IVOA Recommendation: Universal Worker Service Pattern Version 1.0

The Universal Worker Service (UWS) pattern defines how to manage asynchronous execution of jobs on a service. Any application of the pattern defines a family of related services with a common service contract. Possible uses of the pattern are also described

Speech characteristics of monozygotic twins and a same-sex sibling: an acoustic case study of coarticulation patterns in read speech

This case study reports on an acoustic investigation of the motor speech characteristics of a set of young adult male monozygotic (MZ) twins and compares them to those of an age- and sex-matched sibling who participated in the study 2 years later to match for demographic factors. Coarticulation patterns were investigated from read samples of consonant-vowel sequences in monosyllabic words containing a variety of consonants and vowels. This was done by examining F2 vowel onsets and F2 vowel targets, plotted as F2 locus equations. Data were processed for between-sibling differences using a number of statistical tests. Results indicated that the MZ twins displayed F2 parameters and coarticulation patterns which were more similar than those of their age- and sex-matched sibling. The results of this case study therefore suggest that acoustic phonetic parameters used to index coarticulation patterns have the potential to profile some of the similarities and differences in the speech characteristics of genetically related individuals

VAMDC as a Resource for Atomic and Molecular Data and the New Release of VALD

The Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Centre (VAMDC) (M.L. Dubernet et al. 2010, JQSRT 111, 2151) is an EU-FP7 e-infrastructure project devoted to building a common electronic infrastructure for the exchange and distribution of atomic and molecular data. It involves two dozen teams from six EU member states (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, United Kingdom) as well as Russia, Serbia, and Venezuela. Within VAMDC scientists from many different disciplines in atomic and molecular physics collaborate with users of their data and also with scientists and engineers from the information and communication technology community. In this presentation an overview of the current status of VAMDC and its capabilities will be provided. In the second part of the presentation I will focus on one of the databases which have become part of the VAMDC platform, the Vienna Atomic Line Data Base (VALD). VALD has developed into a well-known resource of atomic data for spectroscopy particularly in astrophysics. A new release, VALD-3, will provide numerous improvements over its predecessor. This particularly relates to the data contents where new sets of atomic data for both precision spectroscopy (i.e., with data for observed energy levels) as well as opacity calculations (i.e., with data involving predicted energy levels) have been included. Data for selected diatomic molecules have been added and a new system for data distribution and data referencing provides for more convenience in using the upcoming third release of VALD.Comment: 8 pages, 1 tabl

Stark Broadening of several Ar I Spectral Lines in the Visible Part of the Spectrum

In order to complete data on Stark broadening parameters for Ar I line in the visible spectrum, we determined Stark widths and shifts due to electron, proton, and ionized helium impacts, for nine lines (4191.0, 4259.4, 5912.1, 6043.2, 6045.0, 6752.9, 7503.9, 7514.6, 7724.2 {\AA}), using jK coupling and semiclassical-perturbation theory. The obtained results will enter the STARK-B database, which is a part of Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Center

VOSpace: a Prototype for Grid 2.0

As Grid 1.0 was characterized by distributed computation, so Grid 2.0 will be characterized by distributed data and the infrastructure needed to support and exploit it: the emerging success of Amazon S3 is already testimony to this. VOSpace is the IVOA interface standard for accessing distributed data. Although the base definition (VOSpace 1.0) only relates to flat, unconnected data stores, subsequent versions will add additional layers of functionality. In this paper, we consider how incorporating popular web concepts such as folksonomies (tagging), social networking, and data-spaces could lead to a much richer data environment than provided by a traditional collection of networked data stores

Structure of the herpes-simplex virus portal-vertex

Herpesviruses include many important human pathogens such as herpes simplex virus, cytomegalovirus, varicella-zoster virus, and the oncogenic Epstein–Barr virus and Kaposi sarcoma–associated herpesvirus. Herpes virions contain a large icosahedral capsid that has a portal at a unique 5-fold vertex, similar to that seen in the tailed bacteriophages. The portal is a molecular motor through which the viral genome enters the capsid during virion morphogenesis. The genome also exits the capsid through the portal-vertex when it is injected through the nuclear pore into the nucleus of a new host cell to initiate infection. Structural investigations of the herpesvirus portal-vertex have proven challenging, owing to the small size of the tail-like portal-vertex–associated tegument (PVAT) and the presence of the tegument layer that lays between the nucleocapsid and the viral envelope, obscuring the view of the portal-vertex. Here, we show the structure of the herpes simplex virus portal-vertex at subnanometer resolution, solved by electron cryomicroscopy (cryoEM) and single-particle 3D reconstruction. This led to a number of new discoveries, including the presence of two previously unknown portal-associated structures that occupy the sites normally taken by the penton and the Ta triplex. Our data revealed that the PVAT is composed of 10 copies of the C-terminal domain of pUL25, which are uniquely arranged as two tiers of star-shaped density. Our 3D reconstruction of the portal-vertex also shows that one end of the viral genome extends outside the portal in the manner described for some bacteriophages but not previously seen in any eukaryote viruses. Finally, we show that the viral genome is consistently packed in a highly ordered left-handed spool to form concentric shells of DNA. Our data provide new insights into the structure of a molecular machine critical to the biology of an important class of human pathogens

IVOA Recommendation: IVOA Support Interfaces

This document describes the minimum interface that a (SOAP- or REST-based) web service requires to participate in the IVOA. Note that this is not required of standard VO services developed prior to this specification, although uptake is strongly encouraged on any subsequent revision. All new standard VO services, however, must feature a VOSI-compliant interface. This document has been produced by the Grid and Web Services Working Group. It has been reviewed by IVOA Members and other interested parties, and has been endorsed by the IVOA Executive Committee as an IVOA Recommendation. It is a stable document and may be used as reference material or cited as a normative reference from another document. IVOA's role in making the Recommendation is to draw attention to the specification and to promote its widespread deployment. This enhances the functionality and interoperability inside the Astronomical Community

Stark Broadening and White Dwarfs

White dwarf and pre-white dwarf atmospheres are one of the best examples for the application of Stark broadening research results in astrophysics, due to plasma conditions very favorable for this line broadening mechanism. For example in hot hydrogen-deficient (pre-) white dwarf stars Teff = 75 000 K - 180 000 K and log g = 5.5-8 [cgs]. Even for much cooler DA and DB white dwarfs with typical effective temperatures of 10 000 K - 20 000 K, Stark broadening is usually the dominant broadening mechanism. In this review, Stark broadening in white dwarf spectra is considered and the attention is drawn to the STARK-B database (http://stark-b.obspm.fr/), containing Stark broadening parameters needed for white dwarf spectra analysis and synthesis, as well as to the new search facilities which will provide the collective effort to develop Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Center (VAMDC - http://vamdc.org/)