Living Lab Concept for Sensor Based Energy Performance Assessment of Houses

All the social, economic and industrial development depends on the availability of energy. Since energy demand is increasing exponentially throughout the world, more and more CO2 is being emitted out into the atmosphere, giving rise to global warming. Therefore, establishing a sustainable environment is becoming increasingly important. It has been found through research that domestic sector contributes a great deal to the rising energy consumption. Due to prevailing energy crisis, efforts are being made to reduce the increasing energy consumption and make efficient use of energy by making the buildings energy efficient. For this, realistic assessment of energy use patterns in existing houses and buildings is necessary to assure dataset accuracy. Living lab concept integrated with sensor technologies can be used for assessment of such patterns. This paper presents living lab concept for sensor-based energy performance assessment of Houses. First, detailed literature review to benchmark concepts of energy efficiency of buildings, living labs concept, sensor based assessment, energy audit, and application of living lab concept has been discussed. Thereafter, sensors based living lab assessment and living lab approach has been introduced as being utilized by the author in a research project for development of guidelines for energy efficient housing. The paper also highlights important parameters to be monitored that effect energy performance. The concept reflects usefulness of living lab concept for sensor-based energy performance assessment of houses that help in substantial reduction in the energy consumption. As such data can be utilized for both realistic energy simulations by improving level of development of models as well as better usage comparisons with modeled analysis, hence helping in identifying true and effective improvement measures

Formulation, Characterization, and Cytotoxicity Evaluation of Lactoferrin Functionalized Lipid Nanoparticles for Riluzole Delivery to the Brain

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease with a very poor prognosis. Its treatment is hindered by a lack of new therapeutic alternatives and the existence of the blood–brain barrier (BBB), which restricts the access of drugs commonly used in ALS, such as riluzole, to the brain. To overcome these limitations and increase brain targeting, riluzole-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) were prepared and functionalized with lactoferrin (Lf), facilitating transport across the BBB by interacting with Lf receptors expressed in the brain endothelium. NLC were characterized with respect to their physicochemical properties (size, zeta potential, polydispersity index) as well as their stability, encapsulation efficiency, morphology, in vitro release profile, and biocompatibility. Moreover, crystallinity and melting behavior were assessed by DSC and PXRD. Nanoparticles exhibited initial mean diameters between 180 and 220 nm and a polydispersity index below 0.3, indicating a narrow size distribution. NLC remained stable over at least 3 months. Riluzole encapsulation efficiency was very high, around 94–98%. FTIR and protein quantification studies confirmed the conjugation of Lf on the surface of the nanocarriers, with TEM images showing that the functionalized NLC presented a smooth surface and uniform spherical shape. An MTT assay revealed that the nanocarriers developed in this study did not cause a substantial reduction in the viability of NSC-34 and hCMEC/D3 cells at a riluzole concentration up to 10 μM, being therefore biocompatible. The results suggest that Lf-functionalized NLC are a suitable and promising delivery system to target riluzole to the brain.

Amplified warming induced by large-scale application of water-saving techniques

Large-scale agricultural activities can exacerbate global climate change. In the past three decades, over 5 Mha of cultivated land have been equipped with Water-Saving Techniques (WST) in Northwest China to cope with water scarcity. However, the effect of WST on local climate and its mechanisms are not yet understood. Here we quantified the local climatic effect by comparing temperature and humidity at controlled and irrigated sites before and after the large-scale implementation of WST. Results show that the substantial reduction in irrigation water use has led to an average increase of 0.3°C in growing-season temperature and reduced relative humidity by 2%. Near-surface air temperature responds nonlinearly to percentage area of WST and a threshold value of 40% is found before any noticeable warming effect over the study area. Moreover, it is found that regions with relatively humid climates respond more significantly to WST. This study reveals the mechanism of WST on near-surface climate and highlights the importance of incorporating this feedback into sustainable water management and land-surface models for assessing the impact of irrigated agriculture on regional climate change.

