Granular materials are ubiquitous in our daily lives. They play an important role in many industries, such as mining, agriculture, and construction. They clearly are also important for geological processes (Grekova 2012b) . Such model systems are a useful staring point in the description of ocean sediments and sedimentary rocks. In many cases, the foundations of buildings and underground facilities are located in non-cohesive soils.

They clearly are also important for geological processes.


Railway ballast is the railway track foundation that is composed of graded stone ballast. The increasing flow of rail transport may inevitably deform or damage the railway line. In order to ensure train safety, smoothness, and fast running, and to extend the service life of various components of the railway track, the maintenance work of the line needs to be done timely to keep the line equipment in good condition [1] [2] [3] .

In order to ensure train safety, smoothness, and fast running, and to extend the service life of various components of the railway track, the maintenance work of the line needs to be done timely to keep the line equipment in good condition.


Because the ballast on newly-built railway track or the ballast just after overhaul of railway track is relatively loose, the bearing capacity and stability of railway track are very poor, so the ballast compactness is a very important index of the railway ballast. In order to improve the railway ballast compactness, the tamping operations are used. As the graded stone ballast of railway is granular media of different shapes and sizes, during tamping process, the railway ballast compactness is difficult to detect, the tamping effect is difficult to assess, and the selection of tamping parameters is usually dependent on field trials and practical experience, for lack of theoretical basis [4] .

As the graded stone ballast of railway is granular media of different shapes and sizes, during tamping process, the railway ballast compactness is difficult to detect, the tamping effect is difficult to assess, and the selection of tamping parameters is usually dependent on field trials and practical experience, for lack of theoretical basis.


The PST histogram was shown to have an AR structure given in (22). This AR representation provides a general method for modeling a PST histogram given the stimulus and recovery function, which leads to a well-defined estimator of these functions from the observed histogram data. When estimating the stimulus from the PST histogram, it is frequently assumed that the time since the most recent firing is known for each occurrence in a bin (Johnson and Swami 1983; Miller 1985) . Such estimators require this additional side information concerning firing intervals which is not present in the PST histogram. Thus the exponential in (21) is introduced to estimate the probability of the time since the most recent occurrence. Estimators based on this latter representation can be considered as estimators using incomplete information.

When estimating the stimulus from the PST histogram, it is frequently assumed that the time since the most recent firing is known for each occurrence in a bin.


With its enormously promising potential, the Rogun dam may well be a perfect solution for CA and the AfPak region's growing energy needs in the long-run. Therefore there is no need to look for new shareholders at this point. If approved by the World Bank initiated study, Central Asian states, Uzbekistan being the most interested party, will support the project [7] . Besides that, the World Bank is also planning to assist with finding investors. But for Tajikistan alone, the project is (a) not an energy solution within the short and medium term as it is soundly claimed; (b) economically extremely burdensome; and (c) socio-politically highly destructive.

If approved by the World Bank initiated study, Central Asian states, Uzbekistan being the most interested party, will support the project.


One possible solution to the case may be operating the Rogun and Nurek dams in combination with a coordinated scheme that would allow keeping the irrigational water mode. In other words, releasing certain amounts of water from the Nurek dam and collecting more water from the Rogun dam, during the irrigational period, would allow Rogun HPS to generate electricity from the collected water during the winter and then storing this water in the Nurek reservoir. Organizing this scheme could minimize the winter release of water and therefore be a solution for guaranteeing the irrigational water regime while enabling generation of electricity to meet the peak winter electricity demand [50] .

Organizing this scheme could minimize the winter release of water and therefore be a solution for guaranteeing the irrigational water regime while enabling generation of electricity to meet the peak winter electricity demand.


Moreover, the energy supplied as gas and electricity and used for heating and cooking in the rural areas of Tajikistan is a major responsibility and provided by the state. Since these energy sources are generally in undersupply and suffer from malfunctioning, users are reluctant to pay. Instead, households search for substitutes such as kerosene, charcoal, cotton stalks, manure and fuel-wood. The latter are illegally gained from tree plantings and the expansion of agricultural land and illegal logging has contributed further to the on-going land degradation. Both the environment and the population would thus benefit from afforestation projects that would also allow the sequestration of large amounts of the greenhouse gas Carbon Dioxide and thus contribute to the mitigation of global warming [55] .

Both the environment and the population would thus benefit from afforestation projects that would also allow the sequestration of large amounts of the greenhouse gas Carbon Dioxide and thus contribute to the mitigation of global warming.


The sulphonamides were the first effective chemotherapeutic agents to be employed systemically for the prevention and cure of bacterial infections in human beings (Mandel and Petri, 1996) . Trimethoprim (TMP) is commonly used in combination with sulphamethoxazole (SMZ) as an effective anti-microbial agent. The combination is used in the treatment of urinary tract infection and as a powerful bacteriostatic agent (Qureshi et al., 1997) . The introduction of TMP in combination with SMZ constitutes an important advance in the development of chemically effective antimicrobial agents. The antimicrobial activity of the combination results from the action of the drugs on two steps of the enzymatic pathway for the synthesis of tetrahydrofolic acid (Hitchings, 1961) .

The sulphonamides were the first effective chemotherapeutic agents to be employed systemically for the prevention and cure of bacterial infections in human beings.

The combination is used in the treatment of urinary tract infection and as a powerful bacteriostatic agent.

The antimicrobial activity of the combination results from the action of the drugs on two steps of the enzymatic pathway for the synthesis of tetrahydrofolic acid.


The renewed interest in the group approach in recent years, however, has almost exclusively focused on the dual aspects, i.e., on generating valid inequalities, which can be applied directly to the original integer program. This is also the viewpoint of the present paper. For an overview we refer to the surveys [17, sections 19.4-19.6] and [2, 3] .

For an overview we refer to the surveys [17, sections 19.4-19.6] and.


On the other hand chronic subtherapeutic use of antimicrobial agents in domestic livestock may control bacterial diseases as well as promote growth. Nevertheless, this approach may be a factor in transmitting antibiotic-resistant Salmonella to humans through the food chain (White et al., 2001) . If the frequency of drug resistance increases, the choice of antimicrobials for treatment of systemic salmonellosis in humans becomes more limited. Globally, the three main causes of antimicrobial resistance have been identified as use of antimicrobial agents in agriculture, overprescribing by physicians, and misuse by patients (IFT, 2003) . S. Typhimurium DT 104 has a broad host reservoir and is usually resistant to five antibiotics (ampicillin, chloramphinicol, streptomycin, sulphonamides, and tetracycline) and can be resistant to others (e.g., fluoroquinolones) (IFT, 2003) . So the increasing expansion of exotic chicken breeds, the public health importance, asymptomatic property and creating the drug resistance make S. Typhimurium more difficult to control both in chicken and human beings. To solve this problem there should be an option that is developing a poultry breed which has relatively better resistance to the disease.

Nevertheless, this approach may be a factor in transmitting antibiotic-resistant Salmonella to humans through the food chain.

Globally, the three main causes of antimicrobial resistance have been identified as use of antimicrobial agents in agriculture, overprescribing by physicians, and misuse by patients.

S. Typhimurium DT 104 has a broad host reservoir and is usually resistant to five antibiotics (ampicillin, chloramphinicol, streptomycin, sulphonamides, and tetracycline) and can be resistant to others (e.g., fluoroquinolones).


Some poultry diseases which have public health significance are symptomatic at poultry farm level so that it is easier for control and prevention as food-borne zoonoses. However others are asymptomatic which make the control and prevention at poultry farm level difficult. S. Typhimurium is one of the asymptomatic poultry diseases which have great impact on both the production and public health aspects (Velge et al., 2005) .

S. Typhimurium is one of the asymptomatic poultry diseases which have great impact on both the production and public health aspects.


In this post hoc subgroup analysis of the PREVAIL study, USL255 was significantly more efficacious than placebo regardless of a patient's level of treatment resistance at baseline, defined based upon both the number of concomitant AEDs and the number of lifetime AEDs. This is notable given that prior history of failure of AEDs to achieve adequate seizure control is associated with a lower probability of response to a newly administered treatment [3] . The current results are consistent with the primary findings from the PREVAIL study, which demonstrated that USL255 significantly reduced median percent seizure frequency and significantly improved responder rate relative to placebo in the entire patient population [8] . The current findings also are in line with a post hoc analysis reported along with the primary PREVAIL findings in which efficacy was evaluated according to the number of baseline concomitant AEDs. In that analysis, patients taking the most concomitant AEDs (≥3) showed significantly greater seizure control with USL255 than with placebo as assessed by both median percent seizure reduction (52.8% [n = 33] versus 11.4% [n = 38], P b .001) and responder rate (57.6% versus 13.2%, P b .001) [8] .

This is notable given that prior history of failure of AEDs to achieve adequate seizure control is associated with a lower probability of response to a newly administered treatment.

The current results are consistent with the primary findings from the PREVAIL study, which demonstrated that USL255 significantly reduced median percent seizure frequency and significantly improved responder rate relative to placebo in the entire patient population.

In that analysis, patients taking the most concomitant AEDs (≥3) showed significantly greater seizure control with USL255 than with placebo as assessed by both median percent seizure reduction (52.8% [n = 33] versus 11.4% [n = 38], P b .001) and responder rate (57.6% versus 13.2%, P b .001).


Cardiac MRI (CMR) is utilised regularly in addition to echocardiography for long-term monitoring of Fontan patients [8] . It is very appealing as it avoids ionising radiation, though it does involve longer acquisition time but is able to provide a wealth of anatomical and physiological information. Cardiothoracic CT remains a valuable adjunct in situations where patients have contraindications to CMR or in specific clinical situations as described later.

