The Energy Web Foundation (EWF) this week announced that it has launched the world’s first public, open-source, enterprise-grade blockchain tailored to the energy sector: the Energy Web Chain (EW Chain). As a refresher, blockchain allows for peer-to-peer energy market transactions.

Clearway Energy Group, one of the U.S.’s largest clean power developers, is launching a pilot electronic marketplace for renewable energy credits as more states push for solar and wind projects.

Digitalisation is one of the biggest enablers of the global transition to clean energy. From intelligent asset management, to Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things. Find out how digitalisation is transforming the management, operation and maintenance of renewable energy assets, and driving a more efficient renewable world.

This week independent power producer Marubeni and LO3 Energy said they have started a pilot project in Japan where LO3 will administer an energy marketplace using blockchain to connect a number of Marubeni’s power production facilities, including renewables, with offices and factories around Japan in a virtual marketplace. The project will simulate energy transactions to test the viability of the concept with the ultimate goal of creating a full-scale commercially operational network in the future.

Last week, the Energy Web Foundation (EWF) announced it had officially signed more than 100 affiliates in an effort to become the world’s largest blockchain ecosystem.

Clearway Energy Group, one of the U.S.’s largest clean power developers, is launching a pilot electronic marketplace for renewable energy credits as more states push for solar and wind projects.

According to Martin Lim, COO of Electrify.Asia, a company facilitating peer-to-peer energy trading across the distribution grid, blockchain technology doesn’t take utilities out of the equation, but rather it adds another layer of potential revenue for them and helps reduce the cost of delivering energy to homes and businesses.

Digital solutions could revolutionize energy trading if they were adopted more widely across the market.

One of the first unbiased, major comprehensive reviews of blockchain has concluded that the technology is “actually delivering on its promises in a number of areas directly related to energy”.

This week independent power producer Marubeni and LO3 Energy said they have started a pilot project in Japan where LO3 will administer an energy marketplace using blockchain to connect a number of Marubeni’s power production facilities, including renewables, with offices and factories around Japan in a virtual marketplace. The project will simulate energy transactions to test the viability of the concept with the ultimate goal of creating a full-scale commercially operational network in the future.

Last week, the Energy Web Foundation (EWF) announced it had officially signed more than 100 affiliates in an effort to become the world’s largest blockchain ecosystem.

Grid technology firm Kaluza is investing in British blockchain company Electron.

Last week, the Energy Web Foundation (EWF) announced it had officially signed more than 100 affiliates in an effort to become the world’s largest blockchain ecosystem.

ABB is working with Italian utility Evolvere on how to use blockchain technology to deliver transparent and secure peer-to-peer energy transactions.

The Energy Web Foundation (EWF) this week announced that it has launched the world’s first public, open-source, enterprise-grade blockchain tailored to the energy sector: the Energy Web Chain (EW Chain). As a refresher, blockchain allows for peer-to-peer energy market transactions.

Clearway Energy Group, one of the U.S.’s largest clean power developers, is launching a pilot electronic marketplace for renewable energy credits as more states push for solar and wind projects.

Join us today, May 5 — Coronavirus and Supply Chains Disruption Panel Broadcast at: 7:45 am PCT, 10:45 am EST, 3:45 pm BST and 4:45 pm CET COVID-19 has caused severe supply chain disruptions and has affected almost every facet of our daily lives. What will the landscape look like after this disease passes and […]

Australia’s food supply chain is a world leader in food quality. This gives Australian food producers a vital competitive advantage in a world where consumers seek assurances that the produce they purchase meets stringent biosecurity standards. With top-grade food safety standards, reliable supply chains and an ingrained receptiveness to new technology, the Australian agriculture and food industry provides a vast range of opportunities for global investors.

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Hdac Technology AG(Hdac) together with Dream Global Partners (DREAMChain), held a business agreement ceremony on August 16th establishing the foundation of a comprehensive partnership to expand and incorporate blockchain-based real estate enterprises world-wide.The ceremony was held on the 3rd floor of Hdac office building, with Hdac Technology Korea CEO, Michael Yoon, Dream Global Partner’s President, Pietro A. Doran, and Dream Global Partner’s co-founder/Chief Crypto-Economics Officer, Samson ...

