Showing papers by "Polytechnic University of Catalonia published in 2014"

Nonlinear equations for fractional Laplacians, I: Regularity, maximum principles, and Hamiltonian estimates

Abstract: This is the first of two articles dealing with the equation ( − Δ ) s v = f ( v ) in R n , with s ∈ ( 0 , 1 ) , where ( − Δ ) s stands for the fractional Laplacian — the infinitesimal generator of a Levy process. This equation can be realized as a local linear degenerate elliptic equation in R + n + 1 together with a nonlinear Neumann boundary condition on ∂ R + n + 1 = R n . In this first article, we establish necessary conditions on the nonlinearity f to admit certain type of solutions, with special interest in bounded increasing solutions in all of R . These necessary conditions (which will be proven in a follow-up paper to be also sufficient for the existence of a bounded increasing solution) are derived from an equality and an estimate involving a Hamiltonian — in the spirit of a result of Modica for the Laplacian. Our proofs are uniform as s ↑ 1 , establishing in the limit the corresponding known results for the Laplacian. In addition, we study regularity issues, as well as maximum and Harnack principles associated to the equation.

EARLINET: towards an advanced sustainable European aerosol lidar network

Abstract: The European Aerosol Research Lidar Network, EARLINET, was founded in 2000 as a research project for establishing a quantitative, comprehensive, and statistically significant database for the horizontal, vertical, and tempo- ral distribution of aerosols on a continental scale. Since then EARLINET has continued to provide the most extensive col- lection of ground-based data for the aerosol vertical distribu- tion over Europe. This paper gives an overview of the network's main de- velopments since 2000 and introduces the dedicated EAR- LINET special issue, which reports on the present innova- tive and comprehensive technical solutions and scientific re- sults related to the use of advanced lidar remote sensing tech- niques for the study of aerosol properties as developed within the network in the last 13 years. Since 2000, EARLINET has developed greatly in terms of number of stations and spatial distribution: from 17 sta- tions in 10 countries in 2000 to 27 stations in 16 countries in 2013. EARLINET has developed greatly also in terms of technological advances with the spread of advanced multi- wavelength Raman lidar stations in Europe. The develop- ments for the quality assurance strategy, the optimization of instruments and data processing, and the dissemination of data have contributed to a significant improvement of the net- work towards a more sustainable observing system, with an increase in the observing capability and a reduction of oper- ational costs. Consequently, EARLINET data have already been ex- tensively used for many climatological studies, long-range transport events, Saharan dust outbreaks, plumes from vol- canic eruptions, and for model evaluation and satellite data validation and integration. Future plans are aimed at continuous measurements and near-real-time data delivery in close cooperation with other ground-based networks, such as in the ACTRIS (Aerosols, Clouds, and Trace gases Research InfraStructure Network) www.actris.net, and with the modeling and satellite commu- nity, linking the research community with the operational world, with the aim of establishing of the atmospheric part of the European component of the integrated global observ- ing system.

Long non-coding RNAs as a source of new peptides

Abstract: Deep transcriptome sequencing has revealed the existence of many transcripts that lack long or conserved open reading frames (ORFs) and which have been termed long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). The vast majority of lncRNAs are lineage-specific and do not yet have a known function. In this study, we test the hypothesis that they may act as a repository for the synthesis of new peptides. We find that a large fraction of the lncRNAs expressed in cells from six different species is associated with ribosomes. The patterns of ribosome protection are consistent with the translation of short peptides. lncRNAs show similar coding potential and sequence constraints than evolutionary young protein coding sequences, indicating that they play an important role in de novo protein evolution.

Tutorial on Remote Sensing Using GNSS Bistatic Radar of Opportunity

Abstract: -In traditional GNSS applications, signals arriving at a receiver's antenna from nearby reflecting surfaces (multipath) interfere with the signals received directly from the satellites which can often result in a reduction of positioning accuracy. About two decades ago researchers produced an idea to use reflected GNSS signals for remote-sensing applications. In this new concept a GNSS transmitter together with a receiver capable of processing GNSS scattered signals of opportunity becomes bistatic radar. By properly processing the scattered signal, this system can be configured either as an altimeter, or a scatterometer allowing us to estimate such characteristics of land or ocean surface as height, roughness, or dielectric properties of the underlying media. From there, using various methods the geophysical parameters can be estimated such as mesoscale ocean topography, ocean surface winds, soil moisture, vegetation, snowpack, and sea ice. Depending on the platform of the GNSS receiver (stationary, airborne, or spaceborne), the capabilities of this technique and specific methods for processing of the reflected signals may vary. In this tutorial, we describe this new remotesensing technique, discuss some of the interesting results that have been already obtained, and give an overview of current and planned spacecraft missions.

