The emergence of e-commerce has impacted the way business is done across the world. The information technology (IT) revolution has had the greatest impact on tourism, an information-intensive industry, and has been applied to some sectors and some countries in the industry. Ecommerce has introduced new ways of performing tasks, interacting with customers, and conducting business (Quaddus & Achjari, 2005) . In this regard, e-commerce is considered to be a key driver of tourism firms in terms of facilitating global marketing, expanding the customer base, and improving productivity.

Ecommerce has introduced new ways of performing tasks, interacting with customers, and conducting business.


The reliability (the extent to which items are inter-correlated or measure the same thing) was measured by using Cronbach's alpha. In general, an alpha value greater than or equal to 0.70 is acceptable and indicates sufficient internal consistency for the measurement scale, but less than 0.70 indicates insufficient internal consistency (Yoon & Uysal, 2005) . In this study, Cronbach's alpha exceeded this threshold for all five constructs, ranging from 0.86 to 0.91. The content validity (the accuracy with which a measure represents a construct) was verified by having the measurement scales examined by one ICT scholar, one ICT practitioner, and four firms in the tourism industry. Based on their comments, views and suggestions, appropriate changes to the measurement scales were made.

In general, an alpha value greater than or equal to 0.70 is acceptable and indicates sufficient internal consistency for the measurement scale, but less than 0.70 indicates insufficient internal consistency.


The adoption and use of e-commerce in the tourism industry has created new opportunities for introducing innovative business practices. The ability of e-commerce to reduce business costs and improve productivity is a key driver of its increasing adoption and use. Therefore, firms in the tourism industry that make use of IT innovations may strengthen their ability to increase the value of their products and services (Elly & Boter, 2011) . Given the opportunities created by globalization, the use of e-commerce can facilitate the expansion of markets at the global level by increasing the customer base and better serving existing customers.

Therefore, firms in the tourism industry that make use of IT innovations may strengthen their ability to increase the value of their products and services.


To understand the adsorption kinetics, an accurate rate expression is required for each mechanism in the process, which makes the overall kinetic model very difficult to evaluate. Typically, a proper agitation can reduce the resistance of adsorbate transport in solution and suppress the boundary layer around the adsorbent particles; hence, film diffusion on the external adsorbent surface will only affect the adsorption kinetics for a short initial period of time [19, 23] . Chemical reaction or van der Waals interactions between the adsorbate and the adsorbent, in general, are not rate limiting unless chemical modifications prevalently occur during adsorption [24, 25] . In most cases, intraparticle diffusion rate-controls the overall adsorption kinetics [24, [26] [27] [28] [29] .

Typically, a proper agitation can reduce the resistance of adsorbate transport in solution and suppress the boundary layer around the adsorbent particles; hence, film diffusion on the external adsorbent surface will only affect the adsorption kinetics for a short initial period of time.

Chemical reaction or van der Waals interactions between the adsorbate and the adsorbent, in general, are not rate limiting unless chemical modifications prevalently occur during adsorption.

In most cases, intraparticle diffusion rate-controls the overall adsorption kinetics.


Pyridine is a parent of a series of N-heterocyclic aromatic compounds that occur naturally in the environment and are also produced for the manufacturing of agricultural chemicals, dyestuffs and paints and other chemicals [1] . Pyridine compounds are hazardous in nature because of their toxic and carcinogenic potential and hazardous effects on environment and organisms even at low concentrations [2] . Because of their high water solubility, high volatility and long-time persistence in the environment, they are easily transported through the soil and water and are often detected in wastewater [3] . The removal of these compounds is of great importance to minimise damages to health and environment.

Pyridine is a parent of a series of N-heterocyclic aromatic compounds that occur naturally in the environment and are also produced for the manufacturing of agricultural chemicals, dyestuffs and paints and other chemicals.

Pyridine compounds are hazardous in nature because of their toxic and carcinogenic potential and hazardous effects on environment and organisms even at low concentrations.

Because of their high water solubility, high volatility and long-time persistence in the environment, they are easily transported through the soil and water and are often detected in wastewater.


Macronet materials present a hypercrosslinked polymeric structure providing controlled pore sizes and high surface areas [19] . These materials possess both macro-and micro-porosity at the same time, retained from their swollen-state in synthesis [20, 21] . Macronet adsorbents MN 200 and MN 500 have recently been shown excellent performance for pyridine adsorption from aqueous solutions in batch experiments, where the enhanced adsorption rate and capacity were shown on MN 500, which can be attributed to the presence of sulfonic acid groups over the internal surface [22] .

Macronet materials present a hypercrosslinked polymeric structure providing controlled pore sizes and high surface areas.

These materials possess both macro-and micro-porosity at the same time, retained from their swollen-state in synthesis.

Macronet adsorbents MN 200 and MN 500 have recently been shown excellent performance for pyridine adsorption from aqueous solutions in batch experiments, where the enhanced adsorption rate and capacity were shown on MN 500, which can be attributed to the presence of sulfonic acid groups over the internal surface.


In this work, diffusion mechanisms within the Macronet adsorbents will be thoroughly evaluated in order to elucidate the effect of adsorbent structural and surface properties on molecular motion within the pore space as well as adsorption performances, which complements the analysis of the Macronet adsorbents in the removal of pyridine from aqueous solutions in Part 1 [22] . For these adsorbents exhibiting bimodal pore property in pore size, a new intraparticle diffusion mechanism will be proposed incorporating internal film diffusion in large pores and homogeneous particle diffusion for adsorbate motion in smaller pores. In addition, an equation for surface diffusion coefficient will be introduced based on the information of adsorption kinetics and pore geometry of adsorbents.

In this work, diffusion mechanisms within the Macronet adsorbents will be thoroughly evaluated in order to elucidate the effect of adsorbent structural and surface properties on molecular motion within the pore space as well as adsorption performances, which complements the analysis of the Macronet adsorbents in the removal of pyridine from aqueous solutions in Part 1.


With the rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Cloud, global data are increasing rapidly. According to the prediction of the International Data Corporation (IDC), global data will reach 35 ZB by 2020 [1] . Meanwhile, the development of the Cloud and virtual storage will reduce the storage cost of Big Data [2, 3] . These developments suggest that there are opportunities for the application and development of Big Data. Therefore, the era of Big Data has arrived.

According to the prediction of the International Data Corporation (IDC), global data will reach 35 ZB by 2020.

Meanwhile, the development of the Cloud and virtual storage will reduce the storage cost of Big Data.


Meanwhile, in the era of Big Data, with the improvement of living standards, consumers' heterogeneity demand is increasing [6] . Moreover, under this new environment, consumers can easily get the information they needed, for example, the commodity prices from different sites and products evaluation from the third party. All of this will affect consumers' purchase behavior, which will lead to the change of the market demand. Finally, it will influence the benefits of a supply chain.

Meanwhile, in the era of Big Data, with the improvement of living standards, consumers' heterogeneity demand is increasing.


The performance technique analysis developed in this research was measured through NC calculation. The NC calculation was done to analyze the similarity between the initial watermark before the insertion and the extracted watermark result with the value ranging from 0 to 1. The higher the NC value, the more similar both images, therefore it can be stated that the watermarking usage technique success is higher. The NC calculation result used the equation (7) with is the initial watermark and ' is the extracted watermark result that can be seen in Table 1 [2] . Table 1 shows that the entire evaluation data results in NC is 1 with the same watermark length and content. Similarity value is equal to 1 between the initial watermark with the watermark extraction results show that both watermark identical. Watermark can be reextracted from the vector map file and it will not go through size or content changes. Therefore, we can confirm that this technique succeeded in inserting copyrights as a watermark without changing the watermark quality.

The NC calculation result used the equation (7) with is the initial watermark and ' is the extracted watermark result that can be seen in Table 1.


In the transmission configuration, the scattered light is collected from the opposite side of the sample, which is illuminated by a monochromatic source [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] . Generally, the incident beam is focused under the tip apex through the sample. This configuration uses microscope objectives with high Numerical Aperture (NA), including oil-immersion objectives, improving thus the collection efficiency and minimizing the far-field contribution. However, this configuration is limited to optically transparent samples or very thin substrates.

In the transmission configuration, the scattered light is collected from the opposite side of the sample, which is illuminated by a monochromatic source.


Before discussing in detail the results, let us underline that only carbon nanotubes being in resonance or nearresonance conditions can be detected by Raman spectroscopy. These conditions are reached when the excitation energy corresponds to the energy difference between two Van Hove electronic states. By considering the G-bands profile of the spectrum, presented in Figure 6 , and the excitation . We focus here on the G-bands, which are attributed to atomic displacements along the tube axis (G − band) and atomic vibrations along the circumferential direction (G + band) [48] [49] [50] [51] [52] . To quantify the experimental enhancement effect under the tip, Raman spectra were recorded by varying the distance between the nanoprobe and the SWCNT ( Figure 6 ).

We focus here on the G-bands, which are attributed to atomic displacements along the tube axis (G − band) and atomic vibrations along the circumferential direction (G + band).


Aluminum (Al) toxicity is one of the major constrains for crop production in acid soils where low pH facilitates the release of Al 3+ into the soil solution. This trivalent cation is toxic to the plant root system by limiting root growth and development (Kochian, 1995) . Al toxicity is the primary limitation on crop production for 37.9% of farmland in Southeast Asia, 30.9% of Latin America, and approximately 20% in East Asia, Sub Saharan Africa, and North America (Wood et al., 2000) . High sensitivity of wheat to Al stress directly threatens food security in many areas where food security is most tenuous.

This trivalent cation is toxic to the plant root system by limiting root growth and development.

