In this study, we chose the binary alloy systems magnesium-silver (Mg-Ag) and magnesium-gadolinium (Mg-Gd) to minimize the influence of multiple alloying elements on implant performance. Ag as an alloying element improves mechanical properties and enhances degradation resistances of Mg-Ag materials after suitable heat treatment. More specifically, the Mg2Ag alloy appeared biocompatible in terms of cytotoxicity and cytocompatibility in in vitro cell tests and exhibited antibacterial properties in in vitro experiments [15] .

More specifically, the Mg2Ag alloy appeared biocompatible in terms of cytotoxicity and cytocompatibility in in vitro cell tests and exhibited antibacterial properties in in vitro experiments.


Due to the promising properties of bioresorbable magnesium (Mg) alloys regarding degradation performance, biocompatibility, osteoinductivity and mechanical stability close to bone, several Mg alloys are currently under investigation to be used as medical devices in orthopedic and trauma surgery [1] [2] [3] [4] . As a result of a complete degradation of the material, second surgeries for implant removal would be unnecessary [3] . To address uncontrolled high degradation susceptibility, different strategies are currently being pursued. Material purification, processing refinements, surface modifications and alloying strategies with various elements are some options which influence implant degradation velocity [2, 4, 5] .

Due to the promising properties of bioresorbable magnesium (Mg) alloys regarding degradation performance, biocompatibility, osteoinductivity and mechanical stability close to bone, several Mg alloys are currently under investigation to be used as medical devices in orthopedic and trauma surgery.

As a result of a complete degradation of the material, second surgeries for implant removal would be unnecessary.

Material purification, processing refinements, surface modifications and alloying strategies with various elements are some options which influence implant degradation velocity.


Recently, the curvelet transform is proposed by Candes and Donoho to substitute for the wavelet transform, for providing efficient representation of smooth objects with discontinuities along curves [11] [20] . The curvelet transform was applied to image denoising. Curvelet methods can obtain smaller asymptotic mean square error of reconstruction than wavelet methods. While they offer visually sharper images and, in particular, higher quality recovery of edges and of faint linear and curvilinear features than wavelet bases [10] . Starck presented a method for contrast enhancement of nature images based on the curvelet transform. They found that curvelet based enhancement outperformed other enhancement method on nature noisy images [12] . Curvelet method provides stable, efficient and near-optimal representation of otherwise smooth objects and also has special micro-local features which make them especially adapted to image enhancement problems with mammograms [16] .

Recently, the curvelet transform is proposed by Candes and Donoho to substitute for the wavelet transform, for providing efficient representation of smooth objects with discontinuities along curves.

While they offer visually sharper images and, in particular, higher quality recovery of edges and of faint linear and curvilinear features than wavelet bases.

They found that curvelet based enhancement outperformed other enhancement method on nature noisy images.

Curvelet method provides stable, efficient and near-optimal representation of otherwise smooth objects and also has special micro-local features which make them especially adapted to image enhancement problems with mammograms.


The PIP gene is located on chromosome 7q32-36 and is composed of 4 exons [8] . Only one 900 base mRNA transcript has been identified [3] . The protein is comprised of 146 amino acids and there is a signal peptide present on the 28 th residue [1] . PIP is synthesized as a precursor polypeptide of 12.5 kDa and subsequent to the removal of the signal peptide; its size is reduced to 11 kDa [9] . The secreted protein has 3 isoforms, 11 kDa, 14 kDa, and 16 kDa in size, with the 14 kDa isoform being the predominant peptide [9] . The 14 kDa and the 16 kDa proteins are glycosylated forms of the 11 kDa protein.

The PIP gene is located on chromosome 7q32-36 and is composed of 4 exons.

Only one 900 base mRNA transcript has been identified.

The protein is comprised of 146 amino acids and there is a signal peptide present on the 28 th residue.

PIP is synthesized as a precursor polypeptide of 12.5 kDa and subsequent to the removal of the signal peptide; its size is reduced to 11 kDa.

The secreted protein has 3 isoforms, 11 kDa, 14 kDa, and 16 kDa in size, with the 14 kDa isoform being the predominant peptide.


Recent advances in low-cost and low-power circuit design, microelectronics, and wireless communications have made possible the realization of low-cost miniaturized sensors to collect information throughout a sensing field and to send out this information to a data sink for additional processing [1] . A wireless sensor network is composed of a large number of sensors that are deployed in a field of interest to monitor specific phenomena such as temperature, sound, vibration, light, and humidity. The sensors sense specific environment phenomenon and may perform some processing on the sensed data before sending their results to a central gathering node, called the sink [2] . Spanning health, home, environmental, and military areas are some potential applications of WSNs.

Recent advances in low-cost and low-power circuit design, microelectronics, and wireless communications have made possible the realization of low-cost miniaturized sensors to collect information throughout a sensing field and to send out this information to a data sink for additional processing.

The sensors sense specific environment phenomenon and may perform some processing on the sensed data before sending their results to a central gathering node, called the sink.


The aim of this paper is to analyze, from the environmental point of view, the life cycle of a large waste disposal container of 2400 L capacity (Figure 1) , and the influence on the environment of supply chain management decisions by evaluating different disposal scenarios. We will also study how a closed loop system helps to reduce environmental impact by reusing or recycling some parts, or even the whole container. The effect of each disposal scenario given to the unit after the end of its service period will be studied in order to calculate the environmental impact and extract conclusions over the different decisions made during the supply chain management [41] . For this, four different scenarios will be proposed to see the differences and singularities amongst them.

The effect of each disposal scenario given to the unit after the end of its service period will be studied in order to calculate the environmental impact and extract conclusions over the different decisions made during the supply chain management.


It is also important to note that there is a strong relationship between cancer and AD. For instance, a recent population based cohort study revealed a 43% lower risk of ever developing AD among cancer patients [25] . Similarly, patients diagnosed with AD showed a 69% lower risk of developing cancer [25] . These observations have been confirmed by longitudinal prospective studies [26] . Because of the solid relationship between AD and cancer, we speculated that anticancer drugs may exert favorable effects on AD. Therefore, we decided to screen all FDAapproved oncology drugs in a cell-based assay and identified bis-chloroethylnitrosourea (BCNU or carmustine) as a potential anti-Aβ drug.

For instance, a recent population based cohort study revealed a 43% lower risk of ever developing AD among cancer patients.

Similarly, patients diagnosed with AD showed a 69% lower risk of developing cancer.

These observations have been confirmed by longitudinal prospective studies.


In recent years, new rapid molecular microbial diagnostic methods based on genomics and proteomics have been developed that are having impact for detection of foodborne pathogens. These molecular approaches have provided novel insights towards the phylogenetic and functional characterization of the intestinal, clinical and environmental microbiota. One of the proteomic techniques that are being increasingly implemented in clinical laboratories used is matrix assisted time of flight/deionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Other than clinical pathogens, MALDI-TOF MS protein profiling is also a suitable technique for the identification of foodborne pathogenic bacteria [9] [10] [11] . Direct extraction of bacterial proteins followed by MALDI-TOF MS analysis and bacterial identification can be accurately achieved in a few hours, being increasingly implemented in clinical laboratories. Using this method, high-abundance peptides with masses in the range m/z 2,000-to 10,000-Da m/z are monitored. Another proteomic method widely used for the separation and analysis of proteins and peptides is liquid chromatography coupled with tandem MS (MS/ MS), where peptides are fragmented into ions giving information on the amino acid sequence of the peptide, being applied for protein characterization and identification [12] .

Other than clinical pathogens, MALDI-TOF MS protein profiling is also a suitable technique for the identification of foodborne pathogenic bacteria.

Another proteomic method widely used for the separation and analysis of proteins and peptides is liquid chromatography coupled with tandem MS (MS/ MS), where peptides are fragmented into ions giving information on the amino acid sequence of the peptide, being applied for protein characterization and identification.


The realized covariance points to satisfactory results in terms of portfolio risk only in the daily rebalancing. However, the transaction costs incurred with this trading frequency may deteriorate the net portfolio performance (Caldeira et al., 2013) . This effect can be reduced by rebalancing less frequently, such as on a weekly or monthly basis, which is the practice of most institutional investors. However, the lower rebalancing frequency causes a downgrading on the portfolio weights, which could cause a considerable deterioration of results. More specifically, in the weekly and monthly rebalancing, the portfolios constructed using realized covariances present a higher risk than those based on other models.

However, the transaction costs incurred with this trading frequency may deteriorate the net portfolio performance.


In white stork, an effect of age was only noted as significant in the Alsacian population (Kanyamibwa et al. 1993) . For the analysed black stork dataset, age effect turned out to be pre-eminent. It is a task for future research to confirm differences within and between populations, if any, for this species. All the above results indicate a compelling need to intensify the colour ringing programme and ring reading activities.

In white stork, an effect of age was only noted as significant in the Alsacian population.


It is impracticable for a learner to exchange a few words without the desirable vocabulary. No hesitation that a learner cannot learn all language vocabulary in classes so he is supposed to find other ways to learn vocabulary. Learner autonomy is an immense relief for learners in vocabulary learning because it provides the learners with many privileges (Gu & Johnson, 1996) .

Learner autonomy is an immense relief for learners in vocabulary learning because it provides the learners with many privileges.


The results of our method show that outlying structure in the lexicon can be extracted directly from large collections of unstructured text. The lexicon's topography, previously explored in dictionary studies, contains modular groups of satellite terms that are observable without appeal to external resources or document structure and with minimal normalization. The contribution of this method is two-fold: it confirms the structure of the observed lexicon is similar to that apparent in the organization of dictionaries (Picard et al., 2013) . Second, it offers a tractable, reliable means of extracting and summarizing structure in the fringes of the lexicon.

