Polytechnic University of Turin

About: Polytechnic University of Turin is a education organization based out in Turin, Piemonte, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Finite element method & Nonlinear system. The organization has 11553 authors who have published 41395 publications receiving 789320 citations. The organization is also known as: POLITO & Politecnico di Torino.

On the Modeling of Traffic and Crowds: A Survey of Models, Speculations, and Perspectives

Abstract: This paper presents a review and critical analysis of the mathematical literature concerning the modeling of vehicular traffic and crowd phenomena. The survey of models deals with the representation scales and the mathematical frameworks that are used for the modeling approach. The paper also considers the challenging objective of modeling complex systems consisting of large systems of individuals interacting in a nonlinear manner, where one of the modeling difficulties is the fact that these systems are difficult to model at a global level when based only on the description of the dynamics of individual elements. The review is concluded with a critical analysis focused on research perspectives that consider the development of a unified modeling strategy.

Inside dropbox: understanding personal cloud storage services

Abstract: Personal cloud storage services are gaining popularity. With a rush of providers to enter the market and an increasing offer of cheap storage space, it is to be expected that cloud storage will soon generate a high amount of Internet traffic. Very little is known about the architecture and the performance of such systems, and the workload they have to face. This understanding is essential for designing efficient cloud storage systems and predicting their impact on the network. This paper presents a characterization of Dropbox, the leading solution in personal cloud storage in our datasets. By means of passive measurements, we analyze data from four vantage points in Europe, collected during 42 consecutive days. Our contributions are threefold: Firstly, we are the first to study Dropbox, which we show to be the most widely-used cloud storage system, already accounting for a volume equivalent to around one third of the YouTube traffic at campus networks on some days. Secondly, we characterize the workload users in different environments generate to the system, highlighting how this reflects on network traffic. Lastly, our results show possible performance bottlenecks caused by both the current system architecture and the storage protocol. This is exacerbated for users connected far from storage data-centers. All measurements used in our analyses are publicly available in anonymized form at the SimpleWeb trace repository: http://traces.simpleweb.org/dropbox/

On the foundations of cancer modelling: Selected topics, speculations, and perspectives

Abstract: This paper presents a critical review of selected topics related to the modelling of cancer onset, evolution and growth, with the aim of illustrating, to a wide applied mathematical readership, some of the novel mathematical problems in the field. This review attempts to capture, from the appropriate literature, the main issues involved in the modelling of phenomena related to cancer dynamics at all scales which characterise this highly complex system: from the molecular scale up to that of tissue. The last part of the paper discusses the challenge of developing a mathematical biological theory of tumour onset and evolution.