The clustering of QTL for ECB-ST adjusted for maturity and CWC concentrations raises the question of whether the QTL for the two traits are linked by random chance or if the QTL represent pleiotropic genes aff ecting both traits. Five QTL each for sheath and stalk NDF adjusted were linked to QTL for ECB-ST adjusted for maturity, with no clear association between NDF concentrations and resistance to ECB-ST. For sheath NDF adjusted, the allele from one parent was associated with resistance to tunneling and increased CWC concentrations in only two cases, and for stalk NDF the expected relationship was observed in three cases. Three QTL for ECB-ST adjusted for maturity were linked to QTL for sheath ADF, with the allele from one parent associated with resistance to stalk tunneling and increased concentrations of sheath ADF in two cases, while six QTL for ECB-ST adjusted for maturity were linked to QTL for stalk ADF, with the expected relationship observed in three cases. The NDF adjusted may be uncorrelated or even positively correlated with ECB-ST, because it represents the relatively digestible hemicellulosic fraction of the cell wall; in the sheath, NDF adjusted is higher in B73 than in DE811 (Krakowsky et al., 2006) . In the case of ADF, however, a pattern does appear to be present: eight of the nine QTL for ECB-ST adjusted for maturity were linked to QTL for sheath or stalk ADF, and the alleles from DE811 were associated with increased ADF concentrations at all of these QTL. While this pattern could indicate that ECB-ST adjusted for maturity is negatively correlated with ADF in inbred DE811 (i.e., increased concentrations of ADF are correlated with decreased levels of stalk tunneling), it would also hold that the opposite is true for inbred B73.

The NDF adjusted may be uncorrelated or even positively correlated with ECB-ST, because it represents the relatively digestible hemicellulosic fraction of the cell wall; in the sheath, NDF adjusted is higher in B73 than in DE811.


There were fi ve signifi cant loci for sheath NDF adjusted, and while only a small proportion of the total genotypic covariance between NDF adjusted and ECB-ST adjusted for maturity is accounted for, three of the loci each account for relatively large proportions of the genotypic covariance. The proportions of genotypic covariance between sheath and stalk ADF and ECB-ST adjusted for maturity are not greater than 1 or less than -1 for any individual locus, but the presence of proportionally large positive and negative associations could explain the relatively small genotypic covariances between the traits. The signifi cance of negative genetic associations between ECB-ST adjusted for maturity and ADF at individual loci may be overwhelmed in the analysis across loci due to positive and negative associations at diff erent loci, and the fact that the associations are signifi cant for less than half of the loci for any particular trait (i.e., there are more QTL for CWCs that are not linked to QTL for ECB-ST adjusted for maturity than are linked). That a subset of the QTL for CWC concentrations is associated with resistance to ECB-ST may also explain the results of selection in the BS9(CB) C2 and WFISILO and WFISIHI populations. Selection for lower CWC concentrations in BS9(CB) C2-Lo and WFISILO resulted in increased ECB-ST, but selection for higher CWC concentrations in BS9(CB) C2-Hi and WFISIHI did not consistently result in decreased ECB-ST (Ostrander and Coors, 1997) . Selection for lower CWC concentrations probably reduced concentrations of all CWCs, but selection for increased CWCs may not have signifi cantly altered the allelic frequencies at the subset of loci associated with increased CWC concentrations and resistance to ECB-ST.

Selection for lower CWC concentrations in BS9(CB) C2-Lo and WFISILO resulted in increased ECB-ST, but selection for higher CWC concentrations in BS9(CB) C2-Hi and WFISIHI did not consistently result in decreased ECB-ST.


Thus they should not a¤ect our estimates of the age pro…le. However, this is only strictly true in a balanced panel (and our panel is not balanced). As the BHPS is a panel we can allow for household variation in the marginal utility of wealth and in tastes for durables by introducing household level …xed e¤ects. We do this in speci…cation (4) . Naturally, the introduction of household …xed e¤ects takes out time-invariant variables, notably the birth cohort variables.

We do this in speci…cation.


Edible vegetable oils are well-recognized to contain a variety of health-functional components, such as unsaturated fatty acids, compared to solid fats of animal origin. However, the edible oils that are generally in a liquid state at room temperature lack the physical functionalities suitable for the texture and stability of food products. Liquid oils are chemically or enzymatically converted into semisolid or plastic fats to produce shortening and margarine (Ghosh 1996) . However, there still exist health-related concerns such as the increased amount of saturated fatty acids and generation of trans fatty acids.

Liquid oils are chemically or enzymatically converted into semisolid or plastic fats to produce shortening and margarine.


Within the nuclear power generation industry, ultrasonic Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) is employed as a means to verify the structural integrity of a given component at a manufacturing stage and at various points throughout its operational life. Due to the safety-critical nature of the industry, the ability to accurately detect, characterize and size defects is of paramount importance. Ultrasonic NDE of austenitic welds is particularly challenging due to their highly anisotropic and heterogeneous microstructures [1] . One of the principal anisotropic effects occurs when ultrasound passing through a weld is 'bent' in a process known as 'beam-steering' [2] . Since it is common practise to assume material isotropy during ultrasonic inspections, this can lead to a variety of problems during ultrasonic array inspection of anisotropic and heterogeneous materials, including the mislocation of defects, and aberration of the defect response. In turn, this can lead to a reduced Probability of Detection and an increased Probability of a False Alarm, influencing both the quality of the inspection and the confidence placed in its results. The degree of defect mislocation and degradation may be a function of inspection parameters such as the probe position, the beam angle, the number and distribution of array elements, the weld anisotropy, the defect location and many more. As such, the ability to model beam-steering and its impact upon ultrasonic imaging allows a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the impact of anisotropy of a particular weld upon a given ultrasonic inspection, and more importantly, the potential to optimise the inspection through parametric analysis or an optimisation framework e.g. simulated annealing or genetic algorithms [3, 4, 5, 6] .

Ultrasonic NDE of austenitic welds is particularly challenging due to their highly anisotropic and heterogeneous microstructures.

One of the principal anisotropic effects occurs when ultrasound passing through a weld is 'bent' in a process known as 'beam-steering'.

As such, the ability to model beam-steering and its impact upon ultrasonic imaging allows a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the impact of anisotropy of a particular weld upon a given ultrasonic inspection, and more importantly, the potential to optimise the inspection through parametric analysis or an optimisation framework e.g. simulated annealing or genetic algorithms.


Cloud radio access network (C-RAN) has been proposed to address this challenge and received significant attention in both academia and industry [2] , [3] . C-RAN divides the traditional BS into three parts, i.e., remote radio heads (RRHs), baseband unit (BBU) pool, and the fronthaul link [1] . In C-RAN, RRHs only need to compress and forward the received signals from mobile devices and transmit them to the BBU pool while most of the intensive network computational tasks, such as baseband signal processing, precoding matrix calculation, channel state information estimation are moved to the BBU pool.

Cloud radio access network (C-RAN) has been proposed to address this challenge and received significant attention in both academia and industry.

C-RAN divides the traditional BS into three parts, i.e., remote radio heads (RRHs), baseband unit (BBU) pool, and the fronthaul link.


For MSP, on the one hand, the electricity cost of power consumption has become skyrocketing [1] . For example, China Mobile has to spend more than one billion dollars for the electricity every year [1] . Hence, a facing problem of MSP is to minimize the power consumption of the whole system. On the other hand, as analyzed with a real world mobile usage trace in Section 2.1, the arrival of job requests from mobile devices are always dynamic and unpredictable. In addition, the jobs from different users usually have variable lengths. Such kind of mobility feature introduces huge challenges for the scheduling of both computation and network resources, leading to fluctuating revenues for MSP over time [14] .

For MSP, on the one hand, the electricity cost of power consumption has become skyrocketing.

For example, China Mobile has to spend more than one billion dollars for the electricity every year.

Such kind of mobility feature introduces huge challenges for the scheduling of both computation and network resources, leading to fluctuating revenues for MSP over time.


This paper describes robust design of a vertical gyroscope with unbalanced inner gimbal. Axiomatic approach is chosen for the design process. The yield rate is increased although the fabrication errors exist. Evaluations of responses are conducted using a commercial FE program: GENESIS [9] .

Evaluations of responses are conducted using a commercial FE program: GENESIS.


For further discussion, we focus on a comparison of Dataset3 and Dataset4 because both are equally related to disaster-interests (Figure 1 ). Facebook Pages users whose post or comment categorized in Dataset3 might be familiar with damaged areas because they know the names of damaged-areas while those of Dataset4 might not be familiar with these areas. Moreover, the trends of sentiment scores are different. In particular, those of Dataset3 and Dataset4 after the first half of April are negatively correlated (coefficient = -0.28). This difference might imply that the sentiment of those who are familiar with damaged areas such as local residents might change in the opposite direction to the sentiment of those who are not familiar with them such as non-local residents. This means, for instance, that even when people's activities in the damaged area aimed at restoring their daily-lives were intense and their sentiment positively improved, people outside the damaged area might express their anxiety or concern due to reading comments about people's continuous struggles for recovery in the damaged area. These results are consistent with other research that indicates that local citizens more likely share images related to response, recovery and the damage, while the non-local population focused more on the images of people suffering [2] . In long-term recovery, local residents might have had more positive sentiments regarding disaster than those on the outside. This is because they need to be strong to return back to normal routines while onlookers from the outside might continue to express sentiments of worry as part of their collective gaze on others' suffering [2] . Our results imply that, for long-term recovery analysis, we need to distinguish the sentiment differences between those who familiar with the damaged areas and those who are not familiar with the areas even if both are interested in the disaster recovery.

