Given the ubiquity of the changes in the manifold representations found here, we predict that similar patterns will be observed for sensory hierarchies in the brain. One issue of concern is trial-to-trial variability in neuronal responses. Our analysis assumes deterministic neural responses with sharp manifold boundaries, but it can be extended to the case of stochastic representations where manifolds are not perfectly separable. Alternatively, one can interpret the trial averaged neural responses as representing the spatial averaging of the responses of a group of stochastic neurons, with similar signal properties but weak noise correlations. To properly assess the properties of perceptual manifolds in the brain, responses of moderately large subsampled populations of neurons to numerous objects with multiple sources of physical variability is required. Such datasets are becoming technically feasible with advanced calcium imaging [27] . Recent work has also enabled quantitative comparisons to DCNNs from electrophysiological recordings from V4 and IT cortex in macaques [59] .

Such datasets are becoming technically feasible with advanced calcium imaging.

Recent work has also enabled quantitative comparisons to DCNNs from electrophysiological recordings from V4 and IT cortex in macaques.


Context is likely to make a difference, as certain situations, such as a service provider receiving a complaint, call for serious attention to be displayed rather than more lighthearted smiles. However, the key is that whatever the emotion being displayed it should be appropriate for the situation and perceived as sincere by the recipient. Customers want service providers to react to their displayed emotional state, believing that they are unique, which calls for a unique, discrete (unscripted) response that is perceived as sincere (Price et al., 1999) . If the display appears fake, a negative impression of the service "performer" may be elicited (Grandey, Fisk, Mattila, Jansen, & Sideman, 2005) . As previously mentioned, happy expressions perceived as sincere result in heuristic processing of information whereas displays that are more serious result in more cognitive processing (Krull & Dill, 1998; Ottati et al., 1997) . Therefore, a genuine display of emotions may moderate the relationship between displayed emotion and service quality perceptions (Pugh, 2001) . If this is so, then perceived sincerity may have a value in terms of overall satisfaction and intention to repurchase, which connect to positive evaluation of service quality. Closer consideration of sincerity and its role in service provision should not be ignored in satisfaction research, as marketers need to understand the impact of both perceived sincerity and perceived insincerity.

Customers want service providers to react to their displayed emotional state, believing that they are unique, which calls for a unique, discrete (unscripted) response that is perceived as sincere.

If the display appears fake, a negative impression of the service "performer" may be elicited.

As previously mentioned, happy expressions perceived as sincere result in heuristic processing of information whereas displays that are more serious result in more cognitive processing.

Therefore, a genuine display of emotions may moderate the relationship between displayed emotion and service quality perceptions.


The limitations of the study are that it is a single study in a particular service industry, the airline industry, and the research methods utilize only limited qualitative research followed by a quantitative survey. The airline industry is the focus of past studies, which have yielded important insights and expanded the body of knowledge concerning service provision (Hochschild, 1983) . However, we cannot claim that every airline passenger will be affected by sincere or insincere service provision. Therefore, further testing in other contexts, particularly services of a high-involvement and extended duration nature such as holiday resort and escorted touring holidays, should be useful in offering further insights into the perception of service sincerity and its effects on customers' evaluation.

The airline industry is the focus of past studies, which have yielded important insights and expanded the body of knowledge concerning service provision.


There is extensive research in the tourism literature that focuses on authenticity as an assessment of genuineness of artifacts, events, or behavioral displays as offered to and experienced by tourists. The relevance of the existential nature of authenticity in tourism receives less attention possibly because the concept is somewhat unclear (Steiner & Reisinger, 2006) . However, the role of authenticity in general interactive service provision has been explored in a number of studies, some of which are in the travel and tourism industry (Arnould & Price, 1993; Bitner, Booms, & Tetreault, 1990; Grandey, 2003; Hochschild, 1983; Lynch, 1993; Wang, 1999) .

The relevance of the existential nature of authenticity in tourism receives less attention possibly because the concept is somewhat unclear.

However, the role of authenticity in general interactive service provision has been explored in a number of studies, some of which are in the travel and tourism industry.


The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. In Section 2 we analyze the network oscillations originating from the 2/26/2008 FRCC disturbance. In Section 3 we determine the origin of the phase shifts in the electromechanical mode shape. In Section 4 we perform sensitivity analysis of the network variables and provide closed-form expressions of the network sensitivities. Afterwards, in Section 5 we map the network sensitivities onto the electromechanical mode shapes and explain the nature of the modal components in the network variables, illustrating with a fourgenerator, two-area system [12, 13] . Applications for interarea mode tracing and PMU siting are suggested in Section 6 and conclusions are presented in Section 7.

Afterwards, in Section 5 we map the network sensitivities onto the electromechanical mode shapes and explain the nature of the modal components in the network variables, illustrating with a fourgenerator, two-area system.


To obtain the mode shapes, we perform a detailed sensitivity analysis of the network variables and provide analytical expressions [12] . This analysis provides a theoretical understanding of oscillations as directly measured by PMUs on high-voltage transmission systems. Finally, network sensitivities and eigenvectors are used to obtain the modal components in the network variables, thus providing a rationale explaining the phase shifts observed in the modal components of the synchrophasor data.

To obtain the mode shapes, we perform a detailed sensitivity analysis of the network variables and provide analytical expressions.


In three dimensions, non-trivial vorticity for gauge field is possible. Gauge transformations considered here are regular, so preserve vorticity. Addition of singular gauge transformations which lead to vorticity might lead to an unexpected relation with electric charges considered here; as is the case in four dimensions [13, 32] .

Addition of singular gauge transformations which lead to vorticity might lead to an unexpected relation with electric charges considered here; as is the case in four dimensions.


There are only two meta-analyses that have compared LESS and conventional laparoscopic adrenalectomy for benign adrenal lesions thus far [14, 15] . These studies revealed comparable incidence of procedure related adverse events (complication and conversion) between the two techniques. The present cohort, which focused on APA patients undergoing adrenalectomy, also revealed a comparable minimal procedure related complication and low conversion rate when compared with the conventional laparoscopic counterpart.

There are only two meta-analyses that have compared LESS and conventional laparoscopic adrenalectomy for benign adrenal lesions thus far.


When compared with open and laparoscopic counterparts with similar definitions of "cure" in the literature, the cure rate of the single-port group is comparable with those who have overall cure rates of 60% [22] . In addition, preoperative hypokalemia patients were all resolved in the early postoperative phase in both groups. Therefore, LESS adrenalectomy achieves similar hypertension control as conventional laparoscopic approach in APA patients is confirmed, based on our study.

When compared with open and laparoscopic counterparts with similar definitions of "cure" in the literature, the cure rate of the single-port group is comparable with those who have overall cure rates of 60%.


As we can see from the different graphs, neither plot indicates too much probability mass near 0 or 1 and that for every treatment the two estimated densities have most of their respective masses in regions in which they overlap each other. Therefore there is no evidence that the overlap assumption is violated. Regarding the impact on innovation inputs, results indicate that cooperation only in non-R&D activities does not affect either expenditures in R&D or in non-R&D activities. By contrast, the combination of R&D and non-R&D networks stimulates both types of investments. This indicates that non-R&D collaborative agreements are not enough to build the technological capabilities that induce firms to invest more in innovation activities, unless they are combined with cooperation in R&D activities. These results suggest that non-R&D linkages may be used by firms to build the minimum essential knowledge base to survive in the market and that during this process firms seem to postpone their investments in innovation activities probably until they have built advanced technological capabilities in technical functions and complex knowledge bases (Dutrénit, 2004) . By contrast, firms that are also cooperating in R&D activities seem to be using their networks to nurture and renew strategic capabilities, which leads them to invest more in R&D and in other innovation activities. Therefore, firms need to cooperate in R&D activities in order to develop the technological capabilities that are required to encourage innovation.

These results suggest that non-R&D linkages may be used by firms to build the minimum essential knowledge base to survive in the market and that during this process firms seem to postpone their investments in innovation activities probably until they have built advanced technological capabilities in technical functions and complex knowledge bases.


Since innovation surveys do not provide information on cooperation in innovation activities that are not R&D, empirical studies on the effects of collaborative innovation have merely evaluated the impact of cooperation in R&D activities. However, in developing countries, R&D cooperation is only a fringe phenomenon, although most innovative firms are cooperating in other innovation activities such as engineering and design, training, technical assistance, product testing and above all in obtaining information. Firms in developing countries are mainly collaborating in these activities as they do not have sufficient technological capabilities to perform R&D activities (Fernández-Sastre and Martín-Mayoral, 2016) . Nevertheless, by the establishment of cooperative agreements in non-R&D activities, firms may access external knowledge and resources which may lead to an extension in their technological capabilities and thus to increasing their innovation expenditure and the likelihood of introducing innovations. However, although these innovation linkages may have an impact on firms' innovative behavior and performance their efficacy has not yet been tested.

Firms in developing countries are mainly collaborating in these activities as they do not have sufficient technological capabilities to perform R&D activities.


Cooperative agreements in non-R&D activities are likely to increase investment in non-R&D innovation activities, but they may also induce firms to invest in R&D as these agreements may allow firms to develop technological capabilities over which they can construct the R&D capabilities that are decisive to perform R&D (Chaminade and Vang, 2008) . Additionally, we also expect that the firms with these types of agreements are more likely to create new methods, processes and products. However, as these activities are mostly related to the absorption of technology, we expect that their linkages will produce greater effects on new-to-the-firm innovations rather than in the introduction of new-to-the-market innovations.