The contribution of this method is two-fold: it confirms the structure of the observed lexicon is similar to that apparent in the organization of dictionaries.


In each of the cases, the displacement of the cathodic Tafel slope (βa) and the anodic Tafel slope (βc) were not changed markly which clearly show that the inhibitors acted by adsorption process, without changing the mechanism of the reaction [22] . Also, the results showed that in all cases, Tafel lines shifted towards higher potentials in both anodic and cathodic directions as the concentration of the inhibitors increased. Thus the inhibitors influenced both anodic and cathodic reactions during the corrosion inhibition process [10] . That is, the anodic Tafel slope (βa) and cathodic Tafel slope (βc) of the inhibitors were found to change with inhibitor concentrations, indicating that the inhibitors affected both of these reactions.

In each of the cases, the displacement of the cathodic Tafel slope (βa) and the anodic Tafel slope (βc) were not changed markly which clearly show that the inhibitors acted by adsorption process, without changing the mechanism of the reaction.

Thus the inhibitors influenced both anodic and cathodic reactions during the corrosion inhibition process.


Thermodynamic parameters are important in understanding of the inhibition mechanism. Table 6 depicts the thermodynamic functions for the dissolution of the mild steel without and with optimum concentrations of the inhibitors at various temperatures which were calculated. The negative values ∆H and ∆G and the positive value of ∆S may be attributed to spontaneous adsorption of the [32] . The results in Table 6 have values of ∆G closer to −40 KJ·mol −1 indicating that the adsorption mechanism of the inhibitor compounds on the mild steel was typical of chemisorption.

The negative values ∆H and ∆G and the positive value of ∆S may be attributed to spontaneous adsorption of the.


Land use change is regarded as one of the most important consequences of unprecedented human alterations of the earth's land surface [1] . These changes significantly impact ecosystems, climate, and human vulnerability, and are also related to land degradation, soil erosion, biodiversity loss, and environment pollution [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] . Land use change has been selected as a core research project of the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP), and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) [7] . Many studies have analyzed the dynamics and patterns of land use change at different algorithms, such as artificial neural networks (ANNs), support vector machines (SVMs), and random forest (RF), have been widely used in land use classification with remote sensing images, as they can capture the nonparametric signature of land use types and do not rely on data belonging to any particular statistical distribution [39] . Their high accuracy separates them from traditional unsupervised and supervised algorithms, such as IsoData, K-means, and maximum likelihood (ML) [40] . Among these machine learning algorithms, the results of RF classification have been proven to be more accurate and robust, especially when the feature space is complex and the data present different statistical distributions [41, 42] .

Land use change is regarded as one of the most important consequences of unprecedented human alterations of the earth's land surface.

These changes significantly impact ecosystems, climate, and human vulnerability, and are also related to land degradation, soil erosion, biodiversity loss, and environment pollution.

Land use change has been selected as a core research project of the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP), and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).

Many studies have analyzed the dynamics and patterns of land use change at different algorithms, such as artificial neural networks (ANNs), support vector machines (SVMs), and random forest (RF), have been widely used in land use classification with remote sensing images, as they can capture the nonparametric signature of land use types and do not rely on data belonging to any particular statistical distribution.

Their high accuracy separates them from traditional unsupervised and supervised algorithms, such as IsoData, K-means, and maximum likelihood (ML).

Among these machine learning algorithms, the results of RF classification have been proven to be more accurate and robust, especially when the feature space is complex and the data present different statistical distributions.


Some enhanced LSM formulations incorporate the statistical information of the measurement noise, in contrast to the standard LSM (Magorou et al. 2002; Genovese et al. 2005) . Linearised approximations are however needed to extract the most probable parameter values and the covariance (i.e. a measure that shows how the random variables depend on each other). These approaches furthermore assume that the measurement noise is symmetrically distributed with a constant variance. In other words, they assume that the noise is independent of the measured value and that a particular positive noise realisation is equally possible as a negative realisation of the same magnitude (Elster and Wübbeler 2016) .

Some enhanced LSM formulations incorporate the statistical information of the measurement noise, in contrast to the standard LSM.

In other words, they assume that the noise is independent of the measured value and that a particular positive noise realisation is equally possible as a negative realisation of the same magnitude.


Excessive inputs of nutrients coming from the surrounding land are among the primary causes of the Baltic Sea eutrophication [1] . A recent indicator-based assessment revealed an increase in the spatial extent of eutrophication [2] . Inorganic, nutrient-induced increase of primary production followed by organic matter load (predominantly organic carbon) have been identified as the two greatest environmental pressures in the Baltic Sea [3] . However, both the magnitude of carbon load from terrestrial sources and the processes driving the aquatic carbon cycle are still poorly understood [1] .

Excessive inputs of nutrients coming from the surrounding land are among the primary causes of the Baltic Sea eutrophication.

A recent indicator-based assessment revealed an increase in the spatial extent of eutrophication.

Inorganic, nutrient-induced increase of primary production followed by organic matter load (predominantly organic carbon) have been identified as the two greatest environmental pressures in the Baltic Sea.

However, both the magnitude of carbon load from terrestrial sources and the processes driving the aquatic carbon cycle are still poorly understood.


The new neutron facility opens a broad range of new possibilities for neutron physics. Once successful, neutron sources could be built even at universities resulting in a large scientific community. If one compares the investment and running costs of the proposed neutron facility with the costs of reactors or spallation sources, they will be ≈ 2 orders of magnitude smaller. Moreover, it is also tremendously cheaper than any proposed neutron source based on inertial fusion [45] . The big advantage of the new facility is that it produces only small amounts of radioactivity and radioactive waste and thus requires only small efforts for radioprotection, i.e., very different from present reactor or spallation facilities. The new source can be operated as a multi-user neutron facility and could be several orders of magnitude more brilliant than the best existing neutron sources.

Moreover, it is also tremendously cheaper than any proposed neutron source based on inertial fusion.


Among various types of surface polaritons, the surface magnon polaritons (SMP) propagating along an interface between a magnetic medium and other magnetic or nonmagnetic one, play an important role and represent a highly dynamic research area [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] . At present, SMP are widely used in several areas of science and technology, particularly in near-field spectroscopy of magnetic materials as well as in spintronic devices. Usually, SMP occur at a planar interface of different materials, within definite frequency intervals and only in the case when magnetic permeability of one of the contacted media is negative.

Among various types of surface polaritons, the surface magnon polaritons (SMP) propagating along an interface between a magnetic medium and other magnetic or nonmagnetic one, play an important role and represent a highly dynamic research area.


Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are O 2 free radicals and play dual role of being both deleterious and beneficial to biological systems (Rudolf, 2001) . Apart from their role in the diseased conditions in the body, ROS are also known to have a role in the spoilage of food by the autoxidation of lipids, the enzymatic oxidation, during storage and processing in fats, oils and fat-containing foods (Matthaus, 2002) . Antioxidants are defined as substances, present at low concentration relative to the oxidizable substrate, which significantly delay or prevent oxidation of substrate (Godfraind, 2005) . Human body does not synthesize overwhelming amount of antioxidants to compensate with the damaging effects of ROS (Halliwell, 1996) . Although synthetic antioxidants such as butylated hydroxy toluene, butylated hydroxy anisole, gallic acid esters and tertiary butylated hydroquinone have potential to neutralize free radicals, they have been criticized due to possible toxic effects, low solubility along with moderate antioxidant activity. Hence there arises a need to discover new potential natural sources of antioxidants.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are O 2 free radicals and play dual role of being both deleterious and beneficial to biological systems.

Apart from their role in the diseased conditions in the body, ROS are also known to have a role in the spoilage of food by the autoxidation of lipids, the enzymatic oxidation, during storage and processing in fats, oils and fat-containing foods.

Antioxidants are defined as substances, present at low concentration relative to the oxidizable substrate, which significantly delay or prevent oxidation of substrate.

Human body does not synthesize overwhelming amount of antioxidants to compensate with the damaging effects of ROS.


A successful model, also applicable in Serbian case, has been conducted in Berlin. The link between individual greening and public GI infrastructure has been established through the process of the BAF implementation (BAF-Biotope Area Factor, used to estimate ecological effectiveness). If an individual parcel is not able to achieve the expected referent (BAF) standards, the greening of public spaces in immediate surroundings should compensate the imbalance [15] . In this way, plot-owners are engaged in greening activities in the public space, simultaneously improving GI at the local level.

If an individual parcel is not able to achieve the expected referent (BAF) standards, the greening of public spaces in immediate surroundings should compensate the imbalance.


We have proposed methods to construct similarities between samples from the probabilistic viewpoint. In the proposed method, the similarities are derived from the kernel-based transition probabilities through considering kernel least squares in the probabilistic framework. From a geometrical viewpoint, the proposed similarities are favorably sparse even without k-NN. We also presented the method to efficiently compute the similarity by using SMO. In addition, for the case of multiple kernel functions, we proposed a method to effectively integrate them into a novel similarity via probabilistic formulation. The method discriminatively learns the linear weights for combining the multiple transition probabilities derived from multiple kernels. In the experiments on semi-supervised learning problems using various datasets, the proposed methods exhibited the favorable performances compared to the other methods in terms of both classification accuracy and computation time, by applying label propagation as well as semi-supervised discriminant analysis. The similarities are fundamental in most of the semi-supervised learning methods, and thus the proposed similarity would benefit to the other semi-supervised methods, such as Laplacian SVM [7] .

