A traffic flow model with non-smooth metric interaction: well-posedness and micro-macro limit

We prove existence and uniqueness of solutions to a transport equation modelling vehicular traffic in which the velocity field depends non-locally on the downstream traffic density via a discontinuous anisotropic kernel. The result is obtained recasting the problem in the space of probability measures equipped with the $\infty$-Wasserstein distance. We also show convergence of solutions of a finite dimensional system, which provide a particle method to approximate the solutions to the original problem

INFLUENCE OF MATERIAL CHARACTERIZATION IN THE DESIGN OF TUNNEL LIGHTING INSTALLATIONS

The paper describes the influence of the characterisation of reflectance behaviour of tunnel pavements and wall materials on the tunnel lighting design. CIE 189 document suggests considering lambertian behaviour for inter-reflection calculations for road luminance evaluation at design stage, because, unfortunately, no bi-directional reflection data for tunnel surfaces are commonly available. This simplification is supported by the low impact of inter- reflection contribution to road luminance. A European funded research project ha the task of developing the metrological support for the road surface characterisation in new geometries of measurements. The paper suggests to apply the outcomes on new geometries to tunnel wall materials characterisation suggesting that the suggested SURFACE observation angle of 2.29° can be useful for short tunnel too, including wall surfaces

Origin of X-shaped radio-sources: further insights from the properties of their host galaxies

We analyze the properties of a sample of X-shaped radio-sources (XRSs). These objects show, in addition to the main lobes, a pair of wings producing their peculiar radio morphology. We obtain our sample by selecting from the initial list of Cheung (2007, AJ, 133, 2097) the 53 galaxies with the better defined wings and with available SDSS images. We identified the host galaxies and measured their optical position angle, obtaining a positive result in 22 cases. The orientation of the secondary radio structures shows a strong connection with the optical axis, with all (but one) wing forming a angle larger than 40 degrees with the host major axis. The probability that this is compatible with a uniform distribution is P = 0.9 10E-4. Spectra are available from the SDSS for 28 XRSs. We modeled them to extract information on their emission lines and stellar population properties. The sample is formed by approximately the same number of high and low excitation galaxies (HEG and LEG); this classification is essential for a proper comparison with non-winged radio-galaxies. XRSs follow the same relations between radio and line luminosity defined by radio-galaxies in the 3C sample. While in HEGs a young stellar population is often present, this is not detected in the 13 LEGs, again in agreement with the properties of non XRSs. The lack of young stars in LEGs support the idea that they did not experiences a recent gas rich merger. The connection between the optical axis and the wings orientation, as well as the stellar population and emission lines properties, provide further support for an hydro-dynamic origin of the radio-wings (for example associated with the expansion of the radio cocoon in an asymmetric external medium) rather than with a change of orientation of the jet axis.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

Consistency and stability of risk indicators: The case of road infrastructures

Over the last decade, the World Road Association – PIARC and several European research projects, among which Ecoroads, have encouraged a promising reflection on risk analysis methods, acceptance criteria and safety practices applied to the road system. The goal of this research activity is the definition of best practice for safety analysis and management to be applied to network TERN (Trans European Road Network). Quantitative Risk Analysis (QRA) provides much information on safety management. Nevertheless, the potential fragility of the method, stochastic uncertainties (both parameters and models), and ethical aspect of criteria must be adequately analyzed. This paper focuses on all these aspects, assessing the reliability of QRA due to modeling errors and statistical errors, and assessing the statistical consistency of Risk Indicators of QRA

Linear stability analysis of magnetized relativistic rotating jets

We carry out a linear stability analysis of a magnetized relativistic rotating cylindrical jet flow using the approximation of zero thermal pressure. We identify several modes of instability in the jet: Kelvin-Helmholtz, current driven and two kinds of centrifugal-buoyancy modes -- toroidal and poloidal. The Kelvin-Helmholtz mode is found at low magnetization and its growth rate depends very weakly on the pitch parameter of the background magnetic field and on rotation. The current driven mode is found at high magnetization, the values of its growth rate and the wavenumber, corresponding to the maximum growth, increase as we decrease the pitch parameter of the background magnetic field. This mode is stabilized by rotation, especially, at high magnetization. The centrifugal-buoyancy modes, arising due to rotation, tend also to be more stable when magnetization is increased. Overall, relativistic jet flows appear to be more stable with respect to their non-relativistic counterpart.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures, accepted for pubblication in MNRA

Heats of adsorption of aliphatic alcohols on α-Al2O3 at 25-200°C. II. Variations with chain length

The adsorption of the first five members of the aliphatic alcohol series on α-Al2O3 has been studied at 25–200°C by means of a heat-flow Calvet microcalorimeter (moderately high temperature). At very low coverage and at 25°C, the values of the differential heats of adsorption of the different alcohols were very high (250–200 kJ/mol) and were apparently independent of the chain length. However, at average coverage, the chain length of the alcohol began to influence both the values and the trends in the differential heats of adsorption of the various alcohols on α-Al2O3. Finally, at high coverage, it was found that the incorporation of each additional –CH2–group in the homologous series led to a decrease in both the integral heat of adsorption and the amount of alcohol adsorbed according to the series MeOH > EtOH > 1-PrOH > 1-BuOH > 1-PeOH. Increasing the temperature led to an increasing dependence of the differential heat on the chain length of the alcohol. In addition, from measurements of the thermokinetic parameters for the heat emission peaks for the adsorbed alcohols, it has been deduced that all five aliphatic alcohols studied adsorb on to an α-Al2O3 surface in an open-chain perpendicular fashion

The Italian mortgage market: characteristics, evolution and regional differences. Evidence from a bank survey

The paper reviews the supply of different mortgage instruments to Italian households by means of data obtained from a survey conducted in 2007 by the Bank of Italy over more than 300 banks. The results document significant innovations in housing finance in the last five years: a greater variety of mortgage products is supplied, along with a widespread easing of borrowing constraints facing households. The supply of new products is already routinely provided by large and medium banks, while it is spreading among local cooperative banks. It is significantly higher among banks which have adopted credit scoring techniques to select clients.mortgages, financial innovation, credit scoring

The poetical strategy of Aśvaghoṣa: the Brahmanical image of phena ‘foam’ in a doctrinally inspired Buddhist poetry

This article aims to explore the new poetical strategy devised by the famous poet Aśvaghoṣa (2nd CE), a Brahmin  converted to Buddhism, in order to promote the Buddhist doctrine: his works represent that cultural syncretism, which  was supported by the policy of the Kuṣāṇa dynasty, spanning over three centuries in the northern India. Such a cultural  environment stimulated new communicative strategies, especially on occasion of doctrinal debates, which must be held  between the promoters of the Brahmanical counter-reformation movement, developed since the last centuries BCE – as  assumable from the Brahmanical epics, especially the Mahābhārata –, and the challenging innovative Buddhist currents,  such as the (Mūla)Sarvāstivāda school, attested in the Mathurā region, with which also Aśvaghoṣa must be affiliated.  Against such a cultural background, the learned Aśvaghoṣa elaborated a sophisticated poetics, consisting not only of mere  ornamentation, according to the earlier kāvya models, represented by the Brahmanical Rāmāyaṇa, but also of deeply  complex inter-textual connections, made of flowing analogical suggestions, even inconsistent, producing a sort of  ‘multistable’ perception of reality. Thus, an innovative kāvya poetry was shaped, fascinating and disorienting the educated audience at the same time. In fact, the manifold layers of reality, resulting from multi-meaning poetic expressions, suggest  the main Buddhist principle which is exactly counterposed to the Brahmanical ontology: the phenomenal existence is  devoid of a unique ‘essence’ itself (ātman), and is therefore ultimately unsubstantial.   This peculiar poetical strategy is here probed by means of the reconstruction of the textual network of the occurrences of  the term phena, meaning ‘foam, froth’, and their literary contexts. Aśvaghoṣa adopts this Sanskrit term, drawing it and  the correlated imagery from the Brahmanical textual repertoire (Vedic corpus, and epics) and Buddhist scriptures (Pāli  canon), so that multifaceted meanings referring to different codified literary languages are implied by the single term  phena. However, an ultimate value emerges from Aśvaghoṣa’s works: it paradoxically fulfils and consummates the  previous inconsistent meanings, since in the Buddhist perspective the evanescence of the foam prefigures the supreme  awareness of unsubstantiality.This article aims to explore the new poetical strategy devised by the famous poet Aśvaghoṣa (2nd CE), a Brahmin  converted to Buddhism, in order to promote the Buddhist doctrine: his works represent that cultural syncretism, which  was supported by the policy of the Kuṣāṇa dynasty, spanning over three centuries in the northern India. Such a cultural  environment stimulated new communicative strategies, especially on occasion of doctrinal debates, which must be held  between the promoters of the Brahmanical counter-reformation movement, developed since the last centuries BCE – as  assumable from the Brahmanical epics, especially the Mahābhārata –, and the challenging innovative Buddhist currents,  such as the (Mūla)Sarvāstivāda school, attested in the Mathurā region, with which also Aśvaghoṣa must be affiliated.  Against such a cultural background, the learned Aśvaghoṣa elaborated a sophisticated poetics, consisting not only of mere  ornamentation, according to the earlier kāvya models, represented by the Brahmanical Rāmāyaṇa, but also of deeply  complex inter-textual connections, made of flowing analogical suggestions, even inconsistent, producing a sort of  ‘multistable’ perception of reality. Thus, an innovative kāvya poetry was shaped, fascinating and disorienting the educated audience at the same time. In fact, the manifold layers of reality, resulting from multi-meaning poetic expressions, suggest  the main Buddhist principle which is exactly counterposed to the Brahmanical ontology: the phenomenal existence is  devoid of a unique ‘essence’ itself (ātman), and is therefore ultimately unsubstantial.   This peculiar poetical strategy is here probed by means of the reconstruction of the textual network of the occurrences of  the term phena, meaning ‘foam, froth’, and their literary contexts. Aśvaghoṣa adopts this Sanskrit term, drawing it and  the correlated imagery from the Brahmanical textual repertoire (Vedic corpus, and epics) and Buddhist scriptures (Pāli  canon), so that multifaceted meanings referring to different codified literary languages are implied by the single term  phena. However, an ultimate value emerges from Aśvaghoṣa’s works: it paradoxically fulfils and consummates the  previous inconsistent meanings, since in the Buddhist perspective the evanescence of the foam prefigures the supreme  awareness of unsubstantiality

