Capability Based Communication for Green Buildings and Homes - a REST-like API within the conex.io Project -

Within the Kyoto protocol and the Paris agreement the world’s countries have agreed to limit global warming to a maximum of 2°C. The European Union has passed directives to mitigate emissions from buildings, as around 36% of the EU’s total CO2 emissions stem from them. To implement these directives, the use of home automation systems can be a significant contribution installed in existing, even renovated households. Looking to the global home automation market it becomes clear that none of the available vendors/solutions can cover a sufficient end-user scenario alone. And even with a multitude of technologies the integration of different systems is a tedious work as most of the systems are technically incompatible to each other. Tackling this challenge with open source software promises an easier integration but usually comes along with issues of heterogenic command syntaxes and parameter sets. This paper outlines a REST-like API and an abstraction mechanism, enabling user-interfaces and front-ends to communicate with smart home systems based on capabilities instead of protocols and technologies. The API decouples front-ends from specific smart home technologies and allows for a seamless integration of new protocols without touching the code of a front-end again

Proteome Analysis of Borrelia burgdorferi Response to Environmental Change

We examined global changes in protein expression in the B31 strain of Borrelia burgdorferi, in response to two environmental cues (pH and temperature) chosen for their reported similarity to those encountered at different stages of the organism's life cycle. Multidimensional nano-liquid chromatographic separations coupled with tandem mass spectrometry were used to examine the array of proteins (i.e., the proteome) of B. burgdorferi for different pH and temperature culture conditions. Changes in pH and temperature elicited in vitro adaptations of this spirochete known to cause Lyme disease and led to alterations in protein expression that are associated with increased microbial pathogenesis. We identified 1,031 proteins that represent 59% of the annotated genome of B. burgdorferi and elucidated a core proteome of 414 proteins that were present in all environmental conditions investigated. Observed changes in protein abundances indicated varied replicon usage, as well as proteome functional distributions between the in vitro cell culture conditions. Surprisingly, the pH and temperature conditions that mimicked B. burgdorferi residing in the gut of a fed tick showed a marked reduction in protein diversity. Additionally, the results provide us with leading candidates for exploring how B. burgdorferi adapts to and is able to survive in a wide variety of environmental conditions and lay a foundation for planned in situ studies of B. burgdorferi isolated from the tick midgut and infected animals

Antibiotic Drug screening and Image Characterization Toolbox (A.D.I.C.T.): test data for workflow deployment and reproduction

Data in this repository is part of the A.D.I.C.T. toolbox published in F100

Vaccination with the variable tick protein of the relapsing fever spirochete Borrelia hermsii protects mice from infection by tick-bite

Abstract Background Tick-borne relapsing fevers of humans are caused by spirochetes that must adapt to both warm-blooded vertebrates and cold-blooded ticks. In western North America, most human cases of relapsing fever are caused by Borrelia hermsii, which cycles in nature between its tick vector Ornithodoros hermsi and small mammals such as tree squirrels and chipmunks. These spirochetes alter their outer surface by switching off one of the bloodstream-associated variable major proteins (Vmps) they produce in mammals, and replacing it with the variable tick protein (Vtp) following their acquisition by ticks. Based on this reversion to Vtp in ticks, we produced experimental vaccines comprised on this protein and tested them in mice challenged by infected ticks. Methods The vtp gene from two isolates of B. hermsii that encoded antigenically distinct types of proteins were cloned, expressed, and the recombinant Vtp proteins were purified and used to vaccinate mice. Ornithodoros hermsi ticks that were infected with one of the two strains of B. hermsii from which the vtp gene originated were used to challenge mice that received one of the two Vtp vaccines or only adjuvant. Mice were then followed for infection and seroconversion. Results The Vtp vaccines produced protective immune responses in mice challenged with O. hermsi ticks infected with B. hermsii. However, polymorphism in Vtp resulted in mice being protected only from the spirochete strain that produced the same Vtp used in the vaccine; mice challenged with spirochetes producing the antigenically different Vtp than the vaccine succumbed to infection. Conclusions We demonstrate that by having knowledge of the phenotypic changes made by B. hermsii as the spirochetes are acquired by ticks from infected mammals, an effective vaccine was developed that protected mice when challenged with infected ticks. However, the Vtp vaccines only protected mice from infection when challenged with that strain producing the identical Vtp. A vaccine containing multiple Vtp types may have promise as an oral vaccine for wild mammals if applied to geographic settings such as small islands where the mammal diversity is low and the Vtp types in the B. hermsii population are defined

