1,570 research outputs found
The Case for Cosmic Biology: an ANU public lecture by Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, recorded 3 February 1987
No full textRecorded at the Leonard Huxley Lecture Theatre, 3 February 1987
The search for our cosmic ancestry
No full textThe idea that life is a cosmic, rather than a purely terrestrial phenomenon, has progressed from scientific heresy to mainstream science within the short timespan of a few decades. The theory of cometary panspermia developed by Fred Hoyle and the present author in the 1970's has been vindicated by a spate of new discoveries in astronomy and biology, and also with startling new evidence of microbial fossils in meteorites and micrometeorites. The recent Kepler Telescope searches for exoplanets have indicated the presence of over 100 billion habitable planets separated by only a few light years, thus making panspermia and the transfer of microbial life between such planets an inevitable fact. The book presents a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe theory of cometary panspermia in a manner accessible to a wide general readership
A star-forming galaxy at z= 5.78 in the Chandra Deep Field South
No full textWe report the discovery of a luminous z = 5.78 star-forming galaxy in the Chandra Deep Field South. This galaxy was selected as an ‘i-drop’ from the GOODS public survey imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys (object 3 in the work of Stanway, Bunker & McMahon 2003). The large colour of (i′−z′)AB = 1.6 indicated a spectral break consistent with the Lyman α forest absorption shortward of Lyman α at z≈ 6. The galaxy is very compact (marginally resolved with ACS with a half-light radius of 0.08 arcsec, so rhl 5. Our spectroscopic redshift for this object confirms the validity of the i′-drop technique of Stanway et al. to select star-forming galaxies atz≈ 6
Chandra, Subrato - Professor of Aerospace Engineering
No full textDr. Subrato Chandra, Professor of Aerospace Engineering, holding an apparatus. He has focused his career on solar power, and is the author of A Guide to Solar Water Heating in Florida.https://stars.library.ucf.edu/univphotocollection/1588/thumbnail.jp
Negatively supercharging cellulases render them lignin-resistant
No full textNon-specific adsorption of cellulases to lignin hinders enzymatic deconstruction of lignocellulosic biomass. Here we tested the hypothesis that negatively supercharging cellulases could reduce lignin inhibition. Computational design was used to negatively supercharge the surfaces of Ruminoclostridium thermocellum family 5 CelE and a CelE-family 3a carbohydrate binding module fusion. Resulting designs maintained the same expression yield, thermal stability, and nearly identical activity on soluble substrate as the wild-type proteins. Four designs showed complete lack of inhibition by lignin but with lower cellulose conversion compared to original enzymes. Increasing salt concentrations could partially rescue the activity of supercharged enzymes, supporting a mechanism of electrostatic repulsion between designs and cellulose. Results showcase a protein engineering strategy to construct highly active cellulases that are resistant to lignin-mediated inactivation, although further work is needed to understand the relationship between negative protein surface potential and activity on insoluble polysaccharides.Peer reviewe
"Extraterrestrial Fossils Uncovered Inside Meteorite Found In Sri Lanka" by Arjun Walia
No full textEarlier this year, a group of scientists claimed with certainty that tiny fossils uncovered inside a meteorite found in Sri Lanka in late December 2012, are proof of extraterrestrial life. A paper was published in the Journal of Cosmology (1)(3) by Chandra Wickramasinghe. Wickramasinghe is the director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Buckingham in the U.K. The study was conducted alongside researchers at the School of Mathematics at Cardiff University and from t..
Radio sources in the Chandra Galactic Bulge Survey
No full textWe discuss radio sources in the Chandra Galactic Bulge Survey region. By cross-matching the X-ray sources in this field with the NRAO VLA Sky Survey archival data, we find 12 candidate matches. We present a classification scheme for radio/X-ray matches in surveys taken in or near the Galactic plane, taking into account other multiwavelength data. We show that none of the matches found here is likely to be due to coronal activity from normal stars because the radio to X-ray flux ratios are systematically too high. We show that one of the source could be a radio pulsar, and that one could be a planetary nebula, but that the bulk of the sources are likely to be background active galactic nuclei (AGN), with many confirmed through a variety of approaches. Several of the AGN are bright enough in the near-infrared (and presumably in the optical) to use as probes of the interstellar medium in the inner Galaxy
Patient Centric Healthcare Information Systems in the U.S.
