It should be noted that the width of the intensity size distribution is similar to that of the curves discussed above, and their minimum lies at the ratio LYZ : AgNO 3 ≈ 0.77 g/g. The total distribution width at this region is less than 20 nm. Based on the importance of this parameter, it would be erroneous to consider only the mean particle diameter of the size distribution by number. In this case, the application of the dynamic light scattering technique has a great advantage because the larger particles can scatter light much better and contribute more to the distribution by intensity than smaller particles. Through the examination of the number distribution of the particle sizes shown in Figure 1 , it can be observed that the values for all the ratios are similar, with a slight bend at the weight ratio of 0.6 g/g and an increase after a weight ratio of 0.9 g/g. This distribution is closest to the actual distribution, which can be obtained by transmission electron microscopy without taking into account the difference between the hydrodynamic diameter of the particles with an organic shell and the actual diameter of the corenanoparticles observed by transmission electron microscopy images. From the data obtained, the best stabilisation and optimal consumption of reagents in conjunction with the completely homogeneous properties of the obtained products occur in a narrow interval of reactant ratios, with a weight ratio of approximately NaBH 4 : LYZ : AgNO 3 = 0.22 : 0.77 : 1. The resulting value is in good agreement with data obtained by Eby and others but has greater accuracy [16] .

The resulting value is in good agreement with data obtained by Eby and others but has greater accuracy.


The most critical parameter for the use of bioconjugates is their size [17] [18] [19] . The presence of even a few particles larger than 60 nm can make it impossible to predict the biological effect of bioconjugates or to compare the results of their study. Commonly, to reduce the negative effects of particle size differences and to achieve a nearly monomodal size distribution, various complex purification methods are used [20, 21] . As mentioned previously, these methods are laborious and greatly reduce the amount of nanoparticles in sols. Some investigators use different techniques to control particle size, such as micellar synthesis or stabilisation in matrices [22] [23] [24] .

The most critical parameter for the use of bioconjugates is their size.

Commonly, to reduce the negative effects of particle size differences and to achieve a nearly monomodal size distribution, various complex purification methods are used.

Some investigators use different techniques to control particle size, such as micellar synthesis or stabilisation in matrices.


Synthesis using the suggested conditions involves certain shortcomings and problems to be solved. As described previously, silver nitrate interacts with lysozyme in sunlight. This interaction results in the production of nanoparticles coated with a lysozyme shell. The size of the particles produced in the aqueous solution is 60-80 nm, and the particle size distribution may differ considerably from sample to sample. For the proposed method, this side effect is a negative contribution to the particle size distribution that should be avoided or accounted for in the experiments. Because the reaction proceeds in an aqueous medium, it is impossible to completely exclude the solvent effect [28] . The experiment is also complicated by the concurrent sodium borohydride hydrolysis reaction. In practice, excess sodium borohydride is used to reduce the negative effect of hydrolysis. For many years, this procedure has been well-proven. However, this method shows a significant disadvantage: the use of excess sodium borohydride causes an increase in the concentration of its hydrolysis products (NaBO 2 ), which may strongly affect the long-term stability of the system. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out a study of the optimal weight ratio of the initial reagents that allows stable hydrosols production with the required physicochemical parameters while maintaining long-term stability. Despite the disadvantages mentioned above, we assume that the considered synthesis system is convenient for a study of the nanoparticle biocoating phenomena in question and can be adapted for practical use in medicine.

Because the reaction proceeds in an aqueous medium, it is impossible to completely exclude the solvent effect.


Vegetable oils are composed by triglycerides. Every triglyceride, or fat, contains three fatty acid chains attach to a single glycerol molecule. These fatty acid chains can be classified as saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, depending on the type of chemical bonds present. The hydrolysis of triglycerides produces fatty acids and glycerol [1] [2] [3] [4] . Saturated fatty acids have high relevance in the food and oleochemical industries.

The hydrolysis of triglycerides produces fatty acids and glycerol.


In experiments using 25% NiO/Al 2 O 3 were observed changes in fatty acid profiles produced. After 3 hours of reaction, iodine value decreased due to saturation of double bonds (Tables 5). The iodine value decreased 47 and 63% for hydrolysis of soybean oil at 250 e 270C respectively, and 52 and 70% for tallow [9] .

The iodine value decreased 47 and 63% for hydrolysis of soybean oil at 250 e 270C respectively, and 52 and 70% for tallow.


It was pointed out nearly 40 years ago that absorption of ultra-high-energy neutrinos (E ν > 10 21 eV) on cosmic relic neutrinos would lead to a dip on the spectrum at energies corresponding to formation of Z bosons [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] . Similarly, in models with additional light Z gauge bosons coupled to neutrinos, the same feature could be obtained for lower energy neutrinos such as those produced in supernovae [27, 28] . The flux of high-energy neutrinos could also be distorted by interactions with ultralight scalar dark matter [29] .

It was pointed out nearly 40 years ago that absorption of ultra-high-energy neutrinos (E ν > 10 21 eV) on cosmic relic neutrinos would lead to a dip on the spectrum at energies corresponding to formation of Z bosons.

Similarly, in models with additional light Z gauge bosons coupled to neutrinos, the same feature could be obtained for lower energy neutrinos such as those produced in supernovae.

The flux of high-energy neutrinos could also be distorted by interactions with ultralight scalar dark matter.


BCI-based research nowadays involves more than 100 groups all over the world engaged in a broad spectrum of topics, with more entering the field almost every month [3] . Recent research indicates the fact that BCI has already moved from assistive care to such applications as computer games. The significant improvement in usability, hardware, digital signal processing centred techniques, and system integration is predicted to yield applications in other non-medical areas as well [4] .

BCI-based research nowadays involves more than 100 groups all over the world engaged in a broad spectrum of topics, with more entering the field almost every month.

The significant improvement in usability, hardware, digital signal processing centred techniques, and system integration is predicted to yield applications in other non-medical areas as well.


Most work to date has been done using composites consisting of a symmetrical sequence of lay up. Some low velocity impact work has shown that the sequence of lay up for a symmetrical lay up has a minor effect on the resistance to penetration whereas target thickness and loading rate have a greater significance [11] . The sequence of lay up for symmetrical composites only seems to have a small effect on the impact response of CFRP laminates at much higher velocities as well [8] . However, the effect of the sequence of lay up on asymmetric composite materials on their energy absorption ability and the consequential damage have not been extensively studied. Furthermore, for the study of impact and penetration of CFRP laminates there is a paucity of data on the oblique penetration of these types of materials and, in particular, woven CFRP laminates that are presently used in the aerospace industries. Most impacts from high velocity projectiles will occur with some degree of obliquity and consequently, it is important to understand the effect that obliquity has on a penetrating projectile.

Some low velocity impact work has shown that the sequence of lay up for a symmetrical lay up has a minor effect on the resistance to penetration whereas target thickness and loading rate have a greater significance.

The sequence of lay up for symmetrical composites only seems to have a small effect on the impact response of CFRP laminates at much higher velocities as well.


If the target word contained neither a vowel nor a sonorant consonant, it sometimes had no f0 peak at all. Alternatively, the peak was either on a vocalic nucleus of the previous word (i.e. on the final vowel of inna) or on a transitional vocoid (@) within the consonant string of the target word (see Figure 3a) . This pattern is consistent with the above mentioned study in which the target word was phrase medial (Grice et al. 2011) . From these results, it appears that speakers are able to exploit non-phonological elements to place the peak on the target word. This might be a reflex of the general preference to place the peak towards the right edge of the phrase in our study, as the word is final in the phrase. However, this is not the whole story, as, looking at target words with at least one sonorant nucleus available, the peak was almost always aligned to one of the sonorant nuclei rather than to the last element in the syllable that is periodic enough and possibly loud enough. Even in the presence of a sonorant coda, the f0 maximum was aligned to the nucleus (e.g. in tnzam, see Figure 3b ). Looking in more detail at the two female speakers, Figure 4 shows that the distributions of peaks in statements and questions are overlapping. Nonetheless, it is possible to see that these two speakers produce different phonological association patterns, as well as different phonetic alignment patterns for statements and questions, although the strength of the distinction as well as the cue weighting seems to be speaker dependent. In sum, the categorical tendencies of the peak to be placed on specific syllables, interpreted as phonological association is reflected in the tendency of speakers to align the peak earlier in statements than in questions (except for speaker M2).

This pattern is consistent with the above mentioned study in which the target word was phrase medial.


A pitch period detection program based on the autocorrelation method was developed to extract the pitch periods in the time domain [19] . A linear filter was applied to the speech signal to enhance the signal and attenuate the noise components. The signal was then divided into sections of 300 samples, with adjacent sections overlapping by 200 samples. For a particular section, a clipping level is calculated. The clipping level is set at a value of 68 percent of smaller of the maximum absolute sample values in the first and the last one-third portions of the section. This speech section is then center clipped. After clipping, the autocorrelation function for that particular section is computed over a range of lags from 0 to 200 samples [20] . Although lags ranging from 20 to 200 are usually used in practice, but we are calculating these extra autocorrelation values just for the sake of observation.

A pitch period detection program based on the autocorrelation method was developed to extract the pitch periods in the time domain.

After clipping, the autocorrelation function for that particular section is computed over a range of lags from 0 to 200 samples.


For those engaged in drug design, such as medicinal and computational chemists, the research phase can be broken down into two main tasks: identification of new compounds showing some activity against a target biological receptor, and the progressive optimization of these leads to yield a compound with improved potency and physicochemical properties in-vitro, and, eventually, improved efficacy, pharmacokinetic, and toxicological profiles in-vivo. Identification of leads is driven either by random screening or a directed design approach, and traditionally both strategies have been of equal importance, depending on the problem in hand. The directed approach needs a rational starting point for medicinal chemists and molecular modeling scientist to exploit. Examples include the design of analogs of a drug known to be active against a target receptor and mimics of the natural substrate of an enzyme. Increasingly, the three-dimensional structure of many biological targets is being revealed by X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, opening the way to the design of novel molecules that directly exploit the structural characteristics of the receptorbinding site. In recent years, this approach of structure-based design has had a major impact on the rational design and optimization of new lead compounds in those cases where the receptor structure is well characterized [1] [2] [3] . The practice of testing of large number of molecules for the activity in the model system that is representative of the human disease, known as screening, is a well-established fact in the pharmaceutical industry. High throughput screening technology allows for the testing of thousands to million of the molecules for activity against a new target system as a part of new drug discovery process [4] [5] . Virtual screening, sometime also called in-silico screening, is a new branch of medicinal chemistry that represents a fast & cost effective tool for computationally screening database in search for the novel drug leads. The routes for the virtual screening go back to the structure-based drug design & molecular modeling [6] .

In recent years, this approach of structure-based design has had a major impact on the rational design and optimization of new lead compounds in those cases where the receptor structure is well characterized.

High throughput screening technology allows for the testing of thousands to million of the molecules for activity against a new target system as a part of new drug discovery process.

The routes for the virtual screening go back to the structure-based drug design & molecular modeling.


Over the past few years, stability analysis for stochastic systems with Markovian jump parameters or Brownian motion defined in a complete probability space or stochastic disturbances was widely investigated [31, [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] . Markovian jump systems can be described by a set of linear systems with the transitions among models determined by a Markovian chain in a finite mode set. Applications of this kind of systems can be found in economic systems, power systems, solar-powered systems, battle management in command, control and communication systems, etc. NNs in real life often have a phenomenon of information latching. It is recognized that a way for dealing with this information latching problem is to extract finite-state representations (also called modes or clusters). In fact, such NNs with information latching may have finite modes, the modes may switch (or jump) from one to another at different times, and the switching (or jumping) between two arbitrarily different modes can be governed by a Markovian chain. Hence, the NNs with Markovian jump parameters are of great significance in modeling a class of NNs with finite modes. Recently, some results on the stability, estimation, and control problems related to such systems have been reported in the literature [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] .

Over the past few years, stability analysis for stochastic systems with Markovian jump parameters or Brownian motion defined in a complete probability space or stochastic disturbances was widely investigated.

Recently, some results on the stability, estimation, and control problems related to such systems have been reported in the literature.


One of the key motivations for introducing a finite-state approximation of link grammar is to facilitate the integration of the parser into a finite-state system which identifies the globally optimal solution through joint inference across all different levels of linguistic analysis in Information Extraction [13] . In such an integrated model, each level of analysis produces a set of alternate hypotheses encoded as a finite-state automaton, and the intersection of these automata then encodes the set of all possible analyses structurally compatible with all levels in the system. Subsequently, the globally optimal solution can be identified by a search through this unified automaton, taking into account the local preferences of the individual levels of analysis [14] . The finite-state approximation of LG presented in this paper is a first step toward a finite-state joint inference system.

One of the key motivations for introducing a finite-state approximation of link grammar is to facilitate the integration of the parser into a finite-state system which identifies the globally optimal solution through joint inference across all different levels of linguistic analysis in Information Extraction.

Subsequently, the globally optimal solution can be identified by a search through this unified automaton, taking into account the local preferences of the individual levels of analysis.


The world's leading companies in mobile communications have given a huge impetus to the development of 4G wireless systems to satisfy customers' demand for high data rate service. One of the key features enabling 4G is MIMO technology. Using multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver offers enhanced diversity and parallel data transfer for fast and reliable communication [1] .

Using multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver offers enhanced diversity and parallel data transfer for fast and reliable communication.


The acceptable antenna correlation for reliable MIMO performance is reported to be < 0.5 [2] . Meeting this criterion may not be challenging for a base station MIMO antenna. On the contrary, for a MIMO antenna in a small commercial handset, the antenna correlation is inherently high as closely packed antennas are strongly coupled to each other. Such problem is more critical for the lower frequency range (e.g., E-UTRA LTE band 17, 704-746 MHz), as the wavelength is longer and antennas are electrically closer.

The acceptable antenna correlation for reliable MIMO performance is reported to be < 0.5.


The community was able to learn about the methods in the integrated approach being used by the demonstrations households particularly screening in windows and ventilators to prevent mosquito entry. However, the study established that majority of the population could not afford to have such screening installed on their houses. It is well known that poverty in developing countries such as Uganda affects malaria prevention practices including use of ITNs [24] . Indeed, the majority of ITNs owned nationwide have been provided for free by the Government through the Ministry of Health [4] . This lack of resources is, therefore, expected to negatively affect the use of methods in the integrated approach that require funds such as screening in windows and ventilators. However, some of the practices such as early closing of doors and windows which do not require financial resources should be implemented by households irrespective of other malaria prevention methods.

It is well known that poverty in developing countries such as Uganda affects malaria prevention practices including use of ITNs.

Indeed, the majority of ITNs owned nationwide have been provided for free by the Government through the Ministry of Health.


For some risk factors, such as blood pressure and HBA 1c , there was a clear inflection point indicating a value of HRV beyond which the odds ratios increased greatly. However, for other risk factors, such as C-reactive protein (CRP) or fibrinogen there appeared to be a linear dose response relationship between values of HRV and the odds ratios associated with the risk factor. Despite this linear relationship for some biomarkers, clinical cut points are often suggested. For example, we have shown that the association between fasting glucose and HRV is linear across the clinical cut points for glycemic status, including across the normal range [26] . This is also consistent with recommendations that for some biomarkers, lower values even within the "normal" range are associated with reduced risk [36, 37] .

For example, we have shown that the association between fasting glucose and HRV is linear across the clinical cut points for glycemic status, including across the normal range.

This is also consistent with recommendations that for some biomarkers, lower values even within the "normal" range are associated with reduced risk.


Among a sample of competitive adolescent female figure skaters, most had appropriate weights-for-heights. One-quarter of the skaters had an EAT-40 score above 30 which is indicative of clinically significant eating pathology. The skaters did report low intakes of energy and bone-building nutrients, but the majority (70%) reported no recent weight loss and all biochemical measures indicative of iron status were within the normal range. Although the mean EAT-40 score did not indicate risk of disordered eating, there were several athletes (24%) who were at high risk and, among the entire sample, the response pattern did suggest that skaters had heightened awareness of eating restraint and potential preoccupation with weight and food. Like other lean-build athletes, these athletes are at elevated risk for disordered eating, caloric restriction, lownutrient intakes and weight-loss behaviors [5, [16] [17] [18] 29] . Prior studies with similar athletes report that dietary inadequacies and inappropriate behaviors to control weight are common [2, 7, 8, [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] 30] . Lean-sport athletes, especially females, report greater pressure to maintain a thin, lithe figure and low body weight than athletes in sports with less emphasis on such builds, and they are at risk of developing preoccupation with weight and body shape that may increase the likelihood of adopting extreme weight loss methods and patterns of disordered eating [11, 12] .

Like other lean-build athletes, these athletes are at elevated risk for disordered eating, caloric restriction, lownutrient intakes and weight-loss behaviors.

Prior studies with similar athletes report that dietary inadequacies and inappropriate behaviors to control weight are common.

Lean-sport athletes, especially females, report greater pressure to maintain a thin, lithe figure and low body weight than athletes in sports with less emphasis on such builds, and they are at risk of developing preoccupation with weight and body shape that may increase the likelihood of adopting extreme weight loss methods and patterns of disordered eating.


The observed safety profile of macitentan 10 mg in the incident and prevalent cohorts was consistent with that of the overall study population [13] . Adverse events in the overall SERAPHIN population that were more frequently associated with macitentan than placebo were headache, nasopharyngitis and anaemia. In the current analysis of incident and prevalent cohorts, respiratory tract infections were slightly higher with active treatment versus placebo. In the treatment-naïve incident patients, peripheral oedema was reported more frequently with macitentan 10 mg than placebo. These data should be interpreted within the context of the substantially longer exposure to the active drug compared with placebo (122 versus 41 weeks).

The observed safety profile of macitentan 10 mg in the incident and prevalent cohorts was consistent with that of the overall study population.


As noted, the literature highlights a number of different challenges concerning law enforcement in relation to human trafficking. A lack of victim cooperativeness, a lack of trust in the police and the fact that many victims regard their situation as the least harmful alternative are all very likely to complicate the police identification and criminal prosecution of THB cases. In recognition of these challenges, as well as the generally low visibility of human trafficking crimes, it is perhaps not surprising that victims of trafficking or agencies dealing with assumed victims of trafficking submit more criminal complaints than police officers do on their own initiative, for instance, when coming across potential victims of trafficking during patrol work. As noted above, the police's ability to detect crimes and to initiate criminal investigations is likely to differ when policing 'private' and 'public' areas (Bottomley and Coleman, 1981) . However, such challenges are also critical because they can serve as an excuse for police inaction. Aware of the many challenges they are about to face, police officials may feel sceptical about the possibility of successful prosecution even before the criminal investigation has started.

As noted above, the police's ability to detect crimes and to initiate criminal investigations is likely to differ when policing 'private' and 'public' areas.


An additional interpretation of the findings therefore suggests that some police officers might be reluctant to file complaints in cases they recognize to be potentially lengthy, intricate and resource intensive because they anticipate that these cases will 'steal' resources from other cases. This notion is in line with the street-level bureaucracy theory, suggesting that police officers select among clients to control their work situation (Lipsky, 1980) . Findings from the two above-mentioned studies seem to support the idea that Norwegian police officers have to use discretionary judgement to decide what kind of cases they wish to prosecute, and what kind of cases they have to 'leave', when confronted with more trafficking clients than they are able to serve. Agencies such as safe houses or reception centres, on the other hand, are not responsible for the criminal prosecution of cases and are not driven by goal-oriented management in the same manner as the police organization. If third parties are confronted with increasing numbers of THB victims, they can therefore continue to encourage and help victims to file a complaint, even when previous experience indicates that complaints will be difficult to prove in court.

This notion is in line with the street-level bureaucracy theory, suggesting that police officers select among clients to control their work situation.


The police register data were not originally compiled for research purposes and may lack case details or be affected by incorrect registrations or local variations in registration practices (Riksadvokaten, 1994) . In addition, some of the variables included in the analyses are based on my own readings and interpretations of information found in the case documents. This procedure introduces some subjectivity into the data. Moreover, a potential drawback of using such data is the difficulty involved in replicating the study, because the data are proprietary and cannot easily be shared (although other arrangements can be made with researchers who want to replicate this study).

The police register data were not originally compiled for research purposes and may lack case details or be affected by incorrect registrations or local variations in registration practices.


Interpreting the results as evidence of poor or inadequate police practices should be cautioned against. One way of assessing police practices is to observe them in light of formal guidelines or state directives. In Norway, the fight against THB has been highlighted as a national police priority by the Norwegian government since the introduction of Article 224 in 2003. Also, every annual directive issued by the Director General of Public Prosecutions since 2005 has emphasized that the police 'cannot passively await criminal complaints from victims of trafficking' (Riksadvokaten, 2005) . It is therefore quite striking that, despite these clearly expressed organizational and national priorities, this study has demonstrated that the police initiate a decreasing share of the total number of reported THB cases.

Also, every annual directive issued by the Director General of Public Prosecutions since 2005 has emphasized that the police 'cannot passively await criminal complaints from victims of trafficking'.


However, these findings alone do not signify 'poor practices'. Goldstein (1964: 142) points out that very few police agencies have the number of personnel required to detect the total amount of criminality and to prosecute all offenders. Because 'full enforcement' is not achievable (or realistic), the police organization must establish the 'ideal' level of law enforcement within a certain crime field (Goldstein, 1964) . However, taking the directives proposed by the Norwegian government and the Director General of Public Prosecutions into account, a reasonable interpretation of the findings is that there is a discrepancy between such ideals and the reality of the Norwegian police's fight against THB.

Because 'full enforcement' is not achievable (or realistic), the police organization must establish the 'ideal' level of law enforcement within a certain crime field.


This study aims to contribute to this growing area of criminological research by exploring the identification of THB by the Norwegian police. Using two unique sources of registry data, including criminal investigation data obtained from the Norwegian police, I present a quantitative analysis of the total set of reported THB cases in Norway between 2003, when THB legislation first took effect, and 2013 (n = 358). The study contributes to the international literature on THB and police organization in several ways. First, I examine the police's role in detecting and reporting cases of THB and paint a statistical portrait of the reported cases and any changes over time in the corpus of complaints. Such overviews are rarely available in the criminological literature. Secondly, I analyse variations in initiation practices throughout the period 2003-13. The study thus responds to previous calls for THB studies to take features of the local context into account (Winterdyk and Reichel, 2010) . Finally, I look at the THB case outcomes and examine whether these cases result in a legal decision against the person(s) charged with the crime. This study is the first of its kind to analyse Norwegian police registry data, and accordingly provides reliable information about actual police efforts concerning THB crimes.

The study thus responds to previous calls for THB studies to take features of the local context into account.


A growing body of criminological and criminal justice literature has investigated the relationship between the police and the THB field (Barrick et al., 2014; Broad, 2015; Farrell, 2014; Munro, 2006; Segrave et al., 2009; Wilson et al., 2006) . Some studies have also included police registry data such as criminal investigation files in their analyses (Farrell and Pfeffer, 2014; Jokinen et al., 2011) . However, there has been no examination of a complete national set of reported THB cases by analysing criminal investigation data. Connecting investigation data to official accounts of THB cases allows linkages to data on outcomes of individual cases and will offer new insights concerning police methods, roles and strategies.

A growing body of criminological and criminal justice literature has investigated the relationship between the police and the THB field.

Some studies have also included police registry data such as criminal investigation files in their analyses.


The police organization is different from most other organizations in the way that discretionary power is greatest among the line members (Wilson, 1968: 7) . Such discretionary judgement among front-line officers can create certain gaps between the ideals and the realities in law enforcement (Goldstein, 1964) . This study underlines the exercise of such discretionary assessment, and the resulting gaps, as exemplified by local police initiation strategies.

Such discretionary judgement among front-line officers can create certain gaps between the ideals and the realities in law enforcement.


A real structure σ : F → F induces a real structure σ # on the moduli space N . Understanding the structure of the real moduli space N ′ = Fix (σ # ) is an important but subtle problem. It has been addressed most recently in a series of papers by N.-K. Ho and C.-C. M. Li, the latest being [6] . They mainly treat the case when the real structure σ has no fixed points, which leads them to the study of the Yang-Mills functional on the non-orientable surface F/σ.

It has been addressed most recently in a series of papers by N.-K. Ho and C.-C. M. Li, the latest being.


The restricted equivalence has an interesting implication for perfect lenses [8] . A perfect lens of thickness d > 0 is defined by the fulfillment of the condition f ðdÞ ½ ¼ f ð0Þ ½ for all w and j. Because of dispersion and dissipation, at best, this condition is fulfilled approximately. Let us imagine that the condition is fulfilled by some NPV constitutive parameters for some w and all jjj ĵ j. Then, the implementation of the acceptably imperfect lens as a cascade of thin EN-MN (or MN-EN) bilayers would require that the successive bilayers have different constitutive parameters and that the entry as well as the exit faces be curved, and even those steps may not suffice. In contrast, j is fixed for any single-mode parallel-plate waveguide, and so is the range of operating frequencies; and the emulation of a NPV material via EN-MN (or MN-EN) bilayers may not be onerous.

The restricted equivalence has an interesting implication for perfect lenses.


According to the manufacturer Nordic Biomass the predicted productivity of the Stemster MK III is 40 gt pmh -1 "when conditions are straight forward" (Nordic Biomass 2011) . Experiences from the trials cannot confirm this value as the measured machine productivity varied between 9-14.5 odt pmh -1 with an average of 11.3 odt pmh -1 (equal to 25 gt pmh -1 ) (Table 4) . It should be pointed out that the amount of biomass per hectare was rather low due to marginal site conditions. The average yield of the three year old plantations was 6.1 odt ha -1 a -1 , which is comparably low (Deckmyn et al. 2004) . Further, fields 2-4 had slopes up to 20% and plants were planted in parallel to the contour lines for erosion protection reasons which mean high technical challenges for the harvesting operation due to the slope. The productivity was not significantly influenced by the variables size of the field, biomass per hectare, species, length of turning areas, tree diameter, plant density or slope. A reason could be that different aspects influenced the productivity in different studies and the amount of trials was too small. However, it seems realistic to reach higher productivities with the Stemster MK III than in the presented studies because of the following reasons. First it has to be considered that the amount of standing biomass per hectare in the trials was quite low. Second, the size of the turning areas was very small and the drivers were often forced to turn in an unfavourable way or to drive cycles around the field. Third, it was noticed that the conditions were extreme due to slope and weather conditions. For the calculation of costs alternative degrees of annual utilisation rates were assumed (400 and 200 h a -1 ) as there are only few plantations at present, but an increase in future seems realistic. If the Stemster MK III was used for 200 h a -1 the resulting costs for harvesting and chipping are 54.80 € odt -1 compared to 43.50 € odt -1 in the case of 400 h a -1 (Table 5 ). When assuming a higher machine productivity of 15 odt pmh -1 , which is still below the manufacturers prediction, harvesting and chipping costs decrease to 34.90-42 € odt -1 , respectively for 400 and 200 h a -1 .

According to the manufacturer Nordic Biomass the predicted productivity of the Stemster MK III is 40 gt pmh -1 "when conditions are straight forward".

The average yield of the three year old plantations was 6.1 odt ha -1 a -1 , which is comparably low.


The currently available theoretical and experimental research of timber-concrete composite structures with glued joints consider the glued joints to be a permanent and rigid connection without any slip. Therefore, under this assumption, glued joints have no inherent loadslip relationships. However, it is known that a glued joint itself is a structure that has certain strength, stiffness and durability qualities and affects the behaviour of the composite structure of which it is a part [10, 11] .

However, it is known that a glued joint itself is a structure that has certain strength, stiffness and durability qualities and affects the behaviour of the composite structure of which it is a part.


According to geometric optics, light propagates in straight lines (in homogeneous media), reflects/refracts from surfaces according to Snell's law: energy and tangential momentum are conserved. Thus, when reflecting from a hypersurface (which has codimension one) one gets the usual law of incident and reflected rays enclosing an equal angle to the normal to the surface. Indeed, conservation of tangential momentum and kinetic energy implies that of the magnitude of the normal component. When reflecting from a higher codimension (≥ 2) corner, the law is unchanged (momentum tangential to the corner and energy are conserved) -but now this allows each incident ray to generate a whole cone of reflected rays, see Figures 1-2. In addition, even the local geometry of the rays can be very complicated because of rays tangential to a boundary face: one can even have an accummulation of reflection points, as shown by an example of Taylor [22] .

In addition, even the local geometry of the rays can be very complicated because of rays tangential to a boundary face: one can even have an accummulation of reflection points, as shown by an example of Taylor.


We refer to our proposal as the MP scheme to highlight its salient feature: MAC-address-based Physical carrier sensing. In traditional IEEE 802.11 physical carrier sensing, a node declares the medium to be busy if the detected power is above a threshold and/or the PHY header of a packet can be detected successfully [3] . In MP, a node also looks into the transmitter and receiver addresses of the transmission before declaring the medium to be busy. In particular, a node selectively ignores the detected transmission for certain transmitterreceiver pairs if it deems that there will be no collision between its transmission and the detected transmission. This significantly alleviates EN to the extent that the originally non-scalable 802.11 network becomes much more scalable with MP. That is, whereas the total network throughput of 802.11 quickly reaches a plateau as the number of wireless links in a given fixed area increases, the throughput of MP continues to increase proportionately.

In traditional IEEE 802.11 physical carrier sensing, a node declares the medium to be busy if the detected power is above a threshold and/or the PHY header of a packet can be detected successfully.


The governing principles of enzootic RRV dynamics among mosquito vectors and kangaroos are poorly understood (Carver et al., , 2010 Koolhof & Carver, 2016) . Here we develop a model for RRV which takes into account transmission among mosquitoes and kangaroos, and details are presented in Section 2. We explicitly investigate mathematical expressions which govern the biology of transmission in this system. The existence of steady states is investigated for this system, and we question whether it is possible to generate natural cycles of RRV epizootics in the absence of seasonal forcing through limit cycle oscillations bifurcating from these steady states. We argue this is not possible, since the criteria for Hopf bifurcation are not satisfied. We then evaluate how seasonality in the dynamics of vectors and the birth rate of kangaroos impacts the enzootic dynamics. We show that models of seasonal forcing of vector and host dynamics can result in complex outcomes, and demonstrate the development of deterministic chaos in Section 3. At the end of each Section we provide a simplified ecological interpretation of the results. Some final remarks conclude the paper in Section 4.

The governing principles of enzootic RRV dynamics among mosquito vectors and kangaroos are poorly understood.


Large-scale data centers store a huge amount of the world's data in their cloud servers. To ensure fast and reliable transmission, the communication channel between the servers units is optical, at the highest available data rates. In the past years, intensive work has been done to develop 100-400 G transceivers for data centers connections. To keep costs low, state-of-the-art communication techniques, combined with pioneering digital signal processing (DSP) methods, have been proposed. Such schemes include 4-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4), symbol-space sampling, feed-forward equalizer (FFE), decision feedback equalizer (DFE), and maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) [1] , [2] . Currently, 100 G transceivers are packaged in a single pluggable form-factor which includes the optoelectronics components and electronic blocks, i.e., hybrid optical-electronic transceiver. However, the hybrid transceiver poses challenges for system design, by means of performance optimization, package size, and power dissipation.

Such schemes include 4-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4), symbol-space sampling, feed-forward equalizer (FFE), decision feedback equalizer (DFE), and maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE).


Some higher plants possess important bioactive properties including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer and antidiabetic (Yang et al., 2006) . Recently, there has been a worldwide trend towards the use of wild plants do to their bioactive phytochemicals and first of all phenolics (Watanabe et al., 2007) . Phenolic compounds are secondary metabolites that are synthesized by plants during normal development and in response to stress conditions such as infection, wounding, and UV radiation (Canter et al., 2005) . These compounds occur ubiquitously in plants and are a diversified group of phytochemicals derived from phenylalanine and tyrosine (Shahidi and Naczk, 2004) .

Some higher plants possess important bioactive properties including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer and antidiabetic.

Recently, there has been a worldwide trend towards the use of wild plants do to their bioactive phytochemicals and first of all phenolics.

Phenolic compounds are secondary metabolites that are synthesized by plants during normal development and in response to stress conditions such as infection, wounding, and UV radiation.

These compounds occur ubiquitously in plants and are a diversified group of phytochemicals derived from phenylalanine and tyrosine.


For a better understanding of the knowledge use, it thus might be interesting to study the use of evidence in countries that have not been infl uenced by the EBP movement, and where the use of evidence is not automatically taken as the right thing. Unfortunately, the research on the use of evidence still concentrates on Anglo-Saxon countries, or countries such as the Netherlands, Norway or Sweden (Nutley et al. 2010) . In other words, the research focused upon countries where it is expected that knowledge from research should be used in policy-making. Very little is known about the use of evidence in countries where the use of evidence in policy-making is not taken for granted.

Unfortunately, the research on the use of evidence still concentrates on Anglo-Saxon countries, or countries such as the Netherlands, Norway or Sweden.


Our study brings under scrutiny the idea that markets for technology will unleash the revenue generating capacity of the academic enterprise. Unless one's view about successful technology transfer requires heroic efforts by faculty members, research groups cannot be as efficient as firms in exploiting their ability to perform exploratory research unless they are able to integrate marketing resources for better sensing of technological opportunities. Further taking into account the impact that interinstitutional differences can have on invention diffusion adds another dimension to the problem. This perspective implies that even the ownership of complementary assets by universities (better patent office capabilities, more successful spinoff generation, stronger industry ties) might not completely overcome the institutional distance that impedes the transfer of complex technologies to the private sector. This paper does not intent to question the possibility that universities could be able to appropriate returns on research that they endeavor. However, to the extent where part of the trend in academic patenting is motivated by a replacement of decreasing public funds, our study suggests that it is worthwhile to further study the efficiency of such trends especially when considering differences in capabilities between private and public institutions. The fact that lack of funding pushes universities towards commercial avenues should be questioned instead of be treated for granted. An interpretation of our study would be that favoring distant recombination within firms might be a better policy from a social point of view. This does not rule out considering ways to foster university-industry technology transfer that do not automatically call for more patenting or competitive behavior by public sector organizations (D'Este and Patel, 2007; Yusuf, 2008) . One should note that our findings do not automatically imply that the production of basic patents by the public sector is cost ineffective: institutional differences between the private and the public sector could mean different cost functions to distant recombination that would favor performing this kind of research in the public sector.

This does not rule out considering ways to foster university-industry technology transfer that do not automatically call for more patenting or competitive behavior by public sector organizations.


Looking at the whole picture, more can be said about the importance of university inventions in science-based industries (Mowery and Sampat, 2005) . Our results seem to indicate that, when we control for sectoral effects (nanobiotechnology in this case) and science-linkage strength, the relationship between recombination distance and invention basicness is negatively moderated in the case of public organizations. In other words, without having to dispute the idea that university research has a much more important impact in science-based fields, the relevance of university patenting as the best way to foster universityindustry technology transfer can still be questioned.

Looking at the whole picture, more can be said about the importance of university inventions in science-based industries.


Microfinance institutions (MFIs) lend to the poor, who are traditionally excluded from financial services. Their presence has been a step forward in poverty alleviation as well as the empowerment of women. However, many MFIs charge very high interest rates, which is controversial. This practice is an example of poverty penalty: the poor pay high interest rates to enter the credit market (Prahalad and Hammond, 2002) . This paper, adapting a banking model, studies the determinant factors of MFIs margin. The main motivation of this paper is to identify the factors driving this margin. If these factors are known, a way to reduce the margin will be available, and entities with a social mission will be able to reduce their interest rates.

This practice is an example of poverty penalty: the poor pay high interest rates to enter the credit market.


Cultivar ranking was not always consistent between trials, as reported in studies in the United Kingdom (Hollins & Scott 1983b; Clulow & Wale 1984) . This was particularly obvious in some of the more susceptible cultivars. For instance Equinox was by far the most heavily infected cultivar in the Lincoln trial, but had only intermediate incidence in the Chertsey irrigated trial. Conversely, Claire and Alberic were the most heavily infected cultivars in the Chertsey irrigated trial, but were only the fourth and sixth most infected cultivars at Lincoln. This lack of consistency could be due to genetic (host-pathogen) or environmental interactions and warrants investigation. Firstly, it is possible that some cultivars are more susceptible to some R. cerealis populations than to others, refl ecting a gene-for-gene interaction.

Cultivar ranking was not always consistent between trials, as reported in studies in the United Kingdom.


Nevertheless, reverse causation remains a plausible explanation for the obesity-asthma association. One can suspect that asthmatics gain weight as a side effect of systemic corticosteroids, higher systemic inflammation, or sedentary life style. However, the commonly used asthma treatment, an inhaler, is not generally known to cause systemic side effects [41] . A more obvious hypothesis would be that respiratory symptoms hinder asthmatics from being physically active and hence lead to weight gain. Due to our study design, we cannot demonstrate that obesity preceded true asthma onset. However, the obesity effect observed in this study did not attenuate when the analysis was restricted to physically active participants, suggesting that the observed association cannot entirely be explained by reverse causation. Interaction analyses also showed that physical activity did not modify the effect of obesity on the severe asthma classes, regardless of obesity metrics used (data not shown).

However, the commonly used asthma treatment, an inhaler, is not generally known to cause systemic side effects.


New business models are often based on cooperation among companies in a network organization, made possible by information technology (Tapscott et al., 2000) . For the development of business models and the subsequent design and implementation of inter-organizational information systems, practitioners need a good understanding of the governance and control of the network. What is the risk that another participant will default? How can we make sure that participants, on whom the joint success depends, will behave as agreed? When participants who do not know each other need to collaborate, initially lack of trust is likely (Gambetta, 1988) . To overcome the initial lack of trust, inter-organizational control measures are needed (Williamson, 1979; Bons et al., 1998) . Such measures can take the shape of contractual arrangements or supervision by a trusted third party. Governance and control measures affect system requirements and need to be designed and agreed on explicitly. That means that governance and control issues should be addressed during early requirements engineering (Yu, 1997; Mylopoulos et al., 1997) .

New business models are often based on cooperation among companies in a network organization, made possible by information technology.

When participants who do not know each other need to collaborate, initially lack of trust is likely.

To overcome the initial lack of trust, inter-organizational control measures are needed.

That means that governance and control issues should be addressed during early requirements engineering.


This representation leads to a rather simple electronic energy expression, hWjĤjWi, consisting of the sum of single-particle kinetic energy and pairwise Coulomb energies. Additionally, pairwise spin-dependent Pauli corrections are introduced to locally compensate for the lack of explicit wavefunction anti-symmetrization. As a result, the electronic contribution to the total energy is evaluated as in classical force field methods. Furthermore, semi-classical equations of motion (EOM) for propagating the electronic wavefunction, as shown in Fig. 1 , are derived from the time dependent Schrödinger equation with a local harmonic potential approximation. The combination of force field like energy evaluation and semi-classical EOM in eFF enables long term and large scale non-adiabatic MD simulations of low-Z systems, as demonstrated in previous work (Jaramillo-Botero et al., 2011) . However, an intrinsic limitation of the all-electron FSGbased eFF described above emanates from the spherical symmetry of the underlying basis functions. For atoms with valence electrons of higher angular momenta, such as p-block elements, the FSG representation misses part of the interaction between the core and valence electrons, due to the absence of nodal structures.

The combination of force field like energy evaluation and semi-classical EOM in eFF enables long term and large scale non-adiabatic MD simulations of low-Z systems, as demonstrated in previous work.


In Section 2, we generalise the governing partial differential equations (PDEs) presented in the literature for the boundary-layer flow over a rotating sphere to include both surface mass flux and forced axial flow. The resulting equations are then solved at each latitude. The effects of altering the incident axial flow speed and mass flux are discussed. Our results for the case of zero mass-flux show excellent agreement with those of Garrett and Peake [13, 14] .

Our results for the case of zero mass-flux show excellent agreement with those of Garrett and Peake.


We provided a short user-centered overview of the idea of generating edit assistance for spreadsheets via extraction of functional dependencies in a previous short paper [23] . In the current paper, we have provided the technical details of the solution, including the improved algorithm for extraction and filtering functional dependencies. Also, we have provided the first preliminary evaluation of the approach by application to a sample of spreadsheets from the EUSES corpus.

We provided a short user-centered overview of the idea of generating edit assistance for spreadsheets via extraction of functional dependencies in a previous short paper.


As a diagnostic tool for allergic rhinitis, [ 99m Tc] pertechnetate salivary gland scintigraphy is an easy, readily available, safe and non-invasive method. It is well tolerated by patients because it has a low dosimetry and does not interfere with the normal physiology [9] [10] [11] [12] . In addition, using this method, quantitative data about the major functions of salivary glands can be obtained [3, 13, 14] .

It is well tolerated by patients because it has a low dosimetry and does not interfere with the normal physiology.

In addition, using this method, quantitative data about the major functions of salivary glands can be obtained.


About 24% of the energy density in our current Universe is composed by dark matter (DM). However, the identity of DM remains a big mystery. Very interestingly, the DM particle can be a boson with ultralight mass. If its mass is around 10 −22 eV, its de Broglie wavelength in a dwarf galaxy is comparable to the core size of the galaxy. Such a DM candidate may provide a viable solution to the core-cusp problem in low-mass galaxies [1] [2] [3] [4] .

Such a DM candidate may provide a viable solution to the core-cusp problem in low-mass galaxies.


Here we propose to use very high-precision measurements of stellar locations and movements by Gaia satellite to probe the oscillation effect induced by the ultralight DPDM. Gaia is an astrometry mission of the European Space Agency (ESA), launched in 2013 and expected to operate until 2022 [30] . The positions, parallaxes, and annual proper motions of more than one million stars with unprecedented precision will be obtained by Gaia, which are expected to be revolutionary in understanding the structure and dynamics of the Milky Way, the stellar physics, exoplanets, and even the fundamental particle physics. The location accuracy of Gaia depends on the brightness of the target star, and is in general about tens of micro-arcseconds for stars brighter than 15 mag [30] . Such an accuracy is found to be useful in probing very tiny apparent motions of stars caused by e.g., gravitational waves from inspirals of binary super-massive black holes [31] .

Gaia is an astrometry mission of the European Space Agency (ESA), launched in 2013 and expected to operate until 2022.

The location accuracy of Gaia depends on the brightness of the target star, and is in general about tens of micro-arcseconds for stars brighter than 15 mag.

Such an accuracy is found to be useful in probing very tiny apparent motions of stars caused by e.g., gravitational waves from inspirals of binary super-massive black holes.


The grass-finished beef (GFB) industry continues to grow in response to consumer demand, in which retail sales have doubled annually from 2012 to 2016 (Cheung et al., 2017) . There are a number of factors underlying the popularity of GFB, including perceptions surrounding its healthfulness, environmental impact, and animal welfare. Numerous studies have outlined the differences between GFB and conventionally-finished beef (CFB), indicating that GFB has higher proportions of nutrients beneficial to human health (Chail et al., 2016; Duckett et al., 2013; Duckett et al., 2009; Ponnampalam et al., 2006) . However, a majority of GFB nutritional profile analysis have been limited to controlled research trials and while the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports a standard nutritional value for GFB, limited studies have been conducted to assess the nutritional qualities of commercially available GFB.

The grass-finished beef (GFB) industry continues to grow in response to consumer demand, in which retail sales have doubled annually from 2012 to 2016.

Numerous studies have outlined the differences between GFB and conventionally-finished beef (CFB), indicating that GFB has higher proportions of nutrients beneficial to human health.


At the beginning of the twentieth century, the simple dumpsite was the most common method for the disposal of solid waste. However, concomitant environmental problems have become increasingly serious. In the 1930s, the concept of a "sanitary landfill", which originated from the United States of America, emerged [1] . Previous environmental problems that were associated with simple dumpsites seemed to be greatly eased as a result of this concept. However, with the explosion of the population and waste generation per capita, the generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) increased dramatically, which created new problems [2] . Landfills became an important contributor to anthropogenic climate change, accounting for approximately 5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [3] .

In the 1930s, the concept of a "sanitary landfill", which originated from the United States of America, emerged.

However, with the explosion of the population and waste generation per capita, the generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) increased dramatically, which created new problems.

Landfills became an important contributor to anthropogenic climate change, accounting for approximately 5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.


The management of agricultural waste in rural areas is a complex problem that must, therefore, be addressed in the context of proper coordination between land use, planning and integrated cycle of wastes (Dal Sasso et al., 2009) . Waste management plans are identified by Legislative Decree no. 152/06 as important tools to make sustainable waste cycle, in terms of environmental and economic possibilities. These plans should indicate the method of the collection and treatment of wastes at regional and provincial level on the basis of qualitative and quantitative characteristics.

The management of agricultural waste in rural areas is a complex problem that must, therefore, be addressed in the context of proper coordination between land use, planning and integrated cycle of wastes.


According to the literature data, the butyl bond in the compounds' structure from the phenothiazine group determines their ability to reverse MDR [21] . The results of our research did not confirm these results the 2c analogue did not exhib- FPh  1a  1b  1c  1d  1e  1f  1g  1h  2c  3a  3b  3c  3e  3f  3g  3h  3i Tested compounds at a concentration of 10 μM in human lymphocyte cultures it greater chemosensitizing activity in comparison to FPh and to its analogues ( Fig. 1 ; Table 3 ). Out of the 17 new FPh analogues (10 μM), the strongest inhibitory effect on Pgp transport function in human genotoxically damaged lymphocyte cultures was established in the cases of compounds 1a, 1b, 1d, 3f, 3h and 3i. The greatest increase in Rod-123 accumulation in lymphocyte cultures was observed in the presence of analogues which contain a tertiary amine in the side chain: a piperazine amine (compounds 3i and 3f) or aliphatic amine (1b compound). The 1d analogue also had a tertiary aliphatic amine in its side chain, but in comparison to the most active 1b analogue it had fewer -OH groups in the side chain. Chemosensitizing activity, similar to 1a and 1d analogues, had bisphenothiazine -3 h analogue.

