An End-to-End Big Data Analytics Platform for IoT-enabled Smart Factories: A Case Study of Battery Module Assembly System for Electric Vehicles

Within the concept of factories of the future, big data analytics systems play a critical role in supporting decision-making at various stages across enterprise processes. However, the design and deployment of industry-ready, lightweight, modular, flexible, and low-cost big data analytics solutions remains one of the main challenges towards the Industry 4.0 enabled digital transformation. This paper presents an end-to-end IoT-based big data analytics platform that consists of five interconnected layers and several components for data acquisition, integration, storage, analytics and visualisation purposes. The platform architecture benefits from state-of-the-art technologies and integrates them in a systematic and interoperable way with clear information flows. The developed platform has been deployed in an Electric Vehicle (EV) battery module smart assembly automation system designed by the Automation Systems Group (ASG) at the University of Warwick, UK. The developed proof-of-concept solution demonstrates how a wide variety of tools and methods can be orchestrated to work together aiming to support decision-making and to improve both process and product qualities in smart manufacturing environments

Hospital managers' need for information in decision-making--An interview study in nine European countries.

Assessments of new health technologies in Europe are often made at the hospital level. However, the guidelines for health technology assessment (HTA), e.g. the EUnetHTA Core Model, are produced by national HTA organizations and focus on decision-making at the national level. This paper describes the results of an interview study with European hospital managers about their need for information when deciding about investments in new treatments. The study is part of the AdHopHTA project. Face-to-face, structured interviews were conducted with 53 hospital managers from nine European countries. The hospital managers identified the clinical, economic, safety and organizational aspects of new treatments as being the most relevant for decision-making. With regard to economic aspects, the hospital managers typically had a narrower focus on budget impact and reimbursement. In addition to the information included in traditional HTAs, hospital managers sometimes needed information on the political and strategic aspects of new treatments, in particular the relationship between the treatment and the strategic goals of the hospital. If further studies are able to verify our results, guidelines for hospital-based HTA should be altered to reflect the information needs of hospital managers when deciding about investments in new treatments

Decision-making regulatory framework of the introduction of health technologies at the hospitals in Ukraine

The limited resources of the health care system and the COVID-19 pandemic encourage more rational and cost-effective administrative and clinical decisions. To achieve the best health care within available resources, the introduction of the most efficient technologies should be supported, considering organizational, social and ethical issues. Assessment of health technologies at different levels, namely national/regional and hospital, is becoming increasingly important. Adherence to cost-effective approaches to administrative and clinical decision-making will ensure the rational use of the state budget and improve clinical outcomes, improve the quality and life expectancy of patients. The purpose of the study was to analyze the current regulatory framework for the introduction of health technologies (medicines and medical devices) at the hospital level. During the research the methods of content analysis, historical, system-analytical, generalization was used. According to the analysis of the decision-making regulatory framework for the health technology’s introduction, it was drawn the next conclusions. The active HTA development in Ukraine is noted. In a short time, a legal framework for state HTA for medicines was created and approved, amendments were made to the Law of Ukraine ‘On Public Procurement’ and other Ukraine’s laws on medicine procurement under managed entry agreements, the further steps for development of the HTA ecosystem in Ukraine were identified. The legal framework for the circulation of medical devices needs to be updated in Ukraine, starting with technical regulations in accordance with EU regulations №745 and №746 and further approval of the Law on Medical Devices. Procedures for evaluation and selection of medicines and medical devices at the level of medical institutions are absent in Ukraine and require separate elaboration. The introduction of HB-HTA will help hospital managers to make independent, transparent, reasonable, and impartial management decisions on the selection of drugs and medical devices. The obtained results prove the need for further research of everyday decision-making practices on the introduction of health technologies at the hospitals, development of methodology for hospital-based HTA and update regulation of HB-HTA in the current legal framework of Ukraine

Heterologous Protein Expression Favors the Formation of Protein Aggregates in Persister and Viable but Nonculturable Bacteria

This is the final version. Available from the American Chemical Society via the DOI in this record. Environmental and intracellular stresses can perturb protein homeostasis and trigger the formation and accumulation of protein aggregates. It has been recently suggested that the level of protein aggregates accumulated in bacteria correlates with the frequency of persister and viable but nonculturable cells that transiently survive treatment with multiple antibiotics. However, these findings have often been obtained employing fluorescent reporter strains. This enforced heterologous protein expression facilitates the visualization of protein aggregates but could also trigger the formation and accumulation of protein aggregates. Using microfluidics-based single-cell microscopy and a library of green fluorescent protein reporter strains, we show that heterologous protein expression favors the formation of protein aggregates. We found that persister and viable but nonculturable bacteria surviving treatment with antibiotics are more likely to contain protein aggregates and downregulate the expression of heterologous proteins. Our data also suggest that such aggregates are more basic with respect to the rest of the cell. These findings provide evidence for a strong link between heterologous protein expression, protein aggregation, intracellular pH, and phenotypic survival to antibiotics, suggesting that antibiotic treatments against persister and viable but nonculturable cells could be developed by modulating protein aggregation and pH regulation.The Royal SocietyMarie Skłodowska‐CurieBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)Medical Research Council (MRC)The Gordon and Betty Moore FoundationMedical Research Council (MRC)Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)University of ExeterDST

