Editorial for the special issue on: IES 2015

Since 2005, the Italian Statistical Society Permanent Group “Statistics for quality evaluation of services” (SVQS Group) organizes a biannual confer- ence. The 6th edition called IES 2015 was held in Bari, 8-9 July, 2015. This special issue of EJASA collects a selection of contributions related to the key words of the conference

Genetic scaling for ordinal variables

This book aims to propose a method to quantify ordinal variables through the optimization of an objective function. There are various methods for quantifying (scaling) ordinal sta-tistical variables, but if the researcher wishes to make comparisons between two or more groups regarding the same feature, he should optimize the differences between their distributions, whether they concern assessments, attitudes, opinions, or other features. To do this, he needs to optimize linear forms and quadratic forms sub-ject to linear constraints of inequality and quadratic constraints of equality. This book suggests a solution to the problem, i.e. the use of ge-netic algorithms. If genetic algorithms are used there’s no need for information about the gradient of the objective function and it’s impossible to get relative and non-absolute extremes. This paper also implements the rules for deciding whether average evalua-tions are equal or not. The next section of this book is intended to apply the above technique in order to quantify the ordinal statistical variables. This method is subjected to clearly-defined objective rules and is, therefore, freed from the researcher’s will, thus being more relia-ble and more consistent than other methods of quantification that are already present in the literature. The method used to compare average evaluations expressed at a qualitative ordinal level is de-scribed in the first part of this paper. Besides, the method itself is validated by comparing the opinions that have been expressed by a sample of university graduates about the effectiveness of uni-versity education in terms of job exploitability; in particular, the interviewed people have been divided according to the different Faculties they attended as students, and to their current job condi-tion. A broad Appendix is given at the end of this book, including the MATLAB® code expressly written to perform this method

Analytical tools for solitons and periodic waves corresponding to phonons on Lennard-Jones lattices in helical proteins

9 pages, 13 figures.-- PACS nrs.: 05.45.Yv, 87.15.-v.-- PMID: 15783440 [PubMed].We study the propagation of solitons along the hydrogen bonds of an alpha helix. Modeling the hydrogen and peptide bonds with Lennard-Jones potentials, we show that the solitons can appear spontaneously and have long lifetimes. Remarkably, even if no explicit solution is known for the Lennard-Jones potential, the solitons can be characterized analytically with a good quantitative agreement using formulas for a Toda potential with parameters fitted to the Lennard-Jones potential. We also discuss and show the robustness of the family of periodic solutions called cnoidal waves, corresponding to phonons. The soliton phenomena described in the simulations of alpha helices may help to explain recent x-ray experiments on long alpha helices in Rhodopsin where a long lifetime of the vibrational modes has been observed.Peer reviewe

Noise-induced macroscopic bifurcations in globally-coupled chaotic units

Large populations of globally-coupled identical maps subjected to independent additive noise are shown to undergo qualitative changes as the features of the stochastic process are varied. We show that for strong coupling, the collective dynamics can be described in terms of a few effective macroscopic degrees of freedom, whose deterministic equations of motion are systematically derived through an order parameter expansion.Comment: Phys. Rev. Lett., accepte

Accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging to identify pseudocapsule invasion in renal tumors

Purpose: To evaluate accuracy of MRI in detecting renal tumor pseudocapsule (PC) invasion and to propose a classification based on imaging of PC status in patients with renal cell carcinoma. Methods: From January 2017 to June 2018, 58 consecutive patients with localized renal cell carcinoma were prospectively enrolled. MRI was performed preoperatively and PC was classified, according to its features, as follows: MRI-Cap 0 (absence of PC), MRI-Cap 1 (presence of a clearly identifiable PC), MRI-Cap 2 (focally interrupted PC), and MRI-Cap 3 (clearly interrupted and infiltrated PC). A 3D image reconstruction showing MRI-Cap score was provided to both surgeon and pathologist to obtain complete preoperative evaluation and to compare imaging and pathology reports. All patients underwent laparoscopic partial nephrectomy. In surgical specimens, PC was classified according to the renal tumor capsule invasion scoring system (i-Cap). Results: A concordance between MRI-Cap and i-Cap was found in 50/58 (86%) cases. ρ coefficient for each MRI-cap and iCap categories was: MRI-Cap 0: 0.89 (p < 0.0001), MRI-Cap1: 0.75 (p < 0.0001), MRI-Cap 2: 0.76 (p < 0.0001), and MRI-Cap3: 0.87 (p < 0.0001). Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and AUC were: MRI-Cap 0: Se 97.87% Spec 83.3%, PPV 95.8%, NPV 90.9%, and AUC 90.9; MRI-Cap 1: Se 77% Spec 95.5%, PPV 83.3%, NPV 93.5%, and AUC 0.86; MRI-Cap 2- iCap 2: Se 88% Spec 90%, PPV 79%, NPV 95%, and AUC 0.89; MRI-Cap 3: Se 94% Spec 95%, PPV 88%, NPV 97%, and AUC 0.94. Conclusions: MRI-Cap classification is accurate in evaluating renal tumor PC features. PC features can provide an imaging-guided landmark to figure out where a minimal margin could be preferable during nephron-sparing surgery

