The Elephant Marsh, a wetland in southern Malawi (see Chapter 1), is important for SSF and the management arrangements are quite informal. The wetland is managed by local institutions, which are not formally linked to any strong state institutions. Malawi also lacks a management framework strong enough to enforce a balanced and sustainable wetland development under rising pressures, such as overexploitation and agricultural conversion, which are mainly driven by population growth, rural poverty, climate change and market growth. In the Elephant Marsh, additional drivers include fluctuation in water levels caused mainly by hydroelectric power generation at Kapichira Dam and the abstraction of water for irrigation by Illovo sugar estate; both located upstream (Turpie et al., 1999) . Moreover, the coordination of the roles of the various stakeholders in wetland management at Elephant Marsh is not very clear or stable (Kosamu et al., 2012) . It is therefore important to determine factors of success for these locally-based management arrangements in order to achieve long-term sustainability of the fishery at Elephant Marsh and reflect upon optimal roles of the state.

In the Elephant Marsh, additional drivers include fluctuation in water levels caused mainly by hydroelectric power generation at Kapichira Dam and the abstraction of water for irrigation by Illovo sugar estate; both located upstream.

Moreover, the coordination of the roles of the various stakeholders in wetland management at Elephant Marsh is not very clear or stable.


Generally results from preference studies can be useful component in planning multiple-use forest management (GUNDERSEN & FR VOLD, 2008) . To light this approach, the primary aim of this paper is to characterize the demands of the inhabitants of rural and urbanized areas and to assess the differences between them. This research was conducted in the Bal kesir province of Turkey, which has multi-functional forest resources and urban and rural populations that are approximately balanced.

Generally results from preference studies can be useful component in planning multiple-use forest management.


The internet and local area networks are growing larger in recent years. As a great variety of people all over the world are connecting to the Internet, they are unconsciously encountering the number of security threats such as viruses, worms and attacks from hackers [1] . Now firewalls, anti-virus software, message encryption, secured network protocols, password protection and so on are not sufficient to assure the security in computer networks, when some intrusions take advantages of weaknesses in computer systems to threaten. Therefore, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) have become a necessary addition to the security infrastructure of most organizations [2] .

As a great variety of people all over the world are connecting to the Internet, they are unconsciously encountering the number of security threats such as viruses, worms and attacks from hackers.

Therefore, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) have become a necessary addition to the security infrastructure of most organizations.


Efforts to efficient management of independent Java VM heaps led to dynamic allocation of resources shared between the running virtual machines [13, 14, 45] . These studies differ from our study in that (i) our system focuses on a restricted mobile platform that hosts dozens of parallel virtual machines, (ii) we evaluate the GC as perceived globally on the system profiler, and (iii) the GC service performs GC phases on all virtual machines. Our work is the first to present a runtime service on mobile platforms that can manage the heap of all running VMs while keeping each instance in its own process, which is different from other approaches like MVM [21, 60] .

Efforts to efficient management of independent Java VM heaps led to dynamic allocation of resources shared between the running virtual machines.

Our work is the first to present a runtime service on mobile platforms that can manage the heap of all running VMs while keeping each instance in its own process, which is different from other approaches like MVM.


ART introduced several enhancements to Dalvik GC, including a pseudo-generational sticky garbage collector to deal with short-lived objects [44, 56] . This sticky marksweep collector is a non-moving generational GC that focuses its effort on separately collecting young objects by (logically) segregating them from older objects. This offers improved locality and shorter collection cycles for minor collections of the young space. Both of the Android VMs (ART & Dalvik) use several heuristics to decide how to balance heap growth with collector work, the mode of each collection cycle (minor vs. major), and whether to trim the heap (returning unused pages to the system). The target heap utilization ratio controls heap size. If live data exceeds (or falls below) this factor of the heap size (plus or minus some threshold), then the collector reacts by increasing (or decreasing) the size of the available heap. After any successful allocation, if the allocation exceeds the heap threshold, the mutator signals the GC daemon to start a new background GC cycle if it is not already active. Low-memory Killer (LMK). Android apps are designed to tolerate random restarts. We refer to the app currently on the screen and running as foreground. Otherwise, the app is labeled background [30] . When a user navigates away from an Android app, the process stays in the memory in order to reduce the start-up overhead when the application is used again. To clean up the physical memory, Android uses a controlled LMK, which kills processes when the available free memory is close to being exhausted. LMK allows specifying a set of out-of-memory (OOM) thresholds to decide on which and how many processes to kill [25] .

ART introduced several enhancements to Dalvik GC, including a pseudo-generational sticky garbage collector to deal with short-lived objects.

Low-memory Killer (LMK).

Otherwise, the app is labeled background.

LMK allows specifying a set of out-of-memory (OOM) thresholds to decide on which and how many processes to kill.


In recent years, IAA-producing diazotrophic PGPR have been highlighted because of their versatility in fixing N2 biologically and produce phytohormone indole-3 acetic acid (IAA) in promoting plant growth (Pedraza et al., 2004) . However, other plant growth-promoting mechanism such as siderophore production, biocontrol agent, and phosphate solubilisation could possibly be part of the process (Dobbelaere et al., 2003) . These beneficial rhizobacteria have drawn attention for manipulation probably because of their adaptability to stress and adverse environment (Vessey, 2003) . The ability of diazotrophic PGPR to secrete IAA appears to be widespread and has been confirmed in several genera including Azospirillum, Burkholderia, Herbaspirillum, and Pseudomonas (Pedraza et al., 2004) . IAA-producing diazotrophic PGPR may also benefit host plants in a multiple ways including improved nutrient cycling or accumulation by increased root surface and elongation or potentially delay pathogenic spread.

In recent years, IAA-producing diazotrophic PGPR have been highlighted because of their versatility in fixing N2 biologically and produce phytohormone indole-3 acetic acid (IAA) in promoting plant growth.

However, other plant growth-promoting mechanism such as siderophore production, biocontrol agent, and phosphate solubilisation could possibly be part of the process.

These beneficial rhizobacteria have drawn attention for manipulation probably because of their adaptability to stress and adverse environment.

The ability of diazotrophic PGPR to secrete IAA appears to be widespread and has been confirmed in several genera including Azospirillum, Burkholderia, Herbaspirillum, and Pseudomonas.


The present study has several limitations. First, the data were based on self-reports and may be subject to the limitations of self-reported data [33] . Second, we could not include dietary and sleeping habits as modifiable healthy behaviors in this study. The CHS did not solicit sufficient dietary information to determine daily fruit and vegetable consumption or the frequency of consumption of other foods. Nor could we include other factors such as stress perception and sleeping habits in our definition of healthy lifestyle, because these factors were not adopted in CHS as healthy behaviors and these factors were accepted as results due to several behaviors. Third, we substituted regular walking for physical activity, the latter of which has commonly been used in other studies. Despite these limitations, we were able to investigate four major modifiable healthy behaviors and a single index of healthy lifestyle integrating these four factors for the first time in an adult Korean population. An additional strength of our study was the largescale, nationally representative population-based dataset we analyzed.

First, the data were based on self-reports and may be subject to the limitations of self-reported data.


The generation of initial condition for GRAMSES simulations will be addressed in a forthcoming paper. Nonetheless, we can mention here that in order to generate initial conditions in the CMC-MD gauge we have modified the CAMB and 2LPTic [62] codes. The former is used to generate the matter power spectrum implementing the gauge transformations at the initial redshift z ini of the simulation, but also on two neighbouring ones (one at a slightly higher while the other a slightly lower redshift). Then, our modified 2LPTic code realizes this power spectrum to calculate the particle positions in the standard way, but the velocity is calculated by finite differencing the particle displacements of the two neighbouring snapshots. This has the advantage of being independent of an explicit parameterisation of the growth factor (and growth rate) which can become scale-dependent in certain gauges and dark energy/modified gravity models and thus violate a basic assumption (scale-independent linear growth rate) of the default 2LPTic code.

Nonetheless, we can mention here that in order to generate initial conditions in the CMC-MD gauge we have modified the CAMB and 2LPTic codes.


In this work we have presented GRAMSES, a new implementation of general relativistic N -body AMR simulations in cosmology. This code brings together the advantages of current Numerical Relativity codes, in particular the decomposition of the Einstein equations using the 3+1 ADM formalism, and the N -body particle methods for standard cosmological simulations, so that it can accurately solve the nonlinear Einstein equations all the way down to deeply nonlinear scales on which particle orbit crossing is frequent. We have discussed the relevant theoretical background upon which this is based as well as its numerical implementation in detail. The current implementation of GRAMSES does not include the evolution equations of the dynamical degrees of freedom in the gravitational sector, the omission of which is expected to have negligible impact on cosmological simulations. However, we emphasise that this is not a fundamental limitation of our framework, and indeed the implementation of the evolution equations in GRAMSES is currently undergoing. Multigrid relaxation, adaptive mesh refinement and efficient MPI parallelisation are three of the key features of GRAMSES, which are inherited from its parent code -the publicly-available Nbody and hydrodynamical simulation solver RAMSES [31] . These are what will enable GRAMSES to run large simulations for cosmological volumes while at the same time resolving scales well within virialised structures. In this paper we have opted to not devote much space to the description of these features, as they are well-established techniques nowadays and a lot of details can be found from the RAMSES code paper, references therein and its derived literature. However, let us briefly mention that the computation of geometric source terms for the Einstein equations in the ADM formalism -such asĀ ijĀ ij and ∂ iĀ ij -are actually nontrivial at the boundaries of refined meshes, which is largely due to the fact thatĀ ij itself already involves up to second-order derivatives of the GR potentials V i and U . Furthermore, the use of AMR increases the memory requirement of the code: without AMR, the different GR potentials, for a given time step, can be calculated sequentially so that a same array can be recycled for storing them; with AMR and the associated adaptive timestepping, the GR potentials must be kept for longer because they are needed to set up the boundary conditions for the refinement in all subtimesteps, and so we opt to create a separate array for each GR potential.

