Size fractionated particulate matter emissions from a broiler house in Southern Ontario, Canada

In 1999, the National Emission Inventory and Project Task Group developed particulate matter emission inventories for the Canadian poultry industry using Canadian poultry census data and emission factors for all types of poultry operations based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and British Columbia/Greater Vancouver Regional District data [MOE. A Compendium of Knowledge on Fine Particulate Matter in Ontario. Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE) Review Report (as released to the CRESTech/NERAM expert panel). PIBS 3798e, 1999.]. Recent studies conducted on various poultry operations suggested that the emission factors currently in use could lead to a substantial underestimation of the airborne PM levels in Canada generated by these poultry industries. This study measured real time PM concentrations and house ventilation rates from a commercial broiler operation in southern Ontario in order to develop characteristic PM emission factors and inventories. The averaged particulate matter emission factors obtained were 0.11+/-0.004, 0.13+/-0.005, and 0.56+/-0.02 kg(PM) (1000 birds)(-1) (production cycle)(-1) for PM(1), PM(2.5), and PM(10), respectively. The yearly emissions for the studied commercial broiler operation were 22, 27, 114 kg(PM) (year)(-1) for PM(1), PM(2.5), and PM(10), respectively. The estimated PM emissions for Canada from the broiler sector are 382.4+/-13.9, 472.7+/-16.3, and 2025+/-69.9 tonnes(PM)/year for PM(1), PM(2.5), and PM(10), respectively.     

Investigating benefits from the implementation of Environmental Management Systems in a Greek university

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) can contribute significantly to the achievement of environmental sustainability through teaching and research activities, and also through improvements in the environmental management of University estates. This article explores the results of implementing Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) in a HEI in Greece. Specifically, the results of two surveys, focusing on students’ perceptions in the University of the Aegean, are presented and analysed. The surveys were conducted prior and after the implementation of an EMS in the University. The survey results demonstrate several positive consequences from the implementation of EMS across the University campus. In particular, there is a positive influence on students’ environmental awareness and behaviour, accompanied by greater preference among them for more participatory environmental management initiatives.     

Optimal sensor scheduling for resource-constrained localization of mobile robot formations

This paper addresses the problem of resource allocation in formations of mobile robots localizing as a group. Each robot receives measurements from various sensors that provide relative (robot-to-robot) and absolute positioning information. Constraints on the sensors' bandwidth, as well as communication and processing requirements, limit the number of measurements that are available or can be processed at each time step. The localization uncertainty of the group, determined by the covariance matrix of the equivalent continuous-time system at steady state, is expressed as a function of the sensor measurements' frequencies. The trace of the weighted covariance matrix is selected as the optimization criterion, under linear constraints on the measuring frequency of each sensor and the cumulative rate of the extended Kalman filter updates. This formulation leads to a convex optimization problem (semidefinite program) whose solution provides the sensing frequencies, for each sensor on every robot, required in order to maximize the positioning accuracy of the group. Simulation and experimental results are presented that demonstrate the applicability of this method and provide insight into the properties of the resource-constrained cooperative localization problem.     

Real-time wireless multisensory smart surveillance with 3D-HEVC streams for internet-of-things (IoT)

This paper presents the design of a novel, real-time, wireless, multisensory, smart surveillance system with 3D-HEVC features. The proposed high-level system architecture of the surveillance system is analyzed. The advantages of HEVC encoding are presented. Methods for synchronization between multiple streams are presented. Available wireless standards are presented and compared. A network-adaptive transmission protocol for a reliable, real-time, multisensory surveillance system is proposed. Adaptive packet frame grouping (APFG) and adaptive quantization are deployed to maximize the quality-of-experience (QoE). Measurements of the proposed protocol have been shown to provide superior results compared to existing transport protocols.     

The Role of Nucleases Cleaving TLR3, TLR7/8 and TLR9 Ligands,Dicer RNase and miRNA/piRNA Proteins in Functional Adaptation to the Immune Escape and Xenophagy of Prostate Cancer Tissue

