Previous international studies showed several initiatives for developing outcome sets for low back pain [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] . Most of these core outcome sets were developed for clinical trial purposes and have not been tested with regard to relevance and feasibility in the evaluation of quality of care in daily practice. Few studies on NSLBP in physiotherapy showed a good relationship of higher guideline adherence with better outcomes and less utilization of care [3, 15] . This stresses the value of gaining insight into outcomes on a larger scale. Successful implementation of outcome measures in daily practice can be improved by stakeholder engagement in quality improvement initiatives [16, 17] . It is therefore important to include all relevant stakeholders in Dutch physiotherapy concerning NSLBP in the development of the current standard set of outcomes.

Previous international studies showed several initiatives for developing outcome sets for low back pain.

Few studies on NSLBP in physiotherapy showed a good relationship of higher guideline adherence with better outcomes and less utilization of care.

Successful implementation of outcome measures in daily practice can be improved by stakeholder engagement in quality improvement initiatives.


A possible technique to resolve all those problems is to generate paraphrases. Paraphrases are alternative ways of expressing the same information within one or more languages (Callison-burch, 2007) . The benefits of paraphrasing are multiple: the unknown words will be reduced, the MT output will be better understandable, the accuracy of the meaning will be the same etc.

Paraphrases are alternative ways of expressing the same information within one or more languages.


Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is an increasing public health burden, leading to increased risk of other metabolic diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease [1] [2] [3] . In particular, Asian populations have relatively lower body mass index (BMI) and obesity rates than Western populations, but the prevalence of MetS has been increasing [4, 5] . Considering that Asian society has been aging, it is anticipated that this increasing trend will continue; thus, it is critical to identify risk factors associated with MetS in Asian populations.

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is an increasing public health burden, leading to increased risk of other metabolic diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

In particular, Asian populations have relatively lower body mass index (BMI) and obesity rates than Western populations, but the prevalence of MetS has been increasing.


Our quantification of the contribution of PA to sustainability started with a detailed listing of inputs, outputs, and externalities. Many methods to measure sustainability start with this step. This first step provides valuable insight into the effect of using PA but it leaves unanswered the kind of question that was posed in the Introduction section, namely do we increase sustainability when pesticide use is reduced by a certain amount and fuel use is increased by a certain other amount? In order to answer this and similar questions, ultimately sustainability must be quantified using hard measurements which can be subjected to rigorous analysis [74] . In this paper we attempt to progress towards such analysis by making explicit the trade-off between incompatible quantities. We use shadow prices to express all quantities using a common denominator. This enabled us to subtract both conventional costs and (external) environmental costs from revenue and thus calculate social profit as an aggregated measure of sustainability.

In order to answer this and similar questions, ultimately sustainability must be quantified using hard measurements which can be subjected to rigorous analysis.


Our shadow prices for pollution are such that the effect on sustainability as measured with social profit is not very large. This gives rise to the feeling that there is a discrepancy between the intuitive importance of reducing pesticide use and the magnitude of the calculated effect on sustainability. This may be due at least in part to how we calculate the environmental cost of using pesticides. EIQ is probably the best measure available [78] . However, it provides an underestimation because it does not take into account the external costs associated with acute and chronic pesticide poisoning of humans, the long term effects on the environment, and synergetic and multiplicative effects of the use of pesticides. There is insufficient data available to take these mechanisms into account.

EIQ is probably the best measure available.


PA techniques can be classified as recording, reacting, or guidance techniques [4] . A recording technique measures the status of crop, soil, weeds, pests, or diseases, typically using sensors on mobile equipment. Examples are soil scans, canopy reflectance measurements, weed detection using cameras, yield monitors on grain combines or potato harvesters, and sensors mounted on satellites, airplanes and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) [5, 6] . Typical examples of reacting techniques are variable rate application of fertilizers and pesticides, usually on the basis of prepared maps, but this can also be on-the-go in response to a sensor signal. The most ubiquitous guidance technique is Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) based auto-steering for tractors and other machinery which reduces overlap between tractor passes and reduces operator fatigue [7] . Guidance techniques are also the foundation of Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF).

PA techniques can be classified as recording, reacting, or guidance techniques.

Examples are soil scans, canopy reflectance measurements, weed detection using cameras, yield monitors on grain combines or potato harvesters, and sensors mounted on satellites, airplanes and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

The most ubiquitous guidance technique is Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) based auto-steering for tractors and other machinery which reduces overlap between tractor passes and reduces operator fatigue.


Noise is regarded by many people as a health threatening burden. Very well confirmed is that exposures above 85 decibel (Acoustic) (dB(A)) are a cause for damaging the according cells and, therefore, leading to impairment of hearing and, subsequently, to deafness [15, 16] . This forms the basis of legal regulations protecting workers from the adverse effects of occupational loud noise in Germany concurring with the respective EU regulations [17] . In these regulations the use of noise protection devices at exposures starting at 80 dB(A) (''lower exposure action value'') is recommended, with mandatory use of noise protection devices starting at 85 dB(A) (''higher exposure action value'').

Very well confirmed is that exposures above 85 decibel (Acoustic) (dB(A)) are a cause for damaging the according cells and, therefore, leading to impairment of hearing and, subsequently, to deafness.

This forms the basis of legal regulations protecting workers from the adverse effects of occupational loud noise in Germany concurring with the respective EU regulations.


In present work, the effect of MC on F is apparently exerted just through the synthesis of IL-1α-like substances, SF, on the contrary, possibly may have an effect on MC through any other molecules, e.g., ROS, generated by F. Earlier, the level of ROS in MC was shown to be much lower than that in F [45] . ROS are known to possess not only cytotoxic properties-they also can serve as secondary messengers, taking a part in regulation of the state of intracellular redox systems, activity of protein kinases, and regulation of cell reactions such as proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis [46] . Particularly Н 2 O 2 activates a transcriptional factor NF-kB that results in induction of a number of pro-inflammatory cytokines in vertebrates [47, 48] . At the same time, there are numerous data concerning H 2 O 2 as a key signal in dexamethasone-induced apoptosis [49] . Further studies on oxidant-antioxidant balance of the cells during cooperation may clear the question on ROS part in this process.

In present work, the effect of MC on F is apparently exerted just through the synthesis of IL-1α-like substances, SF, on the contrary, possibly may have an effect on MC through any other molecules, e.g., ROS, generated by F. Earlier, the level of ROS in MC was shown to be much lower than that in F.

ROS are known to possess not only cytotoxic properties-they also can serve as secondary messengers, taking a part in regulation of the state of intracellular redox systems, activity of protein kinases, and regulation of cell reactions such as proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis.

Particularly Н 2 O 2 activates a transcriptional factor NF-kB that results in induction of a number of pro-inflammatory cytokines in vertebrates.

At the same time, there are numerous data concerning H 2 O 2 as a key signal in dexamethasone-induced apoptosis.


In this study, we prepared biomass-derived aerogels from watermelon flesh using a hydrothermal reaction, followed by carbonization. Chemical activation was conducted at various temperatures using KOH to enhance the hydrogen storage capacity of the aerogels. Potassium is produced during K 2 O activation at a high temperature, and it was found that the formation of pores was due to the loss of carbon. The SEM images that are shown in Fig.  2 also indicate the effects of the activation temperature. It can be seen that KOH activation changed the sample particle size and fineness. K-900-BCA has fine particles and regular granules compared with the other K-T-BCAs and BCA. This might be attributed to the erosion of BCAs caused by the higher activation temperature. Fig. 3 shows the nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms at 77 K. BCA and K-T-BCAs appear to have Type 1 isotherms without a noticeable hysteresis loop, which is typical of physisorption in microporous materials [25] . Most of the pores were filled below a relative pressure of about 0.1, indicating that these samples have high microporosity. However, K-800-BCA and K-900-BCA show a slight hysteresis loop and increased adsorption volume of nitrogen at a relative pressure of about 1.0. These results show that the microstructure was destroyed and the macropores were formed at higher activation temperatures.

Fig. 3 shows the nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms at 77 K. BCA and K-T-BCAs appear to have Type 1 isotherms without a noticeable hysteresis loop, which is typical of physisorption in microporous materials.


There are two activation methods that are used for BCAs: 1) chemical activation and 2) physical activation [20, 21] . Chemical activation is conducted using acidic or basic chemicals such as H 3 PO 4 , KOH, Na 2 CO 3 , and NaOH and can lead to high specific surface area and microporosity as a consequence of erosion and oxidation. Physical activation requires an oxidizing gas, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide etc.

There are two activation methods that are used for BCAs: 1) chemical activation and 2) physical activation.


Given the difficulties measuring and interpreting vaccine responses, we suggest that these are placed in the category of supportive criteria. Again, if vaccine responses are being undertaken, it is important to compare the results with those of age-matched controls rather than protective levels. We suggest that adequate but transient vaccine responses should also be considered abnormal [62] . Serological support for patients with autoimmune manifestations in category B is included in this section.

We suggest that adequate but transient vaccine responses should also be considered abnormal.


However, structural optimisation has been the subject of a larger body of research works, where manufacturability is usually neglected. As a result, few examples exist of practical applications of curvilinear fibre laminates. Besides the design of variable stiffness laminates, fibre steering becomes necessary in high-complexity structures. Frequently, fibre paths cannot follow the designed constant fibre orientation in a layer due to the part geometry (e.g. double curvature), which is dealt manually on a case-by-case basis. Hence, generic capabilities for the design of fibre-steered laminates and analysis of manufacturing features are required [89] .

