Linear generators are today increasingly used for energy conversion, since many natural energy sources exhibit alternating motion [13] . In fact, renewables are often characterized by presenting discontinuous phenomena without very dense energy content. Moreover, a similar technology has been recently proposed in several marine applications as a well-suited device for wave energy harvesting [14, 15] .

Linear generators are today increasingly used for energy conversion, since many natural energy sources exhibit alternating motion.

Moreover, a similar technology has been recently proposed in several marine applications as a well-suited device for wave energy harvesting.


In recent years, mobile robot path planning research aimed at achieving intelligent autonomous ground vehicles has received more attention. Path planning and motion control are very important but complex navigation tasks in robotics. Path planning in mobile robotics refers to strategies to determine how a mobile robot gets to its goal safely ensuring that obstacles are avoided [1] . To successfully achieve path planning and motion control, a vehicle is expected to possess the ability to perceive and detect obstacles to be avoided to enable it to reach its target safely. What is expected in robotics is to develop real-time intelligent autonomous navigation robots that can sense and interpret information collected from their environment to determine their position, direction to goal, avoid obstacles and perform smooth navigation in both structured and unstructured environments. The robots are expected to perform these tasks with safe and shortest path, and lowest time to their target and finally perform their assigned task without the intervention of humans [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] . There are many applications and benefits to be derived from intelligent autonomous robots. Some of which include: rescue operations during disaster, task performance in factories, homes, in areas of transportation, medicine, education, agriculture and many others.

Path planning in mobile robotics refers to strategies to determine how a mobile robot gets to its goal safely ensuring that obstacles are avoided.

The robots are expected to perform these tasks with safe and shortest path, and lowest time to their target and finally perform their assigned task without the intervention of humans.


Ongoing research in mobile robotics is geared towards building autonomous and intelligent robots that perform robust motion planning and navigation in dynamic environments [17] . There are records of considerable number of research that aimed at addressing path planning and obstacle avoidance problem using diverse approaches and algorithms [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] . Despite the numerous efforts to address the problem of safe path planning of mobile robots, there still exists a challenge in achieving real safe and optimal path planning to achieve the use of intelligent autonomous vehicles [5, [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] . These outstanding challenges motivated this research to conduct an overview of the popular methods and strategies used by researchers to address the problem and to identify the strengths and challenges of these approaches and consider the way forward to achieving intelligent autonomous vehicles.

Ongoing research in mobile robotics is geared towards building autonomous and intelligent robots that perform robust motion planning and navigation in dynamic environments.

There are records of considerable number of research that aimed at addressing path planning and obstacle avoidance problem using diverse approaches and algorithms.

Despite the numerous efforts to address the problem of safe path planning of mobile robots, there still exists a challenge in achieving real safe and optimal path planning to achieve the use of intelligent autonomous vehicles.


Glycaemic control is a medical term referring to the typical levels of blood sugar in a person with diabetes mellitus. Many researchers shown that the microvascular complications and other long term effects of diabetes result from long term hyperglycaemia [2] . The percentage of hemoglobin which is glycosylated is used as a measure of long-term glycaemic control in the clinical care of people with diabetes. The original Leuven trial demonstrated that proper implementation of glycaemic control can reduce morbidity and mortality [3] . More recent studies have shown that there is a cost-benefit to glycaemic control as well, through reduction of hospital stay and prevention of complications [4] .

Many researchers shown that the microvascular complications and other long term effects of diabetes result from long term hyperglycaemia.

The original Leuven trial demonstrated that proper implementation of glycaemic control can reduce morbidity and mortality.

More recent studies have shown that there is a cost-benefit to glycaemic control as well, through reduction of hospital stay and prevention of complications.


Theoretically, the light-emitting diode (LED) has many advantages, such as low-power consumption, high reliability, long lifetime, variable color and environmental protection [1] . Since LEDs' lumen efficiency has increased rapidly in recent years, LEDs have begun to play an important role in many applications, such as backlighting for LCD display, street and tunnel lighting, and interior illumination [2, 3] . Rectangular light patterns are popular in these LED applications. However, the light patterns of most LEDs are circularly symmetric with non-uniform illuminance distribution, which makes it hard to meet the requirements of illumination. Therefore, appropriate secondary optics are essential for high quality LED illumination.

Theoretically, the light-emitting diode (LED) has many advantages, such as low-power consumption, high reliability, long lifetime, variable color and environmental protection.

Since LEDs' lumen efficiency has increased rapidly in recent years, LEDs have begun to play an important role in many applications, such as backlighting for LCD display, street and tunnel lighting, and interior illumination.


Research in artificial intelligence (AI) proposed the notion of ontologies, due to the lack of shareable and reusable knowledge bases. An ontology is an explicit specification of a conceptualization: a representational vocabulary for a shared domain of knowledge, in the form of human-readable and machine-enforceable definitions of classes, relations, functions, and other objects [5] . When placing ontologies in the context of this research, they define the meaning of objects and the relations between them. In ontologies, important relationships are generalization and inheritance, where classes are connected, and each subclass inherits the features of its superclass [6] . The class Car, for example, has the class Vehicle as its parent. Another important relation is instantiation, which relates a class with each of the individuals that constitute it. A Ferrari, for instance, is a kind of Car. In Section 4, the usefulness of these two relations for the creation of objects with services will become apparent.

An ontology is an explicit specification of a conceptualization: a representational vocabulary for a shared domain of knowledge, in the form of human-readable and machine-enforceable definitions of classes, relations, functions, and other objects.

In ontologies, important relationships are generalization and inheritance, where classes are connected, and each subclass inherits the features of its superclass.


With the arrival of GaN HEMT, the combination of higher operating potentials and higher operating currents lead to higher power dissipation levels which worsen the effects of self-heating and traps. The latter leads to current collapse due to the gate-and drain-lag phenomena [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] . For such devices the need for a more accurate simulation model which accounts for such effects in a relatively simple manner is imperative.

The latter leads to current collapse due to the gate-and drain-lag phenomena.


Spatiotemporal variations in weather/climate conditions affect plant phenological processes (Menzel et al. 2006) . Although soil conditions in most regions of China are suitable for winter wheat cultivation, wheat phenology significantly varies with climatic conditions . In spite of farming practices soil conditions, decreasing temperature with increasing latitude from south to north China favor early sowing while delaying heading and maturity of Fig. 4 Sequential Mann-Kendall test for heading date (a), mean temperature for the period from sowing to heading (b), maturity date (c), and mean temperature for the period from sowing to maturity (d). Dashed horizontal lines represent critical values corresponding to the 95 % confidence interval winter wheat. As a result, the durations of the growth stages vary with weather/climatic variability. While the duration from sowing to heading and sowing to maturity increases with increasing latitude, those from heading to maturity decreases with increasing latitude across China.

Spatiotemporal variations in weather/climate conditions affect plant phenological processes.


As the third main food crop (after rice (Oryza) and maize (Zea)), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a traditionally, high-end cultivated crop in China. Winter wheat accounts for over 90 % of China's wheat production. The prevailing soil and climatic conditions in China's arable lands are specifically suitable for winter wheat cultivation (Fig. 1) . Because of winter dormancy and active summer growth, winter wheat is especially sensitive to weather/climate conditions . Changes in winter wheat phenology are readily observed and directly monitored in conventional field experiments. The changes in the dates of phenological phases are widely used to assess the response of winter wheat to weather/climate variability (Stacks et al. 2010) .

The changes in the dates of phenological phases are widely used to assess the response of winter wheat to weather/climate variability.


Photovoltaic (PV) power generation technology has grown tremendously in recent years [1] . PV conversion technology is discontinuous and fluctuating, due to the variety of solar radiation. It has caused severe challenges for the reliable and safe operation of power grids, especially at high levels of penetration [2, 3] . It is well known that the power fluctuation can be mitigated through deployment of energy storage systems, alongside PV power generation.

Photovoltaic (PV) power generation technology has grown tremendously in recent years.

It has caused severe challenges for the reliable and safe operation of power grids, especially at high levels of penetration.


In order to deal with the haze-fog pollution, the degree of haze-fog pollution should be known first. In this study the ambient air quality was evaluated to investigate the status of haze-fog. Evaluation of ambient air quality is an important part of any atmospheric ecology studies. The assessment of environmental air quality is the process of quantitative description of the ambient air quality by mathematical methods and models. It can help know the present situation and future tendencies of the ambient air quality [21] . Thus, it can provide a scientific basis for the planning and management of ambient air quality. Studies on the evaluation of air quality are an important issue, and have attracted the interest of many scholars. The fuzzy comprehensive evaluation theory was applied in air quality assessment according to the national air quality standard [22] . The level of environmental quality was determined based on the ambient air monitoring data of Dongzhi Country [23] . Artificial neural networks and decision tree models were applied to evaluate the common Air Quality Index in Thessaloniki, Greece [24] . The forest air quality in Yichun Town was evaluated based on BP neural networks [25] .

It can help know the present situation and future tendencies of the ambient air quality.

The fuzzy comprehensive evaluation theory was applied in air quality assessment according to the national air quality standard.

The level of environmental quality was determined based on the ambient air monitoring data of Dongzhi Country.

Artificial neural networks and decision tree models were applied to evaluate the common Air Quality Index in Thessaloniki, Greece.

The forest air quality in Yichun Town was evaluated based on BP neural networks.


