In welke mate is MMM er in geslaagd een relatie op te bouwen met de aangesloten aannemers en de eindconsument

In 2006 is het convenant Meer Met Minder (MMM) ondertekend door verschillende partijen, waaronder het Ministerie van VROM. Dit convenant houdt in dat het energieverbruik in huishoudens en andere gebouwen drastisch terug moet worden gebracht. Door middel van energiebesparende maatregelen wil MMM dit doel gaan bereiken. De doelstelling van het evaluatieonderzoek onder de aangesloten aannemers bij MMM was om met de uitkomsten van het onderzoek de relatie tussen MMM en de aannemer en de eindconsument in beeld te brengen. De vraag die centraal staat gedurende het onderzoek is: In welke mate is MMM er in geslaagd een relatie op te bouwen met de aangesloten aannemers en de eindconsument? Om deze centrale vraag te beantwoorden zijn er een aantal specifieke deelvragen opgesteld. Om de centrale vraag te beantwoorden zijn eerst de deelvragen beantwoord. De volgende onderzoeksmethode is gebruikt om informatie in te winnen ten faveure van het onderzoek: ‘Het doen van kwalitatief onderzoek met behulp van telefonische interviews met open vragen’’. Er is gekozen voor kwalitatief onderzoek. Dit omdat een kwalitatief onderzoek ruimte geeft voor een eigen inbreng van de respondent. Uit de interviews zijn belangrijke resultaten naar voren gekomen. Sinds de ondertekening van het convenant Meer Met Minder in 2006 is de relatie nog erg prille. Het aantal aannemers dat zich tot op heden heeft aangesloten, beperkt zich tot een selecte groep aannemers. Daarnaast hebben aannemers nog niet veel gebruikt gemaakt van de mogelijkheden die MMM hen biedt. Slechts een kleine groep aannemers heeft tot op heden extra omzet kunnen genereren dankzij MMM. Daarnaast zorgt het slechte communicatieproces voor onduidelijkheden en problemen. Een groot deel van de aannemers geeft in het interview aan dat de naamsbekendheid van MMM nog te gering is om het initiatief tot een succes te maken. Tevens is energiebesparing nog niet een prioriteit voor de consument. Zij zien kostenbesparingen in hun verbouwing als prioriteit, dit verkiezen zij boven het milieuvriendelijke MMM. Kortom de relatie die Meer Met Minder wil opbouwen met zowel de aannemer als de consument is nog niet op het niveau dat het zou moeten wezen. Er zijn nog tal van verbeterpunten die MMM tot een succes kunnen maken. Studentenonderzoek in het kader van het thema Duurzaam bouwen

Isolation, Identification, and Characterization of Phosphate-Solubilizing Bacteria from Tunisian Soils

Soil microorganisms play an important role in maintaining natural ecological balance through active participation in carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorous cycles. Phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) are of high importance in the rhizosphere, enhancing the solubilization of inorganic phosphorus complexes into soluble forms available for plant nutrition. The investigation of this species of bacteria is of major interest in agriculture, as they can be used as biofertilizers for crops. In the present study, 28 isolates of PSB were obtained after the phosphate enrichment of soil samples from five Tunisian regions. Five PSB species were identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing including Pseudomonas fluorescens, P. putida, and P. taiwanensis, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, and Pantoea agglomerans. Solid and liquid Pikovskaya’s (PVK) and National Botanical Research Institute’s (NBRIP) media containing insoluble tricalcium phosphate were used for the evaluation of the phosphate solubilization ability of the bacterial isolates by two methods: visual evaluation of the solubilization zone around colonies (halo) and determination of solubilized phosphates in liquid medium by the colorimetric method of the vanado-molybdate yellow. Based on the results of the halo method, the isolate of each species that showed the higher phosphate solubilization index was selected for evaluation of phosphate solubilization by the colorimetric method. In the liquid media, the bacterial isolates showed phosphate solubilization ranging from 535.70 to 618.57 µg mL−1 in the NBRIP medium, and 374.20 to 544.28 µg mL−1 in the PVK medium, with the highest values produced by P. fluorescens. The best phosphate solubilization ability and higher reduction in broth pH, which indicates higher organic acid production, were achieved in NBRIP broth for most of the PSB. Strong correlations were observed between the average capability of PSB to solubilize phosphates and both the pH and total phosphorous content in the soil. The production of the hormone indole acetic acid (IAA), which can promote plant growth, was observed for all five PSB species. Among them, P. fluorescens obtained from the forest soil of northern Tunisia showed the highest production of IAA (50.4 ± 0.9 µg mL−1).This research was partially supported by the Smart Cities Research Center under the grant UIDB/05567/2020 funded by The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal). The authors wish to acknowledge the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Tunisia, which has facilitated the work performed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Hybrid Classification Approach based on FCA and Emerging Patterns - An application for the classification of biological inhibitors