The bahuvrīhi Compound Between Zeroing and Contrastive Accentuation: Vedic Sanskrit Model and Pāṇini’s Model

L’articolo mira a sondare come il modello di composto bahuvrīhi presentato nella grammatica descrittiva di Pāṇini possa rapportarsi diacronicamente al composto bahuvrīhi attestato nel Sanscrito Vedico, tenendo in particolare considerazione quelli che sono i due requisiti secondo Pāṇini: stato tematico per tutti i costituenti e accento sul primo membro, contrativamente assegnato rispetto ai composti determinativi. Poiché l’opera di Pāṇini si basa sulla tradizione scolastica brahmanica, anche le fonti del suo modello di bahuvrīhi devono rintracciarsi in quel contesto culturale. Il locus classicus è índraśatru, che segna così l’inizio di un processo di regolarizzazione linguistica applicata al composto bahuvrīhi. Il medesimo composto índraśatru, discusso nell’ambito scolastico brahmanico, è citato in un inno rigvedico tardo (R̥V 1.32.6; 1.32.10), impiegato con una significativa valenza poetica. Perciò, i due tratti caratteristici pāṇiniani del composto bahuvrīhi risultano derivare da una particolare commistione di linguaggio poetico ed esegesi linguistica.This article aims to explore how Pāṇini’s model of the bahuvrīhi compound may be diachronically correlated to the bahuvrīhi compound as attested in the Vedic Sanskrit language, thus accounting for the two Pāṇinian requisites: zero-ending for all the constituents and accentuation on the first constituent, contrastively employed in relation to the determinative compounds. Since Pāṇini’s work is based on the Brahmanical scholarly tradition, the sources of his bahuvrīhi model are also to be found in the Brahmanical scholarly milieux. The locus classicus is the case of índraśatru, which starts off the process of uniformation and regulation of bahuvrīhi compound stressed on the first constituent. The same scholarly-discussed índraśatru compound is mentioned in the late Rigvedic textual layer (R̥V 1.32.6; 1.32.10), as an expressive poetic device. Therefore, the two Pāṇinian characteristic traits of the bahuvrīhi compound are inherited from a peculiar blend of poetic language and linguistic exegesis