Search results for "ibi"
showing 10 items of 13473 documents
Evolutionary Changes after Translational Challenges Imposed by Horizontal Gene Transfer
2019
International audience; Genes acquired by horizontal gene transfer (HGT) may provide the recipient organism with potentially new functions, but proper expression level and integration of the transferred genes in the novel environment are not granted. Notably, transferred genes can differ from the receiving genome in codon usage preferences, leading to impaired translation and reduced functionality. Here, we characterize the genomic and proteomic changes undergone during experimental evolution of Escherichia coli after HGT of three synonymous versions, presenting very different codon usage preference, of an antibiotic resistance gene. The experimental evolution was conducted with and without…
Antifungal activity of peracetic acid against toxigenic fungal contaminants of maize and barley at the postharvest stage
2021
Abstract Contamination of maize and barley grain during storage by the toxigenic fungi Aspergillus flavus (A. flavus) and Penicillium Verrucosum (P. verrucosum) is both an economic and a public health problem, especially in less industrialized countries. Peracetic acid (PA) is a compound used for the disinfection of food and food contact surfaces. Unlike other disinfectants, it leaves no toxic residues and its decomposition products (CH3COOH, O2 and H2O) are environmentally friendly. In order to apply PA to preserve maize and barley grain during storage, first, the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) against both fungi were determined in a 96-we…
Bachelor groups form due to individual choices or environmental disrupters in African striped mice
2021
International audience; In several mammal species, bachelor groups occur as a regular life history stage between dispersal and becoming the breeding male of a multi-female group. However, it is rarely investigated how such groups come into existence and how males that choose this strategy differ in life history traits from other males. Males of the socially flexible African striped mouse Rhabdomys pumilio have been historically reported to adopt one of three alternative tactics, i.e., small group-living philopatric males, intermediate solitary living roaming males, or large group-living territorial males. Here, we describe for the first time, bachelors as a fourth male tactic. Using long-te…
Self-assembled multivalent (SAMul) ligand systems with enhanced stability in the presence of human serum
2019
Self-assembled cationic micelles are an attractive platform for binding biologically-relevant polyanions such as heparin. This has potential applications in coagulation control, where a synthetic heparin rescue agent could be a useful replacement for protamine, which is in current clinical use. However, micelles can have low stability in human serum and unacceptable toxicity profiles. This paper reports the optimi- sation of self-assembled multivalent (SAMul) arrays of amphiphilic ligands to bind heparin in competitive conditions. Specifically, modification of the hydrophobic unit kinetically stabilises the self-assembled nanostructures, preventing loss of binding ability in the presence of…
A validity and reliability study of Conditional Entropy Measures of Pulse Rate Variability
2019
In this work, we present the feasibility to use a simpler methodological approach for the assessment of the short-term complexity of Heart Rate Variability (HRV). Specifically, we propose to exploit Pulse Rate Variability (PRV) recorded through photoplethysmography in place of HRV measured from the ECG, and to compute complexity via a linear Gaussian approximation in place of the standard model-free methods (e.g., nearest neighbor entropy estimates) usually applied to HRV. Linear PRV-based and model-free HRV-based complexity measures were compared via statistical tests, correlation analysis and Bland-Altman plots, demonstrating an overall good agreement. These results support the applicabil…
Occurrence of antibiotics and antiretroviral drugs in source-separated urine, groundwater, surface water and wastewater in the peri-urban area of Chu…
2020
Recently, there has been an increased interest in bridging the knowledge gap in the occurrence and fate of pharmaceuticals in African urban water cycles. In this study, the occurrence of 7 antibiotics and 3 antiretrovirals in source-separated urine, groundwater, wastewater and surface water of the peri-urban area of Chunga in Lusaka, Zambia, was studied. In groundwater, the pharmaceuticals were only sporadically present with 4 antibiotics and 1 antiretroviral detected. The concentration of the antibiotics ranged from below limit of quantification (<LOQ) to 880 ng/L, with sulfamethoxazole having the highest detection frequency of 42.3%. In the surface water, a comparatively high concentrati…
A methodology for evaluating the flexibility potential of domestic air-conditioning systems
2020
The paper presents a methodology for quantifying the electrical flexibility potential of air-conditioning systems (ACS) installed in residential buildings according to the building envelope characteristics and the ACS performance. In order to provide a thorough analysis of the issue, the ACS baseline consumption referred to the indoor temperature of 24°C has been computed for three typical residential buildings built in the South of Italy over different periods. The baseline consumption was used as a reference to estimate the effect of the set point temperature change on the ACS power profile. The results showed that increasing the set-point temperature of ACS by 2°C and 4°C leads to a redu…
Collaborative engineering decision-making for building information channels and improving Web visibility of product manufacturers
2018
Abstract Product manufacturers have spent the last years improving productivity and process efficiency in order to face increasingly competitive markets. Today, the visibility of technological innovations has become essential to achieve the targeted market. It is now very difficult for a product manufacturer to reach customers without owning a website that is visible on search engine results pages. The goal of this paper is to build information channels between a company and its customers through improving both a company’s content of information on the Web and its website rank on the Internet through search engine results pages. Company information and knowledge are distributed through mult…
Dynamic Modeling of Planar Multi-Link Flexible Manipulators
2021
A closed-form dynamic model of the planar multi-link flexible manipulator is presented. The assumed modes method is used with the Lagrangian formulation to obtain the dynamic equations of motion. Explicit equations of motion are derived for a three-link case assuming two modes of vibration for each link. The eigenvalue problem associated with the mass boundary conditions, which changes with the robot configuration and payload, is discussed. The time-domain simulation results and frequency-domain analysis of the dynamic model are presented to show the validity of the theoretical derivation.
An Input Observer-Based Stiffness Estimation Approach for Flexible Robot Joints
2020
This letter addresses the stiffness estimation problem for flexible robot joints, driven by variable stiffness actuators in antagonistic setups. Due to the difficulties of achieving consistent production of these actuators and the time-varying nature of their internal flexible elements, which are subject to plastic deformation over time, it is currently a challenge to precisely determine the total flexibility torque applied to a robot's joint and the corresponding joint stiffness. Herein, by considering the flexibility torque acting on each motor as an unknown signal and building upon Unknown Input Observer theory, a solution for electrically-driven actuators is proposed, which consists of …