Improved accuracy and spatial resolution for bio-logging-derived chlorophyll a fluorescence measurements in the Southern Ocean

The ocean’s meso- and submeso-scales (1-100 km, days to weeks) host features like filaments and eddies that have a key structuring effect on phytoplankton distribution, but that due to their ephemeral nature, are challenging to observe. This problem is exacerbated in regions with heavy cloud coverage and/or difficult access like the Southern Ocean, where observations of phytoplankton distribution by satellite are sparse, manned campaigns costly, and automated devices limited by power consumption. Here, we address this issue by considering high-resolution in-situ data from 18 bio-logging devices deployed on southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) in the Kerguelen Islands between 2018 and 2020. These devices have submesoscale-resolving capabilities of light profiles due to the high spatio-temporal frequency of the animals’ dives (on average 1.1 +-0.6 km between consecutive dives, up to 60 dives per day), but observations of fluorescence are much coarser due to power constraints. Furthermore, the chlorophyll a concentrations derived from the (uncalibrated) bio-logging devices’ fluorescence sensors lack a common benchmark to properly qualify the data and allow comparisons of observations. By proposing a method based on functional data analysis, we show that a reliable predictor of chlorophyll a concentration can be constructed from light profiles (14 686 in our study). The combined use of light profiles and matchups with satellite ocean-color data enable effective (1) homogenization then calibration of the bio-logging devices’ fluorescence data and (2) filling of the spatial gaps in coarse-grained fluorescence sampling. The developed method improves the spatial resolution of the chlorophyll a field description from ~30 km to ~12 km. These results open the way to empirical study of the coupling between physical forcing and biological response at submesoscale in the Southern Ocean, especially useful in the context of upcoming high-resolution ocean-circulation satellite missions

Global observations of fine-scale ocean surface topography with the surface water and ocean topography (SWOT) mission

© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in [citation], doi:[doi]. Morrow, R., Fu, L., Ardhuin, F., Benkiran, M., Chapron, B., Cosme, E., d'Ovidio, F., Farrar, J. T., Gille, S. T., Lapeyre, G., Le Traon, P., Pascual, A., Ponte, A., Qiu, B., Rascle, N., Ubelmann, C., Wang, J., & Zaron, E. D. Global observations of fine-scale ocean surface topography with the surface water and ocean topography (SWOT) mission. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6(232),(2019), doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00232.The future international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Mission, planned for launch in 2021, will make high-resolution 2D observations of sea-surface height using SAR radar interferometric techniques. SWOT will map the global and coastal oceans up to 77.6∘ latitude every 21 days over a swath of 120 km (20 km nadir gap). Today’s 2D mapped altimeter data can resolve ocean scales of 150 km wavelength whereas the SWOT measurement will extend our 2D observations down to 15–30 km, depending on sea state. SWOT will offer new opportunities to observe the oceanic dynamic processes at scales that are important in the generation and dissipation of kinetic energy in the ocean, and that facilitate the exchange of energy between the ocean interior and the upper layer. The active vertical exchanges linked to these scales have impacts on the local and global budgets of heat and carbon, and on nutrients for biogeochemical cycles. This review paper highlights the issues being addressed by the SWOT science community to understand SWOT’s very precise sea surface height (SSH)/surface pressure observations, and it explores how SWOT data will be combined with other satellite and in situ data and models to better understand the upper ocean 4D circulation (x, y, z, t) over the next decade. SWOT will provide unprecedented 2D ocean SSH observations down to 15–30 km in wavelength, which encompasses the scales of “balanced” geostrophic eddy motions, high-frequency internal tides and internal waves. This presents both a challenge in reconstructing the 4D upper ocean circulation, or in the assimilation of SSH in models, but also an opportunity to have global observations of the 2D structure of these phenomena, and to learn more about their interactions. At these small scales, ocean dynamics evolve rapidly, and combining SWOT 2D SSH data with other satellite or in situ data with different space-time coverage is also a challenge. SWOT’s new technology will be a forerunner for the future altimetric observing system, and so advancing on these issues today will pave the way for our future.The authors were mostly funded through the NASA Physical Oceanography Program and the CNES/TOSCA programs for the SWOT and OSTST Science teams. AnP acknowledges support from the Spanish Research Agency and the European Regional Development Fund (Award No. CTM2016-78607-P). AuP acknowledges support from the ANR EQUINOx (ANR-17-CE01-0006-01)

