In many countries, the hospitality industry is one of the major contributors to the nation's social and economic development. In the recent decade, the industry and the broader service sector have witnessed significant disruptions from new entrants and intensifying rivalry among incumbents, with corresponding shifts in consumer preferences and expectations. Sharing economy startups deploying technological and business model innovations (BMI) backed by venture capitalists have radically enhanced operation efficiency in the food delivery services to achieve exponential growth in their market share. This has changed the competition landscape for the hospitality industry, particularly in the food services sector. Similar trends have been observed in the retail industry, where the rise of big data has enabled some retail operators to drive BMI to provide their consumers with more personalized shopping experiences through complementary online and offline channels [1] .

Similar trends have been observed in the retail industry, where the rise of big data has enabled some retail operators to drive BMI to provide their consumers with more personalized shopping experiences through complementary online and offline channels.


Those who are either uninsured or underinsured are effectively 'priced-out' of the health insurance market and reliant on emergency room care, where care cannot be refused. The options for the participants in this study were to schedule an appointment with a free or low-cost clinic, seek same-day care at an urgent care center, or seek emergency room services, which was a last resort. Since emergency room care is one of the most expensive forms of health care, the overutilization of these services by uninsured populations such as undocumented immigrants who cannot afford to pay for services is an unnecessary strain on a health system's resources and is financially unsustainable [20] . While charity care is charged with addressing the health needs of the uninsured, low-income population, their services are limited, and may not meet the needs of this underserved population for specialty care or chronic disease management [21, 22] . This was noted by study participants who complained about the high cost and unaffordability of specialty care services.

Since emergency room care is one of the most expensive forms of health care, the overutilization of these services by uninsured populations such as undocumented immigrants who cannot afford to pay for services is an unnecessary strain on a health system's resources and is financially unsustainable.

While charity care is charged with addressing the health needs of the uninsured, low-income population, their services are limited, and may not meet the needs of this underserved population for specialty care or chronic disease management.


To improve click-through rates, many techniques of varying complexity exist that mask the malicious nature of the email: hiding the destination of hyperlinks, falsifying header information, and creative use of images are a few of these methods [21, 14] . Simple social engineering techniques can also help disguise malicious emails, such as by mimicking notification emails from popular financial websites (e.g. bankofamerica.com, chase.com), or by mimicking notification emails from popular commercial websites like amazon.com and ebay.com. However, these social engineering techniques are relatively crude; they blindly send messages claiming to be from large websites to people who may or may not have accounts on those sites.

To improve click-through rates, many techniques of varying complexity exist that mask the malicious nature of the email: hiding the destination of hyperlinks, falsifying header information, and creative use of images are a few of these methods.


The number of registrations when artifacts were present was relatively high (28.8% in non-intubated patients and 11.3% in intubated patients). In some patients the electrodes fell off due to movement and stretching of the wires, or due to excessive sweating. Electrode adhesion problems and movement artifacts may possibly be reduced with better electrodes and wrapping of the hand [16] .

Electrode adhesion problems and movement artifacts may possibly be reduced with better electrodes and wrapping of the hand.


The interpretation of the KG equation proposed here has common features to that proposed earlier by Pauli and Weisskopf [6] . Particularly, we used that causal and anti-causal propagators are linked by complex conjugation. This feature appeared naturally in our theory, owing to a 4D non-Lorentzian space-time. This space-time occurred from foliating a 5D Lorentzian manifold, while imposing that the count of null paths between two points, 1 and 2, in the 5D Lorentzian manifold is linked by Fourier transformed to a sum over time-like paths between the 4D projections of the points 1 and 2 in the non-Lorentzian space-time [20] .

The interpretation of the KG equation proposed here has common features to that proposed earlier by Pauli and Weisskopf.

This space-time occurred from foliating a 5D Lorentzian manifold, while imposing that the count of null paths between two points, 1 and 2, in the 5D Lorentzian manifold is linked by Fourier transformed to a sum over time-like paths between the 4D projections of the points 1 and 2 in the non-Lorentzian space-time.


The grayscale of a pixel is normally provided as one intensity value, while the color of a pixel is given as three intensity values pointing out the tri-stimuli of red (R), green (G) and blue (B). It is known that edge detection on grayscale images is not fully enough to describe intensity changes. Therefore, color edge information can be considered to support the shortage of result of grayscale images. There have been many approached in literature [4] [5] [6] . It is known that various edge detectors operate better under certain conditions. Therefore, applying multiple edge detectors in a multi color channels give better results. We tested Sobel edge detector on different color channels.

There have been many approached in literature.


The edges are known as surprising intensity variation in the gray or color levels in an image. The edge detection is to detect edges in an image which is a significant tool which makes a binary image from the original one by extracting informative object boundaries. Thus, the edge detection is a crucial topic in image processing, understanding and computer vision. After the edge detection, the information of an image to be operated is intensely reduced because the image contains only object boundaries. The edge detection classifies an image into object and background. The performance of edge detection is favorably contingent upon noise, presence of similar intensity objects, lighting, and density of edges in the scene [1] [2] [3] .

The performance of edge detection is favorably contingent upon noise, presence of similar intensity objects, lighting, and density of edges in the scene.


Oftentimes, information can be collected sequentially rather than all at once, i.e. the decision maker can, at any point, determine whether s/he wishes to continue gathering information or go ahead with her/his allocation decision (Miller 1975) . This sequential aspect gives the decision maker flexibility since the information set can grow in different ways. In spatial situations, such an approach may be of particular value to the decision maker because observations at certain locations also provide information about unexplored locations through spatial dependence.

Oftentimes, information can be collected sequentially rather than all at once, i.e. the decision maker can, at any point, determine whether s/he wishes to continue gathering information or go ahead with her/his allocation decision.


There has been a relatively recent attempt at explicitly modeling spatial dependence for decision-theoretic VOI analysis (Eidsvik et al. 2008; Bhattacharjya et al. 2010; Eidsvik et al. 2015) . In this paper, we build upon this framework and study the value of sequential information in spatial risk and decision applications. We are particularly interested in exploring the effect of spatial dependence. Note that while the information gathering is sequential, the underlying decision situation is assumed to be a one-time selection, i.e. the problem of resource allocation is itself static.

There has been a relatively recent attempt at explicitly modeling spatial dependence for decision-theoretic VOI analysis.


Fats and oils play an important role to supply high energy and are also important for the taste and desirable flavor of the food. Each gram of oil or fat supplies 9 Kcal energy which is the double of the quantity of energy as is provided by protein or carbohydrate. Fats and oils are also the sources of essential fatty acids. They also act as carrier of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) in the body. Fats and oils are essential to synthesize phospholipids which are important component of active tissue like brain, nerve and liver. Despite the necessities of fats and oils, the long term use of them can cause complications in the body. High fats and oils intake with diet causes atherosclerosis, ischemic heart disease, chronic nephritis, etc. Fats and oils which contain more unsaturated fatty acids are particularly susceptible to oxidation. The intake of food containing oxidized lipid increase the concentration of secondary peroxidation products in the liver. Metabolism of these components ultimately affects the activity of different lipogenic enzymes and causes various types of liver injury (Slater, 1972) .

Metabolism of these components ultimately affects the activity of different lipogenic enzymes and causes various types of liver injury.


Because the time series of analysed data is rather short (only 52 terms), to reveal the periodicity, the method of continuous wavelet transform with the Morlet wavelet function was used instead of a classical spectral analysis [31] . Wavelet transform is a type of scan of the investigated time series by frequencies that allows us to analyse the structure of non-stationary processes in time and to establish periodicity even in data containing an incomplete period of change. For a mutual correlation analysis, the method of wavelet-correlation developed earlier by the authors was applied instead of a classical correlation analysis [15, 18] . Wavelet-correlations are the construction of a correlation function between the wavelet transforms of two signals and between the same wavelet-frequency bands. It is an analog of the correlation analysis, for which the original signals are preliminarily filtered on a multitude of narrow-band signals of characteristic frequency bands; subsequently, the correlations between these narrow-band signals are analyzed. If the number of such narrow-band signals is sufficiently large, then each such narrow-band signal can be considered as a quasi-stationary signal that enables an analysis of the correlation relations between two nonstationary processes. For a detailed analysis of the structure of variability processes, the spavlet analysis (analysis of the spectra of modules of wavelet coefficients) was used [32] . A spavlet analysis is an analog of spectral analysis of the envelope of the signal. It allows for a determination of amplitude modulations of some frequency scales. To construct the spectra, we used parametric spectral analysis, also known as the Yule-Walker method.

Because the time series of analysed data is rather short (only 52 terms), to reveal the periodicity, the method of continuous wavelet transform with the Morlet wavelet function was used instead of a classical spectral analysis.

For a mutual correlation analysis, the method of wavelet-correlation developed earlier by the authors was applied instead of a classical correlation analysis.

For a detailed analysis of the structure of variability processes, the spavlet analysis (analysis of the spectra of modules of wavelet coefficients) was used.


To convert wave energy into electricity, special wave energy converters (WEC) are under development and are the subjects of significant research. A review of technologies which extract wave energy, an overview of wave energy potential, and the wave energy cost can be found in Rusu and Onea [1] . They have shown that the global wave power resources are 2.11 ± 0.05 TW [2] .

A review of technologies which extract wave energy, an overview of wave energy potential, and the wave energy cost can be found in Rusu and Onea.

They have shown that the global wave power resources are 2.11 ± 0.05 TW.


