Wireless recording of the calls of Rousettus aegyptiacus and their reproduction using electrostatic transducers

Bats are capable of imaging their surroundings in great detail using echolocation. To apply similar methods to human engineering systems requires the capability to measure and recreate the signals used, and to understand the processing applied to returning echoes. In this work, the emitted and reflected echolocation signals of Rousettus aegyptiacus are recorded while the bat is in flight, using a wireless sensor mounted on the bat. The sensor is designed to replicate the acoustic gain control which bats are known to use, applying a gain to returning echoes that is dependent on the incurred time delay. Employing this technique allows emitted and reflected echolocation calls, which have a wide dynamic range, to be recorded. The recorded echoes demonstrate the complexity of environment reconstruction using echolocation. The sensor is also used to make accurate recordings of the emitted calls, and these calls are recreated in the laboratory using custom-built wideband electrostatic transducers, allied with a spectral equalization technique. This technique is further demonstrated by recreating multi-harmonic bioinspired FM chirps. The ability to record and accurately synthesize echolocation calls enables the exploitation of biological signals in human engineering systems for sonar, materials characterization and imaging

Using electrical stimulation to enhance the efficacy of cell transplantation therapies for neurodegenerative retinal diseases: Concepts, challenges, and future perspectives

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Computing with quasiseparable matrices

International audienceThe class of quasiseparable matrices is defined by a pair of bounds, called the quasiseparable orders, on the ranks of the maximal sub-matrices entirely located in their strictly lower and upper triangular parts. These arise naturally in applications, as e.g. the inverse of band matrices, and are widely used for they admit structured representations allowing to compute with them in time linear in the dimension and quadratic with the quasiseparable order. We show, in this paper, the connection between the notion of quasisepa-rability and the rank profile matrix invariant, presented in [Dumas & al. ISSAC'15]. This allows us to propose an algorithm computing the quasiseparable orders (rL, rU) in time O(n^2 s^(ω−2)) where s = max(rL, rU) and ω the exponent of matrix multiplication. We then present two new structured representations, a binary tree of PLUQ decompositions, and the Bruhat generator, using respectively O(ns log n/s) and O(ns) field elements instead of O(ns^2) for the previously known generators. We present algorithms computing these representations in time O(n^2 s^(ω−2)). These representations allow a matrix-vector product in time linear in the size of their representation. Lastly we show how to multiply two such structured matrices in time O(n^2 s^(ω−2))

Tectonic collision and uplift of Wallacea triggered the global songbird radiation

Songbirds (oscine passerines) are the most species-rich and cosmopolitan bird group, comprising almost half of global avian diversity. Songbirds originated in Australia, but the evolutionary trajectory from a single species in an isolated continent to worldwide proliferation is poorly understood. Here, we combine the first comprehensive genome-scale DNA sequence data set for songbirds, fossil-based time calibrations, and geologically informed biogeographic reconstructions to provide a well-supported evolutionary hypothesis for the group. We show that songbird diversification began in the Oligocene, but accelerated in the early Miocene, at approximately half the age of most previous estimates. This burst of diversification occurred coincident with extensive island formation in Wallacea, which provided the first dispersal corridor out of Australia, and resulted in independent waves of songbird expansion through Asia to the rest of the globe. Our results reconcile songbird evolution with Earth history and link a major radiation of terrestrial biodiversity to early diversification within an isolated Australian continent

Electronic properties of LaOFFeAs in the normal state probed by NMR/NQR

We report 139La, 57Fe and 75As nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) measurements on powders of the new LaO1-xFxFeAs superconductor for x = 0 and x = 0.1 at temperatures up to 480 K, and compare our measured NQR spectra with local density approximation (LDA) calculations. For all three nuclei in the x = 0.1 material, it is found that the local Knight shift increases monotonically with an increase in temperature, and scales with the macroscopic susceptibility, suggesting a single magnetic degree of freedom. Surprisingly, the spin lattice relaxation rates for all nuclei also scale with one another, despite the fact that the form factors for each site sample different regions of q-space. This result suggests a lack of any q-space structure in the dynamical spin susceptibility that might be expected in the presence of antiferromagnetic correlations. Rather, our results are more compatible with simple quasi-particle scattering. Furthermore, we find that the increase in the electric field gradient at the As cannot be accounted for by LDA calculations, suggesting that structural changes, in particular the position of the As in the unit cell, dominate the NQR response.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure

Potentiale zur Integration von Elektrofahrzeugen in innerstädtischen Verkehrsstrukturen : Schlußbericht zum Forschungs- und Entwicklungsvorhaben FE-Nr. 70386/92 des Bundesministers für Verkehr, Bonn

Die vorliegende Studie untersucht, aufgrund umfangreicher Erfahrungen aus Praxistests, welche Energie in kWh/km bisher gebaute Elektrofahrzeuge mit unterschiedlichen Batterien bei unterschiedlichen Tagesfahrleistungen verbrauchen. Die für die Ladung der Traktionsbatterien notwendigen "Stromtankstellen", unterteilt in Haupt- und Nachladestellen, können auf der Basis der vorhandenen Technik installiert werden, wobei Normungen durchgeführt und Genehmigungsverfahren vereinfacht werden sollten. Hauptladestellen werden hauptsächlich Steckdosen in Garagen und privaten Parkanlagen sein, die mit geringen Kosten installierbar sind. Durch den Ersatz von Fahrzeugen mit konventionellem Otto- und Dieselantrieb durch Elektrofahrzeuge läßt sich der verkehrsbedingte CO2-Ausstoß mindern, wenn die CO2-Emissionen bei der Bereitstellung des elektrischen Stroms geringer sind als die mit der Nutzung fossiler Treibstoffe verbundenen Emissionen. Eine Minderung der CO2-Emissionen bei der Stromemerzeugung kann insbesondere durch die Nutzung von CO2-freien Energieträgern erreicht werden. Das Forschungsvorhaben zeigt, daß Elektrofahrzeuge kaufbar sind, die Infrastruktur für ihre Energieversorgung mit der heutigen Technik geschaffen und die Energie für 2 Mio. Elektrofahrzeuge von dem heutigen Kraftwerkspark - vor allem während der Nacht - zur Verfügung gestellt werden kann

RAD59 and RAD1 cooperate in translocation formation by single-strand annealing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Studies in the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, have demonstrated that a substantial fraction of double-strand break repair following acute radiation exposure involves homologous recombination between repetitive genomic elements. We have previously described an assay in S. cerevisiae that allows us to model how repair of multiple breaks leads to the formation of chromosomal translocations by single-strand annealing (SSA) and found that Rad59, a paralog of the single-stranded DNA annealing protein Rad52, is critically important in this process. We have constructed several rad59 missense alleles to study its function more closely. Characterization of these mutants revealed proportional defects in both translocation formation and spontaneous direct-repeat recombination, which is also thought to occur by SSA. Combining the rad59 missense alleles with a null allele of RAD1, which encodes a subunit of a nuclease required for the removal of non-homologous tails from annealed intermediates, substantially suppressed the low frequency of translocations observed in rad1-null single mutants. These data suggest that at least one role of Rad59 in translocation formation by SSA is supporting the machinery required for cleavage of non-homologous tails