Cooperative agreements in non-R&D activities are likely to increase investment in non-R&D innovation activities, but they may also induce firms to invest in R&D as these agreements may allow firms to develop technological capabilities over which they can construct the R&D capabilities that are decisive to perform R&D.


Three dimensional gravity, due to its relative simplicity compared to higher dimensional gravity theories, has been used as a laboratory to address questions about quantum gravity. Three dimensional Einstein gravity on the flat space background has neither propagating gravitons nor nontrivial (black hole) classical solutions, its partition function has been computed noting that this theory is in fact an SL(2, R) Chern-Simons theory [1] . Addition of a negative cosmological constant to the theory brings the possibility of having black hole solutions, the BTZ black holes [2, 3] . BTZ black holes has appeared as the prime arena for addressing black hole thermodynamics puzzles and seeking statistical mechanical resolutions in terms of the proposed dual 2D CFT.

Three dimensional Einstein gravity on the flat space background has neither propagating gravitons nor nontrivial (black hole) classical solutions, its partition function has been computed noting that this theory is in fact an SL(2, R) Chern-Simons theory.

Addition of a negative cosmological constant to the theory brings the possibility of having black hole solutions, the BTZ black holes.


Platanus acerifolia (Plataceae family) is woody perennial tree, a native of Asia, Europe, and Eastern Mediterranean regions of the World (Baily, 1953) . The tree is commonly cultivated and highly valued as an ornamental and medicinal tree. It is wide spreading, longlived and 20-30 meters height. Its leaves can be 12-25 centimeters in length and width and is deciduous at autumn and winter seasons (Mamıkoğlu, 2007) .

Platanus acerifolia (Plataceae family) is woody perennial tree, a native of Asia, Europe, and Eastern Mediterranean regions of the World.

Its leaves can be 12-25 centimeters in length and width and is deciduous at autumn and winter seasons.


In the experiments carrier out, the performance of SR is evaluated based on different MFCC feature extraction methods using GMM and VQ classifiers based on different clustering algorithms. For the experiments 128 speakers were used with 120 and 60 second utterances of each speaker used for training and testing respectively. For FVQ, K-means VQ and LBG VQ, a codebook of size 256 was used for each of MFCC, DCT-II based MFCC, DMFCC and DDMFCC to build speaker models. The feature vectors of the test speech data were then compared with the codebooks for the different speakers to identify the most likely speaker of the test speech signal. GMM models with 128 mixtures and features of various sizes and types including individual and fused were used (Shi et al. 2010) . The delta and double delta features are derived based on MFCC coefficients since it was found that they have a performance supremacy over MFCC. In the proposed algorithm concatenated DCT-II based MFCC (12), DMFCC (12) and DDMFCC (12) was used and this stage was incorporated into a complete ASR system. The results based on various combinations of feature extraction techniques and classifiers are listed in Table 1.

GMM models with 128 mixtures and features of various sizes and types including individual and fused were used.


Speaking in a way that allows a listener to understand what is being said, or speech intelligibility, is an essential skill that children need to develop to be able to participate fully during social interactions [1] . Typically developing children usually acquire this skill effortlessly, with 97% of children producing intelligible speech by four years of age [2] . However, children born with a hearing loss often do not -especially when their hearing loss is severe or profound [3, 4] .

Speaking in a way that allows a listener to understand what is being said, or speech intelligibility, is an essential skill that children need to develop to be able to participate fully during social interactions.

Typically developing children usually acquire this skill effortlessly, with 97% of children producing intelligible speech by four years of age.

However, children born with a hearing loss often do not -especially when their hearing loss is severe or profound.


There were very few studies that have directly assessed the effectiveness of hearing-aid signal processing on speech intelligibility of children. One signal-processing strategy that has become increasingly common in hearing aids for children is frequency lowering. This strategy shifts high-frequency components of sounds to a lower frequency range where there is better residual hearing [14] [15] [16] [17] .

This strategy shifts high-frequency components of sounds to a lower frequency range where there is better residual hearing.


In regards to the first aim, group-level results suggest that speech intelligibility of child-talkers was rated by inexperienced listeners to be better when NLFC was activated than when it was deactivated. On an individual level, three of the children exhibited significant differences. S5 had a sloping hearing loss, and NLFC activation did not extend the audible bandwidth although it did lead to a significant improvement in speech intelligibility. S7 had moderately severe flat hearing loss, and NLFC activation resulted in an extension of audible bandwidth from 5.6 kHz to 7.3 kHz. This was associated with a significant improvement in intelligibility. S4 had a sloping hearing loss, and NLFC activation extended the audible bandwidth from 4.5 kHz to 7.4 kHz. The ratings for NLFC activated were better than for NLFC deactivated, although the difference did not reach significance level. For S2, speech intelligibility ratings were minimally higher without NLFC than with NLFC activation, but this effect was close to zero. This child had a steeply sloping hearing loss, with near-normal hearing up to 1 kHz and severe to profound loss at higher frequencies. Although the use of NLFC increased the audible bandwidth in one ear from 3.4 kHz to 5.6 kHz, it might also have introduced audible distortions. For three of the remaining children, speech was rated to be highly intelligible across all test conditions, suggesting that they were well supported by conventional amplification for development of speech production. The use of NLFC did not result in further improvement because of ceiling effect. For instance, the hearing aid measures for S8 revealed an extension of audible bandwidth from about 5.3 kHz to 7.9 kHz, and no effect of this extension on speech intelligibility was indicated because the child could be easily understood across all test conditions. It has been suggested that previous evaluations of NLFC for children that were based on comparisons between children's own hearing aids with conventional amplification and new Naida hearing aids with NLFC could potentially be confounded by inherent differences between hearing aids in addition to the difference in signal processing [15] . The findings in this study provide some support for this conjecture -the ratings for conventional amplification provided by children's own hearing aids and by Naida hearing aids (NLFC deactivated) were significantly different for two child-talkers (S2, S6). The rated intelligibility was higher when Naida hearing aids were used. As shown in Table 4 , the audible bandwidth was slightly extended with the Naida hearing aids compared to the children's own hearing aids, but activation of NLFC did not further increase high-frequency audibility. This is likely a limitation related to the hearing loss configurations -S6 had a moderate to profound sloping hearing loss, and S2 had hearing within the normal range up to 1 kHz, but severe to profound hearing loss at higher frequencies.

It has been suggested that previous evaluations of NLFC for children that were based on comparisons between children's own hearing aids with conventional amplification and new Naida hearing aids with NLFC could potentially be confounded by inherent differences between hearing aids in addition to the difference in signal processing.


The present findings suggest that the use of speech intelligibility ratings is a useful clinical tool for evaluating the effect of NLFC on speech production of young children at a group level. Given the small sample size, the findings cannot be generalized. The effect size was small. Therefore, future investigations will require a larger sample, with audiometric configurations that meet manufacturer's criteria for selection of NLFC, to examine the impact of NLFC on children. More sensitive test material, such as the use of non-words or anomalous sentences, are likely to reveal the influence of signal processing more effectively than the use of simple short sentences that have high contextual information as in the BIT sentences used in this study. This will allow ratings to be based exclusively on characteristics of the acoustic speech signal produced by children rather than on a combination of acoustic cues with contextual and linguistic cues [40] . It will then be possible to determine the effect of NLFC on speech intelligibility of children with different audiometric characteristics.

The effect size was small.

This will allow ratings to be based exclusively on characteristics of the acoustic speech signal produced by children rather than on a combination of acoustic cues with contextual and linguistic cues.


The present study was a first attempt to evaluate NLFC technology by using a panel of inexperienced listeners to rate the relative intelligibility of sentences produced by children when using different amplification schemes. In particular, it examined the intelligibility judgments of listeners who reported no previous exposure to speech produced by people with hearing loss, and compared the judgments to ratings of parents of the children and clinicians who provided services to them. Age-appropriate language material was used to elicit production of continuous discourse. As the material has high contextual redundancy, an overall rating method rather than a word scoring method was used. This reduced coding time, and allowed for ratings of multiple listeners to be used to provide a reliable estimate [32] . To partly control for subjectivity in rating, a panel of inexperienced listeners was used for rating productions of more than one child, using the SIR scale with accompanying descriptions. The specific aims were to 1) investigate the influence of NLFC on intelligibility of speech produced by children using hearing aids; and 2) examine whether ratings by inexperienced judges correlate with those of parents and clinicians.

This reduced coding time, and allowed for ratings of multiple listeners to be used to provide a reliable estimate.


This study had an explorative design, and used qualitative content analysis (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004) . The interviews with female mentors were part of a larger study of the Girls Zone mentoring program; one other study in this project has already been published (Larsson et al., 2016) . That study explored the characteristics of the female protégés attracted to the mentoring program in terms of demographic and psychological characteristics, and how the relationship develops between the protégés and the mentors.

This study had an explorative design, and used qualitative content analysis.

The interviews with female mentors were part of a larger study of the Girls Zone mentoring program; one other study in this project has already been published.


Rules, limitations, and regular reporting to a program manager could result in feelings among mentors of being controlled and having no possibility to influence the engagement. However, our results show that the mentors experienced freedom of choice; that is, autonomy. The way in which the meetings and the relationship were formed was determined within each dyad, meaning that each relationship was unique. Although mentors and protégés were encouraged to meet every two weeks, each dyad maintained different schedules and modes of contact based on the needs and time constraints of the two individuals. Structures and rules create the prerequisites allowing mentors and protégés to focus on the relational process and establish the trustful relationships which women desire (Liang et al., 2002; Rhodes et al., 2008) . Taken together, this shows the importance of the organization's approach to mentoring relationships. It seems to be successful in delivering the concept to a mentor with a job description, similar to employment. Further, to ensure long-term commitment, the job description can be signed by the mentor. It is important to be clear about what is the responsibility of the organization and what is the responsibility of the mentor.