In the absence of a vaccine, early detection and prompt treatment of C. trachomatis infection may be essential in avoidance of PID. Routine screening for C. trachomatis facilitates early treatment and has been shown to result in reduced rates of PID in women [30] . The presence of cultivable C. trachomatis may not be essential to continuing tubal pathology. Although detection of C. trachomatis by culture is less successful in chronic than in acute infections, persistence of C. trachomatis antigen or DNA has been demonstrated in human genital tract tissues and may contribute to sustained inflammation and the development of PID in some women [8, 18] . Similar observations in the monkey model support this clinical observation [31] . It is possible that early antimicrobial treatment precludes the development of persistent chlamydial infections, although this concept has not been critically tested. Nevertheless, early detection and treatment would currently seem to be the key to successful prevention of upper genital tract chlamydial infections and their sequelae.

Routine screening for C. trachomatis facilitates early treatment and has been shown to result in reduced rates of PID in women.

Although detection of C. trachomatis by culture is less successful in chronic than in acute infections, persistence of C. trachomatis antigen or DNA has been demonstrated in human genital tract tissues and may contribute to sustained inflammation and the development of PID in some women.

Similar observations in the monkey model support this clinical observation.


However, the obtained entrainer was finally found to be undesirable in terms of process economics. Usually, solvents have multiple effects on a process they are designed for. For example, separation agents must offer high selectivity and capacity for the compound being separated, yet they must be easily recovered. Reaction solvents are required to provide high reaction rates but meanwhile, they should be easily separated from products. In order to capture all tradeoffs between different properties of designed solvents, integrated solvent and process design where the process performance is optimized is highly desirable (Burger et al., 2015; Zhou et al., 2015a) . Besides the property tradeoffs, there are also strong interdependencies between the selection of solvents and the process operating conditions. On the one hand, the specification of process conditions strongly influences the selection of a suitable solvent and on the other hand, the selected solvent reversely determines the optimal operating point of the process. Based on the above considerations, it is very clear that the best solution to computer-aided solvent and process design problems can be only achieved by the simultaneous optimization of solvent molecules and process operating conditions based on a single process-wide objective.

In order to capture all tradeoffs between different properties of designed solvents, integrated solvent and process design where the process performance is optimized is highly desirable.


Many antioxidants have been developed to delay or inhibit the oxidation of the biomolecules by terminating the initiation or propagation of the oxidizing chain reactions by free radicals and inhibiting the foam cell formation [1] . The antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds is mainly due to their redox properties, which play an important role in adsorbing and neutralizing free radicals, quenching singlet and triplet oxygen or decomposing peroxides [2] . Many studies have indicated that there was a high correlation between the antioxidant activity of some plants and their phenolic contents [3] [4] [5] . The bioactive components can effectively inhibit LDL oxidation and may prevent atherosclerosis by reducing and slowing down the progression to advance stage [5] .

Many antioxidants have been developed to delay or inhibit the oxidation of the biomolecules by terminating the initiation or propagation of the oxidizing chain reactions by free radicals and inhibiting the foam cell formation.

The antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds is mainly due to their redox properties, which play an important role in adsorbing and neutralizing free radicals, quenching singlet and triplet oxygen or decomposing peroxides.

Many studies have indicated that there was a high correlation between the antioxidant activity of some plants and their phenolic contents.

The bioactive components can effectively inhibit LDL oxidation and may prevent atherosclerosis by reducing and slowing down the progression to advance stage.


The ethanol extract of Ya-hom showed moderate DPPH scavenging activity (99.08 µg/ml). The IC 50 values of the 47 single plants ranged from 15.35 to 1261.84 µg/ml with a difference of 83-fold between the least and most active extract. Of all the plants tested, ten plants showed greater DPPH scavenging activity than the whole Ya-hom formula, and Terminalia chebula was the most potent with IC 50 value (15.35 µg/ml), comparable to that of ascorbic acid, the positive control used. In a previous study, gallic acid from the gall of T. chebula has showed in vitro antiaging activities on DPPH radical scavenging and stimulation index on normal human fibroblast proliferation [19] . Other plants exhibiting strong DPPH scavenging activity were Caesalpinia sappan, Cinnamomum bejolghota and C. verum. The results indicate that the extracts of these plants contained compounds that were relatively strong scavengers of free radicals. The antioxidant effect is due to the ability of the compounds in the plants extracts to transfer electron or hydrogen atom to neutralize radicals of DPPH to form neutral DPPH molecules [20] .

In a previous study, gallic acid from the gall of T. chebula has showed in vitro antiaging activities on DPPH radical scavenging and stimulation index on normal human fibroblast proliferation.

The antioxidant effect is due to the ability of the compounds in the plants extracts to transfer electron or hydrogen atom to neutralize radicals of DPPH to form neutral DPPH molecules.


The ethanol extract of Ya-hom showed the highest antioxidant capacity (1.12 mmol Fe(II)/g) while its fractions exhibited lower activity. The FRAP values of the 47 plants varied from 0.18 to 2.77 mmol Fe(II)/g with a difference of 15-fold between the lowest and highest activity. Among the plants tested, seven plants showed higher FRAP value than the whole Ya-hom formula and Caesalpinia sappan had the highest FRAP value (2.77 mmol Fe(II)/g) which was comparable to that of the positive control, ascorbic acid. C. sappan alcohol extract has been reported to exhibit IC 50 values on DPPH and nitric oxide method comparable to those of ascorbic acid and rutin. Moreover, hematein, a compound isolated from C. sappan wood was able to reduce fatty streak lesion of cholesterol-fed rabbits and has a potential to be used as an anti-atherogenic agent [21] . Other plants with strong FRAP activity were Terminalia chebula, Cinnamomum bejolghota and C. verum.

Moreover, hematein, a compound isolated from C. sappan wood was able to reduce fatty streak lesion of cholesterol-fed rabbits and has a potential to be used as an anti-atherogenic agent.


The model domain represents the South Coast Air Basin of California, which typically experiences the worst air quality of the United States. Hence, although it is a small area, it is of great interest, and has been studied in numerous efforts (Harley et al., 1993; Winner et al., 1995; Meng et al., 1997; Griffin et al., 2002) . The typically high emissions of NO x in this area constitute an important factor for the study of NO 2 photoexcitation. Even though the spatial extent of the basin limits the generalization of the results, the high NO x emissions and intense insolation experienced in the area could be considered as parameters for an upper bound for the effects of NO 2 photoexcitation on O 3 .

Hence, although it is a small area, it is of great interest, and has been studied in numerous efforts.


Our hypothesis is that modeling tasks can be executed faster, if models are mapped to larger aggregates within an underlying database. Storing models as aggregates of objects and not as single objects reduces the number of required database accesses, or as Martin Fowler puts it on his blog: "Storing aggregates as fundamental units makes a lot of sense [...], since you have a large clump of data that you expect to be accessed together", [7] . This hypothesis raises three major questions: Do models contain aggregates that are often accessed together ? How can we determine aggregates automatically and transparently? What actual influence on the performance has the choice of concrete aggregates?

Storing models as aggregates of objects and not as single objects reduces the number of required database accesses, or as Martin Fowler puts it on his blog: "Storing aggregates as fundamental units makes a lot of sense [...], since you have a large clump of data that you expect to be accessed together".


The oscillation of i trans (t) here decays after ∼18 µs, afterwards follows the typical inductive behaviour, depending on inherent machine asymmetries, e.g. slotting or saturation, which contains no significant information for the insulation state estimation. As only the hf-oscillation is of interest (containing the insulation state information), the average slope in the current signal has to be eliminated. The blue trace, denoted 'healthy', depicts the transient current response of the machine at the first startup operation of the drive. This curve serves as a fingerprint and is used in a comparison process as reference trace. The green trace, denoted 'degraded insulation', shows the current response of the same machine with emulated insulation deterioration, implemented by a capacitor in parallel to the first coil of phase L1 (in this case insulation aging is emulated only for the first coil), since insulation degradation is linked with a change in the capacitance value of the winding system [24] [25] [26] . The characteristics of the deviation in the shape of the first 18 µs are analysed in the frequency domain. After the accurate switching time point has been determined, the time domain data is transformed using a simple rectangular windowing function and the Fourier analysis into the frequency domain.

The green trace, denoted 'degraded insulation', shows the current response of the same machine with emulated insulation deterioration, implemented by a capacitor in parallel to the first coil of phase L1 (in this case insulation aging is emulated only for the first coil), since insulation degradation is linked with a change in the capacitance value of the winding system.


The simplest method within this framework is the assumption that the dynamics are locally stationary, that is that the currently observed value persists until the next prediction point. This is followed by a simple linear prediction based on the current and a few previous observations as explained very clearly by Riahy and Abedi [10] . Riahy and Abedi demonstrate how the use of unfiltered input data can lead to large overshoot or undershoot predictions of the wind a few seconds ahead and suggest that the use of a filtered time series would be far more powerful. It has to be borne in mind, however, that they only demonstrate the improvement for predictions shorter than the filtering time scale and it is hence not surprising that they get near-perfect results.

This is followed by a simple linear prediction based on the current and a few previous observations as explained very clearly by Riahy and Abedi.


The broad crested weirs are a hydraulic structures widely used for depth control and flow measurement in field and laboratory canals .The geometry described as a flat-crested structure with a length (L) of crest large enough compared to the flow thickness over the crest of the weir. The crest is broad when the streamlines of the flow are parallel to the crest and the pressure distribution is hydrostatic [1] . The general shape of broad crested weir is shown in Fig. 1 .

The crest is broad when the streamlines of the flow are parallel to the crest and the pressure distribution is hydrostatic.