Dream Global Partners (Dream Chain) announced on Sep 4th that it will launch a highly  reliable real estate blockchain platform for developers and final users. The blockchain  technology minimizes the possibility of malicious frauds or forged documents, because the ledger is store in a decentralized way and not concentrated in the availability of the parties involved. When this technology is applied to real estate transactions, sources of conflicts for pos...

Highways England are moving forward with the A303 Stonehenge project (A303) and the Lower Thames crossing (LTC) and will be starting their market and supply chain engagement in March 2018. These projects are two of the largest in Highway England's R...

In the first article of our blockchain series, we explained how the use of blockchain technology had the potential to offer s...

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The global value chains that help drive Asia’s export-driven economic miracle have widespread development impacts. We need to understand them better to maximize the benefits.

Blockchain technology offers great promise and great risk. We need to better understand how it works and how to use it safely and effectively.

COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerability of energy value chains but solar power could be an indigenous solution to keep the lights on during a crisis.

The pandemic has highlighted the shortcomings of the globalized supply chain model.

Safeguards due diligence reports are prepared as part of safeguard due diligence and review to ensure compliance with ADB safeguard policy due diligence requirements. This document dated May 2020 is provided for the ADB project 51039-002 in Afghanistan.

Safeguards due diligence reports are prepared as part of safeguard due diligence and review to ensure compliance with ADB safeguard policy due diligence requirements. This document dated May 2020 is provided for the ADB project 2020-05-07 in Afghanistan.

Rep. McSally Visits Microchip Executives to Discuss Semiconductor Supply Chain Resilience in the U.S. Amid Defense Industrial Base Report Findings

High labor productivity, a large firm size, foreign ownership, and high technological capability are important for a firm to participate in global value chains.

This brief examines the global shortage of the personal protective equipment (PPE) needed to tackle COVID-19 and suggests policy implications.

Financial constraints are a significant barrier for India's SMEs participating in global value chains.

High labor productivity, a large firm size, foreign ownership, and high technological capability are important for a firm to participate in global value chains.

Financial constraints are a significant barrier for India's SMEs participating in global value chains.

Title: Being Chained to Your Desk Might Harm Your Thyroid
Category: Health News
Created: 3/31/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 3/31/2020 12:00:00 AM

ABSTRACT

The clostridial neurotoxins (CNTs) comprise tetanus toxin (TT) and botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT [BT]) serotypes (A to G and X) and several recently identified CNT-like proteins, including BT/En and the mosquito BoNT-like toxin Pmp1. CNTs are produced as single proteins cleaved to a light chain (LC) and a heavy chain (HC) connected by an interchain disulfide bond. LC is a zinc metalloprotease (cleaving soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors [SNAREs]), while HC contains an N-terminal translocation domain (HCN) and a C-terminal receptor binding domain (HCC). HCN-mediated LC translocation is the least understood function of CNT action. Here, β-lactamase (βlac) was used as a reporter in discovery-based live-cell assays to characterize TT-mediated LC translocation. Directed mutagenesis identified a role for a charged loop (⁷⁶⁷DKE⁷⁶⁹) connecting α15 and α16 (cis-loop) within HCN in LC translocation; aliphatic substitution inhibited LC translocation but not other toxin functions such as cell binding, intracellular trafficking, or HCN-mediated pore formation. K⁷⁶⁸ was conserved among the CNTs. In molecular simulations of the HCN with a membrane, the cis-loop did not bind with the cell membrane. Taken together, the results of these studies implicate the cis-loop in LC translocation, independently of pore formation.

IMPORTANCE How protein toxins translocate their catalytic domain across a cell membrane is the least understood step in toxin action. This study utilized a reporter, β-lactamase, that was genetically fused to full-length, nontoxic tetanus toxin (βlac-TT) in discovery-based live-cell assays to study LC translocation. Directed mutagenesis identified a role for K⁷⁶⁸ in LC translocation. K⁷⁶⁸ was located between α15 and α16 (termed the cis-loop). Cellular assays showed that K⁷⁶⁸ did not interfere with other toxin functions, including cell binding, intracellular trafficking, and pore formation. The equivalent K⁷⁶⁸ is conserved among the clostridial neurotoxin family of proteins as a conserved structural motif. The cis-loop appears to contribute to LC translocation.

