We have examined in detail two ways in which the mutual information between local regions of two entangled CFTs may be disrupted. On the AdS side, the mutual information between localized regions is roughly dual to the length of the wormhole. Disrupting the mutual information leads to a long wormhole, and in the limit of an infinitely long wormhole we can interpret the spacetimes as being disconnected. This is an intermediate case between the classical wormhole and the fully "quantum" wormhole of Maldacena and Susskind, which does not have any classically geometric properties. The first way in which the mutual information is disrupted is simply through lowering the temperature. At zero temperature, an extremal black hole has an infinitely long wormhole, and we consider it an open question whether or not this should be considered a classial wormhole. If we examine the extremal solution directly, then a two-sided extremal black hole actually consists of two disconnected spacetimes. Then it is difficult to regard the interior geometry as arising from the entanglement of the two exterior regions, as one does for a non-extremal black hole. The situation may be more like the Poincare patch of vacuum AdS, where the region behind the horizon exists but does not arise from degrees of freedom in a second, independent, CFT. However, we note that the interior of an extremal black hole is very subtle, as the extremal limit of near-extremal black holes does not coincide with the extremal black hole itself [17] . One should regard the extremal limit of near-extremal black holes as the physical solution, and we leave a careful analysis of its properties for future work.

However, we note that the interior of an extremal black hole is very subtle, as the extremal limit of near-extremal black holes does not coincide with the extremal black hole itself.


Traditionally, sweet potatoes leaves are used fresh or sundried in diets for pigs. Sweet potatoes can be planted at different times of the year, but the biomass yields are different according to the seasons and varieties (An et al., 2003) . During the rainy season, sweet potato leaves can be harvested at 20 to 30 day intervals, and produce a high biomass yield. However, due to regular rainfall and high humidity during this season there is a need to develop suitable techniques to preserve this feed resource in order to make full use of its potential. The ensiling technique has been shown to be an appropriate methodology for the preservation of animal feed resources and the technique is extensively used worldwide (McDonald et al., 1991) . Silage quality depends on a number of factors, of which moisture content and feed composition are the most important (McDonald et al., 1991) . In order to improve the silage quality, grains or sugar cane molasses can be added to provide conditions for an efficient fermentation process and also to reduce effluent production (Sibanda et al., 1997; O'Doherty et al., 1998; Jaurena and Pichard, 2001) .

Sweet potatoes can be planted at different times of the year, but the biomass yields are different according to the seasons and varieties.

The ensiling technique has been shown to be an appropriate methodology for the preservation of animal feed resources and the technique is extensively used worldwide.

Silage quality depends on a number of factors, of which moisture content and feed composition are the most important.

In order to improve the silage quality, grains or sugar cane molasses can be added to provide conditions for an efficient fermentation process and also to reduce effluent production.


Cassava root meal, sweet potato root meal and sugar cane molasses are locally available feedstuffs in Vietnam. They are rich in easily available carbohydrates in the form of sugars and starch that can provide a source of potentially available energy for growth of the lactic acid bacteria (McDonald et al., 1991) . The rapid drop in pH at day 7 when additives were used in the present study supports the contention that they provided easily available substrates that supported the fermentation. This finding is in accordance with a number of earlier studies where carbohydrate-rich materials have been used as additives in an attempt to improve both the fermentation process and the nutritional value of silage (McDonald et al., 1991; Sibanda et al., 1997; Jaurena and Pichard, 2001) .

They are rich in easily available carbohydrates in the form of sugars and starch that can provide a source of potentially available energy for growth of the lactic acid bacteria.

This finding is in accordance with a number of earlier studies where carbohydrate-rich materials have been used as additives in an attempt to improve both the fermentation process and the nutritional value of silage.


The CP content was highest in the untreated silage, but decreased with increasing inclusion of the additives. This should be expected as CRM, SPM and Mo only contain 20 to 30 g CP kg -1 DM. The CP content of the silage did not change during the first 2-3 weeks of ensiling, but there were significant decreases at day 56 in all treatments. If good fermentation conditions are provided, only minor effects on the silage protein content should be expected (McDonald et al., 1991) . The drop in CP content at day 56 could have been due to nitrogen losses from protein decomposition, as a result of microbial instability in the silage. An ideal silage fermentation process is dominated by lactic acid bacteria, which have limited capacity for amino acid synthesis and a low ability to ferment amino acids (McDonald et al., 1991) . The low content of NH 3 -N content in this experiment, less than 60 g kg -1 N in all treatments, was comparable to grass silage produced in England and Wales (Haigh, 1996a,b) . However, despite this there was an increase in the NH 3 -N content in the silages with time, which may have been responsible for the drop in CP content.

If good fermentation conditions are provided, only minor effects on the silage protein content should be expected.

An ideal silage fermentation process is dominated by lactic acid bacteria, which have limited capacity for amino acid synthesis and a low ability to ferment amino acids.


The replacement of CP from fish meal with CP from ensiled sweet potato leaves in the diets for pigs reduced the digestibility of DM, OM and CP, demonstrating a lower nutritive value of the diets with ensiled sweet potato leaves than with fish meal. However, as the dietary inclusion of ensiled SPL was high (450 g kg -1 ) the nutritional properties of the diets were still good considering the limited reduction in digestibility of both OM (-50 to -65 g kg -1 ) and CP (-24 to -52 g kg -1 ). The lower digestibility of OM and CP with inclusion of ensiled sweet potato leaves was probably due to the higher crude fibre (CF) content of these diets. The dietary fibre influences the intestinal morphology and rate of intestinal cell turnover in pig, which ultimately can effect nutrient digestion, absorption and metabolism. Also, a high fibre content in the diet may increase the peristaltic action of the gut and therefore increase the transit time of digesta in the small intestine (Wenk, 2001) .

Also, a high fibre content in the diet may increase the peristaltic action of the gut and therefore increase the transit time of digesta in the small intestine.


Simulation in medicine has really improved in both fidelity and validity, though there are still several issues that justify skepticism in its adoption in the training process. Nonetheless, several schools of medicine all around the world are integrating simulations in doctor training and even offer certifications for simulation centres [36] . The main reason of delay in the adoption is related to the cost of personnel, equipment and programs that can be mitigated with the creation of large structures that promote the collaboration between different hospital units.

Nonetheless, several schools of medicine all around the world are integrating simulations in doctor training and even offer certifications for simulation centres.


The main purpose of this note is to give an application of the theory of automorphic forms on bounded symmetric domains of type IV due to Borcherds [5] , [6] . We consider the Segre cubic 3-fold X which is a hypersurface of P 4 of degree 3 with ten nodes. The symmetry group S 6 of degree 6 acts on X as projective transformations. It is known that the Segre cubic X is isomorphic to the SatakeBaily-Borel compactification of an arithmetic quotient of a 3-dimensional complex ball B associated to a hermitian form of signature (1, 3) defined over the Eisenstein integers ( [11] , [12] , [13] ). The complex ball B can be embeded into a bounded symmetric domain D of type IV and of dimension 6. By applying Borcherds' theory of automorphic forms on bounded symmetric domains of type IV, we can construct a 5-dimensional linear system of holomorphic automorphic forms of weight 6. We shall show that this linear system gives the dual map from the Segre cubic X to its dual Igusa quartic 3-fold.

The main purpose of this note is to give an application of the theory of automorphic forms on bounded symmetric domains of type IV due to Borcherds.

It is known that the Segre cubic X is isomorphic to the SatakeBaily-Borel compactification of an arithmetic quotient of a 3-dimensional complex ball B associated to a hermitian form of signature (1, 3) defined over the Eisenstein integers (,,).


In internal combustion engines, Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) is a widely used technique to reduce the formation of nitrogen oxides (NO x ) through the thermal way [1] . The working principle of EGR is to recirculate a certain amount of exhaust gases to the intake manifold, mixing them with the fresh air. The burned gases act as a diluent of the unburned mixture, thus a smaller initial oxygen mass fraction is reached and smaller combustion temperatures are obtained. In fact, the absolute temperature reached after combustion varies inversely with the exhaust gas mass fraction. Hence increasing the exhaust gas fraction reduces NO x emissions levels [2] . This is a compulsory strategy for compression ignition (CI) engines and its use is also widespread in current spark ignition (SI) engines. Moreover, the relevance of EGR is even higher in the frame of new combustion modes, such as Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI), Premixed Charge Compression Ignition (PCCI) and Low Temperature Combustion (LTC). These new lowtemperature combustion strategies use massive amounts of EGR to reduce the maximum temperature reached in the cycle [3] . In this way, the soot and NO x formation peninsulas, which can be seen in fuel/air equivalence ra-tio -temperature diagrams, can be avoided [4] . New combustion modes are based on the autoignition of a reactive mixture, with a higher or a lower degree of homogeneity, in an environment with low oxygen content (much less than in the atmosphere). These modes show virtually zero emissions of soot and NO x , but high emissions of unburned hydrocarbons (UHC) and carbon monoxide (CO) [5] . However, both UHC and CO are easily eliminated thanks to currently available after-treatment systems, which are efficient, effective and inexpensive.

In internal combustion engines, Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) is a widely used technique to reduce the formation of nitrogen oxides (NO x ) through the thermal way.

Hence increasing the exhaust gas fraction reduces NO x emissions levels.

These new lowtemperature combustion strategies use massive amounts of EGR to reduce the maximum temperature reached in the cycle.

In this way, the soot and NO x formation peninsulas, which can be seen in fuel/air equivalence ra-tio -temperature diagrams, can be avoided.

