Spitzer Heritage Archive

The Spitzer Heritage Archive will host all the raw and final reprocessed science and calibration data products from the observations made by Spitzer Space Telescope. The interactive web interface will give users the tools to search the database and explore their search results interactively. We also reuse the existing software and services and pay close attention to the re-usability of the newly developed system, making it easy to expand and adopt new technology in the future. This paper discusses our design principles, system architecture, reuse of the existing software, and reusable components of the system

Next Generation Search Interfaces

Astronomers are constantly looking for easier ways to access multiple data sets. While much effort is spent on VO, little thought is given to the types of User Interfaces we need to effectively search this sort of data. For instance, an astronomer might need to search Spitzer, WISE, and 2MASS catalogs and images then see the results presented together in one UI. Moving seamlessly between data sets is key to presenting integrated results. Results need to be viewed using first class, web based, integrated FITS viewers, XY Plots, and advanced table display tools. These components should be able to handle very large datasets. To make a powerful Web based UI that can manage and present multiple searches to the user requires taking advantage of many HTML5 features. AJAX is used to start searches and present results. Push notifications (Server Sent Events) monitor background jobs. Canvas is required for advanced result displays. Lesser known CSS3 technologies makes it all flow seamlessly together. At IPAC, we have been developing our Firefly toolkit for several years. We are now using it to solve this multiple data set, multiple queries, and integrated presentation problem to create a powerful research experience. Firefly was created in IRSA, the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu). Firefly is the core for applications serving many project archives, including Spitzer, Planck, WISE, PTF, LSST and others. It is also used in IRSA's new Finder Chart and catalog and image displays

Natural stable isotope ratios and fatty acid profiles of estuarine tidal flat nematodes reveal very limited niche overlap among co-occurring species

The high local-scale species diversity of marine meiofauna, and of nematodes in particular, has puzzled ecologists for decades. Both pronounced niche differentiation and neutral dynamics have been suggested as mechanisms underlying that high diversity. Differential resource use is the most plausible basis for niche differentiation, yet the vast majority of studies demonstrating that this is prominent in marine nematodes are based on laboratory experiments on single species or highly simplified assemblages. Only a small number of studies have investigated resource differentiation under natural conditions. Here we use natural stable-isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen, as well as fatty-acid profiles, to assess differential resource use and trophic structure in nine abundant estuarine tidal flat nematode species, comprising different presumed feeding modes (deposit feeders, epistratum feeders, predators) and resource guilds (herbivores, carnivores) based on buccal cavity morphology. Nematodes comprise up to three different trophic levels (from primary to tertiary consumers), yet with the exception of some herbivores, omnivory is prominent. Bivariate isotopic niche spaces were of similar size among most species, irrespective of their trophic level. Herbivory not only contributed importantly to the nutrition of suspected herbivores, but also to that of species that were previously considered carnivores based on the morphology of their buccal cavity. Herbivory mainly targets diatoms in some nematode species, yet includes dinoflagellates in others. Bacteria, in contrast, appear to be of limited nutritional importance. Odontophora setosus is identified as a predator/omnivore (possibly of heterotrophic protists) with a trophic level in between that of secondary and tertiary consumers. Our study thus demonstrates that resource differentiation is pronounced among as well as within nematode feeding modes and resource guilds. However, this study included only the most abundant species of the in situ community, hence it remains to be established whether and to what extent its conclusions can be extrapolated to entire, often highly species-rich communities

Software Architecture of the Spitzer Space Telescope Uplink/Archive

The Spitzer Science Center (SSC) provides a set of science user tools to support planning and archive access via the Internet. We will present the software architecture and design principles that underlie the Uplink/Archive subsystem of the SSC. Included in the discussion will be a review of the original Uplink architecture as presented in P1-59 ADASS 1999 and the evolutionary changes for the current deployment. The Archive subsystem is based on the same set of core components used in the Uplink subsystem but is based on Web services technology to allow open access to the Archive. Web services technology provides a basis for searching the archive and retrieving data products

Immune Efficacy of a Genetically Engineered Vaccine against Lymphocystis Disease Virus: Analysis of Different Immunization Strategies

Here, we report the construction of a vaccine against lymphocystis disease virus (LCDV) using nucleic acid vaccination technology. A fragment of the major capsid protein encoding gene from an LCDV isolated from China (LCDV-cn) was cloned into an eukaryotic expression vector pEGFP-N2, yielding a recombinant plasmid pEGFP-N2-LCDV-cn0.6 kb. This plasmid was immediately expressed after liposomal transfer into the Japanese flounder embryo cell line. The recombinant plasmid was inoculated into Japanese flounder via two routes (intramuscular injection and hypodermic injection) at three doses (0.1, 5, and 15 μg), and then T-lymphopoiesis in different tissues and antibodies raised against LCDV were evaluated. The results indicated that this recombinant plasmid induced unique humoral or cell-mediated immune responses depending on the inoculation route and conferred immune protection. Furthermore, the humoral immune responses and protective effects were significantly increased at higher vaccine doses via the two injection routes. Plasmid pEGFP-N2-LCDV0.6 kb is therefore a promising vaccine candidate against LCDV in Japanese flounder