According to the literature data, the butyl bond in the compounds' structure from the phenothiazine group determines their ability to reverse MDR.


Various sustainability-assessment tools and methods have been introduced, particularly by advanced countries and a few developing ones, to assess the sustainability performance of buildings. For instance, in the UK, the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) was the first method of rating, assessing and certifying the sustainability of buildings, based on an overall score of pass, good, very good, excellent and outstanding [5] . The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) assessment system, which was developed by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), rates the sustainability of green buildings according to their design, construction and operation [33, 34] . In Hong Kong, Building Environmental Assessment Method (BEAM) Plus is one of the green-building certifications. Compatible with internationally-renowned green-building certifications such as LEED and BREEAM, the original intent of BEAM Plus was to be a voluntary scheme for the assessment of buildings' environmental performance [35] . The International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment (iiSBE) developed the SBTool assessment method to rate the sustainability performance of buildings, which focuses on the environmental, economic as well as social aspects of sustainability [36] . Despite the significant impact of the construction industry on economic and social development, the extant literature and the existing sustainability assessment tools suggest that the bulk of the studies and methods on the subject focus on the environmental aspect of construction sustainability [5] .

For instance, in the UK, the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) was the first method of rating, assessing and certifying the sustainability of buildings, based on an overall score of pass, good, very good, excellent and outstanding.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) assessment system, which was developed by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), rates the sustainability of green buildings according to their design, construction and operation.

Compatible with internationally-renowned green-building certifications such as LEED and BREEAM, the original intent of BEAM Plus was to be a voluntary scheme for the assessment of buildings' environmental performance.

The International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment (iiSBE) developed the SBTool assessment method to rate the sustainability performance of buildings, which focuses on the environmental, economic as well as social aspects of sustainability.

Despite the significant impact of the construction industry on economic and social development, the extant literature and the existing sustainability assessment tools suggest that the bulk of the studies and methods on the subject focus on the environmental aspect of construction sustainability.


Many variants of RANSAC have been proposed [7] . Most variants attempt to conduct guided sampling using various heuristics, so as to speed up the retrieval of all-inlier minimal subsets. Fundamentally, however, taking minimal subsets reduces the span of the data and produces biased model estimates [20, 27] . Thus, the best hypothesis found by RANSAC often has much lower consensus than the maximum achievable, especially on higher-dimensional problems. In reality, the RANSAC solution should only be taken as a rough initial estimate [9] .

Many variants of RANSAC have been proposed.

Fundamentally, however, taking minimal subsets reduces the span of the data and produces biased model estimates.

In reality, the RANSAC solution should only be taken as a rough initial estimate.


The world´s population is expected to grow from 6.8 billion to 9.1 billion by 2050. Feeding these people would be easy if natural resources, such as land and water, were inexhaustible (Godfray et al. 2010) . However, resources are limited and to continue with environmentally destructive agriculture and livestock farming is a poor option. The intensive use of chemical inputs in agricultural production has led to a disruption of biogeochemical cycles. Moreover, agriculture and livestock contribute to climate change by releasing greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide, mainly due to organic nitrogen fertilizers and methane from the Ruminant's digestion processes and storage of animal manure. Paradoxically, agricultural productivity is very sensitive to climate change (Hatfield et al. 2011) . These issues generate a challenge to ensure food security in the world.

Feeding these people would be easy if natural resources, such as land and water, were inexhaustible.

Paradoxically, agricultural productivity is very sensitive to climate change.


The explosive growth of location-detection devices and wireless communication has resulted in the wide application of Location-Based Services (LBS). The main aim of LBS is to provide services to mobile users based on the knowledge of their locations as well as augmenting many existing services with location information [1] . Examples of LBS are location-based tourist information, live traffic reports, food and drink finder, etc [2] .

The main aim of LBS is to provide services to mobile users based on the knowledge of their locations as well as augmenting many existing services with location information.

Examples of LBS are location-based tourist information, live traffic reports, food and drink finder, etc.


The aim of the research presented in this paper is to model the load response and failure behaviour of a specific grid-scored composite sandwich structure when subjected to quasi-static multiaxial loading conditions. The reason behind the choice of multiaxial loading conditions is that sandwich laminates/panels in modern wind turbine blades are experiencing such complex loadings during service. This is due to the complex shape of the blade cross section and the interactions caused by the joints between the aerodynamic outer shells and the internal shear web(s) in a wind turbine blade (see Figure 1 ). Such loading conditions cause failure modes that cannot be realised in uniaxial (coupon like) tests [8] . Thus, a dedicated multiaxial test setup has been developed and commissioned to enable failure investigation under realistic loading conditions [8] . An elaborate testing programme has been conducted using this test setup to investigate the initiation and progressive development of failure related to the resin grid in grid-scored composite sandwich structures. Based on the observations, two criteria for predicting the initiation of the failure have been proposed, and the predictive results have been compared with and confirmed by the tests.

Such loading conditions cause failure modes that cannot be realised in uniaxial (coupon like) tests.

Thus, a dedicated multiaxial test setup has been developed and commissioned to enable failure investigation under realistic loading conditions.


Here we consider the case where individual particles are not tracked but a profile still appears to match a spatial FFPE. In this case, it is fair to ask whether other microscopic models could have described the evolution of this density equally well [22] . This brings us to the heart of our problem.

In this case, it is fair to ask whether other microscopic models could have described the evolution of this density equally well.


Nonetheless, it is still worth asking about the minimal number of force time 'slices' required to regenerate the data. Briefly, here we show that even one force slice may suffice over a broad time interval. To do so, we extract a phenomenological force averaged over x c(x, t) Figure 3 . An average force predicts the evolution of a concentration profile over a long time interval. We began by extracting an average force, shown in (a), over 100δt using equation (13) . As can be seen in (b), this phenomenological force reliably predicts the evolution of the profile over a time interval longer than the exact forces extracted at specific time points (figure 2). We use the same parameters used in the figures above.

We began by extracting an average force, shown in (a), over 100δt using equation.


The use of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) in lieu of virgin crushed stone aggregate is becoming a widely accepted practice for a number of construction applications, particularly pavement base courses, as evidenced by its inclusion in department of transportation specifications, including Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) [1] . The use of RAP in this application is attractive for a number of reasons: first, it reduces the cost of material production by eliminating quarrying, crushing, and screening operations. Second, for repaving projects, it reduces handling and transportation costs since the RAP is retained onsite for reuse. Third, it reduces the consumption of natural resources and energy, as reflected in the reduced costs in the first two points.

The use of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) in lieu of virgin crushed stone aggregate is becoming a widely accepted practice for a number of construction applications, particularly pavement base courses, as evidenced by its inclusion in department of transportation specifications, including Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT).


We applied the proposed method to existing fMRI dataset of 15 healthy participants [12] . During fMRI scanning, resting states was alternated with different types of movie conditions (i.e., fearful, joyful, and neutral). The emotional content of the movies was shown to subtly influence the subsequent resting-state periods.

We applied the proposed method to existing fMRI dataset of 15 healthy participants.


However, recent evidence has started to acknowledge the dynamic nature of FC [4] . The most common technique to look into dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) is based on a sliding-window approach; i.e., FC is computed only in a limited-time window that slides over the data. Different methods such as k-means clustering, singular value decomposition, and dictionary learning have been proposed to extract meaningful dFC patterns of brain states in healthy subjects or in specific patient groups [5, 6, 7] . However, there is still no method to explore changes in FC patterns during a full-length fMRI acquisition.

However, recent evidence has started to acknowledge the dynamic nature of FC.

Different methods such as k-means clustering, singular value decomposition, and dictionary learning have been proposed to extract meaningful dFC patterns of brain states in healthy subjects or in specific patient groups.


There are a few ways to accomplish the design of experiments. In this work we have used the full factorial design (Jain, 1991) . In this type of planning, all combinations are used considering all factors and levels. Thus, it is possible to evaluate all factors, determine the effect of each factor on the experiments and verify the interactions between them. Table  1 shows the possible combinations of the experiments. The first factor is the library used, which has two levels: MIRACL and RELIC. The second factor is the size of the message, which may vary between 50 and 100 KB. Finally, the third factor assumed is the key size, also with two variations: 160-bit and 256-bit. Therefore, it is possible to generate eight different combinations for the experiments. Figure 1 shows the comparison between the average response times achieved by each of the algorithms run in the first message size (smaller), considering the two key sizes. The algorithm based on MIRACL library has a considerably higher time than the one based on RELIC, in both cases. The times obtained are approximately 9 seconds (MIRACL) and 3.3 seconds (RELIC), in which the key size is 160-bit. When using 256-bit key size, the times are 20.9 seconds (MIRACL) and 10.6 seconds (RELIC). Figure 2 shows the second comparison chart with the performance of algorithms to encrypt and decrypt the second message size (larger). There was a natural elevation in the response time due to increased data to be processed while maintaining the same characteristics of the previous comparison. The times obtained are approximately 18.1 seconds (MIRACL) and 6.6 seconds (RELIC), in which the key size is 160-bit. When using 256-bit key size, the times are 41.7 seconds (MIRACL) and 21.1 seconds (RELIC).

