HMGB1 is identified as a later pro-inflammatory mediator after released by necrotic cells and secreted by immune cells, and plays a critical role in brain dysfunction and diseases [13] . In animal models of ischemic brain injury, for example, HMGB1 expression shows significantly enhancement from 1 to 7 days post surgery, and is associated with increased production of inflammatory cytokines and alteration of neurological function [14] . Early translocation and release of HMGB1 are noted in experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage, which initiate at 2 hours and peak on day 1 after injury [15] . Inhibiting the expression and the action of HMGB1 significantly attenuate neuroinflammation, and further ameliorate brain injury [14, 16] . In septic animal models, inhibition of serum HMGB1 shows great benefits for ameliorating brain injury, as evidenced by improving learning and memory, and alleviating damaged hippocampal structure [17] . However, the expression and the potential role of HMGB1 in different brain regions and during early phase of sepsis have not been elucidated yet.

HMGB1 is identified as a later pro-inflammatory mediator after released by necrotic cells and secreted by immune cells, and plays a critical role in brain dysfunction and diseases.

In animal models of ischemic brain injury, for example, HMGB1 expression shows significantly enhancement from 1 to 7 days post surgery, and is associated with increased production of inflammatory cytokines and alteration of neurological function.

Early translocation and release of HMGB1 are noted in experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage, which initiate at 2 hours and peak on day 1 after injury.

Inhibiting the expression and the action of HMGB1 significantly attenuate neuroinflammation, and further ameliorate brain injury.

In septic animal models, inhibition of serum HMGB1 shows great benefits for ameliorating brain injury, as evidenced by improving learning and memory, and alleviating damaged hippocampal structure.


We join these debates by employing a content analysis of the CSR reports of 40 transnational corporations (TNCs) from the US and the coordinated market economies of Western Europe to examine how firms headquartered in two different varieties of capitalism engage with global CSR norms and practices. We take a somewhat different approach to addressing this question than is typical in the literature. First, unlike many studies of CSR and private governance, we do not focus on the effects of individual codes such as the UN Global Compact (UNGC). Rather we examine the extent to which firms from two different types of capitalism engage with the broader set of corporate social responsibility norms and best practices that underpin many prominent global codes and reporting standards (Tschopp & Nastanski, 2014) . The code-based approach has yielded important lessons about how private governance schemes operate and what types of firms are likely to participate in them. But we know far less about what public goods firms are willing to provide or which specific accountability practices they are willing to employ.

Rather we examine the extent to which firms from two different types of capitalism engage with the broader set of corporate social responsibility norms and best practices that underpin many prominent global codes and reporting standards.


The CSR organisational field draws on the overarching sustainable development norm that encourages corporations to define success in relation to their 'triple bottom line'. According to this logic, firms should pay equal attention to their environmental, social and economic performance (Loconto & Fouilleux, 2014) . The CSR standards bodies that have come into existence since the 1990s have sought to create practices that firms can follow to realise this vaguely defined goal across different environmental and social issues (Dingwerth & Pattberg, 2009) . In keeping with their insider strategy, these organisations have developed structures and practices designed, at least in part, to gain the trust of participant market actors. Specifically, the standards bodies in the field are dedicated to promoting: collaborative rulemaking through multi-stakeholder structures, transparency in rulemaking and implementation, and corporate learning through procedures such as target-setting, auditing, third-party certification and reporting (Loconto & Fouilleux, 2014) . Thus, the practices endorsed by the organisational field focus more on common procedures than on common performance outcomes, although some standards organisations, such as the FSC, marry these procedures with substantive performance requirements (Dingwerth & Pattberg, 2009) .

According to this logic, firms should pay equal attention to their environmental, social and economic performance.

The CSR standards bodies that have come into existence since the 1990s have sought to create practices that firms can follow to realise this vaguely defined goal across different environmental and social issues.

Specifically, the standards bodies in the field are dedicated to promoting: collaborative rulemaking through multi-stakeholder structures, transparency in rulemaking and implementation, and corporate learning through procedures such as target-setting, auditing, third-party certification and reporting.

Thus, the practices endorsed by the organisational field focus more on common procedures than on common performance outcomes, although some standards organisations, such as the FSC, marry these procedures with substantive performance requirements.


Water is an essential element for the life on the Earth, playing a major role in climate regulation and in bio-geological cycles [1] . This resource generates development in socio-economical issues crucial to society in general and more specifically for industries, agricultural activities and for the public use [2] . Indeed the demand of water for human consumption and for agricultural and industrial purposes is drastically increasing, so that the most easily available resources became insufficient.

Water is an essential element for the life on the Earth, playing a major role in climate regulation and in bio-geological cycles.

This resource generates development in socio-economical issues crucial to society in general and more specifically for industries, agricultural activities and for the public use.


In the last years, the interest of the scientific community in the presence of pharmaceutical active compounds (PhACs) and their metabolites in our waterways has increased significantly [12, 13] . A large number of PhAC products originating from human therapy are not completely eliminated into sewage treatment plants (STPs), resulting in discharge to the aquatic environment [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] . E.g., gemfibrozil (GEM) is a persistent and highly stable pharmaceutical under normal environmental condition present in STPs [19] .

In the last years, the interest of the scientific community in the presence of pharmaceutical active compounds (PhACs) and their metabolites in our waterways has increased significantly.

A large number of PhAC products originating from human therapy are not completely eliminated into sewage treatment plants (STPs), resulting in discharge to the aquatic environment.

E.g., gemfibrozil (GEM) is a persistent and highly stable pharmaceutical under normal environmental condition present in STPs.


Mice with COPD phenotype also showed increased airway responsiveness to cholinergic challenge following RV infection and this may be due to increase in the expression of TNF-α and CXCL-10. Both these cytokines have been shown to increase airways hyper responsiveness in mice [34, 35] . However it remains to be confirmed whether these cytokines contribute to RV-induced airways hyper responsiveness to methacholine challenge in a mouse model of COPD.

Both these cytokines have been shown to increase airways hyper responsiveness in mice.


Supply chains are networks of suppliers/vendors, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers that are connected by transportation, information, and financial infrastructure (Sahin and Robinson, 2002) . The ability to specialize and coordinate through e-business has led to complex supply chains that seem to develop from mar-kets rather than the plans of specific organizations (Choi et al., 2001) . Current supply chain technology includes potentially many suppliers/vendors linked to one or more manufacturers and/or assemblers, who often use multiple distributors to supply many retailers. Industry supply chain leaders such as i2 and Manugistics have developed tools to share sales and forecast data, and enterprise resource planning software often features such support (Xu and Dong, 2004) .

Supply chains are networks of suppliers/vendors, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers that are connected by transportation, information, and financial infrastructure.

The ability to specialize and coordinate through e-business has led to complex supply chains that seem to develop from mar-kets rather than the plans of specific organizations.

Industry supply chain leaders such as i2 and Manugistics have developed tools to share sales and forecast data, and enterprise resource planning software often features such support.


In this study, we present the systematic evolution of structure through grazing incident X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) analysis and quantitative composition variation of RPLD grown TiN �lms as a function of deposition pressure in the range of 1.0 to 10.0 Pa using proton elastic back scattering (PEBS) spectrometry. PEBS is superior to the conventional Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) using alpha particles, especially for analyzing low Z elements embedded or present as �lms on higher Z substrates [9] . In the particular case of obtaining compositional information of TiN using conventional RBS it is imperative to deposit these �lms on a lower Z substrate (usually a carbon/silicon substrate). But the application of PEBS facilitates determination of composition of the TiN �lms coated over the structural material itself [AISI 304 SS] . In the present study, the effect of deposition pressure in in�uencing the structure, composition, and morphology of TiN �lms is addressed.

PEBS is superior to the conventional Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) using alpha particles, especially for analyzing low Z elements embedded or present as �lms on higher Z substrates.


Dimensional measurements are performed with an identical instrument, which means that sources of uncertainty associated with that instrument should appear more than once in the uncertainty budget, i.e., lead to correlated input quantities. In this case, dominant uncertainties come from rounding, which means that they are not correlated [15] , [18] . Hence, the assumption of noncorrelated dimensional measurements is justified.

In this case, dominant uncertainties come from rounding, which means that they are not correlated.


While we have developed our initial combined logic model from advocacy organizations in varied policy arenas, there are three clear limitations of its applicability. First, as previously mentioned, our framework assumes a political and social context that is characterized by a democratic form of government that allows people to participate in processes such as shaping the policy agenda, expressing preferences for government actions, and voting with an assurance that everyone has an equal voice (Dahl, 1989) . In such as system, policy advocacy functions as the people-initiated participation in the policy making process, in contrast to the governmentinitiated public participation process. In contrast, under authoritarian forms of governance, the political system is not constitutionally bound to public input into the policymaking process, and therefore the conceptual framework described in this article would not be applicable. Second, while an individual may independently engage in policy advocacy, the logic models that informed this research took the perspective of a group and assumed collective action. This conceptual framework cannot be assumed to apply to actions undertaken by an individual working on their own. Lastly, we reiterate that the academic theories that we have drawn upon were developed in varied fields, none of which was specifically policy advocacy organizations.

First, as previously mentioned, our framework assumes a political and social context that is characterized by a democratic form of government that allows people to participate in processes such as shaping the policy agenda, expressing preferences for government actions, and voting with an assurance that everyone has an equal voice.


