Honeywell experion system for teaching purposes

Honeywell Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS) is an advanced Distributed Control system with integrated advanced process automation platform. The platform integrates both DCS and SCADA topologies which makes the software more versatile. Experion is extensively used for several applications across the process industry. The platform was purchased by Murdoch University and served as a valuable asset to the University. It is a great teaching tool for students pursuing a career in engineering as it introduces an industrial prospective to the course. The main objective of the thesis project involves development of Honeyell Experion software to be integrated into the industrial computer systems facility for students to gain an understanding of the operation of the system. The entire scope of the thesis project mediated around the Honeywell Experion Process Knowledge System software. The ultimate goal of the project was integration of the Honeywell Experion teaching system into the Industrial Computer Systems facility. Before conquering the mammoth goal of the thesis, it is proprietary to understand the basic driving concepts of the Experion system. The previous works undertaken on the project included some basic setup of a test server, and basic simulation and configuration aspects. This thesis would be a continuation of the work undertaken during previous years. However to proceed to further stages of the thesis the first step would be to surpass the initial configuration of the project elements. Therefore initial weeks of the thesis project were spent on understanding the structure of the Experion software and configuring basic elements. Following these initial steps the primary focus of the project was brought towards understanding the operation of some of the Regulatory Control Blocks present in the Experion environment. The functionality of regulatory control blocks was explored by undertaking research on the PID control block. Many features offered by the PID control block were explored and understood. Following this step some systems were simulated in Microsoft Office Excel and controlled by the PID control block configured in the Experion system. The data exchange between both the mediums was done by Microsoft Office data Exchange add-in provided by Honeywell. These simulations were designed to demonstrate the use of options provided by the PID block. Similar research was performed on other regulatory control blocks present in the Experion environment such as PIDFF, PIER and PID-PL blocks. The functionalities researched and simulations created were documented. The report provides a brief overview of the tasks accomplished. Firstly describing the operation of Experion software and functionalities offered, it moves on to describing the primary attention area of the project

Isoform Specific Gene Auto-Regulation via miRNAs: A Case Study on miR-128b and ARPP-21

In this study, we investigate whether miRNAs located within “host” protein-coding genes may regulate the expression of their host genes. We find that 43 of 174 miRNAs encoded within RefSeq genes are predicted to target their host genes. Statistical analysis of this phenomenon suggests that gene auto-regulation via miRNAs may be under positive selective pressure. Our analysis also indicates that several of the 43 miRNAs have a much lower expectation of targeting their host genes by chance than others. Among these examples, we identify miR-128b:ARPP-21 (cyclic AMP-regulated phosphoprotein, 21 kD) as a case in which both the miRNA and the target site are also evolutionarily conserved. We provide experimental support for this miRNA:target interaction via reporter silencing assays, and present evidence that this isoform-specific gene auto-regulation has been preserved in vertebrate species in order to prevent detrimental consequences of ARPP-21 over-expression in brain

Long noncoding RNAs with enhancer-like function in human cells

While the long noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) constitute a large portion of the mammalian transcriptome, their biological functions has remained elusive. A few long ncRNAs that have been studied in any detail silence gene expression in processes such as X-inactivation and imprinting. We used a GENCODE annotation of the human genome to characterize over a thousand long ncRNAs that are expressed in multiple cell lines. Unexpectedly, we found an enhancer-like function for a set of these long ncRNAs in human cell lines. Depletion of a number of ncRNAs led to decreased expression of their neighboring protein-coding genes, including the master regulator of hematopoiesis, SCL (also called TAL1), Snai1 and Snai2. Using heterologous transcription assays we demonstrated a requirement for the ncRNAs in activation of gene expression. These results reveal an unanticipated role for a class of long ncRNAs in activation of critical regulators of development and differentiation