The majority of pervious studies from TP focused on bulk aerosol composition (Liu et al., 1997; Wen et al., 2001; Cong et al., 2007) . While little is known about the characteristics of individual aerosol particles, although those Corresponding author. E-mail address: shichang.kang@itpcas.ac.cn information are of crucial importance for understanding their source and formation, as well as assessing their scattering and absorption capabilities. Aerosols consist of many different types of particles (e.g. sea salt, mineral dust, fly ash and biogenic particles). The aerosol optical properties depend on which type they are. For example, the sulfate aerosols are considered to result in a negative radiative forcing that leads to a cooling of the Earth surface. By contrast, soot, or black carbon is an effective absorber of solar radiation and therefore has a warming effect (Mogo et al., 2005) .

The majority of pervious studies from TP focused on bulk aerosol composition.

By contrast, soot, or black carbon is an effective absorber of solar radiation and therefore has a warming effect.


Interestingly, there are differences in the diagnostic prediction of different non-invasive scores, which may be accounted by sample of different populations studies and use of variegated phenotypic and biochemical measurements. Overall, assessment of phenotype done by us has been extensive, and includes conventional and novel signs (acanthosis nigricans, 'buffalo hump' 'double chin') based on previous studies done by others and by us. Many of these signs/markers have not been taken in account by other investigators while researching prediction equations. Further, some prediction equations include subjects with T2DM, which we have strictly excluded them, because many other variables in patients with T2DM may confound the prediction. These include changes the weight following diet and exercise; inclusion of drugs such as metformin and thiazolidinediones and vitamin E, all of which may have effect on liver fat. It has been argued that other methods; magnetic resonance spectroscopy and liver biopsy are better tools for defining NAFLD, and could be considered as "gold standard". Conversely, ultrasonography is by far the most common method of diagnosing NAFLD in clinical practice and has a fair sensitivity (87%) and specificity (94%) in detecting hepatic steatosis [35] . In a recent meta-analysis, forty-nine (4720 participants) studies regarding ultrasonography for diagnosis of fatty liver were included. Interestingly, the overall sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, and negative likelihood ratio of ultrasound for the detection of moderatesevere fatty liver, compared to histology (gold standard), were 84.8% (95% confidence interval: 79.5-88.9), 93.6% (87.2-97.0), 13.3 (6.4-27.6), and 0.16 (0.12-0.22), respectively. Further, the area under the summary receiving operating characteristics curve was 0.93 (0.91-0.95). Overall, sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound was similar to that of other imaging techniques (i.e., computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging) [36] . In summary, ultrasonography for liver fat is simple to perform, non-invasive, cost-effective and does not entail any radiation hazard, and could also be used in the epidemiological studies. Hence, although not "gold standard", this method of investigation provides reasonable alternative to more expensive and difficult-to-perform diagnostic methods of NAFLD.

Conversely, ultrasonography is by far the most common method of diagnosing NAFLD in clinical practice and has a fair sensitivity (87%) and specificity (94%) in detecting hepatic steatosis.

Overall, sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound was similar to that of other imaging techniques (i.e., computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging).


FPS games are one of the most popular types of game being played in the current market [10] . FPSs are categorized for their combat nature and fast paced action. These games are generally made up of bots that navigate the environment, shoot at enemies, and pick up items of interest. AI research using FPS games has gained considerable attention in the research [6] [11] . During the last decade, research into FPS games has continued to increase. A Neural Network (NN) was used to train the weapon selection module of Unreal Tournament bots [5] . The results showed that the bots trained against the base AI had improved performance, and the bots trained against the harder AI were not as competitive, but had improved slightly. In a similar environment an evolutionary NN was used to train hierarchical controllers for FPS bots [6] . Three controllers for shooting, exploring and path following were evolved individually, and then an evolutionary algorithm (EA) was trained to decide when to use each of the controllers. The results showed that bots using the evolved controllers were not able to outperform the hard-coded full knowledge bots, but they were able to play the game quite well. A NN was also used to learn sub-controllers for the movement of an FPS bot and found that it was able to outperform controllers using decision trees and Naïve Bayes classifiers [11] .

FPS games are one of the most popular types of game being played in the current market.

AI research using FPS games has gained considerable attention in the research.

A Neural Network (NN) was used to train the weapon selection module of Unreal Tournament bots.

In a similar environment an evolutionary NN was used to train hierarchical controllers for FPS bots.

A NN was also used to learn sub-controllers for the movement of an FPS bot and found that it was able to outperform controllers using decision trees and Naïve Bayes classifiers.


The small sample size, which can be seen as a limitation, was due to the fact that the present study's inclusion and exclusion criteria were restricted to avoid biases by non-controllable variables. Also, such a prolonged protocol requires great collaboration from the participants. Even though, this study's sample is larger than the ones in other studies with identic purposes (Komatsu et al., 2003) .

Even though, this study's sample is larger than the ones in other studies with identic purposes.


After 10 sessions of intervention, IG significantly decreased subcuta-neous fat tissue, confirmed by ultrasound on the left ASIS, when com-pared with the CG. This decrease can be due to the clay body wrap action throughout physiological principles of its different components. Regarding green tea, evidence shows that catechins' and xanthines' ability to penetrate the skin has a direct effect on fat reduction (Belo et al., 2009; Rawlings, 2006) . Although green tea's exact degree of penetra-tion is not well understood, it crosses all skin layers and when combined with ethanol and microcurrent its penetration is further increased (Rains et al., 2011) .

Regarding green tea, evidence shows that catechins' and xanthines' ability to penetrate the skin has a direct effect on fat reduction.

Although green tea's exact degree of penetra-tion is not well understood, it crosses all skin layers and when combined with ethanol and microcurrent its penetration is further increased.


Comparing initial and final assessment moments in IG, there was a significant decrease in visceral fat above navel that can be explained by the use of the clay body wrap. In fact, aerobic exercise as well as microcurrent promote fat acid consumption, especially from sub-cutaneous adipose tissue (Boucher et al., 2008; Horowitz, 2003) . Vis-ceral fat reduction can be due to the clay body wrap compounds, given that they reinforce the effects of aerobic exercise, enhancing li-polysis in the whole abdominal area, even in deeper places where ex-ercise alone do not revealed a reduction of fat mass.

In fact, aerobic exercise as well as microcurrent promote fat acid consumption, especially from sub-cutaneous adipose tissue.


Evaluation of broadbanding potential of an antenna is one of the most important questions. Interconnection of bandwidth with the quality factor, electrical size, and the input impedance has been discussed in a number of papers [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] . Inverse proportionality of the conductance bandwidth of an antenna to the frequency derivative of the input reactance of electrically small antenna |X 0 (ω 0 )| at resonant frequency ω 0 in resonant ranges is commonly accepted [1] [2] [3] . However, this relation is not valid in antiresonant ranges [1] .

Interconnection of bandwidth with the quality factor, electrical size, and the input impedance has been discussed in a number of papers.

Inverse proportionality of the conductance bandwidth of an antenna to the frequency derivative of the input reactance of electrically small antenna |X 0 (ω 0 )| at resonant frequency ω 0 in resonant ranges is commonly accepted.

However, this relation is not valid in antiresonant ranges.


A matching network combining resonant and antiresonant properties can also be used to widen the bandwidth of the antenna [6] [7] [8] . Because of electrically small sizes of discussed antennas, a practical matching network has to be electrically small and may be viewed as a part of the antenna [8] . Therefore, notion of the conductance bandwidth is fully defined and reasonable in the quasi-static model of an electrically small antenna.

A matching network combining resonant and antiresonant properties can also be used to widen the bandwidth of the antenna.

Because of electrically small sizes of discussed antennas, a practical matching network has to be electrically small and may be viewed as a part of the antenna.


Frequency dependence of a flow of energy accepted by an antenna is defined by frequency dependence of the conductance of the antenna. The conductance bandwidth is defined by the input impedance of an antenna [1] . If feed line of an electrically small antenna is electrically small, accepted energy is solely defined by the input impedance of the antenna.

The conductance bandwidth is defined by the input impedance of an antenna.


Time-domain implementations allow fine tuning of the filter to the actual transmission distance. Consider, for example, fiber non-linearity mitigation: A recent DSP implementation technique (TD-DBP) for digital back propagation is based on a distributed, time-domain approach [18] . In TD-DBP, a large number of shorter CD compensation steps are cascaded, making each filter section handle a limited amount of dispersion. Since the TD-DBP technique employs many filter sections, it becomes essential to carefully optimize each section. Here, LS-CO time-domain filters can give a large reduction in area usage compared to the frequency-domain implementation for the distances of interest. In addition, the power dissipation can be reduced but as suggested by our results, this will depend on the choice of dispersive step distance. As an example, using LS-CO time-domain dispersive steps of 33.5 km and 50 km for PM-QPSK leads to a power reduction of 38% and 24%, respectively (as illustrated in Fig. 18 ), compared to frequency-domain implementation of the steps. The area usage reduction for the same cases are 58% and 51%, respectively. Since the circuits that handle compensation of linear impairments dominate the circuits for non-linear mitigation, the power reduction in each step of the cascaded filter will translate into a significant system-wide power reduction.

Consider, for example, fiber non-linearity mitigation: A recent DSP implementation technique (TD-DBP) for digital back propagation is based on a distributed, time-domain approach.