Chemically stressed bacterial communities in anaerobic digesters exhibit resilience and ecological flexibility

Anaerobic digestion is a technology known for its potential in terms of methane production. During the digestion process, multiple metabolites of high value are synthesized. However, recent works have demonstrated the high robustness and resilience of the involved microbiomes; these attributes make it difficult to manipulate them in such a way that a specific metabolite is predominantly produced. Therefore, an exact understanding of the manipulability of anaerobic microbiomes may open up a treasure box for bio-based industries. In the present work, the effect of nalidixic acid, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and sodium phosphate on the microbiome of digested sewage sludge from a water treatment plant fed with glucose was investigated. Despite of the induced process perturbations, high stability was observed at the phylum level. However, strong variations were observed at the genus level, especially for the genera Trichococcus, Candidatus Caldatribacterium, and Phascolarctobacterium. Ecological interactions were analyzed based on the Lotka–Volterra model for Trichococcus, Rikenellaceae DMER64, Sedimentibacter, Candidatus Cloacimonas, Smithella, Cloacimonadaceae W5 and Longilinea. These genera dynamically shifted among positive, negative or no correlation, depending on the applied stressor, which indicates a surprisingly dynamic behavior. Globally, the presented work suggests a massive resilience and stability of the methanogenic communities coupled with a surprising flexibility of the particular microbial key players involved in the process.We are grateful for funding of the work by the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (grant numbers 16KN070128 and 16KN070126). Moreover, we thank the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for funding the Ph.D. of Adriel Latorre-Pérrez (Doctorado Industrial Fellowship, reference DI-17-09613). Finally, we are grateful for open access funding by the publication fund of the TU Dresden and for funding by the European Union through the BioRoboost project, H2020-NMBP-TR-IND-2018-2020/BIOTEC-01-2018 (CSA), Project ID 210491758.Peer reviewe

Early Withdrawal Effects in a Heavy Cannabis Smoker During Hemodialysis

International audienceno abstrac

Gestion des traitements de substitution aux opiacés lorsqu’un antalgique est indiqué

International audienc

Kinetic studies on aerogel formation, ageing and ambient pressure drying using an analytical tool box

Consideration of economic and ecological aspects along the process chain of a new product is of enormous importance with regard to successful technology development and market launch. In order to reach global climate goals, emissions must be drastically reduced. In Germany, industrial processes are responsible for about 28% of the total energy consumption, emphasizing the need for saving energy in that area. Aerogels have the potential to replace conventional materials in a lot of applications and therefore, a high demand for their production is predicted. Hence, finding solutions also for energy-efficient production of this materials is of great importance. For the synthesis of some aerogels, the most energy-intensive process steps are the aging and drying of the gels in an oven. Reduction of the power consumption can be achieved by optimizing the dwell times and temperatures of the aerogels in these processes. To this end, it is necessary to investigate and understand the processes and kinetics of the individual synthesis steps in greater detail. In this work, we show selected results of our analytical tool box for the kinetic analysis of sol-gel processes as well as ageing and drying processes under ambient pressure. The setup enables analyses to be carried out inside the heated reaction vessels. In addition, it is possible to investigate aliquots of the reaction mixtures offline by different methods. We present initial results of aerogel case studies using different analytical inline and atline methods