While both databases rely on remote-sensing information on burned area by land cover class, GFED3 is a Tier 3 approach, employing a dynamic vegetation model to determine fuel biomass consumption values at fine temporal and spatial scales. By contrast, FAOSTAT applies a Tier 1 approach using default vegetation parameters from the 2006 IPCC Guidelines (Tubiello et al. 2014) . The aim of this work is to conduct a first robust assessment of differences and similarities between the two databases. While the results of such a comparison are of general scientific interest, given the above-discussed importance of biomass fires emissions at global and regional scales, they also provide specific, valuable information to national GHG inventory compilers, especially in developing countries, towards assessing the costs and the benefits of moving from simple approaches, of easy applicability and sustainability, to more sophisticated modelling tools requiring complex data processing and management.

By contrast, FAOSTAT applies a Tier 1 approach using default vegetation parameters from the 2006 IPCC Guidelines.


The first rig was built to operate at room temperature. Results from these earlier tests verified the similarity in wastage behavior obtained from the actuation process of the rig and from BFBC cold tests [10] [11] [12] . The mechanism of wastage was identified to be that of low cycle fatigue resulting from three body abrasion [22] . A high temperature rig was later constructed so that operations at bed temperatures up to 900°C became possible, and the entire system utilized a PC-based data acquisition, control, and analysis system [23, 24] . The ability to internally cool the specimen to achieve a temperature difference between the bed and the specimen surface was later added to the high temperature rig, by passing water, air or a mixture of the two through the inside of the tube specimen [25] . In doing so, a reaction tube 18% larger in diameter was installed in order to accommodate the fixtures that connected the cooling lines to the ends of the specimen. Details of the coolant supply and temperature measurements of the tube outer and inner surface can be found in reference 25. These fixtures were later taken down and the apparatus was further modified to add HCl gas to the fluidizing air [26] .

Results from these earlier tests verified the similarity in wastage behavior obtained from the actuation process of the rig and from BFBC cold tests.

The mechanism of wastage was identified to be that of low cycle fatigue resulting from three body abrasion.

A high temperature rig was later constructed so that operations at bed temperatures up to 900°C became possible, and the entire system utilized a PC-based data acquisition, control, and analysis system.

The ability to internally cool the specimen to achieve a temperature difference between the bed and the specimen surface was later added to the high temperature rig, by passing water, air or a mixture of the two through the inside of the tube specimen.

These fixtures were later taken down and the apparatus was further modified to add HCl gas to the fluidizing air.


To achieve such conditions in a laboratory, a horizontally held cylindrical specimen was allowed to actuate a short distance vertically within a minimally fluidized bed [10] [11] [12] 21] . The downward specimen motion is controlled to produce similar frequencies (0.25-2.75 Hz), velocities (0.5-2 m/s) and impact forces (100-600 N) as those caused by the impacting particle aggregates in practical bubbling fluidized beds (BFBCs). Typically, the specimen is in motion for between 20 and 40 ms. Between these periods of high particle loading, a relatively long period of inaction follows. This simulates the intermittent nature of the aggregate impacts found in practical situations.

To achieve such conditions in a laboratory, a horizontally held cylindrical specimen was allowed to actuate a short distance vertically within a minimally fluidized bed.


The wastage of heat-exchanger tubes in bubbling FBCs has been an area of interest for many years. The practical problem is that wear rates are very variable from unit to unit for reasons that are not clear. Furthermore, small operational changes often can cause large changes in wear behavior, again for reasons that have proved elusive. The use of Cl-containing coals, for example, is one key area with conflicting plant and laboratory results [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] . To resolve these issues, it is desirable to have some knowledge of the mechanisms of tube wastage, and to identify the relative importance of various factors in a FBC environment that may contribute to the wastage process. To achieve this, a special test rig was constructed at Berkeley to study the erosion and corrosion phenomena in a simulated FBC environment where the conditions are known and controllable.

The use of Cl-containing coals, for example, is one key area with conflicting plant and laboratory results.


Global stability analysis for input delay adaptive systems is a challenging problem. Lyapunov-Krasovskii method or Lyapunov-Razumikhin method are much more difficult to apply to an adaptive system. Even for a simple scalar linear time-invariant (LTI) system, both the Lyapunov-Krasovskii method or Lyapunov-Razumikhin method can result in conservative estimates of the time delay margin [1] . So, even if a global stability analysis for input delay adaptive control is available, the conservatism in the estimation could render it impractical. The lack of available analytical methods for computing the time delay margin of adaptive control is a hurdle for certification of adaptive control [2] .

Even for a simple scalar linear time-invariant (LTI) system, both the Lyapunov-Krasovskii method or Lyapunov-Razumikhin method can result in conservative estimates of the time delay margin.

The lack of available analytical methods for computing the time delay margin of adaptive control is a hurdle for certification of adaptive control.


There has been minimal research conducted on "ketofol" used as a sedative or induction agent among anesthesia providers in the operating room. Research that has been conducted focused primarily on sedation in the emergency room, with few studies in the operating room [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] . The use of single-syringe "ketofol" in a 1:1 ratio for sedation and analgesia of adults in the emergency department resulted in quick recovery, few adverse events, and patient and staff satisfaction [2] . An investigation of the co-administration of ketamine and propofol, as compared to fentanyl and versed, for procedural sedation and analgesia in the emergency department concluded that this combination provided adequate sedation and analgesia, less oxygen desaturation, and a deeper level of sedation [6] . Recently, it was demonstrated that "ketofol", delivered as an infusion for deep sedation in the operating room, appears to be a safe and effective anesthetic technique [7] . Furthermore, during awake craniotomies, "ketofol" provided hemodynamic stability without intraoperative episodes of increased intracranial pressure [8] . In addition, "ketofol" infusion in a critical care and procedural setting has demonstrated a number of benefits including airway preservation, maintenance of spontaneous respiration, hemodynamic stability, analgesia, and rapid recovery [9, 10] .

Research that has been conducted focused primarily on sedation in the emergency room, with few studies in the operating room.

The use of single-syringe "ketofol" in a 1:1 ratio for sedation and analgesia of adults in the emergency department resulted in quick recovery, few adverse events, and patient and staff satisfaction.

An investigation of the co-administration of ketamine and propofol, as compared to fentanyl and versed, for procedural sedation and analgesia in the emergency department concluded that this combination provided adequate sedation and analgesia, less oxygen desaturation, and a deeper level of sedation.

Recently, it was demonstrated that "ketofol", delivered as an infusion for deep sedation in the operating room, appears to be a safe and effective anesthetic technique.

Furthermore, during awake craniotomies, "ketofol" provided hemodynamic stability without intraoperative episodes of increased intracranial pressure.

In addition, "ketofol" infusion in a critical care and procedural setting has demonstrated a number of benefits including airway preservation, maintenance of spontaneous respiration, hemodynamic stability, analgesia, and rapid recovery.


Smoking has previously been associated with an increased risk of developing diabetic nephropathy [43] [44] [45] . In our study, we could not demonstrate a significant impact of smoking on the rate of decline in GFR when patients were stratified into smokers and nonsmokers. However, when patients were stratified into heavy smokers (smoking 20 cigarettes a day or more) and nonheavy smokers (individuals smoking less than 20 cigarettes a day and nonsmokers), heavy smokers had a significantly greater rate of decline in GRF. This finding confirms and extends the results from a study of 182 Japanese type 2 diabetic patients with nephropathy and impaired renal function (>133 lmol/L), where smoking increased the risk of progression to ESRD [11] . Smoking at baseline was not a risk factor for renal outcome in the RENAAL study [13] . However, the numbers of cigarettes smoked was not quantified, and it was not taken into account that some patients may have stopped smoking during follow-up. Furthermore, a high cardiovascular mortality was seen in the RENAAL study, and it is possible that smokers may have been more likely to die of cardiovascular disease before reaching the renal end points.

Smoking has previously been associated with an increased risk of developing diabetic nephropathy.

This finding confirms and extends the results from a study of 182 Japanese type 2 diabetic patients with nephropathy and impaired renal function (>133 lmol/L), where smoking increased the risk of progression to ESRD.

Smoking at baseline was not a risk factor for renal outcome in the RENAAL study.


We found several aspects of the ED/UC diagnosis experience that have important implications for clinicians working in these environments. Patients who came to the ED/UC expressed feeling extremely ill and HIV test acceptance was motivated by their desire to obtain relief from severe discomfort. A focus on other medical concerns, such as ameliorating severe symptoms or the concomitant receipt of another serious diagnosis, e.g., cancer, may result in delayed emotional processing of the HIV diagnosis because the severity of the other condition had to take precedence in the immediate treatment plan. Similar to qualitative studies of individuals diagnosed due to HIV/AIDS-related signs or because of HIV-positive partners, perceptions of HIV risk varied such that the diagnosis experience of respondents ranged from confirming prior suspicions to being extremely traumatic [16] [17] [18] . Feelings of betrayal, sadness, shame and guilt were common. Unlike those who specifically seek out HIV testing, individuals in the ED/UC may be completely unprepared for HIV diagnosis. This state of shock can lead to difficulty accepting one's HIV-positive status or the seeking of alternative narratives e.g. being part of an experiment. Indeed, a study of women who were not anticipating an HIV diagnosis found that subsequent denial of HIV status was common [19] .

Similar to qualitative studies of individuals diagnosed due to HIV/AIDS-related signs or because of HIV-positive partners, perceptions of HIV risk varied such that the diagnosis experience of respondents ranged from confirming prior suspicions to being extremely traumatic.