These results are consistent with other research that indicates that local citizens more likely share images related to response, recovery and the damage, while the non-local population focused more on the images of people suffering.

This is because they need to be strong to return back to normal routines while onlookers from the outside might continue to express sentiments of worry as part of their collective gaze on others' suffering.


When the total variance in waxy wheat quality was apportioned to main effects and interactions by computation of variance components (Table 4) , many of the non-RVA traits were found to vary in a manner similar to that previously reported for non-waxy wheats (Peterson et al., 1998; Purdy et al., 1968) . Environment was the largest source of variance for seed weight, SDS sedimentation volume, flour ash and Mixograph peak time and tolerance. Variance in grain ash, grain and flour protein and Mixograph absorption was distributed approximately equally over environment, line (genotype) and line £ environment interactions. The RVA variables showed a totally different pattern. The largest source of variance was line, with environmental effects being slight, and line £ environment effects being negligible. Of the non-RVA variables, only grain hardness and flour yield demonstrated a similar pattern. These observations suggest that once the functional properties of a particular waxy line have been documented, end-users can expect, in the absence of preharvest sprouting, stable RVA responses over diverse environments, but grain and protein related variables will vary in a manner similar to non-waxy wheats.

When the total variance in waxy wheat quality was apportioned to main effects and interactions by computation of variance components (Table 4) , many of the non-RVA traits were found to vary in a manner similar to that previously reported for non-waxy wheats.


Previous studies have given inconsistent results when waxy and non-waxy wheat RVA peak viscosities were compared (Kiribuchi-Otobe et al., 1997; Hayakawa et al., 1997) . In the present study, no differences in mean values of the two classes were detected, but significant differences were detected within the waxy class. Thus, whether or not waxy flours give higher peak viscosities than non-waxy will be dependent upon the specific waxy and non-waxy wheats under study.

Previous studies have given inconsistent results when waxy and non-waxy wheat RVA peak viscosities were compared.


Our discussion should be viewed as a qualitative one since there are uncertainties in the material properties for particular constituents and precise quantitative evaluation is not easily done. Nevertheless, these results provide an insight into the physics of the phenomena and can be used in future modeling efforts. Figure 1 : Experimental data for PMMA thermal expansion coefficient [7] .

Figure 1 : Experimental data for PMMA thermal expansion coefficient.


Another underlying motivation for our work is to construct simplified models of the propellant combustion interface that are suitable for use in large-scale computer simulation of solid rocket motors, when it is not feasible or desired to resolve the thermal layer. Our analysis must ultimately lead to three-dimensional, tensorially correct jump conditions that are applied at the surface of the solid-propellant. Therefore we use standard methods found in modern continuum mechanics to formulate a thermodynamically consistent, tensorially correct equations that can be used in three-dimensions. The general approach employed here will allow later changes in constitutive theory that can embrace more complex behavior such as viscoelasticity of the solid and more complex phase transitions. We simplify the general formulation to obtain a solution for the temperature and stress field in the solid for a steady, plane regression into a semi-infinite solid that corresponds to the solid half (or portion) of the combined solid-gas propellant flame structure. The thermal profile in the solid is maintained at the surface by the specification of a constant (and elevated) temperature that represents the combustion. Since the formulation is three-dimensional and thermodynamically complete, this solution can be used later to systematically construct more geometrically complex configurations of the near-surface layer, represented as a thin but arbitrarily shaped front, not unlike standard front models used to describe combustion and detonation, [7] , [8] , [9] .

Since the formulation is three-dimensional and thermodynamically complete, this solution can be used later to systematically construct more geometrically complex configurations of the near-surface layer, represented as a thin but arbitrarily shaped front, not unlike standard front models used to describe combustion and detonation.


In the second method, filters containing unlabelled DNA were incubated one at a time with radioactive rye probe DNA to conserve radioactive DNA. The results of these hybridisations are shown in table 2. Again, in every case where a rye chromosome was known to be present, the amount of radioactive DNA binding to the filters was greater. This method is therefore also a convenient one and conserves radioactive probe DNA. The levels of hybridisation of labelled rye DNA to DNAs from telocentric addition lines were, in some cases, greater than to the DNAs from the related complete chromosome addition lines (see tables 1 and 2). The reasons for this have not been investigated. However it is noteworthy that the addition chromosome 2R which shows low hybridisation (tables 1 and 2) has lost a heterochromatic telomere that is present on the homologous telocentric chromosome (Singh and Röbbelen, 1976) . All values are means of five replicates of amount of labelled rye DNA hybridised per jig of filter-bound DNA expressed relative to the mean amount hybridised per jig of filter-.

However it is noteworthy that the addition chromosome 2R which shows low hybridisation (tables 1 and 2) has lost a heterochromatic telomere that is present on the homologous telocentric chromosome.


Traditionally, most developers were (and still are) using grep (global regular expression print) for regular expression search, or variants of it, to help them locate items of interest in the source code and documentation. Existing integrated development environments (IDE) feature powerful searching tools also based on regular expression matching and on other mechanisms. For example, in addition to its native search features, Eclipse is currently extended with a number of research tools that support source code searching and exploration [1, 3, 8, 10, 11] .

For example, in addition to its native search features, Eclipse is currently extended with a number of research tools that support source code searching and exploration.


The existence or absence of the different types of intergrain group exchanges is determined by the amount of R that varies from 0 to 1 [36] . It has been reported that R < 0.5 is for the particle interact by magnetostatic interaction, while R = 0.5 is for randomly oriented noninteracting particles that undergo coherent rotations [37, 38] . Finally, 1 > R > 0.5 confirms the existence of exchange-coupling particles. Therefore, the fact that the values of R for samples calcined at 673, 723, and 923 K are lower than 0.5 is attributed to particles that interact by magnetostatic interactions, and the calcined sample at 823 K, with R = 0.5, has randomlyoriented, non-interacting particles. The variation in the value of the coercivity field and remanence ratio with particle size can be explained on the basis of domain structure, critical Journal of Nanomaterials The variation of the coercivity field and remanence ratio with particle size for cobalt ferrite nanoparticles calcined samples at different temperature.

The existence or absence of the different types of intergrain group exchanges is determined by the amount of R that varies from 0 to 1.

It has been reported that R < 0.5 is for the particle interact by magnetostatic interaction, while R = 0.5 is for randomly oriented noninteracting particles that undergo coherent rotations.


The average energy cost is 0.24 €/m 3 , which is abundantly below the average values recorded in other studies for Europe and Italy, in particular, and discussed in the literature section. This cost varies for different sizes of plants, as shown by Figure 1 ; the average energy expenditure is 0.08 €/m 3 in plants serving more than 10,000 PE; 0.12 in medium plants; and 0.30 in those with a capacity lower than 2000 PE. In addition, other plant features affect energy costs, such as the type of aeration and faculty to derogate to the effluent discharges rules, admitted by the environmental authority (see Table 5 ). The results on aeration systems confirm those of the previous research [18] . The aeration provided with diffusers is more expensive than that realized with turbines; the latter shows a cost of 0.13 €/m 3 , less than half of that incurred with diffusers. Moreover, the faculty to derogate to the environmental law represents a significant driver of cost performance, since those plants who achieve it record a lower cost of energy. This evidence is explained considering that the reduced compliance with environmental law determines poor treatment, with low operating expenditure. In addition, other plant features affect energy costs, such as the type of aeration and faculty to derogate to the effluent discharges rules, admitted by the environmental authority (see Table 5 ). The results on aeration systems confirm those of the previous research [18] . The aeration provided with diffusers is more expensive than that realized with turbines; the latter shows a cost of 0.13 €/m 3 , less than half of that incurred with diffusers. Moreover, the faculty to derogate to the environmental law represents a significant driver of cost performance, since those plants who achieve it record a lower cost of energy. This evidence is explained considering that the reduced compliance with environmental law determines poor treatment, with low operating expenditure. Then, energy costs per m 3 were inferred, including several exogenous variables in a linear regression model. Table 6 shows that only the rate of used capacity and type of aeration affect costs. A more intense use of the plant capacity decreases energy costs per m 3 , since with this operational condition, energy can be consumed more efficiently and the fixed component of energy costs is decreased with a large production volume. Furthermore, the lack of any kind of aeration has a positive impact on energy costs, since this activity requires the highest energy-consumption rate among those included in the treatment process. It is quite interesting to observe that energy costs are not affected by plant size; the capacity measured in terms of PE shows an estimator that is not statistically significant. This evidence contradicts that which is reported in Figure 1 , and that from the previous literature [35] . The estimators could be affected by the high variance recorded for the cluster '<2000 PE' plants, which includes the highest and smallest values in terms of energy cost, 2.19 €/m 3 and 0.01 €/m 3 , respectively. To avoid this potential noise, some outliers were removed from the populations, excluding those small plants that provide a sketchy wastewater treatment; however, the retrieved statistical model provides results for plants capacity that are very similar to those shown in Table 6 .

The results on aeration systems confirm those of the previous research.

This evidence contradicts that which is reported in Figure 1 , and that from the previous literature.


