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Streptomyces is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria with high GC content. It remains attractive for studying and discovering new antibiotics, antifungals, and chemotherapeutics. Streptomyces genomes can contain more than 30 cryptic and expressed biosynthetic gene clusters (BGC) encoding secondary metabolites. In this study, three Streptomyces strains isolated from jungle rhizospheric soil exhibited supernatants that can inhibit sensitive and fluconazole-resistant Candida spp. The genomes of the strains Streptomyces sp. A1, J25, J29 ori2 were sequenced, assembled de novo, and analyzed. The genome assemblies revealed that the size of the genomes was 6.9 Mb, with linear topology and 73.5% GC. A phylogenomic approach identified the strains with high similitudes between 98.5 and 98.7% with Streptomyces albidoflavus SM254 and R-53649 strains, respectively. Pangenomic analysis of eight genomes of S. albidoflavus strains deposited in the Genomes database recognized 4707 core protein orthogroups and 745 abundant accessory and exclusive protein orthogroups, suggesting an open pangenome in this species. The antiSMASH software detected candicidin and surugamide BGC-encoding polyene and octapeptide antifungal secondary metabolites in other S. albidoflavus. CORASON software was used to compare the synteny, and the abundance of genes harbored in the clusters was used. In conclusion, although the three strains belong to the same species, each possesses a distinct genome, as evidenced by the different phenotypes, including antifungal and extracellular enzymatic activities.

The hovering flight of a quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) refers to maintaining the aircraft in a fixed position in the air, without lateral, vertical, or rotational movements, using only the vehicle’s control systems to maintain proper balance in all spatial dimensions. Algorithms and control systems have been developed to continuously adjust motor speeds to counteract deviations from the desired position and achieve effective hovering flight. This paper proposes a set of PID controllers with an integral effect based on the Riemann–Liouville fractional-order approach to improve the hovering flight of a quadrotor UAV. This research innovates by introducing a set of fractional-order PID controllers for UAV hover stability, which offer better adaptability to non-linear dynamics and robustness than traditional PID controllers. Also presented is the development of new performance metrics (MSE, BQC-LR), which allow for more comprehensive control system evaluations. A thorough comparative analysis with conventional control methods demonstrates the superior performance of fractional-order control in real-world simulations. The numerical simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed Fractional Integral Action PID Controller in the control of UAV hovering flight, while comparative analyses against a classical controller emphasize the benefits of the fractional-order approach in terms of control accuracy.

Alternative recombinant sources of antivenoms have been successfully generated. The application of such strategies requires the characterization of the venoms for the development of specific neutralizing molecules against the toxic components. Five toxic peptides to mammals from the Mexican scorpion Centruroides villegasi were isolated by chromatographic procedures by means of gel filtration on Sephadex G-50, followed by ion-exchange columns on carboxy-methyl-cellulose (CMC) resins and finally purified by high-performance chromatography (HPLC) columns. Their primary structures were determined by Edman degradation. They contain 66 amino acids and are maintained well packed by four disulfide bridges, with molecular mass from 7511.3 to 7750.1 Da. They are all relatively toxic and deadly to mice and show high sequence identity with known peptides that are specific modifiers of the gating mechanisms of Na+ ion channels of type beta-toxin (β-ScTx). They were named Cv1 to Cv5 and used to test their recognition by single-chain variable fragments (scFv) of antibodies, using surface plasmon resonance. Three different scFvs generated in our laboratory (10FG2, HV, LR) were tested for recognizing the various new peptides described here, paving the way for the development of a novel type of scorpion antivenom.

Five peptides were isolated from the venom of the Mexican scorpion Centruroides bonito by chromatographic procedures (molecular weight sieving, ion exchange columns, and HPLC) and were denoted Cbo1 to Cbo5. The first four peptides contain 66 amino acid residues and the last one contains 65 amino acids, stabilized by four disulfide bonds, with a molecular weight spanning from about 7.5 to 7.8 kDa. Four of them are toxic to mice, and their function on human Na+ channels expressed in HEK and CHO cells was verified. One of them (Cbo5) did not show any physiological effects. The ones toxic to mice showed that they are modifiers of the gating mechanism of the channels and belong to the beta type scorpion toxin (β-ScTx), affecting mainly the Nav1.6 channels. A phylogenetic tree analysis of their sequences confirmed the high degree of amino acid similarities with other known bona fide β-ScTx. The envenomation caused by this venom in mice is treated by using commercially horse antivenom available in Mexico. The potential neutralization of the toxic components was evaluated by means of surface plasmon resonance using four antibody fragments (10FG2, HV, LR, and 11F) which have been developed by our group. These antitoxins are antibody fragments of single-chain antibody type, expressed in E. coli and capable of recognizing Cbo1 to Cbo4 toxins to various degrees.

