This study identified that the areas with the highest degree of vulnerability in Hualien and Taitung counties; these areas are concentrated on the coastal areas. These areas are also home to townships, such as Yanping and Dawu townships in Taitung County, that are easily affected by adverse climate change impacts. If the government invests resources needed for climate change adaptation actions, these townships should be top priorities [1, 16] . Moreover, we suggest that the implementation of climate change adaptation plans be carried out in townships with the highest degree of vulnerability.

If the government invests resources needed for climate change adaptation actions, these townships should be top priorities.


Climate change is significantly increasing the incidence of extreme weather events globally. Not only will global warming cause uncertainty, it will also impact our daily lives differently [1] [2] [3] [4] . To minimize these impacts, the United Nations proposed two major strategies: mitigation and adaptation [4, 5] . The mitigation strategy uses a variety of methods to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted into the atmosphere. The adaptation strategy, on the other hand, deploys a variety of methods to adapt to climate change, including adjusting lifestyles, and taking advantage of climate change-related opportunities and adapting to changes in environments.

Not only will global warming cause uncertainty, it will also impact our daily lives differently.

To minimize these impacts, the United Nations proposed two major strategies: mitigation and adaptation.


Building adaptive capacity both increases resilience and reduces vulnerability to many hazards [1, 5] . Broad responses to climate change in Taiwan, such as those aimed at synthesized biophysical and social vulnerability and climate change action plans seem to be open to participation and contributions from numerous stakeholders on various geographical scales. In 2012, Taiwan set its national adaptation policy. Since then, cities, counties and municipalities had drafted action plans to adapt locally to climate changes. However, no cross-boundary county-based adaptation policies, plans or actions have been proposed. We assert that building a resilient society requires top-down policy guidelines from the central government, bottom-up local government empowerment and the participation of communities. In the near future, the focus should be on helping communities develop strategies and action plans that will guide their adaptation strategies, and further, implement them. This way a resilient society can be realized.

Building adaptive capacity both increases resilience and reduces vulnerability to many hazards.


The objectives of the vulnerability assessment are mostly related to the risk identification, the understanding of the factors of vulnerability [8] . Currently, risk assessment information for Taiwan is lacking, and a complete assessment requires long-term observations and research. However, the impacts of climate change on its environment in the short-term only focus on such disasters as landslides and floods. The impacts of these disasters on society can be analyzed through the perspectives of prevention and relief management. Therefore, quantitative data for biophysical and social vulnerability, obtained from Taiwan's National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR), are used to assess vulnerability to climate change as a basic background analysis for cross-boundary adaptation.

The objectives of the vulnerability assessment are mostly related to the risk identification, the understanding of the factors of vulnerability.


Vulnerability assessments can combine Taiwan's Strategic Plan for National Spatial Development and its National Regional Plan. Assessments should inform Taiwan's cross-boundary governance. To facilitate future adaptation strategies, county or city jurisdictions cannot guard their boundaries; rather, cross-boundary methods can reflect local characteristics and needs [35] .

To facilitate future adaptation strategies, county or city jurisdictions cannot guard their boundaries; rather, cross-boundary methods can reflect local characteristics and needs.


Global climate change is in progress [4] . In the future, if cities and communities can identify regions with high vulnerability and implement adaptations, then the impacts of climate change may be reduced [1, 20] . The synthesized vulnerability method in this study can be used to identify key regions that require adaptation action plans. Conclusions are given as follows.

Global climate change is in progress.

In the future, if cities and communities can identify regions with high vulnerability and implement adaptations, then the impacts of climate change may be reduced.

Conclusions are given as follows.


Our results contribute to the empirical literature on "income -happiness" relationship (Easterlin, 2001; Diener, 2004; Graham, 2010) . The results support model of R. A. Easterlin on the importance of cognitions in "moneyhappiness" association. Moreover, it supports works of E. Diener on the higher impact of money on happiness in poorer societies.

Our results contribute to the empirical literature on "income -happiness" relationship.


The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 provides details of the low-and high-fidelity models. The design principles of the multi-fidelity optimization strategy are discussed in Section 3. Finally, the proposed methodology is applied to the optimization of the ONERA 7A blade, which was extensively investigated in wind tunnel tests [20] .

The paper is organized as follows.

Finally, the proposed methodology is applied to the optimization of the ONERA 7A blade, which was extensively investigated in wind tunnel tests.


In several regards, the result of the gardening treatment on vegetable consumption is the most robust result to come out of this meta-analysis. First, the effect size associated with the effect of gardening programs on vegetable consumption (E ++ = 0.42) can be classified as a moderate effect (Cohen, 1962) . In addition, the large fail-safe number (50.5) suggests that more than 50 additional, nonsignificant studies would have to be added to this data set to change the impact of gardening on vegetable consumption from significant to nonsignificant. By comparison, there were no significant, positive changes in fruit or vegetable consumption for the nutrition education treatment. Because participation in a garden-based educational program increases consumption of vegetables, public health and nutrition education programs would benefit from including gardening as a featured component of wellness programs and policies.

First, the effect size associated with the effect of gardening programs on vegetable consumption (E ++ = 0.42) can be classified as a moderate effect.


As QoS and policy requirements of network traffic bring more complexity to the network administration, traffic engineering tools are increasingly gaining more importance. Internet service providers need to take multiple criteria into consideration for the optimal utilization of network resources shared between traffic with different QoS requirements. With the increasing need of convenient traffic engineering in autonomous systems, MPLS has been introduced [1] . The basic idea in an MPLS network is to forward the packets through Label Switched Paths (LSPs) by making use of the labels which are attached to packets at the ingress router of the network. The labels are assigned to the packets according to their Forwarding Equivalence Class (FEC) which are then sent through one of the LSPs associated with FEC. The idea behind the classification of the packets into FEC groups is to enable the network manager to distinguish the packets according to their QoS and policy requirements. The core routers throughout the domain use these labels as an index to look up their forwarding tables. The label is removed at the egress router. Another concept, called traffic trunk, is associated with FEC such that a trunk is an aggregation of traffic flows with the same FEC and ingress-egress router.

With the increasing need of convenient traffic engineering in autonomous systems, MPLS has been introduced.


In persimmon orchards, similar amounts of N and K are supplied usually from June to July as supplemental fertilizers. Since persimmon trees are rather sensitive to N supply, not only an excessive N but the fast-acting N source may cause the occurrence of vigorous water sprouts and undesirable secondary shoot growth [11] . Excessive soil N is a major contributor of nitrate contamination of groundwater [12] [13] . On the other hand, if the N source is too slow to become available for the trees its effect on tree development may be less than desired: if N becomes available later in the season, it delays fruit maturation [14] . Therefore, when LPM is applied to persimmon orchard supplementally, it is important to understand the effect of different amounts of LPM on tree growth and N uptake within a certain time period rather than the whole season. Responses to CF and LPM applications in summer on N uptake have not been compared in other fruit crops. This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of different amounts of CF and LPM in summer on N uptake and secondary shoot growth of young persimmon trees.

Since persimmon trees are rather sensitive to N supply, not only an excessive N but the fast-acting N source may cause the occurrence of vigorous water sprouts and undesirable secondary shoot growth.

Excessive soil N is a major contributor of nitrate contamination of groundwater.

On the other hand, if the N source is too slow to become available for the trees its effect on tree development may be less than desired: if N becomes available later in the season, it delays fruit maturation.


Over the last three decades, the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine has received considerable scientific and economical interest. With the general increase in live expectancy and the development of increasingly specific diagnostic tools to identify organ pathophysiologies at early stages, the clinical (and social) demand for repair and replacement of damaged and/or malfunctioning organs is growing. When tissue engineering was introduced in the 1990s expectations were high that we would be able to replace damaged organs with new organs from the lab bench soon. The possibilities envisioned created a hype in popular media and "tissue engineer" was named number one of the ten hottest job of the future by Time Magazine in 2000 [6] .

The possibilities envisioned created a hype in popular media and "tissue engineer" was named number one of the ten hottest job of the future by Time Magazine in 2000.


The field of Tissue engineering (TE) and its clinical application Regenerative Medicine (RM) have seen remarkable scientific progress over the last 30 years, but we are still far away from "pulling a newly engineered organ out of the Petri dish". Successful applications of newly developed tissue engineering products have mainly resulted from identification of products that can be translated from bench to bedside with available technology and under existing regulatory guidelines [7] . However, there is a striking contrast between (private and governmental) TE research expenditures over the last decades and the resulting numbers of commercially available products [8] . There is also a significant discrepancy between the complexity of TE therapies undergoing scientific evaluation compared to the actual therapeutic concepts that have reached clinical application so far [9] .

Successful applications of newly developed tissue engineering products have mainly resulted from identification of products that can be translated from bench to bedside with available technology and under existing regulatory guidelines.

However, there is a striking contrast between (private and governmental) TE research expenditures over the last decades and the resulting numbers of commercially available products.

There is also a significant discrepancy between the complexity of TE therapies undergoing scientific evaluation compared to the actual therapeutic concepts that have reached clinical application so far.


In this paper, we generalise the theoretical results for one-body losses in homogeneous 1D gases and extend the analysis to a BEC or a quasicondensate in any dimension, for any j-body loss process, and for homogeneous gases as well as clouds confined in a smoothly varying trapping potential. We concentrate on phonon modes and the loss rate is assumed small enough to ensure adiabatic following of each mode. Low-dimensional systems are realised experimentally by freezing the transverse degrees of freedom with a strong transverse confinement. However, in many experiments the interaction energy is not negligible compared to the transverse excitation frequencies such that the freezing is not perfect. The interactions then broaden the wave function in the transverse directions, and longitudinal phonon modes are associated with transverse breathing [10] [11] [12] . Our theory can take this into account with a modified equation of state: the quantities µ and mc 2 , where m is the atomic mass and c the sound velocity, equal for a strong transverse confinement, no longer coincide. We find that the evolution produced by losses is better described by a constant ratio k B T /(mc 2 ) instead of k B T /µ, as observed experimentally in our group [9] . The asymptotic ratio k B T /(mc 2 ) is computed for a few examples.