Indeed, a study of women who were not anticipating an HIV diagnosis found that subsequent denial of HIV status was common.


The diet of S. tudes is composed of fishes, shrimps, crabs, squids and benthic crustaceans (Compagno, 1984; Cortés, 1999) . Changes in the diet are related to ontogenic shifts, with juveniles feeding on shrimp and small crustaceans, and adults feeding on fishes and catfishes eggs (Castro, 1999) . Fishers' LEK associated feeding preferences with stomach content and preferred baits. A high similarity was verified between food items described by this study and the literature, based on conventional ichthyological research. However, fishers did not recognize details of the change in diet according to life stage. Overall, fishers´ LEK agreed with biological data. This reinforces that the approach can be useful to investigate aspects of coastal marine resources.

The diet of S. tudes is composed of fishes, shrimps, crabs, squids and benthic crustaceans.

Changes in the diet are related to ontogenic shifts, with juveniles feeding on shrimp and small crustaceans, and adults feeding on fishes and catfishes eggs.


A good option for reduction of the emission of CO 2 to the atmosphere is CO 2 capture and storage (Bennion & Bachu, 2005) . CO 2 storage in geological formations is considered to be an important solution for preventing CO 2 emissions to the atmosphere; however, it is vital to ensure safe and secure storage projects. Success of the project is highly dependent on understanding the process in the reservoirs and different geological characteristics. There are many potential geological storage possibilities including depleted oil and gas reservoirs and coal beds, but the main attraction of brine formations as suitable storage sites for CO 2 is the availability and possibly larger volumes (Bennion & Bachu, 2005) .

A good option for reduction of the emission of CO 2 to the atmosphere is CO 2 capture and storage.

There are many potential geological storage possibilities including depleted oil and gas reservoirs and coal beds, but the main attraction of brine formations as suitable storage sites for CO 2 is the availability and possibly larger volumes.


Another way of opening up for children to share their experiences is to expose them to stimuli that may encourage their reflections and that may help them to sort and express what they think and feel in a systematic manner. Q methodology may be one approach to do so. Q methodology is designed to reveal subjectivity, such as viewpoints, attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and other subjective aspects of social life [7] [8] [9] . Participants in Q methodological studies are exposed to a set of cards containing subjective statements or visual images which they can relate to subjectively. The approach is considered to be a sensitive way of gathering data from children on themes that may be difficult to express [10] .

Q methodology is designed to reveal subjectivity, such as viewpoints, attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and other subjective aspects of social life.

The approach is considered to be a sensitive way of gathering data from children on themes that may be difficult to express.


In recent years, we have seen an increased interest in including children in research [3] [4] [5] [6] . The voice of children may elicit a deeper understanding of their perspectives. It is important for researchers to employ flexible research methods for obtaining children's stories in a nonthreatening way. Obtaining true two-way dialog with children and adolescents requires specific skills on talking with children as well as research methods that facilitate children's perspective. Often when adults ask children open-ended and broad questions (e.g., How was your day?), they can receive very general answers (e.g., It was OK). Asking more concrete questions (e.g., Did you go on the new bikes in daycare today? How was it?) can often generate more elaboration and more specific answers. Still, both in research and in life in general, it is important that adults do not lead children into answers that are not necessarily representative of their actual experiences.

In recent years, we have seen an increased interest in including children in research.


At preintervention, average levels of alcohol use approached the cut-off indicating hazardous use. Participants who received the Web intervention significantly reduced their alcohol use, suggesting that Web-based CBT for depression may be effective in the prevention of hazardous alcohol use. CBT-based interventions have been shown to be effective in the treatment of alcohol use disorders. However, little is known about the mechanisms of action that underpin how and why CBT is effective. It has been hypothesized that CBT promotes the acquisition of cognitive and behavioral coping skills that enable individuals to manage the life stress and alcohol cues that maintain excessive drinking [36] . However, a review by Morgenstern and Longabaugh did not find evidence to support the mediating role of coping skills [36] . More recent investigations of computer-based CBT for substance use disorders have revisited this hypothesis, suggesting that it may be the quality, not quantity, of coping skills acquired through CBT that leads to reductions in hazardous alcohol use [37] .

It has been hypothesized that CBT promotes the acquisition of cognitive and behavioral coping skills that enable individuals to manage the life stress and alcohol cues that maintain excessive drinking.

However, a review by Morgenstern and Longabaugh did not find evidence to support the mediating role of coping skills.

More recent investigations of computer-based CBT for substance use disorders have revisited this hypothesis, suggesting that it may be the quality, not quantity, of coping skills acquired through CBT that leads to reductions in hazardous alcohol use.


A data flow, periodic or sporadic, is characterized by several parameters: size, period/minimum update time (MUT), priority and deadline. The period/MUT, the size and the deadline are applicative constraints and can not be freely assigned whereas priority can be assigned. The priority assignment is one way to meet deadline, a lot of work have been done on this subject [1, 14, 30] .

The priority assignment is one way to meet deadline, a lot of work have been done on this subject.


However physical models have their limitations. While they can be used effectively to describe mean flow distortion, in order to model the distortion effects on turbulent fluxes, the turbulent length scale must also be scaled. This has proved difficult to achieve (Oost et al. 1994) .

This has proved difficult to achieve.


Cell number on the meshes was affected by the fibrous structure of the titania-silica meshes, which had lower cell number than TCPs. This effect of fibrous surfaces and rough surfaces on cell number has been previously reported by many studies for Ti/TiO 2 surfaces that promote osteoblast or MSCs differentiation toward osteoblast [30, 33, 34] . Beside cell number, the differentiation of MSCs was also affected by surface structure. Runx2, a transcription factor belonging to the Runx family, determines the osteoblast lineage from multipotent MSCs. Runx2 induces osteoblastic differentiation at early stage [35] . The relative gene expression of Runx2 of this study is significantly higher than control. Also alkaline-phosphatase-specific activity, which is also an early marker of osteogenic differentiation, was significantly higher in titania-silica 50/50 when compared to the TCP control. The cell results show that titania-silica 50/50 fiber meshes have osteogenic potential.

This effect of fibrous surfaces and rough surfaces on cell number has been previously reported by many studies for Ti/TiO 2 surfaces that promote osteoblast or MSCs differentiation toward osteoblast.

Runx2 induces osteoblastic differentiation at early stage.


Recent research has showed that electrospun titania nanofibers have the osteoinductive potentials, and the effects of surface roughness on MG63 osteoblast-like cells were also discussed [30] . However, few researches are available that give an insight into how titania-silica nanofibers influence cell responses. Therefore, the aim of this study is to characterize the morphology of electrospun titania-based fibers and evaluate bone-derived mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) responses and osteoinductivity of titania-silica fibers 10 μm to determine their potential application as a scaffold material for bone tissue engineering.

Recent research has showed that electrospun titania nanofibers have the osteoinductive potentials, and the effects of surface roughness on MG63 osteoblast-like cells were also discussed.


One factor that can influence the psychometric properties of psychological tests, including the WCST, is the variability in application procedures (Anastasi & Urbina, 1997) . The increasing use of computer versions of traditional tests and scales implies the necessity to evaluate the equivalence between paper and electronic versions. Concerning the WCST, however, only one study comparing its different versions has been published to date (Tien, Spevack, Jones, Pearlson, Schlaepfer, & Strauss, 1996) . The scarceness of evidence related to automated versions of the WCST, together with the necessity of transcultural adaptation, led us to design a study to compare traditional and automated Portuguese versions of the WCST in Brazil.

One factor that can influence the psychometric properties of psychological tests, including the WCST, is the variability in application procedures.

Concerning the WCST, however, only one study comparing its different versions has been published to date.


The experimental protocol was evaluated and approved by the local ethics committee in accordance with Bylaw 196/96 of the Brazilian National Health Council (Conselho Nacional de Saúde). Participants gave their voluntary consent to take part in the study. Test sessions were individual and lasted about one hour. After providing their consent, individuals filled the participant information sheet and were assessed with the MMSE (Chaves & Izquierdo, 1992; Folstein et al., 1975) . Finally, half of the sample was presented with the manual version of the WCST, while the other half performed the computer-based version of the test.

After providing their consent, individuals filled the participant information sheet and were assessed with the MMSE.


Executive functions involve a variety of higherorder cognitive processes. These processes include cognitive flexibility, planning, judgment, decision making, initiation, and hypothesis generation (Strauss, Sherman, & Spreen, 2006) . Based on this concept, one might conclude that a single cognitive test is not enough to evaluate each process of this multidimensional construct (Stuss & Levine, 2002) .

These processes include cognitive flexibility, planning, judgment, decision making, initiation, and hypothesis generation.

Based on this concept, one might conclude that a single cognitive test is not enough to evaluate each process of this multidimensional construct.


This disparity may be explained by differences in the demographic profile of our elderly subjects. It may also be due to the fact that our visual tasks did not test the same ability to recognize emotion as did the other studies, the majority of who tested emotion recognition ability from static images of faces. The TASIT requires the integration of contextual information from social interactions, and the EYES task focuses only on the information regarding emotion that can be gathered from the eyes, without any other information regarding emotion included. Another explanation for the disparity of our results with recent research on age-related deficits in visual emotion recognition may be due to task difficulty, as it has been suggested that task difficulty moderates age differences in emotional labeling (Orgeta, 2010) .

Another explanation for the disparity of our results with recent research on age-related deficits in visual emotion recognition may be due to task difficulty, as it has been suggested that task difficulty moderates age differences in emotional labeling.


