Providing TiO 2 with greater interracial contact with the GO surface with lower aggregation is important to improve the photocatalytic performance of GO-TiO 2 composites as this could promote the electron transfer and charge separation from TiO 2 to GO [25] . Comparing with TiO 2 nanoparticles, long TiO 2 nanotubes (TON) have a higher specific surface area and more active sites. Then, while TON and GO have a greater degree of interfacial contact, charge separation would be better; moreover, under higher aspect ratio of TON, the photocatalytic property would be improved [27] . Therefore, we put forward a simple way for the preparation of the rGO-TON hydrogel to remove ciprofloxacin from aqueous solution. Rather than the traditional simultaneous adsorption and photocatalytic degradation, the photocatalytic degradation is operated after adsorption in our study, which would acquire better light availability because the pollutant is more concentrated on the adsorbents after adsorption. The separation of adsorption and photocatalytic degradation would avoid the light scattering caused by external environment or the pollutants. For rGO-TON hydrogel with a 3D microstructure, the separation and regeneration are easy. The results of this work are of great significance for environmental applications of regenerable long TiO 2 nanotube/ graphene oxide, as a promising adsorbent nanomaterial for ciprofloxacin pollutants from aqueous solutions.

Providing TiO 2 with greater interracial contact with the GO surface with lower aggregation is important to improve the photocatalytic performance of GO-TiO 2 composites as this could promote the electron transfer and charge separation from TiO 2 to GO.

Then, while TON and GO have a greater degree of interfacial contact, charge separation would be better; moreover, under higher aspect ratio of TON, the photocatalytic property would be improved.


Computer-aided detection and diagnosis (CAD) systems are increasingly being used as an aid by clinicians for detection and interpretation of diseases [1] . So far a number of CAD systems have been approved for clinical use and many more are currently under development. In general, a CAD system employs a classifier to detect or distinguish between abnormal and normal tissues in images. In the phase of classification, a set of image features and/or texture features extracted from the images are used. The performance of a CAD system largely depends on the determination and selection of the features relevant to a specific application. Therefore, feature determination and feature selection are very important tasks in the development of CAD [2] .

Computer-aided detection and diagnosis (CAD) systems are increasingly being used as an aid by clinicians for detection and interpretation of diseases.

Therefore, feature determination and feature selection are very important tasks in the development of CAD.


The main obstacle for direct application of the AFW-method to functions on the set of states with bounded energy consists in the difficulty to estimate the energy of the states proportional to the operators [ρ−σ] ± for any states ρ and σ satisfying (3). To avoid this problem A.Winter recently proposed the two-step technique based on combination of the AFW-method with the special finitedimensional approximation of arbitrary states with bounded energy [4] . This technique allows to obtain asymptotically tight continuity bounds for the von Neumann entropy, for the conditional entropy and for the conditional mutual information under the constraint (3) on one subsystem [4, 5] . But application of Winter's technique to any LAA-function f is limited by the approximation step, since it requires special estimates depending on f .

To avoid this problem A.Winter recently proposed the two-step technique based on combination of the AFW-method with the special finitedimensional approximation of arbitrary states with bounded energy.

This technique allows to obtain asymptotically tight continuity bounds for the von Neumann entropy, for the conditional entropy and for the conditional mutual information under the constraint (3) on one subsystem.


Morphological studies of Biomphalaria species identification have been widely carried out and differentiation between some species may be difficult mainly due to phenotypic similarities, size of collected specimens and inadequate fixation procedures [1] . Identification of Biomphalaria species is important to further understand the schistosomiasis epidemiology. Considering the fact that morphological identification may become difficult or even impossible under particular circumstances, the use of molecular-based methods have permitted the generation of more consistent information concerning the population structure of Biomphalaria furthering knowledge on taxonomy and diagnosis of infection. In addition to variation in snail susceptibility and parasite infectivity, the host species identification constitutes an important issue due to morphological similarities, host snail populations have been sometimes misidentified as refractory, which, actually, do not constitute a host species [2] . DNA markers provide opportunity for genetic characterization and allow direct comparison of different genetic material independent of environmental influences [3] .

