In EMG-based pattern recognition, sEMG signal is preprocessed the spectral frequency component of the signal and extracted some features before performing classification [1] . Normally, in preprocessing and signal condition procedure, method to remove noise is a significant step to reduce noises and improve some spectral component part [3] . Next important step, feature extraction, is used for highlighting the relevant structures in the sEMG signal and rejecting noise and unimportant sEMG signal [5] . The success of EMG pattern recognition depends on the selection of features that represent raw sEMG signal for classification. This study is motivated by the fact that the limitation of the solutions to remove WGN in the preprocessing step and EMG-based gestures classification need to do the extraction step. The selection of feature that torelance of WGN and the modified of existing EMG feature to improve the robust property are proposed. As a result, WGN removal algorithms in the preprocessing step are not needed.

In EMG-based pattern recognition, sEMG signal is preprocessed the spectral frequency component of the signal and extracted some features before performing classification.

Normally, in preprocessing and signal condition procedure, method to remove noise is a significant step to reduce noises and improve some spectral component part.

Next important step, feature extraction, is used for highlighting the relevant structures in the sEMG signal and rejecting noise and unimportant sEMG signal.


Unlike Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy, f-invariant entropy may be negative. In fact for some actions f G (X, µ) = −∞. However, one always has f G (X, µ) ≤ H(α) < ∞ [4] . Thus the conditions that f G (X, µ) is finite and f G (X, µ) = −∞ are equivalent.

In fact for some actions f G (X, µ) = −∞. However, one always has f G (X, µ) ≤ H(α) < ∞.


For some groups, the stabilizers which can appear in probability measure preserving actions are quite restricted (such as for higher rank semi-simple groups, by a well known result of Stuck and Zimmer [24] ). However, a recent paper by Bowen [9, Theorem 3.1 and Remark 3] shows that probability measure preserving actions of free groups have a "zoo" of possible stabilizers. Thus the above theorem demonstrates a significant restriction imposed by having finite f-invariant entropy.

For some groups, the stabilizers which can appear in probability measure preserving actions are quite restricted (such as for higher rank semi-simple groups, by a well known result of Stuck and Zimmer).


The majority of recombination in mammalian genomes occurs in highly localized regions known as recombination hotspots. These hotspots are approximately 2 kb in width, have recombination rates that are tens or thousands of times greater than their surrounding regions, and are a ubiquitous feature of mammalian genomes (Myers, et al., 2005) . We have previously published a computational method for estimating recombination rates using samples of population genetic data. This method, known as LDhat, exploits patterns of linkage disequilibrium and can accurately estimate recombination rates at both fine and broad scales (McVean, et al., 2004) .

These hotspots are approximately 2 kb in width, have recombination rates that are tens or thousands of times greater than their surrounding regions, and are a ubiquitous feature of mammalian genomes.

This method, known as LDhat, exploits patterns of linkage disequilibrium and can accurately estimate recombination rates at both fine and broad scales.


Our simulations would suggest we have ~50-60% power to detect hotspots of a moderate magnitude, similar to previously reported estimates for LDhot (Myers, et al., 2005) . However, we also found that it is challenging to detect hotspots that are relatively weak at the population level. This may be a particular issue in populations and species with "flatter" recombination profiles -for example, populations of mammals with higher PRDM9 diversity, or species with different recombination biology to that of humans.

Our simulations would suggest we have ~50-60% power to detect hotspots of a moderate magnitude, similar to previously reported estimates for LDhot.


Animals are active observers of their environment [11] . This fact has inspired a trend in computer vision popularly known as "active vision" [2, 3, 26] . The recently proposed animat vision paradigm offers a new approach to developing biomimetic active vision systems and experimenting with them [28] . Rather than allow the limitations of available robot hardware to hamper research, animat vision prescribes the use of virtual robots that take the form of realistic artificial animals, or animats, situated in physics-based virtual worlds. Animats are autonomous virtual agents possessing highly mobile, muscle-actuated bodies, as well as brains with motor, perception, behavior and learning centers. In the perception center of the animat's brain, computer vision algorithms continually analyze incoming perceptual information. Based on this analysis, the behavior center dispatches motor commands to the animat's body, thus forming a complete sensorimotor control system.

Animals are active observers of their environment.

This fact has inspired a trend in computer vision popularly known as "active vision".

The recently proposed animat vision paradigm offers a new approach to developing biomimetic active vision systems and experimenting with them.


Forest fires, also known as wild fires, are uncontrolled fires occurring in wild areas and cause significant damage to natural and human resources. Forest fires eradicate forests, burn the infrastructure, and may result in high human death toll near urban areas. Common causes of forest fires include lightning, human carelessness, and exposure of fuel to extreme heat and aridity. It is known that in some cases fires are part of the forest ecosystem and they are important to the life cycle of indigenous habitats. However, in most cases, the damage caused by fires to public safety and natural resources is intolerable and early detection and suppression of fires deem crucial. For example, in August 2003, a forest fire was started by a lightning strike in the Okanagan Mountain Park in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. The fire was spread by the strong wind and within a few days it turned into a firestorm. The fire forced the evacuation of 45,000 residents and burned 239 homes. Most of the trees in the Okanagan Mountain Park were burned, and the park was closed. Although 60 fire departments, 1,400 armed forces troops and 1,000 fire fighters took part in the fire fighting operation, they were largely unsuccessful in stopping the disaster. The official reports estimate the burned area as 25,912 hectares and the total cost as $33.8 million [3] . In the Province of British Columbia alone, there have been 2,590 forest fires during 2006 [4] . These burned 131,086 hectares and cost about $156 million.

The official reports estimate the burned area as 25,912 hectares and the total cost as $33.8 million.

In the Province of British Columbia alone, there have been 2,590 forest fires during 2006.


What is especially notable about our results is the persistent identification of striking asymmetry between Core and Periphery. Where terms of trade volatility was present, it created a significant drag on output growth in the Periphery. This was not true of the Core-where it experienced the same high price volatility, it did not experience the same drag on growth. In addition, while the Core benefited greatly from a small but positive long-run terms of trade trend, positive trends-when they did appear-did not translate in to more growth in the Periphery, but rather less. Moreover, when we investigate one channel of terms of trade impact-the flow of investment funds from Britain-we find evidence that capital inflows were negatively influenced by terms of trade volatility in the Periphery, but not in the Core. While our capital flows results are not nearly as robust as our growth results, they still point to an important channel of impact. Other channels are likely to be of importance, however, such as the effect of terms of trade shocks on the incidence of civil conflict (Rodrik 1999) . These alternative channels await further investigation.

Other channels are likely to be of importance, however, such as the effect of terms of trade shocks on the incidence of civil conflict.


Fitting of the adsorption data to the two Lagergren kinetic models (PFO and PSO) showed that the adsorption data fit the PSO kinetics better than for PFO (Fig. S4, Supplementary  Materials) . This was evident in the correlation coefficient (r 2 ) of the PSO (1.00) which was closer to unity than the PFO (0.64). This is an indication that the rate controlling mechanism for adsorption involves valence forces through sharing or exchange of electrons between the GPM surfaces and the adsorbate -BF [1, 18] .

This is an indication that the rate controlling mechanism for adsorption involves valence forces through sharing or exchange of electrons between the GPM surfaces and the adsorbate -BF.


A wireless sensor network consists of a large number of sensors, where each sensor is capable of sensing, processing and transmitting environmental information. These capabilities make it possible to use WSNs in many applications such as environmental monitoring, space exploration and target localization [1] . In most of these applications one need to estimate an unknown parameter using discrete-time samples collected across sensors. Due to implementation considerations, it is not possible to send all data samples to a central location for processing. To address this problem distributed estimation schemes have been introduced in the literature. Based on WSN topology, ie WSN with FC and ad hoc WSN, there are two different ways for distributed estimation [2] . The main goal in distributed estimation algorithms is to distribute the computations of estimation task between sensors and FC (in FC based WSN) and totally between sensors in ad hoc WSNs.

These capabilities make it possible to use WSNs in many applications such as environmental monitoring, space exploration and target localization.

Based on WSN topology, ie WSN with FC and ad hoc WSN, there are two different ways for distributed estimation.


The main aim of the research was to test the efficiency of a dehumidifying plaster panel prototype, according to the air moisture control capacity of the Calcium Chloride salt. The research has two phases. In the first phase, the challenge was to demonstrate the CaCl2 salt capability of controlling indoor air moisture through a porous building construction material, a plaster panel, and how this porosity affects its moisture control efficiency. After proving the viability of the prototypes tested in this first phase, the second phase will consist in evaluating the performance of the deshumidifying plaster panel under humidification and dehumidification daily cycles. For this purpose it is being designed a specific test, similar to the standarized MBV test for building construction materials (Rode, 2007) .

The research has two phases.

For this purpose it is being designed a specific test, similar to the standarized MBV test for building construction materials.


Modern materials are often subject to heavy exploitation conditions and the impacts of climate change. This places high demands on their selection and corrosion protection properties. The main construction material with a wide practical application in almost all industrial areas is galvanized low-carbon steel. As is well known, zinc coatings used in that case belong to the so-called "sacrificial type", protecting the steel substrate electrochemically and dissolving from the beginning of the corrosion attack. One possibility to improve their protective characteristics is to apply inhibitors, preferably environmentally friendly ones due to international anti-pollution regulations [1] . Another way is to elaborate new coating types with improved properties-for example, hybrid ones.

