From a NoSQL data source to a business intelligence solution: An experiment

We are living in the era of Big Data. A time which is characterized by the continuous creation of vast amounts of data, originated from different sources, and with different formats. First, with the rise of the social networks and, more recently, with the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT), in which everyone and (eventually) everything is linked to the Internet, data with enormous potential for organizations is being continuously generated. In order to be more competitive, organizations want to access and explore all the richness that is present in those data. Indeed, Big Data is only as valuable as the insights organizations gather from it to make better decisions, which is the main goal of Business Intelligence. In this paper we describe an experiment in which data obtained from a NoSQL data source (database technology explicitly developed to deal with the specificities of Big Data) is used to feed a Business Intelligence solution.

Peptaibolin analogues by incorporation of α,α-dialkylglycines: synthesis and study of their membrane permeating ability

Analogues of Peptaibolin, a peptaibol with antibiotic activity, incorporating α,α-dialkylglycines (Deg, Dpg, and Ac6c) at selected positions were synthesised by MW-SPPS and fully characterized. A control analogue incorporating L-alanine was also prepared. The native peptide and the analogues were studied by fluorescence spectroscopy for their membrane permeating activity. Small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) of egg phosphatidylcholine/ cholesterol (70:30) containing an encapsulated fluorescence probe (6-carboxyfluorescein) were used as membrane models. The assays of carboxyfluorescein release from SUVs upon peptide addition showed that Peptaibolin-Dpg and Peptaibolin-Ac6c are the most active peptides. These results indicate that the structure of the α,α-dialkylglycines is crucial for the membrane permeating ability of these Peptaibolin analogues.

Synthesis of five-membered heterocycles by indirect electrochemical approach in "Green" media

Radical cyclization continues to be a central methodology for the preparation of natural products containing heterocyclic rings. Hence, some electrochemical results obtained by cyclic voltammetry and controlled-potential electrolysis in the study of electroreductive intramolecular cyclization of ethyl (2S, 3R)-2-bromo-3-propargyloxy-3-(2’,3’,4’,6’-tetra-O-acetyl-beta-D-glucopyranosyloxy) propanoate (1a), 2-bromo-3-allyloxy-3-(2’,3’,4’,6’-tetra-O-acetyl-beta-D-glucopyranosyloxy)propanoate (1b), 2-bromo-[1-(prop-2-yn-1-yloxy)propyl]benzene (1c) and [1-bromo-2-methoxy-2-(prop-2’-yn-1-yloxy)ethyl]benzene (1d) promoted by (1,4,8,11-tetramethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane)nickel(I), [Ni(tmc)]+, electrogenerated at glassy carbon cathodes in ethanol and ethanol:water mixtures containing tetraalkylammonium salts, are presented. During controlled-potential electrolyses of solutions containing [Ni(tmc)]2+ and bromoalkoxylated compounds (1) catalytic reduction of the latter proceeds via one-electron cleavage of the carbon–bromine bond to form a radical intermediate that undergoes cyclization to afford the substituted tetrahydrofurans.

Influence of pore size distribution on drying behaviour of porous media by a continuous model

Bundle of capillaries, drying kinetics, continuous model, relative permeability, capillary pressure, control volume method

Combustion modification by non-thermal plasma

Magdeburg, Univ., Fak. für Verfahrens- und Systemtechnik, Diss., 2009

Rigorous derivation of a nonlinear diffusion equation as fast-reaction limit of a continuous coagulation-fragmentation model with diffusion

Weak solutions of the spatially inhomogeneous (diffusive) Aizenmann-Bak model of coagulation-breakup within a bounded domain with homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions are shown to converge, in the fast reaction limit, towards local equilibria determined by their mass. Moreover, this mass is the solution of a nonlinear diffusion equation whose nonlinearity depends on the (size-dependent) diffusion coefficient. Initial data are assumed to have integrable zero order moment and square integrable first order moment in size, and finite entropy. In contrast to our previous result [CDF2], we are able to show the convergence without assuming uniform bounds from above and below on the number density of clusters.

Induction of synthesis of the rat cystatin S protein by the submandibular gland during the acute phase of experimental Chagas disease

Rats experimentally infected with Trypanosoma cruzi Y strain exhibited hypertrophy of the submandibular gland at 18 days after infection.SDS-PAGE of infected rats saliva revealed the presence of an additional band with an apparent molecular weight of about 13KDa. Electrophoresis of protein salivaand immunochemical analysis with antibody against rat cystatin S confirmed that the protein was identical to that induced by beta adrenergic stimulation.

Existence and uniqueness of viscosity solution for Hamilton-Jacobi equation with discontinuous coefficients dependent on time

The main result is a proof of the existence of a unique viscosity solution for Hamilton-Jacobi equation, where the hamiltonian is discontinuous with respect to variable, usually interpreted as the spatial one. Obtained generalized solution is continuous, but not necessarily differentiable.

Positive control of swarming, rhamnolipid synthesis, and lipase production by the posttranscriptional RsmA/RsmZ system in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1.

