We have shown that the probability of a GZ interaction for cosmic nuclei passing through our solar system is maximally 4.5 · 10 −5 . This maximum occurs when its trajectory is close to the surface of the Sun. However, the solar magnetic fields will cause a large deflection which makes it unlikely that both fragments are measurable at Earth. In this case it is much more favourable to perform a measurement of the GZ effect in a direction away from the Sun. The lower interaction probability is partly compensated by a lower energy threshold for the incoming cosmic rays, as the interaction with solar photons is head-on. Furthermore, the smaller solar magnetic fields cause a separation of both fragments on Earth that may be as small as a few kilometers, as shown in Figure 8 and Figure 9 . Our simulations show that the detection area of the HiSPARC experiment is too small to measure the GZ effect. Furthermore, we have shown that the energy threshold of the Pierre Auger Observatory is too high for such an observation [15] . However, a 3000 km 2 detector that is sensitive to both fragments will detect about 10 GZ events each year. The detector will have to be fully efficient for showers with energies ranging between 10 15 eV and 10 17 eV. The energies of the fragments provide an estimate of the energy of the original cosmic ray. In addition to the energy ratio of the fragments, the distance distributions given in Figure 8 and Figure 9 can be used to estimate the mass of the primary cosmic ray.

Furthermore, we have shown that the energy threshold of the Pierre Auger Observatory is too high for such an observation.


Since the bottoming cycle fuel saving potential depends strongly on the heat sink temperature, higher fuel efficiency potential can be expected from the second system. To answer the question how temperature (near ambient temperature) at low load. This made an additional temperature control valve necessary, which prevented the temperature from falling below a certain limit. This was necessary to avoid very low condensation pressure that could harm the feed pump (cavitation) and cause unstable working-fluid mass flow. The other approach, similar to the one chosen in the Freightliner Cascadia SuperTruck, was an additional heat exchanger in the front cooling module cooling directly to the ambient air [12] . It is shown in Figure 4 . Such a heat exchanger usually can provide a lower coolant temperature compared to the engine cooling cycle. Downstream this additional heat exchanger, the coolant temperature could also be very low; therefore, a temperature control valve was necessary for this approach, too.

The other approach, similar to the one chosen in the Freightliner Cascadia SuperTruck, was an additional heat exchanger in the front cooling module cooling directly to the ambient air.

It is shown in Figure 4 .


In the field of filtering for MJSs, the existing results generally assume that the filter parameters can be implemented precisely. Nevertheless, the assumption is not always reasonable as there exists inevitable parameters variation in actual systems due to a number of reasons such as finite precision and rounding errors. To avoid the undesirable consequences that resulted from the inaccurate execution of filters/estimators/controllers parameters, some research motivation has been stimulated on the nonfragile characteristics which can tolerate a degree of gain variations, and some relevant papers have appeared on this topic [6, [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] . On the other hand, the 2 Journal of Control Science and Engineering index, and different from the common Kalman filtering approach, the ∞ one can be applied to the situation with unknown statistic characteristics of noise signals. However, it should be noted that nonfragile ∞ filtering for MJSs with mode-dependent time delays is still an open issue. Therefore, one of the motivations of this paper is to focus on deriving the sufficient conditions which guarantee both the stochastic stability and the prescribed disturbance attenuation performance of the filtering error dynamics against the gain uncertainties.

To avoid the undesirable consequences that resulted from the inaccurate execution of filters/estimators/controllers parameters, some research motivation has been stimulated on the nonfragile characteristics which can tolerate a degree of gain variations, and some relevant papers have appeared on this topic.


Currently, systems with different concentration levels and optical designs, based on both lenses and mirrors, are being developed, the most common configuration being the one based on using a Fresnel lens with or without a secondary optical element [3, 4] . However, the existence of such a wide variety of concepts currently under development shows that no single architecture has yet emerged as the most cost competitive. The aim of this article is to introduce a new concentrator concept as well as to present a complete experimental characterization to prove the validity of this concept.

Currently, systems with different concentration levels and optical designs, based on both lenses and mirrors, are being developed, the most common configuration being the one based on using a Fresnel lens with or without a secondary optical element.


The impending and widespread requirements from commercial and military domains on UWB systems have sparked great interest in the field of UWB antenna design. Various kinds of UWB antennas have been studied and proposed [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] . However, because of the allocation of the broad frequency range in UWB system, e.g., a portion of the spectrum between 3.1 and 10.6 GHz is allocated for UWB system by Federal Communications Commission, a UWB antenna is quite susceptible to interference by receiving several narrow band signals of neighboring RF systems, such as 3.5 GHz worldwide interoperability for the microwave access (WiMAX) and 5.2/5.8 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN) communication systems. Thus, it is desirable to design a UWB antenna with multiple band-notched characteristics to avoid the potential interference. In the published literatures, there have been some reports on the UWB antennas with band-notched characteristics [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] . However, most of these antennas are designed to generate only one notched frequency band so that just one narrow band of disturbance can be eliminated. Consequently, these antennas are still open to other potential disturbance from neighboring RF systems.

Various kinds of UWB antennas have been studied and proposed.

In the published literatures, there have been some reports on the UWB antennas with band-notched characteristics.


The results found that all groups significantly improved on their Stroop test performance across time (p = .002). This was not expected. Justification for all groups to report significant improvements is likely to be due to practice effects, coupled with the short duration of the Stroop test. Assessing self-control in a brief and practical test demands willpower energy to be consumed over a small period of time, reducing its ability to differentiate between individuals. Longer versions assessing the Stroop effect, which have been used in past studies, have successfully measured impulse control, as well as contrast groups of individuals with high impulse control with those with low impulse control (Oaten & Cheng, 2006a) . The conflicting results found in this study leads to the implication that, potentially, a longer version is more effective at assessing willpower strength. This is because a longer version requires the greatest amount of stamina willpower energy over time. Those with stronger willpower are expected to have the stamina to perform well, while those with weaker willpower are expected to become fatigued quicker and perform more poorly. It is recommended that future research use a longer version of the Stroop test to better differentiate individuals with weak and strong willpower resource.

This was not expected.

Longer versions assessing the Stroop effect, which have been used in past studies, have successfully measured impulse control, as well as contrast groups of individuals with high impulse control with those with low impulse control.


It is not the purpose of the above comparison to support strong statements that distance-based nonlocal models perform better or worse than crack band approaches. From the literature, it is already known that crack band models can describe the present type of size effects satisfactorily [13] . Nonlocal models, on the other hand, have several key advantages over crack band models, such as being able to provide mesh-independent results for distributed cracking and crack directions which are less sensitive to the alignment of the finite element mesh [2] .

From the literature, it is already known that crack band models can describe the present type of size effects satisfactorily.

Nonlocal models, on the other hand, have several key advantages over crack band models, such as being able to provide mesh-independent results for distributed cracking and crack directions which are less sensitive to the alignment of the finite element mesh.


The reason why the standard model fails to reproduce the experiments is that it predicts too large dissipation near notches and, to a lesser extent, near unnotched boundaries [10] . This excessive energy dissipation becomes more pronounced if the nonlocal length is increased, since then more undamaged material is involved in the averaging process at points above the notch, which leads to lower nonlocal strain, lower damage and higher strength. To demonstrate this trend, additional analyses with a larger nonlocal length R are performed. For these analyses, all parameters are kept the same as before, except for R and parameter e f . For R ¼ 4 mm, parameter e f is adjusted to obtain a good fit with the 6 experimental points of the largest unnotched specimen used previously for the calibration of the parameters for the distance-based model.

The reason why the standard model fails to reproduce the experiments is that it predicts too large dissipation near notches and, to a lesser extent, near unnotched boundaries.


Modelling of the fracture process in quasibrittle materials is challenging since the fracture process zone, defined as the zone in which energy is dissipated, is influenced by the heterogeneities of the material, and possesses a finite width. A phenomenological description of the width of the fracture process zone can be obtained by enhanced constitutive models equipped by an internal material length, e.g., by integral-type nonlocal models, which link the softening process to weighted spatial averages of history variables [23, 15] . Commonly, the weighted averaging is performed isotropically with the radius of the support of the weight function as an additional material parameter. These integral-type nonlocal models are often used for finite element analyses of fracture processes, since they reproduce fracture patterns independently of the mesh, for both localised and distributed cracking, and are insensitive to the finite element mesh alignment. Therefore, they are considered to be more versatile than alternative models, such as crack band and cohesive crack approaches, which provide mesh-size independent results for localised cracking only, and are often sensitive to the alignment of the finite element mesh.

A phenomenological description of the width of the fracture process zone can be obtained by enhanced constitutive models equipped by an internal material length, e.g., by integral-type nonlocal models, which link the softening process to weighted spatial averages of history variables.


Observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background, supernovae Ia, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations and lensing have led to the cosmological standard model which also requires an accelerated expansion of the late Universe, driven by dark energy [3] [4] [5] [6] . The physical origin of the accelerated expansion is still a mystery. In the Standard Model of particles the detection of the missing fundamental particle, the Higgs boson, was a revolutionary event. In a similar way, the missing particles in the Standard Model of cosmology, like the graviton, and the resolution to the puzzle of accelerated expansion and its origin would be as revolutionary. There are several promising explanatory attempts to provide an explanation for the accelerated expansion of the late Universe.

Observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background, supernovae Ia, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations and lensing have led to the cosmological standard model which also requires an accelerated expansion of the late Universe, driven by dark energy.


The transition from viewing streams as pipes to considering streams as complex ecosystems that function in nutrient transport, transformation, and retention has been a critical conceptual shift in riverine science and management (Bencala 1993; Bernhardt et al. 2003) . Drainage networks also transport, transform, and retain water and sediment, and these processes set the fundamental structure of streams and channels. Nutrient cycling is strongly coupled to these processes and structure. These processes work along a river continuum, but also are continually disrupted or modified by local controls, such as lakes. We believe that stream ecology could be advanced greatly by more careful consideration of these basic stream processes at landscape-scales that incorporate both continuous and local controls on stream ecosystems.

