It is interesting to note that in spite of the increasing importance of cross-layering, it is still viewed with skepticism by the system community [12] . There are good reasons for this skepticism. Without careful system support, cross-layering may result in minimal benefits, may be misused, and may lead to unintended problems in the long run. There are three main reasons that point to the need for a careful design of cross-layering. First, without standard interfaces for information sharing, cross-layering could lead to inefficiencies. Often different modules may collect the same information to adapt their behavior, leading to wastage of computation, memory, and energy resources. For example, neighborhood information is useful for both network level routing and application level role assignment; hence uncoordinated information gathering will result in significant resource wastage (see Table I ). Second, piecemeal evolution of cross-layering would lead to a spaghetti design of the protocol stack that is hard to maintain and verify due to the complex interactions among the different modules. Third, without a holistic approach to information sharing and event notification different protocol modules may make sub-optimal decisions leading to poor adaptability. For example, unless the application layer is notified of a sudden change in a link quality by the network layer, its role assignment decisions will be sub-optimal thus affecting application longevity.

It is interesting to note that in spite of the increasing importance of cross-layering, it is still viewed with skepticism by the system community.


The class of traveling continua encompasses such apparently diverse mechanical systems as high-speed magnetic and paper tapes, elevator cables, power transmission band, aerial cable tramways, and pipes that contain fluid [1] [2] [3] . The transporting flexible string and the transporting tensioned Euler-Bernoulli beam are the most prototypical model of these traveling systems. If the bending stiffness must be accounted, these systems can be modeled as transporting beams. Therefore, the related investigations of transporting beams are requisite for optimal design of a broad class of traveling devices. Meanwhile, transporting beam is a typical gyroscopic continuum because the governing equations contain a term of the mixed partial derivative with respect to the space and the time coordinates. The related investigations also have theoretical significance.

The class of traveling continua encompasses such apparently diverse mechanical systems as high-speed magnetic and paper tapes, elevator cables, power transmission band, aerial cable tramways, and pipes that contain fluid.


First, the value restrictions in can get in the way of equational reasoning. If a is an expression in P there is no way to prove an equation like (let x = a in f x ) = (f a), even though the two sides are in fact contextually equivalent. To make it provable we could add termination-case-a case analysis on whether a programmatic expression evaluates to a value or diverges [20] . Unfortunately, this operator is unimplementable, so we would not want to allow proofs that use this reasoning to be used as programs. One solution is to introduce a new consistency classifier O, for oracular, in addition to L and P. By not allowing O expressions to be used as programs, we could control and track the use of termination case.

To make it provable we could add termination-case-a case analysis on whether a programmatic expression evaluates to a value or diverges.


Thermoset resins are widely used as matrices for composites, adhesive bonding or coating materials in structural applications. Solvent uptake is a natural and common aging process for such thermosets, leading to a change of thermal resistance (Glass Transition Temperature, T g ) and mechanical behaviour (strength, toughness, etc …), and to the development of internal stresses caused by the swelling action of the absorbed solvent [1] . These changes can have a severe influence on highly constrained structures presenting interfaces between materials with strong properties mismatches (e.g. matrix/fibre interfaces, structural hybrid joints, etc.).

Solvent uptake is a natural and common aging process for such thermosets, leading to a change of thermal resistance (Glass Transition Temperature, T g ) and mechanical behaviour (strength, toughness, etc …), and to the development of internal stresses caused by the swelling action of the absorbed solvent.


Among the transformations activated by water absorption, one particularly difficult to assess is swelling. Such hydrostatic volume change is usually proportional to the amount of absorbed water. During the transitory from water ingress to saturation a nonuniform distribution of water is responsible for the development of internal stresses, due to non-uniform swelling. Only a few works have attempted the evaluation of such transitory stages, due to the intrinsic difficulty to make an effective full field evaluation of the stress/strain fields [13, 14] . Recently the authors have proposed a new approach to evaluate the transitory swelling stresses arising during absorption/desorption, which uses Photoelastic Stress Analysis [1] . The method has proven to be robust and easy to implement on transparent and birefringent resin systems, providing a very high sensitivity, sufficient to detect swelling stresses arising also in small sample coupons. The authors have also successfully used the method to investigate the influence of swelling stresses on cracked materials, and to interpret the influence of hydrothermal aging on the material fracture toughness [15, 16] .

Only a few works have attempted the evaluation of such transitory stages, due to the intrinsic difficulty to make an effective full field evaluation of the stress/strain fields.

Recently the authors have proposed a new approach to evaluate the transitory swelling stresses arising during absorption/desorption, which uses Photoelastic Stress Analysis.

The authors have also successfully used the method to investigate the influence of swelling stresses on cracked materials, and to interpret the influence of hydrothermal aging on the material fracture toughness.


In the PHR, as huge amount of data will be generated because of measuring the individual's physical daily conditions as their life logs, these data must be maintained due to managing them with the aspect of temporal data. Therefore, both of the following items must be treated as mandatory matters; the first is the architecture orientating to the scalability. The second is to establish the insurance of security and privacy. Furthermore ideally, it might be required to make the data belonging to the individual independent from the management by all of the medical service providers as business entities and to integrate them by shifting them to the individual's responsibility. Accordingly, it is ideally preferable to realize the following two items; the first is to make the management functions on data owned by individuals more virtualized and to exchange them through the functionality such as the service bus flexibly. The second is to deploy all of the applications and services, which are owned by the business entities, on the above service bus as the upper layer. Here, it strongly seems suitable to adopt the architecture where the data management should be implemented as a transparent hub by applying the PaaS model as the lower boundary. As for the service bus, there is already an existing instance implemented by LENUS [20] .

As for the service bus, there is already an existing instance implemented by LENUS.


The zebrafish is an excellent model for the study of innate immunity and of the inflammatory response elicited by tissue damage or infection [44] [45] [46] . Given that we had shown that murine HSPCs differentiate into neutrophils and macrophages in the fish, we wished to know whether they had acquired functional competence as well. Chimeric larvae challenged by localized intramuscular infection with a low dose of with K. pneuomoniae revealed a dramatic decrease of murine cell numbers in the fish CHT, with an increase in murine cell numbers in the vessel directly proximal to the inoculum injection site. This suggests that murine cells respond to the infectious challenge by entering the circulation and homing to the bacterial site. However, we cannot exclude the possibility that part of the observed effect is due to activation of endogenous immune cells or emergency granulopoiesis that might lead to elimination of the murine cells in the CHT. Infection with a higher inoculum of bacteria (~400 cfu) resulted in specific localization of murine cells near the injection site starting as early as 1 hpi, with increased numbers of infiltrated cells over time.

The zebrafish is an excellent model for the study of innate immunity and of the inflammatory response elicited by tissue damage or infection.


The transparency and tolerance to experimental manipulation of zebrafish embryos has extended their use in unanticipated ways, which include the transplantation of animal, plant and bacterial cells [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [47] [48] . For instance, a wide body of work has shown that xenotransplantation of human cancer cells into zebrafish is a useful in vivo platform to assess and screen for molecules controlling cancer cell metastasis and migration. Until now though, zebrafish xenotransplantation assays to visualize and study normal mammalian hematopoietic or immune cell development and function in living fish embryos have not been established. To broaden the scope of available cell xenotransplantation assays in zebrafish we have developed a method that generates zebrafish embryos with transiently chimeric hematopoietic tissue. This procedure constitutes a simple and efficient technique that allows the engraftment of mammalian hematopoietic cells into the fish embryonic developmental hematopoietic program. As a result, mammalian cells integrate into the developing primitive and definitive hematopoietic tissues of the host, and chimeric animals grow with a heterogeneous population of mammalian bone marrow-derived cells amidst their own hematopoietic niche. The xenografted animals allow for a broad spectrum of in vivo experiments to be carried out readily without any further manipulations and to continually visualize the cell behaviors that might ensue.

The transparency and tolerance to experimental manipulation of zebrafish embryos has extended their use in unanticipated ways, which include the transplantation of animal, plant and bacterial cells.


Incremental computation has a long-standing history in computer science [21] . Often, a program needs to update its output efficiently to reflect input changes [23] . Instead of rerunning such a program from scratch on its updated input, incremental computation research looks for alternatives that are cheaper in a common scenario: namely, when the input change is much smaller than the input itself.

Incremental computation has a long-standing history in computer science.

Often, a program needs to update its output efficiently to reflect input changes.


To enable computational modeling of wrinkling deformations, both membrane and bending flexibilities must be considered in the analytical model based on geometrically nonlinear kinematics with large displacements and rotations. Departing from the classical tension-field theory, several recent computational studies have employed geometrically nonlinear shell finite element models [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] . While some success has been achieved-particularly when modeling wrinkled equilibrium states in relatively simple problems-the problems exhibiting high stress concentrations due to geometrical effects and/or loading have been exceptionally difficult to solve even with the best nonlinear finite element codes and advanced shell element technology.

Departing from the classical tension-field theory, several recent computational studies have employed geometrically nonlinear shell finite element models.


Regarding factors associated with positive VDRL, it was found a positive association with the use of illegal drugs. A study conducted with parturient women in Vitoria city, Espirito Santo, did not find a positive association with these variables in the multiple regression design [18] . Other studies showed that low socioeconomic level, use of drugs (crack and cocaine), lack of prenatal care and STD symptoms are found to be factors associated with syphilis [19, 20] .

A study conducted with parturient women in Vitoria city, Espirito Santo, did not find a positive association with these variables in the multiple regression design.

