Digital polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is an emerging absolute quantification method based on the limiting dilution principle and end-point PCR. This methodology provides high flexibility in assay design without influencing quantitative accuracy. This article describes an assay to quantify HIV DNA that targets a highly conserved region of the HIV-1 genome that hampers optimal probe design. To ...

In this paper, we analyzed the body and wing kinematics and mechanics in fruit flies' landings on a vertical pole. By high-speed video techniques and CFD method, we exhibited the detailed process of landing as follows. A fruit fly first decelerates and enters a near-hover state approximately 25 mm away from the vertical pole, then starts approaching the pole in acceleration till one of its fron...

The paper overviews the distributions of touchdown error for a variety of different-weight selfguided parafoil-based payload delivery systems as demonstrated at several Precision Airdrop Technology and Demonstration (PATCAD) events in Yuma, AZ within the period of 2001-2009. The paper aims at establishing the correct procedure to estimate an accuracy of an aerial payload delivery system and als...

In the recent decades the number of spacecraft visiting asteroids and comets has risen. But only a few of them entered into an orbit of these small bodies and even only two had physical contact to the surface. The ESA mission Rosetta is on the way to meet the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in May 2014. Once in orbit the spacecraft will release the small lander Philae which is supposed to land ...

We study the quenching behavior for a semilinear heat equation arising in models of micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS). The problem involves a source term with a spatially dependent potential, given by the dielectric permittivity profile, and quenching corresponds to a touchdown phenomenon. It is well known that quenching does occur. We prove that touchdown cannot occur at zero points of t...

Accurate measurements of the surface brightness and its spectrophotometric properties are essential for obtaining reliable observations physical material planetary bodies. To measure Ryugu accurately, we calibrated optical navigation cameras (ONCs) Hayabusa2 using both standard stars itself during rendezvous phase including two touchdown operations sampling. These calibration results showed tha...

A model suited for control tasks is developed for a submerged offshore pipe during the pipelay operation. The pipe is fixed in the touchdown point at the seabed in one end and attached to a pipelay vessel in the other end. The developed model is discrete and is on the form of the robot equation with minimal coordinates. Thus the methods of controller synthesis and stability analysis can be appl...