This article responds to the need to understand policy advocacy as a systematic process, to enable measurement and evaluation (Hoefer, 2011) . It attempts theory building through the development of a conceptual framework, understood as a set of variables and how they interrelate, with directionality among relationship not requisite, but possibly hypothesized (Ostrom, 1999) . The article does so by synthesizing the professional literature on policy advocacy with the academic literature, primarily drawn from policy studies, to formulate an empirically testable model for policy advocacy.

This article responds to the need to understand policy advocacy as a systematic process, to enable measurement and evaluation.

It attempts theory building through the development of a conceptual framework, understood as a set of variables and how they interrelate, with directionality among relationship not requisite, but possibly hypothesized.


Civic participation in policy advocacy is varied and complex, and ways to simplify it are helpful for creating understanding. Its complexity mirrors the policy making process itself, with interacting considerations such as lengthy time span, difficulties of attributing success to a particular advocacy effort, and the central role of values (Sabatier, 1999) . However, little in the academic literature directly and holistically addresses the theoretical linkages between policy advocacy activities by the public, their requisite resources and knowledge, and their expected outcomes. The practitioner literature has begun to address this gap by identifying policy advocacy inputs, activities, and outcomes. Yet the utility of this information is limited without some reasoning or evidence of how inputs lead to activities, or activities to outcomes. How should an advocacy organization make decisions about investing in resources, such as staff, training, and materials, without knowing what these inputs may enable? And why should advocacy organizations engage in particular activities, without knowing the potential associated outcomes? At a practical level, the lack of knowledge in this area hinders effective advocacy programs. At an academic level, the lack of a conceptual framework limits understanding of the various aspects of advocacy programs and their role in the policy making process.

Its complexity mirrors the policy making process itself, with interacting considerations such as lengthy time span, difficulties of attributing success to a particular advocacy effort, and the central role of values.


Methanol leaf extract showed the strongest cytotoxic activity and also showed cell death by apoptosis with its nuclear segmentation after incubation. Hibiscus rosa sinensis possesses various secondary metabolites that are responsible for its cytotoxic activity. The bioactive components of the leaves and stems are βsitosterol, stigmasterol, taraxeryl acetate and cyclopropane, as well as their derivatives [14] .

The bioactive components of the leaves and stems are βsitosterol, stigmasterol, taraxeryl acetate and cyclopropane, as well as their derivatives.


In vitro cytotoxicity screening offer a suitable strategy to select plant extracts with potential of antineoplastic properties. Cytotoxic assay is based on the evaluation of a rare characteristic of most cytotoxic agents, commonly drugs, hormones, nutrients and irradiation. Cytotoxic assays have been used to measure the amount of death resulting from treatment with compounds that can cause cancer [7] .

Cytotoxic assays have been used to measure the amount of death resulting from treatment with compounds that can cause cancer.


The findings of this study suggest that there may be cytotoxic compounds in Hibiscus rosa sinensis extract that can induce the cytotoxic action against cancer cells and initiate antiproliferation effect leading to cancer cell death [10] . Cytotoxic assays are an important approach for drug discovery from natural products. The mode of cell death is important for determining the effectiveness of cytotoxic agents. Apoptosis is a cell suicide program through a tightly regulated process resulting in the removal of damaged or unwanted tissue [11] . Recently, much effort has been directed toward the search for compounds or herbs that influence apoptosis and their mechanism of action [12] . Cells undergoing apoptosis show characteristic morphological and biochemical features, including chromatin aggregation, nuclear and cytoplasmic condensation, partition of cytoplasmic and nucleus into membrane-bound vesicles [13] .

The findings of this study suggest that there may be cytotoxic compounds in Hibiscus rosa sinensis extract that can induce the cytotoxic action against cancer cells and initiate antiproliferation effect leading to cancer cell death.

Apoptosis is a cell suicide program through a tightly regulated process resulting in the removal of damaged or unwanted tissue.

Recently, much effort has been directed toward the search for compounds or herbs that influence apoptosis and their mechanism of action.

Cells undergoing apoptosis show characteristic morphological and biochemical features, including chromatin aggregation, nuclear and cytoplasmic condensation, partition of cytoplasmic and nucleus into membrane-bound vesicles.


The seed hydration step promotes its softening, helping the preparation and the penetration of the tetrazolium solution, as well as activating the enzymatic system, which results in a crisper staining of living tissues. Pre-dampened seeds are generally less susceptible to damages during the preparation for the test; they help the cutting or perforation to expose the embryo to the tetrazolium action. Moreover, the color of pre-dampened seeds is more consistent, which helps evaluating (Moore, 1977) .

Moreover, the color of pre-dampened seeds is more consistent, which helps evaluating.


By "welfare services" we refer to health and social services that are on the responsibility of the public sector. The welfare service providers, i.e. welfare service system, include public organizations, private firms, non-profit associations, and foundations. The resulting welfare service system is complex in the sense that it produces behaviour that cannot be understood as the sum of its parts [26] .

The resulting welfare service system is complex in the sense that it produces behaviour that cannot be understood as the sum of its parts.


Increased demand for welfare services, especially due to an ageing population, has raised concerns about the effectiveness of welfare services provision. At the same time, increasingly complicated customer requirements mean that the welfare service system needs to be more responsive. Despite different starting points and motivations, solutions for the above-mentioned issues are explored in the field of innovation research. A rather general assumption is that problems concerning the effectiveness of welfare services and service system responsiveness are only solved if service systems are able to develop innovative working methods and practices. In this sense, innovativeness is seen as a 'silver bullet'-a cure for a disease, which, in the case of welfare issues, manifests itself as either service ineffectiveness or inflexibility within the service system [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] . However, despite the broad agreement on the need for service innovation, many organizations still struggle with deficiencies when it comes to innovating services [6] .

In this sense, innovativeness is seen as a 'silver bullet'-a cure for a disease, which, in the case of welfare issues, manifests itself as either service ineffectiveness or inflexibility within the service system.

However, despite the broad agreement on the need for service innovation, many organizations still struggle with deficiencies when it comes to innovating services.


The term "governance" has been used in a variety of ways, but is most often presented as an attempt to improve co-ordination between relatively dependent, autonomous actors. It involves the horizontal steering of relations across networks [12] [13] [14] . Operating in the complex environment of action, new forms of governance have to be taken into account by recognizing the need for interaction and co-operation between the public, private and other actors.

It involves the horizontal steering of relations across networks.


Public-private partnerships (PPP) have been much discussed throughout Europe. PPP is defined as "cooperation between public and private actors with a durable character in which the actors develop mutual products and/or services and in which risk, costs and benefits are shared" [10] . In an ideal PPP, the traditional distinction between public and private is dissolved, and the public and private partnership is based on the idea of mutual added value [10] . Partnerships are organizational manifestations of institutional design for collaboration [11] .

PPP is defined as "cooperation between public and private actors with a durable character in which the actors develop mutual products and/or services and in which risk, costs and benefits are shared".

In an ideal PPP, the traditional distinction between public and private is dissolved, and the public and private partnership is based on the idea of mutual added value.

Partnerships are organizational manifestations of institutional design for collaboration.


In this paper, innovation is defined as context specific "novelty in action" [22] . This includes the idea that innovation is a specific form of change [23] [24] [25] . Innovation is about change because it represents discontinuity or break with the past [25] . This discontinuity challenges the management of public-private relationships in translating new ideas into new forms of action and improved welfare services. Bringing together the promises of innovation and the complexity of public-private partnerships (particularly in the welfare service domain), we pose the following research question: what kinds of enabling practices can be used in supporting innovation in complex welfare service systems?

In this paper, innovation is defined as context specific "novelty in action".

This includes the idea that innovation is a specific form of change.

Innovation is about change because it represents discontinuity or break with the past.


The main interest of the present study was to investigate the effect of soy isoflavones and equol in terms of inhibiting the aggregation and sCD40L release stimulated by ristocetin on platelets from postmenopausal women. The results of these studies confirm that GPIb/IX/V activity induces sCD40L release from human platelets [9] . Additionally, our data demonstrated that equol exhibited a more potent activity at inhibiting ristocetin-induced platelet aggregation and sCD40L release than genistein and daidzein.

The results of these studies confirm that GPIb/IX/V activity induces sCD40L release from human platelets.


It has long been known that solutions of high molecular weight polymers can show permanent shear thinning (permanent viscosity loss) when subject to high shear conditions. Thus a patent of 1937 describes both the milling of polymeric lubricating oil additives to reduce their average molecular weight and the development of a ''shear viscosity breaking test'' to assess the stability of viscosityindex-improved oils [1] . Throughout the 1950s to 1970s, there was considerable research work on permanent shear thinning with respect to both the mastication of solid polymers and viscosity loss of polymer solutions. Three useful reviews in the 1970s summarise the state of knowledge at this time [2] [3] [4] . Mackenzie where viscosity has units Poise, shear rate s -1 , and MWt is the weight average molecular weight in g/mol. In the light of recent knowledge, this must be regarded as highly approximate-for example, it does not take any account of polymer architecture. It does, however, indicate the importance of molecular weight and viscosity in promoting permanent shear thinning.

Thus a patent of 1937 describes both the milling of polymeric lubricating oil additives to reduce their average molecular weight and the development of a ''shear viscosity breaking test'' to assess the stability of viscosityindex-improved oils.

Three useful reviews in the 1970s summarise the state of knowledge at this time.