Although SO 4 2in the irrigation waters rose from 7 to 118 mol·m -3 , total S in the foliage and stems of all clones remained low (< 75 mmol·kg -1 dry weight). In leaves of 4501, 4543, and 4590, total S was unaffected by treatment, but decreased significantly in leaves of 4544 and 4573 and in the stems of all clones. This response may be due in part to the negative interaction of substrate Clon S uptake, an effect that has been reported for herbaceous crops (Schnug, 1990) .

This response may be due in part to the negative interaction of substrate Clon S uptake, an effect that has been reported for herbaceous crops.


About 30% of the industrial ceramic products are considered unfit for use and are in most cases sent to landfill. Their great strength and resistance to degradation make the problem of processing ceramics waste unmanageable [1] . Therefore, incorporating these waste materials in lime mortars might prove to be both technically and environmentally advantageous.

Their great strength and resistance to degradation make the problem of processing ceramics waste unmanageable.


In neural science, tone pitch is defined as "the perceptual correlate of periodicity in sounds" (McDermott & Oxenham, 2008) . Thus, tone pitch by its nature occurs in waveforms which repeat periodically. Put in simple words, this process is comparable to the characteristics occurring in the rowing cycle. Athletes perceived the rowing cycle as a short sound sequence that repeated with its characteristic phases, such as the refrain in a piece of music, in every single rowing stroke. This periodic recurrence of characteristic sections (as a sub-part of the total of the rowing cycles) awakened a sensitivity for details in the sequence which did not need any explanation. Awareness of the structure emerged solely from the knowledge of the movement and audio-visual interaction. The changes in tone pitch represented and characterized variations inside the rowing cycle that also repeated variably with every rowing stroke. By listening to the sound of the boat motion, the sound data became intuitively comprehensible and applicable for the athletes. It helped them to improve their feeling for the time duration of the movement for the single rowing stroke as well as for the series of rowing cycles.

In neural science, tone pitch is defined as "the perceptual correlate of periodicity in sounds".


Such an action-listening takes place during human interaction with the world in their regular daily activities associated with sounds. Most probably, the sound is recognized, the brain is simulating the action In other words: sounds were associated with specific movements and their execution. The specific sound of different stroke rate steps thus becomes associated with the respective movement intensities and can be thought of as an acoustic footprint of the particular movement pattern. That indicates that the auditory modality can access the motor system as shown previously before in neuroscientific research (Zatorre, Chen & Penhune, 2007) . Transferred to the results of the present study, the rhythm and duration of the movement experienced created a feeling for the sound of the desired outcome that remains in relation to kinaesthesia and movement performance.

That indicates that the auditory modality can access the motor system as shown previously before in neuroscientific research.


In regards to the sound produced as a result of human movements, the frequency range is normally below the range of audibility for human beings, located between 20Hz and 20,000Hz. Excluded from this are those sounds that are caused by the interaction of materials and that accompany the movement execution. An example in sport situations is the contact phase between sports equipment with a surface. The result is a sport specific sound. Using the example of rowing, the boat's forward motion creates a sound like splashing and flowing which plays an important role especially for elite rowers (Lippens, 2005) . They rely on the boat-specific sounds to obtain feedback about the boat motion in order to assess their rowing strokes as more or less successful. This natural acoustic feedback can effectively convey online information about different attributes such as the velocity and the magnitude of the force applied to the system per rowing stroke.

The result is a sport specific sound.

Using the example of rowing, the boat's forward motion creates a sound like splashing and flowing which plays an important role especially for elite rowers.


The finding that growth rates of the yearling and male segments of the population were both strongly influenced by late winter conditions also suggested that juveniles and males seem to be more susceptible to adverse environmental conditions than females (Toigo and Gaillard 2003) . One likely reason for this is that both males and juveniles typically possess lower energy reserves when entering the winter. The reduced fat reserves of males are to a major extent the direct consequence of increased levels of energy expenditures during the rut, together with a heavily depressed food intake at the same time (Willisch and Ingold 2007) . Thus, males can lose up to 40% of their body weight during the rut (Schröder 1971) . Therefore, if winter conditions become increasingly difficult, males might no longer have sufficient fat reserves to cope with limited food resources and elevated energy expenditures, making them particularly vulnerable to death due to starvation and exhaustion.

The finding that growth rates of the yearling and male segments of the population were both strongly influenced by late winter conditions also suggested that juveniles and males seem to be more susceptible to adverse environmental conditions than females.

The reduced fat reserves of males are to a major extent the direct consequence of increased levels of energy expenditures during the rut, together with a heavily depressed food intake at the same time.

Thus, males can lose up to 40% of their body weight during the rut.


Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women, totaling nearly 230,000 new cases in 2012 [1] . Owing to improvements in screening, many patients are identifi ed before disease dissemination and can undergo surgical resection of the primary tumor. Despite early detection, surgery, and adjuvant therapy, a fraction of patients ultimately recur with metastatic disease. Th ere are three clinical subtypes of breast cancer that diff er on the basis of the expression of estrogen receptor-alpha (ER-α), progesterone receptor (PR), and the HER2 oncogene. Th ese clinical markers can predict the response to antiestrogens and anti-HER2 therapies with a reasonable degree of accuracy [2, 3] . Via gene expression profi ling, several 'molecular' subtypes (termed the PAM50 intrinsic subtypes) of breast cancer have been characterized [4] .

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women, totaling nearly 230,000 new cases in 2012.

Th ese clinical markers can predict the response to antiestrogens and anti-HER2 therapies with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

Via gene expression profi ling, several 'molecular' subtypes (termed the PAM50 intrinsic subtypes) of breast cancer have been characterized.


The most efficient way to reduce the collector heat loss is to lower the demand temperature to decrease the temperature difference between the solar collector panel and the ambient temperature. Using the collector as the heat pump heat source makes achieving a high solar heat collection efficiency while at the same time meeting the heat usage requirements feasible. For heat pumps, a basic factor of great importance for their successful application is the availability of a cheap, dependable heat source for the evaporator-preferably one at a relatively high temperature [8] . The coefficient of performance (COP) of a heat pump depends to the great extent on the temperature of the evaporator. Combining the heat pump and solar energy is a mutual beneficial way to increase the heat pump COP and the solar collector efficiency. The solar collector loop is used to boost the heat source temperature of the heat pump, thereby increasing the heat pump's annual and seasonal performance. Similarly, the heat pump can reduce the collector operating temperature, which allows for sustainable heat gains even under marginal weather conditions and the use of inexpensive, unglazed solar collectors. This combined system could operate more efficiently under a wide range of weather conditions and for more hours each day. Abundant work, both theoretical and experimental, has been done on solar assisted-heat pump systems [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] . The results presented show that the thermal efficiency of the collector which acts as the heat source of a heat pump system is high because of the lower temperature difference between the collector and the environment, while the heat pumps' annual and seasonal performance were increased by increasing the heat source temperature of the heat pumps.

For heat pumps, a basic factor of great importance for their successful application is the availability of a cheap, dependable heat source for the evaporator-preferably one at a relatively high temperature.

Abundant work, both theoretical and experimental, has been done on solar assisted-heat pump systems.


Since buildings account for 40% of total energy consumption, and 36% of CO 2 emissions in the European Union (EU), two key laws concerning the reduction of energy consumption of buildings have been enforced, the directive 2010/31/EU "Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPDB-recast)" and the 2012/27/EU "Energy Efficiency Directive". After a proposal for revision of the Energy Efficiency Directive in November 2016, the EU Parliament voted in favour of a binding 35% energy efficiency target for 2030. The proposal of the European Commission for an amendment of the EPBD-recast (2010/31/EU) delivers new initiatives in several directions, e.g., to ensure the interface of the building stock into the overall energy system by smart devices or to make sure that renovation roadmaps lead towards the long-term goal of a decarbonised building stock. However, the key system of how nZEB definitions should be carried out by the Member States has not been significantly modified [1] .

However, the key system of how nZEB definitions should be carried out by the Member States has not been significantly modified.


Several country-specific studies analyse the impact of the building design, thermal envelope parameters, technical systems, calculation methodologies, and local climatic conditions in the energy performance and fulfillment of net and nearly zero energy requirements of reference buildings by means of Case Studies for residential and non-residential buildings [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] . Touloupaki, E.; Theodosiou identify the optimal thickness of insulation that is cost-effective to apply in urban multi-family domestic buildings in the four climate zones of Greece [15] . Hachem-Vermette, Guarino, La Rocca, & Cellura, explore a solar mixed-use community and its potential towards achieving net-zero energy status [17] . Cellura, Ciulla, Guarino, & Longo describe on their paper, the experience of re-design of an existing rural building located in Sicily. A validated model was used for redesign studies aimed towards the achievement of the Net Zero Energy Building target [18] . Zeiler, Gvozdenović, de Bont & Maassen present a paper on the recently completed Dutch sustainable and nearly zero energy buildings, they concluded that the goal from the Energy Performance of Building Directive now is rarely met [19] .

Several country-specific studies analyse the impact of the building design, thermal envelope parameters, technical systems, calculation methodologies, and local climatic conditions in the energy performance and fulfillment of net and nearly zero energy requirements of reference buildings by means of Case Studies for residential and non-residential buildings.

Touloupaki, E.; Theodosiou identify the optimal thickness of insulation that is cost-effective to apply in urban multi-family domestic buildings in the four climate zones of Greece.

Hachem-Vermette, Guarino, La Rocca, & Cellura, explore a solar mixed-use community and its potential towards achieving net-zero energy status.

A validated model was used for redesign studies aimed towards the achievement of the Net Zero Energy Building target.

Zeiler, Gvozdenović, de Bont & Maassen present a paper on the recently completed Dutch sustainable and nearly zero energy buildings, they concluded that the goal from the Energy Performance of Building Directive now is rarely met.


Our goal is to enable a multi-limbed robot to climb vertical rock using skills and techniques similar to those developed by human climbers (see Fig. 1 ). We refer here to "free-climbing" techniques, where the climber only uses natural features and friction of the terrain for upward progress. These techniques are in contrast to "aid climbing," where the climber relies on additional gear for progress [18] . The robots we consider consist of a small number of articulated limbs attached to a pelvis (see Fig. 2 ). Only the limb end-points make contact with the environment-a vertical surface with small, arbitrarily distributed features (e.g., protrusions, holes) called holds. A one-step climbing move for the robot consists of bringing a limb endpoint to a new hold while maintaining balance by pushing or pulling at other holds [9] . The robot exploits friction at these holds while adjusting internal degrees of freedom (DOF's) to avoid sliding.

These techniques are in contrast to "aid climbing," where the climber relies on additional gear for progress.

A one-step climbing move for the robot consists of bringing a limb endpoint to a new hold while maintaining balance by pushing or pulling at other holds.


Depending on versatility, robustness and efficiency, the commercial OCR systems can be divided into four generations. The first generation systems can be characterized by the constrained letter shapes which the OCRs read. Such machines appeared in the beginning of the 1960s. The first widely commercialized OCR of this generation was the IBM 1418, which was designed to read a special IBM font, 407 [2] . The recognition method was logical template matching where the positional relationship was fully utilized. The next generation is characterized by the recognition capabilities of a set of regular machine printed characters as well as hand-printed characters. At the early stages, the scope was restricted to numerals only. Such machines appeared in the middle of 1960s to early 1970s. In this generat ion, the first and famous OCR system was IBM 1287, which was exhibited at the 1965 New York world fair [2] . In terms of hardware configuration, the system was a hybrid one, combining analog and digital technology. Automatic letter-sorting machine for postal code numbers of Toshiba was also developed during this period. The methods were based on the structural analysis approach. The Hai Guo, Jing-ying Zhao third generation can be characterized by the OCR of poor print quality characters, and handprinted characters for a large category character set. Commercial OCR systems with such capabilities appeared roughly during the decade 1975 to 1985 [2] [3] [4] . The fourth generation can be characterized by the OCR of complex documents intermixing with text, graphics, table and mathematical symbols, unconstrained hand written characters, color document, low-quality noisy documents like photocopy and fax, etc. Some pieces of work on complex documents provided good results. Although many pieces of work on unconstrained hand written character are available in the literature, the recognition accuracy hardly exceeds 85%. Very few studies on color documents have been published and research on this problem is continuing. Also, research on noisy document is in progress [5, 6] .

The first widely commercialized OCR of this generation was the IBM 1418, which was designed to read a special IBM font, 407.

In this generat ion, the first and famous OCR system was IBM 1287, which was exhibited at the 1965 New York world fair.

Commercial OCR systems with such capabilities appeared roughly during the decade 1975 to 1985.

Also, research on noisy document is in progress.


In summary, the experimental data and the results of numerical simulations presented here and elsewhere show that a salt powder milled to size of several µm is more effective in initiating warm rain than hygroscopic flares. The calculated amounts of seeding material reach an order of 10 kg salt per km 2 of seeded cloud. The needed mass is even larger for a smaller effect when using hygroscopic flares. This requires seeding amounts of hundreds of kg per a seeding flight. Dispersion of such quantities is not feasible with hygroscopic flares, but has been demonstrated practical with salt powder (Rosenfeld et al., 2010) .

Dispersion of such quantities is not feasible with hygroscopic flares, but has been demonstrated practical with salt powder.


To a great extent, these developments may be a product of the changing intellectual zeitgeist. In the field of philosophy, for instance, postmodern thinking has come to fundamentally challenge the assumption that human beings are independent and autonomous organisms, proposing, instead, that we are fundamentally and inextricably inter-twined with others in our world (Baudrillard, 1993; Gergen, 1999) . Late twentieth century feminist and trans-cultural thinkers have also called into question the notion of individual, discrete selves; arguing that this conception of human being is more a product of western, male interests than a universal and unchallengeable truth (Holdstock, 1993; Jordan et al., 1991) . Support for a relational view of therapy, however, does not only come from the sphere of theoretical developments. Rather, in recent years, empirical evidence in the counselling and psychotherapy research field has been increasingly pointing to the importance of the relationship to the therapeutic work, and it is this body of evidence that this paper will primarily focus upon.

In the field of philosophy, for instance, postmodern thinking has come to fundamentally challenge the assumption that human beings are independent and autonomous organisms, proposing, instead, that we are fundamentally and inextricably inter-twined with others in our world.

Late twentieth century feminist and trans-cultural thinkers have also called into question the notion of individual, discrete selves; arguing that this conception of human being is more a product of western, male interests than a universal and unchallengeable truth.


A number of studies have shown that flash-crowds occur often in P2P swarming systems, affecting a large fraction of their users [16, 17, 8, 18] . Furthermore, it has been shown that these phenomena have severe impact on the performance of the participating users, especially in the context of live streaming applications [8, 18, 9] . Hence, identifying the occurrence of flash-crowds could greatly help P2P swarming systems set up the necessary resources/actions to ''mitigate'' them. Giving peers the ability to detect flash-crowds allows them to distributively perform load balancing in the system and hence significantly decrease the burden at the content provider side. For example, a peer that concurrently participates into multiple swarms, can decide how much of its bandwidth to allocate to each one of them, based on the realtime status information of the two swarms (e.g., proportional to the flash-crowd intensities they exhibit). To the best of our knowledge, only one recent study briefly discusses how peers can detect a flash-crowd by inspecting the file-completion level of their neighbors [7] . As such, this algorithm is only suitable for filesharing and video-on-demand applications, where the file size is known beforehand, but not for live streaming applications. On the other side, the FlashDetect online distributed flash-crowd detection algorithm proposed in this paper is completely decoupled from the type of data being exchanged in the swarm and therefore can be adopted by all types of swarming applications, including live streaming. It presents itself as one of the first algorithms that targets specifically the online detection problem.

A number of studies have shown that flash-crowds occur often in P2P swarming systems, affecting a large fraction of their users.

Furthermore, it has been shown that these phenomena have severe impact on the performance of the participating users, especially in the context of live streaming applications.

To the best of our knowledge, only one recent study briefly discusses how peers can detect a flash-crowd by inspecting the file-completion level of their neighbors.


Human developments have been coupled with the evolution of the extraction, use, and disposal of natural resources. The way in which waste is disposed has changed dramatically over the last decades, as have attitudes towards waste reduction, reuse, and recycling, as well as recovering energy from waste. Energy from waste can be recovered through the pyrolysis process which converts the waste into oil and gas. Plastic is a type of waste that is plentiful and can be used effectively due to the high energy content. The conversion products can be used in internal combustion engines to produce power and heat. The effect of plastic pyrolysis oil (PPO) in diesel engines has been studied by various authors mainly in blends with diesel in single cylinder engines [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] . The investigations showed that diesel engines can run stable on medium PPOdiesel blend rates but with lower brake thermal efficiency and higher exhaust emissions (NOx, UHC, and CO). Due to the lower quality of the PPO in comparison with diesel fuel, one or a combination of the following ways/processes has to be applied in order to achieve stable engine performance at higher PPO-diesel blend rates or without diesel: upgrade of the oil, modification of the engine, and addition of fuel additives.

The effect of plastic pyrolysis oil (PPO) in diesel engines has been studied by various authors mainly in blends with diesel in single cylinder engines.


Heat transfer within a thermosyphon heat exchanger, instead of being done through a solid boundary, is facilitated through the use of two phase closed thermosyphons. A thermosyphon consists of a hermetically sealed evacuated tube partially filled with a working fluid. The working fluid enters a permanent state of evaporation-condensation the moment there is a temperature difference between the top and the bottom sections of the pipe. A high amount of heat can be transferred through the phase change processes that are constantly taking place within the thermosyphon during the working fluid evaporation/condensation cycles. This characteristic is the key to these devices' high effective thermal conductivity, allowing them to have an equivalent thermal conductivity of one to two orders of magnitude higher than that of copper [15] .

This characteristic is the key to these devices' high effective thermal conductivity, allowing them to have an equivalent thermal conductivity of one to two orders of magnitude higher than that of copper.


LPS is a common trigger of sepsis, and LPS stimulates various cells to release lots of cytokines such as TNF-α and IL-6. Therefore, LPS-induced sepsis model is one of the most used and effective methods used to screen antiseptic drugs [16] . In our present investigation, we tested the protective effect of corynoline on sepsis induced in mice by a lethal dosage of LPS, and found that corynoline has a good protective effect in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, since sepsis is commonly induced by bacteria-released LPS, a sepsis model using heat-killed bacteria is a good approximation of clinical sepsis. In our present study, the sepsis mice induced by heat-killed E. coli was established, and the protective effect of corynoline on sepsis was further evaluate; the results revealed that the corynoline showed good protective effect on sepsis mice.

Therefore, LPS-induced sepsis model is one of the most used and effective methods used to screen antiseptic drugs.


