Toward Open Science at the European Scale: Geospatial Semantic Array Programming for Integrated Environmental Modelling

[Excerpt] Interfacing science and policy raises challenging issues when large spatial-scale (regional, continental, global) environmental problems need transdisciplinary integration within a context of modelling complexity and multiple sources of uncertainty. This is characteristic of science-based support for environmental policy at European scale, and key aspects have also long been investigated by European Commission transnational research. Approaches (either of computational science or of policy-making) suitable at a given domain-specific scale may not be appropriate for wide-scale transdisciplinary modelling for environment (WSTMe) and corresponding policy-making. In WSTMe, the characteristic heterogeneity of available spatial information and complexity of the required data-transformation modelling (D-TM) appeal for a paradigm shift in how computational science supports such peculiarly extensive integration processes. In particular, emerging wide-scale integration requirements of typical currently available domain-specific modelling strategies may include increased robustness and scalability along with enhanced transparency and reproducibility. This challenging shift toward open data and reproducible research (open science) is also strongly suggested by the potential - sometimes neglected - huge impact of cascading effects of errors within the impressively growing interconnection among domain-specific computational models and frameworks. Concise array-based mathematical formulation and implementation (with array programming tools) have proved helpful in supporting and mitigating the complexity of WSTMe when complemented with generalized modularization and terse array-oriented semantic constraints. This defines the paradigm of Semantic Array Programming (SemAP) where semantic transparency also implies free software use (although black-boxes - e.g. legacy code - might easily be semantically interfaced). A new approach for WSTMe has emerged by formalizing unorganized best practices and experience-driven informal patterns. The approach introduces a lightweight (non-intrusive) integration of SemAP and geospatial tools - called Geospatial Semantic Array Programming (GeoSemAP). GeoSemAP exploits the joint semantics provided by SemAP and geospatial tools to split a complex D-TM into logical blocks which are easier to check by means of mathematical array-based and geospatial constraints. Those constraints take the form of precondition, invariant and postcondition semantic checks. This way, even complex WSTMe may be described as the composition of simpler GeoSemAP blocks. GeoSemAP allows intermediate data and information layers to be more easily and formally semantically described so as to increase fault-tolerance, transparency and reproducibility of WSTMe. This might also help to better communicate part of the policy-relevant knowledge, often diffcult to transfer from technical WSTMe to the science-policy interface. [...

Free and Open Source Software underpinning the European Forest Data Centre

Worldwide, governments are growingly focusing on free and open source software (FOSS) as a move toward transparency and the freedom to run, copy, study, change and improve the software. The European Commission (EC) is also supporting the development of FOSS [...]. In addition to the financial savings, FOSS contributes to scientific knowledge freedom in computational science (CS) and is increasingly rewarded in the science-policy interface within the emerging paradigm of open science. Since complex computational science applications may be affected by software uncertainty, FOSS may help to mitigate part of the impact of software errors by CS community- driven open review, correction and evolution of scientific code. The continental scale of EC science-based policy support implies wide networks of scientific collaboration. Thematic information systems also may benefit from this approach within reproducible integrated modelling. This is supported by the EC strategy on FOSS: "for the development of new information systems, where deployment is foreseen by parties outside of the EC infrastructure, [F]OSS will be the preferred choice and in any case used whenever possible". The aim of this contribution is to highlight how a continental scale information system may exploit and integrate FOSS technologies within the transdisciplinary research underpinning such a complex system. A European example is discussed where FOSS innervates both the structure of the information system itself and the inherent transdisciplinary research for modelling the data and information which constitute the system content. [...

Coronary Artery Stenting Affects Wall Shear Stress Topological Skeleton

Despite the important advancements in the stent technology for the treatment of diseased coronary arteries, major complications still affect the postoperative long-term outcome. The stent-induced flow disturbances, and especially the altered wall shear stress (WSS) profile at the strut level, play an important role in the pathophysiological mechanisms leading to stent thrombosis (ST) and in-stent restenosis (ISR). In this context, the analysis of the WSS topological skeleton is gaining more and more interest by extending the current understanding of the association between local hemodynamics and vascular diseases. This study aims to analyze the impact that a deployed coronary stent has on the WSS topological skeleton. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed in three stented human coronary artery geometries reconstructed from clinical images. The selected cases presented stents with different designs (i.e., two contemporary drug-eluting stents and one bioresorbable scaffold) and included regions with stent malapposition or overlapping. A recently proposed Eulerian-based approach was applied to analyze the WSS topological skeleton features. The results highlighted that the presence of single or multiple stents within a coronary artery markedly impacts the WSS topological skeleton. In particular, repetitive patterns of WSS divergence were observed at the luminal surface, highlighting a WSS contraction action exerted proximal to the stent struts and a WSS expansion action distal to the stent struts. This WSS action pattern was independent from the stent design. In conclusion, these findings could contribute to a deeper understanding of the hemodynamics-driven processes underlying ST and ISR

Measurements and tests on FBK silicon sensors with an optimized electronic design for a CTA camera

