George I. Sharkov

Salicylic acid enhances the activity of the alternative pathway of respiration in tobacco leaves and induces thermogenicity

A rise in the level of endogenous salicylic acid (SA) during flowering of the thermogenic voodoo lily, Sauromatum guttatum, leads to a pronounced temperature elevation by stimulation of the alternative respiratory pathway. We have studied the thermal response of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) leaves, a non-thermogenic tissue, to exogenous SA, and its relation to alternative respiration. A reproducible increase in surface temperature of 0.5–1.0°C was registered with high-resolution infrared cameras. The same phenomenon was observed when 2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid, an active analogue of SA, was used. Non-active SA analogues, such as 3- and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, did not induce thermogenicity. The thermal effect of SA was abolished with inhibitors of the alternative pathway, such as salicylhydroxamic acid and propyl gallate. Polarographic measurement of the respiratory activity, including that of the alternative pathway in SA-treated plants, showed a significant increase of both total respiration and the alternative pathway compared with non-treated controls. Therefore, we postulate that, as in thermogenic species, SA enhances the activity of total respiration and of the cyanide-resistant pathway in tobacco leaves, subsequently leading to an elevation in surface temperature.

Educational Robotics for Communication, Collaboration and Digital Fluency

This paper is the experience-based summary of the work with the design, implementation and results from an “Educational Robotics and Creativity Workshop” under the EU funded Horizon 2020 project “ER4STEM – Educational Robotics for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics”. This paper gives an overview of the empirical data obtained from the post-workshop questionnaires, completed by the participants from 13 educational robotics workshops, performed in 7 schools (public and private) in Bulgaria with 312 students (142 girls and 170 boys) in the time period from February 16, 2016 until May 31, 2016. The students were between 7 and 14 years old with the majority of them aged between 9 and 10 years old.

Cyber Security and Resilience of Modern Societies: A Research Management Architecture

Advanced information and communications technologies (ICT) facilitate the increase of effectiveness and efficiency of defence and security organizations, governmental services, the economy, and quality of life, while at the same time providing opportunities for malicious actors to cause significant damage without exercising physical coercion. Policies for security and resilience of modern societies to threats and risks from the cyberspace account for foreseen cyber threats, their immediate impact on ICT infrastructure, consequent effects on critical services, as well as cascading effects across systems and infrastructures. This paper presents the architecture used to plan and, consequently, manage cybersecurity research in Bulgaria. It covers five application areas (information management systems; industrial control systems; unmanned and remotely piloted vehicles; bio-integrated systems; and cognitive processes and decision-making), the study of systems of systems, and support to the formulation and implementation of cybersecurity policy.

KNOWLEDGE-BASED INTERPRETATION OF BIOPHYSICAL IMAGES

A knowledge-based system ISIA for analysis and interpretation of biophysical images is presented. The reasoning of the system is based on abstract models of investigated biological objects and physico-chemical processes. Low-level image processing procedures and high-level knowledge representation and control are described. The multi-level knowledge representation structure follows the organization of knowledge in the developed consultation expert systems. In addition to the inherited descriptions and relations among biological and physical objects, the system ISIA maintains similar network with their visual characteristics. The system can be used for the purposes of processing, analysis and recognition of static or dynamic 2-D images.