Spatiotemporal Tradeoffs and Synergies in Vegetation Vitality and Poverty Transition in Rocky Desertification Area

Vegetation recovery and poverty alleviation are critical problems in the karst national designed poor counties (NPDC) in southwest China. However, little information is available about the relationship between poverty and vegetation dynamics in these areas. In this study, we used remote sensing and statistical datasets from 2000 to 2015 to identify the relations between vegetation dynamics and poverty among the NPDC in southwest rocky desertification areas. We estimated the vegetation dynamics using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and poverty with the rural per capita net income. Local indicator of spatial association and the space-time transition type of poverty were applied to identify spatial patterns of the poverty spatial distribution relationship and transition. Also, poverty, natural and ecological governance factorswere assessed using the Geodetector method to uncover the driving factors of karst vegetation. The results showed that vegetation increased significantly (p < 0.05) in karst NPDC (82.82%) and rocky desertification control counties (78.77%). The karst NPDC was significantly clustered. The hot spots of rural per capita net income changed from west and north (2000) to only north (2015) and cold spots changed from east and south (2000) to only south (2015). The rural per capita net income spatiotemporal transitionwas higher in 2000 than in 2015.Wefound aweak synergy between vegetation change and poverty type transition in 42.86% of the browning counties, 45.45% in the slowly greening counties, and 43.65% in stable greening counties. However, 57.50% of counties in the quick greening counties showed a tradeoff relationship with the poverty type transition. The rocky desertification rate and ecological engineering measures affected vegetation dynamics importantly. The results will help decisionmakers to understand the interdependence between vegetation and poverty. This will contribute to better policies formulation to tackle poverty in the karst rocky desertification area

Using Firefly Tools to Enhance Archive Web Pages

Astronomy web developers are looking for fast and powerful HTML 5/AJAX tools to enhance their web archives. We are exploring ways to make this easier for the developer. How could you have a full FITS visualizer or a Web 2.0 table that supports paging, sorting, and filtering in your web page in 10 minutes? Can it be done without even installing any software or maintaining a server? Firefly is a powerful, configurable system for building web-based user interfaces to access astronomy science archives. It has been in production for the past three years. Recently, we have made some of the advanced components available through very simple JavaScript calls. This allows a web developer, without any significant knowledge of Firefly, to have FITS visualizers, advanced table display, and spectrum plots on their web pages with minimal learning curve. Because we use cross-site JSONP, installing a server is not necessary. Web sites that use these tools can be created in minutes. Firefly was created in IRSA, the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu). We are using Firefly to serve many projects including Spitzer, Planck, WISE, PTF, LSST and others

A Kind of Change Management Method for Global Value Chain Optimization and Its Case Study

Any successful change in an organization requires an appropriate change management method and a process for involved staff and department to accept the change and become engaged in order to achieve its success. It is even more important and difficult to adopt a novel change management method to bring multiple organizations across the business value chain into the change implementation. This research does not focused on change management within a single organization but rather emphasizes a change management method, including an appropriate change framework, well-defined critical success factors (CSFs), and related tools for implementing change in multiple organizations. This article introduces one kind of change management method to support a process change through global value chain (GVC) in multiple organizations, and the method is used in a case study to achieve a successful change. In order to succeed in optimizing GVC performance, this research applies the proposed change management method to the case GVC, to support technical change by obtaining the staff's full commitment and engagement. The achieved results from the case study prove that successful change comes not only through technical solutions implemented in the problem process throughout the GVC but also through strong support and engagement from all organizations and involved staff. The proposed change management method not only helped the case GVC to implement change successfully but also can help the relevant multiple organizations to improve the GVC performance and add value by optimizing their problem process.©2021 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Image Processing Application for Cognition: IPAC Architecture and Implementation in Java

An application framework for advanced image processing and visualization is presented. It provides common two-dimensional operators and implements recent developments in the field of image processing as well as original algorithms based on nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs). It is platform independent and has the capability of extensibility. This objective is achieved by exploiting the object-oriented paradigm. A graphical user interface (GUI) provides processing, analysis and visualization in a highly integrated, easy to use environment. Applications of the developed system to images obtained by the Spitzer Space Telescope are demonstrated