One possibility to improve their protective characteristics is to apply inhibitors, preferably environmentally friendly ones due to international anti-pollution regulations.


Loop-mediated Isothermal AMPlification (LAMP) is a technique, which allows the amplification of DNA in a single tube [3] . The simplicity of the method makes it an ideal for a low cost alternative to detect DNA of a pathogen in host tissues. Amplification of nucleic acids in isothermal conditions removes the need to perform the reaction in a thermal cycler [4] . In isothermal premixes for LAMP reaction an innovative enzyme GspSSD DNA polymerase is used. This enzyme exhibits strand displacement activity, which enables amplification in isothermal conditions, without the need for denaturation of the DNA template [1] . The enzyme also exhibits an activity of reversetranscriptase, so simultaneous reverse transcription and LAMP amplification are possible in one reaction. Detection of the amplification product can be determined using photometry for turbidity, since amplification results in an increase in the quantity of magnesium pyrophosphate produced in solution as a byproduct [5] . An alternative method to measure amplification of the target DNA product is to add SYBR Green and measure fluorescence. The production of large quantities of the amplified product can be easily checked using the naked eye, without the need for expensive equipment. Another possibility to study results of an experiment is the use of manganese loaded calcein. During in vitro DNA synthesis, calcein starts fluorescing during complexation of manganese by pyrophosphate, and the result can be visualized using fluorescent light [1] .

Loop-mediated Isothermal AMPlification (LAMP) is a technique, which allows the amplification of DNA in a single tube.

Amplification of nucleic acids in isothermal conditions removes the need to perform the reaction in a thermal cycler.

This enzyme exhibits strand displacement activity, which enables amplification in isothermal conditions, without the need for denaturation of the DNA template.

Detection of the amplification product can be determined using photometry for turbidity, since amplification results in an increase in the quantity of magnesium pyrophosphate produced in solution as a byproduct.

During in vitro DNA synthesis, calcein starts fluorescing during complexation of manganese by pyrophosphate, and the result can be visualized using fluorescent light.


The optimal combination of stator and rotor pole numbers in terms of back electromotive force (EMF) and electromagnetic torque has been looked into recently [1] . It led to an overview of the most suitable winding configuration with optimal stator and rotor poles combination to achieve best electromagnetic performances. Therefore, the present study aims at characterizing the influence of such combinations on noise and vibrations. Only the influence of noise of electromagnetic origins is investigated, using finite element analysis (FEA).

The optimal combination of stator and rotor pole numbers in terms of back electromotive force (EMF) and electromagnetic torque has been looked into recently.


The treatment time course of LNCaP in Casodex containing media was based on pilot studies which showed no change in the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2 after growth of the cells for three weeks. After five weeks in Casodex containing media, there was an apparent decrease in Bcl-2 protein and we measured a decrease in apoptosis [18] . We surmised from these studies that the changes occurring in LNCaP cells resulted after extended exposure to Casodex and therefore, set the time course of five weeks treatment.

After five weeks in Casodex containing media, there was an apparent decrease in Bcl-2 protein and we measured a decrease in apoptosis.


Activated carbon (AC) generally refers to carbonaceous materials fabricated from various carbon-rich sources, such as wood, lignite, coal and coconut shells [1] . Activated carbons can be produced from these materials by carbonization process. During carbonization, moisture and volatile compounds are removed, leaving behind char. This char can be further activated via physical or chemical activation methods to generate highly porous activated carbons. These carbonaceous materials are widely studied as effective adsorbents owing to their porous structure, high surface area, enriched surface chemistry with the highly reactive surface functionalities. By virtue of these interesting features activated carbon is considered as a class of versatile materials with the practical applications in the fields of adsorption, catalysis, energy storage and pollutant removal from gaseous and liquid phases [2] [3] [4] [5] . The performance of AC can be improved by tuning the textural features along with the generation of a wide range of surface functional moieties. Heteroatom doping of AC as surface functional groups is a common practice nowadays. These heteroatoms include oxygen, hydrogen, sulfur and nitrogen. By considering the surface of adsorbent, the primary functional groups which, when considered together, are essential for removal of organic and inorganic pollutants like carboxyl, carbonyl, phenols, lactones and quinones. Tailoring the surface of activated carbons produces the exceptionally high adsorption performance of these materials [6] [7] [8] .

Activated carbon (AC) generally refers to carbonaceous materials fabricated from various carbon-rich sources, such as wood, lignite, coal and coconut shells.

By virtue of these interesting features activated carbon is considered as a class of versatile materials with the practical applications in the fields of adsorption, catalysis, energy storage and pollutant removal from gaseous and liquid phases.

Tailoring the surface of activated carbons produces the exceptionally high adsorption performance of these materials.


Swartz and colleagues investigated gastric contents in children with gastrointestinal symptoms scheduled for upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. They demonstrated that these children did not have a greater volume or acidity of gastric contents than children without gastrointestinal symptoms [19] . Following this investigation, we carried out propofol sedation with spontaneously breathing patients and no patients had complications related to aspiration of gastric contents.

They demonstrated that these children did not have a greater volume or acidity of gastric contents than children without gastrointestinal symptoms.


Bystander approaches focus on the role members of the community play before, during, and after sexual violence to change community norms about sexual violence, intervene safely in risky situations, and support survivors. This contrasts with prevention models that approached males as potential perpetrators and females as potential victims -instead giving all community members a prosocial role to play in preventing sexual violence (Katz et al., 2011) . The bystander approach is grounded in research that identifies causes of sexual violence as stemming in part from community attitudes and norms that support coercion in relationships (Schwartz et al., 2001) . Bystander approaches are informed by intervention theories in which risk for violence decreases when the number of helpful informal guardians increases (Schwartz et al., 2001) .

This contrasts with prevention models that approached males as potential perpetrators and females as potential victims -instead giving all community members a prosocial role to play in preventing sexual violence.

The bystander approach is grounded in research that identifies causes of sexual violence as stemming in part from community attitudes and norms that support coercion in relationships.

Bystander approaches are informed by intervention theories in which risk for violence decreases when the number of helpful informal guardians increases.


Alternating current (AC) electrokinetics is a set of techniques to manipulate small-sized particles with the effect of a non-uniform electric field. AC electro-osmosis is an AC electrokinetic technique that creates fluid motion with the migration of ions under the effect of tangential electric fields on the electrode surface [10] . The induced hydrodynamic drag force causes the movement of suspended particles [11] . Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is another AC electrokinetic technique that induces a net force onto dielectric particles in a non-uniform electric field [12] . As an active technique, DEP plays a very important role in trapping and separating particles at the micro scale. By varying parameters such as flow velocity, peak-to-peak voltage, phase, and frequency, particle separation can be achieved due to the difference of applied net force [13] .

AC electro-osmosis is an AC electrokinetic technique that creates fluid motion with the migration of ions under the effect of tangential electric fields on the electrode surface.

The induced hydrodynamic drag force causes the movement of suspended particles.

Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is another AC electrokinetic technique that induces a net force onto dielectric particles in a non-uniform electric field.

By varying parameters such as flow velocity, peak-to-peak voltage, phase, and frequency, particle separation can be achieved due to the difference of applied net force.


Inkjet printing deposits material by creating droplets of ink which contain the material via a nozzle to the substrate. The use of inkjet printing technology offers a digital, contactless, and maskless process for material deposition. It has been considered as a promising technology for the additive fabrication of electronic devices [17] . A variety of materials have been prepared and printed, illustrating the capability of this technology. Inkjet-printing polymeric piezoelectric material was successfully prepared for micro-pumps [18] . This fabrication technique was also used to print conductive and adhesive material, constructing a wireless lab-on-chip device for the detection of a variety of fluids [19] .

It has been considered as a promising technology for the additive fabrication of electronic devices.

Inkjet-printing polymeric piezoelectric material was successfully prepared for micro-pumps.

This fabrication technique was also used to print conductive and adhesive material, constructing a wireless lab-on-chip device for the detection of a variety of fluids.


Surface roughness and hydrophilicity are considered two of the most important characteristics of biomaterials because of their strong influence on protein adsorption and cell adhesion after implantation into the body [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] . In previous studies, we assessed the influence of surface roughness and hydrophilicity on the osteoconductivity of anodized TiO 2 coatings [11, 14] . We found that the osteoconductivity of TiO 2 coatings was improved by a fine (Ra/μm < 0.1) and hydrophilic surface. We also found that changing the anodizing condition altered the hydrophilicity of anodized TiO 2 coatings. However, the water contact angle (WCA) did not decrease below 20 (deg.) when only anodizing was used. An additional surface treatment is required to achieve a more hydrophilic surface.

Surface roughness and hydrophilicity are considered two of the most important characteristics of biomaterials because of their strong influence on protein adsorption and cell adhesion after implantation into the body.

In previous studies, we assessed the influence of surface roughness and hydrophilicity on the osteoconductivity of anodized TiO 2 coatings.


Despite these associations, continuous antiretroviral therapy is essential to prevent clinical progression to AIDS and non-AIDS-related diseases [41] . Knowledge of the safety profile of individual drugs is crucial to determine the best combination and to establish adequate monitoring. Our results have important implications for monitoring and point to the need for less aggressive alternatives. DXA should be routinely applied in the presence of risk factors for bone loss.

Despite these associations, continuous antiretroviral therapy is essential to prevent clinical progression to AIDS and non-AIDS-related diseases.