The similarities are fundamental in most of the semi-supervised learning methods, and thus the proposed similarity would benefit to the other semi-supervised methods, such as Laplacian SVM.


The existence of stem cells in teeth with a large periapical pathosis is uncertain. However, there is a growing body of evidence that stem cells like inflamed periapical progenitor cells (iPAPCs) and stem cells from apical area (SCAP) can exist in nonvital teeth with apical periodontitis. Under the organizing influence of infection resistant Hertwig's epithelial root sheath (HERS), these cells can favorably induce maturogenesis in such teeth. In revascularization, overinstrumentation into the periapical region triggers an inflow of blood into the root canal space and also releases growth factors by causing trauma. The blood clot has been shown to have a 400-600 fold greater concentration of mesenchymal stem cell markers (CD73 and CD105) as compared to their concentration in the circulating systemic blood [23] . Supplementation with PRP has been shown to improve the outcome of revascularization [17] . Several growth factors, such as transforming growth factor-1 and vascular endothelial growth factors, released from the platelets stimulate stem cells and enhance their regenerative potential. In addition, it stimulates collagen synthesis, controls local inflammation, and thereby improves tissue healing.

The blood clot has been shown to have a 400-600 fold greater concentration of mesenchymal stem cell markers (CD73 and CD105) as compared to their concentration in the circulating systemic blood.

Supplementation with PRP has been shown to improve the outcome of revascularization.


The CON GEST model is a synchronous, message-passing model of distributed computation in which the amount of information that a node can transmit along an incident communication link in one round is restricted to O(log n) bits, where n is the size of the network [23] . As the name suggests, the CON GEST model focuses on congestion as an obstacle to distributed computation. In this paper, we focus on the design of distributed algorithms in the CON GEST model on a clique communication network; we call this the congested clique model. In the congested clique model, all information is nearby, i.e., at most one hop away, and so any difficulty in solving a problem is due to congestion alone.

The CON GEST model is a synchronous, message-passing model of distributed computation in which the amount of information that a node can transmit along an incident communication link in one round is restricted to O(log n) bits, where n is the size of the network.


Out-of-centre development, such as that illustrated by the Alnwick case study, needs to be the exception rather than the rule. However, rather than adopting the simple polarised positions of (1) assuming that almost any kind of town centre development supports its vitality and viability and (2) out-of-centre development leads to town centre decline, the opportunities and threats emerging from both town centre and out-of-centre development need to be considered. Ultimately, however, operating a 'town centre first' policy is unlikely to be sufficient to maintain the vitality and viability of town centres and, in particular, their secondary retail locations. If pre-existing retail cannot attract sufficient footfall, perhaps this can be facilitated by locating other services (public, leisure) in those locations, to enable them to become 'destinations' in themselves (Portas, 2011) . Town centres are multi-functional rather than purely retail locations.

If pre-existing retail cannot attract sufficient footfall, perhaps this can be facilitated by locating other services (public, leisure) in those locations, to enable them to become 'destinations' in themselves.


W. K. Clifford (1849-79) introduced dual numbers while he was working on developing Clifford algebras. After him, E. Study developed dual vectors and a mapping which is known as E. Study Map. He noticed that, the oriented lines in Euclidean 3-space E 3 are in one-to-one correspondence with the points of the dual unit sphere S 2 D (Study, 1903) . By the help of this, the geometry of ruled surfaces are represented. For this, you need to have a differentiable curve which depends on a real parameter.

He noticed that, the oriented lines in Euclidean 3-space E 3 are in one-to-one correspondence with the points of the dual unit sphere S 2 D.


As small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are playing an important role in the country's economy development, the adoption of e-commerce is considered to be necessary. It does not only give the opportunity for SMEs to compete in the scope of local market, but also in the international scale. In addition, it helps the company to be closer to the customers as both parties can communicate via internet at anytime and anywhere. E-commerce also alleviates the level of services by conducting business operations in an efficient way which eventually could enhance the supplier-buyer relationships. The effects of the successful internet implementation especially to the small businesses with lack of wealth are enormous and essential (Chong et al., 2001) .

The effects of the successful internet implementation especially to the small businesses with lack of wealth are enormous and essential.


In recent years, mobile ad hoc networks have gained major attention from researchers. Various routing protocols for MANETs have been proposed. A routing protocol specifies how the source finds a route to the destination [2, 4] . Due to MANET's dynamic features, its limited resource (such as bandwidth and power energy), routing in these networks is extremely challenging. Therefore, it is difficult to design an effective routing protocol in the MANET.

A routing protocol specifies how the source finds a route to the destination.


Wireless multi-hop networks impose many constraints than wired networks. Besides, the quality of service (QoS) of wireless networks, which specifies the services that a communication system provides, addresses a set of metrics such as delay, bandwidth, energy consumption and so on [8] . MANETs are characterized by dynamic topology and constraints on resources. Hence designing an effective routing protocol has become a popular research topic. Due to the advantage of numerical analysis, mathematical modeling has been widely used for performance analysis of communication systems. Mathematical modeling of QoS improves the decision making in ad hoc networks.

Besides, the quality of service (QoS) of wireless networks, which specifies the services that a communication system provides, addresses a set of metrics such as delay, bandwidth, energy consumption and so on.


In this paper, we present a mathematical model for routing protocol. From the topology point of view, at any instant in time a mobile ad hoc network can be represented as a graph that vertices are the nodes of the network and edges are the links between the nodes. Two nodes are connected if there is a link between them. There are different graphical models for the study of network characteristics such as Erdos and Renyi random graph model, the regular lattice model, the scale-free model, and the geometric random graph model. These models are not equally suitable to characterize wireless multi-hop ad-hoc networks [7] . In this model, MANET is modeled using geometric random graphs rather than the classical random graph models. This model evaluates the packet delivery ratio and energy consumption of multi-hop paths in mobile ad hoc networks. We investigate the impact of packet delivery ratio of one-hop path and distribution of hop count of multihop path between a source node and a destination node on network performance. The presented model aims to identify paths that minimize the energy consumption and maximize the packet delivery ratio of the network from the source to the destination.

These models are not equally suitable to characterize wireless multi-hop ad-hoc networks.


Our work is motivated by complex, diverse and mass-customized needs of data analytics for sustainability governance from different stakeholders that a cloud-based M2M provider must support. First, we need to identify main types of stakeholders and which analytics applications, processes and constraints are associated with these stakeholders. Generally, different stakeholders will need different processes, applications and access controls that handle, utilize and apply to different types of data. Currently, it is not very clear how to manage such complex associations in clouds, given the fact that each stakeholder might need only a part of monitoring data of a given monitored object (e.g., a chiller) as well as a stakeholder might need to access the same type of monitoring data across different facilities based on business needs and contracts [3] . This is very different from (open) e-science data or sensor Web platforms in which usually one type of stakeholders (e.g., scientists) tends to access large-scale datasets of similar data types (e.g., satellite images).

Currently, it is not very clear how to manage such complex associations in clouds, given the fact that each stakeholder might need only a part of monitoring data of a given monitored object (e.g., a chiller) as well as a stakeholder might need to access the same type of monitoring data across different facilities based on business needs and contracts.


Aside from containing information about the group as a whole, these representations contain information about individual elements. It is a simple exercise to show that for any nontrivial φ ∈ Mod(Σ), there is a cover π in which ρ π (φ) is non trivial. In fact Koberda and later Koberda and Mangahas showed a much stronger result -that homological representations can detect the Nielsen-Thurston classification of a mapping class ( [10] , [11] ).

In fact Koberda and later Koberda and Mangahas showed a much stronger result -that homological representations can detect the Nielsen-Thurston classification of a mapping class (,).


Cryptology is at the heart of providing such guarantee. Cryptology is the science of building and analyzing different encryption methods. Cryptology consists of two subfields; Cryptography & Cryptanalysis. Cryptography is the science of building new powerful and efficient encryption and decryption methods. It deals with the techniques for conveying information securely. The basic aim of cryptography is to allow the intended recipients of a message to receive the message properly while preventing eavesdroppers from understanding the message. Cryptanalysis is the science and study of method of breaking cryptographic techniques i.e. ciphers. In other words it can be described as the process of searching for flaws or oversights in the design of ciphers [2] . This paper introduces a new evolutionary way to attack the Merkle-Hellman Knapsack cipher using Compact Genetic Algorithm (cGA). The idea behind Merkle-Hellman Knapsack algorithm is to encode a binary message as a solution to knapsack problem.

In other words it can be described as the process of searching for flaws or oversights in the design of ciphers.


Next we turn our attention to operators acting on C(K)-spaces. In terms of the representing measure of a given operator T : C(K) → X, we give a sufficient condition for T being WCG (Theorem 4.2). This is an application of the characterisation of subspaces of WCG Banach spaces, obtained by Fabian, Montesinos and Zizler [13] .

This is an application of the characterisation of subspaces of WCG Banach spaces, obtained by Fabian, Montesinos and Zizler.


In recent years, rehabilitation has seen a gradual advancement in research, in both purely technical terms and in terms of knowledge. More than 10,000 randomized clinical trials have been held, and the quality of the proposed studies is progressively developing [2] [3] . Therapeutic decisions are being made based on the results available in the literature and Evidence-Based Rehabilitation (EBR), which summarizes the basic concepts of Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) and Evidence-Based Practice (EBP), and now represents the model for integrating clinical experience and the knowledge/application of the most validated techniques in the literature [4] .

More than 10,000 randomized clinical trials have been held, and the quality of the proposed studies is progressively developing.

