Evaluating the performance of SURFEXv5 as a new land surface scheme for the ALADINcy36 and ALARO-0 models

The newly developed land surface scheme SURFEX (SURFace EXternalisee) is implemented into a limited-area numerical weather prediction model running operationally in a number of countries of the ALADIN and HIRLAM consortia. The primary question addressed is the ability of SURFEX to be used as a new land surface scheme and thus assessing its potential use in an operational configuration instead of the original ISBA (Interactions between Soil, Biosphere, and Atmosphere) scheme. The results show that the introduction of SURFEX either shows improvement for or has a neutral impact on the 2m temperature, 2m relative humidity and 10m wind. However, it seems that SURFEX has a tendency to produce higher maximum temperatures at high-elevation stations during winter daytime, which degrades the 2m temperature scores. In addition, surface radiative and energy fluxes improve compared to observations from the Cabauw tower. The results also show that promising improvements with a demonstrated positive impact on the forecast performance are achieved by introducing the town energy balance (TEB) scheme. It was found that the use of SURFEX has a neutral impact on the precipitation scores. However, the implementation of TEB within SURFEX for a high-resolution run tends to cause rainfall to be locally concentrated, and the total accumulated precipitation obviously decreases during the summer. One of the novel features developed in SURFEX is the availability of a more advanced surface data assimilation using the extended Kalman filter. The results over Belgium show that the forecast scores are similar between the extended Kalman filter and the classical optimal interpolation scheme. Finally, concerning the vertical scores, the introduction of SURFEX either shows improvement for or has a neutral impact in the free atmosphere

Meshless electrophysiological modeling of cardiac resynchronization therapy—benchmark analysis with finite-element methods in experimental data

Computational models of cardiac electrophysiology are promising tools for reducing the rates of non-response patients suitable for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) by optimizing electrode placement. The majority of computational models in the literature are mesh-based, primarily using the finite element method (FEM). The generation of patient-specific cardiac meshes has traditionally been a tedious task requiring manual intervention and hindering the modeling of a large number of cases. Meshless models can be a valid alternative due to their mesh quality independence. The organization of challenges such as the CRT-EPiggy19, providing unique experimental data as open access, enables benchmarking analysis of different cardiac computational modeling solutions with quantitative metrics. We present a benchmark analysis of a meshless-based method with finite-element methods for the prediction of cardiac electrical patterns in CRT, based on a subset of the CRT-EPiggy19 dataset. A data assimilation strategy was designed to personalize the most relevant parameters of the electrophysiological simulations and identify the optimal CRT lead configuration. The simulation results obtained with the meshless model were equivalent to FEM, with the most relevant aspect for accurate CRT predictions being the parameter personalization strategy (e.g., regional conduction velocity distribution, including the Purkinje system and CRT lead distribution). © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

3D MRI of explanted sheep hearts with submillimeter isotropic spatial resolution: comparison between diffusion tensor and structure tensor imaging

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study is to compare structure tensor imaging (STI) with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of the sheep heart (approximately the same size as the human heart). MATERIALS AND METHODS: MRI acquisition on three sheep ex vivo hearts was performed at 9.4 T/30 cm with a seven-element RF coil. 3D FLASH with an isotropic resolution of 150 µm and 3D spin-echo DTI at 600 µm were performed. Tensor analysis, angles extraction and segments divisions were performed on both volumes. RESULTS: A 3D FLASH allows for visualization of the detailed structure of the left and right ventricles. The helix angle determined using DTI and STI exhibited a smooth transmural change from the endocardium to the epicardium. Both the helix and transverse angles were similar between techniques. Sheetlet organization exhibited the same pattern in both acquisitions, but local angle differences were seen and identified in 17 segments representation. DISCUSSION: This study demonstrated the feasibility of high-resolution MRI for studying the myocyte and myolaminar architecture of sheep hearts. We presented the results of STI on three whole sheep ex vivo hearts and demonstrated a good correspondence between DTI and STI

Chaste: an open source C++ library for computational physiology and biology

Chaste - Cancer, Heart And Soft Tissue Environment - is an open source C++ library for the computational simulation of mathematical models developed for physiology and biology. Code development has been driven by two initial applications: cardiac electrophysiology and cancer development. A large number of cardiac electrophysiology studies have been enabled and performed, including high performance computational investigations of defibrillation on realistic human cardiac geometries. New models for the initiation and growth of tumours have been developed. In particular, cell-based simulations have provided novel insight into the role of stem cells in the colorectal crypt. Chaste is constantly evolving and is now being applied to a far wider range of problems. The code provides modules for handling common scientific computing components, such as meshes and solvers for ordinary and partial differential equations (ODEs/PDEs). Re-use of these components avoids the need for researchers to "re-invent the wheel" with each new project, accelerating the rate of progress in new applications. Chaste is developed using industrially-derived techniques, in particular test-driven development, to ensure code quality, re-use and reliability. In this article we provide examples that illustrate the types of problems Chaste can be used to solve, which can be run on a desktop computer. We highlight some scientific studies that have used or are using Chaste, and the insights they have provided. The source code, both for specific releases and the development version, is available to download under an open source Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) licence at http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/chaste, together with details of a mailing list and links to documentation and tutorials