Hence, generic capabilities for the design of fibre-steered laminates and analysis of manufacturing features are required.


This method reduces the number of design variables an ease the consideration of manufacturing constraints while modelling continuous paths. However, the design space is limited due to the pre-specified set of possibilities [68] . A streamline analogy, also known as a fluid flow analogy, has been employed to compute continuous fibre paths from discrete fibre angles [4, 21, 23, 31, 59, 69, 70] .

However, the design space is limited due to the pre-specified set of possibilities.

A streamline analogy, also known as a fluid flow analogy, has been employed to compute continuous fibre paths from discrete fibre angles.


In fact, the sample had no adjunct complication except for hewing loss. As control group, 238 normal children (110 male, 128 female) with the mean age of 52.13 ± 9.36 months were randomly selected from 20 zones of Tehran kindergartens. For vowels analysis speech samples including six unisylabic standard vocal contexts, [hud,hod,had,hoed,hed,hid] were tape recorded and played for children, then they were asked to repeat each word after listening [17] .

For vowels analysis speech samples including six unisylabic standard vocal contexts, [hud,hod,had,hoed,hed,hid] were tape recorded and played for children, then they were asked to repeat each word after listening.


Acetic acid bacteria are obligate aerobic Gram negative bacteria. They are able to oxidize ethanol to acetic acid. On the basis of their abilities to over oxidize acetate or lactate and the positions of their flagella, these bacteria were categorized into two genera-Acetobacter and Gluconobacter [6] [7] . Acetobacter oxidize ethanol more efficiently than glucose. On the other hand Gluconobacter utilize glucose more than ethanol. Acetobacter is the most useful strains in vinegar production than Gluconobacter which is used for industrial purposes such as fermentation of ketogluconic acid, sorbose and dihydroxyacetone [8] .

On the basis of their abilities to over oxidize acetate or lactate and the positions of their flagella, these bacteria were categorized into two genera-Acetobacter and Gluconobacter.

Acetobacter is the most useful strains in vinegar production than Gluconobacter which is used for industrial purposes such as fermentation of ketogluconic acid, sorbose and dihydroxyacetone.


The infective domain of dengue virus envelope is responsible for virus attachment and entry to host cells and is considered as a promising subunit for its neutralizing epitopes and host cells receptor recognition site. It has been reported that the E protein maybe an effective subunit vaccine candidate because of its capacity to bind with host cell surface receptors. Also it has the ability to elicit protective antibodies against virus infection [12] . Recombinant E protein has been expressed in different expression systems like E. coli and P. pastoris [13, 14] .

Also it has the ability to elicit protective antibodies against virus infection.

Recombinant E protein has been expressed in different expression systems like E. coli and P. pastoris.


In the present study E protein was expressed in E. coli and labeled with biotin after purification. The recombinant fusion protein could inhibit plaque formations in the host cell caused by dengue viral infections up to greater than 80 %. Recombinant domain III protein fused with His tag was checked for immunogenicity and it was again more than 90 % active immunologically. An earlier study showed that the recombinant domain III protein fused with Protein A was not immunogenic. The high binding affinity of Protein A to human immunoglobulins makes it impossible to use such proteins as a vaccine candidate [15] . In this study, a domain III fragment (295 -400 aa) of DEN-2 E protein expressed in E. coli with a His tag carrier protein was produced because his tag is very small and doesn't interfere with E-protein's immunologic activity. His tag offers the advantage that it is poorly immunogenic and need not be removed from the recombinant protein. The use of the 6XHis tag obviates the need of subjecting the recombinant domain III protein to protease treatment and the inherent risk of recombinant protein degradation [16] . To identify the human cellular proteins interacting with the envelope protein of dengue virus serotype 2 inside host cells protein-protein interaction has been focused in present study. Protein-protein interaction studies are recent ideas for studying interaction of viral particles with host cells [17] [18] [19] [20] .

The high binding affinity of Protein A to human immunoglobulins makes it impossible to use such proteins as a vaccine candidate.

The use of the 6XHis tag obviates the need of subjecting the recombinant domain III protein to protease treatment and the inherent risk of recombinant protein degradation.

Protein-protein interaction studies are recent ideas for studying interaction of viral particles with host cells.


Electro eluted 45 KDa, 43 KDa and 30 KDa proteins added to vero cells prior to virus infection inhibited virus binding and increased cell viability. This feature may be attributed to decreased apoptosis in the cells due to pre stimulation by eluted proteins. It was previously described by us that infection with dengue virus increases apoptosis and decreases cell viability [6] .

It was previously described by us that infection with dengue virus increases apoptosis and decreases cell viability.


Note, that Type IIB orientifolds on these non-factorisable orbifolds are technically much simpler and partition functions could be computed fairly straightforwardly [39, 40] . However, it was found there that certain Type IIB Z N orientifolds with N even do not allow for tadpole cancelling configurations of D9 and D5 branes [41, 40, 42] . We would like to point out that first the Type IIA models considered here are not T-dual to the Type IIB models mentioned above and second that in our case we always find tadpole cancelling configurations. This is surely related to the fact that here only untwisted and almost trivial Z 2 twisted sector tadpoles appear, whereas in the Type IIB case twisted tadpoles in all sectors do arise.

Note, that Type IIB orientifolds on these non-factorisable orbifolds are technically much simpler and partition functions could be computed fairly straightforwardly.

However, it was found there that certain Type IIB Z N orientifolds with N even do not allow for tadpole cancelling configurations of D9 and D5 branes.


Polyaniline is one of the most interesting conducting polymers due to its environmental stability, ease in preparation, exciting electrochemical, optical, and electrical properties, microelectronics devices, biosensors, electrochromic displays, and chemical sensors [1] [2] [3] . The combination of conducting polymers with host materials having different characteristics opens a way to new hybrid materials showing novel properties. Also conformation of polymer chains in the interlayer spaces may enable further characterization of the polymer structure. Clays among other hosts are natural, abundant, and inexpensive minerals which have unique layered structure and high mechanical strength as well as high chemical resistance. The synthesis of polyaniline-clay nanocomposites is currently carried out by intercalation of the monomer followed by the polymerization in the clay interlayer [4, 5] .

Polyaniline is one of the most interesting conducting polymers due to its environmental stability, ease in preparation, exciting electrochemical, optical, and electrical properties, microelectronics devices, biosensors, electrochromic displays, and chemical sensors.

The synthesis of polyaniline-clay nanocomposites is currently carried out by intercalation of the monomer followed by the polymerization in the clay interlayer.


On the other hand, impedance spectroscopy is an important technique in understanding the charge transport mechanism and in finding the nature of charge carriers in complex systems. This technique is very useful to characterize the electrical and dielectric properties related to the microstructure; it has been extensively used in many research areas such as condensed matter physics, glass science, material science, and polymer science [14, 15] . The charge transport mechanism in conducting polymers has been recently investigated using a number of experimental methods like ac conductivity and dielectric constant [16] .

This technique is very useful to characterize the electrical and dielectric properties related to the microstructure; it has been extensively used in many research areas such as condensed matter physics, glass science, material science, and polymer science.

The charge transport mechanism in conducting polymers has been recently investigated using a number of experimental methods like ac conductivity and dielectric constant.


Lexical chains have also been developed using the 1987 Roget's Thesaurus (Jarmasz and Szpakowicz, 2003) . The procedure maps words in a text to the Head (a Roget's concept) from which they are most likely to come. Although we did not experiment with lexical chains here, they were an inspiration for our sentence relatedness function.

Lexical chains have also been developed using the 1987 Roget's Thesaurus.


Concrete is the most widely used construction material in the world. Ordinary portland cement (OPC) has been traditionally used as the binding agent for concrete. The worldwide consumption of concrete is estimated to increase due to the increase of infrastructure especially in countries such as India and China [1] . The amount of carbon dioxide released during the manufacturing process of OPC is in the order of one ton for every ton of OPC produced. Globally, the OPC production contributes about 7% of the world's carbon dioxide. This is adding about 1.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere [1] . Since it has now become a priority to control the trend of global warming by reducing the carbon dioxide emission, it is appropriate to search for alternative low-emission binding agents for concrete.

The worldwide consumption of concrete is estimated to increase due to the increase of infrastructure especially in countries such as India and China.

This is adding about 1.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.


This subject has been attacked from various directions. One can take the high-energy limit of the worldsheet theory and use it to define string theory in the high-energy limit [5] . However there is a lot of ambiguity in taking the high-energy limit of a worldsheet. It is not clear which choice of the high-energy worldsheet action is the one suitable for the purpose of studying symmetries.

One can take the high-energy limit of the worldsheet theory and use it to define string theory in the high-energy limit.


Another approach is to study consistent higher spin gauge theories [6] . It turns out that there is no consistent scale-free nontrivial interactions in the flat spacetime. Usually people study these theories in the AdS background. In general we need a characteristic length scale to define consistent interactions. The string scale α cannot be used because by definition α → ∞ in the high-energy limit.

Another approach is to study consistent higher spin gauge theories.


Over the past decade, researchers worldwide have been using the Internet for online treatment programs, usually behavioral [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] . The results of a pilot study assessing the effectiveness of an Internet self-program suggest that a selfmanagement program delivered using an Internet format can lead to statistically significant changes in health efficacy and management of care, fatigue, and depression [47] . Individually tailored Internet-based chronic pain management has shown promising effects on pain at one and 6 months after treatment and QOL at six months in 645 participants [48] . Another study found that while psychological therapies Pain Research and Management 5 delivered via the Internet reduced pain, disability, depression, and anxiety after treatment, there remains considerable uncertainty around the estimates of effect [49] .

