A-DInSAR performance for updating landslide inventory in mountain areas. An example from Lombardy region (Italy)

This work focuses on the capabilities and limitations of the Advanced Satellite SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) Interferometry (A-DInSAR) in wooded and mountainous regions, with the aim to get insights on the performances for studying slow-moving landslides. The considered critical issues are related to the SAR acquisition geometries (angle of incidence of the satellite line of sight, ascending and descending geometries) and to the physical and morphological features of the slopes (land use, aspect and slope angles), which influence the measuring points coverage. 26 areas in Lombardy Region (Italy), affected by known slope instability phenomena, have been analyzed through A-DInSAR technique, using COSMO-SkyMed images. The results allowed to outline general considerations about the effectiveness of A-DInSAR analysis of a single dataset (descending or ascending dataset), selected accordingly to the aspect of the slopes. Moreover, we aimed to quantitatively describe the capability to update the state of activity of several previously mapped landslides using satellite SAR Interferometry results. Although in a wooded and mountainous region, where the chances of retrieving radar targets for satellite SAR analysis are generally low, the A-DInSAR results have allowed to detect landslides’ reactivations or new landslides and to update the inventory for about 70% of the investigated areas

Advanced insulating materials contributing to “carbon neutrality”: Opportunities, issues and challenges

This article is the Editorial of the Special Issue of High Voltage dedicated to Advanced insulating materials contributing to “carbon neutrality”, showing their opportunities, issues and challenge

Remote sensing monitoring of the Pietrafitta earth flows in Southern Italy. An integrated approach based on multi-sensor data

Earth flows are complex gravitational events characterised by a heterogeneous displacement pattern in terms of scale, style, and orientation. As a result, their monitoring, for both knowledge and emergency purposes, represents a relevant challenge in the field of engineering geology. This paper aims to assess the capabilities, peculiarities, and limitations of different remote sensing monitoring techniques through their application to the Pietrafitta earth flow (Southern Italy). The research compared and combined data collected during the main landslide reactivations by different ground-based remote sensors such as Robotic Total Station (R-TS), Terrestrial Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (T-InSAR), and Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS), with data being derived by satellite-based Digital Image Correlation (DIC) analysis. The comparison between R-TS and T-InSAR measurements showed that, despite their different spatial and temporal resolutions, the observed deformation trends remain approximately coherent. On the other hand, DIC analysis was able to detect a kinematic process, such as the expansion of the landslide channel, which was not detected by the other techniques used. The results suggest that, when faced with complex events, the use of a single monitoring technique may not be enough to fully observe and understand the processes taking place. Therefore, the limitations of each different technique alone can be solved by a multi-sensor monitoring approach

High-momentum dynamic structure function of liquid 3He-4He mixtures: a microscopic approach

The high-momentum dynamic structure function of liquid 3He-4He mixtures has been studied introducing final state effects. Corrections to the impulse approximation have been included using a generalized Gersch-Rodriguez theory that properly takes into account the Fermi statistics of 3He atoms. The microscopic inputs, as the momentum distributions and the two-body density matrices, correspond to a variational (fermi)-hypernetted chain calculation. The agreement with experimental data obtained at $q=23.1$ \AA$^{-1}$ is not completely satisfactory, the comparison being difficult due to inconsistencies present in the scattering measurements. The significant differences between the experimental determinations of the 4He condensate fraction and the 3He kinetic energy, and the theoretical results, still remain unsolved.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Conformation of the Transmembrane Domain of the Anthrax Toxin Receptor

Restauració dels vitrallsFoto final, plafó a6, cara interna, amb llum a través. Geomètric

Properties of the hyperpolarizing-activated current (if) in cells isolated from the rabbit sino-atrial node

Individual cells were isolated from the sino-atrial node area of the rabbit heart using an enzyme medium containing collagenase and elastase. After enzymatic treatment the cells were placed in normal Tyrode solution, where beating resumed in a fraction of them. Isolated cells were studied in the whole cell configuration. Action potentials as well as membrane currents under voltage-clamp conditions were similar to those in multicellular preparations. Pulses to voltages more negative than about -50 mV caused activation of the hyperpolarizing-activated current, if. Investigation of the properties of this current was carried out under conditions that limited the influence of other current systems during voltage clamp. The if current activation range usually extended approximately from -50 to -100 mV, but varied from cell to cell. In several cases, pulsing to the region of -40 mV elicited a sizeable if. Both current activation and deactivation during voltage steps had S-shaped time courses. A high variability was however observed in the sigmoidal behaviour of if kinetics. Plots of the fully-activated current-voltage (I-V) relation in different extracellular Na and K concentrations showed that both ions carry the current if. While changes in the external Na concentration caused the current I-V relation to undergo simple shifts along the voltage axis, changes in extracellular K concentration were also associated with changes in its slope. Again, a large variability was observed in the increase of I-V slope on raising the external K concentration. The current if was strongly depressed by Cs, and the block induced by 5 mM-Cs was markedly voltage dependent. Adrenaline (1-5 microM) and noradrenaline (1 microM) increased the current if around the half-activation voltage range and accelerated its activation at more negative voltages. Often, however, drug application failed to elicit any modification of if. Current run-down was observed in nearly all cells, although at a highly variable rate. It was accelerated by raising the extracellular K concentration but did not show a marked use dependence. Both the if activation curve and the fully activated I-V relation were affected by run-down, the former being shifted to more negative values along the voltage axis and the latter being depressed with no apparent change of the if reversal potential

Azimuthal Correlation in Lepton-Hadron Scattering via Charged Weak-Current Processes

We consider the azimuthal correlation of the final-state particles in charged weak-current processes. This correlation provides a test of perturbative quantum chromodynamics. The azimuthal asymmetry is large in the semi-inclusive processes in which we identify a final-state hadron, say, a charged pion compared to that in the inclusive processes in which we do not identify final-state particles and use only the calorimetric information. In semi-inclusive processes the azimuthal asymmetry is more conspicuous when the incident lepton is an antineutrino or a positron than when the incident lepton is a neutrino or an electron. We analyze all the possible charged weak-current processes and study the quantitative aspects of each process. We also compare this result to the ep scattering with a photon exchange.Comment: 25 pages, 2 Postscript figures, uses RevTeX, fixes.st

Factorization methods for Noncommutative KP and Toda hierarchy

We show that the solution space of the noncommutative KP hierarchy is the same as that of the commutative KP hierarchy owing to the Birkhoff decomposition of groups over the noncommutative algebra. The noncommutative Toda hierarchy is introduced. We derive the bilinear identities for the Baker--Akhiezer functions and calculate the $N$-soliton solutions of the noncommutative Toda hierarchy.Comment: 7 pages, no figures, AMS-LaTeX, minor corrections, final version to appear in Journal of Physics

Time correlations in a confined magnetized free-electron gas

The time-dependent pair correlation functions for a degenerate ideal quantum gas of charged particles in a uniform magnetic field are studied on the basis of equilibrium statistics. In particular, the influence of a flat hard wall on the correlations is investigated, both for a perpendicular and a parallel orientation of the wall with respect to the field. The coherent and incoherent parts of the time-dependent structure function in position space are determined from an expansion in terms of the eigenfunctions of the one-particle Hamiltonian. For the bulk of the system, the intermediate scattering function and the dynamical structure factor are derived by taking successive Fourier transforms. In the vicinity of the wall the time-dependent coherent structure function is found to decay faster than in the bulk. For coinciding positions near the wall the form of the structure function turns out to be independent of the orientation of the wall. Numerical results are shown to corroborate these findings.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, to be published in Journal of Physics