TEM images (Figures 4(a) and 4(b) ) confirmed the various morphologies (nanostars-NSTs and nanorods-NRs) of MgO obtained at annealing temperatures 250 and 350°C, respectively. The estimated sizes from TEM images were 30 nm and 12 nm in diameter and 80 nm in length of NSTs and NRs, respectively. It is believed that the synthesis parameters strongly influence the morphology and the particle size of the fabricated particles [36] [37] [38] [39] .

It is believed that the synthesis parameters strongly influence the morphology and the particle size of the fabricated particles.


Magnesium-based oxide materials (MgO, Mg(OH) 2 ) are the exceptional candidates due to extensive applications in catalysis and anticancerous and antibacterial materials [7, 8, 24] . The hybrid form of magnetic nanoparticles (complexes of dendrimers etc.) has been opening a new horizon in the area of biomedical sciences. For the confirmation of the hybrid form and relevant investigation, many successful experiments were conducted in this context by applying assessment analysis of zeta potential, cell viability, cellular internalization, and lipid oxidation test for an NIH 3T3 cell model [25] . Lipid assembled for combined chemotherapy is very convincing and up to the marking technique, but PDT/PTT is more favorable due to less invasiveness. This form of lipid/nanoparticle is capable to enhance the localization of drug (doxorubicin) has toxicity, but the advantage is high accumulation into nuclei [26] .

Magnesium-based oxide materials (MgO, Mg(OH) 2 ) are the exceptional candidates due to extensive applications in catalysis and anticancerous and antibacterial materials.

For the confirmation of the hybrid form and relevant investigation, many successful experiments were conducted in this context by applying assessment analysis of zeta potential, cell viability, cellular internalization, and lipid oxidation test for an NIH 3T3 cell model.

This form of lipid/nanoparticle is capable to enhance the localization of drug (doxorubicin) has toxicity, but the advantage is high accumulation into nuclei.


The revolution of nanotechnology has driven many successful and innovative techniques including overwhelming deficiency of bioavailability of useful drugs, to enhance interaction between the nanoparticles and the microorganism, to overcome hindrance of multidrug resistance. The advancement of effective nanoparticles needs an in-depth study for the physicochemical response of developed NPs and biological features of microorganisms and risk factor related to a respective nanomaterial for safety evaluation as well [7, 8] . Gadolinium (Gd) and iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) due to their outstanding properties gained a privileged place in biomedical fields. For cancer detection, especially, IONPs have been greatly employed as contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and photothermal therapy, because of their low side effects, inhibiting metastasis and overcoming multidrug resistances (MDR) [9, 10] . Along with several advantages, Gd might be toxic due to some specific sites especially used as a contrast agent for kidney and ischemia patients. Gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) are approved by the FDA for a better and improved form of body organs and tissue information associated with MRI. Gd having many advantageous features for cancerous patients also alarming for kidney and heart relevant patients, as nephrotoxic effects within a range of the same doses, is still debatable [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] .

The advancement of effective nanoparticles needs an in-depth study for the physicochemical response of developed NPs and biological features of microorganisms and risk factor related to a respective nanomaterial for safety evaluation as well.

For cancer detection, especially, IONPs have been greatly employed as contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and photothermal therapy, because of their low side effects, inhibiting metastasis and overcoming multidrug resistances (MDR).

Gd having many advantageous features for cancerous patients also alarming for kidney and heart relevant patients, as nephrotoxic effects within a range of the same doses, is still debatable.


Phase composition of the as-prepared sample was determined by infrared spectroscopy. The observed peaks were [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] . The peaks at 482 cm −1 and 533 cm −1 are associated to longitudinal optical phonon bands in MgO lattice [40, 45] . EDX also marks a major composite of oxygen (86.33) and magnesium (13.67) by mass (%) within the material ( Figure 5(b) ).

The observed peaks were.

The peaks at 482 cm −1 and 533 cm −1 are associated to longitudinal optical phonon bands in MgO lattice.


Some published data demonstrate encouraging results about the bioactivity of various drugs and antimicrobial formulations of certain materials (iron, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, etc.) as nanoparticles [16] [17] [18] . To the best of our knowledge, nanoMgO as compared to copper, silver, TiO 2, and different types of bactericides exhibits an efficient biocidal, sporicidal, and antiviral activity [19] [20] [21] [22] . Due to a high research track record, n-MgO has gained an outstanding property privilege place in biomedical fields very shortly and acquired attention of biomedical researchers [23] .

Some published data demonstrate encouraging results about the bioactivity of various drugs and antimicrobial formulations of certain materials (iron, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, etc.) as nanoparticles.

To the best of our knowledge, nanoMgO as compared to copper, silver, TiO 2, and different types of bactericides exhibits an efficient biocidal, sporicidal, and antiviral activity.

Due to a high research track record, n-MgO has gained an outstanding property privilege place in biomedical fields very shortly and acquired attention of biomedical researchers.


The MgO NTs biodistribution results collected through liver, kidney, and brain sections of rats (group A) are investigated, and histopathological micrographs after 13 and 20 weeks are presented in (Figures 7(a)-7(f) ). Skin and muscle data are not shown due to insignificant abnormalities as examined after pathology. The blood vessels were normal 6 Journal of Nanomaterials while dermal layers, that is, the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis were distinctly intact. Further, the structure of elastic fibers and collagen is slightly deformed. The intracellular toxicity induced by nanostructured MgO is depicted in Table 1 . Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) contrast was adopted to interpret the cellular structures. The cellular nuclei and the nuclear chromatin are in blue and purple-blue color; the cytosolic structures and red blood cells are in pink and in pink-red color while the morphological changes in the cell structures appeared as dark red/bright red. After 13 weeks, mild haemorrhages (arrow marked) were shown in the brain (Figure 7(a) ), the liver displayed highly deterioration and congestion in hepatocytes and the marked areas show the foci of necrosis (Figure 7(b) ), and severe renal tubular ablations (arrow marked) were observed in the kidney (Figure 7(c) ). Some polymers and copolymers along with PEG, self-assembly micelles, and folic acid were reported for enhancing various cancer cell line drug uptakes, and a significant achievement has been found [53] [54] [55] [56] [57] . After 20 weeks, superficial congestions were seen in brain cells (Figure 7(d) ), any remarkable deformities were not found in the liver (Figure 7(e) ), and intense ablations and degenerations in renal tubules were found in the kidney (Figure 7(f) ).

Some polymers and copolymers along with PEG, self-assembly micelles, and folic acid were reported for enhancing various cancer cell line drug uptakes, and a significant achievement has been found.


Since the last decades, the nanostructure form of magnesium oxide (MgO) is actively involved in the field of science and technology due to extensive applications in catalysis and biomedicine serves as a biocompatible coverage for many drug vehicle formations towards an in vitro/in vivo model, even significant localization/uptake in blood vessels without clotting, improving the visibility of a specific organ in the outcome of very low concentration. Self-assembled MgO/Fe is a very inspiring material for the MRI contrast agent. Furthermore, Fe NPs is very promising towards photothermal therapy, for example, hyperthermia mechanism after relevant light irradiation. After literature survey, dynamic MgO enhancement for MRI purpose is more suitable for acute group retroperitoneal fibrosis relative to chronic group fibrosis. For drug delivery and magnetic-activated cell storing application, MgO acts as a milestone and participates very actively in the biomedical field. Nature always favors the living organism, but sometimes, misuse of natural or miracle drugs has steered to drug-resistant bacteria, which is one of the formidable challenges for healthcare practitioners. The major flaw of conventional therapies is nonsignificant bioavailability of drugs towards targeted sites [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] .

The major flaw of conventional therapies is nonsignificant bioavailability of drugs towards targeted sites.


Intel has recently introduced SGX2, which extends the SGX instruction set by adding support for dynamic memory management from inside SGX enclaves [16] . SGX2 will allow lazy loading enclave code into the EPC, instead of loading it at once at enclave load time. This will avoid the need of DynSGX to make the modification to the SGX PSW described on Section 3. On the other hand, SGX2 does not address any of the code privacy concerns addressed by DynSGX. Besides that, SGX2 does not aim at enabling developers to create new functions and loading them into enclaves after they have been built, but only to dynamically load and unload code that is already linked against enclaves.

Intel has recently introduced SGX2, which extends the SGX instruction set by adding support for dynamic memory management from inside SGX enclaves.


To realize the proposed technique in an energy-efficient manner, we utilize the closed-form expressions about optimum beam sizes. They not only eliminate the time-consuming iteration process of optimization, but also save the computational power (required for the optimization) for low SWaP and fast-tracking applications. The remainder of this work is organized as follows. In Section 2, the PDF and CDF of link loss induced by the AoA fluctuation and pointing error are newly developed using Gaussian approximation. Next, we present closed-form expressions about optimum beam sizes and the adaptive beam control technique in Section 3. The accuracy of analysis and the effectiveness of the adaptive beam control technique are discussed in Section 4. Lastly, Section 5 concludes our work. Fig. 1 illustrates the system impairments caused by AoA fluctuation and pointing error. Firstly, the receiver vibrations introduce AoA fluctuations which degrade the power received by the detector. Secondly, due to the pointing errors caused by transmitter vibrations, the beam footprint at the aperture plane deviates from the center of the receiver aperture, which directly reduces the received power. In this paper, we focus on high-altitude airborne FSOC systems, where the transmission distance is typically long, e.g., tens of km. Therefore, the effect of transmitter vibrations on AoA fluctuations can be neglected by making far-field assumptions. These assumptions have been commonly used in previous studies of AoA fluctuations [10] .

Lastly, Section 5 concludes our work.

These assumptions have been commonly used in previous studies of AoA fluctuations.