Cardiac MRI (CMR) is utilised regularly in addition to echocardiography for long-term monitoring of Fontan patients.


The main disadvantage of semidefinite programming is the required amount of computation, which scales as O(n 3 + c 3 ), where n is the matrix size and c is the number of constraints (Borchers, 1999) . While our current implementation can handle data sets with up to n ≈ 2500 inputs, many applications in computer vision and pattern recognition involve much larger data sets. Thus our main task for future research is to develop shortcuts and approximations for large-scale implementations.

The main disadvantage of semidefinite programming is the required amount of computation, which scales as O(n 3 + c 3 ), where n is the matrix size and c is the number of constraints.


Unlike solid, sticky BTH, the powdery quality of East Coast heroin makes it particularly amenable to rapid adulteration, lending itself to the vicissitudes of quality that branding attempts to mask. Frequent undulations in heroin quality due to competition and profiteering on brand reputation could be responsible for fluctuating tolerance making its users more vulnerable to overdose. The unusually high availability of detoxification opportunities offered to Philadelphia's drug users through its many recovery houses located close to the temptation of 24 hour drug sales may also pose particular risk of low tolerance and relapse (Fairbanks, 2009) . It is possible that San Francisco users who are driven to buy poor quality heroin in the open market when they cannot reach their regular dealers are exposed to similar undulations of purity and tolerance. These questions might be usefully studied in the future.

The unusually high availability of detoxification opportunities offered to Philadelphia's drug users through its many recovery houses located close to the temptation of 24 hour drug sales may also pose particular risk of low tolerance and relapse.


In common with other qualitative research using relatively small, non-random samples, it is unknown how generalizable are our findings. Although we know that the two heroin source types are widely distributed on their respective sides of the Mississippi River, observed practices such as using more than one syringe to administer a single dose of BTH may be local or widespread. The move to the use of telecommunications to distribute heroin through private dealers is well established but it is unclear how typical Philadelphia's street market is of others around the country; a broader sample of cities could tell us more. Although our goal was to recruit a 'typical street based' user sample in both cities, our sampling was not random and bias may have been introduced. Respondent-Driven Sampling aims to yield a representative sample from small samples and while validated for some studies and populations may have limitations in reaching the most stigmatized and hidden populations (Rudolph et al., 2011; Burt et al., 2010) . Sampling biases could also result from the targeted recruitment of the most socially excluded population of homeless or precariously housed heroin injectors as their methods of acquiring information about heroin strength may differ from those with more resources. The study was designed to examine the use and purchase of black tar and powder heroin, which was pursued to the point of saturation, but the data about drug market models emerged fortuitously and was analyzed retrospectively after data collection was complete. The former findings are therefore more robust while the latter would benefit from further study. However, all reported findings were triangulated across multiple data sources.

Respondent-Driven Sampling aims to yield a representative sample from small samples and while validated for some studies and populations may have limitations in reaching the most stigmatized and hidden populations.


In the meta-analysis conducted by Kramer, there were not significant differences in macronutrient intake between the groups of weight gain in early pregnancy, while in the late pregnancy there were significant differences between categories and particularly in the case of overweight women. The total amount of protein, fat and carbohydrates contributed to weight gain. Energy intake from macronutrients was associated with weight gain only among overweight women [25] . In another study, weight gain at the end of the second trimester of pregnancy was associated with a higher proportion of protein and animal fat intake and with low intakes of carbohydrates [26] .

Energy intake from macronutrients was associated with weight gain only among overweight women.

In another study, weight gain at the end of the second trimester of pregnancy was associated with a higher proportion of protein and animal fat intake and with low intakes of carbohydrates.


Since the number of wireless users has increased exponentially for the last decade, the spectrum scarcity problem has become a critical issue, mainly caused by fixed spectrum sharing strategies [1] . Cognitive radio (CR) is a new wireless communication technology that aims to improve the spectrum usage. Fundamentally, it gives unlicensed wireless users, also called secondary users or CR users (CRUs), an opportunity to access the unused parts of the spectrum without interfering with the licensed users, also called primary users (PUs) [1, 2] . In CR networks, CRUs coexist in the common communication area with the PUs and take advantage of the unutilized portions of the entire spectrum, generally described as spectrum holes [3] . Spectrum holes are generally determined by utilizing numerous signal sensing and detection algorithms [4, 5] .

Since the number of wireless users has increased exponentially for the last decade, the spectrum scarcity problem has become a critical issue, mainly caused by fixed spectrum sharing strategies.

Fundamentally, it gives unlicensed wireless users, also called secondary users or CR users (CRUs), an opportunity to access the unused parts of the spectrum without interfering with the licensed users, also called primary users (PUs).

In CR networks, CRUs coexist in the common communication area with the PUs and take advantage of the unutilized portions of the entire spectrum, generally described as spectrum holes.

Spectrum holes are generally determined by utilizing numerous signal sensing and detection algorithms.


We use the MHD version of the single fluid code PLUTO in the ideal and inviscid limit for spherical 3D coordinates [10] . The Northward displacement of The conservative form of the equations are integrated using a Harten, Lax, Van Leer approximate Riemann solver (hll) associated with a diffusive limiter (minmod). The divergence of the magnetic field is ensured by a mixed hyperbolic/parabolic divergence cleaning technique (DIV CLEANING) [17] .

We use the MHD version of the single fluid code PLUTO in the ideal and inviscid limit for spherical 3D coordinates.

The divergence of the magnetic field is ensured by a mixed hyperbolic/parabolic divergence cleaning technique (DIV CLEANING).


Linda Darling-Hammond, Professor of Education at Stanford University and founder of the School Redesign Network in her research on school restructuring and teacher quality, identified the importance of preparing and developing teachers as an important feature of what are thought of as world-class models of education in countries such as Finland, Ontario, and Singapore (Darling-Hammond & Rothman, 2011) . She reports that important lessons can be learned from countries such as these, whose educational models result in part from their success with developing competent teachers. Additionally, she explains that efforts to improve teacher effectiveness lead to higher and more equitable student achievement. This is evidence once again of the need for developing competent teachers as an important focus of educational reform in the United States.

Linda Darling-Hammond, Professor of Education at Stanford University and founder of the School Redesign Network in her research on school restructuring and teacher quality, identified the importance of preparing and developing teachers as an important feature of what are thought of as world-class models of education in countries such as Finland, Ontario, and Singapore.


Support for a competency-based approach to education is widely promoted by recognized authors and experts in world class models of education. Vivien Stewart, a well-known expert, author and speaker in international models of education argues that the quality of our schools rest upon the quality of its teachers. Stewart reports that 21 st century teachers need to possess 21 st century literacies in order to create the learning environments that will enable their students to develop such skills (Stewart, 2012) . She identified the importance of a competency-based approach that focuses on the quality of educational outcomes as well as content and skills that adequately prepare students for a rapidly changing global environment as an essential component of developing a world class model of education. Stewart describes world-class models of education as those that hold teacher preparation programs accountable for initial teacher competencies.

Stewart reports that 21 st century teachers need to possess 21 st century literacies in order to create the learning environments that will enable their students to develop such skills.


There is a known phenomenon with traditional calibration statistics (such as Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit) in prediction models validation/calibration studies with many thousands included subjects, in which often p values are highly significant despite visually good calibration curves, very small absolute errors, and acceptable calibration slope and intercept. This occurs because with a large sample size the power is big enough to detect, as statistically significant, irrelevant small differences. At the other extreme, one must be cautious in the interpretation of calibration results with small cohorts, because, even when the calibration curve, the calibration intercept and slope points to a miscalibration, the p values of traditional calibration statistics may not be significant, raising concern about the study low power [25] . Therefore, in small cohorts, the lack of correspondence between expected and observed probabilities can also result in misaligned calibration curves, when sample size cannot be enough to achieve statistical significance [26] . In addition, specific subgroups of patients were included in these studies, whose results may not be fully transposed to general populations of critical care patients in different scenarios.

At the other extreme, one must be cautious in the interpretation of calibration results with small cohorts, because, even when the calibration curve, the calibration intercept and slope points to a miscalibration, the p values of traditional calibration statistics may not be significant, raising concern about the study low power.

Therefore, in small cohorts, the lack of correspondence between expected and observed probabilities can also result in misaligned calibration curves, when sample size cannot be enough to achieve statistical significance.


Inflammation increases the loss of telomere length in cultured proliferative cells [2] . Thus in theory, telomere length is influenced by the number of replications and inflammation. Patients with type 1 diabetes and diabetic nephropathy have an increased mortality compared with patients without diabetic nephropathy. If short telomere length is a measure of biological age and of inflammatory burden, then telomere length might be of value in patients with diabetic nephropathy by pointing out individuals at high risk. In the present study we aimed to examine differences in telomere length between patients with or without diabetic nephropathy. We also evaluated the prognostic value of telomere length with regards to allcause mortality, end-stage renal disease and progression of renal disease.

Inflammation increases the loss of telomere length in cultured proliferative cells.


The reduction of light scattering in a fibrous tissue is based on matching the refractive indices of tissue components either by partial replacement of the interstitial fluid with the immersion agent, having a higher refractive index, or by increasing the concentration of proteins and mucopolysacharides in the interstitial fluid due to water diffusion from the tissue, caused by osmosis. In this case, the refractive index of the interstitial fluid approaches that of the scattering fibrils. Moreover, the optical homogeneity of the tissue can increase due to denser packing of collagen fibres under the conditions of dehydration caused by immersion agents [14] .

Moreover, the optical homogeneity of the tissue can increase due to denser packing of collagen fibres under the conditions of dehydration caused by immersion agents.