These modes show virtually zero emissions of soot and NO x , but high emissions of unburned hydrocarbons (UHC) and carbon monoxide (CO).


In contrast to sample-based methods, wall-to-wall mapping approaches have several advantages for forest cover and change estimates within Central Africa. First, it is better suited for change area estimation within regions featuring small-scale and non-random change dynamics. If change is not targeted directly using ancillary information, systematic sampling methods are used and require large sample sizes to reduce overall uncertainty estimates (Broich et al 2009) . Mapping change directly overcomes this limitation. Second, wall-to-wall maps can be used to analyze the explicit spatial distribution of deforested and degraded areas, analysis of drivers of forest disturbance, and provide the disaggregation of change estimates to sub-national, even local scales . Third, complete forest and change maps are required for national-scale and local land-use planning, for conservation strategies implementation, and for forest use sustainability assessments within logging concessions.

If change is not targeted directly using ancillary information, systematic sampling methods are used and require large sample sizes to reduce overall uncertainty estimates.


The potential for satellite-based technology to contribute towards national-scale wall-to-wall assessments was restricted until recently due to the combined impacts of high data costs and persistent cloud cover within humid tropical regions. The recent changes in the distribution policy for Landsat data and progress in automated Landsat data processing have enabled wall-to-wall forest mapping and monitoring for large regions such as the DRC (Hansen et al 2008a) . Freely distributed medium spatial resolution satellite data have been used to provide the first Landsat-based nation-wide forest cover map and to analyze forest cover change from 2000 to 2010 . This work was supported by the USAID-funded CARPE (Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment) project. Forest cover and change maps (hereafter referred to as 'CARPE dataset') can be viewed and downloaded from the CARPE web site (http://congo.iluci.org/carpemapper/).

The recent changes in the distribution policy for Landsat data and progress in automated Landsat data processing have enabled wall-to-wall forest mapping and monitoring for large regions such as the DRC.


Epilepsy is the most common serious chronic neurological brain disorder afflicting humankind, with no racial, socioeconomic, national, or geographic predilections; it affects more than 50 million people worldwide. The tendency of epilepsy to onset in children renders its socioeconomic impact disproportionate; moreover, the disorder is also associated with high comorbidity and significant life-long stigmatization. Since current anticonvulsant drugs are effective in less than 65% of people (and their use is associated with side effects in more than 50% of people), the need for new, effective, and safe therapies for epilepsy is a continuing neuropharmacological priority [1] . To address this need, we have sought to identify an "endogenous anticonvulsant molecule (ECM)" (i.e., the brain's own anti-seizure compound) as a platform around which to develop new drugs. Through this work, we have identified -alanine as one possible candidate ECM [2, 3] .

Since current anticonvulsant drugs are effective in less than 65% of people (and their use is associated with side effects in more than 50% of people), the need for new, effective, and safe therapies for epilepsy is a continuing neuropharmacological priority.

Through this work, we have identified -alanine as one possible candidate ECM.


Cooperative relaying is a promising technology for future wireless communications. It can benefit most of the leverages of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) without using the conventional MIMO schemes [1] . Among the cooperative techniques, the opportunistic relaying, in which only one relay (R) node forwards the source's (S) data to the destination (D) has shown its efficiency compared to other techniques [2] .

It can benefit most of the leverages of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) without using the conventional MIMO schemes.

Among the cooperative techniques, the opportunistic relaying, in which only one relay (R) node forwards the source's (S) data to the destination (D) has shown its efficiency compared to other techniques.


Each tool is incomplete since it characterizes only partly the geometrical performance in fusion. There is a need for a function or a criterion that characterizes the overall geometrical quality of the images. The problem of specifying resolution and perceived sharpness was solved with the introduction of the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF), a precise measurement made in frequency domain. By definition, the MTF is the Fourier transform of the response of an instrument to a pulse. It decreases the contrast of the image with the frequency, caused by finite detector size, sensor motion, diffraction, aberrations, atmospheric scattering, turbulence, and electronic effects [6] . Only the mean of the image is perfectly preserved, and the MTF tends to gather all gray values around this mean. If the spatial frequency of an object is higher than the cut-off frequency, its image will be characterized by a uniform gray value.

It decreases the contrast of the image with the frequency, caused by finite detector size, sensor motion, diffraction, aberrations, atmospheric scattering, turbulence, and electronic effects.


The naturalistic approach using ethnography regards the knowledge and practice of 'experts' as locally variable rather than assuming that biomedical concepts and practices are universal (Lambert and McKevitt, 2002) . A purposive sample of seven specialist cancer nurses experienced in using the SCC were invited to participate in the study and six came forward to participate. The specialist nurses were all female, aged between 40-50 years. They had been specialist nurses from between two and seven years and had prior experience in oncology of between two and ten years. So they were all experienced specialist nurses with a minimum of two years experience in the field.

The naturalistic approach using ethnography regards the knowledge and practice of 'experts' as locally variable rather than assuming that biomedical concepts and practices are universal.


Advocates of structured assessment tools emphasise how they are to be used in partnership with the patient who can be talked through a list of questions, prompts and triggers, which help the patient to think about their own needs (Cowley et al., 2004) . Little is known about professionals' views and experiences of using assessment tools and some negative views have been reported about their use (Hughes et al., 2003; Baba et al., 2007) . Issues found to be important when implementing assessment tools were time constraints, staff workload, training and the potential burden on the patient (Hughes et al., 2003; Dunckley et al., 2005) .

Advocates of structured assessment tools emphasise how they are to be used in partnership with the patient who can be talked through a list of questions, prompts and triggers, which help the patient to think about their own needs.

Little is known about professionals' views and experiences of using assessment tools and some negative views have been reported about their use.

Issues found to be important when implementing assessment tools were time constraints, staff workload, training and the potential burden on the patient.


In contrast, the possession of positive racial attitudes that are capable of automatic activation is not necessarily accompanied by such an avowed commitment to a moral obligation. In this case, it is the positivity of the automatically activated attitude that lies at the source of the discrepancy produced by the seemingly prejudicial inference induced by the ad. The hypocrisy here is that the viewer wrongly inferred that the African American man pictured in the ad had committed various crimes, despite the viewer's general favorability toward African Americans. This discrepancy seems to evoke very specific emotions of guilt for having behaved in a manner that is hypocritical with one's attitude. For individuals with more positive racial attitudes, the seemingly prejudiced response calls attention to their potential for acting in a manner that may produce unwanted, negative consequences for liked others (Cooper & Fazio, 1984) .

For individuals with more positive racial attitudes, the seemingly prejudiced response calls attention to their potential for acting in a manner that may produce unwanted, negative consequences for liked others.


The development of transceiver coils is mainly focused on the SNR improvement and field uniformity optimization. Transceiver coil performance is a function of the size, shape, excitation signal, and the sample [12] . This motivates the development of transceiver coils with improved SNR and good field uniformity using an adequate and flexible layout to optimally cover the object to be imaged. At higher fields, the magnetic field sensitivity increases approximately linearly but becomes increasingly inhomogeneous. Some effects can be compensated for improved RF coil designs.

Transceiver coil performance is a function of the size, shape, excitation signal, and the sample.


Presently, a small number of practitioners have begun to concentrate efforts on identifying and planning for adequate quality of life opportunities for individuals with PMD, while determining which vocational and educational strategies are most appropriate for fostering the long term success of these individuals [29, 32, 33, 42, 43] . Overall, there has been a fundamental shift in thinking among many professionals in the field of PMD so that researchers are now focusing attention on the capabilities of people with disabilities rather than their deficits [14, 29] . Therefore, quality of life measures for individuals with PMD have become an important factor to consider when educating this population. Focusing on and enhancing the strengths and capabilities of these individuals may afford them greater opportunities for meaningful participation, community inclusion, and positive educational outcomes [6, 20] . States are expected to attain higher levels of academic achievement through access and participation in the general education curriculum, it becomes necessary to also document the impact academic instruction has on the student's overall quality of life. For this reason, the present study attempted to evaluate the existence of a link between teaching academic content and a display of behaviors traditionally associated with the demonstration of a positive quality of life for students with PMD. Particularly, the following research question was investigated: What is the influence of teaching academics on the quality of life of adolescent students with profound multiple disabilities as measured by behaviors associated with student happiness?

Presently, a small number of practitioners have begun to concentrate efforts on identifying and planning for adequate quality of life opportunities for individuals with PMD, while determining which vocational and educational strategies are most appropriate for fostering the long term success of these individuals.

Overall, there has been a fundamental shift in thinking among many professionals in the field of PMD so that researchers are now focusing attention on the capabilities of people with disabilities rather than their deficits.

Focusing on and enhancing the strengths and capabilities of these individuals may afford them greater opportunities for meaningful participation, community inclusion, and positive educational outcomes.


We hypothesize that nematodes increase in abundance with water availability, because nematodes are dependent on water for their activity (H1). We further hypothesize that nematode numbers react both to long-term changes in water availability (H1a) and short-term pulses of water (H1b). A second hypothesis is that different trophic groups of nematodes show different degrees of sensitivity towards changes in water availability (H2). Plant-parasitic nematodes live in close association with plant roots, and thus permanently have access to plant cell contents. Furthermore, they only need to leave roots and move within water films around soil particles to disperse. They are therefore expected to be least sensitive to short-term changes in water availability (Stevnbak et al. 2012) . Plants in a desert ecosystem quickly extract any moisture that enters the soil, creating a moisture gradient in the root zone. When soil moisture levels increase sufficiently, the drier soil close to the roots will become wetter, enabling bacterivorous nematodes in the rhizosphere to increase in abundance as they reactivate from anhydrobiosis, migrate from areas with lower moisture or multiply in response to increasing bacterial populations. Fungivorous nematodes are able to draw water from a larger volume of soil through the hyphal network of the fungi they feed on, and are hypothesized to be less responsive to changes in soil water availability than bacter- to occur after a relatively short lag period, while changes in litter quantity and composition are expected to take a longer time. Note that nematodes can in turn affect many of the components of this graph, but as this is not the scope of this paper, these arrows were omitted for clarity.

