Diode-Pumped Long-Pulse-Length Ho:Tm:YLiF4 Laser at 10 Hz

An optical efficiency of 0.052 under normal mode operation for diode-pumped Ho:Tm:YLiF4 at a pulse repetition frequency of 10 Hz has been achieved. Laser output energy of 30 mJ in single Q-switched pulses with 600-ns pulse length were obtained for an input energy of 3 J. A diffusion-bonded birefringent laser rod consisting of Ho:Tm-doped and undoped pieces of YLF was utilized for 10-Hz operation

Counting Membrane Systems

A decision problem is one that has a yes/no answer, while a counting problem asks how many possible solutions exist associated with each instance. Every decision problem X has associated a counting problem, denoted by #X, in a natural way by replacing the question “is there a solution?” with “how many solutions are there?”. Counting problems are very attractive from a computational complexity point of view: if X is an NP-complete problem then the counting version #X is NP-hard, but the counting version of some problems in class P can also be NP-hard. In this paper, a new class of membrane systems is presented in order to provide a natural framework to solve counting problems. The class is inspired by a special kind of non-deterministic Turing machines, called counting Turing machines, introduced by L. Valiant. A polynomial-time and uniform solution to the counting version of the SAT problem (a well-known #P-complete problem) is also provided, by using a family of counting polarizationless P systems with active membranes, without dissolution rules and division rules for non-elementary membranes but where only very restrictive cooperation (minimal cooperation and minimal production) in object evolution rules is allowed

The motion of the 2D hydrodynamic Chaplygin sleigh in the presence of circulation

We consider the motion of a planar rigid body in a potential flow with circulation and subject to a certain nonholonomic constraint. This model is related to the design of underwater vehicles. The equations of motion admit a reduction to a 2-dimensional nonlinear system, which is integrated explicitly. We show that the reduced system comprises both asymptotic and periodic dynamics separated by a critical value of the energy, and give a complete classification of types of the motion. Then we describe the whole variety of the trajectories of the body on the plane.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures. This article uses some introductory material from arXiv:1109.321

An Intelligent Safety System for Human-Centered Semi-Autonomous Vehicles

Nowadays, automobile manufacturers make efforts to develop ways to make cars fully safe. Monitoring driver's actions by computer vision techniques to detect driving mistakes in real-time and then planning for autonomous driving to avoid vehicle collisions is one of the most important issues that has been investigated in the machine vision and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). The main goal of this study is to prevent accidents caused by fatigue, drowsiness, and driver distraction. To avoid these incidents, this paper proposes an integrated safety system that continuously monitors the driver's attention and vehicle surroundings, and finally decides whether the actual steering control status is safe or not. For this purpose, we equipped an ordinary car called FARAZ with a vision system consisting of four mounted cameras along with a universal car tool for communicating with surrounding factory-installed sensors and other car systems, and sending commands to actuators. The proposed system leverages a scene understanding pipeline using deep convolutional encoder-decoder networks and a driver state detection pipeline. We have been identifying and assessing domestic capabilities for the development of technologies specifically of the ordinary vehicles in order to manufacture smart cars and eke providing an intelligent system to increase safety and to assist the driver in various conditions/situations.Comment: 15 pages and 5 figures, Submitted to the international conference on Contemporary issues in Data Science (CiDaS 2019), Learn more about this project at https://iasbs.ac.ir/~ansari/fara

Cytomolecular identification of individual wheat-wheat chromosome arm associations in wheat-rye hybrids

Chromosome pairing in the meiotic metaphase I of wheatrye hybrids has been characterized by sequential genomic and fluorescent in situ hybridization allowing not only the discrimination of wheat and rye chromosomes, but also the identification of the individual wheat and rye chromosome arms involved in the chromosome associations. The majority of associations (93.8%) were observed between the wheat chromosomes. The largest number of wheat-wheat chromosome associations (53%) was detected between the A and D genomes, while the frequency of B-D and A-B associations was significantly lower (32 and 8%, respectively). Among the A-D chromosome associations, pairing between the 3AL and 3DL arms was observed with the highest frequency, while the most frequent of all the chromosome associations (0.113/ cell) was found to be the 3DS-3BS. Differences in the pairing frequency of the individual chromosome arms of wheat-rye hybrids have been discussed in relation to the homoeologous relationships between the constituent genomes of hexaploid wheat