Multigrid relaxation, adaptive mesh refinement and efficient MPI parallelisation are three of the key features of GRAMSES, which are inherited from its parent code -the publicly-available Nbody and hydrodynamical simulation solver RAMSES.


Linear mixed effects models are tools for modeling continuous correlated hierarchical/multilevel data. During the last decades these models have become more and more prominent in a variety of fields such as the physical, biological and social sciences. Various software packages, commercial as well as open-source, are capable of fitting these types of models. The focus of this paper is on the open-source R package lme4 (Bates, Mäechler, Bolker, and Walker 2015) . This package is a well-known and widely used R package designed to fit linear as well as nonlinear mixed effects models. Some of the lme4 package main strengths are the user-friendly interface, the ability to handle unbalanced data, multiple crossed effects and being very fast even for large data sets.

The focus of this paper is on the open-source R package lme4.


Most research currently focus on synthesizing reliable thin film composite (TFC) membranes comprising polyamide (PA) active layer on top of thick microporous polysulfone support layer [11] [12] [13] [14] . TFC membranes are promising candidates because they historically have better membrane performance in RO applications. Recently, two different proprietary polyamide (PA) TFC membranes were synthesized by two independent membrane companies for FO applications. The objective of the study is to evaluate the performances of the membranes and to compare them with that of commonly studied commercial TCA FO membrane. The performance of each membrane has been measured in terms of water flux and rejection in RO mode and in terms of water flux and reverse solute flux in FO mode of operation.

Most research currently focus on synthesizing reliable thin film composite (TFC) membranes comprising polyamide (PA) active layer on top of thick microporous polysulfone support layer.


These data also reveal small national differences that echo previous cross-national research. For example, students from more collectivistic cultures expressed more negative attitudes toward immigrants and slightly less life satisfaction (Oishi & Diener, 2014; Oyserman et al., 2002) . Students from high power distance cultures expressed less life satisfaction and more negative attitudes toward immigrants (Daniels & Greguras, 2014) . Finally, students from countries with greater economic equality expressed more political trust (Inglehart & Baker, 2000) . These patterns give us some confidence that these particular data are not just idiosyncratic representations of the respective country's general national culture.

For example, students from more collectivistic cultures expressed more negative attitudes toward immigrants and slightly less life satisfaction.

Students from high power distance cultures expressed less life satisfaction and more negative attitudes toward immigrants.

Finally, students from countries with greater economic equality expressed more political trust.


Like all research, this study has several limitations. First, we looked at just two national values and did not test the full range of cultural markers. We necessarily had to ignore within-country variations, nor could we test the full range of cultural differences across all nations. And although the second study allowed us to employ the same RD and outcome measures across multiple countries, undergraduate students are not representative samples of a country's citizens (Haidt et al., 1993) . Even the representative samples that we reviewed for the meta-analysis were associated with a range of response rates and relatively few countries. Therefore, it will be important to replicate these analyses with national representative samples that include direct measures of national values.

And although the second study allowed us to employ the same RD and outcome measures across multiple countries, undergraduate students are not representative samples of a country's citizens.


Third, our correlational data also do not enable us to infer causal relationships. However, experiments demonstrate that IRD, in particular, influences behavior. For example, Canadian undergraduate students randomly assigned to learn that they had less monthly discretionary income compared with their peers were more likely to gamble the US$20.00 that the experimenters gave them in comparison with students who learned that they had relatively more discretionary income (Callan et al., 2008) . The same experimental manipulation revealed that relatively deprived British undergraduates were less likely to donate an unexpected monetary windfall to charity (Kim, Callan, Gheorghiu, & Matthews, 2017) . Finally, students randomly assigned to a lower pay rate only cheated on a study task if others in the same classroom were randomly assigned to a higher pay rate (John, Loewenstein, & Rick, 2014) .

For example, Canadian undergraduate students randomly assigned to learn that they had less monthly discretionary income compared with their peers were more likely to gamble the US$20.00 that the experimenters gave them in comparison with students who learned that they had relatively more discretionary income.

The same experimental manipulation revealed that relatively deprived British undergraduates were less likely to donate an unexpected monetary windfall to charity.

Finally, students randomly assigned to a lower pay rate only cheated on a study task if others in the same classroom were randomly assigned to a higher pay rate.


Finally, to our surprise, increased IRD and not increased GRD more strongly predicted negative attitudes toward immigrants among students from more collectivistic countries. Again, the IRD measure might better represent respondents' extended families or other relevant reference groups as compared with a GRD measure that focused on comparisons between one's country and other countries. Members of collectivist cultures generally hold more negative attitudes toward immigrants (Oishi & Diener, 2014; Oyserman et al., 2002) . They are invested in clear boundaries between and strong interrelationships within relevant reference groups and they are more likely to see group boundaries as fixed, relatively stable, and ascribed (Gilovich et al., 2013; Oyserman et al., 2002) . These characteristics tend to make members of collectivist cultures less accommodating and more suspicious of new arrivals. If they interpreted the IRD measures as representing not just themselves, but also those close to them, and they viewed recent immigrants as a potential threat, the relationship between increased IRD and more negative attitudes toward immigrants is less surprising. Interestingly, undergraduates from the Netherlands primed for collectivism and undergraduates from Singapore, a collectivistic culture, did not distinguish Note. Correlations are coded to indicate that respondents who report more IRD report less respect from other citizen. IRD = individual relative deprivation.

Members of collectivist cultures generally hold more negative attitudes toward immigrants.

They are invested in clear boundaries between and strong interrelationships within relevant reference groups and they are more likely to see group boundaries as fixed, relatively stable, and ascribed.

IRD = individual relative deprivation.


The second study is a cross-national study of university students in which all respondents answer the same set of questions. In this study, we consider three different outcomes, life satisfaction, attitudes toward immigrants, and political trust, that were included in the previous metaanalysis. We also include a fourth outcome, the extent to which people feel respected by others (Tyler & Lind, 2001) . Respect, or more often disrespect, is an especially strong outcome associated with other forms of distributive, interactional, and procedural justice and predicts a broad range of outcomes that range from cooperative behavior to interpersonal aggression and violence to personal self-esteem (Blader & Tyler, 2015; Miller, 2001; Simon, 2007; Tyler et al., 2001) . Based on the meta-analysis, we hypothesize increased IRD to predict lower life satisfaction and respect from others (outcomes that target individual-level characteristics). We hypothesize that increased GRD will more strongly predict decreased trust in institutions and more negative attitudes toward immigrants (outcomes that target collective-level characteristics). Finally, we predict the relationship between the RD measures and outcomes will be stronger for university students in more individualistic and lower power distance countries.

We also include a fourth outcome, the extent to which people feel respected by others.

Respect, or more often disrespect, is an especially strong outcome associated with other forms of distributive, interactional, and procedural justice and predicts a broad range of outcomes that range from cooperative behavior to interpersonal aggression and violence to personal self-esteem.


The agricultural expansion in Brazil was characterized by lack of planning and consequent destruction of natural resources, particularly forests. Throughout the history of the country the original forest cover has been giving more space for agricultural and livestock activities (Martins, 2001) . As a result of this expansion, only in the last decade there has been an increase of 190% in the internal market of pesticides, making Brazil the world record in the consumption of these products (SINDAG, 2009) . Between 2010 and 2011, about 936 tons of pesticides were used throughout the national territory (ANVISA & UFPR, 2012) . In turn the Paraná State stands out in the Brazilian agricultural scenario, being in the third place in the national ranking of pesticide consumption, equivalent to 13% of the total sold in Brazil (ANVISA & UFPR, 2012) .

Throughout the history of the country the original forest cover has been giving more space for agricultural and livestock activities.

As a result of this expansion, only in the last decade there has been an increase of 190% in the internal market of pesticides, making Brazil the world record in the consumption of these products.

Between 2010 and 2011, about 936 tons of pesticides were used throughout the national territory.

In turn the Paraná State stands out in the Brazilian agricultural scenario, being in the third place in the national ranking of pesticide consumption, equivalent to 13% of the total sold in Brazil.


Focusing of a sound beam is often achieved by combination of a planar transducer and an acoustic lens. The lens that is ordinarily made of plastic or solid material propagates sound at a higher speed than that at a surrounding medium such as water and body tissues, then the configuration of the lens should be concave. A spherically curved surface lens is widely used because of theoretical simplicity for describing sound beams emitted from it and of its easy fabrication. It is known, however, that the aberration of the spherical lens occurs significantly, in particular for a widely opening aperture lens and becomes responsible for image blurring. To reduce the spherical aberration, the present authors have proposed an elliptic surface lens whose eccentricity is equal to the ratio of sound speed in a surrounding fluid to that in the lens [1] . Using a 1.7-MHz ultrasound beam, they have experimentally demonstrated that side-lobe levels of the sound pressure in the focal plane are about 8-dB lower than those by a spherical surface lens.

To reduce the spherical aberration, the present authors have proposed an elliptic surface lens whose eccentricity is equal to the ratio of sound speed in a surrounding fluid to that in the lens.