Other studies showed that low socioeconomic level, use of drugs (crack and cocaine), lack of prenatal care and STD symptoms are found to be factors associated with syphilis.


Here the input signal and pump powers are fixed at -30 dBm and 250 mW, respectively. If compared to that observed at 2.5 μm   , we observe a gain reduction of about 1.5 dB for low doping radiuses. Under such conditions, all the thulium ions are centred near the core so that a higher overlap occurs at different  and  values [5] .

Under such conditions, all the thulium ions are centred near the core so that a higher overlap occurs at different  and  values.


Fracture propagation is a significant issue for pipelines transporting gases and the need to arrest a running fracture in a pipeline is paramount to the integrity and safety of the pipeline's operation. The Battelle Two-Curve Model (BTCM) is the most commonly used approach for the prediction of the minimum linepipe toughness ("arrest toughness") required to arrest a running fracture [1] . The BTCM involves the superposition of two curves: the gas decompression wave speed characteristic and the fracture propagation speed characteristic, each as a function of local gas pressure. The boundary between arrest and propagation of a running fracture is represented by tangency between the decompression curve and the fracture curve, the arrest toughness is the value corresponding to this condition.

The Battelle Two-Curve Model (BTCM) is the most commonly used approach for the prediction of the minimum linepipe toughness ("arrest toughness") required to arrest a running fracture.


Content-based copy detection (CBCD) is introduced as an alternative, or in fact, a complementary research field to watermarking approach. The main idea of CBCD is that the media visually contains enough information for detecting copies [2] . Therefore, the problem of content-based copy detection is considered as video similarity detection by using the visual similarities of video clips.

The main idea of CBCD is that the media visually contains enough information for detecting copies.


The exploration of marine bio-resources is an indefinite challenge for bio-mining researchers to strengthen the development of marine functional foods, nutraceuticals, and associated medicinal benefits (Samarakoon et al., 2014) . Nutraceuticals and functional food industries have grown significantly in the last two decades. Nowadays, the consumers paid a great deal of interest towards natural bioactive substances due to the various health benefits of nutraceuticals and/or functional ingredients in food products. The continuous research and investigation on nutraceuticals will prompt another era of foods, which will certainly raise the permeability interface between foods and drugs (Kim et al., 2013) .

The exploration of marine bio-resources is an indefinite challenge for bio-mining researchers to strengthen the development of marine functional foods, nutraceuticals, and associated medicinal benefits.

The continuous research and investigation on nutraceuticals will prompt another era of foods, which will certainly raise the permeability interface between foods and drugs.


Marine macro-algae, micro-algae, blue-green algae, invertebrates, vertebrates, and marine-derived microorganisms are valuable sources of active marine nutraceuticals that can contribute to consumers' wellbeing and play an important role in human health. They offer a lot of source of nutritionally as well as pharmacologically active agents with great chemical diversity and complexity, and potential to produce valuable health or medicinal foods. Moreover, combinations between marine nutraceuticals and nov el bi oacti v e substances prov i de nov el pharmaceutically active functional ingredients that would enhance the treatment development of chronic conditions such as tumor malignancy, inflammatory processes, and microbial infections (Kim et al., 2013) .

Moreover, combinations between marine nutraceuticals and nov el bi oacti v e substances prov i de nov el pharmaceutically active functional ingredients that would enhance the treatment development of chronic conditions such as tumor malignancy, inflammatory processes, and microbial infections.


We were unable to monitor enough nests in the ground/shrub guild to obtain nesting success estimates for the two years of initial response in the thin and thin + burn treatments. This was not due to a lack of nest searching effort, but to a lack of active nests. The low number of ground/shrub nests discovered during this period may be a more telling sign than nesting success itself of the initial response of this guild to the entire experimental forest. As the forest understory recovered in the following two years, the number of nests discovered increased. During these response years the ground cover and understory growth was lowest in the burn treatment and this is reflected in the decreased nesting success of birds nesting on or near the ground. The lowered nesting success of ground and shrub nesting species is consistent with previous research [36] .

The lowered nesting success of ground and shrub nesting species is consistent with previous research.


Manual workers frequently use a variety of hand tools, for example, chainsaws, grinders, and pneumatic hammers, which lead to vibration being transmitted to their bodies via the hands and arms. Prolonged exposure to handtransmitted vibration can cause different vibration-induced injuries, which are collectively known as hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) [1] . One of the most common conditions is white-fingers syndrome, where the symptoms are localized in the soft tissues and veins of the fingers, as mentioned by Bovenzi [2] . To prevent the occurrence of white-fingers syndrome and help interpret the observed phenomena in epidemiological and physiological studies, the complex biodynamic responses of the fingers are measured and modeled [3, 4] .

Prolonged exposure to handtransmitted vibration can cause different vibration-induced injuries, which are collectively known as hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS).

One of the most common conditions is white-fingers syndrome, where the symptoms are localized in the soft tissues and veins of the fingers, as mentioned by Bovenzi.

To prevent the occurrence of white-fingers syndrome and help interpret the observed phenomena in epidemiological and physiological studies, the complex biodynamic responses of the fingers are measured and modeled.


Correctly defining plant populations is a cultural practice that has a great impact on yield and various other aspects of farming. In determining plant populations, the climate, soil characteristics, the cultivar to be planted and Response of Castor Bean Plants to Different Row Spacings and Planting Seasons 11 the management style to be employed all must be considered [9] [10] [11] [12] . Highly fertile or adequately fertilised soils and water availability conditions can result in the lush growth of castor bean plants, leading to plant lodging and hindering management and harvesting operations and the final yield [11] .

In determining plant populations, the climate, soil characteristics, the cultivar to be planted and Response of Castor Bean Plants to Different Row Spacings and Planting Seasons 11 the management style to be employed all must be considered.

Highly fertile or adequately fertilised soils and water availability conditions can result in the lush growth of castor bean plants, leading to plant lodging and hindering management and harvesting operations and the final yield.


Lung transplant remains the only definitive treatment available for many end-stage pulmonary disorders including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, and cystic fibrosis [1] . The utility of lung transplantation as a treatment modality is reflected by the number of transplants performed, which has increased from 5 in 1985 to 3640 worldwide in 2011 [1] . However, despite dramatic improvements in surgical technique, immunosuppressive regimens, and coordinated patient care, the median 5 year survival among recipients is 50%, lower than any other solid organ allograft ( Fig. 1 ) [1, 2] . Chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD), in general, and obliterative bronchiolitis/bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (OB/BOS) in particular, are the predominant factor limiting long-term survival after lung transplant. CLAD, previously known as chronic rejection, can be represented by different histologic patterns with OB being the most common. OB occurs in the small conducting airways, sparing the more distal respiratory bronchioles. As seen in Fig. 2 , partial or complete airway occlusion arises as a result of proliferation of connective tissue, which may include microvascular-rich granulation in the context of abnormal tissue repair and remodeling [3] . BOS is the clinical correlate of OB and is diagnosed on the basis of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV 1 ) [4] . Within 5 years of transplant nearly 49% of recipients have BOS, a number that increases to 76% at 10 years and represents the most common cause of death among recipients following the first post-transplant year [1] . At present, once initiated there is no effective treatment to reverse the obliterative process. The aim of this review is to describe the immunopathophysiology of OB and outline the current state of establishing immune tolerance in transplantation, particularly in the setting of lung allografts.

Lung transplant remains the only definitive treatment available for many end-stage pulmonary disorders including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, and cystic fibrosis.

The utility of lung transplantation as a treatment modality is reflected by the number of transplants performed, which has increased from 5 in 1985 to 3640 worldwide in 2011.

However, despite dramatic improvements in surgical technique, immunosuppressive regimens, and coordinated patient care, the median 5 year survival among recipients is 50%, lower than any other solid organ allograft ( Fig. 1 ).

As seen in Fig. 2 , partial or complete airway occlusion arises as a result of proliferation of connective tissue, which may include microvascular-rich granulation in the context of abnormal tissue repair and remodeling.

BOS is the clinical correlate of OB and is diagnosed on the basis of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV 1 ).

Within 5 years of transplant nearly 49% of recipients have BOS, a number that increases to 76% at 10 years and represents the most common cause of death among recipients following the first post-transplant year.


At distribution voltage level, one of the major challenges is the variability and uncertainty of short circuit current from these flexible DG resources. The operating conditions of renewable generation are highly unpredictable. Moreover, low voltage ride through (LVRT) capability mandates DG units' connectivity to the network only for a short period. Therefore, the protection settings of distribution system are of crucial importance, because it should be able to not only isolate the faulted part of the system in a short time to prevent large scale tripping of DG units, but also immediately adapt to the new scenarios to achieve high reliability and selectivity [1] .

Therefore, the protection settings of distribution system are of crucial importance, because it should be able to not only isolate the faulted part of the system in a short time to prevent large scale tripping of DG units, but also immediately adapt to the new scenarios to achieve high reliability and selectivity.


In the previous sections we have studied the potential benefits through integrating new aircraft-associated technologies. Another significant contribution to improving the aircraft fuel efficiency comes from engines. As predicted by Rolls-Royce, engine related technologies can make around 30% contribution toward ACARE Flightpath 2050 Targets [56] .

As predicted by Rolls-Royce, engine related technologies can make around 30% contribution toward ACARE Flightpath 2050 Targets.


In the previous sections we have studied the potential benefits through integrating new aircraftassociated technologies. Another significant contribution to improving the aircraft fuel efficiency comes from engines. As predicted by Rolls-Royce, engine related technologies can make around 30% contribution toward ACARE Flightpath 2050 Targets [56] .


