Ticks, notorious blood-feeders and disease-vectors, have lost a part of their genetic complement encoding haem biosynthetic enzymes and are, therefore, dependent on the acquisition and distribution ...of host haem. Solute carrier protein SLC48A1, aka haem-responsive gene 1 protein (HRG1), has been implicated in haem transport, regulating the availability of intracellular haem. HRG1 transporter has been identified in both free-living and parasitic organisms ranging from unicellular kinetoplastids, nematodes, up to vertebrates. However, an HRG1 homologue in the arthropod lineage has not yet been identified. We have identified a single HRG1 homologue in the midgut transcriptome of the tick
denoted as
HRG, and have elucidated its role as a haem transporter. Data from haem biosynthesis-deficient yeast growth assays, systemic RNA interference and the evaluation of gallium protoporphyrin IX-mediated toxicity through tick membrane feeding clearly show that
HRG is the
tetrapyrrole transporter. We argue that during evolution, ticks profited from retaining a functional
gene in the genome because its protein product facilitates host haem escort from intracellularly digested haemoglobin, rendering haem bioavailable for a haem-dependent network of enzymes.
Intelligent, flexible disassembly Kopacek, P.; Kopacek, B.
International journal of advanced manufacturing technology,
9/2006, Letnik:
30, Številka:
5-6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Semi- or fully-automatised disassembly, especially of electr(on)ic devices, is a a hot topic today and not only because of the standardization by the European Commission (directive on waste from ...electrical and electronic equipment—WEEE). Usually, only toxic components are removed manually while the rest of the materials are shredded and disposed. Manual disassembly of such devices is today state of the art. Because of this EC regulation and the increasing amount of electronic scrap, manual disassembly will get more and more inefficient in the near future. Therefore, automation of the disassembly process is absolutely necessary. This paper deals with robotized, semi-automatised, flexible disassembly cells for minidisks, printed circuit boards (PCBs) and mobile phones in industrial use. Finally a new concept for modular disassembly cells based on “disassembly families”, mobile robots and multi agent systems (MAS) is presented.
Engineering Management is a classical subject since more than 50 years. Some times ago there was a discussion about differences of Technology and Engineering Management. Meanwhile, not only because ...of the innovations in Technology as well as in Management, it was recognized that there is no really difference and the new abbreviation “TEMS” was introduced but concerning the educational aspects Engineering Management is frequently used.
Therefore in this contribution some educational aspects of Engineering Management will be outlined and shortly discussed. After an introduction and a short history of Engineering Management the since nearly 25 years running postgraduate, executive program at TU Wien is taken as an example for discussing educational aspects. Finally some relations to TECIS are given.
Process - and manufacturing automation as well as robotics are currently one of the fastest growing fields in automation. Cyber-physical systems, industry 4.0 and “advanced robots” are not longer a ...headline. Production 4.0 is in realization but production 5.0 is knocking on the door. Production 4.5 was introduced one year ago as an immediate step for small and medium enterprises. They are some first dreams on production 6.0.
An important part of production automation is (semi) automated assembly. This topic is currently only outlined in the literature with some description of laboratory tests. Concerning of one of the scopes of TECIS “End of life management - EoL” an important part (semi) automated disassembly is currently missing in all of these concepts. Therefore in this contribution first ideas on (semi) automated disassembly 4.0 including new tasks for “advanced” robots will be given and shortly discussed. As a consequence of these developments new social, ethical and human questions appear.
Summary
Ticks infest a variety of animal species and transmit pathogens causing disease in both humans and animals worldwide. Tick–host–pathogen interactions have evolved through dynamic processes ...that accommodated the genetic traits of the hosts, pathogens transmitted and the vector tick species that mediate their development and survival. New approaches for tick control are dependent on defining molecular interactions between hosts, ticks and pathogens to allow for discovery of key molecules that could be tested in vaccines or new generation therapeutics for intervention of tick–pathogen cycles. Currently, tick vaccines constitute an effective and environmentally sound approach for the control of ticks and the transmission of the associated tick‐borne diseases. New candidate protective antigens will most likely be identified by focusing on proteins with relevant biological function in the feeding, reproduction, development, immune response, subversion of host immunity of the tick vector and/or molecules vital for pathogen infection and transmission. This review addresses different approaches and strategies used for the discovery of protective antigens, including focusing on relevant tick biological functions and proteins, reverse genetics, vaccinomics and tick protein evolution and interactomics. New and improved tick vaccines will most likely contain multiple antigens to control tick infestations and pathogen infection and transmission.
Robotics unifies two disciplines: Science and humanities. The effort to design roboethics should make the unity of these two disciplines a primary assumption. This means that experts shall view ...Robotics as a whole - in spite of the current early stage which recalls a melting pot.
Some decades ago social aspects of robotics were discussed. Because of the results and the rapid development of this field ethical issues became more and more important. Therefore the term roboethics was introduced in the literature. The main goal of this contribution is to present and discuss this subject, probably at the first time, from the viewpoint of robotics.
First an overview from a practical, robotics viewpoint will be given including an outlook on Production 4.0 (5.0). Then a short presentation of currently and in the future available robots and some ideas about the ethical problems are discussed. Special emphasis is on the ethical behavior of the system “human-robot” and “End of Life - EoL” management.
End of life management (EOL) is currently a hot topic in the electronics industry. Currently, mostly IT equipment and goods of consumer electronics are considered. In the nearest future automation ...equipment has also to be taken into account. There are three possibilities depending on the age and kind of the device: resell–reuse–recycle, called the “3Rs”. For recycling fully or semi-automated disassembly will gain in importance in the nearest future also for robots. Producers of robots have to take into account EoL because of regulations and laws as well as according to ethical codes contributing to protection of the environment. Based on previous works a real example will be presented and discussed.
Development trends in robotics Kopacek, Peter
Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik,
03/2013, Letnik:
130, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Robotics has been a very fast growing field especially in the last years. In the late 1970s the first industrial applications of stationary unintelligent industrial robots were realised. Since the ...beginning of the 1990s a new generation of mobile, intelligent, cooperative robots has grown up. This new generation opens new applications areas, e.g. in production automation, in agriculture, in the food industry, in household, for medical and rehabilitation applications, in the entertainment industry as well as for leisure and hobby. Current developing trends are humanoid robots and robots supporting people in everyday life. Other intensive research areas are cooperative robots, bio inspired robots, ubiquitous robots and cloud robots.
The following paper is divided into three parts: current state, future development trends as well as visions in robotics.
AI methods are introduced to an increasing extent in the field of CIM and robotics. This development results in intelligent CIM components - ICAD, ICAP, ICAM, ICAQ - and in intelligent manufacturing ...systems (IMS) as well as in intelligent robots. This new philosophy requires a lot of prerequisites and research. ICIM or IMS is partially introduced in industry but mainly for large companies. AI as knowledge based and expert systems is ready to be introduced in an efficient way in CIM components. Intelligent, mobile robots as integrated parts of CIM and IMS are ready to be used in factory automation. One of the next steps could be the introduction of Multi-Agent and/or holonic systems. In this contribution the history and the present state of flexible manufacturing, with special emphasis on robotics, are described and further trends in development - Multi Agent Systems - are discussed mainly from the viewpoint of SMEs.
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