A Volumetric Assessment of Ancient Maya Architecture: A GIS Approach to Settlement Patterns

This paper will discuss the general applications of GIS technology to our research in the Yalahau Region of northern Quintana Roo, Mexico. In particular we will address the use of a volumetric analysis as a means of developing an architectural comparative framework at both the intrasite and regional scales. The comparative framework is a powerful tool that allows us to investigate and visualize the distribution of social power both within the site of T\u27isil and across the region. The direct relationship between social power and architectural volume is predicated on the assumption that actors who utilized the largest dwellings were able to coerce (or force) the greatest number of people to aid in their construction

Power efficient survivable routing with p-cycles

Power awareness in networking has been a vital area of research in wireless networks but, until recently, has been largely ignored in wired networks. In wireless applications, the amount of power utilized by transmission is of vital importance since it will limit factors such as battery life and transmission range. In wired networks, the power issues of wireless networks do not arise since the wired networks receive their power from the power grid. However, the problem of operational costs and the environmental impact of wired networks have become increasingly important issues in recent years. This thesis proposes a power efficient routing scheme to address the environmental and operational cost issues. The operational costs of a wired network can be reduced by reducing the amount of power the network utilizes. The proposed power efficient routing scheme utilizes a demand prediction algorithm to determine a set of expected future traffic. The set of expected traffic is then assigned paths in the network using an energy efficient routing algorithm. The paths that are assigned to the predicted traffic are used to assign paths to the real traffic as it enters the network. By continuously updating the set of expected traffic, and the paths that are assigned to the expected traffic, the energy efficient routing algorithm can maintain an energy efficient routing solution over time, and thus, power efficiency is achieved

Cenotes as Conceptual Boundary Markers at the Ancient Maya Site of T’isil, Quintana Roo, México

Ancient Maya communities, from small village sites to urban centers, have long posed problems to archaeologists in attempting to define the boundaries or limits of settlement. These ancient communities tend to be relatively dispersed, with settlement densities dropping toward the periphery, but lacking any clear boundary. At a limited number of sites, the Maya constructed walled enclosures or earthworks, which scholars have generally interpreted as defensive projects, often hastily built to protect the central districts of larger administrative centers during times of warfare (e.g., Demarest et al. 1997; Inomata 1997; Kurjack and Andrews 1976; Puleston and Callender 1967; Webster 2000; Webster et al. 2007). As another response to conflict in the southern lowlands, small villages or hamlets are reported to have been established on defensive hilltop locations and surrounded by palisades (Demarest et al. 1997; O\u27Mansky and Dunning 2004). At some walled sites, walls may have served more to define gated communities in the modern sense of the phrase; a boundary that separates an elite community from the more common folk living just outside of the walls

Preliminary Evidence for the Existence of a Regional Sacbe Across the Northern Maya Lowlands

Ancient road systems have often been used by archaeologists to reconstruct interaction and political ties among prehistoric settlements. Roads built by the ancient Maya offer many insights into the political geography of the area, particularly in the northern lowlands where hieroglyphic texts are rare. This study examines ethnohistoric, historic, and archaeological data that suggest that a regional road, some 300 km in length, once spanned the northern lowlands from the modern location of Mérida to the east coast facing the island of Cozumel. The political implications of such a road, if it once existed, are discussed

Adaptive steady-state analysis of circuits using wavelets

This thesis presents research into utilizing the sparse representations of waveforms that are possible in the wavelet domain to increase the computational efficiency of the steady-state analysis of electric circuits. The system of non-linear equations that represent the circuits are formulated in the wavelet domain and solved using Newton-Raphson method. Factoring the Jacobian matrix each iteration is a major contributor to the computational time required for solving the circuit equations with NewtonRaphson method. This research aims to reduce the computational time of factoring the Jacobian matrix and has led to the following contributions: 1. A study on the effect of wavelet selection on the sparsity of the Jacobian matrix and nodal variable vectors: Results show that there is no one wavelet that provides the sparsest Jacobian matrices in every case but the Haar wavelet tends to be a good choice if Jacobian matrix sparsity is a concern. However, the time domain provides sparser Jacobian matrices than all of the wavelets tested. Selection of a wavelet to provide the sparsest nodal variable vectors is much more difficult and no one wavelet stood out as providing sparser vectors than the others. 2. A method for increasing the sparsity of the Jacobian matrix via removal of low amplitude entries: The threshold to determine which elements to remove is adaptively controlled during the simulation. Results show that there can be a significant decrease in Jacobian matrix density with adaptive thresholding but the Haar wavelet tends to provide the sparsest matrices with the test cases. The results show that adaptive Jacobian matrix thresholding can lead to a speedup over the non-thresholded wavelet domain steady-state analysis. In some cases, this speedup was enough to lead to a speedup over the time domain when the non-thresholded simulations ran slower than the time domain. 3. Two new methods that reduce the problem size by taking advantage of the sparse representations that are possible with the nodal variable vectors in the wavelet domain: A unique feature of one of these methods is that it allows for the automatic selection of a wavelet for each nodal variable. Results show a speedup over wavelet domain steady-state analysis for some test cases. There were some test cases where there was a slowdown compared to wavelet domain steady-state analysis which was caused by the computational overhead associated with these methods. With one circuit, the number of columns in the Jacobian matrix was not reduced for most iterations. More work is required to determine if this is due to the method used to select columns from the Jacobian matrix, the method used to control the error introduced into the update vectors by the column reduction method, or if there are some problems that cannot benefit from the column reduction method