Eco-innovation is a relatively young concept, the awareness of which occurred as late as the beginning of the 21st century. Due to environmental degradation, however, the environmental agenda became an important political issue as early as the 60s of the 20th century and part of corporate strategy through the concept of corporate social responsibility during the 90s. However, in applying corporate social responsibility in business practice, the environmental question is wrongly gaining in importance because for many businesses, applying the principles of responsible business is an obstacle in the environmental field causing increased costs to its implementation (Hroncová Vicianová, Hronec 2017) . Eco-innovation, however, offers the opportunity to elevate the importance of environmental responsibility not only with a method that leads to minimizing negative environmental impacts and protection of the environment, but also by bringing economic effects in the form of increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of production, enhancing business competitiveness, employment, productivity and ultimately, the financial performance of the company.

However, in applying corporate social responsibility in business practice, the environmental question is wrongly gaining in importance because for many businesses, applying the principles of responsible business is an obstacle in the environmental field causing increased costs to its implementation.


CD36, a transmembrane glycoprotein, is a member of class B scavenger receptor family. In addition to monocytes and macrophages, it is expressed in a number of other cells, such as adipocytes, endothelial cells, and platelets. Multiple ligands are attached to this receptor and CD36 participates in many biological processes [8] .

Multiple ligands are attached to this receptor and CD36 participates in many biological processes.


MT has an excellent safety profile when performed by a trained physician, and a mortality rate associated with MT is always ≤0.8% [34] . A recent meta-analysis further suggested that mortality associated with MT was not observed, and that the major complication rate of MT was 1.5% and the minor complication rate was 10.5% [10] . In our 9-year study, MT procedures were well tolerated with a low rate of complications without serious adverse events, and transient chest pain caused by the indwelling chest tube was the most frequent minor complication. Large volumes of pleural fluid could be safely aspirated, although some patients suffered from coughing and chest discomfort after lung re-expansion with a chest tube.

MT has an excellent safety profile when performed by a trained physician, and a mortality rate associated with MT is always ≤0.8%.

A recent meta-analysis further suggested that mortality associated with MT was not observed, and that the major complication rate of MT was 1.5% and the minor complication rate was 10.5%.


There is a strong correlation between the fluoride ion concentration in eluates and the cytotoxic effect on SHED (measured by MTT assay) of these eluates (Pearson's correlation coefficient (r = 0.815, p<0.05)). This is in line with our previous report that GIC-induced SHED necrosis correlates with fluoride concentration (Kanjevac et al., 2011) . Aluminum concentration in the eluates was highest for Fuji plus, Fuji triage and Fuji VIII, while the lowest aluminum concentrations were found for composite, Fuji II, Vitrebond, Fuji IX and Fuji I. These results are in correlation with previous results (Vieira et al., 1999; Nicholson and Czarnecka, 2009; Billington et al., 2006; Kovarik et al., 2005) . There is no correlation between the concentration fig. 4 . Cytotoxic effect of GIC eluates on SHEDs correlates with the coupled concentrations of fluoride, aluminum and strontium. Bars represent the percentages of cytotoxicity (MTT assay) of GIC eluates in different dilutions and concentrations of F (measured by HPLC), Al and Sr (measured by ICP-OES) for each GIC in appropriate dilution. Concentrations of F, Al and Sr in medium only were below detectable levels. There is a strong correlation between the concentration of released F ions and the cytotoxic effect of GIC eluates on SHEDs (Pearson's correlation coefficient (r = 0.815, p<0.05)) measured by the MTT assay. However, a stronger correlation existed between SHED cytotoxicity and the coupled concentrations of released aluminum, strontium and fluoride ions (r = 0.900).

This is in line with our previous report that GIC-induced SHED necrosis correlates with fluoride concentration.

Aluminum concentration in the eluates was highest for Fuji plus, Fuji triage and Fuji VIII, while the lowest aluminum concentrations were found for composite, Fuji II, Vitrebond, Fuji IX and Fuji I. These results are in correlation with previous results.


Cluster analysis classifies cases into smaller, more homogeneous groups based on patterns of responses across variables or scales (Hair and Black, 2000) . Bivariate analyses then compared energy savings and our three nominal attribute attributes (household function, home topography and appliance topography) among the behaviour clusters. Effect sizes are reported where appropriate. Effect size statistics indicate the strength of relationships between independent and dependent variables, are standardized estimates of the magnitude of these variable relationships, and are influenced less by sample size than tests for statistical significance (Cohen, 1988) . SPSS 21.0 and SAS 9.4 software were used for these analyses. Required skill level is highly positively correlated with cost (r ¼.71; p o .001) and negatively correlated with locus of decision (r ¼ À.54; p o.001). In other words, the more skill a behaviour requires, the more likely it is to be expensive and performed by adults.

Cluster analysis classifies cases into smaller, more homogeneous groups based on patterns of responses across variables or scales.

Effect size statistics indicate the strength of relationships between independent and dependent variables, are standardized estimates of the magnitude of these variable relationships, and are influenced less by sample size than tests for statistical significance.


Expanding beyond these more common behavioural attributes (and moving further into the realm of social-psychology), other researchers have highlighted learnings from theories about the diffusion of innovations (Brown, 1984; Costanzo et al., 1986; Wilson and Dowlatabadi, 2007) . This literature shows that five perceived attributes of an innovation explain most of the variation in its adoption rates -(1) relative advantage over what it replaces; (2) compatibility with the needs and experience of the adopter; (3) complexity in terms of perceived difficulty; (4) trialability, or the degree to which it can be tested at a small-scale before full adoption; and (5) observability, or its visibility to others (Rogers, 2003) . Specifically, these attributes of an innovation influence attitude formation, particularly through the establishment of social norms (Wilson and Dowlatabadi, 2007) .

Expanding beyond these more common behavioural attributes (and moving further into the realm of social-psychology), other researchers have highlighted learnings from theories about the diffusion of innovations.

This literature shows that five perceived attributes of an innovation explain most of the variation in its adoption rates -(1) relative advantage over what it replaces; (2) compatibility with the needs and experience of the adopter; (3) complexity in terms of perceived difficulty; (4) trialability, or the degree to which it can be tested at a small-scale before full adoption; and (5) observability, or its visibility to others.

Specifically, these attributes of an innovation influence attitude formation, particularly through the establishment of social norms.


Software development in automotive companies is strongly influenced by existing legacy systems, organizational constraints, and complex OEM/supplier relationships [1] . Nevertheless, automotive companies are forced to quickly deliver increasingly complex software to keep up with their competitors and other digital products with shorter development life-cycles. In this context, like in many others, short-term goals, such as the delivery of a feature, frequently trump long-term objectives like maintainability or extensibility [2] .

Software development in automotive companies is strongly influenced by existing legacy systems, organizational constraints, and complex OEM/supplier relationships.

In this context, like in many others, short-term goals, such as the delivery of a feature, frequently trump long-term objectives like maintainability or extensibility.


A PLW comfort study should be performed by a combination of three types of information/data: (1) statistical meteorological data; (2) aerodynamic information; and (3) a comfort criterion. The aerodynamic information is needed to transform the statistical meteorological data from the weather station (meteorological site) to the location of interest at the building site. At this location, the transformed statistical data are combined with the comfort criterion to assess local wind comfort. This procedure is schematically depicted in Fig. 1 . Wind statistics at the meteorological site can be expressed as potential wind speed (U pot ), i.e. corresponding to a terrain with aerodynamic roughness length z 0 ¼ 0.03 m [12] . The aerodynamic information usually consists of two parts: the terrainrelated contribution and the design-related contribution. The terrain-related contribution represents the change in wind statistics from the meteorological site to a reference location near or at the building site, i.e. the transformation of U pot to U 0 . The designrelated contribution represents the change in wind statistics due to the local urban design, i.e. the transformation of U 0 to the local wind speed U. Information on transformation procedures to determine terrain-related contributions can be found in e.g. Refs.

Wind statistics at the meteorological site can be expressed as potential wind speed (U pot ), i.e. corresponding to a terrain with aerodynamic roughness length z 0 ¼ 0.03 m.


A typical indoor VLC system requires multiple LEDs with wide half power angle Φ 1/2 which is mounted on the room ceiling in order to meet the illumination requirement and support mobility with continuous data transmission. However, with respect of communication performance, such VLC system suffers from intersymbol interference (ISI) which is caused by multipath propagation at high data rate [6] . In general, high level of ISI limits the achievable data rate and reduces the quality of received data by decreasing the level of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). One can design an optimal VLC system using less number of LEDs but placing at reasonable 2 International Journal of Optics positions as well as reducing the field-of-view (FOV) angle Ψ of receiver to optimize SNR level while still satisfying the illumination requirement and other constraints, that is, sufficient received power and power consumptions [7, 8] . Nevertheless, apart from the illumination level and link quality which is normally determined by SNR and received power level, connectivity and link switching performance are necessary in evaluating an indoor VLC system.

However, with respect of communication performance, such VLC system suffers from intersymbol interference (ISI) which is caused by multipath propagation at high data rate.

One can design an optimal VLC system using less number of LEDs but placing at reasonable 2 International Journal of Optics positions as well as reducing the field-of-view (FOV) angle Ψ of receiver to optimize SNR level while still satisfying the illumination requirement and other constraints, that is, sufficient received power and power consumptions.


In considering social support options following traumatic exposure, providers are therefore encouraged to carefully consider the survivor's neurotic demeanor. On the basis of the current findings, for some traumatic event survivors increasing social support may actually be con- traindicated. Rather than blanket approaches instructing individuals to seek immediate assistance from their friends and families regardless of the traumatic situation or support they may receive, individuals who experience traumatic events should receive specific feedback on what is likely to be useful as well as who may potentially be most helpful (Borja et al., 2006) . For clinicians working with patients, this idiographic approach is likely to benefit the patient and the therapeutic process. Furthermore, depending on a patient's clinical presentation, this study's results may further provide insight into areas to assess and target in treatment.

