Completion of the sequence of the Aspergillus fumigatus partitivirus 1 genome.

A Portuguese isolate of Aspergillus fumigatus was found to contain three double-stranded (ds) RNA elements ranging in size from 1.1 to 1.8 kbp and comprising the genome of a strain of Aspergillus fumigatus partitivirus 1 (AfuPV-1) previously thought to contain only the two largest dsRNA elements. The sequence of the smallest dsRNA element is described here, completing the sequence of the AfuPV-1 genome. Sequence analysis of the element revealed an open reading frame encoding a protein of unknown function similar in size and distantly related to elements previously identified in other members of the family Partitiviridae.Peer reviewe

A REPLICABLE OPEN-SOURCE MULTI-CAMERA SYSTEM FOR LOW-COST 4D GLACIER MONITORING

Image-based monitoring has emerged as a prevalent technique for sensing mountain environments. Monoscopic time-lapse cameras, which rely on digital image correlation to quantify glacier motion, have limitations due to the need for a Digital Elevation Model for deriving 3D flow velocity fields. Multi-camera systems overcome this limitation, as they allow for a 3D reconstruction of the scene. This paper presents a replicable low-cost stereoscopic system designed for 4D glacier monitoring. The system consists of independent and autonomous units, built from off-the-shelves components, such as a DSLR camera, an Arduino microcontroller, and a Raspberry Pi Zero, reducing costs compared to pre-built time-lapse cameras. The units are energetically self-sufficient and resistant to harsh alpine conditions. The system was successfully tested for more than a year to monitor the northwest terminus of the Belvedere Glacier (Italian Alps). Daily stereo-pairs acquired were processed with Structure-from-Motion to derive 3D point clouds of the glacier terminus and estimate glacier retreat and ice volume loss. By combining the information about ice volume loss with ablation estimates and ice flow velocity information, e.g., derived from monoscopic-camera time series, a multi-camera system enables a comprehensive understanding of sub-seasonal glacier dynamics

Optimal disturbance compensation for constrained linear systems operating in stationary conditions: A scenario-based approach

We consider the problem of optimizing the stationary performance of a discrete time linear system affected by a disturbance and subject to probabilistic input and state constraints. More precisely, the goal is to design a disturbance compensator which optimally shapes the stationary state distribution so as to best satisfy the given control specifications. To this purpose, we formulate a chance-constrained program with the compensator parametrization as optimization vector. Chance-constrained programs are generally hard to solve and a possible way to tackle them is to resort to the so-called scenario approach. In our set-up, however, the scenario approach is not directly applicable since the stationary state process depends on disturbance realizations of infinite extent. Our contribution is then to provide a new scenario-based methodology, where the stationary state process is approximated and constraints are suitably tightened so as to retain the chance-constrained feasibility guarantees of the scenario solution. Design of a periodic compensator of a cyclostationary disturbance can be embedded in our framework, as illustrated in an energy management numerical example. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved