RAPD-inferred genetic variability of some indigenous Rhizobium leguminosarum isolates from red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) nodules

The application of commercial rhizobial inoculants to legume crops is proving to be an alternative to synthetic fertilizer use. The challenge for sustainable agriculture resides in the compatibility between crop, inoculants and environmental conditions. The evaluation of symbiotic efficiency and genetic diversity of indigenous rhizobial strains could lead to the development of better inoculants and increased crop production. The genetic variability of 32 wild indigenous rhizobial isolates was assessed by RAPD (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA). The strains were isolated from red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) nodules from two distinct geographical regions of Northern and Eastern Romania. Three decamer primers were used to resolve the phylogenetic relationships between the investigated isolates. Cluster analysis revealed a high diversity; most strains clustered together based on their geographical location

Down-Conditioning of Soleus Reflex Activity using Mechanical Stimuli and EMG Biofeedback

Spasticity is a common syndrome caused by various brain and neural injuries, which can severely impair walking ability and functional independence. To improve functional independence, conditioning protocols are available aimed at reducing spasticity by facilitating spinal neuroplasticity. This down-conditioning can be performed using different types of stimuli, electrical or mechanical, and reflex activity measures, EMG or impedance, used as biofeedback variable. Still, current results on effectiveness of these conditioning protocols are incomplete, making comparisons difficult. We aimed to show the within-session task- dependent and across-session long-term adaptation of a conditioning protocol based on mechanical stimuli and EMG biofeedback. However, in contrast to literature, preliminary results show that subjects were unable to successfully obtain task-dependent modulation of their soleus short-latency stretch reflex magnitude

Reachability Logic

Abstract. This paper introduces *reachability logic*, a language-independent seven-rule proof system for deriving reachability properties of systems. The key ingredients of *reachability logic* are its sentences, which are called reachability rules and generalize the transitions of operational semantics and the Hoare triples of axiomatic semantics, and the *Circularity* proof rule, which generalizes invariant proof rules for iterative and recursive constructs in axiomatic semantics. The target transition system is described as a set of reachability rules, which are taken as axioms in a reachability logic proof. Typical definition styles which can be read as collections of reachability rules include conventional small-step and big-step operational semantics. The reachability logic proof system is shown sound (in the sense of partial correctness) and relatively complete. The soundness result has also been formalized in Coq, allowing to convert reachability logic proofs into proof certificates depending only on the operational semantics and the unavoidable domain reasoning. Reachability logic thus eliminates the need to independently define an axiomatic and an operational semantics for each language, and the non-negligible effort to prove the former sound and complete w.r.t the latter.unpublishednot peer reviewe

Cardiac Anatomy for the Electrophysiologist with Emphasis on the Left Atrium and Pulmonary Veins

This chapter aims to provide basic anatomical knowledge for the interventional electrophysiologists to understand catheter placement and ablation targets. We begin with the location of the heart inside the mediastinum, position of cardiac chambers, pericardial space and neighboring structures of the heart. We continue with the right atrium and important structures inside it: sinus node, cavotricuspid isthmus, Koch’s triangle and interatrial septum with fossa ovalis. A special part of this chapter is dedicated to the left atrium and pulmonary veins with the venoatrial junction, important structures for catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation. We finish our description with both ventricles with outflow tracts and the coronary venous system

Deconvolution Method for Eliminating Reference Signal Coupling/Reflections in Bistatic SAR

Bistatic radar receivers that use an opportunistic transmitter require a reference channel to capture the original transmitted signal, which is then used as a reference signal for constructing the matched-filter during the range compression step. Because the reference signal is received from line-of-sight, it is orders in magnitude larger than the reflections captured by the receive channel. It is generally difficult to construct the system such that the reference signal is not leaked into the received signal, either via coupling in the circuitry or via reflections off objects in the vicinity of the receiver. Due to its much larger amplitude, the reference signal can easily mask smaller targets with its side-lobes. In this paper we propose a novel deconvolution method for bistatic SAR images as a means of eliminating leakage of the reference signal

BeTwin: enhancing VR experiences with BLE beacon-based digital twins

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is one of the technologies that can be used for short-range communications. BLE beacons are small wireless devices that can store URLs and real-world data, including GPS locations and identifiers. This article proposes BeTwin, an efficient solution that integrates BLE beacons with a digital twin environment in order to enhance and customise a virtual 3D platform, bridging the real and virtual worlds. The beacons are used to bring information from real objects into the virtual platform. We extend the Eddystone messaging protocol and investigate the impact of beacon distance, energy levels, and number of beacons on the system performance. We also describe a testbed consisting of a virtual environment, a beacon reader along with beacons, and assess its performance in terms of communications latency, Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), and number of beacons

Multicomplementary operators via finite Fourier transform

A complete set of d+1 mutually unbiased bases exists in a Hilbert spaces of dimension d, whenever d is a power of a prime. We discuss a simple construction of d+1 disjoint classes (each one having d-1 commuting operators) such that the corresponding eigenstates form sets of unbiased bases. Such a construction works properly for prime dimension. We investigate an alternative construction in which the real numbers that label the classes are replaced by a finite field having d elements. One of these classes is diagonal, and can be mapped to cyclic operators by means of the finite Fourier transform, which allows one to understand complementarity in a similar way as for the position-momentum pair in standard quantum mechanics. The relevant examples of two and three qubits and two qutrits are discussed in detail.Comment: 15 pages, no figure