In summary, FloTrac APCO measurements did not meet the momentarily accepted statistical criteria in septic shock patients. Measurements seem to be influenced by SVR, i.e. vasoplegia and APCO had a tendency to underestimate CO assessed by bolus thermodilution. On the other hand, the established PAC CCO measurements did not meet the set criteria either, although measurements did not seem to be influenced by alterations of vascular tone. Despite the present findings, the FloTrac device may be considered as a first-line tool for patients in an early sepsis phase to guide haemodynamic management. More invasive CO devices and echocardiography may however be warranted in prolonged haemodynamic instability [37] .

More invasive CO devices and echocardiography may however be warranted in prolonged haemodynamic instability.


Nonetheless, attributing to the physicochemical characteristics of the nanomaterial like its small shape, size, and unrecognized surface reaction, this novel material also draws far-reaching attention on its biosafety [17, 18] . It is observed that the direct biomedical application of the nanomaterials like Fe 3 O 4 is likely to cause cellular toxicity [19, 20] . Therefore, nontoxicity is perhaps the most basic requirement for magnetic materials to be applied in biomedical field. For this 2 Journal of Nanomaterials purpose, synthesized Fe 3 O 4 is generally coated with proper ligands or moieties before use so as to weaken the cellular toxicity while enhancing the biocompatibility [21, 22] .

Nonetheless, attributing to the physicochemical characteristics of the nanomaterial like its small shape, size, and unrecognized surface reaction, this novel material also draws far-reaching attention on its biosafety.

It is observed that the direct biomedical application of the nanomaterials like Fe 3 O 4 is likely to cause cellular toxicity.

For this 2 Journal of Nanomaterials purpose, synthesized Fe 3 O 4 is generally coated with proper ligands or moieties before use so as to weaken the cellular toxicity while enhancing the biocompatibility.


Featured with prominent bioactivity and biocompatibility, nanohydroxyapatite (n-HA) becomes a perfect candidate and thus is extensively applied in the field of tissue regeneration [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] . Contrasted with traditional micromaterials, n-HA can arouse a higher level of biological plasticity with its superior advantage of a high surface-to-volume ratio [28] . Thus, n-HA was added to coat magnetic nanoparticles to overcome its cytotoxic effect in the former study [29] .

Featured with prominent bioactivity and biocompatibility, nanohydroxyapatite (n-HA) becomes a perfect candidate and thus is extensively applied in the field of tissue regeneration.

Contrasted with traditional micromaterials, n-HA can arouse a higher level of biological plasticity with its superior advantage of a high surface-to-volume ratio.

Thus, n-HA was added to coat magnetic nanoparticles to overcome its cytotoxic effect in the former study.


Electromagnetic biology mainly explores the impacts of electric and magnetic fields on the living organs. From the researches on this subject in the past dozens of years, it has been convincingly proved that through perceiving the direction of the geomagnetic field, various species like sea turtles, birds, and butterflies can navigate for a long distance, while mammalian species are able to line up on the earth [30, 31] . Besides the impacts of the geomagnetic field on species behavior, the electromagnetic biology also explores the underlying negative impacts of diverse environmental electromagnetic fields (EMFs). The EMFs from mobile phones and power lines are representative ones daily. There are also static magnetic fields (SMF) from magnetic levitation and magnetic resonance imaging system [32] . Particularly, more and more researches have demonstrated that SMF treatments will trigger genotoxicity, apoptosis, and cellular differentiation in different types of cells [33] . Nonetheless, none of former researches has appropriately studied the impacts of magnetic nanoparticles integrated with SMF exposure on cytotoxicity. For electromagnetic biology, it makes sense to measure the cellular toxicity of magnetic nanoparticles under magnetic environment, for magnetic nanoparticles like Fe 3 O 4 will be magnetized under SMF and may impose unrecognized negative impacts on living organs.

From the researches on this subject in the past dozens of years, it has been convincingly proved that through perceiving the direction of the geomagnetic field, various species like sea turtles, birds, and butterflies can navigate for a long distance, while mammalian species are able to line up on the earth.

There are also static magnetic fields (SMF) from magnetic levitation and magnetic resonance imaging system.

Particularly, more and more researches have demonstrated that SMF treatments will trigger genotoxicity, apoptosis, and cellular differentiation in different types of cells.


The antioxidant defence system in the plant cell comprises both enzymatic and non-enzymatic components. Drought has been shown to increase the activity of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and guaiacol peroxidase (GPX) [7, 10, 11] . These major reactive oxygen species (ROS)-scavenging antioxidant enzymes are crucial to remove the ROS in plant cells [12] . It was reported that antioxidant defence system components in plants were exaggerated differently depending on the degree of drought stress [7, 13] .

Drought has been shown to increase the activity of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and guaiacol peroxidase (GPX).

These major reactive oxygen species (ROS)-scavenging antioxidant enzymes are crucial to remove the ROS in plant cells.

It was reported that antioxidant defence system components in plants were exaggerated differently depending on the degree of drought stress.


The current status of climate change has led to a strong El Niño weather pattern that causes higher temperature, prolonged dry seasons, and severe drought, and thereby affects granary areas of Malaysia. Such environmental conditions are the major factors that limit the production of crop at a worldwide level. Approximately 40% of the world's population is exaggerated by drought [1] . In Malaysia, about 114,324 hectares of land are affected by drought [2] .

Approximately 40% of the world's population is exaggerated by drought.

In Malaysia, about 114,324 hectares of land are affected by drought.


Allozyme evidence supported the morphometric results in verifying the hybrid status of phenotypically intermediate beetles. In all populations, except the population in which we conducted our focal observations (WA6), the only alleles we recorded for each species were species-speciÞc alleles (Table 2) . In other words, populations of C. auratus from outside of the zone of overlap featured only C. auratus alleles, and populations of C. cobaltinus from outside of the zone of overlap featured only C. cobaltinus alleles. This was true for all three loci. However, this pattern broke down for the one site of sympatry (WA6) from which we sampled beetles. At this location, Þve of the 52 specimens we sampled that had coloration typical of C. cobaltinus were heterozygous at all three loci, featuring both C. cobaltinus and C. auratus alleles. Such a result would be expected for F 1 hybrids, but unexpected for backcrossed individuals, in which no Ͼ12.5% of individuals should be heterozygous for each of three species-speciÞc genetic markers (Boecklen and Howard 1997) . Indeed, based on this probability, there is only a 0.003% probability (0. 125 5 ) that a set of Þve backcrossed individuals would all be heterozygous for all three loci. These individuals also had ßag-ellomere length:width ratios (1.58 Ϯ 0.059) intermediate to the typical values for each species. Taken together, these results strongly indicate that these Þve beetles were hybrids between C. auratus and C. cobaltinus, rather than pure C. cobaltinus or backcrossed individuals, and thus we treated them as hybrids in the analyses shown in Tables 1 and 2 . The rest of the C. cobaltinus individuals were homozygous for C. cobaltinus alleles. None of the 60 C. auratus we sampled from site WA6 featured C. cobaltinus alleles. We had identiÞed 17 of the individuals that we collected for allozyme analysis from this site as putative hybrids. All of these putative hybrids were heterozygous for all three loci, with an allele from each Chrysochus species (Table 2) . These results strongly support our initial assignment of these beetles as hybrids.

This was true for all three loci.

Such a result would be expected for F 1 hybrids, but unexpected for backcrossed individuals, in which no Ͼ12.5% of individuals should be heterozygous for each of three species-speciÞc genetic markers.


In a similar vein, we have found that within the hybrid zone a small proportion of C. auratus individuals will eat milkweed (unpublished data). This result stands in sharp contrast to results from populations elsewhere in western North America, where beetles are unwilling to eat milkweed, even in the absence of a choice (Dobler and Farrell 1999) . Taken together, these morphological and ecological results are suggestive of ongoing introgression across species boundaries in this hybrid zone, or are perhaps testimony to a legacy of past introgression. We are currently performing studies to further analyze whether mobility and diet breadth traits have in fact introgressed between these two species.

This result stands in sharp contrast to results from populations elsewhere in western North America, where beetles are unwilling to eat milkweed, even in the absence of a choice.


The intestinal flora of endothermic animals serves both a digestive function and as a protection barrier against disease (Sissons 1989) . Assuming that the non-pathogenic microflora has a disease-preventive effect, this protection is likely to be mediated by microorganisms that are present in high numbers. Therefore, studies on the composition and characteristics of the dominant microflora are a crucial part in probiotic fish research.

The intestinal flora of endothermic animals serves both a digestive function and as a protection barrier against disease.


Recovered A. hydrophila, Vibrio spp., S. putrefaciens, Staphylococcus sp., Streptococcus sp., and Edwardsiella sp. bacteria are facultative pathogens or agents of food poisoning, and spoilage is of importance. Although the presence of these bacteria is not often associated with fish diseases or enteric diseases in man, the health implications of the introduction of these organisms into natural water via the fish faeces in the aquaculture wastewaters should not be ignored. Spoilage bacteria S. putrefaciens and Vibrionaceae are able to utilize trimethylamine oxide, resulting in off odors and flavors (Gennary et al. 1999) . In order to prolong the shelf life of fish, it is essential to control these spoilage bacteria. S. putrefaciens count is probably not only a sufficient parameter for shelf life prediction, but is also useful in quality determination of fish. The results indicate that the microflora of the aqueous environment could influence the bacterial flora of apparently healthy carp and catfish and that the commensal bacterial flora which included facultative pathogens could give rise to fish epizootics at any stress condition. These findings may contribute to aquaculture management practices and can also help in controlling the storage life and food safety. Further studies need to be conducted to observe the bacterial nature in diseased and healthy carp and catfish as well as how the bacterial pathogens contribute to the pathology of fish and aquaculture environment.