This study was designed to evaluate the importance of individual physiological traits as part of different adaptive strategies to drought used by different amaranth genotypes. Therefore, the effects of soil water deficits on leaf expansion, stomatal conductance, and transpiration in four genotypes of vegetable amaranth were quantified using data from two pot experiments conducted in a temperature controlled greenhouse. Even though the amount of soil per pot was { somewhat different in the two experiments, the pattern of decrease of FTSW was consistent. Except for RRC 1027 in 2000, total transpirable soil water held in the pots was similar for the four genotypes in each year. This indicates that FTSW as defined in our study is a reproducible indicator of soil water status, despite many uncertainties in determining FTSW as discussed elsewhere (Sadras and Milroy, 1996) .

This indicates that FTSW as defined in our study is a reproducible indicator of soil water status, despite many uncertainties in determining FTSW as discussed elsewhere.


The interest in the propagation of galactic cosmic ray (GCR) electrons and positrons from astrophysical sources, like supernova remnants (SNRs), has recently been revived, mostly in light of contemporary, partly "anomalous" measurements [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] . In the context of their possible explanation as exotic signals from dark matter annihilation or decay, it is usually believed that astrophysical sources of GCRs only lead to local power law spectra, in contrast to strong features from exotic sources. This however relies on a simplified picture of propagation assuming not only a steady state situation but also a continuous spatial distribution of sources.

The interest in the propagation of galactic cosmic ray (GCR) electrons and positrons from astrophysical sources, like supernova remnants (SNRs), has recently been revived, mostly in light of contemporary, partly "anomalous" measurements.


The situation can be easily improved on by reinstating the intrinsic cut-off in the source spectrum, E cut . For the bulk of (mature) SNRs, the cut-off energy is naturally expected to lie in the TeV range [32] . Figures 5 and 6 show the calculated expectation value and the uncertainty bands for E cut = 20 TeV. The cut-off improves the fit to the HESS data such that all data lie in the 68 % uncertainty band.

For the bulk of (mature) SNRs, the cut-off energy is naturally expected to lie in the TeV range.


The use of spatial proximity matrices that consider contiguity is important to define the form of neighborhood, which can be rook, queen or bishop. These criteria are based on the movements of the pieces of chess game. Thus, considering any A i area, all the areas that have non-null intersection with the A i area, will be considered its neighbor according to the queen criterion. Considering the rook criterion, only the ones having a common side with A i will be its neighbors. For the bishop criterion, the A i neighboring areas will be those which ones are in diagonal with A i . In literature, it is possible to find variations of these contiguity schemes, for example, the union of the rook and queen criteria, which receives different values according to the criterion (SHORTRIDGE, 2007) .

In literature, it is possible to find variations of these contiguity schemes, for example, the union of the rook and queen criteria, which receives different values according to the criterion.


Brazil occupies a prominent position among the soybean producers, second behind the United States. Soybeans, as a commercial crop, came to the State of Paraná in the mid-1950s. In 2010/2011 crop season, it was estimated a production of 13 million tons. In 2004/2005 crop season, Paraná produced 9.7 million tons while Mato Grosso, the major national producer, contributed with 17.9 million tons (CONAB, 2010) .

In 2004/2005 crop season, Paraná produced 9.7 million tons while Mato Grosso, the major national producer, contributed with 17.9 million tons.


The vector of weighted averages (Wz) is obtained multiplying the transposed vector of the deviations by the spatial proximity matrix with normalized lines, where each element of any I line, originally sets to 1, is divided by the number of non-null elements of the same line. As result, each wz i element indicates a value corresponding to the average of the neighboring values of the i area, characterizing a spatial mobile average (DRUCK et al., 2004) . To test the significance of Moran's I index, an empirical reference distribution is generated, randomizing the values of the vegetation indices in the areas and calculating a new value of the index for each permutation made. As just one of the arrangements corresponds to the observed situation, if the value of the measured index corresponds to an "extreme" of this distribution, then it deals with a value with statistical significance.

As result, each wz i element indicates a value corresponding to the average of the neighboring values of the i area, characterizing a spatial mobile average.


The detection of residential regions has very important significance in urban development, map updating, and disaster management. In recent years, a wide range of automatic residential region detection techniques have been reported [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] . They could fall in the following three categories: indexbased methods, image classification, and visual attention models.

In recent years, a wide range of automatic residential region detection techniques have been reported.


To date, according to studies based on isozymes and DNA markers, the Polish populations of A. alba are characterized by lower levels of genetic variation within populations and higher genetic differentiation among populations than those of other coniferous species, however, these studies are not comprehensive [17, 22, 23] . Based on these studies, a hypothesis is proposed for two distinct gene pools of A. alba in Poland. Nevertheless, a recent study of Polish populations of A. alba using a strictly maternally inherited marker indicated that it migrated to Polish territory from only one refugium located in western Europe [24] . However, the possible participation of the pollen gene pool in the formation of Polish populations of A. alba was not considered in that study. Currently, A. alba is threatened by human impact and future climate change in large parts of its natural range, including the northern edge of its distribution in Poland [25, 26] . Thus, a precise assessment of the Holocene history of A. alba might help in developing appropriate conservation strategies because, in plants with a different post-glacial origin, significant differences in the levels of genetic variation, and thus growth variability and climate sensitivity, are displayed [27] .

To date, according to studies based on isozymes and DNA markers, the Polish populations of A. alba are characterized by lower levels of genetic variation within populations and higher genetic differentiation among populations than those of other coniferous species, however, these studies are not comprehensive.

Nevertheless, a recent study of Polish populations of A. alba using a strictly maternally inherited marker indicated that it migrated to Polish territory from only one refugium located in western Europe.

Currently, A. alba is threatened by human impact and future climate change in large parts of its natural range, including the northern edge of its distribution in Poland.

Thus, a precise assessment of the Holocene history of A. alba might help in developing appropriate conservation strategies because, in plants with a different post-glacial origin, significant differences in the levels of genetic variation, and thus growth variability and climate sensitivity, are displayed.


Present research is the further study which deals with preparation of activated carbon filled epoxy nanocomposites using activated carbon treated with two chemical reagents (H 3 PO 4 or KOH) [15, 16] . Morphological properties of nano-activated carbons and AC filled epoxy nanocomposites were studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Thermogravimetry and derivative thermogravimetry studies were carried out to understand the influence of activated carbon based nano-particles on the thermal stability of epoxy nanocomposites. X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) was performed on activated carbon filled epoxy nanocomposites to determine the degree of crystalline or amorphous nature of the AC filled epoxy composites.

Present research is the further study which deals with preparation of activated carbon filled epoxy nanocomposites using activated carbon treated with two chemical reagents (H 3 PO 4 or KOH).


The conversion of empty fruit bunch (EFB) to activated carbon will serve a double purpose. First, agricultural waste by-products are converted to useful, value-added adsorbents and second, it represents a potential source of adsorbents which will contribute to solve part of the wastewater treatment problems. Literature review show that limited studies conducted on the utilization of EFB into activated carbon [5, 6] . Bamboo is an inexpensive and fast-grown resource with favourable physical and mechanical properties comparable to some common wood species. Bamboo has great potential as an alternative to wood for production of activated carbon for many adsorptive applications [7] . Coconut shells have little or no economic value and their disposal is not only costly but may also cause environmental problems. Coconut shell is suitable for preparing microporousactivated carbon due to its excellent natural structure and low ash content [8, 9] . The thermal stabilization of polymer nanocomposites is considered an important factor for its application in scientific and industrial fields [10] . Previous study done on flexural and thermal properties of carbon black filled epoxy composites shows that there was improvement in thermal stability as compared to neat epoxy matrix [11] .

Literature review show that limited studies conducted on the utilization of EFB into activated carbon.

Bamboo has great potential as an alternative to wood for production of activated carbon for many adsorptive applications.

Coconut shell is suitable for preparing microporousactivated carbon due to its excellent natural structure and low ash content.

The thermal stabilization of polymer nanocomposites is considered an important factor for its application in scientific and industrial fields.

Previous study done on flexural and thermal properties of carbon black filled epoxy composites shows that there was improvement in thermal stability as compared to neat epoxy matrix.


The sulphate production of pigmentary TiO 2 is based on the hydrolysis of a titanyl sulphate solution, which results in the formation of a white precipitate, the so-called metatitanic acid, which is an agglomerate of anatase nanoparticles. In our paper we refer to an agglomerate as a particle in which 2 International Journal of Photoenergy the subunits are connected with each other mainly through physical bonding and can be broken when subjected to stronger attraction forces or changes in the surface charge. An aggregate, on the other hand, is a consolidated particle in which smaller crystallites are connected mainly with crystalline bridges. An aggregate cannot be broken down into individual subunits. In view of this we refer to metatitanic acid as an agglomerate, being made up of smaller subunits, aggregates, which themselves are made up of very small anatase crystallites. The crystallite mean size is about 5-6 nm, the aggregate size ranges from 40 to 100 nm, and the agglomerate size is in the order of 1-2 μm [18, 19] . Since the aggregate size is in the nanoregion, we refer to them as nanoparticles. It is very interesting that the size of the anatase nanoparticles can be easily adjusted, simply by controlling the hydrolysis reactions of titanyl sulphate solution [19] . The aggregates that form the metatitanic acid agglomerate are mainly connected through sulphate bridges. The sulphate bridges are electrostatic bonds which arise due to the negative charge of the sulphate ion [19] . When subjected to watersoluble barium salts, the barium ion, having a greater affinity for the sulphate ion, draws the sulphate ions holding agglomerates together and thus breaks them apart into individual anatase nanoparticles. Since the final suspension is acidic, the nanoparticles within it are well dispersed. The suspension is, therefore, very stable, enabling the separation of the nanoparticles from the barium sulphate precipitate which is a result of the reaction between the barium ions and the sulphate ions [19] . There has been very little or no research on determining the photocatalytic activity of anatase nanoparticles in the as-prepared suspension, nor has much research been done on its possible applications. Since metatitanic acid is an intermediate in the production of pigmentary TiO 2 , and thus prepared in very large amounts when the sulphate process of production is used, it would be very useful if a procedure could be developed to enable the harvesting of anatase nanoparticles directly from it. In our paper we report on such a procedure, enabling an easy and inexpensive production of a stable, acidic suspension of anatase nanoparticles, having a good photocatalytic activity and self-cleaning applications.