International audienceClassification is an important task in data analysis and learning. Classification can be performed using supervised or unsupervised methods. From the unsupervised point of view, Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) can be used for such a task in an efficient and well-founded way. From the supervised point of view, emerging patterns rely on pattern mining and can be used to characterize classes of objects w.r.t. a priori labels. In this paper, we present a hybrid classification method which is based both on supervised and unsupervised aspects. This method relies on FCA for building a concept lattice and then detects the concepts whose extents determines classes of objects sharing the same labels. These classes can then be used as reference classes for classifying unknown objects. This hybrid approach has been used in an experiment in chemistry for classifying inhibitors of the c-Met protein which plays an important role in protein interactions and in the development of cancer

Fed-batch fermentation of olive mill wastewaters for lipase production

In the Mediterranean basin countries, huge amounts of olive mill wastewaters (OMW) are produced by the olive oil industry. It constitutes a serious environmental problem, nevertheless its composition turns OMW into a potential growth medium to lipolytic microorganisms. The aim of this work was to study lipase production as well as OMW degradation in fed-batch cultures of Candida cylindracea CBS 7869, Candida rugosa CBS 2275 and Yarrowia lipolytica W29 (ATCC 20460). Besides the improvement of lipase production, the fed-batch approach enhanced the effluent degradation, since it led to good COD and lipids reduction, both higher than 50%. C. rugosa achieved the highest value of lipase productivity (130 U L−1 h−1), in parallel with highest lipids reduction (77%). This study demonstrates thatOMWare becoming a competitive and valuable growth medium in fermentation processes with lipolytic microorganisms. The fed-batch strategy used proved to be an efficient approach to enhance lipase production from OMW and to reduce significantly the final organic load of the medium.The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by 'Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia' (Project PTDC/AMB/69379/2006; Grant SFRH/BD/27915/2006)

The Effects of Atorvastatin, Ginger, and Cinnamon on the Structure of Rats' Submandibular Salivary Gland Fed on Cholesterol-Rich Diet

Hypercholesterolemia is a term used to describe high amounts of cholesterol in the blood. The statin family of substances, a heterogeneous collection of molecules that impede the action of HMG CoA reductase, is one of the most important synthetic pharmaceuticals used to address such disorders. Plant extracts are increasingly being utilized to treat a variety of diseases. According to studies, Cinnamon and ginger lowers blood triglycerides and total cholesterol while increasing HDL cholesterol, or high-density lipoprotein. Aim of the Study: The present study's goal was to compare the effect of statin (Atorvastatin) and Herbals (Ginger+ Cinnamon) on the submandibular salivary gland of hypercholesterolemic albino rats. Materials and Methods: There were two groups of 40 mature male albino rats. (1) Control group: rats were kept on a normal diet, (2) Experimental groups: Hypercholesterolemic group:  rats fed with hypercholesterolemic rich diet for 4 months, Atorvastatin and Cinnamon+ Ginger groups: rats were given Atorvastatin tablets and Cinnamon+ Ginger powder at the beginning of the third month with a dose of 10 mg/kg BW. and 6 gm \Kg. BW+ 100 mg\ Kg. BW respectively. Sections 5 mm thick of the parotid gland were examined histologically, ultra-structurally, and immunologically by anti-Caspase Ⅲ immune antibody. Results: The high cholesterol group had significant degenerative alterations in the parenchymal parts of the submandibular salivary gland, whereas the Atorvastatin and Cinnamon+ Ginger groups demonstrated significant enhancing effects in the histological structure of the rat's submandibular gland. Conclusion: To varying degrees, hypercholesterolemia wreaks havoc on the anatomy of the parotid gland. The use of Atorvastatin as a synthetic line of treatment for hypercholesterolemia improved submandibular gland tissue and blood cholesterol levels. Cinnamon+ Ginger administration improved submandibular gland tissue as a natural herbal remedy for high cholesterol levels in the blood