While dynamic equalization also can handle CD compensation, this equalization is in practice limited by the number of taps in the adaptive filter. Here, it is important to recognize that an increasing tap count of an adaptive filter rapidly increases complexity both in filtering and dynamic coefficient update calculation, which in turn increases DSP power dissipation [5] . In view of the quadratic scaling with symbol rate, the possible reach of systems with only dynamic equalization is severely limited by dispersion. Thus, low-complexity CD compensation modules optimized to specific distances can yield a reduced overall power dissipation in systems with limited accumulated chromatic dispersion.

Here, it is important to recognize that an increasing tap count of an adaptive filter rapidly increases complexity both in filtering and dynamic coefficient update calculation, which in turn increases DSP power dissipation.


The loss of hull integrity of a ship leading to flooding can be a severe risk to the ship stability. The flooding process can be divided into three stages; I) transient stage, where the water starts to ingress the ship, II) progressive stage, where the flooding is more quasi-static and III) steady state, where final equilibrium angle is reached but the ship may experience roll motions due to wave excitation (Ruponen, 2007) . This study concentrates on the flooding process at the transient stage. The roll response is of particular interest, since it is the most sensitive motion component with regards to the flooding. Collision or grounding can cause a large opening on the ship hull.

The flooding process can be divided into three stages; I) transient stage, where the water starts to ingress the ship, II) progressive stage, where the flooding is more quasi-static and III) steady state, where final equilibrium angle is reached but the ship may experience roll motions due to wave excitation.


The cost of data transfers between general purpose CPUs and accelerators might eliminate the benefit of using accelerators. Double buffering can help to alleviate this situation by transferring parts of the data structure while other parts are still in use. In the example of Figure 3 , the input data would be read iteratively using a call to fread() followed by an asynchronous DMA transfer to the accelerator memory. Synchronization code is necessary to prevent overwriting system memory that is still in use by an ongoing DMA transfer [19] . The coding effort to reduce the cost of data transfer harms programmability of heterogeneous systems. Automatically overlapping data transfers and CPU computation without code modifications is the second motivation of this paper.

Synchronization code is necessary to prevent overwriting system memory that is still in use by an ongoing DMA transfer.


We have presented a new algorithm that produces directed quantum search using irreversible measurement operations, and is superior to the Phase-π/3 search. Directed quantum search provides new techniques for driving a quantum state towards a fixed point, which may prove to be useful in other problems, e.g. quantum error control. The concept of controlled quantum search presented here can be generalized to make the ancilla transformations iteration dependent, and that will be presented in the forthcoming paper [6] .

The concept of controlled quantum search presented here can be generalized to make the ancilla transformations iteration dependent, and that will be presented in the forthcoming paper.


Let us consider an unsorted database in which a fraction f of items are marked, and we don't have precise knowledge of f . We run a particular algorithm which has to return a single item from the database. If the returned item is a marked one, the algorithm has succeeded, otherwise it is in error. Before applying any algorithm, if we pick an item at random, then the probability of error is ǫ = 1 − f . The goal of the algorithm is to minimize the error probability, using the smallest number of oracle queries. If f is sufficiently small, then we can use the optimal quantum search algorithm to obtain a marked item with O(1/ √ f ) queries. A few more queries to estimate f or to fine-tune the algorithm is not a problem, because overall we gain a quadratic speed-up compared to the classical case requiring exhaustive search. But when f is large, say of order unity, then a simple classical algorithm (select a random item and use a query to check if it is a marked one) may outperform the quantum search algorithm. The same considerations apply to the more general amplitude amplification algorithms [2] [3] . There the initial quantum state is a unitary operator U applied to a given source state |s , and the probability of getting a target state after measuring this initial state, |U ts | 2 , is analogous to f . The probability of error is the probability of getting a non-target state after measurement, and that has to be minimized using the smallest number of queries.

The same considerations apply to the more general amplitude amplification algorithms.


Various clinical trials have demonstrated that intensity and task specificity are the main drivers in an effective treatment program after stroke [3, 4] . Highly repetitive movement training can result in improved recovery [4, 5] . Patients with upper-arm disabilities most often require gradual but consistent and extensive physical therapy. The exercises are often simple but repetitive and require full assistance from a physical therapist, whose consistent presence not only has distinctively negative social and economic effects, but also increases the sense of dependence and sometimes even leads to depression in patients [6] .

Various clinical trials have demonstrated that intensity and task specificity are the main drivers in an effective treatment program after stroke.

Highly repetitive movement training can result in improved recovery.

The exercises are often simple but repetitive and require full assistance from a physical therapist, whose consistent presence not only has distinctively negative social and economic effects, but also increases the sense of dependence and sometimes even leads to depression in patients.


Robot-assisted movement training is fast becoming a common feature in rehabilitation [7, 8] . Robotic devices have the programmable force-producing ability, leading to realistic replication of the features of a therapist's assistance. Moreover, robotic devices can easily apply new constraints and optimize the required movement patterns, which might not be feasible with therapists. Therefore, complex motor-learning tasks can be generated far more precisely with robotic devices than in conventional treatment approaches.

Robot-assisted movement training is fast becoming a common feature in rehabilitation.


In the first category, patients' arm is bound to the robot end-effector and moves with it. For instance, the ARM Guide enables hand to move along a linear rail to help shoulder and elbow to recover [10] . MIME system employs two 6R Puma industry robot arms and predefined 12 targeted reaching tasks [11] . GENTLE/s requires patients to reach and touch virtual objects presented in virtual environment for shoulder and elbow rehabilitation [12] . Bi-Manu-Track enables hemi-paretic patients to bilaterally practice two different movement cycles: forearm pronation/supination and wrist flexion/extension [13] .

For instance, the ARM Guide enables hand to move along a linear rail to help shoulder and elbow to recover.

MIME system employs two 6R Puma industry robot arms and predefined 12 targeted reaching tasks.

GENTLE/s requires patients to reach and touch virtual objects presented in virtual environment for shoulder and elbow rehabilitation.

Bi-Manu-Track enables hemi-paretic patients to bilaterally practice two different movement cycles: forearm pronation/supination and wrist flexion/extension.


The interest in the development of climbing robots has grown rapidly in recent years. Climbing robots are useful devices that can be adopted in a variety of applications such as maintenance, building, inspection, and safety, mainly in the process and construction industries. These systems are mainly adopted in places where direct access by a human operator is very expensive, because of the need for scaffolding or special structures, or very dangerous, due to the presence of an hostile environment. The main motivations for its use are to increase the operation efficiency, by eliminating the costly assembly of scaffolding, or to protect human health and safety in hazardous tasks. Several climbing robots have already been developed, and others are under development, for applications ranging from cleaning to inspection of difficult to reach constructions [1] .

Several climbing robots have already been developed, and others are under development, for applications ranging from cleaning to inspection of difficult to reach constructions.


It is well known that solutions of (1.1) can form discontinuities such as shock waves, even for smooth initial dataū. Hence, solutions of systems of conservation laws (1.1) are sought in the sense of distributions. These weak solutions are not necessarily unique. They need to be augmented with additional admissibility criteria, often termed entropy conditions, to single out the physically relevant solution. Entropy solutions are widely regarded as the appropriate solution paradigm for systems of conservation laws [15] .

Entropy solutions are widely regarded as the appropriate solution paradigm for systems of conservation laws.


In addition, there is a perturbation database containing over 16,000 experiments showing how the expression of 1000 genes changed in response to a drug (gene expression is recorded before and after drug application) (Duan et al., 2014) . This information allows for the assessment of biological change due to treating the cancer cells with drugs. Combining response and perturbation data is expected to ultimately yield a better and more biologically relevant model of drug response, though likely more experiments will be needed, since there are only a few drugs tested in each cell line.

In addition, there is a perturbation database containing over 16,000 experiments showing how the expression of 1000 genes changed in response to a drug (gene expression is recorded before and after drug application).


Recently, air quality simulations increased from running for days or weeks to months or years, modeling domains increased resolution, and the use of ensembles greatly increased the amount of model output analyzed. The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling simulations, used for air quality and air composition modeling, currently run spanning modeling domains of regional to hemispheric scale and modeling times of days to years resulting in terabytes of model output available for analysis. Conventional methods of data analysis, such as spreadsheets, are not suited for a 2 of 12 task this large. There are several model evaluation tools available for evaluating meteorological model simulations but few for evaluating air quality models [7] . Although there are many software packages, such as AMET, or visualization tools, such as Verdi, pycmbs, or Panoply, MONET is built using a single open-source language that retrieves, downloads, and analyses both model and observations on a regional scale. MONET is available on all major computing platforms, i.e., Mac, Linux, and PC, and provides the power of a dedicated programming language such as IDL, MATLAB, or ferret if needed.

There are several model evaluation tools available for evaluating meteorological model simulations but few for evaluating air quality models.


Much of the decline in fertility is due to reduction in 3rd-and higher-order births. From the decomposition analyses, it is clear that in all regions (with exception of the northeast) declines in first and second birth have contributed little to the decline in overall fertility. With nearly universal marriage, it is not surprising that the first birth rates have not declined. This is in contrast with some countries in East and Southeast Asia where marriage delay and nonmarriage have led to substantial reduction in fertility rates [36] . The trend in second births closely follows that of first births and there has not been a major decline in second births. Thus the contribution of second births to overall fertility decline has been minimal. There appears to be a strong two-child norm even in regions where fertility is low, and there are no indications that this is changing. As long as marriage continues to be universal and the two-child norm common, it is unlikely that fertility would decline to very low levels in India.

This is in contrast with some countries in East and Southeast Asia where marriage delay and nonmarriage have led to substantial reduction in fertility rates.