This paper proposes a modification of a Sliding Mode Classical Observer (SMCO) to adapt it to the fractional approach. This adaptation involves using a set of definitions based on fractional calculus theory, particularly the approach developed by Riemann–Liouville, resulting in a Sliding Mode Fractional Observer (SMFO). Both observers are used to perform disturbance reconstruction considered additive in a Quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) model. Then, this work presents the fractional-order sliding mode observer’s mathematical formulation and integration into the Quadrotor UAV model. To validate the quality of the disturbance reconstruction process of the proposed SMFO observer scheme, numerical simulations are carried out, where a reconstruction quality indicator (BQR) is proposed based on the analysis of performance indices such as the Mean Square Error (MSE), the First Probability Moment (FPM), and Second Probability Moment (SPM), which were obtained for both the SMCO and the SMFO. The simulation results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed observer in accurately reconstructing disturbances under various environmental conditions. Comparative analyses with SMCO highlight the advantages of the fractional-order approach in terms of reconstruction accuracy and improvement of its transitory performance. Finally, the presented SMFO offers a promising avenue for enhancing the reliability and precision of disturbance estimation, ultimately contributing to the advancement of robust control strategies for Quadrotor UAV systems.

Seven new peptides denominated CboK1 to CboK7 were isolated from the venom of the Mexican scorpion Centruroides bonito and their primary structures were determined. The molecular weights ranged between 3760.4 Da and 4357.9 Da, containing 32 to 39 amino acid residues with three putative disulfide bridges. The comparison of amino acid sequences with known potassium scorpion toxins (KTx) and phylogenetic analysis revealed that CboK1 (α-KTx 10.5) and CboK2 (α-KTx 10.6) belong to the α-KTx 10.x subfamily, whereas CboK3 (α-KTx 2.22), CboK4 (α-KTx 2.23), CboK6 (α-KTx 2.21), and CboK7 (α-KTx 2.24) bear > 95% amino acid similarity with members of the α-KTx 2.x subfamily, and CboK5 is identical to Ce3 toxin (α-KTx 2.10). Electrophysiological assays demonstrated that except CboK1, all six other peptides blocked the Kv1.2 channel with Kd values in the picomolar range (24–763 pM) and inhibited the Kv1.3 channel with comparatively less potency (Kd values between 20–171 nM). CboK3 and CboK4 inhibited less than 10% and CboK7 inhibited about 42% of Kv1.1 currents at 100 nM concentration. Among all, CboK7 showed out-standing affinity for Kv1.2 (Kd = 24 pM), as well as high selectivity over Kv1.3 (850-fold) and Kv1.1 (~6000-fold). These characteristics of CboK7 may provide a framework for developing tools to treat Kv1.2-related channelopathies.

Nowadays, various systems were developed in the telecommunications field which make use of technologies for the transmission and reception of information. One of these technologies is the Internet, which was developed in tandem with scientific growth. Therefore, its application in the control of various industrial processes has a notable influence. In this context, there are industrial processes that, due to the potential danger they represent to human beings, must be controlled by means of a remote control system. Such systems can be implemented through client–server communication schemes, which form a network of computers to exchange information. In the exchange of information, delay times are generated. These inactivity times have a close relationship with the latency in the communication network and have a negative impact on the performance of closed-loop control systems. In this sense, for physical implementation, it is essential to measure and mathematically characterize their magnitudes in order to know their variability and thus be able to design control strategies that compensate for their effects. Hence, this research paper presents the reconstruction of the communication times measured from a telecontrol system, where it is assumed that only one subsystem acts as the controller and the other one acts as the controlled. In other words, this paper addresses a control scheme type of single-input-single-output system (SISO). This reconstruction is based on the Kalman filter, which estimates the communication times that are measured on an experimental test bench with a client–server communication scheme. Communication times are characterized as stochastic processes. So, in order to validate the reconstruction presented, the level of dependence between the random processes is evaluated by analyzing their moments of probability as well as their covariance moments. Finally, an analysis based on the mean square error is presented, through which it can be concluded that the reconstruction technique used allows one to know the dynamics of the communication times generated by the remote control process presented in this research.