Emotion recognition is an important aspect of social interaction. Individuals who are more successful in deciphering other's emotional states are more successful, both socially and vocationally (Gray et al, 2010) . Deficits in emotion recognition have been tied to poor social competence, interpersonal functioning, and communication along with a reduced quality of life and inappropriate social behavior (Ruffman et al, 2008) . Therefore, this issue is of significant importance to current scientific research, as a better understanding can lead to the development of clinical interventions. Although a significant amount of research has been dedicated to the study of emotion recognition ability in disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, depression, and Parkinson's disease, recent experimental evidence suggests that emotion recognition ability across visual and auditory modalities seems to change in an agedependent way. Changes in emotion recognition also appear to be restricted to negative emotion stimuli, which when grouped together can be referred to as negative "valence", possibly reflecting a general strategy of older individuals to focus on positive experiences (Ruffman et al, 2008) . The question that this study seeks to answer is whether or not these age-related deficits in emotion recognition ability occur across visual and auditory modalities. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to assess emotion recognition ability in both the visual and auditory modalities in healthy elderly patients versus healthy young patients to test the hypothesis that deficits in emotion recognition ability are age-related and increase with age across visual and auditory modalities. The secondary purpose of this study is to assess valence-specific emotion recognition ability to test the hypothesis that increased deficits for elderly individuals as compared to young healthy subjects occur for negative emotion recognition specifically.

Individuals who are more successful in deciphering other's emotional states are more successful, both socially and vocationally.

Deficits in emotion recognition have been tied to poor social competence, interpersonal functioning, and communication along with a reduced quality of life and inappropriate social behavior.

Changes in emotion recognition also appear to be restricted to negative emotion stimuli, which when grouped together can be referred to as negative "valence", possibly reflecting a general strategy of older individuals to focus on positive experiences.


Nowadays, state borders are generally not an obstacle to the movement of goods and capital. Therefore, one of the main targets of foreign investors is to increase their profits through capital investment in certain, mainly transition countries and developing countries [7] . For these countries, the entry of foreign capital is of great importance, since it will thus lead to an increase in production, improvement of technological processes, rise in efficiency of domestic enterprises, promotion of foreign trade but also increase in revenues. In this situation, the task of a foreign investor is to choose a country that would offer the best conditions for investment at a given time. From that it can be concluded that countries would be competing to attract investors and their capital, which automatically creates competition that is beneficial to the investor [8] , [9] .

Therefore, one of the main targets of foreign investors is to increase their profits through capital investment in certain, mainly transition countries and developing countries.

From that it can be concluded that countries would be competing to attract investors and their capital, which automatically creates competition that is beneficial to the investor.


When foreign direct investment is concerned and its investment in a particular country, it is referred primarily to multinational companies which possess capital, technology and knowledge and countries which do not have their own resources to finance development, but have the aim to attract foreign investment. In a situation when the domestic market has become too narrow for placement of goods and services, multinational companies are trying to expand to new markets [1] , [2] . In order to create a favorable investment climate for foreign investment it is very important to offer various tax benefits to multinational companies in the form of low tax rates, tax incentives and tax exemptions [3] . Multinational companies invest their private capital so their motives are of economic nature [4] . The basic motive of any multinational company to invest capital in the foreign country is, above all, profit, new market, favorable conditions for utilization of resources as well as the benefits of the tax system [5] . One of the important issues when making a decision about investing capital is the cheap labor that is usually offered in the selected country. From all stipulated above, it can be seen that multinational companies have various motives to invest their capital, but still the biggest motive is profit that the company would gain in a certain period of time [6] .

In a situation when the domestic market has become too narrow for placement of goods and services, multinational companies are trying to expand to new markets.

In order to create a favorable investment climate for foreign investment it is very important to offer various tax benefits to multinational companies in the form of low tax rates, tax incentives and tax exemptions.

Multinational companies invest their private capital so their motives are of economic nature.

The basic motive of any multinational company to invest capital in the foreign country is, above all, profit, new market, favorable conditions for utilization of resources as well as the benefits of the tax system.

From all stipulated above, it can be seen that multinational companies have various motives to invest their capital, but still the biggest motive is profit that the company would gain in a certain period of time.


L and Z are primarily measured via concentrations in serum and the retina. Serum levels of L and Z are strongly related to recent dietary intake of foods rich in these nutrients [13] . In the retina, L and Z preferentially accumulate in the macula, where their concentrations can be assessed by measuring macular pigment optical density (MPOD), a validated measure of L and Z concentrations [14] . Because of the close relationship between the retina and the rest of the central nervous system, MPOD is considered a proxy for neural L and Z concentrations [5] . Although serum and retinal concentrations of L and Z are positively correlated, they are dissociable measures that may represent distinct aspects of dietary health [13, 15, 16] . For example, serum concentrations of L and Z are more variable than MPOD concentrations [17] . Additionally, after supplementation of L and Z, serum concentrations more quickly return to baseline levels whereas MPOD changes can last for several months [13] . Thus, serum concentrations of L and Z may more closely reflect acute dietary factors, whereas MPOD may reflect more stable L and Z levels that are acquired over a longer period of time.

Serum levels of L and Z are strongly related to recent dietary intake of foods rich in these nutrients.

In the retina, L and Z preferentially accumulate in the macula, where their concentrations can be assessed by measuring macular pigment optical density (MPOD), a validated measure of L and Z concentrations.

Because of the close relationship between the retina and the rest of the central nervous system, MPOD is considered a proxy for neural L and Z concentrations.

Although serum and retinal concentrations of L and Z are positively correlated, they are dissociable measures that may represent distinct aspects of dietary health.

For example, serum concentrations of L and Z are more variable than MPOD concentrations.

Additionally, after supplementation of L and Z, serum concentrations more quickly return to baseline levels whereas MPOD changes can last for several months.


Each hat has its significations: the white hat represents thinking by depending on facts and precious information and it represents thinking neutrally and characterized by subjectivity. The red hat represents thinking emotionally, where the feeling and emotions is the backside of the reality. The black hat thinking represents thinking negatively. It is the critical thinking that is based upon logical reasons and motives and thinking about faults and past pitfalls a thing that is necessary when the individual wants to make a decision. The green hat represents creative thinking where it presents solutions and different alternatives and new ideas that cope with abilities and capacities and it aims towards nurturing creativeness. While the yellow hat thinking represents thinking positively and ambitiously which is the other way around of the black because it increases or supports the positive sides of thinking but it must be based on logical justifications which indicates reflective thinking and value adding. Finally the blue hat thinking represents the guide for the other thinking styles and determines which is useful and the time suitable for changing or moving to other thinking style and a holistic thinking style when dealing with any issue .It is not true hat but psychological positions or situations that are empathized during discussion groups or meetings or during individual thinking [14] , [15] , [6] .

Finally the blue hat thinking represents the guide for the other thinking styles and determines which is useful and the time suitable for changing or moving to other thinking style and a holistic thinking style when dealing with any issue .It is not true hat but psychological positions or situations that are empathized during discussion groups or meetings or during individual thinking.


Gittomer regards the Six-Hats method as a classic model of creativeness where time is used for achieving a certain goal [7] . While Jervis defines it as: a method used for simplifying the problem, because this model makes a room for using different thinking styles [8] . Curran has indicated that the objectives and the characteristics of this model are: exemplifying and simplifying thinking and better efficiency where the student change or turn from shallow into deep thinking and achieving flexibility in thinking styles, developing thinking skills, and equipping students with different subjects at the same times. While the characteristics of this program are embodied by the following: easy learning and teaching, practice and using it in different levels of education, nurturing attention, enhancing decision making, bettering communication, and acknowledging the important role of emotions in thinking expressing love or hate by students [9] .

Gittomer regards the Six-Hats method as a classic model of creativeness where time is used for achieving a certain goal.

While Jervis defines it as: a method used for simplifying the problem, because this model makes a room for using different thinking styles.

While the characteristics of this program are embodied by the following: easy learning and teaching, practice and using it in different levels of education, nurturing attention, enhancing decision making, bettering communication, and acknowledging the important role of emotions in thinking expressing love or hate by students.


Gross added another traits or characteristics for the Six-Hats model regarding using the brain capacities and achieving varicosity, General and partial thinking, enabling students to better listening and increasing their learning efficiency [10] . While Borowsky said that this method or model can share the language, so any person can read your problems to you can wear the black hat, which will help you in feedback [11] . Carl has mentioned a number of characters for the model like the variety of thinking styles, helping the student in using different thinking style at every case, motivating the student for preparing a thinking plan, limiting arrogance and developing self sufficiency [12] .

Gross added another traits or characteristics for the Six-Hats model regarding using the brain capacities and achieving varicosity, General and partial thinking, enabling students to better listening and increasing their learning efficiency.

While Borowsky said that this method or model can share the language, so any person can read your problems to you can wear the black hat, which will help you in feedback.

Carl has mentioned a number of characters for the model like the variety of thinking styles, helping the student in using different thinking style at every case, motivating the student for preparing a thinking plan, limiting arrogance and developing self sufficiency.


The Holy Quran spoke about the importance of human brain and thinking skills and this was reflected by many Holy verses of the Holy Quran; like (behold! The creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs for men of understanding) (Al , so the Holy Quran has considered the ability to think in the creation of Allah as one of the astonishing signs of the human of understanding, and the urge for knowing of the secrets of the universe as in (and pursue not of that which you have no knowledge for surely the hearing the sight ,the heart…) (Al Isra'-36) so all these verses call for using brain-the gift of Allah -in thinking, knowledge and rationalization. The Holy Quran revealed from Allah for guiding human race, and has provided all the suitable circumstances for launching thought, search and knowing all the facts in this world [1] .

