Separate Lines Research Articles

The associative pattern classifier: Progress in theoretical understanding

The Associative Pattern Classifier (APC) was designed as an associative memory, focusing particularly on pattern classification. This implies that the training memory is constructed in a single operation and pattern classification also occurs in a single process. It is important to note that the APC translates the input patterns through a translation vector, which represents the average of all input patterns. Until now, there is no theoretical framework to explain the inner workings of the APC. Its relevance is inferred from the fact that several studies have been conducted using it as a foundation. This paper seeks to provide a theoretical comprehension of the APC’s operation to facilitate future enhancements. We found the APC creates a system in static equilibrium through concurrent vectors at the origin (translation vector), resulting in a balanced separation of patterns. However, the APC cannot achieve complete pattern separation because of the presence of a neutral region. The neutral region is defined by all the points that define the separation hyperplanes. The points over the hyperplanes cannot be classified by the APC. Additionally, we discovered that the APC is unable to accurately classify the translation vector, which could be included as part of the input patterns. Our previous research showed that the APC is unsuccessful in achieving the linear separation of the AND function. In this research, we broaden the examination of the AND function to illustrate that achieving linear separation is not feasible because the separation line represents a neutral region. The APC demonstrated exceptional performance when tested with artificial datasets where patterns were distributed over balanced regions, thus operating as an efficient multiclass and non-linear classifier. Nevertheless, the performance of the APC is lower when tested with real-world databases, making the APC inaccurate due to its restricted inner workings.

Large-scale excess H i absorption around z ≈ 4 galaxies detected in a background galaxy spectrum in the MUSE eXtremely deep field

ABSTRACT Observationally mapping the relation between galaxies and the intergalactic medium (IGM) is of key interest for studies of cosmic reionization. Diffuse hydrogen gas has typically been observed in H i Lyman-α (Lyα) absorption in the spectra of bright background quasars. However, it is important to extend these measurements to background galaxies as quasars become increasingly rare at high redshift and rarely probe closely separated sight lines. Here, we use deep integral field spectroscopy in the MUSE eXtremely Deep Field to demonstrate the measurement of the Lyα transmission at z ≈ 4 in absorption to a background galaxy at z = 4.77. The H i transmission is consistent with independent quasar sight lines at similar redshifts. Exploiting the high number of spectroscopic redshifts of faint galaxies (500 between z = 4.0–4.7 within a radius of 8 arcmin) that are tracers of the density field, we show that Lyα transmission is inversely correlated with galaxy density, i.e. transparent regions in the Lyα forest mark underdense regions at z ≈ 4. Due to large-scale clustering, galaxies are surrounded by excess H i absorption over the cosmic mean out to 4 cMpc/h70. We also find that redshifts from the peak of the Lyα line are typically offset from the systemic redshift by +170 km s−1. This work extends results from z ≈ 2–3 to higher redshifts and demonstrates the power of deep integral field spectroscopy to simultaneously measure the ionization structure of the IGM and the large-scale density field in the early Universe.

Mach 3.5 Compression Corner Control Using Microvortex Generators

An experimental investigation has been performed to examine the effect of vortex generators (VGs) on a compression corner flow separation. Experiments are conducted at Mach 3.5 along a 23° compression corner with turbulent inflow boundary-layer and Reynolds number 27×104 based on the 6.2-mm boundary-layer thickness. Micro-ramp, standard ramped-vane, and inverted ramped-vane VGs all cause the separation line to ripple and become more three-dimensional, but none eliminate it altogether. Vane-type VGs produce a stronger control effect than micro-ramps. Inverted vanes tend to generate large areas of near-wall low-momentum flow that locally increase separation length, making standard vane configurations more effective at reducing separation size. Velocimetry measurements show that the VG-induced vortices remain coherent and capable of exchanging momentum within the boundary-layer, even downstream of the interaction. Enhanced flow three-dimensionality causes an intensification of areas of increased and decreased momentum downstream of reattachment, resulting in significant flow distortion. Increased near-wall turbulent fluctuations are observed upstream of the interaction in areas where separation length is reduced. These findings are used to propose a mechanism of VG control, highlighting the role of VGs in enhancing mixing in the separated shear layer, leading to earlier reattachment and an overall reduction in separation length.

