Parsimonious Catchment and River Flow Modelling

It is increasingly the case that models are being developed as “evolving” products rather than\ud one-off application tools, such that auditable modelling versus ad hoc treatment of models becomes a\ud pivotal issue. Auditable modelling is particularly vital to “parsimonious modelling” aimed at meeting\ud specific modelling requirements. This paper outlines various contributory factors and aims to seed\ud proactively a research topic by inextricably linking value/risk management to parsimonious modelling.\ud Value management in modelling may be implemented in terms of incorporating “enough detail” into a\ud model so that the synergy among the constituent units of the model captures that of the real system. It is a\ud problem of diminishing returns, since further reductions in the constituent units will create an\ud unacceptable difference between the model and the real system; conversely, any further detail will add to\ud the cost of modelling without returning any significant benefit. The paper also defines risk management\ud in relation to modelling. It presents a qualitative framework for value/risk management towards\ud parsimonious modelling by the categorisation of “modelling techniques” in terms of “control volume.

Cold-sintered temperature stable Na0.5Bi0.5MoO4–Li2MoO4 microwave composite ceramics

© 2017 American Chemical Society. A cold sintering process (150 °C, 30 min and 200 MPa) was employed to fabricate Na 0.5 Bi 0.5 MoO 4 -Li 2 MoO 4 (NBMO-LMO) composites with up to 96.4% relative density. X-ray diffraction traces, backscattered electron images and Raman spectra indicated the coexistence of NBMO and LMO phases in all composites with no detectable secondary phases. The pemittivity (ϵ r ) and temperature coefficient of resonant frequency (TCF) decreased, whereas microwave quality factor (Q × f) increased, with increasing weight % LMO. Near-zero TCF was obtained for NBMO-20 wt %LMO with ϵ r ∼ 17.4 and Q × f ∼ 7470 GHz. Functionally graded ceramics were also fabricated with 5 ≤ ϵ r ≤ 24. To illustrate the potential of these cold sintered composites to create new substrates and device architecture, a dielectric graded radial index lens was designed and simulated based on the range of ϵ r facilitated by the NBMO-LMO system, which suggested a 78% aperture efficiency at 34 GHz

The orbifold cohomology of moduli of genus 3 curves

In this work we study the additive orbifold cohomology of the moduli stack of smooth genus g curves. We show that this problem reduces to investigating the rational cohomology of moduli spaces of cyclic covers of curves where the genus of the covering curve is g. Then we work out the case of genus g=3. Furthermore, we determine the part of the orbifold cohomology of the Deligne-Mumford compactification of the moduli space of genus 3 curves that comes from the Zariski closure of the inertia stack of M_3.Comment: 29 pages, 2 figures. Minor changes, to appear in Manuscripta Mat

A DNA methylation classifier of cervical precancer based on human papillomavirus and human genes

Cancer Research UK. Grant Number: C569/A1040

Long-Term Outcomes of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Adolescent Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Emerging evidence suggests that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an efficacious treatment for adolescent body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) in the short term, but longer-term outcomes remain unknown. The current study aimed to follow up a group of adolescents who had originally participated in a randomized controlled trial of CBT for BDD to determine whether treatment gains were maintained. Twenty-six adolescents (mean age = 16.2, SD = 1.6) with a primary diagnosis of BDD received a course of developmentally tailored CBT and were followed up over 12 months. Participants were assessed at baseline, midtreatment, posttreatment, 2-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up. The primary outcome measure was the clinician-rated Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale Modified for BDD. Secondary outcomes included measures of insight, depression, quality of life, and global functioning. BDD symptoms decreased significantly from pre- to posttreatment and remained stable over the 12-month follow-up. At this time point, 50% of participants were classified as responders and 23% as remitters. Participants remained significantly improved on all secondary outcomes at 12-month follow-up. Neither baseline insight nor baseline depression predicted long-term outcomes. The positive effects of CBT appear to be durable up to 12-month follow-up. However, the majority of patients remained symptomatic and vulnerable to a range of risks at 12-month follow-up, indicating that longer-term monitoring is advisable in this population. Future research should focus on enhancing the efficacy of CBT in order to improve long-term outcomes.Full Tex