The Holy Quran revealed from Allah for guiding human race, and has provided all the suitable circumstances for launching thought, search and knowing all the facts in this world.


This interdisciplinary study resulted in both macro-level and micro-level analyses: the computer vision researchers conducted a macro-level analysis, focusing on aggregate levels of rapport and hostility simultaneously from all individuals in the scenario. The social scientists conducted a discourse analysis that focused on the individual interlocutors, analyzing both verbal and embodied communication to assess the trainee's usage of 'good stranger behavior' [13] . We found that rapport levels in the computer vision approach correspond to the social science rapport-building codes, particularly those for greetings and gift giving. In addition, we found that the discourse analytic approach is better equipped to differentiate between a source of trouble and a remedy to a source of trouble, often confused in the computer vision approach, while the computer vision approach succeeds at identifying occasions of non-explicit sources of trouble that are not referred to by the interlocutors and thus cannot be coded by the social scientists. These findings have implications for the improvement of social interaction/crosscultural communication training in military settings, as well as improvements in joint methodologies for social science and computer vision researchers.

The social scientists conducted a discourse analysis that focused on the individual interlocutors, analyzing both verbal and embodied communication to assess the trainee's usage of 'good stranger behavior'.


Except South Africa, most developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa such as Zimbabwe lack second line drugs because they are poor. Second line drugs are drugs used to treat MDRTB. Preventing the outbreak of MDRTB remains the effective key in controlling this epidemic. The spread of MDRTB bacteria depends on factors such as the total number and concentration of infectious people in any place and time of exposure, along with the presence of people with a higher risk of being infected such as those with HIV/AIDS. Failure to control MDRTB leads to the creation of extensively drug resistant TB (XDRTB) which is resistant to first and second line drugs. Treatment options for XDRTB are limited, and in May 2007 an individual with XDRTB was quarantined in the USA to prevent the spread of the disease (Singh, [25] ).

Treatment options for XDRTB are limited, and in May 2007 an individual with XDRTB was quarantined in the USA to prevent the spread of the disease (Singh,).


Another study reported that overexpression of selective 14-3-3σ isoforms enhances mouse embryonic stem cell proliferation by sequestering GSK-3β and stabilizing β-catenin [43] . It is possible that β-catenin stability and activity are altered by 14-3-3ε in HCC due to isoform and tissue specificity. Thus, our results provide support that 14-3-3ε promotes HCC tumor progression by modulating β-catenin signaling. Moreover, we have shown for the first time that AKR1B10 is regulated by β-catenin ( Figure 2D and 2E). However, whether the β-catenin/Tcf/Lef complex directly binds to the AKR1B10 promoter region needs further investigation.

Another study reported that overexpression of selective 14-3-3σ isoforms enhances mouse embryonic stem cell proliferation by sequestering GSK-3β and stabilizing β-catenin.


A four-stage component-based development process model was proposed by the authors [20] . They introduced a new technique to integrate off-the-shelf components with the newly developed components in the then existing CBD process models. However, they paid less rather no attention to the integration of internally developed components. The same motivates the author to propose a new CBD model.

A four-stage component-based development process model was proposed by the authors.


After the evaluation, the triage nurse assigned an acuity by using the Emergency Severity Index (ESI), an international standard for emergency department acuity designation [10] . The ESI acuity ranges from one to five, with one indicating a need for life-saving intervention and five indicating that the patient does not require any resources, such as procedures, laboratory, or radiology tests. After the patient was triaged, the triage nurse documented the all study data on a spreadsheet.

After the evaluation, the triage nurse assigned an acuity by using the Emergency Severity Index (ESI), an international standard for emergency department acuity designation.


Along similar lines, the specific effects of the four types of leader-culture fit on various development and effectiveness outcomes are mainly untested at this time (Burns et al., 2013) . In addition to testing predictive relationships, future research should also attempt to disentangle the set of attributes within a multiattribute framework that appear most important to consider, as well as potential contingency factors. Rather than attempting to codify all of these nuances and translate them into prescriptive actions here, our purpose was to develop a manageable set of theoretical considerations, which reflect the basic variations of leader-culture fit and which might serve as a useful guide within coaching. Thus, as with our contextualized view of the proposed methodology, we recommend that coaches use the four perspectives as a flexible starting point and tailor their specific techniques accordingly. We anticipate that the results of future studies will help to refine the model in its application.

Along similar lines, the specific effects of the four types of leader-culture fit on various development and effectiveness outcomes are mainly untested at this time.


High-power, diode-pumped, solid-state lasers have been utilized as practical industrial tools for a wide variety of cutting, drilling and welding applications due to their long diode bar lifetime, high output power, and high laser beam quality. Over the past few years, as diode bars have become more powerful and lower in cost, diode-pumped lasers have been used more commonly to replace flash-lamp pumped systems. Recent progress in the development of diode stacks has offered significant power enhancement for diode-pumped, solid-state lasers [1] . Diode-pumped, active Q-switched lasers, which show good beam quality and high output peak power, are commonly utilized in material processing and nonlinear frequency conversion applications [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] . The Nd:YAG crystal has a long upper-state lifetime (230 μs) and superior thermal-mechanical and optical properties that allow it to easily generate high peak power and high energy Q-switched laser pulses [7] .

Recent progress in the development of diode stacks has offered significant power enhancement for diode-pumped, solid-state lasers.

Diode-pumped, active Q-switched lasers, which show good beam quality and high output peak power, are commonly utilized in material processing and nonlinear frequency conversion applications.

The Nd:YAG crystal has a long upper-state lifetime (230 μs) and superior thermal-mechanical and optical properties that allow it to easily generate high peak power and high energy Q-switched laser pulses.


An innovation is an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of potential adoption [11] . The installation of BAPV by tenant-owner cooperatives is an innovation in that it replaces or compliments the electric system that has been in use in the sector for a very long time. An analysis of the procedure as well as the arguments that are taken into consideration before a decision to adopt an innovation is made, helps to clarify the reasons behind the choices made by the potential adopter [11] [12] [13] . Within office properties, potential adopters have been identified as those persons in a decision-making position in a project development organization who decide what technological innovations to incorporate in the construction of a new office building [14] . In a TOC, the acquisition of the BAPV system will depend on decisions of the members of the executive boards who, in this study are considered to be the "potential adopters".

An innovation is an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of potential adoption.

An analysis of the procedure as well as the arguments that are taken into consideration before a decision to adopt an innovation is made, helps to clarify the reasons behind the choices made by the potential adopter.

Within office properties, potential adopters have been identified as those persons in a decision-making position in a project development organization who decide what technological innovations to incorporate in the construction of a new office building.


Early and more recent cost-effectiveness studies suggested that antiretroviral treatment optimization using GRT is cost-effective [17] [18] [19] . However, these studies did not specifically investigate job productivity changes, did not include the results of more recent long-term studies of antiretroviral resistance testing, and did not make use of the same large homogenous database on HIV disease to describe both clinical and economic outcomes. We developed a comprehensive model of HIV disease using the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS) database to describe disease progression [20] . We included resistance testing data from longterm studies and several clinical trials, and used data from patients enrolled in the SHCS to estimate the clinical effect, cost and cost-effectiveness of treatment optimization using GRT as compared to expert opinion in patients with antiretroviral treatment failure.

Early and more recent cost-effectiveness studies suggested that antiretroviral treatment optimization using GRT is cost-effective.

We developed a comprehensive model of HIV disease using the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS) database to describe disease progression.


A signal is sparse in a transformation domain if the number of nonzero coefficients is much lower than the number of signal samples. For linear signal transforms the signal samples can be considered as linear combinations (measurements) of the signal transform coefficients. Sparse signals can be fully recovered from a reduced set of samples/measurements. Compressive sensing theory is dealing with sparse signal reconstruction . In common signal processing problems, for signals sparse in a transformation domain, signal samples can be considered as observations since they are linear combinations of the transformation domain coefficients. The goal of compressive sensing is to reduce the set of signal measurements while preserving complete information about the whole signal. In some applications unavailable signal samples result from the system physical constraints including unavailability to perform all signal measurements. Signals may also contain arbitrarily positioned samples that are heavily corrupted. In these cases it is better to remove such samples and consider them as unavailable in the signal recovery [6] . Compressive sensing theory based reconstruction algorithms may be also used when the unavailable signal samples are not a result of an intentional strategy to compress the data. Note that one of the initial compressive sensing theory successes in applications (computed tomography reconstruction) was not related to the intentional compressive sensing strategy but to the physical problem constraints, restricting the set and positions of available data.

In these cases it is better to remove such samples and consider them as unavailable in the signal recovery.


Our cohort was too small to make any claims of enrichment or mutations within any pathway; however, connections can be drawn between more frequently observed somatic alterations ( Figure 1 ) and ARID1A/PIK3CA-related pathways. For example, NCOA2 is known to interact with the SWI/SNF complex via BRG1 and BAF57 and has been implicated in potentiation of ER-response genes [30] . NCOA2 may also positively modulate AKT/mTOR signalling, as has been noted for other p160-family members (NCOA3) [31] . Both CTNNB1, particularly when affected by 'hotspot' mutations, as observed in our cohort, and NFATC2 positively regulate WNT signalling [32, 33] . TCEB1 (Elongin C) 'hotspot mutants', described in clear-cell renal carcinoma (ccRC), promote HIF1a stability by preventing interaction with VHL and the assembly of the VHL-linked E3-ligase complex that degrades HIF1 [34] . Like its renal counterpart, ovarian CCC expresses high levels of both HIF1A and EPAS1(HIF2A) [23] . Finally, TCEB1 is also known to form an E3-ligase complex with BAF250b (ARID1B; a paralogue of ARID1A and alternative SWI/SNF component) to mono-ubiquitinate histone H2B [35] . In this case it is important to note mono-ubiquitination, as this is less likely to be linked directly to protein degradation than modification of function [36] .