Shape-Dependent Activity of Ceria in Soot Combustion

Abstract: In this study, a series of conventional polycrystalline ceria and single-crystalline ceria nanorods and nanocubes were prepared by hydrothermal methods, and their structural, redox, and morphological properties were investigated using XRD, SEM, HRTEM, BET, temperature-programmed reduction, and oxygen storage capacity measurements. According to HRTEM, they are characterized by exposure of different surfaces: {100} surface for nanocubes; {100}, {110}, and in part {111} for nanorods; and mainly {111} for conventional polycrystalline ceria, with a morphology dominated by {111}-enclosed octahedral particles. The presence of more-reactive exposed surfaces affects the reaction of soot oxidation positively, with an increase in activity in nanoshaped materials compared with conventional ceria. Thermal aging, although detrimental for surface area, is shown to affect morphology by promoting irregular truncation of edges and corners and development of more reactive surface combinations in all crystal shapes. It is li...

Forces driving epithelial wound healing

Abstract: A fundamental feature of multicellular organisms is their ability to self-repair wounds through the movement of epithelial cells into the damaged area. This collective cellular movement is commonly attributed to a combination of cell crawling and "purse-string" contraction of a supracellular actomyosin ring. Here we show by direct experimental measurement that these two mechanisms are insufficient to explain force patterns observed during wound closure. At early stages of the process, leading actin protrusions generate traction forces that point away from the wound, showing that wound closure is initially driven by cell crawling. At later stages, we observed unanticipated patterns of traction forces pointing towards the wound. Such patterns have strong force components that are both radial and tangential to the wound. We show that these force components arise from tensions transmitted by a heterogeneous actomyosin ring to the underlying substrate through focal adhesions. The structural and mechanical organization reported here provides cells with a mechanism to close the wound by cooperatively compressing the underlying substrate.

Biofabrication of tissue constructs by 3D bioprinting of cell-laden microcarriers.

Abstract: Bioprinting allows the fabrication of living constructs with custom-made architectures by spatially controlled deposition of multiple bioinks. This is important for the generation of tissue, such as osteochondral tissue, which displays a zonal composition in the cartilage domain supported by the underlying subchondral bone. Challenges in fabricating functional grafts of clinically relevant size include the incorporation of cues to guide specific cell differentiation and the generation of sufficient cells, which is hard to obtain with conventional cell culture techniques. A novel strategy to address these demands is to combine bioprinting with microcarrier technology. This technology allows for the extensive expansion of cells, while they form multi-cellular aggregates, and their phenotype can be controlled. In this work, living constructs were fabricated via bioprinting of cell-laden microcarriers. Mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC)-laden polylactic acid microcarriers, obtained via static culture or spinner flask expansion, were encapsulated in gelatin methacrylamide-gellan gum bioinks, and the printability of the composite material was studied. This bioprinting approach allowed for the fabrication of constructs with high cell concentration and viability. Microcarrier encapsulation improved the compressive modulus of the hydrogel constructs, facilitated cell adhesion, and supported osteogenic differentiation and bone matrix deposition by MSCs. Bilayered osteochondral models were fabricated using microcarrier-laden bioink for the bone compartment. These findings underscore the potential of this new microcarrier-based biofabrication approach for bone and osteochondral constructs.

Participation of wind power plants in system frequency control: Review of grid code requirements and control methods

Abstract: Active power reserves are needed for the proper operation of an electrical system. These reserves are continuously regulated in order to match the generation and consumption in the system and thus, to maintain a constant electrical frequency. They are usually provided by synchronized conventional generating units such as hydraulic or thermal power plants. With the progressive displacement of these generating plants by non-synchronized renewable-based power plants (e.g. wind and solar) the net level of synchronous power reserves in the system becomes reduced. Therefore, wind power plants are required, according to some European Grid Codes, to also provide power reserves like conventional generating units do. This paper focuses not only on the review of the requirements set by Grid Codes, but also on control methods of wind turbines for their participation in primary frequency control and synthetic inertia.