Birth intervals presented in Figure 5 show a general trend of lengthening intervals. In all regions, the interval between age 10 and the first birth has increased, reaching around 115 to 130 months, with the eastern region having the shortest and the northern region the longest birth interval. Much of the changes in the first birth interval reflect changes in marriage age. In the 2000s, the second birth interval averaged around 3 years in most regions, with the central region having the shortest interval. While the estimates of third-and higher-order birth intervals indicate lengthening of the intervals, the estimates, especially from fourth and higher birth interval, are erratic for some regions. Smaller sample size for higher-order births could be a reason for this erratic pattern. But, they also point to potential data quality issues. The degree of overlap in the estimates from the three rounds varies for different regions and for different intervals. The estimates for some regions exhibit a "v" shaped pattern suggesting a decrease in birth intervals followed by an increase. As discussed earlier, this perhaps reflects displacement of recent births to earlier times. While the shifting of the most recent births backwards in time explains the recent increase of the mean birth intervals, the displacement of the early births of older women-these births are likely to have occurred further back in time and women may not recall the precise time of these birth-could have contributed to artificially reducing the birth intervals [32] .

While the shifting of the most recent births backwards in time explains the recent increase of the mean birth intervals, the displacement of the early births of older women-these births are likely to have occurred further back in time and women may not recall the precise time of these birth-could have contributed to artificially reducing the birth intervals.


Our results provide practical implications that can be translated into the screening, assessment and treatment of problematic drinkers. First, the large variability in the strength of the attentional and approach bias suggests that there are problematic drinkers (and light drinkers) who do show cognitive biases. We advise practitioners to be aware of the possibility of cognitive biases in the information processing of problematic drinkers in their perception and conceptualisation of problematic alcohol use and discuss the potential existence of cognitive biases with clients and/or other caregivers as a component of educating clients about problematic alcohol use (Field et al. 2014) .

We advise practitioners to be aware of the possibility of cognitive biases in the information processing of problematic drinkers in their perception and conceptualisation of problematic alcohol use and discuss the potential existence of cognitive biases with clients and/or other caregivers as a component of educating clients about problematic alcohol use.


Here we developed a framework for making supervised enhancer prediction models using MPRA datasets. We made use of published data resources to provide a comprehensive model for enhancer prediction that can be applied across different contexts (i.e., different species and tissue types), and we validated our model in a variety of contexts. In particular, we utilized extensive datasets from STARR-seq experiments performed on Drosophila cell lines to create and parameterize our model. Unlike previous prediction methods that focused on the enrichment (or signal peaks) of different epigenetic datasets, we developed a method to take into account the specific enhancerassociated pattern within different epigenetic signals. As the epigenetic signal around each enhancer is noisy, we aggregated the signal around thousands of enhancers identified using STARR-seq to increase the signal-to-noise ratio and identify the shape associated with active regulatory regions. Previous ENCODE and modENCODE efforts showed that the chromatin modifications on active promoters and enhancers are conserved across higher eukaryotes [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] . The signals of different chromatin modifications upstream of genes were used to create a universal model for predicting gene expressions; moreover, the parameters of the model were transferable across humans, flies, and worms. Here, we further explored this conservation of epigenetic signal shapes for constructing simple-to-use transferrable statistical models with six parameters to predict enhancers and promoters in diverse eukaryotic species including fly, mouse, and human. We showed that the enhancer predictions from our transferrable model are comparable to the prediction accuracy of species-specific models.

Previous ENCODE and modENCODE efforts showed that the chromatin modifications on active promoters and enhancers are conserved across higher eukaryotes.


A trapping device is the most common and the simplest tool used for the collection of mosquitoes, mainly for its surveillance, vector relative density and abundance and its control. Although various studies have been carried out using different trapping techniques, collection was not so successful for each type of trap has its own limitations. Various modifications have been added to increase the efficiency of the trap. The Centres for Disease Control light trap (CDC-LT) technique, have gained widespread application especially due to their reliability, robustness, ease of use, lower costs of application as compared to HLC technique. In order to increase its effectiveness, modification such as the use of CO 2 or dry ice as attractant is applied [7] . The established role of CO 2 as a mosquito attractant made it feasible to use as a standard in the sampling of mosquito population. CO 2 elicited two distinct actions: firstly, it acted as an independent attractant and secondly, it interacted with warm moist convection currents limited by the host at close range together with other odour factors a distance from host. It has been reported that light trap technique supplemented with CO 2 showed synergistic effect toward various species of mosquitoes [8] [9] .

In order to increase its effectiveness, modification such as the use of CO 2 or dry ice as attractant is applied.

It has been reported that light trap technique supplemented with CO 2 showed synergistic effect toward various species of mosquitoes.


It is also important to note that the patterned ground shield significantly reduces coupling through the substrate. Experiments reveal reductions of 20dB or more in the low-GHz frequency range, relative to conventional unshielded structures. The important implications of this improved isolation for mixed-signal implementations hardly require emphasis. The substrate problem also affects the design of on-chip transmission lines as well [8] . By using somewhat narrower conductor spacings than are common in other technologies, lateral flux increases, once again reducing the coupling of energy into the substrate. Using this approach, coplanar waveguides with attenuation of -0.3dB/mm at 50GHz have been demonstrated. This level of loss compares favorably with the 0.2dB/mm values achieved in GaAs. These lines are good enough to enable the fabrication of a K-band traveling-wave amplifier (23GHz unity-gain frequency), as well as a 17GHz traveling-wave oscillator in 0.18gm technology [9] . It is clear that, despite the lossiness of the typical CMOS silicon substrate, the large (and increasing) number of interconnect layers nonetheless makes it possible to build passive components whose properties are adequate (and, in some cases, excellent) for most RE applications.

The substrate problem also affects the design of on-chip transmission lines as well.

These lines are good enough to enable the fabrication of a K-band traveling-wave amplifier (23GHz unity-gain frequency), as well as a 17GHz traveling-wave oscillator in 0.18gm technology.


The PGS acts as a low-loss pseudosubstrate as far as electric fields are concerned; the actual silicon substrate becomes largely irrelevant, at the expense of increased parasitic capacitance. When the inductor is used as part of a tank, this additional capacitance is not a serious problem, as it may be readily absorbed into the resonator. In any case, reverse scaling allows us to use interconnect layers that are an increasing distance away from the substrate, reducing this penalty with each successive generation. It is important to note, however, that the PGS is most effective at lower frequencies, and when the substrate is not heavily doped. When these conditions are satisfied, a doubling of resonator Q to near-GaAs values is an entirely realistic expectation. Unfortunately, epi processes with very heavily-doped substrates represent a sizable fraction of modern technology offerings. A typical substrate resistivity in such a process might be as low as lOmnQ-cm, corresponding to a skin depth of only 160gm at IGHz. Because substrates are certainly thicker, and desired operational frequencies often higher, than these values, the effect of eddy currents generally will be significant, and the PGS will be less (perhaps much less) effective. In such cases, a smaller, but still often substantial, improvement remains possible if the inductor diameter is reduced. Although this action ultimately exacerbates conductor loss, the reduction in eddy current loss will usually be larger, leading to a net increase in Q. This idea can be taken further by exploiting both the third dimension and reverse scaling. By building a vertically oriented solenoidal structure (or a stack of planar spirals) out of multiple layers, the overall diameter can be kept small without grossly increasing the conductor loss [7] . Combining this strategy with the PGS restores much of the lost Q typically encountered with epi processes. Although Q values of the order of 10 can hardly be considered large, they are often large enough to be useful, nonetheless.

By building a vertically oriented solenoidal structure (or a stack of planar spirals) out of multiple layers, the overall diameter can be kept small without grossly increasing the conductor loss.


A wheelset bearing is one of crucial mechanical components in a high-speed train and plays an important role in load bearing, power transmission, and motion transform. During the long-term running process of high-speed train, the sustainable effects of the heavy loads and alternating stresses on the components of wheelset bearing easily lead to the bearing fault initiation (such as spalls, pitting, and burningoff). Once these faults exist in the wheelset bearing, they become increasing worse and finally endanger the service safety of high-speed train [1] [2] [3] . Therefore, it is of great significance to detect wheelset bearing faults for ensuring the operational safety and realizing the condition-based maintenance of high-speed train.

Once these faults exist in the wheelset bearing, they become increasing worse and finally endanger the service safety of high-speed train.


CS-based impulse extraction techniques become increasing popular by virtue of the excellent performances (such as flexibility, sparsity, and superresolution). The CS based on the combination of matching pursuit and predefined dictionary is used to extract impulses induced by the rotational machine faults for bearing and gear fault detection [38, 39] . The CS Shock and Vibration 3 based on the combination of basis pursuit and predefined dictionary is employed to capture the impulse patterns for rotational machine fault diagnosis [40] [41] [42] . The performance of CS on detecting fault outperforms the wavelet transform and empirical model decomposition [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] . Because dictionary learning has the advantages and potential on mining high-level structures embedded in vibration signals over the predefined dictionary, SIDL-based CS and basis pursuit is used to extract the circular impulses submerged in the vibration signals of rotating machine system [43] [44] [45] [46] .

The CS based on the combination of matching pursuit and predefined dictionary is used to extract impulses induced by the rotational machine faults for bearing and gear fault detection.

The CS Shock and Vibration 3 based on the combination of basis pursuit and predefined dictionary is employed to capture the impulse patterns for rotational machine fault diagnosis.

The performance of CS on detecting fault outperforms the wavelet transform and empirical model decomposition.