Investigation of two-wave mixing in arbitrary oriented sillenite crystals

A generalized systematic description of the Two-Wave Mixing (TWM) process in sillenite crystals allowing for arbitrary orientation of the grating vector is presented. An analytical expression for the TWM gain is obtained for the special case of plane waves in a thin crystal(\g\d much less than 1) with large optical activity(\g\rho much less than 1, g is the coupling constant, rho the rotatory power, d the crystal thickness). Using a two-dimensional formulation the scope of the nonlinear equations describing TWM can be extended to finite beams in arbitrary geometries and to any crystal parameters. Two promising applications of this formulation are proposed. The polarization dependence of the TWM gain is used for the flattening of Gaussian beam profiles without expanding them. The dependence of the TWM gain on the interaction length is used for the determination of the crystal orientation. Experiments carried out on Bi12GeO20O crystals of a non-standard cut are in good agreement with the results of modelling

Optical activity in photorefractive Bi12TiO20

The influence of optical activity on two-wave mixing (TWM) in photorefractive BTO and BSO crystals in the absence of an applied field is studied both theoretically and experimentally. For the conventinal orientations of the grating vector, K parallel to [001] and K perpendicular to [001], the piezoelectric and photoelastic effects are either zero or negligible. This makes an analytical treatment of the TWM problem possible. We obtain an analytical solution for the coupled wave equations of TWM valid for arbitrary optical activity. This result is of special importance for BTO crystals. In these crystals under the condition of maximum energy transfer (\K\r(D) = 1, where r(D) is the Debye radius) neither the approximation of small optical activity nor the one of dominating optical activity is applicable and our analytical solution becomes essential. Our experimental setup uses beams with a trapezoidal overlap that allow us to study the thickness-dependence of the gain in a single measurement. Experimental and theoretical results for a BTO crystal are compared with those for a BSO crystal and are explained in the framework of the model used

Modeling the ocean and atmosphere during an extreme bora event in northern Adriatic using one-way and two-way atmosphere-ocean coupling

We have studied the performances of (a) a two-way coupled atmosphere-ocean modeling system and (b) one-way coupled ocean model (forced by the atmosphere model), as compared to the available in situ measurements during and after a strong Adriatic bora wind event in February 2012, which led to extreme air-sea interactions. The simulations span the period between January and March 2012. The models used were ALADIN (Aire Limiteé Adaptation dynamique Développement InterNational) (4.4 km resolution) on the atmosphere side and an Adriatic setup of Princeton ocean model (POM) (130 × 130 angular resolution) on the ocean side. The atmosphere-ocean coupling was implemented using the OASIS3-MCT model coupling toolkit. Two-way coupling ocean feedback to the atmosphere is limited to sea surface temperature. We have compared modeled atmosphere-ocean fluxes and sea temperatures from both setups to platform and CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) measurements from three locations in the northern Adriatic. We present objective verification of 2 m atmosphere temperature forecasts using mean bias and standard deviation of errors scores from 23 meteorological stations in the eastern part of Italy. We show that turbulent fluxes from both setups differ up to 20 % during the bora but not significantly before and after the event. When compared to observations, two-way coupling ocean temperatures exhibit a 4 times lower root mean square error (RMSE) than those from one-way coupled system. Two-way coupling improves sensible heat fluxes at all stations but does not improve latent heat loss. The spatial average of the two-way coupled atmosphere component is up to 0.3 °C colder than the one-way coupled setup, which is an improvement for prognostic lead times up to 20 h. Daily spatial average of the standard deviation of air temperature errors shows 0.15 °C improvement in the case of coupled system compared to the uncoupled. Coupled and uncoupled circulations in the northern Adriatic are predominantly wind-driven and show no significant mesoscale differences. © 2016 Author(s)

Modeling the ocean and atmosphere during an extreme bora event in northern Adriatic using one-way and two-way atmosphere–ocean coupling

We have studied the performances of (a) a two-way coupled atmosphere–ocean modeling system and (b) one-way coupled ocean model (forced by the atmosphere model), as compared to the available in situ measurements during and after a strong Adriatic bora wind event in February 2012, which led to extreme air–sea interactions. The simulations span the period between January and March 2012. The models used were ALADIN (Aire Limitée Adaptation dynamique Développement InterNational) (4.4 km resolution) on the atmosphere side and an Adriatic setup of Princeton ocean model (POM) (1°∕30 × 1°∕30 angular resolution) on the ocean side. The atmosphere–ocean coupling was implemented using the OASIS3-MCT model coupling toolkit. Two-way coupling ocean feedback to the atmosphere is limited to sea surface temperature. We have compared modeled atmosphere–ocean fluxes and sea temperatures from both setups to platform and CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) measurements from three locations in the northern Adriatic. We present objective verification of 2 m atmosphere temperature forecasts using mean bias and standard deviation of errors scores from 23 meteorological stations in the eastern part of Italy. We show that turbulent fluxes from both setups differ up to 20 % during the bora but not significantly before and after the event. When compared to observations, two-way coupling ocean temperatures exhibit a 4 times lower root mean square error (RMSE) than those from one-way coupled system. Two-way coupling improves sensible heat fluxes at all stations but does not improve latent heat loss. The spatial average of the two-way coupled atmosphere component is up to 0.3 °C colder than the one-way coupled setup, which is an improvement for prognostic lead times up to 20 h. Daily spatial average of the standard deviation of air temperature errors shows 0.15 °C improvement in the case of coupled system compared to the uncoupled. Coupled and uncoupled circulations in the northern Adriatic are predominantly wind-driven and show no significant mesoscale differences

Evaluating the performance of SURFEXv5 as a new land surface scheme for the ALADINcy36 and ALARO-0 models

status: publishe