Variability in biocontrol activity similar to what we observed has been reported in protoplast fusants of other Trichoderma species (Pe'er & Chet 1990) . In comparison with the morphologically similar parent, we found both strains with increased biocontrol activity (TkG12 and TkG18) and decreased biocontrol activity (GTk53). The level of biocontrol activity of fusant GTk53, while significantly lower than that of the morphologically similar T. virens parent, G6, still was a significant level of biocontrol activity, giving seedling survival rates similar to those of the two improved T. koningii strains.

Variability in biocontrol activity similar to what we observed has been reported in protoplast fusants of other Trichoderma species.


Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), a frequent primary immunodeficiency disease, includes a heterogeneous group of diseases characterized by low concentration of serum-immunoglobulin of all switched immunoglobulin isotypes, defective specific-antibody production and increased susceptibility to infections of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts with encapsulated bacteria. Subgroups of patients have increased risks of some of the following conditions including splenomegaly, granulomatous lesions, autoimmune disease and tumoral transformation [1] . The basic molecular immunological defect of this pathology is still unknown and probably results from the heterogeneity of the phenotypic features of the disease.

Subgroups of patients have increased risks of some of the following conditions including splenomegaly, granulomatous lesions, autoimmune disease and tumoral transformation.


There is a lack of psychometrically sound and valid self-report measures to assess anxiety symptoms in Bulgarian adolescents. Therefore, the main aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties (i.e., reliability and validity) and factor structure of the Bulgarian translation of the SCAS in adolescents in Bulgaria. Bulgaria is located in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula, with a total population of 7.6 million. With the fall of the Eastern Bloc, Bulgaria had undergone a transition from a centralized government to a market economy. For example, since 1989, the Bulgarian Health care reform has undergone three stages [27] . The first stage involved the abolishment of the state monopoly in the health system, whereas the second stage involved the introduction of the new health insurance system. The third stage involved the completion of the legislative foundation of the health care reform with the adoption of new laws and amendments and additions of the existing regulatory acts. Despite these changes, the Bulgarian health system is still described as economically unstable; its health care establishments, particularly the hospitals, are reported to suffer from underfunding. Among the most common problems and challenges in mental health care in Bulgaria include (a) lack of programmes for early diagnosis, and (b) insufficient training and lack of mental health professionals [27] . To our knowledge, there are no studies that have examined the prevalence of anxiety and other psychiatric disorders among adolescents in Bulgaria. Among adults, it is estimated that about 20% of the adults in the general population in Bulgaria met the diagnosis of a mental disorder, with the most common being that of anxiety disorders (13.1%), followed by depressive disorders (8.5%) [27] . The prevalence of anxiety disorders among adolescents is expected to be similarly high.

For example, since 1989, the Bulgarian Health care reform has undergone three stages.

Among the most common problems and challenges in mental health care in Bulgaria include (a) lack of programmes for early diagnosis, and (b) insufficient training and lack of mental health professionals.

Among adults, it is estimated that about 20% of the adults in the general population in Bulgaria met the diagnosis of a mental disorder, with the most common being that of anxiety disorders (13.1%), followed by depressive disorders (8.5%).


Of importance therefore is the question as to whether the different subtypes of anxiety are universal or cultural-specific. Knowledge on the universality or culture specificity of anxiety has practical implications because questionnaires developed in one culture can be valid for assessment in another culture. Existing results have indicated that the various translations of SCAS are reliable and valid for use among adolescents in both community and clinical samples. In all studies, the Cronbach's alpha for the total SCAS has been reported to be 0.92 [15, 16, 22] . The Cronbach's alphas for all subscales have similarly been reported to be high (ranging from 0.70 for separation anxiety and social phobia to 0.82 for panic-agoraphobic symptoms), except for physical injury fears (Cronbach's alpha being 0.60).

In all studies, the Cronbach's alpha for the total SCAS has been reported to be 0.92.


Based on previous findings, we hypothesized that the Bulgarian translation of the SCAS to be a reliable and valid instrument when used among adolescents in Bulgaria. Such psychometric evaluation should indicate whether the SCAS is useful for screening anxiety symptoms in Bulgarian populations. In terms of construct validity, two additional self-report questionnaires were administered, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC). SCAS total scores were hypothesized to correlate significantly positive with emotional problems as measured by the SDQ and total depressive symptoms as measured by the CES-DC. Previous studies conducted among adolescents in Western countries have indicated girls to report significantly higher anxiety symptoms than boys. Of the different subtypes of anxiety disorders, significantly more girls compared to boys had higher scores on social and specific phobia, and generalized anxiety [29] . Gender difference for symptoms of separation anxiety and panic disorder has been less conclusive [29] . In addition to gender differences, there may be age differences in the overall prevalence of anxiety and also within each subtypes of anxiety disorders. Separation anxiety has been reported to decrease with age, whereas other anxiety disorders such as social phobia and panic disorder tend to increase as the adolescents grow older [18, 30, 31] . It is, however, not known whether or not these findings may be replicated in Bulgaria. Therefore, another aim of the study was to examine gender and age patterns of anxiety symptoms among Bulgarian adolescents.

Of the different subtypes of anxiety disorders, significantly more girls compared to boys had higher scores on social and specific phobia, and generalized anxiety.

Gender difference for symptoms of separation anxiety and panic disorder has been less conclusive.

Separation anxiety has been reported to decrease with age, whereas other anxiety disorders such as social phobia and panic disorder tend to increase as the adolescents grow older.


In earlier studies, we investigated the effect of various natural and commercially available stilbene analogues in suppressing TF induction in endothelial cells with the aim of discovering new compounds that would be more effective than resveratrol. Although a number of the analogues inhibited TF induction, none of them was more effective than resveratrol [14] . However, recent studies show that chemical structural alterations of the stilbene motif of resveratrol could yield extremely effective analogues [23, 25] . A cis-form of methyl derivative of resveratrol (R3) was shown to be a 100-fold more potent than resveratrol in inhibiting cell proliferation by arresting cell cycle at the G2/M phase transition in Caco-2 cells [25] . Similarly, resveratrol analogues bearing the 3,5-dimethoxy motif at the A phenyl ring with amino, methoxy, and hydroxyl moieties at the 3′ -and 4′ -positions (7b, 8b, 11b, 12b, and 12c) were found to be more effective than resveratrol as apoptosis-inducing agents [23] . Particularly, introduction of either a hydroxy (11b) or an amino group (7b) at C-3′ position and methoxy groups at C-3, C-4′ , and C-5 produced extremely effective agents that could inhibit cell proliferation at nanomolar concentration range (IC 50 , 50 nM).

Although a number of the analogues inhibited TF induction, none of them was more effective than resveratrol.

However, recent studies show that chemical structural alterations of the stilbene motif of resveratrol could yield extremely effective analogues.

A cis-form of methyl derivative of resveratrol (R3) was shown to be a 100-fold more potent than resveratrol in inhibiting cell proliferation by arresting cell cycle at the G2/M phase transition in Caco-2 cells.

Similarly, resveratrol analogues bearing the 3,5-dimethoxy motif at the A phenyl ring with amino, methoxy, and hydroxyl moieties at the 3′ -and 4′ -positions (7b, 8b, 11b, 12b, and 12c) were found to be more effective than resveratrol as apoptosis-inducing agents.


We focus on a class of fractal structures on the lattice that are generated by cellular automata (CA), from which many rich structures emerge [79] [80] [81] [82] [83] . In particular, we will focus on CA with linear update rules, from which self-similar fractal structures are guaranteed to emerge, following Ref 32 . We construct a number of spin models which are symmetric under operations that involve flipping spins along these fractal structures. Unlike a global symmetry, there are a large number of independent fractal symmetries that can be defined on the lattice, and therefore their case is more like that of subsystem symmetries.

We focus on a class of fractal structures on the lattice that are generated by cellular automata (CA), from which many rich structures emerge.


Our first-time instructors' reported experiences of emotional surprises and mismatches between their expectations and reality also underscores the importance of ongoing support. New instructors may also benefit from hearing about and learning from a variety of others' first-time teaching experiences. Giving future first-time instructors a sense of the range of possible emotional experiences, such as through a panel discussion, may help them "expect the unexpected" and recognize that their expectations may not match up with reality once they start teaching. This study's focus on first-time instructors at the university level also speaks to a broader gap in the existing literature on emotions and teaching. The prevalence of instructors' discussion of emotions in reflecting on first-time teaching points to their importance for understanding new instructors' experiences. Such emotional experiences may hold important consequences for teacher motivation and retention, as well as for the teaching strategies that instructors adopt (Sutton 2005; Trigwell 2012) . They may also impact instructors' development of a "teaching self" or commitment to the teaching role (Olson and Einwohner 2001; Zembylas 2003) .

Such emotional experiences may hold important consequences for teacher motivation and retention, as well as for the teaching strategies that instructors adopt.

They may also impact instructors' development of a "teaching self" or commitment to the teaching role.


Massive volumes of geospatial data are collected at increasingly faster speeds and higher spatiotemporal resolutions with the advancement of earth observation sensors [1] . Efficiently processing big geospatial data is essential for tackling global and regional challenges such as climate change and natural disasters [2, 3] . Decision support for emergency response, for example, can only be best performed when integrating and processing a large amount of geospatial data in a timely fashion because one-second early warning or alert may help save more lives [4, 5] .

Massive volumes of geospatial data are collected at increasingly faster speeds and higher spatiotemporal resolutions with the advancement of earth observation sensors.

Efficiently processing big geospatial data is essential for tackling global and regional challenges such as climate change and natural disasters.

Decision support for emergency response, for example, can only be best performed when integrating and processing a large amount of geospatial data in a timely fashion because one-second early warning or alert may help save more lives.


In summary, the existing literature shows that the corrosion behaviour of Al-Cu-Li alloys is closely linked to the distribution of T 1 precipitates. However, a definitive relationship between the distribution of T 1 precipitates and the corrosion behaviour has not been determined. To establish such a relationship, one should consider different T 1 microstructures by varying the thermomechanical treatments without altering the other characteristic features of the microstructure, such as the grain size, internal stresses of solute segregation to grain boundaries, because these modifications are known to influence the corrosion rate [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] .

To establish such a relationship, one should consider different T 1 microstructures by varying the thermomechanical treatments without altering the other characteristic features of the microstructure, such as the grain size, internal stresses of solute segregation to grain boundaries, because these modifications are known to influence the corrosion rate.


Further research results also illustrate the violence experienced by women victims of domestic violence, described in table 4 below: Table 4 explains that there is a significant difference in violence experienced by women victims of domestic violence with a value of t test of 6.97, significance of 0.00. It further explained that the lower the age of female marriage, the more likely it is to experience domestic violence with a mean difference of 183.34 for marriages under 10 years and 148.43 for marriage over 10 years. Differences in violence experienced by women under the age of marriage under 10 years are also higher in comparison with women with age of marriage above 10 years either on physical violence, psychic violence, sexual violence or violence in the form of economic neglect. The results of this study are in line with Lewis and Spanier research which states that the younger the marriage age of a person, the higher the temptation that will disrupt the sustainability of the family, which can trigger domestic violence and create problems in the household such as defiance of the rules, Lack of understanding with respect to duties and rights as wives, and other factors [5] , [15] - [16] .

The results of this study are in line with Lewis and Spanier research which states that the younger the marriage age of a person, the higher the temptation that will disrupt the sustainability of the family, which can trigger domestic violence and create problems in the household such as defiance of the rules, Lack of understanding with respect to duties and rights as wives, and other factors.


In addition to having competence with regard to the condition of clients and dimensions of life, counselors are expected to have the skills to use and develop various techniques and strategies that can be done in helping clients to alleviate the problem. In the case of violence, counselors should be able to use various alternative techniques and approaches that are assumed to have significant effectiveness in solving and resolving cases of domestic violence. The alternative techniques and strategies used by counselors can be applied individually (both to victims and perpetrators) or to groups (in larger families). Other competencies that must be performed and performed by the counselor are competencies related to the accountability of the assistance program such as the reporting of the activity or the guidance program, the evaluation of the implementation of the program and the followup that will be done with regard to the implementation of the program already done. The ability to report on guidance activities or programs becomes important in the counselor so that guidance and counseling programs can be held accountable [3] .

The ability to report on guidance activities or programs becomes important in the counselor so that guidance and counseling programs can be held accountable.


The competencies that the counselor must possess in addition to the competence of knowledge, skills and skills are competencies with attitudes. The attitude that is meant here is a positive attitude towards and others [3] , [16] - [17] . A positive attitude toward oneself will provide awareness, the desire to do better, the desire to help others because he considers himself to have the ability and responsibility of the profession, and various other attitudes that will affect himself and his consciousness. A positive attitude is also needed against the person outside of the counselor who will influence the implementation of counseling and guidance.

The attitude that is meant here is a positive attitude towards and others.


Pentland Firth (PF) between Scottish mainland and the Orkney Island ( Fig. 1) is considered as one of the most promising locations for tidal stream energy exploitation in the UK, as a result of predominant extremely high tidal flows [7] . The complex seabed conditions, the presence of numerous islands with rugged coastlines and the highly energetic tidal regime of Pentland Firth pose an intricate hydrodynamic regime. It is important first to understand the physics of the tidal regime in the Pentland Firth in order to understand potential impacts of tidal energy harvesting. However, field measurements of any suitable quantities such as flow velocities and water levels that can be used to investigate and understand the hydrodynamics of this area are scarce. Therefore, suitable computational modelling studies that will provide detailed dynamics will be extremely useful and beneficial to renewable energy industry.

Pentland Firth (PF) between Scottish mainland and the Orkney Island ( Fig. 1) is considered as one of the most promising locations for tidal stream energy exploitation in the UK, as a result of predominant extremely high tidal flows.


ODEs can be solved numerically using solvers which implement the Runge-Kutta method, or Rosenbrock's algorithm, or others. Numerical computing platforms offer high-level support for the solution of ODEs [15] . We are interested in the solution of initial value problems (IVPs) where the initial quantities of the components of the problem are known and we wish to find out how these change over time. Compared with modelling with CTMCs, modelling with ODEs resembles most strongly transient analysis of CTMCs: there is no implicit assumption that the system reaches steady-state equilibrium and we observe states of the system as time progresses, working forwards from their initial values at time t = 0.

Numerical computing platforms offer high-level support for the solution of ODEs.


Our results offer initial support for the importance of a good sense of humor, reflected in higher uses of self-enhancing humor, in supporting stable positive affect, building resilience, and limiting psychological distress. The longitudinal research strategy increases the possibility that a causal link might be assumed between adaptive humor styles and positive health outcomes. Obviously, it will now be important to examine these relationships in a more diverse sample and over a longer period of time. In addition, it will be important to consider other indicators of stable positive affect. We employed a measure based on peak affective experiences daily, but daily affect can show considerable variability across a day (Kuppens, Van Mechelen, Nezlek, Dossche, & Timmermans, 2007) .

We employed a measure based on peak affective experiences daily, but daily affect can show considerable variability across a day.


A second issue addressed in the current research involved identifying how a good sense of humor might have positive effects on psychological health directly, or indirectly, mediated though differences in stable affect. As a first step in assuming possible mediation effects, it was necessary to demonstrate that differences in stable affect were related to the psychological health outcomes; otherwise indirect effects would be unexpected. Across the three separate outcome measures, the path analyses revealed highly consistent results. First, as predicted, stable positive affect was related to all three outcomes. A higher stable positive affect predicted greater resilience and well-being and a lower level of psychological distress. Stable negative affect, while uncorrelated with positive affect, also explained variance in two of the three outcomes. Higher stable negative affect predicted greater psychological distress and lower levels of resilience. The relationship of stable negative affect with well-being failed to reach significance, although the coefficients were comparable to those for resilience. In general, being able to maintain higher positive affect and lower negative affect would seem to have significant psychological health benefits. According to the Broaden and Build model, these benefits accrue because positive affect supports more creative and flexible thinking, which makes the individual more resilient and able to maintain a positive frame of mind even when challenges arise (Fredrickson, 2013) . To validate this process, future research should specifically examine the roles of creativity and flexibility. Positive affect might be important simply because it creates a more positive frame of mind, regardless of any differences in thinking styles. On the other hand, if stable positive affect does enhance creativity and flexibility in thinking, it also might facilitate expressions of humor, since creating humor often depends on these same qualities (Brodzinsky & Rubien, 1976) . Perhaps a cyclical pattern exists in which effective humor allows for establishing stable positive affect, which facilitates more effective humor, all as a result of creative and flexible thinking.

According to the Broaden and Build model, these benefits accrue because positive affect supports more creative and flexible thinking, which makes the individual more resilient and able to maintain a positive frame of mind even when challenges arise.

On the other hand, if stable positive affect does enhance creativity and flexibility in thinking, it also might facilitate expressions of humor, since creating humor often depends on these same qualities.


There has been a tremendous improvement in prosthetic valve thrombosis in tricuspid position since Thorburn reported 20% incidence in monoleaflet models [29] . Subsequent reports, corresponding to a mixture of newer valve models, showed incidence lower than 0.7% per patient year [30, 31] . Presentation may include fatigue, syncope, distended neck veins, signs of fluid retention, muffled valve clicks and middiastolic or pansystolic murmurs in tricuspid area. Confirmation by TTE requires presence of the following criteria: 1) high transvalvular gradients -mean of 6 mm Hg or higher, and peak of 15 mm Hg or higher 2) transvalvular gradients 50% or higher than observed before 3) visible thrombus on the prosthetic valve 4) inability to demonstrate 2 different mobile echoes representing the valve leaflets in a high quality image. Inability of the valve leaflets to either fully open or close on fluoroscopy employing multiple acquisition angles including the side view, with the disks parallel to the beam is generally considered indicative of a stuck valve. The diagnostic criteria for thrombosis on TOE were limited leaflet motion and/or visible thrombus [32] .

There has been a tremendous improvement in prosthetic valve thrombosis in tricuspid position since Thorburn reported 20% incidence in monoleaflet models.

Subsequent reports, corresponding to a mixture of newer valve models, showed incidence lower than 0.7% per patient year.

The diagnostic criteria for thrombosis on TOE were limited leaflet motion and/or visible thrombus.


Cavity flows involve shear layers, unstable with respect to Kelvin-Helmholtz waves. In the case of free shear layers, a wide and continuous range of spatial disturbances is amplified, while advecting downstream. Power spectra, for such flows, are usually widely distributed around a most unstable frequency whose value can be predicted theoretically (Huerre and Rossi 1998) . On the contrary, when they are externally driven, shear layers behave like amplifiers, promoting the enhancement of the forcing frequencies and their nonlinear interaction, as was experimentally shown by Miksad in the early 1970s (Miksad 1973) . In addition, depending on the flow velocity with respect to the KelvinHelmholtz wave celerity, the shear layer instability may change from convective to absolute, giving rise to some global instability (Huerre and Monkevitz 1985) .