Wetland Manipulation in the Yalahau Region of the Northern Maya Lowlands

Manipulation of wetlands for agricultural purposes by the ancient Maya of southern Mexico and Central America has been a subject of much research and debate since the 1970s. Evidence for wetland cultivation systems, in the form of drained or channelized fields, and raised planting platforms, has been restricted primarily to the southern Maya Lowlands. New research in the Yalahau region of Quintana Roo, Mexico, has recorded evidence for wetland manipulation in the far northern lowlands, in the form of rock alignments that apparently functioned to control water movement and soil accumulation in seasonally inundated areas. Nearby ancient settlements date primarily to the Late Preclassic period (ca. 100 B.C. to A.C. 350), and this age is tentatively attributed to wetland management in the area

Carrier frequencies of eleven mutations in eight genes associated with primary ciliary dyskinesia in the ashkenazi jewish population

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a genetically heterogeneous, autosomal recessive disorder that results from functional and ultrastructural abnormalities of motile cilia. Patients with PCD have diverse clinical phenotypes that include chronic upper and lower respiratory tract infections, situs inversus, heterotaxy with or without congenital heart disease, and male infertility, among others. In this report, the carrier frequencies for eleven mutations in eight PCD-associated genes (DNAI1, DNAI2, DNAH5, DNAH11, CCDC114, CCDC40, CCDC65, and C21orf59) that had been found in individuals of Ashkenazi Jewish descent were investigated in order to advise on including them in existing clinical mutation panels for this population. Results showed relatively high carrier frequencies for the DNAH5 c.7502G>C mutation (0.58%), the DNAI2 c.1304G>A mutation (0.50%), and the C21orf59 c.735C>G mutation (0.48%), as well as lower frequencies for mutations in DNAI1, CCDC65, CCDC114, and DNAH11 (0.10– 0.29%). These results suggest that several of these genes should be considered for inclusion in carrier screening panels in the Ashkenazi Jewish population

Landuse and soil degradation in the southern Maya lowlands, from Pre-Classic to Post-Classic times : The case of La Joyanca (Petén, Guatemala)

International audienceThis work focuses on the impact of Maya agriculture on soil degradation. In site and out site studies in the area of the city of La Joyanca (NW Petén) show that "Maya clays" do not constitute a homogeneous unit, but represent a complex sedimentary record. A high resolution analysis leads us to document changes in rates and practices evolving in time in relation with major socio-political and economic changes. It is possible to highlight extensive agricultural practices between Early Pre-classical to Late Pre-classical times. Intensification occurs in relation with reduction of the fallow duration during Pre-classic to Classic periods. The consequences of these changes on soil erosion are discussed. However, it does not seem that the agronomic potential of the soils was significantly degraded before the end of the Classic period

Mutation screening of retinal dystrophy patients by targeted capture from tagged pooled DNAs and next generation sequencing.

Purpose: Retinal dystrophies are genetically heterogeneous, resulting from mutations in over 200 genes. Prior to the development of massively parallel sequencing, comprehensive genetic screening was unobtainable for most patients. Identifying the causative genetic mutation facilitates genetic counselling, carrier testing and prenatal/pre-implantation diagnosis, and often leads to a clearer prognosis. In addition, in a proportion of cases, when the mutation is known treatment can be optimised and patients are eligible for enrolment into clinical trials for gene-specific therapies. Methods: Patient genomic DNA was sheared, tagged and pooled in batches of four samples, prior to targeted capture and next generation sequencing. The enrichment reagent was designed against genes listed on the RetNet database (July 2010). Sequence data were aligned to the human genome and variants were filtered to identify potential pathogenic mutations. These were confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Results: Molecular analysis of 20 DNAs from retinal dystrophy patients identified likely pathogenic mutations in 12 cases, many of them known and/or confirmed by segregation. These included previously described mutations in ABCA4 (c.6088C>T,p.R2030*; c.5882G>A,p.G1961E), BBS2 (c.1895G>C,p.R632P), GUCY2D (c.2512C>T,p.R838C), PROM1 (c.1117C>T,p.R373C), RDH12 (c.601T>C,p.C201R; c.506G>A,p.R169Q), RPGRIP1 (c.3565C>T,p.R1189*) and SPATA7 (c.253C>T,p.R85*) and new mutations in ABCA4 (c.3328+1G>C), CRB1 (c.2832_2842+23del), RP2 (c.884-1G>T) and USH2A (c.12874A>G,p.N4292D). Conclusions: Tagging and pooling DNA prior to targeted capture of known retinal dystrophy genes identified mutations in 60% of cases. This relatively high success rate may reflect enrichment for consanguineous cases in the local Yorkshire population, and the use of multiplex families. Nevertheless this is a promising high throughput approach to retinal dystrophy diagnostics