A socio-cognitive reinterpretation of Grice’s theory of conversation

Abstract Pragmatics research has been following two separate lines: the cognitive-philosophical line and the sociocultural-interactional line. Joining recent efforts of integration in pragmatics research, this paper reinterprets from a socio-cognitive perspective Grice’s theory of conversation (the Cooperative Principle with attendant maxims). The paper aims to incorporate social considerations into the theory, in the hope of enhancing its explanatory potential for information exchange in real-life discourse contexts. Focusing on cooperation as process, this paper examines Grice’s theory of conversation in connection with his theory of meaning and looks into the social-normative basis of the conversational behavior predicted by Grice. The conversational maxims can be characterized as socio-cognitive in the sense of being both cognitive and normative. They are normative expectations whose breach commits the speaker to interpretive and social consequences. The maxims used to be thought of in terms of a simple dichotomy: they are either observed or not observed, and non-observance has often been equated with non-cooperation. The paper draws attention to the fact that non-observance comes in different types (violating, opting out, flouting, and so on). It matters communicatively and extra-communicatively which type the non-observance falls into, as different types of non-observance have different interpretive and social consequences.

Intermittent Electron-only Reconnection at Lunar Mini-magnetospheres

Lunar crustal magnetic anomalies (LCMA) are sub-ion-gyroradius structures that have been shown to stand off the solar wind (SW) plasma from the Moon’s surface, forming shock-like discontinuities and reflecting incident SW protons. In this Letter, the results of high-resolution, 2D fully kinetic simulations show a bursty electron-only magnetic reconnection in the SW-LCMA interaction region, characterized by the quasiperiodic formation and ejection of magnetic islands and strong parallel electron flows along the X-point separator lines. The islands are observed to modify the magnetic pressure pileup and Hall electric field above the LCMA, leading to sharp increases in reflected protons that drive electromagnetic fluctuations downstream and short distances upstream in the SW.

Supplier Collaboration and Performance of Food and Beverage Manufacturing Firms in Kenya

Purpose: This study sought to evaluate explored the influence of supplier collaboration on the performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms in Kenya and to find out the moderating effect of supply chain technology on the performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms in Kenya.
 Methodology: The study used exploratory research design and utilized both qualitative and quantitative data in carrying out the study. This study adopted a census survey sampling which was conducted on 270 food and beverage manufacturing firms in Kenya registered by Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM, 2022). The target population for the research was all 270 respondents each from the food and beverage manufacturing firms. Both primary and secondary data was used, the primary data was collected using semi structured questionnaire that was administered by the researcher and research assistants. Samples of the questionnaire were pilot tested to test the reliability and validity before full scale data collection. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 software. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented in tables and figures. The inferential analysis was further carried out using structural equation modelling, ANOVA and regression coefficients. The results were then presented using tables, figures, graphs and charts.
 Findings: Supplier collaboration significantly influenced performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms in Kenya at both without a moderator and also using the moderating variable, supply chain technology. In the first model without moderator, it recorded a standardized estimate of 0.637 (p<0.001), indicating that as supplier collaboration increases performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms also increases. Fit indices on structural equation modelling revealed a marginal fit with a chi-square test of 216.155 with 86 degrees (P-value 0.0561). The structural path for structural equation modelling from supplier collaboration to supply chain performance remains positive and significant standardized estimate of 0.855 and p-value was 0.001<0.05. Which indicates that the variability of supplier collaboration on the performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms could be explained by 63.7% when no moderator is included and increase to 85.5% when supply chain technology is incorporated thereby indicating a stronger relationship. The other fit indices that gave a satisfactory model fit are RMR=.9019, GFI= .9774, NFI= .9164, RMSEA=.0191 and CFI=.9176 this implies that the model was fit to determine the relationship between supplier collaboration and performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms in Kenya and therein make conclusions and recommendations. ANOVA, regression coefficient ant model summary (R2) were also used and indicated significance of there use all recording p-value of 0.000<0.05. 
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: While transaction cost theory used in this study was validated by offering cost reduction strategies like outsourcing, accurate order forecasting as increasing the organization bottom line. The study recommends that when creating a supplier collaboration portfolio, companies should pool suppliers with the same activities in one pool but to use technology to mop up suppliers with high asset specificity for components delivering competitive advantage. Meanwhile, suppliers with low asset specificity for suppliers with components which result to less competitive advantage needs to be managed as a separate line of engagement.