Key ingredients in an IoT recipe: Fog Computing, Cloud computing, and more Fog Computing

Abstract: This paper examines some of the most promising and challenging scenarios in IoT, and shows why current compute and storage models confined to data centers will not be able to meet the requirements of many of the applications foreseen for those scenarios. Our analysis is particularly centered on three interrelated requirements: 1) mobility; 2) reliable control and actuation; and 3) scalability, especially, in IoT scenarios that span large geographical areas and require real-time decisions based on data analytics. Based on our analysis, we expose the reasons why Fog Computing is the natural platform for IoT, and discuss the unavoidable interplay of the Fog and the Cloud in the coming years. In the process, we review some of the technologies that will require considerable advances in order to support the applications that the IoT market will demand.

The Pohozaev identity for the fractional Laplacian

Abstract: In this paper we prove the Pohozaev identity for the semilinear Dirichlet problem \({(-\Delta)^s u =f(u)}\) in \({\Omega, u\equiv0}\) in \({{\mathbb R}^n\backslash\Omega}\) Here, \({s\in(0,1)}\) , (−Δ)s is the fractional Laplacian in \({\mathbb{R}^n}\) , and Ω is a bounded C1,1 domain To establish the identity we use, among other things, that if u is a bounded solution then \({u/\delta^s|_{\Omega}}\) is Cα up to the boundary ∂Ω, where δ(x) = dist(x,∂Ω) In the fractional Pohozaev identity, the function \({u/\delta^s|_{\partial\Omega}}\) plays the role that ∂u/∂ν plays in the classical one Surprisingly, from a nonlocal problem we obtain an identity with a boundary term (an integral over ∂Ω) which is completely local As an application of our identity, we deduce the nonexistence of nontrivial solutions in star-shaped domains for supercritical nonlinearities

Generation and Analysis of a Large-Scale Urban Vehicular Mobility Dataset

Abstract: The surge in vehicular network research has led, over the last few years, to the proposal of countless network solutions specifically designed for vehicular environments. A vast majority of such solutions has been evaluated by means of simulation, since experimental and analytical approaches are often impractical and intractable, respectively. The reliability of the simulative evaluation is thus paramount to the performance analysis of vehicular networks, and the first distinctive feature that has to be properly accounted for is the mobility of vehicles, i.e., network nodes. Notwithstanding the improvements that vehicular mobility modeling has undergone over the last decade, no vehicular mobility dataset is publicly available today that captures both the macroscopic and microscopic dynamics of road traffic over a large urban region. In this paper, we present a realistic synthetic dataset, covering 24 hours of car traffic in a 400- ${\rm km}^{2}$ region around the city of Koln, in Germany. We describe the generation process and outline how the dataset improves the traces currently employed for the simulative evaluation of vehicular networks. We also show the potential impact that such a comprehensive mobility dataset has on the network protocol performance analysis, demonstrating how incomplete representations of vehicular mobility may result in over-optimistic network connectivity and protocol performance.

Nonlinear equations for fractional Laplacians II: Existence, uniqueness, and qualitative properties of solutions

Abstract: This paper, which is the follow-up to part I, concerns the equation $(-\Delta)^{s} v+G'(v)=0$ in $\mathbb{R}^{n}$, with $s \in (0,1)$, where $(-\Delta)^{s}$ stands for the fractional Laplacian ---the infinitesimal generator of a L\'evy process. When $n=1$, we prove that there exists a layer solution of the equation (i.e., an increasing solution with limits $\pm 1$ at $\pm \infty$) if and only if the potential $G$ has only two absolute minima in $[-1,1]$, located at $\pm 1$ and satisfying $G'(-1)=G'(1)=0$. Under the additional hypothesis $G"(-1)>0$ and $G"(1)>0$, we also establish its uniqueness and asymptotic behavior at infinity. Furthermore, we provide with a concrete, almost explicit, example of layer solution. For $n\geq 1$, we prove some results related to the one-dimensional symmetry of certain solutions ---in the spirit of a well-known conjecture of De Giorgi for the standard Laplacian.