They are therefore expected to be least sensitive to short-term changes in water availability.


Researchers have suggested that applicants' resumé information is a specific type of biographical data (biodata), in that resumé biodata represents a culmination of applicants' life experiences (e.g., education and work experience) deemed applicable for a work context (Brown & Campion, 1994; Rubin, Bommer, & Baldwin, 2002) . Analogous to validated, job-specific biodata instruments, resumé biodata are believed to be useful in characterizing or predicting applicants' psychological attributes, such as abilities, interests, and personality. For instance, studies have found that the resumé biodata reported on applicants' resumés is significantly correlated with applicants' dispositions and personality (Cole, Feild, & Giles, 2003b; Rubin et al., 2002) . Research has also shown recruiters' inferences of applicants' dispositional traits based solely on resumé review impact their judgments regarding applicant employability (Brown & Campion, 1994; Cole, Feild, Giles, & Harris, 2004) . Despite extant research that has shown recruiters form impressions of applicants' personal traits during resumé evaluation and, subsequently, employ these inferences to form first impressions of applicants' suitability, apparently no study has been conducted on the validity of such inferences.

Researchers have suggested that applicants' resumé information is a specific type of biographical data (biodata), in that resumé biodata represents a culmination of applicants' life experiences (e.g., education and work experience) deemed applicable for a work context.

For instance, studies have found that the resumé biodata reported on applicants' resumés is significantly correlated with applicants' dispositions and personality.

Research has also shown recruiters' inferences of applicants' dispositional traits based solely on resumé review impact their judgments regarding applicant employability.


Preferred gait speed is an important outcome of exercise interventions for older adults, because increased preferred gait speed is associated with increased survival rates in older adults [4] . The meta-analyses have identified two types of exercise interventions that show significant and clinically meaningful meta-effects on preferred gait speed in older adults: progressive resistance training and exercise with a rhythmic component. When providing resistance training, the focus of improving gait speed is on underlying impairments in muscle strength. For example, a reduction in ankle plantar flexion power limits forward progression of the body, and diminishes momentum of the leg swing, thus reducing step length. This can lead to a redistribution of muscle moment and power in knees and hips [53] .

Preferred gait speed is an important outcome of exercise interventions for older adults, because increased preferred gait speed is associated with increased survival rates in older adults.

This can lead to a redistribution of muscle moment and power in knees and hips.


In this study, we use the Innovation, Development, Exploration, Assessment, Long-term follow up (IDEAL) framework: stage 2a (development) to report our preliminary findings [9] . The IDEAL Collaboration was formed as an international group of surgeons and methodologists to promote a shift away from the traditional uncontrolled surgical research toward planned prospective studies within an established staged process [9] . Research on surgical innovation is associated with several methodological and practical challenges related to ethical concerns with respect to patient safety, patient autonomy, and distribution of health resources. However, rigorous evaluation of new surgical interventions is achievable and necessary [9] . In IDEAL stage 2a (Development), reports include a small number of patients to describe safety of procedure, short-term outcomes, indications and technical details and may describe modifications [9] . The aim of our study was to assess the efficacy of irrigation tubes in the healing of para-rectal cavities associated with fistula in-ano.

In this study, we use the Innovation, Development, Exploration, Assessment, Long-term follow up (IDEAL) framework: stage 2a (development) to report our preliminary findings.

The IDEAL Collaboration was formed as an international group of surgeons and methodologists to promote a shift away from the traditional uncontrolled surgical research toward planned prospective studies within an established staged process.

However, rigorous evaluation of new surgical interventions is achievable and necessary.

In IDEAL stage 2a (Development), reports include a small number of patients to describe safety of procedure, short-term outcomes, indications and technical details and may describe modifications.


Despite the higher numbers of predators in the no-ant areas, S. piniradiatae were relatively numerous in those areas. This aphid secreted a waxy covering, which may have helped protect it or camoußage it from enemies, although some lacewings are capable of feeding on such aphids (Eisner et al. 1978) . It also responded differently to close proximity of foreign objects. Whereas, Cinara aphids would twist, kick, or run from an unfamiliar object, S. piniradiatae did not move unless physically touched. This behavior may have allowed them to remain cryptic to visual hunters like salticids. Further studies are needed to determine what traits allow this aphid to succeed in no-ant areas.

This aphid secreted a waxy covering, which may have helped protect it or camoußage it from enemies, although some lacewings are capable of feeding on such aphids.


In general the heating energy use impacts of the new thermostat are similar to those of the RTP thermostat. However, the cooling energy use impacts of the new thermostat are approximately double those of the RTP thermostat. It is not clear exactly what is the root cause of this increase, but it is possibly related to so-called "round-trip" efficiency considerations that result from the increased use thermal storage as a proxy for electric energy storage [34] . These round-trip efficiency impacts may be increased by the minimum 5-minute runtimes under the new thermostat, which preferentially increases the amount of thermal storage being used for short-term events relative to longterm events.

It is not clear exactly what is the root cause of this increase, but it is possibly related to so-called "round-trip" efficiency considerations that result from the increased use thermal storage as a proxy for electric energy storage.


Using markets to solve electricity resource allocation problems at the wholesale bulk system level is well understood [25] . But transactive control takes the idea to the retail level by solving the resource allocation problem at the distribution level first before integrating it at the wholesale level. These retail markets are designed to find an allocation of distribution capacity, distributed generation and demand response to resolve how much wholesale energy resource is required and determine how much distributed generators should produce and customers can consume in the coming time interval. Transactive control systems use sub-hourly distribution capacity markets to determine energy prices that minimizes the imbalance between supply and demand for electricity for participating equipment during the next operating interval [26] . These systems compute 5-minute retail real-time prices (RTP) for energy that reflect the underlying wholesale LMP plus all other distribution costs and scarcity rents arising from distribution constraints. In cases where large amounts of renewable resources are available the real-time price can be less than the LMP. Negative prices are even possible when a surplus of must-run generation is available. The RTP comes under a new tariff presumably designed to be revenue neutral in the absence of demand response.

Using markets to solve electricity resource allocation problems at the wholesale bulk system level is well understood.

Transactive control systems use sub-hourly distribution capacity markets to determine energy prices that minimizes the imbalance between supply and demand for electricity for participating equipment during the next operating interval.


The overall approach used in the paper to develop and deploy transactive control systems may appear simple. But this is quite deceptive because although the individual components of the system are indeed very simple in their design and operation, their combined behavior is quite complex to model and well beyond the capabilities of the existing modeling and simulation tools used to study demand response systems [28] . In Section 2 we examine the new thermostat to reveal how the undesirable behavior of existing thermostats is eliminated and the desired behavior is introduced. In Section 3 we discuss the numerical models used to study the aggregate behavior the controlled loads and we discuss the results and findings obtained from the simulations in Section 4. As we will show, this new thermostat design is at once simpler than existing thermostats because it does not have any hysteresis and provide synchronized discrete-time responses, but also much more effective at providing demand response control services that utility can aggregate to provide capacity and ramping resources that have real value in wholesale electricity markets.

But this is quite deceptive because although the individual components of the system are indeed very simple in their design and operation, their combined behavior is quite complex to model and well beyond the capabilities of the existing modeling and simulation tools used to study demand response systems.


Without mechanisms like transactive control, priceresponsive load requires directly engaging a very large number of very small participants in the unit-commitment and economic dispatch process [19] . The computational complexity of the centralized optimal dispatch problem makes this impractical for anything more than the thousands of larger suppliers already involved [20] . Strategies extant for addressing this challenge generally involve retail demand aggregation that enables the integration of demand units by proxy of a reduced number of larger representative units. Private entities such as Enernoc have based their business models on this approach. These are used primarily on commercial buildings where the control systems are more amenable to this integration and the number of control points per Watt of resource is lower than it is for residential buildings. Unfortunately, this leaves nearly half the available building load untapped as a demand resource for utilities.

Without mechanisms like transactive control, priceresponsive load requires directly engaging a very large number of very small participants in the unit-commitment and economic dispatch process.

The computational complexity of the centralized optimal dispatch problem makes this impractical for anything more than the thousands of larger suppliers already involved.


The energy use impacts are shown in Figure 6 . The TOU demand response shows a reduction in energy consistent with customers who change their thermostats from the unresponsive occupancy-driven setpoint schedules to responsive tariff-driven setpoint schedules. These results are consistent with those of other studies of TOU demand response [7] .

These results are consistent with those of other studies of TOU demand response.


In today's technologically-aware consumer marketplace, the ability to create new products and innovative enhancements to existing ranges is seen as one of the strongest driving forces responsible for the sustained sales of manufactured products. Ever-changing customer needs are now driving companies to introduce new products to their portfolio of offerings more frequently in order to sustain business, improve annual turnover and ultimately continue to exist. In order to introduce new products to the marketplace, manufacturers have incorporated NPD processes into their operational strategy, aimed at developing new concepts more effectively and efficiently; this has been initiated by core business functions which are driven by internal departments, such as finance, marketing, sales and service management inter alia [2] .

