L'Action Plan è il principale risultato del progetto Coffee B.R.E.A.K.S. e rappresenta un possibile percorso di implementazione del sistema di valutazione del personale CNR, a partire dallo status quo per ogni profilo professionale.

Here some issues are studied, related to the numerical solution of Richards' equation in a one dimensional spatial domain by a technique based on the Transversal Method of Lines (TMoL). The core idea of TMoL approach is to semi-discretize the time derivative of Richards' equation: afterward a system of second order differential equations in the space variable is derived as an initial value problem. The computational framework of this method requires both Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions at the top of the column. The practical motivation for choosing such a condition is argued. We will show that, with the choice of the aforementioned initial conditions, our TMoL approach brings to solutions comparable with the ones obtained by the classical Methods of Lines (hereafter referred to as MoL) with corresponding standard boundary conditions: in particular, an appropriate norm is introduced for effectively comparing numerical tests obtained by MoL and TMoL approach and a sensitivity analysis between the two methods is performed by means of a mass balance point of view. A further algorithm is introduced for deducing in a self-sustaining way the gradient boundary condition on top in the TMoL context.

In this paper, we consider a class of models describing multiphase fluids in the framework of mixture theory. The considered systems, in their more general form, contain both the gradient of a hydrostatic pressure, generated by an incompressibility constraint, and a compressible pressure depending on the volume fractions of some of the different phases. To approach these systems, we propose an approximation based on the Leray projection, which involves the use of a symbolic symmetrizer for quasi-linear hyperbolic systems and related paradifferential techniques. In two space dimensions, we prove the well-posedness of this approximation and its convergence to the unique classical solution to the original system. In the last part, we shortly discuss the three dimensional case.

We present a rigorous convergence result for smooth solutions to a singular semilinear hyperbolic approximation, called vector-BGK model, to the solutions to the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in Sobolev spaces. Our proof deeply relies on the dissipative properties of the system and on the use of an energy which is provided by a symmetrizer, whose entries are weighted in a suitable way with respect to the singular perturbation parameter. This strategy allows us to perform uniform energy estimates and to prove the convergence by compactness.

In this work we present a methodology for the mapping of Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) temporal variations based on the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Interferometry technique and Sentinel-1 data. The shift in the interferometric phase caused by the refraction of the microwave signal penetrating the snow layer is isolated and exploited to generate maps of temporal variation of SWE from coherent SAR interferograms. The main advantage of the proposed methodology with respect to those based on the inversion of microwave SAR backscattering models is its simplicity and the reduced number of required in-situ SWE measurements. The maps, updated up to every 6 days, can attain a spatial resolution up to 20 m with sub-centimetre ASWE measurement accuracy in any weather and sun illumination condition. We present results obtained using the proposed methodology over a study area in Finland. These results are compared with in-situ measurements of ASWE, showing a reasonable match with a mean accuracy of about 6 mm.

Mathematical modeling and optimization provide decision-support tools of increasing popularity to the management of invasive species. In this paper we investigate problems formulated in terms of optimal control theory. A free terminal time optimal control problem is considered for minimizing the costs and the duration of an abatement program. Here we introduce a discount term in the objective function that destroys the non-autonomous nature of the state-costate system. We show that the alternative state-control optimality system is autonomous and its analysis provides the complete qualitative description of the dynamics of the discounted optimal control problem. By using the expression of its invariant we deduce several insights for detecting the optimal control solution for an invasive species obeying a logistic growth.

A challenging task in the management of Protected Areas is to control the spread of invasive species, either floristic or faunistic, and the preservation of indigenous endangered species, tipically competing for the use of resources in a fragmented habitat. In this paper, we present some mathematical tools that have been recently applied to contain the worrying diffusion of wolf-wild boars in a Southern Italy Protected Area belonging to the Natura 2000 network. They aim to solve the problem according to three different and in some sense complementary approaches: (i) the qualitative one, based on the use of dynamical systems and bifurcation theory; (ii) the Z-control, an error-based neural dynamic approach ; (iii) the optimal control theory. In the case of the wild-boars, the obtained results are illustrated and discussed. To refine the optimal control strategies, a further development is to take into account the spatio-temporal features of the invasive species over large and irregular environments. This approach can be successfully applied, with an optimal allocation of resources, to control an invasive alien species infesting the Alta Murgia National Park: Ailanthus altissima. This species is one of the most invasive species in Europe and its eradication and control is the object of research projects and biodiversity conservation actions in both protected and urban areas [11]. We lastly present, as a further example, the effects of the introduction of the brook trout, an alien salmonid from North America, in naturally fishless lakes of the Gran Paradiso National Park, study site of an on-going H2020 project (ECOPOTENTIAL).

Standard reaction-diffusion systems are characterized by infinite velocities and no persistence in the movement of individuals, two conditions that are violated when considering living organisms. Here we consider a discrete particle model in which individuals move following a persistent random walk with finite speed and grow with logistic dynamics. We show that, when the number of individuals is very large, the individual-based model is well described by the continuous reactive Cattaneo equation (RCE), but for smaller values of the carrying capacity important finite-population effects arise. The effects of fluctuations on the propagation speed are investigated both considering the RCE with a cutoff in the reaction term and by means of numerical simulations of the individual-based model. Finally, a more general Lévy walk process for the transport of individuals is examined and an expression for the front speed of the resulting traveling wave is proposed.