For example, NCOA2 is known to interact with the SWI/SNF complex via BRG1 and BAF57 and has been implicated in potentiation of ER-response genes.

NCOA2 may also positively modulate AKT/mTOR signalling, as has been noted for other p160-family members (NCOA3).

Both CTNNB1, particularly when affected by 'hotspot' mutations, as observed in our cohort, and NFATC2 positively regulate WNT signalling.

TCEB1 (Elongin C) 'hotspot mutants', described in clear-cell renal carcinoma (ccRC), promote HIF1a stability by preventing interaction with VHL and the assembly of the VHL-linked E3-ligase complex that degrades HIF1.

Like its renal counterpart, ovarian CCC expresses high levels of both HIF1A and EPAS1(HIF2A).

Finally, TCEB1 is also known to form an E3-ligase complex with BAF250b (ARID1B; a paralogue of ARID1A and alternative SWI/SNF component) to mono-ubiquitinate histone H2B.

In this case it is important to note mono-ubiquitination, as this is less likely to be linked directly to protein degradation than modification of function.


These results tend to demonstrate the limits of visual grading rules and are in accordance with the results of previous studies in this field (Lanvin, 2005; Rouger and Guinard, 2005) . It is important to notice that the visual grading was done in optimal conditions, thus quite a long time was taken for each lumber (several min), and we could see the lumber from each end. This is actually never the case in an industrial context. Moreover, in order to get more representative results, tests should to be run on other dimensions and with different origins for the lumbers.

These results tend to demonstrate the limits of visual grading rules and are in accordance with the results of previous studies in this field.


Welding of thermoplastics using laser transmission methods is today a well-established practice in many industries [1] [2] [3] . Low power scanning laser systems are relatively inexpensive in comparison to several sets of conventional tooling and would be capable of processing a very wide range of container designs, both for sealing and cutting away of the excess film. For very large or for some popular multi-compartment products, the laser power and duty cycle could be automatically adjusted for package designs with a significantly longer seal path. Set-up times between production runs would be virtually eliminated, as would spillages and machinery jams due to the present need for moving containers in and out of the seal tooling. The cost of running the machine would be reduced and tooling maintenance and storage costs would be virtually eliminated. Whilst wall-plug efficiencies need be factored into any detailed life cycle analysis, there would also be a potential to reduce standby loads in comparison to those in conventional "hot" tooling.

Welding of thermoplastics using laser transmission methods is today a well-established practice in many industries.


The present authors have already achieved considerable success in the sealing of thicker multilayer films [5] . Upon using a scanning laser, it was found that a more even seal could be produced using a large number of laser passes, at relatively high scan speeds (4m/s at 50W laser power for 30 passes), when compared to a low speed seal (200mm/s at 7.5W laser power for 3 passes). Low speed laser seals may even melt the material, thus producing a weld instead of a seal, making the product difficult to peel and weakening the film.

The present authors have already achieved considerable success in the sealing of thicker multilayer films.


First, the distribution of classes (true positives vs. false positives) is often skewed, i.e., false positives are more frequent than true positives. Second, it is also common that the cost of misclassifying alerts is most often asymmetrical i.e., misclassifying true positives as false positives is usually more costly than the other way round. Third, ALAC classifies alerts in real-time and updates its classifier as new alerts become available. The learning technique should be efficient enough to perform in real-time and work incrementally, i.e., to be able to modify its logic as new data becomes available. Fourth, we require the machine learning technique to use background knowledge, i.e., additional information such as network topology, alert database, alert context, etc., which is not contained in alerts, but allows us to build more accurate classifiers (e.g., classifiers using generalized concepts). In fact, research in machine learning has shown that the use of background knowledge frequently leads to more natural and concise rules [18] . However, the use of background knowledge increases the complexity of a learning task and only some machine learning techniques support it.

In fact, research in machine learning has shown that the use of background knowledge frequently leads to more natural and concise rules.


This paper has shown that the current regulatory and governance models of the energy sector leave vulnerable consumers unprotected and fail to empower prosumers. The status quo cannot continue. Share-ownership projects, as alternatives to a traditional top down governmental policy approach, seem to represent a great opportunity to help navigate the problems that the energy sector face. Experience of such projects in the South West of England seems to allow for a cautious positive outlook on the sector. Indeed, although one participatory organization has folded and one plays a more low-key educational role, three have set up reasonably successful shared ownership projects and most have now started to receive dividends. The last one is still in the process. In spite of teething problems, commercial developers also seem to have realized that they too can benefit from such bottom-up initiatives and are consequently more supportive. The theme of a cautiously positive outlook appears to be confirmed by a survey carried out by Community Energy England and more recently, the Ofgem report, which welcomes such endeavors as part of the energy landscape. A similar support can be seen at EU level with the proposed directive on the common rules for the internal market in electricity [37] . This now needs to be transferred at policy level.

The status quo cannot continue.

The last one is still in the process.

A similar support can be seen at EU level with the proposed directive on the common rules for the internal market in electricity.


The importance of the financial viability of such organizations cannot be underestimated. For a community organization to have an impact, it must be successful and financially viable. The financial aspect is therefore crucial and is probably where the biggest challenge for such schemes lie. Scholars have argued for the need to put justice at the core of energy policy, to rebalance the fact that energy policy has been seen too much through the financial lens [61] . Yes, as this research appears to demonstrate, a local actor must also be able to balance the books. We have seen that the involvement of local authorities is important, but cannot always be replicated. It is, therefore, not enough. More needs to be done at national level, to embed such local actors in a clear policy to highlight the shift from centralized to decentralized energy. As we have seen, this does not however appear to be a priority. This is regrettable since the need for policies that are sufficiently flexible to be in line and reflect local needs and support local actors in answering those local needs has never been more pressing for the UK. A clear and coherent articulation of local and national policies is of crucial importance to achieving efficiency in a social landscape. In spite of a renewed support for such endeavors at EU level, following Brexit, the position in the UK has never been more tenuous.

Scholars have argued for the need to put justice at the core of energy policy, to rebalance the fact that energy policy has been seen too much through the financial lens.

It is, therefore, not enough.


The wide range of prey sizes of Trichiurus lepturus may be explained by its adaptations: it has relatively large eyes and a laterally compressed body with no caudal ¢n, and a long semi-vertical lateral line that can detect subtle alterations in the pressure ¢eld produced by small potential prey as far as 32 m away (Bone & Marshall, 1982) . The detection and capture of small crustaceans undergo little ontogenetic change in southern Brazil. Euphausiids were frequently found in the stomach contents of all sizes of cutlass¢sh. Moreover, the large mouth with its powerful teeth allows for the ambush feeding of ¢sh and squid, including cannibalism (Nakamura & Parin, 1993) .

The wide range of prey sizes of Trichiurus lepturus may be explained by its adaptations: it has relatively large eyes and a laterally compressed body with no caudal ¢n, and a long semi-vertical lateral line that can detect subtle alterations in the pressure ¢eld produced by small potential prey as far as 32 m away.

Moreover, the large mouth with its powerful teeth allows for the ambush feeding of ¢sh and squid, including cannibalism.


The absorption peaks of GNRs at 520 and 780 nm (UV1800, Shimadzu) due to the oscillation of electrons along the transverse and longitudinal axes of the nanorod, respectively (Figure 1 ), were in good agreement with previous studies [13] . In contrast to GNRs, GNPs, which maintain a more uniform geometry, only had a peak at 520 nm. Collectively, these results suggest that GNRs have the potential for more efficient photothermal conversion than GNPs in the NIR region.

The absorption peaks of GNRs at 520 and 780 nm (UV1800, Shimadzu) due to the oscillation of electrons along the transverse and longitudinal axes of the nanorod, respectively (Figure 1 ), were in good agreement with previous studies.


Grain yield loss due to rice blast caused by Pyricularia grisea (Cooke) Saccardo [= Magnaporthe grisea (Hebert) Barr] is directly related to the culti-1 2 cause significant yield reduction. The indirect and direct effects of leaf and panicle blast, respectively, complicate the quantification of loss estimates (Pinnschmidt et al., 1994) . Leaf blast in upland rice reaches maximum disease severity 25 to 40 days after seeding and gradually decreases as the resistance of the newly formed leaves increases with age. It affects growth and development resulting in total death of many plants, when an epidemic starts earlier, in late sown plantings (Filippi & Prabhu, 1997b) .

The indirect and direct effects of leaf and panicle blast, respectively, complicate the quantification of loss estimates.

It affects growth and development resulting in total death of many plants, when an epidemic starts earlier, in late sown plantings.


Due to the high stress concentration induced by the contact, some level of plastic deformation is expected around the crack initiation point. However, the stress history required by the current methodology comes from an elastic analysis of the contact problem. This is because in the Theory of Critical Distances the average of the actual elastic-plastic stress field damaging the material is assumed to be related to the average of the stress field that would be produced under purely elastic conditions [34] . In addition, the size of the plastically deformed region is expected to increase as the magnitude of the applied load increases. This is accounted for in the methodology by assuming that the critical distance increases as the number of cycles decreases. Of course, this engineering approximation is expected to fail for significant levels of plastic deformation and, therefore, it is not recommended for life estimation in the low cycle regime. In practice, the methodology should be applied for life estimations in the medium/high-cycle fatigue regime, i.e., for fatigue lives greater than about 10 3 cycles to failure [35] .