Because dictionary learning has the advantages and potential on mining high-level structures embedded in vibration signals over the predefined dictionary, SIDL-based CS and basis pursuit is used to extract the circular impulses submerged in the vibration signals of rotating machine system.


Plastic deformation leads to characteristic surface phenomena which can be used to monitor dislocation motions and gain information on plastic flow patterns. Surface micrographs have been used since the early fifties to characterize the arrangement and properties of slip lines in order to understand the underlying dislocation processes. More recently, in situ observation of the formation of slip lines and slip bands has provided information on the dynamic properties of dislocations and dislocation groups (for an overview, see the review by Neuhäuser [1] ).

More recently, in situ observation of the formation of slip lines and slip bands has provided information on the dynamic properties of dislocations and dislocation groups (for an overview, see the review by Neuhäuser).


The interpretation of surface observations of plastic flow always requires some caution in view of possible surface artefacts. The presence of a free surface modifies the stress field such that dislocations near surfaces experience image forces and may annihilate at the surface, leading to the formation of a soft dislocation-depleted surface layer. Other effects are the preferential activation of sources near surfaces, and the fact that excess of dislocations of one sign near the surface may lead to local lattice curvature [16] . It is therefore important to combine surface and bulk observations in order to assess to which extent surface-based observations are representative of bulk behavior. For the KCl crystals investigated in the present study, such an investigation is under way in terms of characterizing the dislocation patterns near the surface (by etch pits) and in the bulk (by X-ray tomography). Results will be published in the near future. Regarding the present investigation of scale-invariant features on the surface, the mutual consistency between our results and the results by Weiss and Marsan regarding the bulk distribution of slip events gives some evidence that our results are indeed representative of bulk behavior.

Other effects are the preferential activation of sources near surfaces, and the fact that excess of dislocations of one sign near the surface may lead to local lattice curvature.


In addition to trying to test the non-trivial and non-tautological hypotheses of rational choice in 3-candidate contexts, this essay also addresses some methodological issues. Specifically, because the variables specified by each of these models are, by construction, closely correlated -the PB term of the Downsian model is the product of P of the closeness model and B of the minmax regret model -all of the problems associated with multicollinearity are likely to rear their head and confound our analysis (Foster 1984; Ferej ohn and Fiorina 1975) . Adding to our problems is the fact that, rather than employing a standard linear model, we want to use a logit model since our dependent variables are discrete. Unfortunately, standard treatments of multicolinearity are less well-developed in this instance. Thus, we later offer a brief digression about the treatment of this problem in our analysis.

Specifically, because the variables specified by each of these models are, by construction, closely correlated -the PB term of the Downsian model is the product of P of the closeness model and B of the minmax regret model -all of the problems associated with multicollinearity are likely to rear their head and confound our analysis.


A substantial part of the world's population has no or only limited access to formal financial services. Instead these people often need to rely on informal networks and family ties which may be less reliable or relatively expensive (Collins, Morduch, Rutherford and Ruthven, 2009) . Credit rationing may constrain the potential entrepreneurs among them in executing profitable investment projects.

Instead these people often need to rely on informal networks and family ties which may be less reliable or relatively expensive.


Significant research effort is currently being invested in the capture and retrieval of life logs in order to automatically generate a record of a user's daily life [13] . Much of the work focuses on using context and content information in order to infer details about one's daily activities [25] . Context information is usually generated using location-based sensing from a mobile phone, GPS device, or other similar sources. Content information is usually derived from the analysis of passively captured audio/visual data, most often in the form of video or digital photos. Using photos, for example, one can construct a visual diary of an individual's life. For a single day, this might consist of a sequence of images providing a visual summary of the most important aspects of the day. The underlying challenge is to be able to manage, organise, and search large volumes of photos to judiciously select and present representative samples in a visually coherent manner. Within this broad challenge, a key objective is to be able to identify these representative samples in the first place -they typically need to be selected from thousands of images representing an individual's day (and ultimately from millions over a lifetime) and they should correspond to images that are somehow important to the owner.

Significant research effort is currently being invested in the capture and retrieval of life logs in order to automatically generate a record of a user's daily life.

Much of the work focuses on using context and content information in order to infer details about one's daily activities.


A Latin square L of order n is an n × n array of entries {(i, j; k)} such that each row and column of L contains each of n possible elements exactly once. We may denote a Latin square L by L = (a ij ) n×n . A uniquely completable (UC) set U is a subset of a Latin square L such that L is the only superset of U which is a Latin square. A critical set C of L is a subset of L such that C is uniquely completable and no subset of C has this property. There are some papers on this concept [6] [7] [8] [9] . Let scs(n) be a function defined the smallest size of a critical set in any n × n Latin square. It is proved that scs(3) = 2, scs(4) = 4, scs(5) = 6, scs(6) = 9, scs(7) = 12, scs(8) = 16 and for n ≥ 8, scs(n) ≥ which is generally believed to be the correct number [1, 2, 4] .

There are some papers on this concept.

It is proved that scs(3) = 2, scs(4) = 4, scs(5) = 6, scs(6) = 9, scs(7) = 12, scs(8) = 16 and for n ≥ 8, scs(n) ≥ which is generally believed to be the correct number.


One of the popular techniques for realizing a fast parameter sweep is the asymptotic waveform evaluation (AWE) technique [9] . This technique has been extended to the MoM solution of scattering from microstrip antennas so that the reduced order model is obtained to efficiently evaluate the frequency response over a broadband [10] . However, in the AWE algorithm, the LU factorization of the impedance matrix is necessary, and the derivative of the impedance matrix with respect to the parameter must also be computed and stored, which make AWE only applicable to problems involving small matrix dimensions. However, for large finite arrays of microstrip antennas, the number of unknowns could run into over several thousands, the application of AWE to matrix equations resulting from the MoM has been rather limited. Furthermore, for microstrip structures, it is very difficulty to compute the monostatic RCS using AWE because the high order derivative of the excitation vector with respect to the incident angle must be calculated. In addition, it is also difficult to combine AWE with AIM or FMM or other fast algorithms to obtain the wide responses. Another approach aimed at enhancing the computational efficiency in wide band is the adaptive sampling algorithm [11] . This method may need a lot of sample points when the response is very complex. Furthermore, it is very difficult to determine the accuracy of solutions in this method.

One of the popular techniques for realizing a fast parameter sweep is the asymptotic waveform evaluation (AWE) technique.

This technique has been extended to the MoM solution of scattering from microstrip antennas so that the reduced order model is obtained to efficiently evaluate the frequency response over a broadband.

Another approach aimed at enhancing the computational efficiency in wide band is the adaptive sampling algorithm.


Membrane distillation (MD) is a thermally driven membrane-based separation process, considered as one of the technologies that are emerging as an alternative desalination processes. MD utilizes a hydrophobic, macroporous membrane as a contactor to achieve separation by liquidvapor equilibrium [1] . The pre-heated feed solution is brought into contact with the membrane which allows only the water vapor to go through the membrane pores so that it condenses on the other side of the membrane. This vapor is driven across the membrane by the difference in the partial vapor pressure maintained at the two sides of the membrane. Conventional desalination technologies such as multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) and reverse osmosis (RO) are not only highly energy intensive processes but also they require huge investment cost and large footprint; whereas MD operates at ambient pressure and lower temperatures (30-70°C) so that any low grade heat source (solar, waste heat, and geothermal) can be sufficient for its operation. Moreover the scalability, inexpensive polymeric materials for the installation, and theoretically 100 % salt rejection attract the MD as an attractive desalination process.

MD utilizes a hydrophobic, macroporous membrane as a contactor to achieve separation by liquidvapor equilibrium.


The major configurations that have been employed in MD process are direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD), air gap membrane distillation (AGMD), vacuum membrane distillation (VMD), and sweeping gas membrane distillation (SGMD). In all configurations, the hot feed solution will be in direct contact with the membrane. In DCMD, both hot and cold streams are in direct contact with the membrane. In AGMD, a stagnant air gap is maintained between the membrane and a condensation surface. In VMD and SGMD, vacuum and a cold inert gas are passed through the permeate side, respectively, so that the vapor coming across the membrane from the feed is condensed outside the membrane module [2] . Apart from these conventional MD configurations, some other configurations such as permeate gap membrane distillation (PGMD) and material gap membrane distillation (MGMD) are also reported recently [3, 4] .

In VMD and SGMD, vacuum and a cold inert gas are passed through the permeate side, respectively, so that the vapor coming across the membrane from the feed is condensed outside the membrane module.

Apart from these conventional MD configurations, some other configurations such as permeate gap membrane distillation (PGMD) and material gap membrane distillation (MGMD) are also reported recently.


Hollow fiber membranes are fibers with outer diameter less than 3 mm and with a thickness of less than 300 lm, and they have been used in wide range of applications especially in the liquid/gas phase separation. They have high surface area-to-volume ratio and are self-supported and easy to fabricate. MD researchers have been studied different hollow fiber and flat sheet membrane materials such as PVDF, polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] . Dual layer hydrophobic-hydrophilic membranes and multi-bore hollow fiber membranes for MD process have also been reported [26] [27] [28] . Recently, fluorinated polyazoles have been synthesized and hollow fiber membranes of those polyazoles have been fabricated and tested for DCMD process [29] . In the present study, PVDF is used for the fabrication of hollow fibers using a specialized fabrication machine and nanofiber membranes using electrospinning machine, since PVDF is commercially available, cheap hydrophobic material, and easy to process than that of PP, PE, or PTFE.

MD researchers have been studied different hollow fiber and flat sheet membrane materials such as PVDF, polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).