Rather than blanket approaches instructing individuals to seek immediate assistance from their friends and families regardless of the traumatic situation or support they may receive, individuals who experience traumatic events should receive specific feedback on what is likely to be useful as well as who may potentially be most helpful.


Coffee can be brewed in various ways depending on consumers' preference, but recently consumer choice for a particular type of coffee beverage have been affected by various parameters. People prefer to know more about the chemical composition of their coffee brew and the potential impact of specific compounds on their health [19] . Therefore, during the past few decades, EC have caught more attention due to high consumption. It should be taken into account that apart from the popularity, coffee brews have biological importance due to the marker compounds like diterpenes.

People prefer to know more about the chemical composition of their coffee brew and the potential impact of specific compounds on their health.


Coffee is a globally consumed beverage and can be prepared in different ways. One of the common coffee brewing techniques is the Italian "espresso" which is consumed over than 50 million cups per days [1] . Espresso coffee (EC) is an intense beverage with special aroma made for immediate consumption [2] . For the preparation of espresso coffee, a limited amount of hot water (90 ± 5 °C), under pressure (9 ± 2 bar), passes through a compressed finely roasted and ground coffee (R&G, 6.5 ± 1.5 g) in a short period of time (30 ± 5 s) and produces a brew (15-50 mL) with strong taste and flavor topped with crema (dense foam layer) [1, 3] . Originally, EC was an Italian beverage, but nowadays it is widely consumed in Latin European countries, USA and Japan [3] .

One of the common coffee brewing techniques is the Italian "espresso" which is consumed over than 50 million cups per days.

Espresso coffee (EC) is an intense beverage with special aroma made for immediate consumption.

For the preparation of espresso coffee, a limited amount of hot water (90 ± 5 °C), under pressure (9 ± 2 bar), passes through a compressed finely roasted and ground coffee (R&G, 6.5 ± 1.5 g) in a short period of time (30 ± 5 s) and produces a brew (15-50 mL) with strong taste and flavor topped with crema (dense foam layer).

Originally, EC was an Italian beverage, but nowadays it is widely consumed in Latin European countries, USA and Japan.


The global market and the competitive textile industry is in need of a greater variety and product differentiation, lower prices and higher levels of quality in its products and processes. The Brazilian textile sector generated 264,347 direct jobs in 2011 and produced around 9.8 billion pieces yearly (IEMI, 2011) . These data highlight the importance of the textile sector for the economy, especially because of its significant amount of workforce spread in different companies and regions of the country, mostly made up of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

The Brazilian textile sector generated 264,347 direct jobs in 2011 and produced around 9.8 billion pieces yearly.


To supplement the literature review, information was collected through e-mail exchanges and telephone and face-to-face interviews (using a semistructured questionnaire) with key informants from organizations supporting community engagement for PMTCT. Informants were identified through the literature review and by key contacts at the global, regional and national level. A total of 35 individuals representing 26 national and international organizations were interviewed. The first draft of the paper was reviewed for technical content by a small group of representatives of civil society, donor and implementing agencies. This article summarizes the review report [4] .

This article summarizes the review report.


In innovative world, the knowledge of wireless communication infrastructures have been rapidly developed [1] , [2] . Nonetheless, creating new technologies is not the only challenge. For service provider, searching for the precise service and allocate appropriate resources to satisfy the right users at right time and right place is a significant mission.

In innovative world, the knowledge of wireless communication infrastructures have been rapidly developed.


While the early examples of this cyclocondensation process typically involved a β-ketoester, aromatic aldehyde, and urea, the scope of this heterocycle synthesis has now been extended considerably by variation of all three building blocks, allowing access to a large number of multifunctionalized pyrimidine derivatives [6] . For this particular heterocyclic scaffold, the acronym DHPM has been adopted in the literature and is also used throughout this review. Due to the importance of multicomponent reactions in combinatorial chemistry, there has been a renewed interest in the Biginelli reaction, and the number of publications and patents describing the synthesis of novel DHPM analogs is constantly growing. In the present review article, we focus on synthetic methods that are suitable for the generation of DHPM libraries in a high-throughput or combinatorial format.

While the early examples of this cyclocondensation process typically involved a β-ketoester, aromatic aldehyde, and urea, the scope of this heterocycle synthesis has now been extended considerably by variation of all three building blocks, allowing access to a large number of multifunctionalized pyrimidine derivatives.


Slope stability is a major problem in geotechnical engineering where disasters involving loss of life and property can occur [1] . Many fatalities have occurred due to slope failure [2] . Even when there is no injury, there is a high cost due to construction delay, building damages, lost production and often damaged equipment. Many cases have been recorded as landslides in Malaysia that made a big impact to the society. One adverse events that is still remembered until today is the tragedy of Highland Tower on December 11, 1993 in Park Hillview, Ulu Klang, Selangor, Malaysia [3] . The incident has claimed the lives of 48 citizens when one of the apartment building collapsed due to slope failure. This failure is caused by the rapid development in the hilly area known as Bukit Antarabangsa Development Project. Factor of water from surrounding development and monsoon rains at the end of the year is the major cause of this catastrophe. After the tragedy, a series of landslides occurred around the area in which it also has claimed many lives.

Slope stability is a major problem in geotechnical engineering where disasters involving loss of life and property can occur.

Many fatalities have occurred due to slope failure.

One adverse events that is still remembered until today is the tragedy of Highland Tower on December 11, 1993 in Park Hillview, Ulu Klang, Selangor, Malaysia.


In this context, we will review the development of Gebased photonic integrated circuits. For near-IR photonics applications, previous review papers have been devoted to monolithic integrated Ge-on-Si active photonics [1] [2] [3] [4] . Thus, we will just recall hereafter the main motivations for the development of Ge-based devices and summarize major results. Interestingly, we will see how these works put forward the current revolution of mid-IR photonics [5] . Indeed Ge is a unique candidate for extending the operating wavelength of Group IV-based photonic integrated circuits beyond 8 μm. The different integrated platforms used up to now will be presented, emphasizing on the development of passive functions such as cavities or spectrometers and on preliminary sensing demonstrations. Current demonstrations have already been reported up to 8.5 μm, typically for the moment, in a rapidly growing research field with a strong potential to reach wavelengths up to 15 μm. In parallel, state-of-the-art Si-based mid-IR photonics circuits can be found in recent review papers [6] [7] [8] . Finally, the progress towards integrated active devices such as a monolithically integrated source, the modulator and the photodetector will be presented and future perspectives opened by these works will be drawn. The fine comprehension of a myriad of physical effects including the non-linear optical effect, the free-carrier plasma effect or intersubband transitions in quantum systems can thus lay the foundations for the implementation of efficient mid-IR chip-scale systems with an unprecedented number of applications such as absorption spectroscopy for chemical or biological sensing, environmental monitoring, datacom or free-space optical communications, to name a few.

For near-IR photonics applications, previous review papers have been devoted to monolithic integrated Ge-on-Si active photonics.

Interestingly, we will see how these works put forward the current revolution of mid-IR photonics.

In parallel, state-of-the-art Si-based mid-IR photonics circuits can be found in recent review papers.


Recently, Kartavtsev and Malykh found that trimers also exist for mass ratios smaller than the critical value [14] . Indeed, even though in this regime the centrifugal repulsion dominates at short distance, its combined effect with the weak Efimov attraction creates a shallow potential well that can support these trimers. Although these trimers are related to the Efimov physics, their nature differs from that of Efimov trimers. First, they do not exhibit the discrete scale invariance of the Efimov trimer spectrum, and appear only for positive scattering lengths. Second, they are universal states in the sense that they can be characterized only by the scattering length, unlike Efimov states which also depend on short-range physics. For the universal trimers, the centrifugal barrier at short distance prevents the particles from coming close to each other, so that the three-body recombination occurring at a short distance is also suppressed. Thus, these universal trimer states are much longer-lived than the Efimov trimers [15] .

Recently, Kartavtsev and Malykh found that trimers also exist for mass ratios smaller than the critical value.

Thus, these universal trimer states are much longer-lived than the Efimov trimers.


Visualization of the vessels underlying the skin is important for assessment of peripheral vascular disease, the results of skin reconstructive surgery, wound and ulcer management, and (via perforator vessels) aspects of muscular function. Several non-invasive optical imaging methods, such as capillaroscopy, laser Doppler, laser speckle contrast, and orthogonal polarization spectral imaging, have been applied by various groups to quantify functional aspects of the skin vasculature. These methods are sensitive to vasculature plexuses up to ~0.2 mm deep from the skin surface. Because of thermo-conduction of the skin and thermo-convection of the blood via perforator vessels, infrared (IR) imaging, however, can assess vascular plexuses at an estimated depth of 10 mm below the skin surface [1] . Recently IR imaging of a subject's forearm was utilized to visualize skin angioarchitecture in real time in response to infusion of vasodilators [2] .

Because of thermo-conduction of the skin and thermo-convection of the blood via perforator vessels, infrared (IR) imaging, however, can assess vascular plexuses at an estimated depth of 10 mm below the skin surface.

Recently IR imaging of a subject's forearm was utilized to visualize skin angioarchitecture in real time in response to infusion of vasodilators.


The ultra wideband (UWB) antenna has become an intensive topic in the field of the antenna research because of some of its unique features such as transmitting and/or receiving very short time durations of electromagnetic energy and avoiding frequency dispersion and space dispersion. Recently, many antenna designs are developed to realize UWB operation, among which printed wide slot antennas have been regarded as popular candidates [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] . All these antenna designs have attempted to change the coupling between the feed line and the slot by designing special shapes for the slot or for both the slot and feed line. Although various slot shapes have been proposed in the literature, the design freedom is still limited by employing only conventional structures.