An overview of statistical and neural-based line segmentation methods for offline handwriting recognition task

The object of the research is the line segmentation task. To recognize the handwritten text from the documents in image format offline handwriting recognition technology is used. The text recognizer module accepts input as separate lines, so one of the important preprocessing steps is the detection and splitting of all handwritten text into distinct lines. In this paper, the handwritten text line segmentation task, its requirements, problems, and challenges are examined. Two main approaches for this task that are used in modern recognition systems are reviewed. These approaches are statistical projection-based methods and neural-based methods. Multiple works and research papers for each type of approach are reviewed analyzing their strengths and weaknesses considering the described tasks, constraints, and input data peculiarities. Overall acquired results are formed in a single table for comparison. Based on the latest works that utilize deep neural networks the new possibilities of using these methods in recognition systems are described that were unavailable with traditional statistical segmentation approaches. The constructive conclusions are made based on the review, describing the main pros and cons of these two approaches for the line segmentation task. These results can be further used for the correct selection of suitable methods in handwriting recognition systems to improve their performance and quality, and for further research in this area.

Reduced low-prevalence visual search detriment with increasing age: Implications for cognitive theories of aging and real-world search tasks

When performing multiple successive visual searches, low-prevalence targets are at elevated risk of being missed. This has important implications for real-world visual search tasks, such as diagnostic medical imaging (e.g., searching for a cancer) and airport baggage security screening (e.g., searching for a weapon), which are characterized by low-prevalence targets and potentially dire consequences of target misses. Previous work on low-prevalence visual search indicates that individuals who spontaneously respond more slowly miss fewer targets, which has been attributed to higher quitting thresholds predicting better performance. Previous aging research indicates that older adults typically respond more slowly across multiple task contexts. This has been attributed to both intrinsic limitations in processing speed and a strategic trade-off to prioritize accuracy with increasing age. Synthesizing these two separate lines of research, here we tested whether older adults had a higher quitting threshold and/or slower processing speed in low-prevalence visual search, and the consequences of these for the magnitude of the low-prevalence visual search detriment. We recruited a large sample (N = 380) across a range of ages (20–80 years) and had them search for targets under low- and high-prevalence conditions. Older adults had both slower processing speed and higher quitting thresholds. Older adults were moderately less susceptible to the low-prevalence detriment, and this relationship was mediated by countervailing effects: slower processing speed exacerbated older adults’ low-prevalence detriment, whereas elevated quitting threshold mitigated it. Theoretical implications for cognitive aging and practical implications for professional visual search tasks are discussed.

ДИНАМИКА РАЗМНОЖЕНИЯ ПОДВОЕВ ВИНОГРАДА В КУЛЬТУРЕ IN VITRO

In connection with the extension of areas under vineyards, it becomes necessary to use rootstocks, resistant to certain soil and climatic conditions (high content of active lime and salts in the soil, drought). Growth of the assortment of rootstocks available for propagation is one of the most important strategies of domestic nursery farming development, along with the production of improved planting material and better performance of its quality indicators. Today it is important to optimize clonal micro-propagation technology for promising grape rootstocks in order to increase net reproduction while maintaining the genetic identity of planting material. The purpose of the work was to study the dynamics of morphogenesis of grape rootstocks in the system in vitro to optimize the technology of clonal micro-propagation, taking into account the genetic specificity of particular genotypes. The study materials were the in vitro plants of grape rootstocks: Fercal clone 242, Ruggeri 140, and Gravesac (clones 11 and 12). The methods accepted in biotechnology and developed in the Breeding Department of the Institute Magarach were both used in the process of research. Cultivation was carried out on PG medium supplemented with NAA (α-naphthylacetic acid) 0.05 mg/l. The results showed that the dynamics of morphogenesis of rootstocks Ferсal clone 242, Gravesac clone 11 and Gravesac clone 12, analyzed on the basis of net propagation, did not differ significantly by varieties, with the exception of the second passage. The study of morphogenetic potential of Ruggeri 140 rootstock bud made it possible to reveal the dependence of net propagation on the line, it was especially noticeable in the first passage. Separate lines showed high net propagation in the second passage. The average indicator value for all lines was 2.59. In general for all rootstocks, similar results were obtained in successive passages, indicating a tendency for net propagation to be decreased. In order to increase the efficiency of technology, it is necessary to optimize the conditions of cultivation for industrial propagation, taking into account the genetic characteristics of every rootstock.