Conception par modélisation et criblage in silico d'inhibiteurs du récepteur c-Met

The challenge of this PhD work is the in silico identification of potentially interesting molecules concerning the inhibitory process of tyrosine kinase receptor c-Met. The faculty of this protein to interact in embryogenesis and tissue repair phenomena makes its inhibition crucial for treatments against tumor development in which c-Met is involved. For that purpose, the employed strategy involves the use of several in silico methods for rational drug design. As the basement of this work, we used the multiple crystal structures published in the ProteinData Base (PDB). A preliminary homology modeling work was needed to fill gaps in the crystal structures. To sample at best the c-Met kinase conformational space and to characterize its flexibility, a long Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation campaign was carried out both on apo and holo forms of available crystal structures. To complete these simulations, part of this work consisted to use normal modes of vibration (NM) method. From these two approaches (DM and NM), we extracted a set of 10 conformers considered as the most representative of the kinase simulated conformational space and we suggested a mode of operation of this kinase. Using extracted conformations from the conformational sampling has enabled us to conduct an extensive campaign on several virtual screening libraries constituting a total of approximately 70,000 compounds. Analysis of the molecular docking results has led us to the selection of several theoretically interesting molecules with good potential affinity for c-Met kinase. These molecules were submitted to experimental tests performed by the biologist team associated to our work.L'enjeu des travaux effectués au cours de cette thèse est l'extraction in silico de molécules potentiellement intéressantes dans le processus d'inhibition du récepteur tyrosine kinase c-Met. La faculté de cette protéine à interagir dans les phénomènes d'embryogenèse et de réparation tissulaires rendent son inhibition cruciale dans les traitements contre les développements tumoraux où c-Met se trouve impliquée. Dans ce but, la stratégie que nous avons employée implique l'utilisation de plusieurs méthodes in silico de conception rationnelle de médicaments. Nous avons utilisé comme support les multiples structures cristallographiques publiées sur la ProteinData Base (PDB). Un travail de modélisation par homologie fut tout d'abord nécessaire pour combler les lacunes des structures cristallographiques collectées. Afin d'échantillonner au mieux l'espace conformationnel du récepteur kinase c-Met et de caractériser sa flexibilité, une longue campagne de simulation de Dynamique Moléculaire (DM) fut menée concernant les formes apo et holo des structures cristallographiques disponibles. Pour compléter ces simulations, une partie du travail consista à utiliser également la méthode des modes normaux de vibration (NM). De ces 2 approches (DM et NM), nous avons extrait un ensemble de 10 conformères considérés comme les plus représentatifs de l'espace conformationnel simulé pour la kinase c-Met et avons proposé un mode de fonctionnement de ce récepteur. Utilisant les conformations extraites de l'échantillonnage conformationnel, nous avons ensuite mené une importante campagne de criblage virtuel sur plusieurs chimiothèques constituant au total environ 70.000 composés. L'analyse des résultats de l'arrimage moléculaire nous a conduits à la sélection de plusieurs molécules intéressantes possédant théoriquement une bonne affinité pour la kinase c-Met. Ces molécules ont été soumises aux tests expérimentaux effectués par l'équipe de biologistes associée à nos travaux

