scholarly journals Separation and enrichment of sodium-motile bacteria using cost-effective microfluidics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jyoti P Gurung ◽  
Moein Navvab Kashani ◽  
Sanaz Agarwal ◽  
Murat Gel ◽  
Matthew AB Baker
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Flagellar Motor ◽  
Term Selection ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Fold Enrichment ◽  
Torque Generation ◽  
Motile Species ◽  
Motile Bacteria

AbstractMany motile bacteria are propelled by the rotation of flagellar filaments. This rotation is driven by a membrane protein known as the stator-complex, which drives the rotor of the bacterial flagellar motor. Torque generation is powered in most cases by proton transit through the stator complex, with the next most common ionic power source being sodium. Synthetic chimeric stators which combine sodium- and proton-powered stators have enabled the interrogation of sodium-stators in species that are typically proton-powered, such as the sodium powered PomA-PotB stator complex in E. coli. Much is known about the signalling cascades that respond to attractant and govern switching bias as an end-product of chemotaxis, however less is known about how energetics and chemotaxis interact to affect the colonisation of environmental niches where ion concentrations and compositions may vary. Here we designed a fluidics system at low cost for rapid prototyping to separate motile and non-motile populations of bacteria. We measure separation efficiencies at varying ionic concentrations and confirm using fluorescence that our device can deliver eight-fold enrichment of the motile proportion of a mixed population of motile and non-motile species. Furthermore, our results show that we can select bacteria from reservoirs where sodium is not initially present. Overall, this technique can be used to implement long-term selection from liquid culture for directed evolution approaches to investigate the adaptation of motility in bacterial ecosystems.

Building Evaluation Capital in Government: A Queensland Departmental Approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 39-49
Author(s):  
Sarah Goswami ◽  
Vicki Lane
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Value For Money ◽  
Department Of Agriculture ◽  
Evaluation Capacity Building ◽  
Statutory Body

Increasingly, government departments are being held accountable for investment in public services. In Queensland the Financial Accountability Act 2009 (Queensland Treasury, 2016) requires that accountable officers and statutory bodies ‘achieve reasonable value for money by ensuring the operations of the department or statutory body are carried out efficiently, effectively and economically’ (Section 61). Whilst there is a directive for agencies to evaluate and demonstrate value for money, it has in practice been difficult to embed long term, as many systems and decision makers have neglected the role of organisation-wide evaluation capital. This paper will outline the work being undertaken in the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) to implement an Impact and Investment Framework, which will support and embed evaluation in a multidisciplinary setting. A central tenant of this framework is ‘business empowerment and learning'—building the evaluation culture in the organisation by first establishing evaluation building blocks, through business empowerment, support and utility. The framework is comprised of five key elements and is built on the principles of evaluation and evaluation capacity building disciplines. It has been designed to be low-cost, effective and efficient, whilst enabling business improvement, meeting accountability needs and allowing the department to demonstrate the value of its work.

Mitigation of emerging pollutants by plants

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Reinhold ◽  
N. Aryal
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Surface Waters ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Emerging Pollutants ◽  
Food Crops ◽  
Minimal Risk ◽  
Sustainable Technologies ◽  
Trace Concentrations

Low cost, sustainable technologies for addressing pollution of waters with trace concentrations of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are needed. Plant-based ecosystems for wastewater treatment are low-cost, effective technologies with the potential to address PPCPs. This abstract presents recent research examining the phytoremediation of PPCPs in both aquatic and terrestrial systems and discusses potential implications of phytoremediation of PPCPs. Research indicates that duckweed plants can stimulate microbial degradation of ibuprofen, sorb and uptake fluoxetine, and indirectly affect the fate of triclosan. Additionally, research indicates that food crops phytoaccumulate antimicrobials present in biosolids. The implications of these processes include mitigation of ecotoxicological risk from antimicrobial contamination of surface waters and soils with minimal risk to humans from consumption of phytoaccumulated antimicrobials. Additionally, plants may serve as a long-term reservoir for PPCPs in the environment.

scholarly journals MIRRA: A Modular and Cost-Effective Microclimate Monitoring System for Real-Time Remote Applications

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (13) ◽  
pp. 4615
Author(s):  
Olivier Pieters ◽  
Emiel Deprost ◽  
Jonas Van Der Donckt ◽  
Lore Brosens ◽  
Pieter Sanczuk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Monitoring System ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Real Time Data ◽  
Microclimate Monitoring ◽  
Weather Stations