Free-Space optical communications (FSOCs), thanks to their capability to transport high-speed data over long distances without exhausting RF resources, have recently drawn a great deal of interest for wireless communications between airborne platforms operating at high altitudes [1] - [6] . For example, Google and Facebook launched Project Loon and Project Aquila, respectively, in a bid to provide internet service down to rural and remote areas by interconnecting balloons or drones flying in the stratosphere using the FSOC technology [5] , [6] . At such high altitudes, the density of air is so thin that the impacts of atmospheric turbulence on the performance of FSOC systems are negligible compared to at the ground level. It is also free from weather events (e.g., fog, rain, and clouds) at those altitudes. Thus, the major technical challenge associated with the FSOC system operating in the stratosphere is the precise alignment between the transmitter and receiver. The errors in alignment can be categorized into angle-of-arrival (AoA) fluctuation and pointing error (see Fig. 1 ). AoA fluctuation can be caused by the vibration at the receiver and the wavefront tilt of optical signal after passing through a turbulent channel. They manifest themselves as spot motion or image dancing at the focal plane of the receiver. On the other hand, transmitter vibrations and beam wandering give rise to pointing errors. The net effect of pointing error is the beam wandering on the aperture plane (of the receiver). Since these alignment errors introduce random attenuations of the detected signal, they severely degrade the performance of FSOC systems. Thus, it is very important to analyze the performance of FSOC system under the effects of both AoA fluctuation and pointing error. The results of the analysis can be used to improve the system performance. It should be noted that if we develop any technique to improve the system performance, it should work within tight constraints of airborne platforms on size, weight, and power (SWaP). It is also highly desirable that the technique operates rapidly (e.g., without iteration for optimization) since the airborne platforms can be on the fast move.

Free-Space optical communications (FSOCs), thanks to their capability to transport high-speed data over long distances without exhausting RF resources, have recently drawn a great deal of interest for wireless communications between airborne platforms operating at high altitudes.

For example, Google and Facebook launched Project Loon and Project Aquila, respectively, in a bid to provide internet service down to rural and remote areas by interconnecting balloons or drones flying in the stratosphere using the FSOC technology.


We use seven datasets in our experiment. Some data is widely used to benchmark the network embedding algorithms [2] [3] [4] [6] [7] [8] [9] . The statistics of the datasets are listed in Table 1 . WebKB is the smallest one, which has only 877 nodes and 1,608 edges. YouTube is the largest one, which contains 1.14 million nodes and 2.99 million edges. In the experiment, we test the original LINE, DeepWalk, and node2vec, and compare them with their regularized counterparts. Methods with subscript R are our regularized versions, methods with subscript RE regularize embedding vectors only.

Some data is widely used to benchmark the network embedding algorithms.


Of course, we understand that the current policy vogue for focusing on washing machines and their use is likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, our findings intimate that innovations in lowtemperature washing detergents should continue until perceptions of quality across different washing temperatures are further eliminated (Laitala et al., 2012) . The key to this will be working with existing associations and understandings of 'clean' and 'dirty' laundry as well as taking active measures to define and shape perceptions of qualities.

With that in mind, our findings intimate that innovations in lowtemperature washing detergents should continue until perceptions of quality across different washing temperatures are further eliminated.


Recent studies of the "non-transcribed" spacer region of the rDNA locus of Xenopus have demonstrated a functional role for this rDNA component: repeated sequences within the spacer enhance transcription (Moss, 1983) . Thus, the greater the number of enhancer repeats adjacent to the rDNA promoter sequence, the greater is the level of transcription (Reeder, 1984) . Furthermore, when two genes containing different numbers of enhancer elements are coinjected into oocytes, the gene with the greatest number of these elements is always transcribed preferentially (Moss, 1983; Reeder et a!., 1983) . In relation to the present findings, it is conceivable that the Moreton spacer elements are not only favoured in a biased gene conversion process, but are also dominant in a transcriptional sense. If this is found to be the case, then it is plausible that under certain conditions individuals carrying such a transcriptional unit might be favoured by selection because of their ability to modulate protein production more rapidly.

Recent studies of the "non-transcribed" spacer region of the rDNA locus of Xenopus have demonstrated a functional role for this rDNA component: repeated sequences within the spacer enhance transcription.

Thus, the greater the number of enhancer repeats adjacent to the rDNA promoter sequence, the greater is the level of transcription.

Furthermore, when two genes containing different numbers of enhancer elements are coinjected into oocytes, the gene with the greatest number of these elements is always transcribed preferentially.


Disturbance from humans may be a process threatening the species, which is thought to be declining in areas where human disturbance is high. It is thought that the species' habit of leaving the nest when people are nearby is an important influence on Hooded Plover breeding success. The absence of the incubator may lead to higher rates of predation and egg chilling or overheating (SCHULZ, 1992; SCHULZ and BAMFORD, 1987) . Under minimal disturbance conditions, incubation in Hooded Plovers is uniformly high (averaging over 90% of daylight time) across the incubation period. Although there is a relationship between incubation rates and ambient air temperature, it is slight, and incubation rates are high throughout the day and at all air temperatures (WESTON, 2000) .

The absence of the incubator may lead to higher rates of predation and egg chilling or overheating.

Although there is a relationship between incubation rates and ambient air temperature, it is slight, and incubation rates are high throughout the day and at all air temperatures.


There are mainly two types of NE approaches: direct and indirect encoding [6] . Direct encoding aims to evolve the network parameters directly representing them within the genotype of the individuals; whereas, indirect encoding aims to evolve the specifications to define the developmental process of an ANN represented within the genotype. The indirect encoding methods can help improving the scalability of the evolutionary process for large networks, since they can reduce the parameter size. On the other hand, the NE with direct encoding presents a challenging opportunity for stimulating the research in large-scale optimization, but also contributes to understanding the evolutionary dynamics of ANNs by suggesting successful evolutionary strategies to evolve ANNs.

There are mainly two types of NE approaches: direct and indirect encoding.


Another possibility for improving the results can be achieved by performing a sensitivity analysis. In this work, we did not experiment on the strategy and the parameters settings of the DE algorithm. Self-adaptive parameter control approaches can also be investigated to improve the performance of the results since these approaches can adjust the balance between the exploration and exploitation during the search process [4, 36] .

Self-adaptive parameter control approaches can also be investigated to improve the performance of the results since these approaches can adjust the balance between the exploration and exploitation during the search process.


One of the most easily recognized examples of a naturally occurring conformal crystal is the phyllotactic design of a sunflower (Rothen et al. 1993) . Another example is the so-called 'gravity's rainbow' structure, which is the name given to the striking arrangement of arches formed by a cluster of magnetized steel balls in an external force field (Rothen et al. 1993) . More recently, conformal lattices have been shown to have a connection with disclinations in two-dimensional crystalline structures (Riviera et al. 2005; Mughal & Moore 2007) .

One of the most easily recognized examples of a naturally occurring conformal crystal is the phyllotactic design of a sunflower.

Another example is the so-called 'gravity's rainbow' structure, which is the name given to the striking arrangement of arches formed by a cluster of magnetized steel balls in an external force field.

More recently, conformal lattices have been shown to have a connection with disclinations in two-dimensional crystalline structures.


Many clustering algorithms have been proposed in the literature. Generally, they can be divided into two main categories, namely, hierarchical and partitional [24] . Hierarchical clustering constructs a hierarchy of partitionings, represented as a dendrogram in which each partitioning is nested within the partitioning at the next level in the hierarchy. In hierarchical clustering, problems due to initialization and local optima do not arise. However, this approach considers only local neighbors in each step and ignores the global shape and size of clusters. Moreover, hierarchical clustering is static; that is, data objects committed to a given cluster in the early stages cannot move to a different cluster. In the work reported here, we concentrate on partitional clustering, which is dynamic and considers the global shape and size of clusters.

Generally, they can be divided into two main categories, namely, hierarchical and partitional.


Amplification quality (good/average/bad) and sex were attributed to all samples by three experienced operators that scored the products of the PCRs of each sample upon visual inspection of the gel pictures. Each operator scored the gel pictures separately to guarantee between-operator independence and without knowing the identity and sex assigned to each fur seal in the field. The large number of samples, the temporal spacing between scoring sessions of each PCR belonging to the same sample and the recording of sex in a separate spread sheet for each scoring session, guaranteed within-operator independence of the scoring. For the LGL method, since we obtained three sex scorings, one for each of the three PCRs, for each operator and each sample, we calculated an "operator sex" for each sample, combining the three operator's sex assignments. If the scores were not in agreement, the "operator sex" was that attributed on two of the three scores. Finally, for both methods, for each sample we obtained a consensus sex by combining the "operator sex" of the three operators. As above, if the operators were not in agreement, the consensus sex was the sex attributed by two of them. To assess the agreement between the two sexing methods (LGL and ZF), we calculated the kappa coefficient of agreement and its 95% confidence limits [16] . Statistical tests were carried out with the exact option in StatXact 4 (Cytel Corporation).

To assess the agreement between the two sexing methods (LGL and ZF), we calculated the kappa coefficient of agreement and its 95% confidence limits.


A passive filter used to reject unwanted signals is another important circuit in wireless communication systems. Bandpass filters realized using microstrip line can be designed using single or dual mode resonators. The concept behind dual mode band-pass structures has been widely investigated and implemented in the past. Microstrip dual mode filters using a rectangular ring resonator have been investigated in theory and by experiment [4] . Patch resonators using square and triangular patch can also be utilized to design an alternative dual mode filter [5, 6] . They usually suffer from high radiation loss and are large in size when compared with their microstrip ring counterparts. Crossed slots have been successfully implemented for size reduction [5] .

Microstrip dual mode filters using a rectangular ring resonator have been investigated in theory and by experiment.

Patch resonators using square and triangular patch can also be utilized to design an alternative dual mode filter.

