Formation of management and technological maturity levels of enterprises for their dynamic development

Currently, the market environment contains many factors influencing the enterprise’s competitiveness. Instability, the unpredictability of events, and insufficiently effective functioning of market mechanisms alter the management focus and processes engaged in an enterprise’s functioning. Some of them are intensive in terms of required resources and finance. Such a dynamic situation requires the enterprise management to build innovative solutions to flexibly respond and timely adapt to change. Therefore, this study aims to develop theoretical and applied approaches to determining the level of managerial and technological maturity of the basic set of technologies implemented in enterprises. In the context of this issue’s development and aiming to achieve the purpose, the study proposed a model approach where the introduction of individual technologies allows combining the rules for determining the enterprise’s management and the technological maturity level, i.e., its readiness for such changes. The construction of the model was based on the analysis and calculation of statistical data from four groups of technologies (corporate, industrial, decision support, and information technologies, which are divided into subclasses) and based on the theory of dynamic innovation development. The results were tested at seven food industry enterprises in Ukraine. Based on the study, the actual level of managerial and technological maturity of enterprises was determined, creating one complex set of technologies that depend on the level and structural changes in management and the level of technological maturity of enterprises. It can be used as a typical model for differently sized enterprises representing various industries

Quality control of surfactants for oil and gas extraction intensification

The method of express control of the degree of rocks wetting by surfactants solutions and formation fluids while intensification of oil and gas extraction by controlling and regulating the interphase parameters at the formation fluid-rock – surfactant water solution interface in the process of bottom hole zone treatment has been sugggested. The basis of the proposed method is the dependence of the change in the impedance of the capacitive cell, which contains the studied fluids and specimens of the rock, on their wettability properties, which, in turn, determine the rate of dispersion of the solution on the investigated surface. The main informative parameter of the proposed method is the rate of impedance change, which is determined by the angle of inclination of the graphic dependences of the change of impedance in time when the solution of surfactant is being spread on the solid surface. To implement the developed impedance control method, a device was developed and a method of grading the degree of wettability for a comprehensive evaluation of the quality of surfactants and the selection of such surfactants that have the most optimal wetting properties for specifically-taken oil and gas rocks has been developed

The metabolic enzyme AdhE controls the virulence of <i>Escherichia coli</i> O157:H7

Classical studies have focused on the role that individual regulators play in controlling virulence gene expression. An emerging theme, however, is that bacterial metabolism also plays a key role in this process. Our previous work identified a series of proteins that were implicated in the regulation of virulence. One of these proteins was AdhE, a bi-functional acetaldehyde-CoA dehydrogenase and alcohol dehydrogenase. Deletion of its gene (adhE) resulted in elevated levels of extracellular acetate and a stark pleiotropic phenotype: strong suppression of the Type Three Secretion System (T3SS) and overexpression of non-functional flagella. Correspondingly, the adhE mutant bound poorly to host cells and was unable to swim. Furthermore, the mutant was significantly less virulent than its parent when tested in vivo, which supports the hypothesis that attachment and motility are central to the colonization process. The molecular basis by which AdhE affects virulence gene regulation was found to be multifactorial, involving acetate-stimulated transcription of flagella expression and post-transcriptional regulation of the T3SS through Hfq. Our study reveals fascinating insights into the links between bacterial physiology, the expression of virulence genes, and the underlying molecular mechanism mechanisms by which these processes are regulated

A new Vibrio cholerae sRNA modulates colonization and affects release of outer membrane vesicles