Al toxicity is the primary limitation on crop production for 37.9% of farmland in Southeast Asia, 30.9% of Latin America, and approximately 20% in East Asia, Sub Saharan Africa, and North America.


Conflicts between water availability and supply in Northeast region of Brazil, particularly in the semiarid region, have been a recurring problem faced by the government, especially during the dry season. It is a fact that great efforts have been employed with the goal of deploying infrastructures able to provide sufficient water to ensure human and animal supply and make irrigation viable. However, these efforts are not yet, in general, sufficient to solve the problems arising from the water shortage, which causes the populations remain vulnerable to droughts, especially when it comes to the widespread use of water in rural areas (CIRILO et al., 2010) .

However, these efforts are not yet, in general, sufficient to solve the problems arising from the water shortage, which causes the populations remain vulnerable to droughts, especially when it comes to the widespread use of water in rural areas.


NASA has researched a 4-D trajectory-based approach to managing PBN arrivals and developed the Terminal Sequencing and Spacing (TSS) system [12] . The TSS system is based on 4-D aircraft trajectory predictions that incorporate both wind estimates and speed profiles along flight paths. The two main components are: 1) a scheduler that deconflicts merging arrivals in the terminal area by computing appropriate arrival times to the runway threshold and upstream merge points, and 2) a set of Controller-Managed Spacing (CMS) decision support tools to efficiently assist schedule adherence [13] . The TSS scheduling component was created by extending the capabilities of the original Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) system currently used at Air Route Traffic Control Centers (or 'Centers') for terminal metering (TM) operations. This system, referred to as TMA-TM, has a synchronized schedule controlled by Center and TRACON, allowing for an integrated arrival management solution from en route cruise to the runway threshold. The TSS system has been tested in a number of human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulations, where results indicated high controller use and acceptability of the CMS tools as well as improved RNAV route conformance [14] [15] . The robustness of the TSS system has also been investigated, specifically off-nominal recovery methods and mixed RNAV/RNP equipage situations at a mid-sized airport with rigid airspace constraints [16] [17] [18] .

NASA has researched a 4-D trajectory-based approach to managing PBN arrivals and developed the Terminal Sequencing and Spacing (TSS) system.

The two main components are: 1) a scheduler that deconflicts merging arrivals in the terminal area by computing appropriate arrival times to the runway threshold and upstream merge points, and 2) a set of Controller-Managed Spacing (CMS) decision support tools to efficiently assist schedule adherence.

The TSS system has been tested in a number of human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulations, where results indicated high controller use and acceptability of the CMS tools as well as improved RNAV route conformance.

The robustness of the TSS system has also been investigated, specifically off-nominal recovery methods and mixed RNAV/RNP equipage situations at a mid-sized airport with rigid airspace constraints.


In the present study we found a strong association between carotid IMTand HbA 1 c in women but not in men. This result indicates an important role of glycaemic control in the development of preclinical atherosclerosis in women with type 1 diabetes. Considering the low p values in this analysis for women, our results suggest that age and HbA 1 c have a strong impact on CCA IMT in diabetic females. In the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) study, where IMT was measured 18 months after the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT), mean HbA 1 c during the DCCT did not significantly correlate with carotid IMT. However, when the measurements in the EDIC were repeated 6 years later, IMT for both men and women was associated with mean HbA 1 c during the DCCT [3] . Considering that our results refer to 18 years of follow-up, the strong association found between HbA 1 c and IMT for diabetic women in our study is in accordance with the findings of the EDIC study in women. The implication of these studies might be that elevated longterm plasma glucose is not only a risk factor for the progression of atherosclerosis in type 1 diabetes but may be causally related to the atherosclerotic process.

However, when the measurements in the EDIC were repeated 6 years later, IMT for both men and women was associated with mean HbA 1 c during the DCCT.


RC elements generally fail by either crushing of compressive concrete and/or yielding of internal steel reinforcement. Although carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) have high strength, they are brittle. When these materials are loaded in tension, they show a linear elastic stress-strain behavior followed by a brittle failure without a yielding plateau or any indication of an impending failure. In flexural strengthening of beams, CFRP plates are bonded to the tension side of beams. If the bond between concrete and adhesive remains intact, stresses can be transferred from concrete to CFRP, and vice versa, and full composite action between the CFRP plate and RC beam will occur; otherwise, premature debonding occurs, the composite action is lost, and thus the beam cannot reach the theoretical ultimate capacity of the composite beam. If an FRP-strengthened beam retains its composite action, there are two possible failure modes: (1) compressive concrete crushing prior to, or after, tensile steel yielding, and (2) flexural failure due to rupture of the FRP (Saxena et al. 2008) . When debonding occurs between FRP and concrete, the composite action of the beam is lost, which is characterized by the following three failure modes.

If an FRP-strengthened beam retains its composite action, there are two possible failure modes: (1) compressive concrete crushing prior to, or after, tensile steel yielding, and (2) flexural failure due to rupture of the FRP.


In this paper, we have considered the kinetic theory of the equations for a barotropic flow with beta effect or topography and with stochastic forces, in the limit of weak forces and dissipation α → 0. We have formally computed the leading order dynamics, using the framework of stochastic averaging for this adiabatic process. At leading order, we have obtained a Fokker-Planck equation, or equivalently a stochastic dynamics, that describes the slow jet dynamics (37) . We have discussed that, at leading order, the deterministic part of this dynamics are the equations known as Stochastic Structural Stability Theory or, equivalently what can be obtained from a second order closure theory. This provides a strong support for those equations if one wants to compute the attractors for the jet dynamics, when α is sufficiently small. This result also shows that those models do not describe completely Gaussian fluctuations close to these attractors. Moreover, in phenomena for which large deviations beyond Gaussian become essential, a kinetic approach is still relevant, and the full kinetic equation (37) should be considered.

At leading order, we have obtained a Fokker-Planck equation, or equivalently a stochastic dynamics, that describes the slow jet dynamics.


Breast cancer is the most common malignant disease affecting women worldwide. Recent statistics indicate that breast cancer is estimated to account for 30% of all new cancer diagnoses in women [1] . Despite recent advances in breast cancer diagnosis and therapeutic techniques such as hormonal and target therapy, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, patients under remission may still experience breast cancer relapse and spread [2, 3] . Therefore, improving our understanding of the biology of cancer metastasis may lead to the discovery of more effective strategies for improving the prognosis and treatment of advanced breast cancer.

Recent statistics indicate that breast cancer is estimated to account for 30% of all new cancer diagnoses in women.

Despite recent advances in breast cancer diagnosis and therapeutic techniques such as hormonal and target therapy, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, patients under remission may still experience breast cancer relapse and spread.


Cave biotopes are often inhabited by unique complexes of aquatic species. At least some of these species are completely absent in epigean ecosystems. Such a refugial character of stygobiotic communities is developed in consequence to the constant environmental parameters in subterranean waterbodies which remain stable not only for some years, but also on a geological time scale (Birstein and Borutzky 1950) . Thus, the freshwater fauna of karst caves of the Caucasus is known to exist in more or less stable conditions since the Tertiary. Not surprisingly, the fauna includes a great number of endemic taxa both at the specific and generic levels (Birstein 1950) .

Such a refugial character of stygobiotic communities is developed in consequence to the constant environmental parameters in subterranean waterbodies which remain stable not only for some years, but also on a geological time scale.

Not surprisingly, the fauna includes a great number of endemic taxa both at the specific and generic levels.


The presence of high residual stress in engineering alloy components produced by additive manufacturing (AM) is one of the challenges that must be solved before wide spread adoption of AM. Residual stresses and strains are inherently linked to the processing conditions. For the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process, the thermal gradients, cooling rates, and part mechanical constraints result in the multilength-scale residual stresses that exist within the as-built part [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] . These stresses can affect the component life in service and cause a catastrophic failure during the build such as part separation from the build plate. As such, there exists a need to validate and improve the accuracy of model predictions for residual stresses. The AM-Bench measurement series was established to develop rigorous benchmark measurements for all AM materials and methods. A description of how these residual stress measurements fit into this larger picture is given in the introductory article to this topical collection [6] .

For the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process, the thermal gradients, cooling rates, and part mechanical constraints result in the multilength-scale residual stresses that exist within the as-built part.

A description of how these residual stress measurements fit into this larger picture is given in the introductory article to this topical collection.


Our analysis shows that smoking among immigrants from economically developing non-western to economically developed western countries is positively associated with (I) a low acculturation level among men, (II) a high acculturation level among women -as measured by acculturation scales or proxy measures such as language proficiency or duration of stay -and in general (III) with being male, of younger age, non-married, and As no measures are available for these aggregated geographical areas, GDP per capita was calculated as sum of GDP divided by sum of population of all countries, smoking prevalences were averaged across all countries. Socio-economic and socio-demographic factors such as marital status, education, employment status, age, and gender are already known to determine smoking in any population group, irrespective of their migration status. Among immigrants, acculturation is an additional factor linked to smoking. One possible explanation can be found in the transition brought about by the immigration from non-western to western countries, which occupy different positions in the 'smoking epidemic'. Western countries tend to be located towards the advanced phases of the epidemic, whereas non-western countries tend to be located more towards the early phases, and smoking among women tends to lag behind that in men [48, 17] . This is supported by higher prevalences among men from non-western countries compared to men from western countries, lower prevalences among women from non-western countries compared to women from western countries and by the large gap in smoking between men and women from non-western countries as seen in Table 1 . It is compatible with the hypothesis that with the immigration from non-western to western countries immigrant men and women may 'import' their smoking behaviour from the country of origin to the host country. If acculturation is regarded as process which starts with the immigration to the host country, this might explain the high smoking prevalence among less acculturated men and the low smoking prevalence among less acculturated women. Furthermore, with increasing duration of stay in the host country, immigrants might 'move' towards the advanced phases of the smoking epidemic and adapt to the smoking behaviour of the host country. This is likely to be the result of an ongoing acculturation process. In many nonwestern countries smoking is still uncommon and socially unacceptable among women but highly acceptable among men [42] [43] [44] [45] . This pattern of social support of smoking might account for the smoking behaviour among recent immigrants. In western societies smoking is equally accepted among men and women [42] [43] [44] [45] . Immigrants might identify with these values and attitudes and adopt them in the course of the acculturation process towards a higher smoking prevalence among women and a lower one among men. These findings correspond well to the 'operant model of acculturation' as proposed by Landrine & Klonoff [49] . It predicts that health behaviours with a high prevalence among initially low-acculturated immigrants will decrease in prevalence with increasing acculturation, whereas health behaviours with a low prevalence among low-acculturated immigrants will become more common with advancing acculturation. This model has already been successfully applied to health behaviours such as smoking, diet, alcohol use, and exercise [49, 50] . The phenomenon that higher levels of acculturation are associated with increases in unfavourable health behaviours is also known as the 'immigrant paradox'.