Spoilage bacteria S. putrefaciens and Vibrionaceae are able to utilize trimethylamine oxide, resulting in off odors and flavors.


There is growing awareness on the influence of bacterial composition of fish, especially in the intestine, on the health and growth of the host. Extreme examples of the influence of the gut flora include the negative effects of the pathogenic organisms and, in contrast, the total reliance that ruminants have on their gut flora for the assimilation of organic carbon from the environment (Kennedy et al. 1991) . The influence of the gut flora on the host is clearly of great interest in aquaculture, particularly where poor productivity and/or stock losses are widespread (Sharmila et al. 1996; Moriarty 1997; Skjermo and Vadstein 1999; Lavens and Sorgeloos 2000) .

Extreme examples of the influence of the gut flora include the negative effects of the pathogenic organisms and, in contrast, the total reliance that ruminants have on their gut flora for the assimilation of organic carbon from the environment.

The influence of the gut flora on the host is clearly of great interest in aquaculture, particularly where poor productivity and/or stock losses are widespread.


During the last decade, cellulose nanofibers (CNF) have emerged as high value-added products derived from renewable resources, mainly composed by cellulose and hemicellulose, with improved properties with respect to common cellulosic fibers and a wide range of applications (Henriksson et al. 2007; Isogai et al. 2011; Hii et al. 2012) . There is extensive literature on the use of CNF as paper strength additive in bulk, where the advantages of this nanostructured cellulose-based additive are extensively discussed in terms of contributing to the mechanical, physical and barrier properties, as well as paper products life span (Lavoine et al. 2012 (Lavoine et al. , 2014 Delgado-Aguilar et al. 2015b; Boufi et al. 2016) . This is particularly relevant for the packaging sector, which is moving from plastic to fiber-based products. However, considering that the supply of virgin cellulosic resources is limited and that the world's population is increasing, the transition to recycled fibers based products is needed in order to assure a sustainable growth.

During the last decade, cellulose nanofibers (CNF) have emerged as high value-added products derived from renewable resources, mainly composed by cellulose and hemicellulose, with improved properties with respect to common cellulosic fibers and a wide range of applications.

There is extensive literature on the use of CNF as paper strength additive in bulk, where the advantages of this nanostructured cellulose-based additive are extensively discussed in terms of contributing to the mechanical, physical and barrier properties, as well as paper products life span.


Local recurrence of colorectal cancer and metastatic disease after surgery are common entities; they are due to microscopic disease left after resection, peri-operatively spilled tumor cells or unrecognised metastatic disease at the time of operation. Over the last decades numerous studies have been performed, with limited success to determine the role of adjuvant therapy in improving the results of surgery. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy are commonly used tools for adjuvant treatment, and there exists increasing in combining both modalities [23] .

Radiotherapy and chemotherapy are commonly used tools for adjuvant treatment, and there exists increasing in combining both modalities.


The design of fast dividers is an important issue in highspeed computing because division accounts for a signi®-cant fraction of the total arithmetic operation [1] . Most implementations for the division are based on the SRT algorithm that uses a recurrence producing one quotient digit for each step [2±9] . The speed of such SRT-based dividers is mainly determined by the complexity of the quotient-digit selection. Fig. 1 illustrates an architecture of a radix-4 SRT divider which employs a quotient-digit selection table (QST). The use of QST signi®cantly reduces the complexity of quotient-digit selection. However, the table size increases drastically with high radices [2, 9] . The table size can be reduced signi®cantly by estimating the quotient digit instead of ®nding the exact one [9] . The estimated quotient digit is calibrated in parallel with updating the new partial remainder. Since the two-step process does not affect the division speed, the approach has fast speed performance due to the signi®cant reduction in table size. This paper presents the detailed design of a fast radix-4 SRT division and its VLSI implementation. Results show that, based on the physical layout, the circuit takes 291ns to compute a double precision division (56 bits in the fraction part), where the CMOS technology in MAGIC is employed for simulation.

The design of fast dividers is an important issue in highspeed computing because division accounts for a signi®-cant fraction of the total arithmetic operation.

However, the table size increases drastically with high radices.

The table size can be reduced signi®cantly by estimating the quotient digit instead of ®nding the exact one.


Despite the prominence of rational expectations in macroeconomics there is considerable interest in its limitations. As an alternative some researchers propose modeling agents as econometricians (Evans and Honkapohja (2001) ). This adaptive learning approach typically assumes agents have a correctly specified model with unknown parameters. In many models agents' optimal decision rules are functions of these beliefs.

As an alternative some researchers propose modeling agents as econometricians).


The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 overviews the evolutionary delay-tolerant forwarding service engineered in this paper. Its multiple components are detailed in the following sections: Section 3 presents the forwarding policy followed by each node and its unified representation; Section 4 presents the selection process of good forwarding policies and the generation of new policies; and Section 5 presents the fitness estimation process. Then Section 6 describes the specifications of the protocol. The outcomes of a simulative study, performed using a freely available software tool, are reported in Section 7. Section 8 concludes the paper. An extended version is available as INRIA technical report [1] .

Section 8 concludes the paper.

An extended version is available as INRIA technical report.


In general, music can be regarded as an audio embellishment which enhances the ambience of an event, or it can be used to produce an ergogenic effect to enhance the performance of sportsmen (Karageorghis, 2010) . Another important role of music is to accompany sports routines which comprise choreographic elements, such as rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, figure skating, martial arts and so forth. For this category of sports, music is indispensable in any form of competition event and has a great influence on an individual routine. Acrobatic skills or certain movements of the sportsmen no doubt contribute the major winning factor, but the correlation between choreography and music indirectly affects the entire performance. Spectators of various fields and backgrounds may or may not focus on this issue, but from a musicological perspective we posit that the correlation between the music selected and choreography deserves attention in scholarship. This includes issues such as the selection of music, editing of music, genre of music, correlation between movement and musical aspects, and so forth. Notwithstanding, the approach of music applied to choreographic sports depends greatly on the individual coach and gymnast, and their understanding of musical elements becomes a prime concern.

In general, music can be regarded as an audio embellishment which enhances the ambience of an event, or it can be used to produce an ergogenic effect to enhance the performance of sportsmen.


Advanced pharmaceutical development involves systemic formulation design where modeling of predictive system is essential in compliance with quality-by-design (QbD) paradigm for emerging drug delivery. Response surface methodology (RSM) has been actively applied to optimize various developed pharmaceutical formulations. However, RSM uses second-order polynomial equation to predict pharmaceutical responses whereby only low order polynomial involved which often leads to inaccurate estimation of nonlinear parameters. In comparison with RSM, artificial neural network (ANN) performs substantially better as a modeling technique for data sets having nonlinear relationship in terms of data fitting and prediction abilities (Ghaffari et al., 2006) . As such flexibility gained without accuracy being compromised, we developed a novel optimized technique for the development of fullerene nanoemulsion in which an ANN was incorporated.

In comparison with RSM, artificial neural network (ANN) performs substantially better as a modeling technique for data sets having nonlinear relationship in terms of data fitting and prediction abilities.


Fullerene is a versatile free radical scavenger which displayed wide spectrum of biological activities. It has been employed in various fields such as antioxidation, neuroprotection, DNA photocleavage, antibacterial and antiviral activities, and enzyme inhibition (Partha and Conyers, 2009) . The lack of solubility in biological environments is the major hindrance in the development of these fields. Nevertheless, conjugation of hydroxyl groups onto the surface of fullerene would improve the solubil-ity (Li et al., 2012) . Due to the occupancy of hydrophilic groups on C‚C bonds to solubilize the fullerene, drug loading efficiency naturally becomes lower as less drug molecules can be attached to the surface of fullerene. Furthermore, the initial antioxidant activity of fullerene was greatly compromised which became the main drawback for the existing solutions. Instead of functionalizing the fullerene to enhance its solubility, nanoemulsion system was proposed for drug delivery while maintaining the availability of double bonds for the conjugation of potential drugs. In fact, nanoemulsion is a carrier system for poorly watersoluble drugs. This is a very promising and worthwhile study to advance further in the nanotechnology field of drug delivery.

It has been employed in various fields such as antioxidation, neuroprotection, DNA photocleavage, antibacterial and antiviral activities, and enzyme inhibition.

Nevertheless, conjugation of hydroxyl groups onto the surface of fullerene would improve the solubil-ity.


ANN has been extensively applied for modeling in pharmaceutical research technology on the development of formulation, production process as well as evaluation of drug performance forecasting (Esmaeilzadeh-Gharedaghi et al., 2012; Rezaee et al., 2014; Siafaka et al., 2015) . ANN is a learning system by experience which can simulate the neurological processing ability resembling human brain. ANN is able to solve complex problems including clustering, pattern classification, function approximation, and optimization (Suykens et al., 2012) . However, limited work has been researched on nanoemulsion formulation by controlling the ultrasonic parameters via ANN modeling. Several universal mathematical learning algorithms that would be used in this study include Levenberg-Marquardt (LM), incremental back-propagation (IBP), batch back-propagation (BBP), and quick propagation (QP) algorithms.

ANN has been extensively applied for modeling in pharmaceutical research technology on the development of formulation, production process as well as evaluation of drug performance forecasting.

ANN is able to solve complex problems including clustering, pattern classification, function approximation, and optimization.