Identifying Molecular Markers Suitable For Frl Selection in Tomato Breeding

Modern plant breeding heavily relies on the use of molecular markers. In recent years, next generation sequencing (NGS) emerged as a powerful technology to discover DNA sequence polymorphisms and generate molecular markers very rapidly and cost effectively, accelerating the plant breeding programmes. A single dominant locus, Frl, in tomato provides resistance to the fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. radicis-lycopersici (FORL), causative agent of Fusarium crown and root rot. In this study, we describe the generation of molecular markers associated with the Frl locus. An F2 mapping population between an FORL resistant and a susceptible cultivar was generated. NGS technology was then used to sequence the genomes of a susceptible and a resistant parent as well the genomes of bulked resistant and susceptible F2 lines. We zoomed into the Frl locus and mapped the locus to a 900 kb interval on chromosome 9. Polymorphic single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the interval were identified and markers co-segregating with the resistant phenotype were generated. Some of these markers were tested successfully with commercial tomato varieties indicating that they can be used for marker-assisted selection in large-scale breeding programmes

Gesundheit um jeden Preis? Jüngste Reformen im französischen Gesundheitswesen

"Trotz einer strengen Kostenkontrolle im Rahmen nationaler Zielvorgaben ist das französische Krankenversicherungssystem seit den siebziger Jahren defizitär. Ein Kurswechsel in der Gesundheitspolitik im Jahr 2002 läutete die Ablösung des Prinzips der Kostenkontrolle durch eine Strategie der Nachfragekontrolle und einer verstärkten Beteiligung der Patienten an der Gesundheitsfinanzierung ein. Einsparungen sollen zudem durch die Einführung einer umfangs- und leistungsbezogenen Vergütung der Ärzte und Gesundheitseinrichtungen sowie eine Reorganisation des Behandlungsangebots zur Effektivitätssteigerung im Gesundheitswesen erzielt werden. Die Maßnahmen zur Effizienzsteigerung, insbesondere die Neustrukturierung der Gesundheitsverwaltung, stehen im Zeichen einer Stärkung der regulierenden Rolle des Staates im Gesundheitswesen, was bei den Berufsverbänden auf heftige Kritik stößt." (Autorenreferat)"In spite of a strict cost control in line with national target setting, the French health insurance system is in deficit since the 1970s. Within the reorientation of the health insurance policy in 2002, the cost control principle was replaced by a strategy of demand control and a strengthened patient participation in health financing. Furthermore, costs should be reduced by a new performance-related payment of doctors and health centers as well as by a reorganization of the treatment offer for an increase of efficiency in the public health system. These measures, especially the restructuring of the public health administration, are in line with a strengthening of state regulation in health care, which is severely criticized by health professionals." (author's abstract

Polymer ultrapermeability from the inefficient packing of 2D chains

The promise of ultrapermeable polymers, such as poly(trimethylsilylpropyne) (PTMSP), for reducing the size and increasing the efficiency of membranes for gas separations remains unfulfilled due to their poor selectivity. We report an ultrapermeable polymer of intrinsic microporosity (PIM-TMN-Trip) that is substantially more selective than PTMSP. From molecular simulations and experimental measurement we find that the inefficient packing of the two-dimensional (2D) chains of PIM-TMN-Trip generates a high concentration of both small (<0.7 nm) and large (0.7–1.0 nm) micropores, the former enhancing selectivity and the latter permeability. Gas permeability data for PIM-TMN-Trip surpass the 2008 Robeson upper bounds for O2/N2, H2/N2, CO2/N2, H2/CH4 and CO2/CH4, with the potential for biogas purification and carbon capture demonstrated for relevant gas mixtures. Comparisons between PIM-TMN-Trip and structurally similar polymers with three-dimensional (3D) contorted chains confirm that its additional intrinsic microporosity is generated from the awkward packing of its 2D polymer chains in a 3D amorphous solid. This strategy of shape-directed packing of chains of microporous polymers may be applied to other rigid polymers for gas separations