Western countries tend to be located towards the advanced phases of the epidemic, whereas non-western countries tend to be located more towards the early phases, and smoking among women tends to lag behind that in men.

In many nonwestern countries smoking is still uncommon and socially unacceptable among women but highly acceptable among men.

In western societies smoking is equally accepted among men and women.

These findings correspond well to the 'operant model of acculturation' as proposed by Landrine & Klonoff.

This model has already been successfully applied to health behaviours such as smoking, diet, alcohol use, and exercise.


The types of studies that are promoted by these perspectives have to do with how intra-individual and contextual factors affect school behaviors and out-of-school behaviors, how exposure to differing contexts affects career development, how self-efficacy emerges throughout this process and how hopefulness arises. Other inquiries that could be envisioned from these perspectives include investigations of how self-perceptions related to vocational development may be misconstrued, how exploratory behavior may be stifled, and how self-concepts may be biased through misleading identity patterns. In short, a dynamic, non-recursive, systemic perspective challenges us to abandon a strictly linear and variable-based way of thinking and empowers us to address intriguing questions that deal with the emerging post-modern world (Vondracek, Reitzle, & Silbereisen, 1999) .

In short, a dynamic, non-recursive, systemic perspective challenges us to abandon a strictly linear and variable-based way of thinking and empowers us to address intriguing questions that deal with the emerging post-modern world.


High amplification gains are required in MicroPattern Gaseous Detectors (MPGD) in order to achieve optimum signal to noise ratios, increasing the performance of detectors in terms of spatial resolution and efficiency. The gain applied allows to observe signals from gas ionizing interactions which produce few primary electrons at the detector conversion region. The populated electron avalanches achieved with these few primary electrons entail the risk to produce a discharge at the cathode of the detector when the critical electron density of ∼ 10 7 − 10 8 electrons per avalanche is reached (Raether limit [1] ).

The populated electron avalanches achieved with these few primary electrons entail the risk to produce a discharge at the cathode of the detector when the critical electron density of ∼ 10 7 − 10 8 electrons per avalanche is reached (Raether limit).


Interestingly, the studies mentioned above mainly focus on achieving high CO 2 capture rates and low recovery energy penalties, whereas little attention is paid to the purity of the captured CO 2 . In fact, CO 2 purity in the product separated by the cryogenic separation method might be relatively low. For example, when applying the cryogenic separation method to separate CO 2 from CO 2 -N 2 -O 2 -Ar mixtures, the impurity content in the separated liquid can be as high as 2% to 5%; at this level, the CO 2 purity cannot satisfy the requirements of most industrial applications, as well as transport and storage [1, 32, 33] .

For example, when applying the cryogenic separation method to separate CO 2 from CO 2 -N 2 -O 2 -Ar mixtures, the impurity content in the separated liquid can be as high as 2% to 5%; at this level, the CO 2 purity cannot satisfy the requirements of most industrial applications, as well as transport and storage.


Currently, several primary CO 2 capture and recovery methods are available: absorption (including chemical absorption and physical absorption), adsorption, membrane separation, and cryogenic separation [3] [4] [5] . Among these methods, chemical absorption can separate large amounts of high purity CO 2 from low concentration flue gas, but high energy penalty and huge investments are expected [5] [6] [7] . Physical absorption is an effective approach to recovering low purity CO 2 with low energy penalty, but additional energy is needed for sequent compression because the separated CO 2 is in the gas state [7] [8] [9] . Both absorption methods draw extensive attention because of their high technical maturity [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] . Adsorption and membrane separation are recognized as promising CO 2 capture methods despite inevitable problems such as low processing ability and high investment because of their operational feasibility and low separation energy penalty [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] .

Currently, several primary CO 2 capture and recovery methods are available: absorption (including chemical absorption and physical absorption), adsorption, membrane separation, and cryogenic separation.

Among these methods, chemical absorption can separate large amounts of high purity CO 2 from low concentration flue gas, but high energy penalty and huge investments are expected.

Physical absorption is an effective approach to recovering low purity CO 2 with low energy penalty, but additional energy is needed for sequent compression because the separated CO 2 is in the gas state.

Both absorption methods draw extensive attention because of their high technical maturity.

Adsorption and membrane separation are recognized as promising CO 2 capture methods despite inevitable problems such as low processing ability and high investment because of their operational feasibility and low separation energy penalty.


Within this paper we present the efforts to develop terahertz-wave transmitter module based on photonic-electronic co-integration to deliver a room temperature, compact and efficient module. Figure 1 shows the overall block diagram of the proposed system. It features an optoelectronic transmitter and a photonic integrated signal source. The transmitter section is composed of two sub-modules; a photonic local oscillator (PLO) and a frequency tripler. The novel feature of the transmitter module is that it combines a high power UTC-PD with an electronic multiplier diode. Small active-area photodiodes are required to obtain the wide bandwidth required for photonic THz generation, but beyond 3-dB cut-off frequency (usually 100 GHz) their response exhibit sharp roll-off. While their small size means that the optical power applied must be limited in order to prevent damage due to thermal dissipation at high photocurrents. An output power of 0 dBm (1 mW) at 120 GHz, with a flat frequency response over the microwave F-band (90-140 GHz), has been demonstrated from a UTC-PD fabricated using a photonic integrated process flow [10] . We therefore use this UTC-PD to generate a 100 GHz local oscillator (LO) signal by optoelectronic conversion of a photonic signal generated by a semiconductor mode-locked laser.

An output power of 0 dBm (1 mW) at 120 GHz, with a flat frequency response over the microwave F-band (90-140 GHz), has been demonstrated from a UTC-PD fabricated using a photonic integrated process flow.


To increase the output frequency, we have explored feeding the output (LO) from the UTC-PD to a Schottky diode frequency tripler that generates the 300 GHz output signal within a WR03 (220 GHz to 325 GHz) waveguide. This approach follows the classical solid-state electronic devices used during the last two decades to up-convert the signal provided by the available stable solid-state sources in microwave frequency range by multiplier chains, formed with cascaded Schottky doublers and/or Photonics 2019, 6, 35 3 of 11 triplers. These multipliers have been showing power handling capability, delivering 20 mW output power at 193 GHz with an efficiency of nearly 8% [11] . We believe that this approach can outperform an all-photonic ones using a power combiner at the output of two UTC-PDs, combining their outputs to yield more than 1 mW at 300 GHz only when both were close to device destruction [12] .

These multipliers have been showing power handling capability, delivering 20 mW output power at 193 GHz with an efficiency of nearly 8%.

We believe that this approach can outperform an all-photonic ones using a power combiner at the output of two UTC-PDs, combining their outputs to yield more than 1 mW at 300 GHz only when both were close to device destruction.


With respect to quality of child care, two subsequent studies conducted in the same four states since these data were collected yielded similar or lower means on the Environment Rating Scales, indicating that it is unlikely that the modal level of quality available has changed substantially. With respect to the economic context, the child poverty rate has risen significantly since 2000. Overall, more children are living in poverty, fewer children are eligible for subsidy, more public pre-k is available, and evidence indicates that overall quality has not improved (DeNavas-Walt et al., 2008) . Low parent participation rates also limit generalizability. Families were recruited from a stratified random sample of programs but only 53% of programs participated in the parent survey, and 50% of parents in the programs responded resulting in a response rate of approximately 25%; thus, the sample of parents is not representative. Typically, programs of lower quality are less likely to participate in research and this may result in over-estimating the level of quality care available. It is possible that the most engaged or satisfied parents participated in the study, which would also over-estimate measurement of parent perceptions of quality.

Overall, more children are living in poverty, fewer children are eligible for subsidy, more public pre-k is available, and evidence indicates that overall quality has not improved.


Publicly funded pre-k programs were not examined in this study, and it is possible that good quality pre-k can increase access to quality care and education for poor and low-income children. States vary in terms of income eligibility criteria and standards of quality, so it is not clear how availability of public pre-k might change associations between family income and child care quality. Pre-k programs also do not consistently meet levels of quality sufficient to promote children's development (Burchinal et al., 2008a; LoCasale-Crouch et al., 2007) . Of particular concern is a finding that the lowest quality pre-k classroom profile was associated with classroom poverty level, indicating that children who are most educationally vulnerable due to poverty are least likely to receive the levels of instructional and emotional support to moderate their risk (LoCasale-Crouch et al., 2007; Pianta et al., 2005) . States with restrictive eligibility for pre-k (children at FPL or below) may increase access to quality for poor, but not low-income children, and therefore not address the fact that low-income children tend to be in the lowest quality care, on average. It is unlikely that the availability of public pre-k has a substantial impact on the quality of community child care.