Therapeutic decisions are being made based on the results available in the literature and Evidence-Based Rehabilitation (EBR), which summarizes the basic concepts of Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) and Evidence-Based Practice (EBP), and now represents the model for integrating clinical experience and the knowledge/application of the most validated techniques in the literature.


Recent studies indicate that fluorescence may be an alternative to the vibrational spectroscopic techniques in studying the antioxidant abundance and antioxidant capacity in food matrices (Monago-Maraña et al. 2016; Orzel and Daszykowski 2014; Orzel et al. 2015; Žiak et al. 2014) . The main advantages of fluorescence as compared to other spectroscopic techniques are its high sensitivity and selectivity. Due to these features, fluorescence may be especially useful in studies of minor components in complex food matrices and in the presence of interferences (Christensen et al. 2006) . Moreover, fluorescence spectra should be easier to interpret. However, this technique is restricted to fluorescent components. Various emission properties of the food antioxidants may also pose additional limitations. For example, ascorbic acid is not fluorescent and tocopherols are highly fluorescent, while phenolic compounds have very diverse fluorescence properties (Christensen et al. 2006 , Mazina et al. 2015 Wolfbeis et al. 1984) .

Recent studies indicate that fluorescence may be an alternative to the vibrational spectroscopic techniques in studying the antioxidant abundance and antioxidant capacity in food matrices.

Due to these features, fluorescence may be especially useful in studies of minor components in complex food matrices and in the presence of interferences.

For example, ascorbic acid is not fluorescent and tocopherols are highly fluorescent, while phenolic compounds have very diverse fluorescence properties.


One of the most important advantages of the synchronous fluorescence is an enhanced separation of the overlapping bands as compared to the conventional emission spectra (Andrade-Eiroa et al. 2010; Patra and Mishra 2002) . This feature is expected for the spectra recorded at lower Δλ values. In such conditions, the overlap zone of the absorption and emission is narrower, and the resulting spectra of the individual fluorophores are also narrower as compared to the conventionally recorded emission spectra (Patra and Mishra 2002) . Therefore, the synchronous fluorescence spectra measured at selected Δλ values are shown in Fig. 2 for a detailed analysis.

One of the most important advantages of the synchronous fluorescence is an enhanced separation of the overlapping bands as compared to the conventional emission spectra.

In such conditions, the overlap zone of the absorption and emission is narrower, and the resulting spectra of the individual fluorophores are also narrower as compared to the conventionally recorded emission spectra.


Synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy is another technique used for the complex food samples. Here, fluorescence intensity is measured as a function of the simultaneously scanned emission and excitation wavelengths, usually with a constant offset between them (Δλ = λ em − λ ex ). The main advantages of the synchronous fluorescence spectra (SyF) as compared to the EEMs are their improved selectivity and sensitivity, significant reduction in the spectral complexity, and suppressed light-scattering interferences (Andrade-Eiroa et al. 2010) . With an appropriately selected Δλ, the SyF spectrum may contain bands of all the fluorescent components of the sample, making the analysis much faster as compared to using the EEM. The main characteristics of the SyF spectra are determined by the Δλ value. The SyF spectra recorded over the range of Δλ values are known as the total synchronous fluorescence (TSyF) spectra (Patra and Mishra 2002) .

The main advantages of the synchronous fluorescence spectra (SyF) as compared to the EEMs are their improved selectivity and sensitivity, significant reduction in the spectral complexity, and suppressed light-scattering interferences.

The SyF spectra recorded over the range of Δλ values are known as the total synchronous fluorescence (TSyF) spectra.


Phenolic compounds account for the metabolic activity and antioxidant properties of plant-based foods and for the putative health benefits to humans (Scalbert et al. 2005) . Moreover, polyphenols affect organoleptic properties of foods: their color, flavor, astringency, and hardness (Robbins 2003) . The assessment of polyphenolic compounds and their antioxidant activity is one of important aspects of quality studies of many foods.

Phenolic compounds account for the metabolic activity and antioxidant properties of plant-based foods and for the putative health benefits to humans.

Moreover, polyphenols affect organoleptic properties of foods: their color, flavor, astringency, and hardness.


Synchronous Fluorescence Spectra of the Apple Juices Thirty apple juices studied were selected to cover the various ranges of juices available on the market: clear reconstituted from concentrate (group A), cloudy produced from concentrate with added apple pulp (group B), pasteurized naturally cloudy produced not from concentrate (group C), and freshly squeezed juices (group D). Figure 1 shows the TSyF of four apple juices that represent each of the categories studied. Figure 1 illustrates the overall characteristics of the synchronous fluorescence spectra over the 10-to 160-nm range of the emission-excitation wavelength offsets (Δλ). The dependence of the SyF spectra on Δλ is quite clear. Three distinct emission zones were observed, with varied exact positions of the maxima and intensities in the spectra of different juices. The spectral maxima of these three zones appeared within the following Δλ/excitation wavelength ranges: 40-100/260-280, 110-140/305-320, and 60-100/360-420 nm. This result corresponds to the presence of three groups of fluorophores with similar emission properties, observed in the excitation-emission matrices of the apple juices in our previous study (Włodarska et al. 2016) .

This result corresponds to the presence of three groups of fluorophores with similar emission properties, observed in the excitation-emission matrices of the apple juices in our previous study.


Past studies on slow processes within the atmosphere and oceans have indicated climatic variations of shorter periods from ∼1 to ∼100 ky [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] . For example, the approximate 1.5 ky period in the north Atlantic Ocean climate system is caused by a combination of weak periodic forcing and "noise" from ice sheet related events [12] . The 1 ky Northern Hemisphere temperature and the 100 ky cycle for tropical sea surface temperature are associated with greenhouse gases [13, 14] . Regional climate shifts during the Pliocene epoch (∼4.5 to 3.0 million years ago) are related to gradual global cooling [15] . Changes in sea level and temperature are also influenced by freshwater forcing via the phase change [16] .

Past studies on slow processes within the atmosphere and oceans have indicated climatic variations of shorter periods from ∼1 to ∼100 ky.

For example, the approximate 1.5 ky period in the north Atlantic Ocean climate system is caused by a combination of weak periodic forcing and "noise" from ice sheet related events.

The 1 ky Northern Hemisphere temperature and the 100 ky cycle for tropical sea surface temperature are associated with greenhouse gases.

Regional climate shifts during the Pliocene epoch (∼4.5 to 3.0 million years ago) are related to gradual global cooling.

Changes in sea level and temperature are also influenced by freshwater forcing via the phase change.


The research was conducted in a bank organization operating in Greece. The challenge in this concept was the divergence in conceptual contexts for instance, the way of perceiving the topics that middle managers have, their character and principles, their beliefs of each one of them and their coexistence in the organizational environment. The existence and the combination of competences that lead to effectiveness was one of the main concerns of the research. That is the reason for choosing the qualitative approach for conducting the study as it emphasizes the interpretations of the individuals being studied, their meanings and perspectives (Bryman, 1988) .

That is the reason for choosing the qualitative approach for conducting the study as it emphasizes the interpretations of the individuals being studied, their meanings and perspectives.


Given what appears to be an unabated collapse in population size, increased attention needs to be given to this species now, while populations are large enough to make conservation actions effective. Because of the inaccessibility of the bogs, swamps, and sloughs that Rusty Blackbirds inhabit, little quantitative work has been done on the life history of the Rusty Blackbird. Foraging behavior, nest success, breeding-season diet, flocking habits, courtship, and habitat relations are all largely undocumented except by anecdote. Furthermore, comparative studies between this blackbird and its ecologically plastic relatives which focus on phenomena such as neophobia and the development of foraging behaviors would provide insight into the mechanisms underlying ecological specialization (Greenberg 1983) . The comparison is defensible from an ecological and evolutionary perspective because the Red-winged Blackbird, Brewer's Blackbird, and grackles appear to form a monophyletic group with the more specialized Rusty Blackbird (Lanyon & Omland, in press ). After all, ecological stereotypy in the face of rapid anthropogenic change is the most likely cause of the decline of the Rusty Blackbird.

Furthermore, comparative studies between this blackbird and its ecologically plastic relatives which focus on phenomena such as neophobia and the development of foraging behaviors would provide insight into the mechanisms underlying ecological specialization.


Policy makers and the general public alike are increasingly aware of, and concerned by, the negative impacts of IC engine exhaust gas species on urban air quality and human health [1] . Recent attention has focused on levels of both nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emitted by diesel engine powered vehicles, with higher mortality rates being attributed to PM emissions alone in urban cities. Cities across the world are now moving to establish ultra-low emission zones, and four major cities worldwide have announced plans to ban diesel powered vehicles from 2025 [2] . Future fuel and combustion strategies for IC engines must therefore be designed such that the necessary reductions in pollutant emissions can be met, while also addressing the need to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions [3e5] .

Policy makers and the general public alike are increasingly aware of, and concerned by, the negative impacts of IC engine exhaust gas species on urban air quality and human health.

Cities across the world are now moving to establish ultra-low emission zones, and four major cities worldwide have announced plans to ban diesel powered vehicles from 2025.


Published riparian fire histories have been limited to the coniferous forests that are particularly amenable to dendrochronological methods, and have been limited in their spatial extent. There are no regional-scale studies available thus far that actually quantify the frequency with which riparian fire occurs. In this paper, we use remotely sensed data to determine the frequency with which riparian environments burn in the state of California. We focus on California because it is a region where wildfire is known to be of great importance, importance that is likely to increase with global climate change (Westerling et al 2011) . We include the entire state because we recognize the likelihood that riparian fire frequency will vary among ecoregions, and we seek to capture that variation. Specifically, our goals are to determine the frequency with which riparian environments in California burn, to determine the variation in that frequency among ecoregions within the state, to compare the frequency of riparian fire with that of surrounding uplands, to describe the variation in seasonality of fire occurrence among ecoregions, and to explore whether year-toyear variation in riparian fire can be related to basic climatological variables.

