Workflows, processes and technical solutions for seeding the research data commons

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) completed an Australian National Data Service (ANDS) funded “Seeding the Commons Project” to contribute metadata to Research Data Australia. The project employed two Research Data Librarians from October 2009 through to July 2010. Technical support for the project was provided by QUT’s High Performance Computing and Research Support Specialists. ---------- The project identified and described QUT’s category 1 (ARC / NHMRC) research datasets. Metadata for the research datasets was stored in QUT’s Research Data Repository (Architecta Mediaflux). Metadata which was suitable for inclusion in Research Data Australia was made available to the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) in RIF-CS format. ---------- Several workflows and processes were developed during the project. 195 data interviews took place in connection with 424 separate research activities which resulted in the identification of 492 datasets. ---------- The project had a high level of technical support from QUT High Performance Computing and Research Support Specialists who developed the Research Data Librarian interface to the data repository that enabled manual entry of interview data and dataset metadata, creation of relationships between repository objects. The Research Data Librarians mapped the QUT metadata repository fields to RIF-CS and an application was created by the HPC and Research Support Specialists to generate RIF-CS files for harvest by the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC). ---------- This poster will focus on the workflows and processes established for the project including: ---------- • Interview processes and instruments • Data Ingest from existing systems (including mapping to RIF-CS) • Data entry and the Data Librarian interface to Mediaflux • Verification processes • Mapping and creation of RIF-CS for the ARD

Quantum heat engine with continuum working medium

We introduce a new quantum heat engine, in which the working medium is a quantum system with a discrete level and a continuum. Net work done by this engine is calculated and discussed. The results show that this quantum heat engine behaves like the two-level quantum heat engine in both the high-temperature and the low-temperature limits, but it operates differently in temperatures between them. The efficiency of this quantum heat engine is also presented and discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Conjecture on the Avoidance of the Big Crunch

KKLT give a mechanism to generate de Sitter vacua in string theory. And recently, the scenario, {\em landscape}, is suggested to explain the problem of the cosmological constant. In this scenario, the cosmological constant is a de Sitter vacuum. The vacuum is metastable and would decay into an anti-de Sitter vacuum finally. Then the catastrophe of the big crunch appears. In this paper by conjecturing the physics at the Planck scale, we modify the definition of the Hawking temperature. Hinted by this modification, we modify the Friedmann equation. we find that this avoid the singularity and gives a bouncing cosmological model.Comment: 6 page

An automatic taxonomy of galaxy morphology using unsupervised machine learning

This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2017 the Author (s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reservedWe present an unsupervised machine learning technique that automatically segments and labels galaxies in astronomical imaging surveys using only pixel data. Distinct from previous unsupervised machine learning approaches used in astronomy we use no pre-selection or pre-filtering of target galaxy type to identify galaxies that are similar. We demonstrate the technique on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Frontier Fields. By training the algorithm using galaxies from one field (Abell 2744) and applying the result to another (MACS 0416.1-2403), we show how the algorithm can cleanly separate early and late type galaxies without any form of pre-directed training for what an 'early' or 'late' type galaxy is. We then apply the technique to the HST Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) fields, creating a catalogue of approximately 60 000 classifications. We show how the automatic classification groups galaxies of similar morphological (and photometric) type and make the classifications public via a catalogue, a visual catalogue and galaxy similarity search. We compare the CANDELS machine-based classifications to human-classifications from the Galaxy Zoo: CANDELS project. Although there is not a direct mapping between Galaxy Zoo and our hierarchical labelling, we demonstrate a good level of concordance between human and machine classifications. Finally, we show how the technique can be used to identify rarer objects and present lensed galaxy candidates from the CANDELS imaging.Peer reviewe

Prokineticin 2 Is a Target Gene of Proneural Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Factors for Olfactory Bulb Neurogenesis

Prokineticin 2, a cysteine-rich secreted protein, regulates diverse biological functions including the neurogenesis of olfactory bulb. Here we show that the PK2 gene is a functional target gene of proneural basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) factors. Neurogenin 1 and MASH1 activate PK2 transcription by binding to E-box motifs on the PK2 promoter with the same set of E-boxes critical for another pair of bHLH factors, CLOCK and BMAL1, in the regulation of circadian clock. Our results establish PK2 as a common functional target gene for different bHLH transcriptional factors in mediating their respective functions

Singlet and triplet BCS pairs in a gas of two-species fermionic polar molecules

We investigate the BCS pairing in a mixture of fermionic polar molecules with two different hyperfine states. We derive a set of coupled gap equations and find that this system supports both spin-singlet and -triplet BCS pairs. We also calculate the critical temperatures and the angular dependence of order parameters. In addition, by tuning short-range interaction between inter-species molecules, the transition between singlet and triplet paired states may be realized.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Decatenation checkpoint deficiency in stem and progenitor cells

SummaryThe decatenation checkpoint normally delays entry into mitosis until chromosomes have been disentangled through the action of topoisomerase II. We have found that the decatenation checkpoint is highly inefficient in mouse embryonic stem cells, mouse neural progenitor cells, and human CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells. Checkpoint efficiency increased when embryonic stem cells were induced to differentiate, which suggests that the deficiency is a feature of the undifferentiated state. Embryonic stem cells completed cell division in the presence of entangled chromosomes, which resulted in severe aneuploidy in the daughter cells. The decatenation checkpoint deficiency is likely to increase the rates of chromosome aberrations in progenitor cells, stem cells, and cancer stem cells

The influence of deposit-feeding on chlorophyll-a degradation in coastal marine sediments

To determine how macrofaunal activity affects rates and mechanisms of Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) decomposition, we measured Chl-a concentrations during laboratory incubations of surface sediment with varying abundances of a subsurface deposit-feeder, Yoldia limatula. Decomposition patterns of Chl-a in sediment cores with and without a layer of algal-enriched sediment added to the surface were compared. Decomposition rate constants, kd, were calculated from the loss of reactive Chl-a and further quantified using a nonsteady state, depth-dependent, reaction-diffusion model. Values of kd decreased approximately exponentially with depth and were directly proportional to the number of Yoldia present. Yoldia increased the kd of both natural sedimentary Chl-a and algal enriched Chl-a in the upper 2 cm by up to 5.7×. Surface sediment porosity, penetration depths of a conservative tracer of diffusion (Br-), and oxidized metabolic substrates (e.g. Fe(III)) all increased significantly in the presence of Yoldia. Macrofaunal bioturbation increased the importance of suboxic degradation pathways. These experiments demonstrated that organic compounds from a single source can have a continuum of degradation rate constants as a function of biogenically determined environmental conditions (Chl-a kd ˜ 0.0043-0.20 d-1). In particular, Chl-a can have a continuum of kd values related to redox conditions, transport, and macrofauna abundance as a function of depth