arXiv subjects

Marta Menci

Publications and source records attributed to Marta Menci.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Model-Based Detection of Anomalous Events in Submarine Cables Using Distributed Deformation Sensing and Kalman Filtering

Submarine power and telecommunication cables constitute critical global infrastructure, yet they remain vulnerable to mechanical damage caused by maritime activities and intentional tampering. Continuous monitoring of these assets is therefore essential for early detection of anomalous events. This paper proposes a model-based framework for real-time anomaly detection in submarine cables using spatially distributed deformation measurements along the cable. The cable is modeled as a tensioned structure governed by a damped wave equation with fixed boundary conditions. A finite-dimensional state-space representation is obtained through spatial discretization, enabling the use of a Kalman filter to estimate the cable's dynamic state under stochastic environmental disturbances. Anomaly detection is then formulated as a statistical hypothesis test applied to the innovation sequence of the filter. Compared with purely data-driven alarms, the proposed framework provides an interpretable residual signal whose threshold can be related to a prescribed false-alarm probability. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the proposed framework can reliably identify localized disturbances while remaining robust to ambient environmental excitation.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2025

Numerical study on a multi-dimensional pressureless Euler-type model with non-local interactions and chemotaxis for collective cell migration

In this paper we propose a numerical study of macroscopic models for collective cell migration, focusing on a multi-dimensional pressureless Euler-type model with non-local interactions coupled with chemotaxis, rigorously derived from microscopic dynamics. Different mechanical interactions are investigated, including attraction-repulsion effects. Moreover, the model is extended to the case of different populations of interacting cells. The validity of such macroscopic model and its agreement with the microscopic dynamics is finally assessed through a parameter estimation analysis in a specific setting.

math.NA↗

arXiv2025

Numerical modeling of flocking dynamics with topological interactions

In this paper, we propose a numerical investigation of topological interactions in flocking dynamics. Starting from a microscopic description of the phenomena, mesoscopic and macroscopic models have been previously derived under specific assumptions. We explore the role of topological interactions by describing the convergence speed to consensus in both microscopic and macroscopic dynamics, considering different forms of topological interactions. Additionally, we compare mesoscopic and macroscopic dynamics for monokinetic and non-monokinetic initial data. Finally, we illustrate with some simulations in one- and two-dimensional domains the sensitive dependence of solutions on initial conditions, including the case where the system exhibits two solutions starting with the same initial data.

math.AP↗

arXiv2023

Kinetic description and macroscopic limit of swarming dynamics with continuous leader-follower transitions

In this paper, we derive a kinetic description of swarming particle dynamics in an interacting multi-agent system featuring emerging leaders and followers. Agents are classically characterized by their position and velocity plus a continuous parameter quantifying their degree of leadership. The microscopic processes ruling the change of velocity and degree of leadership are independent, non-conservative and non-local in the physical space, so as to account for long-range interactions. Out of the kinetic description, we obtain then a macroscopic model under a hydrodynamic limit reminiscent of that used to tackle the hydrodynamics of weakly dissipative granular gases, thus relying in particular on a regime of small non-conservative and short-range interactions. Numerical simulations in one- and two-dimensional domains show that the limiting macroscopic model is consistent with the original particle dynamics and furthermore can reproduce classical emerging patterns typically observed in swarms.

math-ph↗

arXiv2023

Microscopic, kinetic and hydrodynamic hybrid models of collective motions withchemotaxis: a numerical study

A general class of hybrid models has been introduced recently, gathering the advantages multiscale descriptions. Concerning biological applications, the particular coupled structure fits to collective cell migrations and pattern formation scenarios. In this context, cells are modelled as discrete entities and their dynamics is given by ODEs, while the chemical signal influencing the motion is considered as a continuous signal which solves a diffusive equation. From the analytical point of view, this class of model has been proved to have a mean-field limit in the Wasserstein distance towards a system given by the coupling of a Vlasov-type equation with the chemoattractant equation. Moreover, a pressureless nonlocal Euler-type system has been derived for these models, rigorously equivalent to the Vlasov one for monokinetic initial data. In the present paper, we present a numerical study of the solutions to the Vlasov and Euler systems, exploring general settings for inital data, far from the monokinetic ones.