Another way to boost energy efficiency is to operate on a larger scale, while also assuring a high used capacity rate. In fact, larger plants achieve higher removal and dry matter rates, since, in this case, it is economically convenient to install innovative technologies, whose costs might be allocated to a large amount of production. This result is consistent with the main results from the previous literature, demonstrating the benefits achieved with a larger-scaled plant [18, 19, 34, 35] . Then, the benefits obtained with an increase of the used capacity rate are due to a characteristic of energy cost: it includes a percentage of fixed expenditures, so that a growth in the used capacity allows to for improved reduction in this constant cost item per m 3 of treated wastewater. Furthermore, under certain limits, a full employment of the plants could allow a better performance in terms of the removal rate. In the design phase, engineers could be oriented to oversize the plant, in order to face the risk of extra volumes, generated by tourists as well as new urban and industrial settlements; however, if an excessive oversize reduces the load factor, the design choice will be paid in terms of higher energy costs.

This result is consistent with the main results from the previous literature, demonstrating the benefits achieved with a larger-scaled plant.


First, an efficiency score was estimated solving an output orientation problem with the variable return to scale assumption. This choice is consistent with the operations of a WWTP, which should aim to improve the quality of wastewater and sludge treatment, with a higher removal rate and percentage of dry matter, keeping costs as a constraint. Variable return to scale was assumed, since the business of wastewater treatment is affected by relevant economies of scale, as demonstrated by the previous literature [34] [35] [36] [37] . Then, the Algorithm 1 was applied with (i) the development of a truncated regression analysis, (ii) resampling procedure to generate virtual efficiency scores and re-estimation of the model, and (iii) calculation procedure of standard errors and confidence intervals from the re-estimated model.

Variable return to scale was assumed, since the business of wastewater treatment is affected by relevant economies of scale, as demonstrated by the previous literature.


Timing of tillage methods is another important factor in the dryland winter wheat cropping systems of the PNW because wheat is grown once in a 24-month period in the PNW [10] . In this traditional system, practiced over 100 years in the PNW, land is left bare for 14 months (if fallowed) or 10 months (if pea could be incorporated into the rotation, which depends on the amount of rainfall). Soils in this system are without crop or crop residue, and exposed to wind and water erosion due to lack of cover during this long period [10] [11] [12] . If tillage is delayed and implemented in spring instead of fall, there will be residue cover to protect the soil from erosion, and rainfall impacts can be reduced, water infiltration may increase, and evaporation may be reduced [10] . Consequently, the dynamics of SOM may be affected by tillage timing, which also impacts nutrient cycling.

Timing of tillage methods is another important factor in the dryland winter wheat cropping systems of the PNW because wheat is grown once in a 24-month period in the PNW.

Soils in this system are without crop or crop residue, and exposed to wind and water erosion due to lack of cover during this long period.

If tillage is delayed and implemented in spring instead of fall, there will be residue cover to protect the soil from erosion, and rainfall impacts can be reduced, water infiltration may increase, and evaporation may be reduced.


It appears that human activities negatively influence the distribution of large forest animals in Dzanga-Sangha. There is much evidence of human intrusion into the Park. The highest intensities of human traces were found just inside the Park boundary opposite the village of Bayanga, but traces were also found throughout the Park. Hunting traces were most intensive within 3 km of secondary roads and this did not vary greatly with distance from Bayanga (Blom, 2001) . As these secondary roads (in contrast to the main road) are closed to vehicles this underlines the importance of hunting on foot in this area. Distances from the village and the main road, as well as the distance from secondary roads, appeared to have the greatest influence, affecting half of the species studied.

Hunting traces were most intensive within 3 km of secondary roads and this did not vary greatly with distance from Bayanga.


In the context of construct validity, factor analysis allows obtaining empirical evidences about the internal structure of a measurement instrument, namely, the relationships between the latent variables and the results obtained after administering the instrument (Ferrando & Anguiano-Carrasco, 2010) . Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is a particular case of structural equation modeling (SEM) which consists of collecting data in order to confirm that a construct is defined according to the theoretical approach the researcher uses as a starting point. Then, the model will serve to represent, in a reasonably good way, how the observed variables are interconnected (Schumacker & Lomax, 1996) .

In the context of construct validity, factor analysis allows obtaining empirical evidences about the internal structure of a measurement instrument, namely, the relationships between the latent variables and the results obtained after administering the instrument.

Then, the model will serve to represent, in a reasonably good way, how the observed variables are interconnected.


To return to the initially stated objective of reaching a closer integration of simulation with general manufacturing applications, the usage of standards has to be discussed. In the last years, there have been a number of efforts for standardization of exchange formats for model descriptions (e.g., CMSD-IM and SysML (Schönherr and Rose 2009) ). These standards were developed to support the exchange of modeling information between non-simulation applications and simulation systems.

In the last years, there have been a number of efforts for standardization of exchange formats for model descriptions (e.g., CMSD-IM and SysML).


Several imaging modalities, including US, MRI and CT, can identify end-stage liver fibrosis, or overt cirrhosis. Cirrhosis may be suggested by anatomical imaging based on changes in the liver morphology (e.g., the liver commonly appears shrunken and has a nodular surface) or changes in signal intensity using conventional MRI techniques [4] . MR elastography has recently been explored in children and adults with chronic liver disease, including pediatric patients with NAFLD and post-Fontan palliation for congenital heart disease, and has documented increased liver stiffness in the presence of fibrosis [5] [6] [7] . MR elastography has limitations, however, including high cost (per examination and related to necessary infrastructure), limited availability, need for sedation or general anesthesia in some patients, and MR signal loss in the setting of iron overload [5] .

Cirrhosis may be suggested by anatomical imaging based on changes in the liver morphology (e.g., the liver commonly appears shrunken and has a nodular surface) or changes in signal intensity using conventional MRI techniques.

MR elastography has recently been explored in children and adults with chronic liver disease, including pediatric patients with NAFLD and post-Fontan palliation for congenital heart disease, and has documented increased liver stiffness in the presence of fibrosis.

MR elastography has limitations, however, including high cost (per examination and related to necessary infrastructure), limited availability, need for sedation or general anesthesia in some patients, and MR signal loss in the setting of iron overload.


Soil is an important natural resource that sustains many key environmental and life-sustaining processes. Various approaches for soil quality (SQ) evaluation have been proposed to help ensure its protection against degradation through inappropriate agricultural management practices [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] . Being aware of soil physical, chemical, and biological functioning is a basic step for soil conservation, especially in intensely managed agroecosystems.

Various approaches for soil quality (SQ) evaluation have been proposed to help ensure its protection against degradation through inappropriate agricultural management practices.


The nature of astronomical (or scientific) data processing is changing. Datasets are doubling in size and number every year, with archives growing beyond petabyte scales [26] . Similarly, the processing is increasing in complexity requiring laboriously sophisticated techniques and expertise in both data reduction and analysis. Often such processing involves evaluation of a variety of processing techniques and different datasets, tweaking parameters, verifying data quality, repeating data derivation and customization of the results. Consequently more data is generated as new results are derived. It is therefore crucial for the experimenter or other users of the system to understand how a result was derived, what data was used, and how it was selected.

Datasets are doubling in size and number every year, with archives growing beyond petabyte scales.


Hausdorff measure to the boundaries of two domains Ω and Λ ⊂ R d+1 and normalizing with constants z 1 := 1/H d (∂Ω) and z 2 := 1/H d (∂Λ). However, any Borel probability measures satisfying spt µ ⊂ ∂Ω and spt ν ⊂ ∂Λ may also be considered. In this case one interprets the support of µ as a set covered to various depths using a unit volume of paint, and the Wasserstein distance d(µ, ν) as measuring the minimum work (or elastic energy) required to rearrange the paint so as to cover spt ν to a depth specified by ν. This metric takes into account not only the geometry of the supports but also the weighting of points, thus combining useful aspects of the Hausdorff distance and the area (or 'template') metric [18] [9] .

This metric takes into account not only the geometry of the supports but also the weighting of points, thus combining useful aspects of the Hausdorff distance and the area (or 'template') metric.


In this paper, we investigate the existence and attractively of almost periodic solution for an impulsive cellular neural networks with delay. The results obtained are a generalization of the results for the dynamics behavior of Hopfield neural networks with delay [20] [21] [22] [23] . Such a generalization enables to study different type of classical problems as well as the problem of stability of the systems, respectively the problem of optimal control for this systems.

The results obtained are a generalization of the results for the dynamics behavior of Hopfield neural networks with delay.


Whereas negation in predicate logic is well-defined and syntactically simple, negation in natural language is much complex. Generally, learning the scope of negation involves two subtasks: negation signal finding and negation scope finding. The former decides whether the words in a sentence are negation signals (i.e., words indicating negation, e.g., no, not, fail, rather than), where the semantic information of the words, rather than the syntactic information, plays a critical role. The latter determines the sequences of words in the sentence which are negated by the given negation signal. Compared with negation scope finding, negation signal finding is much simpler and has been well resolved in the literature, e.g. with the accuracy of 95.8%-98.7% on the three subcorpora of the Bioscope corpus (Morante and Daelemans, 2009) . In this paper, we focus on negation scope finding instead. That is, we assume golden negation signal finding.

Compared with negation scope finding, negation signal finding is much simpler and has been well resolved in the literature, e.g. with the accuracy of 95.8%-98.7% on the three subcorpora of the Bioscope corpus.


Functional rhinoplasty is a well-accepted surgical intervention for correction of nasal airflow obstruction [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] . Some commonly used procedures include batten grafts for external valve collapse and spreader grafts for internal valve compromise; other techniques include butterfly onlay grafts, alar rim grafts, suture suspension, and flaring sutures [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] . Accurate preoperative diagnosis of the specific anatomic problem and subsequent selection of the appropriate surgical technique will ensure the best possible results for patients undergoing functional rhinoplasty. However, establishing correlation between subjective nasal airflow and physiologic nasal airflow is often difficult [11] . This is certainly observed in many clinic or office settings, where no objective instruments or methods exist to document nasal airflow. Therefore, an easily accessible and reproducible method to examine nasal airflow changes in the clinical setting is needed.