Sepsis remains one of the leading causes of mortality in intensive care units (ICU), and was defined as the systemic host responses to severe infections and various organisms, viruses and fungi [4, 17, 18] . Host responses to severe infection result in the over expressions of proinflammatory mediators such as TNF-α and IL-6. TNF-α is one of the key mediators in the initiating of systemic inflammatory response, and IL-6 is considered as an important later mediator. Furthermore, both of the two mediators were involved in the activation of cytokine cascade in sepsis [19, 20] . In our present investigation, we examined the effect of corynoline on expressions of TNF-α and IL-6 in vivo and in vitro. Our results demonstrate that corynoline decreases the release of TNF-α and IL-6 induced by LPS in a dose-dependent manner, in vivo and in vitro, which is likely to be the mechanism of protective effect of corynoline in mice sepsis.

Sepsis remains one of the leading causes of mortality in intensive care units (ICU), and was defined as the systemic host responses to severe infections and various organisms, viruses and fungi.

Furthermore, both of the two mediators were involved in the activation of cytokine cascade in sepsis.


Driven by the need for a more effective and sustainable way of using our planet's resources, the research on the bio-economy shows that it has a great potential for balancing economic, social, and environmental benefits [22, 28] . Still, most products in the bio-economy are not profitable or exist only in a prototype or experimental version because most are still not commercially attractive [2, 34] . Therefore, this study proposes that the business model can be a useful tool for examining the status of all aspects relevant for commercialization and sufficient value generation. Through a systematic literature review of studies on a forest-based bio-economy that explicitly or implicitly address circular business models, this study has developed a previously lacking synthesis. This study offers several contributions to research on the implementation of the bio-economy. In particular, our research offers valuable insights into the implementation of circular business models in a bio-economy.

Driven by the need for a more effective and sustainable way of using our planet's resources, the research on the bio-economy shows that it has a great potential for balancing economic, social, and environmental benefits.

Still, most products in the bio-economy are not profitable or exist only in a prototype or experimental version because most are still not commercially attractive.


The shift towards a circular and bio-economy is one of the main focuses of political initiatives that aim to ensure that renewable biological sources are available to society while still achieving economic growth [1] . For example, research shows that the forest sector can contribute significantly to the development of a bio-economy that in turn supports regional development by creating new markets for advanced forest-based products [1] [2] [3] . The bio-economy is defined as the production of renewable biological resources and the conversion of these resources and waste streams into value-added products, such as food, bio-based products, and bioenergy, including both traditional and emerging sectors (e.g., agriculture, forestry, food, and pulp and paper production) as well as parts of chemical, biotechnological, and energy industries [4] . The literature on this type of economy devotes much attention to the technological aspects of new bio-based products as well as the political strategies that support a shift toward a sustainable bio-economy [5, 6] . However, to succeed with the transition to a bio-economy, there is a need to focus more on the economic feasibility of such initiatives because technological innovations alone are insufficient without a complementary business model innovation [7] . Therefore, a change to a bio-economy requires significant transformation of the innovating company's business model, which requires a redefinition of the value proposition, creation, delivery, and capture [2, 8, 9] . In contrast to traditional business models, we need circular business models for the bio-economy that ensure a focus on resources' lifecycles and efficiencies that involve actors beyond the focal company. This study defines a circular business model as one in which a focal company, together with partners, uses innovation to create, capture, and deliver value to improve resource efficiency by extending the lifespan of products and parts that thereby realizes environmental, social, and economic benefits [10] . The literature on the bio-economy often implicitly addresses certain aspects that are connected to circular business models but lacks an important holistic perspective of circular business models, which is needed to achieve a shift towards the bio-economy [11] . Currently, this literature does not fully explore the potential of the circular business model in a bio-economy, and several research gaps exist that show a need to study the bio-economy from the perspective of a business model.

The shift towards a circular and bio-economy is one of the main focuses of political initiatives that aim to ensure that renewable biological sources are available to society while still achieving economic growth.

For example, research shows that the forest sector can contribute significantly to the development of a bio-economy that in turn supports regional development by creating new markets for advanced forest-based products.

The bio-economy is defined as the production of renewable biological resources and the conversion of these resources and waste streams into value-added products, such as food, bio-based products, and bioenergy, including both traditional and emerging sectors (e.g., agriculture, forestry, food, and pulp and paper production) as well as parts of chemical, biotechnological, and energy industries.

The literature on this type of economy devotes much attention to the technological aspects of new bio-based products as well as the political strategies that support a shift toward a sustainable bio-economy.

However, to succeed with the transition to a bio-economy, there is a need to focus more on the economic feasibility of such initiatives because technological innovations alone are insufficient without a complementary business model innovation.

Therefore, a change to a bio-economy requires significant transformation of the innovating company's business model, which requires a redefinition of the value proposition, creation, delivery, and capture.

This study defines a circular business model as one in which a focal company, together with partners, uses innovation to create, capture, and deliver value to improve resource efficiency by extending the lifespan of products and parts that thereby realizes environmental, social, and economic benefits.

The literature on the bio-economy often implicitly addresses certain aspects that are connected to circular business models but lacks an important holistic perspective of circular business models, which is needed to achieve a shift towards the bio-economy.


First, much of the discussion related to circular business models for the bio-economy is fragmented across multiple academic disciplines and journals and lacks a thematic organization to drive the research agenda. This study argues that a business model may provide a focal lens to take stock of the literature on the bio-economy and identify key insights and knowledge gaps. A business model perspective is valuable as it inherently focuses on key underlying dimensions of the creation, delivery, and capture of value that are required to take a new bio-based technology from early innovation to full-scale commercialization. Although studies increasingly recognize business-model-related activities to be missing pieces of the puzzle in achieving the benefits of circular business models, none of the prior studies provide an overview of these activities [12] [13] [14] [15] . Specifically, the insights from business models related to the bio-economy are unique and currently not fully mapped out.

Although studies increasingly recognize business-model-related activities to be missing pieces of the puzzle in achieving the benefits of circular business models, none of the prior studies provide an overview of these activities.


The aim of this article is to present an overview of the modifications of gravity supported in hi_class and the way this support is implemented. Updated and more detailed information can be found on the website www.hiclass-code.net and the GitHub repository https://github.com/miguelzuma/hi_class_public. We start with a short review of Horndeski theories and the formulation we use to describe perturbations in Section 2. We then describe the modifications that have been introduced in CLASS and explain how to use all the features of the code in Section 3. The use of the public version of hi_class is free to the scientific community but conditional on the inclusion of references to at least this article and the CLASS paper [3] .

The use of the public version of hi_class is free to the scientific community but conditional on the inclusion of references to at least this article and the CLASS paper.


Three measured pressure histories at the primary detonation driver under different driving conditions are dipicted in Fig. 7 [21] . Figure 7a is measured under a single forward-detonation driver mode, in which the pressure jumps instantaneously to be almost 18 times higher than the initial value due to the arrival of detonation wave, then it gradually dropped below half of the peak value because of the Taylor wave, at last it keeps a constant value. Figure 7b and c are measured under the double detonation driver mode. Although the pressure jumps abruptly and then dropped also in Fig. 7b , the duration of the drop was shorter and the pressure platform value is higher than Fig. 7a obviously. In the case of Fig. 7b , only part of the Taylor wave is eliminated because the initial pressure ratio (P 8i /P 4i = 4) was lower than the critical value. Because the initial pressure ratio is close to the critical value in Fig. 7c (P 8i /P 4i = 6), the pressure does not drop after it jumped up at the beginning, which means the Taylor wave was almost eliminated. Both in Fig. 7b and c, the second pressure jumps were caused by the overtaken of the reflected shock waves from the end of the additional driver. Such interferences can be eliminated if the length of each section is designed properly.

Three measured pressure histories at the primary detonation driver under different driving conditions are dipicted in Fig. 7.


The complexity of teacher knowledge makes it extremely difficult to represent it within one overarching framework or theory (Fenstermacher, 1994) . In particular, any representation of teacher knowledge needs to reflect its socially constructed and dynamic nature. In this article, we have argued that underlying the complexities of teacher knowledge are certain key components and the transactional relationships among these components. The TPCK framework allows us to tease apart some of the key issues that are necessary for scholarly dialogue about educational technology. Our model considers how content, pedagogy, and technology dynamically coconstrain each other. Additionally, we show how the TPCK framework can be used to design pedagogical strategies and an analytic lens to study changes in educators' knowledge about successful teaching with technology. Our research shows that, given opportunities to thoughtfully engage in the design of educational technology, teachers showed tremendous growth in their sensitivity to the complex interactions among content, pedagogy, and technology, thus developing their TPCK. Often, analysis of group discussions focuses on the nature of control and evolution of group dynamics. However, by using a lens suggested by our model, focus was directed instead to what is truly important: a coherent and nuanced understanding of technological pedagogical content knowledge.

The complexity of teacher knowledge makes it extremely difficult to represent it within one overarching framework or theory.


An avenue for future research is to better understand why each of the SFS stress models overpredict the stresses above the surface within the WRF model. Such overprediction has not been observed in simulations conducted with the NBA model implemented into a pseudospectral code (Kosović 1997; Kosović and Curry 2000) . The backscatter coefficient, about which the NBA model constants are determined, was given a uniform value in the vertical direction during the simulations presented herein; however, because near the surface the filter cutoff 4226 is in energy the producing range and not in the inertial range, it should probably be formulated in a height dependent fashion, which could potentially improve the near-surface agreement with the expected solution.

Such overprediction has not been observed in simulations conducted with the NBA model implemented into a pseudospectral code.