Pre-k programs also do not consistently meet levels of quality sufficient to promote children's development.

Of particular concern is a finding that the lowest quality pre-k classroom profile was associated with classroom poverty level, indicating that children who are most educationally vulnerable due to poverty are least likely to receive the levels of instructional and emotional support to moderate their risk.


In 1980, researchers investigated the increased risk of leukemia and brain tumors in people who were exposed to extremely low frequency EMFs (ELF EMFs). Such evidence led to increased attention to the risk of EMFs (Ahlbom, 2001) . Occupational exposure to the same fields increased the risk of cardiac disorders, cardiac arrhythmia-related conditions, and acute myocardial infarction (Savitz, Liao, Sastre, Kleckner, & Kavet, 1999) . Further research focused on the risk of central nervous system disorders, including Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, in people who were exposed to occupational EMFs and electric shock (Ahlbom, Green, Kheifets, Savitz, & Swerdlow, 2004) .

Such evidence led to increased attention to the risk of EMFs.

Occupational exposure to the same fields increased the risk of cardiac disorders, cardiac arrhythmia-related conditions, and acute myocardial infarction.

Further research focused on the risk of central nervous system disorders, including Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, in people who were exposed to occupational EMFs and electric shock.


The advancement of new technologies has been associated with the creation of communication services and various electrical devices with electromagnetic fields of varying intensities. However, alongside the benefits of these new technologies are potential worries about the influence of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) on metabolism, biological processes, molecular mechanisms, and cellular organisms. The first report in 1979 about the possible damaging effects of exposure to EMFs by Whertteimer and Leeper related electrical fields to cancer in children (Manikonda et al., 2007) .

The first report in 1979 about the possible damaging effects of exposure to EMFs by Whertteimer and Leeper related electrical fields to cancer in children.


Mediterranean ecosystems are second only to lowland tropical rainforests in regional biodiversity (Cowling et al. 1996) . Because of land conversion and incursion by exotic species they are also the most altered on earth (Rundel 1998) . Southern California has suffered from significant landscape degradation, ecological perturbations, and biodiversity losses (Soulé et al. 1988; Walter 1998) . Ecosystem protection in coastal southern California is scant, and areas available for protection often suffer from fragmentation and disturbance (Suarez et al. 1998; Crooks & Soulé 1999) . Northwest Baja California, Mexico, where Mediterranean coastal vegetation continues southward from California, has also experienced recent accelerated development. As a result few undisturbed coastal lands exist on either side of the border (Reid & Murphy 1995; Esler et al. 1998) .

Mediterranean ecosystems are second only to lowland tropical rainforests in regional biodiversity.

Because of land conversion and incursion by exotic species they are also the most altered on earth.

Southern California has suffered from significant landscape degradation, ecological perturbations, and biodiversity losses.

Ecosystem protection in coastal southern California is scant, and areas available for protection often suffer from fragmentation and disturbance.

As a result few undisturbed coastal lands exist on either side of the border.


This collective mode, in the case of the SU(2) theory, bears charge 2 and spin 0, and thus has to be studied in the charge channel. Moreover it peaks at the ordering wave-vector of the charge density wave. Until very recently, a highly-sensitive fully momentum-resolved charge probe did not exist, and therefore there was no hope to study the signature mode of the SU(2) theory. Recently, a new experimental technique named momentum-resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy (MEELS) was developed [57, 58] . It allows one to probe the charge response resolved both in momentum and frequency spaces, with very high resolution. Interestingly for the study of cuprates, it can probe both normal and superconducting states interchangeably. Its versatility has led to its comparison with ARPES in probing directly fundamental degrees of freedoms [57] .

Recently, a new experimental technique named momentum-resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy (MEELS) was developed.

Its versatility has led to its comparison with ARPES in probing directly fundamental degrees of freedoms.


Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) has recently also been improved to the point where energy resolution has reached 40 meV, making it a great tool for the study of charge excitations at finite momentum and low energy. Raman scattering has been used extensively to probe the charge response in cuprate superconductors. Finally, optical conductivity has been recently shown to be an interesting tool to study collective modes in superconductors [59] .

Finally, optical conductivity has been recently shown to be an interesting tool to study collective modes in superconductors.


Detailed investigations into patterns of rainfall variability during previous centuries are essential for understanding the degree to which recent rainfall levels and distributions differ from long-term averages. Many areas of the northern hemisphere mid-latitudes have long instrumental datasets with which to undertake such analyses. However, for much of the world, the instrumental record begins only in the late 19th or early-to mid-20th centuries. In Africa, rainfall data become plentiful for Algeria in the 1860s and for South Africa in the 1880s, but are absent over much of the continent until the early 1900s (Nicholson et al. 2012) . Rainfall analyses for the majority of areas and for earlier time periods are dependent instead upon proxy information derived from natural and anthropogenic archives.

In Africa, rainfall data become plentiful for Algeria in the 1860s and for South Africa in the 1880s, but are absent over much of the continent until the early 1900s.


In order to understand the soil conditions at the offshore wind farm off western Taiwan and decide on earthwork design parameters, the data from 14 exploration drill sites, each 80 m to 90 m deep, are considered. Two sites are selected for the following analyses: BH01 (Taiwan Ocean Research Institute, TORI) (Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates E175290.1, N2656259.6); and BH02 (TORI) (UTM coordinates E172724.6, N2652211.9). The BH02 (TORI) drilling site is the proposed location for Taiwan's offshore wind turbine demonstration. The depth of water at BH01 (TORI) and BH02 (TORI) are 19.75 m and 22.88 m, respectively. The soil at both sites is mainly silty sand interspersed with layers of silty clay. The simplified soil layers are shown in Tables 1 and 2 [14] .

The simplified soil layers are shown in Tables 1 and 2.


Energies 2016, 9, 1036 3 of 19 deep, are considered. Two sites are selected for the following analyses: BH01 (Taiwan Ocean Research Institute, TORI) (Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates E175290.1, N2656259.6); and BH02 (TORI) (UTM coordinates E172724.6, N2652211.9). The BH02 (TORI) drilling site is the proposed location for Taiwan's offshore wind turbine demonstration. The depth of water at BH01 (TORI) and BH02 (TORI) are 19.75 m and 22.88 m, respectively. The soil at both sites is mainly silty sand interspersed with layers of silty clay. The simplified soil layers are shown in Tables 1 and 2 [14] .


As coastal and marine geological data in Taiwan is incomplete, current seismic response spectra are constructed using the Taiwan's Seismic Design Specifications and Commentary of Buildings [9] . The soil conditions and the seismic activities at the offshore wind farm are not reasonably considered in the design of offshore wind turbine. For future development of offshore wind farm in Taiwan, seismic hazard analyses at the offshore wind turbine sites are recommended. Based on the results of seismic hazard analyses, the site-specific seismic response spectra can be constructed, and the design seismic forces for offshore wind turbines can be determined more reasonably. In addition, because offshore wind turbines are not land-based structures designed to house people, and the risks of environmental, personnel, and economic losses associated with their failures are also relatively low. Therefore, it is questionable whether the same seismic performance requirements for Taiwan's land-based structures should be applied in the design of offshore wind turbines. There may be some room for discussion here. It is recommended that designers of offshore wind turbine supporting structures choose design earthquake based on the functionality of the offshore wind turbines to prevent offshore wind turbine supporting structures from being designed too conservatively.

As coastal and marine geological data in Taiwan is incomplete, current seismic response spectra are constructed using the Taiwan's Seismic Design Specifications and Commentary of Buildings.


This substantive progress in understanding black hole microstructure has presented us with a puzzle. At the critical point, the scalar curvature has a finite constant value rather than diverging, which is obviously different from the previous findings of the Ruppeiner geometry. In order to clarify this problematic point, we recently reexamined the Ruppeiner geometry for the black hole, and proposed a new normalized scalar curvature [59] . We empolyed it to explore the microstructures of a four-dimensional charged AdS black hole, and found that while an attractive interaction dominates for most parameter ranges, a weak repulsive interaction dominates for small black holes at high temperature. This property distinguishes the black hole system from that of a VdW fluid. Two more novel universal properties of the Ruppeiner geometry for charged black holes were also obtained.

In order to clarify this problematic point, we recently reexamined the Ruppeiner geometry for the black hole, and proposed a new normalized scalar curvature.


The analysis of energy consumption shows that in winter conditions the COP is about 2.9 -3.4 and in the summer period about 3.0. The field measurements show that the energy recovery ratio of the real year is 0.58 Q = ŋ . If we assume that the EAHP works without problems, the theoretical energy recovery ratio would be close to 0.8 Q = ŋ . Calculations were made using Equation (2), Equation (3) and Equation (4) . As the outdoor climate is different during different years we have to use reference year climate. In Table 1 the energy consumption of the studied building is reduced to reference year and the proportion of EAHP and district heat are pointed out by month.

Calculations were made using Equation (2), Equation (3) and Equation.


Eq. (4a) represents a fixed point problem to be solved at each instant. Assuming the state vector X to be fixed, let the mapping in Eq. (4a) be represented by T . Let S be a closed subset of a Banach space χ and let T be a mapping that maps S into S . The contraction mapping theorem is as follows [32] .

The contraction mapping theorem is as follows.


In 1990, a paper by Narendra and Parthasarathy demonstrated the potential and applicability of neural networks for the identification and control of nonlinear dynamical systems [5] . The authors suggested various architectures as well as learning algorithms useful for identification and adaptive control of nonlinear dynamic systems using recurrent neural networks. Since then, Narendra and his co-workers have come up with a variety of useful adaptive control design techniques using neural networks, including applications concerning multiple models [6] .

