Modeling the technology of identification of wine materials and wines by PCR analysis of microsatellite loci of grapevine chloroplast DNA

Использование полиморфных микросателлитных локусов ДНК является одним из подходов к аутентификации виноматериалов и вин. При этом SSR-маркеры хлоропластной ДНК имеют большую копийность мишени на клетку и менее подвержены деградации из-за содержания в органеллах с двойной мембраной. Целью настоящей работы являлось моделирование технологии идентификации виноматериалов и вин ПЦР-анализом микросателлитных локусов хлоропластной ДНК винограда. Подобраны условия экстракции нуклеиновых кислот, постановки ПЦР с соответствующими наборами праймеров и электрофоретической детекции, направленные на практическое воспроизведение генетического тестирования пробоподготовленного биоматериала из осаждаемого винного дебриса. Представлены наглядные результаты выравнивания частичных нуклеотидных последовательностей аллелей микросателлитных локусов хлоропластной ДНК Vitis vinifera L. Проанализирована разделяющая способность метода горизонтального электрофореза в геле «Spreadex EL 300» in silico моделированием генерируемых аллельспецифичных фрагментов, позволяющая идентифицировать известные хлоротипы винограда даже при постановке ПЦР с ограниченными наборами праймеров, нацеленных на локусы cpSSR3, cpSSR5, cpSSR10, NTCP12 и ccSSR9. The use of polymorphic microsatellite DNA loci is one of the approaches to the authentication of wine materials and wines. At the same time, SSR markers of chloroplast DNA have a large target copy number per cell and are less susceptible to degradation due to their content in organelles with a double membrane. The aim of this work was to simulate the technology of identification of wine materials and wines by PCR analysis of microsatellite loci of grapevine chloroplast DNA. The conditions for the extraction of nucleic acids, PCR with the corresponding sets of primers and electrophoretic detection were selected, aimed at the practical reproduction of genetic testing of the sample prepared biomaterial from the precipitated wine debris. Illustrative results of the alignment of partial nucleotide sequences of alleles of microsatellite loci of Vitis vinifera L. chloroplast DNA are presented. The separating ability of the method of horizontal electrophoresis in «Spreadex EL 300» gel by in silico modeling the generated allele-specific fragments, which makes it possible to identify the known chlorotypes of grapevine with a limited set of primers targeting loci (cpSSR3, cpSSR5, cpSSR10, NTCP12 and ccSSR9) has been analyzed.

The Use of Electrocardiographic Imaging in Localising the Origin of Arrhythmias During Catheter Ablation of Ventricular Tachycardia

Non-invasive electrocardiographic imaging (ECGI) is a novel clinical tool for mapping ventricular arrhythmia. Using multiple body surface electrodes to collect unipolar electrograms and conventional medical imaging of the heart, an epicardial shell can be created to display calculated electrograms. This calculation is achieved by solving the inverse problem and allows activation times to be calculated from a single beat. The technology was initially pioneered in the US using an experimental torso-shaped tank. Accuracy from studies in humans has varied. Early data was promising, with more recent work suggesting only moderate accuracy when reproducing cardiac activation. Despite these limitations, the system has been successfully used in pioneering work with non-invasive cardiac radioablation to treat ventricular arrhythmia. This suggests that the resolution may be sufficient for treatment of large target areas. Although untested in a well conducted clinical study it is likely that it would not be accurate enough to guide more discreet radiofrequency ablation.

Variability in the Center of Mass State During Initiation of Accurate Forward Step Aimed at Targets of Different Sizes

Motor control for forward step initiation begins with anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs). During APAs, the central nervous system controls the center of pressure (CoP) to generate an appropriate center of mass (CoM) position and velocity for various task requirements. In this study, we investigated the effect of required stepping accuracy on the CoM and CoP parameters during APA for a step initiation task. Sixteen healthy young participants stepped forward onto the targets on the ground as soon as and as fast as possible in response to visual stimuli. Two target sizes (small: 2 cm square and large: 10 cm square) and two target distances (short: 20% and long: 40% of the body height) were tested. CoP displacement during the APA and the CoM position, velocity, and extrapolated CoM at the timing of the takeoff of the lead leg were compared among the conditions. In the small condition, comparing with the large condition, the CoM position was set closer to the stance limb side during the APA, which was confirmed by the location of the extrapolated center of mass at the instance of the takeoff of the lead leg [small: 0.09 ± 0.01 m, large: 0.06 ± 0.01 m, mean and standard deviation, F(1, 15) = 96.46, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.87]. The variability in the mediolateral extrapolated center of mass location was smaller in the small target condition than large target condition when the target distance was long [small: 0.010 ± 0.002 m, large: 0.013 ± 0.004 m, t(15) = 3.8, p = 0.002, d = 0.96]. These findings showed that in the step initiation task, the CoM state and its variability were task-relevantly determined during the APA in accordance with the required stepping accuracy.