The transition from viewing streams as pipes to considering streams as complex ecosystems that function in nutrient transport, transformation, and retention has been a critical conceptual shift in riverine science and management.


Previously, the main problem with the application of tube dynamics has been with the analytical evaluation of volumes in phase spaces of arbitrary dimension [7, 46] . The present work overcomes this hurdle by using an efficient algorithm that uses tube dynamics to provide the initial bounding box for a Monte Carlo volume determination. The main contribution of the paper is the combination of an accurate method for computing and understanding invariant manifolds in the problem and hence the phase space structure together with statistical Monte Carlo methods for practical computations.

Previously, the main problem with the application of tube dynamics has been with the analytical evaluation of volumes in phase spaces of arbitrary dimension.


How has the increased globalisation of economic activity provided greater opportunities to 'learn' from experience with interventions elsewhere? There are a number of factors that have facilitated policy transfer. First, globalisation and technological development allow policy ideas and initiatives to be easily communicated in the international arena (Stone, 2000) . Second, the growth in regionalism among nation states and the development of regional identities in the last decade or so of the twentieth century has stimulated more active dialogue on comparative policy. Third, many OECD governments claim to pursue programmes of 'evidence based' policy. Fourth, international agencies like the IMF, OECD, the World Bank and the WTO actively facilitate policy transfer.

First, globalisation and technological development allow policy ideas and initiatives to be easily communicated in the international arena.


In this small cohort of patients, we were able to demonstrate that patient survival was not affected by low serum Mg levels. However, kidney allograft survival was significantly reduced in patients diagnosed with both hypomagnesaemia and chronic CsA nephrotoxicity. Our study may have suffered from a selection bias. Indeed, the two groups had significantly different gender distribution and creatinine clearance levels at the time of biopsy. More female subjects in the low Mg group may have contributed to decreased serum creatinine and Mg levels due to a lower muscular mass. Similarly, lower creatinine clearance levels in the normal Mg group may have contributed to higher Mg levels as serum Mg levels may rise with declining renal function. However, Cox proportional hazards analyses performed to adjust outcomes for these covariates found that gender, CCR, age, serum calcium, sodium, bicarbonate, albumin and uric acid levels had no significant impact on the observed results. Given that the median Mg level in the low Mg group was at 1.8 mg/dl (0.74 mmol/l), the current study emphasizes that low-normal Mg levels should not be overlooked in renal transplant recipients with chronic CsA nephrotoxicity. The low prevalence of hypomagnesaemia in patients without histopathological findings of CsA nephrotoxicity is an additional point supporting the importance of low serum Mg levels in these patients. Moreover, this may be applicable to all transplant patients, not just kidney transplant recipients. The epidemic of chronic kidney disease clearly affects non-kidney solid organ transplant recipients [6] . Hypomagnesaemia may be a factor also potentiating this process.

The epidemic of chronic kidney disease clearly affects non-kidney solid organ transplant recipients.


Nitrogen and varieties were two factors having five and three levels of each respectively. There were all together 15 treatments and replicated four times. The treatments were randomly allocated by using random number table (Gomez & Gomez 1984) . Total experimental area was 213.9m 2 (23m ×9.3m). Space between replications and plots was 0.5m respectively. The individual plot size was 1.7m × 1m. The row to row distance was 30 cm and plants were spaced at 20 cm. There were 4 rows in each plot and 6 plants were accommodated in each row. There were 24 plants in each plot from which 5 inner plants were selected for observation. Corms were planted on 4 th November, 2010. Same sizes of corms of three varieties were randomized in experimental plot. The corms were planted in furrows at 7 cm depth in soil spaced at 30 cm between rows and 20 cm between plants. Standard cultural operations were followed for successful production of cut flowers. The field was irrigated at 45 and 75 DAP which was followed by side dressing of with ¼ th nitrogen and earthing up. Periodic weeding was done in the experimental plot to reduce the weed population. Spikes were harvested at the tight bud stage (first basal floret showing color) with two bract leaves in spike leaving as much leaves as possible on plant for the proper maturation of corm and cormels. Five representative plants from the two inner rows of each plot were labeled and tagged in each replication and were used for recording for the days to sprouting, days to 50 % sprouting & sprouting percentage, number of sprout per corm, number of leaves per plant, plant height, spike length, rachis length, number of floret/spike, weight of spike, girth of spike, number of corms per plant, weight of corms per plant, size of corms, number of cormels per plant, weight of the cormels per plant.

The treatments were randomly allocated by using random number table.

The individual plot size was 1.7m × 1m.


Although these preliminary reports appear promising, certain caveats remain. First, these are small case series and trials, and further larger randomized controlled trials are required to establish a definite efficacy for anakinra. Second, DMARDs such as methotrexate, the role of which has yet to be studied in IRP, could be an important addition to the standardized treatment of IRP [39] . Third, a systematic study found that anakinra was associated with a higher risk of serious infection compared with control treatments [27] . In a recent French study, anakinra was associated with serious adverse reactions in 9% of patients (children and adults), predominantly secondary to infections [40] . Along with the commonly reported minor local skin reactions, isolated cases of anaphylaxis and an interstitial granulomatous reaction have also been reported [41] . Fourth, the role of the longer acting canakinumab, a selective, fully human, antiinterleukin-1 monoclonal antibody, needs to be elucidated for increased efficacy and decreased adverse reactions [42] . Lastly, in some patients with recurrent pericarditis who respond to anakinra, the role of genetic studies in establishing the diagnosis of autoinflammatory syndromes needs to be explored. In the quest to find the ideal steroid sparing therapy, the etiopathogenesis of the recurrences in IRP require further clarification of the complex interaction between environmental triggers and genetic susceptibility.

Second, DMARDs such as methotrexate, the role of which has yet to be studied in IRP, could be an important addition to the standardized treatment of IRP.

Third, a systematic study found that anakinra was associated with a higher risk of serious infection compared with control treatments.

In a recent French study, anakinra was associated with serious adverse reactions in 9% of patients (children and adults), predominantly secondary to infections.

Along with the commonly reported minor local skin reactions, isolated cases of anaphylaxis and an interstitial granulomatous reaction have also been reported.

Fourth, the role of the longer acting canakinumab, a selective, fully human, antiinterleukin-1 monoclonal antibody, needs to be elucidated for increased efficacy and decreased adverse reactions.


A fundamental property of the non-perturbative regime of confining pure-gauge theories is the linear increase in the ground state potential between a pair of static color sources. In addition to that, lattice gauge simulations have recently confirmed the existence of a sub-leading non-Coulombic long range correction to the mesonic ground-state potential in Yang-Mills theory [1] [2] [3] [4] . These features are connected with the underlying gluonic picture and the subsequent energy distribution profile. Although the properties of the ground state potential have been unambiguously measured to a subleading order in the infrared region of the non-abelian gauge, the geometrical aspects of the associated energy density profile at low temperatures remains to be completely resolved.

In addition to that, lattice gauge simulations have recently confirmed the existence of a sub-leading non-Coulombic long range correction to the mesonic ground-state potential in Yang-Mills theory.


To mitigate these problems, new energy storage devices arise as an alternative with the purpose of compensating the power fluctuations. These energy storage systems can swiftly provide the MG with both reactive and active power simultaneously, and consequently serve to enhance the MG dynamic security and power quality [8] . There are numerous storage devices, some of which will be more convenient than others, depending on the application [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] . Among modern energy storage devices, Flywheel Energy Storage System (FESS) and Vanadium Redox Flow Battery (VRFB) are some of the most promising technologies. Both storage devices have quick response time, high energy efficiency, and long lifetimes. FESS has power rating in the order of MWs, and discharge time in the order of minutes. FESS stand out for their low capital cost per unit power (around 700 US$/kW); nevertheless, it has a high capital cost per unit energy (around 2000 US$/kWh) [10] [11] [12] [13] . On the other hand, VRFB has power rating in the order of MWs, and discharge time in the order of hours. In contrast to FESS, VRFB is remarkable for its low capital cost per unit energy (approximately 600 US$/kWh) and its high capital cost per unit power (2500 US$/kW) [10, 11, 13] .

These energy storage systems can swiftly provide the MG with both reactive and active power simultaneously, and consequently serve to enhance the MG dynamic security and power quality.

There are numerous storage devices, some of which will be more convenient than others, depending on the application.

FESS stand out for their low capital cost per unit power (around 700 US$/kW); nevertheless, it has a high capital cost per unit energy (around 2000 US$/kWh).

In contrast to FESS, VRFB is remarkable for its low capital cost per unit energy (approximately 600 US$/kWh) and its high capital cost per unit power (2500 US$/kW).


The copolymer beads obtained by the chain reaction of two monomers, that is, ethyl acrylate and 1,7-octadiene, are soft, gelatinous, hydrophobic and semitransparent, and not settled in separate state as the dry volumes are not possible. In the absence of solvent, the microstructure obtained of the resin is gel type even at 20% cross-linking. But after hydrolysis with H 2 SO 4 and drying, the particles are in the form of free flowing. There were no signs of cracks or breakages in optical microscopic picture as shown in Figure 1 . This means that the particles are supposed to be physically stable because the resins are strong enough to stand osmotic shock where the medium was suddenly changed from acid to neutral. Long chain in this polymer imparts good flexibility as reported earlier in our study [7] . The general characteristics of the copolymer ethyl acrylate-co-1,7-octadiene and the acrylic acid resin derived from it are given in Table 1 . Table 1 shows the better results of volume capacity, that is, 3.28 meq/mL (without diluents) as compared to our previous reported capacity which was 3.05 meq/mL (diluents n-heptane, 20%) [7] . The variation of capacity results may be due to the main structure of the polymer and deduced that the gel type of the resin may perform better.