Inkjet-printed transistors with coffee ring aligned carbon nanotubes

Low-concentration deposition techniques such as inkjet printing for forming carbon nanotube (CNT) transistor channels typically result in higher on–off current ratio, while lowering the field-effect mobility compared to traditional high-concentration techniques. In this paper, we show that inkjet-printed devices can have both high field-effect mobility and on–off current ratio by utilizing coffee ring induced thickness variation in the channel. The coffee ring effect occurs naturally in printed patterns with most solvents and substrates, and it pushes dissolved particles to the edges of printed features. Thickness variation and coffee ring effect are usually avoided in the channel of solution processed thin-film transistors by implementing additional expensive steps in the fabrication process. Instead, here, we control these variations and utilize them to create inkjet-printed CNT channels with printing induced thickness variation that improves transistor properties. Printing properties such as printing speed, and number of layers are studied to manipulate capillary flow and form thicker line edges, which ultimately enhance current transport in the CNT network. A two-pass printing pattern with separate lines improves the field-effect mobility five times compared to a pattern with connected lines that has no defined edges. The field-effect mobility increases from 1.1 to 5.7 cm2 V−1 s−1 at a drain voltage of −2 V.

Comparison of the Work of Wastewater Treatment Plant “Ravda” in Summer and Winter Influenced by the Seasonal Mass Tourism Industry and COVID-19

Mass tourism puts enormous pressure on wastewater treatment plants due to its expansive growth during the summer months. To adapt to the fluctuations, the Ravda wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) uses innovative methods and technologies, allowing for “shrinking” and “expanding” of the facilities according to the season. This has been built in stages over the years, with two separate biological treatment lines adapting to different numbers of tourists and to the quantity of influent wastewater. The aim of this study is to make a comparative assessment of the work of WWTP Ravda in the summer and winter seasons and its effectiveness, as well as to compare them. In addition, it examines the years of the COVID-19 pandemic, when a much higher consumption of water per person was noted. Data were analyzed for the period of 2018–2022 inclusive, comparing influent and effluent BOD5 and COD in the summer and winter. Nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies were also tracked. The study shows that municipal wastewater treatment is effective, but much higher values, close to the maximum permissible discharge values, are observed during the tourist season. With the continued growth of the tourism sector, the Ravda wastewater treatment plant would not be able to cope with the discharge standards set by the Ministry of Environment and Water, so measures need to be taken promptly.

SEMv2: Table separation line detection based on instance segmentation

Table structure recognition is an indispensable element for enabling machines to comprehend tables. Its primary purpose is to identify the internal structure of a table. Nevertheless, due to the complexity and diversity of their structure and style, it is highly challenging to parse the tabular data into a structured format that machines can comprehend. In this work, we adhere to the principle of the split-and-merge based methods and propose an accurate table structure recognizer, termed SEMv2 (SEM: Split, Embed and Merge). Unlike the previous works in the “split” stage, we aim to address the table separation line instance-level discrimination problem and introduce a table separation line detection strategy based on conditional convolution. Specifically, we design the “split” in a top-down manner that detects the table separation line instance first and then dynamically predicts the table separation line mask for each instance. The final table separation line shape can be accurately obtained by processing the table separation line mask in a row-wise/column-wise manner. To comprehensively evaluate the SEMv2, we also present a more challenging dataset for table structure recognition, dubbed iFLYTAB, which encompasses multiple style tables in various scenarios such as photos, scanned documents, etc. Extensive experiments on publicly available datasets (e.g. SciTSR, PubTabNet and iFLYTAB) demonstrate the efficacy of our proposed approach. The code and iFLYTAB dataset are available at https://github.com/ZZR8066/SEMv2

Resettlement of Eurytemora velox (Crustacea: Copepoda) in Europe, the Urals and Western Siberia