The interactions then broaden the wave function in the transverse directions, and longitudinal phonon modes are associated with transverse breathing.

We find that the evolution produced by losses is better described by a constant ratio k B T /(mc 2 ) instead of k B T /µ, as observed experimentally in our group.


IR absorption microspectrometry allows the detection of aromatic, olefinic (C = C vibrations) and aliphatic (CH 2 and CH 3 vibrations) molecules as well as CO2, CH4 and H2 O in the liquid and vapour phases of fluid inclusions (Barres et al., 1987) . However, spectra of the vapour phases include signals from the surrounding liquid. Detection limits of CO 2 and H20 are very low, so they can be characterized, even in inclusions where they cannot be microthermometrically detected. Semi-quantitative measurements of CO2/CH 4 and CH2/CH 3 ratios can be made from the peak area measurements.

IR absorption microspectrometry allows the detection of aromatic, olefinic (C = C vibrations) and aliphatic (CH 2 and CH 3 vibrations) molecules as well as CO2, CH4 and H2 O in the liquid and vapour phases of fluid inclusions.


General properties and unit cell structure of PLA As a thermoplastic polymer, PLA has a glass transition temperature and melting temperature of around 55°C and 175°C. It has three stereochemical forms: poly (L-lactic acid) (PLLA), poly (D-lactic acid) (PDLA), and poly (DL-lactic acid) (PDLLA), among which PLLA and PDLA are crystallizable. Depending on the preparation conditions, PLLA crystallizes in different forms: α, β, and γ. The α form is more stable and can exist in solution cast and annealed samples. The unit cell structure of the α form is orthorhombic with two 10 3 polymeric helices [16] [17] [18] .

The unit cell structure of the α form is orthorhombic with two 10 3 polymeric helices.


The uniqueness of solutions to the L p Minkowski for p > 1 can be shown by applying the L p Minkowski inequality established by Lutwak [41] . However, little is know about the L p Minkowski inequality for the case where p < 1. This is one of the main reasons that most of the previous work on the L p Minkowski problem was limited to the case where p > 1.

The uniqueness of solutions to the L p Minkowski for p > 1 can be shown by applying the L p Minkowski inequality established by Lutwak.


In newly developed urban areas, a distributed optimization of the system is relatively easy to achieve, using Low Impact Development measures on drainage networks combined with Best Management Practices in planning (e.g., applied to rooftops, road pavement, parking lots, and so forth). These measures allow an improved management of stormwaters, although general conclusions on the relative efficiency of distributed and centralized measures are not obvious (Freni et al. 2010) . However, the most common situation in many urban areas is that most of the drainage networks already exist, with evolution spanning dozens of years, and they have been designed with a focus on water quantity rather than on water quality. The enhancement of existing systems is then usually proposed in terms of the building of detention tanks to properly modulate water and pollutant peak flows. This is the approach usually adopted in Italy where, however, the first-flush volume is defined a priori without acknowledging for specific at-site dynamics. Unfortunately, tanks cannot always be installed in the urban context, due to unavailable space or high costs.

These measures allow an improved management of stormwaters, although general conclusions on the relative efficiency of distributed and centralized measures are not obvious.


It is well established that to localize particles within the A-or Bdomain in polymer blends or block copolymers, the particles need to be coated with homopolymer A or B, respectively [22] . However, the coating of nanoparticles with homopolymer requires precise control over both polymer molecular weight and the end group to be used for the immobilization to the particle surface. Surface capping of particles by straightforward commercial capping agents, which have favorable interactions with one of the phases in blends, can simplify the selective loading process. In this study, Ag nanoparticles were synthesized and capped by CTAB. The organophilic particles were associated with PS and PMMA blends in tetrahydrofuran (THF) solution. The effects of the amount of CTAB employed in surface functionalization and isothermal heat treatment were examined as the system parameters. The placement of the nanoparticles was studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM).

It is well established that to localize particles within the A-or Bdomain in polymer blends or block copolymers, the particles need to be coated with homopolymer A or B, respectively.


As a result, many aspects of small-scale mixing remain poorly understood and/or completely unmeasured. Two examples are salt-fingering and differential diffusion. Since heat and salt have such greatly different diffusivities, these processes' potential to transport heat and salt at different rates could have significant consequences for both local processes as well as the global circulation (Gargett and Holloway 1992) .

Since heat and salt have such greatly different diffusivities, these processes' potential to transport heat and salt at different rates could have significant consequences for both local processes as well as the global circulation.


It is immediately clear that full first-order logic is far too powerful for this purpose. Satisfiability for first-order logic with a predicate for data values equality is undecidable already on strings [Bojańczyk et al. 2006] . There are several possible candidates for more appropriate logics, including temporal logics or fragments of first-order logic. In this work, we concentrate on a (classical) fragment of first-order logic, two-variable logic. There are several good reasons to consider this fragment. It is known that on many kinds of structures this fragment is decidable [Grädel and Otto 1999] . On ordered, unranked trees, it corresponds in a natural way to the navigational behavior of XPath, 1 and it can express many interesting integrity constraints. Before we describe the technical contributions of this article, we first discuss the connections with XML processing in more detail.

Satisfiability for first-order logic with a predicate for data values equality is undecidable already on strings.

It is known that on many kinds of structures this fragment is decidable.


Despite the varying reliability of data from the different tagging programmes, our results indicate that a relatively small proportion of birds bred close (within 10 km) to their natal areas. Juvenile survival rate in the species has been estimated between 31% and 69%, and survival rate beyond the second winter has been estimated as 67-75% (Arroyo 2009; Millon and Bretagnolle 2008) . This means that, even using the less conservative estimate for philopatry (birds breeding within 50 km of their natal site, Table 1 ), only 8-19% of males and 13-33% of females are philopatric (estimates calculated for birds surviving 2 years, lower values using the higher survival estimates, higher values using the lower survival estimates). Thus, an important proportion of birds must settle to breed outside the natal areas, showing a high capacity for dispersal in this species, for both sexes, confirming the initial suggestion for the species (Arroyo et al. 2004) . The alternative would be that a high proportion of breeding tagged birds go unnoticed within study areas, but this is very unlikely to happen, at least with wing-tagged birds breeding in study areas that are intensively monitored for population studies like Madrid, or in small areas with high monitoring effort like Tarifa. Hence, this result also suggests a high capacity for genetic exchange between populations, which would lead to relatively low genetic differentiation between populations of Western Europe. Such low degree of population genetic structuring has been recently described in this species (García et al. 2011) .

Juvenile survival rate in the species has been estimated between 31% and 69%, and survival rate beyond the second winter has been estimated as 67-75%.

Thus, an important proportion of birds must settle to breed outside the natal areas, showing a high capacity for dispersal in this species, for both sexes, confirming the initial suggestion for the species.

Such low degree of population genetic structuring has been recently described in this species.


Cytochrome P450s (CYPs) comprise a superfamily of heme-containing enzymes responsible for the metabolism of numerous compounds, therefore they are important objects of study mainly in the areas of pharmacology and toxicology [23] . CYPs are known for the diversity of reactions they catalyze, as well as, the range of different molecules with whom they interact. Cytochrome P450s are responsible for the majority of Phase I metabolism of exogenous molecules such as drugs, xenobiotics, environmental pollutants, dietary compounds, and endogenous molecules such as steroids, fatty acids, and prostaglandins [3, 5, 10] . The effects of these transformations can be manifested in drug bioavailability and toxicity, adverse drugs interactions, activation of procarcinogenic compounds, and biotransformation of molecules for subsequent elimination [8, 9] .

Cytochrome P450s (CYPs) comprise a superfamily of heme-containing enzymes responsible for the metabolism of numerous compounds, therefore they are important objects of study mainly in the areas of pharmacology and toxicology.

Cytochrome P450s are responsible for the majority of Phase I metabolism of exogenous molecules such as drugs, xenobiotics, environmental pollutants, dietary compounds, and endogenous molecules such as steroids, fatty acids, and prostaglandins.

The effects of these transformations can be manifested in drug bioavailability and toxicity, adverse drugs interactions, activation of procarcinogenic compounds, and biotransformation of molecules for subsequent elimination.


Recently, we established a new strategy to deliver CFTRmRNA directly to epithelial cells [14] . We showed a proofof-concept for mRNA-based functional restoration of impaired CFTR functions in the cell culture, either using human bronchial CF cells (CFBE41o-) that stably express the most common mutation F508del-CFTR or primary cultured human epithelial (HNE) cells [14] . We showed that after mRNA transfection the CFBE41o-cells functionally act very similar after cAMP stimulation compared to healthy bronchial epithelia cells (16HBE41o-). Furthermore, the amount of functional CFTR molecules in the CF cells after mRNA transfection is even larger than in non-CF control cells [14] . Using the CF cell line or HNE cells wtCFTRmRNA transfection procedures were performed using a dose of 2.4 μg/cm 2 and 24 h after transfection the analyses were carried out.

Recently, we established a new strategy to deliver CFTRmRNA directly to epithelial cells.