Morphological studies of Biomphalaria species identification have been widely carried out and differentiation between some species may be difficult mainly due to phenotypic similarities, size of collected specimens and inadequate fixation procedures.

In addition to variation in snail susceptibility and parasite infectivity, the host species identification constitutes an important issue due to morphological similarities, host snail populations have been sometimes misidentified as refractory, which, actually, do not constitute a host species.

DNA markers provide opportunity for genetic characterization and allow direct comparison of different genetic material independent of environmental influences.


Elasticity is the most promising feature of cloud computing, which enables the readjustment of the underlying computational resources at runtime to meet application demands. This helps to avoid the degradation of system performance, to reduce operational cost and to minimize the energy consumption of the system [1] . An elastic policy is usually required to exploit the elastic architecture of cloud computing. This policy is responsible for maintaining the performance of the system at an acceptable level with the lowest cost possible. However, providing such an efficient policy is a challenging task.

This helps to avoid the degradation of system performance, to reduce operational cost and to minimize the energy consumption of the system.


Data on the effects of swiddening on carbon stocks in soil and vegetation is characterized by its scarcity and inconclusiveness as is evidence from the alternative tree based systems. The pool of aboveground biomass is fairly easy to measure but since most allometric equations have been developed for primary forests and not for fallow regrowth, the estimates of aboveground carbon stocks in swidden cultivation are uncertain (Ketterings et al. 2001) . Moreover, it is difficult to compare the aboveground carbon storage of different systems as very few studies report the aboveground carbon storage as time-averaged carbon storage. The calculated changes in time-averaged aboveground carbon stocks and in SOC stocks following swidden transformations presented in Table 1 are, therefore, based on a limited number of studies and should only be perceived as rough estimates.

The pool of aboveground biomass is fairly easy to measure but since most allometric equations have been developed for primary forests and not for fallow regrowth, the estimates of aboveground carbon stocks in swidden cultivation are uncertain.


The last few decades have seen a rapid transformation of swidden cultivation throughout Southeast Asia (Padoch et al. 2007) . The scale and nature of these changes are still not well understood, but a recent review of 151 studies of swidden cultivation across Southeast Asia suggests that the system is mainly being replaced by continuous annual cropping or by perennial crops such as rubber, fruit trees, oil palm or timber ). Evidence of persisting swidden systems was, however, found in half of the reviewed papers although it is noted that the majority of the persisting systems are in transformation as fallow periods are reported to be decreasing ).

The last few decades have seen a rapid transformation of swidden cultivation throughout Southeast Asia.


The transformations of swidden cultivation have a wide range of environmental consequences at the local and at the global level. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) currently estimates that land use change accounts for 20% of global anthropogenic carbon emissions (IPCC 2007) . Estimates of the yearly contribution of CO 2 from land use and land cover changes taking place in Southeast Asia during the 1990's range from 0.3 to 0.5 Gt C year −1 (Achard et al. 2002) . These CO 2 emissions arise from changes in the pool of organic carbon in the aboveground biomass and in the pool of soil organic carbon (SOC) following land use transitions. The focus of this paper is on the effects of swidden transformations on the global carbon budget in terms of carbon storage in soil and vegetation and on the effects at plot level in terms of the effects on soil quality.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) currently estimates that land use change accounts for 20% of global anthropogenic carbon emissions.

Estimates of the yearly contribution of CO 2 from land use and land cover changes taking place in Southeast Asia during the 1990's range from 0.3 to 0.5 Gt C year −1.