Then we turn our attention to the problem of computing sojourn time distributions of typical customers in large networks of interacting queues. In Section 4 we discuss a model for dynamic routing in circuit-switched networks that was introduced by Gibbens, Hunt, and Kelly [4] . We indicate how propagation of chaos can be used to immediately write down the sojourn time distribution of a typical customer in this model. This calculation is typical of situations where all the motion of a typical customer between queues occurs at a fixed time-thus, one can immediately use this proof technique to deal with similar models.

In Section 4 we discuss a model for dynamic routing in circuit-switched networks that was introduced by Gibbens, Hunt, and Kelly.


Our purpose in this paper is to discuss the use of these ideas in studying large networks of interacting queues. In the context of queuing networks, propagation of chaos can be considered a technique for writing dynamic Erlang fixed-point equations. Erlang fixed-point equations are widely used in the approximate analysis of networks and have been the subject of several recent papers [5, 9, 10] . The traditional use of this technique is static in nature, reflecting the quantities at a single time. We hope that becoming aware of the possibility of justifying a dynamic analog of this approximation scheme will increase the range of its applicability.

Erlang fixed-point equations are widely used in the approximate analysis of networks and have been the subject of several recent papers.


In this paper we discuss the use of a statistical mechanics technique called propagation of chaos for computing the sojourn times of typical customers in large networks of interacting queues with symmetry. Propagation of chaos is a property enjoyed by certain statistical mechanical models of interacting particles [8] . Consider a system of n identical interacting particles, and focus attention on the first p of them.

Propagation of chaos is a property enjoyed by certain statistical mechanical models of interacting particles.


Statistical analyses of recent climate trends on rice yields have detected some significant effects of climatic factors, but they often differed in magnitude and even in sign depending on the region (Tao et al. 2006 (Tao et al. , 2008 Zhang et al. 2010; Zhou et al. 2013) . Climatic factors affect rice growth and yield via multiple processes and their effects are often nonlinear. The effects can also be modulated by management or cultivars, and these interactions are difficult to determine with empirical models that do not consider the mechanisms of these effects. Crop models that account for crop responses to climate and management factors are a useful tool for quantifying the factors responsible for change in production over years. Recent studies have attempted to identify the effects of climate trends or cultivar improvements on the historical yield change using crop models (Xiong et al. 2012; Yu et al. 2012; Xiao and Tao 2014) . However, because efficient use of resources such as nutrients and water will become a central issue for food production, there is a need to implement model analyses to explore productivity and resource use efficiency under global climate changes.

Statistical analyses of recent climate trends on rice yields have detected some significant effects of climatic factors, but they often differed in magnitude and even in sign depending on the region.

Recent studies have attempted to identify the effects of climate trends or cultivar improvements on the historical yield change using crop models.


In this study, we first modified our regional model to evaluate the effect of crop management and climatic factors on the historical changes in crop production based on our regional-scale rice yield model by incorporating a simple nitrogen dynamics in rice paddy field (Hasegawa and Horie 1997) . We then applied this model to quantify the effects of factors associated with the time course of rice production in East Asia, using the example of China, which experienced a very rapid change in crop production and N use in the second half of the twentieth century. Because crop responses to climatic factors or N inputs are often nonlinear, we predicted that contributions of the factors would differ depending on climate zones and/or input levels.

In this study, we first modified our regional model to evaluate the effect of crop management and climatic factors on the historical changes in crop production based on our regional-scale rice yield model by incorporating a simple nitrogen dynamics in rice paddy field.


Nitrogen (N) fertilizer is a major driver of the increase in crop production. It increases leaf area, canopy light interception, and the rate of photosynthesis per unit leaf area, all of which lead to an increase in biomass. On the other hand, heavy use of N has increased the environmental load from rice agriculture (Cassman et al. 2003; Shindo et al. 2006; Shindo 2013) . Future rice production must meet the growing food demand while reducing the environmental load from agriculture. In particular, this has become a major concern in China, which accounts for about 28 % of world rice production and 34 % of global N fertilizer consumption (as of 2011; FAOSTAT http://fao stat3.fao.org/).

On the other hand, heavy use of N has increased the environmental load from rice agriculture.


In pre-combustion CO 2 capture approach used in the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant, coal is initially gasified into syngas, composed mainly of H 2 and CO. The wateregas shift reaction (WGSR) is then applied to enrich the H 2 concentration from syngas product. WGSR is a wellknown and intensively studied reaction. It is a mildly exothermic reaction with an equilibrium constant inversely proportional to temperature [1] . This implies that the reaction is thermodynamically favored at lower temperatures. However, a faster reaction rate can be reached at higher temperatures because of higher chemical kinetics. Therefore, industrial WGSR is carried out in two steps [2, 3] . In the first step most of the CO and H 2 O are converted into H 2 and CO 2 over a Fe 2 O 3 eCr 2 O 3 catalyst in a high-temperature shift reactor operating typically between 300 and 450 C. A Cu/ZnO/ Al 2 O 3 catalyst is then used in a low-temperature shift reactor to further convert the remaining CO between 200 and 250 C.

It is a mildly exothermic reaction with an equilibrium constant inversely proportional to temperature.

Therefore, industrial WGSR is carried out in two steps.


Paper is an anisotropic fibrous structure that has different regions (amorphous and crystalline) with different morphologies. This diversity produces variations during the measurement of mechanical properties. The mechanical strength of cellulose paper is a combination of different factors: the strength of the fibers (cellulose fibers and fibrils) and the strength of the fiber-to-fiber bonds. These interfiber bonds are arranged by the remaining lignin and hemicellulose that compose the paper. Based on these factors, the failure mechanics of paper develop through the following two tracks: the interfiber bonds fail in a weak bonded paper or individual fibers fail in a strongly bonded paper [4] .

Based on these factors, the failure mechanics of paper develop through the following two tracks: the interfiber bonds fail in a weak bonded paper or individual fibers fail in a strongly bonded paper.


The concentration of methanol allows the different aging steps to be tracked, from the initial rapid rate of degradation followed by the slow progression to a steady rate, in both standard Kraft paper and thermally upgraded Kraft papers. For the curve fitting of TUK of Figure 2b , three unusual and unknown high values of MeOH were not taken into account. The generation of ethanol during aging was also measured but is not being presented here. Concentrations between 150 and 200 ppb were registered for both types of papers. These low values could be related to the absence of an abnormal aging event, such as a hot spot, during the experiment's duration [14] . The generation of ethanol was not affected by a higher grammage of the TUK paper or the additional nitrogen present in this paper. Figure 3 shows the correspondence between the degree of polymerization and the remaining percentage of the tensile index in both types of paper. The correlation curve appears in two distinct sections. In the first section, the degree of polymerization decreases without a very significant change in mechanical strength or tensile index of the paper. This behavior is in agreement with the initial accelerated loss of DP v over time for both types of paper. The faster initial degradation is related to the amorphous regions of cellulose; i.e., due to their accessibility, they are easily degraded. The Kraft paper has a high degree of crystallinity and morphology [15] . Therefore, the papers maintain their mechanical properties at this level even if there is loss of DP v . The first section of the curve implies that the mechanical performance is based mainly on the strength of the crystalline regions of cellulose and the fiber-to-fiber bonds. In the second section of the curve, a linear correlation was established between the DPv and the tensile index. The reduction in the degree of polymerization controlled the loss of the paper's mechanical strength; at this level of aging, most of the amorphous regions were degraded and the crystalline regions endured the aging process better. However, the presence of more scissions in the cellulose chains at the molecular level also has an impact at a macro level by decreasing the paper strength.

These low values could be related to the absence of an abnormal aging event, such as a hot spot, during the experiment's duration.

The Kraft paper has a high degree of crystallinity and morphology.


At the molecular level, paper consists of an intricate and complex group of cellulosic fibers bound together by hydrogen bonds. During the manufacture of paper, local variations in the grammage (paper density), fiber orientation distribution, pore distribution and interfiber strength (bonded area among individual cellulose fibers) produce zones denoted as mesostructures. The mesostructures are niches where the paper will start to fail under mechanical stress [4] .

The mesostructures are niches where the paper will start to fail under mechanical stress.


Many studies have been reported that explore the progression of normal aging of the oil-paper insulation system. Although the aging of paper in oil is not yet fully understood, some of the mechanisms involved in the aging process have been described in the literature. Oxidation, thermal degradation and acid hydrolysis degrade or depolymerize cellulose simultaneously during the entire aging event. Among them, acid hydrolysis is considered to be the main mechanism responsible for cellulose aging [5] .

Among them, acid hydrolysis is considered to be the main mechanism responsible for cellulose aging.


This local effect needs to be added to the normal deterioration suffered by the cellulose fibers and interfibre bonding due to typical aging that affects the paper. In summary, the values obtained from the measurement of paper strength are averages. In contrast, the rupture of the paper is not controlled by the average values but by lower values detected in a specific region due to the local variations mentioned above [4] .

In contrast, the rupture of the paper is not controlled by the average values but by lower values detected in a specific region due to the local variations mentioned above.


In an effort to overcome these drawbacks, other chemical markers are being investigated. Methanol, which is found in oil, is an excellent aging marker for standard Kraft and TU papers. The generation of methanol is proportional to the scissions of the glycosidic bonds in the cellulose chain. Based on methanol levels, the condition of the paper can be tracked at every stage, from the initial state of aging to the end. Also, a relationship between the concentration of methanol in oil and the DP v of aged paper within the transformer has recently been reported [7] . In the case of ethanol, its generation is related to a specific fault in the paper, such as a hot spot. However, even though DP v is an excellent tool for assessing the condition of cellulose fibers in paper at the molecular level, no relationship has been found between the analysis of chemical markers and the ultimate mechanical properties of the paper; i.e. no macro scale analysis has been performed.