We discovered a new small non-coding RNA (sRNA) gene, vrrA of Vibrio cholerae O1 strain A1552. A vrrA mutant overproduces OmpA porin, and we demonstrate that the 140 nt VrrA RNA represses ompA translation by base-pairing with the 5′ region of the mRNA. The RNA chaperone Hfq is not stringently required for VrrA action, but expression of the vrrA gene requires the membrane stress sigma factor, σE, suggesting that VrrA acts on ompA in response to periplasmic protein folding stress. We also observed that OmpA levels inversely correlated with the number of outer membrane vesicles (OMVs), and that VrrA increased OMV production comparable to loss of OmpA. VrrA is the first sRNA known to control OMV formation. Moreover, a vrrA mutant showed a fivefold increased ability to colonize the intestines of infant mice as compared with the wild type. There was increased expression of the main colonization factor of V. cholerae, the toxin co-regulated pili, in the vrrA mutant as monitored by immunoblot detection of the TcpA protein. VrrA overproduction caused a distinct reduction in the TcpA protein level. Our findings suggest that VrrA contributes to bacterial fitness in certain stressful environments, and modulates infection of the host intestinal tract

Regulation of the small regulatory RNA MicA by ribonuclease III: a target-dependent pathway

MicA is a trans-encoded small non-coding RNA, which downregulates porin-expression in stationary-phase. In this work, we focus on the role of endoribonucleases III and E on Salmonella typhimurium sRNA MicA regulation. RNase III is shown to regulate MicA in a target-coupled way, while RNase E is responsible for the control of free MicA levels in the cell. We purified both Salmonella enzymes and demonstrated that in vitro RNase III is only active over MicA when in complex with its targets (whether ompA or lamB mRNAs). In vivo, MicA is demonstrated to be cleaved by RNase III in a coupled way with ompA mRNA. On the other hand, RNase E is able to cleave unpaired MicA and does not show a marked dependence on its 5′ phosphorylation state. The main conclusion of this work is the existence of two independent pathways for MicA turnover. Each pathway involves a distinct endoribonuclease, having a different role in the context of the fine-tuned regulation of porin levels. Cleavage of MicA by RNase III in a target-dependent fashion, with the concomitant decay of the mRNA target, strongly resembles the eukaryotic RNAi system, where RNase III-like enzymes play a pivotal role

Genomic SELEX for Hfq-binding RNAs identifies genomic aptamers predominantly in antisense transcripts

An unexpectedly high number of regulatory RNAs have been recently discovered that fine-tune the function of genes at all levels of expression. We employed Genomic SELEX, a method to identify protein-binding RNAs encoded in the genome, to search for further regulatory RNAs in Escherichia coli. We used the global regulator protein Hfq as bait, because it can interact with a large number of RNAs, promoting their interaction. The enriched SELEX pool was subjected to deep sequencing, and 8865 sequences were mapped to the E. coli genome. These short sequences represent genomic Hfq-aptamers and are part of potential regulatory elements within RNA molecules. The motif 5′-AAYAAYAA-3′ was enriched in the selected RNAs and confers low-nanomolar affinity to Hfq. The motif was confirmed to bind Hfq by DMS footprinting. The Hfq aptamers are 4-fold more frequent on the antisense strand of protein coding genes than on the sense strand. They were enriched opposite to translation start sites or opposite to intervening sequences between ORFs in operons. These results expand the repertoire of Hfq targets and also suggest that Hfq might regulate the expression of a large number of genes via interaction with cis-antisense RNAs

Genome-Scale Identification Method Applied to Find Cryptic Aminoglycoside Resistance Genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

