Creativity is generally perceived to be a key driver of social and economic changes. One would, therefore, anticipate that the education system would strive to nurture students' creativity (Beghetto, 2006) . However, although teachers believe that mathematical creativity can and should be nurtured in school in most schools it is normally not encouraged (Sriraman, 2005) . As a result most students are provided with few opportunities to experience creative learning and thinking (Silver, 1997) .

One would, therefore, anticipate that the education system would strive to nurture students' creativity.

However, although teachers believe that mathematical creativity can and should be nurtured in school in most schools it is normally not encouraged.

As a result most students are provided with few opportunities to experience creative learning and thinking.


As cocoa contains mixtures of bioactive compounds, it is important to preserve their phenolic quality both under physiological and laboratory conditions. As the preparation of extract was time-consuming and needed to be stored before use, the study of their stability under typical storage is warranted. To a greater extent, recent studies reported the degradation of catechin, epicatechin and their dimers under simulated physiologic pH (Zhu et al. 2003; Klimczak et al. 2007) . Under typical storage conditions, a decrease of polyphenols in beverages was reflected by their low antioxidant capacity when stored at different temperatures and prolonged time period (Sang et al. 2005) . A study indicated that auto-oxidation and epimerization were two major reactions involved in the instability of phenolic compounds under typical experimental conditions (Zhu et al. 2002a) . To the best of our knowledge, no study has been done on the stability of phenolic compounds under typical storage condition. Hence, our present study is also initiated to investigate the stability of phenolic compounds under the aforementioned condition.

To a greater extent, recent studies reported the degradation of catechin, epicatechin and their dimers under simulated physiologic pH.

Under typical storage conditions, a decrease of polyphenols in beverages was reflected by their low antioxidant capacity when stored at different temperatures and prolonged time period.

A study indicated that auto-oxidation and epimerization were two major reactions involved in the instability of phenolic compounds under typical experimental conditions.


We prove Theorem 1.3 in Section 3. Our proof is based on the L p -L q estimates given in Theorem 1.1 and the contraction mapping principle. To control the nonlinear term, we introduce an appropriate norm for the nonlinearity (see (3. 3)) , which is inspired by Hayashi, Kaikina and Naumkin [9] . Then, to estimate the derivative of the nonlinearity, we apply the fractional chain rule.

We prove Theorem 1.3 in Section 3.

To control the nonlinear term, we introduce an appropriate norm for the nonlinearity (see (3. 3)) , which is inspired by Hayashi, Kaikina and Naumkin.


Compressed packs could increase thickness and hence absorb increased amount of fluids [4] . The operator can add to this by compressing the wet material as much as possible to increase the absorption capacity as well as increase the rate before employing. Similarly, the angle of contact of the fiber system can be effectively altered to fit in the system. The conventional wisdom of squeezing CSG after dipping with saline and employing to absorb more oral fluids is also explained by the phenomenon of the increase in capillary radius as well as interacting with swelling capacity of the cotton fiber.

Compressed packs could increase thickness and hence absorb increased amount of fluids.


The smallest scales of motion in a turbulent flow result from a subtle balance between convective transport and diffusive dissipation. Therefore, in a numerical simulation method, it is important that numerical diffusion (from the convective discretization) does not interfere with physical dissipation. From a mathematical point of view, the convective and diffusive terms in the transport equations have a different structure: convection is described by a skewsymmetric differential operator (see Section 3), while diffusion is governed by a symmetric and positive semi-definite operator. With this in mind, we have developed a convective discretization method which ensures that convection is approximated by a skew-symmetric, discrete operator, whereas diffusion is discretized by a symmetric and positive semi-definite operator. The resulting discrete representation inherits all properties related to the symmetries from the continuous formulation. In particular, the (kinetic) energy of any discrete solution is conserved when the flow is inviscid, and decreases in time for viscous flow. In other words, the spatial discretization is both unconditionally stable and conservative. Second-order and fourth-order versions have been developed thus far, applicable to structured nonuniform grids [1] . The method has been termed 'symmetry-preserving discretization', as it preserves the (skew-)symmetry of the differential operators.

Second-order and fourth-order versions have been developed thus far, applicable to structured nonuniform grids.


Second, the duality of my role as researcher and programme tutor was potentially problematic, as was the analytical frameworks developed and used in this study, specifically the RPTSE framework and the categorisation of teachers' practice. I undertook a number of preventative measures towards impartiality and to engender trustworthiness in the findings. These included: member checks, that is, several teachers were invited to read and comment on their written case studies; external checks, that is on several occasions colleagues discussed and offered alternative insights into the research themes emerging from the data; and, intra-data checks achieved through the interval evaluator's independent observations and interviews (Denzin & Lincoln, 2008) .

These included: member checks, that is, several teachers were invited to read and comment on their written case studies; external checks, that is on several occasions colleagues discussed and offered alternative insights into the research themes emerging from the data; and, intra-data checks achieved through the interval evaluator's independent observations and interviews.


Whereas Charlie experienced social and verbal support when working alongside a colleague in a school with supportive senior staff, Cara did not. This shared judgement that the combined efforts of colleagues can enable the required action for a positive accomplishment is referred to as collective efficacy (Goddard, Hoy, & Woolfolk Hoy, 2004) . As yet no research has explored collective efficacy in terms of how colleagues', senior staffs' or students' self-efficacy supports outdoor professional development programme for science teachers.

This shared judgement that the combined efforts of colleagues can enable the required action for a positive accomplishment is referred to as collective efficacy.


Although there are various theoretical approaches to study the leadership styles but transformational and transactional leadership framework has received considerable research support (Bass & Avolio, 1993) . Research studies conducted on leadership mostly emphasis on transformational leadership but some other researches also give importance to transactional leadership. These studies suggested that transformational leadership has more impact on representatives' attitudes towards their jobs as compare to transactional leadership.

Although there are various theoretical approaches to study the leadership styles but transformational and transactional leadership framework has received considerable research support.


Interestingly, 15 weeks post-transplantation no more differences could be detected in the number of vessels present in light and dark grafts. We propose the following interpretation for this change from 8 to 15 weeks. Shortly after transplantation, skin tissue needs to be quickly revascularized to ensure cell survival and adequate integration of the transplant into the host tissue [17, 18] . Later, as the graft matures and reaches the remodeling stage, the initially needed, but now redundant, vascular networks are reduced [19, 20] . Of note, although we do notice the described, temporary difference in the vascularization dynamics, all transplants exhibit an apparently competent capillary network within the dermal compartment, ensuring survival and, presumably, also supporting maturation of the dermo-epidermal skin analogs.

Shortly after transplantation, skin tissue needs to be quickly revascularized to ensure cell survival and adequate integration of the transplant into the host tissue.

Later, as the graft matures and reaches the remodeling stage, the initially needed, but now redundant, vascular networks are reduced.


Nucleobindin 1 is a calcium-binding protein and therefore can be involved in calcium storage and signaling [30] [31] [32] [33] . This may be required for the relatively higher stress in the left ventricle. The higher MAP7 domaincontaining protein 1 in left ventricle compared to right is again likely to be associated with different structure (microtubules) in the thicker left ventricle. Glycogen synthase increased in the left ventricle compared to the right ventricle which implies the left side is storing more glycogen compared to the right or that there is more use of glycogen due to relatively more work by the left ventricle.

Nucleobindin 1 is a calcium-binding protein and therefore can be involved in calcium storage and signaling.


Wind power technology is the most mature and widespread applied one among new energy power generation technologies. Exploration of wind energy on a large scale could substantialy alleviate the problems of energy shortages and environmental pollution across the globe. Up to the end of 2015, the global installed wind capacity had reached 432.4 GW, of which the figure in China was 148 GW, representing the largest share around the world [1] . Random output of wind speed lowers the schedulability of active power in a wind farm, which in turn limits the availability of wind energy [2] . With increasing permeability of wind power in the state grid, lower schedulability would increase operational risks, especially wind power curtailment [3, 4] .

Up to the end of 2015, the global installed wind capacity had reached 432.4 GW, of which the figure in China was 148 GW, representing the largest share around the world.

Random output of wind speed lowers the schedulability of active power in a wind farm, which in turn limits the availability of wind energy.

With increasing permeability of wind power in the state grid, lower schedulability would increase operational risks, especially wind power curtailment.


Spherical harmonic analysis is a very powerful tool to process complex phenomena over a sphere, such as the ionosphere. To show the electron density profiles with short wavelength (high frequency), high degrees and orders of spherical harmonics will be required. With increasing degree and order of harmonic functions, the number of unknown coefficients will also increase. This leads to an increased demand of computational memory and mathematical calculations. Also the high order of spherical harmonics leads to instability in parameter estimation. In this paper, a method for localization of spherical harmonics has been developed for regional modeling of ionosphere electron density. This model is more accurate for regional modeling and is known as a spherical cap harmonic model (Haines 1988) . Spherical cap harmonic analysis has been used in a wide range of applications involving spherical cap geometries, including, for example, mapping electrostatic potential, geomagnetic fields, and ionospheric current systems (De Santis et al. 1991 , 1992 De Franceschi et al. 1994; Liu et al. 2014) . As the basis functions of the spherical harmonics are no longer orthogonal in the local area, the spherical cap harmonic function is introduced. Since the associated Legendre function (where n and m are integers) is orthogonal only over the entire sphere, another set of orthogonal functions must be used instead. The new functions that are still Legendre functions of integer order m but non-integer degree n. The new non-integer Legendre functions and their derivatives have, alternatively, zero value at the edge of a cap with half-angle. Therefore, the new Legendre functions divided into two sets: ''even'' and ''odd''. Legendre functions of the odd set are not all orthogonal to those of the even set, but the two sets are separately orthogonal and together provide the basis for a uniformly convergent series for the ionospheric local modeling and its gradient.