Recently, many antenna designs are developed to realize UWB operation, among which printed wide slot antennas have been regarded as popular candidates.


In this paper, an UWB slot antenna with a mesh-grid structure is introduced. The grids as well as the dimensions of the feed line are coded into a single binary chromosome and are optimized simultaneously. Instead of Genetic Algorithm, the recently proposed BDE algorithm is utilized as the binary optimizer [9] . By optimizing the mesh-grid structure, an appropriate slot shape is obtained, which has significantly enlarged the antenna's impedance bandwidth. And the effectiveness of the BDE algorithm for antenna design is demonstrated. The optimized antenna is fabricated and measured. The measured results show good agreement with the simulated ones. Details of the antenna design and both the simulated and the measured results are presented and discussed.

Instead of Genetic Algorithm, the recently proposed BDE algorithm is utilized as the binary optimizer.


In this paper, we proposed a mixed leaching (low temperature and high temperature) to treat anodic lodes and scrapings from the zinc electrolysis process. The objective of the mixed leaching is taking advantage of the reactivity of the lodes and scrapings facing to sulfuric acid and SO 2 in solid solution (low temperature leaching; partial neutralization of the acidity) and achieve a complete the extraction of the manganese by using H 2 SO 4 at high temperature. Even when in the paper, the process could seem divided into four stages independents; in fact, the proposed process would operate in a continuous way. As we see from Section 2.2.2., Sulphation at high temperature, manganese is lixiviated in presence of sulfuric acid without any kind of reducing agent at temperatures of around 200 • C, while from Section 2.2.1., Sulphation at low temperature, we see that manganese extraction is better than in the other case at room temperature (temperature will rise to nearly 50 • C as a consequence of the exothermic behavior of reaction [2] ). We also see from the studies of lixiviation at high temperature that the addition of a reducing agent improves the manganese extraction, the same as the milling (the finer the granulometry the higher the manganese extraction). Manganese extractions are more or less two times higher in the presence of carbon or SO 2 than those that wer obtained without any kind of reducing agent. For that reason, a combined leaching allows for reaching efficiencies of around 95% in manganese extraction. Better experimental procedure (control of the temperature in the furnace and supply of SO 2 ) would have improved the manganese extractions that are shown in the tables.

As we see from Section 2.2.2., Sulphation at high temperature, manganese is lixiviated in presence of sulfuric acid without any kind of reducing agent at temperatures of around 200 • C, while from Section 2.2.1., Sulphation at low temperature, we see that manganese extraction is better than in the other case at room temperature (temperature will rise to nearly 50 • C as a consequence of the exothermic behavior of reaction).


Next, the output powers at all pumping distributions were analyzed thoroughly. These parameters grew continuously from the initial value of 67 mW to achieve a maximum of 220 mW. From Fig. 3(a) , this phenomenon was observed for the expansion in backward pumping from 0% to 60%. The spectra presented in Fig. 3(b) illustrate the growing peak power as the CR was varied. Owing to this fact, the gradual improvement of RS effects at the final fiber length L f illustrated in Fig. 4 provided a more influential distributed reflector. Together with the FBG that initiated main amplification at 1553.3 nm, an optimized resonator was realized, which justifies the maximization of lasing power at this specific design ðCR ¼ 0:6Þ. After this condition, the power maintained around 176 mW for the next three pumping stages before increasing back to 194 mW at 100% backward pumping. The trend of output power growth for CR ¼ 0:6 to 1 was confirmed to be accurate after repeating this evaluation for a few times. This is believed to occur due to the interactions between the backscattered waves in the modeless regimes that at the moment has yet to be understood. In fact, the enhancement of backward pumping from 70% to 100% that implies a stronger RS reflector at L f was compensated by a decline in forward pumping portions from 30% to 0% at L o . This weakened the amplification of the first Stokes Raman photons at the FBG within this range, which describes their lower power generation. As the fiber length implemented in this assessment might also be another factor that influences this effect, further study is suggested by implementing a set of SMF with lengths up to 200 km. From Fig. 5(a) , which indicates the highest power scaling generation when utilizing CR ¼ 0:6, a threshold was satisfied at 1100 mW. This agrees well with the predicted value suggested in a preliminary report [8] . The maximum output power was 220 mW, which corresponds to an optical-tooptical efficiency of 14%. The slope-efficiency estimated from the linear fit of the graph was in the vicinity of 44% as evident in Fig. 5(b) . In general, these overall laser characteristics are reasonable, which shows the potential of this novel type of laser to challenge conventional lasers [10] . In a full analogy to the power progression in Fig. 3 , the slope-efficiency also shows improvement with a quadratic increment for the first seven pumping arrangements, as depicted in Fig. 5(b) . Then, at the last four pumping stages, the differential efficiency changed to a linear fit before reaching the top value at 51%.

From Fig. 5(a) , which indicates the highest power scaling generation when utilizing CR ¼ 0:6, a threshold was satisfied at 1100 mW. This agrees well with the predicted value suggested in a preliminary report.

In general, these overall laser characteristics are reasonable, which shows the potential of this novel type of laser to challenge conventional lasers.


Most of government sector in Malaysia, their web based applications work with heterogeneous database. Hospital is one example using heterogeneous databases approach. Heterogeneous databases system (HDBS) might provide uniform access to electronic patient records in hospital computing environment that uses a MUMPS hierarchical database for storing patient demographic data and a Sybase relational database for storing patient laboratory results [9] . However, the core of the heterogeneous problem in hospital environment is that independently developed and maintained databases are heterogeneous with respect to their query models [9] . Heterogeneous databases approach also has been implemented in geospatial data. Implementation of heterogeneous databases in geospatial data involved three modules; a vector/vector integration module, a raster/vector integration module, and a databases module. Databases architecture was designed to preprocess inputs and to store and export results of the vector/vector and the raster/vector integration steps [8] . The unprecedented increase in the availability of information due to the success of the World Wide Web has generated an urgent need for new and robust methods that simplify the querying and integration of data [2] . A lot of research in the past focuses on developing methodologies for querying heterogeneous data sources. Integration data from existing databases in a distributed environment will give the impact of operations on the databases [14] . One of the approaches in database integration is unified global integration [2] . The purpose of this approach is to facilitate efficient global processing. However, this approach becomes hard to manage as the number and types of data sources increase. Another approach in database integration is system based on mediators and wrapper [2] . This approach is sophisticated that abstract the data sources from the users. The wrapper-mediator is remarkable scalable, and allows the integration of an increasing number of data sources. This research focuses on designing architecture for accessing heterogeneous databases in order to improve web query processing.

Heterogeneous databases system (HDBS) might provide uniform access to electronic patient records in hospital computing environment that uses a MUMPS hierarchical database for storing patient demographic data and a Sybase relational database for storing patient laboratory results.

However, the core of the heterogeneous problem in hospital environment is that independently developed and maintained databases are heterogeneous with respect to their query models.

Databases architecture was designed to preprocess inputs and to store and export results of the vector/vector and the raster/vector integration steps.

The unprecedented increase in the availability of information due to the success of the World Wide Web has generated an urgent need for new and robust methods that simplify the querying and integration of data.

Integration data from existing databases in a distributed environment will give the impact of operations on the databases.

One of the approaches in database integration is unified global integration.

Another approach in database integration is system based on mediators and wrapper.


Manipulation of Affect. Participants were told that the first part of the study was for a specific university department that was interested in determining the sorts of films that students enjoyed. Under this pretext, students were asked to watch clips from three movies (Martin et al. 1993) . Film segments from Pretty Woman and Mrs. Doubtfire were used to induce a happy mood and segments from Ordinary People and Sophie's Choice were used to depress participants' mood. Both happy and sad films were preceded by an evaluatively neutral segment from Bullitt to draw attention away from the overall emotional tone of the films. Participants were asked a few questions after they watched each film clip (e.g., whether they enjoyed films of the sort being shown, whether they had seen the film before, whether they could identify the actors in the film).

Manipulation of Affect.

Under this pretext, students were asked to watch clips from three movies.


Both high-altitude and low-altitude emissions have a large impact on air quality [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] . High-altitude emissions occur when the place of introduction of pollutants into the air is over 40 meters above ground level. Examples of sources of such emissions include industrial stacks in Table 1 . Standard emission factors [34] . If an area is harvested for woodfuel below the annual growth rate, then woody biomass stocks are not depleted and harvesting is sustainable. However, if annual harvesting exceeds incremental growth, it is unsustainable, leading to a decline of woody biomass, forest degradation and net carbon emissions [35] . These issues in the scope of GHG (greenhouse gas) concern the entire supply chain and are associated with emissions at various stages (drying, storage, transport, etc.) [36] .

Both high-altitude and low-altitude emissions have a large impact on air quality.

Standard emission factors.

However, if annual harvesting exceeds incremental growth, it is unsustainable, leading to a decline of woody biomass, forest degradation and net carbon emissions.

These issues in the scope of GHG (greenhouse gas) concern the entire supply chain and are associated with emissions at various stages (drying, storage, transport, etc.).


Eq. (4) is the pioneering equation that gives rise to solitary wave solutions. Solitons: waves with infinite support are generated as a result of the balance between the nonlinear convection equations. Solitons are localized waves that propagate without change of their shape and velocity properties and stable against mutual collisions [25] .

Solitons are localized waves that propagate without change of their shape and velocity properties and stable against mutual collisions.