To be relevant to polymer degradation in the highly laminar flow conditions likely to be present in thin film plain bearing conditions, polymer degradation should be studied at such conditions, though it is interesting to note that physics-based studies of polymer degradation suggest that little polymer breakdown ought to take place in laminar flow [49] . One possibility is to use capillary flow, but this gives a variation of shear rate across the diameter, and it has also been shown that polymer degradation is dominated by the conditions at the capillary inlet [54] . Another important issue in studies of polymer breakdown using capillaries and orifices is that, unless a series of carefully chosen capillaries of different diameters are used, solutions flowing at high shear rate will spend less time in a capillary than those flowing at low shear rate. This has to be taken into account when comparing polymer degradation rates, which should describe how much degradation occurs per unit time of shear rather per pass through the capillary.

To be relevant to polymer degradation in the highly laminar flow conditions likely to be present in thin film plain bearing conditions, polymer degradation should be studied at such conditions, though it is interesting to note that physics-based studies of polymer degradation suggest that little polymer breakdown ought to take place in laminar flow.

One possibility is to use capillary flow, but this gives a variation of shear rate across the diameter, and it has also been shown that polymer degradation is dominated by the conditions at the capillary inlet.


From the above, it can be seen that the extensive literature on polymer permanent shear thinning of polymer solutions can be divided broadly into two groups, work looking specifically at VM polymer solutions and more fundamental studies of polymer scission under shear. Considering all of the research conducted, it is perhaps surprising that we still have no ability to predict VM polymer degradation and consequent viscosity loss and are thus reliant on bench tests. There are several key problems. One is that almost all studies of VM polymer degradation are carried out in spray nozzles, rolling bearings or ultrasonic systems where permanent shear thinning can be quite easily achieved. However, the shear rate and indeed the shear conditions in most such devices are impossible to quantify accurately so that results from such studies cannot be interpreted at a fundamental level. Also in many tests carried out on these devices, only a fraction of the fluid actually passes through the high shear system from where it is returned to a reservoir. This makes analysis of the rate of polymer breakdown and the effect of this on overall viscosity change very difficult to analyse, although valiant attempts have been made to do so [51] [52] [53] .

There are several key problems.

This makes analysis of the rate of polymer breakdown and the effect of this on overall viscosity change very difficult to analyse, although valiant attempts have been made to do so.


The ability to detect and monitor large-scale changes in ecosystem functioning is urgent, as many species including forage fishes are likely to be highly sensitive to the predicted impacts of climate change, particularly in climate 'hotspot' areas such as the Mediterranean Sea (Giorgi & Lionello 2008) . In this study, lipid and fatty acid tracers were used to ex plore intraand inter-species variations in the diet, nutritional condition and energy allocation strategies of 3 forage fishes from the GoL (NW Mediterranean Sea). Of particular interest was testing for tissue-related, temporal and spatial as well as between-species differences. For the fatty acids, we took a novel approach in analysing the composition of the neutral (as opposed to polar or total) lipid fraction as it is more representative of dietary than physiology components. Such a comparative approach provides valuable insights into how these sympatric fishes partition space and prey resources.

The ability to detect and monitor large-scale changes in ecosystem functioning is urgent, as many species including forage fishes are likely to be highly sensitive to the predicted impacts of climate change, particularly in climate 'hotspot' areas such as the Mediterranean Sea.


This study is the first multi-level longitudinal analysis of the effect of health system inputs at district-levels on probability of death at individual-level among HIV-infected individuals receiving ART. Predictive margins of mortality and LTFU were inversely correlated with doctor, nurse and hospital bed density. The number of the patients in the Masa program increased more than 70-fold from 2002 to 2013, yet the health system resources did not keep up at the same pace. Resources (health-workforce and hospital beds) increased across the districts between 2002 and 2013, nonetheless much less than the system's need [25] . The results of this study indicate that doctor density had much greater impact than nurse or bed density in Botswana. This is consistent with the doctor-centered approach to care and the limited task-shifting to nurses described. This means that the availability of certain types of healthcare worker is important, in addition to the overall density of healthcare workers, in determining district-level mortality or LTFU. Healthcare delivery may also need some revision. There is strong evidence indicating the feasibility and effectiveness of task-shifting strategy in sub-Saharan countries [26] . Botswana has already moved toward task-shifting by training nurse prescribers and nurse dispensers and designed simplified ART guidelines to delegate a number of tasks from medical doctors to nurses. Expansion of task-shifting can be part of the solution [27] .

Resources (health-workforce and hospital beds) increased across the districts between 2002 and 2013, nonetheless much less than the system's need.

There is strong evidence indicating the feasibility and effectiveness of task-shifting strategy in sub-Saharan countries.

Expansion of task-shifting can be part of the solution.


In tandem with agile workspace has come the remote, or mobile, worker. Mobile workers have greater flexibility in where they work because of the use of mobile communications and computing. Generally the mobile worker has an office building that acts as a base but also works from a variety of other locations such as their home, cafes and other offices [10] . Mobile workers can be found in traditional offices not just agile workspaces. They are defined by the degree to which they work from locations other than their main offices. Their specific categorization for this study will be explained in more detail further on.

Generally the mobile worker has an office building that acts as a base but also works from a variety of other locations such as their home, cafes and other offices.


An increase in agile workspace and remote working has changed the way that work is done and offices configured. However, little is known about how these changes affect the experience of privacy, crowding and satisfaction. Experiences of privacy are diverse; it can be thought of in terms of the desire for withdrawal, control of information flow and control of interactions [1] . These are important health and wellbeing issues for building occupants [2, 3] . Understanding how agile workspaces and remote working affects occupants' experience is therefore of utmost importance.

Experiences of privacy are diverse; it can be thought of in terms of the desire for withdrawal, control of information flow and control of interactions.

These are important health and wellbeing issues for building occupants.


In the forthcoming Section 2, it is provided some assumptions on model with examples. Section 3 is devoted to the definition of the maximum likelihood estimator with it asymptotic properties. In Section 4, we propose the tests for detecting change in parameter of model (3) . Some simulation results and real data application are presented in Sections 5 and 6 and the proofs of the main results are provided in Section 7.

In Section 4, we propose the tests for detecting change in parameter of model.


In the present paper we present results that suggest a partial modification of this strategy. In Sec. 3 we identify an entropy bound limiting the number of states in the semiclassical geometry expected to dominate the path integral. This is concrete evidence that the proposed S-matrix would have finite rank, as first suggested by Banks [28] . We point out that the past half of the Coleman-De Luccia evolution violates the second law of thermodynamics. We find that this makes it difficult to characterize the asymptotic states relevant to the proposed S-matrix.

This is concrete evidence that the proposed S-matrix would have finite rank, as first suggested by Banks.


In Sec. 4 we analyze how the entropy bound is reconciled at the semiclassical level with the infinite number of particles present in the universe at early and late times. Here we find that the picture is more complex than previously noted [28] . By construction, the time-symmetric Coleman-De Luccia solution involves an era in which the coarse grained entropy decreases. This leads to violent instabilities. Even a small perturbation in the initial state will generically produce a big crunch rather than a future asymptotic region. In this respect the Coleman-De Luccia geometry considered here is not better, but worse than eternal de Sitter space.

Here we find that the picture is more complex than previously noted.

This leads to violent instabilities.


Escherichia coli is widely used as an indicator of fecal pollution when monitoring the microbial quality of drinking water [1] . Standard methods for detection of E. coli in drinking water are based on cultivation which requires an analysis time of 18 -48 h or even longer for confirmation steps. In case of contamination situations, rapid methods are needed to redress the problem [2] .

Escherichia coli is widely used as an indicator of fecal pollution when monitoring the microbial quality of drinking water.

In case of contamination situations, rapid methods are needed to redress the problem.


Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a common surgical procedure used for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) and essential tremor. A potential complication of this procedure is hardware failure, which could be in the form of an electrode or extension lead fracture [1] . With the recent increase in the number of DBS surgeries, we are likely to see more cases of DBS hardware failure. Few reports of DBS hardware failure are currently in the neuroscience literature [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] . Such reports are important as they provide a basis not only for future improvements in the hardware technology but also for early diagnosis and appropriate management of similar events. Here we report on a patient who underwent bilateral subthalamic nucleus (STN) DBS implantation for PD and experienced three events of right-sided extension wire fractures. The fractures were presumably caused by mechanical strain on the extension wire due to rotation of the internal pulse generator (IPG) in a loose subclavicular pocket in an overweight female patient. Implantation of the IPG in the upper back led to successful treatment and prevented further extension wire fractures.

A potential complication of this procedure is hardware failure, which could be in the form of an electrode or extension lead fracture.

Few reports of DBS hardware failure are currently in the neuroscience literature.


In this study we considered the ill posed Boussinesq equation. We rst discussed the exact travelling wave solutions with the exp function method. We have constructed generalized solitonary, periodic and compact-like solutions.The obtained exact solutions should be very useful in various areas of applied mathematics and they can interpret some physical phenomena. The Exp-function method has more advantages: it is direct and concise. In addition, this method clearly avoids some linearization processes, unrealistic assumptions and consequently it provides exact solutions e ciently.Then we considered a nonlocal conservation method. We constructed an adjoint equation by applying the formal Lagrangian to the variational derivative. We showed that the ill posed Boussinesq equation is not self-adjoint. Using the notion of nonlinear self-adjoint we obtained numerous local conservation laws. The conserved vectors obtained here can be used in reductions and solutions of the underlying equation [45] .

The conserved vectors obtained here can be used in reductions and solutions of the underlying equation.