Most studies of the effects of land use changes on soil properties have applied the spatial analogue method that involves the comparison of soil samples collected from the land use type under investigation to adjacent forested areas. It is assumed that the soil properties of the forested areas and the cultivated areas were the same before the latter was cultivated and differences are attributed to the land use history of the cultivated fields. These assumptions are in several ways problematic as it has been shown that farmers purposefully select the soils with the highest quality for the more intensive agriculture and use the poorest soils more extensively with longer fallow periods or as forests (Aumtong et al. 2009; Mertz et al. 2008) . This brings about a soil quality effect on land use rather than the opposite and may severely compromise the spatial analogue approach. The approach is further compromised by the fact that in upland areas the spatial heterogeneity in terms of soil texture, clay mineralogy and topography is often very high and may override the effects of land use (Bruun et al. 2006; Powers and Veldkamp 2005) . Therefore, great caution should be taken before establishing a causal relationship between land use and soil quality. Nevertheless, the majority of the literature on effects of land use changes on soil quality suffers from the assumption that land use is independent of initial soil quality, and that differences in soil quality are caused by land use alone. Future research must explicitly consider the two way interaction between land use and inherent soil quality. Land use independent fertility indicators could be used to account for the effects of inherent fertility and attention should be paid to the ecological considerations behind farmers' land use decisions. Repeated samplings from the same plots under a variety of land uses may-in spite of the obvious disadvantages in terms of duration-still be needed in order to firmly quantify time and management effects on soil quality and carbon stocks. The influence of spatial heterogeneity on the investigated parameters must be carefully considered and effects of e.g. topography and soil type on the storage and dynamics of SOC and soil nutrients must be understood to make valid cross-site comparisons of the environmental consequences of land use transitions.

These assumptions are in several ways problematic as it has been shown that farmers purposefully select the soils with the highest quality for the more intensive agriculture and use the poorest soils more extensively with longer fallow periods or as forests.

The approach is further compromised by the fact that in upland areas the spatial heterogeneity in terms of soil texture, clay mineralogy and topography is often very high and may override the effects of land use.


Ordinary it is supposed that the final stage (period) of the phase transition is the stage of coalescence. This name goes from the theory given by Lifshic and Slezov [1] . This terminology is not absolutely correct -formally the coalescence means the adhesion of the embryos. But the Lifshic-Slezov (LS) consideration does not take into account the adhesion, the evolution in the LS picture is the competition between the embryos through the exhaustion of the vapor environment. One has to clarify this difference. In the case of adhesion we shall speak about the coagulation and when the Lifshic-Slezov mechanism takes place we shall speak about the over-condensation.

This name goes from the theory given by Lifshic and Slezov.

One has to clarify this difference.


Recently, research in signal enhancement and speech recognition has begun to focus more on the larger domain of distributed microphones [5] . Figure  1 illustrates an example of a typical distributed microphone scenario for the general case of omnidirectional sources in a diffuse noise field. Although there is not nearly as much research in this area, distributed microphones are becoming more common in practice for applications such as speaker spotting and tracking systems and generalize both the structured microphone environments of single-channel microphones and microphone arrays to an unstructured microphone environment. Specifically, distributed microphones involve an arbitrary placement of the microphones at potentially far distances from each other and the source with longer, unknown time-delays and larger, unknown signal attenuation. Researchers have found that microphones distributed over a wide area of interest have the potential to better reduce noise in both acoustic signals and feature vectors by exploiting significant acoustic and spatial information of the speech and noise sources [6] . Through the utilization of distributed microphones, speech enhancement and recognition systems can improve over simply selecting the closest microphone in the presence of background noise.

Recently, research in signal enhancement and speech recognition has begun to focus more on the larger domain of distributed microphones.

Researchers have found that microphones distributed over a wide area of interest have the potential to better reduce noise in both acoustic signals and feature vectors by exploiting significant acoustic and spatial information of the speech and noise sources.


Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is one of the most widely-produced plastics. Its demand is continuously increasing worldwide. The volume of PVC world market reached 34 million tons in year 2008. Moreover, the PVC demand is expected to be totally more than 40 million tons in the year 2016 [1] . PVC is commercially produced from polymerization of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), which is manufactured industrially via dehydrochlorination of dichloroethane (ethylene-based process) or hydrochlorination of acetylene (acetylene-based process). In China, the PVC capacity has increased more than 20% annually since 2000 and become greater than USA since 2005, becoming the first rank worldwide. Currently PVC production through the acetylene-based process accounts for about 70% of the total PVC production capacity in China [2] . In commercial acetylene-based process, acetylene gas reacts with anhydrous hydrochloric gas over mercuric chloride supported on activated carbon to produce vinyl chloride monomer (VCM). This reaction is exothermic and highly selective at an optimum reaction temperature of about 170-180 o C [3] [4] [5] . The major problem of this process is arisen from sublimation of mercuric chloride during the production. This does not only affect catalyst deactivation but also cause severe safety and environmental problems [6] .

