose injected mass was split between portinjection and direct-injection. This allowed a detailed investigation of the “mixed injection conditions”, that are typical of dual fuel configurations without employing fuels of different chemical nature, composition and ignition tendency. The choice of using a single fuel was motivated by the need to isolate the effects of different premixing levels and the resulting interaction between the charge and the fuel spray. Measurements for validation were collected by means of specific experiments on a fully instrumented single cylinder research engine, having the injection and the combustion systems architecture typical of the current light duty diesel engine technology. To realize homogeneous air-fuel charge, the intake manifold is modified to provide the desired extent of fuel port-injection.

We consider an integro-differential model for evolutionary gametheory which describes the evolution of a population adopting mixed strategies.Using a reformulation based on the first moments of the solution, we provesome analytical properties of the model and global estimates. The asymptoticbehavior and the stability of solutions in the case of two strategies is analyzedin details. Numerical schemes for two and three strategies which are able tocapture the correct equilibrium states are also proposed together with severalnumerical examples. © American Institute of Mathematical Sciences.

Recent science of science research shows that scientific impact measures for journals and individual articles have quantifiable regularities across both time and discipline. However, little is known about the scientific impact distribution at the scale of an individual scientist. We analyze the aggregate production and impact using the rank-citation profile c(i)(r) of 200 distinguished professors and 100 assistant professors. For the entire range of paper rank r, we fit each c(i)(r) to a common distribution function. Since two scientists with equivalent Hirsch h-index can have significantly different c(i)(r) profiles, our results demonstrate the utility of the beta(i) scaling parameter in conjunction with h(i) for quantifying individual publication impact. We show that the total number of citations C-i tallied from a scientist's N-i papers scales as C-i similar to h(i)(1+beta i). Such statistical regularities in the input-output patterns of scientists can be used as benchmarks for theoretical models of career progress.

We provide numerical evidence that electronic preturbulent phenomena in graphene could be observed, under current experimental conditions, through current fluctuations, echoing the detachment of vortices past localized micron-sized impurities. Vortex generation, due to micron-sized constriction, is also explored with special focus on the effects of relativistic corrections to the normal Navier-Stokes equations. These corrections are found to cause a delay in the stability breakout of the fluid as well as a small shift in the vortex shedding frequency.

A method to derive accurate spatially dense maps of 3-D terrain displacement velocity is presented. It is based on the merging of terrain displacement velocities estimated by time series of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data acquired along ascending and descending orbits and repeated GPS measurements. The method uses selected persistent scatterers (PSs) and GPS measurements of the horizontal velocity. An important step of the proposed method is the mitigation of the impact of atmospheric phase delay in InSAR data. It is shown that accurate vertical velocities at PS locations can be retrieved if smooth horizontal velocity variations can be assumed. Furthermore, the mitigation of atmospheric effects reduces the spatial dispersion of vertical velocity estimates resulting in a more spatially regular 3-D velocity map. The proposed methodology is applied to the case study of Azores islands characterized by important tectonic phenomena.

Omics data and computational approaches are today providing a key to disentangle the complex architecture of living systems. The integration and analysis of data of different nature allows to extract meaningful representations of signaling pathways and protein interactions networks, helpful in achieving an increased understanding of such intricate biochemical processes. We here describe a general workflow and relative hurdles in integrating online Omics data and analyzing reconstructed representations by using the available computational platforms.