Also, a relationship between the concentration of methanol in oil and the DP v of aged paper within the transformer has recently been reported.


The demand for electricity is continuously growing, thus resulting in a significant number of power transformers in service and being installed. Properly designed power transformers have an average service life of 25 to 35 years depending on loading, temperatures and maintenance. There are cases where power transformers with adequate maintenance can reach a lifespan of around 60 years [1] . However, several large power transformers built during the 60's and 70's are considered to be close to the end of their design life. From this perspective, it is necessary to develop accurate and reliable tools to assess and predict the evolution and remaining lifespan of power transformers and to avoid failures of old units with the resulting consequences.

There are cases where power transformers with adequate maintenance can reach a lifespan of around 60 years.


These days, even with the continuous advance in power transformer control, automation and design, the general configuration of large power transformers, including their components and materials, remains almost unaltered from the first commercial versions. With respect to the transformer insulation system, inexpensive paper, pressboard and oil continue to be used as the elements that make up that part of the transformer. Oil impregnated paper has good electrical and mechanical properties which favor its use as insulating material. Its good dielectric strength is not affected even when the paper loses some of its mechanical performance [2] . Multiple factors influence the lifespan of power transformers (electrical, mechanical and thermal stresses). These factors interact with the components of the insulation system, accelerating the normal aging of the oil and paper. Fortunately, the oil can be reclaimed or eventually changed when necessary without stopping the operation of the transformer.

Its good dielectric strength is not affected even when the paper loses some of its mechanical performance.


Among the tools used to assess the condition of paper is the measurement of the degree of polymerization (DP v , average number of glucose units per cellulose chain). This technique is accurate in evaluating the condition of paper. The mechanical strength of paper is related to the average DP v . For new Kraft paper, DP v ranging from 1300-1000 is measured; the mechanical strength is considered constant between 1000 and 500. After the DP v drops to 500, the strength and DP v decrease to show a linear relationship [2] . When the DP v values are between 200 and 150, the paper cannot withstand additional mechanical stress (e.g vibration inside the transformer), even when its dielectric strength has not degraded. At this point the paper and the transformer itself are at high risk of experiencing a total failure.

After the DP v drops to 500, the strength and DP v decrease to show a linear relationship.


A key aspect of effective notice design is the realization that a privacy policy, which may be necessary for regulatory compliance, is insufficient and often unsuitable for informing users. Privacy policies need to be accompanied by a notice concept that leverages the options provided in the notice design space to provide information relevant to the targeted audience and to make that information actionable by providing real choices. Actionability is important, because privacy notices without control may leave users feeling helpless [100] . Empowering users with privacy controls increases their trust and may result in increased use and disclosure [20] .

Actionability is important, because privacy notices without control may leave users feeling helpless.

Empowering users with privacy controls increases their trust and may result in increased use and disclosure.


The fact that Breeden's formula for instantaneous risk premia continues to hold implies that the high-frequency Sharpe ratios of returns in an economy with nongeometric subjective discount functions are the same as those in an economy with time-consistent consumers. Many models of preferences are not able to generate the high Sharpe ratios found in many data sets (Hansen and Jagannathan (1991) ). This is a puzzle that can therefore not be addressed using only non-standard assumptions about subjective rates of time preference.

Many models of preferences are not able to generate the high Sharpe ratios found in many data sets).


Usually, base isolated systems are designed with reference to the strongest earthquake expected at the site or having a very low probability of exceedance. Seismic codes allow the use of the linear analysis, independently of the earthquake actions, and equivalent characteristics, such as stiffness and damping, are used for the seismic check. The suitability of seismic isolation has been demonstrated also during recent earthquakes, when base isolated buildings exhibited an excellent behaviour, preserving the structures, the non-structural elements and their contents (Matsuda et al., 2012; Saito, 2015; Zhou et al., 2015) .

The suitability of seismic isolation has been demonstrated also during recent earthquakes, when base isolated buildings exhibited an excellent behaviour, preserving the structures, the non-structural elements and their contents.


Zinc oxide (ZnO) is an important wide band gap II-VI semiconductor material and a natural n-type electrical conductor. ZnO thin films are used in various applications, such as in transparent conductive film and window materials in solar cell applications, because of its high optical transmittance in the visible light region [1] . Recently, ZnO materials have attracted much more interest for the application of optoelectronic devices, such as light-emitting diodes, laser diodes, piezoelectric transducers, transistors, bulk acoustic wave devices, acoustic-optical devices, and phosphors [2] .

ZnO thin films are used in various applications, such as in transparent conductive film and window materials in solar cell applications, because of its high optical transmittance in the visible light region.

Recently, ZnO materials have attracted much more interest for the application of optoelectronic devices, such as light-emitting diodes, laser diodes, piezoelectric transducers, transistors, bulk acoustic wave devices, acoustic-optical devices, and phosphors.


Cultivation increased the soil bulk density to 0.11 to 0.16 g cm -3 and 0.06 to 0.24 g cm -3 in the plough layer (0 -20 cm) and plough pan layer (20 -40 cm) in the studied area. The changes apparently related to the effects of accelerated wind erosion due to cultivation and subsequent tillage practices. Cultivated rain-fed croplands had a short growth period and low vegetative and root biomass in Bashang area. The farmers harvested the above-ground biomass, including the seeds and the straw in autumn. Therefore, the cropland surfaces were left fallow from early October to late May of the following year and were directly exposed to strong wind erosion, especially in the spring from the thawing of the surface soil to the germination of crop seeds (Xu, 1997; Li et al., 2004) . Wind erosion is associated with a deficiency of soil moisture, which has a direct influence on the wind velocity required to initiate soil movement, as only relative dry soil particles are likely to be moved by the wind (Chepil, 1956; Hai et al., 2005) . Therefore, the croplands converted from zonal grasslands were more susceptible to wind erosion compared with the intrazonal grasslands. Some other researchers have also reported an increase in bulk density due to cultivation (Srivastava and Singh, 1989; Nimisha and Sigh, 2007) .

Therefore, the cropland surfaces were left fallow from early October to late May of the following year and were directly exposed to strong wind erosion, especially in the spring from the thawing of the surface soil to the germination of crop seeds.

Wind erosion is associated with a deficiency of soil moisture, which has a direct influence on the wind velocity required to initiate soil movement, as only relative dry soil particles are likely to be moved by the wind.

Some other researchers have also reported an increase in bulk density due to cultivation.


In mammals from several different taxa, physiological suppression can be measured at the level of the pituitary. Physiological suppression is usually manifested as a reduced pituitary secretion of LH or decreased sensitivity to hypothalamic GnRH (Faulkes et al., 1990; Bennett et al., 1993; O'Riain et al., 2000; Wingfield & Sapolsky, 2003) . We did not observe differences in the basal concentrations of bioactive LH or pituitary responses to an exogenous GnRH challenge between breeders and non-breeders. We contend that in Cape ground squirrels, physiological suppression does not operate to the degree illustrated in some other social cooperatively breeding mammals including Damaraland mole-rats C. damarensis and naked mole-rats H. glaber (Faulkes et al., 1990; Bennett et al., 1993) .

Physiological suppression is usually manifested as a reduced pituitary secretion of LH or decreased sensitivity to hypothalamic GnRH.

We contend that in Cape ground squirrels, physiological suppression does not operate to the degree illustrated in some other social cooperatively breeding mammals including Damaraland mole-rats C. damarensis and naked mole-rats H. glaber.


In this paper, we will present explicit and simple brane solutions of the IKKT matrix model with mass term, which can serve as (toy-) models for cosmological space-times, and exhibit a BB-like singularity. They have a space-like SO(4) isometry, and reduce to homogeneous and isotropic FRW cosmologies with k = 1 in the semi-classical limit. These solutions are obtained from basic quantized ("fuzzy") homogeneous spaces, specifically the fuzzy 4-sphere S 4 N and the fuzzy 4-hyperboloid H 4 n . These turn out to be solutions of the Lorentzian matrix model in the presence of suitable mass terms, which are different for the space-like and time-like matrices. The BB arises from a signature change in the effective metric, taking into account the quantized 4-volume form which arises from the non-commutative structure of the brane. The point is that the effective metric on the brane M is not the induced metric, but involves the Poisson structure on the brane in an essential way 2 [7] [8] [9] . The Poisson structure gives rise to the frame bundle, and its flux provides the measure for the integration on M. This determines the conformal factor of the metric which is singular at the location of signature change, leading to a singular initial expansion.

The point is that the effective metric on the brane M is not the induced metric, but involves the Poisson structure on the brane in an essential way 2.


Compared to the electrical chaos, optical chaos can overcome these disadvantages with very large bandwidth, low attenuation, high security, more chaotic and faster [19] , [20] . Therefore, optical chaos has a great application prospect in the field of image encryption. A fast and secure symmetric image encryption-then-transmission system using semiconductor lasers is proposed [21] . A master laser (ML) and two slave lasers (SL1 and SL2) are used for generating chaotic signals served as chaotic carrier to transmit image with small BER and high Q-factor. Meantime, the chaotic signals are sampled and discretized to produce the core part of the encryption scheme. This proposed scheme is effective and highly secure. Recently, a novel image encryption algorithm based on synchronization of physical random bit generated in a cascade-coupled semiconductor ring lasers (CCSRL) system is proposed [22] . The proposed algorithm demonstrates a good encryption performance and is a promising candidate for secure image communication application. However, we notice that there are few reports on image encryption using double chaotic system and DNA encryption algorithm based on optical chaos.

