Modelling observed California Current mesoscale eddies and the ecosystem response

Satellite and in situ observations are used to test model dynamics for the California Current System (CCS). The model and data are combined to reconstruct the mesoscale ocean structure during a given three-week period. The resulting physical flow field is used to drive a 3D ecosystem model to interpret SeaWiFS and in situ chlorophyll-a (chl-a) variations. With this approach a more complete and consistent picture of the physical and ecosystem processes of the CCS is obtained, providing the basis for addressing fundamental questions about dynamics and predictability of the coastal ocean.     

Matched disturbance suppression for nonlinear systems stabilizable by logic-based feedback

We focus on a class of nonlinear systems that can be stabilized at a desired compact set by means of logic-based continuous feedback and we show how to design regulators that are robust to matched exosystem-generated disturbances. The proposed design methodology, of interest also for purely continuous-time systems, combines recent advances in the field of hybrid control systems and output regulation for nonlinear systems. As an illustrative example, the problem of global stabilization of a 6-DOF rigid body affected by a force periodic disturbance of uncertain amplitude, phase and frequency is presented.     

Thermal instabilities in semiconductor amplifiers

We introduce here a model which includes the thermal dynamics in the time evolution of a semiconductor multiple quantum well microresonator, driven by a coherent holding beam. The active layer is electrically pumped, in order to obtain population inversion, but it is maintained below the lasing threshold. We show that the inclusion of thermal effects introduces a Hopf instability which may dominate the dynamical behaviour of the system in some operational regimes. In those cases our numerical simulations show that both spatial patterns and cavity solitons perform a drift motion in the transverse direction. This motion develops over the slow time scale which characterizes thermal effects.     

Effect of muscle and intensity of finishing diet on meat quality of foals slaughtered at 15 months

The effect of muscle and intensity of finishing diet on meat quality of foals slaughtered at 15 months was study. For this work, a total of twenty one foals and six muscles: longissimus dorsi (LD), semimembranosus (SM), semitendinosus (ST), biceps femoris (BF), triceps brachii (TB) and Psoas major & minor (PM) from two different intensities of finishing diet (1.5 vs. 3 kg/day) were analysed.     

Growth performance,carcass and meat quality of the Celta pig crossbred with Duroc and Landrance genotypes

The Celta pig is a native breed adapted to the north of Spain and extensive production system. The objective was to study the effects of sex and crossbreeding on carcass characteristics and meat quality. Samples were taken from longissimus dorsi muscle of 52 pigs of three different groups [Celta pure breed (C), Celta crossed with Landrace (C × L) and Celta crossed with Duroc (C × D)].     

SafeNet: A methodology for integrating general-purpose unsafe devices in safe-robot rehabilitation systems

Robot-assisted neurorehabilitation often involves networked systems of sensors (“sensory rooms”) and powerful devices in physical interaction with weak users. Safety is unquestionably a primary concern. Some lightweight robot platforms and devices designed on purpose include safety properties using redundant sensors or intrinsic safety design (e.g. compliance and backdrivability, limited exchange of energy). Nonetheless, the entire “sensory room” shall be required to be fail-safe and safely monitored as a system at large. Yet, sensor capabilities and control algorithms used in functional therapies require, in general, frequent updates or re-configurations, making a safety-grade release of such devices hardly sustainable in cost-effectiveness and development time. As such, promising integrated platforms for human-in-the-loop therapies could not find clinical application and manufacturing support because of lacking in the maintenance of global fail-safe properties.     

A genetic expectation-maximization method for unsupervised change detection in multitemporal SAR imagery

In this paper, we present a novel, automatic and unsupervised change-detection approach to the analysis of single-channel single-polarization multitemporal SAR images. The statistical parameters of the changed and unchanged classes, which are assumed to follow a generalized Gaussian (GG) distribution in the analysed log-ratio image, are explicitly estimated by the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm initialized with a robust strategy based on genetic algorithms (GAs). In addition, the proposed approach integrates two further processing capabilities. The first one intends to cope with the problem of the automatic detection of multiple changes in the scene. This is carried out by modelling the log-ratio image histogram with a multimodal GG mixture whose number of components is estimated basing on the Bayesian information criterion (BIC). The second processing capability allows exploitation of spatial contextual information in the change detection process through a Markovian formulation. Results obtained on both simulated and real data are reported and discussed.