In 1990, a paper by Narendra and Parthasarathy demonstrated the potential and applicability of neural networks for the identification and control of nonlinear dynamical systems.

Since then, Narendra and his co-workers have come up with a variety of useful adaptive control design techniques using neural networks, including applications concerning multiple models.


All of the 76 patients were treated initially with corticosteroids or a CIS therapy. Thirty-two of these patients, who suffered from sight-threatening uveitis and refractory to CIS agents, were given IFNα2a therapy (Roferon-A®; Roche Pharmaceuticals, Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, US). All patients underwent evaluation by a rheumatologist at the begining of treatments. Hematologic, tyroid, and hepatic functions were analysed by rheumatologists before final inclusion into the treatment group. For treatment of patients with BU, a standardized clinical algorithm was used. In case of anterior uveitis, topical prednisolone acetate 1% every hour and topical cyclopentolate hydrochloride 1% twice per day were prescribed. If it was necessary, pulse corticosteroid therapy was used (1 g/day, for 3-5 days) for severe uveitic attacks. Systemic therapy was started generally with using corticosteroids (CS, methylprednisolone, 1 mg/kg/day) in combination with azathioprine (AZA, 2-3 mg/kg per day), methotrexate (MTX, 7.5-20 mg per week) or cyclosporine A (CsA, 3-5 mg/kg per day). If the dual combinations did not work, as a third-line treatment, a triple combination of CS, AZA, and CsA was initiated to the cases with refractory BU. When all these drugs were not efficacious or serious side effects were observed, treatments were switched to the biological agents. All other immunosuppressant therapies were discontinued the day before the initial IFNα2a treatment, except colchicine and topical and/or systemic CS. IFNα2a therapy was started subcutaneously at a dosage of 3.0 million IU (MIU) per day for 2 weeks as the remission induction phase. All patients received paracetamol and pheniramine maleate before and after injections to avoid flu-like symptoms At the end of the remission induction period, maintenance dose of IFNα2a was continued with 3.0 million MIU 3 times per week. Doses of steroids were tapered based on clinical improvement of uveitis and according to the severity of the systemic symptoms of BD after induction of IFNα2a therapy. In case of limitation of clinical improvement, or if steroids could not be tapered, the dosage of IFNα2a was escalated in sequences of 4.5, 6.0, and 9.0 MIU 3 times per week for each severe inflammatory attacks [12] . When IFNα2a was ineffective or untolerable adverse events were observed, anti-TNF-α (infliximab 5 mg/kg i.v.or adalimumab 40 mg sc every other week) or the other therapies were introduced.

In case of limitation of clinical improvement, or if steroids could not be tapered, the dosage of IFNα2a was escalated in sequences of 4.5, 6.0, and 9.0 MIU 3 times per week for each severe inflammatory attacks.


Pollen is collected from flowers and one of the most important source of proteins, lipids, minerals and vitamins for bee survival. Recently, increasing evidence suggests its potential therapeutic benefits, including antioxidant properties and bioactive properties as functional dietary food supplement. In addition to saccharides, pollen contains 7.4 % moisture, at least 20.0 % proteins, 6.0 % lipids and 2.2 % ash, plus minerals, vitamins and carotenoids. Proline, aspartic acid, phenylalanine and glutamic acid are the primary amino acids in pollen (Roldán et al., 2011) .

Proline, aspartic acid, phenylalanine and glutamic acid are the primary amino acids in pollen.


Some starter cultures such as ABT (ABT-1 and ABT-2) from Chr. Hansen, Hørsholm, Denmark may necessitate the incorporation of micronutrients (peptides and amino acids) for reducing the fermentation time and for improving the probiotic viability. The added ingredients considerably affected the incubation time, as some provided peptides and amino acids for bacterial growth (Dave and Shah, 1998; Tamime, 2005) .

The added ingredients considerably affected the incubation time, as some provided peptides and amino acids for bacterial growth.


Considered as 21st century advanced materials, nanocomposites are still relatively new to industry. Throughout its life-cycle, a composite material will undergo various machining processes to fabricate and regulate to its corresponding application. Within industry, drilling is a fundamental and significant machining process used during assembly operations. Various industries, such as the automotive and aerospace industry, have already established the use of nanocomposites within their structures [1] . An example of this is with a leading automotive manufacturer using 300,000 kg of nanoclay composites annually for exterior automotive parts, and according to a recent report, global consumption of nanocomposites is expected to grow from its current amount of around 225,060 metric tons in 2014 to 585,984 metric tons in 2019 [2] . Due to the multiphase structure within composite materials, damages can be introduced during drilling. Around 60% of rejected parts are due to defects introduced in holes [3] . As these defects can lead to a significant decrease in performance, which in some cases can be critical (e.g. aerospace industry), it is vital that the full effect of drilling on nanocomposites is understood.

Various industries, such as the automotive and aerospace industry, have already established the use of nanocomposites within their structures.

An example of this is with a leading automotive manufacturer using 300,000 kg of nanoclay composites annually for exterior automotive parts, and according to a recent report, global consumption of nanocomposites is expected to grow from its current amount of around 225,060 metric tons in 2014 to 585,984 metric tons in 2019.

Around 60% of rejected parts are due to defects introduced in holes.


An important predisposing factor for stomatitis associated with Candida is the permanence of high levels of microorganisms in saliva (Pires et al., 2002) . By this reason, a proper oral hygiene and efficient denture cleaning must be continuous for the bacterial biofilm control present on the denture base and oral soft tissue (Salerno et al., 2011) . However, preventive postinsertion to adjust defective dentures and providing information on cleaning methods and instructions to maintain oral tissues healthy is also important in relation to oral care (Coelho et al., 2004) .

An important predisposing factor for stomatitis associated with Candida is the permanence of high levels of microorganisms in saliva.

By this reason, a proper oral hygiene and efficient denture cleaning must be continuous for the bacterial biofilm control present on the denture base and oral soft tissue.

However, preventive postinsertion to adjust defective dentures and providing information on cleaning methods and instructions to maintain oral tissues healthy is also important in relation to oral care.


Inoculed by different Candida species (C. albicans, C. dubliniensis and C. tropicalis), previous study has shown that the microwave irradiation at 650 W for 3 minutes was effective for disinfection of different acrylic resin types from a same manufacturer (Silva et al., 2013) . In the same methodological conditions, the current study showed that the microwave effectivity was also evident for biofilms from Candida species (C. albicans, C. dubliniensis and C. tropicalis) inoculated on acrylic resins from different manufactures. Thus, it is possible to suggest that the present disinfection protocol would be appropriate in promoting the inactivation of microorganisms found in denture bases. Previous study shows that the cumulative effects of different microwave power levels did not cause significant changes for many mechanical properties of denture base resins (Senna et al., 2011) .

Inoculed by different Candida species (C. albicans, C. dubliniensis and C. tropicalis), previous study has shown that the microwave irradiation at 650 W for 3 minutes was effective for disinfection of different acrylic resin types from a same manufacturer.

Previous study shows that the cumulative effects of different microwave power levels did not cause significant changes for many mechanical properties of denture base resins.


Complete or partial removable dental prostheses unadapted and poorly cleaned may induce some pathological changes on the mucosa of the oral cavity (Mandali et al., 2011) . Prosthetic stomatitis by infestation of Candida species is the most frequent and it is characterized by moderate or severe mucosal inflammation underneath the denture base. Candida albicans is not only able to adhere to the mucous surfaces, but also to colonize the acrylic resins of the dental prosthesis. Both the plaque accumulated on the denture and the poor oral hygiene contribute to the virulence of Candida promoting a clinical picture of Candida-associated denture stomatitis (Salerno et al., 2011) . Classic study has shown that this oral inflamation may occur on the maxilla and mandible; however, it is more often associated with the maxilla, sometimes found under maxilla partial dentures, but only rarely beneath mandibular dentures (Wilson, 1998) . After colonization and adhesion of Candida species to the epithelial surface, the subsequent mucosal lesion is due to tissue destruction by potent proteolytic enzymes or toxins and an inflammatory response to Candida antigens.

Complete or partial removable dental prostheses unadapted and poorly cleaned may induce some pathological changes on the mucosa of the oral cavity.

Both the plaque accumulated on the denture and the poor oral hygiene contribute to the virulence of Candida promoting a clinical picture of Candida-associated denture stomatitis.

Classic study has shown that this oral inflamation may occur on the maxilla and mandible; however, it is more often associated with the maxilla, sometimes found under maxilla partial dentures, but only rarely beneath mandibular dentures.


An in vitro study showed microwave sterilization for all dentures contaminated by different species of Candida (C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. tropicalis, C. krusei and C. dublinensis) isolated from standard cultures or from HIV positive pattern (Sanitá et al., 2008) . In general, these findings are in accordance with the results of the present study showing microwave disinfection of acrylic resins contaminated by biofilms of C. albicans, C. dublinensis and C. tropicalis. In addition, results from an in vitro investigation showed that microwave irradiation was also effective in disinfection of dental prosthesis contaminated with S. aureus and P. aeruginosa species (Dovigo et al., 2009) .

An in vitro study showed microwave sterilization for all dentures contaminated by different species of Candida (C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. tropicalis, C. krusei and C. dublinensis) isolated from standard cultures or from HIV positive pattern.

In addition, results from an in vitro investigation showed that microwave irradiation was also effective in disinfection of dental prosthesis contaminated with S. aureus and P. aeruginosa species.