Power spectra, for such flows, are usually widely distributed around a most unstable frequency whose value can be predicted theoretically.

On the contrary, when they are externally driven, shear layers behave like amplifiers, promoting the enhancement of the forcing frequencies and their nonlinear interaction, as was experimentally shown by Miksad in the early 1970s.

In addition, depending on the flow velocity with respect to the KelvinHelmholtz wave celerity, the shear layer instability may change from convective to absolute, giving rise to some global instability.


Mobile nodes collectively form a Mobile Ad-hoc NETwork (MANET), which communicate over radio. MANET's are very flexible networks and do not need any central administrator or an existing infrastructure for communication. They transmit data directly to the nodes that are in their transmission region out of the region nodes reached with the help of intermediate nodes. The nodes not only behave like a host, they are capable to send packets to other nodes with the help of intermediate nodes, therefore this type of networks are also called multi-hop ad hoc networks [1] . The topology is dynamically changed due to nodes mobility which affects the data transfer rate. Designing an efficient on demand routing protocol for delivering packets to the destination is a crucial issue in MANET.

The nodes not only behave like a host, they are capable to send packets to other nodes with the help of intermediate nodes, therefore this type of networks are also called multi-hop ad hoc networks.


In recent decade, a series of printed wide-slot antenna have been investigated. Sze and Wong presented a printed wide-slot antenna with enhanced bandwidth via increasing the coupling between the microstrip feed line and the printed wide slot by the fork-like tuning stub [5] . Liu and coauthors suggested in the study of printed wide-slot antenna for wide-band applications that the antenna feed and slot should be of similar shapes for optimum impedance matching [6] . This idea has been adopted in design of various slot antennas with different shape for bandwidth enhancement [7] [8] [9] [10] .

Sze and Wong presented a printed wide-slot antenna with enhanced bandwidth via increasing the coupling between the microstrip feed line and the printed wide slot by the fork-like tuning stub.

Liu and coauthors suggested in the study of printed wide-slot antenna for wide-band applications that the antenna feed and slot should be of similar shapes for optimum impedance matching.

This idea has been adopted in design of various slot antennas with different shape for bandwidth enhancement.


With the rapid development of wireless communication systems and increase of their applications, compact and broadband antenna design has become a challenging topic. Frequently used wideband antennas include modified dipole antennas, Vivaldi antennas, water-drop antennas, printed slot antennas and so on. Vivaldi antenna has advantages such as wide bandwidth, high directivity, low profile and ease of fabrication, however its size is relatively large [1] . Water-drop antennas have a better impedance matching but without a compact structure. Meanwhile, microstrip-line-fed printed slot antenna has attracted much attention due to its simple structure, favorable impedance bandwidth, small size, completely uniplanar and easily integrated with active devices or circuits [2, 3] . Nakano and Yamauchi summarized printed slot and wire antennas in a review, and mentioned that one of approaches to achieve wideband characteristics is to combine a wide slot with a tuning stub [4] .

Vivaldi antenna has advantages such as wide bandwidth, high directivity, low profile and ease of fabrication, however its size is relatively large.

Meanwhile, microstrip-line-fed printed slot antenna has attracted much attention due to its simple structure, favorable impedance bandwidth, small size, completely uniplanar and easily integrated with active devices or circuits.

Nakano and Yamauchi summarized printed slot and wire antennas in a review, and mentioned that one of approaches to achieve wideband characteristics is to combine a wide slot with a tuning stub.


Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) has drawn a large amount of attention from the perspective of both the basic and applied sciences. It is a unique protein because it acts as a light-driven engine that converts light into chemical energy in an efficient manner. Bacteriorhodopsin possesses hydrogen bonding networks that executes proton transport. This implies that proteins with its hydrogen bonding networks (HBN) can process information. Such protein with hydrogen bonding networks is β-lactamase [14] .

Such protein with hydrogen bonding networks is β-lactamase.


Ecotourism in Australia is growing at three times the rate of other sectors of the tourism industry and is a $AUD100 million a year industry (Boyer, 1994) . As such, the effects of ecotourism activities on the surrounding environment need to be determined urgently, otherwise ecotourism may become a mere replica of conventional mass tourism with its associated effects and problems (Carter, 1992) . Ecotourism activities are conducted in relatively pristine marine environments. Accordingly, the negative effects if not managed have the potential to affect adversely the natural resources on which the industry depends.

Ecotourism in Australia is growing at three times the rate of other sectors of the tourism industry and is a $AUD100 million a year industry.

As such, the effects of ecotourism activities on the surrounding environment need to be determined urgently, otherwise ecotourism may become a mere replica of conventional mass tourism with its associated effects and problems.


Firstly, as energy resources provided for SNs are usually battery cells which are impossible to recharge during WSNs' working process, SNs are restricted by resources due to low battery supply. Consequently, in this paper, energy saving technology is taken into consideration, to make the network model more practical. For better energy utilization, we choose cluster-based WSNs [15, 16] . In cluster-based WSNs, SNs resident in nearby area would form a cluster and SNs can select one of the clusters to be their cluster-head nodes 2 International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks (CHs). The CH organizes data pieces received from SNs into an aggregated result and then forwards the result to the base station (sink node) along with the regular routing paths.

For better energy utilization, we choose cluster-based WSNs.


A well-known and complex reliability optimization problem is the redundancy apportionment problem for the series-parallel systems which can be defined as the problem of the selection of the optimal combination of component type and redundancy level for each subsystem in order to meet various objectives under given constraints on the overall system [2] . This problem was studied in this research. The objectives considered were the maximization of the system reliability, and the minimization of the system cost. The study was looking for the number and the type of the redundant components which optimize the objective function under several different constraints such as the overall system weight and total number of the components used in all redundancies.

A well-known and complex reliability optimization problem is the redundancy apportionment problem for the series-parallel systems which can be defined as the problem of the selection of the optimal combination of component type and redundancy level for each subsystem in order to meet various objectives under given constraints on the overall system.


The reliability optimization plays an important role in design, operation and management of the industrial systems. The reliability of a system can be easily enhanced by improving the reliability of unreliable components and/or by using redundant configuration with subsystems/components in parallel. Improving component reliability has been generally preferred over adding redundancy in industry, because the redundancy is difficult to add to the real systems due to the technical limitations such as weight, volume, and cost. However, recently developed advanced technologies such as semiconductor integrated circuits and nanotechnology, have revived the importance of the redundancy strategy [1] .

However, recently developed advanced technologies such as semiconductor integrated circuits and nanotechnology, have revived the importance of the redundancy strategy.


This study was performed to determine the in vivo activity of Titanocene T in the Caki-1 xenograft tumor model in vivo, to extend the in vitro knowledge on the activity of this compound. Testing this new Titanocene T compound for in vivo activity was of particular interest, since the antitumoral activity of Titanocene Y and other Titanocenes has been studied in various human in vitro tumor models demonstrating their superiority over the established cisplatin [8, 9, 10, 21] . Titanocene Y has been shown to induce the effector Fig. (4) . Immunohistochemistry for evaluation of microvessel density in Caki-1 xenograft tumors: Light-microscopy images of representative samples per treatment group show CD31-specific brown vessel staining and blue cell nuclei. The light microscopic images were analyzed for semi-quantitative determination of CD31-positive areas (see Table 1 ). The images were taken from two different animals, respectively. Magnification: 100 x.

Testing this new Titanocene T compound for in vivo activity was of particular interest, since the antitumoral activity of Titanocene Y and other Titanocenes has been studied in various human in vitro tumor models demonstrating their superiority over the established cisplatin.

Magnification: 100 x.


The in vivo experiment of this study showed that Titanocene T induced a dose-dependent tumor growth inhibition, reflected by the moderate inhibition of optimal 51% T/C value achieved with 25 mg/kg and a stronger, significant 32% T/C value reached with 50 mg/kg. This relatively high T/C value combined with the low toxicity of Titanocene T demonstrated that the compound is active in the Caki-1 renal carcinoma xenograft model and that its therapeutic index is reasonable. Earlier studies showed similar tumor growth inhibition for Titanocene Y in the same in vivo tumor model at 40 mg/kg [16] .

Earlier studies showed similar tumor growth inhibition for Titanocene Y in the same in vivo tumor model at 40 mg/kg.


Titanocene Y proved itself as a strong anti-angiogenic compound [13] . We therefore determined this effect also for Titanocene T. Here, Titanocene T shows a highly significant diminishing effect for both Titanocene T doses on the number of microvessels in the human renal Caki-1 xenograft tumors. This evidenced its capability to interrupt neovascularisation in vivo. This might serve as one possible mechanism for the observed antitumoral activity of Titanocene T in the Caki-1 tumor model, paralleling the known effects of Titanocene Y [13] .

Titanocene Y proved itself as a strong anti-angiogenic compound.

This might serve as one possible mechanism for the observed antitumoral activity of Titanocene T in the Caki-1 tumor model, paralleling the known effects of Titanocene Y.