Functional rhinoplasty is a well-accepted surgical intervention for correction of nasal airflow obstruction.

Some commonly used procedures include batten grafts for external valve collapse and spreader grafts for internal valve compromise; other techniques include butterfly onlay grafts, alar rim grafts, suture suspension, and flaring sutures.

However, establishing correlation between subjective nasal airflow and physiologic nasal airflow is often difficult.


Despite these early efforts, many of the semantic web objectives, including the technology to organise, search, integrate, and evolve web-accessible resources, remain difficult to achieve. Ontologies provide essential support for semantics rich queries (e.g., data source vocabulary and structure aware queries). However, several critical issues must be addressed to realize the potential of the semantic web vision [3] . In particular, the effective use of a potentially large and dynamic collection of Web resources requires more scalable and flexible information sharing and querying techniques, which leverages and seamlessly extends current mainstream technologies and practices.

However, several critical issues must be addressed to realize the potential of the semantic web vision.


The query rewriting techniques proposed in this paper go beyond subsumption and equivalence between queries and e-catalog descriptions. First, our approach enables partial matching between e-catalog descriptions and queries, thereby allowing to cater for flexible selection of e-catalogs in environments where : (i) the existence of one centralized schema or ontology is not realistic (ii) descriptions of external e-catalogs (members of communities which are accessible via peer relationships) are not known when processing a query at a given community. In WS-CatalogNet, peer communities do not share the descriptions of their respective members. In addition, a community may form a peer relationship with another community without necessarily providing precise description of the mapping between its ontology and the ontology of the peer community. As a consequence, processing a user query in such a context requires the ability to select among the local members of a community those e-catalogs that are able to answer a part of the query, as well as the ability to compute the remaining part of the query that cannot be answered by the actual community (i.e, cannot be answered by e-catalogs which are registered with the community). The remaining part of a query can be forwarded to peer communities for further processing. Second, we argue that in the presence of multiple possible alternative e-catalogs with overlapping or identical functionality, users will discriminate these alternatives based on their Quality of Service (QoS). QoS is a broad concept that encompasses a number of non-functional properties such as price and reputation [12] . A QoS-aware and user-centric approach to e-catalogs selection is therefore needed.

QoS is a broad concept that encompasses a number of non-functional properties such as price and reputation.


Conventional statistical models are identical to the direct random time-series model, including auto regressive (AR), and auto regressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) [9] models. The persistence models are considered as the simplest time-series models, but they can surpass many other models in very short-term prediction. In spite of the unstable forecasting efficiency, they have been widely used in practice [8] . The persistence approach has proven to be a useful first approximation for short-term wind power forecasting. Hence, persistence and ARIMA approaches provide an important benchmark against which to compare alternative techniques.

Conventional statistical models are identical to the direct random time-series model, including auto regressive (AR), and auto regressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models.

In spite of the unstable forecasting efficiency, they have been widely used in practice.


NN are simple, but powerful and flexible tools for forecasting, provided that there are enough data for training, an adequate selection of the input-output samples, an appropriate number of hidden units and enough computational resources available. Also, NN have the well-known advantages of being able to approximate nonlinear functions and being able to solve problems where the input-output relationship is neither well defined nor easily computable, because NN are data-driven. Three-layered feedforward NN are specially suited for forecasting, implementing nonlinearities using sigmoid functions for the hidden layer and linear functions for the output layer [20] . Hence, a three-layered feedforward NN trained by the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm is considered in this paper. This paper presents a successful application of using NN in combination with wavelet transform (WT) to forecast short-term wind power in Portugal. The proposed NNWT approach is compared with persistence, ARIMA and NN approaches, to demonstrate its effectiveness regarding forecasting accuracy and computation time.

Three-layered feedforward NN are specially suited for forecasting, implementing nonlinearities using sigmoid functions for the hidden layer and linear functions for the output layer.


Our inspiration in present attempt is covered by four novel aspects. Firstly to model and analyze the three dimensional (3D) flow of viscous nanoliquid induced by a stretching surface. Secondly to examine the heat and mass transfer attributes through the generalized Fourier's and Fick's laws, namely CattaneoChristov double diffusion expressions. Thirdly to employ the Buongiorno's model of nanofluids. Thermophoretic and Brownian motion aspects are considered. Fourth to derive convergent solutions for the velocities, temperature and concentration through optimal homotopy analysis method (OHAM) [51] [52] [53] [54] [55] [56] [57] [58] [59] [60] . The contributions of various pertinent parameters are studied and discussed. Further skin friction and heat and mass transfer rates at the surface are also analyzed through numerical values.

Fourth to derive convergent solutions for the velocities, temperature and concentration through optimal homotopy analysis method (OHAM).


Exact diagnosis of AIBDs is essential for both prognosis and treatment decisions. Current diagnosis of AIBDs is based on the clinical picture, histopathology of a lesional biopsy, direct IF microscopy of a perilesional biopsy, and serology. Pattern analysis of direct IF microscopy samples from pemphigoid patients now allows the differentiation of patients with epidermolysis bullosa acquisita from other pemphigoid disorders. The fastest-developing field is certainly serological diagnosis of AIBDs. Commercial assays, ELISA and indirect IF-based assays have been established, using recombinant forms of six target antigens (Dsg1, Dsg3, envoplakin, BP180 NC16A, BP230, and type VII collagen, with laminin 332 soon to follow). In addition to assays using single antigens, multivariant ELISA and BIOCHIP ® mosaic-based indirect IF tests are available. These tests do not include all epitopes of the molecules and not all target antigens, but a number of in-house tests based on ELISA, immunoblotting, and immunoprecipitation are available in specialized laboratories [97] . A few laboratories have successfully obtained formal accreditation, e.g. by the German Accreditation Body (DAkkS), including the autoimmune laboratory of the Department of Dermatology, University of Lübeck (DAkkS D-ML-13069-06-00), which offers the entire diagnostic spectrum for AIBDs (www.derma.uni-luebeck.de/autoimmunlabor). Future developments are aimed at establishing test systems for antibodies against additional target antigens, and will focus on automatization and novel technologies that provide highly reliable and standardized multivariant diagnostics for AIBDs.

These tests do not include all epitopes of the molecules and not all target antigens, but a number of in-house tests based on ELISA, immunoblotting, and immunoprecipitation are available in specialized laboratories.


Several substances probably influence the foraging behaviour of ladybirds as adults searching for oviposition sites or food are sensitive to the presence of honeydew or wax or the odour of their prey (Colburn & Asquith 1970; Evans & Dixon 1986; Obata 1986; van der Meiracker et al. 1990; Sengonca & Liu 1994) . The chemical nature of these attractants is unknown. This study indicates that b-farnesene may act as a kairomone for first-instar larvae.

Several substances probably influence the foraging behaviour of ladybirds as adults searching for oviposition sites or food are sensitive to the presence of honeydew or wax or the odour of their prey.


In this paper, we present a circuit that generates random identification numbers based on manufacturing variation, with lower energy than reported in prior published work. We also present an addressing protocol that allows for reliable on-chip identification in the presence of unreliable bits. This reduces the amount of data that must be transmitted off-chip, lowering the energy consumption of the sensor. An analysis of the reliability of the system is also presented. While intended for the low-energy identification of wireless sensors, this same circuit could be used as part of a low-energy secret key generator for cryptographic applications [9] .

While intended for the low-energy identification of wireless sensors, this same circuit could be used as part of a low-energy secret key generator for cryptographic applications.


An alternative is an identification system based on the individual variation of ICs due to the CMOS manufacturing process [6] . A suitably designed circuit could be sensitive to these variations, and produce a string of bits that is random between chips, but temporally static, to be used as an ID number. This could be thought of as a particular type of NV memory that is "programmed" once at the time of manufacture with random data. Such variation sensitive circuits also have security and cryptographic applications, where they can be used to form Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) that allow for authentication and secret key generation [7, 8] .

An alternative is an identification system based on the individual variation of ICs due to the CMOS manufacturing process.

Such variation sensitive circuits also have security and cryptographic applications, where they can be used to form Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) that allow for authentication and secret key generation.


Recent advances in the design of wirelessly powered, millimeter-scale sensor tags will allow for the construction of increasingly small sensors for a variety of applications [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] . In the case of wirelessly powered sensors like RFID tags, however, decreasing size leads to decreased power delivery due to reduced antenna area. All sensor components must therefore be designed for minimum power consumption. A common component of such sensors is a non-volatile memory used to store a unique identification (ID) number. However, for very small sensors, implementation of such a memory is non-trivial because of the low supply voltage and available energy, which can be insufficient to program a conventional non-volatile (NV) memory such as Flash or EEPROM. An alternative would be to program each sensor at its time of manufacture, for example by a physical electrical connection that could supply the energy required for a NV memory, or by an array of laser-blown fuses. These approaches require extra masks or post-manufacturing steps, which raise the individual cost of the supposedly low-cost devices.

Recent advances in the design of wirelessly powered, millimeter-scale sensor tags will allow for the construction of increasingly small sensors for a variety of applications.