In this talk I shall present different mathematical models aimed to describe evolving thermo-mechanics of ice in different topo-morphological and climatic conditions. Up-to-date computational glaciology address to the intensive use of the large amount of data, gathered in (alpine or polar) on-field campaigns, and to the 'brute force' adaptation of the mathematical modelling of glacier evolution based on Glen's law via phenomenological multi-parametrical functional factors and/or addenda. Although, reasonable to fully satisfactory numerical results have been being obtained with this approach adopted by the most popular open-source computational glaciology codes, with the aim to improve the comprehension of the physical mechanisms and processes, I shall discuss extensions of such models by explicit inclusion of natural phase transition occurrence (inherent and/or at a boundary interface) and by expansion of Glen's constitutive equation in order to take into account the effects of the presence of sand and rock fragments in glacier interstices. Several problems will be discussed: the description of the thermo-mechanical evolution of the icy crust of Europa, Juppiter's satellite; the check of the compatibility of the existence of a subglacial lake at Svalbard archipelago; the reproduction of the borehole measurements at the Murtel-Corvatsch glacier, Grisons Alps, Switzerland. Thus extraterrestrial, polar and alpine environments, respectively, will be considered.

The rheological behaviour of an emulsion made of an active polar component and an isotropic passive fluid is studied by lattice Boltzmann methods. Different flow regimes are found by varying the values of the shear rate and extensile activity (occurring, e.g., in microtubule-motor suspensions). By increasing the activity, a first transition occurs from the linear flow regime to spontaneous persistent unidirectional macro-scale flow, followed by another transition either to a (low shear) intermittent flow regime with the coexistence of states with positive, negative, and vanishing apparent viscosity, or to a (high shear) symmetric shear thinning regime. The different behaviours can be explained in terms of the dynamics of the polarization field close to the walls. A maximum entropy production principle selects the most likely states in the intermittent regime.

The evolution of a geothermal system is studied. A mathematical model is proposed and the corresponding free boundary problem is formulated in a one-dimensional geometry. A situation corresponding to the geothermal field in Larderello, Tuscany (Italy) is considered, showing that the problem has two characteristic time scales, related to the motion of interface and diffusion of vapor. Since the former is much slower, a quasi-steady approximation can be introduced and solved, obtaining a qualitative description of the evolution of the Larderello basin from a liquid-dominated to a vapor-dominated situation. This is in agreement with the geological results.

Dinur and Shamir's cube attack has attracted significant attention in the literature. Nevertheless, the lack of implementations achieving effective results casts doubts on its practical relevance. On the theoretical side, promising results have been recently achieved leveraging on division trails. The present paper follows a more practical approach and aims at giving new impetus to this line of research by means of a cipher-independent flexible framework that is able to carry out the cube attack on GPU/CPU clusters. We address all issues posed by a GPU implementation, providing evidence in support of parallel variants of the attack and identifying viable directions for solving open problems in the future. We report the results of running our GPU-based cube attack against round-reduced versions of three well-known ciphers: Trivium, Grain-128 and SNOW 3G. Our attack against Trivium improves the state of the art, permitting full key recovery for Trivium reduced to (up to) 781 initialization rounds (out of 1152) and finding the first-ever maxterm after 800 rounds. In this paper, we also present the first standard cube attack (i.e., neither dynamic nor tester) to yield maxterms for Grain-128 up to 160 initialization rounds on non-programmable hardware. We include a thorough evaluation of the impact of system parameters and GPU architecture on the performance. Moreover, we demonstrate the scalability of our solution on multi-GPU systems. We believe that our extensive set of results can be useful for the cryptographic engineering community at large and can pave the way to further results in the area.

We consider a nonlinear system of partial differential equations which describes the dynamics of two types of cell densities with contact inhibition. After a change of variables the system turns out to be parabolic-hyperbolic and admits travelling wave solutions which solve a 3D dynamical system. Compared to the scalar Fisher-KPP equation, the structure of the travelling wave solutions is surprisingly rich and to unravel part of it is the aim of the present paper. In particular, we consider a parameter regime where the minimal wave velocity of the travelling wave solutions is negative. We show that there exists a branch of travelling wave solutions for any nonnegative wave velocity, which is not connected to the travelling wave solution with minimal wave velocity. The travelling wave solutions with nonnegative wave velocity are strictly positive, while the solution with minimal one is segregated in the sense that the product uv vanishes.

We introduce and analyze a new, nonlinear fourth-order regularization of forwardbackward parabolic equations. In one space dimension, under general assumptions on the potentials, which include those of Perona-Malik type, we prove existence of Radon measure-valued solutions under both natural and essential boundary conditions. If the decay at infinity of the nonlinearities is sufficiently fast, we also exhibit examples of local solutions whose atomic part arises and/or persists (in contrast to the linear fourth-order regularization) and even disappears within finite time (in contrast to pseudoparabolic regularizations).