Whilst majority of studies on the impact of financial incentives on fertility come from the US, evidence is limited for the UK and Europe. The exceptions are the two papers by Francesconi This paper contributes to the existing literature by providing a complementary evidence of the WFTC impact on the probability of having another child. In addition to this, it also studies the policy impact on the timing of birth. The observed fertility response after the policy introduction may not only reflect individuals increasing the number of children but also shortening of their birth intervals. Investigation on the time to birth would thus provide an alternative picture of the policy impact. In addition, this paper proposes a possible solution to overcome the problem of endogeneity faced by studies with cross-sectional data. Since eligibility of WFTC is closely related to the household income level, defining groups based on the level of households' income ensures an accurate split of the sample into those who were affected and unaffected. However, due to the impact of WFTC on both fertility and employment, the level of household income is likely to have been determined simultaneously with fertility (Brewer et al. (2007) ). This paper attempts to overcome this problem by using the panel nature of BHPS. Specifically, since BHPS allows the same individuals to be observed over years, household income information prior to the policy introduction is used as a proxy as the income information after 1999.

However, due to the impact of WFTC on both fertility and employment, the level of household income is likely to have been determined simultaneously with fertility).


In the cooling channel of a Neutrino Factory the aim is to increase the number of muons in the (limiting) acceptance of the following accelerators and the decay ring. This acceptance is defined independently in the three planes (x, y and longitudinal). The CERN and US baseline scenarios use solenoidal focusing from the pion production target to the muon cooling channel [1, 2] . Coupling leads to correlations between the planes which have to be minimised at the point of transition from solenoidal focusing to quadrupole focusing. To achieve simultaneous cooling in the longitudinal and transverse planes strong coupling (emittance exchange between longitudinal and transverse phase space) is actually intended. Depending on the optics, areas of important correlations between the planes will exist along the cooling channel. To design and optimise a cooling channel the cooling performance needs to be followed all along the channel including the areas of high correlations. The aim of a muon cooling experiment is to confirm the feasibility of muon ionization cooling, to quantify the achievable cooling performance and to explore the parameter space [5] . In the cooling experiment the emittances are measured inside the solenoid field, at a position where inter-plane correlations can be substantial.

The CERN and US baseline scenarios use solenoidal focusing from the pion production target to the muon cooling channel.

The aim of a muon cooling experiment is to confirm the feasibility of muon ionization cooling, to quantify the achievable cooling performance and to explore the parameter space.


In the literature, there is a significant lack of studies aimed at assessing of GSH in habitats of temperate hardwood floodplain forests. This is probably because this form of forest management is not applied in floodplain forests [61] . Thus, it seems our study is one of the first published studies on the impact of GSH on birds in HFF habitats. The first phase of GSH in Litovelske Pomoravi involves relatively small patches (up to 0.5 ha) in the mature forest stands. These are very similar to the small open areas which can be caused by natural disturbances in old-growth hardwood forests. This management phase creates a valuable ephemeral habitat for early successional bird species (S. curruca and L. fluviatilis), while habitats for birds connected to mature forests are still maintained. This is important at the landscape level because cultural landscapes in European lowlands are mosaics of different forest successional stages, and old-growth stands are usually very rare [62] .

This is probably because this form of forest management is not applied in floodplain forests.

This is important at the landscape level because cultural landscapes in European lowlands are mosaics of different forest successional stages, and old-growth stands are usually very rare.


The discrepancy between the MIC test and CFU assay results could be due to the different incubation times; the long incubation time in the MIC test may have resulted in the underestimation of their antimicrobial potency. Rapid killing would be consistent with a membrane-active mode of antimicrobial action (Zasloff et al., 2002) . The TEM result supported the fast (2-3 hours) antimicrobial action of AWRK6.

Rapid killing would be consistent with a membrane-active mode of antimicrobial action.


Based on the finding that Dy2 and AWRK6 were both more potent at alkaline pH, the conformation of the peptides was studied under different pH conditions using CD spectroscopy. As the pH became increasingly alkaline, the estimated secondary structure of Dy2 and AWRK6 became more alpha-helical in the membranemimicking micellar environment. These results were consistent with the observation that both peptides were more potent in alkaline pH. Indeed, our data suggested that the antimicrobial activity of Dy2 was lower than that of AWRK6 because at high pH there may be a greater propensity for AWRK6 to form a helical structure in the membrane. Alpha-helical peptides have been reported to act as membrane disruptive peptides because of they can cause the formation of pores within the bacterial cell membranes, a phenomenon consistent with the TEM results of AWRK6 (Brogden, 2005) .

Alpha-helical peptides have been reported to act as membrane disruptive peptides because of they can cause the formation of pores within the bacterial cell membranes, a phenomenon consistent with the TEM results of AWRK6.


The idea of symbolic execution has been around for a while, but has previously been applied to other domains [5, 9, 28] . In contrast, Spector uses symbolic execution to extract the functionality of low-level assembly instructions, and is resistant to current automated obfuscation techniques. Analysis of potentially encoded or obfuscated assembly presents challenges above and beyond those addressed in other work on symbolic execution, such as self-modifying code and un-typed memory. Although Spector and other symbolic execution engines have similarities, the goal of Spector is much different and it must deal with a number of challenges to efficiently extract meaningful operations from shell code.

The idea of symbolic execution has been around for a while, but has previously been applied to other domains.


Atmospheric aerosols perturb Earth's energy balance by scattering and absorbing solar radiation, known as the aerosol direct effect, and modifying cloud microphysical properties by acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), known as the aerosol indirect effect. The impact of anthropogenic aerosols on global radiative fluxes is significant but highly uncertain due to the aerosol indirect effect, which is the most uncertain of anthropogenic climate forcings. One of the uncertainties in the estimates of the aerosol indirect effect stems from challenges in predicting global distributions of CCN. At a fixed supersaturation, the ability of a particle to act as a CCN is determined by the particle size and chemical composition and is described relatively well by Köhler theory (Seinfeld and Pandis, 1998) . The large uncertainty in CCN prediction is mostly from the estimates of particle number concentrations at CCN sizes. Atmospheric particles, including CCN-sized particles, can be emitted directly from sources (i.e., primary emission) or can be formed through the microphysical growth of nucleated particles (the formation of ∼ 1 nm particles from condensable vapors). Uncertainty in these source rates can contribute to large uncertainties in CCN prediction (Pierce and Adams, 2009c) .

At a fixed supersaturation, the ability of a particle to act as a CCN is determined by the particle size and chemical composition and is described relatively well by Köhler theory.

Uncertainty in these source rates can contribute to large uncertainties in CCN prediction.


Given these predictions, it is critical that an understanding is developed of factors that determine the ability of an individual with dementia or MCI to succeed in employment. Some research has demonstrated qualitative evidence of successful programs for younger people with dementia in either supported or open employment (Robertson et al., 2013) . While it is evident from the existing research that little has been published with regard to maintaining employment for people with dementia, current literature considering other mental health conditions impacting on cognition have demonstrated the value to patients and clients of continuing engagement in the work role (Arbesman and Logsdon, 2011; Gibson et al., 2011; Wimpenny et al., 2014) .

Some research has demonstrated qualitative evidence of successful programs for younger people with dementia in either supported or open employment.

While it is evident from the existing research that little has been published with regard to maintaining employment for people with dementia, current literature considering other mental health conditions impacting on cognition have demonstrated the value to patients and clients of continuing engagement in the work role.


A second sub-theme focused on feeling abandoned by the workplace and consequent feelings of resentment towards the workplace, and was particularly identified by participants on sickness leave. Financial hardship was exacerbated as human resources departments failed to warn about cessation of sickness pay. Participants questioned the will of employers to find a more suitable role or acknowledge remaining skills. When asking about other jobs in the workplace, rationalisations such as a lack of insurance or competence now that a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease had been made (which is an incorrect statement in most countries with disability rights legislation) were used by employers (Chaplin and Davidson, 2014) .

When asking about other jobs in the workplace, rationalisations such as a lack of insurance or competence now that a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease had been made (which is an incorrect statement in most countries with disability rights legislation) were used by employers.


Process of maintenance and treatment of the people who developed pressure ulcer is a burden for the community in terms of economy and healthcare. Pressure ulcers multiply the expenditure by increasing the length of being hospitalized up to several times. Estimated price of managing a fullthickness pressure ulcer equals $70000 and in the U.S., there is an annual cost of around $11 billion for treating pressure ulcers [1] .

Estimated price of managing a fullthickness pressure ulcer equals $70000 and in the U.S., there is an annual cost of around $11 billion for treating pressure ulcers.


Growing concerns about global warming and depletion of fossil-derived carbon resources has prompted the exploration of developing sustainable alternative energy sources to lessen human dependence on the finite fossil reserves. Lignocellulosic biomass, one of the most abundant and renewable carbon resources occurring in nature, has been widely considered as a promising alternative to non-renewable resources for the production of fuels and chemicals [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] . Cellulose (a polymer of C6 sugars) and hemi-cellulose (a polymer of C5 sugars) are the most abundant part of nonedible biomass, accounting for about 75% of the renewable and lignocellulosic feedstock. Recently, several efficient approaches for the conversion of carbohydrates into useful platform chemicals have been reported. One of the most promising conversion routes involves the synthesis of the biomass-derived platform chemical 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, (HMF) from biomass. The HMF molecule, which has been included in the list of the top 12 platform chemicals with the potential to be produced at scale by the US Department of Energy, is a versatile platform intermediate which could possibly be converted to make fine chemicals, plastics, pharmaceuticals, and transportation fuels [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] .

