We compute the variation of the Fokker-Wheeler-Feynman total linear and angular momentum of agravitationally interacting binary system under the second post-Minkowskian retarded dynamics. Theresulting OðG2Þ equations-of-motion-based, total change in the system's angular momentum is found toagree with existing computations that assumed balance with angular momentum fluxes in the radiation zone.

We present a novel approach to the system inversion problem for linear, scalar (i.e. single-input, single-output, or SISO) plants. The problem is formulated as a constrained optimization program, whose objective function is the transition time between the initial and the final values of the system's output, and the constraints are (i) a threshold on the input intensity and (ii) the requirement that the system's output interpolates a given set of points. The system's input is assumed to be a piecewise constant signal. It is formally proved that, in this frame, the input intensity is a decreasing function of the transition time. This result lets us to propose an algorithm that, by a bisection search, finds the optimal transition time for the given constraints. The algorithm is purely algebraic, and it does not require the system to be minimum phase or nonhyperbolic. It can deal with time-varying systems too, although in this case it has to be viewed as a heuristic technique, and it can be used as well in a model-free approach. Numerical simulations are reported that illustrate its performance. Finally, an application to a mobile robotics problem is presented, where, using a linearizing pre-controller, we show that the proposed approach can be applied also to nonlinear problems.

In March 2019, the PRISMA (PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa) hyper-spectral satellite was launched by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), and it is currently operational on a global basis. The mission includes the hyperspectral imager PRISMA working in the 400-2500 nm spectral range with 237 bands and a panchromatic (PAN) camera (400-750 nm). This paper presents an evaluation of the PRISMA top-of-atmosphere (TOA) L1 products using different in situ measurements acquired over a fragmented rural area in Southern Italy (Pignola) between October 2019 and July 2021. L1 radiance values were compared with the TOA radiances simulated with a radiative transfer code configured using measurements of the atmospheric profile and the surface spectral characteristics. The L2 reflectance products were also compared with the data obtained by using the ImACor code atmospheric correction tool. A preliminary assessment to identify PRISMA noise characteristics was also conducted. The results showed that: (i) the PRISMA performance, as measured at the Pignola site over different seasons, is characterized by relative mean absolute differences (RMAD) of about 5-7% up to 1800 nm, while a decrease in accuracy was observed in the SWIR; (ii) a coherent noise could be observed in all the analyzed images below the 630th scan line, with a frequency of about 0.3-0.4 cycles/pixel; (iii) the most recent version of the standard reflectance L2 product (i.e., Version 2.05) matched well the reflectance values obtained by using the ImACor atmospheric correction tool. All these preliminary results confirm that PRISMA imagery is suitable for an accurate retrieval of the bio-geochemical variables pertaining to a complex fragmented ecosystem such as that of the Southern Apennines. Further studies are needed to confirm and monitor PRISMA data performance on different land-cover areas and on the Radiometric Calibration Network (RadCalNet) targets.

In recent years there has been a widespread interest in researching biomarkers of aging that could predict physiological vulnerability better than chronological age. Aging, in fact, is one of the most relevant risk factors for a wide range of maladies, and molecular surrogates of this phenotype could enable better patients stratification. Among the most promising of such biomarkers is DNA methylation-based biological age. Given the potential and variety of computational implementations (epigenetic clocks), we here present a systematic review of such clocks. Furthermore, we provide a large-scale performance comparison across different tissues and diseases in terms of age prediction accuracy and age acceleration, a measure of deviance from physiology. Our analysis offers both a state-of-the-art overview of the computational techniques developed so far and a heterogeneous picture of performances, which can be helpful in orienting future research.

