An atlas of gene expression and gene co-regulation in the human retina

The human retina is a specialized tissue involved in light stimulus transduction. Despite its unique biology, an accurate reference transcriptome is still missing. Here, we performed gene expression analysis (RNA-seq) of 50 retinal samples from non-visually impaired post-mortem donors. We identified novel transcripts with high confidence (Observed Transcriptome (ObsT)) and quantified the expression level of known transcripts (Reference Transcriptome (RefT)). The ObsT included 77 623 transcripts (23 960 genes) covering 137 Mb (35 Mb new transcribed genome).

Asymptotic high order schemes for dissipative hyperbolic systems

We consider finite difference schemes which approximate one-dimensional dissipative hyperbolic systems. Using precise analytical time-decay estimates of the local truncation error, we show that it is possible to introduce some suitable modification in standard upwinding schemes to design schemes which are increasingly accurate for large times when approximating small perturbations of stable asymptotic states, respectively, around stationary solutions and in the diffusion (Chapman-Enskog) limit.

Hierarchical non-negative matrix factorization applied to three-dimensional 3T MRSI data for automatic tissue characterization of the prostate

In this study non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) was hierarchically applied to simulated and in vivo three-dimensional 3 T MRSI data of the prostate to extract patterns for tumour and benign tissue and to visualize their spatial distribution. Our studies show that the hierarchical scheme provides more reliable tissue patterns than those obtained by performing only one NMF level. We compared the performance of three different NMF implementations in terms of pattern detection accuracy and efficiency when embedded into the same kind of hierarchical scheme.

Scenes from the life of Beppo Levi

On the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the birth of the famous Italian mathematician Beppo Levi (1875-1961), we publish an interview with his daughter Emilia. We also recall his brother Eugenio Elia Levi, a well-known and brilliant mathematician whose life was cut short at the front during World War I. A brief outline of Beppo Levi's life is followed by an introduction to a letter that he wrote to the periodical Israel in 1919, in part regarding the foundation of the state of Israel. Finally, we publish an English translation of the letter in its entirety.

Investigation and modelling of the turbulent wall pressure fluctuations on the bulbous bow of a ship

For the effective operation of sonar systems mounted inside the bulb of fast ships, it is important to reduce all the possible noise and vibration sources that radiate noise and interfere with sonar sensor response. In particular, pressure fluctuations induced by turbulent boundary layers on the sonar dome surface represent the major source of self-noise for on-board sensors. Reliable calculations of structural vibrations and noise radiated inside the dome require valid statistical descriptions of wall pressure fluctuations beneath the turbulent boundary layer.

Assessment of MIPAS ESA V7 products and first verification of MIPAS ESA V8 products

MIPAS on ENVISAT performed almost continuous measurements of atmospheric composition for approximately 10 years, from June 2002 to April 2012. ESA processor, based on the algorithm ORM (Optimized Retrieval Model), originally designed for the Near Real Time analysis and developed by an European Consortium led by IFAC, is currently used for the reanalysis of the full MIPAS mission. The maintenance and the upgrade of the ESA processor are made in the frame of the Quality Working Group, where a fruitful collaboration among Level 1, Level 2 and validation teams can be exploited.