Energy aware knowledge extraction from Petri nets supporting decision-making in service-oriented automation

This paper introduces an approach to decision support systems in service-oriented automation control systems, which considers the knowledge extracted from the Petri nets models used to describe and execute the process behavior. Such solution optimizes the decision-making taking into account multi-criteria, namely productive parameters and also energy parameters. In fact, being manufacturing processes typically energy-intensive, this allows contributing for a clean and saving environment (i.e. a better and efficient use of energy). The preliminary experimental results, using a real laboratorial case study, demonstrate the applicability of the knowledge extracted from the Petri nets models to support real-time decision-making systems in service-oriented automation systems, considering some energy efficiency criteria

Fostering Awareness on Environmentally Sustainable Technological Solutions for the Post-Harvest Food Supply Chain

This study presents a current status and future trends of innovative and environmentally sustainable technological solutions for the post-harvest food supply chain and the food industry, in terms of ecological packaging, active, and/or intelligent packaging. All these concerns are currently highlighted due to the strong increase in the purchase/sale of products on online platforms, as well as the requirements for stricter food security and safety. Thus, this study aims to increase the global awareness of agro-industrial micro, small, and medium size enterprises for the adoption of innovative food solutions though industry digitalization (Industry 4.0), associated logistics and circular economy, with a concern for cybersecurity and products information, communication and shelf-life extension. The adoption of these guidelines will certainly foster along the complete food chain (from producer to consumer, with all intermediary parties) the awareness on environmentally sustainable technological solutions for the post-harvest food supply chain, and thus, promoting the future food sustainability required by the population increase, the climate change, the exodus of rural population to urban areas, and food loss and waste.This study is within the activities of project S4Agro-Soluções Sustentáveis para o Setor Agroindustrial (Sustainable Solutions for the Agro-industrial sector) promoted by COMPETE 2020– POCI–SIAC: 02/SIAC/2019 (POCI-02-0853-FEDER-046425) and co-financed by FEDER under the Portugal 2020 initiative.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Throughput limits of two 802.15.4 wireless networks applications for signal acquisition

This work describes the development and test of a wireless sensor network used by a biomedical signal monitoring system. Data communication is based on a body area network (BAN) materialized as a wireless network in two versions, one based on the 802.15.4 specification and another on a higher-level Zigbee protocol. The system was developed using the Jennic JN5148 microcontroller, Jennics ZBPro stack and the JenOs RT kernell. The final system was tested with the devices at different distances, and with a varying number of sensor nodes communicating simultaneously. For each of these combinations the signal quality and frequency of communication errors were recorded. The version implemented using Zigbee protocol was able to acquire and send sensor signals at a sample rate of 7 kSamples/s (12-bit samples, final net rate of 84 kbps) with a percentage of lost frames below 4%. It was also shown that the system supports simultaneous communication of three sensor nodes at 3 kS/s (36 kbps) each, with a percentage of losses of less than 4%. These results are important since they support the possibility of having several sensors acquiring fast biomedical signals and sending them to a central unit in real time.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - Projeto Bioswi

Determination of kinetic and stoichiometric parameters of pseudomonas putida F1 by chemostat and In situ pulse respirometry

The applicability of pulse respirometry, for the estimation of kinetic and stoichiometric parameters in pure cultures was evaluated by comparison with traditional chemostat method. Pseudomonas putida F1 was cultured in a continuous stirred tank reactor, using glucose as sole carbon source. The reactor was operated under steady-state with six dilution rates, ranging from 0.06 to 0.35 h-1. Substrate and biomass concentration were measured and used to estimate kinetic and stoichiometric parameters, according to the Monod model. An in situ respirometry method was also applied to the reactor, with the injection of pulses of glucose from 19 to 97 mg L-1. The respirograms obtained were used to estimate the kinetic and stoichiometric parameters according to ASM1 and ASM3 models. No significance difference was observed between parameters estimated by chemostat and respirometric methods. The glucose affinity constant was from 0.4 to 0.7 mg L-1, the maximum specific growth rate was from varying from 0.14 to 0.20 h-1, and the growth yield was from 0.41 to 0.67. These results confirm that in situ pulse respirometry is a suitable method for kinetic and stoichiometric parameters estimation.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (Mexico)We gratefully acknowledge the financial support to Catarina S. Oliveira through the grant SFRH/BD/32289/2006 from the Fundac¸ao para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal), and to Alberto Ordaz through the grant #208321 from the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (Mexico)

Host shifts result in parallel genetic changes when viruses evolve in closely related species.

Host shifts, where a pathogen invades and establishes in a new host species, are a major source of emerging infectious diseases. They frequently occur between related host species and often rely on the pathogen evolving adaptations that increase their fitness in the novel host species. To investigate genetic changes in novel hosts, we experimentally evolved replicate lineages of an RNA virus (Drosophila C Virus) in 19 different species of Drosophilidae and deep sequenced the viral genomes. We found a strong pattern of parallel evolution, where viral lineages from the same host were genetically more similar to each other than to lineages from other host species. When we compared viruses that had evolved in different host species, we found that parallel genetic changes were more likely to occur if the two host species were closely related. This suggests that when a virus adapts to one host it might also become better adapted to closely related host species. This may explain in part why host shifts tend to occur between related species, and may mean that when a new pathogen appears in a given species, closely related species may become vulnerable to the new disease

Optimization of Au:CuO thin films by plasma surface modification for high-resolution LSPR gas sensing at room temperature