In October 2013, the Italian Ministry approved the funding of a Research & Development (R&D) study, within the "Progetto Premiale TElescopi CHErenkov made in Italy (TECHE)", devoted to the development of a demonstrator for a camera for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) consortium. The demonstrator consists of a sensor plane based on the Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) technology and on an electronics designed for signal sampling. Preliminary tests on a matrix of sensors produced by the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK-Trento, Italy) and on electronic prototypes produced by SITAEL S.p.A. will be presented. In particular, we used different designs of the electronics in order to optimize the output signals in terms of tail cancellation. This is crucial for applications where a high background is expected, as for the CTA experiment.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures; Proceedings of the 10th Workshop on Science with the New Generation of High-Energy Gamma-ray experiments (SciNeGHE) - PoS(Scineghe2014)00

Quantum Phase Transition of Randomly-Diluted Heisenberg Antiferromagnet on a Square Lattice

Ground-state magnetic properties of the diluted Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a square lattice are investigated by means of the quantum Monte Carlo method with the continuous-time loop algorithm. It is found that the critical concentration of magnetic sites is independent of the spin size S, and equal to the two-dimensional percolation threshold. However, the existence of quantum fluctuations makes the critical exponents deviate from those of the classical percolation transition. Furthermore, we found that the transition is not universal, i.e., the critical exponents significantly depend on S.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages including 5 EPS figure

In and out domains. Playful principles to in-form urban solutions

The implementation of games in architecture and urban planning has a long history since the 1960s and is still a preferential tool to foster public participation and address contemporary spatial – and social - conflicts within the urban fabric. Moreover, in the last decade, we have seen the rise of urban play as a tool for community building, and city-making and Western society is actively focusing on play/playfulness – together with ludic dynamics and mechanics - as an applied methodology to deal with complex challenges, and deeper comprehend emergent situations. In this paper, we aim to initiate a dialogue between game scholars and architects through the use of the PLEX/CIVIC framework. Like many creative professions, we believe that architectural practice may benefit significantly from having more design methodologies at hand, thus improving lateral thinking. We aim at providing new conceptual and operative tools to discuss and reflect on how games facilitate long-term planning processes and help to solve migration issues, allowing citizens themselves to take their responsibility and contribute to durable solutions

Performance of a multigap RPC prototype for the LHCb muon system

Several technologies are under consideration for the muon system of the LHCb experiment. Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) are one of the favourite candidates for the outer areas where the particle fluxes are expected to be at most some kHz/cm/sup 2/. This work describes the results obtained with a multigap RPC prototype under various beam conditions at the CERN facilities. (9 refs)

Classical Correlation-Length Exponent in Non-Universal Quantum Phase Transition of Diluted Heisenberg Antiferromagnet

Critical behavior of the quantum phase transition of a site-diluted Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a square lattice is investigated by means of the quantum Monte Carlo simulation with the continuous-imaginary-time loop algorithm. Although the staggered spin correlation function decays in a power law with the exponent definitely depending on the spin size $S$, the correlation-length exponent is classical, i.e., $\nu=4/3$. This implies that the length scale characterizing the non-universal quantum phase transition is nothing but the mean size of connected spin clusters.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Stalking influenza by vaccination with pre-fusion headless HA mini-stem.

Inaccuracies in prediction of circulating viral strain genotypes and the possibility of novel reassortants causing a pandemic outbreak necessitate the development of an anti-influenza vaccine with increased breadth of protection and potential for rapid production and deployment. The hemagglutinin (HA) stem is a promising target for universal influenza vaccine as stem-specific antibodies have the potential to be broadly cross-reactive towards different HA subtypes. Here, we report the design of a bacterially expressed polypeptide that mimics a H5 HA stem by protein minimization to focus the antibody response towards the HA stem. The HA mini-stem folds as a trimer mimicking the HA prefusion conformation. It is resistant to thermal/chemical stress, and it binds to conformation-specific, HA stem-directed broadly neutralizing antibodies with high affinity. Mice vaccinated with the group 1 HA mini-stems are protected from morbidity and mortality against lethal challenge by both group 1 (H5 and H1) and group 2 (H3) influenza viruses, the first report of cross-group protection. Passive transfer of immune serum demonstrates the protection is mediated by stem-specific antibodies. Furthermore, antibodies indudced by these HA stems have broad HA reactivity, yet they do not have antibody-dependent enhancement activity

Small bound for birational automorphism groups of algebraic varieties (with an Appendix by Yujiro Kawamata)

We give an effective upper bound of |Bir(X)| for the birational automorphism group of an irregular n-fold (with n = 3) of general type in terms of the volume V = V(X) under an ''albanese smoothness and simplicity'' condition. To be precise, |Bir(X)| < d_3 V^{10}. An optimum linear bound |Bir(X)|-1 < (1/3)(42)^3 V is obtained for those 3-folds with non-maximal albanese dimension. For all n > 2, a bound |Bir(X)| < d_n V^{10} is obtained when alb_X is generically finite, alb(X) is smooth and Alb(X) is simple.Comment: Mathematische Annalen, to appea