The crystallite mean size is about 5-6 nm, the aggregate size ranges from 40 to 100 nm, and the agglomerate size is in the order of 1-2 μm.

It is very interesting that the size of the anatase nanoparticles can be easily adjusted, simply by controlling the hydrolysis reactions of titanyl sulphate solution.

The sulphate bridges are electrostatic bonds which arise due to the negative charge of the sulphate ion.

The suspension is, therefore, very stable, enabling the separation of the nanoparticles from the barium sulphate precipitate which is a result of the reaction between the barium ions and the sulphate ions.


Knowledge of the effect of temperature on the sorption phenomena provides helpful information with respect to energy changes in the system. Temperature dependence on water activity can be estimated by using thermodynamic principles and sorption equations as functions of temperature (Basu et al., 2006) . During adsorption, differential entropy will be negative because the adsorbate-sorbate system becomes ordered upon adsorption and loses degrees of freedom. If ∆G is less than zero, q s will have to be negative (Eq. 6) and thus adsorption is exothermic. Similarly, desorption can be shown to be endothermic. Likewise, an increase in temperature will cause a corresponding decrease in ∆S, because ∆G depends slightly on the temperature, which causes a decrease in the number of molecules adsorbed. Therefore, in general, adsorption decreases when the temperature increases. Although greater adsorption levels occur at lower temperatures, the entropy differences are usually small. At times, however, larger entropy differences are observed. Although there is not a particular trend that represents these entropy differences, the temperature can affect several factors at the same time. For instance, an increase in temperature may increase the rates of adsorption, hydrolysis and recrystallization reactions (Barbosa-Cánovas et al., 2007; Rizvi, 2005) .

Temperature dependence on water activity can be estimated by using thermodynamic principles and sorption equations as functions of temperature.

For instance, an increase in temperature may increase the rates of adsorption, hydrolysis and recrystallization reactions.


Drying and storage processes need to be developed for these wastes in order to achieve important advantages such as easy transportation, reduced microbial load, nutrient concentration and availability for processing (Prachayawarakorn et al., 2008) . In this regard, an important aspect at the industrial level is the knowledge of the final moisture content and the energy required for drying, which are related to the hygroscopic equilibrium of the biological materials. A study of this equilibrium during the sorption isotherms allows for an understanding of the relationship between the equilibrium moisture content and the water activity within the foods, as well as the influence of their material structure and composition (Mulet et al., 2002) .

Drying and storage processes need to be developed for these wastes in order to achieve important advantages such as easy transportation, reduced microbial load, nutrient concentration and availability for processing.

A study of this equilibrium during the sorption isotherms allows for an understanding of the relationship between the equilibrium moisture content and the water activity within the foods, as well as the influence of their material structure and composition.


One of the models most widely used to describe the isotherms of foodstuffs and biological materials has been the Guggenheim, Anderson and de Boer (GAB) model (Eq. 1). This model often provides an adequate representation of the experimental data in a water activity range (0.10 ± 0.90) of practical interest in foods (Timmermann et al., 2001) . The GAB equation has been recommended by the European Project Group COST90 (European Cooperation in Scientific and Technical Research) to determine the physical properties of foods, and is known as the fundamental equation to characterize the water sorption of food materials (Cassini et al., 2006; Telis et al., 2000) .

This model often provides an adequate representation of the experimental data in a water activity range (0.10 ± 0.90) of practical interest in foods.

The GAB equation has been recommended by the European Project Group COST90 (European Cooperation in Scientific and Technical Research) to determine the physical properties of foods, and is known as the fundamental equation to characterize the water sorption of food materials.


Additionally, none of these approaches deals with crossword pronunciation phenomena like contractions and reductions. In conversational English, "kind of" and "going to" are often pronounced as "kinda" and "gonna". It may be useful to treat such phenomena as their own unit, since the AM could then learn these reduced pronunciations [12] .

It may be useful to treat such phenomena as their own unit, since the AM could then learn these reduced pronunciations.


The idea of consistency (or compatibility) is at the core of the theory of integrable systems. It appears already in the very definition of complete integrability of a Hamiltonian flow in the Liouville-Arnold sense, which says that the flow may be included into a complete family of commuting (compatible) Hamiltonian flows [1] . Similarly, it is a characteristic feature of soliton (integrable) partial differential equations that they appear not separately but are always organized in hierarchies of commuting (compatible) systems. The condition of the existence of a number of commuting systems may be taken as the basis of the symmetry approach which is used to single out integrable systems in some general classes and to classify them [18] . Another way of relating continuous and discrete systems, connected with the idea of compatibility, is based on the notion of Bäcklund transformations and the Bianchi permutability theorem [9] . The latter developed into one of the fundamental principles of discrete differential geometry [12] .

It appears already in the very definition of complete integrability of a Hamiltonian flow in the Liouville-Arnold sense, which says that the flow may be included into a complete family of commuting (compatible) Hamiltonian flows.

The condition of the existence of a number of commuting systems may be taken as the basis of the symmetry approach which is used to single out integrable systems in some general classes and to classify them.

Another way of relating continuous and discrete systems, connected with the idea of compatibility, is based on the notion of Bäcklund transformations and the Bianchi permutability theorem.

The latter developed into one of the fundamental principles of discrete differential geometry.


The participant responses were examined via strategies associated with grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) . Specifically, the process of open coding was utilized in which "data are broken down into discrete parts, closely examined, and compared for similarities and differences" (p. 102). Initially, meaningful units of information, typically several sentences long, were identified that described discrete ideas or events. These units were then compared to each other, based on a process known as comparative analysis, and gradually grouped together based on shared characteristics to develop concepts. Related concepts were merged into category themes.

The participant responses were examined via strategies associated with grounded theory.


Chern-Simons theory on certain manifolds is also known to have a simple description in terms of random matrix theory [4, 5] . In this work, we shall employ this relationship to present a simple description of Chern-Simons theory in terms of a one-dimensional plasma with long-range Coulombic interactions. More precisely, we shall show that simple one-component and two-component plasma models, with a two-body interacting term that is a Coulomb potential of restricted dimension 1 , describes Chern-Simons theory on S 3 and on lens spaces (to a certain extent). This happens in the following simple way: the wavefunctional that appears in the canonical quantization of ChernSimons theory, can be reduced to an explicit many-body ground state wavefunction whose Hamiltonian, which only contains one-body and two-body potentials, is explicitly found. We also study the relationship between Chern-Simons theory on S 3 and a system of N one-dimensional fermions at finite temperature with harmonic confinement. In particular, we show that the partition function of Chern-Simons theory can be described by the density matrix of the free fermions in a very particular configuration.

Chern-Simons theory on certain manifolds is also known to have a simple description in terms of random matrix theory.


The placement problem has been studied extensively in the past decades, and it is a crucial problem in VLSI computer aided design. The object of this study is standard cell placement, one of the methods of placement. Standard cells are logic modules that have a predesigned internal layout. Standard cells are of a fixed height and varying widths, because of the different functionalities of the modules, and are laid out in rows on chip. Figure 1 shows an example of a standard cell layout style with whitespace in between, shown in gray [1] . Logic inputs and outputs are available at pins (or terminals) along the top and bottom edges of the cells, and wires that connect standard cells and pads pass through the whitespace and the area between rows of standard cells.

Figure 1 shows an example of a standard cell layout style with whitespace in between, shown in gray.


There have been previous attempts to carry out the reduction from multiple M2 to D2 branes and Yang-Mills theory [8, 12] . These papers contain some hints of the fact that some 'special' 3-algebra direction plays a role in obtaining a Yang-Mills theory. Though the setting for our work is a conservative one where loop algebras and non-Abelian duality are not invoked, it would be reasonable to think of our result as a concrete realisation of some of the nice ideas in the above works.

There have been previous attempts to carry out the reduction from multiple M2 to D2 branes and Yang-Mills theory.


The outline of this paper is as follows. We begin our analysis by providing a simple illustrative example of model selection in Section 2. Asymptotic justifications for the QML model selection criterion are established in Section 3. We discuss various aspects of implementing IRF matching in Section 4 and provide guidance for the practical implementation of our procedure in Section 5. A small set of Monte Carlo experiments is provided in Section 6. Empirical applications of our procedure to evaluate New Keynesian macroeconomic models using US data are provided in Section 7. The concluding remarks are made in Section 8. The proofs of the theoretical results and additional Monte Carlo results are relegated to the online appendix (Inoue and Shintani, 2017) .

The proofs of the theoretical results and additional Monte Carlo results are relegated to the online appendix.


