Cell cycle–related metabolism and mitochondrial dynamics in a replication-competent pancreatic beta-cell line

Cell replication is a fundamental attribute of growth and repair in multicellular organisms. Pancreatic beta-cells in adults rarely enter cell cycle, hindering the capacity for regeneration in diabetes. Efforts to drive beta-cells into cell cycle have so far largely focused on regulatory molecules such as cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). Investigations in cancer biology have uncovered that adaptive changes in metabolism, the mitochondrial network, and cellular Ca2+ are critical for permitting cells to progress through the cell cycle. Here, we investigated these parameters in the replication-competent beta-cell line INS 832/13. Cell cycle synchronization of this line permitted evaluation of cell metabolism, mitochondrial network, and cellular Ca2+ compartmentalization at key cell cycle stages. The mitochondrial network is interconnected and filamentous at G1/S but fragments during the S and G2/M phases, presumably to permit sorting to daughter cells. Pyruvate anaplerosis peaks at G1/S, consistent with generation of biomass for daughter cells, whereas mitochondrial Ca2+ and respiration increase during S and G2/M, consistent with increased energy requirements for DNA and lipid synthesis. This synchronization approach may be of value to investigators performing live cell imaging of Ca2+ or mitochondrial dynamics commonly undertaken in INS cell lines because without synchrony widely disparate data from cell to cell would be expected depending on position within cell cycle. Our findings also offer insight into why replicating beta-cells are relatively nonfunctional secreting insulin in response to glucose. They also provide guidance on metabolic requirements of beta-cells for the transition through the cell cycle that may complement the efforts currently restricted to manipulating cell cycle to drive beta-cells through cell cycle

Rapid generation of uniform cellular structure by using prefabricated unit cells

Cellular structures are one of the effective ways to produce parts with higher resource efficiency by reducing material and time used. These complex structures can be built by using Additive Manufacturing (AM) which is hardly achievable by using traditional subtractive manufacturing. Cellular structures can be designed and modelled according to desired, specific properties. However, the modelling can be time and resource consuming, due to the complexity and the size of the structure. This article proposes a modelling technique for rapid generation of cellular structure. The method works based on a concept of a hybrid B-Rep and polygon approach. Prefabrication of unit cell kernels is introduced to shorten time in a populating phase, which results in a significant reduction of modelling time, especially for a structure with a large number of cells. The implementation of this method by using open-source library, Open Cascade Technology (OCCT) and Visualization Toolkits (VTK), is also presented

Gripper Design for Automatic Trimming System in Forging Process

Abstract Labor shortage is one of the most common yet critical problems in industrial sectors. Using robotics and automation to replace human labor is one of the most effective solutions. In this research, robotic technology is implemented in the trimming process which is one of the key steps in faucet manufacturing. The system is designed to be able to deal with uncertainties of the shape of flash that are occurred due to the impression-die forging process. A gripper with specific jaws is designed to suit the workpiece. A vision system is used to identify the position and orientation of the workpieces. As a result, with the gripper and the vision system, the workpieces can be grasped, transferred, and loaded into the trimming machine at high success rate in comparison to human labor. In this paper, the design procedure of the gripper and performance of the gripper are emphasized.</jats:p

Interaction Analysis Investigations of Multiple Supply Duct Split-type Air-conditioning units in an Open Space

Abstract Oversizing has been seldom concerning in Thailand. However, oversizing causes short-term operations of an air-conditioning (AC) unit and excessive power consumptions. In addition, multiple operations of oversized AC units can be faulty operations when they are used to serve in an open space area because interaction among AC units are not considered before installations. This paper collects data operations of the multiple supply duct split-type air-conditioning (SAC) units used in an open space from additional sensors installed in zone and return temperature. Significant wireless sensors are added for measuring temperature effect among a interaction area between two SAC units. To measure the system variation caused by system interaction, runtime fraction (RTF) is used to quantify the compressor runtime ratio which equals to a stage-on time operation over the cycle time at an AC design condition. The results show that one of the four SAC units performs under-sizing instead of oversizing performance because it runs continuously without off cycling. To diagnose this issue, interactions between zone and return temperature are quantified in terms of correlation coefficient, which demonstrates that this SAC results in higher oversizing of the rest SAC units. This interaction analysis can be further used to design a soft-repair algorithm to reduce oversizing effect of the multiple SAC operations.</jats:p

Automatic precision docking for autonomous mobile robot in hospital logistics - case-study: battery charging

Abstract Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) plays a vital role in various logistic applications, especially in the health industry. Precise localization is required for automated navigation of the robot throughout the operations. Docking is one of the key processes that the robot moves and physically attaches to the station. Higher precision in position and orientation is required for this process to ensure the secured connection. This article presents an implementation of precise docking maker technique for localization of the robot. The robot is equipped with affordable Lidar sensor while a geometrical marker is on the docking station. The proposed method should help the robot achieve better than ±20 mm error and 0.05rad error in position and orientation.</jats:p