The influence of market entry on research efficiency is twofold: first, high entry rates increase the incentives to innovate and thereby the overall level of research and development expenditures in a country. Market entry is often used as a vehicle for introducing new innovations (Geroski 1995) . New innovative firms challenge incumbents that are often more interested in protecting their existing position than in seeking new business opportunities. Incumbents are then forced to increase their R&D investment in order to acquire a lead over their rivals due to a more competitive environment. Thus, more resources are allocated to R&D via growing incentives to innovate. Second, increasing competition by new entries forces firms to improve their R&D process. In competitive markets, firms are punished more severely for being inefficient (Boone, 2008) . Competitive pressure induced by entrants increases the incentives to allocate the scarce resources optimally to ensure survival. Thus, high entry rates are associated with higher rates of innovation and increases in efficiency.

Market entry is often used as a vehicle for introducing new innovations.

In competitive markets, firms are punished more severely for being inefficient.


CV refers to the constriction of smooth muscle in blood vessels feeding the brain, leading to reductions in blood flow to downstream brain parenchyma. CV occurs angiographically on days 4-7 post-SAH, with narrowing of the arteries of the circle of Willis in 40% to 70% of patients [1] . Clinical manifestations of vasospasm generally follow a characteristic progression, beginning with mental status changes, proceeding to motor and speech impairments, and culminating in permanent neurological damage or death [1] . Vasospasm is hypothesized to underlie the neurologic deficits that occur after SAH, given that the deficits seen follow a similar time course as the development of angiographic vasospasm [1] . However, it is important to note that other mechanisms are likely to contribute to long-term outcome following SAH, including cortical spreading depression, generation of microthrombemboli, pathologic vascular changes, and generation of neurotoxic intermediates [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] . Additionally, vasospasm of vessels supplying noneloquent areas of cortex may not affect clinical manifestations of vasospasm but may affect long-term outcomes.

CV occurs angiographically on days 4-7 post-SAH, with narrowing of the arteries of the circle of Willis in 40% to 70% of patients.

Clinical manifestations of vasospasm generally follow a characteristic progression, beginning with mental status changes, proceeding to motor and speech impairments, and culminating in permanent neurological damage or death.

Vasospasm is hypothesized to underlie the neurologic deficits that occur after SAH, given that the deficits seen follow a similar time course as the development of angiographic vasospasm.

However, it is important to note that other mechanisms are likely to contribute to long-term outcome following SAH, including cortical spreading depression, generation of microthrombemboli, pathologic vascular changes, and generation of neurotoxic intermediates.


PVA-Tyr hydrogels fabricated using 0.1 and 0.2 U/mL HRP (6 mM H 2 O 2 ) had significantly different final absorbance values and were further compared in terms of the physico-mechanical properties. Soluble (sol) fraction or mass loss after initial swelling, swelling and modulus of fully gelled hydrogels are shown in Fig. 2c, d , e, respectively. The mass loss within PVA-Tyr hydrogels crosslinked with HRP/H 2 O 2 as an initiation system havẽ 30 % mass loss (Fig. 2c) , similar to the initial mass loss within other hydrogel studies [29] . As the HRP concentration was increased (0.1 to 0.2 U HRP/mL, 6 mM H 2 O 2 ) swelling significantly decreased, which corresponds with the varying degrees of gelation demonstrated using spectrophotometry (Fig. 2d) . The final dynamic shear modulus (G*, Fig. 2e ) follows the opposite trend, where a decrease in swelling of HRP/H 2 O 2 crosslinked PVA-Tyr gels results in a significant increase in mechanical properties and vice versa. This result agrees with the literature where an increase in crosslinking density is reflected by a decrease in equilibrium water content (swelling). This decrease in the equilibrium water content (swelling) results in an increase in the crosslinking density (ρ x ) and an increase in the mechanical properties, such as shear modulus [30] . Overall, it can be seen that the HRP/H 2 O 2 initiating system can be used to effectively crosslink phenol-modified macromers and that the concentration of HRP is critical to determining the rate and degree of polymerization.

The mass loss within PVA-Tyr hydrogels crosslinked with HRP/H 2 O 2 as an initiation system havẽ 30 % mass loss (Fig. 2c) , similar to the initial mass loss within other hydrogel studies.

This decrease in the equilibrium water content (swelling) results in an increase in the crosslinking density (ρ x ) and an increase in the mechanical properties, such as shear modulus.


Gelation, swelling, mass loss, and mechanical properties of phenol-modified hydrogels crosslinked with various enzyme initiators Synthetic hydrogels based on PVA modified with the phenol molecule tyramine (Fig. 1a) were successfully crosslinked using the initiators HRP/H 2 O 2 , hematin/ H 2 O 2 , laccase and tyrosinase under physiological conditions (37°C, pH 7.4) (Fig. 1b) . For all of the different initiating systems examined, there is a significant increase in absorbance around 325 nm during the crosslinking process, indicating the formation of dityrosine crosslinks [26] . Therefore, this increase in absorbance at 325 nm is monitored over the crosslinking period as a measure of the polymerisation kinetics, where complete gelation is defined as the time when no further changes in absorbance is observed.

For all of the different initiating systems examined, there is a significant increase in absorbance around 325 nm during the crosslinking process, indicating the formation of dityrosine crosslinks.


Strong health systems play a pivotal role in the prevention of infectious diseases including NCC in the region (Ekouevi et al., 2011) . When health systems are synergistically functional, the impediments are minimized. Health systems governance refers to a wide range of steering and rule-making related functions carried out by governments and/or decisions makers in order to achieve national health policy objectives that promote universal health coverage.

Strong health systems play a pivotal role in the prevention of infectious diseases including NCC in the region.


Several technologies have been tried for removal of high arsenic concentration arsenic from tubewell drinking water. The commonly used conventional methods employ adsorption processes -coagulation and ion exchange [4] . Incorporating such processes is viable economically only at a large scale in centralized water treatment plants, requiring heavy capital outlays and skilled staff in addition to the necessary distribution systems and their maintenance. Also conventional methods are most effective on As(V), whereas As(III) is more prevalent in groundwater [4] . Therefore alternatives are needed for distributed deployment and operation in small communities.

The commonly used conventional methods employ adsorption processes -coagulation and ion exchange.

Also conventional methods are most effective on As(V), whereas As(III) is more prevalent in groundwater.


In this paper, we used ambitwistor string theory to obtain formulae for the soft limits of scattering amplitudes in pure Yang-Mills theory and Einstein gravity in the form of an infinite series in the soft momentum. These formulae were derived by taking a vertex operator in a correlator to be soft, and evaluating the correlator in the limit that the scattering equations for the hard vertex operators are independent of the soft vertex operator, which is valid up to subleading order in Yang-Mills theory and sub-subleading order in gravity. It would be interesting to compute higher order soft terms by taking into account the backreaction of the soft vertex operator on the hard vertex operators, and see to see if the results are constrained by symmetries such as conformal, Lorentz, and gauge invariance [44, 45, 46, 47] .

It would be interesting to compute higher order soft terms by taking into account the backreaction of the soft vertex operator on the hard vertex operators, and see to see if the results are constrained by symmetries such as conformal, Lorentz, and gauge invariance.


Most research on aquatic invasions has focused on their relatively short-term effects (usually <5 years), while the long-term (usually >10 years) dynamics of the invasion processes are still relatively unexplored (Strayer et al., 2006) . This is partly due to the fact that exotic species research is a relatively young branch of ecology, so that long-term specific sampling programs have rarely been put in place. However, aquatic systems are especially challenging to sample, as monitoring usually involves higher equipment costs than terrestrial ecosystem sampling. Currently, it is still logistically and financially hard to collect long-term data on an invasion process, therefore the possibility to use data collected for other purposes, as long as suitable for analysis, should always be embraced.

Most research on aquatic invasions has focused on their relatively short-term effects (usually <5 years), while the long-term (usually >10 years) dynamics of the invasion processes are still relatively unexplored.


Stage1 Shellcode This shellcode is typically a relatively small -from a few bytes to about 300 bytes 2 -code stub with exactly one purpose: to download a larger (evil) payload which can be run more freely. To maintain stealth, it downloads the payload in memory (Step 5 ). Stage2 Payload The payload is the final piece of code that the adversary wants to execute on the user machine to perform a specific malicious task. The range of functionality of this payload, commonly a backdoor, keylogger, or reconnaissance program, is in fact unlimited. After the payload is downloaded, the Stage1 shellcode runs that payload as an executable using reflective DLL injection (Step 6 ), a stealthy library injection technique that does not require any physical files [6] . By this time, the victim system is fully compromised (Step 7 ).

After the payload is downloaded, the Stage1 shellcode runs that payload as an executable using reflective DLL injection (Step 6 ), a stealthy library injection technique that does not require any physical files.


Malware infections have plagued organizations and users for years, and are growing stealthier and increasing in number by the day. In response to this trend, defenders have created commercial anti-virus protections, and are actively researching better ways to detect malware. An emerging and promising approach to detect malware is to build malware detection systems in hardware [5] . The idea is to use information easily available in hardware (typically through performance counters) to detect malware. It has been argued that hardware malware schemes are desirable for two reasons: first, unlike software malware solutions that aim to protect vulnerable software with equally vulnerable software 1 , hardware systems protect vulnerable software with robust hardware implementations that have lower bug defect density because of their simplicity. Second, while a motivated adversary can evade either defense, evasion is harder in a system that utilizes hardware features. The intuition is that the attacker does not have the same degree of control over low-level hardware execution features as she has with software features. For instance, it is easier to change system calls or file names than modify cache hit rates and branch predictor rates in a really precise way across a range of time scales while still exploiting the system.