In order to introduce new products to the marketplace, manufacturers have incorporated NPD processes into their operational strategy, aimed at developing new concepts more effectively and efficiently; this has been initiated by core business functions which are driven by internal departments, such as finance, marketing, sales and service management inter alia.


In multilevel analyses, estimating effects typically proceeds stepwise: first, the proportion of the total variance in the two dependent variables explained by the urban region of residence is determined; statisticians call this the null model(s). Subsequently, the relative importance of individual and contextual predictors is tested in separate so-called "random intercept" models, followed by a test as to whether the strength of individual-level predictors varies between contexts (so-called "random slope" models), and finally by a test whether these differences in strength of individual-level predictors between contexts can be accounted for by the variables measured on the context level (so-called cross-level interactions). All calculations were performed using the restricted-maximum-likelihood technique provided by the multilevel modeling software package HLM 6.01 [73] . Everything taken together, it is clear that, vis-à-vis a strict interpretation of the mathematical assumptions of random effects modeling with HLM, our approach is suboptimal; there is, however, emerging evidence that HLM is largely robust against violations of several of its assumptions [74] [75] [76] .

All calculations were performed using the restricted-maximum-likelihood technique provided by the multilevel modeling software package HLM 6.01.

Everything taken together, it is clear that, vis-à-vis a strict interpretation of the mathematical assumptions of random effects modeling with HLM, our approach is suboptimal; there is, however, emerging evidence that HLM is largely robust against violations of several of its assumptions.


In a next step of analysis the factors introduced in the theoretical model (see Figure 2 ) were tested for their specific impact on transnational civil-society engagement. The potential predictors refer to the contextual as well as to the individual level. It is; thus, necessary to change the method of statistical data analysis. Such relationships are most adequately modeled by means of multilevel techniques, as they allow for a simultaneous estimation of the predictive power of predictors on different levels [70] [71] [72] [73] . In the present case, the hierarchical data structure comprises 1031 respondents on the individual level after listwise deletion of missing data, which are nested under the 16 urban regions at the contextual level. The subsequent analyses differ from the above-documented descriptive analyses insofar as the country level is now replaced by the less strongly aggregated regional level. Due to the small number of cases at the country level, the introduction of country as a third level of aggregation did not seem feasible. Also, the fact that the cities included in the analyses were coupled by design had to be disregarded for the subsequent analysis. M-Means; SD-Standard Deviation; N-Number of participants in subsample. Response scale: 1 = "no trust at all" to 4 = "very strong trust".

Such relationships are most adequately modeled by means of multilevel techniques, as they allow for a simultaneous estimation of the predictive power of predictors on different levels.


For the nation states, the differences obtained confirm well-known results from other studies, according to which-local-civil-society engagement in post-socialist countries (here in the Polish and Czech border regions) is comparatively low [69] . Differences to the German and French border regions were sizable: One-way ANOVAs with subsequent Scheffé tests were significant at p < 0.01. Looking at engagement in transnational civil-society activities, the picture emerged as less clear. Here, respondents from the French border region showed a considerably lower level than respondents from all other regions, which did not differ significantly (p < 0.01) from each other. Interest in transnational engagement revealed the same differentiation between new and old members of the European Union (as portrayed for local engagement), indicating a lesser interest among persons from the Polish and Czech sample sites.

For the nation states, the differences obtained confirm well-known results from other studies, according to which-local-civil-society engagement in post-socialist countries (here in the Polish and Czech border regions) is comparatively low.


In political science, the social integration of Europe is rather a neglected topic [1] [2] [3] . A likely reason for this is the reduced visibility of social consequences of the unification process in comparison to institutional and governmental changes. Obviously there has been a stronger emphasis on measures facilitating sustainable economic and political integration than on the social aspects of the integration process on the side of EU politics, social integration sometimes even being met with an overt lack of interest. This political strategy-if one wants to call it such-is guided by the hope that integration on the system and the institutional level will lead to a convergence of wealth that will quasi-automatically be followed by cultural and social convergence (social integration).

In political science, the social integration of Europe is rather a neglected topic.


It is required to design and fabricate antennas which are compact in size, low profile, conformal, and having multiband characteristics especially in military and commercial applications [1] . There are various techniques available in the literature to design compact antennas like providing shorting pins at regular intervals, or slots on the patch, and so forth. However, the use of fractals to design compact antennas is a recent technique. The fractal antennas are not only of compact size but also operate at multiple bands. Hence, fractal antennas more or less satisfy many of the aforesaid properties. The term fractal means broken or irregular fragments originally introduced by Mandelbrot to describe complex shapes that possess an inherent self-similarity or self-affinity in their geometrical structures. The main idea of using fractal geometries in the design of microstrip antenna is to increase the effective electrical length through which current travels. This is generally referred to as space filling property of fractal and upon which the size reduction of the patch depends.

It is required to design and fabricate antennas which are compact in size, low profile, conformal, and having multiband characteristics especially in military and commercial applications.


For these reasons, a recent surge of studies in the western Mediterranean has discussed the reduction of effort by banning fishing one more day per week (other than the week-end) instead of the seasonal closure [5, 7, 8] . This would result in approximately the double annual amount of effort reduction if compared with one month of closure; as well minimize the short-term negative economic effect of seasonal closure on market prices and therefore, on fishers income [5] . Also it is more acceptable by the fishing community to stop fishing one day than a whole month, and can be easily applied without additional costs of subsidies. However, the selection of which day has to be banned is still under discussion. Daily variation in fishing effort and first sale landings prices (also called ex-vessel prices) of the main target species, are important to consider in order to select the most suitable day to be banned.

For these reasons, a recent surge of studies in the western Mediterranean has discussed the reduction of effort by banning fishing one more day per week (other than the week-end) instead of the seasonal closure.

This would result in approximately the double annual amount of effort reduction if compared with one month of closure; as well minimize the short-term negative economic effect of seasonal closure on market prices and therefore, on fishers income.


For many reasons multi-species multi-gear fisheries (e.g. Mediterranean fisheries) present an immensely more difficult challenge for fisheries management than single species fisheries, combining management complexity, scientific uncertainty and political sensitivity [1] . Due to the diversity of both, the characteristics of fleet and the catch composition, the GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) has placed emphasis on the direct control of fishing capacity and effort rather than catch limitation as an effective way to reduce fishing mortality [2, 3] . Measures to regulate fishing effort are the main measures used for the management of Mediterranean multi-species fisheries, in combination with other technical measures, i.e. minimum mesh and landing size or spatio-temporal closures [4] . The objective is trying to reduce the pressure on fish stocks by limiting the overall size of the fleet as well as the amount of time that the fleet can spend fishing. This includes: limiting the number of vessels (fishing licenses), limiting fishing capacity (total and individual power), and limiting the fishing time (seasonal closure, days in a week or hours in a day) [4] . Out of these, limiting the fishing time is one of the most effective ways to reduce the fishing effort.

For many reasons multi-species multi-gear fisheries (e.g. Mediterranean fisheries) present an immensely more difficult challenge for fisheries management than single species fisheries, combining management complexity, scientific uncertainty and political sensitivity.

Due to the diversity of both, the characteristics of fleet and the catch composition, the GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) has placed emphasis on the direct control of fishing capacity and effort rather than catch limitation as an effective way to reduce fishing mortality.

Measures to regulate fishing effort are the main measures used for the management of Mediterranean multi-species fisheries, in combination with other technical measures, i.e. minimum mesh and landing size or spatio-temporal closures.

This includes: limiting the number of vessels (fishing licenses), limiting fishing capacity (total and individual power), and limiting the fishing time (seasonal closure, days in a week or hours in a day).


The effect of cutting-induced plasticity on recovered WRS can be somewhat clearer when looking at predicted out-of-plane displacement, which is a consequence of both elastic and plastic strain released during cutting process. Fig. 7 shows averaged (over both cutting surfaces) out-of-plane displacement in all FE nodes on the cutting surface as predicted by Models A, B and C, in direct comparison to predicted fully elastic out-of-plane displacement in an idealised elastic model. Note that if this idealised, fully elastic out-of-plane displacement is used in WRS back-calculation it would lead to recovery of the exact original (pre-cutting) WRS shown in Fig. 3c . The closer the out-of-plane displacement profile comes to the out-of-plane displacement in this idealised elastic model, the more accurate are the recovered (back-calculated) WRS. Fig. 7a that the localisation of cutting-induced plasticity near the pilot holes and the material remaining near the end of the second inward cut causes large localised displacement. It is also apparent that this localised plastic flow has limited effect on the overall out-of-plane displacement profile over the cutting plane. If we would neglect these localised features the out-of-plane displacement predicted by Model A would closely follow that of the idealised elastic displacement. It stands to reason that because these regions of localised large displacements are not caused by elastic deformation (i.e. elastic relaxation of WRS field), they should be eliminated from the WRS back-calculation process (Part 1 [18] ). Hence, the out-of-plane displacement recorded when using the doubleembedded cutting configuration was removed at both edges and near the end of second inward cut as shown in Fig. 7a . The displacement data were then interpolated through the gap created by omitting those data points as shown in Fig. 7b . This procedure is justifiable since these local features in the out-of-plane displacement profile are at locations that can be reasonably assumed to be anomalous because of the ligaments formed. It is common procedure to remove apparent cutting artefacts from the data when an artefact is so localized that it could not come from elastic stress relaxation [27] . The post-processed outof-plane displacement data are then used in the back-calculation of WRS (Fig. 5b) . The same procedure is used for the measurements obtained using the double-embedded cutting configuration (Fig. 5a) .

