Museums, Nation and Political History in the Australian National Museum and the Canadian Museum of Civilization

The role museums play in shaping the public’s understanding of the past has recently become a matter of considerable interest for historians and others. In Canada and Australia, portraits of their country’s history created by national museums have ignited considerable controversy. The Canadian Museum of Civlization’s Canada Hall was the subject of a review by four historians, chosen to examine the Hall’s portrayal of political history, while the National Museum of Australia faced a highly politicised public review of all of its exhibits soon after the museum opened. By analysing and interpreting the findings of these reviews, the authors raise questions about the ability of museums to respond to historical controversy, shifting historiographies and changing understandings of what is important in the past

Structural Optimization and Thermal Modeling of Flux Switching Machine

The point of this study was to model a lumped parameter thermal network for flux switching machine. The model could be utilized to outline new cooling systems and as a developer for this sort of machines. The model developed is a thermal framework having segments essentially focused around existing literature. The losses in various machine sections were thought to have already found from the electromagnetic model. The elemental model can then be utilized to carry out simulations regarding cyclic loading as well as transient activities. The thermal model examined here is partitioned into different sectors, thereby empowering analysis of this machine. The model under investigation has been acknowledged by utilizing a COMSOL Multi-physics simulator and Matlab ® programming software. The heat exchange coefficients are characterized from information gathered from the comparative kind of machines. The developed framework also considers sensitivity analysis in terms of parametric effects on the behavior of the machine thermally. The developed model needs no substantial computing and can simply be run on a personal computer. The model can later be modified and connected to diverse machine developments. Structural topology optimization approach is adopted to find the optimal geometry. As a basic study, two optimization techniques i.e., genetic and simulated annealing algorithms have been adopted with the former based on the process of natural selection and the latter on the process of annealing (heating and cooling of metals). The design goal is to minimize the total dissipated losses to improve the overall efficiency and hence to achieve optimal design results

Genome-Wide Analysis of LIM Gene Family in Populus trichocarpa, Arabidopsis thaliana, and Oryza sativa

In Eukaryotes, LIM proteins act as developmental regulators in basic cellular processes such as regulating the transcription or organizing the cytoskeleton. The LIM domain protein family in plants has mainly been studied in sunflower and tobacco plants, where several of its members exhibit a specific pattern of expression in pollen. In this paper, we finely characterized in poplar six transcripts encoding these proteins. In Populus trichocarpa genome, the 12 LIM gene models identified all appear to be duplicated genes. In addition, we describe several new LIM domain proteins deduced from Arabidopsis and rice genomes, raising the number of LIM gene models to six for both species. Plant LIM genes have a core structure of four introns with highly conserved coding regions. We also identified new LIM domain proteins in several other species, and a phylogenetic analysis of plant LIM proteins reveals that they have undergone one or several duplication events during the evolution. We gathered several LIM protein members within new monophyletic groups. We propose to classify the plant LIM proteins into four groups: αLIM1, βLIM1, γLIM2, and δLIM2, subdivided according to their specificity to a taxonomic class and/or to their tissue-specific expression. Our investigation of the structure of the LIM domain proteins revealed that they contain many conserved motifs potentially involved in their function

Embryogenic potential and expression of embryogenesis-related genes in conifers are affected by treatment with a histone deacetylase inhibitor

Somatic embryogenesis is used for vegetative propagation of conifers. Embryogenic cultures can be established from zygotic embryos; however, the embryogenic potential decreases during germination. In Arabidopsis, LEAFY COTYLEDON (LEC) genes are expressed during the embryonic stage, and must be repressed to allow germination. Treatment with the histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A (TSA) causes de-repression of LEC genes. ABSCISICACID3 (ABI3) and its Zeamays ortholog VIVIPAROUS1 (VP1) act together with the LEC genes to promote embryo maturation. In this study, we have asked the question whether TSA treatment in a conifer affects the embryogenic potential and the expression of embryogenesis-related genes. We isolated two conifer LEC1-type HAP3 genes, HAP3A and HAP3B, from Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris. A comparative phylogenetic analysis of plant HAP3 genes suggests that HAP3A and HAP3B are paralogous genes originating from a duplication event in the conifer lineage. The expression of HAP3A is high, in both somatic and zygotic embryos, during early embryo development, but decreases during late embryogeny. In contrast, the expression of VP1 is initially low but increases during late embryogeny. After exposure to TSA, germinating somatic embryos of P. abies maintain the competence to differentiate embryogenic tissue, and simultaneously the germination progression is partially inhibited. Furthermore, when embryogenic cultures of P. abies are exposed to TSA during embryo maturation, the maturation process is arrested and the expression levels of PaHAP3A and PaVP1 are maintained, suggesting a possible link between chromatin structure and expression of embryogenesis-related genes in conifers

