Digital condition monitoring for wider blue economy.

In the process of decommissioning energy systems, condition monitoring is crucial. It can make the health status of offshore oil and gas installations, pipelines, wind farms etc. transparent to policymakers and stakeholders, and aid them in creating a better repurposing plan for the assets that will be decommissioned to create a sustainable ocean economy. In most cases, condition monitoring calls for experienced engineers to perform on-site testing, which raises labour costs as well as commuter carbon emissions (M.J. Hasan & Kim, 2019; Rai et al., 2021). A revolution in decarbonised and sustainable decommissioning may result from further digitalisation of condition monitoring to address this problem. We can gather and manipulte enormous amounts of real-time data, and create a simulated representation of physical assets. We can then quickly predict their health conditions by combining artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and augmented-, virtual- and mixed reality techniques (M.J. Hasan et al., 2019; Yan et al. 2018, 2020, 2021). Digital condition monitoring has social and economic benefits, including: 1) Delivering a plausible innovation that can be successfully used in other UK industries; 2) Opening a new high-tech talent demand market in the UK; 3) Reducing carbon emissions of decommissioning projects, especially for the marine environment; 4) Reshaping the offshore marine environment to benefit the blue economy; 5) Reducing costs across the decommissioning chain, from design and manufacturing to purchasing and maintenance

Hyperspectral image enhancement and mixture deep-learning classification of corneal epithelium injuries.

In our preliminary study, the reflectance signatures obtained from hyperspectral imaging (HSI) of normal and abnormal corneal epithelium tissues of porcine show similar morphology with subtle differences. Here we present image enhancement algorithms that can be used to improve the interpretability of data into clinically relevant information to facilitate diagnostics. A total of 25 corneal epithelium images without the application of eye staining were used. Three image feature extraction approaches were applied for image classification: (i) image feature classification from histogram using a support vector machine with a Gaussian radial basis function (SVM-GRBF); (ii) physical image feature classification using deep-learning Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) only; and (iii) the combined classification of CNNs and SVM-Linear. The performance results indicate that our chosen image features from the histogram and length-scale parameter were able to classify with up to 100% accuracy; particularly, at CNNs and CNNs-SVM, by employing 80% of the data sample for training and 20% for testing. Thus, in the assessment of corneal epithelium injuries, HSI has high potential as a method that could surpass current technologies regarding speed, objectivity, and reliability

A Data Driven Approach to Wind Plant Control using Moth-Flame Optimization (MFO) Algorithm

One of the main issues of the wind plant power generation nowadays is that the current stand alone controller of each turbine in the wind plant is not able to cope with chaotic nature of wake aerodynamic effect. Therefore, it is necessary to re-tune the controller of each turbine in the wind plant such that the total power generation is improved. This article presents an investigation of a data driven approach using moth-flame optimization algorithm (MFO) to the problem of improving wind plants power generation. The MFO based technique is applied to search the turbine’s optimum controller such that the aggregation power generation of a wind plant is maximized. The MFO is a population based optimization method that mimics the behavior of moths that navigate on specific angle with respect to the moon location. Here, it is expected that the MFO can solve the control accuracy problem in the existing algorithms for maximizing wind plant. A row of wind turbines plant with wake aerodynamic effect among turbines is adopted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the MFO based technique. The model of the wind plant is derived based on the real Horns Rev wind plant in Denmark. The performance of the proposed MFO algorithm is analyzed in terms of the statistical analysis of the total power generation. Numerical results show that the MFO based approach generates better total wind power generation than spiral dynamic algorithm (SDA) based approach and safe experimentation dynamics (SED) based approach

CTCF mediates chromatin looping via N-terminal domain-dependent cohesin retention

The DNA-binding protein CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) and the cohesin complex function together to shape chromatin architecture in mammalian cells, but the molecular details of this process remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that a 79-aa region within the CTCF N terminus is essential for cohesin positioning at CTCF binding sites and chromatin loop formation. However, the N terminus of CTCF fused to artificial zinc fingers was not sufficient to redirect cohesin to non-CTCF binding sites, indicating a lack of an autonomously functioning domain in CTCF responsible for cohesin positioning. BORIS (CTCFL), a germline-specific paralog of CTCF, was unable to anchor cohesin to CTCF DNA binding sites. Furthermore, CTCF-BORIS chimeric constructs provided evidence that, besides the N terminus of CTCF, the first two CTCF zinc fingers, and likely the 3D geometry of CTCF-DNA complexes, are also involved in cohesin retention. Based on this knowledge, we were able to convert BORIS into CTCF with respect to cohesin positioning, thus providing additional molecular details of the ability of CTCF to retain cohesin. Taken together, our data provide insight into the process by which DNA-bound CTCF constrains cohesin movement to shape spatiotemporal genome organization

Nuclear Factor κB Inhibitors Alleviate and the Proteasome Inhibitor PS-341 Exacerbates Radiation Toxicity in Zebrafish Embryos

