In transportation networks with limited capacities and travel times on the arcs, a class of problems attracting a growing scientific interest is represented by the optimal routing and scheduling of given amounts of flow to be transshipped from the origin points to the specific destinations in minimum time. Such problems are of particular concern to emergency transportation where evacuation plans seek to minimize the time evacuees need to clear the affected area and reach the safe zones.

Sex dimorphism in cell response to stress has previously been investigated by different research groups. This dimorphism could be at least in part accounted for by sex-biased expression of regulatory elements such as microRNAs (miRs). In order to spot previously unknown miR expression differences we took advantage of prior knowledge on specialized databases to identify X chromosome-encoded miRs potentially escaping X chromosome inactivation (XCI).

Presentazione delle attività di ricerca su computational immunology e network medicine al workshop "Hot Topics in Systems" all'interno della conferenza PLACE2019

This paper considers a hub location problem where several carriers operate on a shared network to satisfy a given demand represented by a set of commodities. Possible cooperative strategies are studied where carriers can share resources or swap their respective commodities to produce tangible cost savings while fully satisfying the existing demand. Three different collaborative policies are introduced and discussed, and mixed integer programming formulations are provided for each of them.

Background. The three terms "panic", "irrationality", and "herding" are ubiquitous in the crowd dynamics literature and have a strong influence on both modelling and management practices. The terms are also commonly shared between the scientific and nonscientific domains. The pervasiveness of the use of these terms is to the point where their underlying assumptions have often been treated as common knowledge by both experts and lay persons. Yet, at the same time, the literature on crowd dynamics presents ample debate, contradiction, and inconsistency on these topics. Method.

Molecular dynamics (MD) has become one of the most powerful tools of investigation in soft matter. Despite such success, simulations of large molecular environments are mostly run using the approximation of closed systems without the possibility of exchange of matter. Due to the molecular complexity of soft matter systems, an optimal simulation strategy would require the application of concurrent multiscale resolution approaches such that each part of a large system can be considered as an open subsystem at a high resolution embedded in a large coarser reservoir of energy and particles.

In this study, we developed a predictive model of in vivo stent based drug release and distribution that is capable of providing useful insights into performance. In a combined mathematical modelling and experimental approach, we created two novel sirolimus-eluting stent coatings with quite distinct doses and release kinetics. Using readily measurable in vitro data, we then generated parameterised mathematical models of drug release. These were then used to simulate in vivo drug uptake and retention.

We explore the impact of geometrical corrugations on the near-wall flow properties of a soft material driven in a confined rough microchannel. By means of numerical simulations, we perform a quantitative analysis of the relation between the flow rate ? and the wall stress ?w for a number of setups, by changing both the roughness values as well as the roughness shape. Roughness suppresses the flow, with the existence of a characteristic value of ?w at which flow sets in. Just above the onset of flow, we quantitatively analyze the relation between ? and ?w.

Drug releasing capsules and droplets are largely used in biomedical applications. Such vehicles consist of a drug-loaded core surrounded by a thin semi-permeable layer. Diffusion is by far the dominant mechanism in drug delivery, beside other physico-chemical factors, such as osmosis, drug dissolution, polymer swelling and degradation.