The recent distribution of the Ponto-Caspian calanoid copepod, Eurytemora velox, in Western and Eastern Europe has been well-documented; however, there are no studies on the genetic diversity of the recently discovered Western Siberian species population. To contribute towards filling this gap, genetic diversity and distribution were investigated for E. velox collected in the Urals and Western Siberia of the Russian Federation to compare with the European populations. In this study, 44 specimens were dissected for the morphological studies, and 22 specimens of E. velox from different geographical points were analyzed for mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (CO1), nuclear ITS1-ITS2 (nITS) and nuclear ribosomal RNA (18SrRNA) gene fragments. Analysis of the CO1 gene region showed that the studied populations from the Urals and Western Siberia differ significantly from European ones and represent a separate genetic line. However, the nuclear nITS and 18SrRNA genes, as well as the results of morphological analysis, did not show such isolation of the Trans-Ural populations from those in Europe. As in many studies on E. velox, we found atypical structural features of the fifth prosomal leg among females in the Ob Bay. Their share was 36% of the number of studied individuals. The CO1 shows that the divergence of genetic lines occurred approximately in the Middle Pleistocene, and the species itself is Paleogene–Neogene by origin. Based on these data, a different scenario of E. velox distribution or possible refuge survival is discussed.

TWO-PHASE FLOW METERING OF MALDISTRIBUTION INSIDE A HEADER BY MEANS OF VENTURI FLOWMETER SOLELY

In evaporators, the distribution of the liquid and vapor phases among the channels is a convoluted problem, depending on a wide range of parameters. However, maldistribution causes important losses of performance. Due to their complexity, the accurate modeling of such two-phase flows is difficult to handle. Hence, experimental studies are still of great importance to help the understanding of maldistribution behaviors inside evaporators. Most of the experimental investigations of two-phase flow distribution are measuring the liquid and vapor quantities in the channels through a phase separation process, increasing the test duration and complexity. As a consequence, the number of parameters investigated is usually limited. Therefore, a new inline instrumentation method would allow for a more complete study by simplifying the measurement process. In the present work, an isothermal air/water mixture was used as fluid. The distribution of the two phases in eight channels of 10-mm I.D. connected to a simplified header was investigated. The inlet mass flow rates considered ranged from 0 to 0.025 kg/s for the water, and from 0 to 0.022 kg/s for the air. Consequently, qualities x up to 0.7 and void fractions α up to 0.9 were reached. All the tests were carried at a pressure condition of 7 bar to reach a liquid to vapor density ratio similar to what is encountered for traditional refrigerant. Finally, to allow a continuous measurement process, the mass flow rates in each of the 10-mm I.D. channel were measured using a flowmeter calibrated on a separate line. Since no void fraction meter was coupled, a new iterative methodology, based on the Venturi pressure drops measurement solely, was developed and is proposed here. It proved to successfully predict the vapor and liquid phase flow rates in each channel.

Fen Plantation: Commons, Calvinism, and the Boundaries of Belonging in Early Modern England

AbstractIn the first half of the seventeenth century, several foreign plantations were established on wetlands drained during a wave of ambitious state-led projects across eastern England. The lines of solidarity and separation forged by this little-known episode in the history of migration pose important questions about how emergent notions of nationhood intersected with local and transnational, religious and economic communities. This article investigates the causes and consequences of the settlement of Calvinist refugees on drained commons in Hatfield Level. It argues that fen plantation expands understanding of the relationship between English agricultural improvement and imperial expansion in the British Atlantic, as migrant communities acted in the service of empires and states while forging transnational Protestant networks. As Calvinists and cultivators, however, the settlers were met with hostility in England. While the crown encouraged foreign plantation as a source of national prosperity, Laudian church authorities identified it as a threat to religious conformity, the state, and society, muddying depictions of English governors as guarantors of refugee rights. Local efforts to violently expel settlers from Hatfield Level, meanwhile, were rooted in fen commoners’ defense of customary rights, as parallel communities sought to enact rival environmental and economic models. The settler community interpreted these experiences through the lens of transnational Protestant adversity, entangling their quest for religious freedoms with their remit as fen improvers. Moving beyond dichotomous arguments about xenophobia, this article traces the transnational imaginaries, national visions, and emplaced processes through which collective identities and their sharp edges were constituted in early modern England.

