Characterization of VP22 in herpes simplex virus-infected cells

We examine biochemical characteristics of the herpes simplex virus (HSV) tegument protein VP22 by gel filtration, glycerol sedimentation, and chemical cross-linking experiments and use time course radiolabeling and immunoprecipitation assays to analyze its synthesis and interaction with other infected-cell proteins. VP22 was expressed as a delayed early protein with optimal synthesis requiring DNA replication. In immunoprecipitation assays, VP22 was found in association with several additional proteins including VP16 and a kinase activity likely to be that of UL13. Furthermore, in sizing chromatography experiments, VP22 was present in several higher-order complexes in infected cells. From gel filtration analysis the major form of VP22 migrated with a molecular mass of approximately 160 kDa, consistent with its presence as a tetramer, or a dimer complexed with other proteins, with a fraction of the protein migrating at larger molecular mass. In vitro-synthesized VP22 sedimented in a size range consistent with a mixture of tetramers and dimers. Short N- or C-terminal deletions resulted in migration almost exclusively as dimers, indicating that VP22, in the absence of additional virus-encoded proteins, could form higher-order assemblies, most likely tetramers, but that both N-and C-terminal determinants were required for stabilizing such assemblies. Consistent with this we found that isolated proteins encompassing either the N-terminal or C-terminal region of VP22 sedimented as dimers, and that the purified C-terminal domain could be cross-linked into dimeric structures. These results are discussed with regard to possible virus and host interactions involved in VP22 recruitment into virus particles

A Core Component-based Modelling Approach for Achieving e-Business Semantics Interoperability

The adoption of advanced integration technologies that enable private and public organizations to seamlessly execute their business transactions electronically is still relatively low, especially among governmental bodies and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Current solutions often lack a common understanding of the underlying business document semantics and most existing approaches are not able to cope with the huge variety of business document formats, stemming from highly diverse requirements of the different stakeholders. Developed and applied in the course of the EU-funded research project GENESIS, this paper presents a comprehensive core component-based business document modelling approach that builds upon existing standards such as the OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL) and the UN/CEFACT Core Component Technical Specification (CCTS). These standards are extended by introducing the concept of generic business document templates out of which specific documents can be derived according to the actual user’s needs. Key principle to achieve this flexibility is the integration of business context information that allows for modelling standard-based but at the same time customized business documents. The resulting modelling framework ranges from (tool-supported) graphical data models to the technical representation of the business document

Reconfigurable hardware-in-the-loop simulator

The key innovation of the described Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulator is the use of flexible and software reconfigurable signal-conditioning to establish connectivity between the HIL simulator and the prototype Electronic Controller Units (ECUs) in the Electronic Body System (EBS) of a vehicle. In the automotive industry, the electrical architecture of the car evolves through many development phases and iterations. At each design phase, changes are made in the software code of the ECU and the hardware interface may also be changed from one phase to the next. The full functionality of the ECUs is achieved only after several iterations. With the use of the software reconfigurable HIL simulator, interfacing the ECUs during the development stage becomes easier. As the ECU connectors change or when new pins are added, all that is required is to change the signal conditioning interface of the HIL system while leaving all the other connections intact. The paper describes a flexible and software reconfigurable HIL simulator in detail and the benefits it brings about in validating ECU functionality in the automotive industry

Cooperative automation through the cloud: The CARMA project

CARMA (Cloud-Assisted Real-time Methods for Autonomy) is a highly innovative and challenging project which aims to develop and test cooperative automated driving technology, based on a distributed control system. The approach is enabled by an ultra-low latency and highly reliable cloud-based infrastructure accessed through 5G. This paper describes the 3-tier distributed computing architecture used in the project comprising the Vehicle, the Edge cloud and the Core. It describes a methodology to test a set of use cases representative of both urban and highway driving and explores the key challenges in such an approach. The first technical challenge is the design of a mobile edge cloud infrastructure that is able to support real-time and safety critical applications. Another non-trivial problem is that of cyber-security for such a real-time cyber physical system. Progress during the first year of this five year project is described

Combining distributed and centralised approaches to develop a hybrid methodology for data management in healthcare

In the 21st century, the combination of rapid technological developments as well as the adoption of emerging technologies has impacted almost every area of everyday life. These developments have even affected domains that traditionally operate without the help of Information and Communication technologies (ICT) but now see an increase in digitization of their processes. Healthcare is one of those domains that is being revolutionized via the emergence of the e-health and m-health paradigms as well as the automation of medical processes, robotics, and Internet of Things (IoT) medical devices and sensors. These developments, apart from modernizing healthcare and providing quality-of-life solutions to both healthcare practitioners and patients, have also led to an increase in the availability of digital medical data, which are nowadays being structured in Electronic Health Records (EHRs). EHRs contain various health data about a patient and are the basis for the development and implementation of various innovative solutions in healthcare. Such solutions mainly aim to address some of the current shortcomings of EHRs such as the centralized storage, which makes them vulnerable to mass hacker attacks as well as the lack of interoperability among various medical standards that are used to structure EHRs, which makes it hard to manage and share them across different healthcare providers. The scope of this publication is to introduce blockchain technology as a potential solution to the aforementioned challenges and present a novel methodology and architecture that have been developed to be implemented in a healthcare application. The methodology presented in this paper leverages both blockchain and centralized databases, making it a hybrid approach but aims to set the basis for developing blockchain-powered healthcare solutions for data management. Under that context and the need to combine blockchain with centralized databases, the security parameters of the system are also tailored to work specifically with that kind of approach. The end-goal of the methodology and architecture presented in this publication is to give patients ownership of their data, help them manage and share them as they see fit, while at the same time keeping in mind that large healthcare providers must have access to the same information in a secure manner for the well-being of their patients. It is considered that this hybrid approach offers a well-tailored solution for both stakeholders. © Ibero-American WWW / Internet Conference 2020