General relativity considers Dixon’s theory as the standard theory to deal with the motion of extended bodies in a given gravitational background. We discuss here the features of the “reaction” of an extended body to the passage of a weak gravitational wave. We find that the body acquires a dipolar moment induced by its quadrupole structure. Furthermore, we derive the “world function” for the weak field limit of a gravitational wave background and use it to estimate the deviation between geodesics and the world lines of structured bodies. Measuring such deviations, due to the existence of cumulative effects, should be favorite with respect to measuring the amplitude of the gravitational wave itself.

Vaccine research is a combinatorial science requiring computational analysis of vaccine components, formulations and optimization. We have developed a framework that combines computational tools for the study of immune function and vaccine development. This framework, named ImmunoGrid combines conceptual models of the immune system, models of antigen processing and presentation, system-level models of the immune system, Grid computing, and database technology to facilitate discovery, formulation and optimization of vaccines. ImmunoGrid modules share common conceptual models and ontologies. The ImmunoGrid portal offers access to educational simulators where previously defined cases can be displayed, and to research simulators that allow the development of new, or tuning of existing, computational models. The portal is accessible at http://www.w3.org.

A mesoscopic multicomponent lattice Boltzmann model with short-range repulsion between different species and short (midranged) attractive (repulsive) interactions between like molecules is introduced. The interplay between these composite interactions gives rise to a rich configurational dynamics of the density field, exhibiting many features of disordered liquid dispersions (microemulsions) and soft-glassy materials, such as long-time relaxation due to caging effects, anomalous enhanced viscosity, aging effects under moderate shear and flow above a critical shear rate.

We investigate totally linearly degenerate hyperbolic systems with relaxation. We aim to study their semilinear behavior, which means that the local smooth solutions cannot develop shocks, and the global existence is controlled by the supremum bound of the solution. In this paper we study two specific examples: the Suliciu-type and the Kerr-Debye-type models. For the Suliciu model, which arises from the numerical approximation of isentropic flows, the semilinear behavior is obtained using pointwise estimates of the gradient. For the Kerr-Debye systems, which arise in nonlinear optics, we show the semilinear behavior via energy methods. For the original Kerr-Debye model, thanks to the special form of the interaction terms, we can show the global existence of smooth solutions.

We present a set of difference equations which generalizes that proposed in the work of G. Izzo and A. Vecchio (2007) and represents the discrete counterpart of a larger class of continuous model concerning the dynamics of an infection in an organism or in a host population. The limiting behavior of this new discrete model is studied and a threshold parameter playing the role of the basic reproduction number is derived.

An innovative application focused on the segmentation of decay zones from images of stone materials is presented. The adopted numerical approach to extract decay regions from the color images of monuments provides a tool that helps experts analyze degraded regions by contouring them. In this way even if the results of the proposed procedure depend on the evaluation of experts, the approach can be a contribution to improving the efficiency of the boundary detection process. The segmentation is a process that allows an image to be divided into disjoint zones so that partitioned zones contain homogeneous characteristics. The numerical method, used to segment color images, is based on the theory of interface evolution, which is described by the eikonal equation. We adopted the fast marching technique to solve the upwind finite difference approximation of the eikonal equation. The fast marching starts from a seed point in the region of interest and generates a front which evolves according to a specific speed function until the boundary of the region is identified. We describe the segmentation results obtained with two speed functions, attained by the image gradient computation and color information about the object of interest. Moreover, we present the extension of the working modality of the method by introducing the possibility to extract the regions not only in a local way but also in a global way on the entire image. In this case, in order to improve the segmentation efficiency the application of the fast marching technique starts with more seed points defined as seed regions. The study case concerns the impressive remains of the Roman Theatre in the city of Aosta (Italy). In the image segmentation process the color space L^*a^*b^* is utilized.

In this paper we present an innovative and automatic procedure which is used to extract the coastline from SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) images by the level set model. This model consists in a PDE (Partial Differential Equation) equation governing the evolution of a curve corresponding to the zero level of a 3D function, called level set function, until the curve reaches the edge of the region to be segmented. A coastline is the boundary between land and sea masses. Detecting the coastline is of fundamental importance when monitoring various natural phenomena such as tides, coastal erosion and the dynamics of glaciers. In this case SAR images show problems which arise from the presence of the speckle noise and of the strong signal deriving from the rough or slight sea. In fact in the case of heavy sea the signal determines an intensity similar to the one of land, making it difficult to distinguish the coastline.

Lattice kinetic equations incorporating the effects of external / internal force fields via a shift of the local fields in the local equilibria are placed within the framework of continuum kinetic theory. The mathematical treatment reveals that in order to be consistent with the correct thermo-hydrodynamical description, temperature must also be shifted, besides momentum. New perspectives for the formulation of thermo-hydrodynamic lattice kinetic models of non-ideal fluids are then envisaged. It is also shown that on the lattice, the definition of the macroscopic temperature requires the inclusion of new terms directly related to discrete effects. The theoretical treatment is tested against a controlled case with a non-ideal equation of state.

This correspondence presents a novel approach for translational motion estimation based on the phase of the Fourier transform. It exploits the equality between the averaging of a group of successive frames and the convolution of the reference one with an impulse train function. The use of suitable space filling curves allows to reduce the error in motion estimation making the proposed approach robust under noise. Experimental results show that the proposed approach outperforms available techniques in terms of objective (PSNR) and subjective quality with a lower computational effort.

Background: The optimal stage for initiating antiretroviral therapies in HIV-1 bearing patients is still a matter of debate. Methods: We present computer simulations of HIV-1 infection aimed at identifying the pro et contra of immediate as compared to deferred Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART). Results: Our simulations highlight that a prompt specific CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes response is detected when therapy is delayed. Compared to very early initiation of HAART, in deferred treated patients CD8+ T cells manage to mediate the decline of viremia in a shorter time and, at interruption of therapy, the virus experiences a stronger immune pressure. We also observe, however, that the immunological effects of the therapy fade with time in both therapeutic regimens. Thus, within one year from discontinuation, viral burden recovers to the value at which it would level off in the absence of therapy. In summary, simulations show that immediate therapy does not prolong the disease-free period and does not confer a survival benefit when compared to treatment started during the chronic infection phase. Conclusion: Our conclusion is that, since there is no therapy to date that guarantees life-long protection, deferral of therapy should be preferred in order to minimize the risk of adverse effects, the occurrence of drug resistances and the costs of treatment.