In studies initiated to explain why outbreaks of scale insects often occurred along dusty roadways in citrus orchards, 2 species of parasitic Hymenoptera associated with citrus, Aphytis chrysomphali (Mercet), a relatively soft-bodied aphelinid, and Metaphycus luteolus (Timberlake), a more sclerotized encyrtid parasitoid, were found to be very sensitive to a range of mineral-based inert dusts (Bartlett 1951) . Based on LT 50 s, A. chrysomphali was much more sensitive to dusts than was M. luteolus. Dusts adhered much more strongly to the soft-bodied wasp. In the direct contact studies with A. calandrae, we also observed strong adherance of the diatomaceous earth-silica aerogel formulation to the wasp cuticle. Anisopteromalus calandrae is a small, robust wasp that would be considered heavily sclerotized. In preliminary direct contact studies, Protect-It also completely covered the cuticle of a more soft bodied parasitoid found in the stored grain ecosystem, Habrobracon (Bracon) hebetor Say (unpublished data). In contrast to A. calandrae, H. bebetor does not penetrate deeply into grain masses but prefers to forage on the grain surface. Despite these differences in behavior and body structure, both parasitoids were very sensitive to Protect-It.

In studies initiated to explain why outbreaks of scale insects often occurred along dusty roadways in citrus orchards, 2 species of parasitic Hymenoptera associated with citrus, Aphytis chrysomphali (Mercet), a relatively soft-bodied aphelinid, and Metaphycus luteolus (Timberlake), a more sclerotized encyrtid parasitoid, were found to be very sensitive to a range of mineral-based inert dusts.


Like many insecticides, effective formulations of inert dusts are nondiscriminatory in their action against both pest and beneÞcial insects. If inert dusts alter the lipid epicuticle of susceptible insects, more detailed studies on the mode of action of these materials may be necessary to allow development of formulations that would speciÞcally target pest insects but would be less detrimental to beneÞcial species. Alternatively, there is some evidence that stored grain insects can develop tolerance or resistance to diatomaceous earth (Korunic 1998) . Development of strains of parasitoids or predators that are resistant or less sensitive to diatomaceous earth would facilitate integration of these biological control agents with inert dust treatments.

Alternatively, there is some evidence that stored grain insects can develop tolerance or resistance to diatomaceous earth.


The structure of the conserved bactofilin domain was solved by the first ever de novo solid state NMR (ssNMR) atomic structure determination , with supporting evidence coming from sequence-based modelling and electron microscopy of the filaments (Kassem et al., 2016; Vasa et al., 2015; Zuckerman et al., 2015) . The bactofilin domain has a right-handed beta-helical fold, with 6 windings of ~17 amino acid residues producing triangular-shaped monomers that measure roughly 3 nm along the beta-helical axis. So far, it has not proved possible to determine the filament structure of bactofilins.

The structure of the conserved bactofilin domain was solved by the first ever de novo solid state NMR (ssNMR) atomic structure determination , with supporting evidence coming from sequence-based modelling and electron microscopy of the filaments.


Most prokaryotes also encode protein filaments that do not belong to the actin and tubulin families and that do not function through filament dynamics enabled by filament-bound nucleotide hydrolysis, instead acting as molecular scaffolding . Martin Thanbichler and co-workers recognised in 2010, after several earlier sightings, the existence of a conserved and widespread family of bacterial proteins that form constitutive and very stable filaments in vitro and which perform scaffolding roles in cells, they named these proteins "bactofilins" (Kühn et al., 2010) . Bactofilins always contain a small domain of about 110 amino acids (PFAM domain PF04519 "bactofilin", originally annotated DUF 583, pfam.xfam.org), which has been recognised as being present in many bacterial genomes, often within multiple genes . Most bactofilin sequences consist of one bactofilin domain flanked by presumably disordered proline-rich tails at the N-and C-terminal termini, although this is not universal: enterobacterial bactofilins, including Proteus Mirabilis CcmA, have predicted transmembrane helices in the N-terminal tail (Hay et al., 1999; Kühn et al., 2010) . Bactofilin filaments are very stable, being largely insensitive to pH, salt concentration and chelating agents and hence are always filamentous when purified from source or expressed heterologously (Koch et al., 2011; Kühn et al., 2010) .

Martin Thanbichler and co-workers recognised in 2010, after several earlier sightings, the existence of a conserved and widespread family of bacterial proteins that form constitutive and very stable filaments in vitro and which perform scaffolding roles in cells, they named these proteins "bactofilins".

Most bactofilin sequences consist of one bactofilin domain flanked by presumably disordered proline-rich tails at the N-and C-terminal termini, although this is not universal: enterobacterial bactofilins, including Proteus Mirabilis CcmA, have predicted transmembrane helices in the N-terminal tail.

Bactofilin filaments are very stable, being largely insensitive to pH, salt concentration and chelating agents and hence are always filamentous when purified from source or expressed heterologously.


Standard resting 12-lead ECGs were recorded in all patients with the same equipment and response frequencies at 25 mm/s paper-speed and 10 mm/mV amplitude. QT intervals were measured in each ECG lead from the onset of the QRS complex to the end of the T wave, defined as a return to the T-P baseline. If U waves were present, the patient were excluded from the study. Three consecutive cycles in each of the 12 leads were measured. All measurements were made by two experienced cardiologists who were blind to the patient's clinical status. QT-interval dispersion was defined as the difference between maximum and minimum non-rate-corrected QT-interval duration [24] . In this study corrected QTd was not calculated because previous studies showed that rate correction of parameters of repolarization dispersion is probably unnecessary and may even distort the values and predictive usefulness of QTd [25, 26] .

QT-interval dispersion was defined as the difference between maximum and minimum non-rate-corrected QT-interval duration.

In this study corrected QTd was not calculated because previous studies showed that rate correction of parameters of repolarization dispersion is probably unnecessary and may even distort the values and predictive usefulness of QTd.


Remarkably, there was only one case of "ARRHYTHMIA" of any sort in the kidney failure set without adrenal insufficiency, while there were 2382 cases reported in the adrenal insufficiency subset of the kidney failure database. HYPOTENSION was also strongly linked to adrenal insufficiency (785) as well as CIR-CULATORY COLLAPSE (756). Patients with adrenal insufficiency have been shown to be at increased risk to lethal arrhythmias when exposed to excessive stress [63] .

Patients with adrenal insufficiency have been shown to be at increased risk to lethal arrhythmias when exposed to excessive stress.


In the period from 5.12.2010 to 27.02.2012, a group of patients who had coronarography with a 4 Fr catheter (n = 20), the study group, and with a 5 Fr catheter (n = 20), the control group, were analyzed. The decision of catheter and vascular sheath size belonged to the operator. Patients' mean age in the study group was 59.4 ±12.6 years, and in the control group 65.1 ±9.0 (p = 0.16). The number of men was respectively 65% in the study group and 55% in the con trol group (p = 0.53). The average height and weight in each group were respectively: 1.69 ±0.09 m in the study group vs. 1.69 ±0.07 m in the control group, p = 0.83; and 77.4 ±13.26 kg in the study group vs. 80.85 ±17.27 kg in the control group, p = 0.48. To puncture the right radial artery 21 G × 3.8 cm needles were used, 0.018'' × 45 cm guidewires and 4 Fr × 7 cm and 5 Fr × 7 cm sheaths (Balton, Poland). The sheaths were not covered with a hydrophilic layer. The coronarogra phy was preceded by the modified Allen test using a pulse oximeter [11] . After inserting a vascular sheath, 5000 units of heparin and 5 mg of verapamil were administered through the sheath. Patients beyond the introductory dose did not receive more doses of verapamil. The intervention was per formed when the modified Allen test showed the values of 1 or 2; in cases of 3 and 4 the artery was not used for the procedure. The catheters used for coronarography included 5 Fr Judkins catheters (Asahi, Japan) of 3.5 or 4 curvatures and 4 Fr Judkins catheters (Optitorque, Terumo, Japan) of curvatures: left 4 and right 3.5 or 4. Contrast medium was supplied to coronary arteries with an automatic injector. Af ter the intervention the vascular sheath was removed and a TerumoBand was applied (TerumaJapan); it was usually removed after 4 h. All the interventions were done by the same operator, with 8year experience of radial access diag nostic procedures and 22year experience of femoral access diagnostic interventions.

The coronarogra phy was preceded by the modified Allen test using a pulse oximeter.


Mixing immiscible fluids together results in an emulsion, which might be defined as a heterogeneous system consisting of at least one fluid (in the form of tiny droplets) dispersed within another fluid [1] . An emulsion does not form spontaneously. It is produced by an emulsification process, through which interfaces between fluids are created and stabilized by some emulsifying agents.

Mixing immiscible fluids together results in an emulsion, which might be defined as a heterogeneous system consisting of at least one fluid (in the form of tiny droplets) dispersed within another fluid.


One of the most interesting facts about traffic management in the Internet is that, even with the explosive growth over the past decade, the same congestion control protocol, TCP, has been used with minor changes. With all Web traffic users using the same flow control scheme, TCP's endto-end adaptive flow control has allowed many users to share the Internet's available bandwidth relatively fairly. However, TCP's efficacy and the fairness it provides is at some risk due to the explosive growth of streaming media traffic, such as from RealAudio and MP3 audio streams, and RealVideo, Quick Time, and Windows Media video streams. The majority of streaming traffic uses UDP transport, which, unlike TCP, provides neither flow nor congestion control. Streaming media applications are somewhat responsive to network congestion, but usually not as much as TCP-based Web traffic. Furthermore, streaming media applications use proprietary algorithms to respond to congestion and, due to their competitive nature, attempt to use as much bandwidth as possible. As a result, UDP-based streaming media traffic has the potential to cause two major problems in the Internet: congestion collapse, and unfair allocations of bandwidth among competing traffic flows [1] .

As a result, UDP-based streaming media traffic has the potential to cause two major problems in the Internet: congestion collapse, and unfair allocations of bandwidth among competing traffic flows.