Crossed slots have been successfully implemented for size reduction.


Baluns are components which transform an unbalanced signal to one that is balanced. They perform an important function in balanced circuit topologies such as balanced mixers, push pull amplifiers, antenna feeding network, and so on. In the past, various balun structures have been investigated for applications in microwave circuits [1] [2] [3] . Most of them can be easily realized using microstrip lines, but are not suited for very high frequency use due to significant and undesirable parasitic effects caused by junction discontinuities. This is because the junction widths become comparable to a quarter wavelength at very high frequencies. Thus a new structure is necessary that is more suited for high frequency applications that have a simple configuration which would allow for ease of fabrication.

In the past, various balun structures have been investigated for applications in microwave circuits.


In the above representations, L denotes the lag operator, which implies that (L)ΔZ t = ΔZ t-1 . ECT t-1 denotes the one-period lagged error-correction term, and m 1t and m 2t represent serially independent random errors with mean zero and finite covariance matrix (Narayan and Smyth 2004) . In Equation (15), ΔY t is regressed on its own lagged values and the lagged values of ΔX t , whereas the opposite is the case in Equation (16). In both equations, ECT t-1 captures the speed of adjustment of the variables in response to a deviation from their long-run equilibrium path. The significance of the differenced explanatory variables based on F-statistics indicates the existence of short-term causal effects, whereas the significance of ECT t-1 , based on t-statistics, indicates the existence of a long-term relationship.

ECT t-1 denotes the one-period lagged error-correction term, and m 1t and m 2t represent serially independent random errors with mean zero and finite covariance matrix.


Our study shows for a series of diseases where treatment-related issues or unmet needs areprevalent. For example, patients with breast cancer, myocardial infarction, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis and fibromyalgia reported acceptance scores in terms of both effectiveness and side effects that were lower than other diseases (except psoriasis which had side effect acceptance score on the higher range of the scale). Our study highlights here the need to develop drugs that are more effective and associated with fewer side effects to increase patient acceptance of their treatment. This of course may not be an unexpected finding. However, even in disease areas for which patients did not report any acceptance-related issues with treatment safety and efficacy, there is room for improvement in other treatment attributes, such as mode of administration or treatment storage. This study gives clues where potential improvements could be needed and what aspects and priorities could be considered by the pharma industries when developing a new treatment to ensure it is well-accepted. For example, our findings suggest that for type 1 diabetes there is room for improvements in treatment convenience and constraints. Recent developments to reduce patient burden have been focused on releasing long-acting drugs with comparable safety and efficacy profiles, but reduced frequency of administration [24, 25] . An in-depth analysis at the item level could show exactly where there are potential issues.

Recent developments to reduce patient burden have been focused on releasing long-acting drugs with comparable safety and efficacy profiles, but reduced frequency of administration.


Over the last 50 years, numerous studies have tested hypotheses regarding the relationship between high density and energy consumption in the transportation system (Mindali et al., 2004) . Under such hypotheses, the compact city is expected to lead to lower energy consumptions and consequently less pollutant emissions. Nonetheless, there remain major uncertainties over the right approach to adopt for limiting the environmental impacts of transportation. One of the reasons is that previous studies fail to consider the issue of geographical scale while evaluating the potential energy savings from the planning and transport interface.

Over the last 50 years, numerous studies have tested hypotheses regarding the relationship between high density and energy consumption in the transportation system.


An adjustable filtering band antenna with frequency reconfigurability has been presented. PIN diodes enable to switch the narrowband filtering states to turn on the notch band frequency at the ON state. Further, by adding another device, a varactor, we can adjust the center frequency of the filtering band from 5.8 to 3.1 GHz. This property can be used in different wireless systems, such as antenna applications in radar, electronic warfare, jamming technology, etc. These CPW filters are very compact and can be integrated within the structure of an antenna without taking any extra space. The integration of these electrically controlled filter bands with antennas results in valuable frequency agility. These results strongly approve the recently published papers [16] [17] [18] . Good agreements between simulated and measured results are obtained for the S-parameters of the filters and their respective antennas.

These results strongly approve the recently published papers.


In biology, recent advancement in technology has also provided means to study the complex biological system. Micro-array technology, such as CGH (Comparative Genomic Hybridization) and aCGH (Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization) offer the facilities to study the genomes and the genes in high resolution [6] . Hence, in most biological experiments that measure genes of a sample (for e.g. a cancer patient), data generated would consist of dimensions from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. However, number of samples are severely restricted in biological experiments. For example, only small number of measurement samples are available from cancer patients. Hence, feature selection is inevitable in biological problems such as the analysis of genes. Considering its importance, research community has coined a new term called gene selection to describe the feature selection procedure in genes [3, 7] . Additionally, gene selection also helps in determining relevant genes for future detailed studies of gene expression by extensive and expensive methods such as qRT-PCR or further detailed experiments with specific focus on selected genes leading to bio-marker identification. In some cases, problem of bio-marker identification could be solved by feature selection alone.

Micro-array technology, such as CGH (Comparative Genomic Hybridization) and aCGH (Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization) offer the facilities to study the genomes and the genes in high resolution.

Considering its importance, research community has coined a new term called gene selection to describe the feature selection procedure in genes.


The finding of skewed thiopurine metabolism despite normal TPMT enzyme activity is not uncommon. In our yet unpublished cohort at the University of Chicago that included a subgroup of 26 IBD patients with a high 6-MMP/6-TGN ratio, 19 (73%) patients had low to normal TPMT enzyme activity. In this group of patients, and the patients discussed in this case report, TPMT status has poor predictive value for therapeutic efficacy and adverse events and recent studies confirm our observations. For example, TPMT enzyme activity was not predictive of treatment outcome a in a recent prospective trial in 113 IBD patients who started thiopurine therapy [25] . Furthermore, in both the latter study and a recent meta analysis, TPMT status was not predictive of transaminitis [10, 25] . Thus, TPMT status has limitations as a predictor of thiopurine metabolism, clinical efficacy, and adverse events.

For example, TPMT enzyme activity was not predictive of treatment outcome a in a recent prospective trial in 113 IBD patients who started thiopurine therapy.

Furthermore, in both the latter study and a recent meta analysis, TPMT status was not predictive of transaminitis.


Generally, the sample of oil is oxidized when subjected to air or oxygen flow, heating, exposure to light, catalysers, and so forth. Although the mechanism of the oil degradation process was influenced by the oxidative conditions, it has normally been established as being a free radical mechanism yielding hydroperoxides, also called primary oxidation products [4] . Because hydroperoxides are the primary products formed as autoxidation commences and serve as precursors to the subsequent formation of secondary oxidation products: aldehydes, ketones, lactones, alcohols, acids, and so forth, they are expressed as peroxide value (PV) in the foodsafety [5] . The methods to quantify PV which is used to determine the degree of the oxidation process are mostly related to the measurement of the concentration of primary or secondary oxidation products or both, or to the amount of oxygen consumed during the process. Among those, PV, which measures hydroperoxide concentration, is one of the most popular [4] .

Although the mechanism of the oil degradation process was influenced by the oxidative conditions, it has normally been established as being a free radical mechanism yielding hydroperoxides, also called primary oxidation products.

Because hydroperoxides are the primary products formed as autoxidation commences and serve as precursors to the subsequent formation of secondary oxidation products: aldehydes, ketones, lactones, alcohols, acids, and so forth, they are expressed as peroxide value (PV) in the foodsafety.

Among those, PV, which measures hydroperoxide concentration, is one of the most popular.


Although a lot of work has already been published on the determination of PV by FTIR spectroscopy, different articles have different analysis methods. A primary FTIR spectroscopic method for the determination of PV in edible oils, based on the stoichiometric reaction of triphenylphosphine (TPP) with the hydroperoxides present in edible oils to produce triphenylphosphine oxide (TPPO), accurate quantitation of the TPPO by the measurement of the absorption band at 542 cm −1 , provides a simple means of determining PV [5, 12] . In an other study, the authors analyzed PV of oil by near-infrared spectroscopy and established three models including PLS-regression, multiple linear regression (MLR), and principal component regression (PCR). Comparative analysis indicated that the most reliable model was selected among the established models in predicting peroxide value of soybean oil [13] . In this study, MIR spectroscopy (4000-650 cm −1 ) applied to VWO sample gives information on the molecular bonds and therefore on the functional groups of molecule. Furthermore, samples can be directly detected without additional processing. Compared with other articles, the method in this study is more convenient.

A primary FTIR spectroscopic method for the determination of PV in edible oils, based on the stoichiometric reaction of triphenylphosphine (TPP) with the hydroperoxides present in edible oils to produce triphenylphosphine oxide (TPPO), accurate quantitation of the TPPO by the measurement of the absorption band at 542 cm −1 , provides a simple means of determining PV.

Comparative analysis indicated that the most reliable model was selected among the established models in predicting peroxide value of soybean oil.


As we have mentioned throughout the study, research has shown that organizational cynicism has a great influence on the changes that take place at organizational level, hindering the process of change and, thus, generating a loss of money and time. All organizational contexts require a certain level of trust from the employee towards the management and, therefore, towards the organization. This will ensure a low level of organizational cynicism, which will help change take place with greater ease and speed. Change cannot be implemented without the involvement and support of the direct employees, since they are most of the time the ones that experience or deal with the changes (Cartwright, 2006) . All efficient changes must rely on the assumption that all the involved persons will fulfil the commitments undertaken and will not have hidden interests.

Change cannot be implemented without the involvement and support of the direct employees, since they are most of the time the ones that experience or deal with the changes.


