A dimension-breaking phenomenon for water waves with weak surface tension

It is well known that the water-wave problem with weak surface tension has small-amplitude line solitary-wave solutions which to leading order are described by the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation. The present paper contains an existence theory for three-dimensional periodically modulated solitary-wave solutions which have a solitary-wave profile in the direction of propagation and are periodic in the transverse direction; they emanate from the line solitary waves in a dimension-breaking bifurcation. In addition, it is shown that the line solitary waves are linearly unstable to long-wavelength transverse perturbations. The key to these results is a formulation of the water wave problem as an evolutionary system in which the transverse horizontal variable plays the role of time, a careful study of the purely imaginary spectrum of the operator obtained by linearising the evolutionary system at a line solitary wave, and an application of an infinite-dimensional version of the classical Lyapunov centre theorem.Comment: The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00205-015-0941-

Probabilistic non-linear registration with spatially adaptive regularisation

This paper introduces a novel method for inferring spatially varying regularisation in non-linear registration. This is achieved through full Bayesian inference on a probabilistic registration model, where the prior on the transformation parameters is parameterised as a weighted mixture of spatially localised components. Such an approach has the advantage of allowing the registration to be more flexibly driven by the data than a traditional globally defined regularisation penalty, such as bending energy. The proposed method adaptively determines the influence of the prior in a local region. The strength of the prior may be reduced in areas where the data better support deformations, or can enforce a stronger constraint in less informative areas. Consequently, the use of such a spatially adaptive prior may reduce unwanted impacts of regularisation on the inferred transformation. This is especially important for applications where the deformation field itself is of interest, such as tensor based morphometry. The proposed approach is demonstrated using synthetic images, and with application to tensor based morphometry analysis of subjects with Alzheimer’s disease and healthy controls. The results indicate that using the proposed spatially adaptive prior leads to sparser deformations, which provide better localisation of regional volume change. Additionally, the proposed regularisation model leads to more data driven and localised maps of registration uncertainty. This paper also demonstrates for the first time the use of Bayesian model comparison for selecting different types of regularisation

Fitting the integrated Spectral Energy Distributions of Galaxies

Fitting the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies is an almost universally used technique that has matured significantly in the last decade. Model predictions and fitting procedures have improved significantly over this time, attempting to keep up with the vastly increased volume and quality of available data. We review here the field of SED fitting, describing the modelling of ultraviolet to infrared galaxy SEDs, the creation of multiwavelength data sets, and the methods used to fit model SEDs to observed galaxy data sets. We touch upon the achievements and challenges in the major ingredients of SED fitting, with a special emphasis on describing the interplay between the quality of the available data, the quality of the available models, and the best fitting technique to use in order to obtain a realistic measurement as well as realistic uncertainties. We conclude that SED fitting can be used effectively to derive a range of physical properties of galaxies, such as redshift, stellar masses, star formation rates, dust masses, and metallicities, with care taken not to over-interpret the available data. Yet there still exist many issues such as estimating the age of the oldest stars in a galaxy, finer details ofdust properties and dust-star geometry, and the influences of poorly understood, luminous stellar types and phases. The challenge for the coming years will be to improve both the models and the observational data sets to resolve these uncertainties. The present review will be made available on an interactive, moderated web page (sedfitting.org), where the community can access and change the text. The intention is to expand the text and keep it up to date over the coming years.Comment: 54 pages, 26 figures, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc

Randomized controlled trial of an intervention to maintain suppression of HIV viremia after prison release: The impact trial

Background: HIV-infected individuals transitioning from incarceration to the community are at risk for loss of viral suppression. We compared the effects of imPACT, a multidimensional intervention to promote care engagement after release, to standard care on sustaining viral suppression after community re-entry. Methods: This trial randomized 405 HIV-infected inmates being released from prisons in Texas and North Carolina with HIV-1 RNA levels 0.99). Conclusions: Higher rates of HIV suppression and medical care engagement than expected based on previous literature were observed among HIV-infected patients with suppressed viremia released from prison. Randomization to a comprehensive intervention to motivate and facilitate HIV care access after prison release did not prevent loss of viral suppression. A better understanding of the factors influencing prison releasees' linkage to community care, medication adherence, and maintenance of viral suppression is needed to inform policy and other strategic approaches to HIV prevention and treatment

A review of system integration and current integrity monitoring methods for positioning in intelligent transport systems