Thus, we focused on ganoderic acid DM (1) and its structural related compounds (2, 3). To investigate whether these analog affect the differentiation of osteoclasts, we utilized the preosteoclastic cell line, RAW 264 cell, to study the effect of analog (2, 3) on the osteoclast-lineage. The cells were treated with each sample for 3 days. The results clearly indicated that not all compounds depressed the osteoclast differentiation (Figs. 2 and 3) . Interestingly, among these three compounds, methyl ganoderic acid DM (2) showed the strongest inhibitory activity to osteoclast differentiation than ganoderic acid DM (1) and 7-oxo-methyl ganoderic acid Z (3). Ganoderic acid DM (1) completely blocked the osteoclast differentiation at the concentration of 50 μM. 7-Oxo-methyl ganoderic acid Z (3) showed a low inhibitory activity on osteoclast differentiation even at the high concentration of 100 μM. Surprisingly, at the concentration of 12.5 μM, the osteoclast differentiation was completely blocked by methyl ganoderic acid DM (1). In contrast to methyl ganoderic acid DM (2), ganoderic acid DM (1) and 7-oxo-methyl ganoderic acid Z (3) showed no effect on osteoclast differentiation at this concentration. Almost complete inhibition of differentiation for ganoderic acid DM (1) was observed at 50 μM, but still remain 75% viable cells. The behavior of ganoderic acid DM (1) seemingly indicated that its inhibitory activity of differentiation not completely comes from its cytotoxicity. Like ganoderic acid DM (1), almost complete inhibition of differentiation for methyl ganoderic acid DM (2) was observed at 12.5 μM, but still remain more than 70% viable cells observed up to 20 μM. It should be noted that the limitation of solubility of methyl ganoderic acid DM (2) prevented future investigation more than 25 μM. Thus, we became aware that the inhibitory activity of methyl ganoderic acid DM (2) on differentiation was caused by not its cytotoxicity, but more like specific inhibition of differentiation. Furthermore, as speculated above, the easier penetration of 2 to inside of cells than 1 might enhance its inhibitory activity of osteoclastogenesis. This behavior, more specifically, selective inhibitory activity against differentiation, not viability, was important because safety is primarily consideration. Osteoclast differentiation, in response to receptor activator of NF-B ligand (RANKL) and a tumor necrosis factor (TNF-), was inhibited by ganoderic acid DM (1) [15] . The inhibitory activity of ganoderic acid DM is caused by especially suppressing the expression of c-Fos and nuclear factor of activated T cells c1 (NFATc1). This suppression leads to the inhibition of dendritic cell-specific transmembrane protein (DC-STAMP) expression and reduces osteoclast fusion. Obviously, the mechanistic investigation of osteoclast differentiation inhibitory activity by methyl ganoderic acid DM (1) (Fig. 2) needs to be determined for further application against osteoporosis-related disease.

Osteoclast differentiation, in response to receptor activator of NF-B ligand (RANKL) and a tumor necrosis factor (TNF-), was inhibited by ganoderic acid DM (1).


The balance between bone resorption (by osteoclasts) and bone formation (by osteoblasts) maintains bone homeostasis in a process called bone remodeling [1] . Bone is obviously resistant to dissolution, at least outside the body. Inside the body's highly active milieu, however, bone is remodeled at such a high speed that approximately 10% of the total bone content is replaced per year in adult humans [2] . Incremental changes in the rate of bone resorption can lead to bone disruption. This striking contrast emphasizes what an extraordinary and specific role osteoclasts play in the active maintenance of the bony skeleton. Large tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP)-positive multinucleated cells (MNCs) that are hematopoietic in origin, osteoclasts are capable of resorbing bone [3, 4] . These multinucleated cells help dynamically remodel bones in coordination with osteoblasts, which deposit bone matrix. The excessive osteoclastic bone resorption relative to osteoblastic bone formation is often associated with osteopenic diseases including osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoclastogenesis progresses through multiple stages, including differentiation, fusion, and activation (maturation) regulated by various factors, including cytokines, hormones, and other cells in the bone microenvironment. So the inhibition of osteoclast differentiation also has great clinical implications.

The balance between bone resorption (by osteoclasts) and bone formation (by osteoblasts) maintains bone homeostasis in a process called bone remodeling.

Inside the body's highly active milieu, however, bone is remodeled at such a high speed that approximately 10% of the total bone content is replaced per year in adult humans.

Large tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP)-positive multinucleated cells (MNCs) that are hematopoietic in origin, osteoclasts are capable of resorbing bone.


The fungus G. lucidum (Reishi, Mannentake, or Lingzhi) has been used for centuries in East Asia to treat various human diseases such as hepatitis, hepatopathy, hypertension, nephritis, bronchitis, and cancers [11, 12] . Its dried powder was especially popular as a cancer chemotherapy agent in the Imperial Court of ancient China [13] . G. lucidum has been reported to produce many bioactive oxygenated triterpenoids. Up to now, over 120 kinds of triterpenoids have been isolated from G. lucidum and the genus Ganoderma. Some of the triterpenoids such as ganoderic and lucidic acids, isolated from Ganoderma, have demonstrated cytotoxicity against mouse sarcoma and mouse lung carcinoma cells in vitro [14] . As part of our continuing search for biologically active anti-osteoporotic compounds, we found that osteoclast differentiation was inhibited by the ethanol extracts of G. lucidum and ganoderic acid DM (1) which was isolated as one of the active compounds by bioassay-guided fractionation [15] . Ganoderic acid DM (1) especially suppresses the expression of c-Fos and nuclear factor of activated T cells c1 (NFATc1). This suppression leads to the inhibition of dendritic cell-specific transmembrane protein (DC-STAMP) expression and reduces osteoclast fusion. These results prompted us to investigate the ability of gano-deric acid DM (1) analogs (2, 3) (Fig. 1) to inhibit osteoclast differentiation to determine what structural elements are important for the potent inhibition of osteoclast differentiation.

The fungus G. lucidum (Reishi, Mannentake, or Lingzhi) has been used for centuries in East Asia to treat various human diseases such as hepatitis, hepatopathy, hypertension, nephritis, bronchitis, and cancers.

Its dried powder was especially popular as a cancer chemotherapy agent in the Imperial Court of ancient China.

Some of the triterpenoids such as ganoderic and lucidic acids, isolated from Ganoderma, have demonstrated cytotoxicity against mouse sarcoma and mouse lung carcinoma cells in vitro.

As part of our continuing search for biologically active anti-osteoporotic compounds, we found that osteoclast differentiation was inhibited by the ethanol extracts of G. lucidum and ganoderic acid DM (1) which was isolated as one of the active compounds by bioassay-guided fractionation.


There are many multi criteria problems in decision making which have been solved by multi criteria decision making (MCDM) methods. The main goal of MCDM methods is to find the best alternative described by quantitative and qualitative criteria. For this purpose decision makers (DMs) need to determine criteria preference and then MCDM methods that weight the criteria and evaluate the alternatives. MCDM methods are applied for both decision making and technology foresight [1] .

MCDM methods are applied for both decision making and technology foresight.


As we know, a similar problem is in classification which is selecting best classifier for a problem. In data mining, this problem has been solved by methods like Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves [9] . Therefore, this approach has been proposed for applying in MCDM problems in this article.

In data mining, this problem has been solved by methods like Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves.


The production of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) in Brazil is an activity carried out mainly by small producers. However, it assumes an important socioeconomic role, especially for the North and Northeast Regions, as it is one of the main sources of protein and low-cost carbohydrates available in the rural zone [1] . Their cultivation is usually carried out at the end of the rainy season as a strategy to take advantage of the last days of rainfall, usually after maize harvesting, in order to guarantee an additional source of income for producers [2] .

However, it assumes an important socioeconomic role, especially for the North and Northeast Regions, as it is one of the main sources of protein and low-cost carbohydrates available in the rural zone.

Their cultivation is usually carried out at the end of the rainy season as a strategy to take advantage of the last days of rainfall, usually after maize harvesting, in order to guarantee an additional source of income for producers.


The requirements of P may be relatively higher for the production of roots than for the production of leaves [18] . The dose of 100 kg·ha −1 of residual P 2 O 5 promoted a greater (P < 0.05) dry mass of root (DMR) at 30 DAE, possibly Means followed by the same letter in the column do not differ by Duncan test at the 5% meaningfulness level. CV: coefficient of variation. American Journal of Plant Sciences because P is closely related to root growth [19] . Thus, the higher dose allowed greater root development in relation to the other treatments. Vigorous root formation is required for the constant translocation of photoassimilates from the shoot to ensure rates of cell growth and elongation.

The requirements of P may be relatively higher for the production of roots than for the production of leaves.

CV: coefficient of variation.

American Journal of Plant Sciences because P is closely related to root growth.