Long chain in this polymer imparts good flexibility as reported earlier in our study.

Table 1 shows the better results of volume capacity, that is, 3.28 meq/mL (without diluents) as compared to our previous reported capacity which was 3.05 meq/mL (diluents n-heptane, 20%).


FTIR Characterization. FTIR characterization of the copolymer and the resin derived from ethyl acrylate-co-1,7-octadiene was reported and interpreted in detail in our early study [7] . In Figure 2 curve 1 related with the copolymer and shows that the signal at 2800-3000 cm −1 is due to C-H bond of the monomer and cross-linking agent, that is, long chain of 1,7-octadiene which after copolymerization has been converted to saturated hydrocarbon.

FTIR Characterization.

FTIR characterization of the copolymer and the resin derived from ethyl acrylate-co-1,7-octadiene was reported and interpreted in detail in our early study.


A strong peak at around 1700 cm −1 is due to the presence of C=O group in the resin and the peak at 3000-3600 cm −1 is due to the moisture contents in the resin. The peak at around 117 cm −1 is due to the coupling between plane OH bending and CO stretching vibrations of neighboring carbonyl groups [26] . Figure 3 shows the SEM image of the synthesized n-ZVI in two different magnifications and it is indicated in the figure that the iron nanoparticles are spherical and have chain-like conformation.

The peak at around 117 cm −1 is due to the coupling between plane OH bending and CO stretching vibrations of neighboring carbonyl groups.


Because of the importance of the complement system in host resistance through direct lysis of target cell and support of other mechanisms ofthe innate and adaptive immune system haemolytic complement activity was studied. Since C3 is the key'protein within the complement cascade special focus was put on its plasma concentration. Studies on complement activity especially on C3c levels in pigs are quite rare. Mean values of complement activity shown in this study are comparable with values found by other authors (MALLARD et al., 1989; KOMATSU et al., 1998) . These authors also found high Standard deviations demonstrating high individual Variation in haemolytic complement activity.

Mean values of complement activity shown in this study are comparable with values found by other authors.


In recent years, various sequence search tools have been developed that are up to four orders of magnitude faster than BLAST [15] [16] [17] [18] . These tools address the need for faster annotation of massive amounts of environmental sequences being generated through metagenomics against the evergrowing sequence databases. However, no homology can be found for many of these sequences even with sensitive methods, such as BLAST or MMseqs2 [18] . HHblits can help to annotate proteins beyond the twilight zone [19] .

In recent years, various sequence search tools have been developed that are up to four orders of magnitude faster than BLAST.

However, no homology can be found for many of these sequences even with sensitive methods, such as BLAST or MMseqs2.

HHblits can help to annotate proteins beyond the twilight zone.


The metaphor of operators acting on neighborhoods is reminiscent of notions in term-rewriting systems, such as graph grammars in particular [18, 42] . The semantics of functional language programs are usually specified using term rewriting systems that describe how expressions can be replaced by other expressions within the context of the functional program. The process of applying rewrite rules repeatedly to a functional language program is known as string or tree reduction.

The metaphor of operators acting on neighborhoods is reminiscent of notions in term-rewriting systems, such as graph grammars in particular.


Some local computation algorithms can be sped up by periodically computing and exploiting global information. The globalrelabel heuristic in preflow-push is an example of such an operation. Preflow-push can be sped up by periodically performing a breadth-first search from the sink to update the height values [12] . In the extreme, global information can be used in every iteration. For example, iterative linear solvers often precondition the matrix iterations with another matrix that is obtained by a graph coarsening computation such as incomplete LU or Cholesky factorization.

Preflow-push can be sped up by periodically performing a breadth-first search from the sink to update the height values.


A similar numerical instability is also encountered with the GFEM simulation of the magnetic flowmeter. The SUPG scheme has been successfully employed in situations involving magnetic Reynolds number in the range 4 to 28 [2] . However, its performance for higher magnetic Reynolds number is yet to be quantified. Apart from this, SUPG involves more computation for higher order elements and also it is difficult to find the stabilization parameters for elements with order higher than quadratic [16] , [17] . The present work basically aims to overcome these difficulties in the finite element simulation of electromagnetic flowmeters.

The SUPG scheme has been successfully employed in situations involving magnetic Reynolds number in the range 4 to 28.

Apart from this, SUPG involves more computation for higher order elements and also it is difficult to find the stabilization parameters for elements with order higher than quadratic.


An integrative literature review was conducted through the CINAHL, EBSCO, Academic Search Complete, ProQuest and Medline databases using the keywords human papillomavirus, HPV, HPV and cancer, HPV and oropharyngeal cancer, HPV vaccine, HPV immunization, vaccine hesitancy, barriers to immunization, motivational interviewing, announcement technique, health belief model and vaccination, vaccination compliance and vaccination uptake interventions. Reference lists from applicable studies were reviewed for additional studies not identified in the search results. The search was limited to studies published in peer-reviewed journals in the last 10 years. This search strategy identified 201 studies that met inclusion criteria, with 46 studies meriting further review. The review focused on U.S. population groups, although two international studies (Sweden and Canada) were included under provider recommendation interventions. Studies were evaluated using the Melnyk levels of evidence and John Hopkins evidence appraisal tool (John Hopkins Medicine, 2017; Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2015) . This integrative review included evidence levels I through VI following Melnyk and Fineout level of evidence table, with expert opinion articles excluded from the review (Fig. 1 ). Studies were then assessed for quality and level of evidence using John Hopkins evidence appraisal tool (Tables 1-3) .

Studies were evaluated using the Melnyk levels of evidence and John Hopkins evidence appraisal tool.


Vision development and target formulation are important instruments at the strategic level of transition management [13] (p. 104). They are part of the good governance criteria for sustainable development [14] . Visions are "qualitative, inspiring, challenging and imaginative pictures of the future that define a structurally different, and more sustainable, state of the system" [13] (p. 117). Their "over-arching goal is to stimulate a sense of shared direction and ambition amongst a variety of actors" [13] (p. 118).

Vision development and target formulation are important instruments at the strategic level of transition management(p. 104).

They are part of the good governance criteria for sustainable development.

Visions are "qualitative, inspiring, challenging and imaginative pictures of the future that define a structurally different, and more sustainable, state of the system"(p. 117).

Their "over-arching goal is to stimulate a sense of shared direction and ambition amongst a variety of actors"(p. 118).


The input spectro-temporal patterns for learning the overcomplete set of basis functions are obtained from the spectrotemporal representation of the training utterances by taking a context of about 210 ms centered on each frame. The dimensionality of any such pattern (or s) is 19 x 21 = 399, as there are 19 critical bands and 21 frames. Four thousand spectrotemporal patterns are randomly sampled (with uniform density) from all the patterns present in the train set in order to learn a set of m = 429 basis functions {φ i }. All the basis functions are initialized with zero mean Gaussian White Noise (GWN) and normalized to have unit norm. Learning is accomplished by first determining the weights corresponding to an input pattern and then updating the basis functions using found weights as described in Section 2. This procedure is repeated for all four thousand input patterns and about two hundred epochs. Once the overcomplete set is identified, the feature vector corresponding to any spectro-temporal pattern is obtained by solving the l 1 minimization problem described in Section 3. Fig. 1 shows some examples of the learned basis functions. The implementation details of the phoneme recognition system are described below. Initially, an MLP is trained to estimate the posterior probabilities of the phonemes conditioned on the input features by minimizing the cross entropy between the input acoustic feature vectors and the corresponding phoneme target classes [11] . The posterior probabilities estimated by MLP are used as the emission likelihoods (no language model) of the HMM states as described in the hybrid approach [12] . Each phoneme is modeled using 3 HMM states with equal self and transition probabilities. Decoding is accomplished by applying the Viterbi algorithm and the phoneme recognition accuracy is obtained by comparing the decoded phoneme sequence against the reference sequence. Additionally, the phoneme insertion penalty is chosen to be the one that maximizes the phoneme recognition accuracy of the CV data. Note that the silence class is ignored while evaluating the accuracies. In all of our experiments, MLP with 1000 hidden nodes is trained using the features extracted from 3000 utterances (375 speakers) of the training set and 696 utterances (87 speakers) of the cross-validation set of the TIMIT database. The test set consists of 1344 utterances of speech from 168 speakers. Furthermore, the 61 hand-labeled symbols of the TIMIT transcription are mapped to a standard set of 39 phonemes for the purpose of training and decoding [13] .

Initially, an MLP is trained to estimate the posterior probabilities of the phonemes conditioned on the input features by minimizing the cross entropy between the input acoustic feature vectors and the corresponding phoneme target classes.

The posterior probabilities estimated by MLP are used as the emission likelihoods (no language model) of the HMM states as described in the hybrid approach.

Furthermore, the 61 hand-labeled symbols of the TIMIT transcription are mapped to a standard set of 39 phonemes for the purpose of training and decoding.


Following this spirit, we propose a systematic way of LC modeling to build connection among the three kinds of models: Onsager's molecular theory, Landau-de Gennes Q-tensor theory and Oseen-Frank theory. Starting with Onsager's work, we generalize it to the inhomogeneous system to characterize the distortion of orientation by choosing suitable interaction potential in integral form. By applying local Taylor expansion, we can write the energy in differential form, which is similar to Marrucci-Greco's work [29] . Next, by using the Bingham closure and truncating at the low order moment, a Q-tensor model is obtained. In this Q-tensor model, the physical constraint on Q is automatically satisfied. In addition, the coefficients are determined by the molecular model, and their meaning can be apparently interpreted.

