The Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) is a limb-viewing infrared Fourier transform spectrometer that operated from 2002 to 2012 onboard the ENVISAT satellite. The analysis of MIPAS measurements allows to study the temporal evolution of numerous species of interest for the study of the ozone in the stratosphere, pollutants and many green-house gases. The objective of the MIPAS Quality Working Group is to improve the quality of the MIPAS products through a fruitful collaboration among spectroscopists, Level 1, Level 2, and validation teams.

The Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) is a limb-viewing infrared Fourier transform spectrometer that operated from 2002 to 2012 on board the ENVISAT satellite. The fruitful collaboration among spectroscopists, Level 1, Level 2, and validation teams in the frame of the MIPAS Quality Working Group has recently led to the implementation of significant changes in both ESA Level 1 and Level 2 processors, as well as in the spectroscopic database and in some absorption cross-sections.

The properties of a semiflexible polymer with fixed ends exposed to oscillatory shear flow are investigated by simulations. The two-dimensionally confined polymer is modeled as a linear bead-spring chain, and the interaction with the fluid is described by the Brownian multiparticle collision dynamics approach. For small shear rates, the tethering of the ends leads to a more-or-less linear oscillatory response. However, at high shear rates, we found a strongly nonlinear reaction, with a polymer (partially) wrapped around the fixation points. This leads to an overall shrinkage of the polymer.

We review the state of the art of active fluids with particular attention to hydrodynamic continuous models and to the use of Lattice Boltzmann Methods (LBM) in this field. We present the thermodynamics of active fluids, in terms of liquid crystals modelling adapted to describe large-scale organization of active systems, as well as other effective phenomenological models. We discuss how LBM can be implemented to solve the hydrodynamics of active matter, starting from the case of a simple fluid, for which we explicitly recover the continuous equations by means of Chapman-Enskog expansion.

The properties of a semiflexible polymer with fixed ends under oscillatory shear flow are investigated by numerical simulations. The polymer is confined in two dimensions and is modeled as a worm-like chain. The interaction with the fluid is taken into account by the Brownian multiparticle collision dynamics approach. For small shear rates, a linear oscillatory response appears. However, at high shear rates, we find a strongly nonlinear behavior with the polymer wrapping around the fixation points and shrinking.

This review discusses the lattice Boltzmann-particle dynamics (LBPD) multiscale paradigm for the simulation of complex states of flowing matter at the interface between physics, chemistry, and biology. In particular, current large-scale LBPD simulations of biopolymer translocation across cellular membranes, molecular transport in ion channels, and amyloid aggregation in cells are described.

This paper examines how information systems can assist experts to analyse the state of conservation of buildings of historic importance. The main focus is on image compression, characterisation and recognition, all of which are fundamental for defining a database on the state of conservation. In particular, an overview of available methods is presented for characterising the structure of materials and recognising the various degrees of degradation. A new unified approach to image compression, characterisation and recognition is also proposed.

The huge volumes of Earth Observation (EO) data and their processing is overwhelming for many employees in Protected Areas (PAs) and hence not often undertaken. The need is to provide a tool that transforms EO data into easy to interpret and use products. The Virtual Laboratory, empowered by cloud-computing technologies, allows the execution of multiple workflows (modules) and models, tailor made for the needs of the Protected Areas, accessible and open for all. Latter minimizes the requirement for local installations to execute relevant applications.

We show that the First-Passage-Time probability distribution of a Lévy time-changed Brownian motion with drift is solution of a time fractional advection-diffusion equation subject to initial and boundary conditions; the Caputo fractional derivative with respect to time is considered. We propose a high order compact implicit discretization scheme for solving this fractional PDE problem and we show that it preserves the structural properties (non-negativity, boundedness, time monotonicity) of the theoretical solution, having to be a probability distribution.

The role of comics in science communications has been subject of a number of recent papers. While some debate on an accepted definition of what constitutes a science comics is still ongoing, the role of comics in science outreach is now universally recognized. [1] Here we present the Comics&Science comic books published by CNR Edizioni and edited by Roberto Natalini and Andrea Plazzi. The Comics&Science concept was implemented in the first place as a section of the Lucca Comics&Games festival, followed by the printed series in 2013.