The results of this evaluation should be considered in light of several limitations related to a relative paucity of clinical and economic data available for this subgroup of psoriasis patients. First, the model includes a potentially heterogeneous population of patients with a variety of reasons for undergoing treatment with a second biologic therapy. The reason why the patient failed the first course of therapy may have an impact on the efficacy and potential value of the next treatment, although due to a lack of data, that was not captured here. Second, we assumed a class effect for all biologic therapies, although placebocontrolled RCT evidence in this patient subgroup is only available for infliximab and ustekinumab. It is unclear whether this approach overestimates or underestimates the likelihood of response with etanercept and adalimumab in this subgroup of patients, though the ACCEPT subgroup analysis failed to show a difference between ustekinumab and etanercept [16] . The base case result almost certainly underestimates the value of ustekinumab, because a sensitivity analysis showed that if this analysis were restricted to ustekinumab only, then further biologic treatment is likely to be cost effective (ICER = £13,110). Third, and as outlined in previous appraisals of biological therapy, there is relatively limited long-term experience with biological therapies, so that estimates of dropout and sustained response are quite uncertain. A threshold analysis showed that if the dropout rate is more than 66 % per annum, then further biologic therapy is unlikely to represent good value for NHS resources. Finally, there is limited data on adverse events, both in terms of their incidence as well as their impact on resource use and quality of life. They were not explicitly modelled, although they would certainly count amongst treatment dropouts, and we believe that their inclusion would not affect the conclusions of our analysis.

It is unclear whether this approach overestimates or underestimates the likelihood of response with etanercept and adalimumab in this subgroup of patients, though the ACCEPT subgroup analysis failed to show a difference between ustekinumab and etanercept.


At least 60% of the world's population either lacks one or more essential mineral elements or consumes food containing high amounts of toxic mineral elements [1] . Mineral malnutrition is a widespread problem in both developing and developed countries. This situation is particularly serious for some micronutrients, such as Fe, Zn, I, Se, Ca, Mg, and Cu [2, 3] . In the specific case of Se, 15% of the world's population is already Se deficient [2] .

At least 60% of the world's population either lacks one or more essential mineral elements or consumes food containing high amounts of toxic mineral elements.

This situation is particularly serious for some micronutrients, such as Fe, Zn, I, Se, Ca, Mg, and Cu.

In the specific case of Se, 15% of the world's population is already Se deficient.


Perfluorocarbon liquids are well-known as good dielectrics with high resistance and electric strength [23] [24] [25] [26] . Besides, they have very small viscosity and high density. The most important features are their chemical inertness and their non-flammability. Considered together, these properties make perfluorocarbon liquids suitable for industrial application in high-voltage equipment. In experiments, the current effective value of voltage V EFF at which breakdown of a dielectric occurred was registered (figure 1). A built-in electronic device removed the voltage from the electrodes immediately after breakdown. The rate Here, No is the series number, N 0 is the number of breakdowns, V EFF is the average effective value of breakdown voltage, E 0 is the corresponding value of amplitude of electric field averaged along the axis between electrodes, V * EFF is the effective value of a voltage at which in a series of experiments breakdown occurred with the fixed probability P + (t) = 0.63, E * 0 is the corresponding amplitude value of electric field averaged along the axis of electrode system. Two typical distributions of places of breakdown initiation on the surfaces of the electrodes corresponding to the series 4 and 6 are shown in figure 2 (breakdown pitting). The total numbers of breakdown events are equal to 126 in the series 4 and 120 in the series 6. It is clearly seen that characteristic size of pitting region increases with the gap spacing.

Perfluorocarbon liquids are well-known as good dielectrics with high resistance and electric strength.


In the last few years many researchers showed that the probability of breakdown initiation in some local area of dielectric should depend on magnitude of local electric field in this area and on properties of the dielectric liquid and of electrode surface, provided that pressure and temperature are constant during experiment. The dielectric strength of liquid dielectrics strongly depends on the presence of weak links at the surface of electrodes such as electrodes roughness, free conducting particles or gas micro-bubbles. This fact was proved in experiments where the thin conducting 'diffusion' layers on the surface of both electrodes were produced [13] . The electric strength of water increased approximately by fourfold. This circumstance allows us to make a conclusion that the main contribution was made by the surface effect but not by the volume effect.

This fact was proved in experiments where the thin conducting 'diffusion' layers on the surface of both electrodes were produced.


Usually the experimental data are fitted in log-log scale by Weibull functions (depending on electric field, area of electrodes or time) [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] . In particular case, for powerlaw approximation of µ(E), we can obtain Weibull-like distributions from (4) and (17) for flat or from (18) for hemispherical electrodes. In this case, these distributions depend on two parameters in power-law approximation of function µ(E) on electric field. Hence, the Weibull distributions in time, size, and electric field strength in some sense are close to the particular forms of our distribution. However, the probability distribution (4) with our definition of function H (t) in forms (5) or (12) is more general.

Usually the experimental data are fitted in log-log scale by Weibull functions (depending on electric field, area of electrodes or time).


According to the guidelines of the British Thoracic Society with data from >2000 patients a preoperative FEV 1 > 1.5 l for lobectomies and >2 l for pneumonectomies are safe lower limits [12] . Patients with preoperative FEV 1 below these limits are regarded to be at high risk for respiratory failure after lung resections. In our series we had 22 patients with FEV 1 < 75% (9 conservative treatment, 13 fast track treatment). The post-hoc analysis of this subgroup revealed 56% pulmonary complications in the conservative group and 8% in the fast track group ( p = 0.02).

According to the guidelines of the British Thoracic Society with data from >2000 patients a preoperative FEV 1 > 1.5 l for lobectomies and >2 l for pneumonectomies are safe lower limits.


Since we have two D-branes, we can allow one to decay while the other does not. For zero separation, there is a full SU(2) family of such solutions [7] . For non-zero separation, with a broken SU(2) symmetry, we would expect only those solutions where either the 11 or the 22 tachyon field develops a vev to exist, corresponding to the decay of either the first or the second D-brane. However, the 11 and the 22 sectors of the string field each contain a massless string state whose vev corresponds to a marginal deformation of the worldsheet Conformal Field Theory that can be interpreted as displacing the D-branes from their original position in the X 25 direction (T-dual to the Wilson line in that direction). At any D-brane separation, there should exist a string field with non-zero massless string field vevs that physically corresponds to the two D-branes coming together to zero separation. Once in this new configuration, should one of the D-branes decay, the decay would be happening at the SU(2)-symmetric point. Thus we would expect a full SU(2) family of solutions that represent a combination of such D-brane translation with tachyon condensation. However, as it is not possible to fully restore the SU(2) symmetry in a level truncated model, we obtain instead isolated solutions in which the off-diagonal 12 and 21 tachyon elements develop a non-zero vev together with the 11 and the 22 massless string elements.

For zero separation, there is a full SU(2) family of such solutions.


An association rule implies the association between its left-hand side and its right-hand side. A question that arises naturally is how likely the association between the two sides is real, that is, how likely the occurrence of the rule is due to a systematic effect instead of pure random chance. Rules that occur by chance alone are not statistically significant. In statistics, p-value is used to measure the statistical significance of a result. In the case of association rules, the p-value of a rule R is defined as the probability of observing R or a rule more extreme than R given the two sides of R are independent. If a rule R has low p-value, then R has a low chance to occur if its two sides are independent. Given that R is observed in the data, then its two sides are unlikely to be independent, that is, the association between them is likely to be real. A high p-value means that R has a high chance to occur even if there is no association between its two sides. A rule with high p-value cannot tell us whether its two sides are dependent. Such rules should be discarded. Conventionally, a p-value of 0.05 is recognized as low enough to regard a result as statistically significant [6] .

Such rules should be discarded.

Conventionally, a p-value of 0.05 is recognized as low enough to regard a result as statistically significant.


Although various kinds of damages have been extensively studied individually, the combined effect of these damages has not been studied much. Based on the studies on damages of corrosion and debonding it can be established that these two effects have complementary effects on wave characteristics [2] [14] . In the present study, it is shown that the combination of a reduction in the diameter of rebar due to corrosion and separation of rebars and concrete due to debonding may conceal the damage. Hence, further studies are required to investigate the influence of corrosion on wave characteristics in reinforced concrete structures, and to establish methods to distinguish and correctly quantify the level of damage. To meet this objective, a three-dimensional finite element model of an RCC beam is developed using an explicit method in Abaqus software in order to study guided wave propagation that is generated by embedded PWT. Corrosion in rebar is simulated by reducing the diameter of the rebar, and debonding is simulated by untying the concrete and the rebar. The dynamic-implicit method is used to simulate piezoelectric material. The implicit and explicit models are co-executed using standard-explicit co-simulation. The two complementary effects of corrosion and disbond on wave features, which results in a zero effect state, are studied in detail.

Based on the studies on damages of corrosion and debonding it can be established that these two effects have complementary effects on wave characteristics.


Recently, research and development in the field of renewable energy application is becoming increasingly active due to the increase in environmental pollution and the exhaustion of fossil fuels. In response to social trends, there is a growing interest in environmentally-friendly electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles for the rail or the automotive industries. In particular, various research projects have been carried out to investigate regenerative braking, which stores wasted energy by converting kinetic energy into electric energy when the vehicle decelerates [1] [2] [3] [4] . As research into regenerative braking becomes more active, the importance of fast storage of electric energy is increasing. Due to long charging and discharging cycles and a long lifetime, super capacitors are being increasingly used instead of batteries in many applications [5] [6] [7] . For energy storage system applications that use super capacitors, a voltage controller with quick response characteristics is required for fast charging of the super capacitor. It is desirable to use a combination of a peak current mode controller, an inner loop current controller, and an outer loop voltage controller to achieve fast response characteristics. However, use of the peak current mode control method causes a sub-harmonic oscillation problem to occur when the duty is 0.5 or more [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] .