Conversely, at the end of tetanic stimulations force decay precedes MMG signal return to baseline during the relaxation phase [18] . This MMG signal delay compared to force during relaxation has been attributed to two main mechanisms: (i) the restoration of the spatial relationships between the blood vessels and the muscle fibres due to a decrease in intramuscular pressure and (ii) the reoccupation during relaxation of the interfibre space by the interstitial fluid squeezed outside during contraction [18, 19] . Thus, two distinct R-EMD components can be calculated. The former comprises the events, that are mainly electrochemical in nature, between the cessation of neuromuscular activity and the initial force decay (Δ EMG-F; from Ca 2+ reuptake in the sarcoplasmic reticulum to the block of the actomyosin interaction by troponin and tropomyosin and the consecutive cessation of cross-bridges activity). The latter includes the mechanical events from the onset of force decay to the negative peak of the largest MMG displacement (Δ F-MMG) and represents the time for passive return of SEC and muscle surface to their resting position.

Conversely, at the end of tetanic stimulations force decay precedes MMG signal return to baseline during the relaxation phase.

This MMG signal delay compared to force during relaxation has been attributed to two main mechanisms: (i) the restoration of the spatial relationships between the blood vessels and the muscle fibres due to a decrease in intramuscular pressure and (ii) the reoccupation during relaxation of the interfibre space by the interstitial fluid squeezed outside during contraction.


The presence of mixed infections involving LSV and LMoV was a common feature among the samples collected in these regions, even in different lily varieties. The results show that LSV single infections were less frequent (21%) than mixed infections with LMoV and CMV. The simultaneous infection by these viruses in lilies was also reported in Argentina, India, and Japan (Niimi et al., 2003; Sharma et al., 2005; Chinestra et al., 2010) .

The simultaneous infection by these viruses in lilies was also reported in Argentina, India, and Japan.


Right handed (RH) neutrinos can provide simple and elegant explanations for two pieces of observational evidence for Physics beyond the Standard Model (SM), namely neutrino oscillations and the baryon asymmetry of the universe (BAU). On one hand, they can generate neutrino masses via the seesaw mechanism [1] . On the other hand, their CPviolating interactions in the early Universe can generate a matter-antimatter asymmetry amongst leptons, which can be transferred to the baryonic sector by sphalerons [2] . This process is known as Leptogenesis [3] .

On one hand, they can generate neutrino masses via the seesaw mechanism.

On the other hand, their CPviolating interactions in the early Universe can generate a matter-antimatter asymmetry amongst leptons, which can be transferred to the baryonic sector by sphalerons.

This process is known as Leptogenesis.


Supertagging accuracy is relatively high for manually constructed LTAGs (Bangalore and Joshi, 1999) . However, for LTAGs extracted automatically from the Penn Treebank, performance is much lower (Chen et al., 1999; Chen et al., 2002) . In fact, performance for such grammars is below that needed for successful integration into a full parser (Sarkar et al., 2000) . In this paper we demonstrate that CCG supertagging accuracy is not only sufficient for accurate and robust parsing using an automatically extracted grammar, but also offers several practical advantages.

Supertagging accuracy is relatively high for manually constructed LTAGs.

However, for LTAGs extracted automatically from the Penn Treebank, performance is much lower.

In fact, performance for such grammars is below that needed for successful integration into a full parser.


Proteasome inhibitors are a topic of increasing interest in clinical oncology. Growing evidence suggests significant therapeutic benefits of proteasome inhibition in preclinical studies and clinical trials have already been started to evaluate the effect of proteasome inhibitors in a wide variety of solid and hematological malignancies [35, 36] . Proteasome inhibitors may also serve as adjuvant therapy with existing drugs to potentially overcome intrinsic, acquired, or induced chemoresistance. Indeed, malignant glioma cells that bear multiple genetic defects, including impaired repair mechanisms and faulty cell cycle checkpoint controls, are sensitive to the growth inhibitory actions of proteasome inhibitors both in vitro and in vivo. The characteristics of proteasome inhibitors make them appealing agents in primary or adjuvant malignant glioma therapy. In order to maximize glioma therapy, however, the highly selective and cytotoxic agents needed must be incorporated within an effective delivery system. In summary, lactacystin exhibits potent anti-glioma activity in vitro, it can be efficiently incorporated into controlled-release polymers, and at the proposed concentrations lactacystin polymers are safe for CNS delivery and prolong survival in the 9L model. These findings support the role of proteasome-inhibitors in the treatment of malignant gliomas when administered using a local drug-delivery system.

Growing evidence suggests significant therapeutic benefits of proteasome inhibition in preclinical studies and clinical trials have already been started to evaluate the effect of proteasome inhibitors in a wide variety of solid and hematological malignancies.


In the past decades, human umbilical cord has been used as an alternative source to bone marrow for cell-based therapies because of its hematopoietic and mesenchymal cell components. We recently showed that hUCT is a richer source of MSCs in comparison to human umbilical cord blood (hUCB) [3, 20] . In addition, we demonstrated that MSC from hUCT and hUCB have different gene expression profiles [33] . Since umbilical cord is easily obtained and a rich source of MSCs, we investigated their ability to originate muscle cells in vivo and restore the expression of defective muscular proteins in different animal models of PMDs.

We recently showed that hUCT is a richer source of MSCs in comparison to human umbilical cord blood (hUCB).

In addition, we demonstrated that MSC from hUCT and hUCB have different gene expression profiles.


Not all pieces of PII are equal in privacy significance. To our knowledge, there are no works in this area besides the usual objective statistical measures. In authentication systems, PII is generally limited to identification/contact information. The Platform for Privacy Preferences Project (P3P) does not classify categories of data according to their sensitivity. Microsoft's IE6 restricts the use of cookies under certain scenarios, but only if "sensitive" categories (e.g., GOV) are included. Some works propose a vocabulary for composing policies that allow or deny access to PII and facilitate the ways in which semantic web processors reason through policies [11] .

Some works propose a vocabulary for composing policies that allow or deny access to PII and facilitate the ways in which semantic web processors reason through policies.


Neonatal encephalopathy is associated with neonatal hypoxic-ischemic injuries or neonatal stroke, and affects 1-6 per 1000 live full-term births [10] . Neonatal encephalopathy results in disturbed neurological functions and activities in newborn infants due to problems in initiating and maintaining respiration. It is clinically defined as a syndrome of disturbed neurological functions in the early days of newborn infant life with apparent evidence in difficult starting and maintaining breathing, poor awareness and consciousness, inadequate and declined reflexes and muscle tone, and even seizure activities. Along with these, neonatal encephalopathy increases the chances of developing neurodevelopmental disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, after birth. Depending on severity, neonatal encephalopathy can cause the development of cognitive disorders or death.

Neonatal encephalopathy is associated with neonatal hypoxic-ischemic injuries or neonatal stroke, and affects 1-6 per 1000 live full-term births.


The main method for the monitoring of the lipid membrane formation and its subsequent interaction with the nanodrug was the quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D), in some experiments complemented by reflectometry. The basic components of the experiments, where a lipid membrane is formed on a sensor surface before exposure to the nanoparticles, are presented in Figure 1 . In essence, the QCM-D and reflectometry measurements provide us with three complementing quantities; the QCM-D frequency shift (∆f) that measures the change in acoustically coupled mass (including associated solvent) associated with the sensor surface, the QCM-D dissipation shift (∆D) that measures changes in the shear viscosity caused by the adsorbed nanoparticles, and the reflectometry signal (∆R) that measures changes in the optical mass (due to changes in refractive index) near the surface. The combination of these three signals has been shown to constitute a powerful way of characterizing supported lipid membrane formation and interactions/remodeling of such bilayers [13] .

The combination of these three signals has been shown to constitute a powerful way of characterizing supported lipid membrane formation and interactions/remodeling of such bilayers.


The Nakina North Forest was originally part of the Nakina Forest established in 1985 (OMNR, 1996) . The plan will be rewritten and updated every five years for subsequent 20 year periods. Included under signed terms and conditions is a comprehensive renewal and maintenance program.

The Nakina North Forest was originally part of the Nakina Forest established in 1985.


Alternative energy has become a topical subject in many countries in recent years, with solar energy emerging as a promising energy source since the radiant energy of the sun is inexhaustible. In recent years, this aspect of the development of the smart grid is booming [1] . Photovoltaic (PV) panels for solar power generation can convert solar radiant energy directly into electric energy. At present, the PV power system has not reached high conversion efficiency, requires high cost, and the power benefit varies with climatic conditions and ambient temperature. Therefore, how to maximize the power output of PV power system and reduce power waste has become an important topic.

In recent years, this aspect of the development of the smart grid is booming.


GSE contains various essential constituents such as lipids, proteins, carbohydrates and polyphenols [36] . Proanthocyanidins (POC) and procyanidins are potent natural anti-oxidants with anti-inflammatory activity [37] . They are the most abundant phenolic compounds in grape seeds comprising dimers or trimmers of (+)-catechin, (−)-epicatechin, gallic acid and necessary flavonoids. Polyphenols flavonoids are useful constituents present in GPSE, which shows an anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and potent neuroprotective property [37] . The most common and richest source in GSE is higher concentration of POC which has a greater degree of oxygen free radical scavenging potential activity. It has been suggested that GSPE is an effective therapy for oxidation-related diseases in animal models of tumors, atherosclerosis, gastric ulcers, neuropathic disorders and many other diseases [38] . In our experimentation, morphine (10 mg/kg, p.o.) was given to CCI-induced rats, which produced tolerance after 5 days, and thus when GPSE (100 mg/kg p.o.) was given in combination with morphine from day 7, it produced an anti-tolerance effect against morphineinduced tolerance.

