Constraint Centric Scheduling Guide

The advent of architectures with software-exposed resources (Spatial Architectures) has created a demand for universally applicable scheduling techniques. This paper describes our generalized spatial scheduling framework, formulated with Integer Linear Programming, and specifically accomplishes two goals. First, using the ?Simple? architecture, it illustrates how to use our open-source tool to create a customized scheduler and covers problem formulation with ILP and GAMS. Second, it summarizes results on the application to three real architectures (TRIPS,DySER,PLUG), demonstrating the technique?s practicality and competitiveness with existing schedulers

Analisi spettroscopica nel VNIR di rocce ignee - Caratterizzazione composizionale della superficie dei pianeti terrestri

Lo studio da remoto sulla composizione delle superfici dei pianeti interni del sistema solare sta acquisendo maggiore importanza. Infatti, un elevato numero di dati è stato raccolto per la superficie di Marte, e nuovi dati saranno acquisiti nel prossimo futuro per le superfici di Mercurio, Luna e Venere. In modo particolare Mercurio, le cui conoscenze allo stato attuale sono poche, è al centro dell’interesse della comunità scientifica e i dati acquisiti dalle missioni in corso, MESSENGER, e future, BepiColombo, permetteranno di cercare le risposte ai tanti quesiti ancora presenti sulla storia della superficie di questo pianeta. Le conoscenze chimiche e mineralogiche sulla composizione della superficie di un pianeta possono essere raccolte con osservazioni spettroscopiche nel VIS, NIR e MIR da Terra e da orbita. Per l’interpretazione del dato spettrale acquisito da remoto è necessario un database il più ampio possibile ottenuto con analisi di laboratorio. Lo scopo di questa tesi di dottorato è stato quello di caratterizzare spettralmente suite di rocce che provengono da diversi contesti geodinamici noti misurando spettri di riflettanza in laboratorio nel VNIR di superfici e di polveri di rocce magmatiche a carattere basico, sia intrusive, come le cumuliti dello Stillwater Complex, sia effusive, comprendenti i basalti della Pampas Onduladas Flow (POF), ad affinità alcalina, e dell’Islanda, ad affinità tholeiitica. Questo lavoro contribuisce alla costruzione del database di possibili analoghi composizionali della superficie di Mercurio, in corso d’opera da parte di diversi studiosi delle superfici dei pianeti. La scelta di campioni di rocce geneticamente legate tra loro permette di avere la possibilità di effettuare considerazioni sull’evoluzione di alcune aree superficiali di un altro pianeta. Sono state messe in evidenza diverse caratteristiche spettrali che variano, al variare delle associazioni mineralogiche, delle tessiture e delle granulometrie studiate, come ad esempio le variazioni di pendenza del continuo e delle profondità di banda tra i dati acquisiti su polveri a granulometria fine e le slab (superfici di roccia). Sono state caratterizzati gli assorbimenti elettronici caratteristici delle fasi femiche componenti queste rocce, ortopirosseno, clinopirosseno ed olivina, posti a circa 1.00 e 2.00 µm, che sono evidenti e caratterizzabili negli spettri acquisiti sulle polveri, mentre solo la banda posta a circa 1.00 µm rimane evidente nelle misure effettuate sulle slab. Inoltre un approccio empirico è stato seguito per ottenere informazioni composizionali e tessiturali dagli spettri studiati. Si è decomposto la banda di assorbimento posta a circa 1.00 µm di tutti i campioni dello Stillwater Complex che presentavano un basso contenuto di minerali opachi, sia per le polveri che per le slab, e delle polveri, alle diverse granulometrie, dei basalti. La decomposizione è stata effettuata utilizzando EGO, un metodo che utilizza un continuo, definito come una retta in funzione del numero d’onda e descritto da due parametri, intercetta e pendenza, sovrimposto a distribuzioni di gaussiane modificate. Ogni gaussiana modificata è definita da cinque parametri: posizione del centro, profondità, larghezza a metà altezza, asimmetria e appiattimento. Le posizioni del centro banda, la profondità della banda e la larghezza della stessa, descrivono, in particolare, il processo elettronico di assorbimento. Valutando come variano questi parametri e i parametri del continuo, si è visto che: - Le posizioni del centro banda individuano le fasi mineralogiche che determinano gli assorbimenti compositi; i dati ottenuti sono confrontabili con i dati di letteratura relativi ai minerali puri, e permettono quindi di determinare la composizione della fase mineralogica presente (in termini di Fs e Wo). - Le profondità di banda per le rocce intrusive possono essere messe in relazione con l’abbondanza modale delle fasi mineralogiche assorbenti. Si è visto che questa relazione è buona per le firme spettrali acquisite sulle polveri, mentre per i dati sulle slab la relazione migliore si ottiene calcolando la distribuzione del Fe2+ sulla superficie. - I parametri del continuo, pendenza ed intercetta sull’asse della riflettanza, descrivono la forma generale dello spettro, la quale si ritiene sia influenzata da parametri quali la tessitura e la granulometria della roccia. Ciascun parametro del continuo è stato quindi messo in relazione con la granulometria delle tre suite di rocce, osservando che in alcuni casi è possibile effettuare una distinzione delle classi granulometriche. I risultati ottenuti sono stati valutati ai fini dell’esplorazione di Mercurio. Si sono ricalcolati gli spettri acquisiti in questa tesi con la pendenza ottenuta dai primi dati spettrali forniti da MASCS, lo spettrometro ad alta risoluzione di MESSENGER, per simulare spettri con la composizione degli analoghi terrestri ma con le caratteristiche di radianza della superficie di Mercurio. Si è visto come la presenza di materiale ricco in fasi femiche, come noriti o gabbronoriti, metterebbe in evidenza la caratteristica banda di assorbimento, mentre le anortositi presentano una firma spettrale più simile a quella integrata sull’intero disco di Mercurio. Gli spettri delle rocce effusive, a causa della bassa riflettanza e alla minore profondità dell’assorbimento, non mettono in evidenza nessuna banda di assorbimento e risultano molto appiattiti. Inoltre i dati simulati sono stati riportati nel diagramma dei rapporti tra bande utilizzato da Robinson et al. (2008) per definire diverse aree della superficie. I dati simulati delle rocce studiate in questa tesi ricadono parzialmente nei trend descritti da Robinson et al. (2008). I risultati di questo studio espandono il database di analoghi terrestri della composizione della superficie di pianeti e corpi minori rocciosi del sistema solare. I dati presentati riguardano rocce magmatiche appartenenti a suite di contesti geologici diversi, e quindi le caratteristiche spettrali di queste rocce descrivono l’evoluzione dei relativi sistemi geologici e forniscono criteri per l’interpretazione geologica delle composizioni della superficie

