Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) can provide a reliable and low-latency millimeter wave (mmWave) communication link in cases of a blocked line-of-sight (LoS) between the base station (BS) and the user equipment (UE). In such cases, the RIS mounted on a wall or ceiling can act as a bypass for the radio communication link. We present an active RIS with 127 patch antenna elements arranged in a hexagonal grid. The RIS operates at a center frequency of 23.8 GHz and each RIS element uses an orthogonal polarization transformation to enable amplification using a field-effect transistor (FET). The source and drain voltages of each FET are controlled using two bits. We consider that the RIS control unit is aware of the UE coordinates within the measurement area, relevant to the industrial control scenarios. We measure the received power on a 2D grid of $60 \mathrm{~cm} \times 90 \mathrm{~cm}$ using an $x y$-positioning table, with the RIS working in reflective and active mode. The results demonstrate the ability of the RIS to effectively focus the radio signal on the desired target points. We characterize the halfpower beam width in azimuth and radial directions with respect to the RIS position, enabling us to obtain a practical RIS configuration update criterion for a mobile UE. These results clearly show that RISs are prominent solutions for enabling reliable wireless communication in indoor industrial scenarios.

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) will play a key role to establish reliable low-latency millimeter wave (mmWave) communication links for indoor automation and control applications. In case of a blocked line-of-sight between the base station (BS) and the user equipment (UE), a RIS mounted on a wall or on a ceiling enables a bypass for the radio communication link. In this work, we present an active RIS for the mmWave frequency band. Each RIS element uses a field effect transistor (FET) to amplify the reflected signal and an orthogonal polarization transformation to increase the isolation between impinging and reflected radio wave. By switching the bias voltage at gate and drain of the FET we can establish four states for each RIS element: two reflection states with different phase shifts, an active amplification and an off state. We present results of the active RIS with 37 patch antenna elements arranged in a hexagonal grid for a center frequency of 25.8 GHz. The RIS field patterns obtained by numerical simulations and by empirical measurements in an anechoic chamber are compared. They show a good match and the received power is improved by 12 dB in the active mode of the RIS compared to the reflective mode.

BACKGROUND: Analyses of replicates in sets of discrete data, typically acquired in multi-well plate formats, is a recurring task in many contemporary areas in the Life Sciences. The availability of accessible cross-platform data analysis tools for such fundamental tasks in varied projects and environments is an important prerequisite to ensuring a reliable and timely turnaround as well as to provide practical analytical tools for student training. RESULTS: We have developed an easy-to-use, interactive software tool for the analysis of multiple data sets comprising replicates of discrete bivariate data points. For each dataset, the software identifies the replicate data points from a defined matrix layout and calculates their means and standard errors. The averaged values are then automatically fitted using either a linear or a logistic dose response function. CONCLUSIONS: DRfit is a practical and convenient tool for the analysis of one or multiple sets of discrete data points acquired as replicates from multi-well plate assays. The design of the graphical user interface and the built-in analysis features make it a flexible and useful tool for a wide range of different assays.

SUMMARY: Both alignment generation and visualization are important processes for producing biologically meaningful sequence alignments. Computational tools that combine reliable, automated and semi-automated approaches to produce secondary structure-based alignments with an appropriate visualization of the results are rare. We have developed SBAL, a tool to generate and edit secondary structure-based sequence alignments. It is easy to install and provides a user-friendly interface. Sequence alignments are displayed, with secondary structure assignments mapped to their corresponding regions in the sequence by using a simple colour scheme. The algorithm implemented for automated and semi-automated secondary structure-based alignment calculations shows a comparable performance to existing software. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: SBAL has been implemented in Java to provide cross-platform compatibility. SBAL is freely available to academic users at http://www.structuralchemistry.org/pcsb/. Users will be asked for their name, institution and email address. A manual can also be downloaded from this site. The software, manual and test sets are also available as supplementary material. CONTACT: [email protected] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

SUMMARY: Differential scanning fluorimetry (DSF) is a rapid technique that can be used in structural biology to study protein-ligand interactions. We have developed DMAN, a novel tool to analyse multi-well plate data obtained in DSF experiments. DMAN is easy to install and provides a user-friendly interface. Multi-well plate layouts can be designed by the user and experimental data can be annotated and analysed by DMAN according to the specified plate layout. Statistical tests for significance are performed automatically, and graphical tools are also provided to assist in data analysis. The modular concept of this software will allow easy development of other multi-well plate analysis applications in the future. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: DMAN is implemented in Java to provide a cross-platform compatibility. It is freely available to academic users at http://www.structuralchemistry.org/pcsb/. To download DMAN, users will be asked for their name, institution and email address. A manual can also be downloaded from this site. CONTACT: [email protected]; [email protected].

BACKGROUND: Two-dimensional data needs to be processed and analysed in almost any experimental laboratory. Some tasks in this context may be performed with generic software such as spreadsheet programs which are available ubiquitously, others may require more specialised software that requires paid licences. Additionally, more complex software packages typically require more time by the individual user to understand and operate. Practical and convenient graphical data analysis software in Java with a user-friendly interface are rare. RESULTS: We have developed SDAR, a Java application to analyse two-dimensional data with an intuitive graphical user interface. A smart ASCII parser allows import of data into SDAR without particular format requirements. The centre piece of SDAR is the Java class GraphPanel which provides methods for generic tasks of data visualisation. Data can be manipulated and analysed with respect to the most common operations experienced in an experimental biochemical laboratory. Images of the data plots can be generated in SVG-, TIFF- or PNG-format. Data exported by SDAR is annotated with commands compatible with the Grace software. CONCLUSION: Since SDAR is implemented in Java, it is truly cross-platform compatible. The software is easy to install, and very convenient to use judging by experience in our own laboratories. It is freely available to academic users at http://www.structuralchemistry.org/pcsb/. To download SDAR, users will be asked for their name, institution and email address. A manual, as well as the source code of the GraphPanel class can also be downloaded from this site.