In this study, thin films composed of gold nanoparticles embedded in a copper oxide matrix (Au:CuO), manifesting Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) behavior, were produced by reactive DC magnetron sputtering and post-deposition in-air annealing. The effect of low-power Ar plasma etching on the surface properties of the plasmonic thin films was studied, envisaging its optimization as gas sensors. Thus, this work pretends to attain the maximum sensing response of the thin film system and to demonstrate its potential as a gas sensor. The results show that as Ar plasma treatment time increases, the host CuO matrix is etched while Au nanoparticles are uncovered, which leads to an enhancement of the sensitivity until a certain limit. Above such a time limit for plasma treatment, the CuO bonds are broken, and oxygen is removed from the film’s surface, resulting in a decrease in the gas sensing capabilities. Hence, the importance of the host matrix for the design of the LSPR sensor is also demonstrated. CuO not only provides stability and protection to the Au NPs but also promotes interactions between the thin film’s surface and the tested gases, thereby improving the nanocomposite film’s sensitivity. The optimized sensor sensitivity was estimated at 849 nm/RIU, which demonstrates that the Au-CuO thin films have the potential to be used as an LSPR platform for gas sensors.This research was sponsored by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Funding UIDB/04650/2020 and by the project CO2Plasmon with reference EXPL/CTM-REF/0750/2021. M.P. acknowledges her Ph.D. Scholarship from FCT, with reference SFRH/BD/137076/2018. Diana I. Meira acknowledges her Ph.D. Scholarship from FCT, with reference SFRH/BD/143262/2019

Population genomics reveals that an anthropophilic population of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in West Africa recently gave rise to American and Asian populations of this major disease vector

Abstract Background The mosquito Aedes aegypti is the main vector of dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever viruses. This major disease vector is thought to have arisen when the African subspecies Ae. aegypti formosus evolved from being zoophilic and living in forest habitats into a form that specialises on humans and resides near human population centres. The resulting domestic subspecies, Ae. aegypti aegypti, is found throughout the tropics and largely blood-feeds on humans. Results To understand this transition, we have sequenced the exomes of mosquitoes collected from five populations from around the world. We found that Ae. aegypti specimens from an urban population in Senegal in West Africa were more closely related to populations in Mexico and Sri Lanka than they were to a nearby forest population. We estimate that the populations in Senegal and Mexico split just a few hundred years ago, and we found no evidence of Ae. aegypti aegypti mosquitoes migrating back to Africa from elsewhere in the tropics. The out-of-Africa migration was accompanied by a dramatic reduction in effective population size, resulting in a loss of genetic diversity and rare genetic variants. Conclusions We conclude that a domestic population of Ae. aegypti in Senegal and domestic populations on other continents are more closely related to each other than to other African populations. This suggests that an ancestral population of Ae. aegypti evolved to become a human specialist in Africa, giving rise to the subspecies Ae. aegypti aegypti. The descendants of this population are still found in West Africa today, and the rest of the world was colonised when mosquitoes from this population migrated out of Africa. This is the first report of an African population of Ae. aegypti aegypti mosquitoes that is closely related to Asian and American populations. As the two subspecies differ in their ability to vector disease, their existence side by side in West Africa may have important implications for disease transmission

Parallel adaptation of rabbit populations to myxoma virus.

In the 1950s the myxoma virus was released into European rabbit populations in Australia and Europe, decimating populations and resulting in the rapid evolution of resistance. We investigated the genetic basis of resistance by comparing the exomes of rabbits collected before and after the pandemic. We found a strong pattern of parallel evolution, with selection on standing genetic variation favoring the same alleles in Australia, France, and the United Kingdom. Many of these changes occurred in immunity-related genes, supporting a polygenic basis of resistance. We experimentally validated the role of several genes in viral replication and showed that selection acting on an interferon protein has increased the protein's antiviral effect.This work was supported by grants from the Programa Operacional Potencial Humano–Quadro de Referência Estratégica Nacional funds from the European Social Fund and Portuguese Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior to M.C. (IF/00283/2014/CP1256/CT0012), to P.J.E. (IF/00376/2015) and to J.M.A. (SFRH/BD/72381/2010). AM was supported by the European Research Council (grant 647787-LocalAdaptation). FJ was supported by the European Research Council (grant 281668). LL was supported by the European Research Council grant (339941-ADAPT). McFadden Lab is supported by National Institute of Health (NIH) grant R01 AI080607. S.C.G. holds a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship, co-funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (098406/Z/12/Z)

Evolution and genetic architecture of sex-limited polymorphism in cuckoos

Sex-limited polymorphism has evolved in many species including our own. Yet, we lack a detailed understanding of the underlying genetic variation and evolutionary processes at work. The brood parasitic common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) is a prime example of female-limited color polymorphism, where adult males are monochromatic gray and females exhibit either gray or rufous plumage. This polymorphism has been hypothesized to be governed by negative frequency-dependent selection whereby the rarer female morph is protected against harassment by males or from mobbing by parasitized host species. Here, we show that female plumage dichromatism maps to the female-restricted genome. We further demonstrate that, consistent with balancing selection, ancestry of the rufous phenotype is shared with the likewise female dichromatic sister species, the oriental cuckoo (Cuculus optatus). This study shows that sex-specific polymorphism in trait variation can be resolved by genetic variation residing on a sex-limited chromosome and be maintained across species boundaries