An emerging and promising approach to detect malware is to build malware detection systems in hardware.


For some of the quantities appearing in the model of measurement this information may be in the form of measurement data, for others some type of knowledge may be at hand (e.g., that their true values are known to be contained within prescribed intervals) and for still others there may be no information at all. The assignment of PDFs to those quantities about which something is known follows in general from tools such as Bayes' theorem [3, subclause 6.2] and the "Principle of Maximum Entropy" [3, subclause 6.3] , but expert's judgment is also needed, e.g., to identify discordant observations [4] . These PDFs are then propagated through the measurement model that links the corresponding quantities with those for which there is no knowledge. In this way, the PDFs for the latter quantities are obtained.

The assignment of PDFs to those quantities about which something is known follows in general from tools such as Bayes' theorem [3, subclause 6.2] and the "Principle of Maximum Entropy" [3, subclause 6.3] , but expert's judgment is also needed, e.g., to identify discordant observations.


The efficiency factor of gas turbines can be increased either by process technical parameters like the pressure ratio or the temperature increase of the hot gas [1] [2] [3] . The temperature of the hot gas is limited by the maximum bearable temperature of the hot gas components. Because of their high mechanical, thermal and partial chemical (corrosive) load turbine blades are critical components. Advanced Nickel-based alloys with a high γ´-fraction (Ni 3 (Al, Ti)) are standard materials for modern gas turbine blades. Today the most critical components are made of single crystal super alloys [4, 5] . In order to increase the temperature of the hot gas over the super alloy's limit, turbine blades are air-cooled in the first stages. The temperature of the hot gas can be increased even further by the application of thermal barrier coating systems (TBCs). Ceramic top coats with low thermal conductivity are applied together with an efficient cooling of the turbine blades. Because of the increase of the gas turbine's efficiency factor and the reduction of the environmental impact, there is a large interest in thermal barrier coating systems as a design element for gas turbines. This would enable the TBC to operate reliably without component failure over an inspection interval of 20,000 to 30,000 hours, in the case of industrial gas turbines. It is essential to increase the knowledge about the damage evolution of thermal barrier coating systems under thermo-mechanical loading [6, 7] . The influence of the bond coat's surface roughness on the evolution of delamination cracks is of special interest [8] . The aim of this project was to determine, which surface roughness leads to a longer life time of plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coating systems under thermo-mechanical loading. Further more, crack initiation and crack growth are described and compared with theoretical considerations. Additional experiments with EB PVD coatings have been performed on insular specimens, but are not described in this paper.

The efficiency factor of gas turbines can be increased either by process technical parameters like the pressure ratio or the temperature increase of the hot gas.

Today the most critical components are made of single crystal super alloys.

It is essential to increase the knowledge about the damage evolution of thermal barrier coating systems under thermo-mechanical loading.

The influence of the bond coat's surface roughness on the evolution of delamination cracks is of special interest.


In 2007, Portland Cement Association published Environmental Life Cycle Inventory of Portland Cement Concrete, originally published in 2000 and updated in 2002 [15] . This report presents the results of the LCI of three concrete products, namely ready mixed concrete, concrete masonry, and precast concrete. The system boundary includes cement and slag cement manufacture, aggregate production, transportation of fuel, cement, supplementary cementitious materials, and aggregates to the concrete plant, and concrete plant operations [15] .

In 2007, Portland Cement Association published Environmental Life Cycle Inventory of Portland Cement Concrete, originally published in 2000 and updated in 2002.

The system boundary includes cement and slag cement manufacture, aggregate production, transportation of fuel, cement, supplementary cementitious materials, and aggregates to the concrete plant, and concrete plant operations.


The BE2ST-in-Highways system incorporates standardized measurement methods of LCA and life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) [18] . The system is equipped with a tool to weight sustainability indexes using the analytical hierarchy process and is embedded in an Excel spreadsheet. The evaluation steps include creating alternative pavement designs, predicting the service life of each design, identifying rehabilitation strategies, and conducting LCA and LCCA. Four criteria were considered in LCA: energy consumption, GHG emissions, water consumption, and generation of hazardous wastes. These four are defined by the U.S. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

The BE2ST-in-Highways system incorporates standardized measurement methods of LCA and life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA).


Infrastructure Voluntary Evaluation Sustainability Tool (INVEST) was developed by the Federal Highway Administration. INVEST considers the lifecycle of projects and has three modules to evaluate the lifecycle of transportation services, including system planning, project development, and operations and maintenance. Each of these modules is based on a separate collection of criteria and can be evaluated separately [16] .

Each of these modules is based on a separate collection of criteria and can be evaluated separately.


In recent years, there has been a growing interest in developing microfluidic systems for biological and chemical minute laboratories [1] [2] [3] . Often it is necessary to propel fluids from one part of the device to another, control fluid motion, enhance mixing, and separate fluids. Electroosmosis provides an attractive means for manipulating liquids in microdevices. The electroosmotic phenomenon is caused by the accumulation of a net electric charge on the solid's surface that is in contact with an electrolyte solution. As a result, counterions accumulate in a thin liquid layer next to the solid's surface. This thin layer is known as the Debye (or double) layer, and its thickness is typically on the order of 10nm [4] . Away from the solid's surface, the electrolyte is neutral. This charge separation next to the solid wall causes either a positive or negative (ζ) potential difference across the Debye layer. The magnitude of the ζ potential depends, among other things, on the characteristics of the solid and the liquid. In the presence of an external electric field, the counterions in the double layer are attracted to the oppositely charged electrode and drag the liquid along. In other words, the electric field, through its action on the counterions, creates a body force that, in turn, induces fluid motion. When the Debye layer is much smaller than the conduit's dimensions, the electroosmotic flow can be described by specifying a slip velocity at the wall.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in developing microfluidic systems for biological and chemical minute laboratories.

This thin layer is known as the Debye (or double) layer, and its thickness is typically on the order of 10nm.


An alternative to wavelength-shift detection in biosensing applications is to monitor the extent of adsorption by measuring the intensity variations from transmitted monochromatic beams [27, 28] . This has the benefit of simplifying the detection scheme (i.e. removing the need for a spectrometer), but reduces the spectral diversity of the detected signal. Consequently, the changes in light intensity used in this approach are often susceptible to spurious effects, such as drift in the sources or detectors and bulk matrix scattering as well as absorption [29] . In order to eliminate spurious effects associated with a single source at a particular wavelength, a second source at a different wavelength, responding in the opposite manner to the first source, may be added. In particular, if the intensity of the first source decreases to indicate a sensing event, this can be isolated from mere absorption or scattering of the light because the intensity of the second source should increase.

An alternative to wavelength-shift detection in biosensing applications is to monitor the extent of adsorption by measuring the intensity variations from transmitted monochromatic beams.

Consequently, the changes in light intensity used in this approach are often susceptible to spurious effects, such as drift in the sources or detectors and bulk matrix scattering as well as absorption.


When population structure in a collection is unknown, categorizing germplasm resources into morphologically similar and most likely genetically similar groups is most useful [8] [9] [10] . The local and exotic sugarcane genotypes in Ethiopia should be characterized to estimate the genetic diversity available for strategic conservation and further improvement of the crop. In this study, qualitative traits were used to estimate the levels of variation among the sugarcane germplasm. The main objectives of the study were to (1) estimate the extent of morphological diversity among sugarcane germplasm based on 16 qualitative traits and (2) assess the location-wise patterns of phenotypic diversity.

When population structure in a collection is unknown, categorizing germplasm resources into morphologically similar and most likely genetically similar groups is most useful.


To date there are many methodologies available for synthesizing ZnS nanocrystals, such as laser ablation, electrochemical fabrication and solvothermal methods [2] . However, water-in-oil (w/o) microemulsions or reverse micelles technique is one of the most recognized methods due to its several advantages, for instance, soft chemistry, demanding no extreme pressure or temperature control, easy to handle, and requiring no special or expensive equipment. In general, microemulsion or ME is an isotropic, thermodynamically stable dispersion of oil, water, surfactant and often cosurfactant, which is normally alcohol. Microemulsion can be characterized as oil-in-water (O/W), water-in-oil (W/O) or bicontinuous system. Oil-in-water is microemulsion containing an excess oil phase with surfactant molecules existing in the aqueous phase in form of normal micelles. On the other hand, water-in-oil (W/O) microemulsion is the coexistence of an excess water phase and the surfactant molecules which aggregate in the oil phase in the form of reverse micelle. It is well known that these micelles could perform as nano-scaled reactors [3] . Once two microemulsions of which one contains the precursor and the other contains the precipitating agent are uniformly mixed, the reaction will occur in controlled manner in the micelles which have the size in order of nanometers, resulting in formation of nanoparticles of controlled characteristics.

To date there are many methodologies available for synthesizing ZnS nanocrystals, such as laser ablation, electrochemical fabrication and solvothermal methods.

It is well known that these micelles could perform as nano-scaled reactors.


The soil at the University of Fort Hare farm was the allu-vial type (Oakleaf form in S.A. classification), with high mica (2:1 mineral) and low kaolinite, hematite and quartz (Mandiringana et al., 2005) . The land had rotations of fallow periods with irrigated lucerne during the previous five years. This alluvial soil type occupies most of the river valleys, which are utilized for commercial irrigated vegetable and maize production in the Central Eastern Cape.