Inflammaging is a low-grade inflammatory state generated by the aging process that can contribute to frailty and age-related diseases in the elderly. However, it can have distinct effects in the elderly living in endemic areas for infectious diseases. An increased inflammatory response may confer protection against infectious agents in these areas, although this advantage can cause accelerating epigenetic aging. In this study, we evaluated the inflammatory profile and the epigenetic age of infected and noninfected individuals from an endemic area in Brazil. The profile of cytokines, chemokines and growth factors analyzed in the sera of the two groups of individuals showed similarities, although infected individuals had a higher concentration of these mediators. A significant increase in IL-1ra, CXCL8, CCL2, CCL3 and CCL4 production was associated with leprosy infection. Notably, elderly individuals displayed distinct immune responses associated with their infection status when compared to adults suggesting an adaptive remodelling of their immune responses. Epigenetic analysis also showed that there was no difference in epigenetic age between the two groups of individuals. However, individuals from the endemic area had a significant accelerated aging when compared to individuals from São Paulo, a non-endemic area in Brazil. Moreover, the latter cohort was also epigenetically aged in relation to an Italian cohort. Our data shows that living in endemic areas for chronic infectious diseases results in remodelling of inflammaging and acceleration of epigenetic aging in individuals regardless of their infectious status. It also highlights that geographical, genetic and environmental factors influence aging and immunosenescence in their pace and profile.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the neurological disorder showing the greatest rise in prevalence from 1990 to 2016. Despite clinical definition criteria and a tremendous effort to develop objective biomarkers, precise diagnosis of PD is still unavailable at early stage. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have used omic methods to unveil the molecular basis of PD, providing a detailed characterization of potentially pathological alterations in various biological specimens. Metabolomics could provide useful insights to deepen our knowledge of PD aetiopathogenesis, to identify signatures that distinguish groups of patients and uncover responsive biomarkers of PD that may be significant in early detection and in tracking the disease progression and drug treatment efficacy. The present work is the first large metabolomic study based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) with an independent validation cohort aiming at the serum characterization of de novo drug-naive PD patients. Here, NMR is applied to sera from large training and independent validation cohorts of German subjects. Multivariate and univariate approaches are used to infer metabolic differences that characterize the metabolite and the lipoprotein profiles of newly diagnosed de novo drug-naive PD patients also in relation to the biological sex of the subjects in the study, evidencing a more pronounced fingerprint of the pathology in male patients. The presence of a validation cohort allowed us to confirm altered levels of acetone and cholesterol in male PD patients. By comparing the metabolites and lipoproteins levels among de novo drug-naive PD patients, age- and sex-matched healthy controls, and a group of advanced PD patients, we detected several descriptors of stronger oxidative stress.

Background The debilitating effects of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and the accompanying chronic inflammation represent a significant obstacle for the sustainability of our development, with efforts spreading worldwide to counteract the diffusion of NCDs, as per the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 3). In fact, despite efforts of varied intensity in numerous directions (from innovations in biotechnology to lifestyle modifications), the incidence of NCDs remains pandemic. The present work wants to contribute to addressing this major concern, with a specific focus on the fragmentation of medical approaches, via an interdisciplinary analysis of the medical discourse, i.e. the heterogenous reporting that biomedical scientific literature uses to describe the anti-inflammatory therapeutic landscape in NCDs. The aim is to better capture the roots of this compartmentalization and the power relations existing among three segregated pharmacological, experimental and unstandardized biomedical approaches to ultimately empower collaboration beyond medical specialties and possibly tap into a more ample and effective reservoir of integrated therapeutic opportunities.

We study numerically the role of hydrodynamics in the liquid-hexatic transition of active colloids at intermediate activity, where motility induced phase separation (MIPS) does not occur. We show that in the case of active Brownian particles (ABP), the critical density of the transition decreases upon increasing the particle's mass, enhancing ordering, while self-propulsion has the opposite effect in the activity regime considered. Active hydrodynamic particles (AHP), instead, undergo the liquid-hexatic transition at higher values of packing fraction phi than the corresponding ABP, suggesting that hydrodynamics have the net effect of disordering the system. At increasing densities, close to the hexatic-liquid transition, we found in the case of AHP the appearance of self-sustained organized motion with clusters of particles moving coherently.

The geographic distribution of the population on a region is a significant ingredient in shaping the spatial and temporal evolution of an epidemic outbreak. Heterogeneity in the population density directly impacts the local relative risk: the chances that a specific area is reached by the contagion depend on its local density and connectedness to the rest of the region. We consider an SIR epidemic spreading in an urban territory subdivided into tiles (i.e., census blocks) of given population and demographic profile. We use the relative attack rate and the first infection time of a tile to quantify local severity and timing: how much and how fast the outbreak will impact any given area. Assuming that the contact rate of any two individuals depends on their household distance, we identify a suitably defined geographical centrality that measures the average connectedness of an area as an efficient indicator for local riskiness. We simulate the epidemic under different assumptions regarding the socio-demographic factors that influence interaction patterns, providing empirical evidence of the effectiveness and soundness of the proposed centrality measure.