Patients with systemic immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis (AL) with no evidence of cardiac involvement by consensus criteria have excellent survival, but 20% will die within 5 years of diagnosis and prognostic factors remain poorly characterised. We report the outcomes of 378 prospectively followed Mayo stage I patients (N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide <332 ng/L, high sensitivity cardiac troponin <55 ng/L). The median presenting N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide was 161 ng/L, high sensitivity cardiac troponin 10 ng/L, creatinine 76 μmol/L and mean left ventricular septal wall thickness, 10 mm. Median follow up was 42 (1-117 months), with 71 deaths; median overall survival was not reached (78% survival at 5 years). Although no patients had cardiac involvement by echocardiogram, a proportion (n=25/90, 28%) had cardiac involvement by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Age, autonomic nervous system involvement, N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide >152 ng/L, high sensitivity cardiac troponin >10 ng/L and cardiac involvement by magnetic resonance imaging were predictive for survival; on multivariate analysis only N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide >152 ng/L (P<0.008, hazard ratio [HR] 3.180, confidence interval [CI]: 1.349-7.495) and cardiac involvement on magnetic resonance imaging (P=0.026, HR=5.360, CI: 1.219-23.574) were prognostic. At 5 years, 70% of patients with N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide >152 ng/L were alive. In conclusion, N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide is prognostic for survival in patients with no cardiac involvement by consensus criteria and cardiac involvement is detected by magnetic resonance imaging in such cases. This suggests that N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide thresholds for cardiac involvement in AL may need to be redefined.

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) recombinants are currently the vector of choice for many gene therapy applications. As experimental therapies progress to clinical trials, the need to characterize recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAVs) accurately and reproducibly increases. Accurate determination of rAAV infectious titer is important for determining the activity of each vector lot and for ensuring lot-to-lot consistency. The following protocol developed in our laboratory uses a 96-well TCID₅₀ format and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) detection for the determination of rAAV infectious titer.

This protocol is used to determine the concentration of DNase-resistant vector genomes (i.e., packaged in the capsid) in purified recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) preparations. The protocol begins with treatment of the vector stock with DNase I to eliminate unencapsidated AAV DNA or contaminating plasmid DNA. This is followed by a heat treatment to heat-inactivate DNase I, to disrupt the viral capsid, and to release the packaged vector genomes for quantification by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using a set of standards (linearized plasmid used for vector production) containing known copy numbers. To accomplish high-throughput titration, the primer and probe sets used in real-time PCR are usually designed to target common elements present in most rAAV genomes, such as promoters and poly(A) signals. This strategy significantly reduces the number of PCRs, controls, and turnaround time. Several important controls should be included in the assay as follows: The first two controls should have a known copy number of the rAAV genome plasmid treated or not treated with DNase I. This control tests the effectiveness of DNase treatment. To control for potential cross-contamination between samples during the preparation process, a blank control containing nuclease-free water only should be processed and tested in parallel. A validation vector sample with a known titer should be included in every assay to monitor interassay variability. Finally, for the PCR run, a no-template control (NTC) is included to indicate cross-contamination during PCR setup.

Shuttered stores worsened Montreal-based company’s already struggling business

Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt are re-teaming on the superhero movie "Ball and Chain" following their collaboration on "Jungle Cruise." The project is being shopped among studios, including Netflix, but no distribution deal has closed. "Ball and Chain" is being written by Oscar nominee Emily V. Gordon and is an adaptation of the '90s comic […]

A silver chain has taken center stage in Hulu's adaptation of Sally Rooney's "Normal People"

"The covid-19 pandemic proves exactly why transparency in the fashion industry is so vital"

Don't pretend you didn't notice it: that whisper-thin necklace glinting against Connell's chest

The Big Sick writer Emily V. Gordon is penning the script.

US government vets said to be ready to assist with culls, or ‘depopulation’ of pigs, chickens and cattle because of coronavirus meat plant closures

Covid-related slaughterhouse shutdowns in the US are leading to fears of meat shortages and price rises, while farmers are being forced to consider “depopulating” their animals.

More than 20 slaughterhouses have been forced to close, although some have subsequently reopened. On Tuesday President Trump issued an executive order to keep slaughterhouses open which would, he said, help solve liability problems for meat companies.

A unique American business model taking 'paddock to plate' into the dining mainstream is being watched by Australian farmers as a way to get a better share of the food dollar.