The soil at the University of Fort Hare farm was the allu-vial type (Oakleaf form in S.A. classification), with high mica (2:1 mineral) and low kaolinite, hematite and quartz.


This study contributes to the literature in several ways. First, by identifying strategic orientation as an important driver of adaptive capability-a key element of dynamic capabilities-this study fills the research gap pertaining to how to build dynamic capability (Lavie, 2006) . The integration of strategic orientation and adaptive capability perspectives illustrates how a firm's external interactions with customers, competitors, and technology affect its internal resource assortment and reconfiguration. In particular, both customer and technology orientations positively influence adaptive capability, which highlights the importance of understanding customers thoroughly and focusing on state-of-the-art technology to adapt to changing environments (Day, 1994; Hurley and Hult, 1998) .

First, by identifying strategic orientation as an important driver of adaptive capability-a key element of dynamic capabilities-this study fills the research gap pertaining to how to build dynamic capability.

In particular, both customer and technology orientations positively influence adaptive capability, which highlights the importance of understanding customers thoroughly and focusing on state-of-the-art technology to adapt to changing environments.


The third contribution pertains to the new research context: the emerging economy of China. China offers a rich context to test the drivers of dynamic capability because its complex, fast changing nature makes adaptive capabilities critical for firms to survive and prosper in this market (Zhou and Li, 2007) . As the world's largest emerging economy, China shares many characteristics with other emerging economies (Li, 2008; Peng, 2003) . Findings based on the Chinese context therefore provide important direct and practical implications for firms operating in other emerging economies. For example, managers should understand that firms can undertake a customer or technology orientation, but not a competitor orientation, to build adaptive capability. More important, they must recognize the boundary conditions of these strategic orientations in emerging economies. When customer demand is highly uncertain, customer orientation is less effective, whereas technology orientation leads to improved adaptive capability. When competition intensifies, competitor and technology orientations are more desirable because they foster stronger adaptive capability.

China offers a rich context to test the drivers of dynamic capability because its complex, fast changing nature makes adaptive capabilities critical for firms to survive and prosper in this market.

As the world's largest emerging economy, China shares many characteristics with other emerging economies.


The second contribution of this research entails the examination of the contingency effects of strategic orientation and market dynamics. When market demand is increasingly uncertain, the role of customer orientation declines, whereas technology orientation becomes more prominent. The interaction between competitor orientation and demand uncertainty is not significant. Major competitors themselves may not know what customers need, so monitoring and catching up with competitors' actions likely cannot guide effective resource reconfigurations to adapt to demand changes in an appropriate and timely manner. Therefore, when customer preference is highly uncertain, focusing on advanced technology and new product introductions to shape customer preferences may be a better choice than following customer demand, which may not be predictable (Zhou et al., 2005) . In times of intensified competition, both competitive and technology orientations help build adaptive capability. Therefore, to stand out from competitors, firms should closely monitor the competition and initiate actions quickly in response to their offerings. Alternatively, they could excel in their own technology capabilities and introduce truly unique products to achieve a highly differentiated position.

Therefore, when customer preference is highly uncertain, focusing on advanced technology and new product introductions to shape customer preferences may be a better choice than following customer demand, which may not be predictable.


The calibration process can be defined as the reduction of the effects from the measurement magnitude and or phase response in the reflected and transmitted signal due to the measurement device and or the termination and cabling of the measurement device. This includes moving the time reference points to the termination of the cabling that will be connected to the Device Under Test (DUT). A consequence of such a calibration process is that the time reference point is shifted from the VNA's termination ports to the end of each connected coaxial cable which are attached to port1 and port2 of the VNA (Hämäläinen et al, 2005) .

A consequence of such a calibration process is that the time reference point is shifted from the VNA's termination ports to the end of each connected coaxial cable which are attached to port1 and port2 of the VNA.


Continuous flow microreactor technology has attracted great attention from chemical, pharmaceutical, and agrochemical industries. Microreactors (MRs) have many advantages, such as rapid mixing, high heat transfer, and accurate control of short residence times. These advantages offer greater control of the reaction conditions, which leads to improved product selectivity and yield when compared to batch methods. However, since the throughput of each MR is low, the numbering-up approach, which means the parallelization of MRs, is often adopted to increase the production amount [1] .

However, since the throughput of each MR is low, the numbering-up approach, which means the parallelization of MRs, is often adopted to increase the production amount.


The results we obtained in the study is a solid foundation to adopt the GEM model in China. For example, in terms of hydrological prediction, we can use the forecasts, coupled with hydrological models to predict extreme hydrological events, such as floods and droughts. Wu has conducted a similar research and it shown that the flood forecasts is performed both in meteorological and discharge prediction [22] . Besides, it is also a tool to use GEM in soil moisture detection and prediction to help make a more convincing strategy in ahead of time. However, we also need to pay more attention to the improvement of forecasts for the forecast skill does not always enhance with the increasing of resolution. And how about the prediction performance with the increasing resolution as well in the next coming steps.

Wu has conducted a similar research and it shown that the flood forecasts is performed both in meteorological and discharge prediction.


Motivated by this fact, in the present work, we have introduced a class of quantile function models, useful in software reliability analysis. The proposed class has several desirable properties and several existing well-known distributions that are members of the class of distributions as special cases or through approximations. Various reliability characteristics were discussed. The parameters of the model were estimated using -moments and the model was applied to a real data set. The method of maximum likelihood can also be employed to find the estimates of the parameters (see Gilchrist [8] ). The proposed class of quantile functions is a flexible model in the sense that it has the property of increasing hazard rate and decreasing hazard rate, bathtub hazard rate, and upside down hazard rate by changing the parametric values.

The method of maximum likelihood can also be employed to find the estimates of the parameters (see Gilchrist).


Proximal humeral fractures have an excess mortality beyond that of the normal population, estimated at approximately 10% at 1 year [4] [5] [6] [7] . Epidemiological studies have a defined age >60 years, female gender, recent decline in health, insulindependent diabetes mellitus, infrequent walking and neuromuscular weakness as associated with proximal humeral fractures [2] . The risk factors for mortality after these fractures are less well proven, with those suggested including male gender, increased age at onset of fracture and increased number of co-morbidities [4, 7] . To date, the effect of socioeconomic status has not been studied in association proximal humeral fracture epidemiology or mortality.

Proximal humeral fractures have an excess mortality beyond that of the normal population, estimated at approximately 10% at 1 year.

Epidemiological studies have a defined age >60 years, female gender, recent decline in health, insulindependent diabetes mellitus, infrequent walking and neuromuscular weakness as associated with proximal humeral fractures.

The risk factors for mortality after these fractures are less well proven, with those suggested including male gender, increased age at onset of fracture and increased number of co-morbidities.


Next generation wireless communication is expected to provide multimedia services with different quality of service, offering high throughput and reliability under limited power and bandwidth resources. The main impairments limiting the capacity and maximum data rate offered to the end users of wireless communication system are multipath fading, delay spread, and multiple access interference (MAI). Multiple access (MA) techniques allow different users to share the same channel effectively as possible. Direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) is one of the MA techniques for its improved performance in terms of system capacity and coverage compared to time division multiple access and frequency-division multiple access [1] .

Direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) is one of the MA techniques for its improved performance in terms of system capacity and coverage compared to time division multiple access and frequency-division multiple access.


In this paper we presented ARdoc a novel tool able to extract structures, sentiment and lexicon features from app user reviews and combining them through ML techniques in order to mine relevant feedback for real world developers interested in accomplishing software maintenance and evolution tasks. Experiments involving three real-life applications demonstrated that our tool, by analyzing text structures in combination with sentiment features, is able to correctly classify useful feedback (from a maintenance perspective) contained in app reviews with a precision ranging between 84% and 89%, a recall ranging between 84% and 89%, and an F-Measure ranging between 84% and 89%. As first future work we plan to enhance ARdoc by improving the preprocessing part of the approach which combines text, sentiment and structure features, in order to achieve even better classification results. We plan to use ARdoc as a preprocessing support for summarization techniques in order to generate summaries of app reviews [23] . Finally, the classification operated by ARdoc could be also used in combination with topic modeling techniques. Such a combination could be used, for example, to cluster all the feature requests (or bug reports) involving the same functionalities, in order to plan a set of code change tasks.

We plan to use ARdoc as a preprocessing support for summarization techniques in order to generate summaries of app reviews.


Lookup tables have been used before for object recognition. The best known example is probably the work on geometric hashing by Lamdan and Wolfson [11] . However, there the lookup table is not the actual image representation. The same holds for locality sensitive hashing, which has mostly been applied in the context of database retrieval [3] .

The best known example is probably the work on geometric hashing by Lamdan and Wolfson.

The same holds for locality sensitive hashing, which has mostly been applied in the context of database retrieval.


The practice of closing the PFO did not prove to be helpful in causing a significant reduction in the incidence of recurrent stroke in patients with a history of previous stroke or cryptogenic TIA. Recent evidence has also disclosed that an increased incidence of AF/atrial Fl could involve patients who have undergone transcatheter PFO closure. Thus, while awaiting the results of the upcoming trial on this topic, physicians should remain cautious and adhere to the approach recommended by the guidelines. They attribute some importance to antithrombotic therapy (both by means of anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents), while denying an alleged superior efficacy to transcatheter PFO occlusion, except for in selected cases of patients with documented PFO and a concomitant clinicalinstrumental picture of deep venous thrombosis [29] . Only in the latter, the risk of paradoxical embolism caused by right to left shunt through a PFO may justify the application of a septal occluding device.