Extended triple collocation: Estimating errors and correlation coefficients with respect to an unknown target

Abstract: Calibration and validation of geophysical measurement systems typically require knowledge of the “true” value of the target variable. However, the data considered to represent the “true” values often include their own measurement errors, biasing calibration, and validation results. Triple collocation (TC) can be used to estimate the root-mean-square-error (RMSE), using observations from three mutually independent, error-prone measurement systems. Here, we introduce Extended Triple Collocation (ETC): using exactly the same assumptions as TC, we derive an additional performance metric, the correlation coefficient of the measurement system with respect to the unknown target, ρt,Xi. We demonstrate that ρt,Xi2 is the scaled, unbiased signal-to-noise ratio and provides a complementary perspective compared to the RMSE. We apply it to three collocated wind data sets. Since ETC is as easy to implement as TC, requires no additional assumptions, and provides an extra performance metric, it may be of interest in a wide range of geophysical disciplines.

Epigallocatechin-3-gallate, a DYRK1A inhibitor, rescues cognitive deficits in Down syndrome mouse models and in humans

Abstract: cope Trisomy for human chromosome 21 results in Down syndrome (DS), which is among the most complex genetic perturbations leading to intellectual disability. Accumulating data suggest that overexpression of the dual-specificity tyrosine-(Y)-phosphorylation regulated kinase 1A (DYRK1A), is a critical pathogenic mechanisms in the intellectual deficit. Methods and results Here we show that the green tea flavonol epigallocatechin-gallate (EGCG), a DYRK1A inhibitor, rescues the cognitive deficits of both segmental trisomy 16 (Ts65Dn) and transgenic mice overexpressing Dyrk1A in a trisomic or disomic genetic background, respectively. It also significantly reverses cognitive deficits in a pilot study in DS individuals with effects on memory recognition, working memory and quality of life. We used the mouse models to ensure that EGCG was able to reduce DYRK1A kinase activity in the hippocampus and found that it also induced significant changes in plasma homocysteine levels, which were correlated with Dyrk1A expression levels. Thus, we could use plasma homocysteine levels as an efficacy biomarker in our human study. Conclusion We conclude that EGCG is a promising therapeutic tool for cognitive enhancement in DS, and its efficacy may depend of Dyrk1A inhibition.

Iber: herramienta de simulación numérica del flujo en ríos

Abstract: Resumen Para dar respuesta a los requerimientos en materia de aguas definidos en las directrices, reglamentos y recomendaciones existentes en la legislacion espanola, los cuales estan mayoritariamente basados en directivas europeas, se ha desarrollado una herramienta de modelizacion numerica del flujo de agua en lamina libre en 2 dimensiones. La herramienta, llamada Iber, combina un modulo hidrodinamico, un modulo de turbulencia y un modulo de transporte de sedimentos, y utiliza el metodo de volumenes finitos para resolver las ecuaciones correspondientes. Al modulo de calculo se le ha adaptado una interfaz que se basa en el software de preproceso y posproceso GiD, desarrollado por CIMNE. El resultado es una herramienta de modelizacion numerica del flujo de agua y sedimentos en rios y estuarios, que utiliza esquemas numericos avanzados especialmente estables y robustos en cualquier situacion pero especialmente adecuados para flujos discontinuos y, en concreto, para cauces torrenciales y regimenes irregulares.

Sonochemical coating of textiles with hybrid ZnO/chitosan antimicrobial nanoparticles.

Abstract: Textiles are good substrates for growth of microorganisms especially under moisture and temperature conditions found in hospitals. Microbial shedding from the body occurs continuously at contact of the patient with textile materials used in medical practices, contributing to the occurrence of hospital acquired infections. Thus, the use of efficient antimicrobial textiles is necessary to prevent the transfer of pathogens and the infection incidence. In this work, hybrid antimicrobial coatings were generated on cotton fabrics by means of a one-step simultaneous sonochemical deposition of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) and chitosan. The process was further optimized in terms of reagents concentration and processing time in order to improve the antibacterial properties of the fabric and ensure their biocompatibility. The highest antibacterial activity of the fabrics against two medically relevant bacterial species was achieved in a 30 min sonochemical coating process using 2 mM ZnO NPs suspension. When chitosan was ...