We focus on California because it is a region where wildfire is known to be of great importance, importance that is likely to increase with global climate change.


Geographically weighted regression (GWR) is an alternative to conventional regression because it provides a local analysis of relationships in multivariate datasets (Brunsdon et al. 2002) . One advantage of GWR is that it is based on the traditional regression framework with which most researchers and readers are familiar. Another advantage is that it incorporates local spatial relationships into the regression framework in an intuitive and explicit manner.

Geographically weighted regression (GWR) is an alternative to conventional regression because it provides a local analysis of relationships in multivariate datasets.


Soil apparent electrical conductivity (EC a ) is the depth-weighted average of the bulk soil electrical conductivity (Cook and Walker 1992) . In other words, it is the average electrical conductivity integrated over different depths of soil; the depth depends on the instrument being used. There are currently two types of electrical conductivity sensor that are used to measure EC a in the field: non-contact (electromagnetic induction) sensors and those using the direct contact method (electrical resistivity).

Soil apparent electrical conductivity (EC a ) is the depth-weighted average of the bulk soil electrical conductivity.


Feeding a growing world population with increasing dietary preferences for resource-intensive food products is a major challenge facing humanity (Foley et al., 2011) . It has been suggested that maintaining the increases in yields achieved over the past half-century, itself a challenge, will be insufficient to meet future global food demand (Grassini et al., 2013) . Meanwhile, increased crop productivity is only one aspect of meeting future food security goals, and concerns over agricultural sustainability are greater than ever, with evidence that intensive conventional production practices can have severe negative environmental consequences (Foley et al., 2011; Godfray and Garnett, 2014; Tilman et al., 2011) . Highyielding, conventional agricultural systems are often characterized by high rates of fossil fuel energy consumption, excessive nutrient use, soil degradation, and water pollution (Foley et al., 2011) . Thus a global imperative has been set forth -to produce more with less -and various strategies are being promoted to achieve these goals. No-till 1 agriculture represents a relatively widely adopted soil management practice. The origins of no-till agriculture lie in the dustbowl of the 1930s in USA, where severe erosion of degraded soils occurred over large areas of agricultural land, prompting a shift toward reduced tillage practices (Six et al., 2002; Derpsch et al., 2010) . However, the majority of no-till expansion worldwide has occurred since the mid-to late-1990s, facilitated by the use of herbicides and improved no-till technologies (Derpsch et al., 2010) . From both an agricultural research and development standpoint, no-till has received much attention as a potential solution to the large challenges described above.

Feeding a growing world population with increasing dietary preferences for resource-intensive food products is a major challenge facing humanity.

It has been suggested that maintaining the increases in yields achieved over the past half-century, itself a challenge, will be insufficient to meet future global food demand.

Meanwhile, increased crop productivity is only one aspect of meeting future food security goals, and concerns over agricultural sustainability are greater than ever, with evidence that intensive conventional production practices can have severe negative environmental consequences.

Highyielding, conventional agricultural systems are often characterized by high rates of fossil fuel energy consumption, excessive nutrient use, soil degradation, and water pollution.

The origins of no-till agriculture lie in the dustbowl of the 1930s in USA, where severe erosion of degraded soils occurred over large areas of agricultural land, prompting a shift toward reduced tillage practices.

However, the majority of no-till expansion worldwide has occurred since the mid-to late-1990s, facilitated by the use of herbicides and improved no-till technologies.


For students to succeed in engineering design and practice they must be able to make design decisions that are grounded in data and analysis. To make such design decisions confidently, a firm grasp of basic engineering concepts such as in Mechanics of Materials is important. Several instructors have expressed their disappointment with students' general lack of understanding and inability to apply these concepts in a real world scenario as well as in subsequent higher level classes [1] [2] [3] . This highlights the need to modify existing educational methods to ensure better understanding of the basic concepts of Mechanics of Materials and in turn, develop better design practices.

Several instructors have expressed their disappointment with students' general lack of understanding and inability to apply these concepts in a real world scenario as well as in subsequent higher level classes.


In this paper, we use the Meta-Bootstrapping and Basilisk algorithms to learn lists of subjective nouns from a large collection of unannotated texts. Then we train a subjectivity classifier on a small set of annotated data, using the subjective nouns as features along with some other previously identified subjectivity features. Our experimental results show that the subjectivity classifier performs well (77% recall with 81% precision) and that the learned nouns improve upon previous state-of-the-art subjectivity results (Wiebe et al., 1999) .

Our experimental results show that the subjectivity classifier performs well (77% recall with 81% precision) and that the learned nouns improve upon previous state-of-the-art subjectivity results.


During our investigation of the bamboos from Braian mountain, Di Linh District, Lam Dong Province, southern Vietnam in January 2011, the authors found several populations of bamboo widespread and abundant through degraded natural forest in valleys and mountain gorges. Specimens of rhizomes, branches, culm leaves, and flowering branches were collected. All collected specimens were dissected and studied. We confirmed the presence of sympodial rhizomes in this bamboo with clambering culms, and the branch complement at each node bearing several branches with the middle one dominant; the pseudospikelets were clustered at distal nodes, each having two perfect florets and one imperfect floret, palea 2-keeled. The form and structure of rhizome, branches and inflorescences in the collected specimens are basically similar to that of the first four genera discussed above. Otherwise, the glabrous ovary with the long style is typical for Mullerochloa and also found in the subtribe Melocanninae Trin. However, the pseudospikelet of Mullerochloa is characterized by having 4-9 flowers, the rachilla internodes are not truly elongate, and there are 4 stamens with fused filaments (Wong 2005) . The branch complement of the subtribe Melocanninae is typical a cluster of subequal-sized axes, and the palea is unkeeled.

However, the pseudospikelet of Mullerochloa is characterized by having 4-9 flowers, the rachilla internodes are not truly elongate, and there are 4 stamens with fused filaments.


The use of the unitary gauge brings into cosmology similar advantages. The operators can be organized straightforwardly in powers of the number of perturbations; as a consequence, operators beyond the linear order do not affect the background evolution. Moreover, the terms in the expansion have direct observable implications. For instance, the cubic operators of the EFT of inflation formalism can be straightforwardly related to the observable three-point functions of the CMB [18, [22] [23] [24] .

For instance, the cubic operators of the EFT of inflation formalism can be straightforwardly related to the observable three-point functions of the CMB.


As preliminary results (unpublished data), our research group has identified 2ʹ-5ʹ-oligoadenylate synthetase 1 (OAS1) as a differentially-expressed gene in human breast (MCF-7) and prostate (LNCaP) cancer cell lines. The human OAS gene family contains four genes, namely OAS1, OAS2, OAS3 and OASL [8, 9] . Two isoforms of OAS1 protein with the molecular weight of 40 and 46 kDa, respectively, have been identified as a result from alternative splicing [10] . All OAS, except OASL, are interferon-induced proteins characterised by their capacity to catalyse the synthesis of 2ʹ-5ʹ-linked oligomers of adenosine from adenosine triphosphate (2-5A) [11, 12] . The 2-5A binds to a latent Ribonuclease L (RNase L), which subsequently dimerises into its active form [13] [14] [15] . It was shown that the suppression of RNase L activity in cancer cell lines dramatically blocked cell death, which supports its role as a strong inducer of apoptosis [16, 17] . Furthermore, the OAS/RNase L pathway has been associated with the inhibition of cell growth and promotion of apoptosis in human breast and prostate cancer cell lines [18] [19] [20] . However, no studies have been conducted to characterize the clinical expression of OAS1 in human breast and prostate cancer specimens.

The human OAS gene family contains four genes, namely OAS1, OAS2, OAS3 and OASL.

Two isoforms of OAS1 protein with the molecular weight of 40 and 46 kDa, respectively, have been identified as a result from alternative splicing.

All OAS, except OASL, are interferon-induced proteins characterised by their capacity to catalyse the synthesis of 2ʹ-5ʹ-linked oligomers of adenosine from adenosine triphosphate (2-5A).

The 2-5A binds to a latent Ribonuclease L (RNase L), which subsequently dimerises into its active form.

It was shown that the suppression of RNase L activity in cancer cell lines dramatically blocked cell death, which supports its role as a strong inducer of apoptosis.

Furthermore, the OAS/RNase L pathway has been associated with the inhibition of cell growth and promotion of apoptosis in human breast and prostate cancer cell lines.


Those collaboration networks stimulated significant advances concerning the understanding of the term learning factory, the classification of learning factories and guiding methods for developing new concepts [5, 6] . Despite the active exchange between the operators of learning factories, none or very few of the process chains of the learning factories are interlinked according to the authors knowledge. However, such interlinkage might benefit the individual locations greatly, because usually learning factories have tight constraints concerning either the spatial expansion and/or the financial resources, which limit the number of different machines and processes. By connecting the process chains of two or more learning factories, process chains can be extended, similar technologies can be compared and new process steps such as quality controls or analysis tools can be inserted into an existing chain.

Those collaboration networks stimulated significant advances concerning the understanding of the term learning factory, the classification of learning factories and guiding methods for developing new concepts.