In this work we have used the full factorial design.


The experiments were set up according to rules to evaluate the performance of computing systems (Jain, 1991) . A variety of terms, such as response variable, factors, and interaction levels is used during the stages of design and analysis of experiments. Response variable represents the result (output) of an experiment and is often the variable selected to measure the system's performance. Factors are the variables that affect the system response; levels are the values that a factor may assume; and interaction indicates the dependency between the factors evaluated (Jain, 1991) .

The experiments were set up according to rules to evaluate the performance of computing systems.

Factors are the variables that affect the system response; levels are the values that a factor may assume; and interaction indicates the dependency between the factors evaluated.


The charts show a better performance of the algorithm based on RELIC in both cases (Figures 1 and 2) . We have calculated the percentage of influence of each factor of the performance evaluation, as well as the influence of the associated factors over the response time. The chart in Figure 3 shows that factor A (algorithm) exerted a 28% influence on the results, which is relevant to the comparison presented. Factor B (key length) exerted a greater influence on the response variable, with a total of 40%. Factor C (message size) influenced the results in 23%. The associated factors exerted small influences: BC influenced 4%, AC only 3%, AB only 2%, and ABC These results have shown that the message size influences the outcome of the application due to the difference in the amount of data to be encrypted. However, the aim of this article was to show that the influence of the algorithm used is quite considerable. It is also important to point out that the adopted key size of 160-bit was recommended by NIST (Lenstra and Verheul, 2001) . As the response time is crucial for critical embedded systems that often work with real-time tasks, RELIC is more suitable for the implementation of the ECC algorithm, considering the conditions of the environment used for the experiments. It was also possible to identify several variations when the experiments were conducted in an environment with similar characteristics to a critical embedded system.

It is also important to point out that the adopted key size of 160-bit was recommended by NIST.


For the preliminary study, we looked at the students who enrolled from 1 June 1999 to 31 October 2003 where the data were last updated at 31 March 2005. It was found that the overall discontinuation rate per student over the five year period was 12%, with the Faculty of Science and Technology having a higher discontinuation rate than the other faculties, particularly for students admitted in 1999. The discontinuation rates were higher for students entering after 2001, with Muslim students having lower drop-out rate than other students (Sittichai, Tongkumchum, & McNeil, 2008) . Table 1 In contrast, the overall percentage of women students enrolling remained constant at just under 75% during the whole period. Table 2 shows the numbers of students discontinuing before 31 March 2008 from 1999 to 2006 by year of admission, faculty and religion-gender group. There were 2,311 students who discontinued during this period (20.3%). Figure 1 shows a plot of adjusted prevalences for each of the two factors with 95% confidence intervals, after fitting a logistic regression model, using the data in Tables 1 and 2 . We fitted the model to the grouped data obtained by taking every combination of the two determinants to obtain 476 (34×14) cells, in each of which the number of discontinuations is given in Table 2 The logistic regression model indicated that each of the two factors, the admission year & study year combination and the faculty-gender-religion combination, were strongly associated with discontinuation. The analysis of variance gave reductions in deviance of 1492.78 (33 degrees of freedom) for admission year & study year and 374.00 (13 degrees of freedom) for faculty-religion-religion. Figure 1 clearly indicates that the discontinuation pattern remained much the same over the first four admission years from 1999 to 2002, with most discontinuations occurring in the first and second years of study. But in the following four years the pattern changed substantially, first with drop-outs doubling in the students' second year of study starting in 2003, next with an increase in the first-year drop-out rate commencing in 2004, and finally with students dropping out in their third year of study in 2005. However, some of the third-year drop out increase in 2005 can be attributed to the fact that Thai government provided a large number of scholarships and career position for nursing studies in 2006, and 66 the students studying at PSU Pattani decided to resign in order to take up this opportunity.

The discontinuation rates were higher for students entering after 2001, with Muslim students having lower drop-out rate than other students.


Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease characterized by airway inflammation and the resulting airway obstruction. The clinical features of asthma include variable respiratory symptoms, such as wheezes, and variable airflow limitation [1] . Airflow limitation is commonly assessed by spirometry. The most reliable parameters in spirometry are the forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV 1 ) and its ratio to forced vital capacity (FVC). A reduced FEV 1 , when accompanied by a decrease in the FEV 1 /FVC ratio below the normal range of values (0.75-0.8), is a clear indicator of airway obstruction and airflow limitation [1] .

The clinical features of asthma include variable respiratory symptoms, such as wheezes, and variable airflow limitation.

A reduced FEV 1 , when accompanied by a decrease in the FEV 1 /FVC ratio below the normal range of values (0.75-0.8), is a clear indicator of airway obstruction and airflow limitation.


We believe it is necessary to iteratively extend, improve and assess the QueryLens system based on the proposed framework. It is still challenging to evaluate the proposed framework in a naturalistic setting because of the lack of inexpensive mobile RFID platforms that allows for largescale field tests. Such a platform (e.g., NFC-enabled mobile phones) may be available in the near future. To cope with this challenge, different evaluation methods were combined using a PC-based mockup as well as a mobile phone-based prototype before possibly conducting a full-scale experiment using RFID-enabled phones. The proposed framework is not for ensuring a static goal that can be clearly defined in advance, but for creating an environment in which users continuously define and adjust the configuration to suit their dynamic needs. This orientation towards design-in-use is in line with end-user development (EUD) and Meta Design [65] .

This orientation towards design-in-use is in line with end-user development (EUD) and Meta Design.


It is known from cross sectional studies that patients with intermittent asthma can have raised numbers of sputum eosinophils [2, 3] . However, no longitudinal studies are available showing the level of airway inflammation in these patients over longer periods of time. This data is available for children with mild to moderate and severe asthma only [4] . It has been shown that reducing inflammation can lead to a lower level of basement membrane thickening [5] . It is also known that a treatment regimen aiming to keep sputum eosinophils below 3% reduces the asthma exacerbations [6] [7] [8] . In children with asthma this strategy was not as successful [9] .

It is known from cross sectional studies that patients with intermittent asthma can have raised numbers of sputum eosinophils.

This data is available for children with mild to moderate and severe asthma only.

It has been shown that reducing inflammation can lead to a lower level of basement membrane thickening.

It is also known that a treatment regimen aiming to keep sputum eosinophils below 3% reduces the asthma exacerbations.

In children with asthma this strategy was not as successful.


Various work has focused on optimizing precision for performance gains. A primary motivation for this work is reducing energy consumption. One approach uses qualifiers explicitly declared by developers to indicate parts of the program that can be approximately computed [22] . These qualifiers are used to guide an automated system into improving performance by managing the accuracy of the qualified parts of the program. This approach has also been explored from a runtime perspective, with dynamic monitoring and adaptation to maintain a QoS [3] . However, these techniques all require developer input. Our approach automatically provides the developer with recommendations supported by our error analysis method without first modifying the source code.

One approach uses qualifiers explicitly declared by developers to indicate parts of the program that can be approximately computed.

This approach has also been explored from a runtime perspective, with dynamic monitoring and adaptation to maintain a QoS.


There is extensive research on the evolutionary impact of competition on size, although this research is not well-represented in the voluminous literature on the evolution of size and shape in mammals. In a largely separate literature, for two decades ecologists have contested the extent of interspecific competition and its role in structuring ecological communities. This debate was particularly heated during the 1980s (Lewin, 1983) . Reviews that deal with the status of studies of interspecific competition point out that, while many studies of invertebrates (notably those of phytophagous insects) fail to confirm the hypothesis of interspecific competition, many studies of vertebrates do suggest its operation. Therefore, vertebrates are the obvious choice for the study of the evolutionary implications of interspecific competition. The largest known extant vertebrates (and animals) are mammals, as are many of the most conspicuous ones. Moreover, mammals have determinate growth, which makes them attractive for morphometric studies. Many mammals have wide ranges that encompass varying climatic regimes, and they coexist in different places with different guild members. Therefore the study of mammals has contributed greatly to the study of morphological patterns in nature and will continue to do so in the future.

This debate was particularly heated during the 1980s.


The major reason for such behaviour is low residual battery power [6, 8, 9] . It may here be clarified that a selfish node is not malicious and doesn't intend to involve itself in the network damaging activities such as content alteration, spoofing etc. It normally restrains itself from the activities of the other nodes which do not bring any benefit to it.

The major reason for such behaviour is low residual battery power.


For purposes of the study, kayakers were selected as they (1) exhibit a wide range of skills and abilities (which impacts on information use as discussed below), (2) are widely represented in the general UK community, (3) are socially focused due to the strong social nature of VGI and (4) use a diverse range of geographically referenced information. Their activities also involve a certain level of risk, which promotes an increased amount of critical reflection during their information search (Carlson and Gieseke 1983) . In addition, the kayaking activity comprises an interesting series of activities involving information, including: trip planning, the paddling activity itself (including route finding and risk analysis), and post-activity sharing of experiences. The results section outlines the main findings of this study; the discussion and conclusions sections highlight the implications in terms of more general applicability.

Their activities also involve a certain level of risk, which promotes an increased amount of critical reflection during their information search.