The role of very fine particle sizes in the reflectance spectroscopy of plagioclase-bearing mixtures: New understanding for the interpretation of the finest sizes of the lunar regolith

The lunar surface consists of a regolith layer that covers the underlying bedrocks, and is generally char- acterized by particulates < 1 cm. Lunar soil is the fine fraction of the regolith, and is generally between 60 and 80 μm. Sizes < 10 μm, accounting for ca. 5–20% of the soil, were recognized and petrologically classified. The coarsest sizes of the regolith are chemically and mineralogically similar, while the finest fractions are more feldspathic, probably due to easier fracturing of plagioclase than mafic minerals. Due to the more feldspathic nature of the very fine lunar soils, in this paper, we quantitatively inves- tigate the influence of very fine ( < 10 μm) plagioclase on the absorption bands of mafic minerals using the Modified Gaussian Model. We considered two plagioclases with different iron content and two mafic end-members (1) 56% orthopyroxene and 44% clinopyroxene, and (2) 30% orthopyroxene and 70% olivine. We also compared our results with the deconvolution of the same mixtures at coarser sizes. Our results mainly show that: (1) fine sizes act principally on reflectance and on spectral contrast (with the former increasing and the latter decreasing); (2) very fine plagioclase has a blue slope in the Near Infrared and very shallow 1250 nm band depth, close to zero; (3) consequently, the plagioclase band is always shallower than mafic bands; (4) in mixtures with olivine, the composite band center always shows the typical olivine value, differently from coarser mixtures; and (5) mafic materials have a blue slope in the Short Wavelength Infrared Region, a more V-shaped 1 μm pyroxene absorption and the 1 μm mafic band centers are shifted by ca. 40 nm vs. coarse sizes, reflecting a different weight within the crystal field absorption of the mafic component in very fine size. We also evidenced that a coarse plagioclase could be overestimated, while a very fine one could be underestimated if compared with the 63–125 μm size

