Supervisory control and data acquisition system as a means of safety at work formation in a manufacturing company

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to present an application of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system (SCADA) in the shaping of occupational safety by raising workers’ awareness concerning importance of maintaining high personal safety standards in a manufacturing company. Approach/Methodology/Design: Shaping work safety covers all activities that increase employee awareness concerning compliance with safety regulations and work practices with particular respect to the rules of conduct in specific situations. This article presents the use of the SCADA system in shaping of the workplace safety. It also underlines its influence on raising employee awareness of the importance of complying with health and safety regulations. Findings: It can be stated that the safety days screen meets the company’s expectations. Moreover, it can be a valuable support in shaping workplace safety and raising employee awareness of safe work. The crucial thing is to carry out a detailed analysis and then choose such a solution that is adequate for the needs of a particular enterprise. Practical Implications: It is noted that the use of any solution that optimizes processes in the enterprise (including manufacturing processes) and the opportunities that IT tools provide, greatly contributes to the growth of safety. Providing safe working conditions by employers is usually closely linked to the organization's management strategy. Originality/Value: Currently we can observe the growing use of distributed control and visualization systems (SCADA systems) in the automation of industrial processes.peer-reviewe

Disorder drives cooperative folding in a multidomain protein

Many human proteins contain intrinsically disordered regions, and disorder in these proteins can be fundamental to their function - for example, facilitating transient but specific binding, promoting allostery, or allowing efficient posttranslational modification. SasG, a multidomain protein implicated in host colonization and biofilm formation in Staphylococcus aureus, provides another example of how disorder can play an important role. Approximately one-half of the domains in the extracellular repetitive region of SasG are intrinsically unfolded in isolation, but these E domains fold in the context of their neighboring folded G5 domains. We have previously shown that the intrinsic disorder of the E domains mediates long-range cooperativity between nonneighboring G5 domains, allowing SasG to form a long, rod-like, mechanically strong structure. Here, we show that the disorder of the E domains coupled with the remarkable stability of the interdomain interface result in cooperative folding kinetics across long distances. Formation of a small structural nucleus at one end of the molecule results in rapid structure formation over a distance of 10 nm, which is likely to be important for the maintenance of the structural integrity of SasG. Moreover, if this normal folding nucleus is disrupted by mutation, the interdomain interface is sufficiently stable to drive the folding of adjacent E and G5 domains along a parallel folding pathway, thus maintaining cooperative folding

Abiotic formation of O2 and O3 in high-CO2 terrestrial atmospheres

Previous research has indicated that high amounts of ozone (O3) and oxygen (O2) may be produced abiotically in atmospheres with high concentrations of CO2. The abiotic production of these two gases, which are also characteristic of photosynthetic life processes, could pose a potential "false-positive" for remote-sensing detection of life on planets around other stars.We show here that such false positives are unlikely on any planet that possesses abundant liquid water, as rainout of oxidized species onto a reduced planetary surface should ensure that atmospheric H2 concentrations remain relatively high, and that O2 and O3 remain low. Our aim is to determine the amount of O3 and O2 formed in a high CO2 atmosphere for a habitable planet without life. We use a photochemical model that considers hydrogen (H2) escape and a detailed hydrogen balance to calculate the O2 and O3 formed on planets with 0.2 of CO2 around the Sun, and 0.02, 0.2 and 2 bars of CO2 around a young Sun-like star with higher UV radiation. The concentrations obtained by the photochemical model were used as input in a radiative transfer model that calculated the spectra of the modeled planets. The O3 and O2 concentrations in the simulated planets are extremely small, and unlikely to produce a detectable signature in the spectra of those planets. We conclude that with a balanced hydrogen budget, and for planets with an active hydrological cycle, abiotic formation of O2 and O3 is unlikely to create a possible false positive for life detection in either the visible/near-infrared or mid-infrared wavelength regimes.Comment: 27 pages, 15 figures, Astronomy & Astrophysics accepte

Is Gliese 581d habitable? Some constraints from radiative-convective climate modeling

The recently discovered exoplanet Gl581d is extremely close to the outer edge of its system's habitable zone, which has led to much speculation on its possible climate. We have performed a range of simulations to assess whether, given simple combinations of chemically stable greenhouse gases, the planet could sustain liquid water on its surface. For best estimates of the surface gravity, surface albedo and cloud coverage, we find that less than 10 bars of CO2 is sufficient to maintain a global mean temperature above the melting point of water. Furthermore, even with the most conservative choices of these parameters, we calculate temperatures above the water melting point for CO2 partial pressures greater than about 40 bar. However, we note that as Gl581d is probably in a tidally resonant orbit, further simulations in 3D are required to test whether such atmospheric conditions are stable against the collapse of CO2 on the surface.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Analysis of the Thermal and Magnetic Properties of Amorphous Fe 61Co10Zr2.5Hf2.5Me2W2B20 (Where Me = Mo, Nb, Ni Or Y) Ribbons