The pair (L, T ) from Theorem 1.1 is constructed as the limit of a strongly convergent sequence (L i , T i ) i∈N , where each L i is a group splitting as a free amalgamated product over a finite subgroup and T i is the Bass-Serre tree associated to this splitting. The morphism from T i to T i+1 is not simplicial (but it is a morphism of R-trees), as it starts with edge subdivision and then applies a sequence of edge folds (see Section 4) . We analyze this morphism carefully in order to control the arc stabilizers for the resulting action of L on T . The construction of L i uses an auxiliary group M satisfying certain properties (see (P1)-(P4) below). The main technical content of the paper is in Section 6, where we construct a suitable group M using small cancellation theory over hyperbolic groups, and in Section 5, where we prove that the corresponding sequence (L i , T i ) i∈N is strongly convergent (in the sense of Gillet and Shalen [16] ).

The main technical content of the paper is in Section 6, where we construct a suitable group M using small cancellation theory over hyperbolic groups, and in Section 5, where we prove that the corresponding sequence (L i , T i ) i∈N is strongly convergent (in the sense of Gillet and Shalen).


There is abundant empirical literature on the effect of a mother's or parents' schooling on children's malnutrition. Most of the results were achieved applying the following methodology. First, the broad effect of mother's schooling was estimated, controlling only for children, household, and context factors. Among these factors, biologists suggest including parents' nutritional indicators referring to the period in which the child was conceived; omitting these variables risks leading to an overestimation of the effect of mother's education on children's nutritional status (Barrera 1990) . After considering this set of variables, mother's education was still a key determinant of children's nutrition.

Among these factors, biologists suggest including parents' nutritional indicators referring to the period in which the child was conceived; omitting these variables risks leading to an overestimation of the effect of mother's education on children's nutritional status.


One subgroup in this field of study focuses on educational externalities at the community level. The basic assumption is that, in the context of developing countries, neighbors within a community can provide their literacy services to uneducated people, thus limiting the problems of individual illiteracy and affecting child nutrition. However, the empirical findings do not seem to provide robust evidence of this hypothesis (Desai and Alva 1998; Gibson 2001; Alderman, Hentschel, and Sabates 2003; Moestue and Huttly 2008) .

However, the empirical findings do not seem to provide robust evidence of this hypothesis.


We also acknowledge the potential problems of multicollinearity given, for example, the simultaneous presence of regressors like household size and number of non-parental literate people (Gibson 2001) . For this purpose, we run the variance inflation factor (VIF) 4 , which shows no multicollinearity bias in the several models estimated. Finally, we used the White robust standard errors since heteroskedasticity was detected in the initial models.

We also acknowledge the potential problems of multicollinearity given, for example, the simultaneous presence of regressors like household size and number of non-parental literate people.


In tropical soils, the total phosphorus content is high; however, the content available to plants is very low, approximately 2 mg kg -1 extracted by Mehlich-1 (Lopes, 1989) . This concentration is limiting to plant productivity, and it occurs because the majority of the applied phosphorus is absorbed on the surface of abundant minerals in these soils, such as iron and aluminium oxides, hydroxides and oxy-hydroxides. This is also due to the precipitation of phosphorus with Fe 3+ and Al 3+ ions in acid soils and with Ca 2+ ions in alkaline soils (Tan, 1993) . The reversibility of these non-labile forms of phosphorus is low and therefore less available to plants.

In tropical soils, the total phosphorus content is high; however, the content available to plants is very low, approximately 2 mg kg -1 extracted by Mehlich-1.

This is also due to the precipitation of phosphorus with Fe 3+ and Al 3+ ions in acid soils and with Ca 2+ ions in alkaline soils.


Food labeling regulation requires the identity of meat in raw meat and meat products to be accurately labeled . Determining the species or breed origin of meat is an integral part of food regulatory control with respect to economic fraudulence . For example, native breed meats are often a target for fraudulent labeling, because of the different prices and quality between native and improved breed meats. However, it is not easy to identify animal species or breeds in meat and meat products. Recently, the problem of false sales has arisen: improved breed or imported pork could be mislabeled as native breed pork, due to consumers' increasing concerns about the food safety of imported meats since the BSE outbreak. Therefore, the demand for an identification system to race pork from farm to market has gradually arisen. It is necessary to prevent false sales and to guarantee the quality and the safety of meat. As an element of an effective traceability system, technology to accurately discriminate between native breed and improved breed pork must also be developed (Sasazaki et al., 2007) .

As an element of an effective traceability system, technology to accurately discriminate between native breed and improved breed pork must also be developed.


The goal of this paper is to clarify the confusion as mentioned and to conclude a more unified one. The general methodology to achieve this goal is as such; we first present our definition of notions related to the design model, based on the analysis and generalization of many proposals available in the design literature as well as the fundamental understanding of engineering design. We call the set of our defined concepts the FBPSS framework, aiming to take it as a reference model. We then present various schools of thoughts as well as definitions on the design model and comment on them against the reference model (i.e., the FBPSS framework). By doing so, we attempt to show the generality of the FBPSS framework. This paper will be organized as follows. In Section 2, we present some basic concepts that are needed for subsequent discussions. In Section 3, we present our definition of notions related to function, behavior and structure. Our definition is based on the generalization of those available in the design literature together with our own thoughts [2] . We call the set of notions we defined the FBPSS framework. Section 4 introduces various schools of definitions and evaluates them against the FBPSS framework. Section 5 concludes the paper.

Our definition is based on the generalization of those available in the design literature together with our own thoughts.

Section 5 concludes the paper.


The FBPSSS framework consists of the following distinct concepts, i.e., the function, behavior, principle, state, and structure. The function concept is further divided into the generic function and the specialized function. Their relationships are developed along two dimensions, namely the emerging dimension and the governing dimension; see Figure 9 . The FBPSS framework is orthogonal to the system decomposition concept and the general design state concept, respectively; see Figure 10 . It is noted that for a particular design problem not all these concepts may be applied. For instance, in the design of a humancomputer interface for the website for the purpose of information and knowledge searching and acquisition, only the function and the structure concepts are needed [10] . The FBPSS framework is perhaps more useful to the conceptual design stage but not to the embodiment and detailed design stages at which the synthesis problem can readily be represented by an optimization problem.

For instance, in the design of a humancomputer interface for the website for the purpose of information and knowledge searching and acquisition, only the function and the structure concepts are needed.


Curiosity about the environment and its sustenance is not science but the thirst for knowledge. All humans reserve the right to be curious about discovering as much as possible about our planet, and studying its inhabitants. Therefore, knowledge and awareness of climate change and associated concepts is an intellectual activity to be possessed by all regardless of the educational bias or background, sex, age, school ownership or level of education. As climate changes, everything changes from the natural habitat of wildlife to the culture and sustainable of a region. Some of the effects of climate change are sea level rise, changes in rainfall patterns, water scarcity and adverse health effects from warmer temperature (Marty and Yokochi, 2006) . Climate change has a cumulative effect on natural resources and the balance of nature and its effects are already visible in the country. As critical as the effect of climate change is, it is not clear whether undergraduates are aware of what climate change is or its effect, hence this study.

Some of the effects of climate change are sea level rise, changes in rainfall patterns, water scarcity and adverse health effects from warmer temperature.


Another study conducted in Philippines showed that the capacity of students to generate researches on climate change adaptation (ACA) and disaster risk reduction management (DRRM) depended on their former exposure to relevant areas of climate change (Pesimo, 2013) . It was suggested that topics on ACA and DRRM should be integrated in the biological and earth sciences. From the aforesaid it may be necessary to introduce a general study course in the University for Climate Literacy. Research findings also showed in a research in Ankara (Turkey) on environmental sensitivity and awareness of university students that even though students take many courses on the environmental issues, their environmental awareness and environmentally responsible behaviours are lower than the expected and students' grades show no significance on the results. The first and fourth year students of landscape architecture, town and regional planning and environmental engineering undergraduate programs at universities throughout Ankara, Turkey were selected as participants since these programmes' curricula focus on environment. It is concluded that environmental knowledge do not always influence awareness and behavioral intentions, a national strategy is needed for environmental education in higher education, and current curricula should be reconsidered in terms of effectiveness (Ouz et al., 2010) .

Another study conducted in Philippines showed that the capacity of students to generate researches on climate change adaptation (ACA) and disaster risk reduction management (DRRM) depended on their former exposure to relevant areas of climate change.

It is concluded that environmental knowledge do not always influence awareness and behavioral intentions, a national strategy is needed for environmental education in higher education, and current curricula should be reconsidered in terms of effectiveness.


In India, a survey was conducted involving school children, undergraduate students and adults from various sectors to know the level awareness of climate change and its effects. The survey was conducted in Metropolitan city Mumbai and semi urban area of Panvel near Mumbai. Many school children and undergraduate students reported that they are aware of climate change but not aware of its problems and how to tackle it. Whereas fishermen of Panvel area agreed that climate change has affected fishery harvest but not sure which factor of climate change caused it. More than 50% respondents said that they are getting information of climate change from print and electronic media. However, most of these people are unaware of health problems caused by climate change. Fishermen and coastal people were not aware of ocean acidification and possible damage to the ocean resources due to ocean acidification. Furthermore, most of the respondents did not know how to minimize climate change. The authors concluded that in Maharashtra still there is need to make people literate about climate change and its effects on human health (Kulkarni et al., 2016) .

The authors concluded that in Maharashtra still there is need to make people literate about climate change and its effects on human health.