In our study, we sampled only five wintering sites, but two of these sites were in the Bay of Panama, where 35% of the global population is estimated to overwinter (Morrison et al. 2001) . It is estimated that an additional 10% of western sandpipers overwinter in Bahía Santa María. Samples from three or four more key sites in the Bay of Panama plus another three or four sites in Mexico would increase the global representation to over 75%. Based on the number of additional sampling sites needed and our current discriminatory ability, we suggest that trace element profiles could be used to accurately separate all major western sandpiper wintering sites. However, because elemental profiles appear to be highly site-specific, trace elements will likely not be useful for species with a more continuous distribution, where only a small fraction of the populations can be sampled (Donovan et al. 2006) .

In our study, we sampled only five wintering sites, but two of these sites were in the Bay of Panama, where 35% of the global population is estimated to overwinter.

However, because elemental profiles appear to be highly site-specific, trace elements will likely not be useful for species with a more continuous distribution, where only a small fraction of the populations can be sampled.


Chitosan is the deacetylated derivative of chitin ( Figure  1 ), which is the second most abundant polysaccharide found on earth next to cellulose, it is obtained commercially from shrimp or crab shell chitin (a N-acetylglucosamine polymer) by alkaline deacetylation in various grades [3, 4] . It has been reported that chitosan gives considerable antibacterial activity against a broad spectrum with bacteria [5] . However, the lack of strong chemical bonding with textile substrate became the major drawback for chitosan antibacterial application because of the problem in durability against repeated laundering [6] .

Chitosan is the deacetylated derivative of chitin ( Figure  1 ), which is the second most abundant polysaccharide found on earth next to cellulose, it is obtained commercially from shrimp or crab shell chitin (a N-acetylglucosamine polymer) by alkaline deacetylation in various grades.

It has been reported that chitosan gives considerable antibacterial activity against a broad spectrum with bacteria.

However, the lack of strong chemical bonding with textile substrate became the major drawback for chitosan antibacterial application because of the problem in durability against repeated laundering.


There is a great demand for antibacterial finishes on textile, since textile considered an ideal environment for bacterial growth. A huge number of chemicals are used in textile processes. But many of these chemicals are toxic to humans and do not easily degrade in the environment. The textile industry always looks for eco-friendly processes that replace toxic textile chemicals. These facts have facilitated the use of chitosan as a textile chemical. Chitosan, an important and commercially available biopolymer, has many chemical attributes to make it an interesting candidate for textile application. Chitosan has been found to be an interesting biopolymer for immobilization of desired biomolecules because of excellent film-forming ability, high permeability, and mechanical strength, nontoxicity, biocompatibility, easy availability, low cost, and containing reactive amino groups [2] .

Chitosan has been found to be an interesting biopolymer for immobilization of desired biomolecules because of excellent film-forming ability, high permeability, and mechanical strength, nontoxicity, biocompatibility, easy availability, low cost, and containing reactive amino groups.


The astrology type instances indicate that the credibility and public prestige of science leads to the emergence of many types of pseudoscientific claims in the guise of science that are presented especially with the label of logy as a marketing tactic (Turgut, 2009; Turgut, Akçay & İrez, 2010; Turgut, 2011; Uslu, 2011) . Therefore, the problem of pseudoscience is not just a philosophical and/or technical issue; it has some public and economic dimensions that are to be considered (Nickles, 2006) . It should be asserted that to demarcate scientific theories or research from pseudoscientific ones and conspiracy theories is crucial for also sociological motives (Turgut, 2009; Turgut, Akçay & İrez, 2010; Uslu, 2011) . The public and sociological aspects of the issue require introducing pseudoscience to society at least conceptually. As a threshold matter, without ignoring the philosophical difficulties in formulating the strict criteria for demarcation, the phrase of pseudoscience can be presented in a simple way as a wholesome of the claims deprived of scientific proofs and cogency even though it appears with the claim of being scientific (Shermer, 1997) . In other words, as mentioned above the pseudoscientific claims are proposed to be scientific by their proponents but they are mostly regarded as not scientific since they do not meet the scientific standards such as to be verifiable either experimentally or theoretically (Finn, Bothe & Bramlett, 2005; Jahoda, 1969; Preece & Baxter, 2000) .

The astrology type instances indicate that the credibility and public prestige of science leads to the emergence of many types of pseudoscientific claims in the guise of science that are presented especially with the label of logy as a marketing tactic.

Therefore, the problem of pseudoscience is not just a philosophical and/or technical issue; it has some public and economic dimensions that are to be considered.

It should be asserted that to demarcate scientific theories or research from pseudoscientific ones and conspiracy theories is crucial for also sociological motives.

As a threshold matter, without ignoring the philosophical difficulties in formulating the strict criteria for demarcation, the phrase of pseudoscience can be presented in a simple way as a wholesome of the claims deprived of scientific proofs and cogency even though it appears with the claim of being scientific.

In other words, as mentioned above the pseudoscientific claims are proposed to be scientific by their proponents but they are mostly regarded as not scientific since they do not meet the scientific standards such as to be verifiable either experimentally or theoretically.


Another striking result that revealed in this study was the ineffectiveness of the unguided group discussions, performed in the class, in adopting the perceptions of participants. Just three candidate teachers revised their opinions about the status of the cases they investigated from being scientific to non-scientific and one from undecided to scientific through the discussions within groups after they reflected on mostly cited characteristics of being verifiable, observable, consistent and natural. On the other hand, a considerable alteration was determined in the perceptions of participants about the status of cases they investigated following the intervention performed in the class by one of the researchers that based on pre-determined characteristics of CONPTT. Initially, an important portion of the participants (n=21) thought that their assigned cases were scientific whereas at the end of the process just one participant seemed to persist in his view. In addition, the participants (n=11) who did not previously mentioned the concept of proto-science introduced that concept after the intervention, particularly for the status of acupuncture. Similarly, it was seen that just three participants used the concept of pseudoscience in their evaluations before the intervention but then great majority of the participants (n=48) were able to cite it accurately in their worksheets for the cases they investigated. In fact, those participants were previously seen to adopt the concept of non-science for the cases and could not differentiate the non-scientific from pseudoscientific while labelling the claims as being out of science. So, it can be asserted that an important gain for the participants in this research was to develop awareness about the difference between pseudoscientific and non-scientific disciplines since the former is sometimes used pejoratively instead of the latter for various claims (e.g. religious ones) in some circles (Turgut, 2011) .

So, it can be asserted that an important gain for the participants in this research was to develop awareness about the difference between pseudoscientific and non-scientific disciplines since the former is sometimes used pejoratively instead of the latter for various claims (e.g. religious ones) in some circles.


It was also found that some of the participants assumed expert opinion (f=26), institutional approval (f=17), use of scientific terminology (f=13) and being persistent in history (f=9) to be determinant for them in evaluating the status of knowledge claims for being scientific or not. It is known that pseudoscientific claims are supposed to be scientific by their proponents and various tactics are used by them in order to reinforce that conception even though those claims do not meet scientific criteria (Shermer, 1997) . In this study, it was seen that the assertion of the approval of experts or institutions, inclusion of some scientific terms and having a long history back to ancient times caused to raise the perception of being scientific for the cases investigated in some of the participants" minds naively. That result was obvious to see the importance of psychological criteria for some of the participants either based on the notion of authority or the belief that true one survives in the history, despite the ones that indicate informed views such as being consistent (f=19) and natural (f=30).

It is known that pseudoscientific claims are supposed to be scientific by their proponents and various tactics are used by them in order to reinforce that conception even though those claims do not meet scientific criteria.


The demarcation issue should be tackled as the distinction of science from pseudoscience or nonscience, but the extensive meanings of these concepts must be clarified. The concept of nonscience has been clarified by the use of fields such as the humanities disciplines, arts, religion and literature (Laudan 1983; Mahner 2007) . These fields are not usually considered scientific; also their ontological and epistemological presuppositions vary from those of the natural sciences (Turgut, 2011) . Hence nonscience is to be understood as an inclusive concept involving various fields of knowledge which do not allege to be scientific. Pseudoscience is quite different that is, disciplines in this category often claim to be scientific, although they do not meet the various standards set by science philosophers (Preece and Baxter 2000) .

The concept of nonscience has been clarified by the use of fields such as the humanities disciplines, arts, religion and literature.

These fields are not usually considered scientific; also their ontological and epistemological presuppositions vary from those of the natural sciences.

Pseudoscience is quite different that is, disciplines in this category often claim to be scientific, although they do not meet the various standards set by science philosophers.


Electromagnetic modelling of biological tissues must incorporate the frequency dependent nature of the dielectric properties. These properties consist of the permittivity and conductivity. Extensive studies have been completed to determine these properties for a variety of tissues across a wide frequency-range [1] .

Extensive studies have been completed to determine these properties for a variety of tissues across a wide frequency-range.


Further, a and b are constants which represent distinct diffusion powers, i.e. if a = 1 and b = 0, then Eq. (1) becomes a modified Boussinesq equation. Similarly, for a = 0 and b = 1, the system signifies conventional long wave equation. These equations arise in hydrodynamics to illustrate the propagation of waves in dissipative and nonlinear media, and they are advisable for problems arising in the leakage of water in porous subsurface stratum and widely used in ocean and coastal engineering. Moreover, Eq. (1) is the foundation of numerous models utilized to portray the unconfined subsurface like drainage and groundwater flow problems. Last thirty years has been the testimony for discovery of plenty of new schemes to solve nonlinear fractional differential equations in parallel to the developments of new computational algorithms with symbolic programming. In connection with this, Liao proposed a technique called homotopy analysis method (HAM), which is based on construction of a homotopy which continuously deforms an initial guess approximation to the exact solution of the given problem [27] . It does not require any discretization, linearization and perturbation. However, it requires huge computation and more computer memory to solve complex nonlinear problems situated in connected areas of science and technology. Hence, it necessitates an amalgamation of transformation techniques to overcome these confines.