Monitoring climate change, and its impacts on ecological, agricultural, and other societal systems, is often based on temperature data derived from official weather stations. Yet, these data do not capture most microclimates, influenced by soil, vegetation and topography, operating at spatial scales relevant to the majority of organisms on Earth. Detecting and attributing climate change impacts with confidence and certainty will only be possible by a better quantification of temperature changes in forests, croplands, mountains, shrublands, and other remote habitats. There is an urgent need for a novel, miniature and simple device filling the gap between low-cost devices with manual data download (no instantaneous data) and high-end, expensive weather stations with real-time data access. Here, we develop an integrative real-time monitoring system for microclimate measurements: MIRRA (Microclimate Instrument for Real-time Remote Applications) to tackle this problem. The goal of this platform is the design of a miniature and simple instrument for near instantaneous, long-term and remote measurements of microclimates. To that end, we optimised power consumption and transfer data using a cellular uplink. MIRRA is modular, enabling the use of different sensors (e.g., air and soil temperature, soil moisture and radiation) depending upon the application, and uses an innovative node system highly suitable for remote locations. Data from separate sensor modules are wirelessly sent to a gateway, thus avoiding the drawbacks of cables. With this sensor technology for the long-term, low-cost, real-time and remote sensing of microclimates, we lay the foundation and open a wide range of possibilities to map microclimates in different ecosystems, feeding a next generation of models. MIRRA is, however, not limited to microclimate monitoring thanks to its modular and wireless design. Within limits, it is suitable or any application requiring real-time data logging of power-efficient sensors over long periods of time. We compare the performance of this system to a reference system in real-world conditions in the field, indicating excellent correlation with data collected by established data loggers. This proof-of-concept forms an important foundation to creating the next version of MIRRA, fit for large scale deployment and possible commercialisation. In conclusion, we developed a novel wireless cost-effective sensor system for microclimates.

SEM Evaluation of Chemically Finished Nonwoven Fabrics from Recycled Fibers

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (S2) ◽  
pp. 770-771
Author(s):  
W. R. Goynes ◽  
E. E. Graves ◽  
W. Tao ◽  
G. F. D'Anna ◽  
M. P. Day ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Textile Industry ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
Nonwoven Fabrics ◽  
Care Facilities ◽  
Emergency Housing ◽  
Recycled Fibers

The textile industry produces large quantities of waste and scrap materials. Most of this waste requires disposal. Both environmental and economic benefits could be derived by developing commercial products to use these materials. Environmentally acceptable textile products include those that utilize recycled materials, or materials that have not been chemically processed. Such products are often not economically profitable because of the added expense necessary for environmental protection. Development of such a cost-effective textile product requires use of low-cost materials, minimal cost production processes, and finishes that have already been developed and tested.The objective of this research was to develop a semi-disposable, economical, light-weight, comfortable thermal blanket that would be both flame-resistant and antibacterial through a limited number of laundry cycles. Targeted uses would be in medical and health care facilities, disaster relief centers, short term and emergency housing needs, recreational areas such as camping, and in military maneuvers where environmental conditions could be harmful to long-term products.

scholarly journals Cost-Effective Production of L-DOPA by Tyrosinase-Immobilized Polyhydroxyalkanoate Nanogranules in Engineered Halomonas bluephagenesis TD01

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (13) ◽  
pp. 3778
Author(s):  
Jiping Zhao ◽  
Ganqiao Ran ◽  
Mengmeng Xu ◽  
Xiaoyun Lu ◽  
Dan Tan
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Industrial Biotechnology ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Monophenolase Activity ◽  
High Production ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
High Production Cost ◽  
Dopa Concentration

3,4-dihydroxyphenyl-L-alanine (L-DOPA) is a preferred drug for Parkinson’s disease, with an increasing demand worldwide that mainly relies on costly and environmentally problematic chemical synthesis. Yet, biological L-DOPA production is unfeasible at the industrial scale due to its low L-DOPA yield and high production cost. In this study, low-cost Halomonas bluephagenesis TD01 was engineered to produce tyrosinase TyrVs-immobilized polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) nanogranules in vivo, with the improved PHA content and increased immobilization efficiency of TyrVs accounting for 6.85% on the surface of PHA. A higher L-DOPA-forming monophenolase activity of 518.87 U/g PHA granules and an L-DOPA concentration of 974.36 mg/L in 3 h catalysis were achieved, compared to those of E. coli. Together with the result of L-DOPA production directly by cell lysates containing PHA-TyrVs nanogranules, our study demonstrated the robust and cost-effective production of L-DOPA by H. bluephagenesis, further contributing to its low-cost industrial production based on next-generation industrial biotechnology (NGIB).