Compared to the electrical chaos, optical chaos can overcome these disadvantages with very large bandwidth, low attenuation, high security, more chaotic and faster.

A fast and secure symmetric image encryption-then-transmission system using semiconductor lasers is proposed.

Recently, a novel image encryption algorithm based on synchronization of physical random bit generated in a cascade-coupled semiconductor ring lasers (CCSRL) system is proposed.


The second assumption is that communication is intention-driven, and understanding text actually means understanding the communicative intention of the writer. Furthermore, communicative intentions are intentions to affect the reader's cognitive state -his or her beliefs, desires, and/or intentions. This view has been adopted in the text generation and dialog community more than in the information extraction and text understanding communities (Mann and Thompson, 1987; Hovy, 1993; Moore, 1994; Bunt, 2000; Stone, 2004) . In this paper we explore the following: we would like to recognize what the writer of the text intends the reader to believe about various people's beliefs about the world (including the writer's own). In this view, the result of text processing is not a list of facts about the world, but a list of facts about different people's cognitive states. In this paper, we limit ourselves to the writer's beliefs, but we specifically want to determine which propositions he or she intends us to believe he or she holds as beliefs, and with what strength. The result of such processing will be a much more fine-grained representation of the information contained in written text than has been available so far.

This view has been adopted in the text generation and dialog community more than in the information extraction and text understanding communities.


The braking system of a vehicle is usually subjected to a complex state of stress which includes mechanical and thermal stresses (Choudhury et al., 2014) . The material used in brake rotors should, therefore be able to bear thermal fatigue and should absorb and quickly dissipate heat generated during braking (Esposito and Thrower, 1999) . In a typical braking process, the hydraulic pressure could be in the range of 2 to 4 MPa. The rotors could reach at a very small duration, temperatures as high as 800°C due to friction, which could result to a thermal gradient up to 500°C between the surface and the core of the rotors (Macnaughta, 1998) .

The braking system of a vehicle is usually subjected to a complex state of stress which includes mechanical and thermal stresses.

The material used in brake rotors should, therefore be able to bear thermal fatigue and should absorb and quickly dissipate heat generated during braking.

The rotors could reach at a very small duration, temperatures as high as 800°C due to friction, which could result to a thermal gradient up to 500°C between the surface and the core of the rotors.


Recently a modified FEM with strain smoothing, SFEM, has been proposed to solve solid mechanics problems. It has been found that in some situations the strain energy computed by SFEM bounds the exact strain energy from above [14] [15] [16] . This method stems from mesh-free finite element research and was first proposed to develop a stabilized nodal integration scheme for the Galerkin mesh-free method. The aim is to achieve higher efficiency with desired accuracy and convergence properties. A strain smoothing stabilization is introduced to compute nodal strains by a divergence counterpart of a strain spatial averaging. The strain smoothing method avoids evaluating derivatives of mesh-free shape functions at the nodes and thus eliminates spurious modes [17] .

It has been found that in some situations the strain energy computed by SFEM bounds the exact strain energy from above.

The strain smoothing method avoids evaluating derivatives of mesh-free shape functions at the nodes and thus eliminates spurious modes.


Numerical solutions of partial differential equations are often used to determine approximations to quantities of practical interest such as displacements, forces, or stresses. We refer to these quantities as outputs. Once a solution has been computed on a given mesh, one is interested in determining the reliability of the approximated outputs. In order to address this question a number of a posteriori error estimation methods have been proposed with the aim of quantifying the functional outputs of practical interest such as displacements or stresses [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] . In this paper we will consider the elliptic system of linear elasticity.

In order to address this question a number of a posteriori error estimation methods have been proposed with the aim of quantifying the functional outputs of practical interest such as displacements or stresses.


Finite element analysis is a common tool in computer aided engineering design. From a theoretical point of view, the approximation produced by FEM lies in a finite-dimensional subspace of the infinite-dimensional space where the exact solution of the problem resides. Typically, no matter how large the finitedimensional space is, if the exact solution does not live in the finite element space, there will always be a distance between the finite element solution and the exact solution. Many a posteriori error estimates for finite element analysis have been established to quantify the error of the computed solution in the energy norm for elliptic partial differential equations [1] [2] [3] [4] .

Many a posteriori error estimates for finite element analysis have been established to quantify the error of the computed solution in the energy norm for elliptic partial differential equations.


Recently Bogoliubov transformations have found a somewhat different application in lattice field theory in the formalism of the transfer matrix, which is close from the physical point of view to the Hamiltonian formalism. They have been used to introduce dynamical composite bosons in fermionic theories. An independent Bogoliubov transformation at each time slice can be performed in the operator form of the partition function. The time-dependent parameters of the transformation are then associated with composite bosonic fields in the presence of fermionic fields (quasi-particles) satisfying a compositeness condition which avoids double counting [8, 9] . One thus gets an effective action of composite fields plus quasi-particles, exactly equivalent to the original one, in which ground state and excited states can be treated on the same footing. Of course, in practical applications, some approximation must be introduced.

The time-dependent parameters of the transformation are then associated with composite bosonic fields in the presence of fermionic fields (quasi-particles) satisfying a compositeness condition which avoids double counting.


Bogoliubov transformations are unitary transformations which mix creation and annihilation operators. They have been introduced in the theory of many-body systems in which have been extensively used for their simplicity, in particular in connection with variational principles, and also as a starting point of more elaborated approximation methods. In their application to superconductivity they reproduce the results of the BCS theory of electron-electron interactions with an easy extension to the case of electrons interacting with phonons [3] .

In their application to superconductivity they reproduce the results of the BCS theory of electron-electron interactions with an easy extension to the case of electrons interacting with phonons.


Progress in this field is limited by a need for robotic structures that can offer both high strength and adaptability. This may be achieved by modifying pre-existing rigid robots to allow compliant behavior under certain conditions, or alternatively by adding tunable stiffness to compliant soft robotic structures. Many biological systems operate by adjusting the stiffness of tissues and contracting localized muscle groups to achieve directional stiffness while allowing flexibility in some directions [15] . These biological concepts are brilliant, and they serve as inspiration for this research field [7, 16, 17] .

Many biological systems operate by adjusting the stiffness of tissues and contracting localized muscle groups to achieve directional stiffness while allowing flexibility in some directions.

These biological concepts are brilliant, and they serve as inspiration for this research field.


It is essential to prioritize do's, especially when we have limited resources. A mathematical prioritization scheme for existing non-engineered MSW dumps has been proposed and successfully implemented in this study. Study scheme is very fl exible to incorporate any number of classes and any number of parameters in a class. This fl exibility is highly needed for developing world where availability of data is the biggest hurdle in research based planning for environmental sustainability. The proposed model can be run even without a professional level understanding of the GIS software and acquiring expensive satellite data, with little inaccuracy, using imagery and measurement tools provided by Google Earth. Four existing dumps have been compared to explain working and implementation of the developed ranking algorithm, named Saggian, Mahmood Booti, Old-FSD and New-FSD. To get a better insight in to the situation testing parameters were divided into three classes: Resident's Concerns, Groundwater Vulnerability and Surfaces Facilities. All the considered dumps are potentially hazardous to residents living in their neighboring regions. However, Resident's concerns have been better address by New-FSD with a comparative score of 52.7, whereas Saggian has been ranked lowest (7.5), as it shares its boundaries with a residential colony. Vulnerability of groundwater to the mixing of leachate is found highest for Saggian which has been ranked very low on comparative scale of groundwater prevention, i.e. 14.8, whereas the highest score of 29.7 belongs to New-FSD. Leading and the trailing scenario has been entirely changed for Surface Facilities protection and the highest score is 31 that belongs to Old-FSD and the lowest is 19.4, belonging to Mahmood Booti. A length of 1,165 m of a three lane Ring road of Lahore with 38,620 vehicles per day falls within 100 meters of Mahmood Booti dump. The frequency of road accidents found over this patch of Ring road is higher as compared to its surroundings (Mahmood et al. 2015a) .

The frequency of road accidents found over this patch of Ring road is higher as compared to its surroundings.


A popular metric used to evaluate human-automation performance in supervisory control is mission effectiveness [2, 3] . Mission effectiveness focuses on performance as it relates to the final output produced by the human-automation team. However, this metric fails to provide insights into the process that leads to the final mission-related output. A suboptimal process can lead to a successful completion of a mission, e.g., when humans adapt to compensate for design deficiencies. Hence, focusing on just the mission effectiveness makes it difficult to extract information to detect design flaws and to design systems that can consistently support successful mission completion.

A popular metric used to evaluate human-automation performance in supervisory control is mission effectiveness.


Moreover, stress can negatively affect the psychological, physical, and behavioural responses of coaches, which can subsequently be projected onto athletes (Olusoga et al. 2010) . For example, collegiate coaches from a range of sports have reported being tense, moody, more agitated and less approachable when stressed (Frey 2007) . Additionally, in a survey study of 154 coaches, highly stressed coaches rated themselves as less active and less warm-hearted than those experiencing lower stress levels (Kellmann and Kallus 1994) . However, whilst studies have identified the causal and consequential aspects of stress in sports coaching, there is a lack of research investigating how and why coaches experiencing similar stressors often respond in different ways (Fletcher and Scott 2010) . In other words, research is yet to fully understand the transactional nature of coaching stress, where the coaching environment interacts with cognitive appraisals.

Moreover, stress can negatively affect the psychological, physical, and behavioural responses of coaches, which can subsequently be projected onto athletes.