Eosinophils Are Important for Protection, Immunoregulation and Pathology during Infection with Nematode Microfilariae

Eosinophil responses typify both allergic and parasitic helminth disease. In helminthic disease, the role of eosinophils can be both protective in immune responses and destructive in pathological responses. To investigate whether eosinophils are involved in both protection and pathology during filarial nematode infection, we explored the role of eosinophils and their granule proteins, eosinophil peroxidase (EPO) and major basic protein-1 (MBP-1), during infection with Brugia malayi microfilariae. Using eosinophil-deficient mice (PHIL), we further clarify the role of eosinophils in clearance of microfilariae during primary, but not challenge infection in vivo. Deletion of EPO or MBP-1 alone was insufficient to abrogate parasite clearance suggesting that either these molecules are redundant or eosinophils act indirectly in parasite clearance via augmentation of other protective responses. Absence of eosinophils increased mast cell recruitment, but not other cell types, into the broncho-alveolar lavage fluid during challenge infection. In addition absence of eosinophils or EPO alone, augmented parasite-induced IgE responses, as measured by ELISA, demonstrating that eosinophils are involved in regulation of IgE. Whole body plethysmography indicated that nematode-induced changes in airway physiology were reduced in challenge infection in the absence of eosinophils and also during primary infection in the absence of EPO alone. However lack of eosinophils or MBP-1 actually increased goblet cell mucus production. We did not find any major differences in cytokine responses in the absence of eosinophils, EPO or MBP-1. These results reveal that eosinophils actively participate in regulation of IgE and goblet cell mucus production via granule secretion during nematode-induced pathology and highlight their importance both as effector cells, as damage-inducing cells and as supervisory cells that shape both innate and adaptive immunity

First Results from the CHARA Array. II. A Description of the Instrument

The CHARA Array is a six 1-m telescope optical/IR interferometric array located on Mount Wilson California, designed and built by the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy of Georgia State University. In this paper we describe the main elements of the Array hardware and software control systems as well as the data reduction methods currently being used. Our plans for upgrades in the near future are also described

Family coordination in families who have a child with autism spectrum disorder

Little is known about the interactions of families where there is a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study applies the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP) to explore both its applicability to this population as well as to assess resources and areas of deficit in these families. The sample consisted of 68 families with a child with ASD, and 43 families with a typically developing (TD) child. With respect to the global score for family coordination there were several negative correlations: the more severe the symptoms (based on the child’s ADOS score), the more family coordination was dysfunctional. This correlation was particularly high when parents had to play together with the child. In the parts in which only one of the parents played actively with the child, while the other was simply present, some families did achieve scores in the functional range, despite the child’s symptom severity. The outcomes are discussed in terms of their clinical implications both for assessment and for interventio

Three-Nucleon Force Effects in Nucleon Induced Deuteron Breakup: Predictions of Current Models (I)

An extensive study of three-nucleon force effects in the entire phase space of the nucleon-deuteron breakup process, for energies from above the deuteron breakup threshold up to 200 MeV, has been performed. 3N Faddeev equations have been solved rigorously using the modern high precision nucleon-nucleon potentials AV18, CD Bonn, Nijm I, II and Nijm 93, and also adding 3N forces. We compare predictions for cross sections and various polarization observables when NN forces are used alone or when the two pion-exchange Tucson-Melbourne 3NF was combined with each of them. In addition AV18 was combined with the Urbana IX 3NF and CD Bonn with the TM' 3NF, which is a modified version of the TM 3NF, more consistent with chiral symmetry. Large but generally model dependent 3NF effects have been found in certain breakup configurations, especially at the higher energies, both for cross sections and spin observables. These results demonstrate the usefulness of the kinematically complete breakup reaction in testing the proper structure of 3N forces.Comment: 42 pages, 20 ps figures, 2 gif figure