scholarly journals PtOEP–PDMS-Based Optical Oxygen Sensor

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (16) ◽  
pp. 5645
Author(s):  
Camila M. Penso ◽  
João L. Rocha ◽  
Marcos S. Martins ◽  
Paulo J. Sousa ◽  
Vânia C. Pinto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Sensor ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Luminescent Properties ◽  
Low Oxygen ◽  
Pdms Film ◽  
Sensing Applications ◽  
Optical Oxygen Sensor

The advanced and widespread use of microfluidic devices, which are usually fabricated in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), requires the integration of many sensors, always compatible with microfluidic fabrication processes. Moreover, current limitations of the existing optical and electrochemical oxygen sensors regarding long-term stability due to sensor degradation, biofouling, fabrication processes and cost have led to the development of new approaches. Thus, this manuscript reports the development, fabrication and characterization of a low-cost and highly sensitive dissolved oxygen optical sensor based on a membrane of PDMS doped with platinum octaethylporphyrin (PtOEP) film, fabricated using standard microfluidic materials and processes. The excellent mechanical and chemical properties (high permeability to oxygen, anti-biofouling characteristics) of PDMS result in membranes with superior sensitivity compared with other matrix materials. The wide use of PtOEP in sensing applications, due to its advantage of being easily synthesized using microtechnologies, its strong phosphorescence at room temperature with a quantum yield close to 50%, its excellent Strokes Shift as well as its relatively long lifetime (75 µs), provide the suitable conditions for the development of a miniaturized luminescence optical oxygen sensor allowing long-term applications. The influence of the PDMS film thickness (0.1–2.5 mm) and the PtOEP concentration (363, 545, 727 ppm) in luminescent properties are presented. This enables to achieve low detection levels in a gas media range from 0.5% up to 20%, and in liquid media from 0.5 mg/L up to 3.3 mg/L at 1 atm, 25 °C. As a result, we propose a simple and cost-effective system based on a LED membrane photodiode system to detect low oxygen concentrations for in situ applications.

scholarly journals Insertional Inactivation of Genes Encoding Components of the Sodium-Type Flagellar Motor and Switch ofVibrio parahaemolyticus

2000 ◽  
Vol 182 (4) ◽  
pp. 1035-1045 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blaise R. Boles ◽  
Linda L. McCarter
Keyword(s):  
Motor Function ◽  
Vibrio Parahaemolyticus ◽  
Common Mechanism ◽  
Flagellar Motor ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Insertional Inactivation ◽  
Torque Generation ◽  
Serovar Typhimurium ◽  
Genes Encoding ◽  
Type Motor

ABSTRACT Vibrio parahaemolyticus possesses two types of flagella, polar and lateral, powered by distinct energy sources, which are derived from the sodium and proton motive forces, respectively. Although proton-powered flagella in Escherichia coli andSalmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium have been extensively studied, the mechanism of torque generation is still not understood. Molecular knowledge of the structure of the sodium-driven motor is only now being developed. In this work, we identify the switch components, FliG, FliM, and FliN, of the sodium-type motor. This brings the total number of genes identified as pertinent to polar motor function to seven. Both FliM and FliN possess charged domains not found in proton-type homologs; however, they can interact with the proton-type motor of E. coli to a limited extent. Residues known to be critical for torque generation in the proton-type motor are conserved in the sodium-type motor, suggesting a common mechanism for energy transfer at the rotor-stator interface regardless of the driving force powering rotation. Mutants representing a complete panel of insertionally inactivated switch and motor genes were constructed. All of these mutants were defective in sodium-driven swimming motility. Alkaline phosphatase could be fused to the C termini of MotB and MotY without abolishing motility, whereas deletion of the unusual, highly charged C-terminal domain of FliM disrupted motor function. All of the mutants retained proton-driven, lateral motility over surfaces. Thus, although central chemotaxis genes are shared by the polar and lateral systems, genes encoding the switch components, as well as the motor genes, are distinct for each motility system.

scholarly journals The Use of a New Passive Sampler for Ozone and Nitrogen Oxides Monitoring in Ecological Effects Research