A Computational Complexity Theory in Membrane Computing

In this paper, a computational complexity theory within the framework of Membrane Computing is introduced. Polynomial complexity classes associated with di erent models of cell-like and tissue-like membrane systems are de ned and the most relevant results obtained so far are presented. Many attractive characterizations of P 6= NP conjecture within the framework of a bio-inspired and non-conventional computing model are deduced.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TIN2006-13425Junta de Andalucía P08–TIC-0420

A virtuous circle? The effects of university-industry relationships in a region with low absorptive capacity

This article examines the effects of university-industry relationships (UIRs) in a Spanish region - Valencian Community - with low absorptive capacity. The analysis considers two effects of UIRs, one on business innovation and the other on the scientific production of academic researchers. The results reveal that UIRs have no significant effects on either firms' technological innovation or academic scientific production. Therefore, these results suggest that, in territories with low absorptive capacity, UIRs, mainly R&D-based, do not produce the effects found in other contexts, which requires some rethinking about these types of territories. © 2020 The Author(s)

The ESPRI project: astrometric exoplanet search with PRIMA I. Instrument description and performance of first light observations

The ESPRI project relies on the astrometric capabilities offered by the PRIMA facility of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer for the discovery and study of planetary systems. Our survey consists of obtaining high-precision astrometry for a large sample of stars over several years and to detect their barycentric motions due to orbiting planets. We present the operation principle, the instrument's implementation, and the results of a first series of test observations. A comprehensive overview of the instrument infrastructure is given and the observation strategy for dual-field relative astrometry is presented. The differential delay lines, a key component of the PRIMA facility which was delivered by the ESPRI consortium, are described and their performance within the facility is discussed. Observations of bright visual binaries are used to test the observation procedures and to establish the instrument's astrometric precision and accuracy. The data reduction strategy for astrometry and the necessary corrections to the raw data are presented. Adaptive optics observations with NACO are used as an independent verification of PRIMA astrometric observations. The PRIMA facility was used to carry out tests of astrometric observations. The astrometric performance in terms of precision is limited by the atmospheric turbulence at a level close to the theoretical expectations and a precision of 30 micro-arcseconds was achieved. In contrast, the astrometric accuracy is insufficient for the goals of the ESPRI project and is currently limited by systematic errors that originate in the part of the interferometer beamtrain which is not monitored by the internal metrology system. Our observations led to the definition of corrective actions required to make the facility ready for carrying out the ESPRI search for extrasolar planets.Comment: 32 pages, 39 figures, Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Responses to salt stress in Juncus acutus and J. maritimus during seed germination and vegetative plant growth

[EN] Responses to increasing salinity, during seed germination and vegetative plant growth, were studied in two related species of Juncus, J. maritimus and J. acutus. In both species, germination was optimal in the absence of salt, reduced by about 50% in the presence of 200 mM NaCl, and completely inhibited by NaCl concentrations above 300 mM. Previous exposure of the seeds to salt, up to 500 mM NaCl, did not affect the germination capacity in J. acutus, and clearly enhanced it in J. maritimus. A concentration-dependent inhibition of plant growth was observed in the presence of NaCl for both species, together with the parallel accumulation of sodium ions in the leaves, as determined by cation exchange HPLC. Regarding the levels of divalent cations, in J. acutus Ca2+ and Mg2+ increased up to about two-fold in plants treated with 500 mM NaCl, as compared to control plants, whereas in J. maritimus they were three-to four-fold higher than in J. acutus in the absence of salt, and did not change significantly with increasing NaCl concentrations. These results suggest that Ca2+ and Mg2+ participate in defence mechanisms against salt stress, which would be constitutive in J. maritimus and salt-inducible in J. acutus.Boscaiu Neagu, MT.; Ballesteros Amat, G.; Naranjo Olivero, MA.; Vicente Meana, Ó.; Boira Tortajada, H. (2011). Responses to salt stress in Juncus acutus and J. maritimus during seed germination and vegetative plant growth. Plant Biosystems. 145(4):770-777. doi:10.1080/11263504.2011.628446S770777145