Dual layer hydrophobic-hydrophilic membranes and multi-bore hollow fiber membranes for MD process have also been reported.

Recently, fluorinated polyazoles have been synthesized and hollow fiber membranes of those polyazoles have been fabricated and tested for DCMD process.


Packet-based clock correction is one of main methods to maintain synchronization among nodes. Since packets are transmitted TxOffset after the beginning of a slot, every packet is implicitly timestamped at TxOffset after the beginning of a slot. A node synchronizes to its time parent In slot-based communication, time is sliced up into repeating frames. Each node is scheduled to communicate at a specific slot. The packet is scheduled to be sent at TxOffset after the beginning of a slot. Nodes synchronize to their time parents by timestamping the reception of packets and comparing them to TxOffset. Guard Time is used to avoid missing an incoming transmission by turning on the radio of the receiving node before the expected arrival of a packet [5] .

Guard Time is used to avoid missing an incoming transmission by turning on the radio of the receiving node before the expected arrival of a packet.


Second, our findings show that the propensity to use reappraisal, and not only reappraisal success, can be increased by training. To our knowledge, only two studies have examined training effects on the propensity to use reappraisal. Both demonstrated the efficacy of a web platform in which participants reappraise unpleasant situations posted by other participants, in increasing the propensity to reappraise (Doré, Morris, Burr, Picard, & Ochsner, 2017; Morris, Schueller, & Picard, 2015) . Our work points to the utility of implicit cognitive training that does not involve direct experience in reappraisal as a means for increasing reappraisal use.

Both demonstrated the efficacy of a web platform in which participants reappraise unpleasant situations posted by other participants, in increasing the propensity to reappraise.


As one of the main results in this paper, we show that the result mentioned above of Atsushiba's and Takahashi remains true when S is a continuous representation of a left amenable semitopological semigroup S, where S being left amenable means C b (S) of bounded continuous complex-valued functions on S has a left invariant mean. It also remains true when S is separable and left reversible if the representation is weakly equicontinuous. Here a semitopological semigroup S is left reversible if any two closed right ideals of S have non-void intersection, that is, sS ∩ tS = ∅ for any s, t ∈ S, where, for a subset A of a topological space, A denotes the closure of A. This is the case when S is normal or C b (S) has a left invariant mean [14] . Likewise, S is right reversible if any two closed left ideals of S have non-void intersection, that is, Ss ∩ St = ∅ for any s, t ∈ S.

Here a semitopological semigroup S is left reversible if any two closed right ideals of S have non-void intersection, that is, sS ∩ tS = ∅ for any s, t ∈ S, where, for a subset A of a topological space, A denotes the closure of A. This is the case when S is normal or C b (S) has a left invariant mean.


Soil enzymes affect nutrient transformation and biogeochemical cycling of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) availability (Acosta-Martinez et al. 2014) . Soil enzyme activity has been proposed as a sensitive indicator of soil health because of its relationship to biological activity and its response to changes of soil environmental conditions as affected by management practices (Badiane et al. 2001; Staunton et al. 2012) . Soil enzymes are derived from soil microorganisms, plant roots, plant residue, and soil fauna (Dick et al. 1988; Dick 1992; Crecchio et al. 2001) . Microbial biomass and enzyme activity are closely linked to soil moisture and temperature regimes (Dunn et al. 1985; Rodrigo et al. 1997) . Therefore, climate change will likely have a significant effect on microbial activity and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems.

Soil enzymes affect nutrient transformation and biogeochemical cycling of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) availability.

Soil enzyme activity has been proposed as a sensitive indicator of soil health because of its relationship to biological activity and its response to changes of soil environmental conditions as affected by management practices.

Soil enzymes are derived from soil microorganisms, plant roots, plant residue, and soil fauna.

Microbial biomass and enzyme activity are closely linked to soil moisture and temperature regimes.


We measured urease, catalase, invertase, and alkaline phosphatase soil enzyme activities because of known their sensitivity to changes in the soil environment and their important roles played in nutrient cycling. Invertase plays an important role in releasing C as an energy source for microorganism growth. Urease plays a critical role in soil N cycling by releasing inorganic N for plant uptake. Catalase promotes decomposition of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) to water and molecular oxygen in soil, and thereby helps reduce crop damage by H 2 O 2 . Phosphatase was measured because it can transform soil organic P into inorganic P for plant uptake (Das and Varma 2010) . Moreover, determining the relationship between soil moisture and enzyme activities will help to better explain enzyme activity response to bentonite.

Phosphatase was measured because it can transform soil organic P into inorganic P for plant uptake.


The effect of age produces mixed results just as found in the literature (Bramati et al., 2015; Hiep & Nishijima, 2009; Love et al., 2016; Niringiye & Tuyiragize, 2010; Roberts & Tybout, 1997; Yasuda, 2005) . Though in the whole sample (Table 1) we find the coeeficient of age to be statistically insignificant in the productivity equation, it is significantly positive in the manufacturing sample (Table 2) . Regarding the export propensity equation, we find the coefficent of age to be positve in the whole sample and statiscally insignificant in the manufacturing sample (Tables 1-2) . For export intensity equation, the coefficent of age is largely negative for both whole and manufacturing samples, implying that greater age is seen to generally reduce export intensity.

The effect of age produces mixed results just as found in the literature.


The coefficient on the quality certificate variable is generally positive in the productivity and export propensity equations for both the whole and manufacturing sample estimations (Tables 1-2 ). However the coefficient of quality certificate in the export intensity model is significantly negative. The results generally indicate that firms possessing quality certificates are more likely to be highly productive and also more likely to export, however less likely to intensify export. A firm's possession of an internationally quality certificate is an indication that the firm meets some global quality standards, and this sends good signals to existing and potential customers ( Tang & Yifan, 2012) . This therefore helps boost their productivity and export propensity. It is also expected that such firms will be able to also sell more abroad (Davies & Jeppesen, 2015) . However our results indicate otherwise. We believe that the high cost of acquiring the quality certificate that may translate to the prices may account for this outcome. Since acquiring quality certificate can be costly, producers may shift this cost to prices of their products thereby making prices relatively high. The high prices may form a barrier for consumers and hence reduce the quantity they consume, hence the quantity firms export.

A firm's possession of an internationally quality certificate is an indication that the firm meets some global quality standards, and this sends good signals to existing and potential customers.

It is also expected that such firms will be able to also sell more abroad.

However our results indicate otherwise.


Our results suggest further that cue strength and reliance on "good enough" processing heuristics may differ across individuals. Some individuals seem to rely more heavily on memory-based heuristics (i.e., they are N400-dominant) and others on combinatorial information during sentence processing (i.e., they are P600-dominant). Under this interpretation, the RDI represents a metric of cue strength, a value that can vary across individuals at all levels of language proficiency. For morphosyntactic dependencies like agreement, the relative weighting of the cues (i.e., response dominance) seems to be especially malleable in many early-stage L2 learners, such that additional instruction can produce a within-learner shift from an N400 response to a P600 response to the same syntactic anomalies (McLaughlin et al., 2010) . Presumably this reflects the gradual acquisition of a grammatical rule and subsequent reduced reliance on lexical information for dealing with that particular aspect of the L2. In L1 adults and later-stage L2 learners, response dominance may reflect more stable processing biases, though this interpretation has yet to be verified empirically.

For morphosyntactic dependencies like agreement, the relative weighting of the cues (i.e., response dominance) seems to be especially malleable in many early-stage L2 learners, such that additional instruction can produce a within-learner shift from an N400 response to a P600 response to the same syntactic anomalies.


Meeting organic certification requirements usually implies higher production costs. For example, it is reported that the cost of producing organic beef in the United Kingdom is 20% higher than under conventional methods. However, for consumers from western countries, price is not the only determinant behind animal-food purchases as they are acquiring an increasing interest in farming practices and standards. Consumers do not seek the cheapest food but the best value for money, i.e. the maximum benefit for what they are prepared to spend (McInerney, 2004) .

Consumers do not seek the cheapest food but the best value for money, i.e. the maximum benefit for what they are prepared to spend.


They are mainly represented by biotechnology (Yagüe-Perales and March-Chordà, 2011) . Biotechnology embraces technological implementations using biological systems and live organisms and transforms or creates products or procedures by making use of basic engineering, life and computer sciences. After a long incubation period, the importance of biotechnology continues to increase in the 21 st century. It will continue to draw the majority of the funds allocated to science and its applications that influence many areas of life such as agriculture, food, pharmaceutical, and diagnosis (Audretsch, 2001; Bustamante and Bowra, 2002) .

They are mainly represented by biotechnology.

It will continue to draw the majority of the funds allocated to science and its applications that influence many areas of life such as agriculture, food, pharmaceutical, and diagnosis.


From the formal perspective, one of the most interesting features of theories of the form (2.1) is that the both the consistency of the underlying quantum field theory, and also the prediction |f N L | ≫ 1 in the inflationary context, rely on UV completion. In other words, if the Taylor series expansion of the kinetic function F (z) is truncated at some finite order O(z N ) then the resulting truncated theory will, in general, contain spurious ghost-like degrees of freedom which are not present in the full theory (2.1) defined by the exact transcendental expression for F (z) [32] . Moreover, the dynamics of the truncated theory may be quite different from those of the fully nonlocal theory and, in general, our prediction for f N L (4.8) will not be reproduced. Remarkably, this statement continues to be true even for N ≫ 1. One might consider the requirement of UV completion daunting were it not for the fact that constructions of the form (2.1) can be microscopically justified from string theory. From this perspective we have the exciting possibility that observations of the primordial bispectrum might be used to probe physics in the quantum gravity regime.