Moreover, the PVC demand is expected to be totally more than 40 million tons in the year 2016.

Currently PVC production through the acetylene-based process accounts for about 70% of the total PVC production capacity in China.

This reaction is exothermic and highly selective at an optimum reaction temperature of about 170-180 o C.

This does not only affect catalyst deactivation but also cause severe safety and environmental problems.


The thickness of the oil film in tribological components is a key parameter. If the film is very thin, then surface contact can occur resulting in high friction and wear. If the film is very thick, energy is expended needlessly in overcoming churning loses. The film is usually very thin that it is small compared with elastic distortions of the bearing elements. For this reason, measurement of the bulk separation of the bearing components is not usually sensitive enough to deduce the oil film thickness. Electrical resistance and capacitance have proved useful methods, as have optical methods. However, both these approaches require modifications to the bearing machinery that frequently precludes their application outside of the laboratory [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] .

However, both these approaches require modifications to the bearing machinery that frequently precludes their application outside of the laboratory.


The early involvement of the maintenance manager is fundamental [63, 64] . Different views in the assignment can be proposed and then discussed, even on a case by case basis, with the maintenance manager. For example, if an action is assigned to several classes, a discussion with the decision-maker must be conducted to decide which of the strategy must be selected or if a mix of strategies can be implemented. Clearly some strategies are not compatible, it is therefore important to have this discussion with the decision-maker.

The early involvement of the maintenance manager is fundamental.


Maintenance management has become a key strategic task in an organisation as testified in recent state of the art surveys [1] [2] [3] . The main objective of maintenance is to keep machine resources running by extending their availability through a combination of technical and administrative actions. Neglected machines may lead to breakdowns causing production or service disruption resulting in delays, planning problems, bottlenecks, high costs or even human casualties. Managers need, therefore, to select the correct maintenance strategy since disruption has a significant impact on budget, technological choices, managerial and organisational procedures, etc. In addition, plants can have thousands of machines (e.g. gauges, pumps, filters, compressors), and their management can be difficult and cumbersome.

Maintenance management has become a key strategic task in an organisation as testified in recent state of the art surveys.


The present work is based on our previous contribution on type ranking [5] . However, we extend our previous article in several different ways: We propose a new context-aware approach to rank entity types that extends the notion of context in which an entity appears to exploit the text surrounding it in addition to other co-occurring entities (Section 6.4), and a new method that mixes different features coming from both the knowledge base, including entity popularity, and the type hierarchy (Section6.5. We report additional detail on the methods we used to build our text collection, including a pilot study we did in order to evaluate the best task design to collect relevance judgements (Section 7). We add a discussion on the relation among the features we take into consideration and on the comparison between hierarchy based and context-aware methods for ranking entity types (Section 9). The rest of the paper is structured as follows. We start below by describing related work from entity-search and ad-hoc object retrieval. Then, we introduce the most important concepts in the Web of Data (Section 3) to formally define our new type ranking task in Section 4. In Section 5 we present the architecture of our system, and in Section 6 propose a series of approaches to solve it based on collection statistics, type hierarchies, and entity graphs. Section 8 presents experimental results comparing the effectiveness of our various entity ranking approaches over different document collections and type hierarchies as well as a scalability validation of our Map/Reduce implementation over a large corpus. Finally, we conclude in Section 10.

The present work is based on our previous contribution on type ranking.

Finally, we conclude in Section 10.


We propose a method to compute a numerical approximation of Problem 1. This method is based on a simple discretization of the integral formulation of problem (1) and (2) . This discretization produces a linear system, and we show that the corresponding coefficient matrix can be approximated by a special decomposition, that allows to solve efficiently Problem 1.

This method is based on a simple discretization of the integral formulation of problem (1) and.