We showed a proofof-concept for mRNA-based functional restoration of impaired CFTR functions in the cell culture, either using human bronchial CF cells (CFBE41o-) that stably express the most common mutation F508del-CFTR or primary cultured human epithelial (HNE) cells.

Furthermore, the amount of functional CFTR molecules in the CF cells after mRNA transfection is even larger than in non-CF control cells.


Main effects of phytase (P < 0.0242) and cereals (P < 0.0001), as well as phytase × cereal interactions (P < 0.0361) on iron content were observed. Iron content in the tibia of broilers fed diets containing 1 000 PU/kg was significantly higher than in those fed diets without phytase supplement, but the iron content in broilers fed diets containing 500 PU/kg was not significantly different from any of them. Broilers fed wheat, triticale and barley based diets had a significantly higher iron content in tibia than those fed maize based diet. Iron content in the tibias of broilers fed maize, wheat and barley based diets increased with increasing phytase content while in those of broilers fed triticale it decreased in the order 500 > 0 > 1 000 PU/kg. Magnesium content was affected by main effects of phytase (P < 0.0240) and cereals (P < 0.0001), as well as phytase × cereal (P < 0.0023) and cereal × Ca (P < 0.0093) interactions. The increasing phytase supplement increased magnesium content. Magnesium content in broilers fed diets containing 1 000 PU/kg was significantly higher than in those fed diets without phytase supplement, but that of broilers fed diets containing 500 PU/kg was not significantly different from any of them. Broilers fed wheat, triticale and barley based diets had a significantly higher magnesium content in tibia than those fed maize based diet. Increasing supplemental phytase resulted in increasing magnesium content in the tibia of broilers fed maize and barley based diets. In broilers fed wheat based diets magnesium content decreased in the order 0 > 500 ≈ 1 000 PU/kg while in those fed triticale based diets in the order 500 > 0 > 1 000 PU/kg. Magnesium content in the tibia of broilers fed wheat, barley and ME -metabolizable energy, P tot -total phosphorus, P ava -available phosphorus, P phy -phytate phosphorus 1 Vitamin and trace mineral premix provided (kg): vitamin A 13 500 i.u., vitamin D 3 2 000 i.u., vitamin E 30 mg, vitamin K 3 2 mg, vitamin B 1 1 mg, vitamin B 2 6 mg, niacin 30 mg, pantothenic acid 12 mg, vitamin B 6 3 mg, vitamin B 12 10 µg, biotin 0.1 mg, choline chloride 500 mg, Fe 50 mg, Cu 8 mg, Mn 80 mg, Zn 60 mg, I 0.5 mg, Co 0.2 mg, Se 0.15 mg, monensin sodium 100 mg and flavophospholipol 3 mg 2 Based on analysed values of total and phytate phosphorus content in experimental diets triticale based diet decreased while that of broilers fed maize based diet increased with increasing dietary calcium level. These findings are in accordance with the literature data that shows that supplemental phytase increases the mineral content in tibia (Sohail and Roland, 1999) . However, we were unable to find any literature data on the phytase influence on iron and magnesium content in broiler tibia. It is interesting to note that contents of both minerals were statistically higher in broilers fed wheat, triticale or barley based diets in comparison with those fed maize based diets. This could be ascribed, at least partially, to the higher phytase activity of wheat, barley and triticale in comparison with maize (Viveros et al., 2000) .

These findings are in accordance with the literature data that shows that supplemental phytase increases the mineral content in tibia.

This could be ascribed, at least partially, to the higher phytase activity of wheat, barley and triticale in comparison with maize.


The goal of the paper is to broaden the youth development discourse through a renewed emphasis on the important developmental task of identity formation, a task that has lost prominence in the contemporary theories of PYD (Côté, 2011) . It is important to note that multiple aspects of identity, such as social, religious, sexual, moral, cultural, and ethnic have been explored by developmental researchers. For the purpose of this paper, identity is considered broadly, encompassing multiple identity dimensions, and exploring the processes that assist a young person in defining who he or she is as a stable entity over time and context.

The goal of the paper is to broaden the youth development discourse through a renewed emphasis on the important developmental task of identity formation, a task that has lost prominence in the contemporary theories of PYD.


Oriented strand board (OSB) is a composite made by compressing and bonding together wood flakes with a thermosetting adhesive. OSB is the most common load-bearing wood composite panel used in North America, and current global production is approximately 20 million cubic metres per annum [1] . OSB is used for sheathing of buildings (walls, floors, and roofs), webs in structural I-beams, furniture frames, and industrial packaging (pallet tops, export crates, and boxes). In some of these end-uses OSB can be exposed to water for short periods of time. Hence, OSB contains wax to increase its resistance to moisture, and a biocide is often added to enhance its resistance to fungal and insect attack [2] . The most common biocide added to OSB is zinc borate [3, 4] . Zinc borate is also used to protect other bio-based composites from fungal and insect attack, for example, waferboard, oriented structural straw-board, particleboard, medium density fibreboard, laminated strand lumber, bamboo scrimber, and wood plastic composites [4] [5] [6] . Zinc borate is added to OSB as a fine dry powder (1 to 2% w/w) when wood, adhesive, and wax are blended together during the manufacture of OSB [2] . The resulting composite is resistant to both fungal and termite attack, although higher loadings of zinc borate are required to prevent such attack when wood composites are subjected to severe leaching with water [7] .

OSB is the most common load-bearing wood composite panel used in North America, and current global production is approximately 20 million cubic metres per annum.

Hence, OSB contains wax to increase its resistance to moisture, and a biocide is often added to enhance its resistance to fungal and insect attack.

The most common biocide added to OSB is zinc borate.

Zinc borate is also used to protect other bio-based composites from fungal and insect attack, for example, waferboard, oriented structural straw-board, particleboard, medium density fibreboard, laminated strand lumber, bamboo scrimber, and wood plastic composites.

Zinc borate is added to OSB as a fine dry powder (1 to 2% w/w) when wood, adhesive, and wax are blended together during the manufacture of OSB.

The resulting composite is resistant to both fungal and termite attack, although higher loadings of zinc borate are required to prevent such attack when wood composites are subjected to severe leaching with water.


High intensity regions that are white in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images could be clearly seen at the surface of unleached and leached oriented strand board (OSB) specimens when they were examined using field emission scanning electron microscopy. These high intensity regions were concentrated at the interface between the strands of pine and aspen in the composite and were present in both unleached and leached specimens (arrowed in Figure 1 ). Both types of specimens contained cracks, but they were larger in specimens that had been leached (compare Figure 1(a) versus Figure 1(b) ), in accord with previous studies that have shown that leaching and subsequent drying cause delamination of OSB [25] . The high intensity regions, hereafter called white deposits, contrasted strongly with underlying wood when OSB specimens were observed using backscattered electrons (Figure 1 ). These electrons provide a signal that is dependent upon atomic number, suggesting that the deposits contained a heavy element, possibly zinc.

Both types of specimens contained cracks, but they were larger in specimens that had been leached (compare Figure 1(a) versus Figure 1(b) ), in accord with previous studies that have shown that leaching and subsequent drying cause delamination of OSB.


For each of the data structures, we made two kinds of implementations of the various pointers. The first is based on the PMEM.IO library [25] . The library provides a transactional object store, providing memory allocation, transactions, and general facilities for persistent memory programming. It uses fat pointer in implementing persistent pointers. In our experiment, we replace the fat pointer with other types of persistent pointers. Code written in PMEM.IO usually runs substantially slower than code not using it, due to the extra operations for tracking the accesses to NVRegions to achieve the transactional store semantics-a property needed for the persistency and data integrity upon crashes. To avoid the influence of these extra operations on the measured overhead of persistent pointers, we made another implementation, which avoids those extra operations (hence, the transactional store semantics). We call the two versions "transactional" and "non-transactional" respectively.

The first is based on the PMEM.IO library.


We apply (3) to compute mutual Rényi entropy of two spherical region and find perfect agreement with previous paper [41, 44] . This paper is organized as follows. Section two is to review main results on flat or spherical defect operators which are fixed by symmetry. We will check the identity (1) in section three. We will study operator product expansion of defect operators D in section four. In section five, we will apply our formula to compute mutual Rényi entropy of a free theory and holographic CFTs. We will end with discussions and point out some future directions. Conventions and technical details are collected in the Appendices.

We apply (3) to compute mutual Rényi entropy of two spherical region and find perfect agreement with previous paper.

This paper is organized as follows.


The high burdens of CVD in the developing countries are attributable to the increasing incidence of atherosclerotic diseases, perhaps due to urbanization and higher risk factor levels (such as obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension), the relatively early age at which they manifest, the large sizes of the population, and the high proportion of individuals who are young adults or middle-aged in these countries [3] . For example, about half of the deaths attributable to CVD in the developing countries in 1990 occurred below the age of 70 years, in contrast to about a quarter in the developed countries [4] . Such a pattern of premature CVD mortality is likely to haunt the developing countries even more in the future. Between 1990 and 2020, the increase in coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality (120% in women and 137% in men) in the developing countries is expected to be much greater than among developed countries (29% and 48% in women and men respectively) [4] .

The high burdens of CVD in the developing countries are attributable to the increasing incidence of atherosclerotic diseases, perhaps due to urbanization and higher risk factor levels (such as obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension), the relatively early age at which they manifest, the large sizes of the population, and the high proportion of individuals who are young adults or middle-aged in these countries.

For example, about half of the deaths attributable to CVD in the developing countries in 1990 occurred below the age of 70 years, in contrast to about a quarter in the developed countries.

Between 1990 and 2020, the increase in coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality (120% in women and 137% in men) in the developing countries is expected to be much greater than among developed countries (29% and 48% in women and men respectively).