On Gatekeepers and Structural Competition Problems

The Digital Age saw the rise of several rapidly growing digital platforms with substantial market shares, and this development is expected to continue. Europe is a large target market for these globally operating platforms, although the majority of the most successful platforms come from the USA and Asia and will likely continue to do so in the future. This article reveals the reasons for the success of digital platforms and discusses the recent European Commission proposal for a Digital Markets Act based on the analysis of the status quo.

An efficient high-frequency method of the EM near-field scattering from an electrically large target

In this paper, an efficient high-frequency method combining physical optics and shooting and bouncing rays is proposed to calculate the electromagnetic near-field scattering from the electrically large target (such as ship) in the near zone. In order to solve the mono-static and bi-static scattering problems, the local expansion technique based on the facets of target is presented to account for the near-field scattering, which has a singularity-free characteristic. And then the near-field contour-integral representation is introduced by refining the formulations in traditional far-field calculation to reduce the computational complexity. Therefore, this method is more straightforward to deal with the near-field scattering problem. Finally, some analyses on the near-field scattering characteristics and Doppler spectra of a surveillance ship in near zone are investigated by using the proposed method.

Microstructure, Mechanical Properties and Tribological Behavior of Magnetron-Sputtered MoS2 Solid Lubricant Coatings Deposited under Industrial Conditions

Depositing MoS2 coatings for industrial applications involves rotating the samples during the PVD magnetron sputtering process. Here, we show that a 3-fold substrate rotation, along a large target–substrate distance given by the deposition unit, introduces porosity inside the coatings. The mechanical properties and wear behavior strongly correlate with the degree of porosity, which, in turn, depends on the temperature and the rotational speed of the substrate. Ball-on-disk tests and nanoindentation wear experiments show a consistent change in tribological behavior; first, a compaction of the porous structure dominates, followed by wear of the compacted material. Compaction was the main contributor to the volume loss during the running-in process. Compared to a dense coating produced without substrate rotation, the initially porous coatings showed lower hardness and a distinct running-in behavior. Tribological lifetime experiments showed good lubrication performance after compaction.

Parameterized Counting of Partially Injective Homomorphisms

We study the parameterized complexity of the problem of counting graph homomorphisms with given partial injectivity constraints, i.e., inequalities between pairs of vertices, which subsumes counting of graph homomorphisms, subgraph counting and, more generally, counting of answers to equi-join queries with inequalities. Our main result presents an exhaustive complexity classification for the problem in fixed-parameter tractable and $$\#\mathsf {W[1]}$$ # W [ 1 ] -complete cases. The proof relies on the framework of linear combinations of homomorphisms as independently discovered by Chen and Mengel (PODS 16) and by Curticapean, Dell and Marx in the recent breakthrough result regarding the exact complexity of the subgraph counting problem (STOC 17). Moreover, we invoke Rota’s NBC-Theorem to obtain an explicit criterion for fixed-parameter tractability based on treewidth. The abstract classification theorem is then applied to the problem of counting locally injective graph homomorphisms from small pattern graphs to large target graphs. As a consequence, we are able to fully classify its parameterized complexity depending on the class of allowed pattern graphs.

Fisheye-Based Smart Control System for Autonomous UAV Operation

Recently, as UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) have become smaller and higher-performance, they play a very important role in the Internet of Things (IoT). Especially, UAVs are currently used not only in military fields but also in various private sectors such as IT, agriculture, logistics, construction, etc. The range is further expected to increase. Drone-related techniques need to evolve along with this change. In particular, there is a need for the development of an autonomous system in which a drone can determine and accomplish its mission even in the absence of remote control from a GCS (Ground Control Station). Responding to such requirements, there have been various studies and algorithms developed for autonomous flight systems. Especially, many ML-based (Machine-Learning-based) methods have been proposed for autonomous path finding. Unlike other studies, the proposed mechanism could enable autonomous drone path finding over a large target area without size limitations, one of the challenges of ML-based autonomous flight or driving in the real world. Specifically, we devised Multi-Layer HVIN (Hierarchical VIN) methods that increase the area applicable to autonomous flight by overlaying multiple layers. To further improve this, we developed Fisheye HVIN, which applied an adaptive map compression ratio according to the drone’s location. We also built an autonomous flight training and verification platform. Through the proposed simulation platform, it is possible to train ML-based path planning algorithms in a realistic environment that takes into account the physical characteristics of UAV movements.