721 research outputs found
SAMP, the Simple Application Messaging Protocol: Letting applications talk to each other
SAMP, the Simple Application Messaging Protocol, is a hub-based communication
standard for the exchange of data and control between participating client
applications. It has been developed within the context of the Virtual
Observatory with the aim of enabling specialised data analysis tools to
cooperate as a loosely integrated suite, and is now in use by many and varied
desktop and web-based applications dealing with astronomical data. This paper
reviews the requirements and design principles that led to SAMP's
specification, provides a high-level description of the protocol, and discusses
some of its common and possible future usage patterns, with particular
attention to those factors that have aided its success in practice.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for Virtual Observatory special issue
of Astronomy and Computin
IVOA Recommendation: SAMP - Simple Application Messaging Protocol Version 1.3
SAMP is a messaging protocol that enables astronomy software tools to
interoperate and communicate.
IVOA members have recognised that building a monolithic tool that attempts to
fulfil all the requirements of all users is impractical, and it is a better use
of our limited resources to enable individual tools to work together better.
One element of this is defining common file formats for the exchange of data
between different applications. Another important component is a messaging
system that enables the applications to share data and take advantage of each
other's functionality. SAMP builds on the success of a prior messaging
protocol, PLASTIC, which has been in use since 2006 in over a dozen astronomy
applications and has proven popular with users and developers. It is also
intended to form a framework for more general messaging requirements
Hierarchical progressive surveys. Multi-resolution HEALPix data structures for astronomical images, catalogues, and 3-dimensional data cubes
Scientific exploitation of the ever increasing volumes of astronomical data
requires efficient and practical methods for data access, visualisation, and
analysis. Hierarchical sky tessellation techniques enable a multi-resolution
approach to organising data on angular scales from the full sky down to the
individual image pixels. Aims. We aim to show that the Hierarchical progressive
survey (HiPS) scheme for describing astronomical images, source catalogues, and
three-dimensional data cubes is a practical solution to managing large volumes
of heterogeneous data and that it enables a new level of scientific
interoperability across large collections of data of these different data
types. Methods. HiPS uses the HEALPix tessellation of the sphere to define a
hierarchical tile and pixel structure to describe and organise astronomical
data. HiPS is designed to conserve the scientific properties of the data
alongside both visualisation considerations and emphasis on the ease of
implementation. We describe the development of HiPS to manage a large number of
diverse image surveys, as well as the extension of hierarchical image systems
to cube and catalogue data. We demonstrate the interoperability of HiPS and
Multi-Order Coverage (MOC) maps and highlight the HiPS mechanism to provide
links to the original data. Results. Hierarchical progressive surveys have been
generated by various data centres and groups for ~200 data collections
including many wide area sky surveys, and archives of pointed observations.
These can be accessed and visualised in Aladin, Aladin Lite, and other
applications. HiPS provides a basis for further innovations in the use of
hierarchical data structures to facilitate the description and statistical
analysis of large astronomical data sets.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Early psychosocial intervention in Alzheimer’s disease:Cost utility evaluation alongside the Danish Alzheimer’s Intervention Study (DAISY)
OBJECTIVE: To assess the cost utility of early psychosocial intervention for patients with Alzheimer's disease and their primary caregivers. DESIGN: Cost utility evaluation alongside a multicentre, randomised controlled trial with 3 years of follow-up. SETTING: Primary care and memory clinics in five Danish districts. PARTICIPANTS: 330 community-dwelling patients and their primary caregivers. INTERVENTION: Psychosocial counselling and support lasting 8–12 months after diagnosis and follow-up at 3, 6, 12 and 36 months in the intervention group or follow-up only in the control group. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measure was the cost of additional quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Costs were measured from a societal perspective, including the costs of healthcare, social care, informal care and production loss. QALYs were estimated separately for the patient and the caregiver before aggregation for the main analysis. RESULTS: None of the observed cost and QALY measures were significantly different between the intervention and control groups, although a tendency was noted for psychosocial care leading to cost increases with informal care that was not outweighed by the tendency for cost savings with formal care. The probability of psychosocial intervention being cost-effective did not exceed 36% for any threshold value. The alternative scenario analysis showed that the probability of cost-effectiveness increased over the range of threshold values used if the cost perspective was restricted to formal healthcare. CONCLUSIONS: A multifaceted, psychosocial intervention programme was found unlikely to be cost-effective from a societal perspective. The recommendation for practice in settings that are similar to the Danish setting is to provide follow-up with referral to available local support programmes when needed, and to restrict large multifaceted intervention programmes to patients and caregivers with special needs until further evidence for cost-effectiveness emerges. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was registered in the Clinical Trial Database as ISRCTN74848736
On the origin of the A and B electronic Raman scattering peaks in the superconducting state of YBaCuO