There are 197 subject videos in our database taken from subjects with Bell's palsy, Ramsey Hunt syndrome, trauma, and other aetiologies as well as normal subjects. Their HB and regional gradings were evaluated by a clinician. As the dataset was not large, the leave-k-out-cross-validation test scheme instead of k-fold was adopted. Multilayer perceptron (MLP) network and radial basis function (RBF) network are the most popular neural network architectures [24, 25] . Experiments show RBF networks provide consistently better performance than MLP networks for facial palsy grading. The centers of each RBF NN were initialized using the k-means clustering algorithm before starting training.

Multilayer perceptron (MLP) network and radial basis function (RBF) network are the most popular neural network architectures.


International terrorist groups clearly have the capability to attack the information infrastructure of the United States, even if they use relatively simple means. Since the possibilities for attacks are not difficult to imagine, I am concerned about the potential for such attacks in the future. The methods used could range from such traditional terrorist methods as a vehicle-delivered bomb --directed in this instance against, say, a telephone switching centre or other communications node --to electronic means of attack. The latter methods could rely on paid hackers. The ability to launch an attack, however, are likely to be within the capabilities of a number of terrorist groups, which themselves have increasingly used the Internet and other modern means for their own communications. The groups concerned include such well-known, long-established organizations as the Lebanese Hizballah, as well as nameless and less well-known cells of international terrorists such as those who attacked the World Trade Center (Deutch 1996) .

The groups concerned include such well-known, long-established organizations as the Lebanese Hizballah, as well as nameless and less well-known cells of international terrorists such as those who attacked the World Trade Center.


An additional path between private regard and selfesteem was specified as a result of examination of the modification indices in the test of the hypothesized model. The modified hypothesized model suggests that a direct path exists between private regard and self-esteem, rather than just the indirect path through autonomous motivation. This finding is intuitive, considering that private regard represents a subscale of collective self-esteem, which is often correlated with personal self-esteem (Luhtanen & Crocker, 1992) . However, results showed that private regard does not represent an additional outcome variable in the same manner as self-esteem; alternative models with private regard specified as a dependent variable demonstrated poorer fit. In sum, our model displays a novel approach to measuring the consequences of gender conformity by including investment in gender ideals and private regard and investigating how those variables predict gendered motivation across both men and women.

This finding is intuitive, considering that private regard represents a subscale of collective self-esteem, which is often correlated with personal self-esteem.


In recent years, the attention to Distributed Generation (DG) units connected to the distribution network has increased [1] . Modular generating systems sized from less than a kilowatt to tens of megawatts and placed at or near consumer locations are considered as DG units [2] . Fuel Cell Power Plants (FCPPs) have advanced the electrochemical energy conversion of devices operating at high temperature and changing the chemical energy of fuel into electrical energy at high efficiency compared with diesel or gas engines. Considering the increasing concerns about the environmental effects in recent years, it is important to generate electrical power with minimum emission and contamination. Since FCPPs generate less pollution with respect to the other generation units, it is very desirable to reduce emission in power systems. Furthermore, FCPPs have less noise compared with internal combustion engines. Also, the maintenance of FCPPs is simple; since there are few moving parts in the system [3] .

In recent years, the attention to Distributed Generation (DG) units connected to the distribution network has increased.

Modular generating systems sized from less than a kilowatt to tens of megawatts and placed at or near consumer locations are considered as DG units.

Also, the maintenance of FCPPs is simple; since there are few moving parts in the system.


The main objective of these facilities is to divide the received MSW stream into its different fractions in order to subject them to specific treatments. Organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) and recyclable materials such as paper, plastic containers, cans, etc. are removed; the rest of the waste stream, known as reject fraction, is usually disposed on landfills [7] . In general, landfills are placed beside MBT plants and are designed to accommodate the reject fraction generated over 10-15 years. However, according to the mass balances, nowadays the reject fraction represents 2/3 of the initial volume of waste, an amount slightly higher than expected. Consequently, the dumps are full even 5 years ahead the schedule and new locations should be sought. In order to solve these problems of space and the loss of a lot of material that might be a good fuel, incineration with energy recovery has been suggested.

Organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) and recyclable materials such as paper, plastic containers, cans, etc. are removed; the rest of the waste stream, known as reject fraction, is usually disposed on landfills.


The potential to make the optimization of complex structures more manageable by applying a multilevel approach, has encouraged an increase in research activity over recent years, with the majority of work being carried out in the United States. In 1990 the Group for Aeronautical Research and Technology in Europe (GARTEUR) set up an Action Group to review the progress made in the European aerospace community with applying optimization techniques to aircraft wing design as a multilevel problem. The GARTEUR Action Group recommended the development of multilevel optimization software in order to automate many of the procedures explored. In this way, the complexities affecting the optimization process could be better investigated. A summary of the work, results and recommendations of the GARTEUR Action Group has been published in a three volume report, parts of which is available in the open literature [14] [15] [16] .

A summary of the work, results and recommendations of the GARTEUR Action Group has been published in a three volume report, parts of which is available in the open literature.


Various optimization methods have evolved over the years, some of which are better suited to structural engineering applications than others. Numerous methods have been developed to solve constrained optimization problems, which engineering optimization problems almost always are. Generally, these methods can be categorized as indirect and direct. Indirect methods convert the constrained optimization problem into an equivalent unconstrained problem, while direct methods attempt to solve the constrained optimization problem as it is. Examples of indirect methods include penalty-function methods and augmented Lagrange multiplier methods [2] [3] [4] . Direct methods include the method of feasible directions, dual methods, and reduced gradient methods [5] .

Examples of indirect methods include penalty-function methods and augmented Lagrange multiplier methods.

Direct methods include the method of feasible directions, dual methods, and reduced gradient methods.


Non-Gaussian contributions appear mixed in Planck maps, with diverse phenomena contributing with their own signature, this makes necessary the use of different estimators. Various statistical methods are being used in the analyses of CMB data in order to constrain the distinct types of NG, to measure their intensity and angular scale dependence [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] . Moreover, all methods designed to analyse precise CMB data are vulnerable to additional difficulties in detecting tiny primordial NG, that is, the contamination by several secondary non-Gaussian signals, such as galactic and extragalactic foregrounds, besides systematic effects. For this, it is crucial to test estimators to discriminate between these two type of signals, making sure not be attributing a primordial origin to a secondary non-Gaussian signal [6, 10, 14] .

Various statistical methods are being used in the analyses of CMB data in order to constrain the distinct types of NG, to measure their intensity and angular scale dependence.

For this, it is crucial to test estimators to discriminate between these two type of signals, making sure not be attributing a primordial origin to a secondary non-Gaussian signal.


The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents, in the framework of the Helmholtz equation in 2D space, the key theoretical results for estimating bounds for the minimum convex source region as well as the possibly nonconvex minimum source region. First we address the estimation of convex bounds, in theory up to the minimum convex source region. This is done via an exterior inverse diffraction approach. Next we refine the estimate by allowing nonconvex bounds, in theory up to the actual minimum source region which can be nonconvex. This is done by means of a complementary, interior inverse diffraction approach. In Section 3 we consider examples motivated by inverse scattering that can be handled analytically. Of particular interest is the support estimation of cylindrical objects, within exact scattering theory, from the scattering amplitude of a single scattering experiment (for a single probing field). In Section 4 we discuss the practical computational implementation aspects of the inverse support methods derived in the paper and present the numerical counterpart of the analytical results obtained in Section 3. The obtained computational results show the practical robustness of minimum source region computations in inverse scattering. In addition, the provided examples nicely illustrate the UWSC sets theorized in earlier work [4] . Section 5 provides concluding remarks and suggestions for future research.

In addition, the provided examples nicely illustrate the UWSC sets theorized in earlier work.


Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a powerful biomedical tissue-imaging modality, which can provide wealthy information, such as structure information, blood flow, elastic parameters, change of polarization state and molecular content [9] . Therefore, this imaging tool has been increasingly useful in diagnosing eye diseases, such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration. These diseases are known to be the most common causes of blindness in the developed countries according to the World Heath Organization (WHO) survey [15] . In order to help ophthalmologists to perform more accurately and efficiently the diagnosis of eye diseases, several medical image processing techniques are applied to extract some useful information from OCT data, such as retinal layers, retinal vessels, retinal lesions, optic nerve head, optic cup and neuroretinal rim. In this work, we focus on the intra-retinal layer segmentation of 3D retinal images obtained from around the macular and the optic disc head.

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a powerful biomedical tissue-imaging modality, which can provide wealthy information, such as structure information, blood flow, elastic parameters, change of polarization state and molecular content.

These diseases are known to be the most common causes of blindness in the developed countries according to the World Heath Organization (WHO) survey.


Keyword search, which allows a user to express her query with a number of keywords, has become a fundamental tool in Web search engines. In the last decade, significant improvements have been made to improve the accuracy of keyword search [10] . Recently, the topic of query recommendation, which is closely related to keyword search, has attracted a lot of interest from research and industry communities. Besides displaying the "classic ten blue result links" from her keyword search, a search engine may suggest alternative formulations of the query, which can be more articulated, focused, and interesting to the user. Providing accurate query recommendations while the user is typing her query, almost instantaneously, can be extremely beneficial, in terms of enhancing the user experience and providing guidance to the retrieval process [11] .

In the last decade, significant improvements have been made to improve the accuracy of keyword search.

Providing accurate query recommendations while the user is typing her query, almost instantaneously, can be extremely beneficial, in terms of enhancing the user experience and providing guidance to the retrieval process.


