Erosion is a major threat for coasts worldwide, beaches in particular, which constitute one of the most valuable coastal landforms. Vulnerability assessments related to beach erosion may contribute to planning measures to counteract erosion by identifying, quantifying and ranking vulnerability. Herein, we present a new index, the Beach Vulnerability Index (BVI), which combines simplicity in cal...

Contents 1. Introduction 2. Gravelly Beach Morphology 2.1. Gravelly beach profiles 2.2. Berms and the beach step 2.3. Cusps 3. Hydrodynamics of gravel beaches 3.1. Waves 3.2. Swash phase and percolation effects 3.3. Hydrodynamic effects of the beach step 4. Morphosedimentology of Gravel Beaches 4.1. Size and shape sorting 4.2. Measuring gravel size and shape. 4.3. Bluck models of gravel beach s...

The outer domain (OD) of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 gp120 represents an attractive, if difficult, target for a beneficial immune response to HIV infection. Unlike the entire gp120, the OD is structurally stable and contains the surfaces that interact with both the primary and secondary cellular receptors. The primary strain-specific neutralizing target, the V3 loop, lies within the OD...

MARKET STRUCTURE, TRADE LIBERALIZATION AND THE GATS J.F. Francois and I. Wooton Abstract: In this paper we consider the impact of improved domestic market access for a foreign service provider. We emphasize the interaction between the different modes of market access commitments in services (cross-border and establishment) market structure, and regulation. We work with a model where the domesti...

Vehicle re-identification using Bluetooth (BT) signal data has emerged as an effective and economical means for collecting traffic data including Origin Destination (OD) information which is crucial for transportation planning. Direct vehicle tracking based on Time-Lapse Aerial Photography (TLAP) is also increasingly used for OD studies. Neither technique has previously been validated, so the o...

Biofilm production, gel and esp gene carriage was enumerated among forty six vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) and vancomycin susceptible enterococci (VSE) beach isolates. A higher proportion (61.54%) of biofilm producers was observed among beach sand as compared to beach water enterococci isolates (30%) indicating that enterococci within the sand column may be more dependent on biofilm pr...

Background Beaches are recreational spots for people. However, beach sand contains harmful microbes that affect human health, and there are no established methods for either sampling and identifying beach-borne pathogens or managing the quality of beach sand. Method This study was conducted with the aim of improving human safety at beaches and augmenting the quality of the beach experience. B...

AIM To determine the epidemiology of intentional antidepressant drug overdose (OD), over an extended time period, in Victoria, Australia. METHODS Retrospective epidemiological study of all cases reported to the Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset (VEMD) January 1998 to December 2007 and calls to the Victorian Poisons Information Centre (VPIC) June 2005 to September 2008. RESULTS 5467 VEMD c...