In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the small RNA-binding, regulatory protein RsmA is a negative control element in the formation of several extracellular products (e.g., pyocyanin, hydrogen cyanide, PA-IL lectin) as well as in the production of N-acylhomoserine lactone quorum-sensing signal molecules. RsmA was found to control positively the ability to swarm and to produce extracellular rhamnolipids and lipase, i.e., functions contributing to niche colonization by P. aeruginosa. An rsmA null mutant was entirely devoid of swarming but produced detectable amounts of rhamnolipids, suggesting that factors in addition to rhamnolipids influence the swarming ability of P. aeruginosa. A small regulatory RNA, rsmZ, which antagonized the effects of RsmA, was identified in P. aeruginosa. Expression of the rsmZ gene was dependent on both the global regulator GacA and RsmA, increased with cell density, and was subject to negative autoregulation. Overexpression of rsmZ and a null mutation in rsmA resulted in quantitatively similar, negative or positive effects on target genes, in agreement with a model that postulates titration of RsmA protein by RsmZ RNA.

Detection of fingermarks by colloidal gold (MMD/SMD): beyond the pH 3 limit

This work is part of a continuing goal to improve the multimetal deposition technique (MMD), as well as the single-metal deposition (SMD), to make them more robust, more user-friendly, and less labour-intensive. Indeed, two major limitations of the MMD/SMD were identified: (1) the synthesis of colloidal gold, which is quite labour-intensive, and (2) the sharp decrease in efficiency observed when the pH of the working solution is increased above pH 3. About the synthesis protocol, it has been simplified so that there is no more need to monitor the temperature during the synthesis. The efficiency has also been improved by adding aspartic acid, conjointly with sodium citrate, during the synthesis of colloidal gold. This extends the range of pH for which it is possible to detect fingermarks in the frame of the MMD/SMD. The operational range is now extended from 2 to 6.7, compared to 2-3 for the previous formulations. The increased robustness of the working solution may improve the ability of the technique to process substrates that tend to increase the pH of the solution after their immersion.

Managing Climate Insecurity by Ensuring Continuous Capital Accumulation : 'Climate Refugees' and 'Climate Migrants'

Numerous recent reports by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), academics and international organisations have focused on so-called 'climate refugees'. This article examines the turn from a discourse of 'climate refugees', in which organisations perceive migration as a failure of both mitigation and adaptation to climate change, to one of 'climate migration', in which organisations promote migration as a strategy of adaptation. Its focus is the promotion of climate migration management, and it explores the trend of these discourses through two sections. First, it provides an empirical account of the two discourses, emphasising the differentiation between them. It then focuses on the discourse of climate migration, its origins, extent and content, and the associated practices of 'migration management'. The second part argues that the turn to the promotion of 'climate migration' should be understood as a way to manage the insecurity created by climate change. However, international organisations enacts this management within the forms of neoliberal capitalism, including the framework of governance. Therefore, the promotion of 'climate migration' as a strategy of adaptation to climate change is located within the tendencies of neoliberalism and the reconfiguration of southern states' sovereignty through governance.

Carbon isotopic ratio analysis by gas chromatography/combustion/isotope ratio mass spectrometry for the detection of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) administration to humans.

Since GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyric acid) is naturally produced in the human body, clinical and forensic toxicologists must be able to discriminate between endogenous levels and a concentration resulting from exposure. To suggest an alternative to the use of interpretative concentration cut-offs, the detection of exogenous GHB in urine specimens was investigated by means of gas chromatography/combustion/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC/C/IRMS). GHB was isolated from urinary matrix by successive purification on Oasis MCX and Bond Elute SAX solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridges prior to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fractioning using an Atlantis dC18 column eluted with a mixture of formic acid and methanol. Subsequent intramolecular esterification of GHB leading to the formation of gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) was carried out to avoid introduction of additional carbon atoms for carbon isotopic ratio analysis. A precision of 0.3 per thousand was determined using this IRMS method for samples at GHB concentrations of 10 mg/L. The (13)C/(12)C ratios of GHB in samples of subjects exposed to the drug ranged from -32.1 to -42.1 per thousand, whereas the results obtained for samples containing GHB of endogenous origin at concentration levels less than 10 mg/L were in the range -23.5 to -27.0 per thousand. Therefore, these preliminary results show that a possible discrimination between endogenous and exogenous GHB can be made using carbon isotopic ratio analyses.

A Novel Pulse-Chase SILAC Strategy Measures Changes in Protein Decay and Synthesis Rates Induced by Perturbation of Proteostasis with an Hsp90 Inhibitor.

Standard proteomics methods allow the relative quantitation of levels of thousands of proteins in two or more samples. While such methods are invaluable for defining the variations in protein concentrations which follow the perturbation of a biological system, they do not offer information on the mechanisms underlying such changes. Expanding on previous work [1], we developed a pulse-chase (pc) variant of SILAC (stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture). pcSILAC can quantitate in one experiment and for two conditions the relative levels of proteins newly synthesized in a given time as well as the relative levels of remaining preexisting proteins. We validated the method studying the drug-mediated inhibition of the Hsp90 molecular chaperone, which is known to lead to increased synthesis of stress response proteins as well as the increased decay of Hsp90 "clients". We showed that pcSILAC can give information on changes in global cellular proteostasis induced by treatment with the inhibitor, which are normally not captured by standard relative quantitation techniques. Furthermore, we have developed a mathematical model and computational framework that uses pcSILAC data to determine degradation constants kd and synthesis rates Vs for proteins in both control and drug-treated cells. The results show that Hsp90 inhibition induced a generalized slowdown of protein synthesis and an increase in protein decay. Treatment with the inhibitor also resulted in widespread protein-specific changes in relative synthesis rates, together with variations in protein decay rates. The latter were more restricted to individual proteins or protein families than the variations in synthesis. Our results establish pcSILAC as a viable workflow for the mechanistic dissection of changes in the proteome which follow perturbations. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD000538.