Scientific drilling projects in ancient lakes: integrating geological and biological histories

Sedimentary sequences in ancient or long-lived lakes can reach several thousands of meters in thickness and often provide an unrivalled perspective of the lake's regional climatic, environmental, and biological history. Over the last few years, deep drilling projects in ancient lakes became increasingly multi- and interdisciplinary, as, among others, seismological, sedimentological, biogeochemical, climatic, environmental, paleontological, and evolutionary information can be obtained from sediment cores. However, these multi- and interdisciplinary projects pose several challenges. The scientists involved typically approach problems from different scientific perspectives and backgrounds, and setting up the program requires clear communication and the alignment of interests. One of the most challenging tasks, besides the actual drilling operation, is to link diverse datasets with varying resolution, data quality, and age uncertainties to answer interdisciplinary questions synthetically and coherently. These problems are especially relevant when secondary data, i.e., datasets obtained independently of the drilling operation, are incorporated in analyses. Nonetheless, the inclusion of secondary information, such as isotopic data from fossils found in outcrops or genetic data from extant species, may help to achieve synthetic answers. Recent technological and methodological advances in paleolimnology are likely to increase the possibilities of integrating secondary information, e.g., through molecular dating of molecular phylogenies. Some of the new approaches have started to revolutionize scientific drilling in ancient lakes, but at the same time, they also add a new layer of complexity to the generation and analysis of sediment core data. The enhanced opportunities presented by new scientific approaches to study the paleolimnological history of these lakes, therefore, come at the expense of higher logistic, communication, and analytical efforts. Here we review types of data that can be obtained in ancient lake drilling projects and the analytical approaches that can be applied to empirically and statistically link diverse datasets for creating an integrative perspective on geological and biological data. In doing so, we highlight strengths and potential weaknesses of new methods and analyses, and provide recommendations for future interdisciplinary deep drilling projects

GA4GH: International policies and standards for data sharing across genomic research and healthcare.

The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) aims to accelerate biomedical advances by enabling the responsible sharing of clinical and genomic data through both harmonized data aggregation and federated approaches. The decreasing cost of genomic sequencing (along with other genome-wide molecular assays) and increasing evidence of its clinical utility will soon drive the generation of sequence data from tens of millions of humans, with increasing levels of diversity. In this perspective, we present the GA4GH strategies for addressing the major challenges of this data revolution. We describe the GA4GH organization, which is fueled by the development efforts of eight Work Streams and informed by the needs of 24 Driver Projects and other key stakeholders. We present the GA4GH suite of secure, interoperable technical standards and policy frameworks and review the current status of standards, their relevance to key domains of research and clinical care, and future plans of GA4GH. Broad international participation in building, adopting, and deploying GA4GH standards and frameworks will catalyze an unprecedented effort in data sharing that will be critical to advancing genomic medicine and ensuring that all populations can access its benefits

Identification, cloning and mapping of avirulence-linked molecular markers from the Hessian fly

The Hessian fly has an intimate genetic relationship with wheat, and the two species have co-evolved. The plant has developed genes that allow it to resist infestation by the fly. The fly has developed mutations in avirulence genes that allow it to overcome this resistance. This interaction has not been characterized at the molecular level, and much is to be learned about the interaction if durable resistance to the Hessian fly is to be developed into wheat cultivars. We are in the process of identifying and cloning the genes from the fly that are responsible for inducing a resistance response in the plant. A direct, map-based approach is being pursued because little biochemical information is available about the fly-wheat interaction. A genetic map of the Hessian fly was constructed to aid in predicting the potential success of a positional cloning approach, and to aid in the acquisition of molecular markers for Hessian fly avirulence loci. The Hessian fly has a relatively small genome (98 megabases, 545 cM) and a relatively high rate of recombination. About 180 kb represents one centimorgan of recombination. Thus, map-based cloning in the Hessian fly is feasible. Molecular markers were identified that are within walking distance of the vH13 locus—the locus that confers avirulence to the H13 wheat resistance gene. Positional cloning of this avirulence locus is underway