In other words, if the Taylor series expansion of the kinetic function F (z) is truncated at some finite order O(z N ) then the resulting truncated theory will, in general, contain spurious ghost-like degrees of freedom which are not present in the full theory (2.1) defined by the exact transcendental expression for F (z).


Our data show that the animals supplemented with CLA isomers mixture (c9,t11 and t10,c12) showed an increase in plasma 8-isoprostane levels, suggesting that CLA could act as pro-oxidant agent. The 8-isoprostane is a specific product of lipid peroxidation formed in vivo via a non-enzymatic mechanism involving the free radical-catalyzed peroxidation of arachidonic acid (AA) and is the most specific biological indicator for the assessment of oxidative stress in vivo (Musiek, Yin, Milne, & Morrow, 2005) . Values with different letters indicate significant difference by one-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey's test (P ≤ 0.05).

The 8-isoprostane is a specific product of lipid peroxidation formed in vivo via a non-enzymatic mechanism involving the free radical-catalyzed peroxidation of arachidonic acid (AA) and is the most specific biological indicator for the assessment of oxidative stress in vivo.


An imbalance in oxygen levels causes the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which promote oxidative stress by damaging macromolecules, contributing to the pathologies of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and atherosclerosis (Kulkarni, Kuppusamy, & Parinandi, 2007) . A depletion of antioxidant defenses can also tip the ROS antioxidant balance and cause oxidative stress (Sies, 1991) . Antioxidant based products (drug formulations or plant extracts) are used for the prevention and treatment of complex diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases and cancer (Noonan, Benelli, & Albini, 2007) .

An imbalance in oxygen levels causes the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which promote oxidative stress by damaging macromolecules, contributing to the pathologies of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and atherosclerosis.

A depletion of antioxidant defenses can also tip the ROS antioxidant balance and cause oxidative stress.

Antioxidant based products (drug formulations or plant extracts) are used for the prevention and treatment of complex diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases and cancer.


Phytosterols (plant sterols) are bioactive components of all vegetable foods. In plants, more than 200 different types of phytosterols have been reported and the principal plant sterols are β-sitosterol (24-α-ethylcholesterol), campesterol (24-α-methylcholesterol) and stigmasterol (Δ 22 , 24-α-ethylcholesterol) (Moreau, Whitaker, & Hicks, 2002) . They have been shown to be effective, and no adverse effects have been observed when added to foodstuffs, furthermore, they are listed as GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) by the Food and Drug Administration for the general population (Hicks & Moreau, 2001; Kritchevsky & Chen, 2005) . They have been used as blood cholesterol-lowering agents for the last half century and the effect of these compounds on plasma lipid levels has been tested in animals and humans (Jong, Plat, & Mensink, 2003; Moghadasian & Frohlich, 1999) . Although most studies have focused on the hypocholesterolemic activity of phytosterols, other biological properties such as antioxidant activity have also been attributed to these plant compounds in foods, animal models and human studies (Fuhrman, Plat, Herzog, & Aviram, 2007; Mannarino et al., 2009; Summanen et al., 2003; Wang, Hicks, & Moreau, 2002) .

In plants, more than 200 different types of phytosterols have been reported and the principal plant sterols are β-sitosterol (24-α-ethylcholesterol), campesterol (24-α-methylcholesterol) and stigmasterol (Δ 22 , 24-α-ethylcholesterol).

They have been shown to be effective, and no adverse effects have been observed when added to foodstuffs, furthermore, they are listed as GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) by the Food and Drug Administration for the general population.

They have been used as blood cholesterol-lowering agents for the last half century and the effect of these compounds on plasma lipid levels has been tested in animals and humans.

Although most studies have focused on the hypocholesterolemic activity of phytosterols, other biological properties such as antioxidant activity have also been attributed to these plant compounds in foods, animal models and human studies.


Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) represents a group of positional and geometric isomers with conjugated double bonds of the octadecadienoic acid (18:2n− 6) and is naturally produced in animals by the process of bacterial biohydrogenation of linoleic acid in rumen (Pariza, Park, & Cook, 2001) . They are found in small amounts in a large variety of foods, like in meats and dairy products and the most abundant isomer is the cis-9, trans-11-CLA (c9,t11) (Chin, Liu, Storkson, Ha, & Pariza, 1992; Kepler, Hirons, McNeill, & Tove, 1966) . Commercial preparations of CLA are made of linoleic acid from safflower or sunflower oils under alkaline conditions and are usually a 1:1 mixture of c9,t11 and trans-10, cis-12 (t10,c12) CLA with other isomers in minor concentrations (Pariza et al., 2001) .

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) represents a group of positional and geometric isomers with conjugated double bonds of the octadecadienoic acid (18:2n− 6) and is naturally produced in animals by the process of bacterial biohydrogenation of linoleic acid in rumen.

They are found in small amounts in a large variety of foods, like in meats and dairy products and the most abundant isomer is the cis-9, trans-11-CLA (c9,t11).

Commercial preparations of CLA are made of linoleic acid from safflower or sunflower oils under alkaline conditions and are usually a 1:1 mixture of c9,t11 and trans-10, cis-12 (t10,c12) CLA with other isomers in minor concentrations.


Initial representation of an ideal group of friends: All participants had to read the brief description of a study, and to guess the findings. To do this, they had to estimate the means of satisfaction observed among various groups of friends, as a function of the degree of leadership observed in these groups. Eight means of satisfaction were provided (7.5 -7.6 -7.7 -7.9 -9.5 -9.6 -9.8 -9.9 on a scale from 1=dissatisfied to 11=satisfied), and participants had to predict which mean corresponded to different percents of intra-group leadership (10% -20% -30% -40% -50% -60% -70% -80%). Previous research using the paradigm of an ideal group of friend has clearly documented that students mainly believe that an ideal group of friends is a group without a leader (Mugny, Moliner, Flament, 1997) .

Previous research using the paradigm of an ideal group of friend has clearly documented that students mainly believe that an ideal group of friends is a group without a leader.


The emergence of the Internet-of-Things (IoT), creates a technological network of connectivity with self-configuring capabilities that are enabled by standardized and interoperable formats and connecting heterogeneous digitized objects via the internet (Atzori et al., 2010) . Digital technology therefore is combining digital and physical components into novel value propositions. Furthermore, ubiquitous computing enables the interconnection of multiple devices (Yoo et al., 2010) .

The emergence of the Internet-of-Things (IoT), creates a technological network of connectivity with self-configuring capabilities that are enabled by standardized and interoperable formats and connecting heterogeneous digitized objects via the internet.

Furthermore, ubiquitous computing enables the interconnection of multiple devices.


Indian grasslands are degraded stage of deciduous forests and hence are not climax grasslands (Champion and Seth, 1968) . In India, with a wide range of environmental variables, the climax can be either forest or desert and the grasslands that exist in the country are in seral stage (Bor, 1960) . These grasslands are spread all over the country, but dominate the Peninsular Indian landmass.

Indian grasslands are degraded stage of deciduous forests and hence are not climax grasslands.

In India, with a wide range of environmental variables, the climax can be either forest or desert and the grasslands that exist in the country are in seral stage.


Maximum resistance among Gram-negative organisms was seen against amoxycillin/ampicillin (62%-83%). The resistance level to third-generation cephalosporins-cefotaxime (34%-86%), ceftriaxone (57%-80%) and ceftazidime-(33%-62%) was also high, indicating that the use of these drugs alone may be ineffective. The high level of resistance could be due to extended spectrum β lactamases (ESBL) expression in bacteria. In our country, indiscriminate and overuse of the drugs occur due to their easy overthe-counter availability [3] . Previous studies from India have reported ESBL production among Gramnegative isolates (varying from 18%-86%) from neonatal septicemia patients [8] . However, organisms were still susceptible to fourth-generation cephalosporin (cefepime; 11-33%), which should be used as a reserve drug only. Amikacin, cefoperazone/ sulbactam and imipenem were also found to be good alternative drugs.

In our country, indiscriminate and overuse of the drugs occur due to their easy overthe-counter availability.

Previous studies from India have reported ESBL production among Gramnegative isolates (varying from 18%-86%) from neonatal septicemia patients.


A great variety of photometric reagents is known for the determination of niobium. However, the studies aiming to find and investigate new photometric reagents with different functional groups are still going on. A method of flotation separation with subsequent sensitive spectrophotometric determination of niobium is developed. In the presence of oxalate, niobium and 3,5-dinitrocatechol form an anionic complex able to associate with Rhodamine B [2] .

In the presence of oxalate, niobium and 3,5-dinitrocatechol form an anionic complex able to associate with Rhodamine B.


We employ the pseudo-spectral method for the space discretization. In this approach, the treatment of the fractional Laplacian is rather straightforward, as will be explained in Section 2.2. Our idea of the time discretization is similar to the one proposed for the coupled FNLS equation [26] . However, our derivation is a bit more systematic, and to illustrate this we also show that invariants-preserving linearly implicit schemes can be constructed for the FNLS equation with stronger nonlinearity. We note that our approach is motivated by the discrete variational derivative method [3, 8] .

Our idea of the time discretization is similar to the one proposed for the coupled FNLS equation.

We note that our approach is motivated by the discrete variational derivative method.


