Software plays a central role in all aspects of reversible computing. We survey the breadth of topics and recent activities on reversible software and systems including behavioural types, recovery, debugging, concurrency, and object-oriented programming. These have the potential to provide linguistic abstractions and tools that will lead to safer and more reliable reversible computing applications.

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocols allow the establishment of symmetric cryptographic keys up to a limited distance at limited rates. Due to optical misalignment, noise in quantum detectors, disturbance of the quantum channel or eavesdropping, an error key reconciliation technique is required to eliminate errors. This chapter analyses different key reconciliation techniques with a focus on communication and computing performance. We also briefly describe a new approach to key reconciliation techniques based on artificial neural networks.

In medium-size, spiny striatal neurons of the direct pathway, dopamine D1- and adenosine A1-receptors are co-expressed and are mutually antagonistic. Recently, a mutation in the gene encoding the A1-receptor (A1R-G279S7.44) was identified in an Iranian family: two affected off-springs suffered from early onset L-DOPA-responsive Parkinson's disease. The link between the mutation and the phenotype is unclear. Here, we explored the functional consequence of the G279S substitution on the activity of the A1-receptor after heterologous expression in HEK293 cells. The mutation did not affect surface expression and ligand binding, but changed the susceptibility to heat denaturation: the thermodynamic stability of A1R-G279S7.44was enhanced by about 2 and 8 K when compared to wildtype A1-receptorand A1R-Y288A7.53 (a folding-deficient variant used as a reference), respectively. In contrast, the kinetic stability was reduced indicating a lower energy barrier for conformational transitions in A1R-G279S7.44(73 {plus minus} 23 kJ/mol) than in wildtype A1R(135 {plus minus} 4 kJ/mol) or in A1R-Y288A7.53 (184 {plus minus} 24 kJ/mol). Consistent with this lower energy barrier, A1R-G279S7.44was more effective in promoting guanine nucleotide-exchange than wildtype A1R. We detected similar levels of complexes formed between D1-receptors and wildtype A1R or A1R-G279S7.44by co-immunoprecipitation and bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET). However, lower concentrations of agonist were required for half-maximum inhibition of dopamine-induced cAMP accumulation in cells co-expressing D1-receptor and A1R-G279S7.44than in those co-expressing wildtype A1R. These observations predict enhanced inhibition of dopa-minergic signaling by A1R-G279S7.44 in vivo consistent with a pathogenic role in Parkinson's disease. Significance Statement Parkinson's diseaseis caused by a loss of dopaminergic input from the substantia nigrato the caudate nucleus and the putamen. Activation of the adenosine A1-receptor antagonizes respon-ses elicited by dopamine D1-receptors. We show that this activity is more pronounced in a mutant version of the adenosine A1-receptor (A1R-G279S7.44), which was identified in individuals suffering from early onset Parkinson's disease.

The aim of this paper is to present and validate a framework for assessing healthcare facilities in low-resource settings to collect evidence and inform policies on the harmonisation, regulation and contextualised design of medical devices. A literature review and focus groups with several experts of medical device design, clinical engineering, health technology assessment and management, allowed the creation of a protocol, comprising two parts: a semi-structured interview and electrical safety measures. Three hospitals were assessed in Benin and three in Uganda. All the health centres resulted to be facing typical challenges for low-resource settings, including the lack of funding, expertise, a well-established maintenance program, spare parts and consumables, and unreliable power supplies. As there is a paucity of information regarding low-resource settings, the proposed framework can be used by clinical or biomedical engineers to assess and thereby propose actions for improving the conditions of healthcare settings.

Purpose The aim of this paper is to present and validate a framework for assessing healthcare facilities in low-resource settings to collect evidence and inform policies on the harmonisation, regulation and contextualised design of medical devices. Methods A literature review and focus groups with several experts of medical device design, clinical engineering, health technology assessment and management, allowed the creation of a protocol, comprising two parts: a semi-structured interview and electrical safety measures. Results Three hospitals were assessed in Benin and three in Uganda. All the health centres resulted to be facing typical challenges for low-resource settings, including the lack of funding, expertise, a well-established maintenance program, spare parts and consumables, and unreliable power supplies. Conclusion As there is a paucity of information regarding low-resource settings, the proposed framework can be used by clinical or biomedical engineers to assess and thereby propose actions for improving the conditions of healthcare settings.