Despite possessing bactericidal action, these different chemical disinfectants have different effects on the surface characteristics and color of denture resins (Ma et al., 1997) . A classic study has shown that the association between brushing with toothpaste and commercial cleanser soaking is a popular method of cleaning dentures (Jagger & Harrison, 1995) . However, the use of cleaning tablets for acrylic denture overnight storage reduces denture biofilm mass and pathogenicity when compared to dry and water preservation, and may contribute to the overall systemic health (Duyck et al., 2013) .

Despite possessing bactericidal action, these different chemical disinfectants have different effects on the surface characteristics and color of denture resins.

A classic study has shown that the association between brushing with toothpaste and commercial cleanser soaking is a popular method of cleaning dentures.

However, the use of cleaning tablets for acrylic denture overnight storage reduces denture biofilm mass and pathogenicity when compared to dry and water preservation, and may contribute to the overall systemic health.


Snowshoe hares within Yellowstone National Park occur in a patchy distribution, with hares absent from many stands. The majority of stands with substantial understory cover did have hares, which suggests that hares are able to locate suitable habitat within the park. Similarly low-density, patchy patterns of distribution also occur in Targhee National Forest (Idaho), an area west of Yellowstone also dominated by regenerating lodgepole pine forests (McKelvey and McDaniel 2001) . It is possible that Yellowstone hares exhibit metapopulation dynamics, with a source-sink dynamic across patches, as has been documented in western Montana (Griffin and Mills 2003) .

Similarly low-density, patchy patterns of distribution also occur in Targhee National Forest (Idaho), an area west of Yellowstone also dominated by regenerating lodgepole pine forests.

It is possible that Yellowstone hares exhibit metapopulation dynamics, with a source-sink dynamic across patches, as has been documented in western Montana.


Emissions from separable means of transport are generally low compared to the image of the chimney, which many people associate with air pollution, as shown in Table 1 . However, in many cities across the country, the private car is one of the biggest sources of air pollution because the emissions of millions of cars on the road add up. Vehicle emissions account for about 90% of carbon monoxide emissions in large cities and about 50% of ground-level ozone. Driving with a private car is without a doubt the biggest environmental impact of a typical citizen [24] .

Driving with a private car is without a doubt the biggest environmental impact of a typical citizen.


IL-21 is a member of the common γ-chain cytokine family, produced mainly by CD4 + T helper cells, which regulates various innate and adaptive immune cells involved in viral clearance including T cells, B cells, NK cells, NKT and Th17 cells [9] [10] [11] [12] . Previous work has shown that IL-21-producing T cell responses are instrumental in the control of virus infections [11, [13] [14] [15] . IL-21 has also been shown to enhance Th17 responses [9] . In the mouse LCMV infection system, which models chronic infection, CD8 + T cells require IL-21 to sustain effector function and resolve infection [14] . In HIV infection, the frequency of circulating HIV-specific IL-21-producing CD4 + T cells correlates significantly with the ability to control HIV [11, 13] .

IL-21 is a member of the common γ-chain cytokine family, produced mainly by CD4 + T helper cells, which regulates various innate and adaptive immune cells involved in viral clearance including T cells, B cells, NK cells, NKT and Th17 cells.

Previous work has shown that IL-21-producing T cell responses are instrumental in the control of virus infections.

IL-21 has also been shown to enhance Th17 responses.

In the mouse LCMV infection system, which models chronic infection, CD8 + T cells require IL-21 to sustain effector function and resolve infection.

In HIV infection, the frequency of circulating HIV-specific IL-21-producing CD4 + T cells correlates significantly with the ability to control HIV.


There has been a growing interest in analytic approaches to graph theory. Probably the most widely studied approach is the method of graph limits and graphons introduced by Lovász and coauthors [2, 23, 24] . Related but distinct approaches have been studied by Hrushovski, Tao, and others [1, 13, 16] . Analytic proofs of regularity and removal lemmas have been giving using all these methods [7, 30, 31, 34] . These techniques obtain a correspondence between a sequence of arbitrarily large finite graphs on the one hand, and some sort of infinitary structure on the other. Statements about density fit naturally in these frameworks since the normalized counting measure on large finite graphs corresponds to an ordinary measure on the infinitary structure.

Probably the most widely studied approach is the method of graph limits and graphons introduced by Lovász and coauthors.

Related but distinct approaches have been studied by Hrushovski, Tao, and others.

Analytic proofs of regularity and removal lemmas have been giving using all these methods.


The notion of suitable randomness used in this paper is strong compared to other notions of pseudorandomness for hypergraphs that have been considered [3, 4, 6, 22] . The next step towards developing a rich analytic approach to working with sparse random hypergraphs would be a detailed investigation of the relationship between notions of pseudorandomness in the finite setting and the corresponding properties of measures in the infinitary setting. With less than suitable randomness, we would expect to lose the full Fubini property, but the notions that replace it are likely to be of interest themselves.

The notion of suitable randomness used in this paper is strong compared to other notions of pseudorandomness for hypergraphs that have been considered.


Seminal plasma has a unique composition: some components support the spermatozoa, while others reflect the functions of the reproductive system and the spermatozoa [12] . Sturgeon spermatozoa, like those of teleostean fish, are immotile in the seminal plasma or the sperm duct [13, 14] . As in salmonidae, K + ion is the main inhibitory factor preventing sperm activation in the seminal plasma [13, 15] .

Seminal plasma has a unique composition: some components support the spermatozoa, while others reflect the functions of the reproductive system and the spermatozoa.

Sturgeon spermatozoa, like those of teleostean fish, are immotile in the seminal plasma or the sperm duct.

As in salmonidae, K + ion is the main inhibitory factor preventing sperm activation in the seminal plasma.


In fact, macro-scale conditions cannot be directly applied to the micro-scale model, such as the wall boundary of fluid velocity. The experimental results showed that non-slip boundary condition cannot be used in the microand nano-scale models [8] - [10] . Generally, both molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and slip boundary condition are methods to investigate the flow in micro porous media. Plenty of studies focused on the effect of slip boundary on gaseous fluid flow in micro-and nano-porous media [11] - [13] . In above references, the slip boundary conditions were used for gaseous fluid in micro-porous medium. Since the molecular mean free path of the gaseous fluid is much larger than that of the liquid, it is easy for gaseous fluid to be in the slip regime.

The experimental results showed that non-slip boundary condition cannot be used in the microand nano-scale models.

Plenty of studies focused on the effect of slip boundary on gaseous fluid flow in micro-and nano-porous media.


Since the 1970s, computational modelings of fluid have flown through micro porous medium developed rapidly [1] [2] . And a Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) was used to simulate flows in micro porous medium by many researchers [3] - [7] . In their studies, non-slip boundary conditions were presented at the inlet, outlet and other boundaries; the flows in porous medium were based on macrotransport. Classical Navier-Stokes (N-S) equation and non-slip boundary conditions were used to describe the flow and the heat transfer in micro porous medium.

Since the 1970s, computational modelings of fluid have flown through micro porous medium developed rapidly.

And a Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) was used to simulate flows in micro porous medium by many researchers.


The natural convection of magnetic fluids in porous media was studied, using a Lattice Boltzmann simulation [19] [20] . However, whether the scale of porous media affects the flow and heat transfer mechanism is still unknown. It may have widely applications in the industry. For instance, magnetic fluids may be used in the cooling of micro-electromechanical systems. Thus, the investigation of magnetic fluids in micro porous media is required. In the present study, a Lattice Boltzmann method is used to simulate the flow of temperature-sensitive magnetic fluids in a micro porous cavity, containing the slip boundaries on all the walls. The effects of the horizontal slip length and the vertical slip length on the flow and heat transfer characteristics were investigated.

The natural convection of magnetic fluids in porous media was studied, using a Lattice Boltzmann simulation.


In the 1990s, second-generation (atypical) antipsychotics (SGA) were introduced and quickly gained prescribing popularity, because they appeared to have lower risk of causing extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) and TD as compared to the FGAs [3] . SGAs have since largely replaced the use of FGAs. However, SGAs have also been associated with the development of TD, and thus TD remains a real risk when using any antipsychotic therapy [4] . Furthermore, SGAs have come under clinical scrutiny and have evoked class action lawsuit situations due to their risk of inducing metabolic disorder (weight gain, hyperlipidemia, glucosemia and hypertension), thereby drawing clinicians' attention to this set of side-effects and potentially away from monitoring for TD onset.

In the 1990s, second-generation (atypical) antipsychotics (SGA) were introduced and quickly gained prescribing popularity, because they appeared to have lower risk of causing extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) and TD as compared to the FGAs.

However, SGAs have also been associated with the development of TD, and thus TD remains a real risk when using any antipsychotic therapy.


To establish the linkage between tourists' understanding of climate change and their mitigation behaviors in tourism, this study adopts norm activation theory as a point of departure. Initially, norm activation theory (NAT) was designed to investigate prosocial or altruistic intentions and behaviors [51] . Prosocial behavior is defined as, "any action that, as it happens, benefits others, or promotes harmonious relations with others, even if there is no sacrifice on the actor's part and even if there is some benefit to the actor" [52] (p. 349). Further, NAT is also employed to explain the pro-environmental behavior, notably in environmental psychology studies, as it is considered a special type of prosocial behavior for doing good for others in an indirect way [53] [54] [55] . The theory has also been adopted in tourism studies to examine tourists' pro-environmental/destination behaviors issues [56, 57] .

Initially, norm activation theory (NAT) was designed to investigate prosocial or altruistic intentions and behaviors.

Prosocial behavior is defined as, "any action that, as it happens, benefits others, or promotes harmonious relations with others, even if there is no sacrifice on the actor's part and even if there is some benefit to the actor"(p. 349).

Further, NAT is also employed to explain the pro-environmental behavior, notably in environmental psychology studies, as it is considered a special type of prosocial behavior for doing good for others in an indirect way.