Induced mutation by ethyl methyl sulphonate (EMS) treatment and in vitro selection on media containing Foc culture filtrate (CF) or fusaric acid (FA) have been used to increase somaclonal variation and isolate Foc resistant lines. Abaca variants were regenerated from embryogenic calli and from EMS treated embryogenic calli of abaca cv. Tangongon and Sangihe-1, respectively. Both Foc CF insensitive and FA insensitive abaca variants have also been obtained through in vitro selection on media containing Foc CF or FA (Purwati 2006) . The objectives of this research were (i) to evaluate responses of abaca variants regenerated using four different methods against infection of Banyuwangi isolate of Foc (Foc Bw) in the glasshouse, (ii) to determine effects of initial root length (RL) and plant height (PH) on survival of Foc Bw inoculated abaca variants, and (iii) to identify Foc Bw resistance abaca plants.

Tangongon and Sangihe-1, respectively.

Both Foc CF insensitive and FA insensitive abaca variants have also been obtained through in vitro selection on media containing Foc CF or FA.


In its pathogenicity processes, Foc synthesizes and secrettes fusaric acid that reduces activity of phenol and polyphenol oxydase enzymes and disturbes defensive mechanisms of the plant host (Svabova & Lebeda 2005; Bouizgarne et al. 2006) . In this research, Foc resistance abaca variants were regenerated from both FA or Foc CF insensitive embryogenic calli. Therefore, one possible mechanism improve Foc resistance among the identified variants could be through toxin detoxification. Natural resistance mechanisms against fungal pathogen secretting FA is generally through FA degradation at the early process of infection (Svabova & Lebeda 2005) . A number of enzymes were reported to be able to degrade FA, such as: peroxydase and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) (He et al. 2002) . However, further investigations need to be conducted to prove that detoxyfication was actually the mechanism existed among Foc Bw resistance abaca variants yielded in this research.

In its pathogenicity processes, Foc synthesizes and secrettes fusaric acid that reduces activity of phenol and polyphenol oxydase enzymes and disturbes defensive mechanisms of the plant host.

Natural resistance mechanisms against fungal pathogen secretting FA is generally through FA degradation at the early process of infection.

A number of enzymes were reported to be able to degrade FA, such as: peroxydase and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL).


TCM syndromes, such as yin/yang deficiencies or qi stagnation, are unique symptom complexes that result from imbalances between the body's various functional systems. Since TCM is based on functional relationships and TCM diagnoses involve syndromes not diseases, no oneto-one correlation of signs and symptoms between TCM diagnoses and biomedical diseases exists. The diagnostic symptom complexes used in TCM differ from an allopathic model, and treatment is given according to individual patterns of system imbalances [1] .

The diagnostic symptom complexes used in TCM differ from an allopathic model, and treatment is given according to individual patterns of system imbalances.


Glutathione peroxidase (GPX), a selenium-dependent antioxidant enzyme, plays an essential role in cellular antioxidative defence. GPX1 is the main cellular isoform of the enzyme and is responsible for approximately 80% of enzyme activity in placental tissue [12] . Several studies have shown that GPX1 enzyme activity and/or mRNA expression is decreased in cases of preeclampsia [13] [14] [15] .

GPX1 is the main cellular isoform of the enzyme and is responsible for approximately 80% of enzyme activity in placental tissue.

Several studies have shown that GPX1 enzyme activity and/or mRNA expression is decreased in cases of preeclampsia.


Composite wood ranges from fiberboard to laminated beams and components. Convention wood composite materials fall into five main categories based on the physical configuration of the wood used to make the products: plywood, oriented strand board, particleboard, hardboard and cellulosic fiberboard (Youngquist, 1988) . The plywood manufacturing process in unique, as a raw material is manufactured into a product that is stronger than or as strong as the original tree (Baldwin, 1981) . Plywood is often named as the first from the group of products which are known as engineered wood at present (Hrázský and Král, 2007) . Plied veneered materials overcome largely three crucial drawbacks of solid wood by their construction arrangement: material anisotropy and heterogeneity, insufficient dimensional stability in the course of changes in the moisture content and problems in creating large areas and forms (Král and Hrázský, 2006) .

Convention wood composite materials fall into five main categories based on the physical configuration of the wood used to make the products: plywood, oriented strand board, particleboard, hardboard and cellulosic fiberboard.

The plywood manufacturing process in unique, as a raw material is manufactured into a product that is stronger than or as strong as the original tree.

Plywood is often named as the first from the group of products which are known as engineered wood at present.

Plied veneered materials overcome largely three crucial drawbacks of solid wood by their construction arrangement: material anisotropy and heterogeneity, insufficient dimensional stability in the course of changes in the moisture content and problems in creating large areas and forms.


To attack these problems we automated the home assignments. Automatic assessment allows immediate feedback to the students and it is possible to give individual assignments to students thus alleviating the problem of plagiarism. Our system is called ACE which is short for Automated Compiler Exercises. ACE works on the Web. The preliminary version of ACE was introduced in the work-in-the-progress paper (Salmela and Tarhio, 2004) . Here we deal with the production version, which has been used four times. The main features of ACE are explained in Section 2. In Section 4 we review some experiences of ACE.

ACE works on the Web.

The preliminary version of ACE was introduced in the work-in-the-progress paper.


In the sensitivity analysis, we found the association of ICAS and Lp-PLA 2 only existed in women and patients with higher LDL. Researchers had suggested that the relationship between Lp-PLA 2 and cardiovascular diseases might be influenced by the level of plasma lipid. In a study with 580 hyperlipidemic men, Lp-PLA 2 was approved to be a strong predictor of coronary heart disease [19] . Contrarily, the study performed in healthy middle-aged women with relatively low plasma lipid achieved opposite result [28] . In our population, most of the women were over 60 years old, and displayed higher LDL than men. It might be the LDL level but not the gender which could impact the effect of Lp-PLA 2 on ICAS.

In a study with 580 hyperlipidemic men, Lp-PLA 2 was approved to be a strong predictor of coronary heart disease.

Contrarily, the study performed in healthy middle-aged women with relatively low plasma lipid achieved opposite result.


There are three fundamental tenets of Confucianism [12] . First, Confucianism maintains that people are the most important element in a society. As such, interpersonal relationships are a key issue to be addressed. Second, morality is the fundamental standard upon which the appropriateness of individual behavior is based. Third, as human nature is intrinsically good, and human behavior is changeable, everybody can be a perfect man if they receive proper education. In short, the overriding concern of Confucianism is to establish a moral and orderly society where people interact harmoniously [4] .

There are three fundamental tenets of Confucianism.

In short, the overriding concern of Confucianism is to establish a moral and orderly society where people interact harmoniously.


Regarding the present lecture on character strengths and service leadership, some issues can be highlighted. First, given the conceptual and philosophical nature of Confucian virtues, we can consider whether these virtues are measurable. In a classroom setting, we can ask students to design some assessment items for discussion. Second, the resemblance between Confucian concepts and character strengths in Western literature can be a topic for more in-depth investigations. In addition, the issue of whether Western individualistic concepts are compatible with the Confucian collectivistic concepts can be raised. The third issue to be considered is what difficulties would be encountered in the process of self-cultivation. We are living in a world emphasizing flexibility and creativity. Does self-cultivation in terms of self-suppression have any market here? Fourth, although Chung proposed that Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism can be mapped to the personal, interpersonal and systems domains, respectively, we can argue that these three philosophies are also related primarily to the intrapersonal domain. Finally, it would be interesting to ask how the internalization of Confucian values in students can promote their mental health and leadership qualities. This question is important because there are research findings showing that there are developmental issues confronting Chinese university students in Hong Kong [37, 38] .

This question is important because there are research findings showing that there are developmental issues confronting Chinese university students in Hong Kong.


Mode-2 strategies share a commitment to addressing complex sustainability problems by involving multiple actors (notably social and natural scientists, entrepreneurs, administrators and governors, activists, citizens), acknowledging the multi-level nature of the problems and articulating and connecting multiple perspectives. Subsequently, mode-2 intermediaries are defined as the change-agents that facilitate (and participate in) deliberative processes of learning, knowledge co-creation, and developing problem solving strategies for sustainable development. Mode-2 intermediaries can be individual actors or institutionalised organisations, but most often we mean project teams or temporary programme organisations set up to create an impact on sustainable development. We also use the mode-2 prefix when we refer to emerging approaches to evaluation. Some characteristics of the mode-2 strategies, in relation to characteristics of mode-1 strategies, are summarised in Table 1 . Whilst mode-1 strategies would focus on seeking solutions for relatively concrete problems employing well-established methodologies, mode-2 strategies emphasise the creation of conditions for structuring problems and supporting the search for possible directions for solutions (Regeer & Bunders, 2009) . Particularly in the case of complex problems, characterised by inherent uncertainty and long time horizons, effective strategies should be based on adaptive, iterative and flexible experimentation. Thus, a linear process of problem formulation, project design and implementation is in mode-2 replaced by an experimental approach with a number of alternative frameworks that induce variation and offers diverse experiences to learn from and evaluate (J-P. .

Whilst mode-1 strategies would focus on seeking solutions for relatively concrete problems employing well-established methodologies, mode-2 strategies emphasise the creation of conditions for structuring problems and supporting the search for possible directions for solutions.


Greater caregiving-related distress also predicted more severe sleep problems. In related prior work using polysomnography assessment, spousal caregivers with more avoidant coping styles, which included behaviors such as denial, cognitive disengagement, and emotional venting, faced heightened risks for clinically significant sleep problems compared to others (Taylor et al., 2015) . Our data suggest that the combination of caregiving-specific intrusive thoughts and avoidance of such thoughts may pose unique risks for sleep dysfunction, particularly among caregivers with the riskier serotonin genotypes.