2001 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 475-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franco De Santis ◽  
Tuncay Dogeroglu ◽  
Sabrina Menichelli ◽  
Caterina Vazzana ◽  
Ivo Allegrini
Keyword(s):  
Nitrogen Oxides ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Field Tests ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Ecological Effects ◽  
Passive Samplers ◽  
Diffusion Tubes ◽  
Diffusive Sampler ◽  
Nitrate And Nitrite

A simple, cost-effective diffusive sampler is described that is suitable for measuring parts per billion (ppb) levels of ozone and nitrogen oxides. The diffusive sampler makes use of nitrite for ozone determination whereas for nitrogen oxides and nitrogen dioxide an active carbon tissue impregnated with sodium carbonate is used. Nitrate and nitrite, the formation of which is proportional to the pollutant concentration and sampling duration, are the two species analysed, respectively. Diffusion tubes have the advantage of being a low- cost, convenient way of mapping spatial distributions and investigating long-term trends of ozone and nitrogen oxides. The method is extremely useful for assessing long-term concentrations such as the annual mean for nitrogen oxides, as required by the Daughter Directive 1999/30/EC. Field tests to validate the method have been carried out at an urban background location with co-located passive samplers and continuous measurements of O3and NOx. An application in ecological effects monitoring for ozone is also presented.

scholarly journals Coupling Ion Specificity of the Flagellar Stator Proteins MotA1/MotB1 of Paenibacillus sp. TCA20

Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1078
Author(s):  
Sakura Onoe ◽  
Myu Yoshida ◽  
Naoya Terahara ◽  
Yoshiyuki Sowa
Keyword(s):  
Cytoplasmic Membrane ◽  
Divalent Cations ◽  
Monovalent Cation ◽  
Flagellar Motor ◽  
Ion Specificity ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Paenibacillus Sp ◽  
Complex Functions ◽  
Torque Generation ◽  
Monovalent Ion

The bacterial flagellar motor is a reversible rotary molecular nanomachine, which couples ion flux across the cytoplasmic membrane to torque generation. It comprises a rotor and multiple stator complexes, and each stator complex functions as an ion channel and determines the ion specificity of the motor. Although coupling ions for the motor rotation were presumed to be only monovalent cations, such as H+ and Na+, the stator complex MotA1/MotB1 of Paenibacillus sp. TCA20 (MotA1TCA/MotB1TCA) was reported to use divalent cations as coupling ions, such as Ca2+ and Mg2+. In this study, we initially aimed to measure the motor torque generated by MotA1TCA/MotB1TCA under the control of divalent cation motive force; however, we identified that the coupling ion of MotA1TCAMotB1TCA is very likely to be a monovalent ion. We engineered a series of functional chimeric stator proteins between MotB1TCA and Escherichia coli MotB. E. coli ΔmotAB cells expressing MotA1TCA and the chimeric MotB presented significant motility in the absence of divalent cations. Moreover, we confirmed that MotA1TCA/MotB1TCA in Bacillus subtilis ΔmotABΔmotPS cells generates torque without divalent cations. Based on two independent experimental results, we conclude that the MotA1TCA/MotB1TCA complex directly converts the energy released from monovalent cation flux to motor rotation.

scholarly journals Structural Performance of Arched Space Trusses Using Date Palm Midribs for Light and Cost-Effective Construction in Egypt

Buildings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 106
Author(s):  
Eman A. Darwish ◽  
Yasser Mansour ◽  
Hamed Elmously ◽  
Amr Abdelrahman ◽  
Ayman Moustafa
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Date Palm ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Continuous Process ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Element Model ◽  
Structural Behavior ◽  
Minimal Processing ◽  
Cost Efficient

Date palm midribs enjoy a long heritage among rural builders and craftsmen in Egypt for their abundance and low-cost. This familiarity encouraged previous studies to tackle the question of using date palm midribs in wide-span construction to provide simple, quick, cost efficient shaded structures. The design of tri-arched space truss was aimed to utilize date palm midribs in cost-efficient wide-span construction with minimal processing and maximum structural efficiency. However, the validated mechanical properties, the workability, the short-term and the long-term structural behaviors of the system are yet to be investigated. This paper investigates the structural behavior of a proposed tri-arched system using 1:3 scale specimens. The long-term environmental effects are also studied in one of the specimens. The specimens experienced high flexibility and gradual failure. A finite element model was created to predict the behavior of the specimens. The validated model was used to determine the structural behavior of the system with 12 m span. The system was found to be safe under the loads of wind and roofing. This paper is a part of a continuous process of validation that aims to utilize date palm midribs in contemporary wide-span construction to match the spirit of the youth in rural communities.

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