Visual acuity was measured with a Snellen chart. After 3 months of follow-up, the mean distant vision was 0.91, the mean near vision was 0.78, the mean addition for near vision was +2.61 D, and the successful prescription rate was 83.0% (Table 2) . At the time of fi nal examination, the mean distant vision was 1.00 ± 0.08, the mean near vision was 0.69 ± 0.07, the mean addition for near vision was +2.73 ± 0.81D, and the success rate was 33.5%. The lens prescription was changed from 0-7 times, with the mean frequency being 2.4 ± 1.9 times. The three major reasons for changing the prescription were unsatisfactory near vision, unsatisfactory distant vision, and blurred vision, so all these were related to the quality of vision. The fi ve typical lens types that were initially prescribed frequently are displayed in Table 3 . ForView ® (Rainbow, Tokyo, Japan) and Expert ® (Seed, Tokyo, Japan) were inferior to the other lenses with respect to near vision, and the mean frequency of prescription changes exceeded 3 for these lenses. As reported previously, contrast sensitivity examined using the Multivision Contrast Tester (MCT8000, Vistec, Weilburg, Germany) provided by bifocal CL tends to be poor in the middle to high spatial frequencies (Takahashi and Sado 2002) . However, the contrast obtained with these two types of CL was even lower than with the other types (Figure 7) . The number of patients wearing these lenses remarkably decreased to less than 15% around 3 years after, and the manufacturers subsequently discontinued both lenses. Conversely, other lenses had the advantages that both near and distant vision was satisfactory and the frequency of prescription changes was low.

As reported previously, contrast sensitivity examined using the Multivision Contrast Tester (MCT8000, Vistec, Weilburg, Germany) provided by bifocal CL tends to be poor in the middle to high spatial frequencies.


Only two schemes'to recover chromium from the tanning liquor appear to be technically feasible. The first is direct reuse of the chromium liquor after filtering and reconstitution as suggested by Davis and Scroggie [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] . Although evaluation of this approach was beyond the experimental scope of this work, it appears to be the most economical and least complex in terms of physical/ chemical operations. In considering this approach, attention should be given to reducing the extent to which this liquor is diluted. This could be accomplished by changes in the procedures for emptying the drums and rinsing the tanning pit. In addition, more tanks may be required to implement this alternative to allow for blending, quality control checks, etc.

The first is direct reuse of the chromium liquor after filtering and reconstitution as suggested by Davis and Scroggie.


The technical feasibility of recovering chromium from tannery wastewater was demonstrated during World War 11. The economics of the process were found t o be unacceptable when the war was over, however [2] . In the intervening years, numerous attempts have been made to find technically and economically viable means for recovering the chromium. This literature survey is a summary of the research that has been conducted since 1950. The r e s u l t s of the survey are divided into two broad categories: process change and chromium recovery.

The economics of the process were found t o be unacceptable when the war was over, however.


Currently, recovery of phenolic compounds from food processing waste biomass has attracted increasing attention as a potentially cheap and reliable source of new and efficient natural antioxidants (Ghafoor et al. 2009; Cam and Aaby 2010; Makris et al. 2007) . Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) fruit peel is the main byproduct during the manufacture of tea seed oil, which has long been recognized as an edible oil of high quality. As a shaking water bath at a speed of 150 rpm. Samples were heated to temperatures of 30, 50, and 70°C for 10, 25, and 40 min, respectively. The crude extracts were cooled to room temperature before centrifugation at 5,000×g for 10 to 15 min. The supernatant was collected and placed in a 50 mL volumetric flask for further analysis. Each solvent extraction was carried out in triplicate.

Currently, recovery of phenolic compounds from food processing waste biomass has attracted increasing attention as a potentially cheap and reliable source of new and efficient natural antioxidants.


Green and light green callii were transferred on MS medium supplemented with BAP (0.5-10.0 mg/l) for callus mediated shoot regeneration. Best result was found from MS + 10.0 mg/l BAP medium (Table III , Fig. 2c ). Callus mediated shoot regeneration of Adhatoda vasica was not reported by other researchers. Most of them used callus for isolation of alkaloids (Sunita and Dhananjay, 2010) .

Most of them used callus for isolation of alkaloids.


Based on the above research objectives, this study undertook a non-experimental, quantitative design with descriptive, and Pearson's product moment correlation analyses. Since the central goal of this study is to explain the association between vocabulary size and language dominance, the explanatory research design was considered appropriate. The population of the study was second year undergraduates in a public university. To ensure equal proportion of samples, four undergraduate programmes were chosen by way of stratified sampling methods from the 17 programmes within the university. In stratifed sampling, the population is identified according to the unit of interest and subsequently, data is elicited from a specific number of subjects that is representative of the units identified earlier (Ary et al. 2018) . In the present study, the overall population was stratified and grouped according to English-major and non-English-major programmes in the public university. Therefore, the data samples were taken from two English-major and two non-English-major second year students namely, Bachelor of Art in English Language, Bachelor of Education (Teaching of English as a Second Language), Bachelor of Engineering (Civil), and Bachelor of Economics.

In stratifed sampling, the population is identified according to the unit of interest and subsequently, data is elicited from a specific number of subjects that is representative of the units identified earlier.


We have mentioned in Section 2 of the main text that fixing the degree sequence of the interbank network is enough to explain simple topological properties like degree correlations and local clustering. The connectivity encoded in the local clustering is interesting and relevant to the networks, but in addition we should also account for the directionality in these triangles. Directionality encodes the actual lending patterns and not just the dependence. A directed cycle i −→ j −→ k −→ i indicates a kind of liability pattern quite different in nature from i −→ j −→ k and i −→ k (see Figure 8 ). In the network literature such connectivity patterns are often called motifs and are highly relevant in the understanding of social and biological networks [29] . Considering all quarters in the data-set, in reference to the motifs shown in Figure 8 , we found an average of 8 × 10 3 directed cycles and 1.4 × 10 5 cycles of length 3 with one source and one sink.

In the network literature such connectivity patterns are often called motifs and are highly relevant in the understanding of social and biological networks.


Clinicians monitor hemodynamic variables to diagnose conditions and to follow treatment in critically ill patients. In the intensive care unit (ICU) and the operating room, such monitoring often includes cardiac output and, although potentially measured by newer techniques, usually requires placement of a pulmonary artery catheter. Intermittent (bolus) thermodilution cardiac output (ICO) measurement is a standard to which other methods of cardiac output measurement are compared [1] . Pulmonary artery catheterization has come under increasing criticism regarding its risks and costs, and questions have arisen about its benefits [2, 3] . Technologies equally effective yet less invasive, safer, and simpler to use have consequently been sought for cardiac output monitoring [4, 5] . One of the more promising approaches in the monitoring of cardiac output is the estimation of flow from analysis of the arterial pressure waveform.

Intermittent (bolus) thermodilution cardiac output (ICO) measurement is a standard to which other methods of cardiac output measurement are compared.

Pulmonary artery catheterization has come under increasing criticism regarding its risks and costs, and questions have arisen about its benefits.

Technologies equally effective yet less invasive, safer, and simpler to use have consequently been sought for cardiac output monitoring.


Metformin is recommended as the first therapeutic choice in these patients, together with dietary and lifestyle measures and when metabolic control is not achieved, the addition of a second drug in combination therapy is recommended [1, 2] . The most frequent acute complication of diabetes is hypoglycaemia, especially in patients treated with insulin and/or sulfonylureas [1, 6] . Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors have an advantage over traditional secretagogues in that they significantly reduce hypoglycaemia, since their insulin secretion stimulating mechanism is glucose-dependent [7, 8] .

Metformin is recommended as the first therapeutic choice in these patients, together with dietary and lifestyle measures and when metabolic control is not achieved, the addition of a second drug in combination therapy is recommended.

The most frequent acute complication of diabetes is hypoglycaemia, especially in patients treated with insulin and/or sulfonylureas.

Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors have an advantage over traditional secretagogues in that they significantly reduce hypoglycaemia, since their insulin secretion stimulating mechanism is glucose-dependent.


Oncogene mutations in sporadic tumors can be heterozygous by default, resulting in a mutant allele fraction (MAF) value of 50% in tumors where all tumor cells carry the founder mutation corresponding to (mono)clonality [3, 4] . The MAF value can be higher due to the absolute or relative increase in copy number of the mutant oncogene, although this in itself does not necessarily affect driver clonality. On the other hand, less than 50% of MAFs can be due to subclonality of the driver when the tumor is a mixture of mutant and wild type tumor cells or when the heterozygosity is lost due to loss of the wild type gene copy [3, 4] .

Oncogene mutations in sporadic tumors can be heterozygous by default, resulting in a mutant allele fraction (MAF) value of 50% in tumors where all tumor cells carry the founder mutation corresponding to (mono)clonality.

On the other hand, less than 50% of MAFs can be due to subclonality of the driver when the tumor is a mixture of mutant and wild type tumor cells or when the heterozygosity is lost due to loss of the wild type gene copy.


Yet looking at the way renewable energy support policies are designed, redesigned, changes and revoked -erasing any meaningful investment stability -one has to conclude, that the development of Polish renewables is actually happening against all rational odds. A journalist specializing in energy policy has pointed out that the foundational piece of legislation in Poland's energy policythe 1997 Energy Law -has been novelized 60 times (so on average every four months), and grew ten-fold in length (Derski 2017) . How can we account for this continuous provisional character of energy policy, leading to uncertainty but at the same time -remaining stable in some key elements that this paper will focus on. This paper tries to explain why in 2015, after a lengthy political debate Poland selected auctioning (tenders) as its main RES support scheme, since 2016 combined with a "prosumer" in-kind payment and a strict 800 MW cap on new micro-installations. The chapter will also show the evolution of RES support, in an attempt to understand not only the final outcome but also the apparent instability of this policy area. The flip side of the RES coin is the proposed capacity mechanism and existing capacity adequacy measures aimed mostly at base-load coal and large hydro plants.