-- We prove existence and uniqueness of Radon measure-valued solutions of the Cauchy problem for a first order scalar hyperbolic conservation law in one space dimension, the initial data being a finite superposition of Dirac masses and the flux being Lipschitz continuous, bounded and suciently smooth. The novelty of the paper is the introduction of a compatibility condition which, combined with standard entropy conditions, guarantees uniqueness.

L'idea imprenditoriale da cui prende origine la start-up ProNeuro, nasce come conseguenza del lavoro di ricerca svolto dai soci fondatori presso il Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR). Questo lavoro ha portato negli ultimi 3 anni al deposito di due domande di brevetto italiano, di cui una già estesa in PCT, che proteggono l'utilizzo della molecola ProNGF-A per scopi terapeutici mirati alla cura di patologie neurologiche e infiammatorie (domanda di brevetto Nr. 102018000003279 del 05/03/2018 e PCT/IB2019/051753 del 05/03/2019) e la produzione di una forma mutata di ProNGF-A e il suo utilizzo per terapia neurologica e di patologie cutanee (domanda di brevetto numero 102019000014646 del 12/08/2019). Tali brevetti sono di proprietà del CNR, mentre ProNeuro ha messo a punto un sistema di offerta finalizzato alla loro valorizzazione. Attraverso attività di Ricerca e Sviluppo, ProNeuro individua principi attivi farmacologici con attività protettiva e riparativa per il sistema nervoso, ne modifica la struttura per renderli maggiormente efficaci, sicuri e biocompatibili, mette a punto i metodi produttivi ed esegue le prime fasi di caratterizzazione dei loro effetti, prima di proporli ad aziende farmaceutiche per un successivo sviluppo come farmaci destinati al mercato. ProNeuro commercializza, quindi, i diritti di utilizzo della proprietà intellettuale e una serie di prodotti collegati alle attività di discovery, produzione (trasferimento tecnologico) e prima validazione sia predittiva che biologica di nuovi neurofarmaci. ProNeuro avrà la forma giuridica di Società a responsabilità limitata e si configura come spin-off CNR. Come tale, il rapporto tra la società ProNeuro e il CNR è regolato dal "Regolamento per la costituzione e la partecipazione del CNR alle Imprese Spin off, Del,18/2019". I brevetti sopracitati, attualmente di proprietà del CNR, verranno concessi in licenza a ProNeuro, con possibilità di sub-licenziare a terzi, sulla base del suddetto Regolamento. Questo prevede, infatti, la cessione a condizioni agevolate delle licenze sui brevetti di proprietà CNR, la messa a disposizione di risorse logistiche e strumentali in fase di start-up e l'autorizzazione al proprio personale a svolgere attività a favore delle spin-off, con copertura dei costi salariali per un terzo del tempo lavorativo per tre anni. La sede dell'impresa è stata individuata presso l'Istituto di Farmacologia Traslazionale del CNR, via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Roma

We focus on interacting neurons organized in a block-layered network devoted to the information processing from the sensory system to the brain. Specifically, we consider the firing activity of olfactory sensory neurons, periglomerular, granule and mitral cells in the context of the neuronal activity of the olfactory bulb. We propose and investigate a stochastic model of a layered and modular network to describe the dynamic behavior of each prototypical neuron, taking into account both its role (excitatory/inhibitory) and its location within the network. We adopt specific Gauss-Markov processes suitable to provide reliable estimates of the firing activity of the different neurons, given their linkages. Furthermore, we study the impact of selective excitation/inhibition on the information transmission by means of simulations and numerical estimates obtained through a Volterra integral approach.

The properties of a semiflexible polymer with fixed ends under oscillatory shear flow are investigated by numerical simulations. The polymer is confined in two dimensions and is modeled as a worm-like chain. The interaction with the fluid is taken into account by the Brownian multiparticle collision dynamics approach. For small shear rates, a linear oscillatory response appears. However, at high shear rates, we find a strongly nonlinear behavior with the polymer wrapping around the fixation points and shrinking. The polymer center of mass is distributed on a spatial curve resembling a lima\c{c}on with an inhomogeneous distribution. Normal-mode correlation functions are changed by shear and a frequency doubling is observed at high shear rates. An even-odd asymmetry for the Cartesian components of the correlation functions is found with rather similar spectra for odd $x$- and even $y$-modes and vice versa. Our study yields an interesting nonlinear behavior of anchored semiflexible polymers under oscillatory shear flow. Preliminary results for the case of a semiflexible polymer with one fixed end exposed to oscillatory shear will be also provided.

We consider the Erdös-Rényi random graph G(n,p) and we analyze the simple irreversible epidemic process on the graph, known in the literature as bootstrap percolation. We give a quantitative version of some results by Janson et al. (2012), providing a fine asymptotic analysis of the final size A_n of active nodes, under a suitable super-critical regime. More specifically, we establish large deviation principles for the sequence of random variables n-A_n/f (n) with explicit rate functions and allowing the scaling function f to vary in the widest possible range.