Over the past decade, researchers worldwide have been using the Internet for online treatment programs, usually behavioral.

The results of a pilot study assessing the effectiveness of an Internet self-program suggest that a selfmanagement program delivered using an Internet format can lead to statistically significant changes in health efficacy and management of care, fatigue, and depression.

Individually tailored Internet-based chronic pain management has shown promising effects on pain at one and 6 months after treatment and QOL at six months in 645 participants.

Another study found that while psychological therapies Pain Research and Management 5 delivered via the Internet reduced pain, disability, depression, and anxiety after treatment, there remains considerable uncertainty around the estimates of effect.


Mobile Sensor Networks (MSNs) have recently emerged as a challenging research field. An MSN consists of a large number of low-cost smart sensors with limited computational capacities and energy resources [1] . Due to the lack of a fixed infrastructure in MSNs, the sensors are able to move in an uncontrolled manner. For this reason and since sensed data are related to the locations of the sensors in almost all MSN applications, many researchers have focused on the localization problem. A first solution for sensor localization is to equip all sensors with global positioning systems (GPSs) [2] . However, this solution is nonpractical in MSNs, since GPS are expensive, high energy consuming, and having great sizes. The alternative solution consists of equipping a few number of sensors with GPS receivers. These sensors, aware of their locations, are called anchors. The remaining sensors, called nonanchor nodes or simply nodes, have unknown locations, and hence they need to be localized.

An MSN consists of a large number of low-cost smart sensors with limited computational capacities and energy resources.

A first solution for sensor localization is to equip all sensors with global positioning systems (GPSs).


To the best of our knowledge, the effect of P. juliflora alkaloids on human cancer cell lines in vitro or in vivo has hitherto not been reported. A successful anticancer drug should kill or incapacitate cancer cells without causing excessive damage to normal cells (Sharma et al., 2009) . With this background, the present research is thus, motivated by the need to find new substances of natural origin which possess anti-tumor activities with a low degree of toxicity for humans and an attempt has been made to screen the cytotoxic effect of the total alkaloid extract from its leaves against the T-cell leukemia (Molt-4) cells as well as on mitogen stimulated T-lymphocyte cultures derived from the venous blood of healthy volunteers in vitro using the standard 3-(4,5dimethythiazol-2yl)2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) test. Simultaneously, the extracts were subjected to genotoxic assessment using cytokines block in vitro micronucleus assay on cancer and normal cells to evaluate their safety.

A successful anticancer drug should kill or incapacitate cancer cells without causing excessive damage to normal cells.


At JET the fuelling efficiency is introduced as the ratio of the number of atoms in the plasma at the current quench to the total number of atoms stored initially in the injecting system [23] . The number of atoms in the plasma is extracted from a model of the current decay. The JET efficiency decreases from about 25% for a 10% mixture of Ne with D 2 to 5% for Ne and 2.5% for Ar.

At JET the fuelling efficiency is introduced as the ratio of the number of atoms in the plasma at the current quench to the total number of atoms stored initially in the injecting system.


With the exception of Eu, accessory minerals constitute the major hosts of the lanthanides, yttrium, actinides, and other high field-strength elements (Zr, Hf, Nb, Ta, etc.) in various crustal rocks. Xenotime, (Y,HREE)PO 4 , is an ubiquitous accessory mineral in granitic rocks of various compositions, granitic pegmatites, migmatites, and lowto high-grade metamorphic rocks. It possesses an MO 8 polyhedron that preferentially accommodates Y and the heavy rare-earth elements (HREE), owing to their smaller ionic radii compared to the light rare-earth elements (LREE), which prefer the monazite structure with an MO 9 polyhedron (Ni et al. 1995) .

It possesses an MO 8 polyhedron that preferentially accommodates Y and the heavy rare-earth elements (HREE), owing to their smaller ionic radii compared to the light rare-earth elements (LREE), which prefer the monazite structure with an MO 9 polyhedron.


A conceptual rendering of sea-land co-ordination is shown in Figure 1 . The interaction mechanisms of sea system and land system are shown in Figure 2 . The development levels of the sea system and land system are not the same in the regional development system, and the overall structure is a pyramid. Although the size of the sea system is small, as a pioneer in regional development, it is located at the top of the pyramid, while the scale of the land system which is located in the lower end of the pyramid is relatively large, and provides basic support for marine development. While giving full play to the guiding role of policy planning and expanding the support of the land system to the sea system, the sea system can rely on land-based infrastructure to expand its own scale. When the interaction between the sea system and the land system is so sufficient that the scale of the sea system is maximized, the radiation degree of the sea system to the land system also increases. This will create a broader space for the progress of the land system. If the land system continues to develop using these spaces, it will further provide greater support for the sea system. At this point, a virtuous circle is formed: the scale of the region is expanding and achieving the goal of coordinated and sustainable development. There is not a concept of sea-land coordination in western countries, where the studies related to sea-land coordination are called integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) [6, 7] . ICZM refers to an ongoing and dynamic process of formulating policy and management strategies to solve conflicts in the use of coastal resources and control the environmental impact of human activities on coastal areas. It mainly considers the ecological, economic, and social fields, and uses an integrated approach to plan and manage human activities in the marine and coastal zone [8] . Comparing the concepts of sea-land coordination and ICZM, we summarize the similarities and differences between them, and then summarize the advantages and disadvantages of developing sea-land coordination and ICZM (as shown in Table 1 ).

There is not a concept of sea-land coordination in western countries, where the studies related to sea-land coordination are called integrated coastal zone management (ICZM).

It mainly considers the ecological, economic, and social fields, and uses an integrated approach to plan and manage human activities in the marine and coastal zone.


Despite the striking evidence of a hyperactive striatal dopamine system, previous studies often failed to show an elevated VTA response in schizophrenia patients. Actually, some studies report a hypoactivition of the VTA instead [63] - [65] . Only a few studies show a hyperactivation of the VTA [66] - [69] . Critically, none of them directly addressed salience processing.

Actually, some studies report a hypoactivition of the VTA instead.

Only a few studies show a hyperactivation of the VTA.


Dysregulation of the dopaminergic system is one of the pathophysiological key findings in schizophrenia. Initially, an overall hyperdopaminergic state was assumed to account for the psychotic symptoms of the disorder [57] . But, due to the finding of a reduced dopamine release in prefrontal cortices, the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia was modulated in terms of describing the aberrant state of the dopamine system in schizophrenia as striatal hyperdopaminergic and prefrontal hypodopaminergic [58] .

Initially, an overall hyperdopaminergic state was assumed to account for the psychotic symptoms of the disorder.

But, due to the finding of a reduced dopamine release in prefrontal cortices, the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia was modulated in terms of describing the aberrant state of the dopamine system in schizophrenia as striatal hyperdopaminergic and prefrontal hypodopaminergic.


In an adapted version of the combined oddball-incongruence task patients with schizophrenia exhibited specific impairments in both oddball and incongruency trials, which might indicate that a common cognitive process, underlying both task, is disrupted rather than a process specific to either oddballs or incongruency. The shielding of task relevant processing from distracting irrelevant stimulus information is necessary to perform in both tasks and it might therefore be concluded that this process is disrupted in that group of patients [31] . But the question, whether this disruption arises due to the same neural mechanism of a heightened sensitivity of the background-monitoring system (or parts of it) to distracting information, remains to be answered. To directly test the hypothesis of a hypersensitive background-monitoring system in schizophrenia, we compared brain activity during both oddball and incongruency trials between schizophrenia patients and healthy controls using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

The shielding of task relevant processing from distracting irrelevant stimulus information is necessary to perform in both tasks and it might therefore be concluded that this process is disrupted in that group of patients.


As the clusters did not border each other, we do not expect a 'no difference' finding to be due to a spill-over effect, as reported in an Aedes control study using ITC [32] . To control for possible epidemiological pressure from surrounding areas on dengue incidence within the treatment clusters, we included the dengue incidence in house-blocks bordering the study clusters as a variable in the multivariable analysis. However, this did not lead to changes in our effect estimates.

As the clusters did not border each other, we do not expect a 'no difference' finding to be due to a spill-over effect, as reported in an Aedes control study using ITC.


The needs of users should be first met when governments use PPPs to develop public facilities and provide public services [7] . Therefore, safeguards of user interests are an important responsibility of the government and one of the most important objectives in PPP projects [8] [9] [10] . It is essential for the government to understand how to protect user interests in PPP projects. However, prior studies have not focused on user interest protection. Prior studies have usually classified user interests as a part of the interests of the public sector. Thus, they have focused on how to protect the interests of the public sector without discussing user interest protection separately [11] . However, user interests are not identical with the interests of the public sector and, therefore, should not be replaced by them [12] . In PPP projects, the public sector, private sector, and users are three parties [12] . Thus, this study focuses on how to protect the interests of users in PPP projects.

The needs of users should be first met when governments use PPPs to develop public facilities and provide public services.

Therefore, safeguards of user interests are an important responsibility of the government and one of the most important objectives in PPP projects.

Thus, they have focused on how to protect the interests of the public sector without discussing user interest protection separately.

However, user interests are not identical with the interests of the public sector and, therefore, should not be replaced by them.

In PPP projects, the public sector, private sector, and users are three parties.