Interestingly, in our current study, we observed improved sensorimotor health in E2-treated mice, while G1 had no effect on these outcomes. We attribute this to estrogen's pleiotropic effects, which improve the overall health of the animal, having large effects that are important to ischemic outcome of several organs. This is particularly relevant in our mouse cardiac arrest model, which mimics the clinical condition and exposes the entire organism to hypoxia/ischemia. Indeed, we have demonstrated that estrogen minimizes renal injury following CA/CPR, likely contributing to the overall benefit observed in estrogen-treated mice in the current study [14] . It remains unclear whether G1 protects kidney. Nonetheless, we interpret the improved health of the animal observed following E2 treatment to be a result of E2 protection of peripheral organ damage following CA/CPR, resulting in an overall healthy animal. Therefore, our data indicate that further study of the effects of GPR30 activation on non-CNS organs after cardiac arrest is needed.

Indeed, we have demonstrated that estrogen minimizes renal injury following CA/CPR, likely contributing to the overall benefit observed in estrogen-treated mice in the current study.


Gas turbine is a very satisfactory means of producing mechanical power. It is designed to be highly effective in producing aligned high thrust and power [1] [2] . In contemplating environmentally-friendly gas turbine cycles in the petrochemical industry identification is made of combined-heat-and-power (CHP) as one prominent application that would make gas turbine operation very pleasant to the environment in the aspects of reducing heat energy loss to the environment, and reducing global warming. It also enhances fuel efficiency. CHP simply defined is the simultaneous generation of mechanical power and heat energy in a single system from same fuel input [3] .

It is designed to be highly effective in producing aligned high thrust and power.

It also enhances fuel efficiency.

CHP simply defined is the simultaneous generation of mechanical power and heat energy in a single system from same fuel input.


They enable us to extend the type I ′ description to the entire moduli space of vacua including vacua where at some point in space-time the coupling constant diverges [4, 1] . We find that while in type I ′ compactifications on S 1 /Z 2 at weak coupling there are two orientifolds and 16 D8-branes, at strong coupling there can be 17 or 18 D8-branes. This can happen only when the string coupling at one or at both ends of S 1 /Z 2 diverges.

They enable us to extend the type I ′ description to the entire moduli space of vacua including vacua where at some point in space-time the coupling constant diverges.


Local quantum field theories occur in string theory in two places. They describe both the low energy excitations in string compactifications and those on D-branes [1] . Therefore, we have three distinct parallel lines of research: local quantum field theory, the theory of D-branes, and string compactification. It is extremely interesting to understand the relation between these three topics and to establish a complete dictionary translating concepts from one topic to the others.

They describe both the low energy excitations in string compactifications and those on D-branes.


In highlighting the Mexican program, and with my suggestion that it seems to represent a typical case of how (and more importantly, why) developing countries are implementing PELT programs, we should appreciate the powerful discursive tensions within which these language education policy decisions are being made. The English program as part of a broader set of educational reforms represents the first opportunity that most younger working-class public school children have to learn English. Even beyond the linguistic content of the courses, the program also aims to foment intercultural awareness as well as a wider global worldview; it also seems to incidentally allow for greater connections with transnational family members and to ways to access information on the internet (Sayer & Ban, 2014) . On the surface then, this is evidence that the policy move from elite bilingualism to macroacquisition of English can be seen as a democratic one, by beginning to level access to a powerful form of linguistic capital. What the analysis in this paper has shown, however, is that the program should also be understood as part of the alignment of the educational curriculum to neoliberal policies and comes at the expense of other aspects of schooling.

Even beyond the linguistic content of the courses, the program also aims to foment intercultural awareness as well as a wider global worldview; it also seems to incidentally allow for greater connections with transnational family members and to ways to access information on the internet.


The expansion of English instruction in public schools in developing countries worldwide and the tendency to introduce English earlier in national curricula represents a widespread trend towards the recognition of the importance of English as the international language (Enever & Moon, 2010) . In this paper, I have argued that this "more & earlier" approach and the recent rapid expansion of primary English language teaching (PELT) programs in the public school curricula of developing countries can best be understood as part of trend to align language education policy with neoliberal economic policies. The rationale for the large investment of resources that it takes to implement PELT programs is framed at the national level through the discourse of the development of a country's human capital in order to support global competitiveness and economic development. On the individual level, the discourse is similarly cast in terms of "opening doors" and "creating opportunities" for employment and social mobility.

The expansion of English instruction in public schools in developing countries worldwide and the tendency to introduce English earlier in national curricula represents a widespread trend towards the recognition of the importance of English as the international language.


A video watermarking algorithm for binary visually recognizable watermark signal was proposed. In the proposed algorithm, a completely blind watermark extraction scheme is used, which means that the watermark is extracted without requiring the original video, original watermark data or some additional information derived from the original video. It makes the video watermarking scheme useful for playback control or any other applications where the original content is not available at the decoder side. The development of a completely blind watermarking scheme is not a trivial task when visually recognizable patterns are used as watermark sequence. Actually, a few video watermarking scheme with completely blind extraction of visually recognizable pattern are reported in the literature [11] . The proposed algorithm is based on the DWT and to improve the watermark security and robustness, the original watermark is transformed into a noise-like pattern using the Chaotic Mixing method and then it is embedded in the video signal. Evaluation results show that the proposed scheme is robust against several classical video attacks such as lossy compression, noise attack, frame dropping, frame swapping, and collusion; and also, the combined attacks with lossy compression and classical video attacks, if the watermark pattern is embedded in the LL sub-bands. Robustness of the proposed method shows a better performance than other previously reported algorithms.

Actually, a few video watermarking scheme with completely blind extraction of visually recognizable pattern are reported in the literature.


Poly(ester amide)s (PEAs) are a class of polymers comprising both ester and amide linkages in their backbones. The presence of ester moieties introduces the possibility for hydrolytic degradation and enzymatic degradation by mechanisms similar to those observed for polyesters, while the amide linkages provide opportunities for enzymatic degradation and also impart some of the desirable thermal and mechanical properties that are commonly derived from polyamides [15] . By tuning the chemical structures of 2 International Journal of Polymer Science the monomers, their properties can be readily tuned [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] . Furthermore, their monomers can be selected from simple metabolic intermediates such as amino acids and dicarboxylic acids such that their degradation should result in nontoxic products. Another advantage is that by using amino acid monomers with functional handles, PEAs with pendant functional groups can be prepared [16, [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] . These pendant functional handles have potential utility for the conjugation of drug molecules in delivery systems, cell signaling molecules in tissue engineering scaffolds, or simply for tuning the properties of the polymers.

The presence of ester moieties introduces the possibility for hydrolytic degradation and enzymatic degradation by mechanisms similar to those observed for polyesters, while the amide linkages provide opportunities for enzymatic degradation and also impart some of the desirable thermal and mechanical properties that are commonly derived from polyamides.

By tuning the chemical structures of 2 International Journal of Polymer Science the monomers, their properties can be readily tuned.

Another advantage is that by using amino acid monomers with functional handles, PEAs with pendant functional groups can be prepared.


However, the second-order effects such as the scope for the trade unions to achieve wider wage gains by bargaining for the restoration of differentials, and to extend the coverage to other private sector firms were less clear cut than observed by others (Luce, 2004) . The cost burden of fully restoring differentials for those staff paid just above the living wage meant that the unions were not able to use the living wage as a platform to create a ripple effect upwards throughout the wage distribution. This finding aligns with studies of the UK minimum wage which show a wage compression effect in many low paying sectors as a result of the relatively weak position of the trade unions, and low collective bargaining coverage (Grimshaw, 2013) . Although the flattening of wage hierarchies in this way to accommodate cost of living considerations potentially reduces the pressure on employers to make savings through job cuts, it also removes skill differentials and weakens internal hierarchies which can be important for the earnings growth of low wage workers over the long run (Gautié and Schmitt, 2010) . The magnitude of spill-over effects also hinges on accreditation with the Living Wage Foundation which obliges employers to raise wages throughout the supply chain. The two accredited councils (London 1 and North 2) moved further to extend the living wage to contractors, but even then progress was slow in tackling low pay in outsourced care for older people.

However, the second-order effects such as the scope for the trade unions to achieve wider wage gains by bargaining for the restoration of differentials, and to extend the coverage to other private sector firms were less clear cut than observed by others.

This finding aligns with studies of the UK minimum wage which show a wage compression effect in many low paying sectors as a result of the relatively weak position of the trade unions, and low collective bargaining coverage.

Although the flattening of wage hierarchies in this way to accommodate cost of living considerations potentially reduces the pressure on employers to make savings through job cuts, it also removes skill differentials and weakens internal hierarchies which can be important for the earnings growth of low wage workers over the long run.


Regarding related work with respect to optimal placement of services/aggregators most work deals with sensor networks that perform monitoring tasks [9, 15, 11, 1] . In such systems, applications/queries can be organized in a tree-like structure. In contrast to this related work, this paper presents a solution for sensor-actuator networks. It allows optimizing applications that are not centered around a dedicated sink node and it allows a global optimization of embedded networks that takes into account interferences between multiple simultaneously executed applications.

Regarding related work with respect to optimal placement of services/aggregators most work deals with sensor networks that perform monitoring tasks.


To improve the operating features of the previous membranes, MIP-based sensors were added of TpClTPB (Table 1) , an anionic lipophilic compound. Typically, the addition of an ionic compound of lipophilic nature to potentiometric sensors reduces the anionic interference and lowers the electrical resistance of the membranes [30] . In terms of analytical performance, this procedure was expected to widen the linear range with theoretical slope. Sensors based in MIP/MAA and MIP/VP with additive, showed linear response started 6.97×10 −6 and 5.97×10 −5 molL −1 , 1.20 and 0.40 μgmL −1 detection limits, and near-Nernstian Fig. 2 ). This improvement could not be attributed to the additive alone because membranes with additive and without ionophore (ISE VII) were not able to present a Nernstian response (see Fig. 2 ).