It is known that P is an element able to increase the efficiency of nodulation and this happens because the biological fixation of N 2 is a process that demands a great energy demand [17] . Since P plays an important role in the energy metabolism of the cells, its deficiency has a negative impact on the energetic state of the nodules [21] . This can be verified with the parameters number of nodules in the secondary root, fresh and dry mass of nodules, in which, the treatment that did not receive phosphorus, presented inferior results to the others The nodulation of cowpea occurs adequately at doses of approximately 40 kg·ha −1 of P 2 O 5 [17] . However, for nodulation evaluations there was no influence of phosphorus doses at 30 DAE. This fact happened, possibly, due to the 30 DAE, the plant was in the period of flowering. The flowering period corresponds to the period of maximum nodulation, in other words, occurs at 30 DAE an establishment of the number of nodules, mainly in the main root, reflecting directly in its fresh and dry mass [22] . According to the results shown in Table 7 , it can be verified that the residual dose of 80 kg·ha −1 of P 2 O 5 promoted higher number of pods per plant (NPP), but did not differ from the other doses, except for the control treatment. For the length of pods (LP) the dose of 60 kg·ha −1 of P 2 O 5 promoted higher results, but did not differ from the other treatments, except the control. The treatments presented pods with a length between 21.61 cm and 24.32 cm, within commercial standards that is above 20 cm [23] . On the other hand, the number of pods per plant (NPP) ranging from 4.98 to 2.85 is considered to be out of the species standards, which is at least twenty pods per plant [24] . This fact may be related to water stress during the flowering period, which may provide Linear correlation analysis found positive relationships between some analyzed variables; the plant height (PH) had a positive correlation (P < 0.05), with dry mass of root nodules (MRN), dry shoot mass (DSM), leaf area (LA) and grain yield to 15 DAE, which means that there is a correlation between these characteristics, that is, the highest response to a plant height variable, simultaneously, there will be increase for NDM, DMA, LA and PROD (Table 8) . However, at 30 DAE only NDM and DMA had a positive correlation (P < 0.01) for AP, therefore, no correlation was detected between AP and PROD ( Table 9 ).

It is known that P is an element able to increase the efficiency of nodulation and this happens because the biological fixation of N 2 is a process that demands a great energy demand.

Since P plays an important role in the energy metabolism of the cells, its deficiency has a negative impact on the energetic state of the nodules.

This can be verified with the parameters number of nodules in the secondary root, fresh and dry mass of nodules, in which, the treatment that did not receive phosphorus, presented inferior results to the others The nodulation of cowpea occurs adequately at doses of approximately 40 kg·ha −1 of P 2 O 5.

The flowering period corresponds to the period of maximum nodulation, in other words, occurs at 30 DAE an establishment of the number of nodules, mainly in the main root, reflecting directly in its fresh and dry mass.

The treatments presented pods with a length between 21.61 cm and 24.32 cm, within commercial standards that is above 20 cm.

On the other hand, the number of pods per plant (NPP) ranging from 4.98 to 2.85 is considered to be out of the species standards, which is at least twenty pods per plant.


The choice of communication medium depends on the type of sensors or actuators in home automation system. Nevertheless, the communication protocol must allow low energy consumption and sufficient data security. For wireless devices, low energy consumption is crucial for battery life. In particular for IoT devices, power consumption is even more critical. There are varieties of wireless protocols aimed for low power consumptions. ZigBee IP and Bluetooth 4.2 are available options that can be used for sensor nodes. For providing a low power direct Internet accessibility to the sensors, a protocol called 6LoWPAN can be considered. It implements the reduced version of IPv6 protocol for maximizing IEEE 802.15.4 standard's power and communication efficiency [22] [23] . The data communication medium is not limited to the wireless protocol. Wired connection like Ethernet can be also applied to the system. Furthermore, power lines can be used for communicating with other devices inside home [24] .

It implements the reduced version of IPv6 protocol for maximizing IEEE 802.15.4 standard's power and communication efficiency.

Furthermore, power lines can be used for communicating with other devices inside home.


The representation of transgender people in traditional, offline media (e.g., television, movies) has increased since the 1970s, with the most significant growth occurring in the last several decades (McInroy & Craig, 2015) . In recent decades, the general population has become more aware of GID mainly through the media, but also in their daily lives, as affected individuals have more readily sought professional help, openly cross-dressed, and disclosed the details of their disorder. The 1999 film, Boys Don't Cry (Vachon, Kolodner, & Peirce), was one such example of the infiltration of GID into the mass media (Furnham & Sen, 2013) . Some Islamic legal scholars have judged that trans-sexuality should be acceptable and, following a fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1980s, transsexuality is a legal and religiously accepted practice in Iran (Shakerifar, 2011) . Iranian press coverage of "trans" phenomena increased sharply in early 2003 (Najmabadi, 2008 (Shakerifar, 2011) .

The representation of transgender people in traditional, offline media (e.g., television, movies) has increased since the 1970s, with the most significant growth occurring in the last several decades.

The 1999 film, Boys Don't Cry (Vachon, Kolodner, & Peirce), was one such example of the infiltration of GID into the mass media.

Some Islamic legal scholars have judged that trans-sexuality should be acceptable and, following a fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1980s, transsexuality is a legal and religiously accepted practice in Iran.

Iranian press coverage of "trans" phenomena increased sharply in early 2003.


The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 recalls the basics of Rota and Taylor's classical umbral calculus [30] . Along the way, two equivalent umbral versions of Abel's identity for polynomials and an umbral version of the classical Lagrange inversion formula are given. Section 3 states the fundamental aspects of the theory of Riordan arrays (of exponential type) in umbral terms. Also, connections with Sheffer sequences are recast in the new umbral symbolic setting. Furthermore, some recurrence relations of Riordan arrays are stated. Section 4 tests our umbral approach to Riordan arrays on some concrete classical examples, providing both umbral and traditional formulas. Section 5 extends the discussion given in Section 3 to ω-Riordan arrays, where ω is any umbra with nonzero moments. In this generalized context, we obtain an important umbral formula (Theorem 5.3) as a direct consequence of the umbral Abel identity (4) . One of our main results is a novel non-recursive formula (Theorem 5.4), which is a direct application of Theorem 5.3. Known recurrence relations and a new recurrence formula for ω-Riordan arrays (Theorems 5.5, 5.6 and 5.7) are derived from Theorem 5.4.

The paper is organized as follows.

Section 2 recalls the basics of Rota and Taylor's classical umbral calculus.

In this generalized context, we obtain an important umbral formula (Theorem 5.3) as a direct consequence of the umbral Abel identity.


The dynamics of rainfall play an important role in southern Africa, especially in the arid and semi-arid areas where farming is the main source of income and the quality of the pastures mainly depends on water availability (Fynn and O'Connor, 2000) . Accurate nowcasting of rainfall at high temporal and spatial resolutions is therefore of interest for the farmers in southern Africa and would help them to assess the carrying capacity of their land. It is of further importance as a baseline product for a variety of environmental research studies as rainfall is a key variable for many ecological and hydrological processes.

The dynamics of rainfall play an important role in southern Africa, especially in the arid and semi-arid areas where farming is the main source of income and the quality of the pastures mainly depends on water availability.


Despite the errors and uncertainties associated with the presented rainfall retrieval, the combination of MSG data and neural networks are a promising approach. The model presented in this study outperformed the GPM IMERG product in terms of rainfall area detection. GPM IMERG considerably underestimated rainfall events. This behaviour is partly explainable by scale because GPM IMERG has a coarser resolution of 0.1 • . This makes local processes difficult to capture which is an disadvantage considering that in southern Africa especially small-scale convective showers contribute to rainfall sums (Kruger, 2007) . In terms of rainfall quantities, GPM IMERG and the presented retrieval did not show significant differences in correlation. The sample spatial comparison has shown that GPM IMERG has more differentiated rainfall estimates while the MSG-based retrieval tends to estimate the mean distribution.

This makes local processes difficult to capture which is an disadvantage considering that in southern Africa especially small-scale convective showers contribute to rainfall sums.


The conditions of individualistic social interaction make social control very loose which is considered by teenagers as a set of freedom rules. Social interaction with family and peers contributes to adolescents in maintaining their health. Social interaction is intended as a reciprocal influence between individuals with groups in adolescent efforts to solve the problems expected and in the efforts of adolescents to achieve their goals (Ahmadi, 2009) .

Social interaction is intended as a reciprocal influence between individuals with groups in adolescent efforts to solve the problems expected and in the efforts of adolescents to achieve their goals.


As compared to younger age group, elderly patients have more underlying diseases and sluggish bodily physiological reactions resulting in a higher rate of morbidity and mortality [1, 2] . Furthermore, the often atypical presentation and delay in seeking medical help have been associated with delay in diagnosis and treatment resulting in high morbidity and mortality rates [3, 4] . The prognosis of uncomplicated appendicitis in both young and old age groups is nearly equal. However, perforation worsens the condition dramatically resulting in higher rates of morbidity and mortality [5] [6] [7] [8] .

As compared to younger age group, elderly patients have more underlying diseases and sluggish bodily physiological reactions resulting in a higher rate of morbidity and mortality.

Furthermore, the often atypical presentation and delay in seeking medical help have been associated with delay in diagnosis and treatment resulting in high morbidity and mortality rates.

However, perforation worsens the condition dramatically resulting in higher rates of morbidity and mortality.


Also in the study, WBC was found elevated in 63% of all patients with 74% shifts to left. As expected, values were higher in the perforated group as 71% of them had high WBC with 94% shift to left (Table 3) . Again, a result in agreement with many other studies [1, 4, 21] .

Again, a result in agreement with many other studies.


In recent years, the complex hyperlink-based similarity search has attracted considerable attention in the field of Information Retrieval. One of the promising measures is the SimRank similarity with ubiquitous applications to search engine ranking, document corpora clustering, collaborative filtering for recommender systems, etc. SimRank is a recursive refinement of co-citation measure that computes similarity by common neighbours alone [12] . The intuitive model for SimRank measure is based on random walk over a web-graph like Google PageRank [20] . The SimRank similarity between two web pages is defined recursively as the average similarity between their neighbours, along with the base case that one page is maximally similar to itself. Unlike many other domain-specific measures that require humanbuilt hierarchies, SimRank can be used in any domain in combination with traditional textual similarity to produce an overall similarity measure [9, 10] .

SimRank is a recursive refinement of co-citation measure that computes similarity by common neighbours alone.

The intuitive model for SimRank measure is based on random walk over a web-graph like Google PageRank.

