Λιθογραφία πυριτίου με laser

Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο--Μεταπτυχιακή Εργασία. Διεπιστημονικό-Διατμηματικό Πρόγραμμα Μεταπτυχιακών Σπουδών (Δ.Π.Μ.Σ.) “Μικροσυστήματα και Νανοδιατάξεις

Wireless Sensor Networks:A case study for Energy Efficient Environmental Monitoring

Energy efficiency is a key issue for wireless sensor networks, since sensors nodes can often be powered by non-renewable batteries. In this paper, we examine four MAC protocols in terms of energy consumption, throughput and energy efficiency. A forest fire detection application has been simulated using the well-known ns-2 in order to fully evaluate these protocols

A Thioredoxin Domain-Containing Protein Interacts with Pepino mosaic virus Triple Gene Block Protein 1

Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV) is a mechanically-transmitted tomato pathogen of importance worldwide. Interactions between the PepMV coat protein and triple gene block protein (TGBp1) with the host heat shock cognate protein 70 and catalase 1 (CAT1), respectively, have been previously reported by our lab. In this study, a novel tomato interactor (SlTXND9) was shown to bind the PepMV TGBp1 in yeast-two-hybrid screening, in vitro pull-down and bimolecular fluorescent complementation (BiFC) assays. SlTXND9 possesses part of the conserved thioredoxin (TRX) active site sequence (W__PC vs. WCXPC), and TXND9 orthologues cluster within the TRX phylogenetic superfamilyclosesttophosducin-likeprotein-3. InPepMV-infectedandhealthyNicotianabenthamiana plants,NbTXND9mRNAlevelswerecomparable,andexpressionlevelsremainedstableinbothlocal and systemic leaves for 10 days post inoculation (dpi), as was also the case for catalase 1 (CAT1). To localize the TXND9 in plant cells, a polyclonal antiserum was produced. Purified α-SlTXND9 immunoglobulin (IgG) consistently detected a set of three protein bands in the range of 27–35 kDa, in the 1000 and 30,000 g pellets, and the soluble fraction of extracts of healthy and PepMV-infected N. benthamiana leaves, but not in the cell wall. These bands likely consist of the homologous protein NbTXND9 and its post-translationally modified derivatives. On electron microscopy, immuno-gold labellingofultrathinsectionsofPepMV-infectedN.benthamianaleavesusingα-SlTXND9IgGrevealed particle accumulation close to plasmodesmata, suggesting a role in virus movement. Taken together, this study highlights a novel tomato-PepMV protein interaction and provides data on its localization in planta. Currently, studies focusing on the biological function of this interaction during PepMV infection are in progress

A marine turbocharger retrofitting platform

A turbocharger retrofitting platform utilizing 1D models for calculating turbomachinery components maps and a fully coupled process for integration with the turbomachinery components and the diesel engine, is presented. The platform has been developed with two modes of operation, allowing the retrofitting process to become fully automatic. In the first mode, available turbo-components are examined, in order to select the one that best matches the entire engine system, aiming to retain or improve the diesel engine efficiency. In the second mode, an optimization procedure is employed, in order to redesign the compressor to match the entire system in an optimum way. Dimensionless parameters are used as optimization variables, for a given compressor mass flow and power. A retrofitting case study is presented, where three retrofitting options are analyzed (compressor retrofit, turbocharger retrofit and compressor redesign). In the first and second option, turbocharger retrofitting is carried out, using available turbo-components. It is shown that initial performance cannot be reconstituted using off-the-self solutions. In the third option, compressor designing is performed, using the optimization mode, in order to provide an improved retrofitting solution, aiming to at least reconstituting the original diesel engine performance. Finally, a CFD analysis is carried out, in order to validate the compressor optimization tool capability to capture the performance trends, based on geometry variatio

A marine turbocharger retrofitting platform

A turbocharger retrofitting platform utilizing 1D models for calculating turbomachinery components maps and a fully coupled process for integration with the turbomachinery components and the diesel engine, is presented. The platform has been developed with two modes of operation, allowing the retrofitting process to become fully automatic. In the first mode, available turbo-components are examined, in order to select the one that best matches the entire engine system, aiming to retain or improve the diesel engine efficiency. In the second mode, an optimization procedure is employed, in order to redesign the compressor to match the entire system in an optimum way. Dimensionless parameters are used as optimization variables, for a given compressor mass flow and power. A retrofitting case study is presented, where three retrofitting options are analyzed (compressor retrofit, turbocharger retrofit and compressor redesign). In the first and second option, turbocharger retrofitting is carried out, using available turbo-components. It is shown that initial performance cannot be reconstituted using off-the-self solutions. In the third option, compressor designing is performed, using the optimization mode, in order to provide an improved retrofitting solution, aiming to at least reconstituting the original diesel engine performance. Finally, a CFD analysis is carried out, in order to validate the compressor optimization tool capability to capture the performance trends, based on geometry variation

In vitro synthesized RNA generated from cDNA clones of both genomic components of Cucurbit yellow stunting disorder virus replicates in cucumber protoplasts.

© 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Cucurbit yellow stunting disorder virus (CYSDV), a bipartite whitefly-transmitted virus, constitutes a major threat to commercial cucurbit production worldwide. Here, construction of full-length CYSDV RNA1 and RNA2 cDNA clones allowed the in vitro synthesis of RNA transcripts able to replicate in cucumber protoplasts. CYSDV RNA1 proved competent for replication; transcription of both polarities of the genomic RNA was detectable 24 h post inoculation. Hybridization of total RNA extracted from transfected protoplasts or from naturally CYSDV-infected cucurbits revealed high-level transcription of the p22 subgenomic RNA species. Replication of CYSDV RNA2 following co-transfection with RNA1 was also observed, with similar transcription kinetics. A CYSDV RNA2 cDNA clone (T3CM8Δ) comprising the 5'- and 3'-UTRs plus the 3'-terminal gene, generated a 2.8 kb RNA able to replicate to high levels in protoplasts in the presence of CYSDV RNA1. The clone T3CM8Δ will facilitate reverse genetics studies of CYSDV gene function and RNA replication determinants.Peer reviewe

Twist exome capture allows for lower average sequence coverage in clinical exome sequencing

Background Exome and genome sequencing are the predominant techniques in the diagnosis and research of genetic disorders. Sufficient, uniform and reproducible/consistent sequence coverage is a main determinant for the sensitivity to detect single-nucleotide (SNVs) and copy number variants (CNVs). Here we compared the ability to obtain comprehensive exome coverage for recent exome capture kits and genome sequencing techniques. Results We compared three different widely used enrichment kits (Agilent SureSelect Human All Exon V5, Agilent SureSelect Human All Exon V7 and Twist Bioscience) as well as short-read and long-read WGS. We show that the Twist exome capture significantly improves complete coverage and coverage uniformity across coding regions compared to other exome capture kits. Twist performance is comparable to that of both short- and long-read whole genome sequencing. Additionally, we show that even at a reduced average coverage of 70× there is only minimal loss in sensitivity for SNV and CNV detection. Conclusion We conclude that exome sequencing with Twist represents a significant improvement and could be performed at lower sequence coverage compared to other exome capture techniques