In connection with this, Liao proposed a technique called homotopy analysis method (HAM), which is based on construction of a homotopy which continuously deforms an initial guess approximation to the exact solution of the given problem.


Results of the ADF and KPSS unit root tests for the variables in levels and in first differences are reported in Table 1 . According to the ADF test, both the output and remittance series are (1) across all specifications of the test. According to the KPSS test, the remittance series is I(0) while the output series is I(0) in the specification, which includes an intercept and a trend, and is (1) across all test specifications. More importantly, both tests show that none of the remittances and GDP series is integrated of order two (2) . This implies that it is plausible to use the ARDL cointegration bounds approach. Table 2 presents the -and -test statistics of the cointegration bounds test, along with the 95% critical bounds, which are used to determine if there is a long-term relationship between remittances and output. Similar to previous related studies which used annual data, a lag length of three for the first-order differenced variables in (3) is used. Results were similar when the lag length of two is used. A time trend term is included in the GDP equation as Figure 5 shows an upward trend for GDP. The trend term was excluded from the remittance equation because it turned out to be statistically insignificant.

More importantly, both tests show that none of the remittances and GDP series is integrated of order two.


For cellulosic feedstock crops, biomass chemistry is largely a reflection of cell wall composition, which is determined by the pathways associated with the biosynthesis of cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, and lignin. Since the cell wall is an essential component for plant development, defense, and structural integrity, it has evolved to be highly recalcitrant to most biochemical deconstruction processes necessary for obtaining the simple component molecules that can be efficiently converted to biofuels and bioproducts (Himmel et al. 2007) . Whether conversion processes involve biochemical means, such as fermentation into alcohols, or thermochemical conversion into heat and power, feedstock chemistry will play a role in the efficiency of the conversion process. Biochemical conversion methods exploit the polysaccharide component of the biomass, therefore increasing sugar content and yield by reducing cross-linkages with lignin that will reduce pretreatment costs. On the contrary, lignin content in biomass can be Communicated by A. Brunner Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11295-011-0462-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Since the cell wall is an essential component for plant development, defense, and structural integrity, it has evolved to be highly recalcitrant to most biochemical deconstruction processes necessary for obtaining the simple component molecules that can be efficiently converted to biofuels and bioproducts.


The existence of this automorphism σ, and the resulting Z 2 grading, turn out to be crucial in the construction of flat currents in bosonic sigma models. In the coset superspace (3) the subgroup H is again the fixed point set of an automorphism of G, but this automorphism is now of order 4 [22] . There is thus a Z 4 grading of g and it is this grading which allows the construction of the flat currents.

In the coset superspace (3) the subgroup H is again the fixed point set of an automorphism of G, but this automorphism is now of order 4.


Heterotrophic N fixation is strongly dependent on available carbon, where carbon quality is more important for fixation than is quantity (Vitousek et al. 2002) . We had two sediment carbon characteristics available: total organic C and microbial C, and NA was positively associated with both of them. Microbial biomass has also been shown to be closely . Path coefficients P 21 , P 31 , and P 41 are standardized simple regression coefficients, path coefficients P Y1 , P Y2 , P Y3 , and P Y4 are standardized partial regression coefficients from the multiple regression. Products P 21 P Y2 , P 31 P Y3 , and P 41 P Y4 indicate the indirect effects of sediment P on NA through microbial carbon, live root biomass, and interstitial water NH 4 -N, respectively. Path coefficients printed in bold are significant at P \ 0.05. If both path coefficients forming a product are significant at P \ 0.05, the product is also printed in bold. The residual variable, U, includes all the unmeasured variables that affect the dependent variable and its path coefficient = H1 -R 2 , where R is the proportion of variation in the dependent variable explained by the model. Besides individual path coefficients, the overall correlation between P sediment and NA are given in parentheses correlated with available C (Sparling et al. 1998; Ghani et al. 2003) . However, the variable that was the most tightly correlated with NA was the biomass of live roots, which is in agreement with the fact that diazotrophs are most active and numerous in the environment that is rich in available C, e.g., in the rhizosphere. This ''stimulation effect'' of root exudates on NA is generally accepted in both terrestrial and wetland ecosystems (Van Berkum & Sloger, 1979; Welsh et al., 1996; Dakora & Drake, 2000; Nielsen et al., 2001) . Even though our acetylene assays were conducted on sediments from which the roots were previously removed, the rhizosphere microflora was present, and sediment was apparently affected by previous flux of C from roots. As the root biomass increases in sediment, so also should the area that is enriched by available C. We found significant correlation between live root biomass and available C in both the upper and lower layers (r 2 = 0.53 and 0.83, respectively).

Heterotrophic N fixation is strongly dependent on available carbon, where carbon quality is more important for fixation than is quantity.

Besides individual path coefficients, the overall correlation between P sediment and NA are given in parentheses correlated with available C.

This ''stimulation effect'' of root exudates on NA is generally accepted in both terrestrial and wetland ecosystems.


Auction mechanisms designed for marketplaces have already addressed the problems to prevent strategic behavior of market trading participants [4] . Unlike other approaches, the auction mechanisms aim to make sure "lie does not gain" where the measure of gains for each bidder does not rely on the majority of bids from others. This property makes it in the best interest of one participant to report the truth no matter how others act, making it possible to prevent unfair raters gaining benefits when the majority of ratings are unfair.

Auction mechanisms designed for marketplaces have already addressed the problems to prevent strategic behavior of market trading participants.


ENOX transcript variants of specific molecular weights and isoelectric points are produced uniquely by patients with cancer [14] . The proteins are shed into the circulation and have the potential to serve as definitive, noninvasive and sensitive serum markers for early detection of both primary and recurrent cancers in at risk populations with a low incidence of both false positives and false negatives, as they are molecular signature molecules produced specifically by cancer cells and are absent from non-cancer cells. The predictive correlation between ONCOblot findings and actual onset of cancer is based on observations that a positive ONCOblot indicates the presence of ENOX2 which is a definitive marker of cancer presence.

ENOX transcript variants of specific molecular weights and isoelectric points are produced uniquely by patients with cancer.


Meteorological services hold that the solution to that problem lies in the development of traditional computing algorithms but in fact, there are emerging alternatives focused on the future of weather forecast, such as Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) with supervised learning. Temperature prediction through time series is an important technique, in which past observations of certain weather variables are collected and analyzed to develop a model based on the underlying relationship between them. It is important to have in mind that any temperature modeling is a chaotic system in which small errors in the initial prediction conditions grow very quickly and affect the predictability [3] .

It is important to have in mind that any temperature modeling is a chaotic system in which small errors in the initial prediction conditions grow very quickly and affect the predictability.


Environmental pollution has become a serious global problem due to continuous industrialization. Especially, water pollution is a major issue, and regulations for waste-water disposal are being reinforced globally. Consequently, waste-water treatment methods that are both environmentally friendly and effective have become critical needs [1] [2] [3] [4] . In industrial and municipal waste-water treatment plants (WWTPs), the activated sludge treatment method is the most used biological process. However, this method produces a high amount of excess sludge consuming 18%-57% of total operational cost of WWTPs. To reduce the amount of excess sludge, various techniques have been used to treat waste-water for decades. However, traditional methods generally involve a high processing cost, long treatment time, low treatment capability, or generation of chemical by-products [5] . To overcome these drawbacks, new methods have been proposed in the literature [6] [7] [8] [9] . Among them, cavitation has shown a remarkable development potential for large scale applications.

Consequently, waste-water treatment methods that are both environmentally friendly and effective have become critical needs.

However, traditional methods generally involve a high processing cost, long treatment time, low treatment capability, or generation of chemical by-products.

To overcome these drawbacks, new methods have been proposed in the literature.


The development of this process is possible by considering the manufacture of technical parts, satisfying requirements of many sectors like automotive, civil engineering, sport and leisure. In certain applications, rotational moulding becomes an interesting alternative to stretch blow moulding [7, 8] . Many research works were launched to better including, understanding and optimising the various stages of transformation [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] .

In certain applications, rotational moulding becomes an interesting alternative to stretch blow moulding.

Many research works were launched to better including, understanding and optimising the various stages of transformation.


Nowadays, rotational moulding polymer process is considered as the fastest growing sector of the plastics processing industry [1] . It is an economical manufacturing method for producing large or small, stress-free, one piece, and hollow plastic articles [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] . Rotational moulding differs from all conventional processing methods especially in heating, and cooling stages which are occurring after the polymer is placed in the mould, and no external pressure is applied.

Nowadays, rotational moulding polymer process is considered as the fastest growing sector of the plastics processing industry.

It is an economical manufacturing method for producing large or small, stress-free, one piece, and hollow plastic articles.


Nowadays, advanced computers are fast enough to encrypt a single channel MPEG2 video stream with a bit rate between 4 and 9 Mbps in real-time using the naive algorithm approach [3] . However, this evolution of the computer power does not completely eliminate the need to develop faster encryption algorithms for video data. Many multimedia applications such as video on demand and multiparty P2P video conferences always require specific algorithms for the video encryption because they usually support multi-channel video communication. The simultaneous encryption or decryption, respectively, of all streams causes a huge processing burden at the end systems. Appropriate encryption algorithms allow to alleviate these burdens and to enroll more users to the service.

Nowadays, advanced computers are fast enough to encrypt a single channel MPEG2 video stream with a bit rate between 4 and 9 Mbps in real-time using the naive algorithm approach.


