Deformation rings which are not local complete intersections

We study the inverse problem for the versal deformation rings $R(\Gamma,V)$ of finite dimensional representations $V$ of a finite group $\Gamma$ over a field $k$ of positive characteristic $p$. This problem is to determine which complete local commutative Noetherian rings with residue field $k$ can arise up to isomorphism as such $R(\Gamma,V)$. We show that for all integers $n \ge 1$ and all complete local commutative Noetherian rings $\mathcal{W}$ with residue field $k$, the ring $\mathcal{W}[[t]]/(p^n t,t^2)$ arises in this way. This ring is not a local complete intersection if $p^n\mathcal{W}\neq\{0\}$, so we obtain an answer to a question of M. Flach in all characteristics.Comment: 16 page

Safety and Effectiveness of Struvite from Black Water and Urine as a Phosphorus Fertilizer

To ensure food supply, phosphorus must be recycled, for which an appealing method is using struvite fertilizer from human excreta. One struvite from black water and another from urine were assessed for safety under Dutch regulations, and for effectiveness as P fertilizer in a maize field experiment and a literature review. Both struvites contained 12% P, 12% Mg, 6% N, and 0.5-1.5% of several micronutrients. Struvites did not exceed Dutch regulations for heavy metals or pathogens, and based on literature, organic toxins should be far below regulatory limits. In this study and 18 others, struvite appears to have similar effectiveness to soluble fertilizer. Early in the season, 200 kg P2O5 ha-1 of black water struvite and soluble phosphorus improved maize performance (

The use of dried blood spots and a modified particle agglutination test for cost-effective sero-epidemiological HIV surveys

No Abstract

Inverse Problems for deformation rings

Let $\mathcal{W}$ be a complete local commutative Noetherian ring with residue field $k$ of positive characteristic $p$. We study the inverse problem for the versal deformation rings $R_{\mathcal{W}}(\Gamma,V)$ relative to $\mathcal{W}$ of finite dimensional representations $V$ of a profinite group $\Gamma$ over $k$. We show that for all $p$ and $n \ge 1$, the ring $\mathcal{W}[[t]]/(p^n t,t^2)$ arises as a universal deformation ring. This ring is not a complete intersection if $p^n\mathcal{W}\neq\{0\}$, so we obtain an answer to a question of M. Flach in all characteristics. We also study the `inverse inverse problem' for the ring $\mathcal{W}[[t]]/(p^n t,t^2)$; this is to determine all pairs $(\Gamma, V)$ such that $R_{\mathcal{W}}(\Gamma,V)$ is isomorphic to this ring.Comment: 17 pages; this paper is closely related to arXiv:1003.3143. In the third version, we added a new Section 5 with further example

The Chameleon Architecture for Streaming DSP Applications

We focus on architectures for streaming DSP applications such as wireless baseband processing and image processing. We aim at a single generic architecture that is capable of dealing with different DSP applications. This architecture has to be energy efficient and fault tolerant. We introduce a heterogeneous tiled architecture and present the details of a domain-specific reconfigurable tile processor called Montium. This reconfigurable processor has a small footprint (1.8 mm$^2$ in a 130 nm process), is power efficient and exploits the locality of reference principle. Reconfiguring the device is very fast, for example, loading the coefficients for a 200 tap FIR filter is done within 80 clock cycles. The tiles on the tiled architecture are connected to a Network-on-Chip (NoC) via a network interface (NI). Two NoCs have been developed: a packet-switched and a circuit-switched version. Both provide two types of services: guaranteed throughput (GT) and best effort (BE). For both NoCs estimates of power consumption are presented. The NI synchronizes data transfers, configures and starts/stops the tile processor. For dynamically mapping applications onto the tiled architecture, we introduce a run-time mapping tool

The GREATS Hβ\beta+[OIII] Luminosity Function and Galaxy Properties at z∼8\mathbf{z\sim8}: Walking the Way of JWST

The James Webb Space Telescope will allow to spectroscopically study an unprecedented number of galaxies deep into the reionization era, notably by detecting [OIII] and H$\beta$ nebular emission lines. To efficiently prepare such observations, we photometrically select a large sample of galaxies at $z\sim8$ and study their rest-frame optical emission lines. Combining data from the GOODS Re-ionization Era wide-Area Treasury from Spitzer (GREATS) survey and from HST, we perform spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting, using synthetic SEDs from a large grid of photoionization models. The deep Spitzer/IRAC data combined with our models exploring a large parameter space enables to constrain the [OIII]+H$\beta$ fluxes and equivalent widths for our sample, as well as the average physical properties of $z\sim8$ galaxies, such as the ionizing photon production efficiency with $\log(\xi_\mathrm{ion}/\mathrm{erg}^{-1}\hspace{1mm}\mathrm{Hz})\geq25.77$. We find a relatively tight correlation between the [OIII]+H$\beta$ and UV luminosity, which we use to derive for the first time the [OIII]+H$\beta$ luminosity function (LF) at $z\sim8$. The $z\sim8$ [OIII]+H$\beta$ LF is higher at all luminosities compared to lower redshift, as opposed to the UV LF, due to an increase of the [OIII]+H$\beta$ luminosity at a given UV luminosity from $z\sim3$ to $z\sim8$. Finally, using the [OIII]+H$\beta$ LF, we make predictions for JWST/NIRSpec number counts of $z\sim8$ galaxies. We find that the current wide-area extragalactic legacy fields are too shallow to use JWST at maximal efficiency for $z\sim8$ spectroscopy even at 1hr depth and JWST pre-imaging to $\gtrsim30$ mag will be required.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Reproducibility of lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) assessment in endometrial cancer

Aims Lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) in endometrial cancer (EC) is an important prognostic variable impacting on a patient's individual recurrence risk and adjuvant treatment recommendations. Recent work has shown that grading the extent of LVSI further improves its prognostic strength in patients with stage I endometrioid EC. Despite this, there is little information on the reproducibility of LVSI assessment in EC. Therefore, we designed a study to evaluate interobserver agreement in discriminating true LVSI from LVSI mimics (Phase I) and reproducibility of grading extent of LVSI (Phase II). Methods and results Scanned haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) slides of endometrioid EC (EEC) with a predefined possible LVSI focus were hosted on a website and assessed by a panel of six European gynaecological pathologists. In Phase I, 48 H&E slides were included for LVSI assessment and in Phase II, 42 H&E slides for LVSI grading. Each observer was instructed to apply the criteria for LVSI used in daily practice. The degree of agreement was measured using the two-way absolute agreement average-measures intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Reproducibility of LVSI assessment (ICC = 0.64, P < 0.001) and LVSI grading (ICC = 0.62, P < 0.001) in EEC was substantial among the observers. Conclusions Given the good reproducibility of LVSI, this study further supports the important role of LVSI in decision algorithms for adjuvant treatment