They attribute some importance to antithrombotic therapy (both by means of anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents), while denying an alleged superior efficacy to transcatheter PFO occlusion, except for in selected cases of patients with documented PFO and a concomitant clinicalinstrumental picture of deep venous thrombosis.


In UWA environment, Doppler effects cause frequency shifts of the transmitted signal. HFM signal is a preferable training signal in UWA communication as the frequency shifts caused by Doppler effects can be treated as a time shift [16, 17] . Thus the Doppler effects and time delay can be simultaneously estimated by analyzing the time-frequency characteristics of the signal. In addition, we choose WT in this paper as it is an effective measurable tool for time-frequency analysis and has been used for the signal analysis in engineering, biomedical and researcher application [18, 19] . WT methods consist of two categories: continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and discrete wavelet transform (DWT), DWT is nothing but discretization of CWT.

HFM signal is a preferable training signal in UWA communication as the frequency shifts caused by Doppler effects can be treated as a time shift.

In addition, we choose WT in this paper as it is an effective measurable tool for time-frequency analysis and has been used for the signal analysis in engineering, biomedical and researcher application.


These algorithms can be generally grouped in two categories: dynamic programming like matching pursuit (MP), and linear programming like basis pursuit (BP) [7] . BP aims at the l 1 minimization which needs high computational complexity, thus is less attractive for practical large-scale applications. Therefore, we will mainly focus on MP algorithm and its successors.

These algorithms can be generally grouped in two categories: dynamic programming like matching pursuit (MP), and linear programming like basis pursuit (BP).


To overcome such difficulties, many researchers investigated the sparsity of UWA channel, that is, most of the energy is concentrated in some small regions. Hence only a few channel taps in MSML channel model are nonzero and need to be tracked. As a result, the computational complexity has been reduced and many sparse channel estimation algorithms based on compressed-sensing (CS) have been proposed [7, [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] .

As a result, the computational complexity has been reduced and many sparse channel estimation algorithms based on compressed-sensing (CS) have been proposed.


Another previously known concept that was recently introduced to enhance the power factor is the concept of energy filtering of carriers by the introduction of appropriate barriers which restrict the energy of carriers entering into a material at an interface, so that the mean energy of the carriers substantially exceeds those at the Fermi level E F , thereby enhancing the thermopower which depends of the excess energy (E − E F ) of carriers in the sample [14, 15] . Using the energy filtering approach, barriers are introduced in such a way that the reduction in the electrical conductivity σ is more than compensated by the increase in the Seebeck coefficient S through the energy filtering process, thereby resulting in an increase in power factor S 2 σ. All of these concepts and strategies are currently being exploited in improving the performance of nanostructured materials for thermoelectric applications. Both fundamental and applications-oriented studies are now currently being pursued to advance the field.

Another previously known concept that was recently introduced to enhance the power factor is the concept of energy filtering of carriers by the introduction of appropriate barriers which restrict the energy of carriers entering into a material at an interface, so that the mean energy of the carriers substantially exceeds those at the Fermi level E F , thereby enhancing the thermopower which depends of the excess energy (E − E F ) of carriers in the sample.


One feature that is unique in this experiment is the considerable trace interval (approximately 2 minutes) between context exposure and immobilization to predator exposure, and yet the combination produced robust and extinction-resistant fear. Long trace intervals (more than 30 sec) reduce the associative qualities in Pavlovian conditioning [81] [82] . It is likely that the use of immobilization immediately after removal of the rats from the shock chamber was sufficiently strong reinforcement to bridge the 2 minute trace period between removal of the rat from the context and cat exposure. The relatively long trace period between the time that the rat was removed from the conditioning box and placed in the presence of the cat (2 min without immobilization) is a likely explanation for the lack of conditioned freezing in the cat only group.

Long trace intervals (more than 30 sec) reduce the associative qualities in Pavlovian conditioning.


This experiment replicated and extended the predator-based Pavlovian fear conditioning paradigm developed in the previous experiments. Sleep deprivation before predator-based fear conditioning impaired contextual fear conditioning as indicated by the significant sleep deprivation and predator stress interaction. Notably, sleep deprivation had no effect on predator-based fear conditioning to the auditory cue. Therefore, these findings support the hypothesis that sleep deprivation is detrimental to contextual (hippocampus-dependent), but not cued (hippocampus-independent), fear conditioning [101] - [104] . The findings further suggest a commonality of mechanisms of adverse effects of sleep deprivation on shock and predator-based contextual fear conditioning, such as a diminished glucocorticoid response and a reduction of the phosphorylation of the transcription factor 3',5'-cyclic AMP response-element binding protein (CREB) [106] .

Therefore, these findings support the hypothesis that sleep deprivation is detrimental to contextual (hippocampus-dependent), but not cued (hippocampus-independent), fear conditioning.

The findings further suggest a commonality of mechanisms of adverse effects of sleep deprivation on shock and predator-based contextual fear conditioning, such as a diminished glucocorticoid response and a reduction of the phosphorylation of the transcription factor 3',5'-cyclic AMP response-element binding protein (CREB).


Ammonium regeneration was measured by isotopic dilution of 1 PM 95 atom% 15NH4+ on half of the stations sampled in April 1986. No significant dilution was found (data not shown). Except for the values from September 1988, the in situ rates presented here have therefore not been corrected for isotope dilution. The uptake rates from September 1988 have been corrected for isotope dilution (Wheeler et al. 1989) . The ratio between ammonium uptake corrected and uncorrected for isotope dilution was 1.12 &O. 13 for ice-free zones and 1.18 + 0.11 for close and open packice zones.

The uptake rates from September 1988 have been corrected for isotope dilution.


Navigation systems based on range sensors such as radar, GPS, laser or ultrasonic sensors are significantly more expensive than navigation systems relying only on vision [11] [12] [13] . An omni-directional vision sensor is composed of a digital camera aiming at a catadioptric mirror. Although it is not straightforward to obtain distance estimations from omni-directional images due to the shape of the mirror, the bearings of landmarks relative to the robot are reasonably accurate and easy to derive from omni-directional images [14] [15] [16] .

Navigation systems based on range sensors such as radar, GPS, laser or ultrasonic sensors are significantly more expensive than navigation systems relying only on vision.

Although it is not straightforward to obtain distance estimations from omni-directional images due to the shape of the mirror, the bearings of landmarks relative to the robot are reasonably accurate and easy to derive from omni-directional images.


Very recently, we studied the scalar charged particle exposed to relativistic scalar-vector Killingbeck potentials in presence of magnetic and Aharonov-Bohm flux fields and obtained its energy eigenvalues and wave functions using the analytical exact iteration method [39] . Therefore, the behavior of a spinless relativistic particle moving under the Killingbeck potential in a static magnetic and AB flux fields has not been investigated yet, and in this work, we aim to solve the KG equation in 2D for equal mixture of scalar and vector Killingbeck potentials with and without constant magnetic and AB flux fields for the first time. We present the exact energy eigenvalues and wave functions of the Killingbeck potential for any and quantum numbers in a constant magnetic field with the different Larmor frequencies using the wave function ansatz method [36] . The non-relativistic energy eigenvalues and wave functions of our solution are presented by making an appropriate mapping of parameters. Overmore, special cases of KG for equal scalar-vector Killingbeck potentials are also presented in the presence ( ̸ = 0, ̸ = 0) and absence ( = 0, = 0) of uniform fields.

Very recently, we studied the scalar charged particle exposed to relativistic scalar-vector Killingbeck potentials in presence of magnetic and Aharonov-Bohm flux fields and obtained its energy eigenvalues and wave functions using the analytical exact iteration method.

We present the exact energy eigenvalues and wave functions of the Killingbeck potential for any and quantum numbers in a constant magnetic field with the different Larmor frequencies using the wave function ansatz method.


Due to the radiating elements must reflect the incident electromagnetic field with a progressive phase distribution, the most challenging aspect when designing reflectarray antennas is to find the adequate phase shift to compensate the phase delay caused by the distance from the feed to each unit cell. Thus, the requirement of having a wide database that associates the properties of the cells and their correspondent phase shifts is crucial. In fact, many works proposing different techniques to achieve a wide phase range of the reflection coefficient have been recently published. In the literature, mainly four mechanisms can be found. The first one is the easiest to manufacture and more used [7, 8] . It achieves the phase variation by changing the size of the internal geometry of the unit cells. The second type tries to find the proper phase shift by adjusting the rotation angle of the elements [9] . The third method to provide the progressive phase shift of the reflected wave consists of using variable stub length attached to the radiating elements [10] . Finally, the fourth mechanism consists in using multilayer configurations [2, 3] . The proposed method applies these four techniques, since it is able to find the suitable characteristics of each elementary cell.

The first one is the easiest to manufacture and more used.

The second type tries to find the proper phase shift by adjusting the rotation angle of the elements.

The third method to provide the progressive phase shift of the reflected wave consists of using variable stub length attached to the radiating elements.

Finally, the fourth mechanism consists in using multilayer configurations.


Bumblebees are important pollinators of many agricultural crops. During the past century, great advances have been made in research concerning bumblebee domestication. Today, several species are already being reared in commercial hives (Velthuis and Doorn, 2006) .

Today, several species are already being reared in commercial hives.


