A review on recent available positioning technologies and its advancement

This paper reviews and compares the available positioning technology for location based application such as the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) and personal vehicle positioning. With the rapid growing trend of worldwide vehicle ownership, issues such as traffic congestion, environmental pollution, energy consumption and road accident cases are increasing. Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) which depends on location and positioning has been identified as one of the advocated key to resolve the issues. Global Positioning System (GPS) is one of the most promising ubiquitous positioning technologies accepted worldwide for ITS application. It is discerned that GPS alone in ITS application is not adequate since GPS faced Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) and multipath effect. New technology integrated is needed to overcome the drawback of the current system for continuous positioning; particularly important for ITS application to be fully functional. This is the significant motivation for tremendous research works had been carried out to improve the performance of positioning. In this paper, advantages and disadvantages of the recent available positioning technologies being used in the implementation of ITS such as satellite-based positioning, network-based positioning and location integration of several positioning technologies is found to be able to improve accuracy, reliability, availability and applicability of the ITS

Large-Scale Whole-Genome Sequencing of Three Diverse Asian Populations in Singapore

Underrepresentation of Asian genomes has hindered population and medical genetics research on Asians, leading to population disparities in precision medicine. By whole-genome sequencing of 4,810 Singapore Chinese, Malays, and Indians, we found 98.3 million SNPs and small insertions or deletions, over half of which are novel. Population structure analysis demonstrated great representation of Asian genetic diversity by three ethnicities in Singapore and revealed a Malay-related novel ancestry component. Furthermore, demographic inference suggested that Malays split from Chinese similar to 24,800 years ago and experienced significant admixture with East Asians similar to 1,700 years ago, coinciding with the Austronesian expansion. Additionally, we identified 20 candidate loci for natural selection, 14 of which harbored robust associations with complex traits and diseases. Finally, we show that our data can substantially improve genotype imputation in diverse Asian and Oceanian populations. These results highlight the value of our data as a resource to empower human genetics discovery across broad geographic regions

Large-Scale Whole-Genome Sequencing of Three Diverse Asian Populations in Singapore

Because of Singapore's unique history of immigration, whole-genome sequence analysis of 4,810 Singaporeans provides a snapshot of the genetic diversity across East, Southeast, and South Asia.</p

Development and organisation of gonadal steroidogenesis in bony fishes - A review

Gonadal steroidogenesis is pivotal to synchronize various reproductive stages including sexual development, growth and maturation. In all vertebrates including teleost, steroidogenesis is triggered by the mobilization of cholesterol by steroidogenic acute regulatory protein from outer to inner mitochondrial membrane. Thereafter, the entire process occurs in endoplasmic reticulum or mitochondria wherein various steroidogenic enzyme genes play a crucial role. The onset of steroidogenesis during sexual development in teleost is essentially regulated by differential expression of several transcription as well as steroidogenesis-related factors. More specifically, the role of dmrt, sox9, sox3, other sox forms, ad4bp/sf-1, wt-1, foxl2, ftz-f1, gata4, gsdf, Activator protein-1, fgfs and growth factors and steroidogenic enzymes such as cytochrome P450aromatase (cyp19a1), hydroxysteroid 3β-dehydrogenase (hsd3b), hydroxysteroid 17β-dehydrogenase (hsd17b) have been well characterised. Recently, the role of pax2, THO complex (thoc), pentraxin (ptx) and few signalling molecules like wnt4/5 regulating teleostean steroidogenesis has been reported. In females, cyp19a1 appears to be critical as it converts androgens to estrogens during ovarian differentiation which suggests that estradiol-17β is indispensable for the event. Unlike females, males do not depend on testosterone for testicular determination, yet has a major role along with 11-ketotestosterone in testicular development and growth when compared to early testicular differentiation. In males, onset of sex determining or testis-related genes seems most essential. Considering these, the regulation of steroidogenesis is virtually critical at later stages. In view of this, several steroidogenic motifs pertaining to transcriptional regulation have been analysed in teleost, yet far below than the reports on mammals. In this context, the regulatory influence on HHG axis plays a critical role in teleost. Further, multiple gonadotropin-releasing hormones and duality of gonadotropins play a differential role in gonadal function. As for steroidogenic pathway, the synthesis of sex steroids predominantly uses Δ4, however, Δ5 pathway was also evident. The next aspect is shift in steroidogenesis that usually occurs in the maturing follicles during final oocyte maturation, yet such a mechanism is not clear in males. The review highlights the interactions of steroidogenic enzyme gene regulation in terms of HHG axis and other important transcription factors that are involved in the regulatory pathways as well as the influence of environmental and dietary factors by comparing both sexes to present a holistic view on steroidogenesis onset and organisation during gametogenesis in teleost