By applying local Taylor expansion, we can write the energy in differential form, which is similar to Marrucci-Greco's work.


The international BREATHE study was conducted among the populations of 10 countries in the Middle East and North Africa [7] . It identified subjects aged ≥40 years who fulfilled the epidemiological definition of COPD and examined their perceptions regarding the disease, as well as their attitudes and beliefs. It was found that 19.3% of patients had a university degree and 31.6% had a high school degree, whereas in our study, the population had a much lower education level, with only 1.5% having a university degree and 3.5% being high school graduates. Overall, 50.3% of patients identified smoking to be the underlying cause, which was in concordance with our result of 59% of patients. The educational level of our patients was not high; thus, their intellectual ability was not good. Compared with the general Turkish population according to the 2013 data of Turkish Statistical Institute, our study population had a lower education level, with 80% of our patients having less than a high school education level compared with 54% of the general population. This can be attributed to the fact that COPD affects people with lower socioeconomic status and that these patients frequently visit state hospitals.

The international BREATHE study was conducted among the populations of 10 countries in the Middle East and North Africa.


Returning to 2PE basics, we proposed an alternative approach, free from any preparation step, with on-demand capacity, and going without ancillary states [28] . After a first strong rephasing pulse, that excites the atoms to the upper level, a second intense pulse brings the atoms back to the ground state, thus suppressing the SE noise. Simultaneously, the second strong pulse reverses the phase of the atoms, making them emit a secondary echo. The beam directions play a key role in this memory-oriented photon echo scheme. The two strong pulses propagate colinearly, in the opposite direction to the signal to be stored. This beam arrangement is spatially phase mismatched for the primary 2PE emission, but fully phase matched for the secondary echo emission. Since the primary 2PE is silenced, the integrity of the captured information is preserved until the emission of the secondary echo. At the same time the counterpropagating beam arrangement eliminates the FID tail that travels along with the rephasing pulses.

Returning to 2PE basics, we proposed an alternative approach, free from any preparation step, with on-demand capacity, and going without ancillary states.


For the last two decades, the quantum information prospects have stimulated the investigation of atom-based quantum memory (QM) for light. The QM challenge includes the conversion of a quantum state of light into an ensemble state of matter and the retrieval of a restored state of light. Light operates as a probe of the ensemble entangled state. Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) combined with the DLCZ generation of narrow-band heralded photons led to convincing experimental demonstrations in atomic vapors [1] [2] [3] .

Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) combined with the DLCZ generation of narrow-band heralded photons led to convincing experimental demonstrations in atomic vapors.


In the case of the heart, the 17 segment AHA bull's eye plot of the left ventricle (LV) has been widely used by clinicians for long time [2, 15, 11] . The LV's conical shape and the absence of salient sub-structures in 3D anatomies derived from medical images (e.g. ignoring the trabeculations) highly facilitates its flattening. On the contrary, unfolding the atria is challenging due to their more complex morphology. In the case of the LA, its main cavity is connected to several pulmonary veins (PV), the left atrial appendage (LAA) and the LV through the mitral valve (MV). Furthermore, the most common LA morphology (up to 70%) involves 4 PV (with variable size, shape, position and orientation with respect to the main cavity) but in some cases a common left trunk, extra right PV or other oddities may be present [13] . Something similar occurs in the case of the RA, which is connected to the right ventricle through the tricuspid valve (TV), to the superior and inferior vena cava (SVC and IVC), and to the coronary veins (CV).

In the case of the heart, the 17 segment AHA bull's eye plot of the left ventricle (LV) has been widely used by clinicians for long time.

Furthermore, the most common LA morphology (up to 70%) involves 4 PV (with variable size, shape, position and orientation with respect to the main cavity) but in some cases a common left trunk, extra right PV or other oddities may be present.


High temperature design and assessment is a challenging field for structural integrity and material science. The ability to design safe and durable structures is an important topic of research for industries and research groups around the world. The power generation industry is one of the most affected by this topic, due to the necessity of ensuring safe and efficient plant operation with a reasonable economic return. Power stations, conventional or nuclear, have many components which are subjected to intense high temperature environments. For fossil fuel fired power plants, the necessity to increase the efficiency of the production cycle by high temperature design is becoming an important milestone in order to make the Carbon Capture System more feasible [1] . Furthermore, Advanced Ultra Super Critical (AUSC) coal fired power plants need to operate at 700 ⁰C and 300 bar, or even higher for the reheat. This aim is very challenging for many aspects of the materials selection and design stages [2] . Problems due to reactor life extension are also present in many nuclear power plants, like the UK Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR), where crack initiation appears in the graphite core and various in other components [3] .

For fossil fuel fired power plants, the necessity to increase the efficiency of the production cycle by high temperature design is becoming an important milestone in order to make the Carbon Capture System more feasible.

This aim is very challenging for many aspects of the materials selection and design stages.

Problems due to reactor life extension are also present in many nuclear power plants, like the UK Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR), where crack initiation appears in the graphite core and various in other components.


A Major merger event occurs between galaxies of comparable masses, the most conservative definition being a mass ratio of 1:1 or 1:2 [33] . Minor merger events, which will be the focus of this paper, occur when a merger takes place between two galaxies which are of significantly different mass. A defining characteristic of these events is that the properties of the larger galaxy largely dictate the dynamics of the merger. As we will see, this will result in the spatial distribution of decoupled sector matter being comparable to the spatial distribution of visible sector matter. This result allows as to discuss other possible probes of decoupled sector matter (see section 6).

A Major merger event occurs between galaxies of comparable masses, the most conservative definition being a mass ratio of 1:1 or 1:2.


The AMB system is open loop unstable and feedback control is needed for levitation. This function is commonly achieved by single input and single output (SISO) controller design such as proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller [3] . However, decentralized PID controllers do not always provide the desired performance and robustness especially when the operating speed is above the system's critical speed and the gyroscopic effect is involved. In order to enhance the robustness, modern control techniques such as ∞ and synthesis have been applied to rotor AMB system. Since these multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) control methods usually rely on system models, it is important to obtain a precise rotor AMB analytical model and obtaining an analytical model close to the actual system is an inevitable step before the controller design [4, 5] .

This function is commonly achieved by single input and single output (SISO) controller design such as proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller.

Since these multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) control methods usually rely on system models, it is important to obtain a precise rotor AMB analytical model and obtaining an analytical model close to the actual system is an inevitable step before the controller design.


Dynamic modelling is an important consideration for structure design and almost always results in errors to some degree when compared to experimental result [9] . The difference between experimental data and finite element models is generated for various reasons which primarily originate from unknown structure features and simplifications [7, 10] . Finite element model updating techniques are used to adjust selected parameters of models to minimize the discrepancy and establish a model which is more compatible with experimental data and more closely represents the dynamic characteristic of the object [11] . These techniques have been widely applied in aerospace, heavy equipment, automobiles, construction, and other engineering fields [12] . The direct and iterative model updating methods have been applied in both time and frequency domains to perform model updating [13] . The direct methods modify the system mass, stiffness, and/or damping matrix to produce the desired results. However, the drawbacks of this approach are that the updated mathematical representation may not be physically meaningful, which in many cases is not acceptable. In contrast, iterative methods select the updating parameters flexibly and provide meaningful updated results. Iterative methods need an objective or error function to represent the discrepancy in frequency response such as resonance frequency, antiresonance frequency, MAC, or mode shapes between experimental and theoretical results. Iterations are terminated when satisfactory accuracy is reached. This approach commonly employs optimization routines which minimize an error function [7] .

Dynamic modelling is an important consideration for structure design and almost always results in errors to some degree when compared to experimental result.

The difference between experimental data and finite element models is generated for various reasons which primarily originate from unknown structure features and simplifications.

Finite element model updating techniques are used to adjust selected parameters of models to minimize the discrepancy and establish a model which is more compatible with experimental data and more closely represents the dynamic characteristic of the object.

These techniques have been widely applied in aerospace, heavy equipment, automobiles, construction, and other engineering fields.

The direct and iterative model updating methods have been applied in both time and frequency domains to perform model updating.

This approach commonly employs optimization routines which minimize an error function.


As potential alternatives to conventional mechanical bearings, active magnetic bearings have been increasingly used in compressors, pumps, and many other high-speed rotating machineries [1] . AMBs support rotors by using electromagnetic field rather than mechanical forces as in lubricated fluid films or contact of rolling element bearings [2] . AMBs possess several advantages over mechanical bearings such as low friction, no need for lubrication, and high attainable rotating speed.

As potential alternatives to conventional mechanical bearings, active magnetic bearings have been increasingly used in compressors, pumps, and many other high-speed rotating machineries.

AMBs support rotors by using electromagnetic field rather than mechanical forces as in lubricated fluid films or contact of rolling element bearings.


For a rotor AMB system, its dynamic properties play a key role. The rotor model is often obtained by the finite element method (FEM) or the transfer matrix method. For a beam type structure, the transfer matrix and the FEM formulations are theoretically equivalent, but the FEM formulation is usually more numerically stable [6] . For rotor AMB system, the rotor dynamic characteristics such as resonance and mode shape calculated by the rotor model are not always equivalent to the experimental results since the rotor adopted in AMB system is assembled by several components with interference fits. When assembled, the resulting AMB rotor exhibits inhomogeneous material properties which are assumed as a source of modelling error [7] . For example, a typical rotor AMB system includes rotor shaft, front/rear AMB lamination stacks, thrust AMB lamination stacks, sensor rings, and motor ( Figure 2 ), which are assembled with interference fits and shrink effects, contributing to the bending stiffness of the rotor shaft [8] .

For a beam type structure, the transfer matrix and the FEM formulations are theoretically equivalent, but the FEM formulation is usually more numerically stable.