BACKGROUND:The ability of bacteria to rapidly evolve resistance to antibiotics is a critical public health problem. Resistance leads to increased disease severity and death rates, as well as imposes pressure towards the discovery and development of new antibiotic therapies. Improving understanding of the evolution and genetic basis of resistance is a fundamental goal in the field of microbiology. RESULTS:We have applied a new genomic method, Scalar Analysis of Library Enrichments (SCALEs), to identify genomic regions that, given increased copy number, may lead to aminoglycoside resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa at the genome scale. We report the result of selections on highly representative genomic libraries for three different aminoglycoside antibiotics (amikacin, gentamicin, and tobramycin). At the genome-scale, we show significant (p<0.05) overlap in genes identified for each aminoglycoside evaluated. Among the genomic segments identified, we confirmed increased resistance associated with an increased copy number of several genomic regions, including the ORF of PA5471, recently implicated in MexXY efflux pump related aminoglycoside resistance, PA4943-PA4946 (encoding a probable GTP-binding protein, a predicted host factor I protein, a delta 2-isopentenylpyrophosphate transferase, and DNA mismatch repair protein mutL), PA0960-PA0963 (encoding hypothetical proteins, a probable cold shock protein, a probable DNA-binding stress protein, and aspartyl-tRNA synthetase), a segment of PA4967 (encoding a topoisomerase IV subunit B), as well as a chimeric clone containing two inserts including the ORFs PA0547 and PA2326 (encoding a probable transcriptional regulator and a probable hypothetical protein, respectively). CONCLUSIONS:The studies reported here demonstrate the application of new a genomic method, SCALEs, which can be used to improve understanding of the evolution of antibiotic resistance in P. aeruginosa. In our demonstration studies, we identified a significant number of genomic regions that increased resistance to multiple aminoglycosides. We identified genetic regions that include open reading frames that encode for products from many functional categories, including genes related to O-antigen synthesis, DNA repair, and transcriptional and translational processes

Pathogen Proteins Eliciting Antibodies Do Not Share Epitopes with Host Proteins: A Bioinformatics Approach

The best way to prevent diseases caused by pathogens is by the use of vaccines. The advent of genomics enables genome-wide searches of new vaccine candidates, called reverse vaccinology. The most common strategy to apply reverse vaccinology is by designing subunit recombinant vaccines, which usually generate an humoral immune response due to B-cell epitopes in proteins. A major problem for this strategy is the identification of protective immunogenic proteins from the surfome of the pathogen. Epitope mimicry may lead to auto-immune phenomena related to several human diseases. A sequence-based computational analysis has been carried out applying the BLASTP algorithm. Therefore, two huge databases have been created, one with the most complete and current linear B-cell epitopes, and the other one with the surface-protein sequences of the main human respiratory bacterial pathogens. We found that none of the 7353 linear B-cell epitopes analysed shares any sequence identity region with human proteins capable of generating antibodies, and that only 1% of the 2175 exposed proteins analysed contain a stretch of shared sequence with the human proteome. These findings suggest the existence of a mechanism to avoid autoimmunity. We also propose a strategy for corroborating or warning about the viability of a protein linear B-cell epitope as a putative vaccine candidate in a reverse vaccinology study; so, epitopes without any sequence identity with human proteins should be very good vaccine candidates, and the other way around

Общие принципы применения метода реальных опционов в инвестиционном анализе

У статті висвітлено загальні засади та обґрунтовано доцільність застосування методу реальних опціонів як важливого інструменту для прийняття ефективних управлінських рішень в інвестиційному аналізі проектів. Вказано на недоліки методів дисконтування, що особливо проявляються в умовах невизначеності. Розглянуто можливості використання моделі Блека-Шоулза для розрахунку вартості реальних опціонів. Досліджено умови застосування методу реальних опціонів, їх види, проведено аналіз переваг та недоліків методу, обґрунтована сфера його практичного застосування.В статье освещены общие принципы и обоснована целесообразность применения метода реальных опционов в качестве важного инструмента для принятия эффективных управленческих решений в инвестиционном анализе проектов. Отмечаются недостатки методов дисконтирования, которые особенно проявляются в условиях неопределенности. Рассмотрены возможности использования модели Блэка-Шоулза для расчета стоимости реальных опционов. Исследованы условия применения метода реальных опционов, их виды, проведен анализ преимуществ и недостатков метода, обоснована сфера его практического применения.The article describes the general principles and proves the expediency of application of the real options valuation as an important tool for effective management decision making in investment analysis of projects. There are specified shortcomings of the discount method, which are particularly evident in conditions of uncertainty. The authors have studied the possibilities of using the Black-Scholes model for calculating the value of real options. There are also studied the application conditions of the real options valuation, their types, and there are analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of it; the scope of its practical application is substantiated too