Reducing omission of eye drops during hospital admission

Background/aims Chronic ophthalmic conditions, such as glaucoma and dry eye disease, are frequently encountered debilitating eye conditions that can lead to substantial reduction in vision and quality of life. However, there is ongoing evidence to suggest that topical ophthalmic therapy is inappropriately omitted on admission to hospital. The primary aim of this audit was to investigate the trust adherence to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline on the prescribing standard of eye drops during hospital admission. The secondary aim was to raise awareness and ensure successful compliance with national standards to reduce unintentional omission of eye drops on admission and subsequent complications. Method Electronic medical records of all medical and surgical adult inpatients were studied prospectively on two different occasions. The quality of documentation of eye drops in clerking notes, the length of time taken between the admission and prescription of eye drops, and the accuracy of the prescription were examined. Following the initial audit, interventions focusing on clinician education were implemented. This includes highlighting the importance of eye drops in all departmental mandatory introductory sessions and putting up posters on all the wards as prompts. The same data collection method was used in the reaudit. Results In the initial audit, 64 (mean age 81.8±8.9 years) patients with regular prescriptions for eye drops were identified; 38 (59.4%) patients had eye drops for dry eye disease only, 20 (31.3%) patients had eye drops for glaucoma only, and six (9.4%) patients had eye drops for both. In the reaudit, 57 (mean age 76.7±15.3 years) patients were identified; 42 (73.7%) patients had eye drops for dry eye disease only, 10 (17.5%) patients had eye drops for glaucoma only, and five (8.8%) patients had eye drops for both. Following the intervention, there was a significant improvement in documentation of ocular diagnosis and eye drops on clerking notes from 41% to 65% (P=0.008), and eye drop reconciliation within 24 hours of admission improved from 45% to 75% (P=0.0008). All patients (100%) received the correct eye drop prescription before and after the intervention. Conclusions Education is effective in promoting adherence to national guidelines and reducing the incidence of inappropriate omission of eye drops on admission to hospital.

Fungi anaesthesia

Electrical activity of fungus Pleurotus ostreatus is characterised by slow (h) irregular waves of baseline potential drift and fast (min) action potential likes spikes of the electrical potential. An exposure of the myceliated substrate to a chloroform vapour lead to several fold decrease of the baseline potential waves and increase of their duration. The chloroform vapour also causes either complete cessation of spiking activity or substantial reduction of the spiking frequency. Removal of the chloroform vapour from the growth containers leads to a gradual restoration of the mycelium electrical activity.

Retinoic Acid Deficiency Underlies the Etiology of Midfacial Defects

Embryonic craniofacial development depends on the coordinated outgrowth and fusion of multiple facial primordia, which are populated with cranial neural crest cells and covered by the facial ectoderm. Any disturbance in these developmental events, their progenitor tissues, or signaling pathways can result in craniofacial deformities such as orofacial clefts, which are among the most common birth defects in humans. In the present study, we show that Rdh10 loss of function leads to a substantial reduction in retinoic acid (RA) signaling in the developing frontonasal process during early embryogenesis, which results in a variety of craniofacial anomalies, including midfacial cleft and ectopic chondrogenic nodules. Elevated apoptosis and perturbed cell proliferation in postmigratory cranial neural crest cells and a substantial reduction in Alx1 and Alx3 transcription in the developing frontonasal process were associated with midfacial cleft in Rdh10-deficient mice. More important, expanded Shh signaling in the ventral forebrain, as well as partial abrogation of midfacial defects in Rdh10 mutants via inhibition of Hh signaling, indicates that misregulation of Shh signaling underlies the pathogenesis of reduced RA signaling-associated midfacial defects. Taken together, these data illustrate the precise spatiotemporal function of Rdh10 and RA signaling during early embryogenesis and their importance in orchestrating molecular and cellular events essential for normal midfacial development.

Using a stochastic continuous-time Markov chain model to examine alternative timing and duration of the COVID-19 lockdown in Kuwait: what can be done now?