Unlike many other domain-specific measures that require humanbuilt hierarchies, SimRank can be used in any domain in combination with traditional textual similarity to produce an overall similarity measure.


Once ready, the electrolyte pH was measured (always found to be 5.4 ( ± 0.1), and an HT10 or F22 steel working-electrode sample was introduced and left to corrode at its open circuit potential (V oc ) vs. SCE for a period of 30 h. For each heat-treated variant, the corrosion behaviour was evaluated from open circuit potentiometry and hourly electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements (100 kHz -50 mHz, ± 10 mV vs. V oc ). At the end of experiment, the electrode was removed from the brine, allowed to dry in the glove box's nitrogen atmosphere, and stored in a vacuum desiccator prior to SEM examination in a Quanta 250 FEG-SEM. The electrolyte pH was measured, and typically found to be 5.4 ( ± 0.1). After initial investigations of the surface, the corrosion products were removed from the surface using Clarke's solution, as per ASTM G1-03 [38] . Subsequently, sample surfaces were re-examined using SEM to probe for any localised corrosion morphology. All 30 h immersion experiments were conducted 2-3 times for each alloy variant, from which standard deviation errors were obtained.

After initial investigations of the surface, the corrosion products were removed from the surface using Clarke's solution, as per ASTM G1-03.


We propose to integrate PF and UML: PFs are represented by means of UML, so that they can be used (also) in UML-based development. This integration provides several benefits: on one hand it equips PFs with a popular and easy to use notation. Under this respect our contribution is quite similar to other initiatives aiming at providing UML-based access to requirements modeling methods (e.g., KAOS [6] ). In fact, a method can be truly successful only if a large number of professionals are sufficiently convinced of its potential to use it in industrial settings. Using UML to support requirements engineering with PF may help achieve this end.

Under this respect our contribution is quite similar to other initiatives aiming at providing UML-based access to requirements modeling methods (e.g., KAOS).


When social contact patterns are exploited, data forwarding is divided into two stages [18] . First, node centrality is evaluated at the global scope which includes all the nodes in the network, to ensure that data is carried and forwarded by relays with higher capability of contacting other nodes. Second, when a relay contacts a node within the same community of the destination, data is forwarded to that community. Afterward, node centrality is evaluated within the local community scope, and data is forwarded directly to the destination. In both stages, most of the current social-aware data forwarding schemes evaluate the centrality of mobile nodes based on their cumulative social contact patterns over a long period of time.

When social contact patterns are exploited, data forwarding is divided into two stages.


An ideal graft material is supposed to be chemically inert, nontoxic, nonallergic, noninflammatory, resistant to infection, noncarcinogenic, solid, sterilizable, convenient, and affordable [8] . New developments in material optimization are currently tested. There are only a few groups who have investigated polypropylene mesh modifications by surface coating with collagen, titanium, or absorbable polymers in animal and in vitro studies [11, 12, 23, 24] . While some of these studies found higher biocompatibility (e.g., light polypropylene mesh) compared to the standard polypropylene control group, others found very similar outcomes between the two groups. Some of these meshes have been now introduced into the market as they were thought to be associated with lower complications [25] . Our study group was the first one to analyse the mesh modification according to IDEAL criteria of surgical innovation [13] . On the basis of the results presented in this study we are currently initiating a prospective randomised clinical trial for the optimization of implants in mesh surgery. We will compare the group of native meshes versus coated meshes for postoperative complications and functional results. The last step of IDEAL model with longterm surveillance of mesh grafts was successfully introduced for hernia surgery by national and European registries [26, 27] . A consecutive urogynecological registry for implants is currently under construction (unpublished data).

An ideal graft material is supposed to be chemically inert, nontoxic, nonallergic, noninflammatory, resistant to infection, noncarcinogenic, solid, sterilizable, convenient, and affordable.

There are only a few groups who have investigated polypropylene mesh modifications by surface coating with collagen, titanium, or absorbable polymers in animal and in vitro studies.

Some of these meshes have been now introduced into the market as they were thought to be associated with lower complications.

Our study group was the first one to analyse the mesh modification according to IDEAL criteria of surgical innovation.

The last step of IDEAL model with longterm surveillance of mesh grafts was successfully introduced for hernia surgery by national and European registries.


Analyzing the testing complexity, it can be seen as the difficulty for a computer to create a test suite for finding errors in the developed code. Finding errors in early stages of the development is an important task that saves costs of the project. A detailed survey in the United States quantifies the high economic impacts of an inadequate software testing infrastructure [32] . Besides that, it is estimated that half the time spent on the software project development and more than half its cost, is devoted to testing the product [27] . To this end, in recent years researchers have attempted to predict fault-prone software modules using complexity metrics [36] . In addition, the overall experimental results show that complexity metrics are able to predict fault-prone source code [37] .

A detailed survey in the United States quantifies the high economic impacts of an inadequate software testing infrastructure.

Besides that, it is estimated that half the time spent on the software project development and more than half its cost, is devoted to testing the product.

To this end, in recent years researchers have attempted to predict fault-prone software modules using complexity metrics.

In addition, the overall experimental results show that complexity metrics are able to predict fault-prone source code.


The foundational result of Lagrangian mean curvature flow is that in Calabi-Yau manifolds, mean curvature flow preserves closed Lagrangian submanifolds (see the work of Smoczyk [28] ). It is natural then to ask whether this can be generalised to submanifolds with boundary. Equivalently, what is a well-defined boundary condition for Lagrangian mean curvature flow? In this paper we answer this question, and show that the resulting flow exhibits good behaviour in some model situations.

The foundational result of Lagrangian mean curvature flow is that in Calabi-Yau manifolds, mean curvature flow preserves closed Lagrangian submanifolds (see the work of Smoczyk).


The Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR) is conceptually a simple process of NO x control. At temperatures between 850 to 1175 o C, a particular reagent is injected and thoroughly mixed in a flue gas stream containing NO x . A rapid gas phase homogeneous reaction occurs such that, despite the presence of excess oxygen generally required in the furnace, the reagent selectively reduces NO x leaving oxygen untouched. The technology has many attractive features. It is simple to apply and requires no catalyst, hence no problems associated with catalyst such as catalyst poisoning, or replacement etc. It can easily be installed on existing plants, applicable in all types of stationary fired equipments, bears lower capital and running cost, generally not affected by fly ash and can be used with other NO x emission control technologies. The ammonia and urea are the most commonly used reagents for the SNCR process of NO x control employed usually in the combustion applications (Javed et al., 2007) .

The ammonia and urea are the most commonly used reagents for the SNCR process of NO x control employed usually in the combustion applications.


In recent years, there has been a steady rise in the volume of corporate sustainability disclosures by companies [1] . As a consequence, business entities as members of the community are expected to solve or address social, as well as environmental matters, in such a way that aims to add value societies [2] . Thus, corporate sustainability disclosures are aimed to improve financial performance, draw the best employees and to inspire leaders [3] . Corporate sustainability disclosure is the reporting tool to account for sustainability investment in the host of business community [4] . Despite the increase for corporate responsibility, most of the impact of a firm's operation on the environment is still voluntarily disclosed [5] . Moreover, levels of corporate sustainability disclosures are still very low [6, 7] . This has resulted in inadequate disclosure of social and environmental responsibility issues, due to unavailability of data by disclosing corporations, and because there is no demand for the social and environmental data, this is due that costs exceed benefits [8] .

In recent years, there has been a steady rise in the volume of corporate sustainability disclosures by companies.

As a consequence, business entities as members of the community are expected to solve or address social, as well as environmental matters, in such a way that aims to add value societies.

Thus, corporate sustainability disclosures are aimed to improve financial performance, draw the best employees and to inspire leaders.

Corporate sustainability disclosure is the reporting tool to account for sustainability investment in the host of business community.

Despite the increase for corporate responsibility, most of the impact of a firm's operation on the environment is still voluntarily disclosed.

Moreover, levels of corporate sustainability disclosures are still very low.

This has resulted in inadequate disclosure of social and environmental responsibility issues, due to unavailability of data by disclosing corporations, and because there is no demand for the social and environmental data, this is due that costs exceed benefits.


Moreover, the other cause is the increase in environmental expenditures incurred by mining companies. South Africa has complex environmental liabilities. For instance, carbon reduction costs, energy saving costs, rehabilitation costs, fines and penalties. Some of these costs they do not add value to the profitability of the firm in the long run, such as penalties and fines as they are regarded as potential costs [128] . Furthermore, non-compliance with environmental violations disclosure laws has also impacted on firm profitability in the form of financial outlay. Additionally, firms might disclose environmental impacts in their sustainability reports for compliance reason, but without benefiting from reporting such impacts. Therefore, this will increase compliance costs, hence, decreasing profitability.

Some of these costs they do not add value to the profitability of the firm in the long run, such as penalties and fines as they are regarded as potential costs.


Furthermore, if companies donated to communities may enhance profitability [131] . For example, they are donating goods with the firm's logo. This means that firms are advertising through those goods, hence, increasing sales. These goods might be T-shirts, football kit and sponsoring local teams and school. Moreover, there is also a possibility of tax deductions available for donated goods. This will increase the firm's reputation, hence, maximizing shareholders value. Conclusively, sustaining and obtaining the essential skilled resources will need substantial investment to ensure well-organized and efficient workforce to upkeep future growth, and, therefore, profitability [132] . Many mining firms have internal training hubs and fund studies through scholarships, grants and loans. However, keeping skilled and competent employees has becomes progressively problematic in times of economic turnaround, with global competition for South Africa's exclusive skilled labor.

Furthermore, if companies donated to communities may enhance profitability.