Typically, the addition of an ionic compound of lipophilic nature to potentiometric sensors reduces the anionic interference and lowers the electrical resistance of the membranes.


Internet of Things (IoT) has been paid more and more attention by the government, academe, and industry all over the world because of its great prospect [1] [2] [3] . In the IoT application field, intelligent industry is an important branch. A wired or wireless sensor network is the basic facility of the industry monitoring IoT. These networks comprising of thousands of inexpensive sensors can report their values to the data center. The aim of the monitoring system is to guarantee the process of production.

Internet of Things (IoT) has been paid more and more attention by the government, academe, and industry all over the world because of its great prospect.


From the data-centric view, we focus on the Outliers, Stuck-at faults and Spikes [7] . From the application and system view, we focus on the rational and irrational trend detections. A rational trend means the sensor value transforms from one level to another smoothly and it is caused by a rational reason, such as shut down a device. An irrational trend means value changed when something is wrong with a device. The typical two mistakes of the monitoring system are taking a rational trend for an Outlier, or ignoring an irrational trend while values are still in range. Figure 1 : Estimation of the data distribution in the Statistics Sliding Windows (SSW) for one time instance. In this paper, we propose a self-learning sensor fault detection framework for industry monitoring IoT. The data model design is described in Section 3. In Section 4, the framework and the core algorithm are discussed. A simulation experiment base on real data is shown in Section 5.

From the data-centric view, we focus on the Outliers, Stuck-at faults and Spikes.


This work is part of a collaborative research project. Some results from the project, concerning diversity of team choices, have already been published [1] . The study presented here aims to compare needs for care in patients with schizophrenia across 9 centres in six European countries and to relate this to the diversity of psychiatric systems.

Some results from the project, concerning diversity of team choices, have already been published.


We continued the analysis evaluating DEG comparing BRCA tissues against normal tissues. In this study we considered only genes that showed absolute values of log 2 fold change (log 2 FC) > 1 and statistical significance (FDR < 0.05). The tabulated results (Additional file 5) show that in BRCA there were 3994 upregulated and 2155 downregulated genes. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the DEG between tumours and normal tissues taking into account PAM50 groups of RNAseq BRCA data (1097 patients). With respect to HSP genes, 13 were upregulated and 11 were downregulated (Additional file 1: Table S3 ). Deregulation of HSP genes increased in BRCA subtypes as follows: Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2 and Basal. To achieve a better statistical interpretation volcano plots were used (Fig. 2) . These graphs allow the contextualization of the HSP genes respect to the rest of the genes letting a complete appreciation of gene expression changes that were modulated differentially in the entire cohort ( Fig. 2 tumour total) and between the intrinsic BRCA subtypes (Fig. 2) . The patients were subdivided according to the PAM50 classification to investigate whether the intrinsic subtypes of BRCA manifested different expression of HSP genes. The PAM50 classification is a "single sample predictor" and classifies each of the samples in 5 tumour intrinsic subtypes [2] . From a total of 1097 samples 566 were classified as Luminal A, 217 as Luminal B, 82 as HER2-enriched, 192 corresponded to Basal and 40 were Normal-like (Additional file 1: Table S4 ). The comparison of the correlative immunohistochemical characteristics of each tumour was included; these results appeared congruent with the molecular classification (Additional file 1: Table S4 ). In the case of upregulated HSP genes, the log 2 fold-change mean and standard deviations (SD) in the different subtypes ranged between 1.38 and 1.64 and 0.31 to 0.69 respectively; the downregulated genes showed log 2 fold-change mean in the range of 2.34 to 3.62 and were more dispersed (SD = 1.36 to 2.26) compared to upregulated genes. Surprisingly we found that several HSPs were within the first hundred genes with the lowest FDR values in Luminal A and Luminal B, which points out that some HSPs DEG in BRCA shows remarkable steady differences between normal and tumour samples.

The PAM50 classification is a "single sample predictor" and classifies each of the samples in 5 tumour intrinsic subtypes.


Learning about climate change is challenging because climate -the probability distribution from which weather realizations are drawn -is not directly observed. Instead, it must be inferred by agents based on the information available to them. In a stationary climate, the parameters of the climate distribution can be reliably inferred from historic weather observations. But if the climate is changing, then past observations are not necessarily informative about the current state of the probability distribution over possible weather outcomes. It seems unlikely that climate models will be able to provide the local-scale, specific, reliable, and trusted information required for most private adaptation decisions. Instead, direct experience of weather events is likely to be an important information source, with several studies suggesting a link between experience of weather anomalies and stated belief in climate change (Howe et al., 2014; McCright et al., 2014; Kaufmann et al., 2017) . Therefore, how well people learn from experience in nonstationary, stochastic environments has important implications for the rate of adaptation and the economic costs associated with climate change.

Instead, direct experience of weather events is likely to be an important information source, with several studies suggesting a link between experience of weather anomalies and stated belief in climate change.


We are interested in understanding how and when a topology should be configured in order to support distributed data management services. These services can be in the form of replica or a caching service provided by an ASP in which nodes (both wired and wireless) acquire and disseminate data. In a pervasive computing environment, configuring a topology to support such a distributed data service can be challenging. Firstly, nodes and devices have limited resources [1] . The resource limitation is often due to restricted buffer sizes and storage capacities at nodes, limited bandwidth availability between nodes or limited number of network connections that a node can support. An optimal usage of limited resources requires a topology design that routes the flow of data through most cost-efficient paths. Secondly, the data communication pattern of clients may change drastically over time [1] , [3] . This may require a topology that quickly adapts to the change in data requirements.

Firstly, nodes and devices have limited resources.

Secondly, the data communication pattern of clients may change drastically over time.


In particular, u is smooth in this example. This is consistent with known results of the NavierStokes equation: any local axisymmetric solution to the Navier-Stokes equation, without swirls, is globally smooth (see, for example, Leonardi-Málek-Necas-Pokorný [22] ). Therefore, the finite time singularity arises essentially from the orientation field d. Now we would like to make a few comments related to Theorem 1.1.

This is consistent with known results of the NavierStokes equation: any local axisymmetric solution to the Navier-Stokes equation, without swirls, is globally smooth (see, for example, Leonardi-Málek-Necas-Pokorný).


The goal of our study was to assess how decomposition rates of a standard cellulose OM (cotton cloth) incubated in the mineral soil was altered when four groups of herbivores-large, medium and small mammals and invertebrates-were progressively excluded from short-grass and tall-grass vegetation of the SNP. We hypothesised that cellulose decomposition rates would be higher in soils of short-compared to tallgrass vegetation as C and nutrient cycling are generally faster in heavily grazed vegetation (Bardgett and Wardle 2003) . Further, we expected decomposition rates to decrease with the progressive exclusion of herbivores in both vegetation types due to decreasing biomass consumption and resultant changes in soil temperature and moisture. We also expected that changes in microbial biomass carbon (MBC), microbial quotient (q mic ), soil C, N and P concentrations and soil C:N ratio due to exclusion would alter decomposition rates. By using a standard substrate (cotton cloth), OM quality was held constant and decomposition rates became a function of soil micro-climatic, chemical, biological, and physical properties.

We hypothesised that cellulose decomposition rates would be higher in soils of short-compared to tallgrass vegetation as C and nutrient cycling are generally faster in heavily grazed vegetation.


Phenols, byproducts of large-scale production and use of man-made organics, will cause ecologically undesirable effects [1] . Their determination is of great practical importance in evaluating the toxicity of an environmental sample. Several methods have been developed for this purpose, including spectrophotometry and high performance liquid chromatography [2] . These methods are expensive, timeconsuming and sometimes require preconcentration. Many biosensors have been developed in the past using the catalytic activity of the redox enzymes such as tyrosinase, peroxidase, and laccase for phenol determination [3, 4] . Laccase (Lac) does not require H 2 O 2 as cosubstrate and any cofactors for its catalysis. Hence, the constructions of the biosensor are much easier. Lac-based biosensors have been employed for the determination of a broad range of phenolic compounds [2] .

Phenols, byproducts of large-scale production and use of man-made organics, will cause ecologically undesirable effects.

Several methods have been developed for this purpose, including spectrophotometry and high performance liquid chromatography.

Many biosensors have been developed in the past using the catalytic activity of the redox enzymes such as tyrosinase, peroxidase, and laccase for phenol determination.

Lac-based biosensors have been employed for the determination of a broad range of phenolic compounds.


In this paper, we propose a novel ranking method to narrow retrieved software components from reusable libraries. We define a component rank model based on a graph representation scheme of the component library [9] . In this model, a collection of software components is represented as a weighted directed graph, i.e., the nodes of the graph correspond to components and the edges linking the nodes correspond to cross component usage. Similar components are clustered into one node so that the effect of duplicated components is removed. The nodes in the graph are ranked by their weights, which are defined as the elements of the eigenvector of an adjacent matrix for the directed graph. The resulting rank, named component rank, is used to prioritize the query result so that highly ranked components are quickly seen by the user. The idea behind component rank originates from computing impact factors (called influence weights) of published papers [20] . This approach has been extended to ranking Web documents on the Internet [18] .

We define a component rank model based on a graph representation scheme of the component library.

The idea behind component rank originates from computing impact factors (called influence weights) of published papers.

This approach has been extended to ranking Web documents on the Internet.