Lignocellulosic biomass, one of the most abundant and renewable carbon resources occurring in nature, has been widely considered as a promising alternative to non-renewable resources for the production of fuels and chemicals.

The HMF molecule, which has been included in the list of the top 12 platform chemicals with the potential to be produced at scale by the US Department of Energy, is a versatile platform intermediate which could possibly be converted to make fine chemicals, plastics, pharmaceuticals, and transportation fuels.


In the past decades, the preparation of HMF through the dehydration of biomass-based sugars has received much attention, especially in the case of C6 sugar (glucose or fructose) dehydration [12] . Many researchers have studied the production of HMF from C6 carbohydrates such as fructose, and excellent HMF yields have been achieved [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] . Since glucose is the more abundant and economical monosaccharide in nature compared with fructose, the production of HMF from glucose is more attractive from a cost-competitiveness perspective.

In the past decades, the preparation of HMF through the dehydration of biomass-based sugars has received much attention, especially in the case of C6 sugar (glucose or fructose) dehydration.

Many researchers have studied the production of HMF from C6 carbohydrates such as fructose, and excellent HMF yields have been achieved.


Leximancer is not a panacea, it still requires analytical sensitivity and judgment in its interpretation, but it is straightforward to probe the data and cross-check via the resultant Two major topics covered in the publications (i.e., learning and online) are connected via the thematic region social, including the concepts of interaction, communication, and support. Thus, learning is seen as a social process that is facilitated by interaction among learners and teachers. The provision of opportunities for interaction, communication, and collaboration between students and their teachers as well as among students, via electronic media, is seen as a constituent element of distance education (Keegan, 1980) . In the three 5-year intervals there are recurring concepts, such as students, online, and education, that refer to very broad and common thematic areas throughout the whole time period. In the following content analysis and interpretation, emphasis is placed on new and emerging concepts in order to describe the changes and trends in distance education research. Table 3 "the emergence of the virtual university" (p. 257).

The provision of opportunities for interaction, communication, and collaboration between students and their teachers as well as among students, via electronic media, is seen as a constituent element of distance education.


Nitrification, and thereby D n , is also stimulated by bioturbation. Nitrification is increased due to the creation of an additional sediment/water interface in a high-NH 4 + environment, and due to a stimulation of the growth of nitrifying bacteria by components in the lining of the burrow wall of polychaetes (Kristensen et al. 1985) . Furthermore, nitrification and denitrification become more closely coupled as nitrate diffusing from the nitrification zone and into the water of a burrow may be transported to another section of the burrow and eventually be denitrified.

Nitrification is increased due to the creation of an additional sediment/water interface in a high-NH 4 + environment, and due to a stimulation of the growth of nitrifying bacteria by components in the lining of the burrow wall of polychaetes.


One of the questions that the Center of Media Psychology, which was set up as part of the Faculty of Journalism of Lomonosov Moscow State University in 2008, is doing research on is the identity of the communicator in modern media. The research done under the guidance of Prof. E. Pronin produced rather unequivocal data. For example, it turned out that active Internet users are significantly different from those who mostly use traditional media in a number of parameters (Pronin & Pronina, 2012) .

For example, it turned out that active Internet users are significantly different from those who mostly use traditional media in a number of parameters.


By informing the public of the methods used by the media to influence audiences and of the modern mass communication technologies, one can enhance people's adaptivity and protect them. That is the main task of media educationthe third branch of media psychology. Media education is intended to help the whole of society, including the journalists themselves, who are usually the first to be subjected to the destructive influence of manipulative technologies. Oftentimes they do not have a chance to fully comprehend the unfolding events and express their own traumatic emotions and inadequate reactions when covering them (Trubitsyna, 2002; Pronina, 2011) .

Oftentimes they do not have a chance to fully comprehend the unfolding events and express their own traumatic emotions and inadequate reactions when covering them.


In the first series of the experiment, 190 people took part -adults with higher education, whose job was not connected with the mass media. It turned out that the more intensely a person used the Internet (searching for information, for entertainment, taking part in social networks), the stronger their desire for self-determination (Table 1) . A more detailed analysis of information consumption showed that the electronic mass media differ in how they influence audiences. It turns out that actively using the Internet results in a person becoming more independent, while watching TV a lot produces the opposite result (a significant negative correlation: r = -0.180) ( Table 2) . The next series of experiments was done on a sample group of 302 people. In addition to a more extended list of dilemmas, a detailed questionnaire form covering different information expectations was used. It helped to reveal the preferred mass media and acquired thinking stereotypes. That research showed that the desire for self-determination correlates positively with participation in social networks and negatively with orientation on the traditional media in a situation when a person is looking for information (Table 3) . It turned out that active participation in social networks is accompanied not only by a growing need for self-determination but also by less thinking in stereotypes (which was measured by the number of stereotypical assertions chosen) and by a lesser interest in tabloids and glossy magazines (Table 4) . Discussion Thus, the data obtained are another argument in favor of the idea that new communication means are spontaneously giving rise to a new personality type and a new paradigm of thinking, which, in its turn, is transforming the scientific knowledge itself. The proof of the change taking place in the scientific paradigm is media psychology itself, the science of "the new generation, " which considers self-determination, self-organization and self-development as fundamental psychological features, and the defense of personality sovereignty as the most important applied task. Media psychology studies relations between the individual and collective psyche, the individual and collective consciousness, the individual and collective unconscious, autocommunication (inner speech, self-concept, self-communication) and mass communication (broadcast speech, we-concept, we-communication) as an expression of the psyche's fundamental features. Researchers in media psychology are looking into the following questions: personal identity in connection with the processes of globalization and transformation of the national identity; information pollution and hyper-exploitation of man's psychological resources; safety regulations in mass communication, the principles of media psychology, and ways of solving communication and creativity issues (Pronin, 2010) . There are three interconnected applied branches of media psychology: media analysis, media therapy and media education.

Researchers in media psychology are looking into the following questions: personal identity in connection with the processes of globalization and transformation of the national identity; information pollution and hyper-exploitation of man's psychological resources; safety regulations in mass communication, the principles of media psychology, and ways of solving communication and creativity issues.


In this note, we follow the approach to the Enochs conjecture outlined in the preprint [6] . We consider the class Add(M) of all direct summands of direct sums of copies of a given A-module M. As an application of the theorem about projective covers of Bass flat contramodules, we obtain results confirming the Enochs conjecture for the class Add(M) under two kinds of assumptions. The telescope Hom exactness condition (THEC), introduced in [6, Section 4], plays a key role. Some countability assumption (either the direct limits are countable, or the module is countably generated) is needed for technical reasons.

In this note, we follow the approach to the Enochs conjecture outlined in the preprint.


Equal access to education is among the basic human rights. Human capital development is crucial for achieving the European goal of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (Velciu, 2010) . However, numerous studies show that educational gaps between various groups in many countries persist (OECD, 2012) . Inequalities affect educational achievement among students coming from disadvantaged groups. The concept of equity in education is based on two complementary dimensions: inclusion and fairness. Inclusive education refers to ensuring that all students reach a minimum level of education, usually upper secondary education. Fairness in education means that personal characteristics such as ethnicity, gender, socio-economic background, etc. do not affect educational success of students (Field, Kuczera & Pont, 2007) .

Human capital development is crucial for achieving the European goal of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

However, numerous studies show that educational gaps between various groups in many countries persist.

Fairness in education means that personal characteristics such as ethnicity, gender, socio-economic background, etc. do not affect educational success of students.


The present paper aims to analyze the level and evolution of urbanrural educational inequalities in Romania. The topic of urban-rural educational gap is relevant for many developing countries which display similar situations. According to OECD, quality education in rural localities is very important for attracting youth and young families. Top three OECD countries registering high urban-rural variations of students' performance in science include Hungary, Slovak Republic and Turkey (OECD, 2017) .

Top three OECD countries registering high urban-rural variations of students' performance in science include Hungary, Slovak Republic and Turkey.


Shakedown and ratchet analyses of the structure/component subjected to cyclic loading have been investigated by many researchers in past decades. The complex nature of the shakedown and ratchetting mechanisms means that analytical solutions are rare to obtain. Therefore, the incremental Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is widely used. In fact, the step-by-step elastic-plastic FEA can only obtain whether the shakedown, reverse plasticity, or ratchetting occurs under the predefined cyclic loading, which requires many repetitive calculations to generate the Bree-like diagram [1] .

In fact, the step-by-step elastic-plastic FEA can only obtain whether the shakedown, reverse plasticity, or ratchetting occurs under the predefined cyclic loading, which requires many repetitive calculations to generate the Bree-like diagram.


Even with the spine theory the problem retains significant difficulty inherent in its time-inhomogeneity. This fact is underlined by the observation that even in the case A = B(f, L) we are essentially considering a one-dimensional branching diffusion with time-dependent drift, and asking how many particles remain within a bounded domain about the origin. It turns out that the main difficulty is in showing that extinction of the process coincides (to within a null set) with the event that the limit of our martingale is zero. Standard toolsanalytic or probabilistic -cannot be applied; instead we proceed by our own methods in Section 6, using in particular an identity from Harris and Roberts [7] .

Standard toolsanalytic or probabilistic -cannot be applied; instead we proceed by our own methods in Section 6, using in particular an identity from Harris and Roberts.