Survey on Intrusion Tolerant Systems in Emerging Technologies

The wide spread of the Internet leads to the expansion of networks and the increase of data. For this reason, the use of emerging technologies became a necessity to cover the needs and the lapses in traditional systems. However, these systems might reveal security flaws and become vulnerable to attacks. Security is therefore essential to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of system data and services. As the attacks get more sophisticated, the protection gets more difficult. In fact, mechanisms such as Firewalls, IDSs, and IPSs are still ineffective against unknown attacks. Consequently, defense-in-depth security should include intrusion tolerance. The concern of intrusion tolerance is not how to defend or detect the intrusion, but how to mask or restrain the intrusion when the network has been intruded. Using three separate lines of approaches: Detection-Triggered, Algorithm-Driven, and Recovery Based, this paper will present, analyze, and contrast several works in two different environments: Cloud Computing and Software Defined Networks (SDNs), to proceed towards Intrusion Tolerant Systems (ITSs).

Analysis of a new jointly hybrid censored Rayleigh populations

<abstract><p>When a researcher wants to perform a life-test comparison study of items made by two separate lines inside the same institution, joint censoring strategies are particularly important. In this paper, we present a new joint Type-Ⅰ hybrid censoring that enables an experimenter to stop the investigation as soon as a pre-specified number of failures or time is first achieved. In the context of newly censored data, the estimates of the unknown mean lifetimes of two different Rayleigh populations are acquired using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inferential techniques. The normality characteristic of classical estimators is used to offer asymptotic confidence interval bounds for each unknown parameter. Against gamma conjugate priors, the Bayes estimators and related credible intervals are gathered about symmetric and asymmetric loss functions. Since classical and Bayes estimators are acquired in closed form, simulation tests can be easily made to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed methodologies. The efficiency of the suggested approaches is examined in terms of four metrics, namely: Root mean squared error, average relative absolute bias, average confidence length, and coverage probability. To demonstrate the applicability of the offered approaches to real events, two real applications employing data sets from the engineering area are analyzed. As a result, when the experimenter's primary goal is to complete the test as soon as the total number of failures or the threshold period is recorded, the numerical results reveal that the recommended strategy is adaptable and very helpful in completing the study.</p></abstract>

Simulating Incident Management Team Response and Performance

Recent research has shown the power of large-scale regional traffic simulations—such as MATSim—to model the systemic impacts and costs of capacity-reducing incidents. At the same time, observational studies have illustrated the potential for traffic Incident Management Teams (IMTs) to reduce these impacts and costs on a local scale; mathematical optimization models have also attempted to scale or locate these programs. In this research, we connect these two separate lines of scholarly inquiry by simulating the dynamic response of an IMT fleet to incidents arising on a metropolitan highway network. We introduce a MATSim module that handles stochastically-generated incidents of varying severity, dispatches IMT to clear the incidents based on path distance and availability, and measures excess user costs based on the incidents. We apply this module in a scenario with data from the Salt Lake City, Utah metropolitan region. We demonstrate the potential use of the module through an illustrative experiment increasing the IMT fleet size with a collection of simulated incident days.

The Extended 16th Hilbert Problem for Discontinuous Piecewise Systems Formed by Linear Centers and Linear Hamiltonian Saddles Separated by a Nonregular Line

We study discontinuous piecewise linear differential systems formed by linear centers and/or linear Hamiltonian saddles and separated by a nonregular straight line. There are two classes of limit cycles: the ones that intersect the separation line at two points and the ones that intersect the separation line in four points, named limit cycles of type [Formula: see text] and limit cycles of type [Formula: see text], respectively. We prove that the maximum numbers of limit cycles of types [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are two and one, respectively. We show that all these upper bounds are reached providing explicit examples.

(Invited) F-ALDH, a New Catalyst for Enzyme and Aptamer- Based Electrochemical Biosensors