The theory has also been adopted in tourism studies to examine tourists' pro-environmental/destination behaviors issues.


This study makes several important contributions to the existing research on mitigation of climate change in tourism. It draws attention to Chinese tourists' perspective on climate change and mitigation behavior, an under-researched yet increasingly important area. It calls for attention to go beyond the tourism context itself to mitigate the negative impacts of tourism on climate change. Nevertheless, the study has some limitations. Firstly, the data were collected via self-administered questionnaires, hence the influence of social desirability is possible [80] . Researchers might adopt different methods (e.g., experimentation, observation) to re-examine the current findings. Secondly, there is often an attitude-behavior gap [81, 82] . It is the actual behavior that really matters in the end, but this study fails to explore the actual behaviors in tourism. As such, future studies might use this research as a point of departure to investigate the intention-actual behavior gap to offer new insights, such as an identity perspective on why people behave irresponsibly when away from home [83] . Last, but not least, while the current research contributes to the extant tourism and climate change studies that are dominated by a supply-side perspective, it nevertheless falls into the dominant paradigm of "ABC" (attitude, behavior, and choice) in contemporary environmental policy worldwide, emphasizing individual behavior change to mitigate climate change [84] . Yet it appears that the current scholarship is calling for more effective "structural" changes (e.g., government-led interventions, the targeted delivery of public services or upstream solutions) [84] . Therefore, it is expected that future research may go beyond individual behavior change to explore more fundamental changes for mitigating climate change.

Firstly, the data were collected via self-administered questionnaires, hence the influence of social desirability is possible.

Secondly, there is often an attitude-behavior gap.

As such, future studies might use this research as a point of departure to investigate the intention-actual behavior gap to offer new insights, such as an identity perspective on why people behave irresponsibly when away from home.

Last, but not least, while the current research contributes to the extant tourism and climate change studies that are dominated by a supply-side perspective, it nevertheless falls into the dominant paradigm of "ABC" (attitude, behavior, and choice) in contemporary environmental policy worldwide, emphasizing individual behavior change to mitigate climate change.

Yet it appears that the current scholarship is calling for more effective "structural" changes (e.g., government-led interventions, the targeted delivery of public services or upstream solutions).


In our previous work, we developed a successful algorithm for the CADe of spiculated lesions [5, 6] . This algorithm entails computing the Radon transform of an image followed by filtering in the Radon domain to enhance the spicules. Once the enhanced image is obtained, the locations where spicules converge are found by using a set of spiculation filters. The parameters of these filters are based on the physical characteristics of the spicules obtained from the measurement study [7] .

In our previous work, we developed a successful algorithm for the CADe of spiculated lesions.

The parameters of these filters are based on the physical characteristics of the spicules obtained from the measurement study.


In this paper, we focus on GPU kernel optimizations for the memory-bound SpMV, which serves as a building block of many sparse solvers. Standard Krylov methods, for example, are typically bounded by the SpMV performance, which is only a few percent of the peak of current GPUs, as shown in Figure 1 , right. One approach to improve Krylov methods is to break up the data dependency between the SpMV and the dot products like in the recent work on the s-step and communication-avoiding Krylov methods [7, 8] . The improvement in these methods comes from grouping SpMVs together into a (so called) Matrix Powers Kernel, which allows reuse of the sparse matrix and vector reads during the computation of a Krylov subspace. Another approach that we consider in this paper is to generate a block-Krylov subspace. Higher performance for the numerical algorithm is achieved by several vectors being multiplied simultaneously in an SpMM kernel. Communication is reduced in this case by accessing the matrix only once, and reusing it for the multiplication with all vectors, which results in significant performance benefits. SpMMs are needed in numerical algorithms like the Discontinuous Galerkin, high-order FEM, cases when vector quantities are simulated, or in specially designed block solvers, like the Locally Optimal Block PCG (LOBPCG) used for finding a set of smallest/largest eigenstates of an SPD matrix [9] .

One approach to improve Krylov methods is to break up the data dependency between the SpMV and the dot products like in the recent work on the s-step and communication-avoiding Krylov methods.

SpMMs are needed in numerical algorithms like the Discontinuous Galerkin, high-order FEM, cases when vector quantities are simulated, or in specially designed block solvers, like the Locally Optimal Block PCG (LOBPCG) used for finding a set of smallest/largest eigenstates of an SPD matrix.


We have additionally introduced fully-automated techniques for constraint elimination, introduction, and simplification. We have implemented each of these techniques in an industrial verification toolset. The synergistic application of these techniques has been critical to the automated solution of many complex industrial verification problems with constraints, which we otherwise were unable to solve. Due to the relative lack of availability of complex sequential netlists with constraints, we do not provide detailed experimental results. The only relevant benchmarks we are aware of are a subset of the IBM FV Benchmarks [21] . Our techniques are able to eliminate 2 of 2 constraints from IBM 03 and IBM 06; 3 of 4 from IBM 10; 5 of 8 from IBM 11; and 11 of 14 from IBM 24.

The only relevant benchmarks we are aware of are a subset of the IBM FV Benchmarks.


The insights from the literature review and the data from our own research sites reveal that a sense of belonging at school is, indeed, a key element of emotional engagement, sitting firmly between the behavioral and cognitive indicators of student engagement [10] . SOBAS is relevant for all students, and particularly so for students who are marginalized and at-risk of underachieving. Furthermore, nurturing a sense of belonging in school is positively associated with the retention of students who are at-risk of dropping out of school [17] .

The insights from the literature review and the data from our own research sites reveal that a sense of belonging at school is, indeed, a key element of emotional engagement, sitting firmly between the behavioral and cognitive indicators of student engagement.

Furthermore, nurturing a sense of belonging in school is positively associated with the retention of students who are at-risk of dropping out of school.


The systematic literature review and the findings of the empirical study presented in this paper highlight aspects of SOBAS that can be formalized into a series of strategies to increase retention of marginalized and at-risk students. First, there is a need to nurture relationships in school so that students are able to realize their potential, building relationships among students, teachers and parents and the wider school community. Second, school climate factors such as attendance, transitioning from primary to high school and school culture should highlight the importance of SOBAS. Third, pedagogical practices, for example, assessments and grading, academic engagement, personalized learning and curriculum differentiation, can be employed that enable a sense of participation and authenticity and contribute to developing SOBAS. Next, specific activities such as interventions and programs designed to build students' capacity in making connections and building relationships, including partnerships with other agencies should be nurtured. Finally, more personalized issues related to the individual student, such as family circumstances, mental health, trauma, and poverty, should be appreciated as likely to have an impact on a student's SOBAS. Consequently, school leaders need to build collaborations with professional agencies and communities who are able to value-add to schools by providing material, medical, emotional and psychological support to students with high needs [40] . Given our clear appreciation that nurturing a sense of belonging in school is positively associated with the retention of students who are at-risk of dropping out of school, employing these strategies is crucial for achieving effective middle level education for all students.

Consequently, school leaders need to build collaborations with professional agencies and communities who are able to value-add to schools by providing material, medical, emotional and psychological support to students with high needs.


It is well known that myofibrillar proteins are mainly responsible for the WHC and textural properties of processed meat products. Within myofibrillar proteins, myosin and actin contribute most to the development of desirable gel characteristics in processed meat products. The heat-induced gelation of myosin results in the formation of a threedimensional network structure which holds water in a less mobile state. During network formation, fat and water retention are enhanced and this influences yield, texture, and cohesion of the final product (Xiong 2004; Sun and Holley, 2011; Petracci et al., 2013a) .

During network formation, fat and water retention are enhanced and this influences yield, texture, and cohesion of the final product.


Nutrition is an important factor in the maintenance and the promotion of good health, the prevention of malnutrition and disease, and the treatment of chronic disease throughout life [1] . Collaboration of an interdisciplinary healthcare team is required, especially in the hospital setting, to ensure high-quality nutritional care [2, 3] . The new era of quality care requires the involvement of a dietitian in the healthcare team (i.e., nurses, pharmacists, and physicians) to perform a nutritional assessment/diagnosis and develop evidence-based interventions [3] . Moreover, the healthcare team must have a fundamental level of nutritional knowledge to address critical issues in a more deliberate and holistic approach [4] . For example, nurses may perform the initial nutrition screening and develop a plan to facilitate patient compliance, pharmacists evaluate drug-nutrient interactions, and physicians oversee the overall care plan and documentation to support reimbursement for services [3] . Therefore, current research supports the inclusion of nutrition courses in the curriculum of health programs as well as for continuing health education [5] [6] [7] [8] .

Nutrition is an important factor in the maintenance and the promotion of good health, the prevention of malnutrition and disease, and the treatment of chronic disease throughout life.

Collaboration of an interdisciplinary healthcare team is required, especially in the hospital setting, to ensure high-quality nutritional care.

The new era of quality care requires the involvement of a dietitian in the healthcare team (i.e., nurses, pharmacists, and physicians) to perform a nutritional assessment/diagnosis and develop evidence-based interventions.

Moreover, the healthcare team must have a fundamental level of nutritional knowledge to address critical issues in a more deliberate and holistic approach.

For example, nurses may perform the initial nutrition screening and develop a plan to facilitate patient compliance, pharmacists evaluate drug-nutrient interactions, and physicians oversee the overall care plan and documentation to support reimbursement for services.

Therefore, current research supports the inclusion of nutrition courses in the curriculum of health programs as well as for continuing health education.


Permanent magnet synchronous machines are popular in electric vehicle traction systems due to its high torque density, high efficiency, etc [4] . However, in high speed operation range, the dominant component of stator current are demagnetization current to weaken the flux produced by stronger rare earth permanent magnet, particularly in deep flux weakening operation. Other significant challenging issues are high costs, limited resources, and unstable products supply of rare earth permanent magnet.