Tor is an open source software that allows accessing various kinds of resources, known as hidden services, while guaranteeing sender and receiver anonymity. Tor relies on a free, worldwide, overlay network, managed by volunteers, that works according to the principles of onion routing in which messages are encapsulated in layers of encryption, analogous to layers of an onion. The Tor Web is the set of web resources that exist on the Tor network, and Tor websites are part of the so-called dark web. Recent research works have evaluated Tor security, its evolution over time, and its thematic organization. Nevertheless, limited information is available about the structure of the graph defined by the network of Tor websites, not to be mistaken with the network of nodes that supports the onion routing. The limited number of entry points that can be used to crawl the network, makes the study of this graph far from being simple. In the present paper we analyze two graph representations of the Tor Web and the relationship between contents and structural features, considering three crawling datasets collected over a five-month time frame. Among other findings, we show that Tor consists of a tiny strongly connected component, in which link directories play a central role, and of a multitude of services that can (only) be reached from there. From this viewpoint, the graph appears inefficient. Nevertheless, if we only consider mutual connections, a more efficient subgraph emerges, that is, probably, the backbone of social interactions in Tor.

The optimal Orlicz target space and the optimal rearrangement- invariant target space are exhibited for embeddings of fractional-order Orlicz-Sobolev spaces. Both the subcritical and the supercritical regimes are considered. In particular, in the latter case the relevant Orlicz-Sobolev spaces are shown to be embedded into the space of bounded continuous functions in Rn. This is a joint work with Andrea Cianchi, Lubos Pick and Lenka Slavikova.

Age of infection epidemic models [1, 3], based on non-linear integro-dierential equations, naturally describe the evolution of diseases whose infectivity depends on the time since becoming infected. Here we consider a multi-group age of infection model [2] and we extend the investigations in [4], [5] and [6] to provide numerical solutions that retain the main properties of the continuous system. In particular, we use Direct Quadrature methods and prove that the numerical solution is positive and bounded. Furthermore, in order to study the asymptotic behavior of the numerical solution, we formulate discrete equivalents of the nal size relation and of the basic reproduction number and we prove that they converge to the continuous ones, as the step-size of the discretization goes to zero.

Cow's milk allergy (CMA) is a common condition in the pediatric population. CMA can induce a diverse range of symptoms of variable intensity. It occurs mainly in the first year of life, and if the child is not breastfed, hypoallergenic formula is the dietary treatment. Extensively hydrolyzed cow's milk formulas (eHF) with documented hypo-allergenicity can be recommended as the first choice, while amino acid-based formulas (AAF) are recommended for patients with more severe symptoms. Hydrolyzed rice-based formulas (HRFs) are a suitable alternative for infants with CMA that cannot tolerate or do not like eHF and in infants with severe forms of CMA. In the present paper, we reviewed the nutritional composition of HRFs as well as studies regarding their efficacy and tolerance in children, and we provided an updated overview of the recent evidence on the use of HRFs in CMA. The available studies provide evidence that HRFs exhibit excellent efficacy and tolerance and seem to be adequate in providing normal growth in healthy children as well as in children with CMA.

Background Diagnosis and treatment of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) have led to improved life expectancy and achievement of adulthood. Limited data on long-term outcomes reported an increased risk of premature death for cardiovascular causes, even without congenital heart disease (CHD). The aim of this study was to assess the cardiac function in adolescents and young adults with 22q11.2DS without CHDs. Methods A total of 32 patients (20M, 12F; mean age 26.00 ± 8.08 years) and a healthy control group underwent transthoracic echocardiography, including Tissue Doppler Imaging (TDI) and 2-dimensional Speckle Tracking Echocardiography (2D-STE). Results Compared to controls, 22q11.2DS patients showed a significant increase of the left ventricle (LV) diastolic and systolic diameters (p = 0.029 and p = 0.035 respectively), interventricular septum thickness (p = 0.005), LV mass index (p < 0.001) and aortic root size (p < 0.001). 2D-STE analysis revealed a significant reduction of LV global longitudinal strain (p < 0.001) in 22q11.2DS than controls. Moreover, several LV diastolic parameters were significantly different between groups. Conclusions Our results suggest that an echocardiographic follow-up in 22q11.2DS patients without CHDs can help to identify subclinical impairment of the LV and evaluate a potential progression of aortic root dilation over time, improving outcomes, reducing long-term complications and allowing for a better prognosis.