User interests can be influenced directly by project performance because it influences the facility and service delivery and users directly use the facilities and services provided by PPP projects [10, 13] . The public sector and private sector are contracting with concession contractors and executors to implement PPP projects together. According to the theory of relationship governance, project performance can be influenced significantly by relational norms between the public sector and private sector [14] . Therefore, to study how to protect user interests in PPP projects, this study discusses the effects of relational norms and project performance on user interests in PPP projects. The findings in this study can provide useful information to help governments effectively protect user interests in PPP projects.

User interests can be influenced directly by project performance because it influences the facility and service delivery and users directly use the facilities and services provided by PPP projects.

According to the theory of relationship governance, project performance can be influenced significantly by relational norms between the public sector and private sector.


There are some limitations and future research topics in this study. All respondents in this study were from China. However, there are cultural differences among countries [91] . The functions of relational norms may be affected by cultural differences, so that the effects of relational norms on project performance and user interests may be different in different cultures [92] . Thus, future studies can collect data from several countries and compare the relationships among relational norms, project performance, and user interests among different countries to help achieve user interest protection in global PPP projects. Additionally, this study focused on the effects of relational norms on project performance and user interests in PPP projects. However, this study also noted that project performance was determined in the concession contracts and was controlled by using these contracts during the implementation stage. In addition, the relationships between the public and private sectors are formed based on the concession contracts. Thus, the concession contracts may influence project performance and user interests in PPP projects. However, this study does not discuss the effects of the contracts. Future studies may try to discuss user interest protection in PPP projects from a contractual governance perspective in order to offer useful suggestions to governments. Finally, this study discusses the mediating effect of project performance on the relationship between relational norms and user interests in PPP projects. However, there may be other mediating paths in the relationship between relational norms and user interests. Future studies can continue to explore and find more mediating variables to clarify the mechanism of relational norms affecting user interests, in order to facilitate the protection of user interests better in PPP projects.

However, there are cultural differences among countries.

The functions of relational norms may be affected by cultural differences, so that the effects of relational norms on project performance and user interests may be different in different cultures.


The traditional explanation of MRI images by a proficient is a very difficult and time-consuming task. Also the result directly depends on the experience of the proficient. Accordingly, finding an accurate and fully automatic method to provide the information to the doctors is consequential [2] .

Accordingly, finding an accurate and fully automatic method to provide the information to the doctors is consequential.


Using students' mother tongue in English Language Teaching (ELT) classes has always been a controversial issue in language teaching. Generally, the use of translation in foreign language classes can be divided into three eras, including, its heydays during Grammar Translation Method (GTM), its total rejection by the emergence of the Direct Method, and its recent revival as an asset that can facilitate the process of language teaching and learning (Cook, 2010) . During the GTM era, it was believed that translation was an important means and also an end for teaching a language. After that time, by the advent of the Direct Method which is also called 'monolingual' or 'intralingual' method, it was believed that any use of the mother tongue in foreign/second language classrooms can cause interference and hinder the process of language learning, so only the target language should be used in the classroom and using students' mother tongue should be prohibited (Lado, 1964) .

Generally, the use of translation in foreign language classes can be divided into three eras, including, its heydays during Grammar Translation Method (GTM), its total rejection by the emergence of the Direct Method, and its recent revival as an asset that can facilitate the process of language teaching and learning.

After that time, by the advent of the Direct Method which is also called 'monolingual' or 'intralingual' method, it was believed that any use of the mother tongue in foreign/second language classrooms can cause interference and hinder the process of language learning, so only the target language should be used in the classroom and using students' mother tongue should be prohibited.


Studies of cluster properties were performed for the pixel modules in the innermost layer at high pseudorapidity for the new pixel system at HL-LHC, where the particles traverse several pixels. In these conditions, thinner sensors have the advantage of a lower cluster size which results in a reduced occupancy and, after irradiation, are expected to perform better since the higher electric field counteracts trapping. For the ATLAS Phase II detector a smaller pitch in the z direction is foreseen, which together with an optimal single pixel efficiency would allow to increase the precision for measuring the entrance and the exit point of particles crossing the pixel modules at high pseudorapidity and thus obtaining a track seed with the standalone innermost layer [17] . The performance of a 50 µm pitch along z was therefore investigated with FE-I4 modules placed at high φ angle with respect to the beam direction, showing a single pixel efficiency more than 99.6% before irradiation for 100 µm thin sensors. A hit efficiency of (81.5-93.4)% was instead reconstructed for a module with a 200 µm thin sensor irradiated at a fluence of 2 × 10 15 n eq /cm 2 . These measurements after irradiation will be also continued with thinner sensors in a wider fluence range.

For the ATLAS Phase II detector a smaller pitch in the z direction is foreseen, which together with an optimal single pixel efficiency would allow to increase the precision for measuring the entrance and the exit point of particles crossing the pixel modules at high pseudorapidity and thus obtaining a track seed with the standalone innermost layer.


The strong male predominance (3.2:1) and the peak age of disease (5.5 years) share epidemiological similarities to Perthes' disease of the hip [19] . Examining the deprivation trend across Merseyside appeared to strengthen this association, as a strong deprivation gradient is known in Perthes' disease [4, 6, 14, 19] . However, further analysis within the Liverpool subregion alone failed to confirm this association. Perthes' disease is known to demonstrate a strong deprivation gradient in both Liverpool and Merseyside [4, 19, 20] . The age distributions of Perthes' disease and TS also differ, with Perthes' demonstrating a lognormal distribution (a very clear positive skew) and TS a normal distribution. It is unclear why the hip of a 5-yearold boy should be so vulnerable to both diseases, but there does not appear to be a clear epidemiological link between the two diseases.

The strong male predominance (3.2:1) and the peak age of disease (5.5 years) share epidemiological similarities to Perthes' disease of the hip.

Examining the deprivation trend across Merseyside appeared to strengthen this association, as a strong deprivation gradient is known in Perthes' disease.

Perthes' disease is known to demonstrate a strong deprivation gradient in both Liverpool and Merseyside.


Our experiments were in excellent qualitative agreement with this picture. For the singlepit occupancy, 1 × 1 µm pits, the observed dynamics were well described by equation (12) . Figure 11 replots the v pits data from figure 5 on semilog axes as a function of v −1 slit . The 1 × 1 µm pit data lie on a straight line. This log(v pits ) ∝ −1/v slit dependence over the full range of applied pressures was predicted by the transport model. It is interesting to note that the activated transport picture describes the experimental data well even at high applied pressures, where v pits approaches v slit . The unspooling picture of equation (8), on the other hand, predicts that v pits should saturate at a significantly lower velocity. The discrepancy is likely the result of our simplified model of the viscous force, which completely ignores the effects of fluid flow in the pits.

For the singlepit occupancy, 1 × 1 µm pits, the observed dynamics were well described by equation.


The partitioning of a molecule, i.e. how it distributes its contour between pits and the slit, can be understood by considering the differences in free energy of the molecule in each region [14] . In the slit, the high degree of confinement imposes a high free energy cost on 4 a molecule, whereas in the increased volume of a pit, a molecule can increase its entropy and thereby lower its free energy. A molecule cannot insert an unlimited amount of contour in a single pit, however, because excluded volume interactions raise the free energy cost of occupying that pit. The result is that DNA molecules can either be entirely contained within a single pit, or be forced to subtend multiple pits, as shown schematically in figures 1(e) and (f), respectively. The two regimes were predicted to depend upon the length of the molecule and the size and geometry of the pits in a manner that was consistent with experiment. The multiple-pit conformations were subject to thermal fluctuations, which could vary the number of occupied pits.

The partitioning of a molecule, i.e. how it distributes its contour between pits and the slit, can be understood by considering the differences in free energy of the molecule in each region.


Transformation and release of potassium have been studied during the pyrolysis processes of biomass [7] . The results reveal that the potassium evolves during decomposition of the organic matrix at 200-400°C from the original binding sites and may redeposit as discrete particles (mainly potassium) or disperse in the organic char matrix. Further evaporation of potassium to the gas phase occurs at approximately 700°C, and evaporation of deposited potassium particles contributes to this.

Transformation and release of potassium have been studied during the pyrolysis processes of biomass.


Hydrates have been one of the flow assurance problems in gas production and transportation. Different models and approaches have been adopted to solve the gas hydrate problems. Hydrates block the conduit of oil and gas pipelines and transportation systems with significant economic impacts. In recent years, hydrate production has been studied and investigated as potential for sustainable energy resource. The abundance of gas hydrate is estimated to be more than twice the combined carbon of coal, conventional gas and petroleum reserves [3] . Gas hydrate reserves contain enormous source of energy in form of pure methane gas which can serve as sustainable energy resource.

The abundance of gas hydrate is estimated to be more than twice the combined carbon of coal, conventional gas and petroleum reserves.


The term "gas hydrates" refers to crystalline compounds that are composed of water and any of the following light molecules: methane, ethane, propane, iso-butane, normal butane, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide. It is known that some polar components between the sizes of argon (0.35 nm) and ethyl cyclohexane (0.9 -1) can also form hydrates. Hydrate formation usually occurs when water molecule exists in the vicinity of these molecules at temperatures above or below the ice point and relatively high pressure. The water molecules enclose these host molecules and form cage-like structures which are stable at these conditions. Natural gas hydrates commonly called gas hydrates the crystalline compounds formed when water molecule and methane gas exist together at the right temperature and pressure. Methane hydrate is stable at a temperature slightly above or below 0˚C with high pressure. The pressure and temperature of most ocean environments offer appropriate conditions for methane hydrate stability but considerable amounts of hydrate are formed at the continental shelf due to the effect of geothermal gradient [1] . Geothermal gradient makes it possible for the temperature at some depths to be more than the equilibrium temperature at the in situ pressure, which creates stability for methane hydrate. The cage-like structure formed is stabilized by the interactions that exist between the water molecules and the methane gas. These interactions create a relatively strong and stable lattice. Gas hydrates have high capacity to store methane gas-1 cubic metre of a typical hydrate contains approximately 180 standard cubic metres of methane gas at standard temperature and pressure [1] .