It stands to reason that because these regions of localised large displacements are not caused by elastic deformation (i.e. elastic relaxation of WRS field), they should be eliminated from the WRS back-calculation process (Part 1).

It is common procedure to remove apparent cutting artefacts from the data when an artefact is so localized that it could not come from elastic stress relaxation.


So far, many researchers assumed that both (healthy and diseased) groups follow Normal distribution and carried out the estimation and fitting procedure of ROC curve analysis [2] , [8] , [12] . In most of the cases, the data collected in realistic environment may or may not follow Normal distribution. In this paper, we made an attempt to fit the ROC curve and to estimate the AUC of ROC by assuming that the individuals of both the groups will follow Exponential and Weibull distributions. Hence, we can call these ROC models as Biexponential and Biweibull models. In this paper, first we have discussed the estimation procedure of Binormal and then proposed the fitting and estimation procedure of Biexponential and Biweibull ROC models. In results and discussions section, the performance and accuracy measures of these distributions were studied using simulated and real data sets.

So far, many researchers assumed that both (healthy and diseased) groups follow Normal distribution and carried out the estimation and fitting procedure of ROC curve analysis.


The provisions of safe water supply and sufficient sanitation for sustaining good health are among the basic human rights [1] . Up to 90% of every human weight consist of water. Water serves a number of essential functions in human bodies [1] . The low quality of drinking water has directly affected the economy of the countries facing poverty. The widespread of problem due to water-borne diseases is becoming a serious global concern [2] [3] . A set of guidelines for safe and portable water supply in Malaysia has been provided by the Drinking Water Quality Surveillance Unit of the Ministry of Health Malaysia. This was performed under the guidance of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) with a panel from the Public Works Department (PWD), Department of Chemistry (DOC) and Department of Environment (DOE).

The provisions of safe water supply and sufficient sanitation for sustaining good health are among the basic human rights.

Water serves a number of essential functions in human bodies.

The widespread of problem due to water-borne diseases is becoming a serious global concern.


In 2011, the US Department of Transportation (US DOT) announced plans to support the introduction of vehicle-tovehicle (V2V) communication among light-duty vehicles in the USA, commonly known as "Connected Vehicles" [1] [2] [3] [4] . Connected Vehicle focuses on localized V2V, Vehicleto-Infrastructure (V2I), and Vehicle-to-Device (V2X) Systems to support safety, mobility, and environmental applications using Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC)/Wireless Access for Vehicular Environments (WAVE) [5] . A pilot study was conducted at UMTRI to examine the feasibility of V2V communication in a largescale, real-world environment [6] .

In 2011, the US Department of Transportation (US DOT) announced plans to support the introduction of vehicle-tovehicle (V2V) communication among light-duty vehicles in the USA, commonly known as "Connected Vehicles".

Connected Vehicle focuses on localized V2V, Vehicleto-Infrastructure (V2I), and Vehicle-to-Device (V2X) Systems to support safety, mobility, and environmental applications using Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC)/Wireless Access for Vehicular Environments (WAVE).

A pilot study was conducted at UMTRI to examine the feasibility of V2V communication in a largescale, real-world environment.


The existing cellular wireless infrastructure, particularly the 4G-LTE, has potential to be redesigned as a communication basis for vehicular cooperative safety systems, which can offer low latencies and high throughputs simultaneously, thus enabling more bandwidth-demanding and real-time critical services for end-users [12] . Nevertheless, US DOT has been reluctant of considering cellular-based telematics over a long time as it would force car owners and state DOTs to constantly upgrade equipment in vehicles and intersections, respectively [13] . On December 13, 2016, US DOT issued a proposed rule that would advance the deployment of Connected Vehicle technologies throughout the US light vehicle fleet. The rule will mandate equipping DSRC devices on all new light-duty vehicles produced in the USA [14] .

The existing cellular wireless infrastructure, particularly the 4G-LTE, has potential to be redesigned as a communication basis for vehicular cooperative safety systems, which can offer low latencies and high throughputs simultaneously, thus enabling more bandwidth-demanding and real-time critical services for end-users.

Nevertheless, US DOT has been reluctant of considering cellular-based telematics over a long time as it would force car owners and state DOTs to constantly upgrade equipment in vehicles and intersections, respectively.

The rule will mandate equipping DSRC devices on all new light-duty vehicles produced in the USA.


The comparison and limitations discussed in this paper are very important. GSD and shock ray theory with kinematical conservation laws are now very powerful theories to solve many practical problems and they also take considerably less time than the Euler solution. As mentioned in § 1, attempts have been made to discuss some finer limiting results of the shape of a shock front by GSD (Apazidis et al. 2002) . Such results are acceptable only if it can be shown that the error between the GSD results and the solution (not numerical, but exact) of the Euler's equations are much smaller than those involved in the finer structures. What we see from the comparison of the results is that GSD will certainly fail in reproducing almost all limiting results. We may use shock ray theory with caution or probably use a higher-order shock ray theory.

As mentioned in § 1, attempts have been made to discuss some finer limiting results of the shape of a shock front by GSD.


The assignment of service positions plays an important role in healthcare institutions. Poorly assigned positions in hospital departments or over-employment may result in increased expenses and/or degraded customer service. If too many workers are assigned, capital costs are likely to exceed the desirable value (Brandeau, 2004) . The supporting services have a strong impact on performance of healthcare institutions such as hospitals. In hospital departments, the supporting services include financial management, logistics, inventory management, analytic laboratories, etc. This paper presents an application of operations research model for optimal supporting service jobs allocation in a public healthcare institution. The optimality criterion of the problem is to minimize operations costs of a supporting service subject to some specific constraints. The constraints representing specific conditions for resource allocation in a hospital were modified, compared to previous publications (Sawik and Mikulik, 2008a; Sawik and Mikulik, 2008b; Sawik, 2008c; Sawik, 2010) . The overall problem is formulated as a mixed integer program in the literature known as the assignment problem (Burrkard, 2008; Nemhauser, 1999) . The binary decision variables represent the assignment of people to various services. This paper shows practical usefulness of mathematical programming approach to optimization of supporting services in healthcare institutions. The results of some computational experiments modeled after a real data from a selected Polish hospital are reported.

If too many workers are assigned, capital costs are likely to exceed the desirable value.

The constraints representing specific conditions for resource allocation in a hospital were modified, compared to previous publications.

The overall problem is formulated as a mixed integer program in the literature known as the assignment problem.


India is one of the largest and an important EM in the world, as reflected by its BRICS membership. Although the Indian economy has grown rapidly in recent years, it still lags behind China, reflecting abiding institutional legacies and relatively weak state capabilities (Estrin & Prevezer, 2011) . Despite recent regulatory relaxations (e.g., permission for 100% investment in Indian-based airlines and up to 74% under the automatic route in brownfield pharmaceuticals), the country faces ongoing challenges in terms of infrastructure, human capital and skills development, and governance. Given this, it could be argued that the pressures for outward-orientated firms to catch up are particularly pronounced, and yet, owing to such contextual challenges, the promises of capability gains through acquisition may be hard to realize in practice.

Although the Indian economy has grown rapidly in recent years, it still lags behind China, reflecting abiding institutional legacies and relatively weak state capabilities.


One of the most common cited definitions of loyalty in the marketing literature is the one offered by Jacoby from a set of similar brands. In marketing research literature, loyalty is investigated as a component of one (general loyalty), two (attitudinal and behavioral) or four dimensions (cognitive, affective, conative, action) . Before 1970, the specialists focused only on behavioral dimension of loyalty, seen as a process of repeated purchases. This limit generated new approaches explaining behavioral patterns and, later after, the psychological perspective of loyalty (Evanschitzky, Wunderlich, 2006) . This approach studied brand loyalty in terms of results (repeating the purchase) and not of motivations, till 1969, when Day lunches the concept of two dimensional loyalty (Kuusik, 2007) . Studying both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty allows us to identify different customers segments and to work with different types of marketing strategies (Baloglu, 2002, p. 49) . Most of marketing researches investigate only attitudinal or behavioral dimension. Only very few of them analyse all four loyalty components (Oliver, 1997; Sivadas, Baker-Prewitt, 2000; Olsen, 2002; Harris, Goode, 2004; Han, et a. 2008) .

This limit generated new approaches explaining behavioral patterns and, later after, the psychological perspective of loyalty.

This approach studied brand loyalty in terms of results (repeating the purchase) and not of motivations, till 1969, when Day lunches the concept of two dimensional loyalty.

Only very few of them analyse all four loyalty components.


Use of peak current amplitude is an indirect approach to study receptor surface expression. To address this issue more directly, we used confocal microscopy to localize fluorescent markertagged receptors. We determined the trafficking and cellular fate of wild-type and heterozygous and homozygous ␣1␤2␥2S (R43Q)-EYFP receptors in live cells (Carter and Sorkin, 1998; Connolly et al., 1999) . Insertion of GFP (EYFP) in the N terminus downstream from the signal peptide in ␥2 subunits did not alter receptor function (Kittler et al., 2000) . Wild-type receptors exhibited a smooth and continuous fluorescence that was detected primarily in the cell membrane with relatively weak expression in subcellular structures. The cell surface and subcellular colocalizations were confirmed by the FM4-64 membrane dye, pECFPMem membrane marker, pECFP-Golgi marker, and pECFP-ER marker. In contrast, with heterozygous and homozygous ␣1␤2␥2S(R43Q)-EYFP expression, cell surface expression was weak. Instead, a clumpy or strongly convoluted, reticular fluorescent pattern colocalizing with the ER marker was observed. This reticular pattern was very similar to that obtained by only expressing the ECFP-ER marker (supplemental material, available at www.jneurosci.org). Previous work on the nonsense mutation ␥2S(Q351X), which results in truncation of the subunit 78 amino acids from the C terminus, demonstrated a similar pattern of intracellular compartment localization .