In related prior work using polysomnography assessment, spousal caregivers with more avoidant coping styles, which included behaviors such as denial, cognitive disengagement, and emotional venting, faced heightened risks for clinically significant sleep problems compared to others.


The whole transhipment process is mechanized and automated (Fig 1) . By impacting car walls, vibratory equipment causes impulsive noise and shock vibration. At the time of shock, a part of its energy transforms into vibro-acoustic energy [6] .

At the time of shock, a part of its energy transforms into vibro-acoustic energy.


Living Cetacea comprise 89 species distributed in all oceans and seas (Fordyce 2002) . Differences in water masses in the South Atlantic makes the Brazilian coast a place with a high cetacean biodiversity. To date, 44 species of cetaceans have been recorded in Brazilian waters (Souza et al. 2005) . The abundance and distribution patterns of the cetacean species are heterogeneous. Some species are known based on a few stranded specimens collected and may represent extralimital records (e.g. Commerson's dolphin, Cephalorhynchus commersonii (Lacépede) (Odontoceti, Delphinidae), Peale's dolphin, Lagenorhynchus australis (Peale) (Odontoceti, Delphinidae) and the Southern right whale dolphin, Lissodelphis peronii (Lacépede) (Odontoceti, Delphinidae) -and some species of beaked whales, like the recently published record of Arnoux's beaked whale Berardius arnuxii Duvernoy (Odontoceti, Ziphiidae) (Siciliano & Santos 2003) . But at least 31 cetacean species use the Brazilian waters on a regular basis. This group comprises the whales (e.g. Southern right, humpback, Antarctic and dwarf minke whales) which migrate seasonally with the purpose of mating and reproduction. However, the main group of Brazilian cetaceans is comprised of tropical species living under the strong influence of the Brazilian Current. Some species are restricted to coastal waters like the Guiana dolphin, Sotalia guianensis (van Bénéden) (Odontoceti, Delphinidae), that occupies shallow coastal bays surrounded by mangroves but also is found in open coastal waters. Surprisingly, also within this group is the rough-tooted dolphin, Steno bredanensis (Lesson) (Odontoceti, Delphinidae), that is distributed in marine waters of the lower continental shelf. A local upwelling condition also attracts the Bryde's whale, Balaenoptera edeni Anderson (Mysticeti, Balaenopteridae), to feed on abundant Brazilian sardines and small crustaceans .

Living Cetacea comprise 89 species distributed in all oceans and seas.

To date, 44 species of cetaceans have been recorded in Brazilian waters.

Some species are known based on a few stranded specimens collected and may represent extralimital records (e.g. Commerson's dolphin, Cephalorhynchus commersonii (Lacépede) (Odontoceti, Delphinidae), Peale's dolphin, Lagenorhynchus australis (Peale) (Odontoceti, Delphinidae) and the Southern right whale dolphin, Lissodelphis peronii (Lacépede) (Odontoceti, Delphinidae) -and some species of beaked whales, like the recently published record of Arnoux's beaked whale Berardius arnuxii Duvernoy (Odontoceti, Ziphiidae).


There are a variety of possible explanations for why we did not observe any differences in the achievement of students taught by treatment and control groups teams or in the attitudes and practices of the treatment and control group teachers. First, the single-academic-year randomized trials may have been too brief to meaningfully detect treatment effects. The Year 1 spring survey was administered 8 months after the experiment started, and the Year 2 survey was administered 20 months after the experiment (Mayer, 1999) . Second, treatment teachers may not have fully understood the pilot bonus program. The majority (54%) of teachers did not understand the criteria for earning a bonus. This was a problem even among the treatment teachers who indicated that they had read the FAQ document, which explained the methods used to calculate which teams would be awarded a bonus. For these teachers, 39% indicated they lacked clarity regarding the criteria for earning a bonus. Moreover, a majority of teachers (59%) did not think that the method used to award the bonus was fair to teachers, possibly because teachers may not have understood how the system was designed to reduce competition. Overall, these results suggest that teachers did not appear to fully understand how their performance would translate to a bonus.

The Year 1 spring survey was administered 8 months after the experiment started, and the Year 2 survey was administered 20 months after the experiment.


Some studies have suggested that teachers may not be motivated by financial incentives and prefer other types of non-monetary rewards (Firestone & Pennell, 1993) . Future studies should examine how the opportunity to win a monetary bonus compares to the opportunity to obtain other types of incentives, such as choice of team members, access to instructional materials, or greater opportunity for professional development. Finally, in-depth case studies of teams of teachers who win a bonus can help identify the practices and conditions that led to their success, in particular the importance of teamwork and other specific practices.

Some studies have suggested that teachers may not be motivated by financial incentives and prefer other types of non-monetary rewards.


Energy sustainability and reduction of CO 2 emissions will be joined with a decrease in fossil fuel use and the development of green energies. In this sense, hydrogen could be the energy carrier of the future due to its clean and non-polluting nature [1] [2] [3] [4] . However, the current hydrogen production routes imply the use of fossil fuel-derived products, like methane, as feedstock and, for this reason, the search of new alternatives for hydrogen production based on renewable resources is essential [5] . In line with this, hydrogen production from ethanol steam reforming is an attractive option, since ethanol can be obtained from a wide variety of biomass feedstocks, and therefore, it can minimize CO 2 emissions. In addition, ethanol has a high H/C atomic ratio, low toxicity and can be easily and safely manipulated and transported [6, 7] .

In this sense, hydrogen could be the energy carrier of the future due to its clean and non-polluting nature.

However, the current hydrogen production routes imply the use of fossil fuel-derived products, like methane, as feedstock and, for this reason, the search of new alternatives for hydrogen production based on renewable resources is essential.

In addition, ethanol has a high H/C atomic ratio, low toxicity and can be easily and safely manipulated and transported.


Then, motivated by the recent finding that the initial extended mimetic theory reproduces exactly the effective dynamics of LQC, we have investigated whether this result survives in the spherically symmetric sector. We have argued that this cannot be "naively" the case for a very general reason: the spherically symmetric polymer model fails to be covariant, and there is a priori no hope to reproduce this phase space and its effective quantum corrections from a covariant theory such as mimetic gravity. From a more general perspective, the polymer treatment of inhomogeneous backgrounds (cosmological perturbations, spherical symmetry, Gowdy system) is well known to suffer from a lack of covariance. The holonomy corrections usually introduced during the regularization break the Dirac's hypersurface deformation algebra, or at best, lead to its deformation [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] . It becomes then crucial to understand either the conceptual and technical consequences of such deformation, either to understand how to cure it. In this work we have presented a new strategy towards the second problem based on mimetic gravity. Since this theory provides a covariant Lagrangian which reproduces exactly the effective LQC dynamics in the cosmological sector, it provides an interesting tool to derive covariant polymer-like Hamiltonian models beyond the cosmological sector to be compared with the existing ones. As such, we view mimetic theory as a guide to derive covariant notion of point-wise holonomy-like corrections in polymer models.

The holonomy corrections usually introduced during the regularization break the Dirac's hypersurface deformation algebra, or at best, lead to its deformation.


The paper describes an assessment of methods that can be used by supervisory operators in the field for the estimation of ε R of soil at shallow depth. This aim is also currently under discussion by the CEN WS7 [9] . The estimation of ε R is obtained indirectly by the propagation velocity v = c/ √ ε R , where c is the speed of light in vacuum.

This aim is also currently under discussion by the CEN WS7.


As shown in Fig. 3 , the Ce and Mn concentrations of the filtered PM end-members (Table 1) are positively correlated. Between 105 and 135 dbar dissolved Ce and Mn concentrations increased nearly linearly with depth (German et al., 1991; Schijf et al., 1991) . From the dissolved Ce and Mn gradients a linear relation between dissolved Ce and Mn concentrations could be derived that closely matched the fitted line in Fig. 3 (not shown).

Between 105 and 135 dbar dissolved Ce and Mn concentrations increased nearly linearly with depth.


In this study, we propose a new technique to extract statistical features of handwritten Arabic letters. We apply this technique in extracting moment features and show that this technique provides better feature sets that give higher recognition accuracies. This technique can be applied in extracting other state-of-the-art features such as chain code and gradient features [7] .

This technique can be applied in extracting other state-of-the-art features such as chain code and gradient features.


The need for research investigating the knowledge, perceptions, and behavior of farmers in relation to pesticides arises in the context of increased use of pesticides. Thus, the number of plant protection products marketed in Romania, in 2017, increased by 6.1% over the previous year [40] . The largest share of plant protection products is formed by herbicides (47.5%), followed by fungicides (39.8%), insecticides (8.2%), and other products for plant protection (4.5%) [40] .

Thus, the number of plant protection products marketed in Romania, in 2017, increased by 6.1% over the previous year.

The largest share of plant protection products is formed by herbicides (47.5%), followed by fungicides (39.8%), insecticides (8.2%), and other products for plant protection (4.5%).