GSE contains various essential constituents such as lipids, proteins, carbohydrates and polyphenols.

Proanthocyanidins (POC) and procyanidins are potent natural anti-oxidants with anti-inflammatory activity.

Polyphenols flavonoids are useful constituents present in GPSE, which shows an anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and potent neuroprotective property.

It has been suggested that GSPE is an effective therapy for oxidation-related diseases in animal models of tumors, atherosclerosis, gastric ulcers, neuropathic disorders and many other diseases.


In the process, academic researchers seem to be losing ground to consultants as sources of research ideas and advice for practitioners (Bartlett, 2007; Rigby, 2001) . This is happening at a time when academics' dependence on practitioners for relevant research seems to be on the rise (Trank & Rynes, 2003) . This seems to contribute in a significant way to the chasm that exists between the worlds of the corporate and the academe.

In the process, academic researchers seem to be losing ground to consultants as sources of research ideas and advice for practitioners.

This is happening at a time when academics' dependence on practitioners for relevant research seems to be on the rise.


Considering individual variables, age and being an immigrant reduces the probability that students receive homework assistance, whereas being female increases the probability. As for school, the grade attained in mathematics in the previous academic year and attending any kind of private school also reduces the probability of receiving parental assistance. In addition, if students are of the opinion that school notes should be shared, then this increases the probability of receiving help with homework. Finally, in the case of class fixed effects, the higher the percentage of female classmates, the higher is the probability that students receive homework assistance. In a subsequent step, we disentangled the sample in terms of gender to observe whether differential effects were to be found. In relation to our main variable of analysis, female students received greater homework support from their parents during adolescence. This is in line with reports of gender bias in parental effort (Bonesrønning, 2010) .

This is in line with reports of gender bias in parental effort.


Thus, parental involvement in child's homework is a complex relationship, and only some actions lead to positive effects regarding children's educational attainment as well as other benefits (Cooper, 1989; Patall, Cooper, & Robinson, 2008) . It is, therefore, interesting to identify which factors drive parental involvement. Most studies consider parental background, which includes the role played by mothers, ethnicity, and family structure. With respect to the former, mothers play a leading role in the educational process as they tend to dedicate more time to their children's schooling than fathers do, although this gap is narrowing, and the recent literature indicates that this is a somewhat debatable issue (Bianchi, 2000; Holmlund, Lindahl, & Plug, 2011; Sayer, Bianchi, & Robinson, 2004) . As for the characteristics of the mother, more highly educated women spend more time on child care than their less educated counterparts do (Guryan, Hurst, & Kearney, 2008; Gutiérrez-Domènech, 2010; Rønning, 2011) . Other studies argue that the amount of time is not important and that what counts is the quality of the activities mothers engage in with their children (see Bianchi, 2000, for a review) .

Thus, parental involvement in child's homework is a complex relationship, and only some actions lead to positive effects regarding children's educational attainment as well as other benefits.

With respect to the former, mothers play a leading role in the educational process as they tend to dedicate more time to their children's schooling than fathers do, although this gap is narrowing, and the recent literature indicates that this is a somewhat debatable issue.

As for the characteristics of the mother, more highly educated women spend more time on child care than their less educated counterparts do.


In the present article, a finite nilpotent monoid with an infinite irredundant basis of monoid equations is exhibited, thereby providing a positive solution to Problem 1.1. The argument is substantially more involved than the broad approach that was given in Jackson [4] . In the monoid signature, the property appears to be extremely fragile, and it seems unlikely to hold anywhere near as commonly as when the examples are considered in the semigroup signature.

The argument is substantially more involved than the broad approach that was given in Jackson.


One of the most common bone patterns is trabecular bone. Trabecular bone has a branching pattern, as seen in this vertebral specimen. The idea that the fractal index or fractal dimension (FD) of trabecular bone might be related to bone strength is an appealing one, since the fractal index is simple to calculate from clinical radiographies [12] [13] . Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the correlation between different quality analysis parameters of trabecular pattern in digital panoramic radiographies and relations with forearm bone density performed by pDXA in Brazilian population.

The idea that the fractal index or fractal dimension (FD) of trabecular bone might be related to bone strength is an appealing one, since the fractal index is simple to calculate from clinical radiographies.


Episodic memory research is closely related to studies in case-based reasoning (CBR). The goal of CBR is to optimize task performance given a case-base, where each case consists of a problem and its solution [6] . In CBR systems, case structure is typically pre-specified, case-base size is either fixed or grows at a limited rate, and the cases usually do not have any inherent temporal structure. In contrast, an episodic store grows monotonically with experience, accumulating snapshots of an agent's experiences over time. An agent endowed with this memory can retrieve relevant episodes to facilitate reasoning and learning based upon prior events.

The goal of CBR is to optimize task performance given a case-base, where each case consists of a problem and its solution.


The Federal Reserve's purchase auctions of agency MBS provide a fertile ground for empirically investigating multiunit auctions. The large scale asset purchases of agency MBS since the recent financial crisis are one of the most important events in the history of U.S. monetary policies. These MBS purchases meant to put downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, support mortgage and housing markets, and make broader financial conditions more accommodative, when the federal funds rate is stuck at the zero lower bound (Bernanke (2012) ). The amount purchased is huge. As of November 2014, the Federal Reserve (Fed) had accumulated $1.74 trillion of agency MBS on its balance sheet (after principal payments), around 30% of the total outstanding amount of all agency MBS.

These MBS purchases meant to put downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, support mortgage and housing markets, and make broader financial conditions more accommodative, when the federal funds rate is stuck at the zero lower bound).

The amount purchased is huge.


The networking architecture for the NICE application was based on previous experience with CALVIN, a networked immersive collaborative environment for designing architectural spaces (Leigh & Johnson, 1996) . The networking protocols selected were tailored towards the characteristics of VR data and the ability to enter and leave the environment easily from anywhere on the Internet. The networking component also allows clients other than VR interfaces to participate. For example, a recorder client can be connected to the network that records all of the movements and interactions in the virtual environment, allowing the session to be replayed later during evaluation studies. Monitoring clients can be connected to monitor the state of the NICE island and the state of the network. Web-based clients can also connect and cooperate with the VR clients, as explained in the next section.

The networking architecture for the NICE application was based on previous experience with CALVIN, a networked immersive collaborative environment for designing architectural spaces.


Considering the massive integration of variable and unpredictable Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and new types of load consumptions, e.g., heat pumps and electric vehicles, the electricity distribution grid is becoming increasingly complex and dynamic. Real-time control and operation have begun to play an important role in reducing the consequences of intermittency and uncertainty in this new distribution network context. These functions require advanced techniques to not only estimate a system's state variables but also to predict its future trends [1] . By improving the grid's monitoring capabilities, control actions will be triggered in real-time, thus improving system reliability and stability.

These functions require advanced techniques to not only estimate a system's state variables but also to predict its future trends.


The RG analysis made here suggests that the WT term, playing an insignificant role in kaon condensation, would also be irrelevant in triggering the possible Fermi-liquid-to-nonFermi liquid (FLNFL) transition. This follows from that the kaon is a (pseudo-)Goldstone particle and the WT term is the leading derivative coupling in kaon-Fermi-liquid interactions. And the derivative Goldstone-fermion coupling is known to prevent the FLNFL transition [28] . It is the non-derivative coupling due to chiral symmetry breaking associated with the spontaneous breaking of scale symmetry that could potentially provide a loophole to the Goldstone-boson's "no-go theorem" for the FLNFL transition. Such loopholes are known to exist in condensed matter physics [28] .

And the derivative Goldstone-fermion coupling is known to prevent the FLNFL transition.

Such loopholes are known to exist in condensed matter physics.


Most of the properties are checked at compilation time. For example, the code does not compile if one uses sort algorithm with the standard list container, because the list's iterators do not offer random accessibility [13] . Other properties are checked at runtime. For example, the standard vector container offers an at method which tests if the index is valid and it raises an exception otherwise [17] .

For example, the code does not compile if one uses sort algorithm with the standard list container, because the list's iterators do not offer random accessibility.

For example, the standard vector container offers an at method which tests if the index is valid and it raises an exception otherwise.


In recent years there has been also an interest in building holographic model of superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). In the model in question one considers Einstein-Maxwell gravity with complex scalar field in (3+1)-dimensional AdS Schwarzschild black brane background. One of the spatial dimensions is compactified into a circle and with the properly chosen profiles of the chemical potential constitute the main building blocks of the holographic SQUID [43, 44] .

One of the spatial dimensions is compactified into a circle and with the properly chosen profiles of the chemical potential constitute the main building blocks of the holographic SQUID.


Conventional water-quality event detection methods monitor online events indirectly by detecting physical and chemical water-quality parameters such as pH, chlorine, conductivity, oxygen-reduction potential, and turbidity. Empirical evidence shows that common water-quality parameters are sensitive indicators of many contaminants, such as nicotine, arsenic trioxide, aldicarb, and Escherichia coli. However, using common water-quality parameters for anomaly monitoring involves manually operated chemical treatment, which takes relatively longer time, making it unsuitable for online monitoring application. Moreover, considering the aforementioned parameters, a sensor's electrical signal output can be significantly affected by multiple interferences such as instrument noise and baseline drift, which can generate signals resembling intentional contamination and in turn lead to a high rate of false detection [5] .

Moreover, considering the aforementioned parameters, a sensor's electrical signal output can be significantly affected by multiple interferences such as instrument noise and baseline drift, which can generate signals resembling intentional contamination and in turn lead to a high rate of false detection.