Recently, ecological problems such as global warming and the depletion of fossil fuels have received a lot of attention. One promising way to solve such problems is the development and use of fuel cells as an energy source [1] [2] [3] . In contrast to commonly used fossil fuels, fuel cells could generate power with hydrogen and oxygen, and emit only water without greenhouse gases [3] . Among fuel cells, polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) are attracting a lot of attention owing to their small size and relatively low working temperature (below 80 • C), which enables their usage in automobiles and household power generation [3] [4] [5] [6] . Typically, platinum (Pt) nanoparticles (NPs) are used as a catalyst and carbon black (CB) is used as a support material for the catalyst in a PEFC [7] . A key characteristic of Pt NPs for power generation is an effective electrochemical surface area (ESA), which is defined as the ratio of the surface to volume of the Pt catalyst [1, 7, 8] . A significant decrease in the ESA of Pt NPs supported by CB is observed after 5000-6000 start-stop cycles under applied voltage [1, [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] . This decrease is related to the low quality of CB, which leads to corrosion of carbon and results in aggregation of Pt NPs [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] . Reduction of the lifespan due to CB degradation is a serious problem, which could be solved by improvement of the durability of the catalyst support material [1, 9] . One way to improve durability is by use of carbon nanostructures, which have a stronger crystal structure and are more durable than amorphous carbon [1, 12] . In recent work, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), carbon nanowalls (CNWs) and graphene sheets have been widely studied as support material for the catalyst in PEFCs owing to their unique properties, such as high chemical stability, high thermal conductivity, high electron mobility and large specific area [1, 2, [13] [14] [15] . It was found that carbon nanomaterials provide higher durability compared to CB, showing promise for increasing the lifespan of PEFCs [1, 2, 16, 17] . It was confirmed that CB durability was improved by surface graphitization, suggesting high-quality graphene sheets may be a perfect candidate for a highly-durable catalyst support material [1, 2, 18] . However, high-quality several-layered graphene sheets are typically synthesized using complicated technological processes, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), which is performed using high temperatures (up to 1000 • C) and low pressure, and requires preparation of the catalyst before synthesis [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] . Moreover, due to the large number of variable parameters in CVD, it is extremely difficult to optimize the fabrication process [24, 25] . Complicated growth process, slow speed of growth and expensive equipment results in a high price of produced graphene and makes it unreliable for development of highly-durable PEFCs.

One promising way to solve such problems is the development and use of fuel cells as an energy source.

In contrast to commonly used fossil fuels, fuel cells could generate power with hydrogen and oxygen, and emit only water without greenhouse gases.

Among fuel cells, polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) are attracting a lot of attention owing to their small size and relatively low working temperature (below 80 • C), which enables their usage in automobiles and household power generation.

Typically, platinum (Pt) nanoparticles (NPs) are used as a catalyst and carbon black (CB) is used as a support material for the catalyst in a PEFC.

A key characteristic of Pt NPs for power generation is an effective electrochemical surface area (ESA), which is defined as the ratio of the surface to volume of the Pt catalyst.

A significant decrease in the ESA of Pt NPs supported by CB is observed after 5000-6000 start-stop cycles under applied voltage.

This decrease is related to the low quality of CB, which leads to corrosion of carbon and results in aggregation of Pt NPs.

Reduction of the lifespan due to CB degradation is a serious problem, which could be solved by improvement of the durability of the catalyst support material.

One way to improve durability is by use of carbon nanostructures, which have a stronger crystal structure and are more durable than amorphous carbon.

In recent work, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), carbon nanowalls (CNWs) and graphene sheets have been widely studied as support material for the catalyst in PEFCs owing to their unique properties, such as high chemical stability, high thermal conductivity, high electron mobility and large specific area.

It was found that carbon nanomaterials provide higher durability compared to CB, showing promise for increasing the lifespan of PEFCs.

It was confirmed that CB durability was improved by surface graphitization, suggesting high-quality graphene sheets may be a perfect candidate for a highly-durable catalyst support material.

However, high-quality several-layered graphene sheets are typically synthesized using complicated technological processes, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), which is performed using high temperatures (up to 1000 • C) and low pressure, and requires preparation of the catalyst before synthesis.

Moreover, due to the large number of variable parameters in CVD, it is extremely difficult to optimize the fabrication process.


Apple juice consumption has decreased in Canada partly due to its high acidity [9] . As apples ripen, organic acids decrease and sugars accumulate. This process is accelerated at a higher temperature (20 °C) compared to refrigerated storage conditions. In this study, it was assumed that the degradation of organic acids could be accelerated and acidity decreased by applying a delayed cooling treatment to apples such as 'McIntosh'. Although delayed cooling is not recommended for 'McIntosh' fruit, a three-day delayed cooling treatment, was applied to 'McIntosh' prior to storage to investigate whether apple juice acidity could be reduced after storage.

Apple juice consumption has decreased in Canada partly due to its high acidity.


Scramjet is considered as the most prosperous technology to achieve hypersonic flight. It has been 50 years since relevant research was conducted, however many difficulties still exist including organizing supersonic combustion in high flow velocities [21] . The engine design involves ram/scram transition, start/unstart characteristics, mixing and combustion performance. And these problems mostly are coupled by some complex physical processes which have not been controlled completely, such as turbulent combustion, shock-boundary layer interaction and chemistry reaction mechanism [6] . Due to the complicated physical process and harsh environment, design of combustor in scramjet has attracted much attention.

It has been 50 years since relevant research was conducted, however many difficulties still exist including organizing supersonic combustion in high flow velocities.

And these problems mostly are coupled by some complex physical processes which have not been controlled completely, such as turbulent combustion, shock-boundary layer interaction and chemistry reaction mechanism.


In this paper, we construct a manifestly supersymmetric Lagrangian in the off-shell superfield formalism, based on an SL(N ,C)-valued field. We find that on the canonical branch it gives a Lagrangian with 2 and 4 derivatives. The fourth-order derivative term is however not the Skyrme term; not even when the field is restricted to an SU(N ) submanifold. On the non-canonical branch the situation is different, for which we will work with SU(2). We are able to write down a manifestly supersymmetric Skyrme-like Lagrangian density in terms of the SL(2,C)-valued field, which however does not take the simple form of the Skyrme term. Nevertheless, if we restrict to a submanifold where the field only takes values in SU (2), then the fourth-order derivative term reduces exactly to the standard Skyrme term. The quasi-NG bosons therefore change the Lagrangian density (and the target space manifold) compared with the non-supersymmetric case. But once they are turned off, the Skyrme term remains. One peculiarity of the solution on the non-canonical branch, however, is that when turning on a kinetic term (the Dirichlet term), the algebraic solution to the auxiliary field eliminates the kinetic term and leaves only a potential behind. This is, however, a manifestly supersymmetric way to introduce a potential in the "extreme" Skyrme model without adding a superpotential. This was also the case for supersymmetric baby Skyrmions [21, 24, 26] . Our case is actually the first example of a solution on the non-canonical branch in a model with multi-component chiral superfields.

This was also the case for supersymmetric baby Skyrmions.


The Skyrme model was first introduced as a toy model describing baryons in a low-energy mesonic field theory [1] . Later it was shown to be the low-energy limit of large-N c QCD [2] . After this it gained popularity as a model of nuclei in the literature. It took, however, some time before the numerical calculations (and the computing power) could tackle solutions for higher baryon numbers. The breakthrough came with the introduction of the rational maps as an approximation to the real Skyrmion solution [3] . These are very useful as initial guesses for numerical calculations. For vanishing pion mass, the fullerenes adequately described by the rational maps are believed to be the global minimizers of the Skyrmion energy functional. Once a pion mass of the order of the physical pion mass is introduced, the Skyrmions prefer to order themselves in a lattice of B = 4 cubes, which can be interpreted as a crystal of alpha particles [4] .

The Skyrme model was first introduced as a toy model describing baryons in a low-energy mesonic field theory.

Later it was shown to be the low-energy limit of large-N c QCD.

The breakthrough came with the introduction of the rational maps as an approximation to the real Skyrmion solution.

Once a pion mass of the order of the physical pion mass is introduced, the Skyrmions prefer to order themselves in a lattice of B = 4 cubes, which can be interpreted as a crystal of alpha particles.


As discussed in sections 1 and 2, cosmic ray outbursts might originate from past activity of the central massive black hole or from a series of starburst events. Some hints suggest that these processes may have occurred on time scales of Myrs ago. As for the massive black hole, its activity is firmly constrained over the past ∼10 3 years, while less robust constraints on the luminosity of Sgr A* exist for timescales of 10 3 − 10 5 years [38] .

As for the massive black hole, its activity is firmly constrained over the past ∼10 3 years, while less robust constraints on the luminosity of Sgr A* exist for timescales of 10 3 − 10 5 years.


Major NGOs like the Self Employed Women's Association, BRAC (a major development organization), and Grameen Bank in Bangladesh have engaged extensively in promoting health related activities through SHG participation. In India, organizations based on the Gandhian philosophy of self-reliance had already been popularized during the freedom movement in British India [22] . SHGs reflect a similar philosophy and provide an avenue for poor rural women to access the microcredit system. In the early 1990s, policymakers in India took notice of SHG growth and influence and established a countrywide SHG Bank Linkage Programme (SBLP). SBLP, promoted aggressively by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, links mature SHGs with the formal banking system. SHGs are linked to Regional Rural Banks (RRB), commercial banks and cooperative banks to access microcredit as a source of additional capital for the group members to supplement their savings. By establishing the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana in 1999, the Government of India aimed to provide self-employment to millions of villagers. Poor families living below the poverty line were then organized into SHGs established with a mixture of government subsidy and credit from investment banks.