A journalist specializing in energy policy has pointed out that the foundational piece of legislation in Poland's energy policythe 1997 Energy Law -has been novelized 60 times (so on average every four months), and grew ten-fold in length.


Since joining the European Union (EU) in 2004, Poland has gradually become a major political player. One of the areas where the country's influence was most distinct is European energy and climate policy. In 2012, the Polish government defied EU political efforts twice, vetoing the 2050 energy roadmap (Szulecki, Ancygier 2015) . In the European energy sector, Poland is certainly not seen as a renewable energy frontrunner. Critics have often dubbed it "Coal-land" -a country not only reliant on energy from coal but also arguing hard to safeguard the interests of the coal sector and against climate policy. It might be surprising to find that in absolute terms Poland has seen a significant increase in installed renewable energy capacity. Global Wind Energy Council Energy Statistics for 2015 position Poland 7th in the world in terms of new installed wind capacity and 12th globally in terms of overall installed wind capacity, which translates to the seventh largest windpower capacity in the EU, after Germany, Spain, UK, France, Italy and Sweden. More costly and less mature renewables like PV are, however, still only marginal.

In 2012, the Polish government defied EU political efforts twice, vetoing the 2050 energy roadmap.


Electrospinning (ES) is a common technique in scaffold fabrication attributable to its simplicity and reliable creation of long, continuous fibres [4] . ES involves the application of high voltage differences between a polymeric liquid and a collecting target in order to produce structures of different morphologies. ES has been widely used for tissue engineering due to the ability to attain diameters of fibres similar to that in the ECM [5] . In particular, it has been used with FDA approved biodegradable polyesters based on polycaprolactone (PCL) and polylactides (PLAs), amongst others [6] . However, while these polymers are biodegradable, they are hydrophobic in nature and, more importantly, in the context of bone tissue engineering, are not bioactive.

Electrospinning (ES) is a common technique in scaffold fabrication attributable to its simplicity and reliable creation of long, continuous fibres.

ES has been widely used for tissue engineering due to the ability to attain diameters of fibres similar to that in the ECM.

In particular, it has been used with FDA approved biodegradable polyesters based on polycaprolactone (PCL) and polylactides (PLAs), amongst others.


At one extreme of the computing spectrum, computing systems based on the traditional von Neumann model provide a single and generic computational medium for applications with diverse characteristics. These systems are known as general purpose processors (GPPs). At the other end of the spectrum there are systems with architectures customized for particular applications. These systems are built around one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits or ASICs. In certain application areas, software executed on a single sequential processor no longer meets our ever increasing efficiency requirements. Besides, the direct architecture algorithm mapping restricts the range of applicability of ASIC-based systems. Consequently, this led to the introduction of reconfigurable computing (RC) combining the flexibility of general-purpose processors and the high performance of ASICs [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] . Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), an instance of RCs, has recently enabled RC chips with Millions of gates (Xilinx) affording more scalability and cost effectiveness due to hardware reuse. FPGAs offer much flexibility for the design of integrated circuits (ICs) chips for parallelism.

Consequently, this led to the introduction of reconfigurable computing (RC) combining the flexibility of general-purpose processors and the high performance of ASICs.


This work is an extension of previous works [6, 7] . This method has already been validated using a numerical/experimental correlation on composites structures using a single FRF comparison. In the here presented we propose a simple statistical method which permits to distinguish close damages. As the result of the identification is dependent of the chosen FRF (dependency between one fix input and one moving output), the idea is to use the "local" content of the available measurements by choosing randomly few FRFs to include in the localization process. By averaging the results, an homogeneised "image" of the damage can be produced, leading to a best localization of close damages.

This work is an extension of previous works.


The use of fibre composite materials in aeronautical structures has vastly increased during the last decade. Due to the specific tensile strength, composites are used for a variety of lightweight structures. Unfortunately, composite structures show a very complex mechanical behavior concerning dynamic loads and a variety of damage mechanisms, that are hard to predict. Some of these damages are fibre or matrix cracking, fibre matrix debonding and ply delaminations. Structural health monitoring (SHM) aims at analyzing the creation and evolution of damages in composites (damage detection), to identify affected regions (damage localization) and to evaluate their influence on the structure as a whole (damage classification and quantification) [1] .

Structural health monitoring (SHM) aims at analyzing the creation and evolution of damages in composites (damage detection), to identify affected regions (damage localization) and to evaluate their influence on the structure as a whole (damage classification and quantification).


GFRP rebars are composite elements made from longitudinal glass fibers embedded in a resin matrix-most commonly vinyl ester or epoxy-which are manufactured via 'pultrusion' methods. One of the major concerns for the full development of this technology is the lack of standardization; today, the GFRP rebar market is diverse because different producers manufacture rebars with different raw materials (fibers and resin), different cross-sections (round, oval, quadratic, etc.), and different surface enhancements (sand coating, helical wrap, lugs, etc.) [1] . The latter are responsible for the quality/enhancement of the bond between the GFRP rebars and concrete, ensuring the composite action of both materials. To transfer the stresses from the concrete to the rebar, a proper bond is crucial. The bond mechanism is governed by the mechanical interaction, chemical adhesion, and frictional forces between the GFRP rebar and the concrete. In addition, it depends on the nominal diameter of the rebars, surface enhancement, concrete cover, bond length, and concrete strength [7] .

One of the major concerns for the full development of this technology is the lack of standardization; today, the GFRP rebar market is diverse because different producers manufacture rebars with different raw materials (fibers and resin), different cross-sections (round, oval, quadratic, etc.), and different surface enhancements (sand coating, helical wrap, lugs, etc.).

In addition, it depends on the nominal diameter of the rebars, surface enhancement, concrete cover, bond length, and concrete strength.


The bond capacity of GFRP rebars, for acceptance criteria purposes, is most commonly evaluated through the 'pullout-test' method as per ASTM D7913 [8] . In design, the coefficient that reflects the bond behavior of the different rebar types is the k b or bond factor [7] . Thus far in North America, this factor is obtained via four-point-bending tests described in CSA S806-12 [9] Annex-S.

The bond capacity of GFRP rebars, for acceptance criteria purposes, is most commonly evaluated through the 'pullout-test' method as per ASTM D7913.

In design, the coefficient that reflects the bond behavior of the different rebar types is the k b or bond factor.

Thus far in North America, this factor is obtained via four-point-bending tests described in CSA S806-12 Annex-S.


In its simplest form and as first defined by the report of the Brundtland Commission in 1987, sustainable development is a "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". In the quest to meet sustainable development, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan in 1997 and came into force in 2005. The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement setting targets for industrialised countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. The need for urgent steps towards attaining sustainability was recognised and the acceptance that efforts should be made to tackle the causes of climate change led to the signing up to the Kyoto Protocol by member states of the European Union and other signatories. In order to attain sustainability and achieve 8% carbon reduction target, EU countries have come up with carbon reduction targets (Uk 12.5%, Germany 21%, Denmark 21% etc) to be met between 2008 and 2012 (Grant et al., 2009) . However, one of the limitations of the Kyoto Protocol is its exclusion of developing countries from the pursuit of sustainable development. In the opinion of the authors of this paper, the world is a global village and the major changes in the global climate affect all life on earth. Thus, every country has a stake in the pursuit of sustainable development as every contribution towards sustainability will be appreciated.

In order to attain sustainability and achieve 8% carbon reduction target, EU countries have come up with carbon reduction targets (Uk 12.5%, Germany 21%, Denmark 21% etc) to be met between 2008 and 2012.


In railway traffic, the material in the contact surface of both virgin rails and wheels undergo severe plastic deformation as when the train passes through curves or switches, can increase the temperature in the outermost tread layer. If the temperature reaches high enough, so that austenitisation takes place, martensitic phase transformation may take place upon cooling [1] . During the slide the temperature in the material volumes close to the contact surface will rapidly rise because of the generated friction heat. When the wheel starts rolling again, the cooling will be very efficient by heat conduction into the cold wheel material. The rapid temperature increase followed by rapid cooling causes martensite to form close to the surface. In this transformed layer, cracks are often formed which can propagate into the wheel during the service. But, also for a moderate temperature increase of a few hundred degrees, the beneficial effects of work hardening can be diminished as the material undergoes solid state reactions as recovery or recrystallisation [2] .

If the temperature reaches high enough, so that austenitisation takes place, martensitic phase transformation may take place upon cooling.

But, also for a moderate temperature increase of a few hundred degrees, the beneficial effects of work hardening can be diminished as the material undergoes solid state reactions as recovery or recrystallisation.


Regarding the socio-demographic variables, we found that the level of p,p'-DDE increased with age. This is consistent with other studies reporting that age was associated with high levels of this DDT metabolite [35, 45] . The same trend was demonstrated in the CDC report on samples collected during 2003-2004 [34] . According to that report, the age group >20 years had higher p,p'-DDE (1.69 µg/L) than the 12-19-year-old group (0.516 µg/L). Our results could be explained by the fact that older residents had both occupational and environmental exposure when DDT was used in high amounts. DDT could have then been metabolized to p,p'-DDE which remains stored in people's tissues. Since the use of DDT was restricted in 1994 and forbidden more than 10 years ago, today younger residents are only environmentally exposed, mainly to DDE.

This is consistent with other studies reporting that age was associated with high levels of this DDT metabolite.

The same trend was demonstrated in the CDC report on samples collected during 2003-2004.


Expression of c-Fos is commonly used to represent activation of neurons in the brain by external inputs. Upregulation of c-Fos in vlPAG, NRM, and DR induced by electroacupuncture and drugs such as morphine, antidepressant, and NMDA antagonists is associated with analgesic effect (de Medeiros et al., 2003; Hattori et al., 2004) . The levels of c-fos in the frontal cortex, thalamus, and PAG, which are key structures for the coordination of pain perception and antinociception induced by opioid, were significantly increased in the rat following sciatic nerve ligation (Minoru, 2003) .