Xylella fastidiosa is a rough, nonmotile, nonsporeforming, Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium. It is present in the xylem of infected plants, and has been detected in many plants of economic importance such as sweet oranges, grapevines, plums, peaches, almonds, coffee, alfalfa, pears, and oak (Purcell and Hopkins, 1996) . The bacterium obstructs the vascular system of the plant, causing water stress and a nutritional disorder. X. fastidiosa is transmitted by contaminated grafting or budwood and by different vector insects, mainly sharpshooters (Cicadellidae and Cercopidae) (Hartung et al., 1994) .

It is present in the xylem of infected plants, and has been detected in many plants of economic importance such as sweet oranges, grapevines, plums, peaches, almonds, coffee, alfalfa, pears, and oak.

X. fastidiosa is transmitted by contaminated grafting or budwood and by different vector insects, mainly sharpshooters (Cicadellidae and Cercopidae).


Further, the OPD is also attractive for VLC systems due to its superior responsivity compared to Si photodetectors in the visible range under a much smaller reverse bias, as shown in Fig. 2 . It also has a sharp cutoff wavelength at ∼620 nm due to the larger bandgap of P3HT (∼2 eV) in comparison to Si (∼1.16 eV). It should be noted that a bandgap of 2 eV is relatively high and has a cutoff wavelength around 620 nm (red wavelengths), which could be a problem for VLC applications that take advantage of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). The cutoff wavelength can be shifted to the nearinfrared region by replacing P3HT in the bulk heterojunction blend with a low-bandgap material such as poly [2,6- [9] .

The cutoff wavelength can be shifted to the nearinfrared region by replacing P3HT in the bulk heterojunction blend with a low-bandgap material such as poly [2,6.


E-learning operation in the university level has been developed and expanded continuously in almost every part of the world. One method commonly used in the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand is to improve the quality of benchmarking e-learning which is useful for identifying organizational strengths and weaknesses with developing a strategic plan for e-learning as well as its quality assurance. Moreover, it can determine the extent of success from the e-learning operation. Changing concepts and improving e-learning, for example, elearning benchmarking in Australia is ACODE (Australasian Council on Open, Distance and E-learning) [1] . Has developed strategies for the implementation and also brought to the success in three aspects of the performance-operation result, management efficiency and elearning services improvement [2, 3] .

Changing concepts and improving e-learning, for example, elearning benchmarking in Australia is ACODE (Australasian Council on Open, Distance and E-learning).

Has developed strategies for the implementation and also brought to the success in three aspects of the performance-operation result, management efficiency and elearning services improvement.


From a conceptual point of view, the Energy Hub is a unit where multiple energy carriers can be converted and conditioned. More specifically, they process multiple energy carriers at their input ports and provide certain required energy services (i.e. electricity, heating) at the output ports [1] [2] [3] . Consequently, energy hubs could be considered as flexible interfaces between different energy infrastructures (i.e. electrical networks, natural gas distribution systems) and/or energy users (i.e. producers, consumers). Within this interface energy is converted and conditioned by using a wide spectrum of technologies as far as combined heat and power technology, power-electronic devices, and heat exchangers are concerned. These converters allow energy hubs to combine and couple different energy carriers by redundant paths inducing a certain degree of freedom in its supply with several advantages compared to conventional, decoupled energy supply. Many industrial facilities can be modelled according to the energy hub paradigm. They include industrial plants, larger buildings, rural and urban districts, microgrids and isolated energy systems [4, 5] .

More specifically, they process multiple energy carriers at their input ports and provide certain required energy services (i.e. electricity, heating) at the output ports.

They include industrial plants, larger buildings, rural and urban districts, microgrids and isolated energy systems.


The outputs b qj are modeled as undesired outputs in subsystem 2, and have been transformed into normal output variables based on the linear transformation approaches proposed by Seiford and Zhu [17] . The core idea of their transformation method is firstly to multiply each undesirable output by "−1". Then, a proper translation vector M is constructed to make all negative undesirable outputs become positive. That is, b qj = −b qj + M > 0.

The outputs b qj are modeled as undesired outputs in subsystem 2, and have been transformed into normal output variables based on the linear transformation approaches proposed by Seiford and Zhu.

That is, b qj = −b qj + M > 0.


The 2×2 first order system of ordinary differential equations is equivalent to a second order equation. For cylinders the most general form is equivalent to Hill's equation. The two singular points (usually taken to be z = 0 and z = ∞) in Hill's equation correspond to the two ends of the resulting cylinder. A regular singular point gives a Delaunay end [8] . The potential for our new family of cylinders can be viewed as a superposition of a Delaunay potential with two potentials, each of which superimposes an irregular singularity. The resulting cylinders, shown in Figure 1 , appear as two Smyth-like irregular ends attached to a Delaunay cylinder.

A regular singular point gives a Delaunay end.


Traditionally measurement of VFA concentrations in anaerobic bioreactors treating livestock waste has been done by time-consuming manual sampling methods performed on a daily basis. The slow procedure is the major reason why VFA concentration is not measured at Danish centralized biogas plants. However, an in-situ microfiltration system, developed in our laboratory, has made online VFA monitoring of biogas reactors treating livestock waste possible [14] . The system provides the opportunity of gaining a more profound understanding of the complex VFA dynamics of the anaerobic digestion process and can help develop more efficient control strategies. In this context one purpose of the present study was to install an online VFA monitor at a less efficient full-scale Danish biogas plants and study the VFA dynamics during stable and unstable reactor performance.

However, an in-situ microfiltration system, developed in our laboratory, has made online VFA monitoring of biogas reactors treating livestock waste possible.


The predictive models for arithmetic mean surface roughness and peak to valley height in SPIF have been developed as a function of tool diameter, step depth, wall angle, feed rate and lubricant type. Three different techniques, ANN, SVR and GP have been used to develop these models for the estimation of surface roughness. The validity of the models have been tested with correlation coefficient R 2 and adj R 2 values calculated using Eqs. (12) and (13) . The R 2 values for R a model with ANN, SVR and GP were found to be 0.954, 0.994 and 0.946, respectively. For the adequacy of model, R 2 value should be in between 0.8 to 1. The high R 2 (>0.94) values indicate that the developed models can be used to predict the surface roughness well. Among these three models, SVR model has better capability to predict the surface roughness followed by ANN and GP. Similar results were found for the predictive models developed for the estimation R z . The estimated R 2 values for the responses R a and R z are summarized in Table 7 . The predicted and experimental values of R a and R z with ANN, SVR and GP have been plotted as shown in Fig. 6 . This figure shows a minimum variation between the experimental and predicted values with the three selected techniques for surface roughness modeling in SPIF.

The validity of the models have been tested with correlation coefficient R 2 and adj R 2 values calculated using Eqs. (12) and.


Quantum key agreement protocols provide perfect security using laws of quantum physics [10] . This is of great advantage when all the classical key agreement techniques over public channels have been based on unproven mathematical assumptions [7] . A quantum key agreement protocol was first proposed by Bennett and Brassard [2] (BB84). In BB84, Alice generates a random string of bits and sends each bit to Bob as a photon in a randomly chosen basis (rectilinear or diagonal). Bob, not knowing which of the two bases each photon is in, measures them randomly in rectilinear or diagonal basis. After measuring all the photons, Bob discloses his choice of bases of measurement to Alice and she tells Bob which of their bases agree. The final key is made up of bits that were received by Bob in the matching bases. A subset of these bits are used to check if there was any eavesdropping. Here disclosure of bases is done over a classical communication channel.

Quantum key agreement protocols provide perfect security using laws of quantum physics.

This is of great advantage when all the classical key agreement techniques over public channels have been based on unproven mathematical assumptions.

A quantum key agreement protocol was first proposed by Bennett and Brassard(BB84).


In this paper, we obtain some families of cubic graphs G whose zero forcing number is 3. As a corollary, it is shown that in this family of cubic graphs M (G) = 3. Hence we introduce a new family of graphs with M (G) = Z(G) = 3. This gives a partial answer to the following open question proposed by AIM Minimum Rank-Special Graphs Work Group [1] .

This gives a partial answer to the following open question proposed by AIM Minimum Rank-Special Graphs Work Group.


Regarding basic chemical composition of muscle tissue, we did not expect to find any major differences in percentages of the nutrients monitored between groups of carp tested in our experiment because the fish came from the same environment, were of the same species, age, and had the same access to the same food and supplements. Chemical composition of sexually mature healthy fish is more markedly affected by the ongoing reproductive cycle (Lachowicz and Kołakowski 2001) . Quality of edible parts is also affected in fastgrowing fish because the change in growth capability is associated with a greater food intake and increased nutrient conversion (Steffens 1974) .

Chemical composition of sexually mature healthy fish is more markedly affected by the ongoing reproductive cycle.

Quality of edible parts is also affected in fastgrowing fish because the change in growth capability is associated with a greater food intake and increased nutrient conversion.


Lexical availability is a dimension of a speaker's lexical competence inasmuch as it is understood "as the vocabulary flow usable in a given communicative situation" (López Morales, 2014: 3) . In a lexical availability task, participants are asked to write down all the words that come to their mind in a limited span of time in response to a given cue word. A lexical availability task allows us to make comparisons among different communities of speakers of the same first language (L1) (Carcedo González, 1998b) . However, when this _____________________ task is used with second language (L2) learners, lexical availability becomes "an important dimension of language learners' lexical competence" (Jimenez Catalán, 2014: v) . Thus, lexical availability studies on L2 populations would enable us to discover any differences in the total number of words produced or in the most/least productive semantic fields among L2 learners with different language backgrounds.

