The 'Parekh Report' - national identities with nations and nationalism

‘Multiculturalists’ often advocate national identities. Yet few study the ways in which ‘multiculturalists’ do so and in this article I will help to fill this gap. I will show that the Commission for Multi-Ethnic Britain’s report reflects a previously unnoticed way of thinking about the nature and worth of national identities that the Commission’s chair, and prominent political theorist, Bhikhu Parekh, had been developing since the 1970s. This way of thinking will be shown to avoid the questionable ways in which conservative and liberal nationalists discuss the nature and worth of national identities while offering an alternative way to do so. I will thus show that a report that was once criticised for the way it discussed national identities reflects how ‘multiculturalists’ think about national identities in a distinct and valuable way that has gone unrecognised

Anomalous cooling over the Arabian Sea during February 2008

Satellite observations over the Arabian Sea revealed anomalous cooling in February 2008 associated with the anomalous north westerly winds from the continent. Land-sea air temperature contrast (relative humidity difference) between Arabia and Arabian Sea is 6-8°C (40) during the cooling event. This condition supports a loss of heat flux (180-200 W/m2) from ocean to atmosphere via evaporation. Enhancement of biological activity associated with the cooling is also confirmed. Deepening of the mixed layer via convective and wind forced mixing is observed. Advective heat flux analysis deduces that heat gain via Ekman flow is slightly higher at southern boundary but geostrophic meridional overturning (diffusion of heat flux) is close to the climatic mean. Heat gains via Ekman flow oppose cooling. Thus resultant cooling is mainly due to loss of heat flux (65-95 W/m2) to the atmosphere; major contributor is latent heat flux

Exploring the Mechanistic Landscape of Nitric Oxide Oxidation and Ammonia Selective Catalytic Reduction of Nitric Oxide on Cu-Zeolites via Kinetic and Spectroscopic Characterization

Increasingly stringent regulations to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from exhausts of heavy-duty diesel engines has set the stage to delve into a detailed investigation of engine after-treatment catalysts in order to understand the chemistry during their operation and design the next generation of catalytic formulations to meet future requirements. Small-pore Cu- and Fe-exchanged SSZ-13 catalysts with chabazite (CHA) topology are able to sustain high catalytic rates for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) even after exposure to harsh hydrothermal conditions present in diesel exhaust. Probing the redox behavior and the active site requirements for standard SCR on Cu-SSZ-13 catalysts using a combination of infrared (FTIR) and x-ray absorption (XAS) spectroscopies, kinetic measurements and density functional theory (DFT) calculations forms the basis for this dissertation

Exact approximation of Rao-Blackwellised particle filters

Particle methods are a category of Monte Carlo algorithms that have become popular for performing inference in non-linear non-Gaussian state-space models. The class of 'Rao-Blackwellised' particle filters exploits the analytic marginalisation that is possible for some state- space models to reduce the variance of the Monte Carlo estimates. Despite being applicable to only a restricted class of state-space models, such as conditionally linear Gaussian models, these algorithms have found numerous applications. In scenarios where no such analytical integration is possible, it has recently been proposed in Chen et al. [2011] to use 'local' particle filters to carry out this integration numerically. We propose here an alternative approach also relying on \local" particle filters which is more broadly applicable and has attractive theoretical properties. Proof-of-concept simulation results are presented

Deccan volcanism and K-T boundary signatures

The Deccan Traps in the Indian subcontinent represent one of the most extensive flood basalt provinces in the world. These basalts occur mainly as flat-lying, subaerially erupted tholeiitic lava flows, some of which are traceable for distances of more than 100 km. Offshore drilling and geophysical surveys indicate that a part of the Deccan subsided or was downfaulted to the west beneath the Arabian Sea. The presence of 1 to 5 m thick intertrappean sediments deposited by lakes and rivers indicates periods of quiescence between eruptions. The occurrence of numerous red bole beds among the flows suggests intense weathering of flow tops between eruptive intervals. Although the causative relationship of the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) biotic extinctions to Deccan volcanism is debatable, the fact that the main Deccan eruptions straddle the K-T event appears beyond doubt from the recent Ar-40/Ar-39 ages of various Deccan flows. This temporal relationship of the K-T event with Deccan volcanism makes the petrochemical signatures of the entire Deccan sequence (basalt flows, intercalated intertrappean sediments, infratrappean Lameta beds (with dinosaur fossils), and the bole beds) pertinent to studies of the K-T event. The results of ongoing study is presented

Depletion-activated calcium current is inhibited by protein-kinase in RBL-2H3 cells

Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings and single-cell Ca2+ measurements were used to study the control of Ca2+ entry through the Ca2+ release-activated Ca2+ influx pathway (ICRAC) in rat basophilic leukemia cells. When intracellular inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (InsP3)-sensitive stores were depleted by dialyzing cells with high concentrations of InsP3, ICRAC inactivated only slightly in the absence of ATP. Inclusion of ATP accelerated inactivation 2-fold. The inactivation was increased further by the ATP analogue adenosine 5'-[gamma-thio]triphosphate, which is readily used by protein kinases, but not by 5'-adenylyl imidodiphosphate, another ATP analogue that is not used by kinases. Neither cyclic nucleotides nor inhibition of calmodulin or tyrosine kinase prevented the inactivation. Staurosporine and bisindolylmaleimide, protein kinase C inhibitors, reduced inactivation of ICRAC, whereas phorbol ester accelerated inactivation of the current. These results demonstrate that a protein kinase-mediated phosphorylation, probably through protein kinase C, inactivates ICRAC. Activation of the adenosine receptor (A3 type) in RBL cells did not evoke much Ca2+ influx or systematic activation of ICRAC. After protein kinase C was blocked, however, large ICRAC was observed in all cells and this was accompanied by large Ca2+ influx. The ability of a receptor to evoke Ca2+ entry is determined, at least in part, by protein kinase C. Antigen stimulation, which triggers secretion through a process that requires Ca2+ influx, activated ICRAC. The regulation of ICRAC by protein kinase will therefore have important consequences on cell functioning

Surface winds in the Arabian Sea from MSMR - An empirical approach

Multi-channel Scanning Microwave Radiometer (MSMR) onboard 1RS P4 (Oceansat I) measured Brightness Temperature data of the different bands are found sensitive to the surface and the overlying atmosphere to different degrees. A judicious combination of multi-channel data can provide such oceanic/atmospheric parameters as surface wind speed, sea surface temperature, water vapour in the marine atmosphere, etc. This paper highlights results obtained in relation to surface wind speed. Co-location and concurrence of several ocean data buoys in the Arabian Sea with MSMR observations allowed empirical construction of D-matrix coefficients for surface wind speed. With both MSMR and the Arabian Sea buoys functioning for the period of one and a half year (June, 1999 to December, 2000) without interruptions provided a large database. All channels are found to exhibit moderate sensitivity to surface wind speed. MSMR data in the immediate vicinity (within 150 km) of the buoy locations and within a time window of one hour were used. A multi-channel linear equation for surface wind speed was subsequently derived. The equation was subjected to tests with independent data set for the period January - June 2001 over the Arabian Sea and found to be moderately accurate. The empirical equation is expected to be useful for regional applications over the Arabian Sea and over regions closer to west coasts, which might have been flagged out in the operational geophysical data stream. An interesting subset of data revealed the wind signatures of the May 2001 cyclone in the Arabian Sea