The pressure and temperature of most ocean environments offer appropriate conditions for methane hydrate stability but considerable amounts of hydrate are formed at the continental shelf due to the effect of geothermal gradient.

Gas hydrates have high capacity to store methane gas-1 cubic metre of a typical hydrate contains approximately 180 standard cubic metres of methane gas at standard temperature and pressure.


The classic approach to estimate the inverse productivity plot-size relationship includes household fixed effects and plot characteristics (table 3, column 1). This shows that yields decrease by 40 percent if plot size doublesindicating that the inverse relationship holds in Ethiopia and is stronger than in many other Sub-Saharan African countries (Larson et al., 2014) . The second specification replaces household fixed effects with enumeration area fixed effects and includes controls for household characteristics.

This shows that yields decrease by 40 percent if plot size doublesindicating that the inverse relationship holds in Ethiopia and is stronger than in many other Sub-Saharan African countries.


First used in the 1950s in India, the crop cut method is now widely recommended by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations for the accurate measurement of crop production (Fermont & Benson, 2011) . The crop cut methodology estimates yields by first randomly sampling plots from a master listing of plots, and then from within each of the selected plots, randomly drawing a small subplot (often a 4m x 4m square), delimiting it, cutting, and weighing the harvest of this subplot. Yields are then defined as the harvest in the subplot divided by the area of the subplot.

First used in the 1950s in India, the crop cut method is now widely recommended by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations for the accurate measurement of crop production.


The second empirical regularity has received far less attention. We call it the inverse plot-size productivity relationship. This relationship, observed in many Sub-Saharan African countries, states that, within a household, smaller plots are more productive than larger plots (Ali & Deininger, 2015; Assunção & Braido, 2007; Barrett, Bellemare, & Hou, 2010) . Although rarely emphasized, such a relationship implies that land fragmentation, that is subdividing the already small plots into even smaller units, would increase productivity. But more and smaller plots leads to increased travel time (in 1 Estimates from PovcalNet (iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet), the World Bank data tool for estimating extreme poverty, indicate that the majority of the poor in the rest of the world also live in rural areas. For example, essentially all of the extreme poor (living on less than USD 1.90 per day) in China are estimated to be in rural areas; and in India, this figure is estimated to be about 80 percent.

This relationship, observed in many Sub-Saharan African countries, states that, within a household, smaller plots are more productive than larger plots.


Consumed pharmaceuticals are metabolized (i.e. biotransformation) which means that their molecules undergo chemical and structural changes. Biotransformation occurs mostly in the liver (about 2/3 of a dose) but also in the blood, lungs and digestive system, and aims at conversion of a slowly released, nonpolar and lipophilic molecule of a drug into a hydrophilic and polar molecule. Metabolism of pharmaceuticals does not occur in 100%. This means that metabolized forms as well as free forms of the drug are excreted with urine [8] . Pharmaceuticals that are past the expiration date are often flushed in toilets and discharged from households with wastewater. The highest loads of pharmaceuticals are detected in wastewater from hospitals and health care centers. Veterinary offices and animal husbandry contribute to the contamination of natural environment with pharmaceutical substances. Frequently applied pharmaceuticals in veterinary and animal husbandry are antibiotics that apart from treatment of microbial infections are added to animal feed as growth promoters. These drugs with the animal manure are applied for soil fertilization, and thus this can result in migration of the drugs to groundwater. Wastewater treatment does not completely remove pharmaceuticals. The pharmaceutical residues with treated wastewater (also with non treated wastewater) are introduced to surface water [6, 9] .

This means that metabolized forms as well as free forms of the drug are excreted with urine.

The pharmaceutical residues with treated wastewater (also with non treated wastewater) are introduced to surface water.


The basis of MBBR process is the conventional activated sludge and biofilter processes. MBBR also takes advantage of the activated sludge process and conventional fixed film systems, without their disadvantages. The MBBR reactor volume has no unused space, an advantage of having the biofilm reactors totally mixed. MBBR has a great advantage over the activate sludge process as MBBR does not require sludge recirculation nor a large sedimentation tank [2, 3] .

MBBR has a great advantage over the activate sludge process as MBBR does not require sludge recirculation nor a large sedimentation tank.


In this context, the oxidant peroxide method (OPM) has been used to produce highly reactive ceramic powders with a variety of particle morphologies, sizes and compositions [14, 15] . The main innovation of this route is the possibility of obtaining nanosized ceramic powders of great technological and commercial interest, free of any contamination by carbon and halides [16, 17] . Other important characteristics of this new technique, which represents a huge environmental gain, is the exclusive use of water as a solvent, low temperature processing used for crystallization of nanosized oxides and the absence of any potentially toxic byproduct.

In this context, the oxidant peroxide method (OPM) has been used to produce highly reactive ceramic powders with a variety of particle morphologies, sizes and compositions.

The main innovation of this route is the possibility of obtaining nanosized ceramic powders of great technological and commercial interest, free of any contamination by carbon and halides.


Activated carbons are generally prepared by the carbonization of raw carbonaceous materials in an inert atmosphere followed by the activation of carbonized product. Activation can be carried out by chemical or physical means [2] . Physical activation involves two steps; carbonization of raw material and then activation with an oxidizing gas such as steam or carbon dioxide. In chemical activation, the carbonization and activation are accomplished in a single step by impregnation of raw material with a chemical activating agent and carbonization in an inert atmosphere. Chemical activation is preferred over physical activation due to the lower temperatures (500 o C to 800 o C) needed for activation and high product yields [3] . Among the many different activating agents, the most frequent used are phosphoric acid (H 3 PO 4 ) and zinc chloride (ZnCl 2 ). However others as hydroxides can also be used (i.e. potassium and sodium) [4] . Recently, there is growing interest in alkaline hydroxide activation process and KOH has been found to be one of the most effective activating agents in the production of activated carbons [4, 5] .

Activation can be carried out by chemical or physical means.

Chemical activation is preferred over physical activation due to the lower temperatures (500 o C to 800 o C) needed for activation and high product yields.

However others as hydroxides can also be used (i.e. potassium and sodium).

Recently, there is growing interest in alkaline hydroxide activation process and KOH has been found to be one of the most effective activating agents in the production of activated carbons.


Adsorption is an effective technique for the removal of dissolved pollutants (organic or inorganic) from water. Among many types of adsorbents, activated carbons are the most widely used, because of their large adsorptive capacity and low cost. The adsorption capacity of activated carbon is linked to their large surface area, a high micro porosity and a high degree of surface reactivity [1] .

The adsorption capacity of activated carbon is linked to their large surface area, a high micro porosity and a high degree of surface reactivity.


As we noted above, we have been unable to determine whether or not stable extensions lift the Bernoulli property. This seems to come down to two questions. The first is to determine the degree to which the Bernoulli property can be characterized in terms of joinings, a question already answered to a large extent by Rothstein and Burton, [4] . The second question is whether stability is a strong enough lifting condition for this purpose.

The first is to determine the degree to which the Bernoulli property can be characterized in terms of joinings, a question already answered to a large extent by Rothstein and Burton.


Because we prove a genericity theorem for stability, the results in this paper are also related to the many results stating that ergodic properties lift to various License or copyright restrictions may apply to redistribution; see http://www.ams.org/journal-terms-of-use sorts of "generic" extensions. An early example of such a result says that ergodicity and weak mixing lift generically to compact abelian group extensions [20] . Later more general examples of results of this type appear in [25, 17, and 28] .

An early example of such a result says that ergodicity and weak mixing lift generically to compact abelian group extensions.


Among the ergodic properties which lift to stable extensions is a class of properties which behave like the K-property in the sense that their 'complements' satisfy an analogue of the Pinsker Lemma. We call these properties natural properties. Our study of natural properties leads us to consider Glasner's theory of quasifactors [16] . In addition to the AT-property, natural properties include weak mixing, mild mixing and, somewhat surprisingly, entropy zero.

Our study of natural properties leads us to consider Glasner's theory of quasifactors.


In this way, convergence towards the true optimum can be shown by utilizing a recent convergence result for EDMD [31] . Since reduced order modeling approaches using the Koopman operator are relatively new, people have much less experience in this direction compared to more established methods such as POD. The purpose of this chapter is therefore to study the two approaches described above regarding the numerical performance. We address both the quality of the solution compared to the PDE-constrained problem as well as the influence of the training data. Furthermore, the effect of introducing the switching problem transformation is studied.

In this way, convergence towards the true optimum can be shown by utilizing a recent convergence result for EDMD.


Progressive values can relate to either economic redistributive or social libertarian claims. This study analyses the extent to which protest activism is underpinned by either set of values. Previous research has tended to argue that more progressive values underpin extra-institutional political participation (Welzel and Deutsch, 2012) . The literature on political attitudes has identified two different value dimensions: an economic redistributive-free market dimension and a libertarianauthoritarian social values dimension (Tilley, 2005) . The context of the recent economic crisis provides fertile ground for such an examination because many scholars have argued that the 'cultural turn' in social movement activism has been redirected through a focus on inequality and redistributive concerns in the wake of the Great Recession (Giugni and Grasso 2015b; Grasso and Giugni 2016a) . As Fligstein and McAdam argue, events that affect large numbers of non-state fields such as large-scale economic crises can 'undermine the power of incumbents and grant leverage to challengers… but even in more settled times, there are routine, low-level conflicts going on constantly in state and nonstate strategic action fields' (Fligstein and McAdam, 2012: 76) .