The first binary logistic regression analysis showed that the perceived practical efficiency of conventional pesticides and their perceived effect of farmers' health have a good prediction capacity of farmers' willingness to replace conventional pesticides (Table 4) . However, the environmental concern does not contribute to the prediction of the mentioned behavior. Capacity to control pest was an important decision factor regarding the use of pesticides for farmers in other countries, too. For instance, in China, it was observed that almost 68% of a sample of vegetable farmers would like to use them if they had similar controlling effects on pests to conventional pesticides (even if farmers had low knowledge of bio-pesticides) [53] . The model revealed that the direction of the relationship between the effect of conventional pesticides on pests (0 = efficient, 1 = not efficient) and willingness to replace them with bio-pesticides (1 = willing to replace, 0 = not willing to replace) is as follows: farmers who perceive conventional pesticides as inefficient are more likely to replace them with the bio ones. Also, farmers who perceive the negative effect of conventional pesticides on their health are more likely to replace them with bio-pesticides. The efficiency of conventional pesticides plays an important factor in replacement willingness because the odds of a farmer being willing to replace conventional with bio-pesticides are 11 times higher for persons who perceive conventional pesticides as inefficient compared to farmers who perceive them as efficient (Table 3 ). This perception of efficiency is influenced by various factors, for instance, expected results, previous experience, and knowledge about the efficiency of similar products. Some of them can be influenced through marketing measures, such as the modification of expected results and of perceptions regarding the efficiency of alternative solutions. The odds of a farmer being willing to replace conventional with bio-pesticides are four times higher for persons who consider that conventional pesticides have a negative effect on their health compared to farmers who do not see such an effect, all other factors being equal (Table 3 ). This behavior suggests that the preference for bio-pesticides can be stimulated by increasing farmers' awareness of the negative impact of conventional pesticides on their health.

For instance, in China, it was observed that almost 68% of a sample of vegetable farmers would like to use them if they had similar controlling effects on pests to conventional pesticides (even if farmers had low knowledge of bio-pesticides).


In the case of willingness to pay more, only perceptions of the effect of conventional pesticides on farmers' health had a good prediction capacity, thus indicating that this one should be used in information-education campaigns to increase farmers' willingness to pay for bio-pesticides. Health concern seems to be a widely spread factor that stimulates the willingness to pay for sustainable pesticides, as mentioned in numerous studies. Thus, a survey carried out in Pakistan showed that the higher the risk of pesticides on health perceived by farmers, the higher the willingness to pay a premium for safe pesticides [68] . In Nicaragua, farmers were willing to pay up to 28% of pesticide expenditure to avoid health risks [69] . In China, farmers were willing to pay more for health risk reduction associated with pesticide use [70] . Nepalese farmers were willing to pay between 53% and 79% to protect both their health and the environment [71] . There are also variables besides health and environment that can predict willingness to pay for healthier pesticides alternatives, such as education, risk perception, social trust, and social networks use, which were proved significant in a study on Chinese farmers [70] .

Thus, a survey carried out in Pakistan showed that the higher the risk of pesticides on health perceived by farmers, the higher the willingness to pay a premium for safe pesticides.

In Nicaragua, farmers were willing to pay up to 28% of pesticide expenditure to avoid health risks.

In China, farmers were willing to pay more for health risk reduction associated with pesticide use.

Nepalese farmers were willing to pay between 53% and 79% to protect both their health and the environment.

There are also variables besides health and environment that can predict willingness to pay for healthier pesticides alternatives, such as education, risk perception, social trust, and social networks use, which were proved significant in a study on Chinese farmers.


The efforts in developing a technical solution to reduce the negative impact of chemicals used in agriculture represent only one part of the solution for sustainable agriculture. There are at least other two directions that must be considered. One refers to the legal framework that can stimulate or deter the use of environmentally friendly alternatives [62] . The other one is represented by consumer contribution in adopting sustainable product options. Most often, convincing consumers to consider sustainable products, such as bio-pesticides or natural fertilizers, requires extended research efforts to understand their needs, motivations, or hindering factors [63] [64] [65] . Conventional pesticides are considered efficient by 81.7% of interviewed farmers (Table 2) , which can become a hindering factor for the transition to bio-pesticides. This poses a double challenge to bio-pesticides: to be objectively effective and to be perceived as such by their users. The perceived negative effects of conventional pesticides on health and on the environment are rather weak (with one-third of farmers perceiving them, Table 2 ). Therefore, at the sample level, they do not represent a potential strong incentive to search for an alternative solution. In China, a similar perception of the negative effect on the environment was present, too, because farmers did not believe that environmental pollution could be mitigated by reducing the use of pesticides [66] . Although it may be considered at first sight that it is encouraging to have over half of the sample willing to replace conventional pesticides with bio-pesticides or to pay more for the latter, these percentages should be treated with caution because the intensity of the willingness is not revealed and the exact amount of additional money they agree to pay is not indicated either. Future research can test the intensity of willingness to pay various prices (for instance, on a scale from "I am certain I will not pay it" to "I am certain I will pay it").

One refers to the legal framework that can stimulate or deter the use of environmentally friendly alternatives.

Most often, convincing consumers to consider sustainable products, such as bio-pesticides or natural fertilizers, requires extended research efforts to understand their needs, motivations, or hindering factors.

In China, a similar perception of the negative effect on the environment was present, too, because farmers did not believe that environmental pollution could be mitigated by reducing the use of pesticides.


The depletion of world oil reserves and the increasing concerns about maintaining better environmental conditions, generate a high demand for alternative fuel sources. Biodiesel has been recently regarded as the best candidate to replace diesel fuel. It is a clean, renewable fuel, which can be used on any diesel engine without the need for modification (Vasudevan and Briggs, 2008) .

It is a clean, renewable fuel, which can be used on any diesel engine without the need for modification.


The present work has been designed to create a cardiac patch which can be used as a cell carrier for therapy purposes. Among different approaches, electrospinning appears to be the simplest but yet versatile method for the fabrication of fibrous scaffolds from a large variety of materials. Then, the challenge is to find the most suited material and processing parameters. Although the electrospinning techniques have been well documented, few of them applied to cardiac cell therapy which requires a full control of the porous size, the mechanical stiffness and the bio-reactivity or bio-degradability of the scaffold. As a first step of our approach, we produced nanofibers by electrospinning of a clinically proven collagen dissolved in a non-toxic solvent system in contrary to the widely used 1,1,1,3,3,3 hexafluoro-2-propanol [3] . In addition, we chose a citric acid-based system for cross-linking of the electrospun nanofibers, which makes our fabrication process compatible to the therapy purposes. After crosslinking, the collagen fibrous scaffold could be easily mounted on a standard device for in vitro studies. This should allow more systematic investigations to elucidate the dependence of cell migration and three-dimensional colonization as a function of pore size and thickness of the scaffold. The fabricated nanofiber scaffolds could also be used for in-vivo testing. Our preliminary results have shown the feasibility of implantationof this patch. Finally, the mechanical stiffness of the scaffold will have to be optimized in order to match that of the heart to be repaired.

As a first step of our approach, we produced nanofibers by electrospinning of a clinically proven collagen dissolved in a non-toxic solvent system in contrary to the widely used 1,1,1,3,3,3 hexafluoro-2-propanol.


Single crystal-type silicon solar cells are directly sensitive to gamma-radiation, although their sensitivities are very poor because gamma-radiation passes through the thin solar cells without imparting all of its energy. However, the induced current of the solar cell can be considerably improved by coupling it to a CsI(Tl) scintillator. The electric current generated by solar cells has been enhanced by improving the spectral response of the solar cells and enlarging their sensitive area [8] .

The electric current generated by solar cells has been enhanced by improving the spectral response of the solar cells and enlarging their sensitive area.


The aim of this paper is to create a theoretical framework in which it is possible to study this issue, in order to gain better insight into how it is manifest in practice, and how to overcome it. In particular our goal is to investigate the following problem: how can we fit data obtained from the high-dimensional, multiscale full dynamics to a low-dimensional, coarse grained model which governs the evolution of the resolved ("slow") degrees of freedom? We will study this question for a class of stochastic systems for which we can derive rigorously a coarse grained description for the dynamics of the resolved variables. More specifically, we will work in the framework of coupled systems of multiscale SDEs for a pair of unknown functions (x(t), y(t)). We assume that y(t) is fast, relative to x(t), and that the equations average or homogenize to give a closed equation for X(t) to which x(t) converges in the limit of infinite scale separation. The function X(t) then approximates x(t), typically in the sense of weak convergence of probability measures [7, 20] . We then ask the following question: given data for x(t), from the coupled system, can we correctly identify parameters in the averaged or homogenized model for X(t)?

The function X(t) then approximates x(t), typically in the sense of weak convergence of probability measures.


In addition to the optimum vote aggregation method and the calculation of the optimum number of replicas, another contribution of this research is to look into the importance of diversity to survivability. Definitions and requirements of survivability have been introduced by previous researchers [2] [3] [4] . We define survivability as the capability of an entity to continue its mission even in the presence of cyber attacks, internal failures, or accidents. An entity ranges from a single component (object), with its mission in a distributed computing environment, to an information system that consists of many components to support the overall mission. An entity may support multiple missions. In order to support the pressing requirements for survivability in mission-critical systems, we identified the static and dynamic models and discussed their tradeoffs with generic implementation architectures in our previous works [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] .

Definitions and requirements of survivability have been introduced by previous researchers.

In order to support the pressing requirements for survivability in mission-critical systems, we identified the static and dynamic models and discussed their tradeoffs with generic implementation architectures in our previous works.