In particular, various research projects have been carried out to investigate regenerative braking, which stores wasted energy by converting kinetic energy into electric energy when the vehicle decelerates.

Due to long charging and discharging cycles and a long lifetime, super capacitors are being increasingly used instead of batteries in many applications.

However, use of the peak current mode control method causes a sub-harmonic oscillation problem to occur when the duty is 0.5 or more.


The overall crystallization rate of a semi-crystalline polymer is mainly governed by the primary nucleation and the crystal growth rate [1] . Primary nucleation is the formation of a new three-dimensional solid phase from the melt phase. Primary nuclei can be formed at random sites in the melt (homogeneous nucleation) or on a foreign body such as an impurity particle or a polymerization catalyst acting as a nucleation center (heterogeneous nucleation). When impurities or residual crystals are present, the nucleation rate depends on the thermal history of the polymer and, more specifically, on the previous melting temperature, until a temperature is reached where all possible sources for nucleation are destroyed. After the nucleus is formed, a new layer grows by secondary nucleation, a process similar to primary nucleation known as growth rate. This rate can be determined directly by optical or electron microscopy or, indirectly, by the increase in the crystalline content. In case of direct measurement, the spherulites are assumed to be initiated from primary nuclei. The nucleation rate is measured by the number of nuclei with time per unit volume. The growth rates are measured by the radial growth with time observed by POM. So the spherulites are the main morphological form of polymers crystallized from molten and glassy states. The study of the kinetics of this phase transformation is of primary importance for technological profit, as the crystallization mechanism controls the spherulitic texture, which in turn affects the mechanical properties like impact strength, a great parameter of future industrial application. However, the overall crystallization rate and the nucleation and growth rate depend strongly on crystallization temperature (T c ). Depending on the initial state, the crystallization process can be classified into two categories-(i) melt-crystallization, where the initial state is melt and the polymer samples should stay in the molten state for a sufficient time before being crystallized and (ii) glass-crystallization, where the initial state is a glassy state, a temperature lower than its T g , before crystallization.

The overall crystallization rate of a semi-crystalline polymer is mainly governed by the primary nucleation and the crystal growth rate.


Snowdon introduced the concept of multiple perspectives in virtual environments with the term Subjective Views [19] . A subjective virtual environment allows each user to tailor their view to one that best suits their needs whilst still allowing some form of collaboration [20] . In this way, users are still aware of each other and able to collaborate but the constraints of strict-WYSIWIS mode are relaxed. As the users' subjective views diverge, it 3 becomes increasingly difficult to collaborate. Hence Snowdon suggests that the user's views should be allowed to converge and diverge depending on the application being used, the activities being performed, and the degree of cooperation desired.

Snowdon introduced the concept of multiple perspectives in virtual environments with the term Subjective Views.

A subjective virtual environment allows each user to tailor their view to one that best suits their needs whilst still allowing some form of collaboration.


Unfortunately, as the transmission medium in a terrestrial FSO link is the air, these communications are strongly dependent on various atmospheric phenomena (as rain, snow, optical turbulence, and especially fog) that can cause losses and fading. Therefore, in worst-case conditions, it could be necessary to increase the optical transmission power although, at the same time, it is needed to comply with safety regulations. The commonly used wavelengths in outdoor FSO communications are 830, 1064, and 1550 nm, but, for the previously mentioned reasons, the highest is preferred for transmission [2] .

The commonly used wavelengths in outdoor FSO communications are 830, 1064, and 1550 nm, but, for the previously mentioned reasons, the highest is preferred for transmission.


We compared in detail neutral and charged Drell-Yan production and showed that the charged current channel actually leads to much stronger bounds than the previously considered neutral current channel [15] . While we find that an SU(2) L doublet can neither be probed at the LHC nor at future hadron colliders since the modifications of the SM processes remain below the systematic uncertainty, for larger multiplets the prospects are much more promising. For instance, we find that a future 100 TeV collider can fully probe the DM hypothesis in the case of a (1, 5, ) DF state. For other EW multiplets the thermal mass cannot be reached but we can still constrain part of the allowed parameter space. The sensitivity on EW multiplets is just below the reach of disappearing track searches, although indirect EW probes are more model-independent (e.g. they do not depend on kinematical features like the lifetime of the intermultiplet components). A precision measurement of the Drell-Yan process hence provides an alternative, model-independent probe of EW multiplets. By reducing systematic uncertainties, for instance via a better knowledge of PDFs, the reach of our method increases significantly.

We compared in detail neutral and charged Drell-Yan production and showed that the charged current channel actually leads to much stronger bounds than the previously considered neutral current channel.


Arrangement of the sample sites into three groups, according to physical and chemical characteristics of the soil, closely approximated the growth and yield parameters observed in the cotton crop. This grouping of sites was not perfect because a further division within group A was discernible and a few sites in group B did not show the yield recovery of other m e m b e r s of the group. Nevertheless, the three groups provided a convenient classification of sites that was related to the characteristics of the soil and fitted the patterns in cotton stunting and yield. The closeness of group A sites to Galathera Creek suggests that alluvial processes may have influenced the occurrence of soil properties within fields 18 and 20, Since the distribution of group A soil about the creek was not symmetrical, and cotton close to the creek in fields 16 and 17 was not particularly stunted, the present location of the creek has little predictive value for the growth disorder outside fields 18 and 20. The availability of P and Zn to cotton is reduced as pH exceeds 8.0 (Hodges, 1992) . Hence the lower levels of pH found in group A and B soils should be more favourable to cotton nutrition than that of group C soils (Hodges, 1992) . This assertion was substantiated by the negative relationships between pH and levels of soil P, Zn, Mn, K and Mg (Table 4) . Thus pH of the soil was not a cause of stunting as far as its influence on nutrient availability was concerned.

The availability of P and Zn to cotton is reduced as pH exceeds 8.0.

Hence the lower levels of pH found in group A and B soils should be more favourable to cotton nutrition than that of group C soils.


The received GNSS signal power at the output of a 3 dB gain hemispherical linearly polarized antenna at ground level is approximately −130 dBm [1] . This makes GNSS receivers susceptible to nearby noise jammers and standoff spoofers (SS) that can easily transmit power levels well above −130 dBm. A high processing gain based on a long integration time is often the only option available to overcome a noise jammer. Nevertheless, if the GNSS receiver undergoes random motion, then the channel decorrelates quickly such that attaining such large processing gains to overcome jamming is neither feasible nor desirable from an operational perspective. Also a jammer is relatively easy to locate with radio direction finding and to potentially disable as its spectrum is significantly larger than the ambient noise [2, 3] . In addition, the noise jammer is at least detectable as the spectral power in the affected GNSS receiver band will be abnormally high. Hence the jammer can deny service but the user is aware of being jammed, limiting the damage potential of the jammer. A more insidious threat is the standoff spoofer that broadcasts a set of replicas of the authentic satellite vehicle (SV) signals visible to the mobile GNSS receiver [2] . Disruption of GNSS services is achieved by randomly modulating the code phase over a small region of the overall Code Delay Space (CDS) that is commensurate with a target area. The spoofing attack is assumed to happen during the acquisition stage. Therefore, it is not possible to identify the SS signal based on the code phase as corresponding to an outlier navigation solution. The SS is assumed to remain synchronized with currently visible GNSS signals and then transmit a set of signals that would correspond to the typical GNSS signals observable by a receiver in the target area. Note that an effective SS does not necessarily synthesize a specific counterfeit location for a specific GNSS receiver but rather aims to disrupt GNSS services over a general target area by matching the Doppler offset of the replicated SV signals and adjusting the code phase such that it is commensurate with the intended target region. Hence the GNSS receiver cannot easily detect the contribution of these counterfeit 2 International Journal of Navigation and Observation signals as obvious outliers. An unaware receiver computes the navigation solution based on the SS generated counterfeit signals which are passed on to the user as being reliable with potentially damaging consequences.

The received GNSS signal power at the output of a 3 dB gain hemispherical linearly polarized antenna at ground level is approximately −130 dBm.

Also a jammer is relatively easy to locate with radio direction finding and to potentially disable as its spectrum is significantly larger than the ambient noise.

A more insidious threat is the standoff spoofer that broadcasts a set of replicas of the authentic satellite vehicle (SV) signals visible to the mobile GNSS receiver.


The proposed technique is further extended to include incidental motions of the handheld receiver, instigated through the user interaction with the handset device, in the form of spatial translation and polarization rotation. User interaction with the handheld creates variability in the antenna response, which can be transformed into a diversity gain that adds to the general processing gain of the receiver [7] [8] [9] [10] . This processing gain enhances the estimation of the received signal power of the correlation peaks, that, is necessary information in spoofer discrimination. A case study based on GPS L1 C/A signals is developed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique. Nevertheless, this technique can be directly extended for other GNSS signal formats such as GPS L2 C/A and GLONASS.

User interaction with the handheld creates variability in the antenna response, which can be transformed into a diversity gain that adds to the general processing gain of the receiver.


It is well-recognized that one way of producing electricity from renewable energy sources is to use the wind turbines that convert the wind energy contained in the flowing air into the electrical energy. Moreover, the importance of this field is one of the best ways to protect the environment by reducing the carbon emissions [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] . Thus, the trends of building largescale wind farm are essential to improve and increase the production efficiency of electricity. The wind farm has a lot of wind turbines which are connected to the electrical grid. The DFIG is one the most powerful generator in the market because it has various advantages such as variable speed and cost effective partially rated power converter [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] . As mentioned earlier, nowadays applicant is focused on a variable speed wind turbine.