The moduli parameters in string theory correspond to massless scalars in 4-dimensional effective supergravity and hence will lead to long range interactions. The couplings of these scalars to matter fields are in general not universal, which implies that different matter fields will obtain different accelerations from these long range forces. Obviously, this phenomenon violates the principle of equivalence, which has been tested by the ratio of inertial to gravitational mass up to 10 −13 [1] . Therefore a "fifth force" must be very weak or sufficiently short ranged, and a very natural consequence is that all of the moduli should be massive. Furthermore, string theory loses any predictability, if the vacuum expectation values of the moduli fields, especially for the volume modulus, can take arbitrary values, since many physical parameters in the low energy theory depend on the specific value of moduli.

Obviously, this phenomenon violates the principle of equivalence, which has been tested by the ratio of inertial to gravitational mass up to 10 −13.


We obtained blood samples from twenty individuals (18 cows and 2 bulls) for molecular genetic analyses. DNA was extracted according to a standard phenol-chloroform protocol (Ausubel et al., 1987) . Fifteen microsatellite loci were  amplified: CSSM66, ETH10, ETH152, ETH225, ETH3, HEL1,  HEL5, HEL9, ILSTS5, INRA23, INRA35, INRA37, INRA5, INRA63 and TGLA44 according previous analyses (Cañón et al., 2001; Beja-Pereira et al., 2003; Jordana et al., 2003) . PCR products were run in an Applied Biosystems 3100 or 3730 DNA Sequencer and analysed with GENESCAN or GENEMAPPER Analysis software (Applied Biosystems), using internal-size standards. Alleles were coded according to reference samples.

DNA was extracted according to a standard phenol-chloroform protocol.

Fifteen microsatellite loci were  amplified: CSSM66, ETH10, ETH152, ETH225, ETH3, HEL1,  HEL5, HEL9, ILSTS5, INRA23, INRA35, INRA37, INRA5, INRA63 and TGLA44 according previous analyses.


Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination is a national examination which is important to assess academic competencies for fifth form of secondary school student in Malaysia. The main purpose is to stratify and assist to determine the students' academic pathway towards further education at tertiary level (Wikipedia, 2008) . According to Wikipedia, SPM examination is equivalent to British General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and is taken by those who ages 17 years old. However, for those who attended pre-secondary school would take the SPM examination at the age of 18.

The main purpose is to stratify and assist to determine the students' academic pathway towards further education at tertiary level.


In Ireland little research exists on the environmental impacts of the wood processing sector, with only wood production studied from an LCA perspective to date (Murphy et al., 2014b) . The aim of this study is to add to the pre-existing LCA knowledge of forest operations in Ireland, by analysing the next step in the timber industry; the wood processing stage. The analysis considers each of the products from sawmilling, WBP manufacture and pellet manufacture from a life cycle point of view.

In Ireland little research exists on the environmental impacts of the wood processing sector, with only wood production studied from an LCA perspective to date.


The timber industry in Ireland is an important aspect of the Irish economy, contributing 3 billion euro of export value in forest products, including sawn timber and wood-based panels, in 2012 (Irish In Ireland the timber industry supplies significant volumes of sawmill co-products (including bark, sawdust, shavings and wood chip) as biomass for energy generation. Between the years 2000 and 2012, renewable heat generation grew from 2.4% to 5.2% with this growth dominated by biomass (Howley and Holland, 2013) . Traditionally, the majority (48%) of biomass-for-energy in Ireland has been consumed by sawmill and WBP industries as feedstock for kilns and process heat generation.

Between the years 2000 and 2012, renewable heat generation grew from 2.4% to 5.2% with this growth dominated by biomass.


Opportunities exist in the wood processing sectors to improve environmental efficiency. In Ireland, the majority of sawmills burn by-products to fulfill their heating requirements, this is supplemented by fossil sources when required, and import electricity from the national grid. By integrating a combined heat and power (CHP) system with an existing sawmill, there is potential to increase energy efficiency and reduce electricity usage from the national grid. In addition, the location of a pellet mill with an existing sawmill allows optimal use of resources (Anderson and Toffolo, 2013) .

In addition, the location of a pellet mill with an existing sawmill allows optimal use of resources.


However, results of current review and assessment on numerous previous studies revealed that there was some doubt over effectiveness of ecodriving behavior in such congested urban circumstances [14] . Nevertheless, there is also a lack of studies on on-road driving behavior, influencing fuel consumption and emissions, of two-wheel vehicles, especially on congested urban intersections where motorcycle generally penetrate into the stop line by overtaking a queue of other larger vehicles under congestion. They make a stop at signalized intersections to wait for green lights less than other larger vehicles. The objective of this research is therefore to explore the on-road driving parameters influencing fuel consumption and emissions of motorcycle driving on a congested and dense signalized urban road. In this paper, the next section describes the research methodology. Section 3 presents the results and discussion. Section 4 presents the conclusions and recommendations.

However, results of current review and assessment on numerous previous studies revealed that there was some doubt over effectiveness of ecodriving behavior in such congested urban circumstances.


In progressive mesh streaming, it is desirable to increase the visual quality on the client side as quickly as possible. The ideal way is to send the vertex splits in the descending order of their contribution to mesh quality, commonly measured by the Hausdorff distance between the original and reconstructed mesh [5] . As Hausdorff distance is view independent, bandwidth may be wasted in sending invisible vertex splits before the visible ones. Moreover, even among the visible vertex splits, the view-independent metric cannot reflect the real contribution to the visual quality of clients with different viewpoints. A vertex split that significantly changes a mesh may change the rendered image only slightly.

The ideal way is to send the vertex splits in the descending order of their contribution to mesh quality, commonly measured by the Hausdorff distance between the original and reconstructed mesh.


Other studies have shown that medical students are able to quickly acquire ultrasound recordings of good quality on normal test subjects, in optimal conditions with a standard ultrasound machine and PSID after a brief period of training [22, 23] . For the assessment of diagnostic accuracy in our study, only acceptable organ images were used. This may have diluted the true diagnostic accuracy to some extent. However the lack of a formal gold standard/reference made the basis for this, as assessing accuracy in non-acceptable images is useless when no reference is available. A recent, though smaller study with five final year medical students has shown encouraging results using pocket-size cardiac ultrasonography as an adjunct to standard physical examination in cardiology patients [9] . We have broadened the field, looking at several different organ systems and included diverse groups of hospital and emergency room patients.

Other studies have shown that medical students are able to quickly acquire ultrasound recordings of good quality on normal test subjects, in optimal conditions with a standard ultrasound machine and PSID after a brief period of training.

A recent, though smaller study with five final year medical students has shown encouraging results using pocket-size cardiac ultrasonography as an adjunct to standard physical examination in cardiology patients.


To design an effective RF BIST structure, proper identifications of parametric variations in RF system play an integral part of the design. Analog systems have only a few inputs and outputs, and their internal states exhibit low time constants compared to digital circuits [4] [5] [6] . To test point-to-point transceiver, loop-back technique using spectral signature analysis is generally used with lower effort and very small test overhead. However, this test approach has disadvantages such as lower test coverage due to the fact that the complete transceiver is tested as a whole and the need of an additional DSP due to the higher complexity of the test signature generation.

Analog systems have only a few inputs and outputs, and their internal states exhibit low time constants compared to digital circuits.


Apart from presenting the first complete and formal verification of an important new algorithm, a contribution of this paper is to describe our ongoing work towards making proof efforts like these easier and more efficient. The proof presented in this paper builds on earlier work in which we proved (and in some cases disproved and/or improved) a number of nonblocking implementations of concurrent stacks, queues and deques [5] [6] [7] [8] . While we still have work to do in this direction, we have made a lot of progress in determining how to model algorithms and specifications, and how to approach proofs. In this paper, we briefly describe some of the lessons learned. We have made our proof scripts available at http://www.mcs.vuw.ac.nz/reasearch/SunVUW/, so that others may examine our work in detail and benefit from our experience.

The proof presented in this paper builds on earlier work in which we proved (and in some cases disproved and/or improved) a number of nonblocking implementations of concurrent stacks, queues and deques.


Entropy was originally introduced as a thermodynamic concept and widely used to measure an unordered system. Then entropy had begun to draw much attention in the field of complex systems research since it served as a physical device capable of describing the structure of a complex system. From the macroscopic viewpoint, entropy is reckoned as a metric of energy distribution uniformity in a system, and it is able to indicate whether the current situation is stable 2 Mathematical Problems in Engineering as well as the system's change trend. The more uniform the energy distribution is, the greater the entropy achieves. Otherwise, the smaller the entropy achieves. Qiu and her team has brought entropy in management decision-making procedure and then proposed the management entropy theory [10] [11] [12] . In recent years, many scholars use generalized entropy to describe the reliability of a network [13] [14] [15] . Based on previous research results, this paper puts forward the concept of shortest delivery time entropy involved in logistics networks. Moreover, the entropy is used to represent delivery time reliability of a logistics network, featured by a negative relationship with the shortest delivery time reliability.

Qiu and her team has brought entropy in management decision-making procedure and then proposed the management entropy theory.

In recent years, many scholars use generalized entropy to describe the reliability of a network.


Thermal transport modeling in superlattices has typically focused on the prediction of the effective thermal conductivity [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] . Here, we report on a molecular dynamics (MD) study aimed at predicting the thermal resistance of the interfaces in a model superlattice. The interface resistance plays an important role in the thermal behavior of many of the new nanocomposites being developed. Prediction of its magnitude is challenging, especially when system interfaces are close together, but is crucial for the development of superlattice design techniques.

Thermal transport modeling in superlattices has typically focused on the prediction of the effective thermal conductivity.