For example, collegiate coaches from a range of sports have reported being tense, moody, more agitated and less approachable when stressed.

Additionally, in a survey study of 154 coaches, highly stressed coaches rated themselves as less active and less warm-hearted than those experiencing lower stress levels.

However, whilst studies have identified the causal and consequential aspects of stress in sports coaching, there is a lack of research investigating how and why coaches experiencing similar stressors often respond in different ways.


The purposes of this study were to investigate stress appraisals of sports coaches and explore the transactional nature of how coaches experience stress. Results reveal that coaches identify and evaluate a range of situational demands and appraise their personal resources to meet these demands. Coaches also reported a variety of emotional and behavioural responses. In accordance with IPA methodology, the close textual analysis has been used to guide more formal theoretical connections in this discussion (Smith 2004) . As a framework to interpret the findings of the present study, connections are made with challenge and threat theory, which addresses how people evaluate, react to, and behave in goal-relevant performance situations (Blascovich et al. 2003) .

In accordance with IPA methodology, the close textual analysis has been used to guide more formal theoretical connections in this discussion.

As a framework to interpret the findings of the present study, connections are made with challenge and threat theory, which addresses how people evaluate, react to, and behave in goal-relevant performance situations.


In this work, we propose to address this problem by integrating a notion of node proximity in the definition of data consistency. To that end, we formally define a new family of hybrid consistency models that links the strength of data consistency with the proximity of the participating nodes. In our approach, a particular hybrid model takes as input a proximity graph, and two consistency conditions, taken from a set of totally ordered consistency conditions, namely a strong one and a weaker one. A classical set of totally ordered conditions is the following one: linearizability, sequential consistency, causal consistency, and PRAM-consistency [24] . Moreover, as already said, the notion of proximity can be geographical (cluster-based physical distribution of the nodes), or purely logical (as in some peer-to-peer systems).

A classical set of totally ordered conditions is the following one: linearizability, sequential consistency, causal consistency, and PRAM-consistency.


We then simulate capillary-controlled displacement: the medium is assumed to be filled initially with wetting phase (water) and oil is injected. This primary drainage process, where we assume that the rock is strongly water-wet, represents primary oil migration into the reservoir. We then model waterflooding. Where oil has been in direct contact with the rock surface, we allow the contact angle for waterflooding (the advancing contact angle) to be assigned an arbitrary value. In the examples we present we have no a priori way to know contact angle on a pore-by-pore basis: the parameters we use are shown in Table 4 . In previous work, the average contact angle and oil-wet fraction (that is the fraction of the pores and throats that are assigned contact angles greater than 90°) has been adjusted to match the measured residual oil saturation or Amott wettability indices [7] . We discuss later how contact angles could be estimated directly from an analysis of images taken during waterflooding for samples of interest. While the assignment of contact angle appears to be a major limitation of a predictive approach, it is possible to assign plausible values to match available data and then explore the sensitivity of the predicted relative permeability to changes in pore structure, initial water saturation and wettability [137] . Indeed it is in investigating these sensitivities that pore-scale modelling has its greatest value, predicting properties for cases that are difficult to explore in a feasible time-frame from coreflood experiments. Fig. 9 shows the computed primary drainage and waterflood capillary pressures for the three samples studied. In this example 25% of pores and throats, chosen at random, containing water remain water-wet, while 75% (the oil-wet fraction) have a contact angle assigned at random between 100°and 160°. Table 4 shows the contact angles and interfacial tensions used in this study. Fig. 10 shows the computed waterflood relative permeabilities for the cases shown in Fig. 9 . The measured relative permeability on a reservoir carbonate from the Middle East at prevailing wettability conditions is also shown [139] . It can be seen that the same generic behaviour for the oil relative permeability is observed: the comparison is not predictive, since no direct images of the reservoir sample were available and we have guessed the wettability. We see similar trends to the experimental data using the Mount Gambier network and a fractional wettability of around 0.5. The reservoir sample has a much lower permeability, 11 mD, than our networks (Table 1) . Previous work -using much smaller networks -has indicated a predictive capability where carbonate images are available and there is some independent assessment of core-scale wettability [136] .

We then model waterflooding.

In previous work, the average contact angle and oil-wet fraction (that is the fraction of the pores and throats that are assigned contact angles greater than 90°) has been adjusted to match the measured residual oil saturation or Amott wettability indices.

While the assignment of contact angle appears to be a major limitation of a predictive approach, it is possible to assign plausible values to match available data and then explore the sensitivity of the predicted relative permeability to changes in pore structure, initial water saturation and wettability.

The measured relative permeability on a reservoir carbonate from the Middle East at prevailing wettability conditions is also shown.

Previous work -using much smaller networks -has indicated a predictive capability where carbonate images are available and there is some independent assessment of core-scale wettability.


In the intermediate Peclet number regime, 300 > Pe > 5, we observe an approximate power-law relationship between dispersion coefficient and Pe [95] . The exponent is a function of the heterogeneity of the porous medium -it is 1.2 for sandstones and sand or bead packs and 1.4 for the carbonate sample studied. In addition the magnitude of D L is larger for more heterogeneous media with a wider range of flow velocities. The physical origin of this power-law is the power-law distribution of travel times and the exponent can be predicted from the flow field using CTRW theory [84, 87, 89] . The dispersion coefficient increases with time as the particles sample the flow field with both slow and very fast regions; eventually molecular diffusion allows all particles to sample the flow field uniformly and an asymptotic limit is reached, but the spread of the plume at this point is related to the scaling of the distribution of local travel times. A detailed analysis of the flow field in Portland stone studied confirmed a power-law distribution of transit times across grid blocks that is related to both the increase in measured dispersion coefficient with time and the non-linear scaling of dispersion coefficient with Peclet number [87] .

In the intermediate Peclet number regime, 300 > Pe > 5, we observe an approximate power-law relationship between dispersion coefficient and Pe.

The physical origin of this power-law is the power-law distribution of travel times and the exponent can be predicted from the flow field using CTRW theory.

A detailed analysis of the flow field in Portland stone studied confirmed a power-law distribution of transit times across grid blocks that is related to both the increase in measured dispersion coefficient with time and the non-linear scaling of dispersion coefficient with Peclet number.


It is possible to estimate how long it takes for this asymptotic limit to be reached if we assume that there are significant regions of the pore space with essentially a negligible flow velocity: it is simply the time taken for a particle to sample the heterogeneity of the medium by molecular diffusion. If this heterogeneity is present on a length scale l -this is effectively the size of a representative element of volume -the diffusion time is l 2 /2D m [84] . For a sand or bead pack this is a typical pore length, since there are no significantly larger-scale correlations in either the pore-space geometry or the resultant flow field. In our case, using the self-diffusion coefficient quoted previously and a typical pore length of 100 lm we find a typical time of around 2 s; as we see in Fig. 5 , after 1 s we already observe the development of a plausibly Gaussian plume. For the sandstone and carbonate the flow field indicates that there is channelling on the scale of the simulation domain of a few millimetres -if we take l = 2 mm we find a diffusion time of around 1000 s. For the representative flow velocity of around 1 mm/s used in our simulations, this represents an average displacement of 1 m. What this means physically is that while the average solute particle has moved 1 m, those that are slowest moving have only managed to diffuse around 2 mm to escape -finally -into a fast flowing region. If we consider transport in a flow domain that is homogeneous on all scales beyond 2 mm then, eventually, an asymptotic regime is achieved once the plume has travelled many metres. While in carefully-controlled experiments on selected, macroscopically homogenous cores, the emergence of a truly asymptotic dispersion regime may be possible -and, thanks to the use of periodic boundary conditions -is feasible to simulate, it is unlikely that the real systems of interest -oil fields, saline aquifers used for carbon dioxide storage and contaminated sites -are homogeneous on these scales. As the plume moves, it is likely to encounter heterogeneity with structure of different size containing associated slow flow regions with even larger characteristic times for escape, delaying portions of the plume and rendering consideration of an asymptotic dispersion coefficient to be used in an advection-dispersion equation largely useless. This concern applies even for slow flows at low Peclet numbers: while diffusion may lead to complete mixing at the pore scale, at late times, the plume will experience larger-scale heterogeneity through which diffusion will still be slow compared to advection. This is manifest, at the aquifer scale, by an apparent dispersion coefficient that increases approximately linearly with the distance the plume has travelled [105] . The inability to determine a unique time-andspace independent dispersion coefficient poses a challenge for larger-scale modelling; near the end of the paper we discuss possible upscaling techniques to incorporate the effects of pore-scale heterogeneity in field-scale simulation.

If this heterogeneity is present on a length scale l -this is effectively the size of a representative element of volume -the diffusion time is l 2 /2D m.

This is manifest, at the aquifer scale, by an apparent dispersion coefficient that increases approximately linearly with the distance the plume has travelled.


We extract networks from these images using the maximal ball method outlined previously [67] . Table 3 provides the statistics of the extracted networks, while Fig. 3 depicts the networks themselves. Mount Gambier has a much more connected pore space with a higher coordination number (average number of throats connected to each pore) of around 7 compared to Ketton and Estaillades that have coordination numbers of approximately 3; Estaillades also has a significant number of isolated elements -it is possible that these pores and throats are connected through micro-porosity that we failed to image.

We extract networks from these images using the maximal ball method outlined previously.


We will first, briefly, mention the imaging methods that are used to produce three-dimensional representations of the pore space of rocks. This topic is the subject of a more detailed review in this issue [14] . We will then discuss the different numerical approaches that are used to compute pore-space properties. These can be divided into two classes: direct simulation, where the governing equations of flow and transport are computed on the image itself; and network modelling, where first a topologically representative network is extracted from the image through which the relevant displacement and transport equations are computed. The strengths and weaknesses of both approaches are presented.