Upregulation of c-Fos in vlPAG, NRM, and DR induced by electroacupuncture and drugs such as morphine, antidepressant, and NMDA antagonists is associated with analgesic effect.

The levels of c-fos in the frontal cortex, thalamus, and PAG, which are key structures for the coordination of pain perception and antinociception induced by opioid, were significantly increased in the rat following sciatic nerve ligation.


The mammalian nervous system contains networks that modulate nociceptive transmission. Of these, the descending pain control system consists of three major components: the periaqueductal gray (PAG) of the midbrain, the rostroventral medulla (RVM) including the nucleus raphe magnus (NRM), and the spinal dorsal horn. Neurons in the PAG and NRM project directly to the spinal cord dorsal horn. Through these descending projections, the excitability of spinal dorsal horn neurons is inhibited (Vanegas and Schaible, 2004) . It has been reported that activation of PAG, particular ventrolateral PAG (vlPAG), by electrical stimulation or by injection of opioids exerts analgesic action through activation of descending pain control system. The products of the immediate early genes, such as c-Fos, are rapidly expressed in neurons in response to various stimuli, and c-Fos expression is recognized as a marker of increased neuronal activity . In many studies, upregulation of c-Fos expression in the vlPAG, NRM, and dorsal raphe nucleus (DR) has been suggested as the activation of descending pain control system (de Medeiros et al., 2003; Hattori et al., 2004) .

Through these descending projections, the excitability of spinal dorsal horn neurons is inhibited.

In many studies, upregulation of c-Fos expression in the vlPAG, NRM, and dorsal raphe nucleus (DR) has been suggested as the activation of descending pain control system.


The concept of social isolation has been defined in various ways in academic literature. Many authors agree that it is a uni-dimensional concept referring to the lack of social integration [5] [6] [7] [8] . However, this assumes that all social contacts have the same social value or importance [9] . Alternate definitions of social isolation incorporate both 'structural' and 'functional' social support [10, 11] . Structural social support is an objective assessment of size and frequency, while functional social support is a subjective judgement of the quality or perceived value of emotional, instrumental and informational support provided by others [12] . The second definition of social isolation is therefore multi-dimensional, including both the minimal quantity and quality of social support. We adopted the latter definition for the purposes of our review.

Many authors agree that it is a uni-dimensional concept referring to the lack of social integration.

However, this assumes that all social contacts have the same social value or importance.

Alternate definitions of social isolation incorporate both 'structural' and 'functional' social support.

Structural social support is an objective assessment of size and frequency, while functional social support is a subjective judgement of the quality or perceived value of emotional, instrumental and informational support provided by others.


A structured literature search was performed using the search terms "breast cancer", "breast carcinoma", "lung metastasis", "lung metastases", "pulmonary metastasis", "pulmonary metastases", "lung resection", "pulmonary resection", "lung surgery", "pulmonary surgery", "lung metastasectomy" and "pulmonary metastasectomy". Publications from 1 January 2000 and after, in English or German were taken into account. The literature search performed on 15 February 2017 had 2426 hits in MEDLINE and found one review article in the Cochrane library. After step-wise appraisal 11 studies where identified each with at least 20 patients having had lung metastasectomy following primary tumour treatment with curative intent [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] .

After step-wise appraisal 11 studies where identified each with at least 20 patients having had lung metastasectomy following primary tumour treatment with curative intent.


Bayesian belief networks, also referred to as probabilistic networks, were first introduced in the late 1980s by Pearl [39] . Since then, an increasing number of successful applications of such networks in different problem domains have been developed, which demonstrates that they have established their position in Artificial Intelligence as valuable representations of reasoning with uncertainty [1, 25, 28, 12, 31] . A belief network consists of a qualitative and a quantitative part. The qualitative part is a directed graph, where the nodes represent the domain's variables (in a medical diagnostic application the variables could for example be a laryngitis and its symptoms such as a sore throat and fever) and the arcs their dependencies. The quantitative part encodes probabilities over these variables, such as the probability of some symptom given a diagnosis of laryngitis.

Bayesian belief networks, also referred to as probabilistic networks, were first introduced in the late 1980s by Pearl.

Since then, an increasing number of successful applications of such networks in different problem domains have been developed, which demonstrates that they have established their position in Artificial Intelligence as valuable representations of reasoning with uncertainty.


Constructing the qualitative part of a belief network, although elaborate, seems relatively straightforward and experts feel comfortable doing so. The quantitative part, with the probabilities over the variables, is more problematic. On the input side, it involves the elicitation from domain experts of (conditional) probabilities for all variables. This may be a prohibitive quantity of probabilities, even in restricted domains [19] . What's more, experts are required to express all these probabilities numerically, something they are often reluctant to do. They do not feel familiar enough with the concept of probability or they find it difficult to attach a number to their beliefs [23] . On the output side, explanations of the results of computations of the network in terms of variables with numerical probabilities may be uncomfortable. Researchers have recognised the importance of providing users with more easily understandable explanations of the results, for which numbers may not necessarily be the best option and verbal probability expressions are seen as good alternatives [16, 13] .

This may be a prohibitive quantity of probabilities, even in restricted domains.

They do not feel familiar enough with the concept of probability or they find it difficult to attach a number to their beliefs.

Researchers have recognised the importance of providing users with more easily understandable explanations of the results, for which numbers may not necessarily be the best option and verbal probability expressions are seen as good alternatives.


In the past, propylene was produced from steam cracking of naphtha and, as a result, propylene was available in substantial amounts. However, most modern steam crackers use ethane-based feed in place of heavy liquids leading to less propylene [19] . Consequently, it is expected that propylene production from steam crackers will further decrease as a result of the shift to ethane-based feeds. The knock-on effect is that more naphtha will be available as feedstock for the production of propylene via catalytic cracking and this can contribute to reducing the gap between the high demand and low supply of the propylene. The demand for propylene from FCC is growing at a faster rate than global FCC capacity and, therefore, propylene yields from FCC need to increase to keep up with demand. This paper will discuss the evaluation of naphtha fractions as feedstock for the production of propylene and light olefins via catalytic cracking under high severity conditions which are high temperature and high catalyst/oil (C/O) ratio. The catalyst used in this study is made of ZSM-5 and USY in order to draw on the synergetic effect of mixing MFI and FAU zeolites to increase light olefin yield and boost the octane number of the gasoline produced.

However, most modern steam crackers use ethane-based feed in place of heavy liquids leading to less propylene.


In order for propylene to be produced, the cracking of FCC naphtha has to be carried out at high temperatures, but increasing temperature favors thermal cracking which leads to the formation of dry gas from hydrocarbon [24] . Raising the temperature is most effective in controlling the exothermic hydrogen transfer reaction and accelerating the catalytic cracking which is endothermic. In a commercial unit, the high reaction temperature is achieved by raising the catalyst circulation rate. This helps to improve the rate of reaction as well as the propylene yield. Since the hydrogen transfer reaction is a secondary reaction, it is better controlled using a short contact time to limit the hydrogenation of olefin over cracking reactions [3, 8] .

In order for propylene to be produced, the cracking of FCC naphtha has to be carried out at high temperatures, but increasing temperature favors thermal cracking which leads to the formation of dry gas from hydrocarbon.

Since the hydrogen transfer reaction is a secondary reaction, it is better controlled using a short contact time to limit the hydrogenation of olefin over cracking reactions.


Synergetic effects through mixing of conventional FCC catalyst (mostly USY zeolite) with ZSM-5 additive have been observed by several authors, and show that there is an increase in the yield of light olefins for the catalyst mixture, compared to product yield on the individual catalysts, suggesting that the reaction products are transferred between USY zeolite and ZSM-5 [6, 7, 9, 10, 17, 18] . Improvements in FCC catalyst, process design, hardware, and operation severity can boost high value light olefins yields, with propylene yield that can increase from 6 wt% up to 25 wt% or higher with VGO feed. However, additional efforts in the area of catalyst and process development are needed to be able to process light hydrocarbon such as naphtha.

Synergetic effects through mixing of conventional FCC catalyst (mostly USY zeolite) with ZSM-5 additive have been observed by several authors, and show that there is an increase in the yield of light olefins for the catalyst mixture, compared to product yield on the individual catalysts, suggesting that the reaction products are transferred between USY zeolite and ZSM-5.


Naphtha is the predominant feed for steam crackers, as more than half of the ethylene currently produced worldwide is derived from cracking naphtha feed. However, propylene production from steam crackers depends on the operating rates of the steam cracker and the type of feedstock. The propylene yield from steam cracking is directly proportional to the average molecular weight of the feed [19] .

The propylene yield from steam cracking is directly proportional to the average molecular weight of the feed.


Light olefins such as ethylene and propylene are important building blocks for many end products like polyethylene and polypropylene. Recently, market analysis show that the demand for propylene is outpacing that of ethylene and the current supply cannot match the demand. A large proportion of propylene, about 65 wt%, is produced by steam cracking and about 30 wt% during the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) process as by product [1] [2] [3] . The propylene to ethylene ratio produced by steam cracking of naphtha is about 0.6, whereas the ethylene and propylene yields are about 2 and 6 wt% from conventional FCC process.

A large proportion of propylene, about 65 wt%, is produced by steam cracking and about 30 wt% during the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) process as by product.