VNIR spectral characteristics of terrestrial igneous effusive rocks: Mineralogical composition and the influence of texture

The authors would like to thank L. Peruzzo for a useful introduction to the use of the SEM at the GeoScience Department of the University of Padua. Financial support was perovided by Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, SIMBIO-SYS project. The authors would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers, and P. K. Byrne and T. Platz, for their helpful suggestions that improved this manuscript.Visible and Near-Infrared (VNIR) reflectance spectroscopy is an important technique with which to map mineralogy and mineralogical variations across planetary surfaces using remotely sensed data. Absorption bands in this spectral range are due to electronic or molecular processes directly related to mineral families or specific compositions. Effusive igneous rocks are widely recognized materials distributed on the surfaces of terrestrial planets, and are formed by primary minerals that can be discriminated by electronic absorptions (e.g. crystal field absorption). In this paper, we review the current knowledge of effusive rock compositions obtained by crystal field absorption in VNIR reflectance spectroscopy, and consider how different petrographical characteristics influence the mineralogical interpretation of such rock compositions. We show that: (1) the dominant mineralogy can be clearly recognized for crystalline material, especially with relatively large crystal dimension groundmass or high porphyritic index; (2) both grain and crystal size are important factors that influence the spectra of effusive rocks where groundmass is generally characterized by microscopic crystals; and (3) glassy dark components in the groundmass reduce or hide the crystal field absorption of mafic minerals or plagioclase otherwise expected to be present

SLab Database

The SLab Database is the core of the SLab HYDRA project and consists of 2 databases aimed to save and create backups of both data related to the SLab activities @ IAPS and data related to the users interested in participating the activities. The nature of above mentioned two kinds of data is quite different, being the first type related to science and the second type to personal information. This led to the decision of creating two different databases, called SLabData and SLabUsers. In this user manual it will be explained how the databases are structured and how they interact with other components of the SLab HYDRA project

Deconvolution of mixtures with high plagioclase content for the remote interpretation of lunar plagioclase-rich regions

Spectroscopic measurements were carried out at Inaf-IAPS Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Roma. EMPA analyses have been performed at Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Padova. E4 end-member has been kindly provided by Dr. Sabrina Ferrari, Department of Geosciences, University of Padova. Financial support by Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, SIMBIO-SYS project. The authors are also grateful to Leah Cheek and to an anonymous reviewer for the stimulating comments and useful suggestions.Anorthositic rocks are widespread on the lunar surface and have probably been formed by flotation of PL over a magma ocean. A large portion of pristine rocks are characterized by a low Mg/(Mg+Fe) ratio, and have been classified as ferroan anorthosite, and recently, after observation from SELENE Spectral Profiler,pure anorthosites regions with more than 98% PL have been recognized. In this paper, we analyze a set of mixtures with PL content similar to the ferroan anorthosites and to the pure anorthosite regions, using the Origin Software and the Modified Gaussian Model. We consider three plagioclases with varying FeOwt% contents (PL1, PL2 and PL3)andthree mafic end-members (1) 100% orthopyroxene, (2) 56% orthopyroxene and 44% clinopyroxene, and (3) 100% olivine (OL). The spectral parameters considered here are: band depth, band center, band width, c0 (the continuum intercept) and c1 (the continuum offset). Here we have shown that in pyroxene (PX)-bearing mixtures, the PX is distinguishable even in mixtures with only 1% PX and that PX band at ca. 900 nm is always deeper than PL1 band while PL2 and PL3 are deeperthan OPX 900 nm band from 95, 96% PL. In OL-bearing mixtures, OL detection limit is 2% when mixed with PL1, and 3% and 4% if mixed with PL2 and PL3. We also demonstrated how spectral parameters vary with PL%, and, generally, increasing the PL content: (1) 1250 nm band depth decreases when mixed with OL, while it deepens in mixtures with PX; (2) 1250 nm band centers generally move towards longer wavelength for PL1-bearing mixtures, while do not show significant variations considering PL2/PL3-mixtures; (3) 1250 nm band width of PL1 in E1 and E5-mixtures substantially widens while in other mixtures it only slightly varies. Here we also proposed an application to a real case, from Proclus crater, revealing how studying terrestrial analogues is fundamental to infer hypothesis on the mineralogical composition of a planetary surface, but also how the spectral convergence of spectra characterized by different compositions can led to misleading interpretations