A lexical availability task allows us to make comparisons among different communities of speakers of the same first language (L1).


Open reconstructive urethroplasty offers a cost-effective treatment modality for urethral strictures with excellent early success rates of 79-95% [1] . However, long-term results demonstrate that 14-42% of patients require additional treatment for recurrent strictures after primary surgical reconstruction [2] . Despite this, there are few standardised guidelines for the treatment of urethral stricture recurrence following urethroplasty, with practice varying widely between urologists [3] .

Open reconstructive urethroplasty offers a cost-effective treatment modality for urethral strictures with excellent early success rates of 79-95%.

However, long-term results demonstrate that 14-42% of patients require additional treatment for recurrent strictures after primary surgical reconstruction.

Despite this, there are few standardised guidelines for the treatment of urethral stricture recurrence following urethroplasty, with practice varying widely between urologists.


Although no clear relationship between high IGFBP-5 expression and overall survival was seen in our TMAs from cTamR and cTamS patients (with endocrine resistant and endocrine sensitive disease, respectively) we did observe a relationship when transcriptomic data were assessed using KMPlotter [23] . The reason for this apparent discordance is unclear, but there are important differences between the analyses. First, the IGFBP-5 analysis, defined as positive or negative, was conducted in patients defined as tamoxifen "sensitive" or "resistant", whereas the in silico was analysis of all patients matching the selection criteria with IGFPB-5 expression defined as above or below the median. Secondly, there may be differences and/or inconsistences in the completeness or accuracy of the clinical data between the data sets. Finally, whereas in the TMA analysis IGFBP-5 data were available for a large proportion of the original population, the in silico analysis included only 65 of 3557 patients in the KMPlotter database.

Although no clear relationship between high IGFBP-5 expression and overall survival was seen in our TMAs from cTamR and cTamS patients (with endocrine resistant and endocrine sensitive disease, respectively) we did observe a relationship when transcriptomic data were assessed using KMPlotter.


When is it interesting to adopt this approach? If we consider a directed graphical model whose graph is sparse and compatible with the ordering of the variables, then the Cholesky factor T is sparse. Indeed, its pattern of zero is related to the directed acyclic graph (DAG) of the directed graphical model associated to this ordering (see Section 2.1 for a definition). More generally, it may be worth using this strategy even if one does not know a "good" ordering on the variables. On the one hand, most of the procedures based on the estimation of T are computationally faster than their counterpart based on the estimation of Ω. This is due to the decomposition of the likelihood into p independent terms explained in Section 3. On the other hand, there exist examples of sparse Cholesky factor T such that the precision matrix Ω is not sparse at all. Consider for instance a matrix T which is zero except on the diagonal and on the last line. Admittedly, it is not completely satisfying to apply a method that depends on the ordering of the variables when we do not know a good ordering. There are indeed examples of sparse precision matrices Ω such that for a bad ordering, the Cholesky factor is not sparse at all (see [27] Sect.4). Nevertheless, if sparse precision matrices and sparse Cholesky factors have different approximation capacities, it remains still unclear which one should be favored.

There are indeed examples of sparse precision matrices Ω such that for a bad ordering, the Cholesky factor is not sparse at all (see Sect.4).


The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 gathers some preliminaries about the Cholesky decomposition and introduces the main notations. In Section 3, we describe the procedure and provide an algorithm for computing the estimator Ω. In Section 4, we state the main result of the paper, namely a general non-asymptotic oracle type inequality for the risk of Ω. In Section 5, we specify our result to the problem of adaptive banding. Moreover, we prove that our sodefined estimator is minimax adaptive to the decay of the off-diagonal coefficients of the matrix T . Asymptotic rates of convergence with respect to the Frobenius norm are also provided. In Section 6, we investigate the complete graph selection issue. We first derive a non-asymptotic oracle inequality and then derive that our procedure is minimax adaptive to the unknown sparsity of the Cholesky factor T . As previously, we provide asymptotic rates of convergence with respect to the Frobenius loss function. Moreover, we introduce a computationally feasible estimation procedure in Section 7 and we derive an oracle-type inequality and sufficient condition for consistent selection of the graph. In Section 8, the performances of the procedure are assessed on numerical examples for both the banding and the complete graph selection problem. We make a few concluding remarks in Section 9. Sketch of the proof are in Section 10, while the details are postponed to the technical Appendix [29] .

The paper is organized as follows.

Sketch of the proof are in Section 10, while the details are postponed to the technical Appendix.


The problem of estimating large covariance matrices has recently attracted a lot of attention. On the one hand, there is an inflation of high-dimensional data in many scientific areas: gene arrays, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), image classification, and climate studies. On the other hand, many data analysis tools require an estimation of the covariance matrix Σ. This is for instance the case for principal component analysis (PCA), for linear discriminant analysis (LDA), or for establishing independences or conditional independences between the variables. It is known for a long time that the simplest estimator, the sample covariance matrix performs poorly when the size of the vector p is larger than the number of observations n (see for instance Johnstone [16] ).

It is known for a long time that the simplest estimator, the sample covariance matrix performs poorly when the size of the vector p is larger than the number of observations n (see for instance Johnstone).


Adaptive banding problem. ChoSelect achieves an oracle inequality and is adaptive to the decay in the Cholesky factor T . We have also derived corresponding asymptotic results for the Frobenius loss function. This procedure is computationally competitive with the other existing methods. Finally, we explicitly provide the penalty and there are therefore no calibration problems contrary to most procedures in the literature. In a future work, we would like to study the performances of ChoSelect with respect to the operator norm and prove corresponding minimax bounds. Bickel and Levina have indeed proved risk bounds for their banding procedure [6] . This method is based on maximum likelihood estimators as ChoSelect. This is why we believe that ChoSelect may also satisfy fast rates of convergence with respect to the operator distance.

Adaptive banding problem.

Bickel and Levina have indeed proved risk bounds for their banding procedure.


Shallow seed placement (less than 25 mm) is recommended for most crops that are directly seeded (Collins and Fowler, 1996) . However, the depth of the crop roots should determine plowing depths, while the availability of time and implement width will determine the speed required to finish the work on time (Mustafa and Turgut, 2007) . The results obtained from this study indicated that the ploughing depth has more effect on the tractor fuel consumption than the ploughing speed. Therefore, the depth of plowing should be determined based on the root length of crop. Increasing the ploughing speed will improve the quality of the seedbed and will not increase the fuels consumption proportionally.

Shallow seed placement (less than 25 mm) is recommended for most crops that are directly seeded.

However, the depth of the crop roots should determine plowing depths, while the availability of time and implement width will determine the speed required to finish the work on time.


As shown in Table 3 , statement 1 got the highest score (M = 4.52), showing that the majority of teachers (59%) strongly agreed that creative thinking is necessary and needs to be developed in schools. This is consistent with other studies (Roy & Carter, 2013; Turner, 2013) . Teachers further believed that teacher training is a prerequisite in order to learn how to develop creative thinking skills in pupils.

This is consistent with other studies.


In addition, a large number of teachers (52%) reported that there was a need for questions that encouraged creative thinking in exams. This might suggest that exams lack questions that promote creative thinking, which was supported by exam analysis. Other studies have also shown exams to be traditional and depend on rote learning (Cachia & Ferrari, 2010; Roy & Carter, 2013) .

Other studies have also shown exams to be traditional and depend on rote learning.


Although they lack educational background and pre-service training, the general English teachers scored the highest mean compared to the rest. It could be that the general English teachers understand from their studies of theories in applied linguistics that children have the potential to be creative and have the ability to use their first language creatively (Szerencsi, 2010) . Vol. 7, No. 9; The means and standard deviations were established for teachers' attitudes with respect to major as displayed in Table 9 .

It could be that the general English teachers understand from their studies of theories in applied linguistics that children have the potential to be creative and have the ability to use their first language creatively.


With respect to teachers' perceptions of their practices, significant differences were detected among teachers according to age (Table 8) . Having more positive attitudes, younger teachers might perceive themselves to be fostering creative thinking in their classrooms more successfully than older teachers. Nonetheless, the middle-age teaching group got a higher score compared to the young teachers. It could be that the middle-age teachers are more aware of their practices because they are more experienced and understand that experience helps to improve reflection (Fox, Campbell, & Hargrove, 2011) . The means and standard deviations were established for teachers' perceptions of their practices according to age, as displayed in Table 8 .

It could be that the middle-age teachers are more aware of their practices because they are more experienced and understand that experience helps to improve reflection.


Another approach to reducing the size of the list of warnings is calculating a confidence rating on each warning to heuristically filter out low confidence warnings. This can be based on internal metrics or historical bug data [2] . However, a heuristic based approach will always have a false alarm rate.

This can be based on internal metrics or historical bug data.


In conclusion, our study confirms the importance of US-guided PTH-FNAB in locating hyperfunctioning parathyroid tissue. PTH-FNAB data were confirmed by post-surgical histology in 100% of patients without thyroid abnormalities; this success rate fell to 82% when thyroid abnormalities were present. In comparison with MIBI, PTH-FNAB showed greater sensitivity and PPV. In PHP patients, FNAB for cytological purposes alone should not be performed in the light of its low diagnostic sensitivity. Balancing the number of passes can improve PTH-FNAB results without increasing adverse events. The main diagnostic limitation of PTH-FNAB sampling is posed by a small and/or unclear target. All available techniques are sequentially justified in order to improve surgical outcome when thyroid abnormalities are concomitant (Zheng et al., 2007) .