The cracking reactions can be categorized into two types, namely catalytic cracking and thermal cracking. Catalytic cracking is endothermic, occurs on the surface of the catalyst and yields high C 3 and C 4 olefins. So, the reaction temperature and acidic properties of the catalyst play a major role in the activity and selectivity of the reaction. The thermal cracking reaction is also endothermic and follows the free radical mechanism which generates ethylene and dry gas. For increasing propylene production, the reaction conditions have to be optimized to minimize thermal cracking. The results from this study (Figs. 2, 3 , 4, 5) show that reaction temperature, C/O ratio and feed characteristics have an effect on light olefin yield during catalytic cracking. The yield of light olefins and selectivity to propylene when using HCN feed are the lowest compared to the other feeds because of its high aromatic content. It has been shown in the literature that hydrocarbon feeds with a high C/H ratio (low hydrogen content) are difficult to convert under FCC conditions [3] . The production of propylene requires a disproportionate share of the hydrogen and co-products such as propane, and dry gas requires an even greater share of hydrogen. Therefore, the amount of hydrogen available from the feedstock can limit the potential to produce propylene. Subsequently, propylene production is highly dependent on feed properties.

It has been shown in the literature that hydrocarbon feeds with a high C/H ratio (low hydrogen content) are difficult to convert under FCC conditions.


The bimolecular mechanism explain the hydrogen transfer reaction and the formation of heavier compounds than those found in the feed such as coke, light cycle oil and heavy cycle oil. Hydrogen transfer reaction usually occurs from an olefin to a carbenium ion on the catalyst surface giving rise to a paraffin and a hydrogen-deficient species (allylcarbenium ion) [29] . The hydrogen-deficient species can be further transformed into aromatics and coke via further dehydrogenation and cyclization reactions. Hydrogen transfer reactions are prevalent at high conversions and help to decrease the selectivity to olefins as shown in Fig. 8 .

Hydrogen transfer reaction usually occurs from an olefin to a carbenium ion on the catalyst surface giving rise to a paraffin and a hydrogen-deficient species (allylcarbenium ion).


The properties of the Borel measurable function P (σ X , π, f ) were studied by Walters [18] . It is not easy to calculate |D n (y)| in general. Some other simpler function can be substituted for P (σ X , π, 0) in some cases.

The properties of the Borel measurable function P (σ X , π, f ) were studied by Walters.


Relationship with family members is another source of stress for staff caregivers. Staff often resent family members' requests for care because staffs believe they know best and do not like to have their care routines questioned or altered. Often family and staff assume adversarial relationship with the family system and the institutional regulations (Bauer & Nay, 2003; Boise & White, 2004) . Staff members may not be open to family member participation in care and this perspective by staff often results in family staff role conflicts that are stressful for both staff and families (Dijkstra, 2007) . Other studies suggested a lack of education or effective communication skills to work effectively with the residents or their family members, thus adding to their frustration with work (Anderson, Taha, & Hoiser, 2009; Daly & Coffey, 2010) .

Often family and staff assume adversarial relationship with the family system and the institutional regulations.

Staff members may not be open to family member participation in care and this perspective by staff often results in family staff role conflicts that are stressful for both staff and families.

Other studies suggested a lack of education or effective communication skills to work effectively with the residents or their family members, thus adding to their frustration with work.


The strength of an individual may be measured using an "isokinetic" dynamometer which is more correctly described as an isovelocity dynamometer since the angular velocity is held constant. It is, however, the angular velocity of the dynamometer crank that is constrained and this may be different to the joint and muscle angular velocities (Herzog, 1988) . If dynamometer data is to be used for the determination of joint torque parameters it is necessary that the angular velocity associated with the contractile component be known throughout the isovelocity trials. Therefore the relationships between the angular velocities associated with crank, joint, muscle and tendon need to be known.

It is, however, the angular velocity of the dynamometer crank that is constrained and this may be different to the joint and muscle angular velocities.


Single-and two-terminal measurement methods-based fault estimation are highly efficient methods and are independent of factors of transmission lines [40] [41] [42] . Velocity and wavefront are the key parameters of traveling wave-based algorithms. However, in the cases of high grounding resistance and change in transition resistance, it is complicated to find out velocity because of difficulties in detection of wavefront. The distance of fault point from terminal is calculated by velocity and time required by the traveling wave to reach the terminal. In these cases, velocity of traveling wave is highly affected by the parameters of transmission lines. Therefore, reliability of results of finding fault location with traveling wave-based technique is challenged [43] [44] [45] .

Single-and two-terminal measurement methods-based fault estimation are highly efficient methods and are independent of factors of transmission lines.

Therefore, reliability of results of finding fault location with traveling wave-based technique is challenged.


Highly precise values of arrival time of traveling waves are required for accurate estimation of fault location. Therefore, band pass filters are deployed for observation of high frequency components of terminal voltages. These high frequency components are examined for detection of characteristics of fault transients in the system. In another way, surge capacitors are utilized and transient currents are measured [37, 38] . Behaviors of transient currents are observed for fault estimation. Because of implementation of digital signal processing strategies, accuracy is dependent upon sampling rate. The higher the sampling rate, the higher will be the accuracy of desired results.

In another way, surge capacitors are utilized and transient currents are measured.


Statistical analysis was performed using the software Genes 2007.0.0 (CRUZ, 2008) . To carry out the multivariate analysis, the genetic distances between all pairs of accessions were obtained using the mean Euclidean distance as a measure of the dissimilarity for the quantitative variables and the index of dissimilarity for the discrete variables. Cluster analysis was performed by Tocher's optimization GENETIC DIVERSITY OF A BRAZILIAN WINE GRAPE GERMPLASM ... procedure. Diversity was also analyzed using the method of principal components. The relative importance of characters, used in the discrimination of clusters, was assessed at the discretion of the weight variables in eigenvectors. The eigenvectors and eigenvalues were obtained from the correlation matrix of standardized data of original values. The variables with higher weights were considered of minor importance, since the last eigenvector was associated with an eigenvalue greater than 0.70 (CRUZ et al., 2004) .

Statistical analysis was performed using the software Genes 2007.0.0.

The variables with higher weights were considered of minor importance, since the last eigenvector was associated with an eigenvalue greater than 0.70.


In many applications, it is clear that relationships between the observed variables are confounded by the presence of unobserved, latent factors. For example, physiological and demographic factors may have confounding effects for both functional connectivity in neuroscience and genetics (Gaggiotti et al., 2009; Willi and Hoffmann, 2009; Durkee et al., 2012) . The standard approach of estimating sparse Gaussian graphical models is of limited usage here as, due to the confounding, the marginal precision matrix is not sparse (Chandrasekaran et al., 2012; Meng et al., 2014) . Thus, classical techniques for estimating sparse precision matrices fail (Drton and Maathuis, 2017) . Instead of sparsity of the marginal graph, latent variable Gaussian graphical models exploit the observation that both the joint distribution of the observed and latent variables, and the graph of the observed variables conditioned on the latent variables are sparse -further, the marginal graph of the observed variables can be decomposed into a superposition of a sparse matrix and a low-rank matrix (Chandrasekaran et al., 2012; Meng et al., 2014) .

For example, physiological and demographic factors may have confounding effects for both functional connectivity in neuroscience and genetics.

The standard approach of estimating sparse Gaussian graphical models is of limited usage here as, due to the confounding, the marginal precision matrix is not sparse.

Thus, classical techniques for estimating sparse precision matrices fail.

Instead of sparsity of the marginal graph, latent variable Gaussian graphical models exploit the observation that both the joint distribution of the observed and latent variables, and the graph of the observed variables conditioned on the latent variables are sparse -further, the marginal graph of the observed variables can be decomposed into a superposition of a sparse matrix and a low-rank matrix.


In a large study of pregnancy outcomes in Latin American countries conducted by the WHO, CS was associated with an increased risk of maternal death, although the absolute risk of death was low (0.04% for elective CS and 0.06% for emergency CS) [35] . In our study, only one death was reported after emergency CS, resulting in a rate of 0.03%. Gravidity, preeclampsia and preterm delivery were identified as significant risk factors for adverse maternal outcomes. Gravida 4 females were threefold more likely to experience adverse maternal outcomes, when compared with gravida 1 females. Pregnant women with preeclampsia were also threefold more likely to suffer adverse maternal outcomes. With preterm delivery, females were more than two times more likely to suffer from adverse maternal outcomes than with term delivery.

In a large study of pregnancy outcomes in Latin American countries conducted by the WHO, CS was associated with an increased risk of maternal death, although the absolute risk of death was low (0.04% for elective CS and 0.06% for emergency CS).


The size and shape of powders influence the flow and compaction properties. Larger, more spherical particles will typically flow more easily than smaller or high aspect ratio particles. Smaller particles dissolve more quickly and lead to higher suspension viscosities than larger ones. In order to measure the particles size with the LB550 machine, it is necessary to dissolve the YAG:Ce powder in a solution. However, when the YAG:Ce powder is dispersed in a solution, particles usually cluster in aggregates. This results in a large error in the determined size of the particles. The size measured by LBP550 is much larger than the real particle size. That is true because when the YAG:Ce powder is dispersed in solution or air, the nanoparticles will coalesce due the effect of nanoparticle interactions. The coalescence of nanoparticles leads to reducing potential of particles, as reported elsewhere [16] .

The coalescence of nanoparticles leads to reducing potential of particles, as reported elsewhere.