Previous research has tended to argue that more progressive values underpin extra-institutional political participation.

The literature on political attitudes has identified two different value dimensions: an economic redistributive-free market dimension and a libertarianauthoritarian social values dimension.

The context of the recent economic crisis provides fertile ground for such an examination because many scholars have argued that the 'cultural turn' in social movement activism has been redirected through a focus on inequality and redistributive concerns in the wake of the Great Recession.


Rising government surveillance across the globe is another trend contributing to anti-government protest (Tarrow, 2015) . Today, as governments increasingly come under fire from contenders from both the radical left and the populist right, these trends have fed into wider perceptions of a legitimation crisis in advanced Western democracies and the end of the post-war (WWII) settlement (Giugni and Grasso 2018b) . In particular, there is an expansion of surveillance, 'to those whose activities are merely related to an ongoing investigation, as opposed to raising probably cause of actual involvement in illegal activity' an this 'has brought additional civil liberties under attack: freedom of association, privacy, the right to a fair trial, and access to government information' (Braman, 2006: 115) .

Rising government surveillance across the globe is another trend contributing to anti-government protest.

Today, as governments increasingly come under fire from contenders from both the radical left and the populist right, these trends have fed into wider perceptions of a legitimation crisis in advanced Western democracies and the end of the post-war (WWII) settlement.


The association of positive sputum smear with DM in TB patients was similar to what has been reported earlier [20, 29] . In our study, patients with DM had the highest rate of positive sputum smear, which indicates high risk of infectivity and spread of TB by these patients. Presence of cavities on chest X-rays was significantly associated with co-morbid DM in our study.

The association of positive sputum smear with DM in TB patients was similar to what has been reported earlier.


Colours influence the way we feel, think and behave. In a web shop, the online atmospheric cues, such as colours, provide information about the online retailer and influence the affective and cognitive internal states that influence the purchase behaviour of the online shopper (Eroğlu et al., 2003) . The globalisation of the internet yields infinite cultural implications for online marketers. Therefore, this research intends to examine how consumers from different cultures behave with respect to different colours. In particularly trust and emotion are important factors in online shopping, because consumers are more vulnerable online than in offline shopping environments.

In a web shop, the online atmospheric cues, such as colours, provide information about the online retailer and influence the affective and cognitive internal states that influence the purchase behaviour of the online shopper.


Incorporation of organic manures influenced soil enzymatic activity either because of the composition of the added materials themselves or because they increased micro-bial activity of the soil (DeForest et al., 2012) . Improve-ment of the soil structure due to FYM application leads to a better environment for root development (Dejene and Lemlem, 2012) . FYM also improves soil water holding capacity ( Tadesse et al., 2013) . The fact that the use of organic fertilizers maintains soil health has raised interests in organic farming ( Khan et al., 2010) . The microbiological and biochemical conditions of a soil can serve as a marker of the soil status and is closely linked to its natural soil fertility.

Incorporation of organic manures influenced soil enzymatic activity either because of the composition of the added materials themselves or because they increased micro-bial activity of the soil.

Improve-ment of the soil structure due to FYM application leads to a better environment for root development.

FYM also improves soil water holding capacity.

The fact that the use of organic fertilizers maintains soil health has raised interests in organic farming.


Given the very favourable climatic -geographical conditions, it is not surprising that viticulture has a long tradition in Serbia. According to numerous historical sources, viticulture and enology in Serbia have been developing more than a thousand years. Start of viticulture development is related to the formation of the Serbian state in the VIII and IX century and its significant development is linked to the reign of Nemanjić dynasty from the XI to the XIV century. Today, the viticulture and enology are widespread in Serbia and wine culture is a part of the tradition. Climate and soil in Serbia are favourable for vine growing, therefore it is grown in several regions with its' wine grooving sub-regions and areas (the most famous are Subotica, Bačka, South-Banat, Belgrade, Šumadija, Mlava, Niš, Knjaževac, Leskovac, Vranje, South and North Kosovo and Metohija, as well as subregions of Tri Morave and Negotinska Krajina) (Vlahović et al., 2012) .

Climate and soil in Serbia are favourable for vine growing, therefore it is grown in several regions with its' wine grooving sub-regions and areas (the most famous are Subotica, Bačka, South-Banat, Belgrade, Šumadija, Mlava, Niš, Knjaževac, Leskovac, Vranje, South and North Kosovo and Metohija, as well as subregions of Tri Morave and Negotinska Krajina).


A general simulation of the flywheel-based system has been implemented in Matlab, based on drive cycle simulations [18] . The Matlab model does not go into the detailed component level, but it simulates drive cycles of several hours for the complete driveline. To balance the power flux between the source and the load, instantaneous power delivered to or from the load has to be known. The power P in , which is the input to the simulation, is derived from a vehicle weighing 70 kg and with a front area of 1.1 m 2 . The air resistance coefficient C w is assumed to be 0.33. A Simulink model of the system illustrated in Figure 3 has also been implemented. The simulation allows a more detailed model of the system, but, due to computational limits, the simulation can only be run during a short time.

A general simulation of the flywheel-based system has been implemented in Matlab, based on drive cycle simulations.


The battery-supercapacitor combination for vehicular applications has been reported in the literature [4] [5] [6] [7] . Results claim that supercapacitors offer high internal efficiency and can be charged and discharged a large number of times without performance deterioration. However, the supercapacitor kW/h cost is estimated to be between 10000-20000\$/kWh. Flywheels, on the other hand, have a kW/h cost estimated between 500-1000\$/kWh [8, 9] . Furthermore, flywheels offer steady voltage and power level, independent of load, temperature, or state of charge; no chemistry is included, thus no environmental pollution associated and efficiency and life cycles similar to the ones presented for supercapacitors [10, 11] .

The battery-supercapacitor combination for vehicular applications has been reported in the literature.

Flywheels, on the other hand, have a kW/h cost estimated between 500-1000\$/kWh.

Furthermore, flywheels offer steady voltage and power level, independent of load, temperature, or state of charge; no chemistry is included, thus no environmental pollution associated and efficiency and life cycles similar to the ones presented for supercapacitors.


It is important for the hospital managers to determine their relative efficiency and the factors that contribute to the inefficient behavior in their organizations. In the previous sections, we applied a CRS frontier. We did not consider the scale effects of hospital operations whether they are too small (economies of scale effect) or too large (diseconomies of scale effect). In this section, we apply the VRS frontier developed to satisfy scale effects in the analysis (Banker, Charnes, & Cooper, 1984) . The following alternative evaluations of efficiency help managers to capture the components of inefficient operations (Ozcan, 2008) .

In this section, we apply the VRS frontier developed to satisfy scale effects in the analysis.

The following alternative evaluations of efficiency help managers to capture the components of inefficient operations.


Finally, social sharing processes did not exhibit significant associations with CKD patients' depression, but mental rumination had the effect of reducing depression in patients dialyzed for 4+ years. Unlike controls, CKD patients dialyzed for 4+ years employed rumination strategies in an adaptive way. Far from being the effect of a dysfunctional persistence of unwanted thoughts, rumination appeared to be a useful way of reducing the symptoms of depressive disorder and appease the individual in the terminal phases of CKD. One possible theoretical explanation for these findings is that mental rumination serves as a strategy for coping with interruptions in pursuing significant goals. Through rumination, individuals attempt to reduce disruption, and reinstate the unaccomplished goals (Martin & Tesser, 1989) . The unpredictability of CKD and the imminence of death certainly represent for ESRD patients the ultimate interruption of their life goals (Schipper & Abma, 2011) . Ruminating may help patients to restore this interruption and create a sense of prolongation of their life beyond illness and death. A definitive empirical evaluation of this interpretation would be possible by analyzing the contents of CKD patients' ruminative thoughts, and comparing them with the selfevaluated coping strategies adopted by patients to deal with health issues. This would be an interesting avenue for future research on the factors associated with depression in CKD patients in order to prevent poor outcomes in their treatment.

Through rumination, individuals attempt to reduce disruption, and reinstate the unaccomplished goals.

The unpredictability of CKD and the imminence of death certainly represent for ESRD patients the ultimate interruption of their life goals.


The constructs of social sharing and mental rumination have been broadly investigated in the field of psychology of emotions. Another important line of research focuses on the association between rumination and a personality trait called alexithymia, which has been conceptualized as an individual deficit in identifying, communicating, and regulating emotions. Alexithymia is a multifaceted construct including three salient features: 1) difficulty identifying feelings and discriminating them from bodily sensations of emotional arousal; 2) difficulty expressing emotions and describing them to others; 3) limited capacity to engage in fantasy and other imaginative activities (Taylor, 1994) . The construct of alexithymia has relevant implications for individuals' health, since it has been found to be associated with a broad range of psychiatric symptoms, psychosomatic problems, and chronic illnesses (Taylor, 1994; Kauhanen et al., 1996) . Alexithymia has also been demonstrated to be a stable risk factor for the development of depressive disorders in cross-sectional and cohort studies on general and clinical samples (Grabe, Spitzer, & Freyberger, 2004) .

Alexithymia is a multifaceted construct including three salient features: 1) difficulty identifying feelings and discriminating them from bodily sensations of emotional arousal; 2) difficulty expressing emotions and describing them to others; 3) limited capacity to engage in fantasy and other imaginative activities.