Structures and rules create the prerequisites allowing mentors and protégés to focus on the relational process and establish the trustful relationships which women desire.


Additionally, other research can identify complex patterns of vulnerability and resilience within social-ecological systems that may lead to either the destabilization and collapse of the civilization or stabilization and possible long-term recovery [16, 17] . This research examines the social and environmental stressors that may have led to historical periods of catastrophic collapse. Identifying ways in which previous societies have adapted to common social and environmental stressors and recovered from catastrophes can help guide us to prepare future catastrophe survivors to increase their likelihood of recovery.

Additionally, other research can identify complex patterns of vulnerability and resilience within social-ecological systems that may lead to either the destabilization and collapse of the civilization or stabilization and possible long-term recovery.


Fish sauce fermentation is a common practice in Southeast Asia as a means of preservation and producing value-added products from underutilized fish species. Fish sauce has become more interesting for consumers in Europe, North America and other countries (Brillantes, 1999) . As a consequence, fish sauce rapidly expands in both domestic and foreign markets. There are approximately 390 fish sauce factories in Thailand with 64,000 metric ton of fish used annually for fish sauce production (Saisithi, 1994) .

Fish sauce has become more interesting for consumers in Europe, North America and other countries.

There are approximately 390 fish sauce factories in Thailand with 64,000 metric ton of fish used annually for fish sauce production.


It is plausible that inflation occurred around the energy scale of the grand unification. Since we do not have direct experimental access to such energy scales we need to be open-minded regarding the physics possibly occurring there. Indeed, when theoretical models of inflation are compared to observations they might provide the clue to understand fundamental physics at non-accessible energies. In this paper we are concerned with a specific model that violates isotropy; i.e. three-dimensional rotational invariance. Although rotational invariance is a well established feature of low-energy physics, several puzzling features of the large scale CMB anisotropies hints that this symmetry might have been broken during inflation [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] . At the same time recent progress in theoretical models has clarified that inflation with anisotropic hair is a theoretical possibility [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] . It has become clear, however, that specific realizations are often plagued by instabilities, either ghosts or unstable growth of the linearized perturbations [17] [18] [19] [20] .

Although rotational invariance is a well established feature of low-energy physics, several puzzling features of the large scale CMB anisotropies hints that this symmetry might have been broken during inflation.

At the same time recent progress in theoretical models has clarified that inflation with anisotropic hair is a theoretical possibility.

It has become clear, however, that specific realizations are often plagued by instabilities, either ghosts or unstable growth of the linearized perturbations.


The great difference in the proportion of grampositive and gram-negative bacteria was explained by the resistance of the former bacteria to environmental stressors, whereas the latter bacteria lack it due to their cellular structure, especially their phospholipid membrane losing its thermodynamic stability with temperature and relative humidity variation (Cox, 1995) . The rising proportion of the genus Bacillus bacteria in the air outside the barn indicated the spore-forming bacteria to be most resistant in the atmosphere, which is a very harsh environment for the survival of microorganisms due to various unfavourable conditions, primarily desiccation (Shaffer and Lighthart, 1994) . The increased concentration of bacteria of the genus Bacillus in outdoor air samples could be related to the presence of bacteria on the ground surface and their ascending to the atmosphere, depending on weather conditions. Therefore, it seems reasonable to ask what proportion and what genera of bacteria identified in the air sampled around the barn actually migrated from the barn, and what had already been present in the atmosphere or deposited on the ground surface.

The great difference in the proportion of grampositive and gram-negative bacteria was explained by the resistance of the former bacteria to environmental stressors, whereas the latter bacteria lack it due to their cellular structure, especially their phospholipid membrane losing its thermodynamic stability with temperature and relative humidity variation.

The rising proportion of the genus Bacillus bacteria in the air outside the barn indicated the spore-forming bacteria to be most resistant in the atmosphere, which is a very harsh environment for the survival of microorganisms due to various unfavourable conditions, primarily desiccation.


There is also preclinical evidence suggesting that everolimus enhances the sensitivity of breast cancer cell lines to carboplatin resulting in synergistic inhibition of cell proliferation and caspase-independent apoptosis [22] . Mesenchymal-like TNBC subtype was found to be extremely sensitive to dual PI3K/mTOR inhibition in preclinical models [8] . In other preclinical studies, everolimus was found to have efficacy against basal-like subtypes of TNBC especially if they expressed endothelialderived growth factor (EGFR) receptor or cytokeratin (CK) 5/6 [23] .

There is also preclinical evidence suggesting that everolimus enhances the sensitivity of breast cancer cell lines to carboplatin resulting in synergistic inhibition of cell proliferation and caspase-independent apoptosis.

Mesenchymal-like TNBC subtype was found to be extremely sensitive to dual PI3K/mTOR inhibition in preclinical models.

In other preclinical studies, everolimus was found to have efficacy against basal-like subtypes of TNBC especially if they expressed endothelialderived growth factor (EGFR) receptor or cytokeratin (CK) 5/6.


The mTOR inhibitor everolimus has been recently Food and Drug Administration-approved in combination with exemestane for the treatment of metastatic hormone receptor-positive breast cancer based on a significant improvement in PFS in the randomized phase III BOLERO-2 trial [24] . However, mTOR inhibitors have not been evaluated in a phase II or III study of TNBC. With TNBC there is high frequency of PTEN loss, which leads to mTOR activation. Moreover, it has been reported that mTOR activation confers resistance to platinum agents such as cisplatin, a phenomenon that is reversible by addition of an mTOR inhibitor such as everolimus [31] .

The mTOR inhibitor everolimus has been recently Food and Drug Administration-approved in combination with exemestane for the treatment of metastatic hormone receptor-positive breast cancer based on a significant improvement in PFS in the randomized phase III BOLERO-2 trial.

Moreover, it has been reported that mTOR activation confers resistance to platinum agents such as cisplatin, a phenomenon that is reversible by addition of an mTOR inhibitor such as everolimus.


The mysterious connections between integrable systems and supersymmetric gauge theories have lead to a fruitful interplay between the two subjects. One of the best-known examples is the relationship between classical integrable systems and four-dimensional N = 2 supersymmetric theories [1] [2] [3] . The Seiberg-Witten curve encoding the low-energy dynamics of the gauge theory coincides with the spectral curve encoding the mutually-commuting Hamiltonians of the integrable system. This coincidence has far-reaching consequences. Most importantly, it opens the door for studying the long-standing problem of the quantization of the Seiberg-Witten solution from the quantization of the corresponding integrable system, and vice versa.

One of the best-known examples is the relationship between classical integrable systems and four-dimensional N = 2 supersymmetric theories.


It is well known that currents of electricity exist in the atmosphere. Clouds are charged and discharged. There is constant change of electricity from earth to air and from air to earth. The earth is the reservoir for all electricity. The electricity is the potent factor in the economy of nature and has more to do with the growth and developments of plants. Plant food is carried throughout the plant by means of the flow of sap, these currents circu-lates through all rootlets and centre as it were, in the stalk, carrying their tiny burdens of various elements and depositing them in the proper places. This phenomenon of sap circulation can be doubled due to electricity [3] .

Clouds are charged and discharged.

This phenomenon of sap circulation can be doubled due to electricity.


Meanwhile, the importance of controlling individual powder properties (particle size and shape) and the bulk properties (packing density and flowability) to achieve increased efficiency during powder handling, packing and compaction had been emphasised [13] [14] . This is with a view to obtaining substantial improvements in the density, microstructural, and mechanical properties of the laser sintered components. Moreover, the customisation of these properties can lead to changes in melt pool behaviour, sintering kinetics and laser absorptivity during selective laser sintering process [15] [16] . Consequently, these necessitate that the effects of mixing time on the bed density, and microstructure of SLS processed aluminium powders are explored with a view to providing a basis for quality control. However, this study also describes the outcome of the measurement of the bulk powder properties as well as its effects on its physical properties which influence the powder's bed density. Thereafter, in order to establish a reliable degree of consistency within and between the deposited layers of powders, calibration of the mixing time to obtain a homogeneous particle distribution in the powder following storage and before deposition was undertaken. The implications of the calibration of the mixing time for the bed density and microstructure of SLS processed powders are hereby analysed in regards to circumventing the challenge of agglomeration in the SLS processed microstructure of aluminium powders.

Meanwhile, the importance of controlling individual powder properties (particle size and shape) and the bulk properties (packing density and flowability) to achieve increased efficiency during powder handling, packing and compaction had been emphasised.

Moreover, the customisation of these properties can lead to changes in melt pool behaviour, sintering kinetics and laser absorptivity during selective laser sintering process.


The challenge of delivering new customised products more quickly to meet customer's demand in order to avoid delayed delivery has led to the emergence of the direct selective laser sintering process (SLS) or selective laser melting (SLM) [1] [2] [3] [4] . SLS/SLM process was developed at the University of Texas in Austin in 1987. It allows generation of complex 3D multilayer parts by sintering together successive layers of powder materials on top of each other 2 .

The challenge of delivering new customised products more quickly to meet customer's demand in order to avoid delayed delivery has led to the emergence of the direct selective laser sintering process (SLS) or selective laser melting (SLM).


