95,922 research outputs found
Application of an AIS to the problem of through life health management of remotely piloted aircraft
The operation of RPAS includes a cognitive problem for the operators(Pilots,
maintainers, ,managers, and the wider organization) to effectively maintain their situational
awareness of the aircraft and predict its health state. This has a large impact on their ability
to successfully identify faults and manage systems during operations. To overcome these
system deficiencies an asset health management system that integrates more cognitive
abilities to aid situational awareness could prove beneficial. This paper outlines an artificial
immune system (AIS) approach that could meet these challenges and an experimental
method within which to evaluate it
"Going back to our roots": second generation biocomputing
Researchers in the field of biocomputing have, for many years, successfully
"harvested and exploited" the natural world for inspiration in developing
systems that are robust, adaptable and capable of generating novel and even
"creative" solutions to human-defined problems. However, in this position paper
we argue that the time has now come for a reassessment of how we exploit
biology to generate new computational systems. Previous solutions (the "first
generation" of biocomputing techniques), whilst reasonably effective, are crude
analogues of actual biological systems. We believe that a new, inherently
inter-disciplinary approach is needed for the development of the emerging
"second generation" of bio-inspired methods. This new modus operandi will
require much closer interaction between the engineering and life sciences
communities, as well as a bidirectional flow of concepts, applications and
expertise. We support our argument by examining, in this new light, three
existing areas of biocomputing (genetic programming, artificial immune systems
and evolvable hardware), as well as an emerging area (natural genetic
engineering) which may provide useful pointers as to the way forward.Comment: Submitted to the International Journal of Unconventional Computin
Host defence peptides: antimicrobial and immunomodulatory activity and potential applications for tackling antibiotic-resistant infections
The rapidly increasing incidence of multidrug-resistant infections and the alarmingly low rate of discovery of conventional antibiotics create an urgent need for alternative strategies to treat bacterial infections. Host defence peptides are short cationic molecules produced by the immune systems of most multicellular organisms; they are a class of compounds being actively researched. In this review, we provide an overview of the antimicrobial and immunomodulatory activities of natural host defence peptides, and discuss strategies for creating artificial derivatives with improved biological and pharmacological properties, issues of microbial resistance, and challenges associated with their adaptation for clinical use
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