The construct of alexithymia has relevant implications for individuals' health, since it has been found to be associated with a broad range of psychiatric symptoms, psychosomatic problems, and chronic illnesses.

Alexithymia has also been demonstrated to be a stable risk factor for the development of depressive disorders in cross-sectional and cohort studies on general and clinical samples.


Perceived family support had a significant effect upon depression of male controls, while friends' support and alexithymia had a significant impact on depression in dialyzed men. These findings are of interest for the understanding of the protective factors against depression and the treatment of depressive disorders. Elderly men suffer more from social isolation than women (Kendler, Myers, & Prescott, 2005) . Further, alexithymia and related emotional difficulties have typically been found to be associated with male gender (Parker, Taylor, & Bagby, 2003; Lane, Sechrest, & Riedel, 1998) . The perception of low availability of social support and alexithymia make men susceptible to developing depression. By contrast, women generally have larger networks of significant others, and are affected by alexithymia to a lesser extent than men. This implies that treatment for depression focusing on reducing the sense of isolation and difficulty in expressing emotions would be more successful for men than for women. Finally, no significant effects were found for social sharing, while mental rumination increased depression in both male and female controls. This probably happens because individuals have failed to conclude the psychological elaboration of their emotional experiences.

Elderly men suffer more from social isolation than women.

Further, alexithymia and related emotional difficulties have typically been found to be associated with male gender.


Alexithymia also had a significant effect on CKD patients' depression, but this effect involved different dimensions with respect to the duration of patients' haemodialysis program: while DIF and DDF increased depression in patients dialyzed for less than 4 years, the EOT dimension intensified depression in patients who had been undergoing haemodialysis program for 4+ years. The first two dimensions of TAS-20 have frequently been found associated with depression in a number of studies run on both normal and psychiatric samples (Marchesi, Brusamonti, & Maggini, 2000; Hendryx, Haviland, & Shaw, 1991) . With respect to the EOT dimension, it could be possible that 4+ years dialyzed patients prefer to employ introspective strategies of thinking to regulate their depressive symptoms. Focusing on their internal psychological states might be useful for long-term dialyzed patients to reduce the psychological burden of living with their disease. On the other hand, it has been variously shown that the subscale EOT has a lower internal consistency and more problematic psychometric properties than the other two TAS-20 dimensions (Gignac, Palmer, & Stough, 2007; Kooiman, Spinhoven, & Trijsburg, 2002) . Also in this study, the EOT Cronbach's alpha (.52) is lower than the alphas of the DIF and DDF dimensions (respectively, .90 and .70) . Therefore, these measurement issues may have interfered with our results (Gignac, Palmer, & Stough, 2007) .

The first two dimensions of TAS-20 have frequently been found associated with depression in a number of studies run on both normal and psychiatric samples.

On the other hand, it has been variously shown that the subscale EOT has a lower internal consistency and more problematic psychometric properties than the other two TAS-20 dimensions.

Therefore, these measurement issues may have interfered with our results.


Social sharing is generally associated with another process called mental rumination, i.e. the intra-individual persistence of thoughts, images, and physiological symptoms related to an emotional experience. Rumination has been originally regarded as a strategy for coping with emotional experiences. According to this view, rumination arises when individuals experience interruptions while pursuing their goals, and emotions originate as a consequence of these interruptions. The more relevant the interrupted goal, the higher the need for the individual to restore it. Rumination is the strategy adopted by individuals to deal with the interruption of progress towards their goals, and it terminates when the objective is reached or is deemed impracticable and then abandoned (Martin & Tesser, 1989) . On the other hand, numerous studies have suggested a close relation-ship between rumination and depression since, through mental rumination, depressed individuals keep focusing on their symptoms and the possible consequences. This has in turn the effect of increasing the state of depression in a self-perpetuating cycle of self-focused thoughts (Roberts, Gilboa, & Gotlib, 1998) .

Rumination is the strategy adopted by individuals to deal with the interruption of progress towards their goals, and it terminates when the objective is reached or is deemed impracticable and then abandoned.

This has in turn the effect of increasing the state of depression in a self-perpetuating cycle of self-focused thoughts.


Individuals with available social support have more opportunities to talk about their state of health, diagnosed disease and symptoms, share their worries and concerns, and manage the emotional burden of their illness with significant others, such as spouses, family members, close friends. Among the behavioral consequences of the availability of social support there is a phenomenon called social sharing, which entails the description, in a socially shared language, of emotional events to an addressee by the person who experienced them (Zech & Rimé, 2005) . Social sharing has been demonstrated to be a highly pervasive phenomenon, since it occurs after an emotional experience in 80% to 95% of cases in all countries and cultures (Rimé, 2009) . In samples drawn from normal populations social sharing has been found to be associated with increased health benefits as assessed by physician visits, reported symptoms, immunological functions, and indices of subjective well-being (Frattaroli, 2006) .

Among the behavioral consequences of the availability of social support there is a phenomenon called social sharing, which entails the description, in a socially shared language, of emotional events to an addressee by the person who experienced them.

Social sharing has been demonstrated to be a highly pervasive phenomenon, since it occurs after an emotional experience in 80% to 95% of cases in all countries and cultures.

In samples drawn from normal populations social sharing has been found to be associated with increased health benefits as assessed by physician visits, reported symptoms, immunological functions, and indices of subjective well-being.


Depression has been shown to be a common psychiatric disorder in patients affected by chronic kidney disease (Hedayati et al., 2009) . It has been found to be prevalent in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on long-term haemodialysis or following kidney transplantation, with an estimated prevalence rate between 15% and 40% (Ricardo et al., 2010) . Previous studies have demonstrated that depression is an independent risk factor for poor outcomes in CKD patients (Hedayati et al., 2008; Hedayati et al., 2010) .

Depression has been shown to be a common psychiatric disorder in patients affected by chronic kidney disease.

It has been found to be prevalent in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on long-term haemodialysis or following kidney transplantation, with an estimated prevalence rate between 15% and 40%.

Previous studies have demonstrated that depression is an independent risk factor for poor outcomes in CKD patients.


MCDM methods cover a wide range of quite distinct approaches. MCDM methods can be broadly classified into two categories: discrete MCDM or discrete MADM (Multi-attribute Decision Making) and continuous MODM (Multi-Objective Decision Making) methods (Fig. 1) . A dictionary definition of a "criterion" is "a means or standard of judging" by which one particular choice or course of action could be judged to be more desirable than another (h). Each problem has multiple, usually conflicting objectives/criteria. Each objective/criterion has a different unit of measurement. MCDM can be perceived as a process of evaluating real-world situations based on various qualitative/quantitative criteria in certain/uncertain/ risky environments in order to find a suitable course of action/choice/strategy/policy among several available options (Raju, Kumar 2013) .

MCDM can be perceived as a process of evaluating real-world situations based on various qualitative/quantitative criteria in certain/uncertain/ risky environments in order to find a suitable course of action/choice/strategy/policy among several available options.


Cortical bone is an anisotropic and heterogeneous material. A proper characterization of bone elasticity, which is important for orthopedic applications and fracture risk prediction, requires measurement of all the terms of the elastic tensor on a unique small volume of material to avoid any effect of specimen variability. In a resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) experiment, the resonant frequencies of a freely vibrating specimen are measured, paired with model-predicted frequencies, and the elastic constants are adjusted until predicted and measured frequencies match. Because RUS does not assume propagation of pure bulk waves, there is in principle no limitation in the size of the tested specimen. This is an advantage over the state-of-art sound velocity measurement method, which requires samples larger than a few millimeters (≈ 5 mm) to ensure bulk wave propagation [1] .

This is an advantage over the state-of-art sound velocity measurement method, which requires samples larger than a few millimeters (≈ 5 mm) to ensure bulk wave propagation.


The adapted RUS method proposed in this study allows an automated assessment of the elastic properties of small cylindrical viscoelastic samples with a reproducibility of a few percents, which is a significant improvement over traditional methods based on velocity measurements. The method has been validated on PMMA samples (Q ≈ 40), which is an isotropic material with damping comparable to that of bone (Q ≈ 25, [3] ). However, the whole process has been also validated for a transversely isotropic elasticity assumption, which makes it suitable for the characterization of cortical bone specimens. The method could also be useful on engineering materials with comparable damping, such as composite plastic materials. The proposed approach for the inverse problem is quite general and could also be used for other sample shapes and other degrees of anisotropy.

The method has been validated on PMMA samples (Q ≈ 40), which is an isotropic material with damping comparable to that of bone (Q ≈ 25,).


Memories for past events are highly complex, allowing us to travel back in time and subjectively reexperience episodes in our lives. These events are not stored and played back to us as we experienced them; rather, they are reconstructed in a hierarchical manner. Episodic reconstruction is thought to be facilitated by hippocampalneocortical processes that rebuild the rich content and quality of past events within a spatiotemporal framework (Barry & Maguire, 2018; Ranganath, 2010; Ritchey, Libby, & Ranganath, 2015; Robin, 2018 and integrate them with prior knowledge (Morton, Sherrill, & Preston, 2017) . In turn, this adaptive, reconstructive process can lead to forgetting of specific event features and variability in the precision which different features are remembered (Schacter, Guerin, & St Jacques, 2011) .

Episodic reconstruction is thought to be facilitated by hippocampalneocortical processes that rebuild the rich content and quality of past events within a spatiotemporal framework (Barry & Maguire, 2018; Ranganath, 2010; Ritchey, Libby, & Ranganath, 2015; Robin, 2018 and integrate them with prior knowledge.