For total AA, EAA, BCAA and leucine concentrations in blood, some participants reached higher values than others for all drinks. This individual difference in aminoacidemia was not directly related to body mass, which is reasonable to assume correlates with lean mass, as all participants were lean trained young men (see Additional file 5A). Nevertheless, the lighter participants did to some extent reach higher leucine levels with native whey than heavier participants. This observation is in line with a recent study finding no differences in the time dependent changes in blood leucine concentrations after intake of 20 g of whey protein in a group with low lean mass (<65 kg) to a group with high lean mass (>70 kg) [29] . Combined these findings might suggest that a certain amount of leucine is needed on order for leucine kinetics to be affected by body mass. Another interesting observation is the fact that some subjects had no difference in leucine peak or area under the curve after whey proteins compared to milk, whereas other participants increased their values considerably with the whey proteins compared to milk (see Additional file 5A and B). This suggests individual differences in blood leucine concentration response to whey vs. milk proteins.

This observation is in line with a recent study finding no differences in the time dependent changes in blood leucine concentrations after intake of 20 g of whey protein in a group with low lean mass (<65 kg) to a group with high lean mass (>70 kg).


Increasing or maintaining muscle mass is of great importance for populations ranging from athletes to patients and elderly. Resistance exercise and protein ingestion are two of the most important stimuli of muscle protein synthesis (MPS). After ingestion of protein, the increased appearance of circulating essential amino acids stimulates MPS through intracellular kinases [1] . The anabolic response to protein intake is further potentiated by resistance exercise [2] [3] [4] . Both the physical characteristics of proteins (e.g., different digestion rates of whey and casein) and the amino acid composition, affect the potential of a certain protein to stimulate MPS [5] [6] [7] .

After ingestion of protein, the increased appearance of circulating essential amino acids stimulates MPS through intracellular kinases.

The anabolic response to protein intake is further potentiated by resistance exercise.

Both the physical characteristics of proteins (e.g., different digestion rates of whey and casein) and the amino acid composition, affect the potential of a certain protein to stimulate MPS.


Our strength training protocol induced a small reduction (0-16%) in maximal force generating capacity, which recovered rapidly (within 22 h), indicating only mild muscular stress during the strength training session [32] . Earlier studies have indicated an attenuated strength decline when consuming whey protein after eccentric exercise compared to carbohydrates or placebo [33, 34] . As the current study involved a less strenuous workout and more comparable supplements a difference in recovery from exercise was less likely than in the previous studies. A more strenuous workout resulting in greater loss of force and increased muscle damage could possibly lead to differences between drinks. However, the workout applied in the current study is considered a normal workout, and thus more representative of typical training, in contrast to a workout of eccentric muscle actions. Moore and colleagues found the protein effect on MPS in young subjects to be maximized after dosages of approximately 20 g of high quality protein [4, 20] . One can speculate whether MPS reached a ceiling effect in the current study. Consequently, reducing the protein dose to a suboptimal level could be a stronger design to investigate these differences [22, 35] . A greater initial MPS after intake of whey would be considered an advantage for a quick recovery; however, this advantage might be short lived as the MPS after casein intake catches up after the first hours of recovery [8] . Looking at effects over time during an intensive training period can be an alternative approach, as the evidence of beneficial effects of protein on markers of muscle damage seems stronger when protein is consumed over time after daily training sessions [36] .

Our strength training protocol induced a small reduction (0-16%) in maximal force generating capacity, which recovered rapidly (within 22 h), indicating only mild muscular stress during the strength training session.

Earlier studies have indicated an attenuated strength decline when consuming whey protein after eccentric exercise compared to carbohydrates or placebo.

Moore and colleagues found the protein effect on MPS in young subjects to be maximized after dosages of approximately 20 g of high quality protein.

Consequently, reducing the protein dose to a suboptimal level could be a stronger design to investigate these differences.

A greater initial MPS after intake of whey would be considered an advantage for a quick recovery; however, this advantage might be short lived as the MPS after casein intake catches up after the first hours of recovery.

Looking at effects over time during an intensive training period can be an alternative approach, as the evidence of beneficial effects of protein on markers of muscle damage seems stronger when protein is consumed over time after daily training sessions.


The aim of the current study was to compare the time dependent changes in blood amino acid concentrations after ingestion of 20 g of five high quality but distinct dairy proteins; WPC-80, hydrolysed whey (WPH), microparticulated whey (MWP), native whey, and milk. Twenty grams of protein were chosen based on studies showing that 20 g of high quality protein is sufficient to maximally stimulate MPS [4, 20] . We hypothesised that native whey would induce a more rapid and higher leucinemia than WPC-80 due to the higher leucine content (claimed by the producers [19] ). Furthermore, because of the rapid absorption rates of amino acids from intact WPC-80, we hypothesised that hydrolysation or microparticulation of WPC-80 would not enhance time dependent changes in blood amino acid concentrations of this product.

Twenty grams of protein were chosen based on studies showing that 20 g of high quality protein is sufficient to maximally stimulate MPS.

We hypothesised that native whey would induce a more rapid and higher leucinemia than WPC-80 due to the higher leucine content (claimed by the producers).


In contrast to the differences in time dependent changes in blood amino acid concentrations, there were not many differences in blood glucose and urea responses to the various protein supplements. Nevertheless, serum glucose was higher with milk than WPH, WPC-80 and native whey at 30 min. Previous studies have shown a greater stimulation of insulin secretion by certain amino acids compositions and a rapid aminoacidemia compared to a slow and more sustained aminoacidemia [8, 30, 31] . As all drinks in the current study contained the same amount and composition of carbohydrates, the faster and greater aminoacidemia, together with the amino acid composition of the whey proteins could result in higher blood insulin levels and a greater transport of glucose into muscle. Serum urea increased after protein consumption for all groups at 90 and 120 min, indicating that a portion of the ingested amino acids was rapidly oxidized. The differences in absolute urea values between studies were mainly due to a higher baseline value for the WPC-80 trial. The relative change in urea concentration from baseline was higher after intake of WPH than after intake of milk, MWP, WPC-80 at 60 min, and WPC-80 and native whey at 120 min. As the total urea production, aminoacidemia and absolute values were similar between supplements; this relative difference in urea production at two time points probably has no physiological importance.

Previous studies have shown a greater stimulation of insulin secretion by certain amino acids compositions and a rapid aminoacidemia compared to a slow and more sustained aminoacidemia.


Milk contains two protein fractions, the readily digestible and so called "fast" whey fraction, and the slowly digestible and so called "slow" casein fraction. Although both fractions are considered to be of high quality, containing all essential amino acids (EAA), the difference in digestion rate, splanchnic extraction and amino acid profile gives them distinctive properties. Studies on muscle responses show that whey intake induces a large but transient rise in MPS, whereas casein intake produces a moderate more persistent increase in MPS [8] . The leucine threshold hypothesis suggests that a certain intracellular leucine concentration is needed in order to robustly increase MPS [9, 10] . Given its superior ability to rapidly increase blood leucine concentrations to high levels, whey is often considered the most effective protein source to stimulate MPS [11] .

Studies on muscle responses show that whey intake induces a large but transient rise in MPS, whereas casein intake produces a moderate more persistent increase in MPS.

The leucine threshold hypothesis suggests that a certain intracellular leucine concentration is needed in order to robustly increase MPS.

Given its superior ability to rapidly increase blood leucine concentrations to high levels, whey is often considered the most effective protein source to stimulate MPS.


In the electronics industry there is increased use of a variety of printing techniques to produce electrical conductors. The main components used in a printed RFID antenna are conductive ink and a substrate. Conductive inks consist of a polymer matrix, conductive fillers, and solvents. Silver particles are commonly used as the conductive filler material. Paper, plastic, and fabric can be used as the substrate material. The printing techniques offer a new way to transfer electronics circuits onto several materials, such as paper, plastic, and fabric. Different printing technologies require different ink characteristics [3, 6] .

Different printing technologies require different ink characteristics.


For over 30 years, Risk Assessment and Management has been a stand-alone scientific discipline, and several attempts have been made to establish widely accepted definitions of key terms and concepts related to the field of risk [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] . In this respect, it is important to clarify the concept of risk first. The Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) gives both qualitative definitions of risk and risk metrics [14, 15] .

For over 30 years, Risk Assessment and Management has been a stand-alone scientific discipline, and several attempts have been made to establish widely accepted definitions of key terms and concepts related to the field of risk.

The Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) gives both qualitative definitions of risk and risk metrics.


Knight F.H. focusing on the measurability of uncertainties, distinguishes between measurable uncertainties, properly defined risks, and unmeasurable uncertainties, which represent the true uncertainties: «It will appear that a measurable uncertainty, or "risk" proper, as we shall use the term, is so far different from an unmeasurable one that it is not in effect an uncertainty at all. We shall accordingly restrict the term "uncertainty" to cases of the non-quantitative type. It is this "true" uncertainty, and not risk, as has been argued, which forms the basis of a valid theory of profit and accounts for the divergence between actual and theoretical competition» [19] . According to this interpretation, the consequences arising from risky events can have both negative and positive characters, thus configuring possible losses, but also opportunities that result in a higher value [20] .

It is this "true" uncertainty, and not risk, as has been argued, which forms the basis of a valid theory of profit and accounts for the divergence between actual and theoretical competition».

According to this interpretation, the consequences arising from risky events can have both negative and positive characters, thus configuring possible losses, but also opportunities that result in a higher value.