Considering all the analytical problems that are encountered in gas analysis during dark fermentation, there is a growing interest in analytical tools that can identify and determine the amount and composition of emerging gases online. Till now, gas analysis is usually based on sampling and laboratory analysis via gas chromatography (GC) [25, 26] . However, this approach may be time-consuming and expensive. A comparison of analytical-and sensorbased methods for gas analysis is given in Table 1 .

Till now, gas analysis is usually based on sampling and laboratory analysis via gas chromatography (GC).


Fermentation is a group of biological process of decomposition of organic substances leading to stabilization of sewage sludge, waste materials and residues. Diversified phenomena occur during fermentation processes, as a result of the entire range of organic compounds degradation with the formation of, that is, methane, ethanol or hydrogen and carbon dioxide [3] [4] [5] . Currently, fermentation is used in four main sectors of waste processing including treatment of urban wastewater, agricultural waste, food and biomass industries and processing of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste [5] [6] [7] . Biomass residues of wide origin are considered as great potential materials for biofuels production [3, 8, 9] . The main directions in biomass to biofuels transformation are presented in Fig. 1 .

Diversified phenomena occur during fermentation processes, as a result of the entire range of organic compounds degradation with the formation of, that is, methane, ethanol or hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

Currently, fermentation is used in four main sectors of waste processing including treatment of urban wastewater, agricultural waste, food and biomass industries and processing of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste.

Biomass residues of wide origin are considered as great potential materials for biofuels production.


The first step in dark fermentation is glycolysis-glucose is fermented to pyruvate. Pyruvate is oxidized and transfers the electrons to ferredoxin [19] . Hydrogenase enzyme catalyzes the reduction of protons to hydrogen, using electrons from ferredoxin. The two types of fermentation pathways are distinguished depending on which chemical compound is the main product. Bacillus and Enterobacter species have the ability to metabolize via mixed acid fermentation [20] [21] [22] . In this case, butyric acid, butanol, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, acetic acid and other compounds such as acetone may be formed. Generation of a variety of final products decreases the amount of formed hydrogen. Theoretically stoichiometric amount of hydrogen produced during the complete decomposition of 1 mol of glucose may be equal to 12 mol (Eq. 1).

Pyruvate is oxidized and transfers the electrons to ferredoxin.

Bacillus and Enterobacter species have the ability to metabolize via mixed acid fermentation.


Hydrogen conversion from biomass may be a good alternative if biotechnological methods are used. The biological technologies of producing hydrogen include processes involving light energy: direct and indirect biophotolysis and photofermentation. The second group are the biological processes in the absence of light: dark fermentation, bioelectrolysis and bioconversion of carbon monoxide [16] . The dark fermentation is considered as the most promising method for biological hydrogen production. Carbohydrate substrates are converted in the absence of light by bacteria in the process of anaerobic respiration. The raw materials for the fermentation may be glycerin or simple sugars as well as cellulose or starch, which can be hydrolyzed to monosaccharides [17, 18] . In particular, it is desirable to use by-products, waste products rich in glycerol, starch and cellulose from agri-food, wood and paper industries to produce the second-generation biohydrogen using microbial metabolic processes. While the biomass contains high amounts of polysaccharides, which can be processed into hydrogen, it be an alternative to currently used processes, such as combustion or composting. Utilization of waste products that are difficult to dispose can contribute to environmental protection through both more rational use of natural resources and reducing the environmental load of such waste.

The second group are the biological processes in the absence of light: dark fermentation, bioelectrolysis and bioconversion of carbon monoxide.

The raw materials for the fermentation may be glycerin or simple sugars as well as cellulose or starch, which can be hydrolyzed to monosaccharides.


Many factors such as inoculum, substrates, inorganic nutrients, reactor type and operational conditions like temperature and pH influence on the dark fermentation process course [23, 24] . Depending on the factors, different courses of fermentation may occur. When pure bacterial cultures are used, hydrogen is the main product during fermentation. However, using different types of inoculum, i.e., mixed sludge, causes a risk of infection even if the inoculum is prepared according to the procedures described in the literature [1, 2] .

Many factors such as inoculum, substrates, inorganic nutrients, reactor type and operational conditions like temperature and pH influence on the dark fermentation process course.

However, using different types of inoculum, i.e., mixed sludge, causes a risk of infection even if the inoculum is prepared according to the procedures described in the literature.


An LPG consists of a periodic perturbation of the refractive index of the core of an, which couples the core mode to a set of co-propagating modes of the cladding of the fibre. This coupling is manifested in the transmission spectrum of the optical fibre as a series of loss, or resonance bands. Each resonance band corresponds to coupling to a different cladding mode and each shows different sensitivity to environmental changes [21] .

Each resonance band corresponds to coupling to a different cladding mode and each shows different sensitivity to environmental changes.


Although the numerous chemical sensors already exist, there is still a place for new technologies. The new sensors could target the demand in areas of medical diagnostics food quality control, in air quality (occupational exposure) or in various fields of environmental monitoring [1] . Fabrication of low-cost, precise and real-time sensors for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is in a high interest for VOCs detection as the GC-MS approach commonly used for total VOCs detection is expensive and needs experienced personnel [2] . The key element of any portable sensor is the sensitive layer that captures gases.

The new sensors could target the demand in areas of medical diagnostics food quality control, in air quality (occupational exposure) or in various fields of environmental monitoring.

Fabrication of low-cost, precise and real-time sensors for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is in a high interest for VOCs detection as the GC-MS approach commonly used for total VOCs detection is expensive and needs experienced personnel.


The adjustment of the pore size and possible post-synthesis functionalization enable the specific reaction of selected type of MOF with analyte of interest where only certain molecules (treated by size or functional group) are allowed to enter into MOFs cavities. The initial research was based on the fabrication of different types of materials from MOF family however fabrication of these materials in the form of thin films is considered to be crucial for many applications especially for sensors and membranes [1] [11] . The fabrication of the films is challenging in the way to control the uniform cover over the substrate and possibly control over the thickness and growth direction of the crystals [11] .

The initial research was based on the fabrication of different types of materials from MOF family however fabrication of these materials in the form of thin films is considered to be crucial for many applications especially for sensors and membranes.

The fabrication of the films is challenging in the way to control the uniform cover over the substrate and possibly control over the thickness and growth direction of the crystals.


The uniform ZIF-8 film fabrication involves no substrate modification. The procedure works at room temperature enables the control over the thickness with one deposition cycle that takes less than an hour [12] [15] . All of these factors were considered in the decision to follow this procedure and to deposit ZIF-8 thin film onto the surface of an optical fibre LPG.

The procedure works at room temperature enables the control over the thickness with one deposition cycle that takes less than an hour.


Various estimates exist in connection with pharmaceuticals R&D investments, and time required to market a product. The cost of pharmaceutical product development in the U.S. increased from $54 million in 1979 to $800 million in 2001 [6] . Factors that contribute to the cost include the place where development and clinical trials are carried out as well as issues associated with meeting regulatory approval. The time from beginning of R&D to marketable product is estimated as 7 to 18 years [7] .

The cost of pharmaceutical product development in the U.S. increased from $54 million in 1979 to $800 million in 2001.

The time from beginning of R&D to marketable product is estimated as 7 to 18 years.


The concentration of dissolved oxygen was determined with a modified whole-flask Winkler titration method (Carpenter 1965a, b) . Potential interferences from reduced iron for samples retrieved near hydrothermal springs were removed by adding an alkaline iodine-fixing solution containing sodium azide. The overall precision of the oxygen measurement, based on duplicate sample analyses, was ~0.5%. Oxygen solubility was calculated as a function of lake surface elevation, temperature, and salinity (Benson and Krause 1984) . The mean barometric pressure, which is required for solubility calculations, was calculated from the altitude-dependent equation given by Mortimer (198 1).

Oxygen solubility was calculated as a function of lake surface elevation, temperature, and salinity.


Commonly used methods to propagate these random variables or fields through models include the large family of Monte Carlo methods [9] . Monte Carlo methods lead to a collection of independent realisations of the forward model to solve. One of the main reasons that these methods are so popular in practice is that they are completely non-intrusive, requiring only an existing deterministic solver. They are also relatively straightforward to implement. The embarrassingly parallel nature of the integral summation problem is relatively easy to exploit. The convergence of the basic Monte Carlo method is guaranteed under very weak assumptions and independent of the dimension M of the parameter space. This latter property is particularly attractive for highdimensional stochastic problems. However the rate of convergence is slow, on the order of Z −1/2 where Z is the number of realisations [9] . Therefore minimising the number of realisations to achieve convergence is critical for achieving acceptable performance.

Commonly used methods to propagate these random variables or fields through models include the large family of Monte Carlo methods.

However the rate of convergence is slow, on the order of Z −1/2 where Z is the number of realisations.


An alternative to non-intrusive methods are intrusive methods, such as stochastic Galerkin finite element methods (SGFEM) [20, 21, 22, 23] . These methods lead to a directly accessible approximation of the stochastic problem, in contrast with the sampling methods that require the user to specify quantities of interest a priori. These methods are very efficient for linear PDEs with smaller stochastic dimension, but are more complex to implement into existing models due to their intrusive nature [24, 25] . These difficulties are compounded in the case of non-linear forward problems [22] .

An alternative to non-intrusive methods are intrusive methods, such as stochastic Galerkin finite element methods (SGFEM).

These methods are very efficient for linear PDEs with smaller stochastic dimension, but are more complex to implement into existing models due to their intrusive nature.

These difficulties are compounded in the case of non-linear forward problems.