This is because in the Theory of Critical Distances the average of the actual elastic-plastic stress field damaging the material is assumed to be related to the average of the stress field that would be produced under purely elastic conditions.

In practice, the methodology should be applied for life estimations in the medium/high-cycle fatigue regime, i.e., for fatigue lives greater than about 10 3 cycles to failure.


However, for situations where Mode II and III shear components act simultaneously on the critical plane, it is not clear if the fatigue damages associated with these components should be combined or not. This is due to the fact that the majority of the experimental data which have been used so far to assess the accuracy of critical plane models were produced under combined axial (or bending) and torsion loading. For such loading paths, crack nucleation and early crack growth generally occur on planes perpendicular to the surface, where only the Mode III shear component acts [31, 32] . It is also noted that there is a lack of fretting fatigue experiments conducted under variable amplitude loadings. Such kind of experiments are crucial to a critical evaluation of more general approaches for fretting fatigue life estimation.

For such loading paths, crack nucleation and early crack growth generally occur on planes perpendicular to the surface, where only the Mode III shear component acts.


In many real-world problems decisions have been made in a hierarchical order where individual decision makers have no direct control upon the decisions of the others, but their actions affect all other decision makers. Further, higher levels (or leaders) of the hierarchy have the power to strongly influence the performance and strategies of the decision makers at lower levels (or followers) [1] . Multilevel Optimization Problems (MLOP) are mathematical programs which have a subset of their variables constrained to be an optimal solution of other programs parameterized by their remaining variables [2] . It's implicitly determined by a series of optimization problems which must be solved in a predetermined sequence.

Further, higher levels (or leaders) of the hierarchy have the power to strongly influence the performance and strategies of the decision makers at lower levels (or followers).

Multilevel Optimization Problems (MLOP) are mathematical programs which have a subset of their variables constrained to be an optimal solution of other programs parameterized by their remaining variables.


Governments and regions will respond to price and scarcity signals to manage their access to food, water, and energy markets, and these relationships constitute key domains of the climate and security relationship. Mitigation and adaptation policies, done poorly, exacerbate power asymmetries and dispossess vulnerable communities in ways that amplify various kinds of insecurities (Dabelko et al. 2013) . Hence issues such as land use changes and changes in access to carbon stocks in forests associated with Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Projects (REDD+), the impacts of adaptation projects on communities and livelihoods, as well as land grabbing and forced migration in the name of food security, are the areas where climate responses may affect the insecurity of certain populations.

Mitigation and adaptation policies, done poorly, exacerbate power asymmetries and dispossess vulnerable communities in ways that amplify various kinds of insecurities.


Two other factors are added to this mix. First the debate over climate change, and environmental change in general, has been cast in an environmental deterministic framing that continues a tradition of explaining social outcomes as principally driven by environmental drivers. Thus, for example, serious debate concerning how migration dynamics are affected by weather-related events has been swamped with discussions of climate refugees and estimation methods which generate, intentionally or not, large global estimates of populations at risk of being displaced (Gemenne 2011; Piguet 2013) . We argue that this highlighting of the issues of human insecurity has not been matched by a sufficient engagement of the social sciences that have plausible and testable theories of how climate change can affect the security of populations. In particular, the abundant literature on the physical impacts of climate change has not been matched by a similar engagement of social sciences on the human impacts of climate change (O'Brien and Barnett 2013) . Hence there is an urgent need for re-engagement of economics, political science, international relations, demography, development studies, and anthropology in assessing the causes and consequences of climate change on human security.

Thus, for example, serious debate concerning how migration dynamics are affected by weather-related events has been swamped with discussions of climate refugees and estimation methods which generate, intentionally or not, large global estimates of populations at risk of being displaced.

In particular, the abundant literature on the physical impacts of climate change has not been matched by a similar engagement of social sciences on the human impacts of climate change.


The effect of different processing technologies on the physicochemical and sensory properties of dry-cured hams has been investigated in several studies [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] . A number of studies have been carried out to investigate the development of volatile components, physicochemical and/or sensory properties during ripening of Spanish, American and Italian dry-cured hams [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] . From the literature, it is known that the volatile compounds of dry-cured hams belong to eight chemical families: aldehydes, alcohols, hydrocarbons, ketones, esters, sulfur compounds, carboxylic acids and terpenes [25, 26] . During processing, the aromatic profile evolution is due to biological and chemical changes. An intense proteolysis has been reported, especially during the initial seasoning period, whereas lipolysis of adipose tissue is mainly observed in the processing steps of salting and resting, when a substantial increase in free fatty acids occurs [27] . One of the most important reactions involved in the aroma development is the autoxidation of unsaturated fatty acids yielding the formation of secondary products such as shortchain hydrocarbons, aldehydes, ketones, acids, alcohols and furans; moreover, the oxidative deamination-decarboxylation of amino acids via Strecker degradation involves the formation of aldehydes and ketones. Aldehydes may also result from the reaction between proteins and carbohydrates [25] .

The effect of different processing technologies on the physicochemical and sensory properties of dry-cured hams has been investigated in several studies.

A number of studies have been carried out to investigate the development of volatile components, physicochemical and/or sensory properties during ripening of Spanish, American and Italian dry-cured hams.

From the literature, it is known that the volatile compounds of dry-cured hams belong to eight chemical families: aldehydes, alcohols, hydrocarbons, ketones, esters, sulfur compounds, carboxylic acids and terpenes.

An intense proteolysis has been reported, especially during the initial seasoning period, whereas lipolysis of adipose tissue is mainly observed in the processing steps of salting and resting, when a substantial increase in free fatty acids occurs.

Aldehydes may also result from the reaction between proteins and carbohydrates.


Rather than primary succession, our site is undergoing secondary succession, and mycelial networks are potentially well established within patches of both burl-forming plant species. Spores were probably a source of inoculum for some of the species observed on the seedlings in the Arctostaphylos and a likely source for the two thelephoroid species observed in the Adenostoma patches. However, the most important source of inoculum was probably the established mycorrhizal networks associated with Arctostaphylos. Although the seedlings may have benefited directly from fungal linkages to Arctostaphylos, mycelial networks are beneficial to newly establishing seedlings even in the absence of direct linkages and nutrient transfer between plant species. Seedlings that associate with an established fungal mycelium may not need to allocate any resources to produce fungal biomass (Newman 1988) . Seedlings in the Adenostoma patches may have been colonized by fungi that were themselves attempting to establish and may have required substantial carbon inputs to generate fungal biomass. Seedlings in the Arctostaphylos patches were associated with existing fungal networks and survival was greatly increased even though other conditions such as light and nutrients were not particularly favorable.

Seedlings that associate with an established fungal mycelium may not need to allocate any resources to produce fungal biomass.


Let G denote a plabic graph, and let N denote the underlying uncolored network. Suppose N is symmetric with respect to reflection through a distinguished diameter d of the disc. Let V be the vertex set of E, and let r : V → V map each vertex v ∈ V to its mirror image across the line d. Then G is a symmetric plabic graph if the following conditions hold: We briefly summarize our results. In Theorem 3.1, we characterize the positroids, Grassmann necklaces, and bounded affine permutations associated with symmetric plabic graphs. We then consider symmetric weightings of symmetric plabic graphs; that is, weightings where each edge (u, v) has the same weight as its reflection (r(u), r(v)). Theorem 4.2 and Corollary 4.3 give a complete description of the set of points in Gr ≥0 (k, n) corresponding to such weightings of symmetric plabic graphs. This is a subvariety, cut out set-theoretically by linear equations, which we call the symmetric part of Gr(k, n). With the right choice of conventions, the symmetric part of Gr ≥0 (k, n) is precisely the totally nonnegative part of the Lagrangian Grassmannian [2] . Finally, Theorem 4.4 gives an explicit construction which yields a symmetric weighting of a symmetric plabic graph for each point in the symmetric part of Gr ≥0 (k, n). In particular, we construct a symmetric bridge graph for each point in Gr ≥0 (k, n). Bridge graphs are a special class of plabic graphs which appear as a computational tool in particle physics [1] .

With the right choice of conventions, the symmetric part of Gr ≥0 (k, n) is precisely the totally nonnegative part of the Lagrangian Grassmannian.

Bridge graphs are a special class of plabic graphs which appear as a computational tool in particle physics.


In this note, we study plabic graphs which satisfy a symmetry condition. See Figure 1 for an example. These symmetric plabic graphs arise in the theory of total positivity for the Lagrangian Grassmannian Λ(2n), the moduli space of maximal isotropic subspaces with respect to a symplectic bilinear form. The connection with Λ(2n), as well as additional results on the combinatorics of symmetric plabic graphs, will be discussed in a forthcoming paper by the first author [2] .

See Figure 1 for an example.

The connection with Λ(2n), as well as additional results on the combinatorics of symmetric plabic graphs, will be discussed in a forthcoming paper by the first author.


The totally nonnegative Grassmannian is the region of the Grassmannian Gr(k, n) where all Plücker coordinates are nonnegative real numbers, up to multiplication by a common scalar. Postnikov defined a stratification of Gr ≥0 (k, n) by positroid cells, each defined as the locus in Gr ≥0 (k, n) where some set of Plücker coordinates vanish. The resulting positroid stratification of Gr ≥0 (k, n) has a rich geometric and combinatorial structure. There are numerous combinatorial objects which index positroid cells, including bounded affine permutations, Grassmann necklaces, and a class of matroids called positroids [7, 3] .