Inflammatory changes are a major component of the normal tissue response to ionizing radiation, and increased nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) activity is an important mediator of inflammatory responses. Here, we used zebrafish embryos to assess the capacity of two different classes of pharmacologic agents known to target NF-κB to modify radiation toxicity in the vertebrate organism. These were proteasome inhibitors, including lactacystin, MG132, and PS-341 (Bortezomib/VELCADE), and direct inhibitors of NF-κB activity, including ethyl pyruvate (EP) and the synthetic triterpenoid CDDO-TFEA (RTA401), among others. The proteasome inhibitors either did not significantly affect radiation sensitivity of zebrafish embryos (MG132, lactacystin) or rendered zebrafish embryos more sensitive to the lethal effects of ionizing radiation (PS-341). Radiosensitization by PS-341 was reduced in fish with impaired p53 expression or function but not associated with enhanced expression of select p53 target genes. In contrast, the direct NF-κB inhibitors EP and CDDO-TFEA significantly improved overall survival of lethally irradiated zebrafish embryos. In addition, direct NF-κB inhibition reduced radiation-induced apoptosis in the central nervous system, abrogated aberrations in body axis development, restored metabolization and secretion of a reporter lipid through the gastrointestinal system, and improved renal clearance compromised by radiation. In contrast to amifostine, EP and CDDO-TFEA not only protected against but also mitigated radiation toxicity when given 1 to 2 hours postexposure. Finally, four additional IκB kinase inhibitors with distinct mechanisms of action similarly improved overall survival of lethally irradiated zebrafish embryos. In conclusion, inhibitors of canonical pathways to NF-κB activation may be useful in alleviating radiation toxicity in patients. [Mol Cancer Ther 2009;8(9):2625-34] Reprinted with permission from the American Association of Cancer Research, “Nuclear factor κB inhibitors alleviate and the proteasome inhibitor PS-341 exacerbates radiation toxicity in zebrafish embryos”, Molecular Cancer Therapy, 2009;8(9), pages 2625-2634

Inhibition of p73 Function by Pifithrin-α as Revealed by Studies in Zebrafish Embryos

The p53 family of proteins contains two members that have been implicated in sensitization of cells and organisms to genotoxic stress, i.e., p53 itself and p73. In vitro, lack of either p53 or p73 can protect certain cell types in the adult organism against death upon exposure to DNA damaging agents. The present study was designed to assess the relative contribution of p53 to radiation resistance of an emerging vertebrate model organism, i.e., zebrafish embryos. Consistent with previous reports, suppressing p53 protein expression using antisense morpholino oligonucleotides (MOs) increased survival and reduced gross morphological alterations in zebrafish embryos exposed to ionizing radiation. By contrast, a pharmacological inhibitor of p53 function [Pifithrin-α (PFTα)] caused developmental abnormalities affecting the head, brain, eyes and kidney function and did not protect against lethal effects of ionizing radiation when administered at 3 hours post fertilization (hpf). The phenotypic abnormalities associated with PFTα treatment were similar to those caused by antisense MO knock down (kd) used to reduce p73 expression. PFTα also inhibited p73-dependent transcription of a reporter gene construct containing canonical p53-responsive promoter sequences. Notably, when administered at later stages of development (23 hpf), PFTα did not cause overt developmental defects but exerted radioprotective effects in zebrafish embryos. In summary, this study highlights off-target effects of the pharmacological p53 inhibitor PFTα related to inhibition of p73 function and essential roles of p73 at early but not later stages of zebrafish development. Abreviations: MO, antisense morpholino oligonucleotide; PFTα, pifithrin-α; Hpf, hours post fertilization; Kd, knock down; IR, ionizing radiation Cell Cycle, Volume 7, Issue 9, pp. 1224-1230

Di-n-but­yl{1-[1-(2-hydroxy­phen­yl)ethyl­idene]-5-[1-(2-oxidophen­yl)ethyl­idene]thio­carbazonato-κ3 O 5,N 5,S}tin(IV)

The ‘symmetrical’ 1,5-bis­[1-(2-hydroxy­phen­yl)ethyl­idene]thio­carbazone Schiff base condenses with dibutyl­tin oxide to form the title complex, [Sn(C4H9)2(C17H16N4O2S)], in which the deprotonated ligand O,N,S-chelates to the Sn atom of two crystallographically independent mol­ecules. The ligand bears a formal negative charge on the S and one O atom; the other O atom retains its H atom. The Sn atoms are five-coordinated in a cis-C2NOSSn trigonal-bipyramidal environment, and the apical sites are occupied by the O and S atoms. In both mol­ecules, the hydr­oxy group is hydrogen bonded to a double-bonded N atom, generating a six-membered ring. The amino group is a donor to the coordinated O atom of an adjacent mol­ecule, the hydrogen-bonding inter­action giving rise to a helical chain running along the b axis. In one of the independent mol­ecules, the atoms of one of the n-butyl groups are disordered over two sets of sites with equal occupancy. In the other independent mol­ecule, the atoms of both n-butyl groups are disordered over two sets of sites with equal occupancy and, in addition, the Sn and S atoms were also refined as disordered over two sets of sites with equal occupancy

A rare cause of dyspepsia: a case report of gastric diverticulum

A gastric diverticulum is an outpouching from the gastric mucosa. It is extremely rare. It is normally asymptomatic, but some may present with non-specific abdominal pain. A combination of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and radiological contrast study such as oral barium study and computed tomography are needed to make a definite diagnosis and to rule out other associated pathology. Although treatment with medical therapy has been reported to be effective, the use of open and laparoscopic resection also yields a good outcome in the management of complicated gastric diverticulum. We present a case of symptomatic gastric diverticulum which has been successfully treated with medical therapy