The prototypic sensors for the induction of innate and adaptive immune responses are the Toll-like receptors (TLRs). Unusually high expression of TLRs in prostate carcinoma (PC), associated with less differentiated, more aggressive and more propagating forms of PC, changed the previous paradigm about the role of TLRs strictly in immune defense system. Our data reveal an entirely novel role of nucleic acids-sensing Toll-like receptors (NA-TLRs) in functional adaptation of malignant cells for supply and digestion of surrounding metabolic substrates from dead cells as specific mechanism of cancer cells survival, by corresponding ligands accelerated degradation and purine/pyrimidine salvage pathway. The spectrophotometric measurement protocols used for the determination of the activity of RNases and DNase II have been optimized in our laboratory as well as the enzyme-linked immunosorbent method for the determination of NF-κB p65 in prostate tissue samples. The protocols used to determine Dicer RNase, AGO2, TARBP2 and PIWIL4 were based on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The amount of pre-existing acid-soluble oligonucleotides was measured and expressed as coefficient of absorbance. The activities of acid DNase II and RNase T2, and the activities of nucleases cleaving TLR3, TLR7/8 and TLR9 ligands (Poly I:C, poly U and unmethylated CpG), increased several times in PC, compared to the corresponding tumor adjacent and control tissue, exerting very high sensitivity and specificity of above 90%. Consequently higher levels of hypoxanthine and NF-κB p65 were reported in PC, whereas the opposite results were observed for miRNA biogenesis enzyme (Dicer RNase), miRNA processing protein (TARB2), miRNA-induced silencing complex protein (Argonaute-AGO) and PIWI-interacting RNAs silence transposon. Considering the crucial role of purine and pyrimidine nucleotides as energy carriers, subunits of nucleic acids and nucleotide cofactors, future explorations will be aimed to design novel anti-cancer immune strategies based on a specific acid endolysosomal nuclease inhibition.     

Performance analysis of multirobot Cooperative localization

This paper studies the accuracy of position estimation for groups of mobile robots performing cooperative localization. We consider the case of teams comprised of possibly heterogeneous robots and provide analytical expressions for the upper bound on their expected positioning uncertainty. This bound is determined as a function of the sensors' noise covariance and the eigenvalues of the relative position measurement graph (RPMG), i.e., the weighted directed graph which represents the network of robot-to-robot exteroceptive measurements. The RPMG is employed as a key element in this analysis, and its properties are related to the localization performance of the team. It is shown that, for a robot group of a certain size, the maximum expected rate of uncertainty increase is independent of the accuracy and number of relative position measurements and depends only on the accuracy of the proprioceptive and orientation sensors on the robots. Additionally, the effects of changes in the topology of the RPMG are studied, and it is shown that, at steady-state, these reconfigurations do not inflict any loss in localization precision. Experimental data, as well as simulation results that validate the theoretical analysis, are presented.     

A Degron Blocking Strategy Towards Improved CRL4CRBN Recruiting PROTAC Selectivity**

Small molecules inducing protein degradation are important pharmacological tools to interrogate complex biology and are rapidly translating into clinical agents. However, to fully realise the potential of these molecules, selectivity remains a limiting challenge. Herein, we addressed the issue of selectivity in the design of CRL4^CRBN recruiting PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras (PROTACs). Thalidomide derivatives used to generate CRL4^CRBN recruiting PROTACs have well described intrinsic monovalent degradation profiles by inducing the recruitment of neo-substrates, such as GSPT1, Ikaros and Aiolos. We leveraged structural insights from known CRL4^CRBN neo-substrates to attenuate and indeed remove this monovalent degradation function in well-known CRL4^CRBN molecular glues degraders, namely CC-885 and Pomalidomide. We then applied these design principles on a previously published BRD9 PROTAC (dBRD9-A) and generated an analogue with improved selectivity profile. Finally, we implemented a computational modelling pipeline to show that our degron blocking design does not impact PROTAC-induced ternary complex formation. We believe that the tools and principles presented in this work will be valuable to support the development of targeted protein degradation.     

Analysis of moisture condensation during air expansion in turbines

Water is always present in the atmospheric air in the form of vapour. As air of low temperature expands through the turbine condensation may occur. Condensation gives rise to several problems in materialization of the air cycle as it results in temperature rise thus to different conditions than the expected at the turbine exit. Also in most air cycle applications, liquid water must be removed from the air stream before it gets to the cooled space. In the case that turbine exit temperature is very low; there is the possibility of ice particles formation. A method allowing the evaluation of air properties when condensation occurs is required in order to examine its effect on the cycle and optimize the operating envelope. The present paper describes a thermodynamic equilibrium method for predicting the occurrence of condensation and calculating the mixture properties once condensation has occurred. The method has been validated against the experimental results from a turbocharger turbine. The experimental results show that condensation can cause significant alteration to the turbine exit conditions. It is demonstrated that condensation can be predicted and the mixture properties after condensation can also be accurately evaluated.