A flexible approach for the apodization of planar waveguide Bragg gratings

A novel single-step technique for the apodization of planar waveguide Bragg gratings based on the polarization control method is proposed. First results are presented, showing successful side-lobe suppression in the reflection spectrum of the gratings.

Métodos heurísticos para un problema multicriterio de distribución de ayuda humanitaria

Large scale disasters, such as the one caused by the Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated portions of the Philippines in 2013, or the catastrophic 2010 Haiti earthquake, which caused major damage in Port-au-Prince and other settlements in the region, have massive and lasting effects on populations. Nowadays, disasters can be considered as a consequence of inappropriately managed risk. These risks are the product of hazards and vulnerability, which refers to the extent to which a community can be affected by the impact of a hazard. In this way, developing countries, due to their greater vulnerability, suffer the highest costs when a disaster occurs. Disaster relief is a challenge for politics, economies, and societies worldwide. Humanitarian organizations face multiple decision problems when responding to disasters. In particular, once a disaster strikes, the distribution of humanitarian aid to the population affected is one of the most fundamental operations in what is called humanitarian logistics. This term is defined as the process of planning, implementing and controlling the effcient, cost-effective ow and storage of goods and materials as well as related information, from the point of origin to the point of consumption, for the purpose of meeting the end bene- ciaries' requirements and alleviate the suffering of vulnerable people, [the Humanitarian Logistics Conference, 2004 (Fritz Institute)]. During the last decade there has been an increasing interest in the OR/MS community in studying this topic, pointing out the similarities and differences between humanitarian and business logistics, and developing models suited to handle the special characteristics of these problems. Several authors have pointed out that traditional logistic objectives, such as minimizing operation cost, are not the most relevant goals in humanitarian operations. Other factors, such as the time of operation, or the design of safe and equitable distribution plans, come to the front, and new models and algorithms are needed to cope with these special features. Up to six attributes related to the distribution plan are considered in our multi-criteria approach. Even though there are usually simple ways to measure the cost of an operation, the evaluation of some other attributes such as security or equity is not easy. As a result, several attribute measures are proposed and developed, focusing on different aspects of the solutions. Furthermore, when metaheuristic solution methods are used, considering non linear objective functions does not increase the complexity of the algorithms significantly, and thus more accurate measures can be utilized...

Vascular defects and spinal cord hypoxia in spinal muscular atrophy

© 2015 American Neurological Association. Funded by The Euan MacDonald Center for Motor Neurone Disease Research The SMA Trust Muscular Dystrophy UK The SMA Trust The SMA Trust Motor Neurone Disease Association National Institute for Health Research Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Center Medical Research Council Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity

A Measurement of the Proton Structure Function g2p at Low Q2

Experiments at Jefferson Lab have been conducted to extract the nucleon spin-dependent structure functions over a wide kinematic range. Higher moments of these quantities provide tests of QCD sum rules and predictions of chiral perturbation theory ($\chi$PT). While precise measurements of $g_{1}^n$, $g_{2}^n$, and $g_1^p$ have been extensively performed, the data of $g_2^p$ remain scarce. Discrepancies were found between existing data related to $g_2$ and theoretical predictions. Results on the proton at large $Q^2$ show a significant deviation from the Burkhardt-Cottingham sum rule, while results for the neutron generally follow this sum rule. The next-to-leading order $\chi$PT calculations exhibit discrepancy with data on the longitudinal-transverse polarizability $\delta_{LT}^n$. Further measurements of the proton spin structure function $g_2^p$ are desired to understand these discrepancies.

Experiment E08-027 (g2p) was conducted at Jefferson Lab in experimental Hall A in 2012. Inclusive measurements were performed with polarized electron beam and a polarized ammonia target to obtain the proton spin-dependent structure function $g_2^p$ at low Q$^2$ region (0.02$<$Q$^2$$<$0.2 GeV$^2$) for the first time. The results can be used to test the Burkhardt-Cottingham sum rule, and also allow us to extract the longitudinal-transverse spin polarizability of the proton, which will provide a benchmark test of $\chi$PT calculations. This thesis will present and discuss the very preliminary results of the transverse asymmetry and the spin-dependent structure functions $g_1^p$ and $g_2^p$ from the data analysis of the g2p experiment .

New Possibilities for Geophysical Parameter Retrievals Opened by GCOM-W1 AMSR2

A new approach to retrieve sea surface wind speed (SWS) in tropical cyclones (TCs) from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) data is presented. Analysis of all six AMSR2 C- and X-band channel measurements over TCs is shown to efficiently help to separate the rain contribution. Corrected measurements at 6.9 and 10.65 GHz are then used to retrieve the SWS. Spatial and temporal collocation of AMSR2 and tropical rain measurement mission (TRMM) microwave instrument (TMI) data is then further used to empirically relate TMI rain rate (RR) product to RR estimates from AMSR2 in hurricanes. SWS estimates are validated with measurements from the stepped frequency microwave radiometer (SFMR). As further tested, more than 100 North Atlantic and North Pacific TCs are analyzed for the 2012–2014 period. Despite few particular cases, most SWS fields are in a very good agreement with TC center data on maximum wind speeds, radii of storm, and hurricane winds. As also compared, very high consistency between AMSR2 and L-band SMOS wind speed estimates are obtained, especially for the super typhoon Haiyan, to prove the high potential of AMSR2 measurements in TCs.

Analisi di stabilità della tomba Lattanzi nell'area archeologica della necropoli di Norchia

La tematica al centro della tesi è la valutazione della stabilità del versante roccioso in cui si colloca la tomba Lattanzi, facente parte della necropoli Norchia (VT), e la proposta preliminare di interventi a basso impatto per la conservazione del sito. Le attività svolte sono riportate di seguito: - inquadramento geografico, storico ed archeologico della necropoli di Norchia e della tomba Lattanzi; - inquadramento geologico e geomorfologico sviluppato consultando la carta geologica d’Italia in scala 1:50.000 e carte tematiche riguardanti la zona di interesse, comprese quelle del progetto IFFI (Inventario dei Fenomeni Franosi in Italia); - inquadramento sismico dell’area, condotto a partire dai dati forniti dall’INGV per il comune di Viterbo; - inquadramento meteo-climatico del comune di Viterbo; - inquadramento topografico attraverso nuvola di punti generata da rilievo laser scanner; - caratterizzazione fisica e meccanica del materiale roccioso tramite prove di laboratorio; - caratterizzazione delle discontinuità tramite rilievi in situ; - classificazione tecnica dell’ammasso; - creazione di un modello geotecnico del sottosuolo; - analisi cinematica effettuata tramite il programma Dips®; - analisi con il metodo dell’equilibrio limite e analisi numerica effettuata tramite il programma Plaxis®; - elaborazione dei risultati ottenuti e proposte di intervento quali: Intervento con ancoraggi passivi e sottofondazione al piede della tomba con una muratura in conci di tufo. Le analisi svolte, seppur semplificate, consentono di definire i possibili fenomeni di instabilità del versante nelle condizioni attuali e, in una ottica di conservazione preventiva, di effettuare scelte di gestione del sito che evitino interventi impattanti.