Today's drivers in manufacturing are, amongst others, globalization, changes in demographics, shorter product cycles, greater number of product variants, resource efficiency ambitions and the penetration of internet of things technologies [1] . To cope with these challenges, the competency-level of employees plays a crucial role. In order to improve those competencies, several options for learning exist. Compared to learning through e.g. lectures, students in practical courses of learning factories can gain a greater degree of action substantiating knowledge [2] .

Today's drivers in manufacturing are, amongst others, globalization, changes in demographics, shorter product cycles, greater number of product variants, resource efficiency ambitions and the penetration of internet of things technologies.

Compared to learning through e.g. lectures, students in practical courses of learning factories can gain a greater degree of action substantiating knowledge.


In the area of Automated Theorem Discovery (ATD), the aim is to emulate the human theorem discovery process. The idea can be applied to many different fields, such as mathematics, physics, but also formal verification. An example of an ATD system for mathematicians is MathSaid [6] . The system starts by generating a finite set of hypotheses, according to some syntactical rules that capture typical mathematical thinking, for example: if we know A ⇒ B, we should also check if B ⇒ A, and if not, under what conditions this holds. Theorem proving techniques are used to select theorems and patch non-theorems. Since this leads to many theorems, a filtering phase decides if theorems are interesting or not, according to a number of different predefined "tests". One such test is the simplicity test, which compares theorems for simplicity based on their proofs, and only keeps the simplest theorems. The aim of their filtering is quite different from ours (they want to filter out theorems that mathematicians would have considered trivial), but the motivation is the same; there are too many theorems to consider.

An example of an ATD system for mathematicians is MathSaid.


Daikon is a tool for inferring likely invariants in C, C++, Java or Perl programs [3] . Daikon observes program variables at selected program points during testing, and applies machine learning techniques to discover relationships between them. For example, Daikon can discover linear relationships between integer variables, such as array indices. Agitar's commercial tool based on Daikon generates test cases for the code under analysis automatically [1] . However, Daikon will not discover, for example, that reverse(reverse(Xs)) == Xs, unless such a double application of reverse appears in the program under analysis. Whereas Daikon discovers invariants that hold at existing program points, QuickSpec discovers equations between arbitrary terms constructed using an API. This is analogous to the difference between assertions placed in program code, and the kind of properties which QuickCheck tests, that also invoke the API under test in interesting ways. While Daikon's approach is ideal for imperative code, especially code which loops over arrays, QuickSpec is perhaps more appropriate for analysing pure functions.

Daikon is a tool for inferring likely invariants in C, C++, Java or Perl programs.

Agitar's commercial tool based on Daikon generates test cases for the code under analysis automatically.


All quantitative analyses were undertaken using %IRI at a family level, and excluding data for contents that were not identifiable to family level (Simpfendorfer et al., 2001) . To determine whether the sample size was sufficient accurately to describe the diet of wobbegongs, the cumulative number of prey species was plotted against the number of stomachs examined. The order in which stomachs were analysed was randomized ten times (Ferry et al., 1997) . Cumulative curves were considered asymptotic if at least ten previous values of the total number of prey were in the range of the asymptotic number of prey + 0.5. The number of stomachs at which the number of prey items reached an asymptotic value identified the minimum sample size required to describe the diet adequately (Cailliet et al., 1986; Cortés, 1997) .

All quantitative analyses were undertaken using %IRI at a family level, and excluding data for contents that were not identifiable to family level.

The order in which stomachs were analysed was randomized ten times.

The number of stomachs at which the number of prey items reached an asymptotic value identified the minimum sample size required to describe the diet adequately.


In summary, the present study detected a far greater spatio-temporal overlap in harbor seals and steelhead trout smolts than has been documented in other studies outfitting pinnipeds with acoustic receivers and GPS tags. Greater overlap and evidence for inferred predation were detected in Central Puget Sound where mortality appears most acute for migrating steelhead smolts (Moore et al. 2015) . A number of concurrent factors, including stationary tags near monitored harbor seal haul-outs, provided evidence of harbor seal consumption of steelhead smolts. We hypothesize that harbor seal predation on steelhead smolts during their early marine phase could be a significant source of mortality and that the underlying causes may include increases in predator populations concomitant with decreases in the availability of historically more available alternative prey. Additional research is needed to estimate the level of harbor seal predation of steelhead smolts and to evaluate potential population effects of such predation.

Greater overlap and evidence for inferred predation were detected in Central Puget Sound where mortality appears most acute for migrating steelhead smolts.


Most people spend around 90% of their time indoors [1] . There is significant scientific evidence that indicates that inappropriate indoor air quality (IAQ) affects negatively human health and thus its monitoring plays a key role in IAQ control [2] . IAQ is influenced by a mixture of physical, chemical and biological factors, each with different sources and associated adverse health effects [2] . Temperature, relative humidity (RH) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) represent the key factors of interest [2] .

Most people spend around 90% of their time indoors.

There is significant scientific evidence that indicates that inappropriate indoor air quality (IAQ) affects negatively human health and thus its monitoring plays a key role in IAQ control.

IAQ is influenced by a mixture of physical, chemical and biological factors, each with different sources and associated adverse health effects.

Temperature, relative humidity (RH) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) represent the key factors of interest.


In the present context, we use the term reproducibility to denote robust detections over different samples drawn from one single large cohort. Specifically, we investigate the reproducibility in task-based fMRI data over different samples randomly drawn from a cohort of 400 subjects obtained from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) [11, 12] . Here we intentionally exclude factors such as different scanner hardware or different preprocessing regimes that might also diminish reproducibility, and focus instead on intersubject variability and sensitivity of the test statistic as our main target of investigation.

Specifically, we investigate the reproducibility in task-based fMRI data over different samples randomly drawn from a cohort of 400 subjects obtained from the Human Connectome Project (HCP).


In LISA, hotspots of activation are highlighted as locally coherent regions. Local coherence as a new feature for statistical inference is very attractive because it is model free and easily accessible with neuroimaging techniques. More importantly, its effectiveness may point to an underlying very general mechanism of brain function. We have previously proposed a similar feature of local coherence for network detection where it also proved to be a very strong marker of differential task involvement [18] .

We have previously proposed a similar feature of local coherence for network detection where it also proved to be a very strong marker of differential task involvement.


In this paper we have shown that efficient dust evaporation processes increase the inflow density and push the heliopause down to the Earth, with the result that counterstreaming IC material directly influences the Earth. Investigation of the ionization structure of the inflowing material shows that cloud matter near the Earth is only weakly ionized. At IC H-atom densities of the order of n H = 10 2 − 10 3 cm −3 , incoming matter when approaching the Sun, but yet outside the reduced heliopause, is only subject to photoionization processes which simplify the hydrodynamic model of the flow. Thus, we have carried out the time-dependent simulation of neutral flow parameters by means of the 2-D gas dynamic numerical code, which takes into account both photoionization and gravity of the Sun. These processes are important to quantitatively estimate the total amount of neutral material, accreted from the cloud by the Earth during the pass-over time of about 1 million years. We have estimated this amount to be greater than 2 · 10 16 g per 1 passage, about 1% of which is in the form of dust (H 2 O "dirty" ice or silicate grains, or both) with probable refractory organic species in the mantle (Yeghikyan et al., 2001) . It may be important as a source of accumulated prebiotic material on the Earth during the manifold passages of the solar system through similar interstellar clouds.

We have estimated this amount to be greater than 2 · 10 16 g per 1 passage, about 1% of which is in the form of dust (H 2 O "dirty" ice or silicate grains, or both) with probable refractory organic species in the mantle.


Polymer adsorption on rock surfaces has been an important issue in EOR applications. EOR applications that use polymer flooding, polymer adsorption or retention in porous media should be avoided. Not all polymer retention is caused by adsorption because some polymer molecules, depending on their size and rheological characteristics, get trapped inside formation pores. It is generally believed that sandstone formations are negatively charged and carbonate formations are positively charged. Clay particles in a formation contain neutral, anionic, and cationic sites. One of the most important properties which made polymers interesting for EOR processes as mentioned earlier was their viscosifying property. Another important parameter which may affect the feasibility study plan of a polymerflooding project is the retention and adsorption of polymer in porous media. Adsorption and retention may be defined as the interaction between the polymer molecules and the porous medium which leads polymer to be retained or adsorbed [20] . Polymer adsorption/retention mechanisms in porous media are mainly physical interaction, e.g., electrostatic attraction due to the charge differences between the solid surface and polymer or Van der Waals dipole-dipole interactions. Polymer retention is more general, and consists of three main mechanisms: polymer adsorption, mechanical entrapment and hydrodynamic retention as shown in Fig. 2 [20] .

Adsorption and retention may be defined as the interaction between the polymer molecules and the porous medium which leads polymer to be retained or adsorbed.

Polymer retention is more general, and consists of three main mechanisms: polymer adsorption, mechanical entrapment and hydrodynamic retention as shown in Fig. 2.


Amongst sociologists, the structuralist school views the existence of the informal sector as a relatively permanent feature of the modern economy integrated with its lead sectors (Portes, Castells and Benton 1989) . The linkages between the informal and the formal sector(s) is established through the latter subcontracting certain labor intensive stages of production to the former. The structuralists further contend that since the informal sector is integrally linked with the formal sectors, given a constant level of state regulation, the informal-formal sector relationship is pro-cyclical or in other words, complementary: expansion or contraction in one necessarily implies an expansion or contraction in the other.

Amongst sociologists, the structuralist school views the existence of the informal sector as a relatively permanent feature of the modern economy integrated with its lead sectors.