The electronic Raman scattering has been investigated in optimally oxygen
doped YBaCuO single crystals as well as in crystals
with non-magnetic, Zn, and magnetic, Ni, impurities. We found that the
intensity of the A peak is impurity independent and their energy to
ratio is almost constant (). Moreover, the
signal at the B channel is completely smeared out when non-magnetic Zn
impurities are present. These results are qualitatively interpreted in terms of
the Zeyher and Greco's theory that relates the electronic Raman scattering in
the A and B channels to \textit{d}-CDW and superconducting order
parameters fluctuations, respectively.Comment: Submited to Phys. Rev. Let
Honey bee foraging distance depends on month and forage type
To investigate the distances at which honey bee foragers collect nectar and pollen, we analysed 5,484 decoded waggle dances made to natural forage sites to determine monthly foraging distance for each forage type. Firstly, we found significantly fewer overall dances made for pollen (16.8 %) than for non-pollen, presumably nectar (83.2 %; P < 2.2 × 10−23). When we analysed distance against month and forage type, there was a significant interaction between the two factors, which demonstrates that in some months, one forage type is collected at farther distances, but this would reverse in other months. Overall, these data suggest that distance, as a proxy for forage availability, is not significantly and consistently driven by need for one type of forage over the other
Programmable Sequence-Specific Transcriptional Regulation of Mammalian Genome Using Designer TAL Effectors
The ability to direct functional proteins to specific DNA sequences is a long-sought goal in the study and engineering of biological processes. Transcription activator–like effectors (TALEs) from Xanthomonas sp. are site-specific DNA-binding proteins that can be readily designed to target new sequences. Because TALEs contain a large number of repeat domains, it can be difficult to synthesize new variants. Here we describe a method that overcomes this problem. We leverage codon degeneracy and type IIs restriction enzymes to generate orthogonal ligation linkers between individual repeat monomers, thus allowing full-length, customized, repeat domains to be constructed by hierarchical ligation. We synthesized 17 TALEs that are customized to recognize specific DNA-binding sites, and demonstrate that they can specifically modulate transcription of endogenous genes (SOX2 and KLF4) in human cells.Harvard University. Society of FellowsNational Human Genome Research Institute (U.S.) (Center for Excellence in Genomics Science P50 HG003170)United States. Dept. of Energy (Genomes to Life DE-FG02-02ER63445)United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (W911NF-08-1-0254, G.M.C.)Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired EngineeringNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Transformative R01 (R01 NS073124-01))European School of Molecular Medicine (predoctoral fellowship
Genetic engineering of human ES and iPS cells using TALE nucleases
Targeted genetic engineering of human pluripotent cells is a prerequisite for exploiting their full potential. Such genetic manipulations can be achieved using site-specific nucleases. Here we engineered transcription activator–like effector nucleases (TALENs) for five distinct genomic loci. At all loci tested we obtained human embryonic stem cell (ESC) and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) clones carrying transgenic cassettes solely at the TALEN-specified location. Our data suggest that TALENs employing the specific architectures described here mediate site-specific genome modification in human pluripotent cells with similar efficiency and precision as do zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs).National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R37-CA084198)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant RO1-CA087869)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant RO1-HD045022)Howard Hughes Medical Institut
Does plant diversity affect the water balance of established grassland systems like in manipulative biodiversity experiments?
Land-use intensification and biodiversity loss are known drivers of the water cycle but their interactions are unclear. We investigated how evapotranspiration (ETa), downward water flux (DF), and capillary rise (CR) in topsoil and subsoil are related to land-use and plant diversity in established, commercially managed grassland and compared these results to findings from an experiment in which plant diversity was manipulated.
In three Central European regions (“Biodiversity Exploratories”), we studied 29 grassland plots (50 m x 50 m; 9-11 plots per region). Land-use intensity increases in the order, pasture < mown pasture < meadow. In 2010-2015, we measured soil moisture, meteorological conditions, plant species richness, number of species in the functional groups of grasses, herbs, and legumes, and root biomass. ETa, DF, and CR were calculated for two soil layers with a soil water balance model. Land-use and biodiversity effects on water fluxes were analyzed with repeated-measures analysis of variance.
Land-use intensity did not affect water fluxes. Species richness did not influence DF and CR. ETa from topsoil decreased with increasing species richness while ETa from subsoil increased. Opposing effects on ETa in the two soil layers were also observed for the number of herbs and legumes. In manipulative biodiversity experiments, such opposing effects were explained by higher biomass in species-rich mixtures, which increases shading of topsoil and reduces evaporation. In subsoil, deeper roots in species-rich mixtures increased transpiration. In the commercially managed grasslands, biomass and species richness correlated negatively because fertilizer application increased biomass and decreased species richness. Thus, similar effects of biodiversity on water fluxes in commercially managed and experimentally manipulated grassland had different reasons. We speculate that improved infiltration and enhanced bioturbation in species-rich grassland explained our observations
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