In this paper we introduce a new realization of EWBG that meets these criteria. It relies upon a Majorana fermion χ that can couple to the scalar via Sχγ 5 χ. A Z 2 symmetry is imposed so that χ can couple to standard model leptons, for example the τ lepton doublet L τ , in combination with an inert Higgs doublet φ, through the interaction yL τ φχ. We dub this a "CP portal interaction," since its purpose is to transmit the CP asymmetry between the two helicity states of χ, that is generated at the bubble wall during the first order electroweak phase transition, to L τ by (inverse) decays of φ. An interesting feature of the model is that χ is a dark matter candidate if m χ < m φ (otherwise φ is the dark matter), whose relic density is determined by the same coupling y as enters into the baryon asymmetry. Numerous previous works have explored possible links between electroweak baryogenesis and dark matter [20, 29, [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] . In the case where the scalar singlet is the dark matter candidate, it must be subdominant to the main DM constituent if it is to provide a strong enough phase transition for baryogenesis (while it may nevertheless be directly detectable) [16] . Unlike previous works, here the dark matter plays an essential role in generating the baryon asymmetry rather than strengthening the phase transition. Moreover we show it can be accomplished without any explicit CP violation in the dark sec-tor, since CP can be violated spontaneously in the DM interactions with the scalar singlet in the bubble wall, where S gets a VEV. Since the VEV disappears at low temperatures and CP is restored, the model is in this case immune to constraints from electric dipole moment searches.

Numerous previous works have explored possible links between electroweak baryogenesis and dark matter.

In the case where the scalar singlet is the dark matter candidate, it must be subdominant to the main DM constituent if it is to provide a strong enough phase transition for baryogenesis (while it may nevertheless be directly detectable).


The poorer TUG score with the increased number of medicinal molecules used confirms the linear relationship between number of medications and impaired balance (Agostini et al., 2004) . Furthermore, the reduced basic mobility with concomitant use of five or more medicinal molecules would be consistent with the association of polypharmacy cut-off of five drugs, arbitrary determined, with worsening of gait and balance at 7-year follow-up (Pugh et al., 2007) . The present study is the first to define a polypharmacy cut-off value, of five medicinal molecules, for adverse outcomes on functional mobility, as assessed by a static and dynamic balance test, using statistical methods. The significant AUC of the ROC curve indicates that the prediction of impaired mobility when using five or more molecules is very accurate. Finally, the logistic regression analysis supports the validity of this cut-off value since it shows that participants with impaired TUG scores are 3.5 times more likely to be taking five or more pharmacological molecules.

The poorer TUG score with the increased number of medicinal molecules used confirms the linear relationship between number of medications and impaired balance.

Furthermore, the reduced basic mobility with concomitant use of five or more medicinal molecules would be consistent with the association of polypharmacy cut-off of five drugs, arbitrary determined, with worsening of gait and balance at 7-year follow-up.


Unlike the three above modalities we believe are useful in diagnosing CECS of the forearm, other choices have often proven inadequate. As in this case, observation with cessation of exercise for 1 month, a physical therapy plan, anti-inflammatory medicines, an EMS, a NCS, a non-exercise MRI of the forearm, a cervical MRI, and a cervical CT angiogram have all demonstrated to only rule out a few differential diagnoses or have proven inconclusive. Even though the first step taken by the initial physician in March was to rule out any concomitant nerve compression through EMG/NCS studies, these exams may prove misleading or inaccurate at times [15, [21] [22] [23] [24] . Other investigations not done in this case have proven futile as well; including X-rays, blood tests, and Doppler ultrasound scans [2, 13] .

Even though the first step taken by the initial physician in March was to rule out any concomitant nerve compression through EMG/NCS studies, these exams may prove misleading or inaccurate at times.

Other investigations not done in this case have proven futile as well; including X-rays, blood tests, and Doppler ultrasound scans.


As a final note regarding research on dynamics in networks, particularly data networks and the Internet, the author believes that more interaction and crossreferencing between the engineering and physics communities will help promote better understanding and advancement. Although there is research at an almost feverish pitch in both the physics and engineering community on networking, both sets of publications seem to be almost entirely ignorant of each other. In physics, one of the only such publications commonly cited is the Faloutsos team's work on the router topology of the Internet [6] . Engineering researchers, in journals such as those published by IEEE and ACM, also have rarely quoted physics literature besides the most well-known papers of Barabási, Watts, or Strogatz and seem largely unaware of the later results being reached by physics in the topology of networks. Without a detailed understanding of the network protocols and engineering literature regarding the function of data networks and the Internet, this paper would not have been possible. A similar situation is seen in sociology where a wealth of research has been done on aspects of social network dynamics such as the diffusion of trends along networks, in a quantitatively rigorous fashion, but again both communities do not usually inform each other of progress or motivate collaboration. As the study of networks expands and matures, it will become necessary to read and reach across interdisciplinary boundaries to share tools and knowledge that will allow the most profound and predictive insights to be reached.

In physics, one of the only such publications commonly cited is the Faloutsos team's work on the router topology of the Internet.


Pore-scale two-phase flow configurations are assumed to be known a priori in the heat transfer upscaling problem. Furthermore, the interface is assumed to obey a quasi-static assumption [25] . The time-scales are separated enough so that the time convolutions that arise in the upscaling process can be discarded [26, 27] . The resulting model is a three-temperature model.

Furthermore, the interface is assumed to obey a quasi-static assumption.

The time-scales are separated enough so that the time convolutions that arise in the upscaling process can be discarded.


Autonomous vehicles are the future of transportation, offering a variety of social benefits such as improving mobility for the elderly, disabled and children, reducing accidents caused by driver errors, decreasing congestion linked to selfish driving behaviour, increasing fuel efficiency by reducing unnecessary braking, and enhancing human productivity by freeing us from driving [6] . To acquire real-time information about their environment, autonomous vehicles use an array of sensing technologies, e.g., sonar devices, cameras, lasers, and radars. However, because sensor data may be inaccurate or incomplete due to limited range, field of view, and obstructions. Vehicles can retrieve information that assist autonomous driving (e.g., map publishers) through vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I).

Autonomous vehicles are the future of transportation, offering a variety of social benefits such as improving mobility for the elderly, disabled and children, reducing accidents caused by driver errors, decreasing congestion linked to selfish driving behaviour, increasing fuel efficiency by reducing unnecessary braking, and enhancing human productivity by freeing us from driving.


From the study and recognition of chiral compounds, it is well known that many pharmaceutical and flavoring compounds are racemic mixtures. Chiral isomers function differently because of rigorous chiral matching and identification with large molecules in the body, producing marked differences in their pharmacological activity, metabolic processes and toxicity. Therefore, the increasing need for single enantiomers in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries has stimulated a significant demand for efficient processes to resolve racemic mixtures. Compared with many other separation methods for chiral compounds, membrane technology is advantageous because it enables a high throughput, is energy saving and thus more economical, and is very easy to scale up [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] .

Compared with many other separation methods for chiral compounds, membrane technology is advantageous because it enables a high throughput, is energy saving and thus more economical, and is very easy to scale up.


The mandelic acid enantiomer is an important intermediate reagent in the synthesis of chiral compounds and as a chiral selector in solvent extraction [25] . To the best of our knowledge, most of the enantiomers separated by membrane were amino acids. No examples of enantiomer separations by an enantioselective membrane formed by polycondensation of -cyclodextrin with 1,6-diisocyanatohexane on a polysulfone membrane have been described prior to this report of its use in isolating the optical isomers of D,L-mandelic acid.

The mandelic acid enantiomer is an important intermediate reagent in the synthesis of chiral compounds and as a chiral selector in solvent extraction.


In a companion study, we found woodchips of Quercus acutissima were better for feedstocks of torrefied biomass than cones of Pinus koraiensis and crab shells (Cho et al. 2017) . In this study, we investigated the effect of torrefied wood on seedling growth and physiological properties of Zelkova serrata and Fraxinus rhynchophylla to verify the substitution ratio of commercial soil medium in a containerized seedling production system. We used oak chips for torrefied wood because these could be supplied from trees damaged by disease and pests, which were usually cut and abandoned on the forest floor. Zelkova serrata and F. rhynchophylla seedlings were used to verify the effects of torrefied wood in a containerized production system because of their high economic value as a commercial timber or a street tree. This study proposes an optimal mixed ratio of torrefied wood with commercial soil medium in a containerized seedling production system, which may produce a kind of forest biomass utilization with high value.

In a companion study, we found woodchips of Quercus acutissima were better for feedstocks of torrefied biomass than cones of Pinus koraiensis and crab shells.


More recently, evaluating the relative contribution of both leaf-level chemistry (including chlorophyll) and forest canopy structure over a range of climate and forest types has become necessary for the calculation of total carbon uptake. In addition, chlorophyll and nitrogen measurements are being used as key drivers of photosynthetic capacity in most current gross primary productivity models (Smith et al. 2002; Ollinger and Smith 2005) . With the increasing significance of the role of chlorophyll in forest health and the growing concern for the effects of climate change on forest structure, it is prudent to develop a standardized methodology that is capable of complete extraction of whole tissues (without maceration) using the least toxic and most stable solvent that can work equally well across species and environmental conditions. This standardized method would be useful in validating multispecies data gathered simultaneously as part of large-scale ecological studies using various noninvasive methods such as hand-held chlorophyll meters or remote sensing.

In addition, chlorophyll and nitrogen measurements are being used as key drivers of photosynthetic capacity in most current gross primary productivity models.


A major requirement of any information management system is to protect resources and data against unauthorized disclosure, called secrecy, and unauthorized or improper modifications, called integrity, while at the same time ensuring their availability to the users, means that no denial-of-service occurs. Enforcing such protection requires that every access to a system and its resources have to be under control and only authorized access requests are granted. This process is called access control [3] .

This process is called access control.