Permanent magnet synchronous machines are popular in electric vehicle traction systems due to its high torque density, high efficiency, etc.


One popular alternative to the above are ensemble of trees (boosted trees or bagged trees), which can scale fairly efficiently by subsampling the feature space during each iterations [10] . Decision trees can adapt well to various data types, and are resilient to heterogeneous scales of values in feature vectors, so they exhibit good performance even without some type of data standardization. However, standard implementations typically do not allow incremental learning, and fitting the full dataset with large number of features could potentially require expensive hardware.

One popular alternative to the above are ensemble of trees (boosted trees or bagged trees), which can scale fairly efficiently by subsampling the feature space during each iterations.


Malware detection has evolved over the past several years, due to the increasingly growing threat posed by malware to large corporations and governmental agencies. Traditionally, the two major approaches for malware detection can be roughly split based on the approach that is used to analyze the malware, either static and dynamic analysis (see review [12] ). In static analysis the malware file, or set of files, are either directly analyzed in binary form, or additionally unpacked and/or decompiled into assembly representation. In dynamic analysis, the binary files are executed, and the actions are recorded through hooking or some access into internals of the virtualization environment.

Traditionally, the two major approaches for malware detection can be roughly split based on the approach that is used to analyze the malware, either static and dynamic analysis (see review).


CAN(Controller Area Network) is an asynchronous serial network protocol with using a bus topology, it is the most popular communication way on the vehicle in recent years. However, a little deviation of understanding between the CAN controller manufacturers and CAN transceiver manufactures is likely lead to the communication problem among the device [1] . Therefore, the quality and stability of communication are the most important performance parameters for a CAN bus products.

However, a little deviation of understanding between the CAN controller manufacturers and CAN transceiver manufactures is likely lead to the communication problem among the device.


Time management strategies for planning and scheduling activities increase the eciency and eectiveness of either personal or corporate time use. Supporting techniques are commonly based on the use of prioritised to-do lists [15] . A prioritised to-do list is an ordered collection of activities that the list owner must complete, with tasks crossed o as they are completed. While the use of to-do lists for time management is benecial, their static nature reduces their eectiveness in dynamic environments where users are mobile and activity properties can change over time. The prioritised ordering of a carefully considered, predened to-do list can quickly become obsolete as its owner begins addressing activities and unforeseen events occur.

Supporting techniques are commonly based on the use of prioritised to-do lists.


Municipal Solid Waste Workers (MSWW) are exposed to a variety of occupational hazards and the need for an evidence based Worker Health Surveillance has been pointed out [1] [2] [3] . However, to our knowledge, there are only a limited number of studies investigating the HAV infection among municipal solid waste workers [4] [5] [6] [7] . There is some evidence that municipal waste collectors could be at increased risk of HAV infection. It has been suggested that the infection pathway of HAV infection among municipal waste collectors could be related to some activities which enhance the activation of the faecal-oral route (e.g., smoking, eating without adherence to universal precautions). As far as we know; these hypotheses have not been tested regarding the possible association between waste collection and risk of HAV infection.

Municipal Solid Waste Workers (MSWW) are exposed to a variety of occupational hazards and the need for an evidence based Worker Health Surveillance has been pointed out.

However, to our knowledge, there are only a limited number of studies investigating the HAV infection among municipal solid waste workers.


The network hyper-parameters composing the design spaces explored are outlined in Table 2 . In addition, several parameters were kept constant for all experiments: output layers were composed of softmax units (with jth output defined as e in j ÷ K k=1 e in k for a layer with K nodes) and all network training was performed with categorical cross-entropy (− [targets × log (predictions)]) as loss function [8, 12] . Finally, for all except the reduced MNIST design problem, batch normalization was included after each network layer in order to smooth the response surfaces [10] .

In addition, several parameters were kept constant for all experiments: output layers were composed of softmax units (with jth output defined as e in j ÷ K k=1 e in k for a layer with K nodes) and all network training was performed with categorical cross-entropy (− [targets × log (predictions)]) as loss function.

Finally, for all except the reduced MNIST design problem, batch normalization was included after each network layer in order to smooth the response surfaces.


The prevalence of diabetes documented in this study was comparatively higher than the prevalence found in rural China (5.6%), but more related to that of rural India (6.3%) and was almost equal to that of rural population in Turkey (7.2%) [14] [15] [16] . However, the observed prevalence rate of diabetes in this report is lower than the prevalence found in rural Pakistan (11.1%) [17] . However, the direct comparisons of prevalence rates are challenging owing to differential methodologies applied and diverse characteristics of the population.

The prevalence of diabetes documented in this study was comparatively higher than the prevalence found in rural China (5.6%), but more related to that of rural India (6.3%) and was almost equal to that of rural population in Turkey (7.2%).

However, the observed prevalence rate of diabetes in this report is lower than the prevalence found in rural Pakistan (11.1%).


It has been shown that, for a small spectral interval in a homogeneous medium, the absorption coefficients can be reordered into a monotonic k-distribution, which yields exact results at a fraction of the computational cost required by line-by-line methods [1] . Modest and Zhang extended the k-distribution concept to the full spectrum, calling it the full-spectrum k-distribution method (FSK), and also to inhomogeneous media [2, 3] . While the k-distribution method is exact for a homogeneous medium, significant errors may occur when applied to strongly inhomogeneous media. Over the years, a number of new adaptations of the k-distribution method have evolved. The problem of inhomogeneity is addressed by using one of two different approaches: the scaling approximation or the assumption of a correlated k-distribution [3] . Both the scaled and correlated-k approaches may result in significant errors when dealing with inhomogeneous media because neither the scaled nor the correlated assumptions are ever truly accurate. The resulting errors and the applicability of scaled and correlated-k method have been discussed by Modest [3] .

It has been shown that, for a small spectral interval in a homogeneous medium, the absorption coefficients can be reordered into a monotonic k-distribution, which yields exact results at a fraction of the computational cost required by line-by-line methods.

Modest and Zhang extended the k-distribution concept to the full spectrum, calling it the full-spectrum k-distribution method (FSK), and also to inhomogeneous media.

The problem of inhomogeneity is addressed by using one of two different approaches: the scaling approximation or the assumption of a correlated k-distribution.

The resulting errors and the applicability of scaled and correlated-k method have been discussed by Modest.


From the literatures it shows that, there has been little research done on the evaluation of machinability in connection with the remarkable change of chatter characteristics based on the cutter geometrical feature influence such as helix angle. When milling a thin-walled structure, deflection and chatter vibration of the workpiece due to low stiffness had a negative effect on the surface integrity and geometric accuracy [7] . Therefore, it is necessary to select optimal cutter feature when considering those effects. This paper evaluates the machining performance ability based on cutter helix angle that occurs when side milling of cantilever-shaped materials in order to find the optimal cutter geometry.

When milling a thin-walled structure, deflection and chatter vibration of the workpiece due to low stiffness had a negative effect on the surface integrity and geometric accuracy.


In order to reduce the total migration downtime of time sensitive applications running on a VM, one direction is to consider performing live VM-vTPM migration [24, 25, 28] . However, secure live migration of VMs with vTPMs requires synchronizing VM-vTPM state during the transfer. Given that each vTPM (in our implementation) runs as a process within its own VM, existing memory synchronization techniques can be used to synchronize the VM-vTPM state on the source and destination during migration. This allows the resumption of the VM on the destination before the complete transfer of VM-vTPM state [24] . We note however that live migration of the vTPM may require specific VM memory partitioning in order to ensure that the vTPM state is transferred at once to avoid state corruption. The feasibility of such a secure VM-vTPM live migration approach needs more detailed investigation.

In order to reduce the total migration downtime of time sensitive applications running on a VM, one direction is to consider performing live VM-vTPM migration.

This allows the resumption of the VM on the destination before the complete transfer of VM-vTPM state.


During the experiments, it was found that, under optimal conditions, the stirring speed does not affect the size of the obtained particles. However, the order of mixing is of great importance. Narrow particle size distribution and a small particle size is obtained only by the method of 8, which was described earlier. Figure 8 shows the impact of the synthesis temperature on particle size distribution characteristics. From this it follows that the temperature of synthesis does not influence the numerical distribution of the particle sizes. However, it does have a very strong influence on the particle size distribution width and the intensity distribution. As the synthesis temperature rises, a second mode appears in the distribution corresponding to the particle sizes within the 80-100 nm range. This finding corresponds to the quantity of increase of large particles, but they still have an extremely small quantity compared to the total. This is directly associated with the effect of the sodium borohydride hydrolysis reaction and does not take into account changes in the NaBH 4 : AgNO 3 weight ratio. Consequently, the synthesis temperature is an extremely important condition that must be monitored to ensure that no impurities of large particles occur in the sols. It is worth mentioning that, after the stabilisation process, the resulting sol nanoparticles have a wide temperature range of stability. In these experiments, the particle size and optical properties are not changed in the temperature range from 0 to 60 ∘ C. The only limitations of the temperature application to the sol can be that a decrease in activity over long periods (>60 min) impacts temperatures > 60 ∘ C, at which the enzyme inactivation occurs [35] . Presumably, with partial destruction of the shell, there is a reduction of the stabilising ability. However, to our knowledge, up to a temperature of 90 ∘ C and an exposure time <60 min, changes in the parameters of the sol were not observed.

In these experiments, the particle size and optical properties are not changed in the temperature range from 0 to 60 ∘ C. The only limitations of the temperature application to the sol can be that a decrease in activity over long periods (>60 min) impacts temperatures > 60 ∘ C, at which the enzyme inactivation occurs.