In the meantime, the bamboo was once one of the biomass resources grown in Japan. The bamboo has the characteristic feature that growth speed is quick, as compared with wood and it is used as part of daily life such as bamboo shoots for food and stalks for building materials. However, bamboo forests have fallen into ruin because of the import of inexpensive bamboo shoots and the appearance of plastic products. The present study investigated whether bamboo can be effectively used to replace plastic materials. The press-molded products were fabricated from bamboo powder, and the tensile strength, flexural strength and hardness of the resultant products were examined [9] [10] .

The press-molded products were fabricated from bamboo powder, and the tensile strength, flexural strength and hardness of the resultant products were examined.


Small dense LDL is regarded as atherogenic lipoprotein subfraction circulating in the blood. It has been described in a number of excellent reviews [12, 13] . Another form of circulating modifi ed LDL is electronegative LDL (LDL(-)), which was detected using methods, sensitive to the particle's electric charge, such as agarose gel electrophoresis, isotachophoresis or ion exchange chromatography [14, 15] . The atherogenic LDL(-) fraction was fi rst isolated by Avogaro and co-authors using ion-exchange chromatography [15] . Further research improved the understanding of the LDL(-) properties [16] [17] [18] .

It has been described in a number of excellent reviews.

Another form of circulating modifi ed LDL is electronegative LDL (LDL(-)), which was detected using methods, sensitive to the particle's electric charge, such as agarose gel electrophoresis, isotachophoresis or ion exchange chromatography.

The atherogenic LDL(-) fraction was fi rst isolated by Avogaro and co-authors using ion-exchange chromatography.

Further research improved the understanding of the LDL(-) properties.


Currently, PubMed lists 8692 articles indexed under "oxidized LDL" and 4108 under "oxidized LDL and atherosclerosis". The hundreds of reviews on this topic remove the need to emphasize the oxidative modifi cation of LDL in detail. It is generally accepted that oxidized LDL causes foam cell formation and triggers atherogenesis [9] [10] [11] . However, other atherogenic modifi cations of LDL have been detected in the bloodstream of atherosclerosis patients, which have attracted much less attention until now.

It is generally accepted that oxidized LDL causes foam cell formation and triggers atherogenesis.


Extra-and intracellular deposition of lipids, predominantly of cholesteryl esters, in the arterial intima is one of the earliest manifestations of atherosclerosis [1] [2] [3] [4] . The formation of lipid-laden foam cells is recognized as the triggering factor in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis [5, 6] . By the end of 1970s, it was found that low density lipoprotein (LDL) circulating in human blood is the source of lipid accumulation in vascular cells [7, 8] . However, only modifi ed LDL, and not native lipoprotein, cause intracellular lipid accumulation.

Extra-and intracellular deposition of lipids, predominantly of cholesteryl esters, in the arterial intima is one of the earliest manifestations of atherosclerosis.

The formation of lipid-laden foam cells is recognized as the triggering factor in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.

By the end of 1970s, it was found that low density lipoprotein (LDL) circulating in human blood is the source of lipid accumulation in vascular cells.


Syphilis is a sexually transmitted chronic disease caused by the spirochete Treponema pallidum, which can be spread via mother-to-child transmission (congenital syphilis) or acquired in adulthood (acquired syphilis). It was estimated that there were 5.6 million new cases of syphilis worldwide in 2012, with a global prevalence of 0.5% among people aged 15-49 years [1] . According to a 22-year survey of incident uveitis cases, the actual frequency of syphilitic uveitis was <1%, but the incidence has risen markedly [2] .

It was estimated that there were 5.6 million new cases of syphilis worldwide in 2012, with a global prevalence of 0.5% among people aged 15-49 years.

According to a 22-year survey of incident uveitis cases, the actual frequency of syphilitic uveitis was <1%, but the incidence has risen markedly.


No association was found between sheep-related exposure variables and the presence of antibodies against C. burnetii. This is probably due to the lower number of sheep farms that were bulk milk-positive for C. burnetii using PCR compared with goat farms. The implemented mandatory bulk milk monitoring scheme that was carried out since October 2009 indicated that 96 (27%) large dairy goat farms and 2 (5%) dairy sheep farms had tested bulk milk-positive for C. burnetii by April 2011 [25, 26] .