We present a new method for assessing and measuring homophily in networks whose nodes have categorical attributes, namely when the nodes of networks come partitioned into classes (colors). We probe this method in two different classes of networks: (i) protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks, where nodes correspond to proteins, partitioned according to their functional role, and edges represent functional interactions between proteins (ii) Pokec on-line social network, where nodes correspond to users, partitioned according to their age, and edges respresent friendship between users.Similarly to other classical and well consolidated approaches, our method compares the relative edge density of the subgraphs induced by each class with the corresponding expected relative edge density under a null model. The novelty of our approach consists in prescribing an endogenous null model, namely, the sample space of the null model is built on the input network itself. This allows us to give exact explicit expression for the z-score of the relative edge density of each class as well as other related statistics. The z-scores directly quantify the statistical significance of the observed homophily via ?eby?ëv inequality. The expression of each z-score is entered by the network structure through basic combinatorial invariant such as the number of subgraphs with two spanning edges. Each z-score is computed in O(n+ m) time for a network with n nodes and m edges. This leads to an overall efficient computational method for assesing homophily. We complement the analysis of homophily/heterophily by considering z-scores of the number of isolated nodes in the subgraphs induced by each class, that are computed in O(nm) time. Theoretical results are then exploited to show that, as expected, both the analyzed network classes are significantly homophilic with respect to the considered node properties.

We compute the Euler equations of a functional useful for simultaneous video inpainting and motion estimation, which was obtained in [17] as the relaxation of a modified version of the functional proposed in [16]. The functional is defined on vectorial functions of bounded variations, therefore we also get the Euler equations holding on the singular sets of minimizers, highlighting in particular the conditions on the jump sets. Such conditions are expressed by means of traces of geometrically meaningful vector fields and characterized as pointwise limits of averages on cylinders with axes parallel to the unit normals to the jump sets.

Poisson shot noise processes are natural generalizations of compound Poisson processes that have been widely applied in insurance, neuroscience, seismology, computer science and epidemiology. In this paper we study sharp deviations, fluctuations and the stable probability approximation of Poisson shot noise processes. Our achievements extend, improve and complement existing results in the literature. We apply the theoretical results to Poisson cluster point processes, including generalized linear Hawkes processes, and risk processes with delayed claims. Many examples are discussed in detail.

The chapter surveys the magneto-quasistatic models for co-seismic electromagnetic signals

The dynamic behavior of a self-propelled semiflexible filament of length L is con- sidered under the action of a linear shear flow. The system is studied by using Brownian multi-particle collision dynamics. The system can be characterized in terms of the persistence length Lp of the chain, of the Peclet number, and of the Weissenberg number. The quantity Lp/L measures the bending rigidity of the polymer, the Peclet number Pe is the ratio of active force times L to thermal energy, and the Weissenberg number Wi characterizes the flow strength over thermal effects. In this presentation we will focus our attention to intermediate values of Pe corresponding to the weak spiral regime when no external flow is applied. The numerical results allow us to outline the main features of the physics underlying the considered system: o At low values of Wi, polymer is stretched by activity and aligned by shear along the flow direction. This effect is more marked in the case of more flexible chains. o At the intermediate values of Wi, polymer is prone to tumble due to shear and this promotes a contraction of the chain. o At very high values of Wi, activity sums up to shear enhancing polymer stretching and deformation.

The radical polymerization process of acrylate compounds is, nowadays, numerically investigated using classical force fields and reactive molecular dynamics, with the aim to probe the gel-point transition as a function of the initial radical concentration. In the present paper, the gel-point transition of the 1,6-hexanediol dimethacrylate (HDDMA) is investigated by a coarser force field which grants a reduction in the computational costs, thereby allowing the simulation of larger system sizes and smaller radical concentrations. Hence, the polymerization is investigated using reactive classical molecular dynamics combined with a dynamical approach of the nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (D-NEMD). The network structures in the polymerization process are probed by cluster analysis tools, and the results are critically compared with the similar all-atom system, showing a good agreement.