The sensitivity derivative estimator eq. (16) can be seen as a simple postprocessing treatment of the standard Monte Carlo estimator eq. (8) . Just as in the standard Monte Carlo method, a sequence {ω z } Z z=1 of Z realisations of the stochastic variables ω must be drawn from the input distribution p ω . Then for each realisation ω z the quantity of interest ψ z := ψ(ω z ) must be evaluated, each of which involves a forward model evaluation u z := u(ω z ).

The sensitivity derivative estimator eq. (16) can be seen as a simple postprocessing treatment of the standard Monte Carlo estimator eq..


Many challenges exist to integrating these evidence-based strategies into practice in the home care setting. Considerable reorganization of the delivery of services to older adults with chronic needs may be required. However, home care is already underfunded. Home care clients at risk of, suffering from, or recovering from depression have limited access to professional services promoting mental health, especially nursing [57, 58] .

Home care clients at risk of, suffering from, or recovering from depression have limited access to professional services promoting mental health, especially nursing.


Obesity is linked to certain tumor diseases, including colorectal cancer, renal cancer, post-menopausal breast cancer, leukemia, and prostate cancer [7, 8] . However, the connection between adipose tissue and malignant transformation in peripheral tissues is still under investigation. The authors hypothesized in this review that in addition to already known carcinogenic factors like mutations, pathogens, external stimuli, etc., also hormone-like factors secreted by the adipose tissue itself are a putative factor involved in that malignant transformation by disrupting the balance of anti-tumoral and oncogenic miRs. This hypothesis is summarized in Figure 2 .

Obesity is linked to certain tumor diseases, including colorectal cancer, renal cancer, post-menopausal breast cancer, leukemia, and prostate cancer.


Throughout the world, the increased number of diseases such as arthritis, stroke and paralysis, have introduced new challenges to the healthcare sector. Traditional artificial rehabilitation training can no longer meet the current medical needs. Robotic technologies provide new solutions for rehabilitation and support for disabled people. For all kinds of rehabilitation therapies, the human-robot interface stands out because it can accurately and quickly simulate the structure and movement of the human body ( Figure 1 ) (Lo and Xie, 2012) . Traditionally, biomechanists have developed complex human limb models which combine neural signals with kinematic and kinetic data to study human control strategies (Buchanan et al., 2004a; Piazza and Delp, 1996; Schutte et al., 1993; Murai et al., 2010; Lloyd and Buchanan, 1996) . However, due to their complexity, the computational blocks inside the models can only execute individually and tuning methods are also required to accommodate changes and variations. This slows down the processing time and makes them hard to be used in real-time applications.

For all kinds of rehabilitation therapies, the human-robot interface stands out because it can accurately and quickly simulate the structure and movement of the human body ( Figure 1 ).

Traditionally, biomechanists have developed complex human limb models which combine neural signals with kinematic and kinetic data to study human control strategies.


Recently, the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), which was originally developed as a coprocessor to accelerate 2D/3D graphic applications, has been researched as programmable devices for non-graphical general computations. This new approach and paradigm is called general-purpose computation on a GPU (GPGPU) [10] [11] [12] . The GPGPU concept is believed to provide significant computing power as a future parallel processing platform. In fact, GPU can improve the performance of many general applications by fully utilizing its large number of processing cores [10] . These applications include scientific computations such as fluid simulation, Monte Carlo simulation, molecular dynamics, and multimedia encoding/decoding. The goal of this paper is to provide an efficient parallel implementation and performance evaluation of a cryptography application (a block cipher algorithm) on GPU architecture.

This new approach and paradigm is called general-purpose computation on a GPU (GPGPU).

In fact, GPU can improve the performance of many general applications by fully utilizing its large number of processing cores.


However, because of high network transmission rates, the process of encryption and decryption causes major bottlenecks in present network systems [4] . In particular, when the network speed reaches 10-100 Gbps, the encryption and decryption speed becomes a severe performance bottleneck. To address this problem, FPGA-based platforms have been proposed in the previous literature [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] . Since many cryptographic algorithms consist of a large amount of homogenous computations, using FPGAs we can achieve enhanced computational performance and high data throughput. However, because of its design complexity, an FPGA runs on low frequency and has limited flexibility as compared to that of the software approach.

However, because of high network transmission rates, the process of encryption and decryption causes major bottlenecks in present network systems.

To address this problem, FPGA-based platforms have been proposed in the previous literature.


The timeline task, which can be considered as a form of spatial visualization aid, does not require a direct translation of duration experience to conventional units of time, such as seconds and minutes in the time estimation task. Instead, subjective experience of stimulus durations is represented in terms of relative positions, and the resulting pattern of timelines can be used to access more absolute duration estimates. This characteristic of the timeline task might make it particularly suitable for examining temporal information processing in certain populations [20, 30] .

This characteristic of the timeline task might make it particularly suitable for examining temporal information processing in certain populations.


A more valid test of children's mastery of time should, thus, include multiple stimulus durations, arranged in a configuration of partly overlapping and nonoverlapping events. This might be a more authentic reflection of how time is actually experienced outside the laboratory. To the best of our knowledge, only two studies have examined cognitive 2 Child Development Research timing in the context of multiple duration judgments [14, 15] . Both studies involved adult participants and tested the hypothesis that prospective timing requires attentional resources and that task-irrelevant temporal information impairs prospective duration judgments. Thus, the primary focus of these studies was on the effects of concurrent temporal load on single-item duration judgments, rather than patterns of temporal information.

To the best of our knowledge, only two studies have examined cognitive 2 Child Development Research timing in the context of multiple duration judgments.


Although an individual optimal solution rarely moves continuously under perturbations as in the case of linear programming, we can extract sufficient conditions for continuity of an optimal solution as in Alizadeh, Haeberly and Overton [1] . Namely, suppose that (X, Z) is a pair of optimal solutions for (D) and (P ) respectively. Then (X, Z) moves continuously if both (D) and (P ) are strictly feasible, (X, Z) satisfies the strict complementarity condition, (X, Z) is nondegenerate and positive eigenvalues of X and Z are all distinct.

Although an individual optimal solution rarely moves continuously under perturbations as in the case of linear programming, we can extract sufficient conditions for continuity of an optimal solution as in Alizadeh, Haeberly and Overton.


Numerical modeling of the Rheasilvia-forming impact, into model Vestas with a variety of interior characteristics, finds that there is a concentration of extension at the site of the Divalia Fossae, but that most of the vestan crust experiences complex modes of shear (Bowling et al., 2013) . A similar concentration of extension is also found at the site of the Saturnalia Fossae, which arise from the Veneneia impact (Bowling et al., 2013) . Thus, it is likely that extension arising from the Veneneia impact formed the Saturnalia Fossae (Buczkowski et al., 2012) .

Numerical modeling of the Rheasilvia-forming impact, into model Vestas with a variety of interior characteristics, finds that there is a concentration of extension at the site of the Divalia Fossae, but that most of the vestan crust experiences complex modes of shear.

A similar concentration of extension is also found at the site of the Saturnalia Fossae, which arise from the Veneneia impact.

Thus, it is likely that extension arising from the Veneneia impact formed the Saturnalia Fossae.


The formalin injection causes an immediate and intense increase in the spontaneous activity of afferent C fibers and induces distinct quantifiable behavior indicate of pain, for example, licking of the injected paw (Heapy et al., 1987) . The formalin test produces a distinct biphasic nociceptive response that is neurogenic and inflammatory phase. It has been reported that the early phase is caused by a direct effect of formalin on nociceptors while the late phase is a tonic response in which inflammatory processes are involved and neurons in the dorsal horns of the spinal cord are activated (Tjølsen et al., 1992) . CAE produced a significant reduction of licking activity in the late phase at dose 200 mg/kg but did not give any responses in the early phase. Centrally acting drugs such as morphine (opiods) inhibited both phases whereas peripherally acting drugs, aspirin (NSAIDs) inhibited the late phase of formalin test (Santos et al., 1994; Shibata et al., 1989) . Thus, it can be deduced that CAE acts peripherally and not centrally. Similar findings also have been reported by using methanolic extract of Cinnamomun iners and ethanolic extract of Curcuma xanthorriza Roxb (Mustafa et al., 2010; Devaraj et al., 2010) .

The formalin injection causes an immediate and intense increase in the spontaneous activity of afferent C fibers and induces distinct quantifiable behavior indicate of pain, for example, licking of the injected paw.

It has been reported that the early phase is caused by a direct effect of formalin on nociceptors while the late phase is a tonic response in which inflammatory processes are involved and neurons in the dorsal horns of the spinal cord are activated.

Centrally acting drugs such as morphine (opiods) inhibited both phases whereas peripherally acting drugs, aspirin (NSAIDs) inhibited the late phase of formalin test.

Similar findings also have been reported by using methanolic extract of Cinnamomun iners and ethanolic extract of Curcuma xanthorriza Roxb.


Surfactant flooding or flushing processes hold particular promise for cleaning up or recovering the oil left in subsurface formations after secondary waterflooding or traditional pump and treat methods. The oil phase is usually entrapped in the form of ganglia within the fine pores of reservoir rocks due to large capillary forces [1] . With their amphiphilic structure, surfactants to accumulate at oil/water interfaces and lower the IFT, enhancing the mobilization of small and deformable oil droplets through pores and throats [2] . They may also adsorb on rock surfaces and promote the micellar solubilization of surface-active oil species (such as asphaltenes), thereby restoring the wettability of the rock. The extent by which wettability is altered depends on the type of surfactant and the rock properties [3] . Surfactants with an intermediate hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB) number favor the mobilization and, to a lower extent, the solubilization of oil in porous media [4] . Mobilization in this case manifests by the in-situ formation of bi-continuous Winsor Type III microemulsions, consisting of bilayer vesicles in equilibrium with oil and water phases [5] .