All available techniques are sequentially justified in order to improve surgical outcome when thyroid abnormalities are concomitant.


In most of the applications, induction motors are preferred to DC motors, because of their simple structure, easy operation, and also low cost maintenance and durability. Recently, advanced control techniques such as vector control and fieldoriented control (FOC) make them compete with DC motors in many aspects [1] . The information regarding motor circuit parameters is very important for design, performance evaluation, and feasibility of these control techniques.

Recently, advanced control techniques such as vector control and fieldoriented control (FOC) make them compete with DC motors in many aspects.


Intuitively, a feasible proposal for inconsistency handling should take into account other non-canonical requirements that are also involved in inconsistency. Previously, we have developed some logical tools for managing other non-canonical requirements as well as inconsistency. For example, we have presented a logical tool for uniformly characterizing inconsistency, incompleteness, vagueness, and redundancy in requirements specifications [13] . We have also proposed an approach to detecting inconsistency, incompleteness and redundancy in requirements specifications based on Answer Set Programming [14] . These methods focus on how to identify non-canonical requirements when detecting inconsistency rather than on the problem of systematically managing non-canonical requirements.

For example, we have presented a logical tool for uniformly characterizing inconsistency, incompleteness, vagueness, and redundancy in requirements specifications.

We have also proposed an approach to detecting inconsistency, incompleteness and redundancy in requirements specifications based on Answer Set Programming.


Standard Cochrane Hypertension Review group search strategies was applied and the following databases were used -Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Clinical Trial Register from 1966-2000 for systematic review 1 and up to 1998 for systematic review 2 to identify trials meeting the inclusion criteria. References of previously published systematic reviews and bibliographic citations of included studies were used to identify any additional trials [5, 7] . Refer Figure 1 and 2 for quorum diagram.

References of previously published systematic reviews and bibliographic citations of included studies were used to identify any additional trials.


Soil release behavior test was carried out by preparing a stock solution of mixing 1gm carbon black and 9 gm liquid paraffin. Then this stock was added to 90 gm carbon tetrachloride. Untreated, atmospheric air plasma and laser treated samples were immersed in this solution for 1 minute, and then were dried in air for 24 hours. Every sample was divided to two parts. One part of fabrics was kept as non-washed samples then the second part of fabrics was washed in a detergent solution including 4 gm detergent per liter at temperature of 40°C for 90 minutes. Color parameters of washed and non-washed fabrics were determined and color change of them was compared. For presenting the data, color parameter of the fabrics were determined by Color Eye 7000 spectrophotometer [21] .

Every sample was divided to two parts.

For presenting the data, color parameter of the fabrics were determined by Color Eye 7000 spectrophotometer.


Surface properties of materials are often the important determinants of their usefulness. The important properties of polymer materials such as adhesion, friction, wetting and penetrability are strongly influenced by their surface characteristics and many of the chemical treatments now in use are aimed at modifying these properties [1] . Poly (ethylene terephthalate) and polyamide 66 fibers are hydrophobic, and textiles processing such as dyeing, printing, and finishing are based on wet treatments [2] . The wettability of poly (ethylene terephthalate) and polyamide fabrics is important for industrial use. This property can be obtained by treatment of fabrics using different methods such as alkaline etching, plasma discharge treatments and laser irradiation. Plasmas and lasers are useful methods for the surface treatment of materials without using water.

The important properties of polymer materials such as adhesion, friction, wetting and penetrability are strongly influenced by their surface characteristics and many of the chemical treatments now in use are aimed at modifying these properties.

Poly (ethylene terephthalate) and polyamide 66 fibers are hydrophobic, and textiles processing such as dyeing, printing, and finishing are based on wet treatments.


In the case of high bandwidth nanopositioners the effect of time delay can be seen in the tracking performance in the form of phase lag. Feedforward control integrated with feedback control can be used to overcome the delay [50, 51] . Direct inversion of plant dynamics is not possible as the time delay introduces non-minimum phase (NMP) zeros in the system. Inversion of such a system will lead to unstable poles. In this paper, off-line inversion of the plant dynamics has been presented which uses Fourier series to construct the input to the plant [32] .

Feedforward control integrated with feedback control can be used to overcome the delay.

In this paper, off-line inversion of the plant dynamics has been presented which uses Fourier series to construct the input to the plant.


The Smith predictor has been shown to compensate the effects of time delay in plants [49] . The working of the Smith predictor, however, is based on the internal model control (IMC) principle which is not suitable in the current context. The IMC principle involves inverting the plant dynamics for cancellation of poles, in this case the lightly damped poles. The robustness of the closed loop with respect to perturbations in system parameters is not guaranteed with IMC. This may lead to degradation in tracking performance and non-repeatability of scans.

The Smith predictor has been shown to compensate the effects of time delay in plants.


The performance of most control systems is typically judged by its time domain responses characterized by overshoot, settling time, speed of response, etc. Yet, there are few direct design methods available for this purpose. Moreover, if additional constraints such as fixed order, minimumphase, bandwidth, or maximum magnitude of control input are imposed to a controller, the problem becomes even more difficult. A possible solution to this problem is based on model matching. In this framework, the design problem is reduced to the problem of determining either a proper target transfer function or a target characteristic polynomial that meets the given specifications (Keel and Bhattacharyya, 1999) . However, it is difficult to determine a target characteristic polynomial (or target transfer function) if the design requirements are described by time response specifications. This is primarily due to a lack of knowledge of how the transient response is related to the coefficient of a fixed order model. In fact, it has been a long-standing question.

In this framework, the design problem is reduced to the problem of determining either a proper target transfer function or a target characteristic polynomial that meets the given specifications.


It was realized in the late 1970s that diffused Infrared (IR) light much like Radio Frequency (RF) radiation filling a room could be used for wireless data communications [1] . This indoor optical wireless technique is also known as the Diffused Infrared Radiation (DFIR) and is very effective in preventing physical blocking of light to the receiver and tolerant to transmitter/receiver mobility. Since this method uses scattered light in room, it is highly power inefficient and also limits achievable data rates due to multipath effects. To counter these limitations of the DFIR indoor wireless method, highly directional light beam communication, also known as Line-ofSight (LOS) infrared communications or the Directed-beam IR (DBIR) technique, was proposed and demonstrated [2, 3] . Today, wireless optical communications is still an active area of research [4, 6] .

It was realized in the late 1970s that diffused Infrared (IR) light much like Radio Frequency (RF) radiation filling a room could be used for wireless data communications.

To counter these limitations of the DFIR indoor wireless method, highly directional light beam communication, also known as Line-ofSight (LOS) infrared communications or the Directed-beam IR (DBIR) technique, was proposed and demonstrated.

Today, wireless optical communications is still an active area of research.


It is worth noting that the differences between focus and differentiation strategies rest in the number of target markets that each strategy intends to serve. The latter targets several strategic markets at a time. The former concentrates on one or few markets. The resources required for focus strategy are relatively low compared with that required for differentiation strategy (Adel-Reheem, 1984) . It is claimed that both cost leadership and differentiation are about how to compete, while focus is about where to compete (Faulkner and Bowman, 1992) . Therefore, the focuses on the pricing factor across the three generic strategies are different. In cost leadership strategy, it is the main tool for reaping the competitive edge in the target market. Whilst pricing is one effective tool [along with the other elements of marketing programs (i.e. the marketing and the promotional mixes)] that could be used in the target markets by both the differentiators and the concentrators. The question that the current study aims at finding an appropriate answer for is "what are the variables behind selecting focus strategy in Bahraini (domestic and MNCs) context?" As shown in Figure 2 .

The resources required for focus strategy are relatively low compared with that required for differentiation strategy.

It is claimed that both cost leadership and differentiation are about how to compete, while focus is about where to compete.


Plain fluorescent silica NPs were prepared using two different dyes, FITC and Rubpy. Both have been proven to be efficient fluorophores which can be trapped inside the silica matrix. Furthermore, they show excitation and emission spectra which meet the specifications of most flow cytometers. Thus, in single laser instruments, they can be excited with the argon laser ( = 488 nm) and can be monitored in two independent emission channels (FL1 for FITC ( exc(FITC) = 488 nm; em(FITC) = 520 nm) and FL3 for Rubpy ( exc(Rupby) = 450 nm; em(Rubpy) = 600 nm)). FITC is an organic fluorophore with mainly hydrophobic behavior. The most effective way to trap it inside the particles is by performing an initial covalent preconjugation of the dye with an organosilane which incorporates an appropriate functional group [20] . This methodology has been shown to be efficient in covalent trapping of other organic fl uorophores besides FITC, such as rhodamine dyes [21] . Thus, in this case, the FITC was covalently bound to APTES through the isothiocyanate group in the dye and the amino group of the silane. This precoupling step is necessary in order to avoid the leakage of the dye during the manipulation of the NPs. In the case of the inorganic dye Rubpy, which possesses a mainly hydrophilic nature, the reverse microemulsion method leads to a more effi cient dye encapsulation with no dye leakage during subsequent handling of the NPs [22] .

The most effective way to trap it inside the particles is by performing an initial covalent preconjugation of the dye with an organosilane which incorporates an appropriate functional group.

This methodology has been shown to be efficient in covalent trapping of other organic fl uorophores besides FITC, such as rhodamine dyes.