Moreover, the recent credit crunch and the successive economic recession have risen the number of households that face severe debt-related financial difficulties. Apart from political concerns on households' ability to sustain their debt burdens, household's financial fragility is likely to impact people's health. Debt imposes non-negligible psychological costs on citizens and, arguably, has detrimental consequences on people's mental and physical health through anxiety, stress, increased cardiovascular risk, depression, self-harm and suicidal ideation. For instance, suicide rates have been rising in the EU since 2008, when the euro area entered a recession, especially in those countries where financial reversals of fortune have been severest (Stuckler et al., 2012) .

For instance, suicide rates have been rising in the EU since 2008, when the euro area entered a recession, especially in those countries where financial reversals of fortune have been severest.


The main applications of AM-produced Ti-6Al-4V are medicine, auto, and aerospace industries [12] . The application of additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V in harsh environment, especially in hydrogen contained medium, open new challenges for investigation of its corrosion and hydrogen resistance. During operating in corrosive environments, hydrogen penetrates and accumulates in titanium alloys. Accumulating in titanium alloys, hydrogen causes significant changes in their physical, chemical and mechanical properties. Under hydrogen effect in titanium alloys, there are hydrogen-induced ductility loss (hydrogen embrittlement) and hydrogen-induced cracking occurs [7, [13] [14] [15] . Hydrogen embrittlement and hydrogen-induced cracking can lead to destruction of parts and structures [7, 13] . Hydrogen can change the microstructure that affects the mechanical properties of titanium alloys. This is the main difficulty in studying the direct or intrinsic effect of hydrogen in multi-phase systems [14, 15] .

The main applications of AM-produced Ti-6Al-4V are medicine, auto, and aerospace industries.

Under hydrogen effect in titanium alloys, there are hydrogen-induced ductility loss (hydrogen embrittlement) and hydrogen-induced cracking occurs.

Hydrogen embrittlement and hydrogen-induced cracking can lead to destruction of parts and structures.

This is the main difficulty in studying the direct or intrinsic effect of hydrogen in multi-phase systems.


Our findings demonstrate that a two-dose regimen of the killed, WC OCV conferred protection of 66% protection during the three years following vaccination. Vaccine protection was clearly evident in the third year of follow-up in persons vaccinated at ages five years and older and during the second year in children vaccinated at 1-4 years of age. Due to small numbers of outcomes during the third year, however, further follow-up will be required to assess the duration of protection in the youngest age group. Protection was clearly evident against El Tor Ogawa, and suggestive against El Tor Inaba, though the latter analysis was limited by a small number of outcome events. Of note, all episodes of cholera were due to V. cholerae 01 that manifested the El Tor phenotype but genetically encoded classical biotype cholera toxin, a hybrid strain that now accounts for nearly all cholera cases in many parts of both Africa and Asia and that may be associated with cholera of increased severity [6, 14, 15] .

Of note, all episodes of cholera were due to V. cholerae 01 that manifested the El Tor phenotype but genetically encoded classical biotype cholera toxin, a hybrid strain that now accounts for nearly all cholera cases in many parts of both Africa and Asia and that may be associated with cholera of increased severity.


Previous studies on RBV stated that EO is the key strategic resource, which can develop the sustainable competitive advantage [55, 56] . EO provides the unique, rear and non-imitable capabilities to utilize the available resources [57] . Moreover, it may possess patents, unique technologies, limited product offerings, extensive international experiences and internationally recognizable brands. As a consequence, all these activities lead to firm's sustainable competitive advantage that eventually leads to higher export performance [57] . Furthermore, EMO have recently been recognized as a resource that only has potential value [58] . However, EMO as a resource is not directly related with the firm's performance, it is important to focus on the process through competitive advantage examining the EMO and FEP relationship. Subsequently, EMO has the ability to introduce the rare, unique, different and imitable service in international markets which can gain the sustainable competitive advantage which lead to higher FEP [59] .

Previous studies on RBV stated that EO is the key strategic resource, which can develop the sustainable competitive advantage.

EO provides the unique, rear and non-imitable capabilities to utilize the available resources.

As a consequence, all these activities lead to firm's sustainable competitive advantage that eventually leads to higher export performance.

Furthermore, EMO have recently been recognized as a resource that only has potential value.

Subsequently, EMO has the ability to introduce the rare, unique, different and imitable service in international markets which can gain the sustainable competitive advantage which lead to higher FEP.


A resource based view (RBV) theory perspective presented that firms that can handle their performance frequently used of rear and unique resources & capabilities that can differentiate from competitors [49] . Considering the TQM as a source of competitive advantage proposed by many past researchers [50] [51] [52] . This is in line with RBV, which recommends that sustainable competitive advantage requires the strategic resources that are not immobilized, substitutable and imitable without extra ordinary effort while being diversified in nature [53] . These rear and non-imitable resources can be useful to allocate or reconfigure the firms routines to respond to the business environment changes in local and international markets [54] .

A resource based view (RBV) theory perspective presented that firms that can handle their performance frequently used of rear and unique resources & capabilities that can differentiate from competitors.

Considering the TQM as a source of competitive advantage proposed by many past researchers.

This is in line with RBV, which recommends that sustainable competitive advantage requires the strategic resources that are not immobilized, substitutable and imitable without extra ordinary effort while being diversified in nature.

These rear and non-imitable resources can be useful to allocate or reconfigure the firms routines to respond to the business environment changes in local and international markets.


Standardization is an important aspect for establishing the quality and/or efficacy of Ayurvedic formulations or any multiple ingredient herbal formulations. Generally, two approaches being used for standardization are fingerprint analysis by HPLC/HPTLC and quantitation of individual chemical markers. It ensures reproducible pharmaceutical quality of herbal products. Preliminary analysis of the three brands of marketed Arjunarishta showed varying patterns in HPLC chromatogram suggesting that there might be differences in the process of manufacturing and therefore a proper scientific validation (chromatographic fingerprinting, quantitation of major constituents) is needed for quality control purposes [9] .

Preliminary analysis of the three brands of marketed Arjunarishta showed varying patterns in HPLC chromatogram suggesting that there might be differences in the process of manufacturing and therefore a proper scientific validation (chromatographic fingerprinting, quantitation of major constituents) is needed for quality control purposes.


First, an HPLC method was developed for the formulation after several trials for separation of phenolic acids and flavonoids. A reported method for analysis of polyphenolics of Terminalia chebula fruit, the major ingredient used in this formulation, achieved the separation of the hydrolysable tannins at pH 2.5-4.5 with acetonitrile as the suitable organic modifier [12] . However, the flavonoids showed very high retention time (>75 minutes) with the reported method. In the present study, a shorter run time (45 min) was achieved with gradual increase of organic phase (acetonitrile). Five phenolic compounds were identified in Arjunarishta; these were gallic acid, ethyl gallate, ellagic acid, quercetin and kaempferol (figure 1). A binary gradient system consisting of water-acetonitrile-acetic acid as mobile phase was able to separate these compounds as shown in figure 2B . The chromatogram also showed several other unidentified peaks. It was observed that the other constituents present in the formulation did not interfere with any of the five markers indicating specificity of the method. For qualitative purposes, the method was evaluated by determining the precision in retention time of all five markers in a mixture of five standard samples as well as in the formulation and a low RSD value (0.22 % to 1.33 %) indicated high precision of the method. The developed RP-HPLC method used for quantification of constituents in the formulation was validated by defining the linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), precision, and accuracy.

A reported method for analysis of polyphenolics of Terminalia chebula fruit, the major ingredient used in this formulation, achieved the separation of the hydrolysable tannins at pH 2.5-4.5 with acetonitrile as the suitable organic modifier.


Arishtas are an important group of formulations used in Ayurveda. Arjunarishta (Parthadyarishta) is one of the ancient liquid oral formulations prescribed in Ayurveda for cardiovascular disorders. It nourishes and strengthens heart muscle and promotes cardiac functioning by regulating blood pressure and cholesterol. The plant ingredients in this formulation are Terminalia arjuna, Madhuca indica, Vitis vinifera, and Woodfordia fruticosa. The formulation is prepared by making a decoction of three plants in specified amounts as listed in AFI. Crushed jaggery and the flowers of Woodfordia fruticosa are then added and preparation is kept for a specified period of time during which it undergoes fermentation generating alcohol that helps extraction of active principles and also serves as preservative for these formulations. Ashavas and arishtas are very popular in India, probably due to their taste and alcoholic content in addition to their medicinal uses and physiological importance [2] .

Ashavas and arishtas are very popular in India, probably due to their taste and alcoholic content in addition to their medicinal uses and physiological importance.


The drift problems become more critical when EBSD techniques are used together with other techniques, such as electron channeling contrast (ECC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), to characterize the same microstructures [14] [15] [16] [17] . Due to the different imaging principles and acquisition time, the same microstructure characterized by EBSD can easily be more distorted than that with ECC/TEM. Consequently, quantitative comparison of some spatial-related microstructural parameters, such as grain shape and size, between the EBSD map and the ECC/TEM image can be difficult and not reliable.

The drift problems become more critical when EBSD techniques are used together with other techniques, such as electron channeling contrast (ECC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), to characterize the same microstructures.


Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) has been widely used to characterize microstructure due to the wide availability of SEMs, the ease of sample preparation from bulk, the user friendly software for data collection and analysis, and the high speed of data collection [1] [2] [3] . With EBSD, individual grain orientations, local texture, and point-to-point orientation relationships can be determined routinely on the surfaces of bulk samples. In the last decade this technique has frequently been used for in-situ and ex-situ studies, from which dynamic information of microstructural evolution during thermal-mechanical processing has been reported [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] .

Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) has been widely used to characterize microstructure due to the wide availability of SEMs, the ease of sample preparation from bulk, the user friendly software for data collection and analysis, and the high speed of data collection.

In the last decade this technique has frequently been used for in-situ and ex-situ studies, from which dynamic information of microstructural evolution during thermal-mechanical processing has been reported.


The magnetic properties of the synthesized carbon nanocages particles (Fe 3 C) were characterized by magnetic hysteresis loops with varying magnetic field at room temperature and the obtained magnetization hysteresis loop is shown in Figure 6 TGA results we obtained the iron oxide content which is 15.6% in MCNCs. Based on calculation, the Fe 3 C content is 17.5% in MCNCs. Pollutants, especially textile dyestuffs, have caused overwhelming environmental pollution worldwide, which have triggered many studies' attention. Recent studies showed that magnetic materials with high surface area have a wide potential application for the removal various pollutants in wastewater, notably for textile dyestuffs [46] [47] [48] . In order to evaluate the adsorption behavior of magnetic carbon nanocages, we investigate their capacities by adsorbing MO dye from its aqueous solutions. Figure 6 (b) presents the adsorption kinetics of MO dye onto the representative magnetic carbon nanocages with a given initial MO dye concentration of 50 mg/L. MCNCs have obviously better removal ability than that of the MCNs before acid, with adsorption rates of 43.6%, 63.6% and 28.4%, 39.8% in the first 3, 5 min, respectively. Then the dye was rapidly adsorbed in 15 min (92.6%), and subsequently the adsorption rate decreased gradually and reached equilibrium in about 60 min (97.7%). However, compared with commercial activated carbon, MCNCs adsorption rate is not fast enough, which the adsorption rates of 98.8% in 10 min.

Recent studies showed that magnetic materials with high surface area have a wide potential application for the removal various pollutants in wastewater, notably for textile dyestuffs.


This paper is composed of the following sections. In Section 2 we consider the simple differential equation with a singular source term. The uncertainty is in the location of the singular source term. The random variable has a uniform TABLE 1: Continuous probability density functions and the associated orthogonal polynomials [11, 17] .

The random variable has a uniform TABLE 1: Continuous probability density functions and the associated orthogonal polynomials.


Instead of precise control, the fuzzy logic-based controllers (FLC) are also well studied to reduce the possible vehicle collisions in the last few years. Due to its superiority in solving problems in multi-parameter, nonlinear systems as well as capturing the driving characteristics in a vehicular environment, it is feasible and preferable to apply FLC-related models to vehicular active control issues. However, since the effect of a FLC relies on the number of fuzzy rules, an excessive number of such will directly impair its effectiveness. Moreover, the number of fuzzy rules increases exponentially with the number of fuzzy subsets, resulting in greater computational complexity of the controller. Among various schemes that have been proposed to address the above-mentioned problems and have become an active research topic recently is combining neural network (BP) with fuzzy control [5, 6] . However, the neural network converges slowly and is prone to being stuck in local optimum. Unlike the neural network, the genetic algorithm (GA) is capable of searching for the global optimal solution and is almost application-independent. To efficiently reduce the risk in car-following scenario, this paper proposes a rear-end collision avoidance system that uses the fuzzy logic control model with its fuzzy rules optimized by the generic algorithm. This GA-based FLC should be able to allow drivers to promptly avoid approaching risks and accurately make a brake, as well as accommodating driving behaviours of drivers. In addition, the model is also applicable to the popular autonomous vehicles or vehicles in cruising state to keep a safe intervehicle space and at the same time improve the driving efficiency by controlling the headway.

Among various schemes that have been proposed to address the above-mentioned problems and have become an active research topic recently is combining neural network (BP) with fuzzy control.


Negative feelings about mathematics are usually associated with low mathematics achievement both in children and adults [1] . Mathematics anxiety (MA) is a feeling of tension, apprehension, or fear that interferes with mathematics performance, or as a state of discomfort in response to mathematics which is perceived as threatening to self-esteem [2] . As math anxious individuals avoid engagement in math tasks, they dedicate less time and effort to learn mathematics, reach lower attainment levels, enroll less in mathematics courses from high school onwards, and eventually select majors with lower mathematics requirements [3] . MA is thus of potential social and economic relevance in a globalized culture that imposes greater and greater demands on science and technology abilities of individuals in career as well as in everyday life.

Negative feelings about mathematics are usually associated with low mathematics achievement both in children and adults.

Mathematics anxiety (MA) is a feeling of tension, apprehension, or fear that interferes with mathematics performance, or as a state of discomfort in response to mathematics which is perceived as threatening to self-esteem.

As math anxious individuals avoid engagement in math tasks, they dedicate less time and effort to learn mathematics, reach lower attainment levels, enroll less in mathematics courses from high school onwards, and eventually select majors with lower mathematics requirements.


Relationships between MA and mathematics achievement are complex and probably of two ways. For this reason, it is paramount to look not only at studies reporting effects of arithmetics achievement on anxiety levels but also at studies reporting effects of anxiety levels on arithmetics achievement. There is an evidence that MA may moderate the relationship between working memory and mathematics achievement in mathematics disabled undergraduates [23] . Moreover, in real-life situations, the impact of MA on mathematics achievement is mediated by cortisol levels associated with stress responses and anxiety [24] . Moreover, cognitive-behavioral interventions specifically addressing anxiety symptoms in mathematics disabled children have been shown to contribute to substantial improvement in mathematics achievement [25] .

There is an evidence that MA may moderate the relationship between working memory and mathematics achievement in mathematics disabled undergraduates.

Moreover, in real-life situations, the impact of MA on mathematics achievement is mediated by cortisol levels associated with stress responses and anxiety.

Moreover, cognitive-behavioral interventions specifically addressing anxiety symptoms in mathematics disabled children have been shown to contribute to substantial improvement in mathematics achievement.


Path-analysis models also have corroborated the results of regression analyses that there is an effect of mathematics self-perceived performance on arithmetics achievement. Another important aspect of path-analyses is that the construct of mathematics self-perceived performance was found to be statistically independent from psychosocial competencies in 7-12 years old children. Among the different facets of mathematics anxiety, only the particular aspect of mathematics self-perceived performance was associated to arithmetics performance in a specific way. The perception of cognitive resources, knowledge, and competencies to solve arithmetics problems explained individual differences in arithmetics performance, which cannot be accounted by any specific aspect of general psychosocial competencies. Absence of effects of general anxiety on math performance suggests that the MA is a subject-specific phenomenon, in line with previous research in adolescents and college students [3, 13] .

Absence of effects of general anxiety on math performance suggests that the MA is a subject-specific phenomenon, in line with previous research in adolescents and college students.


The impact of hyperactivity symptoms and mathematics self-perceived performance on arithmetics achievement has very different meanings. Attentional deficits and hyperactivity are associated with lower achievement not only in arithmetics but also in spelling. In the literature, many reports support these results [48, 49] . Interestingly, affective problems and general anxiety also have been associated with lower spelling performance in the present study. These results can be interpreted as a less-specific effect of psychosocial competencies on school performance, since spelling abilities are necessary in almost all topics taught in school. However, we cannot offer a more definitive answer to this question based on our data alone. Moreover, mathematics selfperceived performance impacts on arithmetics performance in a very specific way. The regression analysis of spelling performance revealed no effect of mathematics self-perceived performance on spelling performance. The comparison of this result with the significant effect of mathematics selfperceived performance on arithmetics reveals that there is an effect of mathematics anxiety on arithmetics performance that cannot be reduced to the impact of more general level of anxiety or psychosocial competencies.

In the literature, many reports support these results.


Although the Euclidean distance is a good approximation for the actual travel distance, the rectilinear distance is more suitable for cities with a grid road network (Love and Morris, 1979; Brimberg et al., 2007; Griffith et al., 2012) . In fact, the rectilinear distance has frequently been used in facility location models (Francis et al., 1992; Aras et al., 2008; O'Kelly, 2009) . Examining the rectilinear distance in Archimedean tilings could be an interesting issue for future research.

Although the Euclidean distance is a good approximation for the actual travel distance, the rectilinear distance is more suitable for cities with a grid road network.

In fact, the rectilinear distance has frequently been used in facility location models.


The radiation doses reported in this study provide medical practitioners with data that can be used to assess risk versus benefit of CCTA examination in patients. However, our study has some limitations. First, since this was a phantom study, only one body type was used. The actual doses will vary from patient to patient, depending on patient body habitus, tube current setting, heart rate and z-axis coverage. Second, only five most commonly used CT scanner models for CCTA examination were used in this study, while the most recent CT scanners such as 128-detector-row SSCT scanner, 256-detector-row SSCT scanner, third generation of DSCT scanner and second generation of 320-detetor-row SSCT scanner were not included in our data acquisition because the latest CT scanners are not available yet in many clinical centers [27] .

Second, only five most commonly used CT scanner models for CCTA examination were used in this study, while the most recent CT scanners such as 128-detector-row SSCT scanner, 256-detector-row SSCT scanner, third generation of DSCT scanner and second generation of 320-detetor-row SSCT scanner were not included in our data acquisition because the latest CT scanners are not available yet in many clinical centers.


Despite the efforts towards handling noise in process discovery, the concepts of noise and log-incompleteness are not incorporated in most process quality measures. As a result, one must be cautious to use the same quality measures when the goal is rather to describe the underlying process. A notable exception has been the work on artificial negative events [7] . The induction of negative events explicitly supports the fact that event logs are not complete. The negative events aim at delineating the system by defining its complement S c . The related quality metrics are thus expected to be more suitable for measuring a process model's alignment with the system rather than the event log, although this is not exactly clear from the analyses.