A perusal of a popular psychology textbook that broadly covers fundamental areas of human life (from an evolutionary perspective) indicates a jump from chapters on mating strategies to chapters on parenting and kinship (Buss 2008) . At least in modern societies, the transition from having mate preferences and attempting to attract mates to providing parental care requires many important events and decisions. In particular, a couple must consider whether to get married and whether to have children. By understanding how mate preference psychology leads or does not lead to actual long-term commitment (marriage) and children, we may be able to not only better understand how these distinct functional areas connect but also to gain insight into issues that are of particular interest and concern to modern societies.

A perusal of a popular psychology textbook that broadly covers fundamental areas of human life (from an evolutionary perspective) indicates a jump from chapters on mating strategies to chapters on parenting and kinship.


The study of European university students from 13 countries indicated that changes over the decade in the attitudes of the young population to the body satisfaction were not toward healthier lifestyles [1] . Accordingly, the students of "NDD" and "PESD" might have high concern on body shape and size due to the education related to their occupation [3, 15] . The findings published by others imply that junior and senior majors may be more affected than freshmen as a result of their increased exposure to information about diet and body shape [3, 16] . Hence, in this study, juniors and seniors were chosen to reveal the effect of the knowledge exposure on the body shape perception and eating attitudes.

The study of European university students from 13 countries indicated that changes over the decade in the attitudes of the young population to the body satisfaction were not toward healthier lifestyles.

Accordingly, the students of "NDD" and "PESD" might have high concern on body shape and size due to the education related to their occupation.

The findings published by others imply that junior and senior majors may be more affected than freshmen as a result of their increased exposure to information about diet and body shape.


PUMA supports input from various microbiome data pipelines Currently PUMA supports three microbiome raw data processing platforms and/or services: MrDNA, Anacapa, and QIIME 2 [6, 13, 14] . MrDNA is a commercial full service next generation sequencing provider that offers 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing on a variety of platforms with different price points. Regardless of the sequencing platform MrDNA provides its users with free comprehensive taxonomic analysis in addition to raw data processing using their proprietary pipeline. The pipeline generates operational taxonomic unit (OTU) abundance tables with taxonomic identities and representative sequence files in the .fasta format at each taxonomic level (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species).

PUMA supports input from various microbiome data pipelines Currently PUMA supports three microbiome raw data processing platforms and/or services: MrDNA, Anacapa, and QIIME 2.


The good electrochemical property of the nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays electrodes were further confirmed by galvanostatic charge-discharge cycling test at 20 mA cm −2 (Fig. 5b) . For S1 nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays electrode, it exhibited 2.53 F cm −2 of the original areal capacitance and after 3000 cycles it maintained 1.91 F cm −2 , remaining 75.3% capacitance retention. Besides, S1.5 nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays electrode exhibited 3.90 F cm −2 of the original areal capacitance and it maintained 3.45 F cm −2 after 3000 cycles, remaining 88.4% capacitance retention. Ding and co-worker grew hierarchical NiCo2S4@NiCoxSy core/shell nanoarrays on carbon cloth. After 1500 cycles, NiCo2S4@NiCoxSy nanoarrays remained 77% retention of the original areal capacitance (3.5 F cm −2 ) at current density of 10 mA cm −2 [18] . And the S2 nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays electrode exhibited 4.95 F cm −2 of the original areal capacitance and after 3000 cycles it maintained 4.10 F cm −2 , remaining 82.9% capacitance retention. At last, the sample of S3 nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays electrode exhibited 5.67 F cm −2 of the original areal capacitance and it maintained 4.16 F cm −2 after 3000 cycles, remaining only 73.3% capacitance retention. Fig. 5b shows that only under a moderate loading density of nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays electrode which would obtain good cycling performance. For the nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays electrode with smaller loading density like sample of S1, it has less total capacitance. At the same current density, not completely reversible redox reaction may have more impact on its cycle stability compared with the others. Meanwhile, for the nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays electrode with larger loading density like S3, its arrays structure may more easily collapse, resulting the fading of the areal capacitance during the long-duration cycle with the redox reaction [13, 14] . Moreover, Figs 6a-d are SEM images of group S1.5 and S3 after 3000 cycles of charge and discharge at 20 mA cm −2 respectively. It is clearly observed that nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays structure of S3 collapses more seriously than arrays structure of S1.5 after 3000 cycles of charge and discharge. Many cracks appear obviously in the arrays of S3. This may also because the loading density of active material on the electrode of S3 is too large. And structure of S3 is more likely to collapse during the redox reaction. This phenomenon can also support our ideas that the loading density on unit area of the electrode is not the bigger the better.

After 1500 cycles, NiCo2S4@NiCoxSy nanoarrays remained 77% retention of the original areal capacitance (3.5 F cm −2 ) at current density of 10 mA cm −2.

Meanwhile, for the nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays electrode with larger loading density like S3, its arrays structure may more easily collapse, resulting the fading of the areal capacitance during the long-duration cycle with the redox reaction.


In this work, four groups of different amounts of reaction materials were used to grow nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays on Ni foam with the same size separately via a facile hydrothermal method in ethanol. The total amounts of reaction materials were different among the groups, but the proportions of each reaction materials in these groups were the same. Four groups of the nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays were investigated as the pseudocapacitors electrode materials. We found that the amount of reaction materials directly related to the loading density of the active materials on the electrode. Besides, a larger amount of reaction materials corresponded to a larger unit area loading density on the electrode [24, 25] . However, neither oversized loading density nor minimum loading density did have good electrochemical characteristics. Interestingly, only under a moderate range of loading density on the electrode, one can obtain the desirable cycle stability and rate performance and other electrochemical properties. In addition, because the active materials were grown on the substrate directly, it can guarantee strong adhesion and good electrical contact with the current collector. Furthermore, the electrode design did not use conducting additives or polymer adhesive, which can make full use of the electrode materials [26, 27] . Impressively, our result showed that such nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays electrode with moderate loading density of active materials would obtain excellent electrochemical performance for supercapacitors.

Besides, a larger amount of reaction materials corresponded to a larger unit area loading density on the electrode.

Furthermore, the electrode design did not use conducting additives or polymer adhesive, which can make full use of the electrode materials.


Supercapacitor devices have been divided into the electrical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) and pseudocapacitors. EDLCs store charge by adsorption of electrolyte ions onto the surface of electrode materials without requiring redox reactions, so the response to changes in potential is rapid and leads to high power. Pseudocapacitors, also called electrochemical capacitors, store charge by undergoing reversible redox reactions at or near the surface of the electrode material. Compared with the EDLCs, pseudocapacitors can obtain higher energy density and capacitance owing to the reversible redox processes [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] . In recent years, numerous efforts have been devoted to developing various electrode materials for pseudocapacitors [7, 8] .

Compared with the EDLCs, pseudocapacitors can obtain higher energy density and capacitance owing to the reversible redox processes.

In recent years, numerous efforts have been devoted to developing various electrode materials for pseudocapacitors.


The good electrochemical performance of the nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays electrodes can be ascribed to the following features of the electrodes. Firstly, the nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays have grown directly on Ni foam, which can guarantee good electrical contact with the current collector and strong adhesion. Meanwhile, the electrode design did not use conducting additives and polymer adhesive, which can make full use of the electrode materials [26, 27] . Secondly, with the appropriate loading density, the active materials can combine more closely with the electrolyte, and facilitate the supply of OH − to the entrance of arrays. Also, it can decrease the internal materials which cannot be fully involved in the reaction. Thirdly, under the premise of ensuring adequate capacitance, the moderate loading density can ensure the more stable electrodes arrays structure reducing the capacitance loss caused by the collapsing of the structure during the redox reaction.

Meanwhile, the electrode design did not use conducting additives and polymer adhesive, which can make full use of the electrode materials.


To further evaluate the electrochemical behaviors of the nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays electrodes, an EIS measurement was performed in a frequency ranging from 0.01 Hz to 100 kHz as shown in Fig. 5a . The four groups of samples all show the similar form with a sloping curve at lower frequency and a semicircle at a higher frequency region. The impedance spectra form curve along the axis at a lower frequency, and the slope of the curve shows the Warburg impedance (W) which represents the electrolyte diffusion in the electrode and proton diffusion in host materials [39, 40] . With the decreased amount of reaction materials, smaller loading density nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays electrodes show the more ideal curve along the axis, which demonstrates that they have lower diffusion resistance, because the smaller loading density can facilitate the OH − to the entrance of arrays. At the high frequency (Fig. 5a inset) , the intersection of the curve at the axis indicates the bulk resistance [34] . The inset shows that larger loading density may produce larger bulk resistance of electrochemical system. Moreover the semicircle diameter reflects the charge-transfer resistance (Rct). S1.5 and S2 nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays electrodes have smaller semicircle compared with the others. The moderate loading density may improve the charge-transfer process at the working electrode-electrolyte interface. So, the S1.5 and S2 nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays electrodes had the smaller Rcts which can provide more convenient path ways for the ion and electron transport [41] .

The impedance spectra form curve along the axis at a lower frequency, and the slope of the curve shows the Warburg impedance (W) which represents the electrolyte diffusion in the electrode and proton diffusion in host materials.

At the high frequency (Fig. 5a inset) , the intersection of the curve at the axis indicates the bulk resistance.

So, the S1.5 and S2 nickel-cobalt sulfide arrays electrodes had the smaller Rcts which can provide more convenient path ways for the ion and electron transport.