Targeted observations have the potential to be used as part of an adaptive observing system, where additional observations are targeted according to the synoptic situation. This was trialled during 2008 under the Eurorisk-PREVIEW (PREVention, Information and Early Warning) programme (http://www.previewrisk.com). Investigating the benefit of targeted observations is also one of the aims of The Observing System Research and Predictability Experiment (THORPEX), a World Meteorological Organisation programme (http://www.wmo.int/thorpex). This paper aims to contribute to the debate on the effectiveness of targeted observing, by analysing the impact of targeted observations made during the field campaign of the Greenland Flow Distortion experiment (GFDex) in February-March 2007 (Renfrew et al., 2008) .

This paper aims to contribute to the debate on the effectiveness of targeted observing, by analysing the impact of targeted observations made during the field campaign of the Greenland Flow Distortion experiment (GFDex) in February-March 2007.


Techniques to produce nanofibres have been developed for many years. Electrospinning is one of the versatile methods to produce nanofibres. Various worldwide researchers have started to develop alternative methods to produce nanofibres to improve production rates and quality. The most common methods are melt-blown, phase separation, selfassembly, template synthesis, bicomponent, centrifugal, and drawing methods, among others [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] .

The most common methods are melt-blown, phase separation, selfassembly, template synthesis, bicomponent, centrifugal, and drawing methods, among others.


In some applications such as precise positioning and micromanipulation, the use of feedback control techniques to remove hysteresis are limited by the lack of convenient sensors having the required performances and convenient dimensions. In fact, embeddable sensors such as strain gauges do not possess the required performances while performant sensors such as optical sensors are very bulky [6] [8] . For this reason, feedforward (open-loop) techniques have been adopted.

In fact, embeddable sensors such as strain gauges do not possess the required performances while performant sensors such as optical sensors are very bulky.


We have discussed the role and determination of the vacuum state for quantum fields treated as perturbations in the framework of LQC. We have focused our attention on the hybrid approach to LQC, although most of our analysis can be extended to other proposals, like the dressed metric approach. For our discussion, we have considered an FLRW universe with compact flat topology in the presence of a massive scalar field, and we have perturbed it at quadratic order in the action. In this perturbative formalism, the zero modes that describe the FLRW cosmology have been treated exactly at the adopted order of truncation. On the other hand, the non-compact case can be included in the study by taking an appropriate limit [61] . In our system, formed by the homogeneous FLRW cosmology and its perturbations, we have introduced a canonical transformation that respects the gauge invariance at the perturbative level of truncation. With this transformation, the system can be described by MS and tensor gauge invariants, linear perturbative constraints and their momenta, and zero modes. In a hybrid quantization, the physical states of this system depend only on the zero modes and on the perturbative gauge invariants. The sector of zero modes is quantized with the techniques of homogeneous LQC, while the perturbations are quantized with more standard, Fock methods, using a Fock representation in a family of unitarily equivalent choices, that is selected by criteria based on invariance under spatial symmetries and unitarity of the Heisenberg evolution in the selected family of creation and annihilation operators.

On the other hand, the non-compact case can be included in the study by taking an appropriate limit.


In this paper, we propose a continuous analog to the power-based accelerated OS-EM, which is based on the approach of continuous-time dynamical optimization [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] . The system is described by a switched nonlinear differential equation with piecewise smooth vector fields. Reconstructed image pixels were obtained by using the initial value problem of differential equations describing the dynamical system, for example, a continuous-time image reconstruction (CIR) system. The proposed hybrid dynamical system has a different vector field from that of our previously presented continuous system [20] [21] [22] . We indicated that discretizing the differential equations using the geometric multiplicative 2 Mathematical Problems in Engineering first-order expansion of the nonlinear vector field leads to the exact same iterative formula of the power-based OS-EM with the scaling parameter as a step size of discretization. Iterative algorithms with the Runge-Kutta (RK), as well as Euler methods that are applied to multiplicatively and additively discretize the CIR system, can be used for image reconstruction. This paper shows that the discretization of a differential equation system can construct an IIR algorithm for solving bound-constrained inverse problems in CT.

In this paper, we propose a continuous analog to the power-based accelerated OS-EM, which is based on the approach of continuous-time dynamical optimization.

The proposed hybrid dynamical system has a different vector field from that of our previously presented continuous system.


Global industrial growth has had two demanding effects on the human environment. First, natural energy resources are being consumed at a rapid pace. Efficient operations and alternate energy resources are sought to reduce the current rate of depletion of natural energy resources. Second, global industrial growth has resulted in increased carbon emissions. The carbon emissions, known as Greenhouse Gases (GHG) in general, lead to higher disease rates, global warming, and depletion of the Ozone layer. Information Technology (IT) is both an emerging global industry and a support technology for many businesses. We seek information at increasing rates and in multiple forms to ease our lifestyle. The IT industry, or computing in general, contributes to both high energy consumption and carbon emissions. Therefore, emerging IT technologies, existing practices, and algorithms need to be redefined for energy efficient, energy-proportional, and sustainable operations. Additionally, IT technologies have a responsibility to limit the energy consumption and carbon footprint of other industries and organizations while facilitating green environmental practices in their daily operations [1] . Many modern aspects of our society are based on the global success of the IT industry. The problem of energy and sustainability is often associated with manufacturing, aviation, and petroleum industries. However, the IT sector is also accountable for high energy consumption and carbon emissions. The IT sector is currently responsible for 2.4-3% of global electricity consumption with aforecasted 20% increase annually. Similarly, the IT sector accounts for 2-2.5% of worldwide carbon emissions equivalent to 0.86 metric gigatonnes of CO 2 [2] . The increasing energy and carbon impact of computing call for energy-proportional and "Green" computing systems.

Additionally, IT technologies have a responsibility to limit the energy consumption and carbon footprint of other industries and organizations while facilitating green environmental practices in their daily operations.

Similarly, the IT sector accounts for 2-2.5% of worldwide carbon emissions equivalent to 0.86 metric gigatonnes of CO 2.


Green Computing is a computing paradigm where: (a) IT resource efficiencies are maximized, (b) resources (in particular, energy) are re-used whenever possible, (c) sustainable products and manufacturing practices are adopted, and (d) green initiatives in other industries are supported through monitoring and management tools [3] . Resource efficiency has dual context for performance and energy. Multiple resources and their alternative backups are utilized for efficient high-performance computing. In contrast, energy efficiency practices involve reduction of resources and energy proportional computing. Energy reuse in computing systems derives from the cyber-physical interactions of IT resources and cooling of large-scale IT centers [1] . Similarly, sustainability in computing is achieved by utilization of renewable energy resources while limiting the carbon footprint of IT operations. Manufacturing practices that increase re-use of off-the-shelf computing components and limit the e-waste also contribute to sustainability efforts. Other than self-conscious approaches to green computing, the IT technologies are utilized as a platform to promote the greening and sustainability efforts of other industries through environmental monitoring and social awareness [4] .

Green Computing is a computing paradigm where: (a) IT resource efficiencies are maximized, (b) resources (in particular, energy) are re-used whenever possible, (c) sustainable products and manufacturing practices are adopted, and (d) green initiatives in other industries are supported through monitoring and management tools.

Energy reuse in computing systems derives from the cyber-physical interactions of IT resources and cooling of large-scale IT centers.

Other than self-conscious approaches to green computing, the IT technologies are utilized as a platform to promote the greening and sustainability efforts of other industries through environmental monitoring and social awareness.


Actually, autogenous healing of concrete itself has already been studied previously. Cracks ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 mm can be fixed though hydration of unhydrated concrete particles, whereas it is very limited [4] . To deal with wider cracks, healing agents in the form of admixtures should be incorporated. Nowadays, more and more researchers consider bio-based agents as a promising candidate.

Cracks ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 mm can be fixed though hydration of unhydrated concrete particles, whereas it is very limited.


Our work generates a number of promising avenues for future study. First, we need to understand the extent to which design choices vary, for example, across products that perform similar functions. If designs are, to a large degree, dictated by function, the to expose the broader organizational influences on design. Prior work asserts that products tend to mirror the organizations that develop them (Conway, 1968; Henderson and Clark, 1990) . This "duality" implies there are implicit constraints on design choices which must be better understood. Finally, the methods we develop can be used to assess the degree to which regular patterns occur in system design and evolution. Much work asserts that systems comprise a central core around which are arranged peripheral components (Tushman and Murmann, 1998) . Future research could explore the prevalence of such patterns and identify the factors that most explain differences between them. Ultimately, this agenda promises to help understand the choices available to a designer, and the impact of their choices on both product and organizational performance.

Prior work asserts that products tend to mirror the organizations that develop them.

Much work asserts that systems comprise a central core around which are arranged peripheral components.


There are two approaches that can be taken to solve FSI problems using numerical simulation, namely: the strong and the weak coupling methods. For the strong coupling method, the governing equations for the fluid and structure are solved simultaneously with a single solver. Generally, it leads to a convergence rate of the 2 nd order [2, 3] . However, the strong coupling method is of limited use as it requires the modification of existing fluid and structural solvers, there is restricted flexibility between the time integration and mesh discretization of the fluid and structural solvers. In addition, strong coupling also requires extensive computational power and storage requirements. While for the weak coupling method, the governing equations for the fluid and structure are solved separately with two different solvers. The results from the fluid solver and structural solver are inputted into each other sequentially and iteratively. Hence this allows existing solvers to be used easily. However, there is a greater chance of convergence problem for the weak coupling method [3] .

Generally, it leads to a convergence rate of the 2 nd order.

However, there is a greater chance of convergence problem for the weak coupling method.