We determined the trafficking and cellular fate of wild-type and heterozygous and homozygous ␣1␤2␥2S (R43Q)-EYFP receptors in live cells.

Insertion of GFP (EYFP) in the N terminus downstream from the signal peptide in ␥2 subunits did not alter receptor function.


The most common source of experimental data to obtain explosive performance parameters is the cylinder test [7] [8] [9] [10] . A copper tube is filled with the explosive of interest and the planar detonation wave (normal to the cylinder axis) is generated as shown in fig. 1 . As the detonation wave passes through the observation window, the radial displacement of copper tube obscures the backlighting (provided by an argon flash bomb) and the history of displacement is recorded by a streak camera and other techniques like electrical pins, flash X-rays, and laser interferometry. Figure 2 shows a streak camera record from our experimental investigation and a schematic representation of the cylinder test.

The most common source of experimental data to obtain explosive performance parameters is the cylinder test.


Nitrogen cycling in agricultural production relies on biological nitrogen fixation primarily by diazotrophic bacteria. Most of biological nitrogen fixation is carried out by diazotrophs in symbiosis with legumes. However, under specific conditions bacteria which are free-living in soil (e.g., Azotobacter and other) may fix significant amounts of nitrogen (Orr et al., 2011) . This may be particularly important in organically managed soils, which typically have a lower proportion of nitrogen in available forms.

However, under specific conditions bacteria which are free-living in soil (e.g., Azotobacter and other) may fix significant amounts of nitrogen.


The field of smart materials has advanced rapidly in the last two decades due to an increasing awareness of material capabilities, the development of new materials and transducer designs, and increasingly stringent design and control specifications in aerospace, aeronautic, industrial, automotive, biomedical, and nano-systems (Smith 2005) . A piezoelectric is a type of smart material. The history of piezoelectricity dates to 1880 when Pierre and Jacques Curie discovered the effect in several substances such as the quartz crystal (which is a naturally occurring piezoelectric material). The term piezoelectricity is used for certain materials and substances that generate charge (or voltage) when pressure is applied to them (Cady 1946) . These materials are also capable of changing their shape when they are exposed to an electric field. The direct effect is the charge generated due to strain. The converse effect is the mechanical response of the material to the electrical field.

The field of smart materials has advanced rapidly in the last two decades due to an increasing awareness of material capabilities, the development of new materials and transducer designs, and increasingly stringent design and control specifications in aerospace, aeronautic, industrial, automotive, biomedical, and nano-systems.

The term piezoelectricity is used for certain materials and substances that generate charge (or voltage) when pressure is applied to them.


A genome-wide association study has described genetic variants that are associated with a decrease of Hb during antiviral combination therapy at week 4 [14] . This genome-wide association study (GWAS), however, did not report associations between Hb reduction and any SNP within the EPO gene. Indeed, the EPO rs1617640 was not present on the Illumina Human610quad BeadChips. The only SNP in relative high linkage (r 2 : 0.865) with the EPO rs1617640 was rs221795 at a 34,037 basepair distance (http://www.broadinstitute.org/ mpg/snap/). Moreover, GWASs are necessarily broad in scope. They search the entire genome for associations rather than focusing on small candidate areas and they do not necessarily identify all relevant SNPs [36] . Furthermore, all GWAS that evaluated SNPs for Hb decline while on treatment for CHC focused on end points at week 4 and could therefore only evaluate gene variations for short term Hb decline but not mid-to long-term Hb decline. This analysis shows that particularly short term Hb decline associates with ITPA gene variant while longer-term Hb decline appears to relate on EPO gene variant. This hypothesizes that short and long-term Hb decline on treatment for HCV may have somewhat different mechanisms.

A genome-wide association study has described genetic variants that are associated with a decrease of Hb during antiviral combination therapy at week 4.

They search the entire genome for associations rather than focusing on small candidate areas and they do not necessarily identify all relevant SNPs.


Categorizing ad-hoc routing protocols as on-demand and table-driven, most of the former protocols dynamically build a route by broadcasting a route request (RREQ) packet, and the latter maintain consistent, up-todate routing information by exchanging routing tables [2] . Considering restriction of the bandwidth, the on-demand manner is preferable to the table-driven, since rapid topology change would happen immediately after a large disaster. One concern is, however, that RREQ packets generated from massive nodes cause heavy traffic congestion and communication failure in disaster circumstances. Those conventional routing protocols may be insufficient for disaster communications. Reliability in ad-hoc networks is also concerned due to vulnerable links.

Categorizing ad-hoc routing protocols as on-demand and table-driven, most of the former protocols dynamically build a route by broadcasting a route request (RREQ) packet, and the latter maintain consistent, up-todate routing information by exchanging routing tables.


Many services routinely collect location data from human users for various reasons. While there are many benefits of the ready availability of personal location data (e.g., better personalisation, location-based services), this type of geoinformation is particularly sensitive, as it allows for deep inferences about the person who produced it. For example, location data can be used to find out where a person lives, whom they interact with and what their daily routine is [1] . In addition, even very few data points can be exploited for attacks such as stalking or breaking into someone's home while they are away [2] . Recently disclosed privacy violations have led to further increasing worries regarding surveillance [3, 4] . It thus makes sense that technical as well as legal measures are being developed to ensure the safety of service users as well as their basic civil rights and freedoms.

For example, location data can be used to find out where a person lives, whom they interact with and what their daily routine is.

In addition, even very few data points can be exploited for attacks such as stalking or breaking into someone's home while they are away.

Recently disclosed privacy violations have led to further increasing worries regarding surveillance.


Microstructural changes in power generation steels during operation at elevated temperature alter the properties of these steels and their remaining safe operating life (remnant life) [1] . Efficient operation of power generation plant requires the microstructural condition to be assessed during service. Currently the microstructural state is assessed using replicas of the surface or inferred from hardness measurements, both taken during shut down periods. Non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of the microstructural state of power plant steels during their service life is of interest in order to give a more accurate assessment of safe remnant life. Amongst a wide range of NDE techniques available, electromagnetic (EM) methods are of particular interest for the evaluation of ferromagnetic ferritic heat resistant steels.

Microstructural changes in power generation steels during operation at elevated temperature alter the properties of these steels and their remaining safe operating life (remnant life).


The smaller pores, shorter elements, and helical sculpturing on vessel walls in the wood of R. neomexicana are characteristic of woods adapted to xeric conditions (Carlquist & Hoekman 1985) . The Miocene Stewart Spring woods also have smaller pores, but they grew near the shore of a lake, hence the smaller pores could not be attributed to xeric growth conditions. The wide growth rings in many specimens of both the Stewart Valley and the Dove Spring assemblages indicate that these trees enjoyed a long growing season. The high percentage of transition wood in the wide rings, among the Stewart Valley specimens, suggest that conditions were favourable for most of the growing season. In any case, the Miocene woods show no indication of xeromorphic adaptations.

The smaller pores, shorter elements, and helical sculpturing on vessel walls in the wood of R. neomexicana are characteristic of woods adapted to xeric conditions.


Finally, the agricultural and energetic sectors show an increasing linkage internationally, which, in the local market, is reflected in the production of biodiesel from soybean and with ethanol produced from sugar cane and corn [13] . Although no advances have been recorded in bioenergy produced from plant biomass in the Rolling Pampa, the exportation of cereal residues, mainly of maize, is being considered because it exceeds the biomass production of other cereals [14, 15] . The food security and release of SOC are the two important issues related to the resilience of the food production system when the grains and/or their residues are used for energy production [12] . A key to enhancing this resilience is the use of technologically and economically feasible sources of lignocellulosic fuels that can be grown on degraded lands [16] . Some perennial crops such as Miscanthus x giganteus, Panicum virgatum and Pennisetum purpureum have also received particular attention during the last years because they may increase land use efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and are able to sequester SOC. Miscanthus x giganteus is particularly interesting due to its high yield potential and low N requirements and its ability to lead to high C inputs in soil organic matter (SOM) [17] .

Finally, the agricultural and energetic sectors show an increasing linkage internationally, which, in the local market, is reflected in the production of biodiesel from soybean and with ethanol produced from sugar cane and corn.

Although no advances have been recorded in bioenergy produced from plant biomass in the Rolling Pampa, the exportation of cereal residues, mainly of maize, is being considered because it exceeds the biomass production of other cereals.

The food security and release of SOC are the two important issues related to the resilience of the food production system when the grains and/or their residues are used for energy production.

A key to enhancing this resilience is the use of technologically and economically feasible sources of lignocellulosic fuels that can be grown on degraded lands.

Miscanthus x giganteus is particularly interesting due to its high yield potential and low N requirements and its ability to lead to high C inputs in soil organic matter (SOM).


Many of the previous studies on capnography in asthmatics have been conducted in more controlled situations, either with asthmatic patients in histamine challenge tests or whose asthma status has been stable for a few hours [14, 15] . On the contrary, this study was conducted on asthmatic patients presenting to the ED with an acute attack of asthma. We presume our findings are reflective of the situation in the ED, given our study population.

Many of the previous studies on capnography in asthmatics have been conducted in more controlled situations, either with asthmatic patients in histamine challenge tests or whose asthma status has been stable for a few hours.