C-Met receptor inhibitors design by molecular modeling and in silico screening

L'enjeu des travaux effectués au cours de cette thèse est l'extraction in silico de molécules potentiellement intéressantes dans le processus d'inhibition du récepteur tyrosine kinase c-Met. La faculté de cette protéine à interagir dans les phénomènes d'embryogenèse et de réparation tissulaires rendent son inhibition cruciale dans les traitements contre les développements tumoraux où c-Met se trouve impliquée. Pour cela, la stratégie employée implique l'utilisation de méthodes in silico de conception rationnelle de médicaments. Nous avons utilisé comme support les multiples structures cristallographiques publiées sur la ProteinData Base. Un travail de modélisation par homologie fut tout d'abord nécessaire pour combler les lacunes des structures cristallographiques collectées. Afin d'échantillonner au mieux l'espace conformationnel de la kinase c-Met et de caractériser sa flexibilité, une longue campagne de simulation de Dynamique Moléculaire fut menée. Pour compléter ces simulations, nous avons également utilisé la méthode des modes normaux de vibration. De ces 2 approches, nous avons extrait un ensemble de 10 conformères considérés comme les plus représentatifs de l'espace conformationnel simulé pour la kinase c-Met et avons proposé un mode de fonctionnement de ce récepteur. Utilisant les conformations représentatives, nous avons ensuite mené une importante campagne de criblage virtuel sur plusieurs chimiothèques constituant environ 70.000 composés. L'analyse des résultats de l'arrimage moléculaire nous a conduits à la sélection de composés intéressants possédant théoriquement une bonne affinité pour la kinase c-Met. Ces molécules ont été soumises aux tests expérimentaux.The challenge of this PhD work is the in silico identification of potentially interesting molecules concerning the inhibitory process of tyrosine kinase receptor c-Met. The faculty of this protein to interact in embryogenesis and tissue repair phenomena makes its inhibition crucial for treatments against tumor development in which c-Met is involved. For that purpose, the employed strategy involves the use of several in silico methods for rational drug design. As the basement of this work, we used the multiple crystal structures published in the ProteinData Base (PDB). A preliminary homology modeling work was needed to fill gaps in the crystal structures. To sample at best the c-Met kinase conformational space and to characterize its flexibility, a long Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation campaign was carried out both on apo and holo forms of available crystal structures. To complete these simulations, part of this work consisted to use normal modes of vibration (NM) method. From these two approaches (DM and NM), we extracted a set of 10 conformers considered as the most representative of the kinase simulated conformational space and we suggested a mode of operation of this kinase. Using extracted conformations from the conformational sampling has enabled us to conduct an extensive campaign on several virtual screening libraries constituting a total of approximately 70,000 compounds. Analysis of the molecular docking results has led us to the selection of several theoretically interesting molecules with good potential affinity for c-Met kinase. These molecules were submitted to experimental tests performed by the biologist team associated to our work

Exploring c-Met kinase flexibility by sampling and clustering its conformational space

International audienceIt is now widely recognized that the flexibility of both partners has to be considered in molecular docking studies. However, the question how to handle the best the huge computational complexity of exploring the protein binding site landscape is still a matter of debate. Here we investigate the flexibility of c-Met kinase as a test case for comparing several simulation methods. The c-Met kinase catalytic site is an interesting target for anticancer drug design. In particular, it harbors an unusual plasticity compared with other kinases ATP binding sites. Exploiting this feature may eventually lead to the discovery of new anticancer agents with exquisite specificity. We present in this article an extensive investigation of c-Met kinase conformational space using large-scale computational simulations in order to extend the knowledge already gathered from available X-ray structures. In the process, we compare the relevance of different strategies for modeling and injecting receptor flexibility information into early stage in silico structure-based drug discovery pipeline. The results presented here are currently being exploited in on-going virtual screening investigations on c-Met