Background Kuwait had its first COVID-19 in late February, and until October 6, 2020 it recorded 108,268 cases and 632 deaths. Despite implementing one of the strictest control measures-including a three-week complete lockdown, there was no sign of a declining epidemic curve. The objective of the current analyses is to determine, hypothetically, the optimal timing and duration of a full lockdown in Kuwait that would result in controlling new infections and lead to a substantial reduction in case hospitalizations. Methods The analysis was conducted using a stochastic Continuous-Time Markov Chain (CTMC), eight state model that depicts the disease transmission and spread of SARS-CoV 2. Transmission of infection occurs between individuals through social contacts at home, in schools, at work, and during other communal activities. Results The model shows that a lockdown 10 days before the epidemic peak for 90 days is optimal but a more realistic duration of 45 days can achieve about a 45% reduction in both new infections and case hospitalizations. Conclusions In the view of the forthcoming waves of the COVID19 pandemic anticipated in Kuwait using a correctly-timed and sufficiently long lockdown represents a workable management strategy that encompasses the most stringent form of social distancing with the ability to significantly reduce transmissions and hospitalizations.

Signal Folding for Efficient Classification of Near-Cyclostationary Biological Signals

The classification of biological signals is important in detecting abnormal conditions in observed biological subjects. The classifiers are trained on feature vectors, which often constitute the parameters of the observed time series data models. Since the feature extraction is usually the most time-consuming step in training a classifier, in this paper, signal folding and the associated folding operator are introduced to reduce the variability in near-cyclostationary biological signals so that these signals can be represented by models that have a lower order. This leads to a substantial reduction in computational complexity, so the classifier can be learned an order of magnitude faster and still maintain its decision accuracy. The performance of different classifiers involving signal folding as a pre-processing step is studied for sleep apnea detection in one-lead ECG signals assuming ARIMA modeling of the time series data. It is shown that the R-peak-based folding of ECG segments has superior performance to other more general, similarity based signal folding methods. The folding order can be optimized for the best classification accuracy. However, signal folding requires precise scaling and alignment of the created signal fragments.

Center-Oriented Aiming Strategy for Heliostat with Spinning-Elevation Tracking Method

Spinning-Elevation (SE) tracking system produces a decent image on the receiver surface; however, it is subjected to large variations in tracking speed. In this research, a Graphical Ray Tracing (GRT) model for Center-Oriented Spinning-Elevation (COSE) tracking method is developed to evaluate tracking angles. Instead of a target, a heliostat is pointed towards the on-field center point of the tower. Therefore, a spinning-axis of rotation is a line joining a heliostat, and a center of the tower and elevation-axis is perpendicular to it. This aiming strategy has shown a substantial reduction in rotations of spinning-motor. In contrast, the elevation-motor runs at slightly higher rotations than the target-oriented SE method for the same application. Also, COSE tracking method obtains better shape of the reflected image with less aberration on the receiver surface as compared to SE and the traditional Azimuth-Elevation (AE) method.

CRISPR guides induce gene silencing in plants in the absence of Cas

Background RNA-targeting CRISPR-Cas can provide potential advantages over DNA editing, such as avoiding pleiotropic effects of genome editing, providing precise spatiotemporal regulation, and expanded function including antiviral immunity. Results Here, we report the use of CRISPR-Cas13 in plants to reduce both viral and endogenous RNA. Unexpectedly, we observe that crRNA designed to guide Cas13 could, in the absence of the Cas13 protein, cause substantial reduction in RNA levels as well. We demonstrate Cas13-independent guide-induced gene silencing (GIGS) in three plant species, including stable transgenic Arabidopsis. Small RNA sequencing during GIGS identifies the production of small RNA that extend beyond the crRNA expressed sequence in samples expressing multi-guide crRNA. Additionally, we demonstrate that mismatches in guide sequences at position 10 and 11 abolish GIGS. Finally, we show that GIGS is elicited by guides that lack the Cas13 direct repeat and can extend to Cas9 designed crRNA of at least 28 base pairs, indicating that GIGS can be elicited through a variety of guide designs and is not dependent on Cas13 crRNA sequences or design. Conclusions Collectively, our results suggest that GIGS utilizes endogenous RNAi machinery despite the fact that crRNA are unlike canonical triggers of RNAi such as miRNA, hairpins, or long double-stranded RNA. Given similar evidence of Cas13-independent silencing in an insect system, it is likely GIGS is active across many eukaryotes. Our results show that GIGS offers a novel and flexible approach to RNA reduction with potential benefits over existing technologies for crop improvement and functional genomics.