Based on tube morphology and occurrence within an ancient vent environment, many fossil vent and seep tubes have been assigned to the vestimentiferans (a subgroup of siboglinids comprising its larger members) (Little et al. 1999c (Little et al. , 2004 Shpanskaya et al. 1999) . However, these identifications have been challenged as the morphological characters used to make the diagnoses are not unique to the vestimentiferans, being also present in other annelid families as well as non-annelid fossil taxa (Kiel & Dando 2009) . Such characters include longitudinal wavy ridges, tube collars (or flanges) and multi-layered tube walls, as well as the size and mass occurrence of tubes. However, no comprehensive comparison of modern organic and fossil annelid tubes has yet been attempted to determine whether there are clear morphological features that can distinguish tubicolous annelid lineages in the fossil record.

Based on tube morphology and occurrence within an ancient vent environment, many fossil vent and seep tubes have been assigned to the vestimentiferans (a subgroup of siboglinids comprising its larger members).

However, these identifications have been challenged as the morphological characters used to make the diagnoses are not unique to the vestimentiferans, being also present in other annelid families as well as non-annelid fossil taxa.


In the mid eighties, M. Gromov discovered that classical enumerative invariants of complex geometry obtained by counting the number of curves satisfying some incidence conditions in a smooth projective manifold actually only depend on the underlying Kähler form of the manifold up to deformation and not that much on the algebraic structure. A famous example of such an enumerative invariant is the number of degree d rational curves passing through 3d − 1 generic points in the complex projective plane, a number later computed by M. Kontsevich. The strategy followed by Gromov was to first introduce an auxiliary generic almost-complex structure tamed by the Kähler form and then to count in an appropriate way the finite number of J-holomorphic curves satisfying the incidence conditions. He could then prove that this number does not depend on the generic choice of the almost-complex structure J. This approach and these results gave birth to the still developing theory of Gromov-Witten invariants in symplectic geometry. A question then appeared together with these works of Gromov and (later) Witten, [6] , [22] . Given a closed Lagrangian submanifold L of a closed symplectic manifold (X, ω), is it likewise possible to extract enumerative invariants from the count of J-holomorphic discs of X with boundary on L and subject to given incidence conditions, in the sense that this number does not depend on the generic choice of J? Though apparently similar, this question hides a new difficulty, namely, the moduli spaces of J-holomorphic discs have real codimension one boundary components, contrary to the moduli spaces of closed J-holomorphic curves. As a consequence, even the invariance modulo two does not hold in general.

A question then appeared together with these works of Gromov and (later) Witten.


The mechanisms of the antithrombotic effects of low-does aspirin involve two aspects: cyclooxygenase (COX)-dependent actions and COX-independent actions [56] . Low-dose aspirin is considered to induce a permanent inactivation of COX-1 which results in the inhibition of platelet aggregation [57, 58] . In many people, generation of new platelets and recovery of COXdependent platelet aggregation can reverse to a certain degree this effect within 24 hours after administration of aspirin [59] . Thus successive and low-dose daily administration of aspirin is essential to maintain inactivation of platelet COX-1. However, patients with type 2 diabetes have been demonstrated to be characterized by a large inter-individual variability in the recovery of COX-1 activity and enhanced platelet turnover rate which represents an important determinant of the extent and duration of platelet inhibition on repeated dosing with low-dose aspirin [60] [61] [62] [63] . Thus it is possible that the current use of a once-a-day and low-dose regimen may not be sufficient to induce clinical benefits among diabetic patients [64] [65] [66] [67] . More studies are needed to demonstrate whether a higher frequency of aspirin administration and possibly a higher daily dosage can optimize treatment with aspirin in diabetic patients. In addition, considerable efforts are needed to illuminate the relation between decreased responsiveness to aspirin and the COX-independent antithrombotic effects [56] .

The mechanisms of the antithrombotic effects of low-does aspirin involve two aspects: cyclooxygenase (COX)-dependent actions and COX-independent actions.

Low-dose aspirin is considered to induce a permanent inactivation of COX-1 which results in the inhibition of platelet aggregation.

In many people, generation of new platelets and recovery of COXdependent platelet aggregation can reverse to a certain degree this effect within 24 hours after administration of aspirin.

However, patients with type 2 diabetes have been demonstrated to be characterized by a large inter-individual variability in the recovery of COX-1 activity and enhanced platelet turnover rate which represents an important determinant of the extent and duration of platelet inhibition on repeated dosing with low-dose aspirin.

Thus it is possible that the current use of a once-a-day and low-dose regimen may not be sufficient to induce clinical benefits among diabetic patients.

In addition, considerable efforts are needed to illuminate the relation between decreased responsiveness to aspirin and the COX-independent antithrombotic effects.


Another foundation to guarantee the performance of these applications is the efficient data transmission. Thus http://jwcn.eurasipjournals.com/content/2014/1/176 routing strategy is an essential part that influences the performance of the network. Recently, many works have provided in-depth studies of the link quality of VANETs [7] [8] [9] . Based on these researches, we can reach a conclusion that because of the dynamic nature of VANETs and wireless channel fading, individual links present unstable connectivity. The link quality has a relationship with the distance between the corresponding nodes, and the nearer the nodes are, the better the link quality they have.

Recently, many works have provided in-depth studies of the link quality of VANETs.


Concerning the transfer phenomena, the numerical results indicate that a 1 cm-thick bread slice lost 1:3 g over 10.2 days, with the crumb losing almost 1:8 g and the crust gaining 0:4 g. The missing 0:1 g is probably due to numerical errors. Thus, nearly 25% of the water lost by the crumb was gained by the crust while the rest evaporated into the atmosphere. This water transfer from crumb to crust has already been shown experimentally (Besbes et al., 2014) . Regarding the modelling of these transfers, the comparison of the results given by the two models shows that it is not necessary to compute the transfer for each gas (here water vapour and dry air) by a governing equation with the terms of accumulation, diffusion, flow and a source term, when the total pressure is known to be constant and equal to atmospheric pressure. It is simpler, and probably limits the numerical problems, to remove the governing equation for one of the gases, calculating its partial pressure by subtracting the partial pressure of the other gases from atmospheric pressure. Then, the content of this gas in the product is deduced. Moreover, the flow terms for the other gases disappear from the equations.

This water transfer from crumb to crust has already been shown experimentally.


Preterm infants often have feeding difficulties due to functional immaturity of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract [1] . Feeding intolerance (FI) is defined as the general incidence of high gastric residual volume (GRV), vomiting and abdominal distension. High GRV can be related to the increase in the incidence of other GI complications such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) [2] . Early postnatal enteral feeding with small amounts of human milk or formula may improve the development of the GI tract, gut hormone release, and gut motility. Minimal enteral feeding has some clinical benefits, such as reducing the time to start full enteral feeding and length of hospitalisation without increasing the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis [2, 3] . On the one hand, enteral FI is a major problem in premature infants, resulting in prolonged hospitalisation, increased risk of sepsis and a predisposition to serious complications due to prolonged use of parenteral nutrition [4, 5] . The nutritional problems of preterm infants have become particularly relevant on short and long-term development [3] . Therefore, it is important to know and assess correctly the warning signs of the possible complications of enteral feeding [1] .

Preterm infants often have feeding difficulties due to functional immaturity of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.

High GRV can be related to the increase in the incidence of other GI complications such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).

Minimal enteral feeding has some clinical benefits, such as reducing the time to start full enteral feeding and length of hospitalisation without increasing the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis.

On the one hand, enteral FI is a major problem in premature infants, resulting in prolonged hospitalisation, increased risk of sepsis and a predisposition to serious complications due to prolonged use of parenteral nutrition.

The nutritional problems of preterm infants have become particularly relevant on short and long-term development.

Therefore, it is important to know and assess correctly the warning signs of the possible complications of enteral feeding.


Heterogeneous platforms are increasingly popular in many application domains [1] . The combination of using a host CPU combined with a specialized processing unit (e.g., GPGPUs or Intel Xeon Phi) has been shown in many cases to improve the performance of an application by significant amounts. Typically, the host part of a heterogeneous platform manages the execution context while the time-consuming code piece is offloaded to the coprocessor. Leveraging such platforms can not only enable the achievement of high peak performance, but increase the performance per Watt ratio.

Heterogeneous platforms are increasingly popular in many application domains.


The procedure suggested in this paper is aimed to correctly identify the appropriate stochastic generating process for electricity prices which is important for several reasons. First of all, the price dynamics can be used to understand the deregulation process, verify the competition in this electricity market and give indications on spot and forward price definitions (Giulietti et al., 2010) . Secondly, a good model identification leads to proper managing of network congestions for needs of continuous real time balancing. Thirdly, modeling is important for forecasting, for trading, for generation planning and plants availability, for risk management and hedging purposes in such market given the recent launch of the Forward Electricity Market (MTE) 1 on 3 November 2008.

First of all, the price dynamics can be used to understand the deregulation process, verify the competition in this electricity market and give indications on spot and forward price definitions.


Energy may be lost from a propagating ultrasonic beam either by conversion to other forms of energy in the material (absorption) or by re-direction of small fractions of the beam (scattering) [1] . Many geometrical structures are commonly employed as ultrasound (US) wave absorbers, such as wedge, pyramid, honeycomb, layered block and flat sheet. In anechoic test tanks, they are used to both, prevent unwanted reflections during medical ultrasound measurements and absorb targets or apertures for radiation force balances. Ultrasonic power is a key quantity required for acoustic output measurements in medical ultrasonic equipment. They are conventionally made using the radiation force principle and many commercially available balances use reflecting targets, even though application of such targets can lead to errors of up to 20% for highly diverging transducers fields. Reflecting targets may also be impractical for measurements on linear array transducers, where their physical dimensions may be smaller than the ultrasonic beam.