In India, organizations based on the Gandhian philosophy of self-reliance had already been popularized during the freedom movement in British India.


It is well known that Milnor's link homotopy invariants vanish if and only if the link is link homotopic to the unlink [8] . However, in Example 4.1 we make use of Proposition 1.3 to produce a boundary link that is not self C 3 -equivalent to the unlink. As all Milnor numbers vanish for boundary links, this example demonstrates that self C k -equivalence behaves very differently than we are used to when k > 1. Much work remains to be done before we have a clear understanding of self C k -equivalence for higher k.

It is well known that Milnor's link homotopy invariants vanish if and only if the link is link homotopic to the unlink.


Note that for string links the indeterminacy does not arise and the µ(I) are well defined integral invariants of string link isotopy [3] . Two links L and L are said to be link homotopic if L can be transformed to L by a series of self-crossing changes and ambient isotopies. That is, we allow crossing changes in L as long as both strands of the crossing belong to the same component of L. If no index is repeated in the multi-index I, then µ L (I) is an invariant of link homotopy [9] .

Note that for string links the indeterminacy does not arise and the µ(I) are well defined integral invariants of string link isotopy.

That is, we allow crossing changes in L as long as both strands of the crossing belong to the same component of L. If no index is repeated in the multi-index I, then µ L (I) is an invariant of link homotopy.


The effluent from many chemical and textile industries is major source of water pollution. They contain organic compounds and dyes. Many colors and dyes are toxic and carcinogenic. Large volumes of colored aqueous effluents are discharged to environment by the various divisions, such as textiles and painting. Numbers of techniques are available for the treatment of wastewater such as photocatalytic degradation, coagulation, electrochemical technique, and adsorption [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] . Adsorption has proven usual process, more efficient, and economically feasible for the removal of variety of contaminants [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] . Adsorption of some dyes and organic compounds with different sorbents was investigated [13] [14] [15] . Adsorption of cyanine dyes to solid surfaces has evoked interest from both a basic and technological point of view. The adsorption behavior of some cyanine dyes has been studied [16] . Adsorption on the surface of semiconductor powders such as ZnO, TiO 2 , AgCl and on silica, are some of the interesting applications of the dyes adsorbed on a solid surface [17] .

Numbers of techniques are available for the treatment of wastewater such as photocatalytic degradation, coagulation, electrochemical technique, and adsorption.

Adsorption has proven usual process, more efficient, and economically feasible for the removal of variety of contaminants.

Adsorption of some dyes and organic compounds with different sorbents was investigated.

The adsorption behavior of some cyanine dyes has been studied.

Adsorption on the surface of semiconductor powders such as ZnO, TiO 2 , AgCl and on silica, are some of the interesting applications of the dyes adsorbed on a solid surface.


The present model, purposely aimed to calculate ionization energies, has also shown straightforward implications involving in a natural way even the relativity, inferred contextually to the concept of quantization of the energy levels. These short notes, fully discussed elsewhere, have been summarized simply to elucidate the elementary, straightforward and tight link between quantum uncertainty and special relativity. An elementary extension of these considerations leads to relevant results of general relativity [21] . This helps to understand why the approach implementing uniquely the Equation (2.1) is in principle more complete and profoundly rooted on the most fundamental principles of nature than the wave operator formalism.

An elementary extension of these considerations leads to relevant results of general relativity.


This is because all calculations concern essentially Q initially introduced in the Equation (2.7) and subsequently inferred from the experimental values of i ε in the Equation (3.1). On the one hand, the results support the validity of the Equations ((2.7) and (3.22)), i.e. the Equation (3.11) behind them; on the other hand, the fact that the way of calculating Q in Table 1 and Table 2 ε , the present model also implies in a natural way quantized correlation energy: in effect it is physically inappropriate to think that continuous values of the related correlation terms, whatever they might be, are compatible with the discrete electron energy levels experimentally revealed by the spectral lines of atoms and ions. Also this point has been checked considering of course the Equation (3.15) that fulfills the minimum condition (3.13), and not the preliminary eq (3, 6) .

Also this point has been checked considering of course the Equation (3.15) that fulfills the minimum condition (3.13), and not the preliminary eq.


CI is a variational method to solve the non-relativistic Schrödinger equation of a multi-electron system, whose wave function is defined mathematically by a linear combination of Slater determinants. The interaction is introduced by mixing different electronic states, which specify the orbital occupation [10] . The CI calculations are suitable to describe small quantum systems because the method requires long calculation times.

The interaction is introduced by mixing different electronic states, which specify the orbital occupation.


The actual algorithm that controls the fate of each input oligomer is encoded by the localization of GTase enzymes within the compartments of the Golgi apparatus. It has been argued that such enzyme compartmentalization allows for more controlled biosynthesis [22] . Our analysis reveals that the benefits of compartmentalization arise through multiple distinct mechanisms. First, by distributing enzymes across many compartments two sources of microheterogeneitylinkage loops and acceptor conflicts -are mitigated. Second, enzymes in earlier compartments can be used to construct triggers, exploited by enzymes in later compartments to achieve controlled oligomer growth.

It has been argued that such enzyme compartmentalization allows for more controlled biosynthesis.


Our approach did not employ stain normalization methods, as done in the majority of recent mitosis detection approaches (Veta et al., 2018) . This was done in part, because the staining quality of our dataset is relatively stable due to the usage of a tissue stainer (ST5010 Autostainer XL, Leica, Germany) and all slides being created and scanned in the same lab. Additionally, we assume that with the high number of included WSI in the present study, natural variance of stain becomes less relavant. For application of this approach on another (possibly smaller) data set, however, we would recommend investigating a positive influence of such methods.

Our approach did not employ stain normalization methods, as done in the majority of recent mitosis detection approaches.


For our toy model, in case of leptonic final states, we find upper limits on the annihilation cross-section that are stronger than what can be obtained from dwarf galaxies or collider searches, see Figs. 4, 6, 7 and 8. Our limits are still about an order of magnitude too weak to constrain annihilation cross-sections naively expected for a thermal relic (assuming a standard NFW profile for the DM density and no enhancement of the annihilation rate due to substructures). However, future prospects to do so are quite good [26] .

However, future prospects to do so are quite good.


The fast development of civilization over the last centuries has caused the significant increase in waste production which exceeds the possibilities of self-purification of the natural environment. The development of methods of sewage and exhaust gases treatment is the way of protection against the harmful phenomena of waste accumulation. Among them the biological processes of decomposition of pollutants play a key role because they are very effective even for very small and changeable concentrations of removed compounds as well as for large streams of treated gas [1] [2] [3] [4] .

Among them the biological processes of decomposition of pollutants play a key role because they are very effective even for very small and changeable concentrations of removed compounds as well as for large streams of treated gas.


The challenges faced by companies working in nowadays complex IT environments pose the need for comprehensive and dynamic systems to cope with the security requirements [1] [2] [3] . Security planning cannot answer all questions: we must take a step further and discuss a model for security management. One of the possible approaches to deal with this problem is to use the decision support system that is capable of supporting decision-making activities. Good decisions are usually result of detailed and precise examination of input parameters and comprehensive analysis of all the available alternatives. In order to solve a given problem, one should formulate it by using standardized methodologies and collect all the information that are relevant to the final decision. As the action of decision-making is usually a repeatable process, it is reasonable to embrace a much more comprehensive view of decision-making. In general, decision cycle consists of four main, ordered phases: problem definition (a decision situation that may deal with some difficulty or with an opportunity), model construction (in which one needs to describe the real world problem using specialized tools, designed specifically for this purpose), identification and evaluation (where the possible solutions to the modeled problems are identified and evaluated), and finally the recommendation and implementation stages, in which potential solutions are examined, compared, and chosen.

The challenges faced by companies working in nowadays complex IT environments pose the need for comprehensive and dynamic systems to cope with the security requirements.


In this exploratory study, non-student participants were purposively selected to study brand attachment in the Malaysian context. Furthermore, it was deemed more appropriate at this juncture to use in-depth interviews in order to probe individuals' subjective experiences (Wimpenny & Gass, 2000) . This will enable the understanding of subjective meanings of consumers' lived experiences with brands.

Furthermore, it was deemed more appropriate at this juncture to use in-depth interviews in order to probe individuals' subjective experiences.


In the past few decades, the world's energy demand has risen steadily with the growth of the population and the change in people's lifestyles. However, traditional fuels are limited, and environmental conditions worsen on a daily basis. These conditions urge people to seek renewable energy. Solar energy is a promising renewable energy because of its various advantages, such as limitlessness, zero production of pollution and noise, and good reliability. Hence, photovoltaic (PV) power systems have gained increasing attention from governments and researchers in various countries. Global PV power technology has developed rapidly because of government support. However, two major defects hinder its development: the high installation cost of the system and its low photoelectric conversion efficiency at 9%-17% [1] . Improving the maximum power tracking technology to extract the highest amount of power from PV systems is one of the most practical methods to address this problem.

However, two major defects hinder its development: the high installation cost of the system and its low photoelectric conversion efficiency at 9%-17%.


The basic concept of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is to adjust the operating point of a converter up to the maximum in real time such that the system can constantly operate at the maximum power point (MPP). In this way, MPPT improves conversion efficiency and reduces power loss. However, the MPP changes with the variable external environment, thereby further complicating the maximum power tracking problem [2] .

However, the MPP changes with the variable external environment, thereby further complicating the maximum power tracking problem.