There are numerous combinatorial objects which index positroid cells, including bounded affine permutations, Grassmann necklaces, and a class of matroids called positroids.


Research on the scale effect have been carried by Cerato and Lutenegger. They examined four types of sands and one type of gravel. The analysis was conducted on three direct shear apparatus with boxes whose dimensions were as follows: 60 × 60 × 26.4 mm, 102 × 102 × 40.6 mm and 305 × 305 × 177,8 mm. All samples were tested at three different densities. It was found that with the increase in density, differences in the results between a small and large apparatus decrease. The only exception was the Ottawa sand. The results obtained for this material were the same for all three apparatus at different densities. The authors explained that this was due to the Ottawa sand having the biggest L/D 50 ratio [5] . Jewell and Worth studied the effect of L/D 50 ratio. They proved that for L/D 50 ≥ 50, the grain size does not cause the scale effect [7] .

The only exception was the Ottawa sand.

The authors explained that this was due to the Ottawa sand having the biggest L/D 50 ratio.

They proved that for L/D 50 ≥ 50, the grain size does not cause the scale effect.


The next step in the study of scale effect was made by Zhou. He believed that the scale effect does not depend only on the grain size of the test material. Examining variability, shape, rotation, slip grains, the average volume of the sample, the distribution of shear stress and development of shear zones, the author showed that the largest factor influencing the bulk friction is the rotation of grains during the test [18] .

Examining variability, shape, rotation, slip grains, the average volume of the sample, the distribution of shear stress and development of shear zones, the author showed that the largest factor influencing the bulk friction is the rotation of grains during the test.


Palmeria and Milligan also studied the problem of scale effect. In their own research, they used three sizes of boxes: 1 m cubic, rectangular 252 × 152 × 152 mm box and square 60 × 60 × 32 mm box. The research material was dry Leighton Buzzard silica sand, whose D 50 was 0.65 mm. The results for all three boxes were in the range between 49° and 50° [12] .

The results for all three boxes were in the range between 49° and 50°.


Conducting the test in a direct shear apparatus is a simple and fast method to find the angle of friction and cohesion in soils. However, during this test there arose a problem regarding the size of the box and its effect on the results achieved. In 1938, Taylor and Leps started working on this issue. They studied the dried Ottawa sand in both small (76 mm) and large (305 mm) square box. They found that the friction angle ϕ′ obtained from the test in large apparatus is less than about 0.5° smaller than the result obtained with a small box [17] .

They found that the friction angle ϕ′ obtained from the test in large apparatus is less than about 0.5° smaller than the result obtained with a small box.


The problem of the increasing amount of construction waste, such as concrete or bricks, in addition to the simultaneous depletion of natural resources, leads engineers and scientists to seek new alternative aggregates [16] . The obvious and natural step is to reuse the construction waste as a recycled concrete aggregate (RCA). Global trend in this direction has led to the creation of a vast body of work and many research projects. In 2004, Norwegian scientists created a 4-year test program designed to prove the suitability of RCA as a substructure for E6 highway [1] , [2] . Meanhwile in China, the dynamic expansion of the country has led to a significant increase in the amount of construction waste. Thus research began on the use of RCA as a standard road sub-base [13] . Intensive studies led to the publication of the first RCA reuse standard in 2007 [4] .

The problem of the increasing amount of construction waste, such as concrete or bricks, in addition to the simultaneous depletion of natural resources, leads engineers and scientists to seek new alternative aggregates.

In 2004, Norwegian scientists created a 4-year test program designed to prove the suitability of RCA as a substructure for E6 highway.

Thus research began on the use of RCA as a standard road sub-base.

Intensive studies led to the publication of the first RCA reuse standard in 2007.


In 2008, Bareither, Benson and Edil published extensive research concerning the scale effect in relation to sand with various gravel content. They performed tests on 30 samples in small (64 × 64 mm) and large (305 × 305 mm) direct shear apparatus. In their research, the L/D 50 (L-length of the shear box) ratio was equal from 93 to 2033. They found that in the case of the sand with less than 30% gravel content, the results obtained with the use of the small and large direct shear apparatus are so similar, that in both cases the research gave reliable values. However, in the case of sand with a different gravel content, the size of the box should be taken into consideration [3] .

However, in the case of sand with a different gravel content, the size of the box should be taken into consideration.


Fatty acid synthase, which catalyzes the last step in the lipogenic pathway, is also a key determinant for the maximal capacity of a tissue to synthesize fatty acid; it is highly expressed in tissues such as liver, adipose, and lactating mammary glands. In normal physiological state, nutritional factors such as high-fat diet and hormone could regulate the enzyme activity and gene expression of the FAS (Rosebrough et al. 2011) . The level of FAS in the present study was lower in AF's treatment groups than in control group; in liver and adipose tissues in a dose-dependent manner, this is in accordance with previous studies demonstrating that Nelumbo nucifera leaf flavonoid-rich extract targets lipid-regulated enzymes and may be effective in attenuating body lipid accumulation and preventing obesity (Wu et al. 2010) .

In normal physiological state, nutritional factors such as high-fat diet and hormone could regulate the enzyme activity and gene expression of the FAS.

The level of FAS in the present study was lower in AF's treatment groups than in control group; in liver and adipose tissues in a dose-dependent manner, this is in accordance with previous studies demonstrating that Nelumbo nucifera leaf flavonoid-rich extract targets lipid-regulated enzymes and may be effective in attenuating body lipid accumulation and preventing obesity.


Lipoprotein lipase, located on the capillary endothelium of extrahepatic tissue, catalyzes the ratelimiting step in the hydrolysis of TG from circulating CM and very-low density lipoprotein (VLDL) in adipose tissues (Goldberg 1996) . High expression of muscle LPL has been shown to be associated with the increased intramuscular triacylglycerol accumulation and fat deposition (Voshol et al. 2001) . In this experiment, inclusion of AF upregulated the LPL expression in liver and adipose tissues, and the effect in adipose tissues is the best. Also, inclusion of AF increased the LPL protein expression in the liver and adipose tissues, and the inclusion of 15 mg per kg is the best (P < 0.05). Researches demonstrated that lentinan (LNT)-reduced blood lipid of hyperlipidemia rats was mediated by improving the activities o f LPL and increases the level of HDL-C .

Lipoprotein lipase, located on the capillary endothelium of extrahepatic tissue, catalyzes the ratelimiting step in the hydrolysis of TG from circulating CM and very-low density lipoprotein (VLDL) in adipose tissues.

High expression of muscle LPL has been shown to be associated with the increased intramuscular triacylglycerol accumulation and fat deposition.


In contaminated areas, such as soils and river sediments, the indigenous bacteria or microbial consortium are exposed to critical concentrations of toxic organic pollutants. The hydrophobic and toxic compounds act on cytoplasmic membrane leading to its physiological disruption. To counteract this effect, bacteria modify their membrane phospholipids to decrease membrane fluidity and protect the cell core. Earlier reports have proven that aromatic compounds, such as benzene, phenol and toluene, cause an increase in membrane fluidity. Bacterial cells thus try to counteract this effect with membrane rigidification (Sikkema et al. 1995; Weber et al. 1996) .

Bacterial cells thus try to counteract this effect with membrane rigidification.


Note that over the points of the moduli of elliptic curves over R on which γ ≡ 0 mod π 2 , H(A) is a weakly admissible F -crystal. The Fontaine functor associates a π-adic Galois representation to a weakly admissible F -crystal [9, 13] . Hence the F -cyrstal H(A) gives rise to new π-adic Galois repersentation.

The Fontaine functor associates a π-adic Galois representation to a weakly admissible F -crystal.


Both varimax and oblique rotation were used. The results produced through an oblique rotation were quite similar with the results from varimax rotation with the only differences lying in the order of factor extraction. Varimax rotation produced 8 factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.0. These factors altogether explained 71.9% of result variance. A scree plot was needed as it is considered the best choice for factor retention (Costello and Osborne 2005) . According to it, four factors were above the break point where the curve flattens out. This constituted evidence that rotation was necessary for four factors. All items had factor loadings greater than 0.35. The four factors explained 60.7% of the total variance and they were named according to some common characteristics of the items loaded on the same factor (Appendix).

A scree plot was needed as it is considered the best choice for factor retention.


We next sought the upstream machinery required for actin ring recruitment. Actin-dependent exocytic structures occur in the cortical granules of Xenopus oocytes, the zymogen granules of the pancreatic and parotid acinar and the lamellar bodies of type II pneumocytes [45] . Some of these granules utilize protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms to recruit an actin ring [46, 47] . Given this, and that PMA (an activator of classical and non-classical PKC isoforms) recruits the actin ring most efficiently, we analyzed the role of PKC in ring recruitment.

Actin-dependent exocytic structures occur in the cortical granules of Xenopus oocytes, the zymogen granules of the pancreatic and parotid acinar and the lamellar bodies of type II pneumocytes.

Some of these granules utilize protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms to recruit an actin ring.


Recently, a wideband double-dipole Yagi-Uda antenna containing a microstrip (MS)-to-coplanar strip (CPS) transition feed, a pair of reflectors, two parallel printed dipoles, and a director has been introduced [10] . In this case, the bandwidth of the antenna is increased to approximately 80% (3.48-8.16 GHz). However, the feed structure containing an MS-to-CPS transition is very long and the size of the ground plane used as a reflector is large.

Recently, a wideband double-dipole Yagi-Uda antenna containing a microstrip (MS)-to-coplanar strip (CPS) transition feed, a pair of reflectors, two parallel printed dipoles, and a director has been introduced.