Energy may be lost from a propagating ultrasonic beam either by conversion to other forms of energy in the material (absorption) or by re-direction of small fractions of the beam (scattering).


Affective priming theory potentially offers an alternative explanation of our results [18] . Signaling low effort or expertise could be considered a negative prime. We are skeptical of this explanation for two reasons. First, the cues about the provider (the prime) were read after reviewing the feedback, whereas priming typically requires seeing this information first. Second, if acting as an affective prime, one would expect to see increased ratings of quality for the positive cues, which were not present in the data collected. Additional aspects and implications of our study will be discussed in the General Discussion.

Affective priming theory potentially offers an alternative explanation of our results.


We proposed three types of adaptive TTL strategies to improve the performance over a fixed TTL approach in terms of stale traffic and false positive ratios. The experiments showed that the adaptive approaches achieve better results than the baseline. The future work directions involve developing a formal model of result updates over time and investigating more accurate adaptive TTL strategies based on this model. Another promising direction is to combine the adaptive TTL strategies with the relatively sophisticated approaches [1, 4] . Yet another direction is using the clicks on results as relevance judgments and deciding on the staleness only when the clicked URLs change in a query result set.

Another promising direction is to combine the adaptive TTL strategies with the relatively sophisticated approaches.


The overarching goal of this study is not to explain a domain, but to improve our understanding of it. When coupled with previous research that (a) uncovered specific factors; (b) suggested a systemic interaction among factors; and (c) identified the role of idiosyncratic responses to challenging life experiences, the understanding of elite athletic attainment will potentially benefit from a viewpoint external to the athlete [32, 33] . Based on this research, the present study hypothesized that the coach-participants herein would differentiate elite athletes from non-elites via their idiosyncratic interactions with, and a systemic interplay among, their (a) self-beliefs, (b) social resources, (c) structural resources, (d) existing skill set, and (e) biological dispositions (i.e., the LMDC framework [39] ). An inductive qualitative interview approach was chosen as the method of inquiry to gather the opinions and perceptions of those who have perhaps the most extensive and ecologically valid insight into the area of interest in the current study. Interview data herein are analyzed inductively via verbatim transcriptions of semi-structured interviews that focused on the participant coaches' phenomenological insights of that which they feel differentiate athletes who achieve at the highest level in sport from those who do not. As such, no a priori categories were declared during data gathering or analysis, as is the nature of inductive inquiry.

When coupled with previous research that (a) uncovered specific factors; (b) suggested a systemic interaction among factors; and (c) identified the role of idiosyncratic responses to challenging life experiences, the understanding of elite athletic attainment will potentially benefit from a viewpoint external to the athlete.

Based on this research, the present study hypothesized that the coach-participants herein would differentiate elite athletes from non-elites via their idiosyncratic interactions with, and a systemic interplay among, their (a) self-beliefs, (b) social resources, (c) structural resources, (d) existing skill set, and (e) biological dispositions (i.e., the LMDC framework).


The behavior of polyethylene nanocomposites containing 10 wt % of nanosilica, functionalized with molecules of three different alkyl chain lengths, has been compared with an unfilled reference blend. The rationale is that by varying the length of the attached alkyl chains, interactions between the nanofiller and the matrix polymer will vary. However, structural characterization of the resulting nanocomposites indicates that while the nanosilica increases the nucleation density and perturbs the lamellar habit of the polymer, these effects are not significantly altered by the variations in nanoparticle surface chemistry considered here. The inclusion of nanosilica does, however, have a dramatic effect on water absorption, whereby water accumu lates at nanoparticle/polymer interfaces and the DC breakdown strength is dramatically reduced [21] .

The inclusion of nanosilica does, however, have a dramatic effect on water absorption, whereby water accumu lates at nanoparticle/polymer interfaces and the DC breakdown strength is dramatically reduced.


The gender, type of sport, length of time it has been practised, and playing level have all been suggested to contribute to ACL tears [14, [18] [19] [20] 24] . The exact mechanism of these tears is still debated in the literature, with as many as 70% of the injuries being caused by a non-contact event [7] . An ACL rupture that occurs this way has been characterized by no collision but an awkward, single-leg landing or stopping or cutting manoeuvres. The present study confirms this finding, with only 2 (among 9) cases of ACL tears caused by contact with another player. The rapid changes in the rhythm of the game causes the block of the lower limbs due to the multiple cutting manoeuvers and induce high mechanical constraints on the locomotive apparatus, especially the knee joint. However, in a collision injury, there is a tendency to valgus-varus stress and pivoting [17] .

The gender, type of sport, length of time it has been practised, and playing level have all been suggested to contribute to ACL tears.

The exact mechanism of these tears is still debated in the literature, with as many as 70% of the injuries being caused by a non-contact event.

However, in a collision injury, there is a tendency to valgus-varus stress and pivoting.


Unfortunately, P. lilacinus is highly resistant to many antifungals such as fluconazole, amphotericin B, and itraconazole. In previous reports of P. lilacinus onychomycosis, oral terbinafine and topical amorolfine and clotrimazole have failed to treat the condition [3, 4] . Interestingly, 171 susceptibility has been shown to voriconazole, posaconazole, and terbinafine both in vitro and clinically to P. lilacinus keratitis and cutaneous infections [7, 8] .

In previous reports of P. lilacinus onychomycosis, oral terbinafine and topical amorolfine and clotrimazole have failed to treat the condition.

Interestingly, 171 susceptibility has been shown to voriconazole, posaconazole, and terbinafine both in vitro and clinically to P. lilacinus keratitis and cutaneous infections.


The results in Table 2 show that the self-efficacy levels in the diverse abilities were high after the course. Participants had internalised the acquisition of these abilities and this raised the probability of knowledge being transferred to new behaviours. Besides, a positive change can be observed from the end of the course to the follow-up moment in several abilities, supporting Hypothesis 1, at least partially. With respect to entrepreneurial attitude, the levels were very high at the end of the course and had been maintained after the six months period (Table 3) . Here, there is no support for Hypothesis 2 concerning an increase in entrepreneurial attitude after the course, since the high level had been maintained. Table 4 shows that the perception of difficulties confronted in the environment had worsened after the six-month period. The literature emphasises that one of the main dissuasive elements for firm creation is an inadequate knowledge of the process and the perception of risks (Oakley, Mukhtar, & Kipling, 2002) . Therefore, Hypothesis 3 is supported, suggesting the need to eliminate these perceived barriers through the programme's delivery as a crucial point in order to foster entrepreneurial motivation. With respect to entrepreneurial intention (Table 5) , only one item had increased after the course and this was related to thinking frequently about ideas and ways to create a firm. The spiralling growth in confidence in their skills may have formed an "entrepreneurial alertness" within these individuals that led them to be more receptive to the identification of opportunities in their environment and more creative to transform them into entrepreneurial After assessing the evolution of those who had participated in the programme, we proceeded to compare them with the control-group. The study found that participants in the "Entrepreneurs" programme had higher levels of self-efficacy and entrepreneurial attitude at both moments in time than non-participants. The participants in the programme also had a less optimistic perception of the economic climate, although this difference disappeared in the follow-up questionnaire. Entrepreneurial intention was significantly higher for the participants in comparison to the control group after the six-month period. Therefore, Hypotheses 5 and 6 are supported, at least partially. One reason for these results might be the importance of practical training provided on the "Entrepreneurs" course versus the more traditional lectures on the degree subject.

The literature emphasises that one of the main dissuasive elements for firm creation is an inadequate knowledge of the process and the perception of risks.


A real-part BEM formulation has been derived for the free vibration of plate problems. For a circular plate, the true and spurious eigenvalues and eigenequations were derived analytically by using the degenerate kernel, Fourier series and circulants in the continuous and discrete systems. Since either two equations in the plate formulation (4 equations) can be chosen, C 4 2 ð6Þ options can be considered. The occurrence of spurious eigenequation only depends on the formulation instead of the specified boundary condition, while the true eigenequation is independent of the formulation and is relevant to the specified boundary condition. All the results are shown in Table 2 . Three cases were demonstrated analytically and numerically to see the validity of the present method. Also, the SVD updating technique is adopted to suppress the ocurrence of the spurious eigenvalues for the clamped plate. Although the circular case lacks generality, it leads significant insight into the occuring mechanism of true and spurious eigenequation. The proof is only limited to circular plates, it is a great help to the readers who may require analytical explanation about the spurious eigenequation. The same algorithm in the discrete system can be applied to solve arbitrary-shaped plate numerically without any difficulty [11] . Nevertheless, mathematical derivation in continuous and discrete systems can not be done anaytically.

All the results are shown in Table 2 .

The same algorithm in the discrete system can be applied to solve arbitrary-shaped plate numerically without any difficulty.


Since Gaussian processes (GPs) are standard in Bayesian optimization, it would behoove us to stay within that framework. Recent work has looked at ways in which GPs can accomodate shape constraints [13] , [10] , [18] . One approach is based on the convenient property that the partial derivative processes of a GP (with a sufficiently smooth covariance function) are jointly Gaussian with the original process [12] . Thus, one can obtain approximate shape constraints on the original process by imposing conditions on the partial derivatives at a sufficient number of points. We apply this work and expand upon it by introducing a quasiconvexity constraint which is particularly well-suited for applications involving tuning regularization hyperparameters.

Recent work has looked at ways in which GPs can accomodate shape constraints.

One approach is based on the convenient property that the partial derivative processes of a GP (with a sufficiently smooth covariance function) are jointly Gaussian with the original process.