In this study, farmers used three identified sales channel and preferred to sell the largest proportion of their coffee beans to the market of buying agents. Over the past few years, coffee farmers established a strong bond with buying agents based on their credit-bound relationship that somehow fulfills the desired economic attributes [54] . This, in particular, explains the crucial role of buying agents and their existing monopolistic power in the supply chain [51] . Yet, the sector has recently restructured. As a response to the industrialization process, coffee processors/exporters (stated-owned and FDI private companies) are now making efforts to engage farmer growers into coordinating production and marketing. Participating farmers can either cultivate in their lands or stated-owned farms, carry out production under direct supervision or through cooperatives, commit total sale agreement or proportional coffee volume on designated planting area, and follow technical guidance and support. This institutional arrangement has paved a shortcut to the end market of raw coffee beans in the province. However, rigorous requirements in production and product standardization do not often translate into price premiums, which leads to farmers' noncompliance or retreat from coordination. In this situation, farmers prefer to sell their harvest elsewhere due to market price fluctuation, his (or her) opportunistic behaviors and traditional farming habits. Indeed, this is not completely ruling out the power of buying agents in the local market, but it is already turning them into competitive actors in the supply chain. The statistics of coffee sale proportion in this study provides empirical evidence that greater coordination in the coffee supply chain leads to better market access for farmers.

Over the past few years, coffee farmers established a strong bond with buying agents based on their credit-bound relationship that somehow fulfills the desired economic attributes.

This, in particular, explains the crucial role of buying agents and their existing monopolistic power in the supply chain.


Aligned short fibre hybrid composites with high strength carbon/E-glass fibres and high modulus carbon/E-glass fibres were successfully produced using the HiPerDiF method [26] . When loaded in tension, high strength carbon/E-glass composites did not show any pseudo-ductility because the failure strain of the carbon fibres was almost the same as the failure strain of the aligned discontinuous glass composite. On the other hand, pseudo-ductility was obtained from the intermingled hybrid composites using high modulus carbon/E-glass fibres. They were manufactured with relative carbon volume ratios of 0.1, 0.2, 0.25, 0.33, 0.4 and 0.5 and tested in tension in order to investigate the carbon ratio effect on the stress-strain curve. The observed pseudo-ductile strains, as a result of the fragmentation in the low elongation constituent (carbon), were in good agreement with the simple analytical solution. The fragmentation strain was related to the volume and moduli ratios and the failure strain of the low elongation constituent. In addition, the results of intermingled high modulus carbon/E-glass composites have clearly confirmed that the apparent failure strain of the low elongation constituent increases in low relative carbon volume ratios. When the relative carbon ratio was 0.25, the pseudo-ductile strain reached the maximum value, 1.1%, with 400 MPa yield stress, 690 MPa strength and 110 GPa tensile modulus. This study of intermingled hybrid composites shows that the HiPerDiF method is a powerful approach to develop and investigate new hybrid materials allowing variation of fibre types, length and dispersion state.

Aligned short fibre hybrid composites with high strength carbon/E-glass fibres and high modulus carbon/E-glass fibres were successfully produced using the HiPerDiF method.


Lack of effort was found to be the main cause of failure among students. During the focus group discussions, they all agreed that one needs to sweat if they want to pass or perform well during class tests and examinations. About 80% of the students did not agree that luck is a cause of success in learners. They contended that it leads to laziness because attributing success to luck reduces chances or the probability of working extra hard in examinations as one would always assume luck might bail them out whether they worked hard or not. This is again consistent with Weiners' theory that attribution affects students' motivation and odds of hard work or the opposite [15] .

This is again consistent with Weiners' theory that attribution affects students' motivation and odds of hard work or the opposite.


Students who were sampled for the study, especially from rural secondary schools, attributed success largely to ability and effort. For example, students from Nankumba CDSS said that for one to pass in a test or examinations they need to work hard, they said that to promote hard work the government strives to provide reading textbooks for students to study and perform well during their assessments. They also reiterated that some individuals have inborn intelligence but that alone cannot help but should be coupled with hard work. They further referenced that intelligence alone is not enough but should also be nurtured by good learning resources and above all else hard work. One could see them justified because most rural schools in Malawi are under-resourced compared to urban counterparts. Most learners also sampled from the bottom ten passing list still mentioned luck and task difficulty no wonder one could be tempted to conclude that the attribution theory is valid and applicable in Malawian secondary schools. This is in line with Ames' findings among mathematics students in Brazil that showed that students with high ability attribute their success and failure to internal factors as compared to low achieving mathematics students who attributed their success and failure to external factors [17] .

This is in line with Ames' findings among mathematics students in Brazil that showed that students with high ability attribute their success and failure to internal factors as compared to low achieving mathematics students who attributed their success and failure to external factors.


Densitometric HPTLC is becoming a routine analytical technique and has been widely used for phytochemical evaluation of botanicals due to its simplicity. It in-volves the usage of minimum sample, low operating cost, need for minimum sample clean up, no prior treatment for solvents like filtration and degassing, and several samples can be analyzed simultaneously using a small quantity of mobile phase. Unlike other analytical methods, HPTLC produces complex information of visible chromatograms of entire samples at a glance. Multiple samples are seen simultaneously, so that reference and test samples can be compared for identification. Similarities and differences are immediately apparent with the help of the image comparison [8, 9] .

Similarities and differences are immediately apparent with the help of the image comparison.


Various extracts of root bark were studied for in vitro antimalarial activity against Chloroquine-susceptible strains (K67, K39, M24, UPA, SL/D6, HB3 etc.) and Chloroquine-resistant strains (ItD12, FCR3, FCB etc.) of Plasmodium falciparum and compared with nitidine. It was found that the methanolic extract showed the highest activity and nitidine was more potent than methanolic extract [2] [3] [4] . Bioassay-directed fractionation of T. asiatica extract was studied and found that nitidine inhibited human lymphoblastoid cell killing by HIV-1 in vitro XTTbased anti-HIV assay [5, 6] . Ethanolic extract of dried stem chips was studied for in vitro cytotoxicity on various cell lines using Fluorescence activated cell sorter analysis and measurement of Caspase-3 activity and found that dihydronitidine isolated from this extract had highly specific cytotoxicities to human lung carcinoma (A549) cells and induced specific apoptotic cell death by regulating the cell cycle related genes (CDK2; CCNE) [7] .

It was found that the methanolic extract showed the highest activity and nitidine was more potent than methanolic extract.

Bioassay-directed fractionation of T. asiatica extract was studied and found that nitidine inhibited human lymphoblastoid cell killing by HIV-1 in vitro XTTbased anti-HIV assay.

Ethanolic extract of dried stem chips was studied for in vitro cytotoxicity on various cell lines using Fluorescence activated cell sorter analysis and measurement of Caspase-3 activity and found that dihydronitidine isolated from this extract had highly specific cytotoxicities to human lung carcinoma (A549) cells and induced specific apoptotic cell death by regulating the cell cycle related genes (CDK2; CCNE).


An important tool to build "top-down" models is the use of probe flavor branes [14, 15] . On the field theory side one adds a finite number N f of fundamental representation charge carriers (the "electrons") to a known gauge theory with a large number of colors N c and a gravitational dual. This introduces a new U (1) global symmetry, "baryon" or "electron" number, under which only the new fields are charged. For N f /N c ≪ 1, the dynamics of the new charge carriers do not backreact on the underlying field theory (the "phonon bath"); transport phenomena associated with electron number are dominated by electrons strongly interacting with the underlying phonon bath. The addition of the extra charge carriers is implemented in the gravity dual by including N f flavor D-branes which do not backreact on the dual geometry in the probe limit N f /N c ≪ 1. In addition, the flavor D-branes support a U (1) gauge field on their wordvolume whose dynamics is universally governed by the DiracBorn-Infeld (DBI) action. The transport properties associated with electron number on the field theory side can be found by studying the classical dynamics of this DBI gauge field.

An important tool to build "top-down" models is the use of probe flavor branes.


Quantum phase transitions are continuous phase transitions at zero temperature [1] . The transitions occur at quantum critical points, which are reached when a set of control parameters are properly tuned. These quantum critical points are an active area of research in the condensed matter community. For example, they play an important role in a candidate theory of high-T c superconductors [2] . Often, one is interested not just in the effective theory at the critical point, but also in a neighborhood of the critical point. In this paper, we study an example of a quantum critical point in the context of holography.

Quantum phase transitions are continuous phase transitions at zero temperature.

For example, they play an important role in a candidate theory of high-T c superconductors.


For semiconductors, the relationship among Seebeck coefficient, effective mass and carrier concentration can be expressed below: where k B is the Boltzmann constant, e is the carrier charge, h is Planck's constant, m * is the effective mass of the charger carrier, and n is the carrier concentration. Seebeck coefficient reflects the average entropy transported per charge carrier and thus decreases with increasing carrier as shown in equation (3). Thus, high effective mass and low carrier concentration of the materials are desirable to reach high Seebeck coefficient as shown here. The Seebeck coefficient is directly related to the density of states, whereas the electrical conductivity can be limited by electronic and morphological defects [23] . Fig. 4 shows the electrical conductivity increases with the temperature increase, which indicates semiconductor behavior. With the increasing temperature thermal energy excites free electrons from the valence band to the conduction band resulting in increased electrical conductivity. The highest electrical conductivity reached is 17 S/m at 780 K. For p-type transparent conductivity oxides (TCOs), those bands are very flat due to the localized oxygen p-type nature of the valence band [24] . P-type TCOs have high hole effective mass. Thus, it is very challenging to reach high electrical conductivity for CuAlO 2 .

The Seebeck coefficient is directly related to the density of states, whereas the electrical conductivity can be limited by electronic and morphological defects.

The highest electrical conductivity reached is 17 S/m at 780 K. For p-type transparent conductivity oxides (TCOs), those bands are very flat due to the localized oxygen p-type nature of the valence band.


As can be seen that high effective mass will result in low mobility, thus the electrical conductivity decreases. To reach high electrical conductivity, higher carrier concentration and lower effective mass are desirable, however it often degenerates the Seebeck coefficient of materials as governed by equation (3) . Thus, the investigation of an effective doping mechanism for improving electrical conductivity without degenerating the Seebeck coefficient is crucial to increasing electrical properties of p-type TCOs materials for applications of thermoelectric power generation.

To reach high electrical conductivity, higher carrier concentration and lower effective mass are desirable, however it often degenerates the Seebeck coefficient of materials as governed by equation.


To fill this knowledge gap, we have conducted a systematic study of thermoelectric properties of CuAlO 2 with the function of temperatures from 300 K to 780 K. Solid-state synthesis of CuAlO 2 created a material with a nanostructured grain size, which affects electrical and thermal conductivity. Cold-pressed pellets kept powder maintained the grain size during the annealing process. Annealing temperature and time were optimized for microstructure, which will significantly affect thermoelectric properties [20] . The effects of different annealing times for CuAlO 2, on resulting microstructure, and related thermoelectric properties of CuAlO 2 were studied.

Annealing temperature and time were optimized for microstructure, which will significantly affect thermoelectric properties.


GPUs have been successfully applied to perform computations for probabilistic model checking, when the state space is given a priori [2] [3] [4] . However, no attempts as of yet have been made to perform the exploration itself entirely using GPUs, due to it not naturally fitting the data parallel approach of GPUs, but in this paper, we propose a way to do so. Even though current GPUs have a limited amount of memory, we believe it is relevant to investigate the possibilities of GPU state space exploration, if only to be prepared for future hardware developments (for example, GPUs are already being integrated in CPUs). We also believe that the results reported in this paper can be relevant for solving other on-the-fly graph problems. In this paper, we describe several options to implement basic state space exploration, i.e. reachability analysis, for explicit-state model checking on GPUs. We focus on CUDA-enabled GPUs of NVIDIA, but the options can also be implemented using other interfaces. We experimentally compare these options, and draw conclusions. Where relevant, we use techniques from related work, but practically all related implementations are focussed on explicit graph searching, in which the explicit graph is given, as opposed to on-the-fly constructing the graph. The structure of the paper is as follows: in Section 2, the required background information is given. Then, Section 3 contains the description of several implementations using different extensions. In Section 4, experimental results are shown, and finally, Section 5 contains conclusions and discusses possible future work.

GPUs have been successfully applied to perform computations for probabilistic model checking, when the state space is given a priori.


Therefore, WRDCC (population size) of Chengdu city under design water supply in development mode I (II, III) will be 997ˆ10 4 (770ˆ10 4 , 504ˆ10 4 ) in 2020, and 934ˆ10 4 (759ˆ10 4 , 462ˆ10 4 ) in 2030, which are listed below in Table 5 . The results show that the population size of WRDCC shows a rapid downward trend from a better to worse development mode (I to III), which makes sense. It also shows a slow downward trend from 2020 to 2030, this may because, for one reason, more water is used for the environment and Tertiary industry, and for another, the domestic water quota is increasing with the development of society. This is similar to Tianjin city and China, which also show a decreasing carrying population [14] .

This is similar to Tianjin city and China, which also show a decreasing carrying population.


There are two types of WRCC: current WRCC and future WRCC. It is quite easy to calculate the current WRCC as the current situation of water resources and socio-economic development mode are already known. However, the WRCC changes with time. For the future WRCC, the future amount of water resources and the socio-economic development mode are unknown and need to be estimated in advance, which will cause a lot of uncertainty. In most studies, water resources and the socio-economic development mode in the future are estimated based on some supposed conditions [14] [15] [16] . For example, the water resources in the future are estimatedbased on a 50% (represents water inflow reliability for a normal year) and 75% (for a moderate dry year) guaranteed rate. The socio-economic development is estimated based on a certain stage, e.g., basic level of living, well-off level of living and affluence level of living [14] . This considers the uncertainty of water resources and socio-economic development to a certain extent, but the estimated results vary widely for different conditions. This study focused on the above limits of WRCC, and proposed a new concept, water resources design carrying capacity (WRDCC), to narrow the uncertainty of future WRCC calculations. Section 2 presents the definition of WRDCC in this study; Section 3 describes the scheme of WRDCC, i.e., how to select the design water resources and design socio-economic development mode; Section 4 is a case study of WRDCC calculation of Chengdu city in China; and the conclusions are summarized in Section 5.

However, the WRCC changes with time.

In most studies, water resources and the socio-economic development mode in the future are estimated based on some supposed conditions.

The socio-economic development is estimated based on a certain stage, e.g., basic level of living, well-off level of living and affluence level of living.


The results, modelling decisions to engage with outsourcing are shown in Table 2 . The full model is significant and better fitting than the baseline (change in -2LL, 13.626, df(3), p<0.003). Measures of pseudo R 2 further demonstrate the full model provides greater explanatory power than the baseline (Field, 2009) . Market Orientation is positive and significantly correlated with the decision to engage in outsourcing (1.27, p<0.01), providing empirical support for Hypothesis 1. HEIs with higher International Intensity (0.139, p<0.05), are more likely to outsource, supporting Hypothesis 2b while those with higher Teaching Intensity (0.045, p<0.1) are marginally more likely to outsource (providing limited support for Hypothesis 2a).

Measures of pseudo R 2 further demonstrate the full model provides greater explanatory power than the baseline.


The Young's modulus can be determined using both destructive and nondestructive methods. Use of non-destructive testing (NDT) and non-destructive evaluation (NDE) in the field of wood and wood-based materials is advancing every day. There are widespread NDT techniques, equipment, and evaluation procedures available today that resulted from early NDT research (Brashaw et al. 2009; Dündar and Divos 2014) .

There are widespread NDT techniques, equipment, and evaluation procedures available today that resulted from early NDT research.


In reviewing the change literature since 1990, several observations present themselves. First, whereas research on content, contextual, and process considerations related to change continues to be responsive to contemporary organizational demands (and valuable insights have, thereby, been gained into change per se), analyses of organizational change have generally tended to be limited in scope, focusing on one set of considerations or another. As we conclude the 1990s, enough research has been conducted to make it clear that future studies should evaluate content, contextual and process issues so as to make predictions about how and why organizations change. Doing so will no doubt require great effort, but should aid in unifying the field (Barnett & Carroll, 1995) .

Doing so will no doubt require great effort, but should aid in unifying the field.


Furthermore, there is limited evidence on the role of controlling shareholders' ownership on the relationship between expropriation and firm value (Ahrens et al., 2011) . We investigate whether controlling shareholders' ownership concentration moderates the relationship between RPTs that are likely to result in expropriation and firm value. Prior studies investigated the moderating role of other internal corporate governance mechanisms on this relationship, but evidence on ownership concentration role is limited.

Furthermore, there is limited evidence on the role of controlling shareholders' ownership on the relationship between expropriation and firm value.


Apnea in preterm neonates occurs as a result of immature respiratory control [1] . Episodes of apnea of prematurity (AOP) and its associated hypoxemia and bradycardia are characterized by a pause in breathing for greater than 15 s, accompanied with an oxygen saturation (SpO2) less than 80 % for more than 4 s, and a heart rate less than 67 % from baseline for more than 4 s in neonates less than 37 weeks' gestation [2] . The incidence of apneic episodes corresponds inversely to the gestational age and birth weight of the neonate. Neonates born at 30-31 weeks' gestation experience AOP at a higher incidence rate than neonates born at 32-33 or 34-35 weeks' gestation (54 % vs. 15 % vs. 7 %) [2] . Additionally, there is an 84 % incidence rate of apnea occurring in neonates weighing less than 1 kg at birth, regardless of gestational age [3] . Thus, preterm neonates are at an increased risk of apnea than term neonates due to their low gestational age and low birth weight.

Apnea in preterm neonates occurs as a result of immature respiratory control.

Episodes of apnea of prematurity (AOP) and its associated hypoxemia and bradycardia are characterized by a pause in breathing for greater than 15 s, accompanied with an oxygen saturation (SpO2) less than 80 % for more than 4 s, and a heart rate less than 67 % from baseline for more than 4 s in neonates less than 37 weeks' gestation.

Neonates born at 30-31 weeks' gestation experience AOP at a higher incidence rate than neonates born at 32-33 or 34-35 weeks' gestation (54 % vs. 15 % vs. 7 %).

Additionally, there is an 84 % incidence rate of apnea occurring in neonates weighing less than 1 kg at birth, regardless of gestational age.


Making an endoscopic diagnosis of rectal Dieulafoy lesions is more challenging because of the small size of the lesion and the presence of many blood clots and stool in the rectum. Therefore, repeated endoscopic evaluations with careful inspection of rectal mucosa are sometimes necessary to make the correct diagnosis [6, 7] . In our elderly patient, we could not detect the origin of bleeding during the first colonoscopy because of the presence of fresh blood and blood clots in the colon and rectum. During another episode of massive bleeding, CTA scans showed the approximate location of the bleeding site, and with repeated endoscopic examination we were able to detect a rectal Dieulafoy lesion.

Therefore, repeated endoscopic evaluations with careful inspection of rectal mucosa are sometimes necessary to make the correct diagnosis.


Typically REFM has to be coupled with a personal computer (PC) on site in order to collect and store data from the instruments [9] . This condition demands costs on installation of computer and data logger system on site, as well as manpower to collect data from REFM sensor location. Furthermore, this also raises safety issues on the instruments and the computer system. Therefore, there should be a solution to be introduced to overcome this problem.

Typically REFM has to be coupled with a personal computer (PC) on site in order to collect and store data from the instruments.


The purpose of this work is to investigate the correction to the mass of the brane (or zeromode of the bulk) scalar fields φ Hu , φ H d induced 5 by towers of Kaluza-Klein states of Q, U, D superfields, via interaction (4) . Gauge corrections will also be considered. Since similar considerations apply to both H u and H d , we shall compute the one-loop correction to the mass m φ H of φ Hu , hereafter denoted simply φ H . To compute the one-loop corrected m φ H one must first evaluate the spectrum of Kaluza-Klein modes, using eq.(3). However this spectrum also depends on the mechanism of the further breaking of 4D N=1 supersymmetry which is then transmitted to the "visible" sector at y = 0. We shall distinguish two cases discussed separately: I. Localised supersymmetry breaking and II. Non-local supersymmetry breaking.

The purpose of this work is to investigate the correction to the mass of the brane (or zeromode of the bulk) scalar fields φ Hu , φ H d induced 5 by towers of Kaluza-Klein states of Q, U, D superfields, via interaction.

Non-local supersymmetry breaking.


The models that we investigate are 5D N=1 supersymmetric, compactified on S 1 /Z 2 and the interactions are localised superpotential (in the extra dimension) and gauge interactions. These are standard interactions in any higher dimensional theory which aims to recover after compactification and at low energies, the Standard Model (SM) or its supersymmetric versions. Such interactions induce loop corrections to the mass of the zero mode scalar field (if this is a bulk field) or to that of a brane scalar field. It is important to note that this field is regarded in many models as the SM Higgs field [1] - [8] . Therefore such loop corrections are important for the hierarchy problem, electroweak symmetry breaking or running of the mass of the scalar field.

It is important to note that this field is regarded in many models as the SM Higgs field.


Incremental Sequential Equivalence Checking (SEC) is another application of PP-equivalence checking where isomorphic subcircuits can be used to create a number of highly-likely candidate equivalent nodes [15] . The current implementation of incremental SEC tires to find isomorphic subgraphs by performing extended simulation and finding structural similarities. Although the Boolean approach presented in our paper does not fully exploit the structural similarities between two circuits, we believe that our techniques combined with structural verification techniques create a much more powerful tool for detecting isomorphic subgraphs.

Incremental Sequential Equivalence Checking (SEC) is another application of PP-equivalence checking where isomorphic subcircuits can be used to create a number of highly-likely candidate equivalent nodes.


Bayesian inversion recasts inverse problems in the form of statistical quest for information. From the Bayesian perspective, the solution to an inverse problem is the probability distribution of the unknown when all information available has been incorporated in the model [18] . This solution, called the posterior distribution, describes our best understanding of what are the more and less probable values of the unknown.

From the Bayesian perspective, the solution to an inverse problem is the probability distribution of the unknown when all information available has been incorporated in the model.


The lack of infinite-dimensional theory on the MAP estimate is problematic also from another perspective. Namely, it is currently not known when the MAP estimates are discretization invariant [22] . In other words, if the discretization of the unknown is refined, does the finite-dimensional MAP estimates converge to the infinite-dimensional counter-part? Convergence of the estimates does not always guarantee that the limit is an estimator [23] . From practical point of view, this is of course a serious deficit in the theory. A variational characterization of the limiting infinite-dimensional estimate could provide more insight into this problem.

Namely, it is currently not known when the MAP estimates are discretization invariant.

Convergence of the estimates does not always guarantee that the limit is an estimator.


In Nigeria, parental practices embrace all the parenting styles with emphasis on obedience and compliance with parental instructions (Akinsola, 2011) . Many Nigerian parents however accompany this demand for obedience and compliance with parental instructions with responsiveness, love, care, sensitivity, reciprocal dialogue, and explanations for their actions. The combination of demand for obedience and responsiveness by parents allows Nigerian children to perceive their parents as authoritative some of the time and authoritarian at other times.

In Nigeria, parental practices embrace all the parenting styles with emphasis on obedience and compliance with parental instructions.


Coagulation, adsorption, and oxidation are widely used as pretreatment processes for microfiltration (MF) in water purification to alleviate membrane fouling and enhance the removals of micropollutants and disinfection byproduct precursors [1] . In MF with ceramic membranes, coagulation-flocculation with polyaluminum chloride (PACl) is a successful pretreatment for removing soluble substances and reducing the decrease in membrane permeability during long-time operation [2] . This process is commonly used in full-scale water treatment. Coagulation pretreatment destabilizes and agglomerates the colloidal and particulate foulants, increasing their size and thereby mitigating pore constriction and blockage and the formation of a porous cake layer. Additionally, increased particle size reduces the specific cake resistance, according to the Carman-Kozeny relationship, and thus increases permeability. However, membrane fouling is not completely avoided since aquatic colloids are not removed, which cause fouling by narrowing or blocking membrane pores, and substances retained on the membrane that form a gel or cake layer still contribute resistance.

Coagulation, adsorption, and oxidation are widely used as pretreatment processes for microfiltration (MF) in water purification to alleviate membrane fouling and enhance the removals of micropollutants and disinfection byproduct precursors.

In MF with ceramic membranes, coagulation-flocculation with polyaluminum chloride (PACl) is a successful pretreatment for removing soluble substances and reducing the decrease in membrane permeability during long-time operation.


In a ceramic membrane MF system, the permeability of the cake layer may not be a crucial issue, because an integrated, intensive, hydraulic backwash process would eject most of the cake layer. After coagulation, the affinity of the membrane for destabilized contaminants and their aggregates is lower than without coagulation, which leads to a more effective backwash. Hence, with an integrated, hydraulic backwash, the degree of fouling from cake layer formation would be minimized. Hydraulically irreversible fouling is the main concern in full-scale membrane filtration facilities because it determines energy consumption for long-term membrane filtration and affects the sustainable operation of the facility. Irreversible fouling is caused by contaminants that do not react with or adsorb to hydrolytic species formed by the coagulant and thus are not destabilized [15] . Many studies have been conducted to better understand the behavior of membrane foulants and elucidate fouling mechanisms, but these studies have seldom identified practical solutions to the membrane-fouling problem.

Irreversible fouling is caused by contaminants that do not react with or adsorb to hydrolytic species formed by the coagulant and thus are not destabilized.


Two planes used in a traditional CWFS are sufficient for this technique to work, but using four has a potential advantage as it allows the nonlinear propagation of light through the pupil plane to be properly modelled. High-order phase distortions will introduce intensity changes on a shorter length-scale than low-order phase distortions. Using a pair of planes close to the pupil plane, and a pair of planes far from the pupil plane, different length-scales of phase distortion can be recorded and corrected (Guyon, 2010) .

Using a pair of planes close to the pupil plane, and a pair of planes far from the pupil plane, different length-scales of phase distortion can be recorded and corrected.


In Lucky Imaging applications, which are being used increasingly, removal of as much aberration as possible is desirable, regardless of the scalelength of phase distortions. On telescopes larger than 2.5m, Lucky Imaging will only work in the visible when combined with some additional degree of low-order phase correction such as may be provided by an adaptive optics system. In such a system, when using Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors (SHWFS) the number of lenslets is selected based upon the degree of correction required. With highly aberrated wavefronts, many more lenslets are needed than for less aberrated wavefronts. The chosen number of lenslets is very difficult to change once the system has been built. Because of the fixed number of sub-apertures, and because of their fixed focal length, SHWFS systems cannot simultaneously correct for all length-scales of aberration equally well. Curvature wavefront sensors (CWFS) have been shown to outperform SHWFS systems in some circumstances, especially in correcting lowand high-order aberrations simultaneously using a non-linear curvature wavefront sensor (nlCWFS) (Guyon, 2010) .

Curvature wavefront sensors (CWFS) have been shown to outperform SHWFS systems in some circumstances, especially in correcting lowand high-order aberrations simultaneously using a non-linear curvature wavefront sensor (nlCWFS).


The so-called Squalea/Galea hypothesis has received considerable attention and support in recent years. The hypothesis posits that batomorphs (skates, rays) have arisen from recent selachians, more precisely within the Squalea (Compagno 1977; Shirai 1992 Shirai , 1996 de Carvalho 1996; de Carvalho & Maisey 1996; McEachran et al . 1996) . The Squalea /Galea hypothesis was examined by sequencing the mtDNA of the horn shark, Heterodontus francisci , and including it in the data set. This taxon is a member of the order Heterodontiformes, which is considered basal within the selachian (shark) group Galeomorphii. If the Squalea/Galea hypothesis is correct, the batomorph representative should, in the present study, group with the spiny dogfish ( Squalus acanthias ) to the exclusion of the other selachians including the horn shark. The basal position of the Heterodontiformes within the Galeomorphii makes Heterodontus of particular interest for the examination of the Squalea/Galea hypothesis.

The hypothesis posits that batomorphs (skates, rays) have arisen from recent selachians, more precisely within the Squalea.


The amount of distributed generation (DG) is constantly increasing and other controllable resources such as controllable loads, electric vehicles and energy storages are becoming more common in distribution networks. At present, the control possibilities of these resources are not utilised in distribution network operation and network reinforcement is used to solve problems caused by DG. Active network management methods can also be used to mitigate voltage rise caused by DG or prevent network overloading. In many cases, the active congestion management methods lead to considerably lower network total costs than the currently used passive approach [1] .

In many cases, the active congestion management methods lead to considerably lower network total costs than the currently used passive approach.


Sections 2 and 3 establish the Lie theoretical results necessary for the sequel. Section 2 is essentially introductory: we recall the Cartan theory for reductive complex Lie algebras in Section 2.1. Section 2.2 reviews the construction of the maximal split subalgebra g of any real reductive Lie algebra g, due to Kostant-Rallis [29] .

Section 2.2 reviews the construction of the maximal split subalgebra g of any real reductive Lie algebra g, due to Kostant-Rallis.


Land is an essential and limited natural resource [1] . Utilizations of landscapes by people often result in a modification of land cover through changing human land use [2] [3] [4] . The ecological area or natural environment in which a particular animal or plant species usually lives is described as their habitat [5] . Land use change implies the qualification and quantification change of land cover type "as habitat for organisms and productive land for humans" [6] . Moreover, a decrease in the size of habitat fragments is a significant indicator of habitat fragmentation [7] .

Land is an essential and limited natural resource.

Utilizations of landscapes by people often result in a modification of land cover through changing human land use.

The ecological area or natural environment in which a particular animal or plant species usually lives is described as their habitat.

Land use change implies the qualification and quantification change of land cover type "as habitat for organisms and productive land for humans".

Moreover, a decrease in the size of habitat fragments is a significant indicator of habitat fragmentation.


Significant human interference with the Earth's surface affects the observed transformations in LULC [37] . In the last few decades, in many areas around the world, the rural land use have changed rapidly [38] . Industrialisation, urbanization, population growth, and economic reforms are major driving forces contributing to land-use change [39] . A rapid socio-economic change can induce LULC change such as farmland abandonment [40] . The complex interrelationship between socio-economic factors and LULC can be further compounded when global climate change is added as a factor [41] .

Significant human interference with the Earth's surface affects the observed transformations in LULC.

In the last few decades, in many areas around the world, the rural land use have changed rapidly.

Industrialisation, urbanization, population growth, and economic reforms are major driving forces contributing to land-use change.

A rapid socio-economic change can induce LULC change such as farmland abandonment.

The complex interrelationship between socio-economic factors and LULC can be further compounded when global climate change is added as a factor.


Halgurd-Sakran National Park (HSNP) belongs to Choman district and consists of three zones; core zone, outer zone and additional outer zone. Our study focused on the core zone (CZ) (Figure 1 ) [36] . Due to its remote location, mountainous terrain, scant and limited transportation to the districts and sub-districts, there was negligible economic development in HSCZ before the Fall of Baghdad in April 2003. However, because of the attractive natural landscapes and the accelerated general economic growth in Kurdistan after 2003, the HSNP has been selected on the top list of tourism destinations for travelers in Kurdistan region-Erbil governorate since 2008 [36] .

Our study focused on the core zone (CZ) (Figure 1 ).

However, because of the attractive natural landscapes and the accelerated general economic growth in Kurdistan after 2003, the HSNP has been selected on the top list of tourism destinations for travelers in Kurdistan region-Erbil governorate since 2008.


Pro-concentration theories argue that increasing concentration goes hand-inhand with efficiency improvements. The efficient firms will be able to increase their market share as they are able to generate higher profits wherefore the degree of concentration will naturally increase. According to this efficiency theory, there is no negative relationship between concentration and competition (Macit, 2012) .

According to this efficiency theory, there is no negative relationship between concentration and competition.


On the other hand, cons-concentration theories suggest various negative impacts of market concentration in the banking sector. There are evidences linking increase in banking concentration to reductions in credit supply and higher prices for financial services. The policy implication of these evidences is that higher market concentration is associated with lower socio-economic welfare and therefore higher concentration is undesirable (Tushaj, 2010) .

The policy implication of these evidences is that higher market concentration is associated with lower socio-economic welfare and therefore higher concentration is undesirable.


Concentration is defined as a measure of subject participation in cumulative sales, assets or market share and it is usually determined by the number of companies in an industry and by their relative size (Zingales and Raghuram, 2003) . The importance of market concentration in the banking sector is reflected in its impact on competition, efficiency and profitability in the banking sector, as well as on economic development and structure in other sectors. The economic literature abounds in different studies and theories on market concentration in the banking sector. All these studies and theories could be classified into pro-concentration and cons-concentration ones.

Concentration is defined as a measure of subject participation in cumulative sales, assets or market share and it is usually determined by the number of companies in an industry and by their relative size.


There are also empirical evidences that the degree of competition is quite lower in highly concentrated markets and that banks in such an environment enjoy higher profits (Macit, 2012) . Many academics and policy makers concluded also that the increase in the degree of concentration in the European banking sector is negatively related to competition (Bikker and Groeneveld, 2000) . High level of concentration on the banking market raises spreads and it is also associated with higher administrative costs, what was empirically proven on the example of Latin America (Peria and Mody, 2004) .

There are also empirical evidences that the degree of competition is quite lower in highly concentrated markets and that banks in such an environment enjoy higher profits.

Many academics and policy makers concluded also that the increase in the degree of concentration in the European banking sector is negatively related to competition.

High level of concentration on the banking market raises spreads and it is also associated with higher administrative costs, what was empirically proven on the example of Latin America.


The two main components of an electronic nose are the sensing system and the automated pattern recognition system. The sensing system can be an array of different sensing elements (e.g. gas sensors), where either each element measures a different property of the sensed odour or, more often, the sensors respond to a complex odour with overlapped sensitivity, which results in the sensor array producing a characteristic signature or pattern. Thus, presenting the odour of many samples of sardines at different times of cold storage to the sensor array will result in a database of signatures being built up [6] . This database of signatures will be then used to train the pattern recognition system. The goal of this training process is to configure the recognition system to produce unique classifications of each sample of sardines, so that an automated identification can be implemented. The pattern recognition system comprises the feature extraction step, which extracts useful information from the sensor responses and the pattern recognition algorithm. In supervised pattern recognition, input patterns are learned and associated with an odour class. In an unsupervised pattern recognition technique, the multidimensional configuration space from the pre-processor is converted into a feature space. The unknown sardine sample is identified by comparison to a knowledge base, from a previous learning scheme. The pattern recognition algorithms have become a critical component in the successful implementation of gas sensor arrays and electronic noses. Among many pattern recognition techniques, we are interested in those based on artificial neural networks (ANN).

Thus, presenting the odour of many samples of sardines at different times of cold storage to the sensor array will result in a database of signatures being built up.


A wide variety of PSs have been developed and tested for PDT. Approved PDT drugs for oncological indications are listed in Table 1 . First-generation PSs are hematoporphyrin, its derivative (HpD), and the purified, commercially available Photofrin (Quadra Logic Technologies, Vancouver, Canada). Although the first-generation PSs have been shown to be efficacious in the treatment of many cancer types, these drugs are plagued with a uniformly high level of induced cutaneous phototoxicity and increased risk of sunburns. Phototoxic incidences of 20-40% have been reported during follow-up of patients having received Photofrin [16] . In addition, tumor size is another factor to determine the efficacy of PDT with Photofrin. It is reported that the response rate falls from 98% to 43% when the tumor is larger than 10 mm in diameter [17] . Recently, considerable efforts have been devoted to search for more tumor-selective photosensitizing agents with reduced side effects, called second-generation PSs. Most of the second-generation PSs are cyclic tetrapyrroles, including porphyrin and chlorin derivatives, phthalocyanines, and bacteriochlorins ( Figure 2 ). While second-generation sensitizers are often totally synthetic, with perhaps a greater ability to generate singlet oxygen, they also have severe drawbacks. One is that they can potentially generate significant pain during therapy; another is that actually they are so active that even dim light (60-watt bulb) can lead to severe skin photosensitivity [18] . In searching for new and better PSs, the following requirements have been generally accepted as criteria for suitable PS agents, including chemical purity and known composition, lack of dark toxicity, preferential retainment to the target tissue, rapid pharmacokinetics, high quantum yield for photochemical event, minimal skin photosensitivity, commercial availability, and regulatory approval for clinical application. Although several commercially available and regulatory-approved PSs have achieved clinically successful outcomes, no PSs excellently approach these characteristics [19] . Generally, the significant limitations of PDT include inability to deliver adequate light doses to the target and unavailability of suitable PSs. It is suggested that improvement of more efficient PSs can be aided by synthesis of the compounds with strong absorption bands in the nearinfrared (NIR) region of the spectrum [20] .

Phototoxic incidences of 20-40% have been reported during follow-up of patients having received Photofrin.

It is reported that the response rate falls from 98% to 43% when the tumor is larger than 10 mm in diameter.

One is that they can potentially generate significant pain during therapy; another is that actually they are so active that even dim light (60-watt bulb) can lead to severe skin photosensitivity.

Although several commercially available and regulatory-approved PSs have achieved clinically successful outcomes, no PSs excellently approach these characteristics.

It is suggested that improvement of more efficient PSs can be aided by synthesis of the compounds with strong absorption bands in the nearinfrared (NIR) region of the spectrum.


The last several decades have witnessed substantial technological and methodological improvements of RT. It is worth noting that the advent of nanoscale technologies has encouraged the development of strategies to improve RT outcomes. For example, a peptide (HVGGSSV) bound liposome-encapsulated doxorubicin can bind specifically to irradiated tumors; hence, nanoparticle bound chemotherapy can be "guided" to tumor targets [3] . Besides, nanoparticle bound chemotherapy such as liposomal doxorubicin and nano-albumin bound paclitaxel may greatly reduce RT doses required to achieve tumor control [4] . The use of high-atomic number element nanoparticles as radiosensitizers is another extremely attractive approach on the horizon [5] . However, RT is still limited by unacceptable normal tissue toxicity in some cases. The dose is a critical issue because it increases the likelihood of damaging normal tissue surrounding the cancer. The ultimate goal of RT is to increase dose to the tumor while sparing normal tissue, thus improving the therapeutic ratio and reducing the side effects [6] . Nowadays, improving the clinical benefit of RT has been a long-standing goal in clinical cancer research.