The paper presents the results of structural and magnetic properties and thermal stability for a group of functional materials based on Fe61Co10Zr2.5Hf2.5Me2W2B20 (where Me = Mo, Nb, Ni or Y). Samples were obtained in the form of ribbons using melt-spinning method. The X-ray diffraction patterns of investigated samples confirmed their amorphous structure. Based on the analysis of DSC curves characteristic temperatures: glass forming temperature (Tg), crystallization temperature (Tx) and temperature range of the supercooled liquid ΔTx were determined. Small addition of transition metals elements has strong influence on magnetic and thermal parameters of studied materials. The comprehensive studies revealed that in terms of magnetic properties the Ni-addition resulted in highest reduction in coercivity and anisotropy field

Cooperative folding of intrinsically disordered domains drives assembly of a strong elongated protein

Bacteria exploit surface proteins to adhere to other bacteria, surfaces and host cells. Such proteins need to project away from the bacterial surface and resist significant mechanical forces. SasG is a protein that forms extended fibrils on the surface of Staphylococcus aureus and promotes host adherence and biofilm formation. Here we show that although monomeric and lacking covalent cross-links, SasG maintains a highly extended conformation in solution. This extension is mediated through obligate folding cooperativity of the intrinsically disordered E domains that couple non-adjacent G5 domains thermodynamically, forming interfaces that are more stable than the domains themselves. Thus, counterintuitively, the elongation of the protein appears to be dependent on the inherent instability of its domains. The remarkable mechanical strength of SasG arises from tandemly arrayed 'clamp' motifs within the folded domains. Our findings reveal an elegant minimal solution for the assembly of monomeric mechano-resistant tethers of variable length

Synthesis of cyclic carbonates from diols and CO2 catalyzed by carbenes

The synthesis of cyclic carbonates from epoxides and CO2 is a well-established reaction, whereas the synthesis of cyclic carbonates from diols and CO2 is considerably more challenging, and few efficient catalysts are available. Here, we describe heterocyclic carbene catalysts, including one derived from a cheap and efficient thiazolium salt, for this latter reaction. The reaction proceeds at atmospheric pressure in the presence of an alkyl halide and Cs2CO3. Reaction mechanisms for the transformations involved are also proposed

Quantum Correlations in Systems of Indistinguishable Particles

We discuss quantum correlations in systems of indistinguishable particles in relation to entanglement in composite quantum systems consisting of well separated subsystems. Our studies are motivated by recent experiments and theoretical investigations on quantum dots and neutral atoms in microtraps as tools for quantum information processing. We present analogies between distinguishable particles, bosons and fermions in low-dimensional Hilbert spaces. We introduce the notion of Slater rank for pure states of pairs of fermions and bosons in analogy to the Schmidt rank for pairs of distinguishable particles. This concept is generalized to mixed states and provides a correlation measure for indistinguishable particles. Then we generalize these notions to pure fermionic and bosonic states in higher-dimensional Hilbert spaces and also to the multi-particle case. We review the results on quantum correlations in mixed fermionic states and discuss the concept of fermionic Slater witnesses. Then the theory of quantum correlations in mixed bosonic states and of bosonic Slater witnesses is formulated. In both cases we provide methods of constructing optimal Slater witnesses that detect the degree of quantum correlations in mixed fermionic and bosonic states.Comment: 46 pages, 4 eps figure

Cooperative folding of intrinsically disordered domains drives assembly of a strong elongated protein.

Bacteria exploit surface proteins to adhere to other bacteria, surfaces and host cells. Such proteins need to project away from the bacterial surface and resist significant mechanical forces. SasG is a protein that forms extended fibrils on the surface of Staphylococcus aureus and promotes host adherence and biofilm formation. Here we show that although monomeric and lacking covalent cross-links, SasG maintains a highly extended conformation in solution. This extension is mediated through obligate folding cooperativity of the intrinsically disordered E domains that couple non-adjacent G5 domains thermodynamically, forming interfaces that are more stable than the domains themselves. Thus, counterintuitively, the elongation of the protein appears to be dependent on the inherent instability of its domains. The remarkable mechanical strength of SasG arises from tandemly arrayed 'clamp' motifs within the folded domains. Our findings reveal an elegant minimal solution for the assembly of monomeric mechano-resistant tethers of variable length.This research was supported by Biotechnology and Biological Research Council Grants BB/J006459/1 (D.T.G. and J.C.), BB/J005029/1 (F.W. and J.R.P), BB/G019452/1 (O.E.F and D.J.B) and BB/G020671/1 (C.G.B. and J.R.P.). H.K.H.F. is supported by a studentship from a Wellcome Trust 4-year PhD programme (WT095024MA). C.M.J. is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), grant BIOSCAT (contract N° 05K12YE1). J.C. is a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow (WT/095195). J.R.P holds a British Heart Foundation Senior Basic Science Fellowship (FS/12/36/29588). The authors acknowledge the use of EMBL SAXS beamline P12 at Petra-3 (DESY, Hamburg, Germany) and Maxim Petoukhov (EMBL) for providing a modified version of SASR EF. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under BioStruct-X (grant agreement N°283570). The authors would like to thank Diamond Light Source for beamtime (proposal mx-7864) and Johan Turkenburg and Sam Hart for assistance with crystal testing and data collection.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from NPG via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms827