Power supply in an automobile

Tato práce se zabývá studiem automobilových alternátorů a jejich teoretickou analýzou. Najdeme zde výčet ztrát vznikajících v alternátoru, způsob jejich vzniku a rovněž způsob jejich snižování. Snížení ztrát je jedním z aspektů inovace vedoucí ke zvýšení celkové účinnosti automobilového alternátoru. Proto je v této práci proveden návrh jednotlivých směrů inovací a následné ověření pomocí programu Maxwell – RMxprt.This work deals with the study of automotive alternators and their theoretical analysis. We can find there a listing of losses arising from the alternator, explanation of their formation and also the way of their reduction. Losses reduction is one of the aspects of innovation leading to increase in overall efficiency of the automotive alternator. Therefore a design of particular ways of innovation is made in this work and subsequently the design is verificated using Maxwell - RMxprt.

Diagnostics of rotating electric machines

Diplomová práce Diagnostika točivých elektrických strojů se zabývá teorií diagnostiky točivých strojů, zaměřenou zejména na diagnostiku asynchronních motorů vysokého výkonu. Vzhledem k důležitosti udržení bezporuchového stavu těchto strojů, s ohledem na provozuschopnost, roste význam jejich diagnostiky. V důsledku nevhodných pracovních podmínek nebo z mnoha dalších důvodů mohou ve stroji vzniknout různé typy poruch. Seznam a způsob vzniku případných poruch je v této práci obsažen a vysvětlen. S rostoucím věkem stroje je důležité kontrolovat stav izolace prostřednictvím zkoušek izolační schopnosti. Tyto zkoušky jsou v praktické části práce provedeny a výsledky prezentovány. V případě asynchronních strojů, každá porucha zanechává stopu ve formě elektrického, magnetického nebo vibračního signálu. Tyto signály jsou analyzovány a vyhodnocovány pomocí specifického měřicího vybavení se záměrem rozhodnout o aktuálním stavu stroje. Za hlavní metodu diagnostiky asynchronních motorů je v této práci považována podpisová analýza statorového proudu (MCSA), která je zde detailně teoreticky popsána a aplikována v elektrotechnické praxi.The thesis Diagnostics of rotating electric machines deals with the theory of diagnostics of rotating machines, focusing especially on the diagnosis of asynchronous motors of high power. Due to the importance of maintaining the trouble-free condition of these machines with regard to serviceability, the importance of their diagnosis is growing. Due to inappropriate working conditions or for many other reasons, different types of malfunctions may occur in the machine. The list and the way of occurrence of possible failures are included and explained in this thesis. With the growing age of the machine, it is important to check the insulation status through insulation testing. These tests are performed in the practical part of the thesis and the results are presented. In the case of asynchronous machines, each anomaly leaves a signature in the form of an electrical, magnetic or vibrational signal. These signals are analyzed and evaluated using a specific measuring equipment with the intention of deciding on the current state of the machine. Motor current signature analysis (MCSA) is considered to be the main diagnostic method of asynchronous machines in this thesis. This method is described in detail in this paper and is being applied in electrical engineering.

Termites Are Associated with External Species-Specific Bacterial Communities

All termites have established a wide range of associations with symbiotic microbes in their guts. Some termite species are also associated with microbes that grow in their nests, but the prevalence of these associations remains largely unknown. Here, we studied the bacterial communities associated with the termites and galleries of three wood-feeding termite species by using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. We found that the compositions of bacterial communities among termite bodies, termite galleries, and control wood fragments devoid of termite activities differ in a species-specific manner. Termite galleries were enriched in bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) belonging to Rhizobiales and Actinobacteria, which were often shared by several termite species. The abundance of several bacterial OTUs, such as Bacillus, Clostridium, Corynebacterium, and Staphylococcus, was reduced in termite galleries. Our results demonstrate that both termite guts and termite galleries harbor unique bacterial communities.IMPORTANCE As is the case for all ecosystem engineers, termites impact their habitat by their activities, potentially affecting bacterial communities. Here, we studied three wood-feeding termite species and found that they influence the composition of the bacterial communities in their surrounding environment. Termite activities have positive effects on Rhizobiales and Actinobacteria abundance and negative effects on the abundance of several ubiquitous genera, such as Bacillus, Clostridium, Corynebacterium, and Staphylococcus. Our results demonstrate that termite galleries harbor unique bacterial communities

Termites host specific fungal communities that differ from those in their ambient environments

Termites are important plant biomass decomposers. Their digestive activity typically relies on prokaryotes and protozoa present in their guts. In some cases, such as in fungus-growing termites, digestion also relies on ectosymbiosis with specific fungal taxa. To date, the mycobiome of termites has yet to be investigated in detail. We evaluated the specificity of whole-termite associated fungal communities in three wood-feeding termite species. We showed that the whole-termite fungal community spectra are stable over diverse environments, regardless of the host species, and differ markedly from the wood in which they nest. The core mycobiome is similar to that found in other ecologically related insects and consists of a narrow spectrum of common filamentous fungi and yeasts, known for their stress tolerance and their ability to decompose plant biomass. The observed patterns suggest that a number of fungal strains may have a symbiotic relationship with termites, and our results set the stage for future investigations into the interactions between fungi, termites, and their other gut microbiota

Parkinson's disease: convergence on synaptic homeostasis

Parkinson's disease, the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, affects millions of people globally. There is no cure, and its prevalence will double by 2030. In recent years, numerous causative genes and risk factors for Parkinson's disease have been identified and more than half appear to function at the synapse. Subtle synaptic defects are thought to precede blunt neuronal death, but the mechanisms that are dysfunctional at synapses are only now being unraveled. Here, we review recent work and propose a model where different Parkinson proteins interact in a cell compartment-specific manner at the synapse where these proteins regulate endocytosis and autophagy. While this field is only recently emerging, the work suggests that the loss of synaptic homeostasis may contribute to neurodegeneration and is a key player in Parkinson's disease.status: publishe

Fast and efficient Drosophila melanogaster gene knock-ins using MiMIC transposons.

Modern molecular genetics studies necessitate the manipulation of genes in their endogenous locus, but most of the current methodologies require an inefficient donor-dependent homologous recombination step to locally modify the genome. Here we describe a methodology to efficiently generate Drosophila knock-in alleles by capitalizing on the availability of numerous genomic MiMIC transposon insertions carrying recombinogenic attP sites. Our methodology entails the efficient PhiC31-mediated integration of a recombination cassette flanked by unique I-SceI and/or I-CreI restriction enzyme sites into an attP-site. These restriction enzyme sites allow for double-strand break-mediated removal of unwanted flanking transposon sequences, while leaving the desired genomic modifications or recombination cassettes. As a proof-of-principle, we mutated LRRK, tau, and sky by using different MiMIC elements. We replaced 6 kb of genomic DNA encompassing the tau locus and 35 kb encompassing the sky locus with a recombination cassette that permits easy integration of DNA at these loci and we also generated a functional LRRK(HA) knock in allele. Given that ~92% of the Drosophila genes are located within the vicinity (<35 kb) of a MiMIC element, our methodology enables the efficient manipulation of nearly every locus in the fruit fly genome without the need for inefficient donor-dependent homologous recombination events.status: Published onlin

Privileged multi-target directed propargyl-tacrines combining cholinesterase and monoamine oxidase inhibition activities

Twenty-four novel compounds bearing tetrahydroacridine and N-propargyl moieties have been designed, synthesised, and evaluated in vitro for their anti-cholinesterase and anti-monoamine oxidase activities. Propargyltacrine 23 (IC50 = 21 nM) was the most potent acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor, compound 20 (IC50 = 78 nM) showed the best inhibitory human butyrylcholinesterase (hBChE) profile, and ligand 21 afforded equipotent and significant values on both ChEs (human AChE [hAChE]: IC50 = 0.095 ± 0.001 µM; hBChE: IC50 = 0.093 ± 0.003 µM). Regarding MAO inhibition, compounds 7, 15, and 25 demonstrated the highest inhibitory potential towards hMAO-B (IC50 = 163, 40, and 170 nM, respectively). In all, compounds 7, 15, 20, 21, 23, and 25 exhibiting the most balanced pharmacological profile, were submitted to permeability and cell viability tests. As a result, 7-phenoxy-N-(prop-2-yn-1-yl)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroacridin-9-amine hydrochloride (15) has been identified as a permeable agent that shows a balanced pharmacological profile [IC50 (hAChE) = 1.472 ± 0.024 µM; IC50 (hBChE) = 0.659 ± 0.077 µM; IC50 (hMAO-B) = 40.39 ± 5.98 nM], and consequently, as a new hit-ligand that deserves further investigation, in particular in vivo analyses, as the preliminary cell viability test results reported here suggest that this is a relatively safe therapeutic agent. </p