Conclusively, sustaining and obtaining the essential skilled resources will need substantial investment to ensure well-organized and efficient workforce to upkeep future growth, and, therefore, profitability.


The distribution of corn borer may also play an important role in other control strategies such as biological control. The effectiveness of biological control agents against a target species such as the European corn borer may often depend on the availability and proximity of alternative foods. Parasitoids often use sugar sources, such as honeydew, to increase their longevity and increase their Þtness (Evans 1994) . Generalist predator populations may also use alternative foods to increase their numbers by enhancing reproductive Þtness (Hodek and Honek 1996) . Alternative foods, such as aphids, can also be critical in determining the predatorÕs aggregation and foraging behaviors and consequently the overall level of control of a target pest such as European corn borer (Harmon 2003) . Determining the spatial distribution of interacting organisms and the behaviors that create such patterns are crucial steps for understanding the likelihood and strength of potential community interactions.

Parasitoids often use sugar sources, such as honeydew, to increase their longevity and increase their Þtness.

Generalist predator populations may also use alternative foods to increase their numbers by enhancing reproductive Þtness.

Alternative foods, such as aphids, can also be critical in determining the predatorÕs aggregation and foraging behaviors and consequently the overall level of control of a target pest such as European corn borer.


Having access to fodder plants and being able to use them also depends on social status. In Pakistan, this relates to landowner relative to landless mobile herders and on the elevation distribution of fodder trees and shrubs. In Northern Pakistan, collapsing traditional institutions that formerly managed communal hillsides, and the inability of the new formal institutions to provide alternatives, led to severe deforestation and hillside degradation (Rahim and Viaro 2002) . To address this issue, social forestry initiatives emerged in the early 1980's and lasted until the end of the century (Leede et al. 1999) . To rehabilitate the overused mountain slopes, tree species planted for social forestry projects included Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Pinus roxburghii and Robinia pseudoacacia. These species were more applicable to watershed rehabilitation functions than to meet the needs of people (Rahim and Viaro 2002) . Landowners either evicted herders or made hillsides inaccessible to them. From the landowners' perspective, this was a necessary move to protect any planted trees (Leede et al. 1999) . Between 1980 and 1999, the plantation campaigns reduced the possible access to free grazing areas for mobile herders by 54.5% and reduced access to leased winter grazing areas by 75.9% (Leede et al. 1999) .

In Northern Pakistan, collapsing traditional institutions that formerly managed communal hillsides, and the inability of the new formal institutions to provide alternatives, led to severe deforestation and hillside degradation.

To address this issue, social forestry initiatives emerged in the early 1980's and lasted until the end of the century.

These species were more applicable to watershed rehabilitation functions than to meet the needs of people.

From the landowners' perspective, this was a necessary move to protect any planted trees.

Between 1980 and 1999, the plantation campaigns reduced the possible access to free grazing areas for mobile herders by 54.5% and reduced access to leased winter grazing areas by 75.9%.


Although many development programmes in the Himalayan Hindu-Kush Mountains plant fodder trees, they ignore indigenous species and introduce exotic species (Komwihangilo et al. 1995) . This study identifies key fodder trees and shrubs, their nutritional value and distribution at different elevations. Further, this study assesses the utilization and access by different social groups to identify trees and shrubs suited to different locations and that can meet the needs of herders in terms of forage for their animals.

Although many development programmes in the Himalayan Hindu-Kush Mountains plant fodder trees, they ignore indigenous species and introduce exotic species.


Researchers in computational linguistics often assume that more data is always better than less data (Banko and Brill, 2001) . This is true insofar as larger corpora allow computational linguists to generate less noisy estimates of the average language experience of the users of computational linguistics applications. However, corpus size does not necessarily eliminate certain types of biases in estimates of human linguistic experience, as demonstrated in Figure 3 .

Researchers in computational linguistics often assume that more data is always better than less data.


In the current study, we exploit errors of the latter variety-failure of a language model to predict human performance-to investigate bias across several frequently used corpora in computational linguistics. The human data is revealing because it trades on the fact that human language processing is probability-sensitive: language processing reflects implicit knowledge of probabilities computed over linguistic units (e.g., words). For example, the amount of time required to read a word varies as a function of how predictable that word is (McDonald and Shillcock, 2003) . Thus, failure of a language model to predict human performance reveals a mismatch between the language model and the human language model, i.e., bias.

For example, the amount of time required to read a word varies as a function of how predictable that word is.


The majority of the global population resides in urban areas and the urban population is expected to further increase to more than 3 billion people by 2050 (Buhaug & Urdal, 2013) . Cities are a focal point for economic and social activities and, therefore, are closely related to human daily life (Madlener & Sunak, 2011; Mirzaei & Haghighat, 2010) . Attention is increasingly being given to the pursuit of more comfortable living conditions in urban areas in the face of increasing urbanisation. There is, therefore, growing interests in the factors that impact on human comfort and well-being in cities (Gago, Roldan, Pacheco-Torres, & Ordóñez, 2013; Kleerekoper, Van Esch, & Salcedo, 2012; Oke, 1982; Quattrochi & Luvall, 1999; Santamouris, 2013) .

The majority of the global population resides in urban areas and the urban population is expected to further increase to more than 3 billion people by 2050.

Cities are a focal point for economic and social activities and, therefore, are closely related to human daily life.

There is, therefore, growing interests in the factors that impact on human comfort and well-being in cities.


The concept of nanostructuring has been proposed to increase the energy conversion efficiency [23] . Creating nanostructures could be done by reducing the size of the material in one or more dimensions. Thin films and nanowires are typical examples of such nanostructures, which have shown unique and superior physical properties. Nanostructured thermoelectrics have become an active research field with the focus on understanding the fundamentals of electron and phonon transport in nanostructured materials [24] . Coatings of nanoscale thickness were used as model materials to tune the electrical and thermal conductivity of nanostructures [25] .

The concept of nanostructuring has been proposed to increase the energy conversion efficiency.

Nanostructured thermoelectrics have become an active research field with the focus on understanding the fundamentals of electron and phonon transport in nanostructured materials.

Coatings of nanoscale thickness were used as model materials to tune the electrical and thermal conductivity of nanostructures.


Strategic responses to these issues are therefore complex and require fundamental shifts in how a system or set of interacting elements function and interact with each other and various other elements in society. The field of transitions research is informative in this context as it investigates complex interactions in social-technical systems and how change occurs in such systems over long timeframes [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] . According to this set of theories, transitions of socio-technical systems involve a broad range of actors and extensive changes along different dimensions: technological, material, organizational, institutional, political, economic, and socio-cultural [10, 11] .

The field of transitions research is informative in this context as it investigates complex interactions in social-technical systems and how change occurs in such systems over long timeframes.

According to this set of theories, transitions of socio-technical systems involve a broad range of actors and extensive changes along different dimensions: technological, material, organizational, institutional, political, economic, and socio-cultural.


Providing feedback for supporting instructors is a very crucial feature for any learning system. The objective sare to provide feedback to support course educators/teachers/administrators in decision making (about how to improve students' learning, organize instructional resources more efficiently, etc.) and enable them to take appropriate proactive and/or remedial action [16] . It is important to point out that this task is different than data analyzing and visualizing tasks, which only provide basic information directly from data (reports, statistics, etc.). Moreover, providing feedback divulges completely new, hidden, and interesting information found in data [32] .

The objective sare to provide feedback to support course educators/teachers/administrators in decision making (about how to improve students' learning, organize instructional resources more efficiently, etc.) and enable them to take appropriate proactive and/or remedial action.

Moreover, providing feedback divulges completely new, hidden, and interesting information found in data.


A geographical cluster analysis was performed for each area applying a Bayesian hierarchical model [15] . A conditional auto-regressive (CAR) effect was used to account for the spatial structure of the municipal-level data that effectively "borrows" information from adjacent municipalities to improve estimates for individual municipalities. This approach reduces the variance in the associated estimates and allows for the spatial effect of regional differences in risk exposure. Relative risk (RR) estimates were derived from a posterior sampling approach and expressed as means.

A geographical cluster analysis was performed for each area applying a Bayesian hierarchical model.


In the preliminary outdoor rodenticide trial in Florida before the eradication effort began, relatively few Gambian rats were used, weather conditions made the monitoring of bait consumption difficult, and the 2-choice trials were conducted with horse sweet mix (grains and molasses) as the alternative food (Engeman et al., 2006) . In those trials, it appeared that the alternative food was not very palatable to the Gambian rats, therefore the results of those trials were suspect. However, those trials suggested that zinc phosphide was the rodenticide of choice and subsequently was used in the eradication effort. However, the eradication effort has been slow in achieving of success, and other rodenticides are being considered for follow-up baiting.

In the preliminary outdoor rodenticide trial in Florida before the eradication effort began, relatively few Gambian rats were used, weather conditions made the monitoring of bait consumption difficult, and the 2-choice trials were conducted with horse sweet mix (grains and molasses) as the alternative food.


All rats were examined daily and the condition of the rats and any mortality was recorded. We conducted necropsies on all rats, during which time we recorded weight and any signs of anticoagulant poisoning for the anticoagulant rodenticides (Stone et al., 1999) . Rats that remained alive after the trial were observed for another 10 days, then were euthanized and necropsied as described above. Any mortality that occurred in that 10 day period was recorded. We compared the average weights of rats within each treatment group with an ANOVA (Proc GLM, SAS Institute, Cary, NC). After necropsy, all carcasses from the study were incinerated at NWRC.

We conducted necropsies on all rats, during which time we recorded weight and any signs of anticoagulant poisoning for the anticoagulant rodenticides.