This study aimed at updating previous data on HIV-1 integrase variability, by using effective bioinformatics methods combining different statistical instruments from simple entropy and mutation rate to more specific approaches such as Hellinger distance. A total of 2133 HIV-1 integrase sequences were analyzed in: i) 1460 samples from drug-naïve [DN] individuals; ii) 386 samples from drug-experienced but INI-naïve [IN] individuals; iii) 287 samples from INI-experienced [IE] individuals.

We consider a nonminimally coupled curvature-matter gravity theory at the Solar System scale. Both a fifth force of Yukawa type and a further non-Newtonian extra force that arises from the nonminimal coupling are present in the solar interior and in the solar atmosphere up to interplanetary space. The extra force depends on the spatial gradient of space-time curvature R. The conditions under which the effects of such forces can be screened by the chameleon mechanism and be made consistent with Cassini measurement of parametrized post-Newtonian parameter gamma are examined.

Network-based epidemic models that account for heterogeneous contact patterns are extensively used to predict and control the diffusion of infectious diseases. We use census and survey data to reconstruct a geo-referenced and age-stratified synthetic urban population connected by stable social relations. We consider two kinds of interactions, distinguishing daily (household) contacts from other frequent contacts. Moreover, we allow any couple of individuals to have rare fortuitous interactions.

E-commerce is a continuously growing sector worldwide, with important repercussions on the delivery system in urban areas and especially in the Business to Consumer (B2C) sector. The delivery of a package to a consumer's address involves not only high costs for couriers (greater number of kilometres travelled), but also increased congestion and greater environmental pollution (greater volume of pollutants released into the air).

This article studies M-type estimators for fitting robust additive models in the presence of anomalous data. The components in the additive model are allowed to have different degrees of smoothness. We introduce a new class of wavelet-based robust M-type estimators for performing simultaneous additive component estimation and variable selection in such inhomogeneous additive models. Each additive component is approximated by a truncated series expansion of wavelet bases, making it feasible to apply the method to nonequispaced data and sample sizes that are not necessarily a power of 2.

We employ Lyapunov functions to study boundedness and stability of dynamic equations on time scales. Most of our Lyapunov functions involve the term |x| and its ?-derivative. In particular, we prove general theorems regarding qualitative analysis of solutions of delay dynamical systems and then use Lyapunov functionals that partially include |x| to provide examples.

FORUM (Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring) will fly as the ninth ESA's Earth Explorer mission, and an end-to-end simulator (E2ES) has been developed as a support tool for the mission selection process and the subsequent development phases. The current status of the FORUM E2ES project is presented together with the characterization of the capabilities of a full physics retrieval code applied to FORUM data.

The behavior of semiflexible polymers under external fields is numerically studied.