Those described are widely shared concepts in fields of application that are also very different: From finance to security engineering, from health to transport sector, as well as in the supply chain management [21] . Nonetheless, the risk assessment and management process are essential to express judgments of economic convenience on investment initiatives. This is especially true for civil engineering projects, where the risk components are not only of an economic nature, but also of an environmental, social and cultural character [22] .

Those described are widely shared concepts in fields of application that are also very different: From finance to security engineering, from health to transport sector, as well as in the supply chain management.

This is especially true for civil engineering projects, where the risk components are not only of an economic nature, but also of an environmental, social and cultural character.


The current study also demonstrated an excellent effect on growth performance and reduction of malodour. In this study, OE and AE showed a similar effect in reducing the production of H 2 S. The emission of NH 3 and thus malodour was decreased in the treatment with essential oil, and in the treatment with a combination of PB and OC. However, H 2 S emission was not affected significantly by the essential oil treatment (P <0.05). The production of VFAs was not significantly different (P >0.05). However, in a previous study it was shown that the blend of OA and nature identical compounds included in OE increased its antimicrobial effect, leading to a reduction in the concentration of VFAs (Grilli et al., 2010) . Besides, the decrease ileum digestibility promoted by essential oil supplementation was caused by instantaneous decrease in the caecal VFA concentrations, especially in diets containing 18% CP (Manzanilla et al., 2009) . Thus, the effect of reduction of the VFAs by essential oils has already been demonstrated. Therefore, there is a need for further research into the effects of essential oils on the concentration of VFAs.

However, in a previous study it was shown that the blend of OA and nature identical compounds included in OE increased its antimicrobial effect, leading to a reduction in the concentration of VFAs.

Besides, the decrease ileum digestibility promoted by essential oil supplementation was caused by instantaneous decrease in the caecal VFA concentrations, especially in diets containing 18% CP.


In this study, blood profiles did not differ significantly in the treatments. In addition, in a previous study, some immunological substances in the blood were increased, but the characteristics of BUN, LDL, and HDL were not altered significantly (Cho et al., 2006) . Furthermore, sows increased some immune substances in serum, and ADFI and ADG of growth performance were enhanced in the sow and nursing piglets (Wang et al., 2015) .

In addition, in a previous study, some immunological substances in the blood were increased, but the characteristics of BUN, LDL, and HDL were not altered significantly.

Furthermore, sows increased some immune substances in serum, and ADFI and ADG of growth performance were enhanced in the sow and nursing piglets.


Several compounds, such as NH 3 (ammonia), H 2 S (hydrogen sulfide), VFA (volatile fatty acids), and other odorous noxious gases are well known as odour-inducing substances in livestock facilities. In addition, several studies have indicated that eliminating malodours is costly and treatment for removal ranges from $0.1 to $3/1000 m 3 /year (Chung et al., 2004) . Over the last few decades, several materials to treat this effectively have been analysed. Compounds such as essential oils, probiotics, organic acids, and charcoal have been utilized to eliminate malodours (Yan et al., 2010; Yan & Kim, 2013; Balasubramanian et al., 2016; Chao et al., 2016) .

In addition, several studies have indicated that eliminating malodours is costly and treatment for removal ranges from $0.1 to $3/1000 m 3 /year.

Compounds such as essential oils, probiotics, organic acids, and charcoal have been utilized to eliminate malodours.


Essential oils have been demonstrated to improve performance and reduce diarrhoea by improving immune status, intestinal ecology, and nutrient digestibility in pigs (Li et al., 2012a) . Furthermore, supplementation of herb extract mixtures, including those from buckwheat, thyme, curcuma, black pepper, and ginger, is not only effective in growth performance and blood cell concentration, but decreases NH 3 and H 2 S, which are the noxious gases in faeces . When fed anise oil, the feed intake of sow progeny improved significantly during lactation, their growth performance increased significantly during the later nursing period, and there were positive effects on feed efficiency (Charal et al., 2016) .

Essential oils have been demonstrated to improve performance and reduce diarrhoea by improving immune status, intestinal ecology, and nutrient digestibility in pigs.

When fed anise oil, the feed intake of sow progeny improved significantly during lactation, their growth performance increased significantly during the later nursing period, and there were positive effects on feed efficiency.


In this study, it was demonstrated that most of the additives OE, OC, and AE enhanced the growth performance. Among them, essential oils proved best in terms of growth performance. In addition, the values of BW, ADG, ADFI, and G : F were improved significantly by dietary supplementation with OE and AE. In a previous study, supplementation of vanillin (essential oil) increased feed intake and growth performance (Gallage et al., 2014) . In addition, the essential oils were beneficial in increasing feed intake, digestive secretions, and immune stimulation, and enhancing anti-bacterial, antiviral, and antioxidant characteristics (Wenk, 2003) .

In a previous study, supplementation of vanillin (essential oil) increased feed intake and growth performance.

In addition, the essential oils were beneficial in increasing feed intake, digestive secretions, and immune stimulation, and enhancing anti-bacterial, antiviral, and antioxidant characteristics.


The effects of AE on nutrient digestibility and DM digestibility were statistically significant. Furthermore, the OE, AE, and PB treatments led to statistically significant changes in the digestibility of CP. In another study, supplementing the diet with an essential oil increased the digestibility of CP and amino acids (Maenner et al., 2011) . In the treatment, OE increased the growth performance and nutrient digestibility in finishing pigs. Moreover, other studies have suggested that essential oils improved growth performance, measured in terms of BW, ADG, ADFI, and G : F, because they stimulated intestinal enzymes, leading to increased nutrient digestibility, balance of microbiota, and feed intake (Huang et al., 2010; Li et al., 2012b; Lan et al., 2016) . Additionally, a previous study revealed that a microencapsulated feed containing organic acids and essential oil added to finishing pig diet could increase growth performance, nutrient digestibility of DM, and energy (Cho et al., 2014) . More recently, lactic acid bacteria were proved to be effective in this regard. Enterococcus faecium DSM 7134, a lactic acid bacterium, showed beneficial effects on the apparent ileal digestibility of CP and amino acid, and on intestinal health (Zhang & Kim, 2015) .

In another study, supplementing the diet with an essential oil increased the digestibility of CP and amino acids.

Moreover, other studies have suggested that essential oils improved growth performance, measured in terms of BW, ADG, ADFI, and G : F, because they stimulated intestinal enzymes, leading to increased nutrient digestibility, balance of microbiota, and feed intake.

Additionally, a previous study revealed that a microencapsulated feed containing organic acids and essential oil added to finishing pig diet could increase growth performance, nutrient digestibility of DM, and energy.

Enterococcus faecium DSM 7134, a lactic acid bacterium, showed beneficial effects on the apparent ileal digestibility of CP and amino acid, and on intestinal health.


In preliminary attempts, these improvements were made successfully by feeding essential oils (thymol and carvacrol) or probiotics (Varel, 2002) . Furthermore, probiotics were regarded as common supplements for such improvements. NH 3 concentration was decreased dramatically on feeding probiotics (Philippe et al., 2011) . Consequently, all these substances were demonstrated to be effective for odour reduction. Although all the substances were proved to be essential for odour elimination, there has not been an analytical comparison of them.

In preliminary attempts, these improvements were made successfully by feeding essential oils (thymol and carvacrol) or probiotics.

NH 3 concentration was decreased dramatically on feeding probiotics.


With the progress of medical technologies, people are living longer, but age-related physical degeneration still affects the quality of life. Rikli and Jones suggested that elderly tend to sit for long periods of time, but regular exercise can improve their physical functioning and reduce mortality [1] . Exercises can enhance cardiopulmonary function, flexibility, and the sense of balance. Vertical or horizontal instantaneous moving or exercises that require endurance or twisting of the body are helpful for the sense of balance. Walking, jogging, aerobic dancing, sitting and standing, and calisthenics are suitable for the elderly [2] . Moreover, the American College of Sport Medicine has suggested that regular exercises can improve cognitive function, reduce depression, improve sleeping quality, and enhance the quality of life. Therefore, exercises are not only recreational activities, but also means of rehabilitation. By exercising, people can recover and maintain physical health. Many studies have indicated that rehabilitation exercises or movement therapy can improve physical functions and reduce disability [3] [4] [5] [6] .

Rikli and Jones suggested that elderly tend to sit for long periods of time, but regular exercise can improve their physical functioning and reduce mortality.

Walking, jogging, aerobic dancing, sitting and standing, and calisthenics are suitable for the elderly.

Many studies have indicated that rehabilitation exercises or movement therapy can improve physical functions and reduce disability.


Acquired results are the only subject for discussion. As this study is based on quite a novel approach combining stereotypes and system dynamics modelling, the methodological point of view can be scrutinised as well. Based on the aforementioned analysis of socio-economic systems, one can ask a fundamental question whether it is possible to a priori decide if balancing and reinforcing feedbacks per se support sustainability of socio-economic systems or not [50] . There are two issues that need to be considered. First, the question can be answered separately for particular topics (diagrams); however, several iterations of the tracking of changes in single feedback loops need to be conducted. Only then, an estimation of dominant feedbacks can be performed. This is not a simple task and still represents an actual topic in the system dynamics research [51] . The problem is that this type of dynamic is not connected with the usage of exact values of constants or variables. Only the changes in terms of polarity are investigated. Thus, this behaviour cannot be both simulated and exactly measured. Therefore, dominance can be only estimated, not exactly determined. Second, as the stereotypes are interconnected, the diagrams mutually overlap. Although this does not have to be apparent at the first glance, all of them describe one system, and thus, if constructed appropriately, a mutual relationship has to be identified. The existing shared variables are mostly hidden due to semantics. One concept can be expressed in several ways or using various words. Without a unified vocabulary thesaurus or support from the ontological modelling, these intersections can be easily missed. Therefore, balancing and reinforcing feedbacks need to be considered, and their relation to sustainability has to be determined individually. However, this reflects only theoretical or potential influence. In practice, the significance and dominance of particular feedbacks cause the observed behaviour, regardless of its support to keep or ruin sustainability.