The comparisons of the correlations between the WISC-III subtests and TEPEF's facial expressions indicated opposite responses in the two groups. In two subtests (Mazes and Arithmetic), one IQ (Verbal IQ), and one factorial index (VCI), the respective correlations with the expression of sadness were negative in the TDC group (Table 5) . However, for children with DS, the corresponding correlations were positive (Table 6) . Moreover, other moderate positive correlations were found between the expression of sadness and the Picture completion, Vocabulary, and Digits and WMI factorial index in the participants with DS (Table 6 ). The Picture completion subtest requires visual memory ability. The Vocabulary subtest is related to verbal function and language ability (verbal expression), and the Digits subtest assesses the ability to store information in the short term (Lezak et al., 2004) . The WMI is composed of the Digits and Arithmetic subtests (arithmetical reasoning). Considering the expression of anger, emphasizing the differences found between the TDC group and DS group is important. In the TDC group, moderate negative correlations were found between the expression of anger and five WISC-III parameters: Arithmetic, Vocabulary, Comprehension, Verbal IQ, and Total IQ (Table 5) . Negative correlations, from moderate to high, were found between the expression of anger and 11 WISC-III parameters in the DS group: Picture arrangement, Arithmetic, Block design, Vocabulary, Object assembly, Comprehension, Verbal IQ, Execution IQ, Total IQ, VCI, and PRI (Table 6 ). Picture arrangement (perceptual analysis), Block design (organization and visuospatial processing), and Object assembly (perceptual integration) comprise a set of subtests of Execution IQ. Arithmetic (arithmetic reasoning), Vocabulary (expressive language ability), and Comprehension (verbal reasoning) are components of the set to determine Verbal IQ. The VCI is composed of Vocabulary, Comprehension, Information, and Mazes, and the PRI is composed of Picture arrangement, Picture completion, Block design, and Object assembly. When analyzing the subtests that presented a negative correlation with anger, we found that they assess very different abilities, including language abilities, communication, and visual perception. Such data suggest an alteration in general intellectual competence.

The Vocabulary subtest is related to verbal function and language ability (verbal expression), and the Digits subtest assesses the ability to store information in the short term.


In childhood (4-12 years), selective deficits are found in verbal short-term memory. In adolescence (13-18 years), deficits are found in verbal working memory and delayed recall. In adulthood, 50% of the population over the age of 50 have behavioral symptoms of dementia (Chapman & Hesketh, 2000) .

In adulthood, 50% of the population over the age of 50 have behavioral symptoms of dementia.


Studies have been performed to comprehend the processing of faces in children with DS, most of them related to emotional recognition (Cebula et al., 2010; Hippolyte et al., 2009; Williams et al., 2005; Wishart et al., 2007; Wishart & Pitcairn, 2000) . In the present study, we investigated the perception of facial emotional expressions in a group of children with DS and a group of children with regular development using the TEPEF. The results showed significant differences in the perception of expressions of disgust, surprise, and fear (Table 4) , in which the children with DS had lower accuracy than the children in the TDC group.

Studies have been performed to comprehend the processing of faces in children with DS, most of them related to emotional recognition.


For the facial expressions of happiness, sadness, and anger, we found high levels of correct recognition in the TDC group (98, 98, and 97%, respectively) and DS group (98, 94, and 86%, respectively; Table 4 ), a pattern of results that is consistent with the literature (Darwin, 1872; Ekman, 1972; Ekman et al., 1987; Matsumoto & Hwang, 2011) . For the facial expressions of disgust, surprise, and fear, a significant difference in recognition was found between the TDC group (81, 51, and 69%, respectively) and DS group (37, 8, and 40%, respectively; Table 4 ). Pearson's correlation was used to compare TEPEF's facial emotional expressions and WISC-III Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and factorial index subtests. Both instruments were used to evaluate the children in the TDC group (Table 5 ) and DS group (Table 6) . For the participants in the TDC group (Table 5) , facial expressions of disgust and surprise had significant positive correlations with the cognitive tests and factorial indices: between disgust and Symbols (r = .440), between disgust and Processing Speed Index (PSI; r = .388), between surprise and Arithmetic (r = .434), and between surprise and Working Memory Index (WMI; r = .451). For all other facial expressions (happiness, sadness, fear, and anger), significant negative correlations were observed with the WISC-III tests (Table 5) . No correlation was found among the TEPEF's six facial expressions (happiness, sadness, disgust, surprise, fear, and anger) and the following WISC-III subtests: Picture completion, Information, Coding, Picture arrangement, and Block design. For the participants with DS (Table 6 ), the facial expression of sadness presented significant positive correlations with the following cognitive tests, IQ, and factorial indices: Picture completion (r = .431), Mazes (r = .496), Arithmetic (r = .382), Vocabulary (r = .392), Digits (r = .419), Verbal IQ (r = .493), Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI; r = .440), and WMI (r = .507). All other facial expressions (happiness, disgust, surprise, fear, and anger) showed significant negative correlations with the subtests, IQ, and WISC-III factorial indices. Considering specifically the expression of anger, the negative correlations were statistically significant, from moderate to high, with several WISC-III parameters: Picture arrangement (r = -.439), Arithmetic (r = -.414), Block design (r = -.635), Vocabulary (r = -.636), Object assembly (r = -.411), Comprehension (r = -.674), Verbal IQ (r = -.585), Execution IQ (r = -.550), Total IQ (r = -.620), VCI (r = -.632), and Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI; r = -.608). Absence of correlation was found among the TEPEF's six facial expressions (happiness, sadness, disgust, surprise, fear, and anger) and the following subtests and factorial indices of the WISC-III: Information, Coding, Symbols, and WMI.

For the facial expressions of happiness, sadness, and anger, we found high levels of correct recognition in the TDC group (98, 98, and 97%, respectively) and DS group (98, 94, and 86%, respectively; Table 4 ), a pattern of results that is consistent with the literature.


The perception of faces is one of the most developed human abilities. Face recognition, facial emotional expression, and the detection of a fixed gaze direction play crucial roles in non-verbal communication. The face is important in the process of identifying and recognizing peers and can provide different kinds of information, such as familiarity or the nature of the emotion that is being felt (De Souza, Feitosa, Eifuku, Tamura, & Ono, 2008) .

The face is important in the process of identifying and recognizing peers and can provide different kinds of information, such as familiarity or the nature of the emotion that is being felt.


Considering the subtests Picture arrangement and Block design, no correlation was found with any facial expression in the TDC group, whereas the participants in the DS group presented moderate negative correlations. The Picture arrangement subtest was significantly correlated with four of the six expressions: disgust, surprise, fear, and anger. The Block design subtest was significantly correlated with five of the six expressions: happiness, disgust, surprise, fear, and anger ( Table  5 ). The Block design task assesses organizational ability, and visuospatial processing ability to mentally decompose a model in order to reproduce it, and it is a non-verbal task for problem solving (Simões, 2002) . To perform this activity, coordination, psychomotor agility, visual-constructive abilities, and visuospatial aptitude are necessary. Picture arrangement demands good perceptual analysis ability, concept formation, and the ability to think about visually presented material (Lezak, Howieson, & Loring, 2004) .

The Block design task assesses organizational ability, and visuospatial processing ability to mentally decompose a model in order to reproduce it, and it is a non-verbal task for problem solving.

Picture arrangement demands good perceptual analysis ability, concept formation, and the ability to think about visually presented material.


The anal fissure is a longitudinal lesion of the skin of the anal canal, located at the back of the anal sphincter in 90% of cases. The cause of this disease still remains unclear, although it is considered that an increase in the internal anal sphincter tone may lead to a local reduction in the blood flow, causing damage especially posteriorly, where the perfusion is physiologically lower than in the other areas of the anal canal. From this perspective, the anal fissure can be regarded as an ischemic disease [14] [15] [16] . Hard stools can be the primary cause of this complex background. Therefore, a first therapeutic approach is habit regularization, especially as a preventive maneuver. Once, however, the anal fissure has presented, the choice of therapy to be implemented cannot be simple: noninvasive treatment, represented by the use of nitroglycerin-based creams or calcium channel antagonists, is often burdened with side-effects such as headache. Moreover, the long-term efficacy of these medical treatment has not been proven [17] [18] [19] [20] .

From this perspective, the anal fissure can be regarded as an ischemic disease.

Moreover, the long-term efficacy of these medical treatment has not been proven.


The Intelligent Transportation system must offer efficient vehicular accident management distributed system [12] . One of the most capabilities of this distributed system is efficient video recording of accident. Every year many accidents happen causing injuries and fatalities. For example, the road injury statistics in Yemen from 2001 to 2010 indicate that around 129,946 vehicles accident, 166,744 people incurred serious injuries, and 25,441 people die [3] . The traffic statistics are worse in the modern countries and it is in increase. Another example, the road injury statistics in Canada in 1996 indicate that around 230,000 people incurred serious injuries, and road fatalities were around 3,000 [4] . The delay associated with these accidents increase the number of death. These statistics raise the query to achieve better accident management such as in countries with no infrastructure such as far areas. The smart vehicle should be able to record all information associated with vehicle accident. This information may include vehicle speed, the vehicle performance, vehicle operating status such as turning light condition, braking condition etc. The recorded information associated with accident could provide objective data for crash reconstruction, roadway design, driver training, psychology analysis and insurance rates settings for participating vehicles. This information becomes important evidences for finding the true situation of a traffic accident.

The Intelligent Transportation system must offer efficient vehicular accident management distributed system.

For example, the road injury statistics in Yemen from 2001 to 2010 indicate that around 129,946 vehicles accident, 166,744 people incurred serious injuries, and 25,441 people die.

Another example, the road injury statistics in Canada in 1996 indicate that around 230,000 people incurred serious injuries, and road fatalities were around 3,000.


In watershed studies, the effect of soil scarification has not been separated from the effect of clear-felling per se. The watersheds studied were most often both clearfelled and scarified. Scarification disturbs up to 50% of the soil surface (von der Gönna 1992) . This means that a judgement of the effect of scarification on N leaching at the watershed scale cannot be based only on information from the situation beneath mounds. Nitrogen availability in furrows and undisturbed soil have also to be taken into account. A presumably low availability and leaching from furrows may counteract an elevated leaching from mounds.

Scarification disturbs up to 50% of the soil surface.