This model is more accurate for regional modeling and is known as a spherical cap harmonic model.

Spherical cap harmonic analysis has been used in a wide range of applications involving spherical cap geometries, including, for example, mapping electrostatic potential, geomagnetic fields, and ionospheric current systems.


The ionosphere is the ionized part of the atmosphere extending from 60 km to 1500 km above the earth's surface. It is very important to know ionospheric electron density distribution for scientific studies and practical applications. A global navigation satellite system measurement utilizing global positioning system (GPS) is an effective and valuable tool to study the physical properties of the ionosphere. Due to the large spatial coverage of satellite networks, as well as the availability of permanent measurements, it is possible using observations of these networks to conduct investigations of the ionosphere. Using dual-frequency GPS receivers, slant total electron content (STEC) is computed. STEC contains valuable information about the ionosphere (Seeber 2003) . It is a very important quantity used for ionospheric processes.

STEC contains valuable information about the ionosphere.


The vascularized iliac-crest flap is an option for the treatment of bone loss, especially in small bones. Its advantages include a long pedicle (4-6 cm) and large diameter, which facilitate anastomosis [9] . Moreover, in cases of concomitant soft-tissue loss and perfusion deficit, this flap enables the transfer of muscle and skin covering the iliac crest because these tissues are supplied by the same artery (case 4, Figures  1 and 2 ). This option is also useful in cases of severe nonunion in which a conventional graft has failed. Furthermore, in cases of anastomosis failure, the iliac crest functions better than a long bone as a conventional graft due to its corticocancellous component.

Its advantages include a long pedicle (4-6 cm) and large diameter, which facilitate anastomosis.


Comparison of degradation rate (ppm phenol/hour) between suspended and immobilized cultures may be clearly seen through a histogram as demonstrated in Figure 3 . The degradation rate is defined based on the relationship between the rate of substrate consumption and the biomass growth. It is clearly shown that immobilization has extended the volumetric degradation rate limit of the microbe. Data in Table 1 summarizes the published reports on phenol degradation. In general, the immobilized cultures demonstrated higher tolerance to phenol compared to suspended cultures. Most importantly, the outcome of this study has indicated that the performance of our isolated microbe exceeded most of the published data. Hence, the likelihood of employing this isolate in the pilot or real scale is potentially high. Immobilization of viable cells could provide a better environment for reaction and alter physiological features in metabolism such as enhanced enzyme induction [8] . Moreover, immobilization system also provides high biomass concentrations due to the formation of biofilm.

Immobilization of viable cells could provide a better environment for reaction and alter physiological features in metabolism such as enhanced enzyme induction.


From this review we can conclude that there is a severe shortage of capacity available to manage the country's rich and diverse flora in terms of taxonomy and provision of foundational biodiversity information. In general taxonomists in South Africa are productive and are not limited by financial and infrastructural resources. However, there are still vast areas of the country that remain under-collected, and many taxa remain under-represented in herbarium collections, which indicate that taxonomists are partially limited by lack of plant material and field observations on live plants for research as well as from which to compile specimen data records for end-users. In addition, the example of research on Ixia over the years (see above) reveals that intense study of one group generates a large amount of information over a long period of time. There are not enough taxonomists generating that level of information because it is clearly not happening for all of the 931 plant genera in South Africa. With approximately 20 000 vascular plant species in South Africa and around 40 researching taxonomists (including technicians appointed in non-academic posts), the ratio of number of species to taxonomist is about 500 species to one. The large number of under-collected plant species paints a dire picture of how little is known for a large portion of the South African flora. It can therefore be concluded that more human capacity for taxonomic research in South Africa is urgently required. For now, to maximise the effectiveness of existing human capacity, prioritised activities need to be identified and efforts redirected towards these (Victor et al. 2015) .

For now, to maximise the effectiveness of existing human capacity, prioritised activities need to be identified and efforts redirected towards these.


Vertical-take-off-and-landing craft can experience loss of visibility or damage when landing over water or a soft terrain, such as mud or sand, as a consequence of the soil erosion by a gaseous jet (Barton & Edwards 1968) . In the steel industry, the basic oxygen conversion process utilizes a supersonic jet of oxygen impinging on molten iron to convert it into steel. The generic occurrence of such gaseous jets shaping steady cavities has sparked a number of studies involving model experiments for the last 50 years (Banks & Chandrasekhara 1963; Cheslak et al. 1969) .

Vertical-take-off-and-landing craft can experience loss of visibility or damage when landing over water or a soft terrain, such as mud or sand, as a consequence of the soil erosion by a gaseous jet.

The generic occurrence of such gaseous jets shaping steady cavities has sparked a number of studies involving model experiments for the last 50 years.


The transport phenomena in micro channels have gained importance because micro geometries offer higher cooling capability for micro technologies [1] . The advancement in micro fabrication is also important for the application of mini and micro channels. It enables us to precisely manufacture the flow channels ranging from a few micrometres to several hundred micrometres or more [2] . Mini channels offer higher heat transfer capabilities and higher heat transfer coefficients than macro channels [3] . Mini channels can be used for different applications such as electronic cooling, biomedical engineering, automotive industry and compact refrigeration systems etc. Despite many advantages of using mini channels like reduced size, low fluid inventory, reduced cost due to minimum material requirement and compactness, the disadvantage may be higher pressure drop if the system is not designed properly. To get higher heat transfer without increasing pressure drop is a major research task for micro geometries.

The transport phenomena in micro channels have gained importance because micro geometries offer higher cooling capability for micro technologies.

It enables us to precisely manufacture the flow channels ranging from a few micrometres to several hundred micrometres or more.

Mini channels offer higher heat transfer capabilities and higher heat transfer coefficients than macro channels.


To study the interactions between the hydrogen (H) atom and graphene (G), calculations were performed in the framework of density functional theory (DFT), by means of total energy calculations using the SIESTA code [35, 36] . SIESTA is a self-consistent DFT code based on pseudopotentials and a basis set of numerical atomic orbitals. For the exchangecorrelation potential, the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) proposed by Perdew, Burke, and Ernzerhof (PBE) was used [37] . The pseudopotentials were generated according to the Troullier-Martins procedure [38] . For the numerical atomic orbitals an optimized basis set with soft confinement was considered for carbon (C) atoms and a standard DZP basis set for the H atom. A uniform grid in real space with a mesh cutoff of 450 Ry was used, whereas the reciprocal space was sampled with 98 k-points [39] .

To study the interactions between the hydrogen (H) atom and graphene (G), calculations were performed in the framework of density functional theory (DFT), by means of total energy calculations using the SIESTA code.

For the exchangecorrelation potential, the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) proposed by Perdew, Burke, and Ernzerhof (PBE) was used.

The pseudopotentials were generated according to the Troullier-Martins procedure.

A uniform grid in real space with a mesh cutoff of 450 Ry was used, whereas the reciprocal space was sampled with 98 k-points.


The combination of physical and chemical methods results in greater improvement of the material properties regarding hydrogen storage in G [27] . The presence of EF has a strong influence on H/G chemical reactivity and its adsorption properties can be modulated through the intensity and direction of EF. Studying hydrogen adsorption in graphene under an external electric field can help us to understand how it could increase graphene's viability as a hydrogen store. In this work we study the influence of an electric field in the hydrogen adsorption on graphene.

The combination of physical and chemical methods results in greater improvement of the material properties regarding hydrogen storage in G.


Carbon nanomaterials offer different structural arrangements classified by their dimensionality and the type of hybridization presented among their chemical bonds. Graphene (G) is associated with a graphite monolayer and is constituted by hexagonal structures of carbon atoms, bound strongly by covalent bonds characterized by a sp 2 hybridization, occurring in great abundance in nature. The initial studies on G were highly influenced by predictions that Wallace made in 1947, who examined its particular linear electronic dispersion relation with (k) [7] . Later in 1961, the first reports of its synthesis as graphite oxide appear [8] . In recent years, G has attracted the attention of theoretical and experimental researchers because of synthesis developments and also because of interesting electronic and quantum properties that could be employed in future and present technologies [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] .

The initial studies on G were highly influenced by predictions that Wallace made in 1947, who examined its particular linear electronic dispersion relation with (k).

Later in 1961, the first reports of its synthesis as graphite oxide appear.

In recent years, G has attracted the attention of theoretical and experimental researchers because of synthesis developments and also because of interesting electronic and quantum properties that could be employed in future and present technologies.


One of challenges which arose when IoT meets cloud is resource allocation by which a cloud provider efficiently allocates its resources to cloud users with SLA constraints. The dominating performance factors in resource allocation include provider's and user's profit, resource utilization, and QoS (Quality of Service) [2] . For resource allocation in cloud, auction-based model is a popular approach in resource allocation and pricing [3] . In particular, combinatorial auction is preferred in cloud computing because it allows a user to buy a package of resources rather than an individual resource. Since the auction is done on group of resources, it provides efficient resource allocation and helps to improve the profit to both a provider and a user.