To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore seasonal variations of mood and behavior in African students and compare it with African American students at the same latitude. It is also the largest seasonality study to date on Africans in the U.S. Although they reported more problems with changes in seasons, African students did not differ from African American students on winter-type SAD or total SAD. This is inconsistent with the prior studies supporting that individuals who migrate to a higher latitude region generally demonstrate increased winter-type seasonality relative to the native population [16, 17, 18, 19, 20] . It is also possible that immigration stress could worsen the perception of difficulties in general, including those associated with seasonality [36] .

This is inconsistent with the prior studies supporting that individuals who migrate to a higher latitude region generally demonstrate increased winter-type seasonality relative to the native population.

It is also possible that immigration stress could worsen the perception of difficulties in general, including those associated with seasonality.


Here we propose a data-tailored model-based IIR method which delivers easily segmentable reconstructions of high quality. Using in situ tomographic data of timeevolving dendritic structures, we investigate various properties of the method. Through the choice of different data terms and regularization penalties we demonstrate the importance of accurately defining the objective for IIR strategy. Although the method is novel in this form, it consists of previously thoroughly investigated elements that have been independently validated [21, 32] . In this work, we do not include synthetic phantom simulations but instead use real data to highlight important issues of modelbased IIR. We also provide open-source software which reproduces the results presented and can be used reconstructing similar datasets in future [33] .

Although the method is novel in this form, it consists of previously thoroughly investigated elements that have been independently validated.

We also provide open-source software which reproduces the results presented and can be used reconstructing similar datasets in future.


During the past few decades, production firms and business enterprises have executed broad information systems in order to improve their performances but in many scenarios, the yields come out to be much less than anticipated (Sharma, 2012) . Earlier, the researchers observed that in order to comprehend maximum functioning improvements, it is necessary to get well-time data about customer's demand. Functioning procedures like inventory management and accumulation arrangement have to be valuable to improve the firms' or enterprises' inventory performance. The key objective of firms is to meet demand punctually by providing high quality services. Keeping this point in mind, shops or companies do their best to store inventories in their own warehouse (OW) or rented warehouse (RW), in case of necessary. In general, when suppliers offer price discounts for bulk purchases, or when the considered items are seasonal products such as the harvest output, or for stock-dependent demand, the administrator may procure more goods than the capacity of its own warehouse. Therefore, the surplus inventories are stored in a rented warehouse.

During the past few decades, production firms and business enterprises have executed broad information systems in order to improve their performances but in many scenarios, the yields come out to be much less than anticipated.


In other words, it is believed that motivated students are more successful and engaged in education than non-motivated students. For this reason, many instruction models, teaching materials, and ideas have been developed to increase the motivation of the students. A CL model is a model that promises to increase the motivation of students in a way that is compatible with the requirements of the 21st century (Johnson & Johnson, 2014) .

A CL model is a model that promises to increase the motivation of students in a way that is compatible with the requirements of the 21st century.


Motivation has a positive impact on accomplishment and achievement, and finally on attainment to the lesson (Gottfried, Marcoulides, Gottfried, & Oliver, 2013) . In this study, 114 students were observed and analyzed over 20 years from ages 9 to 29 and results showed that students were directly motivated when they were 9. Both their attainment and motivation declined over years indirectly as a result of decline in course accomplishment, which indirectly lowered the motivation and attainment level of the students. Another recent study showed the attitude towards a lesson could change via the CL instruction (Adu & Galloway, 2015) . The study conducted on 82 senior secondary school students chosen through convenience sampling reflected a positive change of their attitudes towards economics.

Motivation has a positive impact on accomplishment and achievement, and finally on attainment to the lesson.

Another recent study showed the attitude towards a lesson could change via the CL instruction.


Another aspect, which will be explored later, is the connection between the relational construction and the Poisson Sigma model with branes, where the boundary conditions are understood as choices of coisotropic submanifolds of the Poisson manifold. The relational symplectic groupoid seems to admit the existence of branes and would explain in full generality the idea of dual pairs in the Poisson sigma model with boundary [3, 4] . This new program might be useful for quantization as well. Using ideas from geometric quantization, what is expected as the quantization of the relational symplectic groupoid is an algebra with a special element, which fails to be a unit, but whose action is a projector in such a way that on the image of the projector we obtain a true unital algebra. Deformation quantization of a Poisson manifold could be interpreted in this way.

The relational symplectic groupoid seems to admit the existence of branes and would explain in full generality the idea of dual pairs in the Poisson sigma model with boundary.


RHC is an optimisation-based control method, which has made a significant impact on industrial control engineering, and is being increasingly applied in process controls. RHC is the most natural control method, and in some cases the only methodology for control of systems that are governed by constrained dynamics [13] . RHC rely on an optimisation of a predicted model response with respect to plant input to determine the best input changes for a given state. RHC also supports linear and non-linear control, equality and inequality constraints and offers extensive flexibility in the formulation of the cost function to be minimised, giving RHC a potential advantage over passive state feedback control laws [14] . In view of these advantages, a non-linear dual-mode RHC is applied to design the multiple UAVs formation flight controller in this work.

RHC is the most natural control method, and in some cases the only methodology for control of systems that are governed by constrained dynamics.

RHC also supports linear and non-linear control, equality and inequality constraints and offers extensive flexibility in the formulation of the cost function to be minimised, giving RHC a potential advantage over passive state feedback control laws.


PSO algorithm is an optimisation algorithm inspired by social behaviour in nature. PSO has been developed for the non-linear continuous optimisation problem, based on the experience gained from the study of artificial life and psychological research. Like genetic algorithm (GA), the PSO is a population-based optimisation method that searches multiple solutions in parallel [15] . However, PSO employs a cooperative strategy unlike GA, which utilises a competitive strategy. PSO technique finds the optimal solution using a population of particles. Each particle represents a candidate solution to the problem. The particles change their positions by flying around the search space until a relatively unchanging has been encountered, or the stop criteria is satisfied. It is well known that the PSO techniques can provide a high-quality solution with simple implementation and fast convergence [16, 17] .

Like genetic algorithm (GA), the PSO is a population-based optimisation method that searches multiple solutions in parallel.

It is well known that the PSO techniques can provide a high-quality solution with simple implementation and fast convergence.


The selective inhibition of platelet function mediated by minocycline's antagonism of p38 MAPK signaling is not surprising considering that previous reports have demonstrated that blocking p38 MAPK signaling by specific inhibitors reduces platelet granule release, yet does not affect aggregation nor spreading [34, 40, 57, 58] . These characteristics make minocycline an attractive drug to antagonize platelet activation in two ways. First, as mentioned above, a large drawback for any potential antiplatelet drug is its ability to cause excessive bleeding and hemostatic dysfunction [59] . Minocycline's inability to abrogate spreading and aggregation of platelets, which is likely due to its incapacity to reduce activated GPIIa/IIIb (Fig 3) , suggests that this drug does not pose a significant risk for bleeding disorders and the abolishment of a thrombus, which may occur via treatment with other antiplatelet agents. Secondly, the prevention of alpha and dense granule release by minocycline will result in a reduction in pro-inflammatory molecules released upon platelet activation. Admittedly, as shown in Fig 2, minocycline reduced granule release as compared to thrombin only treated platelets, but it is not rescued to that of non-treated levels. These retained levels of granule release may serve as "just enough" granule content, in addition to minocycline's inability to block active GPIIb/IIIa, to contribute to minocycline's overall inefficiency in blocking aggregation, spreading and thrombus formation. This selective inhibition of platelet degranulation but not aggregation suggests that, although minocycline may not be an ideal drug for the abolishment of thrombus-related hemostatic disorders such as thromboembolisms, it could be useful in reducing platelet-mediated inflammation, ultimately helping to reduce the chronic inflammation that, for example, persists in HIV infection.

The selective inhibition of platelet function mediated by minocycline's antagonism of p38 MAPK signaling is not surprising considering that previous reports have demonstrated that blocking p38 MAPK signaling by specific inhibitors reduces platelet granule release, yet does not affect aggregation nor spreading.

First, as mentioned above, a large drawback for any potential antiplatelet drug is its ability to cause excessive bleeding and hemostatic dysfunction.


Generally, the existing methods of testing from FSMs check that the IUT behaves as specified for all input sequences. On the other hand, in many applications, only input sequences of limited length are used. In such cases, the test suite needs only to establish that the IUT produces the specified results in response to input sequences whose length does not exceed an upper bound l. A recent paper extends the W and W p methods to the case of bounded sequences [8] .

In such cases, the test suite needs only to establish that the IUT produces the specified results in response to input sequences whose length does not exceed an upper bound l. A recent paper extends the W and W p methods to the case of bounded sequences.


Another limitation of the current study is the modest internal consistency of the emotion regulation ability measure. Low internal consistency is common in SJTs because they tend to tap multiple constructs (Chan & Schmitt, 1997) . The modest reliability of this measure may have attenuated the observed relationships between emotion regulation ability and other variables. Thus, future research may benefit from using other measures of emotion regulation ability (e.g., ratings from significant others, physiological measures) to examine similar research questions.

Low internal consistency is common in SJTs because they tend to tap multiple constructs.


Approximately 14% to 37% of alcoholisms with liver disease have a positive anti-HCV test [37] . It has been well documented that alcohol consumption is associated with a more progression to HCVfibrosis/cirrhosis [33, 37, 38] . However, the exact prevalence of alcoholism in patients with CHC remains to be determined, although a European study showed it was as high as 34.9% [15] . We found that history of alcohol consumption was present in 39.1% of our patients. Although the incidence of alcohol consumption was higher in patients with cirrhosis than in those without cirrhosis, the difference was not statistically significant. The similar results were reported in patients in Australia and New Zealand [39] .

Approximately 14% to 37% of alcoholisms with liver disease have a positive anti-HCV test.