In the case of the inorganic dye Rubpy, which possesses a mainly hydrophilic nature, the reverse microemulsion method leads to a more effi cient dye encapsulation with no dye leakage during subsequent handling of the NPs.


Silicon is now recognized as an attractive platform for creating photonic components that provide data communication for massive arrays of servers and routers in data centers [1] - [4] . It can also solve the interconnect bottleneck at the board and eventually at chip scale [5] , [6] . Silicon photonics is fuelled by economic, as well as performance, motives. The technology makes use of the same high-volume manufacturing infrastructure that has led to the explosive growth of consumer electronics and the Internet. Moreover, optical interconnects offer lower delays, higher bandwidth, and immunity to electromagnetic interference.

Silicon is now recognized as an attractive platform for creating photonic components that provide data communication for massive arrays of servers and routers in data centers.

It can also solve the interconnect bottleneck at the board and eventually at chip scale.


Optical fibers exhibit nonlinearities at high optical powers and this places an upper limit on the capacity that can be predicted by the linear channel model [13] - [20] . In the case of optical fiber, it has been shown that cross phase modulation, arising from the inherent third-order nonlinearity present in the glass medium (Kerr effect) places a limit on the capacity of optical fibers [13] . In this pioneering work, a Gaussian statistics was assumed for the input distribution. However, in obtaining the capacity, it is necessary to find the optimum distribution that maximizes the bound. This is the case in our treatment of information capacity of silicon.

Optical fibers exhibit nonlinearities at high optical powers and this places an upper limit on the capacity that can be predicted by the linear channel model.

In the case of optical fiber, it has been shown that cross phase modulation, arising from the inherent third-order nonlinearity present in the glass medium (Kerr effect) places a limit on the capacity of optical fibers.


In long-haul communication, optical amplifiers are used to compensate for the loss of long fiber spans. The noise floor is then determined by the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) of the amplifier [24] . Due to practical and economic reasons, optical amplifiers are not standard elements in silicon photonics. The principal noise sources in silicon photonics, aside from noise due to optical nonlinearity and nonlinear loss, are then thermal noise and shot noise.

The noise floor is then determined by the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) of the amplifier.


The refractive index n depends on the intensity in the form of n ¼ n o þ n 2 I [24] . Here, n o is the linear index and n 2 is a constant characterizing the strength of the nonlinearity. In coherent multi-channel or wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) communication, the phase in a given channel is influenced by intensities in other channels by a process called cross-phase modulation (CPM), and therefore coherent communication is affected. Four-wave mixing (FWM) can be curbed, in principle, either by dispersion in the waveguide, or by pre-chirping the signal. As we prove in Section 6, in such cases, CPM is the dominant nonlinearity-induced noise source in silicon and limits the information capacity in coherent WDM communication. For the case where FWM cannot be curbed, we show that the noise it generates limits the capacity in coherent WDM communication.

The refractive index n depends on the intensity in the form of n ¼ n o þ n 2 I.


Despite the above-mentioned investigations, solute transport in LPPM is still poorly understood in a general sense. For example, it is still unclear what governing equation to use for properly describing the transport process in such media and whether one can use the Fick's law to describe the transport process or not. Furthermore, if Fick's law can be used, what is the proper range of dispersivity values for LPPM, and how different are they from those for permeable sandy aquifers? One can only answer these questions by conducting the laboratory and/or field transport experiments in such media. Performance and analysis of controlled experiments in the laboratory permit the investigation of various flow phenomena and their parameters on relatively small scales of distance and time [19] .

Performance and analysis of controlled experiments in the laboratory permit the investigation of various flow phenomena and their parameters on relatively small scales of distance and time.


Both produce creative solutions to problems and implement them using technology. Both require theoretical knowledge, such as math and material sciences, and both have to satisfy the requirements of the users. Sometimes, I am even under the impression that carpenters know more math than my own design students. The academic design programs also have to compete with more practical design education programs that are being offered by academies and applied schools. What then makes a university design faculty special? What do they offer that a carpeting school does not? Why do we need doctoral study in design [1] ?

Why do we need doctoral study in design?


It is believed that the incidence of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) will substantially increase in the next decades with the fast growth of the elderly population in developed countries [1] . It is estimated that 41 % of women aged 50-79 will present with some degree of POP at, with 35 % related to the anterior vaginal wall [2] . Recently, efforts have been made to establish the most appropriate surgical procedure to repair POP. The investigations are fundamentally based on the usage of synthetic prostheses in order to reestablish the pelvic floor anatomy and function as an alternative to standard native tissue repair [3] .

It is believed that the incidence of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) will substantially increase in the next decades with the fast growth of the elderly population in developed countries.

It is estimated that 41 % of women aged 50-79 will present with some degree of POP at, with 35 % related to the anterior vaginal wall.

The investigations are fundamentally based on the usage of synthetic prostheses in order to reestablish the pelvic floor anatomy and function as an alternative to standard native tissue repair.


Although prior studies have reached conflicting conclusions regarding the hemodynamic superiority of stentless versus stented valves, our results indicate that the 30-day clinical outcomes and long term survival of the two valves do not differ significantly regardless of any hemodynamic differences. However, there may be instances for which one valve may be preferred over the other. Multiple studies have suggested that stentless valves produce greater improvement in left ventricular function in patients with a small aortic root or left ventricular impairment [3, 9, 10] . Patients with calcification in the sinuses may not be able to undergo stentless implantation because of inability to perform the suture line under the coronaries.

Multiple studies have suggested that stentless valves produce greater improvement in left ventricular function in patients with a small aortic root or left ventricular impairment.


We finally extend the above results to six-dimensional N = (1, 1) supersymmetry, where the R-symmetry group is SO (4) . In particular, we consider the decompactification limit of F . These couplings, although not exactly topological in six dimensions (the space-time part is not decoupled), become topological upon compactification to four dimensions on a two-torus. Despite this fact, F dec g satisfy the same analyticity condition as F (6d) g of W 4g 6d since they are both 1/2-BPS. We then derive the corresponding analyticity equations, together with the anomaly terms.

We finally extend the above results to six-dimensional N = (1, 1) supersymmetry, where the R-symmetry group is SO.


An important property of N = 2 F-terms involving vector multiplets is holomorphicity, implying that the corresponding couplings are holomorphic functions of the vector moduli. This applies, for instance, to the couplings F g of the higher dimensional F-terms W 2g , where W is the self-dual (chiral) Weyl superfield, appearing in the string effective action [1] . On the other hand, the couplings F g are computed by the topological partition function of the N = 2 twisted Calabi-Yau σ-model associated to the six-dimensional compactification manifold of type II string theory in four dimensions [2, 1] . It turns out, however, that there is a holomorphic anomaly, related to a violation of the conservation of the BRST current in the topological theory, implying that antichiral fields do not decouple at the quantum level [3, 4, 2] . The anomaly arises from boundary contributions and takes the form of an equation that amounts to a recursion relation for the non-holomorphic part of the couplings F g . From the point of view of the string effective action, it arises from the quantum integration over massless states that is unavoidable when computing on-shell physical amplitudes [1] .

This applies, for instance, to the couplings F g of the higher dimensional F-terms W 2g , where W is the self-dual (chiral) Weyl superfield, appearing in the string effective action.

On the other hand, the couplings F g are computed by the topological partition function of the N = 2 twisted Calabi-Yau σ-model associated to the six-dimensional compactification manifold of type II string theory in four dimensions.

It turns out, however, that there is a holomorphic anomaly, related to a violation of the conservation of the BRST current in the topological theory, implying that antichiral fields do not decouple at the quantum level.

From the point of view of the string effective action, it arises from the quantum integration over massless states that is unavoidable when computing on-shell physical amplitudes.


The perception metrics collected included: Task ease and the overall system satisfaction. Task ease and overall system satisfaction measure satisfaction. Task ease was measured using a single easy question, a single 7-point questionnaire that ranges from '1=very difficult' to '7=very easy' (Overall, how difficult or easy did you find this task). The overall satisfaction was measured using the System Usability Scale (SUS). Apart from measuring satisfaction (that is, in terms of usability), this questionnaire also measures learnability as a sub-dimension. SUS is a 5-point Likerttype questionnaire with 10 item questions and with options ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The items alternate between positive and negative questions, implying that there are 5 positive and negative questions respectively. SUS is reliable and valid. Its scores have a modest correlation with task performance. It measures both learnability and usability [14] [4] .

SUS is reliable and valid.

It measures both learnability and usability.


Thirdly, the findings also suggest that training needs to be provided to help older people make the transition to the new institutional environment. In a recent study of the incentives and barriers to volunteering by seniors, training was rated very highly as an incentive to volunteering (Warburton, Paynter and Petriwiskyj 2007) . Training and skill development is essential if older volunteers are to become more self-reliant and to be able to undertake new, more challenging volunteer roles (Narushima 2005) . Initial generic training is often provided, both around generic issues such as risk management but also specific to the task. To ensure that older volunteers have a place within a dynamic organisation, however, structured training and skills development are required. The existence of such training will also help older people develop their confidence and facilitate the recruitment of more volunteers (see Narushima 2005 for more on transformative learning for older volunteers).

In a recent study of the incentives and barriers to volunteering by seniors, training was rated very highly as an incentive to volunteering.

Training and skill development is essential if older volunteers are to become more self-reliant and to be able to undertake new, more challenging volunteer roles.