In recent decades, researchers have taken a number of paths while attempting to describe the design process [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] . In particular, the recognition that design may be described as a sequence of specific tasks or behaviors is central to how we commonly define it. Despite this basic agreement, various models delineate the components of the design process differently, emphasizing certain points over others. These specializations represent tradeoffs between generality and ease of application for models, or similarly between the descriptive and prescriptive usefulness of different models. For researchers of design, this means that selecting an appropriate representation of the design process is critical both to developing an accurate representation of designer behavior and to translating any analysis of that data into useful results.

In recent decades, researchers have taken a number of paths while attempting to describe the design process.


The Rio Plátano Biosphere Reserve (RPBR) covers a diverse and vast amount of land, but few studies have documented mammalian diversity in most of this landscape. The RPBR was established by the Honduran State in 1980 and it joined the UNESCO list of World Heritage Places in 1982. It is connected with other protected areas of Honduras and Nicaragua at the heart of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor [10] . There are five indigenous groups living in the reserve: Miskitos, Pech, Tawahkas, Garifunas and Mestizos. The RPBR also has a diverse range of habitat types, including tropical lowland forest, pine savanna, coastal wetlands, and mangroves. These habitats are spread over three main river basins: the Río Patuca Basin, Río Sico Basin, and Río Plátano Basin. Within these habitats, over 127 species of mammals have been recorded, representing 56% of the 226 mammal species documented in Honduras [11] [12] . All five species of wild cats known in Honduras are found, along with three primate species and the largest mammal in the Neotropics, the tapir (Tapirus bairdii). Thus the RPBR, covering 8,300 km 2 , represents a complex political, social, and ecological landscape in which much area is undocumented for large mammals. In this study, we use a camera trap survey to explore the diversity of large mammals captured on film from the seldom-visited Sikre River Basin. We find the study site hosts a species richness of large-and medium-sized mammals that is comparable to other sites in Central and South America.

It is connected with other protected areas of Honduras and Nicaragua at the heart of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.

Within these habitats, over 127 species of mammals have been recorded, representing 56% of the 226 mammal species documented in Honduras.


We have been able to describe and divide into four different groups the alternative aetiologies explaining the NP events other than SLE. The diagnosis of other primary NP disease accounts for 68.2%. Among them a total of 88.9% of NP events correspond to minor NP events [7, 9] . The presence of these minor NP events is known to substantially influence the prevalence of NPSLE [4] . Although minor NP events were considered the most prevalent NPSLE events in the past, definitions have evolved over time as has medical knowledge; in past years there has been a tendency to consider that in most of these minor NP events there is no subjacent immune-mediated origin [8, 9, 13, 22, 23] . Our data confirm the low rate of SLE-attribution for these minor NP events and point out the importance of an exhaustive differential diagnosis and the need for a more stringent approach to attribute NP events to SLE.

Among them a total of 88.9% of NP events correspond to minor NP events.

The presence of these minor NP events is known to substantially influence the prevalence of NPSLE.

Although minor NP events were considered the most prevalent NPSLE events in the past, definitions have evolved over time as has medical knowledge; in past years there has been a tendency to consider that in most of these minor NP events there is no subjacent immune-mediated origin.


There are several ways to tackle this issue. By optimizing the parasitic shunt resistance of the solar cell, the partial shading power loss can be reduced [4] . Normally, we want to maximize this shunt resistance, since it leads to power loss in a fully-irradiated solar panel. However, when there is a current mismatch between the cells, one can calculate an optimized shunt resistance that will maximize the output power. This solution is not very practical, since the optimized value for the shunt resistance depends on the exact shading to illumination ratio.

By optimizing the parasitic shunt resistance of the solar cell, the partial shading power loss can be reduced.


Small and medium enterprises (SME) have the advantage of being flexible in reaction to fluctuating demand. They have big potential for technological and organisational innovation and change. SME have potential to generate jobs and income at the time when large firms have a rapid decline (Hashi & Krasniqi, 2011) . SME have limited resources when compared with large firms. They have fewer financial resources and qualified employees (Storey & Greene, 2010; Kowalkowski et al., 2013) . A number of studies have established that SMEs can innovate and achieve efficient growth of their businesses only through creating and maintaining a network of partners (Westerlund & Svahn, 2008; Cantù et al., 2010; Naudé et al., 2014) . Networks are important especially to SMEs with limited resources as they are dependent on the others firms´ resources (Gilmore et al., 2001; Mäläskä et al., 2011) . Networking seems to have a positive impact on growth, it is a source of benefits (Hashi & Krasniqi, 2011) . The network is a special type of organizational form, which exists above the level of individual companies (Håkansson & Ford, 2002) .

SME have potential to generate jobs and income at the time when large firms have a rapid decline.

They have fewer financial resources and qualified employees.

A number of studies have established that SMEs can innovate and achieve efficient growth of their businesses only through creating and maintaining a network of partners.

Networks are important especially to SMEs with limited resources as they are dependent on the others firms´ resources.

Networking seems to have a positive impact on growth, it is a source of benefits.

The network is a special type of organizational form, which exists above the level of individual companies.


This paper argues for the application of an ecocentric ethic to the management of non-consumptive wildlife tourism based in nature. We begin by defining wildlife tourism and distinguishing between tourism based on and in nature. This is followed by a description of some of the existing types of environmental ethics and types of tourists relevant to an exploration of wildlife tourism management. Similarities between wildlife tourists and ecotourists, in particular, are examined because ecocentric values and ethics are likely to be cited as a distinguishing feature of ecotourists (Fennell, 2008) . This enables us to argue that attempts in the literature to define tourist types are frequently too essentialist, and anthropocentric ethics guiding wildlife management too restrictive.

Similarities between wildlife tourists and ecotourists, in particular, are examined because ecocentric values and ethics are likely to be cited as a distinguishing feature of ecotourists.


An ecocentric approach to managing wildlife tourism proposes a new way of engaging humans and non-human animals in nature-based settings. The Intrinsic Value principle allows us to question the way we value wildlife and why we value in this way, proposing an engagement that focuses on an intrinsic rather than instrumental value. This paves the way for creating behaviour change in visitors to wildlife tourism destinations through encouraging them to become aware of their Moral Obligations to the wildlife and the destination. Similarly, providing information on environmental ethics assists visitors towards Moral Reasoning about the wildlife, the habitat, and their tourist experience. Encouraging tourists to be aware of their responsibility, for themselves and to nature, may be a positive step forward in wildlife settings (Burns, 2009) .

Encouraging tourists to be aware of their responsibility, for themselves and to nature, may be a positive step forward in wildlife settings.


The extraction efficiency increases monotonically with the inversion ratio. The pulse width scales similarly to that for the photon cavity lifetime, and thus is proportional to the cavity length. The pulse width decreases rapidly at small inversion ratios, yet changes slowly as the inversion ratio increases. Pulse duration could be further narrowed by shortening the cavity length and improving the modulation depth of the Bi 2 Se 3 SA [36] . By increasing the pump power from 78 to 100 mW, as shown in Fig. 4(a) , the pulse width decreased monotonically from 12.28 "s to 11.32 "s. which was limited to the loss of the tunable filter and ASE across the S-band gain medium. The ASE is shown in blue in Fig. 5(a) . Although lasing can be achieved along the ASE range from 1485 nm to 1530 nm, lasing in the Q-switching mechanism was triggered at a wavelength of 1493.6 nm with a corresponding output peak power of -26.27 dBm. There were also Q-switched outputs at a wavelength of 1508.9 nm and measured power of À27.38 dBm. No Q-switched pulses occurred above this wavelength, and this absence was due primarily to the insertion loss of the TBPF and the gain of the ASE not supporting Q-switched pulsing at the low pump power used in this set up. Lasing with Q-switched output in this region would occur if the pump power were to be increased beyond 100 mW. Slowly shifting the TBPF to higher wavelengths meant that the lasing peak power was followed by the gain of the ASE, as shown in Fig. 5(b) , and the laser peak power varied as a function of wavelength. The achieved Q-switched pulses had maximum pulse energy of 6.1 nJ as measured from 2.5% of the cavity output. A very limited number of suitable low loss devices operate in the S-band region. The tunability range very much depends on the bandwidth and loss of the tunable bandpass filter (TBPF) used in the set up. A wider tunability in S-band region can be achieved by using a TBPF with lower loss and higher bandwidth to cover the whole S-band region. Consequently, a higher energy of Q-switching pulses is a result of utilizing a higher gain medium and low loss devices. Fig. 5 (b) also shows the repetition rate and laser peak power as a function of wavelength, for which the wavelength was tuned via TBPF adjustments. Fig. 5 (b) displays 7 points, each of which represents the corresponding lasing wavelength shown in Fig. 5(a) and their repetition rate. The repetition rate of the achieved Q-switched fiber laser was relatively related with the laser peak power. Tuning the TBPF allowed for lasing at the higher wavelength of 1528.17 nm, as shown in Fig. 5(a) , without Q-switching, although increasing the pump power would assuredly have resulted in Q-switched pulse output.

Pulse duration could be further narrowed by shortening the cavity length and improving the modulation depth of the Bi 2 Se 3 SA.

The ASE is shown in blue in Fig. 5(a) .


To explore the advantages and disadvantages of immersive and interactive visualization, a particular data-set featuring a social network of people and institutions involved in filing patents was selected. It is social since researchers are interested in the co-authoring of patents and movements of researchers through institutions, and a network since these relationships can be represented as links between people and institutions, as well as patents. The literature on social networks, including their interaction with the Semantic Web, is immense, and those interested in exploring the interface of social networks with the Semantic Web are encouraged to reference the work of Mika and others [21] . Note that this data-set is a semantic social network since the connections between the various actors in the network have been given a semantic basis by being formulated using Semantic Web standards [13] . For our purposes, it is enough that this network is a social network where the data naturally takes a graph format, and so graph visualization is a sensible visualization for this data.