math.NA↗

arXiv2022

Preventing congestion in crowd dynamics caused by reversing flow

In this paper we devise a microscopic (agent-based) mathematical model for reproducing crowd behaviour in a specific scenario: a number of pedestrians, consisting of numerous social groups, flow along a corridor until a gate located at the end of the corridor closes. People are not informed about the closure of the gate and perceive the blockage observing dynamically the local crowd conditions. Once people become aware of the new conditions, they stop and then decide either to stay, waiting for reopening, or to go back and leave the corridor for ever. People going back hit against newly incoming people who are not yet aware of the blockage or have already decided to stay. This creates a dangerous counter-flow which can easily lead to accidents. We run several numerical simulations varying parameters which control the crowd behaviour, in order to understand the factors which have the greatest impact on the dynamics. We conclude with some useful suggestions directed to the organizers of mass events.

math.DS↗

arXiv2021

An all-leader agent-based model for turning and flocking birds

Starting from recent experimental observations of starlings and jackdaws, we propose a minimal agent-based mathematical model for bird flocks based on a system of second-order delayed stochastic differential equations with discontinuous (both in space and time) right-hand side. The model is specifically designed to reproduce self-organized spontaneous sudden changes of direction, not caused by external stimuli like predator's attacks. The main novelty of the model is that every bird is a potential turn initiator, thus leadership is formed in a group of indistinguishable agents. We investigate some theoretical properties of the model and we show the numerical results. Biological insights are also discussed.

nlin.AO↗

arXiv2021

A generalized mean-field game model for the dynamics of pedestrians with limited predictive abilities

This paper investigates the model for pedestrian flow firstly proposed in [Cristiani et al., DOI:10.1137/140962413]. The model assumes that each individual in the crowd moves in a known domain, aiming at minimizing a given cost functional. Both the pedestrian dynamics and the cost functional itself depend on the position of the whole crowd. In addition, pedestrians are assumed to have predictive abilities, but limited in time, extending only up to $\theta$ time units into the future, where $\theta\in[0,\infty)$ is a model parameter. 1) For $\theta=0$ (no predictive abilities), we recover the modeling assumptions of the Hughes's model, where people take decisions on the basis of the current position of the crowd only. 2) For $\theta\to\infty$, instead, we recover the standard mean field game (MFG) setting, where people are able to forecast the behavior of the others at any future time and take decisions on the basis of the current and future position of the whole crowd. 3) For intermediate values of $\theta$ we obtain something different: as in the Hughes's model, the numerical procedure to solve the problem requires to run an off-line procedure at any fixed time $t$, which returns the current optimal velocity field at time $t$ by solving an associated backward-in-time Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation; but, differently from the Hughes's model, here the procedure involves a prediction of the crowd behavior in the sliding time window $[t,t+\theta)$, therefore the optimal velocity field is given by the solution to a forward-backward system which joins a Fokker-Planck equation with a Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation as in the MFG approach. The fact that a different forward-backward system must be solved at any time $t$ arises new interesting theoretical questions. Numerical tests will give some clues about the well-posedness of the problem.

math.OC↗

arXiv2018

Existence and Uniqueness of Solutions for Coupled Hybrid Systems of Differential Equations

In this paper we propose local and global existence results for the solution of systems characterized by the coupling of ODEs and PDEs. The coexistence of distinct mathematical formalisms represents the main feature of hybrid approaches, in which the dynamics of interacting agents are driven by second-order ODEs, while reaction-diffusion equations are used to model the time evolution of a signal influencing them. We first present an existence result of the solution, locally in time. In particular, we generalize the framework of recent works presented in the literature, concerning collective motions of cells due to mechanical forces and chemotaxis, taking into account a uniformly parabolic operator with space-and-time dependent coefficients, and a more general structure for the equations of motion. Then, the previous result is extended in order to obtain a global solution.

math.AP↗

arXiv2015

A hybrid mathematical model of collective motion under alignment and chemotaxis

In this paper we propose and study a hybrid discrete in continuous mathematical model of collective motion under alignment and chemotaxis effect. Starting from the paper by Di Costanzo et al (2015a), in which the Cucker-Smale model (Cucker and Smale, 2007) was coupled with other cell mechanisms, to describe the cell migration and self-organization in the zebrafish lateral line primordium, we introduce a simplified model in which the coupling between an alignment and chemotaxis mechanism acts on a system of interacting particles. In particular we rely on a hybrid description in which the agents are discrete entities, while the chemoattractant is considered as a continuous signal. The proposed model is then studied both from an analytical and a numerical point of view. From the analytic point of view we prove, globally in time, existence and uniqueness of the solution. Then, the asymptotic behaviour of a linearised version of the system is investigated. Through a suitable Lyapunov functional we show that for $t\rightarrow +\infty$, the migrating aggregate exponentially converges to a state in which all the particles have a same position with zero velocity. Finally, we present a comparison between the analytical findings and some numerical results, concerning the behaviour of the full nonlinear system.

math.CA↗