Apesar de decorrer das praticas sociais vivenciadas pelos universitarios, o ensino da escrita academica tem sido pouco presente nos cursos de licenciaturas. Isso se reflete na formacao desses estudantes e futuros professores, que costumam apresentar lacunas no ler-escrever textos da esfera academica. Considerada ainda a escassez de producoes cientificas brasileiras acerca desse tema, este estudo busca investigar as principais tendencias da producao cientifica sobre letramento academico na formacao de professores na area de Letras, publicadas no banco de teses da CAPES, entre 2013 e 2017, visando mapear os desafios e as contribuicoes do debate acerca do letramento academico na formacao de professores. Trata-se de uma pesquisa bibliografica do tipo estado da arte que considera os trabalhos completos de dissertacoes e teses publicadas nessa plataforma e desenvolvidas no contexto brasileiro. Nessa investigacao, encontraram-se apenas quatro trabalhos publicados sobre o tema na area de Letras, reafirmando a necessidade de investimento em pesquisa para avancar nas imbricacoes entre letramentos academicos e letramento docente.

Flour-based confectionary is the most popular confectionary and have an important position in food technology in general. Those products present the most often consumed confectionary products and their growth in EU market has been increasing per capita consumption [1] owing to their sweet taste and nice aroma and flavor, easy accessibility–ready to use and well-established habits [2], lower production costs, convenience and long shelf life [3].

Abstract. In this paper we evaluate characteristics of three optical particulate matter sensors/sizers (OPS): high-end spectrometer 11-D (Grimm, Germany), low-cost sensor OPC-N2 (Alphasense, United Kingdom) and in-house developed MAQS (Mobile Air Quality System), which is based on another low-cost sensor – PMS5003 (Plantower, China), under realistic conditions of strong and mild urban pollution. Results were compared against a reference gravimetric system, based on a Gemini (Dadolab, Italy), 2.3 m3 h−1 air sampler, with two channels (simultaneously measuring PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations). The measurements were performed in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, from December 2019 until May 2020. This interval is divided into period 1 – strong pollution – and period 2 – mild pollution. The city of Sarajevo is one of the most polluted cities in Europe in terms of particulate matter: the average concentration of PM2.5 during the period 1 was 83 µg m−3, with daily average values exceeding 500 µg m−3. During period 2, the average concentration of PM2.5 was 20 µg m−3. These conditions represent a good opportunity to test optical devices against the reference instrument in a wide range of ambient particulate matter (PM) concentrations. The effect of an in-house developed diffusion dryer for 11-D is discussed as well. In order to analyse the mass distribution of particles, a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS), which together with the 11-D spectrometer gives the full spectrum from nanoparticles of diameter 10 nm to coarse particles of diameter 35 µm, was used. All tested devices showed excellent correlation with the reference instrument in period 1, with R2 values between 0.90 and 0.99 for daily average PM concentrations. However, in period 2, where the range of concentrations was much narrower, R2 values decreased significantly, to values from 0.28 to 0.92. We have also included results of a 13.5-month long-term comparison of our MAQS sensor with a nearby beta attenuation monitor (BAM) 1020 (Met One Instruments, USA) operated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), which showed similar correlation and no observable change in performance over time.

Estimation of unmeasured variables is a crucial objective in a broad range of applications. However, the estimation process turns into a challenging problem when the underlying model is nonlinear and even more so when additionally it exhibits multiple time scales. The existing results on estimation for systems with two time scales apply to a limited class of nonlinear plants and observers. We focus on analyzing nonlinear observers designed for the slow state variables of nonlinear singularly perturbed systems. Moreover, we consider the presence of bounded measurement noise in the system. We generalize current results by considering broader classes of plants and estimators to cover reduced‐order, full‐order, and higher‐order observers. First, we show that the singularly perturbed system has bounded solutions under an appropriate set of assumptions on the corresponding boundary layer and reduced systems. We then exploit this property to prove that, under reasonable assumptions, the error dynamics of the observer designed for the reduced system are semiglobally input‐to‐state practically stable when the observer is implemented on the original plant. We also conclude ℒ2 stability results when the measurement noise belongs to ℒ2∩ℒ∞ . In the absence of measurement noise, we state results on semiglobal practical asymptotical stability for the error dynamics. We illustrate the generality of our main results through three classes of systems with corresponding observers and one numerical example.