When assembled, the resulting AMB rotor exhibits inhomogeneous material properties which are assumed as a source of modelling error.

For example, a typical rotor AMB system includes rotor shaft, front/rear AMB lamination stacks, thrust AMB lamination stacks, sensor rings, and motor ( Figure 2 ), which are assembled with interference fits and shrink effects, contributing to the bending stiffness of the rotor shaft.


The characteristics and symptoms of the group seem sensitive to the situated demands and the level of cognitive complexity of a task (Barkley, 2006) . Their attention can rapidly fluctuate, and they are driven mainly by motivation arising from their hyperactivity and impulsivity. It is widely recognised, that children with developmental and attention deficits call for both support, praise, acknowledgement and appreciation combined with clarity, aid and strategies to master complications in their tasks at school (ibid.). Poor school performance, social problems with peers and authorities (e.g. parents and teachers) combined with lacking self-confidence or selfesteem draw the picture of many youngsters with ADHD, where 65% of them are still affected by their ADHD in the adulthood (Faraone et al., 2005) .

The characteristics and symptoms of the group seem sensitive to the situated demands and the level of cognitive complexity of a task.

Poor school performance, social problems with peers and authorities (e.g. parents and teachers) combined with lacking self-confidence or selfesteem draw the picture of many youngsters with ADHD, where 65% of them are still affected by their ADHD in the adulthood.


An asteroid at 1:1 mean motion resonance with one of the main planets most often moves either in a "tadpole" orbit ( T -orbit) or in a "horseshoe" orbit ( HSorbit). T -orbits cycle around one of the triangular libration points, whereas HSorbits encompass both triangular libration points as well as the collinear libration point L 3 . Other types of resonance coorbital motion -in particular, quasi-satellite ( QS ) regimes or compound QS + HS orbits -are also possible, although they are less common. The formal difference between these orbits is the behavior of the resonance phase ϕ = λ − λ ′ , where λ and λ ′ are the mean longitudes of the asteroid and the planet respectively (Namouni et al. 1999) .

The formal difference between these orbits is the behavior of the resonance phase ϕ = λ − λ ′ , where λ and λ ′ are the mean longitudes of the asteroid and the planet respectively.


We aim to demonstrate that in the context of the planar restricted elliptic three-body problem "Sun+planet+asteroid" there is another mechanism underlying the transitions (1). To reveal this mechanism we apply the basic ideas of the approach proposed by J.Wisdom to study the transformations of the resonance motions (Wisdom 1985) . This approach also allows establishing the dynamical robustness of these transitions in the elliptic problem -they occur for the set of initial conditions, whose measure does not depend on µ . Previously and in a similar way we studied formation and destruction of QS orbital motion regimes (Sidorenko et al. 2014) .

To reveal this mechanism we apply the basic ideas of the approach proposed by J.Wisdom to study the transformations of the resonance motions.

Previously and in a similar way we studied formation and destruction of QS orbital motion regimes.


Four instruments of HRQL have been developed and validated specifically for PD: Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire 39 (PDQ-39), Parkinson's disease quality of life (PDQL), Parkinson's Impact Scale (PIMS), and Parkinson's Lebens Qualitat (PLQ). Among them, the PDQ-39 is considered the most appropriate; however, it has shortcomings in the evaluation of self-image sleep disturbance and sexuality of patients. Because the PDQL takes into account these problems, it has become an alternative to PDQ-39 [5] . For these reasons, the PDQL has generated more interest, and there has been an increase in translation and validations for several languages and cultures [5] .

Because the PDQL takes into account these problems, it has become an alternative to PDQ-39.

For these reasons, the PDQL has generated more interest, and there has been an increase in translation and validations for several languages and cultures.


Contrary to expectation, E. grandis and P. elliottii decayed for 9 months were not preferred to undecayed wood. This indicates a drop in attractiveness at a certain point in the decomposition process. A similar response was found in studies with the termites Coptotermes formosanus Shirak and Reticulitermes flavipes Kollar, when wood decayed for 8 weeks was preferred to the undecayed wood, but wood decayed for 12 weeks was not (Cornelius et al. 2003) . Perhaps the ease of fiber removal or gains in nutritional quality in the short term do not compensate indefinitely for nutrient losses associated with the decomposition process longer. Alternatively, increased attractiveness may be offset by the simultaneous production of toxic or repellent chemicals.

A similar response was found in studies with the termites Coptotermes formosanus Shirak and Reticulitermes flavipes Kollar, when wood decayed for 8 weeks was preferred to the undecayed wood, but wood decayed for 12 weeks was not.


In perfectly competitive electricity market, the optimal bidding strategies for a Genco is to bid its marginal operation cost. However, the emerging electricity markets are not perfectly competitive due to special features, such as large investment size and economy of scale in the generation sector and therefore more akin to oligopoly. In an oligopoly electricity market, Genco could exercise strategic bidding to maximize own profit. The problem of how to develop optimal bidding strategies for competitive Genco in the electricity market was addressed for the first time [1] . Many strategic bidding models have been reported in recent years, which can be grouped into three main categories as follows: (i) estimating the Market Clearing Price (MCP): Bid price is slightly lower than the estimated price [2, 3] .

The problem of how to develop optimal bidding strategies for competitive Genco in the electricity market was addressed for the first time.

Many strategic bidding models have been reported in recent years, which can be grouped into three main categories as follows: (i) estimating the Market Clearing Price (MCP): Bid price is slightly lower than the estimated price.


The incidence of type 1 diabetes (T1D) is increasing worldwide. The relative annual increase varies between countries and has recently been reported to be on average 3.9% in Europe [1] . The increase is highest in children aged 1e4 years and data from Finland suggest that the increase is exponential rather than linear [2, 3] .

The relative annual increase varies between countries and has recently been reported to be on average 3.9% in Europe.

The increase is highest in children aged 1e4 years and data from Finland suggest that the increase is exponential rather than linear.


In a second step, these different samples were used as a basis with which to synthesize silver tungstate/molybdate (and vice-versa) composites. A strong enhancement of the low-energy photofluorescence band was evidenced in the example of α-Ag2WO4/β-Ag2MoO4. Middle-range disorder, induced by distortions of the polyhedral network and/or oxygen vacancies, was successfully invoked to explain photo-luminescence in this domain, as both created deep levels in the forbidden band. In the present case, we assumed that the pertinent defects were local, being created at the interface between the two compounds, where the MO6 octahedra and the MO4 tetrahedra interacted. In the reverse example of β-Ag2MoO4/β-Ag2WO4, these specific defects were absent, as both structures would contain MO4 tetrahedra: indeed, this sample exhibited only a small enhancement of the low-energy PL band, which could be related to the more usual approach taken here [58] . Theoretical calculations are in progress to gain further insight about this possible mechanism.

In the reverse example of β-Ag2MoO4/β-Ag2WO4, these specific defects were absent, as both structures would contain MO4 tetrahedra: indeed, this sample exhibited only a small enhancement of the low-energy PL band, which could be related to the more usual approach taken here.


The two approaches afforded the cubic β-Ag2MoO4; for the silver tungstate, however, the outcome was a very different result. The stable orthorhombic α-Ag2WO4 (i.e., Ag8W4O16 built from tetrameric species of four edgesharing distorted WO6 octahedra) was obtained, as usual, when using MAH synthesis. In contrast, the coprecipitation at pH 4 gave, at least as the primary phase, the metastable β-Ag2WO4, first reported more than thirty years ago and described as a hexagonal allotrope of silver tungstate. However, this compound was never characterized in more detail and its structure remains unknown. Meanwhile, even though we failed to find any isostructural compound in the literature, it can be speculated that β-Ag2WO4 derives more or less from the δ-Na2MoO4 type [59] . If this is the case, it will be constructed, similarly to the spinel-type γ-Ag2WO4 allotrope, from isolated WO4 tetrahedra. Work is currently in progress to verify this hypothesis. Nevertheless, we were able to obtain a value for its optical gap (3.3 eV) for the first time.

Meanwhile, even though we failed to find any isostructural compound in the literature, it can be speculated that β-Ag2WO4 derives more or less from the δ-Na2MoO4 type.


The IR spectrum of a) ACP-C 6 H 4 COOH is presented in Figure 3 along with that of the b) 4-carboxybenzenediazonium tetrafluoroborate. The IR spectrum of the former presents IR absorptions at 1698 cm -1 (-C=O stretch) and 1611 and 1584 cm -1 (-C=C stretch from aromatic ring) that are also present in the spectrum of the 4-carboxybenzenediazoniumtetrafluoroborate [31] . Furthermore, the absence of the -N≡N stretch corresponding to the diazonium group in ACP-C 6 H 4 COOH at 2310.3 cm -1 confirms a successful grafting reaction [14, 15, 31] .

The IR spectrum of the former presents IR absorptions at 1698 cm -1 (-C=O stretch) and 1611 and 1584 cm -1 (-C=C stretch from aromatic ring) that are also present in the spectrum of the 4-carboxybenzenediazoniumtetrafluoroborate.

Furthermore, the absence of the -N≡N stretch corresponding to the diazonium group in ACP-C 6 H 4 COOH at 2310.3 cm -1 confirms a successful grafting reaction.