The interaction of digital systems with dynamic systems requires synchrony and the accomplishment of time constrains, so the simulation of physical processes needs an implementation by means of real-time systems (RTS). However, as it can be expected, every simulation and/or implementation might demand too many computational resources, surpassing the capacity of the processor used by computational systems. This is the reason for the need to perform a temporary computational complexity analysis based on the study of the behavior of the execution times of the implemented simulation. In this regard, the Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) feature time managing tools, which allow their precise measurement and the establishment of scheduling criteria in process execution. Therefore, this research proposes accomplishing a temporary computational complexity analysis of the real-time simulation by an embedded system (ES) of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) propelled by four rotors. Derived from this analysis, formal definitions are elaborated and proposed, which establish a close relationship between the temporary computational complexity and typical real-time temporary constraints. To the best of the author’s knowledge, the definitions presented in this article have not been reported in the literature. Furthermore, to perform the temporary computational complexity analysis of the UAV, the mathematical modeling based on the Euler–Lagrange approach is presented in detail. Finally, simulations were performed using a real-time system implemented on the Embedded Computer System (ECS) Raspberry Pi 2 Model B+, in order to validate the suggested definitions.

Enzymes are an integral part of animal venoms. Unlike snakes, in which enzymes play a primary role in envenomation, in scorpions, their function appears to be ancillary in most species. Due to this, studies on the diversity of scorpion venom components have focused primarily on the peptides responsible for envenomation (toxins) and a few others (e.g., antimicrobials), while enzymes have been overlooked. In this work, a comprehensive study on enzyme diversity in scorpion venoms was performed by transcriptomic and proteomic techniques. Enzymes of 63 different EC types were found, belonging to 330 orthogroups. Of them, 24 ECs conform the scorpion venom enzymatic core, since they were determined to be present in all the studied scorpion species. Transferases and lyases are reported for the first time. Novel enzymes, which can play different roles in the venom, including direct toxicity, as venom spreading factors, activators of venom components, venom preservatives, or in prey pre-digestion, were described and annotated. The expression profile for transcripts coding for venom enzymes was analyzed, and shown to be similar among the studied species, while being significantly different from their expression pattern outside the telson.

A model and real-time simulation of a gas turbine engine (GTE) by real-time tasks (RTT) is presented. A Kalman filter is applied to perform the state vector identification of the GTE model. The obtained algorithms are recursive and multivariable; for this reason, ANSI C libraries have been developed for (a) use of matrices and vectors, (b) dynamic memory management, (c) simulation of state-space systems, (d) approximation of systems using equations in matrix finite difference, (e) computing the mean square errors vector, and (f) state vector identification of dynamic systems through digital Kalman filter. Simulations were performed in a Single Board Computer (SBC) Raspberry Pi 2® with a real-time operating system. Execution times have been measured to justify the real-time simulation. To validate the results, multiple time plots are analyzed to verify the quality and convergence time of the mean square error obtained.

Many peptides in scorpion venoms are amidated at their C-termini. This post-translational modification is paramount for the correct biological function of ion channel toxins and antimicrobial peptides, among others. The discovery of canonical amidation sequences in transcriptome-derived scorpion proproteins suggests that a conserved enzymatic α-amidation system must be responsible for this modification of scorpion peptides. A transcriptomic approach was employed to identify sequences putatively encoding enzymes of the α-amidation pathway. A dual enzymatic α-amidation system was found, consisting of the membrane-anchored, bifunctional, peptidylglycine α-amidating monooxygenase (PAM) and its paralogs, soluble monofunctional peptidylglycine α-hydroxylating monooxygenase (PHMm) and peptidyl-α-hydroxyglycine α-amidating lyase (PALm). Independent genes encode these three enzymes. Amino acid residues responsible for ion coordination and enzymatic activity are conserved in these sequences, suggesting that the enzymes are functional. Potential endoproteolytic recognition sites for proprotein convertases in the PAM sequence indicate that PAM-derived soluble isoforms may also be expressed. Sequences potentially encoding proprotein convertases (PC1 and PC2), carboxypeptidase E (CPE), and other enzymes of the α-amidation pathway, were also found, confirming the presence of this pathway in scorpions.