The dominating performance factors in resource allocation include provider's and user's profit, resource utilization, and QoS (Quality of Service).

For resource allocation in cloud, auction-based model is a popular approach in resource allocation and pricing.


Lakoff 1 argues that a key to Trump's success is that he appears to be one step ahead of other politicians and the media in communicating his thoughts on current events, framing events in his own context and perspective. He suggests that Trump's tweets are socalled "trial balloons", deliberately designed to gauge public response with no intention of commitment to an underlying policy. Ongoing coverage by mainstream media then legitimizes them, manufacturing consensus online (Woolley and Guilbeault, 2017) .

Ongoing coverage by mainstream media then legitimizes them, manufacturing consensus online.


Chrysophyllum cainito L. can be found easily in Philippines and Thailand [4] . C. cainito also can be found in Java Island and some low mountain areas. Most of the parts of this plant can be used, including its leaves, fruit, and even its stem. C. cainito can be found easily in East Java and has medical functions [5] . Tannin-contained water extract of C. cainito leaves and fruit is widely used as anti-inflammation of laryngitis and pneumonia condition, cure of cancer, angina (chest pain), diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, chest pain, and indigestion [6, 7] .

Chrysophyllum cainito L. can be found easily in Philippines and Thailand.

C. cainito can be found easily in East Java and has medical functions.

Tannin-contained water extract of C. cainito leaves and fruit is widely used as anti-inflammation of laryngitis and pneumonia condition, cure of cancer, angina (chest pain), diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, chest pain, and indigestion.


There are two main problems in detecting anomalies: events and are referred as abnormal events; Second, they appear to be normal individually, but happen in an abnormal order, e.g., in a shopping scenario, a walkaway event happens immediately after a can-taken event without a pay event, which is called abnormal contexts. The former anomalies can be detected by some pre-trained normal/abnormal event patterns and a binary or probabilistic matching criterion [8] . The latter anomalies have n-order Markovianity, that is, the degree of anomaly of an event depends on the former n events. Since an abnormal event would necessarily cause an abnormal context, it is possible to include the abnormal events in abnormal contexts. In this paper, we propose a context-relevant framework to unify the two kinds of anomaly detection.

The former anomalies can be detected by some pre-trained normal/abnormal event patterns and a binary or probabilistic matching criterion.


Recent advances in the treatment of gliomas have increased the demands on using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques for the diagnosis, tumor monitoring, and patient outcome prediction. Accurate segmentation of brain tumor is critical for diagnosis and treatment planning. However, automated brain tumor segmentation in multi-modal MRI scans is a challenging task due to the heterogeneous appearance and shape of gliomas [3] .

However, automated brain tumor segmentation in multi-modal MRI scans is a challenging task due to the heterogeneous appearance and shape of gliomas.


Our analysis has focused on the whole of Great Britain. However housing policy in the devolved nations has started to develop greater distinctiveness. In the future the role which devolved policy plays on the evolution of housing markets and patterns of tenure will be an important area of research. Housing is also an important theme within new approaches of devolution to British cities through a series of City Deals, Growth Deals and Devolution Agreements. Furthermore, underlying the national patterns which are described in the analysis, it would be expected that in different types of areas, experiences of housing pathways and transitions might be subject to different types of influences (Hoolachan et al, 2017) .

Furthermore, underlying the national patterns which are described in the analysis, it would be expected that in different types of areas, experiences of housing pathways and transitions might be subject to different types of influences.


It is possible that these findings in part reflect an underlying shift in preferences in favour of renting relative to owning, or at least a greater willingness to rent for longer, other things being equal. Evidence from the Australian rental market points towards individuals choosing to live in the PRS in their preferred location rather than move when they cannot afford to purchase property there (Hulse and Yates, 2016) . This is also consistent with the message to 'wait then buy' preference reported from the British Social Attitudes Survey (Bramley 2012) . In general, the transition from renting to owning a home may be gradually playing a slightly less significant role vis-à-vis other lifecourse-related events such as couple formation and starting a family, as lifecourses become more complex and sequencing of key life events more varied. The extent to which underlying housing tenure preferences may be changing is an important area for future research, internationally as well as in Britain.

Evidence from the Australian rental market points towards individuals choosing to live in the PRS in their preferred location rather than move when they cannot afford to purchase property there.

This is also consistent with the message to 'wait then buy' preference reported from the British Social Attitudes Survey.


Many developed economies have been hit hard by the economic crisis that began in 2008. This crisis has caused serious tensions in government finances, which have affected the countries of southern Europe and Ireland in the Eurozone. While deficit orientations are important at the country level, following Maastricht criteria for public finance stability, these constraints have strong impacts at the local level, because many central governments have mandated strict deficit objectives to local governments, which face a more limited tax base and stronger fiscal competition. European Commission requirements regarding competition in services of general economic interest have had an impact on local government especially as a result of austerity (Warner and Clifton, 2014) . Thus, the fiscal crisis intensifies the need for local governments to rethink service delivery in order to increase the efficiency of locally provided services.

European Commission requirements regarding competition in services of general economic interest have had an impact on local government especially as a result of austerity.


In the last 200 years atmospheric CO 2 concentration has increased as a result of human activity (Vitusek 1994) . Such an increase in atmospheric CO 2 is especially relevant for photosynthetic organisms because inorganic carbon is their main nutrient. Among them, aquatic primary producers account for about 50% of the total carbon fixation in the biosphere (Falkowski and Raven 1997) .

In the last 200 years atmospheric CO 2 concentration has increased as a result of human activity.

Among them, aquatic primary producers account for about 50% of the total carbon fixation in the biosphere.


On the other hand, effective performance, one would believe, constitutes a severe challenge to small units, as economic development has proved to be a main force behind the rise and stability of democracy and as many small units tend to be poor and under-developed in terms of resources, manpower and wealth. This belief, however, is not well founded. Modernization assumptions are certainly valid in the world today: of rich countries, the over-whelming majority is democracies, of poor countries, the over-whelming majority is non-democracies, of countries that are neither rich nor poor, about half are democracies and about half are non-democracies. The pattern is, however, different when small states are taken out from the population to form an own sub-population. To be sure, the link between richness and democracy appears within this sub-population as well. However, as one moves down the income scale, no corresponding decrease can be detected in the proportion of democratic states: small is democratic, rich or poor [5] . Obviously, to compensate for a less convincing performance in terms of economy and wealth small states have comparative advantages and in-built capacities for resourcefulness and rapid policy development.

However, as one moves down the income scale, no corresponding decrease can be detected in the proportion of democratic states: small is democratic, rich or poor.


Research on democratic government suggests that small states are more likely to be democratic than large states. Indeed, an abundance of findings support this belief: state size is a more useful category than degree of development or geographic location for understanding the prerequisites for democracy, a large majority of microstates are democracies compared to a much smaller portion of larger countries, there is a significant correlation between small island states and democracy, with a decrease in the size of the political unit, the likelihood of durable freedom and democracy increases. Summarizing the literature in the field Henry Srebrnik concludes that small country size has been shown to be conducive to democracy, that smallness reinforces popular rule, and that evidence indicates that a significant feature about many small island jurisdictions has been their ability to maintain democratic political systems [1] .

Summarizing the literature in the field Henry Srebrnik concludes that small country size has been shown to be conducive to democracy, that smallness reinforces popular rule, and that evidence indicates that a significant feature about many small island jurisdictions has been their ability to maintain democratic political systems.


Although restrictiveness and guidance are not mutually exclusive features of support systems, the less restrictiveness there is in a system, the greater the scope, and possible need for guidance [3] . This suggests that it is useful to examine the relative effectiveness of the two approaches. While both have the objective of improving the quality of decision making or forecasting, their effectiveness also needs to be assessed on other important dimensions such as user acceptance, effect on user learning and the efficiency with which the task is carried out [5] . However, despite the attention that they have received in the literature, we know of only one empirical study that has directly compared the effectiveness of restrictiveness and guidance. In this case the two approaches were tested on undergraduate students using a knowledge-based system [6] . The authors of this paper also highlighted the absence of direct comparative studies in this area.

Although restrictiveness and guidance are not mutually exclusive features of support systems, the less restrictiveness there is in a system, the greater the scope, and possible need for guidance.

While both have the objective of improving the quality of decision making or forecasting, their effectiveness also needs to be assessed on other important dimensions such as user acceptance, effect on user learning and the efficiency with which the task is carried out.

In this case the two approaches were tested on undergraduate students using a knowledge-based system.


Although guidance was more successful in moving people's use of the system closer to that deemed to be normative, the extent to which it was ignored needs to be explained. One possibility is that guidance fared badly because it was imposed on users [27] . The relatively low level of acceptance for guidance provided some support for this. Alternatively, people may have resented having their initial decisions challenged. If this is the case providing guidance before the adjustment decision is made would be likely to be beneficial. A third possibility is that the concise form in which the guidance was conveyed did not allow it to compete with the user's internal rationale for making a given decision.

One possibility is that guidance fared badly because it was imposed on users.


An end-to-end detection of wormhole attack (EDWA) in wireless ad hoc networks is proposed by Xia Wang and Johnny Wong [8] . Authors first presented the wormhole detection which is based on the smallest hop count estimation between source and destination. If the hop count of a received shortest route is much smaller than the estimated value an alert of wormhole attack is raised at the source node. Then the source node will start a wormhole tracing procedure to identify the two end points of the wormhole. Finally, a legitimate route is selected for data communication.