Applications of intelligent transportation systems are continuously increasing. Since positioning is a key component in these systems, it is essential to ensure its reliability and robustness, and monitor its integrity so that the required levels of positioning accuracy, integrity, continuity and availability can be maintained. In challenging environments, such as urban areas, a single navigation system is often difficult to fulfil the positioning requirements. Therefore, integrating different navigation sensors becomes intrinsic, which may include the global navigation satellite systems, the inertial navigation systems, the odometers and the light detection and ranging sensors. To bind the positioning errors within a pre-defined integrity risk, the integrity monitoring is an essential step in the positioning service, which needs to be fulfilled for integrated vehicular navigation systems used in intelligent transportation systems. Developing such innovative integrity monitoring techniques requires knowledge of many relevant aspects including the structure, positioning methodology and different errors affecting the positioning solution of the individual and integrated systems. Moreover, knowledge is needed for the current mitigation techniques of these errors, for possible fault detection and exclusion algorithms and for computation of protection levels. This paper provides an overview and discussion of these aspects with a focus on intelligent transportation systems

Sediment routing and basin evolution in Proterozoic to Mesozoic east Gondwana: A case study from southern Australia

Sedimentary rocks along the southern margin of Australia host an important record of the break-up history of east Gondwana, as well as fragments of a deeper geological history, which collectively help inform the geological evolution of a vast and largely underexplored region. New drilling through Cenozoic cover has allowed examination of the Cretaceous rift-related Madura Shelf sequence (Bight Basin), and identification of two new stratigraphic units beneath the shelf; the possibly Proterozoic Shanes Dam Conglomerate and the interpreted Palaeozoic southern Officer Basin unit, the Decoration Sandstone. Recognition of these new units indicates an earlier basinal history than previously known. Lithostratigraphy of the new drillcore has been integrated with that published from onshore and offshore cores to present isopach maps of sedimentary cover on the Madura Shelf. New palynological data demonstrate progression from more localised freshwater-brackish fluvio-lacustrine clastics in the early Cretaceous (Foraminisporis wonthaggiensis – Valanginian to Barremian) to widespread topography-blanketing, fully marine, glauconitic mudrocks in the mid Cretaceous (Endoceratium ludbrookiae – Albian). Geochronology and Hf-isotope geochemistry show detrital zircon populations from the Madura Shelf are comparable to those from the southern Officer Basin, as well as Cenozoic shoreline and palaeovalley sediments in the region. The detrital zircon population from the Shanes Dam Conglomerate is defined by a unimodal ~1400 Ma peak, which correlates with directly underlying crystalline basement of the Madura Province. Peak ages of ~1150 Ma and ~1650 Ma dominate the age spectra of all other samples, indicating a stable sediment reservoir through much of the Phanerozoic, with sediments largely sourced from the Albany-Fraser Orogen and Musgrave Province (directly and via multiple recycling events). The Madura Shelf detrital zircon population differs from published data for the Upper CretaceousCeduna Delta to the east, indicating significant differences in sediment provenance and routing between the Ceduna Sub-basin and central Bight Basin

Liquid biopsy in central nervous system metastases: a RANO review and proposals for clinical applications

Abstract Liquid biopsies collect and analyze tumor components in body fluids, and there is an increasing interest in the investigation of liquid biopsies as a surrogate for tumor tissue in the management of both primary and secondary brain tumors. Herein we critically review available literature on spinal fluid and plasma circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and cell-free tumor (ctDNA) for diagnosis and monitoring of leptomeningeal and parenchymal brain metastases. We discuss technical issues and propose several potential applications of liquid biopsies in different clinical settings (ie, for initial diagnosis, for assessment during treatment, and for guidance of treatment decisions). Last, ongoing clinical studies on CNS metastases that include liquid biopsies are summarized, and recommendations for future clinical studies are provided

Common variants near MC4R are associated with fat mass, weight and risk of obesity.

To identify common variants influencing body mass index (BMI), we analyzed genome-wide association data from 16,876 individuals of European descent. After previously reported variants in FTO, the strongest association signal (rs17782313, P = 2.9 x 10(-6)) mapped 188 kb downstream of MC4R (melanocortin-4 receptor), mutations of which are the leading cause of monogenic severe childhood-onset obesity. We confirmed the BMI association in 60,352 adults (per-allele effect = 0.05 Z-score units; P = 2.8 x 10(-15)) and 5,988 children aged 7-11 (0.13 Z-score units; P = 1.5 x 10(-8)). In case-control analyses (n = 10,583), the odds for severe childhood obesity reached 1.30 (P = 8.0 x 10(-11)). Furthermore, we observed overtransmission of the risk allele to obese offspring in 660 families (P (pedigree disequilibrium test average; PDT-avg) = 2.4 x 10(-4)). The SNP location and patterns of phenotypic associations are consistent with effects mediated through altered MC4R function. Our findings establish that common variants near MC4R influence fat mass, weight and obesity risk at the population level and reinforce the need for large-scale data integration to identify variants influencing continuous biomedical traits