A notable exception has been the work on artificial negative events.


If small enough, it may be possible to fit the model into physical memory. In this case the model can be stored as a memory associative array, such as a hash table, for rapid query retrieval. In-memory storage has been used to store model parameters between iterations of expectation-maximisation for word alignment (Dyer et al., 2008; Lin and Dyer, 2010) .

In-memory storage has been used to store model parameters between iterations of expectation-maximisation for word alignment.


The main goal of this research is to contribute for the understanding of the importance of the electrochemical properties of the matrixes for enhancing the Ag antibacterial effect of Ag-NPs containing nanocomposite coatings. In this work the in-vitro antibacterial activity of Ag/a-C nanocomposite coating is compared with Ag and a-C coatings and a special emphasis is given to the role of coatings electrochemical properties on Ag ionization and the evaluation of Ag nanoparticles evolution along the immersion time. The deposition method followed was dual magnetron sputtering, a well establish technique in industrial environment. Following this deposition method a specific type of diamond like carbon (DLC) coating can be obtained, which is generally classified as amorphous carbon (a-C), being characterized by a high amount of sp 2 type bonds combined with sp 3 bonds, which content is about 5% [30] .

Following this deposition method a specific type of diamond like carbon (DLC) coating can be obtained, which is generally classified as amorphous carbon (a-C), being characterized by a high amount of sp 2 type bonds combined with sp 3 bonds, which content is about 5%.


In this study Ag/a-C nanocomposite coatings were deposited by magnetron sputtering process and the antibacterial properties were compared with a-C and Ag coatings. The co-deposition of Ag and C results in the formation of nanocomposite coatings, where Ag nanoparticles are embedded in the a-C matrix coating, as suggested by GIXRD, TEM and SEM analyses. The growth of Ag as a second phase in the carbon matrix is mainly attributed to the low solubility of silver atoms in carbon [34, 35] . These microscopy analyses combined with GIXRD results allowed to observe the bimodal Ag NP size distribution along the coatings thickness, being found that the a-C matrix is composed by a large density of 2-3 nm sized Ag-NP, combined with a lower density of 20-25 nm sized Ag-NP, being the later ones siting in the coatings surface, while smaller Ag particles are embedded in the coating bulk. Similar trend has already been reported in magnetron sputtered Ag nanocomposite coatings in a TiO 2 matrix, being this bimodal size distribution attributed to the coalescence of surface Ag particles, promoted by the reduction in their free energy, a phenomenon not observed in the bulk, due to the restricted mobility of Ag atoms or nanoparticles inside the coating matrix [38] . This coating morphology permits the formation of two distinct electrical conductive phases, which allow the formation of a galvanic couple between the a-C and the silver nanoparticles, as confirmed by the OCP analysis (see Fig. 3 ). Such material configuration in contact with the electrolyte promotes a galvanic corrosion for the phase with lower reduction potential (Ag). As a result, the a-C phase will act as cathode in the reaction and Ag as anode, thus enhancing the Ag ionization rate. On the contrary, for a pure silver coating, the silver ion release will be limited by the coatings crystalline structure, where the defects and grain boundaries promote the silver ionization. The driving force for the Ag ions release are the differences in the Gibbs free energy between the Ag grains and its grain boundaries, which tend to be more unstable, and thus more prone to be oxidized [18] . Nevertheless, due to the proximity between the OCP values expected in the silver in bulk and grain boundaries, the Ag ionization rate is lower in relation to a-C/Ag nanocomposite coatings. These two scenarios are schematized in Fig. 8 .

The growth of Ag as a second phase in the carbon matrix is mainly attributed to the low solubility of silver atoms in carbon.

Similar trend has already been reported in magnetron sputtered Ag nanocomposite coatings in a TiO 2 matrix, being this bimodal size distribution attributed to the coalescence of surface Ag particles, promoted by the reduction in their free energy, a phenomenon not observed in the bulk, due to the restricted mobility of Ag atoms or nanoparticles inside the coating matrix.

The driving force for the Ag ions release are the differences in the Gibbs free energy between the Ag grains and its grain boundaries, which tend to be more unstable, and thus more prone to be oxidized.


The Buriganga river is the main river flowing beside Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, which is a megacity of about 12 million people. City dwellers largely depend on the Buriganga's water for drinking, fishing and carrying merchandise. The river is now threatened by pollution and possession (Nouri et al., 2009) . The unpleasant odor of the polluted black water of Buriganga can be sensed even from half a kilometer distance. Intensive human intervention, unplanned urbanization and population pressure have created the present unwanted situation of the river. As a result of insensible human actions on the one hand, and failure by the authority to enforce rules and regulations to save the river on the other hand, the Buriganga is dying biologically (Alam, 2008) . Nowadays, no fish and other aquatic organisms can be found in the river during the dry season.

The river is now threatened by pollution and possession.

As a result of insensible human actions on the one hand, and failure by the authority to enforce rules and regulations to save the river on the other hand, the Buriganga is dying biologically.


Several authors have argued that information extractors should be considered a part of an ontology when linguistic rules are used as the IE technique [11] [12] [13] [14] . This technique basically relies on regular expressions that indicate the presence of ontological concepts in the text and is described in detail in Section 4.1.1. The authors of OBIE systems that use other IE techniques, such as classification and web-based search, generally ignore this question.

Several authors have argued that information extractors should be considered a part of an ontology when linguistic rules are used as the IE technique.


A further implication of our present results for atmospheric processing of pollen is that, depending on the species and humidity regime, the pollenkitt may have a considerably different response to condensation of sulfate, nitrate, and other highly hygroscopic species. The response of pollen to atmospheric aging as a result of the different water uptake properties may therefore be even more diverse than expected from fresh pollenkitt. Apart from affecting the clouddroplet-forming potential, secondary aerosol formation, and surface chemistry of pollen particles suspended in the atmosphere, the different response in water uptake also has potentially profound implications for the adhesive and rupture characteristics of pollen, and thus for biological and transport processes (Lin et al., 2015) . Furthermore, understanding the pollenkitt-water interactions for pure and mixed pollenkitts may provide important insights into responses in allergenicity and biological function of pollenkitt in polluted and pristine environments.

Apart from affecting the clouddroplet-forming potential, secondary aerosol formation, and surface chemistry of pollen particles suspended in the atmosphere, the different response in water uptake also has potentially profound implications for the adhesive and rupture characteristics of pollen, and thus for biological and transport processes.


This study is a continuation of the previous study of the thermal equilibrium of the atmosphere with a convective adjustment which was published in the JOURNAL OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES (Manabe and Strickler, 1964) . Hereafter, we shall identify this study by M.S. In M.S. the vertical distribution of absolute humidity was given for the computation of equilibrium temperature, and its dependence upon atmospheric temperature was not taken into consideration. However, the absolute humidity in the actual atmosphere strongly depends upon temperature. Fig. 1 shows the distribution of relative humidity as a function of latitude and height for summer and winter. According to this figure, the zonal mean distributions of relative humidity of two seasons closely resemble one another, whereas those of absolute humidity do not. These data suggest that, given sufficient time, the atmosphere tends to restore a certain climatological distribution of relative humidity responding to the change of temperature. If the moisture content of the atmosphere depends upon atmospheric temperature, the effective height of the source of outgoing long-wave radiation also depends upon atmospheric temperature. Given a vertical distribution of relative humidity, the warmer the atmospheric temperature, the higher the effective source of outgoing radiation. Accordingly, the dependence of the outgoing long-wave radiation is less than that to be expected from the fourth-power law of Stefan-Boltzman. Therefore, the equilIbrium temperature of the atmosphere with a fixed relative humidity depends more upon the solar constant or upon absorbers such as CO 2 and 0 3 , than does that with a fixed absolute humidity, in order to satisfy the condition of radiative convective equilibrium. In this study, we will repeat the computation of radiative convective equilibrium of the atmosphere, this time for an atmosphere with a given distribution of relative humidity instead of that for an atmosphere with a given distribution of absolute humidity as was carried out in M.S.

This study is a continuation of the previous study of the thermal equilibrium of the atmosphere with a convective adjustment which was published in the JOURNAL OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES.


Fewer than half the sample were regular park visitors with almost 40 % having visited a park at least once per week in the past 3 months, with a higher percentage of boys (46 %) than girls (29 %) visiting at least once per week. Sex differences in park visitation is also likely to be a reflection of or related to sex differences in preferences of features. In addition, 43 % reported that they usually visited with friends, which reinforces that the social aspect of park visitation is important for this age group [15, 17] . It is not surprising that differences in important park features were observed for girls and boys as previous studies with youth have found activities in parks to be gender specific [16, 21] . More than half (52 %) of the boys were from schools located in high SES areas which may have had some impact on the results as previous studies in Melbourne have identified that parks in socio-economically disadvantaged areas have fewer amenities likely to promote physical activity than parks in other areas [26] . Therefore, it is possible that the boys attending the school located in the low SES area may have been more likely to be exposed to parks that had fewer or poorer quality amenities/facilities compared with the participants from schools located in high SES areas and this may have influenced their perceptions of the images presented in this study. Girls were distributed slightly more evenly across the sample with 29 % of participants from schools in low SES areas, 45 % mid SES and 26 % from schools in high SES areas. It is important to note; however, that SES was defined at the neighbourhood level according to school location. This may not be the same neighbourhood in which participants lived, and it may also not reflect the individual or family level SES of participants.