Meanwhile, many studies of social epidemiology have investigated the association between health and socioeconomic factors. It is now widely recognized that inequalities in health status associated with socioeconomic status are substantial. In particular, evidence that income and educational attainment significantly affect health has important implications for economic and educational policies (Smith, 1999; Lleras-Muney, 2005) . It is, thus, of great interest to explore the extent to which child poverty affects both types of subjective well-being based on the common framework of analysis.

In particular, evidence that income and educational attainment significantly affect health has important implications for economic and educational policies.


Software developers routinely work in teams. While some projects involve only immediate team members, many projects involve a broader community of individuals from different institutions [1] . Many developers contribute to several projects in any given week. One of the pervasive challenges facing any software development team is getting the right level of communication to coordinate their work and perform their tasks effectively, and this problem is more difficult for distributed teams.

While some projects involve only immediate team members, many projects involve a broader community of individuals from different institutions.


One type of tool for creating and displaying video surrogates, the Video Streamer, has been developed at the MIT Media Laboratory (Elliot, 1993) . The idea behind the Video Streamer is that although some aspects of video can be automatically parsed, more detailed representations of video content require user annotations. The video clips produced by the Video Streamer are depicted as three dimensional video blocks with the pictures stacked, representing the temporal attributes of the stream. Users may also be able to comprehend actions that take place in the clip from the edges of images seen on the sides of the block. The Streamer also includes a utility to automatically recognize cuts between shots. Using this feature, the user can save the top frame of each shot in the stream to create an overview.

One type of tool for creating and displaying video surrogates, the Video Streamer, has been developed at the MIT Media Laboratory.


The low accuracy scores for the object recognition task obtained by subjects viewing four slide shows indicate that either distracters are being selected more often or that subjects are not identifying many objects. In the first case, it can be said that subjects are relying on schemas to identify objects in the film. A schema is a knowledge framework that is a way people organize information about various concepts or events (Ellis and Hunt, 1989) . The subjects synthesize all of the objects and scenes shown in the key frames in order to build a schema for what they believe to be the story behind the video. The subjects check this schema in the object identification task to decide which fit this "story" or framework. In the second case, subjects simply cannot attend to all videos at once well enough to identify objects in the videos or grasp enough meaning in order to construct a schema. The sentence content analysis indicated that probably both are occurring as the number of simultaneous slide shows increases, subjects are less able to identify the meaning of the video and of those that do identify a meaning, it is an incorrect and incomplete analysis of the actual video content.

A schema is a knowledge framework that is a way people organize information about various concepts or events.


Coadministration of faldaprevir 240 mg twice daily with efavirenz in healthy volunteers resulted in an approximate 35% reduction in faldaprevir AUC and 46% reduction in faldaprevir C min due to CYP3A induction by efavirenz. Despite induction of CYP3A by efavirenz, coadministration of efavirenz had no impact on the metabolite profile of faldaprevir in plasma (data not shown). The predominant metabolites of faldaprevir are M2a and M2b; their formation via CYP3A4/5 and clearance from the circulation have been described in a recent publication [19] . Both metabolites have a low permeability, and thus are not expected to diffuse readily into the blood or be absorbed effectively by the gastrointestinal tract. Rapid uptake into the liver by hepatic uptake transporters was also noted. In the presence of efavirenz, where faldaprevir clearance is increased, the low levels of metabolites permeating into the blood, combined with the efficient clearance into bile from the liver, is likely to be the reason that the levels of these metabolites in plasma remained unchanged. Clinical doses of faldaprevir that have been investigated in HCV genotype 1-infected patients are 120 and 240 mg once daily. In STARTVerso4, faldaprevir was utilized at the 240 mg once-daily dose when coadministered with efavirenz based on the decrease in faldaprevir exposure presented here. Preliminary data from STARTVerso4 suggest that this combination is effective and the safety profile is similar to that observed in HCV genotype 1-monoinfected patients [4] . Faldaprevir 240 mg once daily would therefore be the appropriate dose when coadministered with efavirenz in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients.

The predominant metabolites of faldaprevir are M2a and M2b; their formation via CYP3A4/5 and clearance from the circulation have been described in a recent publication.

Preliminary data from STARTVerso4 suggest that this combination is effective and the safety profile is similar to that observed in HCV genotype 1-monoinfected patients.


The advent of powerful computers and the emergence of more accurate models for the electric properties and shape of the human brain have enabled numerical modelling to become a significant and reliable tool for the design and optimisation of such new TMS devices to achieve these requirements. The experimental prediction of the electric field distribution is still a formidable task so simulation of the fields induced inside the brain is crucial in the optimisation and design of the stimulus coils. This paper presents results on the simulation of TMS by using the FEM in three dimensions and looks at the effects of the geometrical model of the head on the distribution and penetration of the electric field induced in the brain during TMS. To obtain sufficient and localised electric fields inside the brain, an iron core is introduced and its shape is optimised using the CDSA combined with the FEM [6, 7] . The results reveal that the incorporation of an accurate brain model in terms of shape as well as conductivity values is crucial for an improved estimation of field distribution. In addition, the stimulus coil with the optimised core demonstrates much better performance in terms of magnitude and localisation of the electric fields induced inside the brain.

To obtain sufficient and localised electric fields inside the brain, an iron core is introduced and its shape is optimised using the CDSA combined with the FEM.


Let us now sketch how we prove (1.1). Unless otherwise specified our base field is now finite. We show first that a α (q) counts the points of a smooth affine variety X related to a deformed preprojective algebra of Q [9] . Our aim is then to count the points on X using the Lefschetz fixed point formula for the Frobenius action on l-adic cohomology.

Let us now sketch how we prove (1.1).

We show first that a α (q) counts the points of a smooth affine variety X related to a deformed preprojective algebra of Q.


Comparison of investigations into the effect of Cr content in the alloy to reduce corrosion in an oxidising-chloridizing environments reveals contradicting results [9] . A detrimental effect of Cr due to the formation of chromium chloride was reported at 800 o C in a 50% HCl-10% H2O-H2 reducing atmosphere [8] . An improvement in corrosion resistance with increasing Cr content was reported in mixed oxygen-chlorine environments at 1000 °C [9] . FeCl2 vapor was considered as the main corrosion product. Corrosion experiments conducted on Fe-Cr (0-25 wt.%Cr) alloys at 800°C in low HCl and low H2O containing environments showed an improvement of corrosion resistance with increasing Cr content due to the formation of chromia [10] . From the corrosion investigation of materials from a biomass power plant, a minimum in total corrosion rate has been observed for a Cr content around 15-18 wt.%, where a high material loss was observed for lower Cr content, whilst a higher Cr content resulted in selective attack and deep internal corrosion [11] . The effect of Cr content in the alloy to improve the corrosion resistance of a material seems very specific with respect to temperature and relative partial pressures of chlorine and oxygen, as well as the chlorine species involved.

Comparison of investigations into the effect of Cr content in the alloy to reduce corrosion in an oxidising-chloridizing environments reveals contradicting results.

A detrimental effect of Cr due to the formation of chromium chloride was reported at 800 o C in a 50% HCl-10% H2O-H2 reducing atmosphere.

An improvement in corrosion resistance with increasing Cr content was reported in mixed oxygen-chlorine environments at 1000 °C.

Corrosion experiments conducted on Fe-Cr (0-25 wt.%Cr) alloys at 800°C in low HCl and low H2O containing environments showed an improvement of corrosion resistance with increasing Cr content due to the formation of chromia.

From the corrosion investigation of materials from a biomass power plant, a minimum in total corrosion rate has been observed for a Cr content around 15-18 wt.%, where a high material loss was observed for lower Cr content, whilst a higher Cr content resulted in selective attack and deep internal corrosion.


A potential manifestation of prejudice against out-groups is residential segregation, that is, the degree to which different groups live separately in different parts of the urban environment (Massey and Denton, 1988) . As individuals feel 'disturbed' by neighbours with specific characteristics, be it race, ethnicity, or religiosity, and prefer to live in neighbourhoods with certain types of people a process of self-selection into specific neighbourhoods and pushing out of out-groups is initiated (Bishop, 2008; Bobo and Zubrinsky, 1996) . In the context of racial residential segregation in the US, it has been shown that the subsequent homogenization of communities results in the concentration of poverty and crime in certain neighbourhoods and deterioration of public services. This leads to further reduction in the social mobility of disadvantaged groups and heightened tension and conflict between different groups (Charles, 2003) .

A potential manifestation of prejudice against out-groups is residential segregation, that is, the degree to which different groups live separately in different parts of the urban environment.

As individuals feel 'disturbed' by neighbours with specific characteristics, be it race, ethnicity, or religiosity, and prefer to live in neighbourhoods with certain types of people a process of self-selection into specific neighbourhoods and pushing out of out-groups is initiated.

This leads to further reduction in the social mobility of disadvantaged groups and heightened tension and conflict between different groups.


Finally, RSD could also find useful applications in the context of heavy ion collisions, where jet grooming can provide a powerful probe into the effects of the medium on the momentum sharing z g [106, [109] [110] [111] . By adjusting the number of grooming layers N , one can achieve a more aggressive grooming while retaining more of the underlying hard scattering process. Furthermore, the groomed energy fractions z g,i obtained at every SD layer i may provide an additional handle to study the propagation of partons through the quark-gluon plasma at multiple resolution scales.

Finally, RSD could also find useful applications in the context of heavy ion collisions, where jet grooming can provide a powerful probe into the effects of the medium on the momentum sharing z g.