No full textHealthcare expenditure is increasing exponentially, and reducing this expenditure (i.e., offering effective and efficient quality healthcare treatment) is becoming a priority not only in the United States, but also globally (Bush, 2004; Oslo Declaration, 2003;Global Medical Forum, 2005). In the final report compiled by the Committee on the Quality of Healthcare in America (Institute of Medicine, 2001), it was noted that improving patient care is integrally linked to providing high quality healthcare. Furthermore, in order to achieve high quality healthcare, the committee has identified six key aims, that is, healthcare should be: 1. Safe: avoiding injuries to patients from the care that is intended to help them 2. Effective: providing services based on scientific knowledge to all who could benefit, and refraining from providing services to those who will not benefit (i.e., avoiding under use and overuse) 3. Patient centered: providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values, and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions 4. Timely: reducing waiting and sometimes harmful delays for both those receiving care and those who give care 5. Efficient: avoiding waste 6. Equitable: providing care that does not vary in quality based on personal characteristics Most of the poor quality connected with healthcare— such as loss of information or incomplete information pertaining to patient medical records, allergic reactions that can be life threatening, or the ordering of wrong tests—is related to a highly fragmented delivery system that lacks even rudimentary clinical information capabilities resulting in inadequate information flows and poorly designed care processes characterized by unnecessary duplication of services, long waiting times, and delays (Institute of Medicine, 2001; Chandra, Knickrehm, & Miller, 1995). In addition, poor information quality is also a major contributor to the numerous medical errors that permeate throughout the system (Mandke, Bariff, & Nayar, 2003). The introduction of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA, 2001) in the United States into this context only makes matters more complex, since it imposes a further level of convolution to the design and management of information and its flows throughout the healthcare system. The aims of HIPAA are indeed laudable, since they focus on establishing better governance structures and compliance so that healthcare information can be protected and secured; however, in practice, given the current platform-centric nature of healthcare organizations, this only serves to create further informational challenges. Healthcare is noted for using leading-edge technologies and embracing new scientific discoveries to enable better cures for diseases and better means to enable early detection of most life-threatening diseases (Stegwee & Spil, 2001; McGee, 1997; Johns, 1997; Wallace, 1997). However, the healthcare industry has been extremely slow to adopt and then maximize the full potential of technologies that focus on better practice management and administrative needs (Stegwee & Spil, 2001). In the current complex healthcare environment, the development and application of sophisticated patient-centric healthcare systems and e-health initiatives are becoming strategic necessities, yet healthcare delivery has been relatively untouched by the revolution of information technology (Institute of Medicine, 2001; Wickramasinghe, 2000; Wickramasinghe & Mills, 2001; Stegwee & Spil, 2001; Wickramasinghe & Silvers, 2002). To address this dilemma, healthcare organizations globally require a systematic methodology to guide the design and management of their respective IC2T adoptions, not only to be compliant with regulations like HIPAA but also to be able to capture, generate, and disseminate information that is of high integrity and quality, and thereby be both technically sound and meet the highest ethical and security standards. An integrative compliance framework is an appropriate solution strategy. </jats:p
A journey with Fred Hoyle
No full textThis is the story of the author's unique scientific journey with one of the most remarkable men of 20th century science. The journey begins in Sri Lanka, the author's native country, with his childhood acquaintance with Fred Hoyle's writings. The action then moves to Cambridge, where the famous HoyleWickramasinghe collaborations begin. A research programme which was started in 1962 on the carbonaceous nature of interstellar dust leads, over the next two decades, to developments that are continued in both Cambridge and Cardiff. These developments prompt Hoyle and the author to postulate the organic theory of cosmic dust (which is now generally accepted), and then to challenge one of the most cherished paradigms of contemporary science the theory that life originated on Earth in a warm primordial soup.Two new chapters plus revisions to the other chapters bring the book up to date and thus make it more relevant, just as recent findings mesh with many of the ideas that had their origin in the first edition. Ongoing research relating to life outside the Earth, the search for extrasolar planets as well as panspermia connect with this earlier work, so that tracing links become easier. A Journey with Fred Hoyle is an intriguing book that delineates the progress of a collaboration spanning 40 years, through a sequence of personal reflections, anecdotes and reminiscences
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