Moreover, the importance of this field is one of the best ways to protect the environment by reducing the carbon emissions.

The DFIG is one the most powerful generator in the market because it has various advantages such as variable speed and cost effective partially rated power converter.


The most prevalent generators in wind farm are the variable speed DFIG wind turbine [13] . Moreover, the DFIG had been widely used in the large-scale wind farm [14] . The DFIG consists of wound rotor slip-ring induction generator, where its stator windings are connected to a constant frequency electric grid, and its rotor windings are connected to the grid via bidirectional converters. These converters consist of rotor side converter (RSC) and grid side converter (GSC) [15] . The control systems of wind turbine play an important role to control and obtain the maximum energy from the available wind speed. The control systems of DFIG wind turbine are the RSC controller, the GSC controller and the pitch angle controller [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] . The disadvantage of DFIG is a sensitive to the faults occurrence in the grid [22, 23] . Furthermore, in case of a voltage dips nearing to the wind farm, over-current surges similar to short circuit currents will pass via stator windings, which will also flow via rotor windings due to a magnetic coupling between stator and rotor [24] [25] [26] . During this situation, need a special attention to protect the power electronic converters, DC-link capacitor and the DFIG windings from the dangerous effects by disconnecting the faulted zones. The high currents can destroy the wind turbine components therefore, the protection system is essential to protect and isolate the faulted zones inside large-scale wind farms.

The most prevalent generators in wind farm are the variable speed DFIG wind turbine.

Moreover, the DFIG had been widely used in the large-scale wind farm.

These converters consist of rotor side converter (RSC) and grid side converter (GSC).

The control systems of DFIG wind turbine are the RSC controller, the GSC controller and the pitch angle controller.

The disadvantage of DFIG is a sensitive to the faults occurrence in the grid.

Furthermore, in case of a voltage dips nearing to the wind farm, over-current surges similar to short circuit currents will pass via stator windings, which will also flow via rotor windings due to a magnetic coupling between stator and rotor.


There are some regions of the solution where the residual error of numerical approximations is large and the numerical methods take short time steps. In other regions of the solution, the time steps are longer. But as the tolerance for error control is increased, the time steps are refined roughly proportionally. For example, decreasing the tolerance for the absolute local error by a factor of 2 r +1 will cause both the longer and shorter time steps to be roughly halved, if the numerical method is of order r . When variable time stepping behaves in this way, E(t) will provide a good indication of the increase of global errors. The roughly proportional refinement of time steps would also imply that the ratio of the biggest time step to the smallest time step is bounded. This is true usually but not always (Stoffer & Nipp, 1991; Stuart, 1997) .

This is true usually but not always.


Among different surface modification techniques, plasma spraying stands out as one of the most versatile and technologically sophisticated thermal spraying techniques [1] [2] [3] [4] . The advantages of plasma spraying include formation of ceramic microstructures with fine, equiaxed grains without columnar defects, deposition of graded coatings with a wide compositional variety, formation of thick coatings with only modest investment in capital equipment, and design capability for free-standing thick forms of monolithic and mixed ceramics in near-net shape configuration. Plasma spray coating is a typical thermal spraying process that combines particle melting, quenching, and consolidation in a single operation. It utilizes the exotic properties of the plasma medium to process different materials. But high cost of spray grade powders limits the adoption of this technique leading to a scope for research on new cost-effective and cheap materials suitable for plasma spray coating.

Among different surface modification techniques, plasma spraying stands out as one of the most versatile and technologically sophisticated thermal spraying techniques.


Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a major food security crop providing about 500 calories per day for 800 million people in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions of the world (Nassar et al., 2009) . It is the third most important source of calories, after rice and maize for many populations in the humid tropics (FAO, 2015) . Currently, cassava is cultivated by millions of small-scale farmers in more than 100 countries in the world (FAO, 2013) . It is widely grown by farmers because of its remarkable characteristics such as reliability and cheap source of available year-round food, reasonable yields on marginal soils, tolerant to major pests, diseases and drought (Dawit, 2010) .

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a major food security crop providing about 500 calories per day for 800 million people in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions of the world.

It is the third most important source of calories, after rice and maize for many populations in the humid tropics.

Currently, cassava is cultivated by millions of small-scale farmers in more than 100 countries in the world.

It is widely grown by farmers because of its remarkable characteristics such as reliability and cheap source of available year-round food, reasonable yields on marginal soils, tolerant to major pests, diseases and drought.


In 2012, the SB Research Network (SBRN) defined SB as any waking behaviour characterized by an energy expenditure of 41.5 METs and a sitting or reclining posture [e.g. television (TV) viewing, computer use, reading and driving] [2] . In contrast, physical inactivity is defined as insufficient or irregular engagement in recommended levels of moderate intensity activity 53 METs (i.e. 30 min x 5 days/week for adults) [3] . Thus, physically inactive individuals can also be non-sedentary, where, in the absence of moderate intensity activity, they still engage in substantial amounts of light physical activity (i.e. 1.62.9 METs) and spend little time sitting [3, 4] . Similarly, sedentary individuals can also be physically active, i.e. they spend large portions of the day engaged in low-energy sitting behaviours, but also engage in recommended levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity ( Fig. 1 ).

In 2012, the SB Research Network (SBRN) defined SB as any waking behaviour characterized by an energy expenditure of 41.5 METs and a sitting or reclining posture [e.g. television (TV) viewing, computer use, reading and driving].

In contrast, physical inactivity is defined as insufficient or irregular engagement in recommended levels of moderate intensity activity 53 METs (i.e. 30 min x 5 days/week for adults).

Thus, physically inactive individuals can also be non-sedentary, where, in the absence of moderate intensity activity, they still engage in substantial amounts of light physical activity (i.e. 1.62.9 METs) and spend little time sitting.


The downward thermal radiation at the surface, herein referred to as the downward longwave radiation (DLR), is one of the components of the surface energy budget. Before the advent of satellite techniques, oceanographers and meteorologists studying air-sea interaction used the empirically derived ''bulk formulae'' with syn-optically observed parameters to estimate net terrestrial radiation (Fung et al. 1984) . Some satellite techniques follow a similar path. The radiation quantities are determined by empirical functions using satellite-derived meteorological parameters, for example, the near-surface temperatures and water vapor burden. Their advantages are computational efficiency and ease of adaptation.

Before the advent of satellite techniques, oceanographers and meteorologists studying air-sea interaction used the empirically derived ''bulk formulae'' with syn-optically observed parameters to estimate net terrestrial radiation.


This paper presents the development of an optical flow cell for the accurate measurement of the length, velocity, and composition of droplets. The optical flow cell was fabricated with dual light paths, analogous to a previously reported capacitive-based device [11] . The flow cell was capable of measuring droplet velocities with errors of <6% (range 0.2-5.45 mm/s) and lengths with errors of <5% (minimum length 800 μm), with the operational ranges extendable by controlling the device dimensions. We envisage the flow cell could be used as a miniaturized device for the simultaneous detection of droplets and the measurement of colorimetric reactions within droplets. The small footprint of the flow cell makes it an ideal component to be integrated in a portable or wearable microfluidics device for point-of-care diagnostic and monitoring.

The optical flow cell was fabricated with dual light paths, analogous to a previously reported capacitive-based device.


Droplet-based microfluidics has emerged as an effective technique to manipulate sample fluids and analyze sample droplets in a high-throughput format. Samples are compartmentalized in nanoliter-sized droplets which eliminate dispersion or band-broadening contrary to the continuous microfluidics [1] . The accurate and precise measurement of flow rates is crucial for high-throughput applications such as flow cytometry, particle counting, enzyme kinetics and cell sorting [2] . In particular, droplets traveling in the microchannels require the detection of droplet position, size, and velocity for real-time manipulation. Several studies have explored enzyme kinetics in continuous droplet streams using multi-point detection [3, 4] . These studies rely on accurate control of flow velocity and droplet size, because any fluctuation of the flow rate could affect the characterization of the rates of the reaction, which is detrimental to the accurate measurement of Michaelis-Menten kinetics.

Samples are compartmentalized in nanoliter-sized droplets which eliminate dispersion or band-broadening contrary to the continuous microfluidics.

The accurate and precise measurement of flow rates is crucial for high-throughput applications such as flow cytometry, particle counting, enzyme kinetics and cell sorting.

Several studies have explored enzyme kinetics in continuous droplet streams using multi-point detection.


However, the systems mentioned above were bulkier and had not been miniaturized for portable systems. This study reports an optical flow cell to quantify the size and velocity of droplets flowing inside microchannels. The working principle of the flow cell involves the measurement of the signal from two light paths and is analogous to a previously reported capacitive-based device [11] .

The working principle of the flow cell involves the measurement of the signal from two light paths and is analogous to a previously reported capacitive-based device.


It is known that typing familiar words is faster than typing random strings [22] . The results of this experiment replicate this finding, as the randomly generated strings in the numeric and alphanumeric conditions were transcribed slower than the more familiar words. This cognitive facilitation of familiarity during the transcription process may explain the increase in speed for word-based codes. The eye gaze data suggests that the word-based codes were easier to store in short term memory, with participants making fewer glances back to the display screen in the word condition compared to the other two conditions.

It is known that typing familiar words is faster than typing random strings.