An In-Situation Review of Flourishing in Ministry by Third-Year Divinity Students

Third year dinivity students reflect on their own educational process and the role that flourishing played in their educational and professional journey

Expression of a functional non-ribosomal peptide synthetase module in Escherichia coli by coexpression with a phosphopantetheinyl transferase

AbstractBackground: Non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) found in bacteria abd fungi are multifunctional enzymes that catalyze the synthesis of a variety of biologically important peptides. These enzymes are composed of modular units, each responsible for the activation of an amino acid to an aminoacyl adenylate and for the subsequent formation of an aminoacyl thioester with the sulfhydryl group of a 4′-phosphopantetheine moiety. Attempts to express these modules in Escherichia coli have resulted in recombinant proteins deficient in 4′-phosphopantetheine. The recent identification of a family of phosphopantetheinyl transferases (P-pant transferases) associated with NRPS have led us to investigate whether coexpression of NRPS modules with P-pant transferases in E. coli would lead to the incorporation of 4′-phosphopantetheine.Results: A truncated module of gramicidin S synthetase, PheAT(His6), was expressed as a His6 fusion protein in E. coli with and without Gsp, the P-pant transferase associated with gramicidin S synthetase. Although PheAT(His6) expressed alone in E. coli catalyzed Phe-AMP formation from Phe and ATP, < 1% was converted to the Phe thioester. In contrast, >80% of the PheAT(His6) that was coexpressed with Gsp could form the Phe thioester in the presence of Phe and ATP.Conclusions: Our finding indicates the presence of an almost equimolar amount of 4′-phosphopantetheine covalently bound to the NRPS module PheAT(His6), and that the functional expression of NRPS modules in E. coli is possible, provided that they are coexpressed with an appropriate P-pant transferase

Real-time monitoring water quality monitoring system on board USV

Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) as the name suggest is a means of transporting goods or objects to the intended location. It does not require human intervention for its operation. Unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) are water-borne vessels capable of operating on the surface of the water without any human operator on board. Originally created by retrofitting previously manned radio controls, a wide range of purpose-built unmanned surface vehicles are now available. In order for the USV to operate without a human being, it must be controlled wirelessly. This project explored the use of IoT, such as wireless communication, cloud database and mobile applications. Wi-Fi is used as a communication medium to control the USV over a mobile application. The project also includes the development of simple mobile applications using the MIT App Inventor. The aim of the mobile app is to create a mobile platform to control the USV and to show the results of the sensors on the application. Wi-Fi has also been used to upload and download data from and to the cloud database. The microcontroller used in this project is WEMOS MEGA+WIFI, a combination of Arduino Mega and a built-in Wi-Fi chip (ESP8266) to connect to Wi-Fi. The USV is driven by a brushless motor as the propeller controller by the Electronic Speed Controller and micro servo as the rudder to navigate in the water. The sensors used for monitoring water quality are the pH sensor, the DS18B20 waterproof temperature sensor and the turbidity sensor. Then all the data from the sensors is read by the Arduino Mega and then the data is sent to the cloud server database by the ESP8266. The database used in this project is ThingSpeak, a ready-made database that can be easily connected to the system, and the data collected will be used to appear on the other platform, such as a mobile application. The result of the project is the development of a USV system consisting of hardware, software and a mobile application that can be used to monitor, control and monitor the USV and its sensors

La prueba de oficio frente al sistema acusatorio en el nuevo código procesal Penal

Desde la implementación del código adjetivo punitivo peruano, se instituyó como figura jurídica, la prueba de oficio como mecanismo de búsqueda de verdad por el juzgador, es por ello, que nuestro propósito fue determinar si dicho mecanismo vulnera el sistema acusatorio, por ende, analizar, identificar y establecer si ésta vulnera, al juez imparcial, derecho defensa e igualdad de armas. La metodología de la presente investigación, es de carácter cualitativo, tipo básica con la finalidad de poder determinar los problemas que surgen de decretar prueba de oficio por parte del órgano jurisdiccional, con un diseño jurídico propositivo, que busca encontrar las contrariedades, entre el sistema procesal que se encuentra recogido en el nuevo código procesal penal y la norma específica, proponiendo soluciones a las fallas señaladas en la norma. La información se ha recolectado mediante la técnica de la entrevista, análisis documental y el cuestionario, resultando tanto de la prueba de oficio frente al sistema acusatorio, es que dicho mecanismo vulnera este sistema y por ende es rezago del sistema inquisidor, con lo cual se concluye que se debe derogar el inciso 2 del artículo 385°, y por ende el inciso 3 del artículo 155° del NCP

Methodology, morphology, and optimization of carbon nanotube growth for improved energy storage in a double layer capacitor

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-80).The goal of this thesis is to optimize the growth of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on a conducting substrate for use as an electrode to improve energy density in a double-layer capacitor. The focus has been on several areas, such as substrate material, growth conditions, catalyst variations, and thin-film deposition techniques in order to achieve growth of a high density, vertically-aligned carbon nanotube array suitable for use as an electrode. This thesis describes the methodology of modifying a significant number of parameters in order to achieve all of the targeted electrode specifications, with the exception of nanotube density. The successful growth of a CNT array on an aluminum foil substrate marks an important milestone for realizing a future commercial product.by Daniel C. Ku.S.M

Optical control of exopolysaccharide production in Sinorhizobium meliloti for studying biofilm formation and water retention