An end-to-end detection of wormhole attack (EDWA) in wireless ad hoc networks is proposed by Xia Wang and Johnny Wong.


An Approach to Defend against Wormhole Attack in Ad hoc Network Using Digital Signature is proposed by Pallavi Sharma and Aditya Trivedi [9] . This paper presented a mechanism which is helpful in prevention of wormhole attack in ad hoc network is verification of digital signatures of sending nodes by receiving node because each legitimate node in the network contains the digital signature of every other legitimate nodes of same network. In proposed solution, if sender wants to send the data to destination, firstly it creates a secure path between sender and receiver with the help of verification of digital signature. If there is presence of any malicious node in between the path then it is identified because malicious node does not have its own legal digital signature.

An Approach to Defend against Wormhole Attack in Ad hoc Network Using Digital Signature is proposed by Pallavi Sharma and Aditya Trivedi.


The current TCAS display acts as a status display and a command display (Wickens & Hollands, 2000) . Bearing, vertical rate, and relative altitude of nearby aircraft are shown on a traffic map. This information helps the pilot visually acquire the aircraft to maintain separation and perform in-trail climb and descent (Klass, 1996) . If ownship is within 50 seconds of a loss of separation (LOS) with surrounding aircraft,a TA is issued in the form of verbal warning: "Traffic. Traffic", and the intruder icon color will change to yellow on the display. If ownship is within 25 seconds of LOS, the intruder icon turns red in colour and an RA is issued verbally and on the vertical speed indicator (VSI), indicating the required range of climb/descent rate to avoid the LOS.

The current TCAS display acts as a status display and a command display.

This information helps the pilot visually acquire the aircraft to maintain separation and perform in-trail climb and descent.


The main tool in the proof is a semiorthogonal decomposition; this separates a triangulated category into an admissible subcategory and its orthogonal. We also need to develop some foundations concerning local cohomology and Grothendieck duality over non-commutative rings to prove analogues of the other steps of Orlov's proof. These foundations do not seem to be contained in the literature in the form and generality that we need, although the arguments we give here are relatively straightforward generalizations of arguments by Artin and Zhang [1] .

These foundations do not seem to be contained in the literature in the form and generality that we need, although the arguments we give here are relatively straightforward generalizations of arguments by Artin and Zhang.


This paper extends our previous work in two ways. First, we present a Binary Programming formulation with Binary Search for the MMMDVRP, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the first such formulation. We believe that this formulation can, in some cases, be very effective in finding optimal solutions using commercial mathematical optimization solvers that can utilize a Binary Programming formulation to run faster than a MILP formulation. The second new aspect of this work pertains to the MBS we developed [9] . In this work, we add hierarchy to the market, which improves the ability of our overall solution to handle problems with large numbers of vehicles and tasks.

The second new aspect of this work pertains to the MBS we developed.


Oxidized UHMWPE is an inherent state that exists in UHMWPE components used in total joint replacements. As such, studies that investigate the interaction of particles with cells and tissue should consider the effect of this surface chemistry in their models. It potentially influences the structural state of the particles, the nature of leachables, their release rates as well as the kinetics of the degradation reaction, and the manner by which biological elements of the implant environment act on the material. In addition, the converse might also be true since cellular interactions are influenced by the oxidation state of surfaces. Furthermore, soluble degradation products released from the materials may be able to influence cell function, remote from the particles themselves [3] [4] [5] [6] . It has also been well established that these UHMWPE components are susceptible to oxidative degradation through consolidation of the resin at high temperatures and pressures, sterilization by gamma irradiation, storage of the irradiated UHMWPE components and the implantation environment. The oxidation of UHMWPE components has been linked to changes in the mechanical properties of the material, such as decreased fatigue strength and the production of wear particles around the site of the implant [4] . Until the 1980s most studies focused to the hip. Only in the last years some in vitro studies reporting chemical oxidation of UHMWPE have focused to the knee and its mechanism still remains unclear. Besides that, maximum oxidation matching criteria have been associated with the chemical and physical properties of UHMWPE, but just a few studies have focused on microstructural changes related to the accelerating aging that actually occurs in UHMWPE prosthesis. Despite the large number of works in recent years that seem to indicate a satisfactory behavior of UHMWPE for bearing applications, further research needs to be carried out in order to properly predict lifetime of these prostheses when implanted [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] .

Furthermore, soluble degradation products released from the materials may be able to influence cell function, remote from the particles themselves.

The oxidation of UHMWPE components has been linked to changes in the mechanical properties of the material, such as decreased fatigue strength and the production of wear particles around the site of the implant.

Despite the large number of works in recent years that seem to indicate a satisfactory behavior of UHMWPE for bearing applications, further research needs to be carried out in order to properly predict lifetime of these prostheses when implanted.


Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) is a biomaterial widely used as part of prostheses that require articulating surfaces, such as knee endoprostheses, for its excellent mechanical qualities. Approximately one million UHMWPE components are implanted yearly worldwide. Two major problems limit the life of UHMWPE prosthesis -wear and delamination, with both phenomena being mainly the result of chemical oxidation of polymer [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] . Polyethylene wear debris formation continues to be a primary factor in the reduced longevity of total knee replacements [1] [2] [3] . Wearing causes the release of generated particulate matter that triggers a macrophage reaction leading to chronic inflammation and osteolysis, while delamination, due to the mechanical stress, macroscopically alters the surfaces [2, 6] . It is well known in the field of biomaterials that the surface chemistry plays an important role in the interaction of cells, specifically those cells involved in the inflammatory response. Thus, this aspect must be considered in the applications of UHMWPE [2] [3] [4] .

Two major problems limit the life of UHMWPE prosthesis -wear and delamination, with both phenomena being mainly the result of chemical oxidation of polymer.

Polyethylene wear debris formation continues to be a primary factor in the reduced longevity of total knee replacements.

Wearing causes the release of generated particulate matter that triggers a macrophage reaction leading to chronic inflammation and osteolysis, while delamination, due to the mechanical stress, macroscopically alters the surfaces.

Thus, this aspect must be considered in the applications of UHMWPE.


The oxidation of UHMWPE is in reality a complex sequence of various cascading reactions which is not fully understood. Despite the intensive focus on ageing methodologies for UHMWPE over the last few years, there remains much debate over the most effective way of accelerating ageing of this material to simulate both shelf and in vivo ageing. The ideal accelerated ageing protocol would simultaneously reproduce the chemical changes in materials, as well as, the depth profiles of these changes, including oxidation. However there are no ageing protocols that have been adequately validated to replicate real-time shelf and in vivo ageing of highly cross-linked or conventional PE [9] . Protocols and standards for accelerated ageing of UHMWPE usually involve heating for 21 days at 80 °C in air or heating for 14 days at 70 °C under 5 bar oxygen [12, 13] . Though all the aging environments may produce similar levels of surface oxidation, it is clear that the environments produce oxidation profiles that do not otherwise resemble the profile actually developing under shelf aging [12] . Also, interlaboratory studies have identified that, although some materials can be ranked successfully by both these heating methods, there is poor interlaboratory reproducibility [14] . It was also verified that hydrogen peroxide exposure causes more severe oxidation than either air or hyaluronic acid and that unsterilized samples and even those sterilized in ethylene oxide are resistant to oxidation under all conditions, except hydrogen peroxide aging [15] .

However there are no ageing protocols that have been adequately validated to replicate real-time shelf and in vivo ageing of highly cross-linked or conventional PE.

Protocols and standards for accelerated ageing of UHMWPE usually involve heating for 21 days at 80 °C in air or heating for 14 days at 70 °C under 5 bar oxygen.

Though all the aging environments may produce similar levels of surface oxidation, it is clear that the environments produce oxidation profiles that do not otherwise resemble the profile actually developing under shelf aging.

Also, interlaboratory studies have identified that, although some materials can be ranked successfully by both these heating methods, there is poor interlaboratory reproducibility.

It was also verified that hydrogen peroxide exposure causes more severe oxidation than either air or hyaluronic acid and that unsterilized samples and even those sterilized in ethylene oxide are resistant to oxidation under all conditions, except hydrogen peroxide aging.


Membrane filtration is one of the widely used techniques in food industry (fruits juices clarification, protein standardization in dairy industry, fractionation of milk fat, beer filtration, and stabilization . . . ). Cross flow filtration (also known as tangential flow filtration) is a filtration technique in which the starting solution passes tangentially along the surface of the filter. The application of crossflow ultrafiltration in clarification or concentration fruit juice has been studied on kiwi, orange, melon, cantaloupe, and umbu juice [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] . To our knowledge, this has not been studied and applied on processing of fruit juice in Vietnam.

The application of crossflow ultrafiltration in clarification or concentration fruit juice has been studied on kiwi, orange, melon, cantaloupe, and umbu juice.


One of the greatest challenges is the development of universal biodegradable basestocks that could replace mineral oil basestocks in a new generation of biolubricants. From a performance standpoint, these substances should be environmentally friendly and eventually biodegradable (Pavlov et al., 2004) . In general, plant oils have excellent properties for their potential use as biolubricants, such as a high-viscosity index, high lubricity, low volatility due to a high molecular weight and low toxicity combined with high biodegradability (Erhan and Asadaukas, 2000; Adhvaryu and Erhan, 2002) . Thus, biolubricants are environmentally preferred to petroleumbased lubricants because they are more biodegradable and less toxic. However, plant oils normally have poor oxidative stability, which is largely due to the presence of bis-allylic protons. These active sites are highly susceptible to attack by oxygenated radicals, causing the subsequent oxidative degradation of the molecules that eventually results in polar oxy compounds and leads to insoluble deposits and increased oil acidity and viscosity (Asadauskas et al., 1996; Legarand and Du¨rr, 1998; Erhan et al., 2006) .