The friction between two surfaces induces an increase of the temperature in the contact. This temperature considerably influences mechanical behaviour and physico-chemical properties of surfaces in the friction contact [1] . In machining processes, the tribological conditions at the tool/piece contact are severe. Consequently, tool wear remains a major problem. Cemented carbide tools (like WC-6Co) are commonly used for their excellent wear resistance. However for high solicitation conditions, the frictional heat generated at the contact interfaces leads to high temperature levels, which can sometimes reach 1000°C [2] [3] [4] . In these processes, the temperature has a large influence on wear mechanisms. Thus, the knowledge of temperature levels at the contact interfaces becomes primordial. To understand the temperature influence on the tribological behaviour of tungsten carbide based tools, tribological tests are performed. Pin on disc tests are carried out to measure the evolution of the temperature in the pin and to estimate the interface temperature at the friction contact. The measurement of the contact temperature remains impossible nowadays. In order to calculate or to estimate this temperature, several works based on experimental investigations coupled with analytical and/or numerical methods have been achieved.

This temperature considerably influences mechanical behaviour and physico-chemical properties of surfaces in the friction contact.

However for high solicitation conditions, the frictional heat generated at the contact interfaces leads to high temperature levels, which can sometimes reach 1000°C.


The temperature of the contact surface depends on the nature of surfaces. The surface roughness affects initial friction behaviour and surface temperature. In the first sliding time, the flash temperature is high and can reach the temperature melting point [6] [7] [8] . To take the surface roughness and the contact geometry into account, some authors introduce different shapes for heat sources (rectangular, square, circular and elliptic) [6, 9] .

In the first sliding time, the flash temperature is high and can reach the temperature melting point.

To take the surface roughness and the contact geometry into account, some authors introduce different shapes for heat sources (rectangular, square, circular and elliptic).


In view of the research gap identified above, the main goal of this research was to deepen our understanding of the various factors that have an influence on the growth of this crop by trying to answer the following question: Is carbon content at harvest (and, in turn, the total amount of CO 2 absorbed by sugar beet) location-dependent or not? To put it in other way, do significant differences occur in the carbon content in the plant as a consequence of different locations, soils and climates? To address this question, we assessed the influence of weather/environmental conditions on the amount of carbon sequestered by the crop at four different locations in the Castilla y León region using ANOVA, as wella as factorial and cluster analysis. The chosen region is particularly representative because it accounts for 90% of the Spanish production of spring-sown sugar beet, with 26,573 ha [48] . Moreover, the north of Spain is the area in the European Union in which the highest yields per hectare are attained, with 33.7% of the farmers producing over 120 tons per hectare [39] .

The chosen region is particularly representative because it accounts for 90% of the Spanish production of spring-sown sugar beet, with 26,573 ha.

Moreover, the north of Spain is the area in the European Union in which the highest yields per hectare are attained, with 33.7% of the farmers producing over 120 tons per hectare.


The complications makes it problematic to present a concise exposition of this direct approach in the case of dielectric and magnetic contrast, so it will not be pursued here. Instead, we outline hereafter a new and shorter -albeit non-deductiveproof of the result, which bypasses most of the difficulties of the direct approach. The proof consists in showing that the T-matrix satisfies a defining relation of the T-matrix, namely Eq. (8) . This verification only requires carrying out integrals by a method that can be explained relatively easily. Moreover, these integrals only involve simple poles whose residues can almost be read by inspection. Carrying out such a check remains a cumbersome task, but is a straightforward thing to do with a minimum amount of preliminary technical material.

The proof consists in showing that the T-matrix satisfies a defining relation of the T-matrix, namely Eq..


Alternatively, these individuals may use normative comparisons as an indication of selfimprovement or learning. It is also possible that individuals who endorse entity beliefs may aim to avoid demonstrating incompetence, despite it being self-referenced (i.e., adopt a mastery-avoidance goal), as they may perceive their fixed level of ability to be insufficient for the task. However, as demonstrated in the literature and the current findings, the most consistent and strong links have been between incremental beliefs and mastery-approach goals, and entity beliefs and performance-avoidance goals (Stenling et al., 2014; Stevenson & Lochbaum, 2008) .

However, as demonstrated in the literature and the current findings, the most consistent and strong links have been between incremental beliefs and mastery-approach goals, and entity beliefs and performance-avoidance goals.


This community-based cross-sectional study has many methodological strengths, including the relatively large sample size of 1857 households, the method of interviewed questionnaire for data collection is superior to a selfadministered questionnaire, using a cluster random sampling to guarantee representativeness of the sample from the five Gaza's governorates. Therefore, generalization could possibly be applied to all of Gaza's areas. Furthermore, the main strength of our study was it is being the first study, which identified the predictors for seeking nonprofessional care for diarrheal treatment. However, it also has some noteworthy limitations. First, many independent factors were not examined for instance: dietary habits, early weaning, seasonal patterns, lack of safe water supply, younger maternal age, and indiscriminate disposal of child feces [43] [44] [45] [46] . Second, recall bias and misreporting could happen when we asked about seeking healthcare behavior in the last three diarrheal episodes.

First, many independent factors were not examined for instance: dietary habits, early weaning, seasonal patterns, lack of safe water supply, younger maternal age, and indiscriminate disposal of child feces.


For evaluating and comparing the performance of different SBA schemes in a timed-token network, several metrics have been proposed. One of the most widely adopted is the Worst Case Achievable Utilization (WCAU) [15, 20] . The WCAU of an SBA scheme represents the largest utilization of the network such that, for any realtime message set whose total network utilization is less than or equal to WCAU, the SBA scheme can guarantee the timeliness of each single real-time message.

One of the most widely adopted is the Worst Case Achievable Utilization (WCAU).


The institutional logic reinforcing the EPO potency testing practice in mice is analyzed in combination with the innovation process of innovative animal-free methods to increase understanding of how established practices persist when confronted with emerging technologies. To gain detailed insight we employed an explorative case study methodology (Yin, 2003) . The studied case, the EPO potency practice, is an illustrative case of purposive change processes. We selected this particular case, because it is a relatively well-documented example where promising innovative methods did not manage to replace the problematized existing practice. Therefore, dynamics between the activities in the TIS and institutional logic are expected. In this way, this study in the field of animal-testing in medicine development could provide insights that are also valuable for transition studies in general.

To gain detailed insight we employed an explorative case study methodology.


In conclusion, this study found that psychological distress might be an issue for individuals with CAIS and MRKHS and therefore should be considered in treatment and counselling. It is known that group interventions can effectively reduce distress in individuals with MRKHS [39] [40] . This emphasizes the importance of identifying affected individuals and offering them adequate support.

It is known that group interventions can effectively reduce distress in individuals with MRKHS.


Approximately 1 in 5000 female births will be later diagnosed with MRKHS [2] . The diagnosis comprises the following criteria: 46, XX karyotype, complete or partial absence of a vagina and uterus, with otherwise typical female bodily development and functioning ovaries. Two predominating issues are described in the literature and are often the central focus of medical treatment: First, the inability to engage in vaginal intercourse without some form of treatment becomes problematic. Secondly, the realization that pregnancy will not be possible is an issue for affected individuals [3] . The majority of the medical literature has focused on treatments to create a so-called neovagina in order to allow sexual intercourse; various methods have been described, ranging from non-surgical approaches to different surgical procedures [4] [5] .

Approximately 1 in 5000 female births will be later diagnosed with MRKHS.

Secondly, the realization that pregnancy will not be possible is an issue for affected individuals.

The majority of the medical literature has focused on treatments to create a so-called neovagina in order to allow sexual intercourse; various methods have been described, ranging from non-surgical approaches to different surgical procedures.


Given the current paucity in data reporting quality of life and psychological distress in CAIS and MRKHS, the purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of these diagnoses later in life and compare the two diagnostic groups with each other, and to non-clinical samples previously reported in the literature. Based on previously reported studies we hypothesized quality of life to be impaired in both groups, and psychological distress to be higher (associated with more psychiatric diagnoses and higher rates of suicidality in both groups compared to the non-clinical population). The degree of psychological distress was hypothesized to be increased in persons with certain characteristics (such as young age at diagnosis). Comparing the two groups, a greater impairment in psychological health was expected in people with CAIS based on the biological conditions. The karyotype is 46,XX in MRKHS ("female") and 46, XY in CAIS (usually labelled "male"). Knowing about this incongruent genotype might intensify the feeling of being different in a person with CAIS who is experiencing herself as female and learns about her "male inside" at some point in life. Being different or rather "not normal" is one important issue often mentioned by afflicted individuals in connection with impaired mental health [24] .

Being different or rather "not normal" is one important issue often mentioned by afflicted individuals in connection with impaired mental health.


Correlations between psychological distress and the timing of diagnosis have been proposed, but again, the evidence seems to be inconsistent between studies. One study concluded that the later the condition is diagnosed, the better the ability of the patient to cope with the diagnosis [20] . Other authors assumed that an earlier diagnosis leads to better acceptance of the condition [21] . It was also hypothesized that the more years have passed since diagnosis, the better the acceptance of the condition [22] .

One study concluded that the later the condition is diagnosed, the better the ability of the patient to cope with the diagnosis.

Other authors assumed that an earlier diagnosis leads to better acceptance of the condition.

It was also hypothesized that the more years have passed since diagnosis, the better the acceptance of the condition.


Therefore the paper presents a simple method for measurement and identification of the nonlinear piezoelectric one-dimensional bulk equivalent parameters in a piezoelectric stack actuator along its actuation dimension. The piezoelectric parameters' extraction is based on the quasi-static measurement method, due to its simplicity and comparable accuracy to other methods [6] . The accuracy of the achieved nonlinearity compensation is verified against measurements.

The piezoelectric parameters' extraction is based on the quasi-static measurement method, due to its simplicity and comparable accuracy to other methods.