The implemented mandatory bulk milk monitoring scheme that was carried out since October 2009 indicated that 96 (27%) large dairy goat farms and 2 (5%) dairy sheep farms had tested bulk milk-positive for C. burnetii by April 2011.


Frequency selective surfaces (FSSs) are the periodic arrangement of conducting materials in one-or two-directions [1] [2] [3] . This kind of the structure finds numerous applications in microwave/millimeter wave and optical wave regime of the electromagnetic spectrum [4] . In the microwave and millimeter wave regime of the spectrum, FSS is used to improve the purity of the received signal, gain, directivity of an antenna, and Radom design etc. In the infrared and visible light wave regime of the spectrum, this kind of the structure is used as polarizer, beam splitter and in the solar energy collection, respectively [5, 6] . In the microwave and millimeter wave regime of the electromagnetic structure, the application of this kind of the structure is also noticeable in the satellite communication where it is required to maintain the purity of the signal in the specific band and to control the transmission and reflection of the signal to the desired level [7, 8] .

Frequency selective surfaces (FSSs) are the periodic arrangement of conducting materials in one-or two-directions.

This kind of the structure finds numerous applications in microwave/millimeter wave and optical wave regime of the electromagnetic spectrum.

In the infrared and visible light wave regime of the spectrum, this kind of the structure is used as polarizer, beam splitter and in the solar energy collection, respectively.

In the microwave and millimeter wave regime of the electromagnetic structure, the application of this kind of the structure is also noticeable in the satellite communication where it is required to maintain the purity of the signal in the specific band and to control the transmission and reflection of the signal to the desired level.


To realize rolling locomotion by the wheel-spiderinspired multi-legged robot, it is necessary to develop the model considering the influence of the ground on the robot while rolling locomotion and design a controller. For such the issue, a model considering the influence of the ground on a system is developed by applying constraint force on the ground to a model without the influence of the ground and considering velocity transformation due to collision in a previous literature [14] . Applying the above method, a wheel spider rolling on a slope is modeled and analyzed through simulations at first. A mechanism of the multi-legged robot and the strategy for rolling locomotion are proposed based on results of motion analysis of the wheel spider and the model of the multi-legged robot is developed. The controller which can generate leg trajectories respectively in response to a robot state is designed. The effectiveness of the proposed controller is verified through numerical simulations of rolling locomotion by the multi-legged robot on the flat ground and it is shown that the multi-legged robot can achieve the rolling locomotion.

For such the issue, a model considering the influence of the ground on a system is developed by applying constraint force on the ground to a model without the influence of the ground and considering velocity transformation due to collision in a previous literature.


As an exercise, let us treat the elementary charge, fine structure constant and the Plank constant as absolute universal constants that do not change as the universe aged and consider the predictions of Equations (38a) and (38b). The first obvious solution is that the diameter of the universe is a constant i.e. the universe is stationary. This conclusion is against the current scientific wisdom. The other solution is to treat the Bohr radius as a parameter which is directly proportional to the diameter of the universe i.e. to treat 0 u D a as a universal constant. This can be realized in two ways while keeping the elementary charge and the fine structure constant as universal constants. The first solution is to treat the mass of the electron as a variable that decreases with the growth of the universe. In the other solution, the mass of the electron remains constant but the speed of light has to be inversely proportional to the diameter of the un-Natural Science iverse while the impedance of free space, 0 0 µ ε , remains constant. In this case, the speed of light will have a high value close to the beginning of the universe and decreases as the universe age. In this respect, it is of interest to point out that there are cosmologies where the speed of light is assumed to decrease with the age of the universe and they are known as Variable Speed of Light (VSL) cosmologies [14] . The important point here is that the variable speed in our case is not an assumption but a consequence of the assumption that the fine structure constant and the elementary charge are universal constants. Finally, it is important to stress that the calculations presented in this paper are based purely on classical electrodynamics and these results motivate a thorough analysis of the same problem using quantum electrodynamics.

