Polytechnic University of Milan

About: Polytechnic University of Milan is a education organization based out in Milan, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Finite element method & Population. The organization has 18231 authors who have published 58416 publications receiving 1229711 citations. The organization is also known as: PoliMi & L-NESS.

A Hybridizable Discontinuous Galerkin Method for Steady-State Convection-Diffusion-Reaction Problems

Abstract: In this article, we propose a novel discontinuous Galerkin method for convection-diffusion-reaction problems, characterized by three main properties. The first is that the method is hybridizable; t...

Modeling Interferogram Stacks

Abstract: Synthetic aperture radar interferometry is limited by temporal and geometrical decorrelation. Permanent scatterers (PSs) are helpful to overcome these problems, but their density in agricultural and out-of-town areas is not always sufficient. The forthcoming availability of satellite platforms with thinner orbital tubes and shorter revisit times will enhance the use of interferogram stacks, which are usable for distributed and progressively decorrelating targets, like those found in agricultural areas. To estimate the possibilities of the interferogram stack technique, a Markovian model for the temporal decorrelation is considered. ERS-1 data measured in C-band over Rome with a three-day repeat cycle are used to identify the parameters for this model, namely, the decorrelation time (estimated as 40 days) and the short-term coherence (estimated as 0.6). In the hypothesis of small deviations from a model of the motion, the optimal weights to be used to combine a sequence of interferograms taken at intervals that are shorter than the decorrelation time are calculated in the cases of progressive and sinusoidal ground motion. The dispersion of the optimal estimate of the motion is then determined. This model is extended to frequencies other than C-band. These evaluations are compared with the known results obtained for PSs. As an example, the case of a time interval between the takes of T = 12 days is considered. With N consecutive images, interferogram stack results are equivalent to PSs if the pixel count in the window used to smooth the interferograms grows with N2.

Learning of spatiotemporal patterns in a spiking neural network with resistive switching synapses.

Abstract: The human brain is a complex integrated spatiotemporal system, where space (which neuron fires) and time (when a neuron fires) both carry information to be processed by cognitive functions To parallel the energy efficiency and computing functionality of the brain, methodologies operating over both the space and time domains are thus essential Implementing spatiotemporal functions within nanoscale devices capable of synaptic plasticity would contribute a significant step toward constructing a large-scale neuromorphic system that emulates the computing and energy performances of the human brain We present a neuromorphic approach to brain-like spatiotemporal computing using resistive switching synapses To process the spatiotemporal spike pattern, time-coded spikes are reshaped into exponentially decaying signals that are fed to a McCulloch-Pitts neuron Recognition of spike sequences is demonstrated after supervised training of a multiple-neuron network with resistive switching synapses Finally, we show that, due to the sensitivity to precise spike timing, the spatiotemporal neural network is able to mimic the sound azimuth detection of the human brain

Inertial waves in a rotating spherical shell : attractors and asymptotic spectrum

Abstract: We investigate the asymptotic properties of inertial modes confined in a spherical shell when viscosity tends to zero. We first consider the mapping made by the characteristics of the hyperbolic equation (Poincare's equation) satisfied by inviscid solutions. Charac- teristics are straight lines in a meridional section of the shell, and the mapping shows that, generically, these lines converge towards a periodic orbit which acts like an attrac- tor (the associated Lyapunov exponent is always negative or zero). We show that these attractors exist in bands of frequencies the size of which decreases with the number of reflection points of the attractor. At the bounding frequencies the associated Lyapunov exponent is generically either zero or minus infinity. We further show that for a given frequency the number of coexisting attractors is finite. We then examine the relation between this characteristic path and eigensolutions of the inviscid problem and show that in a purely two-dimensional problem, convergence towards an attractor means that the associated velocity field is not square-integrable. We give arguments which generalize this result to three dimensions. Then, using a sphere immersed in a fluid filling the whole space, we study the critical latitude singularity and show that the velocity field diverges as 1/ √ d, d being the distance to the characteristic grazing the inner sphere. We then consider the viscous problem and show how viscosity transforms singularities into internal shear layers which in general betray an attractor expected at the eigenfre- quency of the mode. Investigating the structure of these shear layers, we find that they are nested layers, the thinnest and most internal layer scaling with E 1/3 -scale, E being the Ekman number; for this latter layer, we give its analytical form and show its simi- larity to vertical 1 -shear layers of steady flows. Using an inertial wave packet traveling around an attractor, we give a lower bound on the thickness of shear layers and show how eigenfrequencies can be computed in principle. Finally, we show that as viscosity decreases, eigenfrequencies tend towards a set of values which is not dense in (0,2), contrary to the case of the full sphere ( is the angular velocity of the system). Hence, our geometrical approach opens the possibility of describing the eigenmodes and eigenvalues for astrophysical/geophysical Ekman numbers (10 −10 − 10 −20 ), which are out of reach numerically, and this for a wide class of containers.