Among the different broadband printed antennas, a series-fed dipole pair (SDP) antenna or a double-dipole antenna has been widely used in many mobile communication applications, such as base-station antennas and wideband phased-array antennas, because of its broad bandwidth, stable gain, and simple structure [5, 6] . It consists of two dipoles having different lengths and a truncated ground plane, which are serially connected with a transmission line. Generally, the lengths of the long and short dipoles control the lower and upper operating frequencies, respectively, and the distance between the two dipoles as well as the distance between the first dipole and truncated ground plane control the input reflection coefficient level between the two main resonances.

Among the different broadband printed antennas, a series-fed dipole pair (SDP) antenna or a double-dipole antenna has been widely used in many mobile communication applications, such as base-station antennas and wideband phased-array antennas, because of its broad bandwidth, stable gain, and simple structure.


In this paper, we present a method for enhancing the bandwidth of an SDP antenna by using a parasitic strip pair director. Initially, a conventional SDP antenna is designed for a frequency range of 1.7-2.7 GHz by optimizing the lengths of and distances between the elements (two dipoles and ground reflector) [11] . The elements of the SDP antenna are serially connected with a CPS line. Moreover, a modified integrated balun consisting of an MS line and a CPS line is employed to match the input impedance of the antenna with the 50 Ω MS feed line. Because the integrated balun does not require any additional space, this type of SDP antenna is compact when compared with other antennas that have long feed structures. Next, a parasitic director consisting of two separated strips is positioned near the top dipole element to improve the bandwidth and gain of the conventional SDP antenna. Further, the effects of the location and size of the director on the impedance bandwidth and realized gain characteristics are investigated.

Initially, a conventional SDP antenna is designed for a frequency range of 1.7-2.7 GHz by optimizing the lengths of and distances between the elements (two dipoles and ground reflector).


Although the current study represented a novel application of statistical analyses to determine clinically relevant cutoff scores on two validated measures, it was not without limitations. Cutoff scores were initially determined by calculating Youden's Index, which assumed sensitivity and specificity to be of equal importance (Bewick et al., 2004) . For the purposes of the current study, this approach was viewed as an unbiased method to narrow down specific cutoff scores, which could then be followed by other analyses and clinical decision making to determine a single sensitive cutoff score. However, this method is not the only available procedure and other instrument developers may prefer approaches that initially prioritize sensitivity or specificity. Future researchers should explore other methodologies and approaches to accomplish similar goals.

Cutoff scores were initially determined by calculating Youden's Index, which assumed sensitivity and specificity to be of equal importance.


Zooplankton play a central role in aquatic ecosystems relative to phytoplankton and higher trophic levels (Banse, 1995) . Yet understanding the influence of physical forcing on zooplankton population dynamics is still a gap in our knowledge. Likewise, the steady increase of demographic pressure and industrial activity, the overfishing of commercial resources, and the destruction of natural habitats all continue to stress marine and freshwater environments, thus raising the question: how do changes in the global environment affect the abundance, diversity, and production of plankton and nekton?

Zooplankton play a central role in aquatic ecosystems relative to phytoplankton and higher trophic levels.


Multiple trials have reported that impaired kidney function augments the levels of these natriuretic peptides but the optimal cutoffs are not well known with various patients' population. This is the first study from this part of the world and adds to the clinical utility of these cardiac markers in specific renal population. The study population represents typical outpatients with known kidney dysfunction, a highly relevant population group to explore the utility of BNP and NT-proBNP as heart failure markers. Current study addressed the utility of BNP and NT-proBNP as heart failure markers in kidney patients. The results of this study are in concordance with previous studies and revealed an inverse relationship between kidney function and BNP (r = − 0.3) and NT-proBNP (r = − 0.5) [12, [28] [29] [30] [31] . A head to head comparison between BNP and NT-proBNP revealed that NT-proBNP was much higher as compared to BNP in the SHF group and both values were not interchangeable. Using ROC analysis, the AUC for NT-proBNP was better than BNP in the entire study population, as well as in subgroups of CKD stages.

The results of this study are in concordance with previous studies and revealed an inverse relationship between kidney function and BNP (r = − 0.3) and NT-proBNP (r = − 0.5).


The most common soil types in Lepsämän-joki are sandy clay (in 55% of the boundaries), fine sand (26%), and clay (16%); in Yläneen-joki fine sand (61%) and sandy clay (31%); in Lestijoki fine sand (91%), and in Taipaleenjoki fine sand (59%), mull (19%) and silt (13%) (Tarmi and Helenius, unpublished data). The average thermal growing season in Yläneenjoki and Lepsämänjoki is 170 days, in Taipaleenjoki 155 days, and in Lestijoki 150 days (Alalammi 1987) . Average annual precipitation is 582, 619, 612 and 544 mm, respectively.

The average thermal growing season in Yläneenjoki and Lepsämänjoki is 170 days, in Taipaleenjoki 155 days, and in Lestijoki 150 days.


An association between low BMI and increased toxicity has been reported in a population of 45 patients (85% with mRCC) treated with sunitinib (Telli et al, 2008) . In this population, grade 3 or 4 cardiotoxicity was associated with low BMI (mean 23.9 kg m À 2 vs 27.1 kg m À 2 ; P ¼ 0.03). Sunitinib toxicity has also been associated with low BSA (a variable conditioned to height and weight, similar to BMI) in 82 advanced RCC patients treated with sunitinib (van der Veldt et al, 2008) . In this population, DLTs occurred in 37 patients and were significantly related to low BSA (P ¼ 0.005). Interestingly, low BSA was also significantly associated with early DLT (P ¼ 0.002) in the present series.

An association between low BMI and increased toxicity has been reported in a population of 45 patients (85% with mRCC) treated with sunitinib.

Sunitinib toxicity has also been associated with low BSA (a variable conditioned to height and weight, similar to BMI) in 82 advanced RCC patients treated with sunitinib.


Myocarditis refers to an inflammation of the myocardium which can lead to diverse clinical outcomes ranging from asymptomatic courses to cardiogenic shock. Impaired renal function is the result of impaired end-organ perfusion due to a failing heart. The condition is highly prevalent among critically ill patients. In previous studies, 33% of patients with acute decompensated heart failure were identified with AKI upon admission, but this increased to 73% during their hospital stay [1] . In the past few years, AKI has been confirmed as an independent predictor of prognosis in critically ill patients [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] . Several definitions that classify the severity of AKI currently exist in the literature. Research endorsed by the Acute Dialysis Quality Initiative led to the publication of a consensus definition for AKI-the RIFLE classification, which categorized acute renal dysfunction into three grades of increasing severity and two classes of outcome [9] . Revised versions of this classification by the Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN) have proven to be a useful tool in the evaluation of prognostic impact among patients who had undergone cardiac surgery [10, 11] . Until now, no clinically useful parameters have been provided to determine the prognosis of adult patients with acute myocarditis [12] . The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of AKI using the AKIN classification as well as identify the relationship between AKI and the relevance of prognosis provided for patients with acute myocarditis.

In previous studies, 33% of patients with acute decompensated heart failure were identified with AKI upon admission, but this increased to 73% during their hospital stay.

In the past few years, AKI has been confirmed as an independent predictor of prognosis in critically ill patients.

Research endorsed by the Acute Dialysis Quality Initiative led to the publication of a consensus definition for AKI-the RIFLE classification, which categorized acute renal dysfunction into three grades of increasing severity and two classes of outcome.

Revised versions of this classification by the Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN) have proven to be a useful tool in the evaluation of prognostic impact among patients who had undergone cardiac surgery.

Until now, no clinically useful parameters have been provided to determine the prognosis of adult patients with acute myocarditis.


It states that disinfection for drinking water should have 30 min contact time at a pH < 8, with a minimum free chlorine residual of 0.5 mg l − 1 . Likewise, the limiting concentration of total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) should be 100 µg l − 1 . In recent years poor raw water quality has resulted in an increase in the chlorine dose required in order to comply with the free chlorine requirement, which has resulted in an increase in the formation of disinfection by-products in treated water. Since the influence of halogenated organics on human health has caused public concern, the European Union is now considering reducing the limiting concentration of TTHMs to 40 µg l − 1 (Stevenson 1995 (Philip 1994) . It is therefore expected that chlorine will continue to be used as the main disinfectant for the foreseeable future. At the same time the tightening of regulations and the raising of drinking water standards have both led to more serious requirements for predicting and controlling DBPs in the water treatment process.

Since the influence of halogenated organics on human health has caused public concern, the European Union is now considering reducing the limiting concentration of TTHMs to 40 µg l − 1.


Poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT), as shown in Scheme 1, is a thermoplastic aromatic polyester. PTT offers several advantageous properties, including good tensile strength, resilience, outstanding elastic recovery, and dyeability, which makes it an ideal candidate for applications in textile fiber, carpet, and engineering plastic [1] [2] [3] [4] . However, if it serves as an engineering plastic material, PTT still has some shortcomings, such as poor impact resistance at lower temperatures and low heat distortion temperature; thus, the modification of PTT with the other kind of polymers or fillers has been widely developed by researchers [5, 6] .

PTT offers several advantageous properties, including good tensile strength, resilience, outstanding elastic recovery, and dyeability, which makes it an ideal candidate for applications in textile fiber, carpet, and engineering plastic.

However, if it serves as an engineering plastic material, PTT still has some shortcomings, such as poor impact resistance at lower temperatures and low heat distortion temperature; thus, the modification of PTT with the other kind of polymers or fillers has been widely developed by researchers.