For example, a peptide (HVGGSSV) bound liposome-encapsulated doxorubicin can bind specifically to irradiated tumors; hence, nanoparticle bound chemotherapy can be "guided" to tumor targets.

Besides, nanoparticle bound chemotherapy such as liposomal doxorubicin and nano-albumin bound paclitaxel may greatly reduce RT doses required to achieve tumor control.

The use of high-atomic number element nanoparticles as radiosensitizers is another extremely attractive approach on the horizon.

The ultimate goal of RT is to increase dose to the tumor while sparing normal tissue, thus improving the therapeutic ratio and reducing the side effects.


Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has emerged as a promising alternative clinical treatment for the management of malignant diseases [7] . PDT involves the administration of photosensitizers (PSs) followed by illumination of the tumor with a localized energy source to activate the specific PS. Figure 1 illustrates several different pathways that lead to the biological effects when a PS is activated. Direct destruction of tumor cells, damage to the vasculature, and triggering of an antitumor immune response are three important cell death mechanisms in PDT [7] . The efficacy of PDT in the treatment of cancer is dependent on all these mechanisms and the relative contribution of each depends on the treatment regimen given [8] . PDT has attracted ever-growing attention because it combines two essentially harmless components (PS and visible light) to produce cytotoxic singlet oxygen that results in damage to cell membrane structures, microvascular ischaemia, and tissue necrosis [9] . Furthermore, due to the ability to preserve the anatomic and functional integrity of many organs, ease of application, selective targeting, and no drug resistance, PDT is a minimally invasive alternative for surgery or radiation [10] . Three parameters (light, PSs, and oxygen) determine the treatment outcome of PDT. Drug uptake and the dose of light depend on the tissue type; the level of oxygen is highly influenced by the initial tissue oxygenation and the rate of oxygen depletion, which changes as a result of PDT-induced hypoxia through vascular collapse [11] . Numerous clinical trials of PDT have been conducted and PDT is used with increasing frequency in a variety of cancers, such as bladder, skin, lung, esophagus, and cervix [12] . For the PDT to work properly, visible light must be effectively delivered to the PSs to excite them. However, most existing PSs are activated at the wavelength range 630-690 nm, at which the tissue penetration depth of light is only 2-4 mm [13] . As a consequence, poor tissue penetrating ability of light limits PDT applications to treating superficial lesions (e.g., skin cancer) [14] . To address light penetration issues, long wavelength light sources are often used. Unfortunately, this can come as a tradeoff with excitation losses due to poor overlap with absorption spectra [15] .

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has emerged as a promising alternative clinical treatment for the management of malignant diseases.

Direct destruction of tumor cells, damage to the vasculature, and triggering of an antitumor immune response are three important cell death mechanisms in PDT.

The efficacy of PDT in the treatment of cancer is dependent on all these mechanisms and the relative contribution of each depends on the treatment regimen given.

PDT has attracted ever-growing attention because it combines two essentially harmless components (PS and visible light) to produce cytotoxic singlet oxygen that results in damage to cell membrane structures, microvascular ischaemia, and tissue necrosis.

Furthermore, due to the ability to preserve the anatomic and functional integrity of many organs, ease of application, selective targeting, and no drug resistance, PDT is a minimally invasive alternative for surgery or radiation.

Drug uptake and the dose of light depend on the tissue type; the level of oxygen is highly influenced by the initial tissue oxygenation and the rate of oxygen depletion, which changes as a result of PDT-induced hypoxia through vascular collapse.

Numerous clinical trials of PDT have been conducted and PDT is used with increasing frequency in a variety of cancers, such as bladder, skin, lung, esophagus, and cervix.

However, most existing PSs are activated at the wavelength range 630-690 nm, at which the tissue penetration depth of light is only 2-4 mm.

As a consequence, poor tissue penetrating ability of light limits PDT applications to treating superficial lesions (e.g., skin cancer).

Unfortunately, this can come as a tradeoff with excitation losses due to poor overlap with absorption spectra.


Radiation therapy (RT) has traditionally been one of the most common and efficient treatments of cancer and other diseases with ionizing radiation. RT causes lethal damage to disease cells by damaging the cellular DNA. Undifferentiated tumor cells are considered more susceptible to RT as they have a diminished ability to repair sublethal DNA damage [1] . A malignant cell's ability to repair radiation-induced DNA damage leads to a radioresistant phenotype. Besides, radiosensitivity also depends on the phase of the cell cycle at the time of irradiation. It is suggested that tumor cells in G1/S phases of the cell cycle are three times more radioresistant than those in G2/M phases [2] .

Undifferentiated tumor cells are considered more susceptible to RT as they have a diminished ability to repair sublethal DNA damage.

It is suggested that tumor cells in G1/S phases of the cell cycle are three times more radioresistant than those in G2/M phases.


In this paper, we investigate the performance of a hybrid cellular/ad-hoc wireless network derived from the ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV) protocol [8] . We propose a novel cellular/ad-hoc interconnection architecture, by suitably integrating the concept of associativity in order to address the recurrent link outage issue. We refer to this new routing protocol as "Interconnected and Physical Layer-Constrained AODV" or iAODVϕ .

In this paper, we investigate the performance of a hybrid cellular/ad-hoc wireless network derived from the ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV) protocol.


This research investigated the packaging supply chain and when it comes to packaging design, the most important aspects are: Content security, user ergonomics, supply chain sustainability, logistics optimization and Marketing/Communication [30] . Packaging design does not exist by itself, it is developed under briefing and specification of the company using the packaging and the interests of the important aspects in the development of packaging are conflicting regarding the purpose. Specific eco-design actions include the following concerns: Reduction or elimination of hazardous materials, reuse, recycling, remanufacturing, and increased resource efficiency [10] . According to the perception of the majority of respondents of this research, the eco-design initiative does not influence the environmental, economic and operational outcomes of companies.

This research investigated the packaging supply chain and when it comes to packaging design, the most important aspects are: Content security, user ergonomics, supply chain sustainability, logistics optimization and Marketing/Communication.

Specific eco-design actions include the following concerns: Reduction or elimination of hazardous materials, reuse, recycling, remanufacturing, and increased resource efficiency.


Green purchasing brings to the supply chain the concern with the environmental performance of participants of this chain. The Purchasing function is at the beginning of the material flow and is in an advantageous position regarding the participants in the supply chain to make products and activities of the company to become green [28] . The regulatory role of the Purchasing function imposes to the supply chain the obligation to comply with the specifications of environmental aspects, which directly influences the environmental outcomes of the company and the supply chain, and most respondents in this survey perceive this influence. The acceptance of the alternative Hypothesis 1a: The adoption of the green purchasing initiative influences the environmental outcome of the company, evidences this result.

The Purchasing function is at the beginning of the material flow and is in an advantageous position regarding the participants in the supply chain to make products and activities of the company to become green.


In Brazil, reverse logistics is an obligation of Manufacturers, Importers, Distributors and Traders and an important part of this material flow refer to packaging. Reverse logistics in the packaging sector depends on technical and economic feasibility, and in areas where these aspects are solved. Reverse logistics has already become a reality. Respondents in this survey are packaging supply chain professionals and do not realize the influence of this initiative on environmental, economic, and operational outcomes. The low perception of the influence of reverse logistics on the outcomes of companies by respondents may come from the fact that most of the time, this initiative is operated by a company outside the supply chain [10] .

The low perception of the influence of reverse logistics on the outcomes of companies by respondents may come from the fact that most of the time, this initiative is operated by a company outside the supply chain.


Stimulated by marketing strategies and capitalism, the world's exponential growth of industrial production is aimed at meeting market demands, bringing serious challenges to avoid impacts to the environment and quality of life of future generations. Thus, it is necessary to rethink the consumption patterns of these resources, seeking sustainable consumption and prioritizing the use of renewable and less polluting sources of energy, as well as minimizing the consequences of accidents, natural or not, that may damage the world's capacity to supply the society demands. In addition, it is essential to reduce the generation of waste from economic activities, seeking new forms of use through either reuse or recycling [1] .

In addition, it is essential to reduce the generation of waste from economic activities, seeking new forms of use through either reuse or recycling.


The detailed calculations that follow have an unavoidably mathematical tenor. Nonetheless, they are motivated primarily by practical concerns arising in physical applications of the approximate Killing field eigenvalue problem. The main such application is to the problem of calculating the spin of a black hole [3] [4] [5] . Let us review this application since it is the essential conceptual backdrop for the present results.

The main such application is to the problem of calculating the spin of a black hole.


The common feature of (2) and (3) is that the sphere S is fixed geometrically by features of the surrounding spacetime. Both formulae are then on their surest footing when the intrinsic geometry on S admits an axial Killing field ξ a . To continue interpreting (2) or (3) as the angular momentum of a black hole when S is not axially symmetric, one must specify how to construct a similarly geometrically preferred vector field ξ a from an arbitrary 2-sphere metric. Moreover, this vector field must reduce to the axial Killing field whenever one exists. A natural way to do this is to seek a best approximation, in some prescribed sense, to a Killing field on S. Several schemes of exactly this type have been proposed [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] .

A natural way to do this is to seek a best approximation, in some prescribed sense, to a Killing field on S. Several schemes of exactly this type have been proposed.