The oil phase is usually entrapped in the form of ganglia within the fine pores of reservoir rocks due to large capillary forces.

With their amphiphilic structure, surfactants to accumulate at oil/water interfaces and lower the IFT, enhancing the mobilization of small and deformable oil droplets through pores and throats.

The extent by which wettability is altered depends on the type of surfactant and the rock properties.

Surfactants with an intermediate hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB) number favor the mobilization and, to a lower extent, the solubilization of oil in porous media.

Mobilization in this case manifests by the in-situ formation of bi-continuous Winsor Type III microemulsions, consisting of bilayer vesicles in equilibrium with oil and water phases.


To better understand the wettability alteration of aged calcite surfaces, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed with model oil molecules and a microemulsion based on a linear alcohol ethoxylate [34] . The simulations revealed that polar molecules of oil (such as naphthenic acids) irreversibly adsorbed on calcite and served as a platform upon which further non-polar molecules could accumulate and form a weakly bound adsorbed layer. The hydrocarbon phase of MEs was effective at swelling the adsorbed layer and reducing its interaction with polar components, leading to easier removal when subjected to a water flow. MD flow simulations with MEs were also performed in aged graphite capillaries to represent kerogen pores in shale [35] . The hydrocarbon and surfactant molecules played separate roles that were both essential in solubilizing the adsorbed oil film. The surfactant acted as a linker that diminished slip effects at the oil/water interface, thereby enabling the hydrocarbon solvent to penetrate the oil film and displace its molecules.

To better understand the wettability alteration of aged calcite surfaces, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed with model oil molecules and a microemulsion based on a linear alcohol ethoxylate.

MD flow simulations with MEs were also performed in aged graphite capillaries to represent kerogen pores in shale.


Haemophilus influenzae is a pleomorphic gram-negative coccobacillus. There are encapsulated and non-encapsulated forms. After the initiation of Hib protein-polysaccharide conjugate vaccines, most cases of invasive Haemophilus influenzae infection have been attributed to non-type B strains [6] . Serology type f (Hif) is reported as the most common cause of invasive encapsulated non-b Haemophilus influenzae disease in children [7] . The risk of invasive Haemophilus influenzae disease include younger and older ages, complement deficiency, hypogammaglobulinemia, sickle cell anemia, functional asplenia, malignancy and HIV infection. SLE is the prototypical multisystem autoimmune disease. Clinical manifestations of SLE are variable and the most common pediatric presentations include arthritis, malar rash, nephritis and central nervous system disease [8] . Our patient had lupus nephritis, hematological abnormalities, a positive ANA and a positive antibody to double stranded DNA, thus fulfilling four of the revised American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for SLE [9] . TTP was also initially considered given her thrombocytopenia, anemia, coagulopathy, fever, renal involvement and CNS involvement. TTP associated with SLE has been described [10] [11] [12] . However, her peripheral smear did not show typical microangiopathic changes of TTP and ADAMTS 13 was not performed. Furthermore, her seizure activity was thought to be due to PRES, not TTP or CNS lupus but the clinical presentations have considerable overlap and definitive diagnosis is challenging. PRES is a rapidly developing neurologic condition characterized by headache, decreased alertness, visual loss, seizures, hypertension and lesions in the posterior cerebral white matter. PRES was first reported in 1996 by Hinchey [13] . PRES associated with SLE has been reported in adults and children [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] . Our patient's MRI brain showed multiple hypodensity lesions in the subcortical white matter of both hemispheres, right post-central gyrus and on the left A lateral neck radiograph demonstrates a profoundly swollen epiglottis and complete airway obstruction Figure 1 A lateral neck radiograph demonstrates a profoundly swollen epiglottis and complete airway obstruction.

After the initiation of Hib protein-polysaccharide conjugate vaccines, most cases of invasive Haemophilus influenzae infection have been attributed to non-type B strains.

Serology type f (Hif) is reported as the most common cause of invasive encapsulated non-b Haemophilus influenzae disease in children.

Clinical manifestations of SLE are variable and the most common pediatric presentations include arthritis, malar rash, nephritis and central nervous system disease.

Our patient had lupus nephritis, hematological abnormalities, a positive ANA and a positive antibody to double stranded DNA, thus fulfilling four of the revised American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for SLE.

TTP associated with SLE has been described.

PRES was first reported in 1996 by Hinchey.

PRES associated with SLE has been reported in adults and children.


The laws of thermodynamics are at the cornerstones of our understanding of the physical world [1] . The zeroth law informs us about the transitivity of equilibria. The first law tells us about the partitioning of internal energy into work and heat. The third law informs us that entropy of a zero temperature system can at best limit to a constant. The second law is a little different from the other three. It is an inequality law that tells us that certain processes, that decrease the entropy of the universe, are not allowed (or unlikely). Stated differently, the second law states that the entropy production of a system that undergoes a cyclical transformation is positive semi-definite, wherein the rest of the universe is returned to its initial state. This law has been at the center of many important theoretical and practical discussions, from designing heat engines to the physics of black holes.

The laws of thermodynamics are at the cornerstones of our understanding of the physical world.


Since thermodynamically large systems have proportionally small fluctuations of some observables, a law such as the second law holds true for relevant observables. For small systems relevant to this work and others, the second law still holds on average. This fact however, does not imply that the fluctuations about the average are irrelevant [5] . This is the key observation behind studying the fluctuations of out-of-equilibrium systems. Such fluctuations even for small systems were shown to have the signatures of the deep physical laws which were typically observed for statistically large sizes. For a non-equilibrium process, the fluctuation relation is typically stated as p F (x) = p B (−x) exp(γx). Here, p F (p B ) refers to the forward (backward) probability density of an event x. The fluctuation relation typically states that events that decrease x, and go against the direction set by the second law for equilibrium processes, are generally exponentially suppressed. Employing Jensen's inequality produces an entropy law that can be associated with the second law of thermodynamics. Hence an approach to understand entropy production in quantum systems has been to investigate fluctuation theorems relevant to the system dynamics and conclude entropy production bounds from this [6] . Recently the fluctuations relations formalism has made great advances in understanding the thermodynamics out-of-equilibrium biological and chemical processes [7] [8] [9] .

This fact however, does not imply that the fluctuations about the average are irrelevant.

Hence an approach to understand entropy production in quantum systems has been to investigate fluctuation theorems relevant to the system dynamics and conclude entropy production bounds from this.

Recently the fluctuations relations formalism has made great advances in understanding the thermodynamics out-of-equilibrium biological and chemical processes.


There are many influencing factors on energy consumption in one country. On the whole, the energy demand relates to many factors, among which are mainly gross domestic product (GDP), population, energy structure, industrial structure, government expenditure, etc. The goal of study is to provide a more reliable forecasting model of primary energy consumption using a novel machine-learning algorithm based on least squares support vector machines (LS-SVM), which is a relatively new and powerful machine-learning algorithm widely applied in regression, pattern classification, and other relative fields [9] .

The goal of study is to provide a more reliable forecasting model of primary energy consumption using a novel machine-learning algorithm based on least squares support vector machines (LS-SVM), which is a relatively new and powerful machine-learning algorithm widely applied in regression, pattern classification, and other relative fields.


Thus, the reduction in the activity of CAT and GST as antioxidant enzymes, together with the increase in MDA concentration indicate an increased production of free radicals and induction of oxidative stress in the immobilization stressed rats. This finding supports previous reports which proved that exposure to various stressors leads to oxidative stress and its consecutive structural and functional tissue damage as a result of increased formation of free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) [35] [36] . It is well known that ROS are responsible for damaging almost all cellular macromolecules including membrane polyunsaturated fatty acids, carbohydrates, proteins and DNA, potentially causing impairment of cellular functions [8] [9] . Testicular membranes are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and therefore are susceptible to oxidative stress [10] . Testicular steroidogenesis is sensitive to free radicals and ROS and a correlation was noted between free radicals production and gonadal steroidogenesis [12] . In this concern, several lines of evidence have suggested that nitric oxide (NO) free radical mediates the stress-induced downregulation of testicular steroidogenesis [37] .

This finding supports previous reports which proved that exposure to various stressors leads to oxidative stress and its consecutive structural and functional tissue damage as a result of increased formation of free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS).

It is well known that ROS are responsible for damaging almost all cellular macromolecules including membrane polyunsaturated fatty acids, carbohydrates, proteins and DNA, potentially causing impairment of cellular functions.

Testicular membranes are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and therefore are susceptible to oxidative stress.

Testicular steroidogenesis is sensitive to free radicals and ROS and a correlation was noted between free radicals production and gonadal steroidogenesis.

In this concern, several lines of evidence have suggested that nitric oxide (NO) free radical mediates the stress-induced downregulation of testicular steroidogenesis.


