We define the notion of a Kirby element of a ribbon category C (not necessarily semisimple). Kirby elements lead to 3-manifolds invariants. We characterize a set of Kirby elements (in terms of the structural morphisms of a Hopf algebra in C) which is sufficiently large to recover the quantum invariants of 3-manifolds of Reshetikhin-Turaev, of Hennings-Kauffman-Radford, and of Lyubashenko. The c...

BACKGROUND Misfolded proteins are generally recognised by cellular quality control machinery, which typically results in their ubiquitination and degradation. For soluble cytoplasmic proteins, degradation is mediated by the proteasome. Membrane proteins that fail to fold correctly are subject to ER associated degradation (ERAD), which involves their extraction from the membrane and subsequent p...

SNARE (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein-attachment protein receptor) proteins involved in membrane fusion usually contain a conserved alpha-helix (SNARE motif) that is flanked by a C-terminal transmembrane domain. They can be classified into Q-SNARE and R-SNARE based on the structural property of their motifs. Assembly of four SNARE motifs (Qa, b, c and R) is supposed to trigge...

As our urban environments are densifying, it is essential to extend traditional cadastral systems that are based on two dimensional representation of ownership to support 3D. With the need to define property ownership in vertical as well as horizontal dimensions becoming pertinent around the world, a practical solution to represent 3D cadastral data is needed. The Land Administration Domain Mod...

With the existence of mature technologies and modern urban planning necessities, there is a growing public demand to improve the efficiency and transparency of government administrations. This includes the formation of a comprehensive modern spatial land management (cadastre) system having the capacity to handle various types of data in a uniform way—above-terrain and below-terrain—enabling the...

Using a climate version of a regional atmospheric model, we show that the seasonal evolution of weather is dependent on the initial soil moisture and landscape specification. Coupling this model to a land-surface model, the soil moisture distribution and landscape are shown to cause a significant nonlinear interaction between vegetation growth and precipitation. These results demonstrate that s...

The UNU School for Land Administration Studies aims to promote the role of land administration worldwide for good governance in developing countries. A key component of the mandate of the School is to develop a worldwide network of academic partners. Each partner in this network contributes with complementary knowledge and experience, yet distribution of this knowledge to local capacity buildin...

This article introduces a novel algorithm for automatic extraction of canyons which was developed in the Department of the Remote Sensing and Land Information Systems at the University of Freiburg (FELIS). The algorithm detects canyons by means of user-defined dimension parameters and elevation information provided in a Digital Terrain Model (DTM). The extraction procedure is based on the geome...