It has been well documented that alcohol consumption is associated with a more progression to HCVfibrosis/cirrhosis.

However, the exact prevalence of alcoholism in patients with CHC remains to be determined, although a European study showed it was as high as 34.9%.

The similar results were reported in patients in Australia and New Zealand.


The first step of any durability assessment process involves the definition of the loading conditions. The automotive industry is expending constant effort in correlating proving ground loading conditions with the customer profiles, or alternatively employs standardised load-time histories, also derived from extensive field measurements [3] . In the heavy vehicle industry and particularly for special vehicles, such information is not always readily available and the need for economical methods to describe loading conditions for design purposes, is apparent.

The automotive industry is expending constant effort in correlating proving ground loading conditions with the customer profiles, or alternatively employs standardised load-time histories, also derived from extensive field measurements.


Two options appear to tackle this problem in GMSB theories. One option is increasing the value of the radiative contributions to the Higgs mass, either by generating large values of the mixing parameter A t , or by enlarging the MSSM with heavy vector-like fermions strongly coupled to the Higgs sector [5] . In particular, generating large values of A t can be done by introducing direct messenger-MSSM superpotential couplings [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] . These models, dubbed extended GMSB, do not necessarily lead to minimal flavor violation (MFV) and the flavor constraints require a special flavor texture. In both scenarios the fine-tuning is considerably reduced with respect to that in the MSSM with GMSB. The second option, without enlarging the SM gauge group, is increasing the value of the Higgs mass by means of a tree-level F -term from an extended MSSM Higgs sector. This second option will be considered in this paper.

One option is increasing the value of the radiative contributions to the Higgs mass, either by generating large values of the mixing parameter A t , or by enlarging the MSSM with heavy vector-like fermions strongly coupled to the Higgs sector.

In particular, generating large values of A t can be done by introducing direct messenger-MSSM superpotential couplings.


Increasing economic integration, especially through trade and …nancial ‡ows among countries, has been one of the most remarkable events in the world over the last two decades. Many emerging economies have gained in prominence as their economic activities now have signi…cant ripple e¤ects in other countries including the developed ones (Akin and Kose, 2008) . In as far as geo-politics is concerned the large emerging economies -Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (SA) -are rapidly becoming integrated and important to the world economy (see Çak¬r and Kabundi, 2013a, b) . They intended to strengthen their mutual cooperation within the form of the alliance of the BRICS group. China is obviously the dominant actor among this emerging group. This paper therefore focuses on China, because its integration with the global economy and within BRICS is deeper than that of any other country. Our interest in this paper is to identify supply and demand shocks in China and their channels of transmission. To achieve that we use a dynamic factor model estimated over the period 1995Q2-2009Q4.

Many emerging economies have gained in prominence as their economic activities now have signi…cant ripple e¤ects in other countries including the developed ones.


As a consequence, China has provided an opportunity and a market for primary commodity exporters from developing countries. This has helped raise economic growth in a number of developing countries in recent years (Jenkins, 2008) . Thus, the emergence of China as a large trading nation and destination of international investment is likely to have positive spillover e¤ects on its trading partners. Hence, one might expect China to have a signi…cant e¤ect on BRIS countries'economic activity. This paper assesses the in ‡uence of China on BRIS and it identi…es channels through which shocks are transmitted. It is essential to identify how positive supply shock from China a¤ects macroeconomic variables of the BRIS countries. In addition, the question arises as to whether the demand shock is transmitted di¤erently. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the …rst attempt to investigate the impact and the transmission of China's supply and demand shocks to the BRIS countries.

This has helped raise economic growth in a number of developing countries in recent years.


Rice yields are influenced strongly by monsoon rainfall, which accounts for 0·67 of the variation in productivity over India (Subash & Ram Mohan 2010) . When seasonal rainfall >750 mm at Ludhiana, the farmers' practice treatment produced the highest yield anomaly of 3·3% and the control treatment T4 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12  T1  50   40   30   20   10   0   T2 T3 T4 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12   T1 T2 T3 T4 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12  T1 T2 T3 T4 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12  T1 T2 T3 T4 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12   T1 T3 T4 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12   T1 T2 T3 T4 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12   T1 T2 T3 T4 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 Rice Wheat Rice-wheat system Fig. 4 . Difference in yield deviation of different nutrient management treatments over recommended NPK between the first and last 3 years of long-term experiments at selected study sites.

Rice yields are influenced strongly by monsoon rainfall, which accounts for 0·67 of the variation in productivity over India.


The difficulty of the retrieval of atmospheric variables from the MIPAS infrared spectra in the MA, UA and NLC modes is that the emission originating in the mesosphere and the lower thermosphere (MLT) is very often affected by non-Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (non-LTE). This is because the density at these altitudes is very low and collisions are not frequent enough to take the population of the emitting ro-vibrational levels to a Boltzmann distribution (López-Puertas and Taylor, 2001) . This is the case of the CO 2 emission at 15 µm, from which kinetic temperature can be retrieved. Under that situation, a sophisticated modeling of the emitting vibrational levels considering the excitation mechanisms (thermal and non-thermal collisions, exchange of energy between atmospheric layers, solar absorption, chemical processes) is required for accurate retrievals. The IMK-IAA retrieval processor has that ability since it can be coupled to the Generic RAdiative traNsfer AnD non-LTE population Algorithm (GRANADA) , which calculates the non-LTE population of the ro-vibrational levels of atmospheric molecules.

This is because the density at these altitudes is very low and collisions are not frequent enough to take the population of the emitting ro-vibrational levels to a Boltzmann distribution.


The accurate knowledge of the atmospheric kinetic temperature is necessary to understand the dynamics, the chemistry and the energy balance of the atmosphere because it both reflects and affects the behavior of the atmosphere. Also, the kinetic temperature is required to derive the abundance of atmospheric species should they be retrieved from measurements of their infrared emission. If the latter applies, both implications make the availability of temperature measurements and their accuracy essential for atmospheric studies. This is the case of the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS), which measures the atmospheric infrared emission from which profiles of temperature and abundance of atmospheric species are derived (Fischer et al., 2008) . MIPAS provides day and nighttime global measurements in the 4.3-14.6 µm spectral range with a high spectral resolution (its optimized-resolution is Satellite (ESA's EnviSat), MIPAS usually scans the limb in its nominal mode (NOM). This mode covers the atmosphere from about 6 to 70 km in 27 steps (every 1.5 km from 6 to 21 km, every 2 km from 21 to 31 km, every 3 km from 31 to 46 km, and every 4 km from 46 to 70 km). MIPAS also uses special modes of observations: the Middle Atmosphere (MA), the NoctiLucent-Cloud (NLC) and the Upper Atmosphere (UA) modes. The MA, NLC and UA modes are observations in which MIPAS extends its vertical coverage up to the thermosphere, measuring the limb atmospheric spectra every 3 km from about 18 to 102 km in the MA mode, every 3 km from 40 to 102 km and every 5 km from 102 to 170 km in the UA mode, and every 3 km from 39 to 102 km (except for the vertical step from 78 to 87 km, which is 1.5 km) in the NLC mode. Observations in the MA and UA modes started in 2005, when full day measurements in these modes were done sporadically, and since 2007 they are taken regularly (approximately each mode is used one day every 10 days). The NLC mode observations, also starting in 2005, are only used in the NLC season (solstices) and usually last 2-3 days per solstice and year. Hence, MIPAS operates in these modes in approximately 20 % of its orbits since 2005. These features make MIPAS the first limb instrument measuring IR mesospheric and thermospheric emission with high spectral resolution on a periodic and prolongued basis.

This is the case of the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS), which measures the atmospheric infrared emission from which profiles of temperature and abundance of atmospheric species are derived.


Analysis of electromagnetic properties of bi-isotropic materials is challenging due of its constitutive relationships enforcing an additional coupling between the electric and magnetic fields. In recent years, several efforts have been made to develop various numerical techniques to study their scattering properties [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] . However these methods suffer from tremendously high computational cost.

In recent years, several efforts have been made to develop various numerical techniques to study their scattering properties.


Similarly, the aging mechanisms in natural fibre composites in water have mostly been studied at the macroscale [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] . The fibre-matrix interface is often cited as a privileged region for degradation, resulting in a decrease in global composite mechanical properties. However, very few publications describe direct measurement of Interfacial Shear Strength degradation of natural fibre /matrix systems during immersion.

Similarly, the aging mechanisms in natural fibre composites in water have mostly been studied at the macroscale.


As shown in Fig. 1(a) , the Conventional Solar Chimney Power Plant (CSCPP) consists mainly of three components: the solar collector, the chimney, and the turbine. The solar collector is composed of a transparent roof material that allows the solar radiation to penetrate to the absorber (the soil in this case) and it is circular in shape, horizontally fixed allowing a gap between the canopy and the soil for the air movement underneath it; The chimney is constructed in the center of the collector; the turbine is installed at the chimney inlet. The CSCPP principle is simple, solar radiation penetrates through the canopy and heats the absorber. The air layer close to the absorber will heat up by natural convection then the hot air will flow under the collector and rise to the chimney outlet. The updraft in the chimney will rotate the turbine and deliver mechanical energy to its shaft. An attached generator to the turbine shaft will generate electricity. The CSCPP was originally proposed by Professor J. Schlaich of Stuttgart in 1968. In the 1980s, the principle was proven through eight years of continuous operation of a 50 kW experimental plant which was built in Manzanares, Spain. This experiment proved the feasibility and reliability of this novel technology [1] .

This experiment proved the feasibility and reliability of this novel technology.