From a performance standpoint, these substances should be environmentally friendly and eventually biodegradable.

In general, plant oils have excellent properties for their potential use as biolubricants, such as a high-viscosity index, high lubricity, low volatility due to a high molecular weight and low toxicity combined with high biodegradability.

These active sites are highly susceptible to attack by oxygenated radicals, causing the subsequent oxidative degradation of the molecules that eventually results in polar oxy compounds and leads to insoluble deposits and increased oil acidity and viscosity.


Lubricants, as with any other oil, can affect the environment and the health of people who handle them throughout production, use and until disposal. During the last 25 years, the concerns for the environment and the use of biodegradable products have grown worldwide. In recent years, pollution and environmental health have become increasingly important public matters (Erhan et al., 2008) . In the case of lubrication, concerns have focused on the large quantity of lubricants that enter the environment and can break down into products that potentially threaten the environment. Water and soil are affected directly by loss lubrication systems while the air is affected by volatile lubricants or lubricant haze. The increased environmental awareness is the primary driving force for new technological developments, and special attention is being paid to environmental protection against pollution caused by lubricants based on mineral oils (Nagendramma and Kaul, 2008) .

In recent years, pollution and environmental health have become increasingly important public matters.

The increased environmental awareness is the primary driving force for new technological developments, and special attention is being paid to environmental protection against pollution caused by lubricants based on mineral oils.


Plant oils are primarily triacylglycerols, which are glycerol molecules with three saturated/unsaturated fatty acid chains attached via ester linkages at the hydroxyl groups. An excess of saturated long-chain fatty acids leads to poor low-temperature behavior, while an excess of certain poly-unsaturated fatty acids leads to unfavorable oxidation behavior. The unsaturated carbon-carbon bonds function as active sites for many reactions including oxidation (Adhvaryu et al., 2000) . Even long mono-unsaturated fatty acids degrade the low-temperature behavior. The triacylglycerol structure gives these esters a high natural viscosity (and viscosity index) and is responsible for their structural stability over reasonable operating temperatures. Plant oils exhibit poor oxidation stability compared with mineral oils, and in general, they cannot withstand reservoir temperatures over 80°C. These oils are also hydrolytically less stable, more likely to foam and have lower filterability than comparable mineral oils (Willing, 2001) .

The unsaturated carbon-carbon bonds function as active sites for many reactions including oxidation.

These oils are also hydrolytically less stable, more likely to foam and have lower filterability than comparable mineral oils.


On the other hand, the research and development on the exact connectivity structure properties within the nanocomposite electrolyte polymer are still in the primary stage and understanding of the ionic conductivity phenomenon in polymer nanocomposite electrolyte is still incomplete. Even so, a large surface area of dispersed nanosized particles within the polymer matrix will decrease the degree of crystallinity of the polymer segments, relative to the ionic mobility in nanocomposite polymer electrolyte membrane system [12, 13] . Hence, the random dispersion of particles within the polymer matrix can enhance the mobility of ion and eventually perform effectively in the conductivity of fuel cell [14] . Thus, the combination of nanosized particles and specialty polymer electrolyte brings the focus of the study on nanocomposite polymer electrolyte membrane within laboratory, as well as in industrial aspect.

Even so, a large surface area of dispersed nanosized particles within the polymer matrix will decrease the degree of crystallinity of the polymer segments, relative to the ionic mobility in nanocomposite polymer electrolyte membrane system.

Hence, the random dispersion of particles within the polymer matrix can enhance the mobility of ion and eventually perform effectively in the conductivity of fuel cell.


From the morphological point of view, exfoliated polymer-inorganic nanocomposites have been found to be more promising structures than intercalated or ordinary composites, which have a great potential to exhibit high performance nanocomposites [15] . The potential of electrospinning in preparing a homogeneous dispersion of filler within the polymer matrix was studied by Bian [16] . In the study, he found that the dispersion of nanofiller within polymer matrix could be improved by applying electrospinning method compared to the conventional method. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and energy dispersive Xray (EDX-mapping) showed a homogeneous distribution of filler within the polymer matrix, as well as the reduction on agglomerations of the fillers. Therefore, electrospinning process can contribute to the development of exfoliated polymer-inorganic nanocomposite structure and improve the dispersion of Cloisite15A particles in the SPEEK matrices.

From the morphological point of view, exfoliated polymer-inorganic nanocomposites have been found to be more promising structures than intercalated or ordinary composites, which have a great potential to exhibit high performance nanocomposites.

The potential of electrospinning in preparing a homogeneous dispersion of filler within the polymer matrix was studied by Bian.


From some of these studies, no one has noticed the variations of the topics contained in a document. The variation of topics in a document may affect the results of plagiarism in the detection time and the accuracy of the results of detection. In 2015, Rosyadi and Arini used segment-based clustering aiming on identifying multiple topics in a set of documents [5] . However, this study had been found to be not optimal because the method of selecting paragraphs in each document is based only on the length of the paragraph, regardless of the core topic of the paragraph in the document. Thus, it may be possible for paragraphs, which have a core topic but having an unsuitable length with a given threshold value, will not be included in the process of plagiarism indication.

In 2015, Rosyadi and Arini used segment-based clustering aiming on identifying multiple topics in a set of documents.


Individual differences cause learners to develop different responses to the same learning process. One of the reasons for this differentiation is the learning style of the learner (Ekici, 2002; Genç and Kocaarslan, 2013; Yazıcı and Kaya, 2010) . Learning style refers to the learner's approach to learning process, his / her preferences in having access to and processing information. Learning styles are defined as ways followed by the individual to receive and process information (Kolb, 1976) .

One of the reasons for this differentiation is the learning style of the learner.

Learning styles are defined as ways followed by the individual to receive and process information.


Our findings demonstrate the urgent need to determine the status of the golden jackal in Poland. As there is no evidence on human introduction of jackal to Poland or elsewhere, it cannot be treated as an alien species (Trouwborst et al. 2015) . The golden jackal is listed in Habitats Directive Annex V, which covers species of community interest, whose taking in the wild and exploitation may be subject to management measures. However, according to the Directive provisions, they should also be maintained at favourable conservation status. It indicates need of species protection at the present state.

As there is no evidence on human introduction of jackal to Poland or elsewhere, it cannot be treated as an alien species.


This polymer is an excellent adhesive, has good organic solvent resistance and its resistance to oxygen passage is superior to that of any other known polymer. It is one of the few water-soluble semicrystalline polymers with good interfacial characteristics. It is widely used in the textile industry, in the packaging industry and in biomedical applications such as contact lenses, medication, orthopedic materials, tissue engineering and the manufacturing of artificial organs [1] .

It is widely used in the textile industry, in the packaging industry and in biomedical applications such as contact lenses, medication, orthopedic materials, tissue engineering and the manufacturing of artificial organs.


Zirconia (ZrO 2 ) is a ceramic widely spread in the planet and also present in the human body, in bone tissue, in amounts ranging from 2 -20 mg/kg [4] . Due to its versatility, it has been used as a biomedical material since 1970. It can be found in the polymorphic forms monoclinic, tetragonal and cubic. It is a biocompatible and bioactive material, capable of inducing cell adhesion, differentiation and proliferation, contributing to a better osseointegration. Besides, when under stress, its metastable tetragonal phase transforms into the polymorphic monoclinic, closing around the crack, which causes an expansion of the volume and the compressive stress and stops the crack from propagating.

Zirconia (ZrO 2 ) is a ceramic widely spread in the planet and also present in the human body, in bone tissue, in amounts ranging from 2 -20 mg/kg.


Nanotechnology applications in agriculture are still relatively underdeveloped even though they have potential in providing solutions to agricultural problems caused by conventional fertilizer management [28] . Salt stress constrains crop production by limiting water and essential nutrients uptake in addition to ions toxicity. Potassium (K) is an essential nutrient that plays a major role in the biochemical and physiological processes underlying plant growth and metabolism.

Nanotechnology applications in agriculture are still relatively underdeveloped even though they have potential in providing solutions to agricultural problems caused by conventional fertilizer management.


Proline plays an important role in reducing salinity damage and accelerating the repair processes following stress. Proline accumulation is necessary under salt stress, but may not be enough to give complete tolerance to salinity [59] . The significance of proline accumulation in osmotic adjustment varies with plant species [60] . In this study, proline content increased upon exposure to salt stress in the salt tolerant genotype Mesa-Sirsa but not in the salt sensitive Bulldog.

Proline accumulation is necessary under salt stress, but may not be enough to give complete tolerance to salinity.

The significance of proline accumulation in osmotic adjustment varies with plant species.


Once pesticides are introduced into the environment, whether by application, disposal, or a spill, it can be influenced by many processes. These processes determine the ultimate fate of the pesticide by affecting its persistence and movement in the environment. The developed countries have banned many of the pesticides due to their potential toxic effects to man and ecosystem. In many developing countries, the pesticides use is not being properly regulated leading to residues in food which poses health hazards to the consumers (Khan et al 2009) . Developing countries can not stop the usage of certain pesticides due to the cost and efficiency.

