Remote manipulation with microlablets and control of enzymatic reaction

Progress in microfabrication technologies makes it possible to design and fabricate autonomous self-assembling microparticles called lablets (under 100 m in size), which can implement programmable microscale electronic chemistry, forming a bridge between electronic and chemical computing. Due to limited energy storage capacity of the lablets and high material density, their movement in aqueous environment over larger distances and attachment to a predefined substrate (docking station) remains a challenge. The aim is precise positioning of the lablet above the docking station in aqueous environment, followed by controlled attachment of the lablet on pre-defined part of the docking station. The position of the lablet with respect to the docking station has to be within the range of 10’s of micrometers. The lablets are mainly composed of silicon (density 2.57 g.cm-3), hence they are denser than water and thus remote manipulation with the lablets above the docking station in aqueous environment is not possible due to their sedimentation. 150 - 200 m small surfactant stabilized oil droplet (kerosene, density 0.80 g.cm-3) were be attached to the lablets in order to decrease their overall density. The oil microdroplets with attached lablets were observed to be floating on the water-air interface. Since one side of the lablets surface is formed from silicon (Si) while the other one contains also gold electrodes (for communication with the dock station), it is required to attach the lablets to the oil droplets in such a way that the gold electrodes will be immersed only in the water phase and thus be able to communicate with the dock station. The immersion of the lablets in the oil phase can be changed by hydrophilic/hydrophobic modification of the lablet’s surface. In order to make the remote manipulation possible, magnetic (iron-oxide) nanoparticles with a hydrophobic modification (oleic acid stabilized) were added to the oil (kerosene) phase to create a ferrofluid. The ferrofluid will consequently move in a magnetic field and carry the lablet with it. The magnetic field is created by four electromagnets (the distance between two opposite electromagnets will be 25 mm), allowing us to precisely manipulate with the lablets in the X,Y (planar) direction. Depending on the voltage applied and the concentration of magnetic particles in the ferrofluid, lablets can be moved with a velocity of 10’-100’s m/s. The attachment of the lablet to the docking station will be achieved by placing another electromagnet bellow the docking station, hence we will be able to move/elongate the ferrofluid microdroplets in the Z (vertical) direction that will consequently lead to the connection of the lablet with the docking station. The lablets can also act as carriers of active substances, i.e. liposomes with encapsulated substrate attached on the lablets surface. The release of the encapsulated content can be triggered by i) radiofrequency heating which causes a reversible phase transition of the lipid bilayer; or by ii) electroporation of the lipid bilayer. By controlled release of the substrate, we are able to trigger an enzymatic reaction on-demand. This principle makes it possible to deliver unstable or reactive active ingredients that cannot be formulated into traditional dosage forms

Combination of openlanduse database and analysed sentinel 2 and sentinel 1 data for agriculture purposes

Creating an Earth’s twin in sufficient detail and complex relations is a challenge for the future arising from strategies like DestinE or Green Deal. Enormous amount of geospatial data available these days leads to a necessity of a suitable data structure to provide understandable information to a general user. An Open Land Use database can serve as such a structure for integrating datasets of different themes, different spatial resolution, and different temporal validity. This paper shows an example of incorporating Earth observation data into the Open Land Use data model, to provide enhanced information about field blocks of a farm in Vyškov region in CZE with information about crop types planted in fields. The data for enhancing the OLU database were based on Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 images from 2020, analysed into the form of (un)supervised classification of crop types and various indexes, especially Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and Radar Vegetation Index for Sentinel-1 SAR data (RVI4S1)

Liposomal co-permeation assay reveals unexpected membrane interactions of commonly prescribed drugs

The permeation of small molecules across biological membranes is a crucial process that lies at the essence of life. Permeation is involved not only in the maintenance of homeostasis at the cell level but also in the absorption and biodistribution of pharmacologically active substances throughout the human body. Membranes are formed by phospholipid bilayers that represent an energy barrier for the permeating molecules. Crossing this energy barrier is assumed to be a singular event, and permeation has traditionally been described as a 1st order kinetic process, proportional only to the concentration gradient of the permeating substance. For a given membrane composition, permeability was believed to be a unary property dependent only on the permeating molecule itself. We provide experimental evidence that this long-held view might not be entirely correct. Liposomes were used in co-permeation experiments with a fluorescent probe, where simultaneous permeation of two substances occurred over a single phospholipid bilayer. Using an assay of six commonly prescribed drugs, we have found that the presence of a co-permeant can either enhance or suppress the permeation rate of the probe molecule, often more than two-fold in each direction. This can have significant consequences for the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of commonly prescribed drugs when used in combination and provide new insight into so-far unexplained drug-drug interactions, as well as changing the perspective on how new drug candidates are evaluated and tested

INSPIRE Hackathons and SmartAfriHub – Roadmap for Addressing the Agriculture Data Challenges in Africa

Digital farming holds enormous potential for agricultural development, and giving farmers the tools to boost productivity and profitability. Although the benefits of digitalization are numerous, farmers feel they are not the ones benefiting from the value of data collected on their farms. Several issues were identified as factors restricting farmers from benefiting from data-driven agriculture. From the farmers’ perspective, there is a distinct lack of awareness of the issues surrounding farm data, and the complexity of these issues. This feeds into the imbalance that exists between individual farmers and larger agribusinesses wherein the former lack enough resources to address and analyse the significance of data, and so cannot take advantage of the value in it. There is also limited legislation for the generation, flow, exchange and use of data; where legislation does exist, it is not well understood by farmer organisations. From a policy perspective, moreover, there is very little guidance as to which agricultural data can be considered personal data, and therefore protected by privacy laws. This paper analyses the interactions and effects of the 5 Concepts: Open Agricultural Data, Open-Source Software, Citizen Science, privacy and legal and ethical issues that are assumed to advance the digitalization of African Food System (AFS and the enabling Digital Innovation Hub (DIH) - SmartAfriHub (https://www.smartafrihub.com/home)

Hub4Everybody - New Collaborative Environment for Sharing

Hub4Everybody is a one-of-a-kind solution for publishing, sharing and cooperative management of geographical datasets, such as professional data and measuring, results of research projects or student papers, educational materials, emotional maps, visualization of in-field research and other maps, tables, or databases. You can easily upload or update your data as well as adjust the parameters of sharing among different audiences. Hub4Everybody is an alternative tool combining online office software with an editorial system for spatial data. It is also an Open-Source alternative to already existing commercial solutions, while offering additional extending options. Hub4Everybody offers all usual functions of geoportals (working with a map, linking of external data and services) but on top of that it offers a possibility to link desktop and mobile solutions for geographical data processing, data visualisation in form of storyboard and communication components via social networks. The solution is scalable and fully adaptable to the end-user needs. You can store your data directly on Hub4Everybody cloud or in your own infrastructure. All technologies used for Hub4Everybody are open source, which enables you to communicate with all kinds of users all over the world while no costs are necessary. The paper describes not only the current system, but also the history of development and potential utilization. An intensive testing and development using a series of INSPIRE Hackathons are an important part of development