Based on the aforementioned analysis of socio-economic systems, one can ask a fundamental question whether it is possible to a priori decide if balancing and reinforcing feedbacks per se support sustainability of socio-economic systems or not.

This is not a simple task and still represents an actual topic in the system dynamics research.


One popular method to reduce cache power is to power-gate large blocks of memory at the cost of losing its state [6] . But as cache density increases, the performance and power costs of this approach also increase. One of the important goals in implementing idle states is reducing power consumption, while minimizing the transition latency into and out of the idle state. In the Intel ® Core™ 2, a transition out of the C4 idle state can take about 100-200us [9] . In contrast, if the state in a 128MB eDRAM cache were sacrificed to save power, it would take 4.2ms to refetch the 128MB of lost data assuming full usage of the 30GB/s bandwidth provided by system memory. In future products with denser eDRAM caches, navigating the tradeoffs between idle exit latency and idle power consumption will become increasingly difficult. As the capacity of embedded memory grows, the performance and power cost of flushing this memory also grows. A key challenge for future product designers is to enable flexible memory structures that can operate at very low idle power, without dramatically increasing transition latency to and from the idle power state due to data loss.

One popular method to reduce cache power is to power-gate large blocks of memory at the cost of losing its state.

In the Intel ® Core™ 2, a transition out of the C4 idle state can take about 100-200us.


The measurement of the profitability of the public sector as a supplier of public services is difficult; particularly, in the field of education several attempts have been observed in the literature to do it. The estimation of efficient frontiers opens the possibility of detecting inefficient situations. This means that we can improve the performance of the public sector without increasing the resources assigned (output orientation) or that we can maintain performance of the public sector even if we reduce public resources (input orientation). Furthermore, the question of efficiency gives a new dimension to the current debate on the size of the state (Afonso and Aubyn, 2005) .

Furthermore, the question of efficiency gives a new dimension to the current debate on the size of the state.


Results of the intertemporal study (125 DMUs considering all 5 years together) show a decrease in efficiency scores during the 2008-2009 period. This period was also the first with a decrease in the Andorran population and in the number of students in the elementary grade. Efficiency scores of these 125 DMUs also show one school belonging to the educational system C that appears every year at the frontier (DMU14, DMU39, DMU64 DMU89 and DMU114). In table 1 we can observe that this school, during the first academic year analysed is the most used as a benchmark for other DMUs and every year is used less as a benchmark, as the other schools at the frontier. There are 4 more schools, 2 belonging to the educational system C and 2 belonging to the educational system D, which appeared different times at the frontier. The school with the lowest score is the same in different years and belongs to the educational system B. Overall the intertemporal results depicts a similar assessment than the one produced with the contemporary estimation. Just for controlling the potential bias in the deterministic frontier and for solving dimensionality problems, a second analysis was performed through the bootstrapping estimation method. To do this, FEAR software is used to apply the intertemporal DEA technique with bootstrap (Simar and Wilson, 2000) . Generating successive evaluations with changed data in order to obtain a new distribution of efficiency levels representative of the original (correct but unknown) distribution it is possible to correct the potential bias. We organise efficiency scores and we find the most efficient DMUs: DMU16, DMU41, DMU19, DMU64, DMU39, DMU14, DMU89, DMU44, DMU114. All of them are from educational system C, except two (DMU19 and DMU44), that are the same school of educational system D, in different years. This confirms that the C systems appears to be the most efficient independently of the estimation method employed. Table 2 resumes these results.

To do this, FEAR software is used to apply the intertemporal DEA technique with bootstrap.

Table 2 resumes these results.


NiTi and CuNiTi showed high corrosion resistance. TMA archwires were shown to be inert to corrosion at the conditions under which the test was performed. These results are similar to those found by other authors for archwires used in conventional orthodontics [37] [38] [39] .

These results are similar to those found by other authors for archwires used in conventional orthodontics.


Based on the findings of the current study, there were significant improvements in the post-tests of jumping performance in two training surfaces of grass and concrete. This indicates that the plyometric training was effective in improving the jumping performance of the athletes irrespective of the training surfaces. For SJ, the improvement was 8.16% in grass surface, while in the concrete surface was 5.52%. This indicates that SJ performance improves greater in grass surface of plyometric training. The result of the present study have contradicted a previous study which found that the CMJ improved more than SJ on a grass surface (Impellizzeri, Rampinini, Castagna, Martino, Fiorini & Wisloff, 2007) .

The result of the present study have contradicted a previous study which found that the CMJ improved more than SJ on a grass surface.


In volleyball, there are specific movement patterns associated with jumping, including the block jump and attack or spike jump. Thus, SJ and CMJ are important in those movements (Sattler, Sekulic, Hadzic, Uljevic & Dervisevic, 2012) . As the level of competition becomes higher, these become more important, especially when playing in the front row. The ability to jump high vertically is always the main focus for coaches when they train their athletes.

Thus, SJ and CMJ are important in those movements.


Our results suggest that QuickBird imagery effectively captured the CC of black locust plantations. The generated map displayed the continuous distribution of CC over a large spatial area (Figure 6 ), which highlights the convenience of using satellite data for mapping large areas. Such maps can be used to improve the planning and management of tasks, such as land-cover mapping and land-use classification, among others. High CC forests, especially those with a young forest stage, need thinning and pruning to decrease the space and resource competition among individual trees [69] . Young forests with low CC values can lead to enclosures and replanting. Moreover, quantitative maps of forest resources can be used for decision-making by managers and for monitoring a variety of forest inventory parameters, such as forest area changes, biomass accumulation, and health conditions [5, 44, 68] .

High CC forests, especially those with a young forest stage, need thinning and pruning to decrease the space and resource competition among individual trees.

Moreover, quantitative maps of forest resources can be used for decision-making by managers and for monitoring a variety of forest inventory parameters, such as forest area changes, biomass accumulation, and health conditions.


Guava is a fruit plant originating from the American tropics (Nakasone & Paull, 1998) . Guava in Indonesia has many varieties including Red Guava, Wijaya Merah, Deli, and Crystal. The shape, size, taste and color of guava fruit flesh vary depending on the variety. Guava generally has a large number of seeds and having soft flesh when ripened. The superiority of Crystal guava is to have a very few seeds (less than 3 % parts of fruit or even seedless), fresh sweet fruit flavors, and crisp fruit texture. Crystal guava is an introduced fruit plant from Taiwan. Its variety was released by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2007 (Direktorat Perbenihan Hortikultura, 2007) .

Guava is a fruit plant originating from the American tropics.

Its variety was released by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2007.


Generally, farmers prune the weak, unhealthy, and excessive branches or small portion of the shoots by leaving around 8 pairs of leaves or more. Pruning a small portion of shoots may leave apical dominance effect that can suppress initiation of axial buds. Suppressing of axial buds by terminal shoots has been stated by previous researchers (Cline, 1997; Shimizu-Sato & Mori, 2001) . More severe pruning needs to be performed to release apical dominance therefore more axial buds will emerge. In this experiment, the application of severe pruning by leaving 4 pairs of leaves, light pruning by leaving 8 pairs of leaves and un-pruned shoots as the control have been investigated to get a better pruning technique that is appropriate for guava plants.

Suppressing of axial buds by terminal shoots has been stated by previous researchers.


Pruning is useful to control growth so that the leaf architecture becomes more compact and the distance from source to sink becomes shorter. Source is an organ (leaf) and all photosynthetic plant tissues, whereas sinks are all parts of plants that do not photosynthesize or it photosynthesizes but not maximum, so that some of their carbohydrate needs are provided by the sources (Taiz & Zieger, 2010) . The shorter distance between source and sink will cause the use of assimilation to be more effective and the translocation will be smoothly (Ainsworth & Bush, 2011) .

Source is an organ (leaf) and all photosynthetic plant tissues, whereas sinks are all parts of plants that do not photosynthesize or it photosynthesizes but not maximum, so that some of their carbohydrate needs are provided by the sources.

The shorter distance between source and sink will cause the use of assimilation to be more effective and the translocation will be smoothly.


One way to introduce genetic variability is through mutation using chemical agents or ionizing radiation. Mutation may induce one or more change in characteristic of the mutated organisms. The characteristic changes may occur at the gene level which will be passed to the next generation (Carlile & Watkinson 1994) . Mutation is applied to edible mushrooms to obtain better quality and productivity. The desired mutant characteristic can be economically beneficial for example resistant to pathogen, higher yield, etc.

The characteristic changes may occur at the gene level which will be passed to the next generation.


Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) storage has been successfully applied in order to prolong the shelf life of sweet cherries [5, 6] . With MAP in cold storage, cherry storage life can be as long as 30-40 days [7] . However, traditional MAP is not enough to ensure quality and safety preservation to fulfill consumer demand [2] . Therefore, MAP storage must be combined with other new treatments.

Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) storage has been successfully applied in order to prolong the shelf life of sweet cherries.

With MAP in cold storage, cherry storage life can be as long as 30-40 days.

However, traditional MAP is not enough to ensure quality and safety preservation to fulfill consumer demand.