In many developing countries, the pesticides use is not being properly regulated leading to residues in food which poses health hazards to the consumers.


Salt inclusion is one of the principal mechanisms which impair the osmotic adjustment due to accumulation of inorganic ions and particularly Na + and Cl − to the toxic levels within plants through transpiration stream. This study shows that accumulation of Na + and Cl − was increased and K + was decreased as concentration of NaCl was increased. Generally, those plants having high affinity for K + uptake, transporters will have low Na + uptake. Similar results have been observed in other reports [10] [24] . Nevertheless, the magnitude of deleterious effects of salts on plants' development differs according to type of species, level and duration of stress and number of exposures.

Similar results have been observed in other reports.


Recent studies suggest that the molecular and metabolic responses of plants' perceived under multiple stresses are distinctive and this cannot be generalized from plant response to the individual stress. Literature is available regarding genes expressing and its adaptations in response to saline environments [12] [25] . Now it is required to correlate these changes in gene expression with physiological processes [13] .

Literature is available regarding genes expressing and its adaptations in response to saline environments.

Now it is required to correlate these changes in gene expression with physiological processes.


Lower values of relative leakage ratio in case of salt tolerant genotypes, suggests the accumulation of ion content in leaves play key role in physiological mechanism. Generally, ABA, act as operating mechanism to trigger the signal from roots to other plant parts and thus signal for lower water potential declines transpiration rate with increasing salinity [23] . This study shows correlation with previous reports that salt stress reduces photosynthesis associated with other physiological markers i.e. stomatal conductance and transpiration rate [5] . Leaf water content is reduced under salt stress as the water flow within plants is restricted at organ, tissues or cellular levels. This would lead to close the stomata to conserve the water status in plants [7] . Therefore, stomatal conductance is maintained under lower water potential in resistant genotypes under high saline growing medium. Under mild stress or for a tolerant genotype, stomatal conductance may protect plants by enhancing water use efficiency and plants will save energy and maintain their physiological and biochemical processes even after observing decline in growth [8] .

Generally, ABA, act as operating mechanism to trigger the signal from roots to other plant parts and thus signal for lower water potential declines transpiration rate with increasing salinity.

This study shows correlation with previous reports that salt stress reduces photosynthesis associated with other physiological markers i.e. stomatal conductance and transpiration rate.

This would lead to close the stomata to conserve the water status in plants.

Under mild stress or for a tolerant genotype, stomatal conductance may protect plants by enhancing water use efficiency and plants will save energy and maintain their physiological and biochemical processes even after observing decline in growth.


Risk management theoretically decreases the volatility of cash flows, which lowers the probability of default and ultimately lowers the expected costs of financial distress (Smith and Stulz, 1985; Bartram, 2000) . Through its risk management component, ERM should result in the same benefits. In addition, governance mechanisms have been found to decrease a firm's default risk by increasing the amount of credible information available for properly evaluating the default risk of the firm and decreasing agency risk through monitoring (Bhojraj and Sengupta, 2003; Ashbaugh-Skaife, Collins, and LaFond, 2006) . These same benefits should theoretically also be attained through the implementation of an ERM system; the risk governance component facilitates information and communication and provides an additional layer of monitoring but in the context of the risk management system. There can be varying degrees of ERM implementation, from superficial to comprehensive, and ERM should be the most effective when implemented to higher degrees.

Risk management theoretically decreases the volatility of cash flows, which lowers the probability of default and ultimately lowers the expected costs of financial distress.

In addition, governance mechanisms have been found to decrease a firm's default risk by increasing the amount of credible information available for properly evaluating the default risk of the firm and decreasing agency risk through monitoring.


There is case-specific evidence that effective ERM reduces risk and can help a firm maintain or improve its credit rating (Fraser and Simkins, 2007) . The practical relationship between ERM and credit ratings/credit rating agencies is one that is mentioned frequently in the ERM literature (Beasley et al., 2008; Hoyt and Liebenberg, 2011; McShane, Nair, and Rustambekov, 2011; Pagach and Warr, 2011; Lundqvist, 2015) . A direct relationship between a firm's credit rating and ERM implementation has, to our knowledge, never been formally investigated.

There is case-specific evidence that effective ERM reduces risk and can help a firm maintain or improve its credit rating.

The practical relationship between ERM and credit ratings/credit rating agencies is one that is mentioned frequently in the ERM literature.


A firm's default risk is a forward-looking measure of the firm's own probability of default or the current and future risk facing its creditors. Credit ratings are a commonly used proxy for default risk, and many credit rating studies have focused on how quantifiable and retrospective factors, like financial ratios or macroeconomic factors, predict credit ratings. While these factors do contain a lot of information, more qualitative aspects of the firm are often ignored in default risk prediction despite the fact that they may better capture how the firm will act in the future. Corporate governance is such a qualitative aspect, but only a limited number of studies have investigated the relationship between corporate governance and credit ratings (Bhojraj and Sengupta, 2003; Ashbaugh-Skaife, Collins, and LaFond, 2006) . Surprisingly, the existing studies on default risk predication have overlooked an important qualitative and forward looking factor directly related to a firm's default risk, namely, the firm's risk management.

Corporate governance is such a qualitative aspect, but only a limited number of studies have investigated the relationship between corporate governance and credit ratings.


Our standing assumptions are now (i) G is commutative, (ii) every non-trivial element of G has positive entropy, and (iii) rank r(G) = dim X − 1. Theorem 1.2 below and Theorem 2.2 in §2 are our main results. In Theorem 2.2(3) a stricter restriction will be imposed on the Y of Theorem 1.2 (2) .

In Theorem 2.2(3) a stricter restriction will be imposed on the Y of Theorem 1.2.


Technology oriented companies strategy is based on the technology assets or skills their posses. Their drive is to push the new technology to market and create winning strategy by being the first to deploy that technology or the one deploying the most advanced technology in the ongoing race of technology innovations [5, 6] . Market orientated companies, focused on market pull, are having long-term commitment to understand customer needs, and thus developing innovative solutions by discovering hidden customer needs and new markets [11, 12] . Enterprises in all industry areas want to be more customer-centric. Customer focus in strategy can e.g. appear as mass customization or personalization strategies [13] .

Their drive is to push the new technology to market and create winning strategy by being the first to deploy that technology or the one deploying the most advanced technology in the ongoing race of technology innovations.

Market orientated companies, focused on market pull, are having long-term commitment to understand customer needs, and thus developing innovative solutions by discovering hidden customer needs and new markets.

Customer focus in strategy can e.g. appear as mass customization or personalization strategies.


A protective effect of statins in cancer is biologically plausible. Statins lower cholesterol by inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase, which catalyzes the first and rate-limiting step in cholesterol biosynthesis, the conversion of HMG-CoA to mevalonic acid [16] . Decreased intracellular cholesterol causes an increase in LDL receptor expression and a consequent decrease in serum LDL levels, both of which provide the cardio-protective effects of statins. This reduction in intracellular cholesterol may also convey anticancer effects, since rapidly dividing cancer cells require cholesterol for synthesis of cell membranes [17, 18] . A second mechanism through which statins may interfere with carcinogenesis involves reduced synthesis of the mevalonic acid pathway intermediates, isoprenoids [19] . Isoprenoids are important in the prenylation and activation of several small GTP-ase cancer signaling pathways, including Ras, Rac and Rho [20] . In vitro studies have shown that the inhibition of isoprenoids is one of the mechanisms mediating the effect of statins in cancer [21] [22] [23] .

Statins lower cholesterol by inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase, which catalyzes the first and rate-limiting step in cholesterol biosynthesis, the conversion of HMG-CoA to mevalonic acid.

This reduction in intracellular cholesterol may also convey anticancer effects, since rapidly dividing cancer cells require cholesterol for synthesis of cell membranes.

A second mechanism through which statins may interfere with carcinogenesis involves reduced synthesis of the mevalonic acid pathway intermediates, isoprenoids.

Isoprenoids are important in the prenylation and activation of several small GTP-ase cancer signaling pathways, including Ras, Rac and Rho.

In vitro studies have shown that the inhibition of isoprenoids is one of the mechanisms mediating the effect of statins in cancer.


Parallel algorithms for collision detection, for shared and distributed memory architectures, often include two stages: the first stage is culling, i.e., reducing the set of potential collision pairs using a fast and conservative criterion to determine which pairs do no intersect, followed by precise collision detection between remaining pairs. Many authors used multi-threading and GPU computation to accelerate different stages of collision detection [25, 32, 56, 57, 58] . The focus of these algorithms is distributing the task of collision culling between threads, for which they use a variety of techniques.

Many authors used multi-threading and GPU computation to accelerate different stages of collision detection.


The next question is how such feedback should be applied to improve the search process. One possibility is to exploit it in order to build knowledge structures that can assist in interactive search. But do users want assisted search? First of all, digital libraries are characterized by much more structured knowledge than Web sites. This makes systemguided search a natural option as evidenced by the success of Aquabrowser 2 as a tool to access digital libraries. More generally though, there is also evidence that users want support in proposing keywords but they ultimately want to stay in control about what is being submitted as a query [50] . Furthermore, despite the risk of offering irrelevant suggestions in a system-guided search system, users might prefer having them rather than not [49] . On the other hand, it has also been shown that users are more inclined to submit new queries or resubmit modified queries than to navigate from the result set in a search environment that supports search and navigation [35] . Perhaps the best evidence for the usefulness of interactive search systems is the fact that even the big Web search engines have recently added more and more interactive features, e.g., Google's Wonderwheel 3 .