The removal of organochlorine pesticides through the sorption process is an interesting way to dispose of these toxic molecules. We show that a significant increase in ACP performance can be achieved by controlling the interfacial properties of the sorbent by the covalent surface attachment of polyphenylene films. This modification is easily achieved (60 nm in an ultrasonic bath) by dediazonation of diazonium salts, leading to radicals that react with the carbon surface. We show that changing the bonded -C 6 H 5 group to -C 6 H 5 -COOH drastically improves the sorption efficiency of some of these modified ACPs. Moreover, this change is specific to the structure of the pesticide through steric effects. A large choice of readily available aromatic substituted amines permits to vary the functional groups (-OH, -halides, -CN, -SH, -COOH, -CHO, -C=O and so on) [15, 16] . These amines are readily transformed "in situ" to the corresponding diazonium salts, which permits tailoring of the surface properties of the sorbents, thereby opening a whole window of opportunities for possible selective adsorption of chemical species onto these sorbent surfaces. The results obtained in this study indicate that in aqueous solution, the sorption is favoured by O---Cl bonding between the pesticide and the film attached to the sorbent. Therefore, among the various possibilities mentioned above, films with high hydrogen bonding capacities should be favoured, such as aromatic groups with several COOH or NH 2 groups. We are presently investigating such routes.

A large choice of readily available aromatic substituted amines permits to vary the functional groups (-OH, -halides, -CN, -SH, -COOH, -CHO, -C=O and so on).


Developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH), previously known as congenital dislocation of the hip (CDH), is a common and well-documented condition primarily detected in neonates. The principal abnormality is hip instability affecting both acetabular and femoral development [19] . It is a spectrum of disease, ranging from the unstable hip, where the femoral head is well centered, but which displaces when force is applied, to the fully fixed dislocated hip [1] . DDH has a complex etiology, although research suggests it is more prevalent among first children, girls, those with a positive family history, and infants who were breech presentation [5, 21, 22, 24] . DDH in the UK is screened for neonatally using the Ortolani and Barlow tests, although ultrasound has proved a useful secondary tool [2, 5, 8, 23] . Early diagnosis allows usually successful treatment in a Pavlik harness. If this is unsuccessful or the diagnosis made late surgical treatment is necessary [5, 20] .

The principal abnormality is hip instability affecting both acetabular and femoral development.

It is a spectrum of disease, ranging from the unstable hip, where the femoral head is well centered, but which displaces when force is applied, to the fully fixed dislocated hip.

DDH has a complex etiology, although research suggests it is more prevalent among first children, girls, those with a positive family history, and infants who were breech presentation.

DDH in the UK is screened for neonatally using the Ortolani and Barlow tests, although ultrasound has proved a useful secondary tool.

If this is unsuccessful or the diagnosis made late surgical treatment is necessary.


The market demand for PBDEs has sharply increased and about 86% of the PBDEs were distributed in the Americas and Asia [2] . Known as a kind of persistent organic pollutants, PBDEs tend to accumulate in various environmental compartments [3] [4] [5] [6] . PBDEs have also been detected in food samples [7] . Concentrations of PBDEs in the environment and food have increased over time [8] . A recent study reported that PBDEs may cause neurodevelopmental and endocrine disruption toxic effects [9] .

The market demand for PBDEs has sharply increased and about 86% of the PBDEs were distributed in the Americas and Asia.

Known as a kind of persistent organic pollutants, PBDEs tend to accumulate in various environmental compartments.

PBDEs have also been detected in food samples.

Concentrations of PBDEs in the environment and food have increased over time.

A recent study reported that PBDEs may cause neurodevelopmental and endocrine disruption toxic effects.


The pH might have great influence on the formation of free radicals, which subsequently led to the differences in BDE 209 degradation under different pH conditions. The $OH was easily be formed under neutral and alkaline conditions [22, 23] . For this reason, the increase in pH led to the increase in removal efficiency in the pure water system. However, the influence of pH on the formation of free radicals in the THF/H 2 O system might be more complicated. Although $OH was easily be formed under alkaline conditions, higher pH may lead to the accumulation of free radical scavenger intermediates (e.g., tetrahydro-2-furanol) that could compete with BDE209 for $OH, which subsequently led to the decrease in the degradation of BDE209. Further study is needed to know these processes better.

The $OH was easily be formed under neutral and alkaline conditions.


Treatment: Not all compounds are equally effective against stages of development of F. hepatica in the body. For the treatment of acute Fasciolosis, it is essential to choose a product highly effective against the juveniles that damage the liver parenchyma. For chronic disease a compound active against adult fluke is required [14] . Triclabendazole (Fasinex) is considered as the most common drug due to its high efficacy against adult as well juvenile flukes. It is effective against adult F. hepatica at a dose rate of 7.5 mg/kg in sheep and 10 mg/kg in cattle. It is ovicidal and well kills any F. hepatica eggs present in the bile duct or the alimentary tract at the time of treatment. Clorsulon is supplied in combination with ivermectin for combined fluke and around warm control in cattle. Nitroxynil is given sub cutaneausly at 10 mg/kg and has good efficacy against the adult fluke but the dose has to be increase by up to 50% to obtain adequate control of acute disease [14] . Until recently treatment was not highly successful due to the in efficiency of the old drugs against the early parenchymal stages, however efficient drug are now available on the choice of Triclabendazole which remove all developing stages over one week old [18] .

For chronic disease a compound active against adult fluke is required.

Nitroxynil is given sub cutaneausly at 10 mg/kg and has good efficacy against the adult fluke but the dose has to be increase by up to 50% to obtain adequate control of acute disease.

Until recently treatment was not highly successful due to the in efficiency of the old drugs against the early parenchymal stages, however efficient drug are now available on the choice of Triclabendazole which remove all developing stages over one week old.


Final host: Hosts of Fasciola hepatica are most mammals including man, sheep and cattle, cattle being most important. F. gigantica affects a wide range of domestic animals and is found in low land areas replacing F. hepatica [14] . Infection is by ingestion of contaminated grass or hay and transmission to lamb in utero is possible but infrequent [16] . Adult sheep and cattle may remain carriers for many years because of the longevity of the adult flukes [14] .

F. gigantica affects a wide range of domestic animals and is found in low land areas replacing F. hepatica.

Infection is by ingestion of contaminated grass or hay and transmission to lamb in utero is possible but infrequent.

Adult sheep and cattle may remain carriers for many years because of the longevity of the adult flukes.


Control and prevention: Program charts for Fasciolosis control can be produced based on average rainfall and temperature records of any geographic regions [28] . Reduction of snail population before any scheme of snail control is under taken as a survey of the snail habitat should be made to determine whether they are localized or wide spread. When the snail habitat is limited simple method of control is to fence off these areas or treat annually with a molluscides. Currently cupper sulphate is most widely used and more efficient molluscides such as N-trityl morphine [17] [18] . Control of snail by chemical such as niclosamide, sodium penta chlorophenate, cupper sulphate focally and seasonally possible, however, usually not practical due to labor, high cost, environmental consideration and rapid colonization of snail habitat [18] .

Control and prevention: Program charts for Fasciolosis control can be produced based on average rainfall and temperature records of any geographic regions.

Currently cupper sulphate is most widely used and more efficient molluscides such as N-trityl morphine.

Control of snail by chemical such as niclosamide, sodium penta chlorophenate, cupper sulphate focally and seasonally possible, however, usually not practical due to labor, high cost, environmental consideration and rapid colonization of snail habitat.


The work in this paper focuses on two grades of graphite for potential use in future generations of high temperature reactors. IG110 is a fine-grained graphite of isotropic macroscopic properties which is currently in use in the Japanese High Temperature Test Reactor (HTTR), which first reached criticality in November 1998 [5] . It also remains a possibility for Generation IV high temperature reactors. Another possibility for high temperature reactors is PGX -a medium grained semi-isotropic graphite. The use of these two grades allows an effective comparison of the proposed methodology for grades of varying pore and particle sizes.

IG110 is a fine-grained graphite of isotropic macroscopic properties which is currently in use in the Japanese High Temperature Test Reactor (HTTR), which first reached criticality in November 1998.


This paper presents a methodology for construction of a meso-scale site-bond 3D lattice accounting for experimentally measured particle and pore size distributions as an extension on previous work [20] . A parametric study between a surface-based damage parameter and a standard mechanical damage parameter under uni-axial tension is used to establish a relationship between the volume fraction of distributed pores and progressive mechanical damage. It is demonstrated how the increase of porosity due, for example, to radiation-induced microstructure changes, embrittles the material, which can provide a scientific underpinning for integrity assessment of aging graphite components.

This paper presents a methodology for construction of a meso-scale site-bond 3D lattice accounting for experimentally measured particle and pore size distributions as an extension on previous work.


One point to be noted is that in the present work the increase of porosity has not been accompanied by any change in the statistical pore size distribution. In some cases this could be unrealistic. However, the model provides the means to calculate the failure energy should changes in size distribution and volume density of pores be measured experimentally. In addition, the results presented here are specific to uniaxial loading and hence useful for prediction of fracture energy. The methodology, however, can be used to derive damage evolution laws for incorporation in continuum-base finite element analysis of cracked components. It has been previously shown that under more complex stress states, such plane stress existing ahead of a crack front, the evolution of damage results in an elastic anisotropy [28] . Derivation of a damage tensor for such loading cases under the proposed methodology will be a subject of further publications.

It has been previously shown that under more complex stress states, such plane stress existing ahead of a crack front, the evolution of damage results in an elastic anisotropy.


The predicted failure stress in the virgin states can be compared to the limited data available for these grades [30] . The comparison shows that our predictions are half of the mean experimental values reported. The reason for this discrepancy could be the assumption for the spring behaviour shown in Fig. 4 , where a large softening branch has been introduced. This was done by considering that the graphite matrix contains a system of nano-pores, which could act as a lower-scale softening mechanism. On the other side the selected separation energy of the matrix does not include the presence of nano-porosity. These options require further consideration. With the current separation energy the results suggest that the spring behaviour should be assumed with negligible softening, in which case the stress values shown in Fig. 5 would roughly double.

The predicted failure stress in the virgin states can be compared to the limited data available for these grades.


