Octahedron-based Projections as Intermediate Representations for Computer Imaging: TOAST, TEA, and More

This paper defines and discusses a set of rectangular all-sky projections that have no singular points, notably the Tesselated Octahedral Adaptive Spherical Transformation (or TOAST) developed initially for the WorldWide Telescope. These have proven to be useful as intermediate representations for imaging data where the application transforms dynamically from a standardized internal format to a specific format (projection, scaling, orientation, etc.) requested by the user. TOAST is strongly related to the Hierarchical Triangular Mesh pixelization and is particularly well adapted to situations where one wishes to traverse a hierarchy of images increasing in resolution. Because it can be recursively computed using a very simple algorithm it is particularly adaptable to use with graphical processing units

WorldWide Telescope in Research and Education

The WorldWide Telescope computer program, released to researchers and the public as a free resource in 2008 by Microsoft Research, has changed the way the ever-growing Universe of online astronomical data is viewed and understood. The WWT program can be thought of as a scriptable, interactive, richly visual browser of the multi-wavelength Sky as we see it from Earth, and of the Universe as we would travel within it. In its web API format, WWT is being used as a service to display professional research data. In its desktop format, WWT works in concert (thanks to SAMP and other IVOA standards) with more traditional research applications such as ds9, Aladin and TOPCAT. The WWT Ambassadors Program (founded in 2009) recruits and trains astrophysically-literate volunteers (including retirees) who use WWT as a teaching tool in online, classroom, and informal educational settings. Early quantitative studies of WWTA indicate that student experiences with WWT enhance science learning dramatically. Thanks to the wealth of data it can access, and the growing number of services to which it connects, WWT is now a key linking technology in the Seamless Astronomy environment we seek to offer researchers, teachers, and students alike.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, describes software available at worldwidetelescope.or

Emerging Ecology of a Sign Bilingualism and Co-enrollment Classroom: a Qualitative Analysis

This study documents the views and attitudes of stakeholders of the Hong Kong’s Sign Bilingualism and Co-enrollment (SLCO) Education Programme established in 2006, to identify an emerging ecology based on the SLCO classrooms in a primary school in which deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) as well as hearing participants, teachers and students alike, collaborated to create an inclusive culture in the school environment. Qualitative data were collected using two focus group discussions, each with six DHH students and six hearing students, and individual interviews with eleven parents of DHH and hearing students and six Deaf and hearing teachers. The data generated seven themes: positive impacts of sign language (i.e. HKSL), translanguaging, differences in English and Chinese achievement, positive attitudes towards co-enrollment, increase in students’ self-confidence, friendship and equal partnership, and importance and challenges of co-planning. Analysing these themes within the framework of evaluating inclusive education along the parameters of participation, achievement, and value of person as advanced in Anderson, Boyle and Deppeler (2014), we identified six dimensions to characterise the inclusive ecology of the SLCO classroom

WorldWide Telescope in Research and Education

The WorldWide Telescope computer program, released to researchers and the public as a free resource in 2008 by Microsoft Research, has changed the way the ever-growing Universe of online astronomical data is viewed and understood. The WWT program can be thought of as a scriptable, interactive, richly visual browser of the multi-wavelength Sky as we see it from Earth, and of the Universe as we would travel within it. In its web API format, WWT is being used as a service to display professional research data. In its desktop format, WWT works in concert (thanks to SAMP and other IVOA standards) with more traditional research applications such as ds9, Aladin and TOPCAT. The WWT Ambassadors Program (founded in 2009) recruits and trains astrophysically-literate volunteers (including retirees) who use WWT as a teaching tool in online, classroom, and informal educational settings. Early quantitative studies of WWTA indicate that student experiences with WWT enhance science learning dramatically. Thanks to the wealth of data it can access, and the growing number of services to which it connects, WWT is now a key linking technology in the Seamless Astronomy environment we seek to offer researchers, teachers, and students alike.Astronom

SIV Infection Induces Accumulation of Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells in the Gut Mucosa

Multiple studies suggest that plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are depleted and dysfunctional during human immunodeficiency virus/simian immunodeficiency virus (HIV/SIV) infection, but little is known about pDCs in the gut—the primary site of virus replication. Here, we show that during SIV infection, pDCs were reduced 3-fold in the circulation and significantly upregulated the gut-homing marker α4β7, but were increased 4-fold in rectal biopsies of infected compared to naive macaques. These data revise the understanding of pDC immunobiology during SIV infection, indicating that pDCs are not necessarily depleted, but instead may traffic to and accumulate in the gut mucosa

SIV Infection Induces Accumulation of Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells in the Gut Mucosa

Multiple studies suggest that plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are depleted and dysfunctional during human immunodeficiency virus/simian immunodeficiency virus (HIV/SIV) infection, but little is known about pDCs in the gut—the primary site of virus replication. Here, we show that during SIV infection, pDCs were reduced 3-fold in the circulation and significantly upregulated the gut-homing marker α4β7, but were increased 4-fold in rectal biopsies of infected compared to naive macaques. These data revise the understanding of pDC immunobiology during SIV infection, indicating that pDCs are not necessarily depleted, but instead may traffic to and accumulate in the gut mucosa