Controlling chaotic transients: Yorke's game of survival

5 pages, 4 figures.-- PACS nr.: 05.45.Gg, 05.45.Pq.-- PMID: 14995689 [PubMed].We consider the tent map as the prototype of a chaotic system with escapes. We show analytically that a small, bounded, but carefully chosen perturbation added to the system can trap forever an orbit close to the chaotic saddle, even in presence of noise of larger, although bounded, amplitude. This problem is focused as a two-person, mathematical game between two players called "the protagonist" and "the adversary." The protagonist's goal is to survive. He can lose but cannot win; the best he can do is survive to play another round, struggling ad infinitum. In the absence of actions by either player, the dynamics diverge, leaving a relatively safe region, and we say the protagonist loses. What makes survival difficult is that the adversary is allowed stronger "actions" than the protagonist. What makes survival possible is (i) the background dynamics (the tent map here) are chaotic and (ii) the protagonist knows the action of the adversary in choosing his response and is permitted to choose the initial point x(0) of the game. We use the "slope 3" tent map in an example of this problem. We show that it is possible for the protagonist to survive.J.A. and M.S.J. acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology under project BFM2000-0967, and from the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos under projects URJC-PGRAL-2001/02 and URJC-PIGE-02-04. F.d'O. acknowledges financial support from MCyT (Spain) and FEDER, project REN2001-0802-C02-01/MAR (IMAGEN).Peer reviewe

Global Observations of Fine-Scale Ocean Surface Topography With the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Mission

The future international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Mission, planned for launch in 2021, will make high-resolution 2D observations of sea-surface height using SAR radar interferometric techniques. SWOT will map the global and coastal oceans up to 77.6 latitude every 21 days over a swath of 120 km (20 km nadir gap). Today’s 2D mapped altimeter data can resolve ocean scales of 150 km wavelength whereas the SWOT measurement will extend our 2D observations down to 15–30 km, depending on sea state. SWOT will offer new opportunities to observe the oceanic dynamic processes at scales that are important in the generation and dissipation of kinetic energy in the ocean, and that facilitate the exchange of energy between the ocean interior and the upper layer. The active vertical exchanges linked to these scales have impacts on the local and global budgets of heat and carbon, and on nutrients for biogeochemical cycles. This review paper highlights the issues being addressed by the SWOT science community to understand SWOT’s very precise sea surface height (SSH)/surface pressure observations, and it explores how SWOT data will be combined with other satellite and in situ data and models to better understand the upper ocean 4D circulation (x, y, z, t) over the next decade. SWOT will provide unprecedented 2D ocean SSH observations down to 15–30 km in wavelength, which encompasses the scales of “balanced” geostrophic eddy motions, high-frequency internal tides and internal waves. Frontiers in Marine Science | www.frontiersin.org 1 May 2019 | Volume 6 | Article 232 Morrow et al. SWOT Fine-Scale Global Ocean Topography This presents both a challenge in reconstructing the 4D upper ocean circulation, or in the assimilation of SSH in models, but also an opportunity to have global observations of the 2D structure of these phenomena, and to learn more about their interactions. At these small scales, ocean dynamics evolve rapidly, and combining SWOT 2D SSH data with other satellite or in situ data with different space-time coverage is also a challenge. SWOT’s new technology will be a forerunner for the future altimetric observing system, and so advancing on these issues today will pave the way for our future

Frontiers in Fine-Scale in situ Studies: Opportunities During the SWOT Fast Sampling Phase

Conceived as a major new tool for climate studies, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite mission will launch in late 2021 and will retrieve the dynamics of the oceans upper layer at an unprecedented resolution of a few kilometers. During the calibration and validation (CalVal) phase in 2022, the satellite will be in a 1-day-repeat fast sampling orbit with enhanced temporal resolution, sacrificing the spatial coverage. This is an ideal opportunity – unique for many years to come – to coordinate in situ experiments during the same period for a focused study of fine scale dynamics and their broader roles in the Earth system. Key questions to be addressed include the role of fine scales on the ocean energy budget, the connection between their surface and internal dynamics, their impact on plankton diversity, and their biophysical dynamics at the ice margin