Component-scale failure of graphite has been shown to be dependent on its discrete multiphase microstructure, with the primary failure mechanism being the coalescence of micro-cracks into a critically sized flaw [6] . Such a response is considered to be a property of the class of quasi-brittle materials, allowing graphite to be considered alongside rock, concrete and cement in its failure behaviour. Distinctive properties of quasi-brittle materials include a reduced stiffness upon loading prior to failure and a residual load carrying capacity beyond the peak load [7] . The initial softening appears similar to plasticity although the individual phases remain brittle.

Component-scale failure of graphite has been shown to be dependent on its discrete multiphase microstructure, with the primary failure mechanism being the coalescence of micro-cracks into a critically sized flaw.

Distinctive properties of quasi-brittle materials include a reduced stiffness upon loading prior to failure and a residual load carrying capacity beyond the peak load.


It can be seen for IG110 graphite, Fig. 6(a) , at relatively low values of applied strain (<0.03) the D E for all porosity volume fractions is increasing, with a greater rate of increase for higher porosity volume fractions. This is an expected behaviour and suggests non-linearity in the corresponding stress-strain curves, Fig. 6(a) , which is not clearly identifiable for all curves due to the scales used. The damage evolution in IG110 continues with increasing rate at the virgin state; with increasing but smaller rate at 30% porosity; but with decreasing rate at 60% porosity prior to failure. Similar damage evolution behaviour is observed in PGX, Fig. 6(b) , where however, the 40% porosity exhibits decreasing damage evolution rate before failure, and the 60% porosity exhibits a negligible increase of D E before failure. The observed behaviour of decreasing damage evolution rates at higher porosities suggest that the graphite grades studied exhibit "avalanche" behaviour, typical of purely brittle failure. The bonds remaining in the corresponding models continue to carry the load until the sudden simultaneous rupture of all bonds required for sample disintegration. This is particularly pronounced in PGX at 60% porosity where practically no mechanical damage developed prior to final failure. The avalanche behaviour is potentially the result of the large number of pores required on each bond to reach the high pore volume fractions. Consequently the accumulated pore size and from there the failure strength of all bonds is approximately equal, specifically in 60% porosity PGX. This results in a simultaneous rapture of a bond population critical for the sample integrity. Although the result that higher porosity embrittles the material may seem counter-intuitive, it correlates with the observations that irradiation causes porosity increase and reduction of fracture toughness [29] .

Although the result that higher porosity embrittles the material may seem counter-intuitive, it correlates with the observations that irradiation causes porosity increase and reduction of fracture toughness.


The work extends the site-bond 3D lattice model developed by Jivkov and Yates [19] . Sites at the centre of unit cells are connected to neighbouring sites by bonds. Previous work on this model using beam elements as bonds have demonstrated its ability to represent isotropic elastic materials with Poisson's ratio between -1 and 0.5 [19] . One of the issues with using beam elements is that no unique correspondence between the discrete and the continuum response of a cell can be established without the use of generalised continuum theory [19] . Therefore, in the current work bundles of linear springs are used to replace the beam elements as bonds.

The work extends the site-bond 3D lattice model developed by Jivkov and Yates.

Previous work on this model using beam elements as bonds have demonstrated its ability to represent isotropic elastic materials with Poisson's ratio between -1 and 0.5.

One of the issues with using beam elements is that no unique correspondence between the discrete and the continuum response of a cell can be established without the use of generalised continuum theory.


In this way the macro-scale dependence on these microstructural failure mechanisms can be recreated in a physically realistic manner.Most current local approaches, such as weakest link (WL) assumptions, are phenomenological, with parameters calculated by curve fitting to macroscopic experimental data [9] . Such approaches do not account for the chain of events leading to macroscopic failure, from micro-crack nucleation, through micro-crack interaction and to coalescence, observable at the microscale of quasi-brittle materials [10] .

Most current local approaches, such as weakest link (WL) assumptions, are phenomenological, with parameters calculated by curve fitting to macroscopic experimental data.

Such approaches do not account for the chain of events leading to macroscopic failure, from micro-crack nucleation, through micro-crack interaction and to coalescence, observable at the microscale of quasi-brittle materials.


It should be mentioned that in the wastewater treatment plants ''Myszków,'' in 2002 the Gram-negative bacteria contributed about 35% to the total bacterial aerosol, while in this study, their contribution did not exceed 8.5% what can indicate that the hygienic and technological advancement has been improved in Polish WWTPs during the last decade (Wlazło et al. 2002) . The reduction in Gram-negative bacteria emission should still remain as one of the purposes to improve the environmental quality in WWTPs. Other studies, reviewing the main health effects among the workers revealed that even though the case of the symptoms is unknown, the results suggested that endotoxin in Gram-negative bacteria may be one of the possible causes (Thorn and Kerekes 2001) .

It should be mentioned that in the wastewater treatment plants ''Myszków,'' in 2002 the Gram-negative bacteria contributed about 35% to the total bacterial aerosol, while in this study, their contribution did not exceed 8.5% what can indicate that the hygienic and technological advancement has been improved in Polish WWTPs during the last decade.

Other studies, reviewing the main health effects among the workers revealed that even though the case of the symptoms is unknown, the results suggested that endotoxin in Gram-negative bacteria may be one of the possible causes.


Analysis of different temporal performances of laundry revealed that individuals have a repertoire of laundry practices (Table 3: ). The four temporal types identified accounted for just under half of all laundry half-hours in 1985 and 2005 and the most notable increases were in early morning weekday and Sunday morning laundry. Weekday evening peak laundry comprised 14% of laundry half hours suggesting that addressing their laundry habits may prove of benefit in the demand response context although recent work suggests that this may be difficult to achieve (Nicholls and Strengers, 2015) .

Weekday evening peak laundry comprised 14% of laundry half hours suggesting that addressing their laundry habits may prove of benefit in the demand response context although recent work suggests that this may be difficult to achieve.


The world fertility has been declining steadily since 1950s with major contributions from the declines that took place in China and India (Wilson, 2001) . India, being the second largest country in the world in terms of population, was worried about it population growth in the wake of mortality decline and subsequent rise in life expectancy in the post-independence period (Visaria & Chari, 1998) . This led to the implantation of the first-ever official family planning program in the world by the Government of India in 1952. The result was obvious in the form of the beginning of fertility decline in India in the first half of 1960s. However, some northern and central Indian states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh could not be the part of the process until 1980. In fact, their current total fertility rates are still relatively very high (Guilmoto & Rajan, 2004; Balabdaoui et al., 2001) . High fertility levels not only have several adverse implications for societies but also for individuals. Since these states constitute a great chunk of India's population, they are the major players that would determine future socioeconomic and demographic situation of the country. Hence, quick and substantial reduction in fertility in low resource settings, such as these states, is a highly desirable goal.

The world fertility has been declining steadily since 1950s with major contributions from the declines that took place in China and India.

India, being the second largest country in the world in terms of population, was worried about it population growth in the wake of mortality decline and subsequent rise in life expectancy in the post-independence period.

In fact, their current total fertility rates are still relatively very high.


Family planning being a viable solution to control such fast growing populations, not only helps in spacing and limiting the number of children, but also improves maternal and child health, empowers women and boosts economic development. However, a large proportion of women from reproductive ages who want to stop or space childbearing are unable to use family planning methods. Demographers and health specialists refer to these women as having an "unmet need" for family planning. Limited access to family planning results in high rates of unintended pregnancies, millions of unsafe abortions and thousands of maternal deaths (Bradley et al., 2012) . The unmet need for family planning is defined as the proportion of married women of reproductive age who are not using any method but would like to postpone the next pregnancy i.e. unmet need for spacing or who do not want any more children i.e. unmet need for limiting (Westoff, 1988) . Thus, unmet need for family planning is a discrepancy between expressed fertility goals and contraceptive practice.

Limited access to family planning results in high rates of unintended pregnancies, millions of unsafe abortions and thousands of maternal deaths.

The unmet need for family planning is defined as the proportion of married women of reproductive age who are not using any method but would like to postpone the next pregnancy i.e. unmet need for spacing or who do not want any more children i.e. unmet need for limiting.


The phenomena observed through this modelling and simulation study, such as angular quadrupoles of disclinations, may be responsible for many of the unique material properties of materials exhibiting lamellar ordering [14] . Past theoretical and experimental studies have provided insight into much of the phenomena presented, but numerical simulation of finer-grained models is currently the only way to study these phenomena further. The simulation results presented show that the use of a high-order phenomenological model and experimentally based model parameters results in a substantially more complete reproduction of the physical smectic-A system. Though current computational resources restrict this initial work to two-dimensions, these results show a strong correlation to experimental observations of some of the complex curvature defects found in smectic liquid crystals. These promising results show that three-dimensional simulation of this model could be used to study the formation and dynamics of focal-conic defects on length and time scales currently unaccessible via experimental study.

The phenomena observed through this modelling and simulation study, such as angular quadrupoles of disclinations, may be responsible for many of the unique material properties of materials exhibiting lamellar ordering.


This work, using modelling and simulation in two-dimensions, studies the firstorder isotropic/smectic-A mesophase transition. Model parameters were determined, in part, using experimental data from 12CB (dodecyl-cyanobiphenyl) [13] . Simulation of a temperature quench below the lower stability limit of the isotropic phase was performed. The resulting coarsening kinetics, defect structure, and dynamics are the focus of this work. The simulation results presented for the two-dimensional smectic-A system show strong agreement with experimental observations of a system with the same symmetries, self-assembled cylindrical block copolymer films [4, 5] . In addition to experimental agreement, simulation results show a mesoscopically complete view of the defect interaction process. As explained in full detail below, we find that disclination interactions are facilitated by curvature walls connecting them. These curvature walls are also found to be key in the formation of split-core dislocations where pairs of interacting disclinations of opposite sign form dislocations of high Burger's vector. Quadrupolar configurations of disclinations are found to dominate defect interactions in the intermediate coarsening regime. The presence of these disclination configurations result in interesting rheological properties of many different materials exhibiting smectic ordering [14] .