In addition, 43 % reported that they usually visited with friends, which reinforces that the social aspect of park visitation is important for this age group.

It is not surprising that differences in important park features were observed for girls and boys as previous studies with youth have found activities in parks to be gender specific.

More than half (52 %) of the boys were from schools located in high SES areas which may have had some impact on the results as previous studies in Melbourne have identified that parks in socio-economically disadvantaged areas have fewer amenities likely to promote physical activity than parks in other areas.


It has been thought that employing optical fiber technologies instead of electronics can revolutionize the information and communication industry in future. High bit rate, high transmission efficiency, high band width, immunity from electromagnetic noise, etc., are the most outstanding advantages of optical communication systems over electronics based technologies [1] . In order to obtain complete advantages of optical communication, the communication network should be completely optical and all the communication process should be done in optical domain without any electronics. For this purpose we need to have all optical devices.

High bit rate, high transmission efficiency, high band width, immunity from electromagnetic noise, etc., are the most outstanding advantages of optical communication systems over electronics based technologies.


In the case of real fluids in permanent motion, the total energy or total head H decreases along the trajectory, as a consequence of the work carried out by the forces resistant to the motion and developed by the interaction between the fluid motion and the walls of the pipe. The decrease of the energy line per unit of length is equal to the work carried out by the resistant forces, per unit of liquid weight and per unit of length, which is usually designated by head loss per unit of length or unitary friction loss, and denoted by J [12, 13, 14] . This head losses can be computed, for example, by the Flamant Formula [10] .

The decrease of the energy line per unit of length is equal to the work carried out by the resistant forces, per unit of liquid weight and per unit of length, which is usually designated by head loss per unit of length or unitary friction loss, and denoted by J.

This head losses can be computed, for example, by the Flamant Formula.


In most requirements engineering documents, emphasis is placed on the chosen alternative. The discarded ones, and the arguments that led to a particular choice, are often not explicitly recorded and documented [17] . This makes it difficult to retrace decisions and explore alternatives. In our experience, the same holds for software architecture documentation.

The discarded ones, and the arguments that led to a particular choice, are often not explicitly recorded and documented.


The global fuel crises in the 1970s led to awareness amongst many countries of their incapability to oil embargoes [1] . Moreover, limited source and high price of petroleum as well as the global warming have led to investigations for renewable fuels. Even though the taken precautions with Kyoto to the United Nations, during the period 1990-2004, as a result of the demand of transport sector, global CO 2 emission level increased by 27% [2, 3] . Renewable Energy Directive was declared by the European Parliament to create legal frameworks [2] . The consumed energy from renewable sources of transport sector must be 10% or higher of the final energy consumption according to Renewable Energy Directive [2, 4] . Therefore, considerable attention was focused on the investigation of renewable fuels, with particular reference to the ethanol.

The global fuel crises in the 1970s led to awareness amongst many countries of their incapability to oil embargoes.

Even though the taken precautions with Kyoto to the United Nations, during the period 1990-2004, as a result of the demand of transport sector, global CO 2 emission level increased by 27%.

Renewable Energy Directive was declared by the European Parliament to create legal frameworks.

The consumed energy from renewable sources of transport sector must be 10% or higher of the final energy consumption according to Renewable Energy Directive.


The SEM images of original and iron oxide-coated Isp pumice particles are shown in Figures 1(a) and 1(b) , respectively. The porous structure of original pumice particles and partial coverage/filling of these pores by the coating can be clearly seen in these images. Similar to our SEM results, the study shows that original pumice surfaces were apparently occupied by iron oxides, which were formed during the coating process [25] . Various physicochemical characteristics of all pumice particles were presented in detail in our previous publications [7, 16] .

Similar to our SEM results, the study shows that original pumice surfaces were apparently occupied by iron oxides, which were formed during the coating process.

Various physicochemical characteristics of all pumice particles were presented in detail in our previous publications.


Until now, there have been twenty one projects of sectoral type undertaken in Poland (see Appendix A). It should be noted that as much as 7 out of 21 sectoral project exercises in Poland (more than 30%) deals with the future of traditional branches of economy (coal, lignite and copper extraction, founding, wood industry). The thematic scope of the remaining projects corresponds to the top industries and technologies dealt with by the foresight exercises executed in Europe, i.e., environmental engineering, material engineering; electrical and electronic engineering; manufacturing engineering; biomedical engineering, manufacturing, electricity, gas and water supply, forestry (Popper et al., 2007) . Project number 11 (Technological foresight 'NT FOR Podlaskie 2020'. Regional strategy of nanotechnology development) draws special attention. It is located in one of the least economically developed regions of Poland (and the European Union) with low levels of population's economic welfare, little business competitiveness and low innovation in the spheres of technology, processes and products. The project is based on the feed forward logic which assumes that the future changes of the environment will be effectively anticipated thanks to the project results. This should allow the region to chart the development trajectory which doesn't imitate others but heads in the direction where the leaders will be in the future.

The thematic scope of the remaining projects corresponds to the top industries and technologies dealt with by the foresight exercises executed in Europe, i.e., environmental engineering, material engineering; electrical and electronic engineering; manufacturing engineering; biomedical engineering, manufacturing, electricity, gas and water supply, forestry.


Although it was not derived as a central topic, qualitative research is also an important topic. Since most of the studies have approached geriatric frailty in terms of observable, external aspects of the phenomenon, it is necessary to conduct qualitative research that presents a comprehensive understanding of older people's overall experiences of frailty in the future. The description of older people's experience of frailty will provide caregivers and health care professionals with a better understanding of frail older people [30] .

The description of older people's experience of frailty will provide caregivers and health care professionals with a better understanding of frail older people.


Frailty is a condition in which an individual continues to be at a risk of injury for a long period or an individual's overall health status can be compromised [4] . It can occur in all age groups, but it is a major healthcare problem for older people because it is closely related to the aging process [5] . Considering the vulnerability of older people, even when there is no physiological functional decline or defi-ciency, if the social, emotional, and environmental support is reduced, frailty may occur and it should be approached by multidimensional assessments [6] .

Frailty is a condition in which an individual continues to be at a risk of injury for a long period or an individual's overall health status can be compromised.

It can occur in all age groups, but it is a major healthcare problem for older people because it is closely related to the aging process.

Considering the vulnerability of older people, even when there is no physiological functional decline or defi-ciency, if the social, emotional, and environmental support is reduced, frailty may occur and it should be approached by multidimensional assessments.


As described above, we investigated of central research topics of studies on frailty using the co-occurrence frequency and three centrality indicators, and the results of this study showed that the central topics consisted mostly of physiological variables except for 'depression' and 'quality of life'. Frailty has been identified as a predictor variable for cognitive decline and depression in older women, and prevention and delay of frailty in older people have also been reported to be important in the prevention of cognitive impairment and depression [26] . In addition, it has been reported that research has shown that the prevention of depression leads to the reduction of frailty, so attention is being paid to the relationship between frailty and depression [27] . Especially in the old age, social support is reduced for various reasons such as the loss of family members and friends, retirement, and unemployment, leading to the exacerbation of frailty in terms of social and environmental aspects. Therefore, assessment of the status of the social support system, finances, the degree of social isolation, and degree of loneliness in older people is required [28] . In addition, with respect to environmental aspects, environmental hazards that can trigger or accelerate frailty need to be defined and evaluated on an ongoing basis [29] . Moreover, it is also necessary to take measures for older people considering the multi-faceted characteristics of frailty encompassing physical, mental, social, and environmental frailty from a comprehensive perspective, such as the improvement of the residential environment, improvement of transportation, strengthening of visiting nursing service, improvement of the volunteering service system, and development of cultural leisure activities.

Frailty has been identified as a predictor variable for cognitive decline and depression in older women, and prevention and delay of frailty in older people have also been reported to be important in the prevention of cognitive impairment and depression.

In addition, it has been reported that research has shown that the prevention of depression leads to the reduction of frailty, so attention is being paid to the relationship between frailty and depression.

Therefore, assessment of the status of the social support system, finances, the degree of social isolation, and degree of loneliness in older people is required.

In addition, with respect to environmental aspects, environmental hazards that can trigger or accelerate frailty need to be defined and evaluated on an ongoing basis.


Tissue engineering platforms designed for regenerative medicine aim to improve cell viability and engraftment into the damaged organ areas and to promote neoformation of functional tissue. Over the past decade there has been a considerable interest in cell-biomaterial constructs capable to provide an appropriate microenvironment for successful cell transplantation, differentiation and improved cellular functionality. Cell replacement therapy for attaining functional repair requires a biocompatible and biodegradable delivery vehicle capable of successfully maintaining cell viability during transport and of appropriately controlling their release (Ratner 2014) .

Cell replacement therapy for attaining functional repair requires a biocompatible and biodegradable delivery vehicle capable of successfully maintaining cell viability during transport and of appropriately controlling their release.


Our starting point is an observation on Heintze's result [25] . An open ball B(p, R) is called geodesic contractible if for any point x ∈ B(p, R), there is a unique radial minimal geodesic from p to x; i.e., R is no more than injectivity radius of p. The observation in Theorem 1.1 is that, if equality holds in (1.4), then the norm of Jacobi fields along radial geodesic starting from spherical center to M is that of constant curvature δ. Moreover, the convexity of B(p, R) can be weakened to be geodesic contractible; see §2 for a complete proof of Theorem 1.1.

Our starting point is an observation on Heintze's result.