While possible, our goal is not to estimate the whole mechanism θ and thereby the whole density of the time-series. We are concerned with statistical inference about causal impacts of the treatment nodes on the outcome nodes, reflecting a certain part of the distribution. For example, one might want to know what the distribution of the outcome at time τ , (Y (τ )), would have been had we intervened on some of the past treatment nodes in the time-series. These type of marginal parameters with the corresponding efficient influence curve and targeted maximum likelihood estimator were developed and proposed in the previous work [40] . The asymptotic normality of these estimators relies on consistent estimation (e.g., at an appropriate rate faster than n −1/4 ) of the part of θ the efficient influence curve depends upon. However, the efficient influence curve of the marginal time-series parameter relies on the whole mechanism θ in a non-double robust manner [40] . Therefore, even for the situation where the treatment nodes were randomly assigned and known, the inference will still rely on consistent (at rate) estimation of the conditional distributions of the covariate and outcome nodes. This is a stark contrast to the independent and identically distributed case with nonparametric model for the common distributionP , where the TMLE of such parameters would be completely robust against misspecification ofP if the treatment mechanism is known. The lack of robustness of the efficient influence function for the marginal time-series parameter is due to its dependence on the density of the marginal distribution of C o (t) across time t, a complex function of the common stationary mechanism P O(t)|Co(t),θ . As such, estimation of the efficient influence curve of the marginal time-series parameter, and thereby the construction of a TMLE, is quite involved and computer intensive [12, 16] .

These type of marginal parameters with the corresponding efficient influence curve and targeted maximum likelihood estimator were developed and proposed in the previous work.

However, the efficient influence curve of the marginal time-series parameter relies on the whole mechanism θ in a non-double robust manner.

As such, estimation of the efficient influence curve of the marginal time-series parameter, and thereby the construction of a TMLE, is quite involved and computer intensive.


We are interested in models for the probability distribution of the time-series that refrain from making unrealistic parametric assumptions. In particular, we concentrate on models that only make a conditional stationarity assumption. Since the likelihood of the data is parameterized by a function θ ∈ Θ, one can consistently estimate this common function θ and thereby the probability distribution of the time-series. For example, one might use likelihood based estimation combined with online crossvalidation, such as an online super learner [39] . We note that standard maximum likelihood estimation would break down for infinite dimensional parameter spaces Θ, due to the curse of dimensionality.

For example, one might use likelihood based estimation combined with online crossvalidation, such as an online super learner.


Our results suggest that between 8 and 14% of the dogs in N'Djamena are actually ownerless (Table 1) , which is in line with other studies reporting low ownerless dog numbers [9, 20] . However, this estimate of the Bayesian model is sensitive to one model parameter. Details of the sensitivity analysis are provided in the supplementary appendix. Total vaccination coverage was estimated at 71% in both 2012 (CI 0.68-0.76) and 2013 (CI 0.7-0.76). However, this number is a mean over all the districts covered. The districts differ greatly in dog density, participation of owners in the campaign and percentage of stray dogs, so coverage data for each district, and even from quarter to quarter, are diverging (Table 1) . Collar loss, immigration and emigration as well as births and deaths did not presumably greatly influence the results because the coverage survey was done 48 h after the vaccination in a given zone (see supplementary file). In the household survey in 2013, only 6.8% of dogs were reported to have lost their collars. When observed in transects, this would likely lead to slight underestimation of coverage as well as overestimation of ownerless dogs.

Our results suggest that between 8 and 14% of the dogs in N'Djamena are actually ownerless (Table 1) , which is in line with other studies reporting low ownerless dog numbers.


Based on this qualitative diagnosis, you can define the objectives of the conference along with data awareness, information and research that support the arguments to be presented. The next step in educational awareness is for participants to selfassess their knowledge and expectations, both before and after implementation of the interactive conference. It should be clear in the self-assessment about what, where, when, for whom, why, how and what is being assessed (Castillo & Cabrerizo, 2004) . It is advisable to employ qualitative techniques to evaluate educational interventions which were applied to a small number of people (Aguilera, Acosta, & Pozos, 2010) .

It should be clear in the self-assessment about what, where, when, for whom, why, how and what is being assessed.

It is advisable to employ qualitative techniques to evaluate educational interventions which were applied to a small number of people.


Brief intervention programs, such as interactive lectures, can have results comparable to longer programs as major changes may promote a greater awareness and sensitization to certain problems. Social awareness through interactive lectures facilitates the abandonment of myths and false beliefs regarding the causes of the problem (Pick, Leenen, Givaudan, & Prado, 2010) . Conferences may involve both older adults and their closest relatives, with the intention of improving the latter's' understanding of the issues facing retired employees.

Social awareness through interactive lectures facilitates the abandonment of myths and false beliefs regarding the causes of the problem.


Despite these inherent difficulties, preparing for retirement should be addressed urgently since its seriousness warrants it. People who have difficulty in adjusting to retirement suffer physical alterations (insomnia, hypertension, digestive and cardiovascular disorders), psychological problems (anxiety, pessimism, depression, alcoholism, and reduced libido) and social problems (loss of relationships and loneliness), which are collectively called the "Retirement Syndrome" (Moragas et al., 2006) . Also it was found that some retirees and early retirees experience stress, dependency and domestic violence during retirement (Aguilera & Torres, 2008) .

People who have difficulty in adjusting to retirement suffer physical alterations (insomnia, hypertension, digestive and cardiovascular disorders), psychological problems (anxiety, pessimism, depression, alcoholism, and reduced libido) and social problems (loss of relationships and loneliness), which are collectively called the "Retirement Syndrome".

Also it was found that some retirees and early retirees experience stress, dependency and domestic violence during retirement.


It should be noted here that this cycled stretching test was relatively harsh in comparison with the commonly expected field conditions of wearable antennas, with the exception of the special scenario where the tag on textile would be placed at a continually strained location, for example, for the purpose of strain monitoring. In such harsh conditions, one possibility would be to use a suitable coating to protect the antenna-IC interconnection from any mechanical stress, as suggested in a recent washing reliability study of electrotextile RFID tags [18] . Next, we will also study the reliability of these tags in less severe strain conditions.

In such harsh conditions, one possibility would be to use a suitable coating to protect the antenna-IC interconnection from any mechanical stress, as suggested in a recent washing reliability study of electrotextile RFID tags.


At present forestry and range researchers are continuing to discover the effectiveness of the RSS. Recently, a number of parametric alternatives of the usual estimation have been suggested (Hossain and Muttlak, 1999; Bhoj, 2000) . The SRSS method is an improvement of the RSS method, has the optimal estimators of location and scale parameters (Hossain and Muttlak, 2001) .

Recently, a number of parametric alternatives of the usual estimation have been suggested.

The SRSS method is an improvement of the RSS method, has the optimal estimators of location and scale parameters.


The modal frequencies A0 and B(1+) are especially important for the violin sound quality. In particular, the frequency of mode B(1+) acts as a "barometer" of the violin's sound. When the frequency of mode B(1+) is lower than 510 Hz the instrument is "soft" and its sound is dark. The instrument with B(1+) frequency higher than 550 Hz is 'resistant' to the player, with bright sound with a tendency to harshness (Bissinger, 2008; Fritz et al., 2007; Schleske, 2002) . The frequencies of modes A0 and B(1+) found in our exper- iment for all three conditions are significantly higher that those reported in the literature (Marshall, 1985; Bissinger, 2008; Fritz et al., 2007) . It does not necessary mean that our violin with any bass bar tested is a "bad" instrument, as it is known that signature mode frequencies are not robust quality indicators (Bissinger, 2008) . The most important observation from our experiment is that the bass bar tension influences the two most important modal frequencies A0 and B(1+). The relation between the force necessary to adjoin bass bar ends to the top plate is proportional (in the range measured) to the gap between bass bar ends and the top plate surface. The increase in the bass bar tension causes an increase in the modal frequencies A0 and B(1+) but this relation is not proportional. However, bass bar tension seems to be a useful tool for tuning frequencies of the most important radiating modes A0 and B(1+).

The instrument with B(1+) frequency higher than 550 Hz is 'resistant' to the player, with bright sound with a tendency to harshness.

The frequencies of modes A0 and B(1+) found in our exper- iment for all three conditions are significantly higher that those reported in the literature.

It does not necessary mean that our violin with any bass bar tested is a "bad" instrument, as it is known that signature mode frequencies are not robust quality indicators.


Two additional remarks should be made: first, only one instrument with three bass bar tensions is inves-tigated. This number is obviously not appropriate for any statistical considerations. Nonetheless, similar situations, when only a few instruments are investigated trying to formulate general conclusions, can be found in some reports (Marshall, 1985; Weinreich et al., 2000; Saldner et al., 1996; Bissinger, 1995; 2006; Runnemalm et al., 2000) . Secondly, our investigation is carried out for a just mounted bass bar. Its ageing may induce important changes in the modal frequencies and may influence the sound of the instrument.

Nonetheless, similar situations, when only a few instruments are investigated trying to formulate general conclusions, can be found in some reports.


The fact that rainbowfish eggs can survive for extended periods if attached to aquatic weeds clearly opens up opportunities for them to travel over land barriers either naturally (e.g. by wading birds) or artificially (by human intervention). Our previous study found that the source of a new population of rainbowfish in Lake Eacham likely came from a population just 500 m away . Wright Creek is a tributary of Lake Tinarroo and the lake was stocked with M. splendida, probably in the form of bait fish, which subsequently hybridised with the endemic M. eachamensis (McGuigan et al. 2000) . Wading birds could readily move between these catchments in a matter of minutes and there is ample time for eggs to move from Lake Tinaroo itself if the eggs were attached to aquatic weeds.

Wright Creek is a tributary of Lake Tinarroo and the lake was stocked with M. splendida, probably in the form of bait fish, which subsequently hybridised with the endemic M. eachamensis.


Evolutionary optimization algorithms have been widely applied to optimization problems related to wireless sensor networks. The task assignments of WSN essentially aims to save energy, reducing the expenditure among the allocations and prolonging the network lifetime. Some authors had already proposed energy-efficiency approaches based on a mix of entropy theory and evolutionary computation theory [20] .

Some authors had already proposed energy-efficiency approaches based on a mix of entropy theory and evolutionary computation theory.