Model parameters were determined, in part, using experimental data from 12CB (dodecyl-cyanobiphenyl).

The simulation results presented for the two-dimensional smectic-A system show strong agreement with experimental observations of a system with the same symmetries, self-assembled cylindrical block copolymer films.

The presence of these disclination configurations result in interesting rheological properties of many different materials exhibiting smectic ordering.


Operative and perioperative outcomes are shown in table 2. Median length of procedure was 7.5 hours (range [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] . Sixty percent (31/51) of cases utilized renal ischemia with hilar clamping with median time of 31 (range 8-136). The median intraoperative blood loss was 1,800 mL (range 50 -21,500) and 64.7% (33/51) of patients required intraoperative transfusions with a median of 2 (range 0-31) units transfused. The median number of tumors removed was 7 (range 1-55) with median size of the largest solid lesion resected of 3.5 cm (range 0.9-6.5).

Median length of procedure was 7.5 hours (range.


This fatal disorder usually presents at first months of life, especially first six months with widespread involvement of joints, skin, gastrointestinal tract and other parts. Joints usually are the first involved areas with swelling, pain and limited range of motions. Patients become disabled. Bones start to become osteoporotic and prone to multiple bone fractures. Skin is another involved part which becomes thickened and covered by purplish papules especially gathered on face, neck and ears. The scattered fibrous nodules on chest wall, hypertrophic gum and prominent nodules around the anus are the other manifestations of involved skin [2] .

Patients become disabled.

The scattered fibrous nodules on chest wall, hypertrophic gum and prominent nodules around the anus are the other manifestations of involved skin.


Among various game types, a repeated game consists of some number of repetitions of a stage game. Such a game is generally divided into two categories: finitely and infinitely repeated game, depending on whether interactions among players are finite or infinite. Players in a repeated game must consider the effects produced by their current chosen strategies on the opponents' strategies in subsequent rounds [31] . The same stage game, when played repeatedly, may result in different equilibriums. Therefore, each player must take optimal reactions against the opponent, which will affect one's payoffs in future.

Players in a repeated game must consider the effects produced by their current chosen strategies on the opponents' strategies in subsequent rounds.


Euphorbia hirta commonly known as asthma weed has traditionally been used in Asia to treat bronchitic asthma, laryngeal spasm and various other lung complaints though in modern herbalism, it is used more in the treatment of intestinal amoebic dysentery. The aerial parts of the plant are harvested at the flowering stage, during the summer and air dried for later use. The stem taken internally is famed as a treatment for asthma, bronchitis and various other lung complaints. The herb relaxes the bronchioles but apparently depresses the heart and general respiration (Kokwaro, 1993) . It is usually used in combination with other anti-asthma herbs such as Grindelia camporum and Lobelia inflate (Kokwaro, 1993) . The whole plant is decocted and used in the treatment of athletes foot, dysentery, enteritis and skin conditions. It has been used in the treatment of syphilis (Duke, 1985) . The sap from Euphorbia hirta is used to suppress warts (Duke, 1985) . In Nigeria, crude extracts of the plant are used as ear drops and in the treatment of boils, sores and promoting wound healing (Anon, 2005) . This study was aimed at determining the antibacterial effect of Euphorbia hirta on some pathogenic organisms (S. pneumoniae, Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella pneumoniae).

The herb relaxes the bronchioles but apparently depresses the heart and general respiration.

It is usually used in combination with other anti-asthma herbs such as Grindelia camporum and Lobelia inflate.

It has been used in the treatment of syphilis.

The sap from Euphorbia hirta is used to suppress warts.

In Nigeria, crude extracts of the plant are used as ear drops and in the treatment of boils, sores and promoting wound healing.


Many new mobile devices now use touchscreens rather than physical keyboards (the Apple iPhone is a current example). These add display flexibility (there is no need for a physical keyboard so the screen can be made bigger) at the expense of text entry (the lack of tactile feedback reduces typing performance [3] ). One problem comes in targeting small buttons and widgets on a touchscreen. Hitting a small button with a large finger is error prone, especially when there is no tactile feedback. This gets worse for uppercase or punctuation characters where the shift key and a character key must be pressed, giving two chances of error. The aim of our work is to facilitate the entry of shifted characters by reducing the number of keys the user has to target and press from two to one, potentially reducing errors and time.

These add display flexibility (there is no need for a physical keyboard so the screen can be made bigger) at the expense of text entry (the lack of tactile feedback reduces typing performance).


Outbreaks of bark beetles are not new. They have been occurring for millennia and have played a major role in shaping coniferous forest ecosystems of the world. While considerable research has been conducted on controlling bark beetles, massive gaps in knowledge remain. In particular, there is a disturbing dearth of rigorous replicated empirical studies assessing the effects of various management strategies, particularly timber harvest treatments, for bark beetle outbreak suppression. Even fewer studies have focused on how such treatments meet explicit goals or affect forest structure, function and future outbreak dynamics [6] . Particularly pertinent at this time, there is a lack of information to address forest adaptation to climate change in light of increasingly "out of historic norm" behavior of bark beetles. Despite this, there is a widespread belief in the policy arena that timber harvesting is an effective and necessary tool to address beetle infestations. That belief has led to proposals for, and enactment of, significant changes in federal environmental laws to encourage more timber harvests. Our question is, does that belief have a sound grounding in current science?

Outbreaks of bark beetles are not new.

Even fewer studies have focused on how such treatments meet explicit goals or affect forest structure, function and future outbreak dynamics.


Asthma is a disease with its origins in early life. Maternal asthma is a risk factor for asthma in children [1] . Study demonstrated that some components in uterus or early postnatal environment might cause increase of asthma susceptibility in offspring [2] . Epigenetic studies suggested that environmental factors exposed to pregnant mothers were closely related to the childhood asthmatic phenotypes, especially after the birth [3, 4] . However, the pathogenesis is complex and not entirely understood.

Maternal asthma is a risk factor for asthma in children.

Study demonstrated that some components in uterus or early postnatal environment might cause increase of asthma susceptibility in offspring.

Epigenetic studies suggested that environmental factors exposed to pregnant mothers were closely related to the childhood asthmatic phenotypes, especially after the birth.


The Ghanaian Ministry of Health guidelines for STI management utilizes the WHO recommended syndromic approach to patient evaluation and treatment due to the lack of cost-effective laboratory tests [8] [9] [10] . Syndromic management is an approach in which clinical algorithms for commonly presenting signs and symptoms (e.g., painful urination and urethral discharge) are used to define cases [11] . In low resource settings, the syndromic approach can be used as a tool to aid diagnosis, and treat STIs.

The Ghanaian Ministry of Health guidelines for STI management utilizes the WHO recommended syndromic approach to patient evaluation and treatment due to the lack of cost-effective laboratory tests.

Syndromic management is an approach in which clinical algorithms for commonly presenting signs and symptoms (e.g., painful urination and urethral discharge) are used to define cases.


Reserve Bank (SARB) will in turn responds to changes in equity returns. So far, the theoretical literature has identified two channels through which changes in interest rates are linked with the stock market (Moya-Martinez et. al., 2015) . Firstly, interest rates are directly linked to the discount rate which is used for equity evaluation purposes. Secondly, interest rate movements are linked to a firms' expectations about future cash flows by altering the cost of financing.

So far, the theoretical literature has identified two channels through which changes in interest rates are linked with the stock market.


Single crystalline (SX) nickel-based superalloys have been more and more widely used as high temperature materials in aircraft turbines as well as in land-based gas turbines [1] . For larger SX turbine blades required in the latter, which contains larger defects such as casting micropores or freckles, short cracks can be easily initiated therein and lead to fatigue failure [1, 2] . For low cycle fatigue concerned regarding to the cyclic plastic deformation during start up, shut down or maintenance, understanding of the short crack propagation can be of significance in the fatigue life prediction and material design of turbine components. It's known for polycrystalline alloys that the short crack can propagate much more rapid than the long crack and what's more, it shows great dependence on the local microstructures, such as grain boundaries and inclusions etc [3] . For precipitate-hardened SX superalloy without grain boundaries, experimental studies on short/long fatigue crack propagation of different alloy systems haven't produced conclusive results [1, [3] [4] [5] .

Single crystalline (SX) nickel-based superalloys have been more and more widely used as high temperature materials in aircraft turbines as well as in land-based gas turbines.

For larger SX turbine blades required in the latter, which contains larger defects such as casting micropores or freckles, short cracks can be easily initiated therein and lead to fatigue failure.

It's known for polycrystalline alloys that the short crack can propagate much more rapid than the long crack and what's more, it shows great dependence on the local microstructures, such as grain boundaries and inclusions etc.

For precipitate-hardened SX superalloy without grain boundaries, experimental studies on short/long fatigue crack propagation of different alloy systems haven't produced conclusive results.


The experimental unit was represented by a pot with 5.28 dm 3 , made with PVC pipe with 150 mm internal diameter and 300 mm in height, comprised of three 100 mm rings joined with "silver tape" adhesive. The upper and lower rings were filled with 1.0 Mg•m −3 density soil, while the intermediate rings were subjected to 1.0, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8 Mg•m −3 compression levels (Figure 2) . At the bottom of the experimental unit, a 1 mm polyethylene mesh was used to close the base of the pots, which was affixed with a rubber obtained by a cross-section of an automotive air chamber [14] . To determine the soil weight to be used for each density level, Equation (2) was used.

At the bottom of the experimental unit, a 1 mm polyethylene mesh was used to close the base of the pots, which was affixed with a rubber obtained by a cross-section of an automotive air chamber.