Stevia is a perennial shrub that extensively grows in places like Brazil, Central America and Israel but is native to Paraguay. The genus Stevia belongs to Asteraceae family, tribe Eupatoriae and comprises of 240 species. This plant grows mostly at the altitude of 500 -3000 m above sea level in semidry mountainous terrain. Different species of Stevia contain several potential sweetening compounds; Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) is the sweetest of all [1] . For centuries this herbal sweetener has been used in native cultures to counteract the bitter taste of various plant based medicines and beverages. Nowadays the extraction of sweeteners from stevia leaves is a growing industrial and commercial worldwide sector; more than 750 tons of stevia leaves per year are used as crude extract for consumption and extraction of glycosides [2] . The sweetening property is associated with their contents of several glycosides, stevioside, steviobioside, rebaudiosides A to F, dulcoside A and steviol. These glycosides and their derivatives are known to account for 4% -20% of the dry weight of stevia leaves [3] .

Different species of Stevia contain several potential sweetening compounds; Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) is the sweetest of all.

Nowadays the extraction of sweeteners from stevia leaves is a growing industrial and commercial worldwide sector; more than 750 tons of stevia leaves per year are used as crude extract for consumption and extraction of glycosides.

These glycosides and their derivatives are known to account for 4% -20% of the dry weight of stevia leaves.


In order to take RR effects self-consistently into account one should, in principle, solve the so-called Lorentz-Abraham-Dirac (LAD) equation [4] . It is well known that this equation is plagued by inconsistencies such as, for example, the appearance of "runaway" solutions in which an electron acquires an exponentially diverging acceleration even without any external field. However, it has been shown that in the realm of classical electrodynamics, i.e. neglecting quantum effects, the LAD equation can be consistently approximated by the so-called Landau-Lifshitz (LL) equation which is free from the mentioned inconsistencies [4, 6] .

In order to take RR effects self-consistently into account one should, in principle, solve the so-called Lorentz-Abraham-Dirac (LAD) equation.

However, it has been shown that in the realm of classical electrodynamics, i.e. neglecting quantum effects, the LAD equation can be consistently approximated by the so-called Landau-Lifshitz (LL) equation which is free from the mentioned inconsistencies.


Nowadays, shotcrete accelerators are classified as silicate-, aluminate-, or alkali-free, cementbased minerals, depending on the main material that is present. The sodium silicate accelerator gives a rapid initial set and a slow final set, while the aluminate accelerator provides a slow initial set and a fast final set. Both types suffer the same deficiency of loss in strength and durability over the long term. Furthermore, their strong alkalinity may endanger workers and lead to environmental contamination. Increasing the accelerator amount adds to the cost and also increases the rebound ratio [1, 7] . To mitigate these issues, alkali-free and cement-based mineral accelerators (CMs) that are environmentally friendly and provide good longterm strength are now frequently used in construction sites. Sodium silicate based admixtures are more effective -in terms of set acceleration -and cheaper than alkali-free products. For these reasons, sodium silicate accelerators are widely used in tunnel linings. However, a very fast increase of early strength development in sodium-accelerated shotcretes is followed by a sharp reduction of mechanical properties of concrete at later ages.

Increasing the accelerator amount adds to the cost and also increases the rebound ratio.


Sprayed concrete, or shotcrete, is used worldwide to construct tunnels or underground structures. The poured mix must set quickly in order to stabilize the structure [1] [2] . The important basic requirements of shotcrete are good adhesiveness, a low amount of rebounding, good shooting, and the quick formation of initial strength [3] [4] . To meet these requirements, accelerators have become a fundamental additive in shotcrete to achieve appropriate initial strength, reduce rebound, and suppress early ground relaxation. This affects not only the early strength of the shotcrete but also the development of long-term strength, durability and thickness. Traditionally, shotcrete's quick-setting properties have been achieved by the injection of high-alkaline additives at the spraying nozzle. Accelerating admixtures are composed of chemicals that influence the rate of cement hydration, thereby shortening the setting time and, in some cases, increasing the rate of early strength development [3] . Set accelerators affect both the C 3 A hydration (by interfering with the C 3 A -gypsum reaction) and the C 3 S hydration (aiding the dissolution of lime) [5] [6] . However, this method resulted in concrete with high porosity and density, low strength and durability, and environmental concerns.

The poured mix must set quickly in order to stabilize the structure.

The important basic requirements of shotcrete are good adhesiveness, a low amount of rebounding, good shooting, and the quick formation of initial strength.

Accelerating admixtures are composed of chemicals that influence the rate of cement hydration, thereby shortening the setting time and, in some cases, increasing the rate of early strength development.

Set accelerators affect both the C 3 A hydration (by interfering with the C 3 A -gypsum reaction) and the C 3 S hydration (aiding the dissolution of lime).


There is considerable evidence that the amount of fat in the diet is a key determinant of lesions in ALD, and that dietary lipids are a key source of the lipids accumulating in liver of ethanol-fed animals [15] . Furthermore, the saturated fatty acids are protective against ALD; in contrast, unsaturated fatty acids promote ALD [16] . In rats fed ethanol and tallow (beer fat, saturated fatty acids), no pathologic changes developed, but severe changes were seen in rats fed ethanol with coin oil (55-60% linoleic acid) [17] . Compared with rats fed coin oil with ethanol, severer liver injury, particularly necrosis and inflammation, is seen in rats fed fish oil with ethanol [18] . Alcoholic liver injury is more severe and rapidly developing in women than men [19] . The severity of necrosis, inflammation, and fibrosis was greater in ethanol-fed female than male rats [20] . In our study, we employed female rats, and used fish oil plus ethanol gavage to establish animal model of alcoholic liver injury. The rats developed endotoxemia and pathological changes in the liver after 6 weeks, e.g. pronounced macrovesicular and microvesicular steatosis, mild inflammation, and spotty necrosis. This chronic gavage of alcohol in rats is a simple experimental model that mimics key aspects of ALD in humans, including endotoxemia and liver injury, and is useful for exploring the mechanism and treatment of ALD.

There is considerable evidence that the amount of fat in the diet is a key determinant of lesions in ALD, and that dietary lipids are a key source of the lipids accumulating in liver of ethanol-fed animals.

Furthermore, the saturated fatty acids are protective against ALD; in contrast, unsaturated fatty acids promote ALD.

In rats fed ethanol and tallow (beer fat, saturated fatty acids), no pathologic changes developed, but severe changes were seen in rats fed ethanol with coin oil (55-60% linoleic acid).

Compared with rats fed coin oil with ethanol, severer liver injury, particularly necrosis and inflammation, is seen in rats fed fish oil with ethanol.

Alcoholic liver injury is more severe and rapidly developing in women than men.

The severity of necrosis, inflammation, and fibrosis was greater in ethanol-fed female than male rats.


Endotoxin itself is not hepatotoxic at low concentrations. However, it can evoke Kupffer cells through CD14/toll-like receptor-4 to release a variety of inflammatory mediators, including TNF-α [4] . CD14 expression in the liver is enhanced in alcoholic liver injury in rats, and correlates with the presence of pathological liver injury [30] . Alcohol-induced liver injury is reduced in CD14 knockouts mice compared with the wide-type [31] . CD14 expression is supposed to be the underlying mechanism that determines the liver's sensitivity to endotoxin toxicity [32] . In our study, chronic alcohol administration resulted in a significantly elevated mRNA expression of CD14 in the liver compared with dextrose-fed rats. In addition to CD14, serum TNF-α levels and TNF-α mRNA expression in the liver were also increased in rats fed fish oil plus alcohol. EGCG supplementation significantly blunted the increase in both CD14 and TNF-α expression in the liver, and in serum TNF-α levels. COX-2 is shown to be implicated in alcoholic liver disease and hepatocellular injury [14, 33] . COX-2-deficient mice are protected against the toxic effects of endotoxin [34] . COX-2 expression is increased in alcoholic liver injury with necroinflammatory changes and associated with endotoxemia. Kupffer cells are shown to be the primary source of COX-2 in liver [14] . In the present study, COX-2 mRNA was only detected in fish oil plus alcohol-fed rats, whose liver histology showed presence of necrosis and inflammation. EGCG concurrent treatment was associated with the absence of COX-2 mRNA expression. These above results suggest that EGCG may block Kupffer cells activation and their subsequent TNF-α and COX-2 expression.

However, it can evoke Kupffer cells through CD14/toll-like receptor-4 to release a variety of inflammatory mediators, including TNF-α.

CD14 expression in the liver is enhanced in alcoholic liver injury in rats, and correlates with the presence of pathological liver injury.

Alcohol-induced liver injury is reduced in CD14 knockouts mice compared with the wide-type.

CD14 expression is supposed to be the underlying mechanism that determines the liver's sensitivity to endotoxin toxicity.

COX-2 is shown to be implicated in alcoholic liver disease and hepatocellular injury.

COX-2-deficient mice are protected against the toxic effects of endotoxin.

Kupffer cells are shown to be the primary source of COX-2 in liver.


In the literature two main reasons for miniaturization of CE become apparent: firstly for improving the portability of CE analysis; and secondly for point-of-care, and lab-on-achip devices. The aims of both are to increase the availability and usability of CE analysis. The focus here will remain on miniaturized CE devices where a holistic approach was implemented at achieving true portability and in-situ analysis. Where appropriate, the challenges pertaining to the portability of CE which have been overcome in the literature, even where the primary focus is not portability, will of course be included. With an increasing demand to perform detailed analysis out in the field, it is no surprise that there have been a large number of attempts at incorporating separation technologies into portable instruments. There have been two primary routes towards the development of portable CE systems: utilizing a shortened capillary or through the use of chip-based micromanufacturing solutions [5, 6, 11, [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] . The majority of the reported work relates to field-portable or point-of-care devices. Research into the development of autonomous in-situ CE systems has received less attention.

There have been two primary routes towards the development of portable CE systems: utilizing a shortened capillary or through the use of chip-based micromanufacturing solutions.