But do users want assisted search?

More generally though, there is also evidence that users want support in proposing keywords but they ultimately want to stay in control about what is being submitted as a query.

Furthermore, despite the risk of offering irrelevant suggestions in a system-guided search system, users might prefer having them rather than not.

On the other hand, it has also been shown that users are more inclined to submit new queries or resubmit modified queries than to navigate from the result set in a search environment that supports search and navigation.


Belkin calls the move beyond the limited, inherently non-interactive models of IR to truly interactive systems the challenge of all challenges in IR at the moment [9] . This is in line with what we propose, i.e. to go beyond static interaction patterns and move to adaptive retrieval exploiting the implicit feedback that users leave when searching and navigating a document collection. Building adaptive domain models for digital libraries and other collections is our approach to capturing and utilizing "collective intelligence" [45] .

Belkin calls the move beyond the limited, inherently non-interactive models of IR to truly interactive systems the challenge of all challenges in IR at the moment.

Building adaptive domain models for digital libraries and other collections is our approach to capturing and utilizing "collective intelligence".


Future global and local work with sustainability will need to boost early childhood education for the simple reason that children spend their most formative years there. In early childhood educational institutions, families have tight bonds with their children and, therefore, most of them follow children's institutional lives with emotional interest. Research is evident when it comes to the crucial impact that a community has for children. It is indicated that being a part of a group of children in a new setting is of a great importance for children with an historical background of migration; however, children with an immigrant background can encounter challenges in experiencing belonging and positioning themselves within the kindergarten community [4, 5] .

It is indicated that being a part of a group of children in a new setting is of a great importance for children with an historical background of migration; however, children with an immigrant background can encounter challenges in experiencing belonging and positioning themselves within the kindergarten community.


At present, plant invasion is one of the increasingly important environmental challenges in Sri Lanka with significant impact on native biodiversity. Absence of effective early detection measures is one of the key hindrances to prevent introduction of potential invasive alien plant species (IAPS). The current control measures are mostly focused on extensively spread IAPS that make a noticeable impact. In some countries, species distribution modeling (SDM) technique is effectively used to assess potential risks of plant invasions and guide conservation decisions (Guisan et al., 2013) . However, applications of SDM technique are very limited in tropical countries (Cayuela et al., 2009) . Poor representation of tropical species is a major drawback from the conservation point of view, as responses of tropical and temperate plants to climate change are totally different and thus general inferences are not likely to be made (Feeley, Stroud, & Perez, 2017) .

In some countries, species distribution modeling (SDM) technique is effectively used to assess potential risks of plant invasions and guide conservation decisions.

However, applications of SDM technique are very limited in tropical countries.

Poor representation of tropical species is a major drawback from the conservation point of view, as responses of tropical and temperate plants to climate change are totally different and thus general inferences are not likely to be made.


Another drawback of the above formal modeling approaches is that they restrict their scope of applicability due to a lack of security measures. There is some previous work on solving security problems in mobile agent systems. Such problems include how to protect mobile agents from malicious hosts and how to protect hosts from malicious agents, as presented by Sander and Tschudin [18] . The security threats that an agent platform faces from a malicious agent have been discussed in a number of papers [19, 20, 21] . Farmer and his colleagues proposed a system architecture to model the trust relations between the principals of mobile agents systems. A unique aspect of the architecture is a state appraisal mechanism that protects hosts from attacks via state modification [19] . Gray and his colleagues addressed how to protect an individual machine and how to protect a group of machines in the context of D'Agents, a mobile agent system whose agents can be written in TCL, Java and Scheme [20] . Vuong and Fu proposed a security based 722 H. Xu, Z. Zhang & S. M. Shatz architecture and implemented a security system based on a novel mobile intelligent system, called Actigen [21] . They first proposed a passport-visa approach to simulate the activities of traveling abroad in real life. On the other hand, a malicious host might steal private information from a mobile agent, or modify the agent to compute the wrong result or to misbehave when it jumps to another site. Sander and Tschudin addressed this problem by identifying a special class of functionspolynomials and rational functions -together with encryption schemes that lead to a non-trivial example of cryptographically hiding a function such that it must be executed with an interactive protocol [18] . Based on Sander and Tschudin's work, Lee and his colleagues proposed an extension of mobile cryptography that provides a practical idea for implementing mobile cryptography [22] .

Such problems include how to protect mobile agents from malicious hosts and how to protect hosts from malicious agents, as presented by Sander and Tschudin.

The security threats that an agent platform faces from a malicious agent have been discussed in a number of papers.

A unique aspect of the architecture is a state appraisal mechanism that protects hosts from attacks via state modification.

Gray and his colleagues addressed how to protect an individual machine and how to protect a group of machines in the context of D'Agents, a mobile agent system whose agents can be written in TCL, Java and Scheme.

Vuong and Fu proposed a security based 722 H. Xu, Z. Zhang & S. M. Shatz architecture and implemented a security system based on a novel mobile intelligent system, called Actigen.

Sander and Tschudin addressed this problem by identifying a special class of functionspolynomials and rational functions -together with encryption schemes that lead to a non-trivial example of cryptographically hiding a function such that it must be executed with an interactive protocol.

Based on Sander and Tschudin's work, Lee and his colleagues proposed an extension of mobile cryptography that provides a practical idea for implementing mobile cryptography.


NDI is widely used for under-actuated mechanical systems [20] . Since the longitudinal dynamics of the aircraft is under-actuated, it is not possible to control all the states using a single controller. The novel approach presented here is a proposal for three different controllers corresponding to the output sets, which are angle of attack and pitch angle; velocity and pitch angle; finally, velocity and angle of attack. The first controller can be used for high pitch angle control for conditions like take-off while retaining control over the angle of attack. The second controller can be used as the pitch autopilot with control over the velocity. Finally, the third controller can be used for stall recovery of the aircraft at the same time preventing dangerous speed. A complete analysis of the internal dynamics for each controller is provided. The switching strategies between these three controllers are discussed. This approach with the use of NDI takes into account all significant non-linearities in the system utilising full performance capability of the aircraft. An original feature in this paper is the designing of the three flight controllers with a detailed outline of the stability of the internal dynamics. This paper is organised as follows: Section 2 presents the dynamic model of the aircraft. Main results are given in Sections 3 and 4. Namely, Section 3 presents the detailed design of the control laws. Section 4 provides a detailed analysis of the simulation results. Section 5 contains the final concluding remarks.

NDI is widely used for under-actuated mechanical systems.


The current state-of-the-art automatic flight control system (AFCS) provides efficient methods for pilots to fly the aircraft. The introduction of the fly-by-wire (FBW) system has enabled the aircraft to be stabilised automatically, preventing unsafe operation outside the performance envelope without input from the pilot [1] . However, in the critical conditions, where the aircraft gets outside the flight envelope the automatic flight control known as 'Autopilot' is disengaged, and the pilot is required to take manual corrective actions. An example of critical conditions of this kind is when the aircraft reaches critical angle of attack (or stall angle), beyond which the lift is suddenly reduced. This phenomenon is known as stall [2] . The standard stall recovery procedure (shown in Fig. 1 ) recommended in the pilot training is to push the control stick down, forcing a nose down motion of the aircraft. This makes the aircraft go faster and restores the required lift [3] . Pilots tend to misread the situation and take wrong corrective measure leading to an accident. A significant number of commercial and military air crash accidents have occurred after loss of control due to stalling caused by pilot error. Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501, Air France Flight 447, Navy McDonnell-Douglas QF-4S+ Phantom II and United States Air Force Boeing C-17A Lot XII Globemaster III are some recent air accidents caused by pilot error and stall [4] [5] [6] [7] . To address this problem, we propose three new different automatic flight controllers that can be used in different phases of flight based on the well-known partial exact feedback linearisation approach within the realm of the non-linear dynamic inversion (NDI) technique.

The introduction of the fly-by-wire (FBW) system has enabled the aircraft to be stabilised automatically, preventing unsafe operation outside the performance envelope without input from the pilot.

This phenomenon is known as stall.

This makes the aircraft go faster and restores the required lift.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501, Air France Flight 447, Navy McDonnell-Douglas QF-4S+ Phantom II and United States Air Force Boeing C-17A Lot XII Globemaster III are some recent air accidents caused by pilot error and stall.


Flexural members with attached steel strips often have large anchor bolts on the ends of the strips. These anchor bolts are provided to keep the steel plate from falling and damaging people or property in case the adhesive layer fails. Recently end anchorages have been examined for use with FRP strips as well [9] .

Recently end anchorages have been examined for use with FRP strips as well.


In the 1980s, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) materials began being used in civil engineering applications. The external strengthening of reinforced concrete members was an ideal use for preformed FRP strips, which are lighter and easier to install than steel strips. FRP strips do not rust when exposed to moist environments as do steel strips. Currently FRP strips are bonded to the concrete surface in the same manner as the steel strips, and the concrete substrate requires similar preparation as it would for the bonding of a steel plate. The adhesive layer between the concrete and strip can present problems for the behavior of the strengthened flexural member [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] . Peeling stresses are induced in the ends of the strip, which tend to pull the strip away from the concrete. If these peeling stresses are larger than the strength of the adhesive, the strip will peel away from the beam suddenly [8] . This results in the beam losing the increase in strength provided by the strip, and may cause a sudden and catastrophic failure.