SLab Data Manager

The SLab Data Manager is a tool developed for helping activities in IAPS SLab structure. The app has the main goal of allowing researchers in processing and saving spectra saved during the acquisition sessions. Several kinds of processing tools have been made available to create a flexible and useful tool. In this user manual it will be explained how to use the application for acquiring spectra, for processing them and saving raw and processed spectra into the SLab database (DB in the following)

A Study of Thermal Expansion on the Predicted Mercury Surface Minerals: Preparing for MERTIS on BepiColombo

The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission unveiled that most of the detectable surface of Mercury is constituted by low-Fe and Mg-rich basalts [1,2], dismissing the previously assumed widespread presence of more felsic materials - as on the Moon’s surface. In this background, the BepiColombo mission will be fundamental to reveal the residual igneous crust of the Mercury surface, in order to assess its petrogenesis. The Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spec¬trometer (MERTIS) on BepiColombo will be able to provide thermal infrared (TIR) emissivity spectra from 7 to 14 μm. This wavelength range is very useful to identify the structural properties of several silicates, and the position of the emissivity bands provides hints on the solid solutions. In addition to space-weathering degradation and impact-induced structural modifications, the thermal expansion driven by the daily tem¬perature variation of the surface of Mercury significantly affects the crystal structure and density of the present minerals and, consequently, their thermal infrared spectral signature. This behaviour has been recently demonstrated for several common terrestrial mineralogical phases [3,4,5], and could be even predicted for other silicates. A more difficult interpretation of the spectra arises, of course, from the simultaneous presence of different minerals, each one with its characteristic thermal expansion coefficient. In addition to the temperature-dependent spectral variations of single constituents (e.g. plagioclases, olivine, pyroxenes), the DLR Planetary Emissivity Laboratory (PEL) is measuring emissivity spectra of linear mixtures that most likely could be present on the surface of Mercury. To this aim, spectra of binary compositions (e.g., anorthosite, gabbro) and their single-phase components are measured along the MERTIS wavelength range in vacuum from low to high-temperatures - up to 450°C

On the asymmetry of Nathair Facula, Mercury

Nathair Facula is the largest and most spectrally distinct of nearly 200 ‘bright red’ spots (faculae) on Mercury’s surface, most of which are accepted to be deposits from explosive volcanic eruptions. Like most of Mercury’s faculae, it hosts a non-circular central pit (in this case nearly 40 km wide and 3 km deep). However, the center of this facula does not coincide with its central pit’s midpoint. Quantitative analysis of two sets of spectral data shows that the facula’s midpoint is offset by 10-30 km northwards or northeastwards, and probably lies outside the pit. The pit area is almost certainly a ‘compound vent’, within which the locus of eruption has migrated between eruptive episodes. The asymmetry of the facula and the texture of the vent floor are consistent with the most energetic and/or the most recent eruptions having occurred from the northeastern part of the compound vent, but evidence that the center point of the facula lies outside the vent indicates that it may be necessary to invoke an additional factor such as asymmetric eruption fountains

Study of Detection Limits of Carbonate Phases in Mixtures with Basaltic-like Fine Regolith in the MIR (1–5.5 µm) Spectral Range

The presence of minerals formed under the occurrence of liquid water during the first billion years on Mars was a key discovery, but there is still a large number of open issues that make the study of these mineral deposits a main focus of remote sensing and laboratory studies. Moreover, even though there is extensive research related to the study of the spectral behavior of mixtures, we still lack a full understanding of the problem. The main goal of this work is the analysis of the detection limits of hydrated and carbonate phases within mixtures with basaltic-like fine regolith in the spectral region 1.0–5.5 µm (1818–10,000 cm−1). We selected two different basalt samples and mixed them with two carbonate phases: a dolomite and a calcite. Spectral features have been investigated isolating the main carbonate absorption features and overtones; deriving trends of spectral parameters such as band depth, band area, full-width-half-maximum; percentage and grain size variations. The results obtained in this work show how the presence of a basaltic component can strongly influence the appearance of the hydrated and carbonate features showing different trends and intensities depending on the grain size and percentage of the carbonate components