The rhizosphere contains many types of microbes interacting with plant roots, creating a complex symbiotic system. Microbial processes occurring in the rhizosphere are essential to the productivity of terrestrial ecosystems. In particular, exopolysaccharide produced by soil microbes allows dynamic regulation of soil moisture by modulating water transport. We have demonstrated that purified microbial exopolysaccharide (EPS) impacts soil water retention through enhancing the variability of water distributions in the soil microstructure. However, the impact of EPS on water transport in soil is not understood due to complex interaction of microbial EPS with soil microstructure and particle surface properties. To decipher the causal role of EPS in soil microstructures, we set out to develop engineered soil bacteria with spatially regulated EPS biosynthesis capabilities. Here we report genetic engineering of soil bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti to enable in situ spatial control of EPS production. We show that the photo-sensitive transcription factor EL222, derived from Erythrobacter litoralis, allows robust control of gene expression in S. meliloti. Essential genes in the type II EPS (a major component of EPS from S. meliloti in the soil) production pathway were identified, and deletion strains were generated. Complementation of the essential gene using a synthetic promoter controlled by EL222 led to robust light-activated production of EPS. Optimization of the engineered genetic construct was performed by varying promoters, ribosome binding sites, and using alternative start codons. Using the engineered EPS production strain, we observed rapid settlement of EPS producing S. meliloti in liquid culture, and selective biofilm formation quantified by a crystal violet staining assay. This approach enables spatially regulated EPS production and biofilm formation. We will demonstrate control of gene expression in a synthetic soil microsystem that emulates aggregated sandy loam soil. We will also report our current progress on using these new strains of soil bacteria to study the impact of EPS production on water drying rate in the synthetic soil microsystem. We anticipate that the engineered genetic constructs will be broadly applicable for dissecting gene function in a defined population of microbes in the rhizosphere

Dynamic saturation in semiconductor optical amplifiers: accurate model, role of carrier density, and slow light

We developed an improved model in order to predict the RF behavior and the slow light properties of the SOA valid for any experimental conditions. It takes into account the dynamic saturation of the SOA, which can be fully characterized by a simple measurement, and only relies on material fitting parameters, independent of the optical intensity and the injected current. The present model is validated by showing a good agreement with experiments for small and large modulation indices.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Sistema web con chatbot para la gestión de ventas de productos de limpieza con aporte en quechua en la empresa Gea Chemical

El presente trabajo de investigación muestra el diseño y desarrollo de un sistema web con Chatbot para la gestión de ventas de productos de limpieza con aporte en quechua en la empresa Gea Chemical, debido a que la organización solo contaba con una web visual con poca información, la captación de clientes por la web era casi nulo, las ventas solo se realizaban de forma presencial o por llamadas que en muchas ocasiones se saturaba porque los clientes siempre tenían dudas constantes. Por lo tanto, en la investigación se detalla teoría sobre el marco de trabajo SCRUM y la metodología CommonKads, donde se destacan las fases de análisis de requerimientos, la parte de organización del grupo de trabajo y los flujos de respuesta del asistente virtual. El tipo de investigación es experimental aplicada, el diseño es preexperimental y el enfoque es cuantitativo. La población para el nivel de productividad fue de 480 clientes y la muestra fue de 40 clientes en promedio. La población para el nivel de crecimiento de las ventas fue de 720 facturas y la muestra de 60 facturas. Para esta investigación se utilizó el muestreo por conveniencia. La técnica de recopilación de datos fue el fichaje y el instrumento fue la ficha de registro, que fue validado por el asesor experto. La implementación del sistema web con chatbot brindo una mejora en la gestión de ventas, aumentando el nivel de productividad de la atención al cliente hasta 134% y mejorando el nivel del crecimiento de las ventas hasta 213%. Los resultados mostrados sustentan los niveles de mejora mencionados y nos dan como conclusión que el sistema web con chatbot con aporte en quechua mejora la gestión de ventas de productos de limpieza en la empresa Gea Chemical

Identifying an Experimental Two-State Hamiltonian to Arbitrary Accuracy

Precision control of a quantum system requires accurate determination of the effective system Hamiltonian. We develop a method for estimating the Hamiltonian parameters for some unknown two-state system and providing uncertainty bounds on these parameters. This method requires only one measurement basis and the ability to initialise the system in some arbitrary state which is not an eigenstate of the Hamiltonian in question. The scaling of the uncertainty is studied for large numbers of measurements and found to be proportional to one on the square-root of the number of measurements.Comment: Minor corrections, Accepted for publication in Physical Review

A global transcriptional network connecting noncoding mutations to changes in tumor gene expression.

Although cancer genomes are replete with noncoding mutations, the effects of these mutations remain poorly characterized. Here we perform an integrative analysis of 930 tumor whole genomes and matched transcriptomes, identifying a network of 193 noncoding loci in which mutations disrupt target gene expression. These 'somatic eQTLs' (expression quantitative trait loci) are frequently mutated in specific cancer tissues, and the majority can be validated in an independent cohort of 3,382 tumors. Among these, we find that the effects of noncoding mutations on DAAM1, MTG2 and HYI transcription are recapitulated in multiple cancer cell lines and that increasing DAAM1 expression leads to invasive cell migration. Collectively, the noncoding loci converge on a set of core pathways, permitting a classification of tumors into pathway-based subtypes. The somatic eQTL network is disrupted in 88% of tumors, suggesting widespread impact of noncoding mutations in cancer