Peranan ASEAN dalam kesalinghubungan pengangkutan rel di Asia: evolusi, faktor dan prospek

Pengkritik biasanya menggambarkan ‘ASEAN Way’ sebagai proses yang lembap dalam mempromosi integrasi serantau. Kritikan tersebut telah membawa kepada persoalan berhubung dengan peranan ASEAN dalam prospek kesalinghubungan fizikal serantau. Setakat ini memang terdapat kekurangan kajian ekonomi politik berkenaan dengan peranan ASEAN dalam perkembangan kesalinghubungan rel serantau di Asia. Oleh itu, kajian ini bertujuan memenuhi lompang penyelidikan tersebut. Artikel ini bermula dengan penyingkapan sejarah asal-usul perkembangan jaringan keretapi merentasi Asia sejak zaman imperialisme bagi mengkaji evolusi dan pelbagai faktor yang mempengaruhi perkembangan kesalinghubungan pengangkutan rel di rantau tersebut. Berdasarkan data sekunder berkenaan perkembangan rangkaian keretapi di Asia, analisis menunjukkan bahawa faktor ekonomi merupakan pendorong utama bagi setiap fasa perkembangan jaringan rel di rantau tersebut. Faktor tersebut bertambah penting berikutan dengan peningkatan penglibatan Asia dalam rangkaian pengeluaran global serta peningkatan perdagangan intra-ASEAN dan perdagangan dengan rantau lain sejak 1990-an. Hasil kajian mendapati bahawa kesalinghubungan pengangkutan rel di Asia berkembang mengikut konteks ekonomi politik rantau tersebut tanpa mengikut acuan institusi Kesatuan Eropah. Pelaksanaan polisi adalah terikat dengan perundangan Kesatuan Eropah. Pendekatan ASEAN yang berasaskan persefahaman dan autonomi nasional memberi fleksibiliti kepada negara-negara anggota ASEAN dalam pelaksanaan kesalinghubungan. Namun demikian, potensi ekonomi yang tinggi telah meningkatkan kehendak politik dan komitmen pemimpin-pemimpin ASEAN bagi memastikan kelancaran pelaksanaan jaringan rel Trans-Asian walaupun terdapat beberapa halangan dan masalah daripada segi politik dan geografi/teknikal. Justeru, prospek perkembangan jaringan TAR adalah cerah dengan gabungan peranan ASEAN, initiatif China dan Jepun melalui Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity, Belt and Road Initiative dan Partnership for Quality Infrastructure, di samping bantuan teknikal dan kewangan daripada organisasi antarabangsa lain

Instability of retroviral vectors with HIV-1-specific RT aptamers due to cryptic splice sites in the U6 promoter

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Internal polymerase III promoters in retroviral vectors have been used extensively to express short RNA sequences, such as ribozymes, RNA aptamers or short interfering RNA inhibitors, in various positions and orientations. However, the stability of these promoters in the reverse orientation has not been rigorously evaluated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A series of retroviral vectors was generated carrying the U6+1 promoter with 3 different HIV-1 RT-specific RNA aptamers and one control aptamer, all in the reverse orientation. After shuttle packaging, the CD4⁺cell line CEMx174 was transduced with each vector, selected for expression of GFP, and challenged with HIV-1. We did not observe inhibition of HIV-1 replication in these transduced populations. PCR amplification of the U6+1 promoter-RNA aptamer inhibitor cassette from transduced CEMx174 cells and RT-PCR amplification from transfected Phoenix (amphotropic) packaging cells showed two distinct products: a full-length product of the expected size as well as a truncated product. The sequence of the full-length PCR product was identical to the predicted amplicon sequence. However, sequencing of the truncated product revealed a 139 bp deletion in the U6 promoter. This deletion decreased transcriptional activity of the U6 promoter. Analysis of the deleted sequences from the U6 promoter in the antisense direction indicated consensus splice donor, splice acceptor and branch point sequences.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The existence of a cryptic splice site in the U6 promoter when expressed in a retroviral vector in the reverse orientation generates deletions during packaging and may limit the utility of this promoter for expression of small RNA inhibitors.</p

A statistical gap-filling method to interpolate global monthly surface ocean carbon dioxide data

We have developed a statistical gap-filling method adapted to the specific coverage and prop-erties of observed fugacity of surface ocean CO2(fCO2). We have used this method to interpolate the Sur-face Ocean CO2Atlas (SOCAT) v2 database on a 2.5832.58 global grid (south of 708N) for 1985–2011 atmonthly resolution. The method combines a spatial interpolation based on a ‘‘radius of influence’’ to deter-mine nearby similar fCO2values with temporal harmonic and cubic spline curve-fitting, and also fits long-term trends and seasonal cycles. Interannual variability is established using deviations of observations fromthe fitted trends and seasonal cycles. An uncertainty is computed for all interpolated values based on thespatial and temporal range of the interpolation. Tests of the method using model data show that it performsas well as or better than previous regional interpolation methods, but in addition it provides a near-globaland interannual coverage