The adhesive layer between the concrete and strip can present problems for the behavior of the strengthened flexural member.

If these peeling stresses are larger than the strength of the adhesive, the strip will peel away from the beam suddenly.


We have presented a study of the occasioning of an online shop, which is intended to add value to the local economy of small market town in rural Wales. We appreciate the ready way in which a single study of a small rural enterprise in the back of beyond might be dismissed. It is worth noting in conclusion then that 4CG was the overall winner of Towns Alive 2013 [3] . The award was premised on 4CG's regeneration of Cardigan's local economy, and it brings with it broader recognition of the exemplary nature of its work. We are not merely recounting tales from the boondocks then. In exploring 4CG's turn to technology as another means of enhancing the rural economy, we begged the methodological question, 'what keeps the roof on the online shop' in a bid to understand the invisible work involved in constructing the technology and putting it to use. Inspecting the work elaborates what drives the adoption of technology in this context and the organisational issues which shape it. These issues are of broad relevance to parties who would turn to online shops to support rural economies. They point to the importance of defining (a) the scope and function of the enterprise, (b) delivery and supply coordination, (c) costs, (d) risks and risk management strategies, and (e) specific ways and means of engaging the local customer-base. Perhaps more significant, however, are the broader social and economic concerns that drive and shape the definition of these organisational issues, which put a much neglected area of sustainability centre stage: the collaborative 're-visioning of consumption'-reconfiguring the relationship between the global and the parochial, reshaping the ecological footprint, and adding even greater value to local enterprise and the communities it operates within than is achieved by merely moving online. In this respect, our study of 4CG opens up the re-visioning of consumption as an important research topic and investigation of its collaborative characteristics as key to understanding and driving broader sustainability agendas in systems development and society at large. Note: Since this paper was written, the software that was developed by the University of Nottingham was handed over to the social enterprise concerned, and a website is currently under development and being implemented to host the service.

It is worth noting in conclusion then that 4CG was the overall winner of Towns Alive 2013.


The rationality of X and properness of π imply the existences of sections of π [4] . When the model is regular, all sections of π are contained in the smooth locus, so we find: Corollary 2. Let X be a smooth degree two del Pezzo surface over K. If X admits a regular proper model π : X → B whose singular fibers are degree two log del Pezzo surfaces with two A 1 singularities, then weak approximation holds for X away from S.

The rationality of X and properness of π imply the existences of sections of π.


Since their release, some studies suggested that the ACC-AHA Pooled Cohort risk equations tended to overestimate risk in other independent cohorts. Further, the overestimation could not be completely explained by enhanced identification of study outcomes, increased use of statins, and arterial revascularization procedures [2] [3] [4] . It is unknown how well the Pooled Cohort equations risk factors and their interactions might predict ASCVD mortality in a nationally representative cohort. We used the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1988-1994 (III) and NHANES Linked Mortality File through 2006, and applied the set of risk factors from the Pooled Cohort risk equations to predict ASCVD mortality in this nationally representative cohort. We evaluated calibration and discrimination of the risk prediction equations by sex and race-ethnicity groups.

Further, the overestimation could not be completely explained by enhanced identification of study outcomes, increased use of statins, and arterial revascularization procedures.


Leachate is generated from precipitation onto the landfill surface, the moisture of the waste itself and, to some extent groundwater permeation (if the bottom of the landfill is not lined with geomembrane or clay) or other forms of water infiltration [3] . During the percolation through the body of the landfill, the infiltrated water is severely contaminated with a complex mixture of hazardous organic and inorganic contaminants. Any release of leachate containing large number of toxins into the groundwater or surface waters may present a significant risk to human health and the environment. As the volume of waste and a number of landfills increases, the likelihood of leachate escaping to environment is also surging. Thus reliable leachate collection and its subsequent treatment is important for the protection of surface and subsurface water bodies [1] .

Leachate is generated from precipitation onto the landfill surface, the moisture of the waste itself and, to some extent groundwater permeation (if the bottom of the landfill is not lined with geomembrane or clay) or other forms of water infiltration.

Thus reliable leachate collection and its subsequent treatment is important for the protection of surface and subsurface water bodies.


Although the upfront waste disposal cost of landfilling is low, the associated long term landfill management costs, regulatory compliance requirements and environmental impacts are significant. The use of landfills is being phased out by more environmentally friendly methods, particular those that allow for simultaneous resource recovery and municipal solid waste management. Nevertheless, there remain thousands of active landfills with 10-30 years of operational lifetime [1, 2] . There are also thousands of recently closed landfills that still require active emission management. In addition to the emission of landfill gas, the generation and release of landfill leachate also presents a serious threat to the environment [3] .

Nevertheless, there remain thousands of active landfills with 10-30 years of operational lifetime.

In addition to the emission of landfill gas, the generation and release of landfill leachate also presents a serious threat to the environment.


Considerable researches have been performed on the application of inhomogeneous media in the problems of electromagnetic wave propagation, scattering and radiation. Inhomogeneous media are described by the constitutive parameters varying with spatial variables and are efficiently used in various microwave devices [1] [2] [3] . Exact solution of the wave equation in inhomogeneous media is known for only a few particular profiles; and due to this, the scattering from inhomogeneous media has been intensively investigated and several approaches for analyzing such problems have been presented [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] .

Inhomogeneous media are described by the constitutive parameters varying with spatial variables and are efficiently used in various microwave devices.

Exact solution of the wave equation in inhomogeneous media is known for only a few particular profiles; and due to this, the scattering from inhomogeneous media has been intensively investigated and several approaches for analyzing such problems have been presented.


This work was undertaken to follow the evolution of the main microfiora during ripening of Swiss-type cheeses. The protocol allowed us to compare cheeses on the same physico-chemical basis. This model was already used by other workers (Bouton and Grappin, 1995; Beuvier et al, 1996) . Indeed, minicheeses simulate commercial Swiss-type cheeses although they appear more homogenous (distribution of microflora throughout the cheese, technological parameters). For example, the decrease of temperature during pressing is the same in mini and normal Swiss-type cheeses (Cardenas et al, 1991) . Therefore, they constitute an excellent model of what happens in 40 to 50 kg cheeses, even if extrapolation cannot be made without care.

This model was already used by other workers.

For example, the decrease of temperature during pressing is the same in mini and normal Swiss-type cheeses.


Visible light communication (VLC) is a short-range optical wireless communication utilizing LED lighting, so that the LED lights can provide both illumination and communication [1] . It is expected to become an important part of the future fifth-generation (5G) wireless communications because of its unique features in supporting of high data rate, unlicensed spectrum, immunity to electromagnetic interference, harmless for human body, low power consumption and long lifetime [2] - [8] . The transmitter (Tx) of VLC system transmits data information via high-speed switching between on and off of the lighting sources. The receiver (Rx) uses photoelectric components such as PIN, APD, or image sensor to detect signals from light sources [9] - [13] .

Visible light communication (VLC) is a short-range optical wireless communication utilizing LED lighting, so that the LED lights can provide both illumination and communication.

It is expected to become an important part of the future fifth-generation (5G) wireless communications because of its unique features in supporting of high data rate, unlicensed spectrum, immunity to electromagnetic interference, harmless for human body, low power consumption and long lifetime.

The receiver (Rx) uses photoelectric components such as PIN, APD, or image sensor to detect signals from light sources.


The above methods are typically used to handle 'data' or 'parametric' uncertainty: unknown quantities within a chosen model. However, it is often the case that the model itself is uncertain: for a turbomachine blade the contact law and geometry is uncertain. For an interesting discussion on 'model' and 'data' uncertainty see Legault [10] .

For an interesting discussion on 'model' and 'data' uncertainty see Legault.


Games can mainly be integrated in higher education in three ways. First, traditional exercises can be replaced by games motivating the students to put extra effort in doing the exercises, and giving the course staff an opportunity to monitor how the students work with the exercises in real-time [6, 7] . Second, games can be used within a traditional classroom lecture to improve the participation and motivation of the students through knowledge-based multiplayer games played by the students and the teacher [8, 9] . Third, game development projects can be used in computer science (CS) or software engineering (SE) courses to learn specific CS or SE skills [10, 11] . This paper focuses on a presentation of experiences from implementing a game that can be used in the first two ways described above. The KnowledgeWar game described in this paper can be used as an exercise to make the students rehearse the theory in a more interesting way. It can also be used as a part of a lecture, where the students get a few minutes to play a game trying to remember what they have been taught during the lecture. We believe that it is important to incorporate games and game technologies into teaching, as it gets more common to also use game technology in serious applications [12] [13] [14] [15] . This paper describes the architecture and the design of an iPhone game where the players challenge each other in a quizbattle. The paper shares experiences from working with the iPhone platform as well as results from a user test that focused on usability and on how the students perceived learning from playing the KnowledgeWar game.

First, traditional exercises can be replaced by games motivating the students to put extra effort in doing the exercises, and giving the course staff an opportunity to monitor how the students work with the exercises in real-time.

Second, games can be used within a traditional classroom lecture to improve the participation and motivation of the students through knowledge-based multiplayer games played by the students and the teacher.

Third, game development projects can be used in computer science (CS) or software engineering (SE) courses to learn specific CS or SE skills.

We believe that it is important to incorporate games and game technologies into teaching, as it gets more common to also use game technology in serious applications.