This topic is the subject of a more detailed review in this issue.


Water extracts from T. inodorum applied to pots with soil generally had negative effect on germination and growth of carrot seedlings ( Table  2. ). The germination reduction ranged from 10.2 to 16.1% compared to the control. Root length reduced significantly with the lowest concentration, while the highest concentration had slightly stimulatory effect. Shoot length was reduced in all treatments compared to the control, but 5% concentration had highest effect and inhibited shoot length for 15.5%. Fresh weight was also reduced, but not significantly. The mechanism of inhibition on the seedling growth caused by allelochemicals can be result of reduced cell division and/or cell elongation (Iman et al., 2006) . When comparing results of application of extracts from aboveground mass of scentless mayweed in Petri dishes and pots with soil certain differences can be observed. Reduction of germination and root elongation with higher concentrations was greater in soil medium. On the other hand, 5% concentrations had in both experiments the highest inhibitory effect on shoot length. These differences could be due to higher amount of extract (30 ml) applied to the soil which resulted in higher inhibitory or stimulatory effect.

The mechanism of inhibition on the seedling growth caused by allelochemicals can be result of reduced cell division and/or cell elongation.


Very recently, Vömel and Slemons published a theoretical treatment of twisted factorizations of banded matrices [15] . They gave a proof of the existence of two twisted factorizations of a given banded matrix by using a double factorization of the twisted block. They also discuss the connections to the inverse of the matrix and consider the use of their twisted factorizations for inverse iteration on band matrices.

Very recently, Vömel and Slemons published a theoretical treatment of twisted factorizations of banded matrices.


Already in the direct product of three free groups one finds finitely subgroups that are not of type FP ∞ ; the first examples are due to Stallings [12] . Thus Theorem A would not remain valid if we assumed only that H was finitely presented. Likewise, the hypothesis of Theorem B cannot be weakened to allow for finitely generated subgroups, because such subgroups are not separable in general, even in the direct product of two free groups, as the following example shows.

Already in the direct product of three free groups one finds finitely subgroups that are not of type FP ∞ ; the first examples are due to Stallings.


The tensor speed c T is given by c 2 T = 1 + α T , where α T is the tensor speed excess that quantifies how much the gravitational wave speed deviates from that of light. Recent observations of GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart have placed the stringent bounds effectively eliminating all Horndeski theories with α T 0 = 0 [3] . In this paper we use measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), galaxy clustering, baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), and redshift space distortions (RSD) to constrain the remaining Horndeski parameters in light of this discovery.

Recent observations of GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart have placed the stringent bounds effectively eliminating all Horndeski theories with α T 0 = 0.


Bellman's dynamic programming and Pontryagin's maximum principle present the most known methods for solving optimal control problems. The computational approaches are considered a very important part of the solution of those problems [19] . In recent years, considerable attention has been given to the use of spectral methods for solving optimal control problems [2, 12, 14, 15] .

The computational approaches are considered a very important part of the solution of those problems.

In recent years, considerable attention has been given to the use of spectral methods for solving optimal control problems.


In this study, the HCWs had given pre-test counseling for 79.9% of the mothers and 20.1% of them been undergone the test with no pre-test counseling with a statistically significant association (P= 0.002, X 2 =9.25, OR=2.744 (1.466-5.136), df=1). This statistical significance showed that respondents who counseled were at least three times more willing than those who were not counseled. This is nearly comparable with the study done in Gambia the majority (92%) had gone through the pre-test counseling, but 82% have actually done an HIV test of which 72% had taken the decision independently (Jammeh, 2007) .

This is nearly comparable with the study done in Gambia the majority (92%) had gone through the pre-test counseling, but 82% have actually done an HIV test of which 72% had taken the decision independently.


Rapid development in information and communication technology has precipitated various changes pertaining to the methods of teaching and learning. For instance, the use of computers in the classroom has increased tremendously and it is quickly becoming one of the learning tools in language classes (Nadzrah, 2007) . More recently, blog, which is a form of internet publishing, has become established communication tools and has been used by millions of users for variety purposes. The existence of blog has opened up a space for writers to share articles or materials in the weblog that are open for view to the audience with an internet access. This has given language learners the opportunity to express and share their ideas to the unlimited internet community in the World Wide Web. Such features of blog make it very popular and common in this era of technology advancement.

For instance, the use of computers in the classroom has increased tremendously and it is quickly becoming one of the learning tools in language classes.


There are generally two types of methods to calculate the fluid-structure interaction problems: the fluid and structure governing equations are loosely coupled or fully coupled. The loosely coupled model means that the structural response lags behind the flow field solution. Within a time step for the loosely coupled method, the structure solver calculates the response after the flow solver is converged. This kind of methods may be limited to first-order temporal accuracy only regardless of the temporal accuracy of the individual solvers [1] . The fully coupled model is that the flow field and structure always respond simultaneously by exchanging the aerodynamic forcing and structural displacement within each inner iteration of a time step. Obviously, only the fully coupled model is rigorous in physical sense. Due to the complicated non-linear fluid-structure interaction phenomenon in turbomachines such as transonic stall flutter, oscillating shock waves and flow separation, etc., the fully coupled model between the fluid and structure system is necessary and is selected for this research to achieve high accuracy.

This kind of methods may be limited to first-order temporal accuracy only regardless of the temporal accuracy of the individual solvers.


The multidisciplinary approach delivered to our patients lead to an optimal individual staging which determined preoperative decision making. Nowadays, several clinical guidelines recommend the involvement of multidisciplinary teams in the management of oncologic patients due to the benefits evidenced on outcomes [16] . One of the goals successfully achieved by our multidisciplinary tumour board has been to standardize and optimize therapeutic strategies for all patients with positive benefit on outcomes over the last few years [17, 18] . Our cohort comprised 21 patients (21%) with T4 staging at diagnosis and 88% cN+, conferring a more aggressive disease according to the TNM classification 7 th Edition AJCC [6] .

Nowadays, several clinical guidelines recommend the involvement of multidisciplinary teams in the management of oncologic patients due to the benefits evidenced on outcomes.

One of the goals successfully achieved by our multidisciplinary tumour board has been to standardize and optimize therapeutic strategies for all patients with positive benefit on outcomes over the last few years.

Our cohort comprised 21 patients (21%) with T4 staging at diagnosis and 88% cN+, conferring a more aggressive disease according to the TNM classification 7 th Edition AJCC.


Electrical Load (EL) forecasting is a fundamental and vital task for economically efficient operation and controlling of power systems [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] . It has often been employed for energy management, unit commitment and load dispatch [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] . The high accuracy of load forecasting guarantees the safe and stable operation of power systems [15] [16] [17] . Therefore, it is necessary to improve the reliability and the forecasting accuracy of smart grids [18] [19] [20] . Reliable EL forecasting is able to decrease energy consumption and reduce environmental pollution [21] [22] [23] [24] .

Electrical Load (EL) forecasting is a fundamental and vital task for economically efficient operation and controlling of power systems.

It has often been employed for energy management, unit commitment and load dispatch.

The high accuracy of load forecasting guarantees the safe and stable operation of power systems.

Therefore, it is necessary to improve the reliability and the forecasting accuracy of smart grids.

Reliable EL forecasting is able to decrease energy consumption and reduce environmental pollution.


In this paper, we study and compare the performances of TR, DTR, and ED non-coherent IR-UWB detectors with binary PAM-PPM (BPAM-PPM) modulation scheme in the IEEE 802.15.3a channel [12] . The study includes some important factors that affect the performance of these detectors, such as the integration window bandwidth multiplication factor, number of pulses per bit, and power consumption. The evaluation of the BER is based on the channelaveraged signal-to-noise ratio (ASNR) using two approaches from the literature [13, 14] . The organization of this paper is as follows. Section 2 introduces the system model, and describes the studied receiver structures. The channel model and BER performance along with numerical results are given in Section 3. Conclusions are provided in Section 4.

In this paper, we study and compare the performances of TR, DTR, and ED non-coherent IR-UWB detectors with binary PAM-PPM (BPAM-PPM) modulation scheme in the IEEE 802.15.3a channel.

The evaluation of the BER is based on the channelaveraged signal-to-noise ratio (ASNR) using two approaches from the literature.

Conclusions are provided in Section 4.


The main common modulation scheme employed with time hopping impulse-radio UWB (TH-IR-UWB) is the PPM modulation scheme, for which increasing the order of the pulse derivative leads to a smaller value of the minimal autocorrelation value and a consequently better BER performance. However, the achievement of a better BER performance is traded for higher sensitivity to timing jitter. Other common modulation techniques include, pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) and on-off keying (OOK) modulation [7] . The detection of OOK scheme requires the appropriate choice of the detection threshold, which needs to be constantly adapted to the variable channel conditions [6] .

Other common modulation techniques include, pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) and on-off keying (OOK) modulation.

The detection of OOK scheme requires the appropriate choice of the detection threshold, which needs to be constantly adapted to the variable channel conditions.


Combined PAM-PPM modulation scheme has been proposed in the literature as a good solution for optical line-codes [9] . Also, it has recently been proposed to be used with UWB communications [1, 10, 11] . This modulation scheme is characterized by achieving high data throughput [10] . Moreover, it does not have the high spectral lines associated with PPM signaling [11] .

Combined PAM-PPM modulation scheme has been proposed in the literature as a good solution for optical line-codes.