In turn, this adaptive, reconstructive process can lead to forgetting of specific event features and variability in the precision which different features are remembered.


Another precursor of city labs are design labs. In being less technology-oriented than living labs, design labs are highly relevant to local planning processes, as they apply design-oriented approaches and often focus on urban sustainability. More recently, design labs tend to direct their focus towards broader publics and multiple types of value creation (Björgvinsson, Ehn, & Hillgren, 2012; Botero & Saad-Sulonen, 2013; Westley, Goebey, & Robinson, 2012) . Labs relating to the research field of participatory design have focused on power issues and democracy, highlighting the need to include marginalized stakeholders in innovation processes-not only as participants but also as collaborators (Björgvinsson et al., 2012) . City labs could be a way forward to learn about the challenges in creating more reciprocal and mutual relationships between citizens, researchers, and public and private sector agents. To achieve this, they are also much more focused on institutional innovation than living and design labs.

More recently, design labs tend to direct their focus towards broader publics and multiple types of value creation.

Labs relating to the research field of participatory design have focused on power issues and democracy, highlighting the need to include marginalized stakeholders in innovation processes-not only as participants but also as collaborators.


In recent years, a substantial number of studies have emerged on external human-machine interfaces (eHMIs) for automated cars. In automated driving, non-verbal communication between the driver and other road users is often impossible, because the driver is not physically present in the driver seat, or because the driver is engaged in a non-driving task. One reason for employing eHMIs would be to substitute the lack of eye-contact and other types of non-verbal communication. A second reason for using eHMIs is to transmit information about the future state of the automated vehicle to other traffic participants. For example, if the path planning software of the automated driving system knows that the vehicle will slow down for an upcoming intersection, the eHMI could accordingly communicate that the vehicle is about to slow down [1] . Thus, eHMIs could communicate information that is not apparent from implicit ways of communication, for example, from the car's acceleration and deceleration.

For example, if the path planning software of the automated driving system knows that the vehicle will slow down for an upcoming intersection, the eHMI could accordingly communicate that the vehicle is about to slow down.


Choledochal cyst (CC) is a rare congenital but not familial anomaly of either intrahepatic or extrahepatic biliary tract [1] [2] [3] . Cystic dilation may affect every part of the biliary tree, and it may occur singly or multiply. The rate is remarkably higher in Asian populations with a reported incidence of 1 in 1000, and most of the cases occurred in Japan [4] . The diagnosis of choledochal cyst is usually made in childhood (50% of cases were diagnosed in the first decade of life), and the rest might be seen later in adults (approximately 20% of cases) with symptoms related to the biliary tract pathology [2, 5] . Currently, Todani and colleagues' modified classification is the most commonly used [1, 6, 7] . This classification describes 5 types of CC. Distribution of different types of cyst varies [3, 7] . Recently, 6 cases of mixed type I and II choledochal cyst have been reported, 4 cases in children and 2 cases in adults. In all these cases, fusiform dilatation of the CBD with a diverticulum arising from the CBD was found [8, 9] . The cystic duct orifice was located on the right side of the diverticulum. We report an adult patient who had cystic dilation of the CBD (type I CC), along with a diverticulum (type II) arising from its lateral part.

Choledochal cyst (CC) is a rare congenital but not familial anomaly of either intrahepatic or extrahepatic biliary tract.

The rate is remarkably higher in Asian populations with a reported incidence of 1 in 1000, and most of the cases occurred in Japan.

The diagnosis of choledochal cyst is usually made in childhood (50% of cases were diagnosed in the first decade of life), and the rest might be seen later in adults (approximately 20% of cases) with symptoms related to the biliary tract pathology.

Currently, Todani and colleagues' modified classification is the most commonly used.

Distribution of different types of cyst varies.

In all these cases, fusiform dilatation of the CBD with a diverticulum arising from the CBD was found.


Rather than focusing on student achievement and/or attainment, I focus on instruction, as it is the most proximal cause of students' opportunities to learn that schools and school systems can manipulate. Student learning is critical, but teachers and school leaders cannot learn for students; students must do the learning themselves [17] . What school leaders and teachers can do is create more or less rich opportunities for students to learn through instruction. Some readers may disagree pointing to, among other things, a strong association between students' achievement/attainment and their socio-economic circumstances and/or cultural backgrounds. Or, readers might point to empirical evidence suggesting that the effect sizes of school level variables such as school norms and climate (e.g., academic press) rival the effect size of classroom instructional approach. But, these objections are a function of conceptualizing instruction too narrowly, confined to classrooms and/or focused exclusively on cognitive or academic matter. However, instruction extends beyond the classroom to students' experience in schools more broadly in the hallways, lunchrooms, and before and after school start and end times. Further, as most school leaders and teachers will attest, instruction is about more than academic or cognitive matters; it is also fundamentally about social, emotional and affective matters. It involves how children's ideas and ways of being are treated inside schools. While schools and school systems cannot directly create more equitable societies (that being a matter for other public policy sectors such as taxation policy), how they treat students through instruction inside and outside the classroom do matter for student learning and by extension their achievement and attainment [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] . In short, how we conceptualize instruction has fundamental entailments for studying relations between school administration and student learning: Conceptualizing instruction narrowly as purely a classroom or cognitive matter necessitates different research designs than conceptualizations that attempt to capture the multi-facet and multi-place nature of instruction.

Student learning is critical, but teachers and school leaders cannot learn for students; students must do the learning themselves.

While schools and school systems cannot directly create more equitable societies (that being a matter for other public policy sectors such as taxation policy), how they treat students through instruction inside and outside the classroom do matter for student learning and by extension their achievement and attainment.


Interestingly, the habitat space realized by flying squirrels fluctuated between forest types and seasons. During both seasons, flying squirrels were caught at fewer stations in peatland-MC than in upland-OG, the latter of which had fewer correlates of microhabitat use. Also, flying squirrels were caught at more stations during autumn than spring in both forest types. The disparity between forest types might have been related to differences in spatial heterogeneity and resource availability. Upland-OG was more homogeneous and key resources (e.g., large trees) were more abundant and more uniformly distributed than in peatland-MC. This might in part explain why we observed fewer ecologically significant variables in upland-OG than peatland-MC. That is, flying squirrels perhaps showed less discrimination in upland-OG because of less within-stand variability. Factors responsible for seasonal variation are less clear. Increasing realized habitat space during autumn might have been in response to phenological changes that facilitate use of more sites by flying squirrels. Vaccinium species undergo a marked transformation between spring and autumn with a dramatic increase in vegetative cover and production of fruit. Perhaps flying squirrels were captured at more stations during autumn because food resources were more widely available; or, access to resources was less constrained because predation risks were lower . Alternatively, we might have caught flying squirrels at more locations during autumn because there were more flying squirrels with higher probabilities of capture (Smith and Nichols 2003) .

Alternatively, we might have caught flying squirrels at more locations during autumn because there were more flying squirrels with higher probabilities of capture.


Fluorescence anisotropy decay offers a realistic alternative to scattering techniques and other methods of particle metrology, particularly when high silicate concentrations are encountered or when studies are required after the gel point. Moreover, the resolution achieved is very high. Multiphoton excitation offers additional capabilities by virtue of the increased dynamic range, which is useful when multiple rotational correlational times are to be detected or when the fluorescence lifetime is much less than the rotational correlation time. Multiphoton excitation is of course achieved at greater expense and increased complexity. The main disadvantage of the approach we have been using lies in the possible obtrusive nature of the fluorescent dye, both hydrodynamically in contributing to the overall radius and chemically and sterically with respect to the sol-gel kinetics. Notwithstanding these factors our results are consistent with a large body of literature on similar sols investigated with scattering techniques [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] .

Notwithstanding these factors our results are consistent with a large body of literature on similar sols investigated with scattering techniques.


Out of concerns for climate change, resource shortages and increasing energy demand, use of biomass, together with other renewable energies, is regarded as a possible solution for mitigating negative effects. Current climate change concerns are a shortage of resources and increasing energy demand. Together with other renewable energies, a possible solution regarded as a mitigation of such negative effects is the use of biogas. The generation of biogas via anaerobic digestion is a promising approach for the production of power, heat and fuels. In Germany, biogas is widely used in gas engines for combined heat and power (CHP) generation [1] . Most biogas plants, however, are located in rural areas, where there are few heating needs other than the temperature control of the biogas fermenters thgemselves. Therefore, a considerable amount of the cogenerated heat in local CHP units is wasted. As biogas consists mainly of methane and carbon dioxide, it can alternatively be upgraded to natural gas quality and distributed to customers via gas grids or used as vehicle fuel [2] . The resulting temporal and spatial separation of biogas production from end use contributes to a higher overall energy utilization efficiency [3] . Hence, improving biogas upgrading is the subject of abundant research and development work. New concepts are continuously being brought forth, such as pressurized biogas production based on a two-stage anaerobic digestion system [4] . In this process a methane-rich biogas is produced directly at an elevated pressure. This has the advantage that the subsequent process for carbon dioxide removal and gas compression can be simplified and the related expenses for gas upgrading and injection of the biogas can be reduced.

In Germany, biogas is widely used in gas engines for combined heat and power (CHP) generation.

As biogas consists mainly of methane and carbon dioxide, it can alternatively be upgraded to natural gas quality and distributed to customers via gas grids or used as vehicle fuel.

The resulting temporal and spatial separation of biogas production from end use contributes to a higher overall energy utilization efficiency.

New concepts are continuously being brought forth, such as pressurized biogas production based on a two-stage anaerobic digestion system.