A diet rich in complex carbohydrates from fruit/vegetables, grain/legumes, nuts/seeds, reduced in sugar, saturated fat, total fat, cholesterol and sodium (the DASH diet), has been shown to prevent and reduce high blood pressure. However, we do not completely understand which aspects of the diet are beneficial, or the biological mechanisms of its effects on high blood pressure. This has limited our ability to prevent and treat high blood pressure and its complications, which include heart disease and stroke. OmniHeart was a large (159 people) controlled feeding study, in which each participant consumed three different healthy diets (each for six weeks) with different proportion of carbohydrate, protein or unsaturated fat. Blood pressure, serum cholesterol and weight were measured during and after each dietary period, and associations of each diet with those factors were assessed. Urine specimens were also collected. The current proposal is to analyse the stored urine specimens using state-of-the art biochemical methods to obtain a metabolic fingerprint specific to each individual at each dietary period. These fingerprints, together with other clinical measurements, are to be analysed using mathematical models to identify urinary metabolites relate to the three OmniHeart diets and their effects on blood pressure and other clinical measurements. Individuals? responses to dietary interventions are to be compared to their metabolite patterns in order to identify markers that predict individual responses to the diet. This may enable doctors in the future to recommend the best specific eating pattern for each of their patients, producing maximum benefit in the reduction in blood pressure and other major risk factors. This proposal has the potential to improve the health of individuals and populations by advancing our understanding of how diet influences blood pressure and other major heart disease risk factors. These findings could lead to new recommendations for individuals, and enhanced future public healthy policy.

In this application we seek support for a 0.6 FTE Computer Manager to support the University of Kent Starlink node and associated PPARC programme computing infrastructure. The research supported by the node is diverse, spanning wavelengths from the millimetre and sub-millimetre to the infrared and optical range. Experimental impact work is also carried out by the planetary science team, that uses presentation graphics and cpu intensive processing power. The group also specialises in millimetre and sub-millimetre wavelength astronomy of star formation regions using mainly SPECX, AIPS, SURF, GAIA and KAPPA for data reduction, and in observational cosmology studies including extragalactic survey science. Theoretical modelling of the observational data is also actively pursued, using both dust and molecular line radiative transfer modelling codes, and bespoke Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics and Photo ionisation codes. During this grant, the system manager will have to support four full time academics (1 Professor, 1 Reader and 2 Lecturers) together with three PPARC PDRA's currently in post plus one Royal Society PDRA. There are currently 9 other research students registered, 3 other technical staff, and 5 other group members. It is expected that the number of postdoctoral staff will increase in the near future / three new PPARC PDRA positions are being sought at this grants round. This proposal continues support originally awarded under the Rolling Grant held for many years by Kent, but now as a standard grant that consolidates all our programmes together. The University of Kent campus has a policy of moving to a wholly to a Windows XP operating system environment and that we have no support for other operating systems (particularly Linux/Unix) / this grant is therefore the only way that we will be able to continue to support access to Starlink hardware/software / and hence this grant is crucial to our continued ability to pursue our already funded PPARC research.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

In view of the rapid increase in demand for mobile data services, next generation wireless communication systems will have to provide greatly increased capacity density and high data rates greater than 50Gbps. However, satisfying these requirements for increasing numbers of users and connected devices, and increasingly bandwidth, processing power and energy-hungry applications will require a transformation in the way in which current mobile and wireless networks perform. Recently, massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technology, where each base station (BS) is equipped with a large number of antenna elements (typically tens or even hundreds) has emerged as a key enabler to achieve a 1000 times data rate and enormous spectral and energy efficiency. In order for massive MIMO to become a reality, the proposed work aims to explore transformative methods for the design of innovative techniques in 3 key challenging areas of massive MIMO communication systems: (i) fundamental limits; (ii), (ii) transmission strategy; and (iii) caching mechanisms. The solution is achieved with small remote antenna units equipped with compact massive MIMO arrays deployed over certain coverage regions, and developing practical signalling schemes, network coordination, and management protocols.