The literature on social networks, including their interaction with the Semantic Web, is immense, and those interested in exploring the interface of social networks with the Semantic Web are encouraged to reference the work of Mika and others.

Note that this data-set is a semantic social network since the connections between the various actors in the network have been given a semantic basis by being formulated using Semantic Web standards.


Recently, studies on the combination of Fenton's Reagent or photo-Fenton oxidation and biological treatment have been developed [10] [11] . The wastewater is first submitted to Fenton oxidation to partially degrade aromatic compounds, generating a wastewater with high biodegradable and with lesser amounts of toxic compounds that are easily assimilated by the microorganisms in the biological process. Then, the biological treatment was used for the removal of the other organic compounds. The biological treatment can be carried out in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR), which presents a great simplicity and flexibility of operation, as well as low cost when compared with other possible configurations [12] . Concerning their applicability, SBR had been successfully and widely used for domestic and industrial wastewaters biodegradation [13] [14] . In this study, the treatment efficiency of aniline wastewater by combined photo-Fenton and biological oxidation processes were evaluated.

Recently, studies on the combination of Fenton's Reagent or photo-Fenton oxidation and biological treatment have been developed.

The biological treatment can be carried out in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR), which presents a great simplicity and flexibility of operation, as well as low cost when compared with other possible configurations.

Concerning their applicability, SBR had been successfully and widely used for domestic and industrial wastewaters biodegradation.


The main purpose of the present study was to measure the density and volume of a wood pellet without disturbing combustion condition. Previous studies use a precise electric scale to measure the weight of the burning wood pellet [13, 15, 18, 19] . In this study, we calculate the volume of the burning wood pellet based on the image processing method and we also determine the mass of the burning wood pellet with measured density of the bare wood pellet and the charcoal of the wood pellet. We took combustion state photographs for each mode by recoding video. In order to investigate the volume reduction rate of a wood pellet in combustion, moving images of wood pellet combustion were captured. From the captured moving images, we calculated the volume of the wood pellet at each time point. This research will provide useful background for applying combustor design, analysis, and operation to wood pellet boilers.

Previous studies use a precise electric scale to measure the weight of the burning wood pellet.


In the last years, unconventional extraction methods, known as "green" technologies (ultrasound, microwave-assisted extraction, pulsed electric field) were applied to winemaking techniques in order to increase the extraction of bioactive compounds (Azmir et al., 2013) . PEF treatment is an alternative to processing raw material, especially fruit, in order to obtain high quality products that are rich in bioactive compounds. Most often, PEF treatment is used for liquids, for example juices, dairy products, and alcoholic beverages (Kumar et al., 2016) . Some of the advantages of the PEF treatment compared to conventional treatments are: the use of low temperatures, shorter processing time of the products etc.

In the last years, unconventional extraction methods, known as "green" technologies (ultrasound, microwave-assisted extraction, pulsed electric field) were applied to winemaking techniques in order to increase the extraction of bioactive compounds.

Most often, PEF treatment is used for liquids, for example juices, dairy products, and alcoholic beverages.


Regardless of the particular algorithm one uses to drive herbivory spatially in an LFSM, the foraging distribution it predicts should not be confounded by other activities, and explicit attention should be given to underlying assumptions (Keating, 2004) . RSPF predictions across landscapes, for example, generally assume that resource availabilities (those which underlie the RSPF's coefficients) remain relevant across a heterogeneous landscape (Boyce and McDonald, 1999; Ciarniello et al., 2007) . But that assumption will be weak if the herbivore's selection strategy is sensitive to spatial variation in resource availability (Osko et al., 2004) . Such considerations may be particularly important in LFSMs because the spatially-explicit disturbance and vegetation dynamics produced by these models can substantially vary resource availabilities over time as well as over space, and to very different extents among the disturbance regimes that are being modeled.

Regardless of the particular algorithm one uses to drive herbivory spatially in an LFSM, the foraging distribution it predicts should not be confounded by other activities, and explicit attention should be given to underlying assumptions.

RSPF predictions across landscapes, for example, generally assume that resource availabilities (those which underlie the RSPF's coefficients) remain relevant across a heterogeneous landscape.

But that assumption will be weak if the herbivore's selection strategy is sensitive to spatial variation in resource availability.


Adult stem cells are responsible for homeostasis of tissues in which they are resident. They are rarely divided in normal states (Alonso and Fuchs, 2003) . As these cells are responsible for all cell replacements in a tissue, they necessarily contribute to wound healing. These cells are placed in special niches in a tissue and are exposed to several differentiation signals (Metcalfe and Ferguson, 2008) .

They are rarely divided in normal states.

These cells are placed in special niches in a tissue and are exposed to several differentiation signals.


In this work we have considered magnetic spherical Couette flow in three particular field configurations B 0 , specifically chosen to place Shercliff layers at either the outer boundary, or the inner, or exactly in between. In each case we then increased the Reynolds number, and studied the resulting balance and competition between magnetic and inertial effects. We found that increasing the Hartmann number stabilizes the solutions, whereas increasing the Reynolds number tends to de-stabilize them, except for ε = −8, where we never obtained any instabilities. It would be of interest to further increase Re in this case; some type of instabilities must surely set in eventually, but not necessarily boundary layer instabilities of the type obtained for ε = −1. Future work should also explore the possibility of non-axisymmetric instabilities, as in the purely axial field case [12, 16, 17] .

Future work should also explore the possibility of non-axisymmetric instabilities, as in the purely axial field case.


The low nodulation in P. elegans may be associated with lack of specificity between host plant and rhizobia, since the strains inoculated were isolated from L. muehlbergianus. It could also be related to P deficiency, which can limit nodulation indirectly by reducing legume growth, rather than by direct action on the infection process (Bordeleau & Prévost 1994) . Thus, the slow growth of P. elegans and the low values of AMF colonization and nodulation (number of nodules, ARA and leghemoglobin content) show that this species must be more studied in relation to mineral nutrition.

It could also be related to P deficiency, which can limit nodulation indirectly by reducing legume growth, rather than by direct action on the infection process.


A possible weakness is the use of BMI instead of body fat, that may have changed across decades [31, 32] . However, in Brazil, BMI and body fat are strongly correlated [33] . Another limitation is that the questionnaire for capturing educational level was similar among POFs, but different from those used in the PNS.

A possible weakness is the use of BMI instead of body fat, that may have changed across decades.

However, in Brazil, BMI and body fat are strongly correlated.


In recent years, flux-switching motors (FSMs) have been extensively investigated due to their several advantages of robust rotor structure, higher torque density, and efficiency. With all excitation components located on the stator, the temperature rise of the machine can easily managed. The FSMs have been used in many applications ranging from wind power generation, automotive, aerospace, power tools and etc [3] [4] [5] . There are three type of FSMs and can be classified into permanent magnet (PM) FSMs, hybrid excitation (HE) FSMs, and field excitation (FE) FSMs. Both PMFSMs and FEFSMs have only single excitation flux source either come from PM or FE coil, while in HEFSM the magnetic flux source is generated from PM and FECs [6] .

The FSMs have been used in many applications ranging from wind power generation, automotive, aerospace, power tools and etc.

Both PMFSMs and FEFSMs have only single excitation flux source either come from PM or FE coil, while in HEFSM the magnetic flux source is generated from PM and FECs.


In the development of electric vehicle (EV), electric motor is among of the essential part to be considered for drive purposes. As well known, the electric motor use for heavy application such as in aerospace and automotive applications, it is essential to have high torque and power density capability [2] . Previously, permanent magnet (PM) brushless machines are widely used for many applications due to their advantages of high torque capability. Nevertheless, due to the PMs are located on the rotor, the machines are suffer from demagnetization effects which resulting in eddy current loss in the rotor. The main reason on this issue is difficulty to manage the temperature on the rotor.

As well known, the electric motor use for heavy application such as in aerospace and automotive applications, it is essential to have high torque and power density capability.


Thermal energy storage systems provide the potential to attain energy saving, which reduces the environmental impact of energy utilisation. The use of latent heat storage is one of the most efficient ways of storing thermal energy. Unlike sensible heat, latent heat allows much higher storage density, with a smaller temperature difference between storing and releasing heat. Phase change materials are latent heat storage materials. Most of the organic PCMs are non-corrosive and chemically inert, stable, recyclable and compatible with numerous building materials. They have desirable cohesion, a high latent heat per unit weight, low vapour pressure, no supercooling, and offer congruent melting and self-nucleation. They have disadvantages such as low thermal conductivities, flammability and high changes in volume during phase change. To overcome these problems, their microencapsulation can be an efficient tool. The main benefits of microencapsulation are the increase of the heat transfer area, the reduction of PCM reactivity towards the outside environment and the improvement of cycling stability [1] . Paraffin waxes are versatile PCMs, since they melt and solidify at wide temperature ranges, have large latent heat capacity, negligible supercooling, low vapour pressure, good thermal and chemical stability, and self-nucleating behaviour. Because of its low melting point, microencapsulated n-hexadecane can be used, e.g. in smart textiles and thermo-regulated fibres.

The main benefits of microencapsulation are the increase of the heat transfer area, the reduction of PCM reactivity towards the outside environment and the improvement of cycling stability.