Also, it has recently been proposed to be used with UWB communications.

This modulation scheme is characterized by achieving high data throughput.

Moreover, it does not have the high spectral lines associated with PPM signaling.


Evolving applications of ultra wideband (UWB) technology, such as body area networks (BANs) and tele-healthcare are based on battery powered systems. In such systems, power consumption must be minimized. At the same time, these systems require the transmission of important data, which nictitates preserving a certain level of transmission accuracy. On the other hand, UWB channels are characterized by being dense multi-path channels. So, the receiver's performance robustness is an important factor in such challenging environments. Another important key design factor is the choice of the appropriate signaling technique. The two aforementioned key factors, namely the choice of the receiver architecture together with the appropriate signaling technique are the two prominent factors in achieving low power consumption as well as performance robustness in dense multi-path channels [1] [2] [3] .

The two aforementioned key factors, namely the choice of the receiver architecture together with the appropriate signaling technique are the two prominent factors in achieving low power consumption as well as performance robustness in dense multi-path channels.


In particular, the template signal must be perfectly matched to the received signal, which is typically a delayed, attenuated, and distorted version of the transmitted signal [3, 5, 6] . On the other hand, non-coherent receivers do not require channel estimation, which is traded for bit error rate (BER) performance degradation as compared to optimum coherent detectors [7] . To date, non-coherent detectors are the most commonly used receivers in battery powered systems. Generally, non-coherent receiver architectures include simple transmitted reference (TR), differential TR (DTR), and energy detection (ED) receivers [8] .

In particular, the template signal must be perfectly matched to the received signal, which is typically a delayed, attenuated, and distorted version of the transmitted signal.

On the other hand, non-coherent receivers do not require channel estimation, which is traded for bit error rate (BER) performance degradation as compared to optimum coherent detectors.

Generally, non-coherent receiver architectures include simple transmitted reference (TR), differential TR (DTR), and energy detection (ED) receivers.


All shot animals were classified by age based on the guidelines given by specific literature (Wagenknecht 1984) . The samples of muscle, liver, and kidney tissues were packed separately in polyethylene bags, frozen, properly marked, and stored at -18°C until analysis. The tissues damaged with bullets were not sampled. Before analysis, the samples were thawed slightly and rinsed with deionised water. In brief, approximately 1.5 g of the muscle, liver, and kidney cortex were weighed for lead and cadmium determination, dried at 105°C and then dry ashed overnight in quartz crucibles in a muffle furnace at 450°C. The ash residues were then dissolved in concentrated nitric acid, heated and made up to 5 ml with deionised water. For mercury determination, wet digestion in a closed system was used. About 0.8 g of the thawed muscle, liver, and kidney cortex were digested in 1 ml of concentrated nitric acid overnight at room temperature in open long-necked glass tubes. The next day, digestion was performed at 80°C in closed tubes for 5 h in a programmed system (DS-40, Tecator, Höganäs, Sweden). After cooling, the samples were adjusted to 5 ml with deionised water. Blanks were run with each the sample set to control the sample contamination during the procedures. Cadmium and lead were measured by Perkin Elmer Analyst 600 atomic absorption spectrometer (Shelton, Washington, USA) equipped with a transversely heated graphite furnace unit, autosampler, and longitudinal Zeeman effects background correction. Argon was used as the purge gas. A mixture of magnesium nitrate and Figure 1 . Sampling area (in black) Serbia palladium nitrate was used as matrix modifier. Total mercury was measured in a mercury analyser (AMA 254, LECO, St. Joseph, USA) using total decomposition, amalgamation, and atomic absorption spectrometry (TDA-AAS) (Boylan et al. 2001) . At least two replicate determinations were made with each sample. Two certified reference materials were used in duplicates together with each sample series for the method validation in order to check the accuracy: bovine liver 1577b (National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, USA) for Cd and Pb and bovine liver BCR-185R (Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements, Gul, Belgium) for Hg. The results were as follows (mean ± SD; μg/g dry weigh -DW; n= 7): 0.484 ± 0.040 for Cd (certified value: 0.500 ± 0.03 μg/g DW), 0.128 ± 0.010 for Pb (certified value: 0.129 ± 0.004 μg/g DW) and 0.005 ± 0.001 for Hg (reference value: 0.004-0.007 μg/g DW).

All shot animals were classified by age based on the guidelines given by specific literature.

Argon was used as the purge gas.

Total mercury was measured in a mercury analyser (AMA 254, LECO, St. Joseph, USA) using total decomposition, amalgamation, and atomic absorption spectrometry (TDA-AAS).


The safety requirements for materials used in buildings is a crucial point for the PCM, it should not be toxic or flammable [1] . Bearing this in mind it is important to understand the behavior of the materials in aggressive conditions. The exposure of the construction materials at high temperatures has a huge influence in their properties, since when subjected to this action they can present a very distinct behavior compared with the normal conditions. The materials used in buildings can significantly affect the characteristics of a developing fire. Thus, the investigation of the behavior of construction materials in high temperatures is essential, due to their potential impact on the overall fire safety of a building [3] .

The safety requirements for materials used in buildings is a crucial point for the PCM, it should not be toxic or flammable.

Thus, the investigation of the behavior of construction materials in high temperatures is essential, due to their potential impact on the overall fire safety of a building.


The scientific community had conducted studies in the framework of the reaction to fire and high temperature behavior. However, the study of the behavior at high temperatures of mortars incorporating phase change materials (PCM) is one of the main knowledge gaps. The commercially available organic PCM are mainly paraffin blends since they exhibit a range of desirable characteristics, such as high latent heat, ability to control the phase change temperature, low cost, non-corrosive characteristics and chemical stability. However, these materials exhibit two main weaknesses, the low thermal conductivity and increased flammability which can compromise the fire safety characteristics of a building [3] . Thus, the main objective of this work was the effect of the high temperatures on mortars with incorporation of PCM, based on different binders. The binders studied were aerial lime, hydraulic lime, gypsum and cement. The use of lime based mortars are especially important in building retrofitting in which render compatibility must be assured [16] . The proportion of PCM studied was 0% and 40% of the sand mass. Tests were performed with 12 different compositions at 3 different temperature ranges, evaluating the flexural, compression and adhesion strengths.

However, these materials exhibit two main weaknesses, the low thermal conductivity and increased flammability which can compromise the fire safety characteristics of a building.

The use of lime based mortars are especially important in building retrofitting in which render compatibility must be assured.


The incorporation of phase change materials (PCM) into construction materials has been proposed as a passive means of decreasing the overall heating and cooling demand of a building [3] . Thus, the incorporation of PCM in mortars for the interior appears as a possible solution in an attempt to solve, or at least minimize, the massive energetic consumption related with buildings. The use of this material allows the regulation of frequency of temperatures fluctuations, keeping them closer to the desired temperature range for a longer period, using only solar energy as a resource, or at least reducing the need to use heating and cooling equipment.

The incorporation of phase change materials (PCM) into construction materials has been proposed as a passive means of decreasing the overall heating and cooling demand of a building.


The growing energy demand worldwide is an ever-increasing issue with regard to climate change and energy supply. The world consumes large amounts of fossil fuels that drive climate changes and empties the supplies of fossil fuels more rapidly. One method to benefit energy usage globally is to increase the energy efficiency of buildings [1] . It is important to remember that the European building sector is responsible for about 40% of the energy consumption [2] . A possible solution to face the increasing energy demand worldwide and reduce the negative environmental impacts is the higher utilization of environmentally friendly renewable energy technologies [1] .

One method to benefit energy usage globally is to increase the energy efficiency of buildings.

It is important to remember that the European building sector is responsible for about 40% of the energy consumption.

A possible solution to face the increasing energy demand worldwide and reduce the negative environmental impacts is the higher utilization of environmentally friendly renewable energy technologies.


In this paper we describe a simulation environment whose design is based on the use of the bulk-synchronous model of parallel computing (BSP model) [8, 11] . The key point is that the model of computing provides a simple way to cost parallel algorithms in their computation, communication and synchronization components. This allows us to predict the performance of different synchronization protocols in accordance with the particular features of the user defined simulation model. We use this facility to automatically select the synchronization protocol that is best suited for the particular simulation.

In this paper we describe a simulation environment whose design is based on the use of the bulk-synchronous model of parallel computing (BSP model).


A supply network is a set of coordinated echelons that supply the demand of products ordered by the customers. A suitable network design must seek simultaneously to reduce operational costs and maximize profits, while that tends to increase or maintain an adequate service level. Building a network design that supports decision making considering these two objectives simultaneously can be a difficult task for most organizations (Chen et al., 2005) . Additionally, distribution networks typically operate under an uncertain environment, so it has become even more important for companies to maintain a robust supply network design (Melo et al., 2009) .

Building a network design that supports decision making considering these two objectives simultaneously can be a difficult task for most organizations.

Additionally, distribution networks typically operate under an uncertain environment, so it has become even more important for companies to maintain a robust supply network design.


All CT operators should follow the principle of administering radiation ''as low as reasonably achievable'' (ALARA) without compromising diagnostic accuracy. Low radiation doses as low as 1 mSv have been reported for CAC scoring using prior generation scanners [10, 11] . Coronary calcium scoring has equivalent radiation exposure to mammography, and similar to the level of background radiation exposure experienced over 3-4 months in most cities [10] .

Low radiation doses as low as 1 mSv have been reported for CAC scoring using prior generation scanners.

Coronary calcium scoring has equivalent radiation exposure to mammography, and similar to the level of background radiation exposure experienced over 3-4 months in most cities.