Enabling preemptive multiprogramming on GPUs

Abstract: GPUs are being increasingly adopted as compute accelerators in many domains, spanning environments from mobile systems to cloud computing. These systems are usually running multiple applications, from one or several users. However GPUs do not provide the support for resource sharing traditionally expected in these scenarios. Thus, such systems are unable to provide key multiprogrammed workload requirements, such as responsiveness, fairness or quality of service.In this paper, we propose a set of hardware extensions that allow GPUs to efficiently support multiprogrammed GPU workloads. We argue for preemptive multitasking and design two preemption mechanisms that can be used to implement GPU scheduling policies. We extend the architecture to allow concurrent execution of GPU kernels from different user processes and implement a scheduling policy that dynamically distributes the GPU cores among concurrently running kernels, according to their priorities. We extend the NVIDIA GK110 (Kepler) like GPU architecture with our proposals and evaluate them on a set of multiprogrammed workloads with up to eight concurrent processes. Our proposals improve execution time of high-priority processes by 15.6x, the average application turnaround time between 1.5x to 2x, and system fairness up to 3.4x

Synthesis, properties and applications of biodegradable polymers derived from diols and dicarboxylic acids: from polyesters to poly(ester amide)s.

Abstract: Poly(alkylene dicarboxylate)s constitute a family of biodegradable polymers with increasing interest for both commodity and speciality applications. Most of these polymers can be prepared from biobased diols and dicarboxylic acids such as 1,4-butanediol, succinic acid and carbohydrates. This review provides a current status report concerning synthesis, biodegradation and applications of a series of polymers that cover a wide range of properties, namely, materials from elastomeric to rigid characteristics that are suitable for applications such as hydrogels, soft tissue engineering, drug delivery systems and liquid crystals. Finally, the incorporation of aromatic units and α-amino acids is considered since stiffness of molecular chains and intermolecular interactions can be drastically changed. In fact, poly(ester amide)s derived from naturally occurring amino acids offer great possibilities as biodegradable materials for biomedical applications which are also extensively discussed.

Cobalt-56 γ-ray emission lines from the type Ia supernova 2014J

Abstract: We report the first ever detection of 56 Co lines at 847 and 1237 keV and a continuum in the 200-400 keV band from the Type Ia supernova SN2014J in M82 with INTEGRAL observatory. The data were taken between 50th and 100th day since the SN2014J outburst. The line fluxes suggest that 0.62 ± 0.13 M of radioactive 56 Ni were synthesized during the explosion. Line broadening gives a characteristic ejecta expansion velocity Ve ∼ 2100 ± 500 km s −1. The flux at lower energies (200-400 keV) flux is consistent with the three-photon positronium annihilation, Compton downscattering and absorption in the ∼ 1.4 M ejecta composed from equal fractions of iron-group and intermediate-mass elements and a kinetic energy Ek ∼ 1.4 10 51 erg. All these parameters are in broad agreement with a " canonical " model of an explosion of a Chandrasekhar-mass White Dwarf (WD), providing an unambiguous proof of the nature of Type Ia supernovae as a thermonuclear explosion of a solar mass compact object.

XLME interpolants, a seamless bridge between XFEM and enriched meshless methods

Abstract: In this paper, we develop a method based on local maximum entropy shape functions together with enrichment functions used in partition of unity methods to discretize problems in linear elastic fracture mechanics. We obtain improved accuracy relative to the standard extended finite element method at a comparable computational cost. In addition, we keep the advantages of the LME shape functions, such as smoothness and non-negativity. We show numerically that optimal convergence (same as in FEM) for energy norm and stress intensity factors can be obtained through the use of geometric (fixed area) enrichment with no special treatment of the nodes near the crack such as blending or shifting.

Reactive power control for distributed generation power plants to comply with voltage limits during grid faults

Abstract: Grid faults are one of the most severe problems for network operation. Distributed generation power plants can help to mitigate the adverse effects of these perturbations by injecting the reactive power during the sag and the postfault operation. Thus, the risk of cascade disconnection and voltage collapse can be reduced. The proposed reactive power control is intended to regulate the maximum and minimum phase voltages at the point of common coupling within the limits established in grid codes for continuous operation. In balanced three-phase voltage sags, the control increases the voltage in each phase above the lower regulated limit by injecting the positive sequence reactive power. In unbalanced voltage sags, positive and negative sequence reactive powers are combined to flexibly raise and equalize the phase voltages; the maximum phase voltage is regulated below the upper limit and the minimum phase voltage just above the lower limit. The proposed control strategy is tested by considering a distant grid fault and a large grid impedance. Selected experimental results are reported in order to validate the behavior of the control scheme.