The selectivity, affinity and catalytic activity are key characteristics which recommend enzymes as components of biosensors, whether for use as main recognition element or for signal amplification. Additionally, the enzyme inhibition by various molecules can be exploited for analytical purposes. In the search for new enzymes with good stability and catalytic properties, a recombinant psychrophilic aldehyde dehydrogenase from the Antarctic Flavobacterium PL002 was recently characterized and shown to have potential in biosensing [1-5].The enzyme is active in a wide temperature range up to 60º C and has high catalytic activity [1,2]. It accepts various aldehydes substrates with Michaelis Menten constants of e.g., Km = 0. 137 ± 0.016 mmol L−1 for benzaldehyde. The enzyme may use both nicotinamide adenin dinucleotide (NAD+) and nicotinamide adenin dinucleotide phosphate (NADP+) as cofactors and has higher affinity for NAD+ ( Km=0.033mmol L−1 and 0.431 mmol L−1 for NAD+ and NADP+, respectively [2]). As for other aldehyde dehydrogenases, the enzyme is inhibited by heavy metals and dithiocarbamate fungicides [2,3].To explore its potential as recognition element in biosensors, enzymatic tests and electrochemical biosensors exploiting the catalytic activity of F-ALDH or its inhibition were first developed [4,5]. In biosensors, the enzyme was immobilized by cross linking in a matrix of bovine serum albumin [5] or by nickel-histidine affinity. Enzymatic inks with a stability of several months at 4º C were obtained by immobilizing the enzyme on magnetic particles functionalized with a complex of nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni-NTA) followed by mixing with different additives. Practical applications for the specific detection of (i) benzaldehyde in a pharmaceutical ingredient [5] and (ii) acetaldehyde in wines were demonstrated. In wines, acetaldehyde is present in a free form or bound to sulphur dioxide or phenolic compounds. Both free and bound acetaldehyde are relevant for wine quality and its evolution. The F-ALDH enzyme enables testing of both forms in cellar like conditions. Moreover, the detection of free acetaldehyde serves as example for aldehydes detection in vapor phase, opening the way for other similar applications.A separate line of research explored the potential of F-ALDH for the quantitative determination of enzyme’s inhibitors. Spectrophotometry measurements emphasized a 15% reduction of enzyme’s activity in the presence of either 28 ppb thiram or 0.5 ppb mercury chloride. The solution advanced for overcoming the selectivity issues in the detection of thiram is to couple the electrochemical biosensor measuring the F-ALDH inhibition with SERS measurements of the dithiocarbamate fungicide [6].Finally, the F-ALDH enzyme may serve as label in electrochemical aptasensors. The enzyme was attached to an aptamer for lysozyme via Ni-histidine affinity and preserved good catalytic activity for the conversion of acetaldehyde. Preliminary studies were focused on investigating the affinity of the enzyme-labeled aptamer for lysozyme in relation to the linker length.Based on the demonstrated catalytic activity of the enzyme and its preservation upon immobilization on different supports or by linking to an aptamer, various sensing configurations can be envisaged that will exploit the potential of the new enzyme. Acknowledgements: This work was financially supported by the UEFISCDI projects ERANET-M-ENZ4IFACES, contract 166/01.05.2020 (for AV, GNP and CP) and PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-2297 E-MAP, contract 84/9.02.2021 (for RMB and AF). References Necula-Petrareanu G, Lavin P, Vasilescu A, Purcarea C (2018) Antarctic Flavobacterium aldehyde dehydrogenase – a cold adapted catalyst for biosensing. J Biotechnol 280:S18. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.jbiotec.2018.06.054Necula-Petrareanu, G.; Lavin, P.; Paun, V.I.; Gheorghita, G.R.; Vasilescu, A.; Purcarea, C. Highly stable cold-active aldehyde dehydrogenase from the marine Antarctic Flavobacterium sp. PL002. Fermentation. 2022 8(1):7-24 https:// doi.org/10.3390/fermentation8010007Vasilescu A, Titoiu A.M, Purcarea C, Necula Petrareanu G, Method for determining thiram fungicide based on enzymatic inhibition and electrochemical sensor, Romanian patent application, OSIM RO133890A2 /13.08.2018Titoiu AM, Lapauw M, Necula-Petrareanu G, Purcarea C, FanjulBolado P, Marty J-L, Vasilescu A (2018) Carbon nanofiber and Meldola Blue based electrochemical sensor for NADH: application to the detection of benzaldehyde. Electroanalysis 30(11):2676– 2688. https://doi.org/10.1002/elan.201800472Titoiu, A. M., Necula-Petrareanu, G., Visinescu, D., Dinca, V., Bonciu, A., Mihailescu, C. N., ... Vasilescu, A. (2020). Flow injection enzymatic biosensor for aldehydes based on a Meldola Blue-Ni complex electrochemical mediator. Microchimica Acta, 187(10).doi:10.1007/s00604-020-04477-3Ibáñez D, González-García MB, Hernández-Santos D, Fanjul-Bolado P. Detection of dithiocarbamate, chloronicotinyl and organophosphate pesticides by electrochemical activation of SERS features of screen-printed electrodes. Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2021 Mar 5;248:119174. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2020.119174