In this respect, it is of interest to point out that there are cosmologies where the speed of light is assumed to decrease with the age of the universe and they are known as Variable Speed of Light (VSL) cosmologies.


Inflammation is a double-edge sword in wound healing. In normal settings, acute inflammatory response occurs early; it is necessary to fight off invading pathogens and to jumpstart healing through the production of chemokines, cytokines, and growth factors; but it also resolves quickly so as not to perturb subsequent stages of repair [1] . In pathological conditions such as diabetic ulcers, inflammation becomes locked in a non-resolving mode and is recognized as a major culprit that contributes to impaired healing in these settings [2, 3] .

In normal settings, acute inflammatory response occurs early; it is necessary to fight off invading pathogens and to jumpstart healing through the production of chemokines, cytokines, and growth factors; but it also resolves quickly so as not to perturb subsequent stages of repair.

In pathological conditions such as diabetic ulcers, inflammation becomes locked in a non-resolving mode and is recognized as a major culprit that contributes to impaired healing in these settings.


Cell death occurs in the form of necrosis, apoptosis, and other forms of programmed or nonprogrammed cell death, including autophagy, which has been acknowledged recently. Autophagy is defined as nanomaterial-associated cellular injury [6] . Autophagy involves degradation of intracellular components in response to stress, and it is negatively controlled by mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1). Inhibition of mTORC1 kinase activity promotes the formation of an autophagosome containing a complex composed of Beclin 1 and other factors. Formation of the autophagosome also involves the conversion of microtubuleassociated protein light chain 3 (LC3A/B-I) to its lipidated form LC3A/B-II. Thus, conversion of LC3A/B-I to LC3A/B-II is a common indicator of autophagy. A study on mechanisms underlying the death of RAW264.7 cells is essential to elucidate the effects of surface-functionalized GOs on the viability of these cells. Therefore, the present study investigated the differential cellular effects of surface-functionalized GOs on the viability of and gene expression in monocytes and macrophages.

Autophagy is defined as nanomaterial-associated cellular injury.


Nanomaterials have diverse applications because of their extraordinary physicochemical characteristics. In the last decade, several novel nanomaterials have been developed that have found applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Nanomaterials affect the immune system, especially macrophages and lymphocytes, thus significantly affecting human health [1] . Graphene, which is characterized by a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice carbon structure, is a potential nanomaterial [2] . Different graphene subtypes, for example, graphene made by chemical vapor deposition, graphene nanoribbons, graphene oxide (GO), and reduced GO (rGO), can be obtained by employing different fabrication methods. Uniformly structured graphene is used as an intracellular carrier in immune cells [3] . Its favorable biological properties such as interaction with RNA and DNA, cellular adhesion, cellular uptake, antibacterial activity, and good biodegradability have increased its application in the biological field. This in turn will increase the industrial production of graphene. As a result, graphene dust may inevitably spread into the environment and may exert harmful effects on human health. Therefore, it is important to analyze the nanosafety and nanotoxicity of graphene materials.

Nanomaterials affect the immune system, especially macrophages and lymphocytes, thus significantly affecting human health.

Graphene, which is characterized by a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice carbon structure, is a potential nanomaterial.

Uniformly structured graphene is used as an intracellular carrier in immune cells.


Based on these observations, the effects of GO and its functionalized derivatives on autophagy in monocytes/ macrophages can be explained as follows. Macrophages engulf graphene materials and convert them into biodegradable intracellular nanomaterials [11, 12] . Macrophages inhibit the endocytosis of polyethylene glycol-and bovine serum albumin-functionalized graphene but stimulate the endocytosis of polyetherimide-functionalized graphene [13, 14] . These results indicate that surface-functionalized graphene exerts diverse effects from biodegradation to nanotoxicity that may injure various organs [15] . Graphene induces apoptosis, autophagy, and inflammation in macrophages through NF B or p38 MAPK by increasing the expression of TNF- [16, 17] . Autophagy is a type of programmed cell death, like apoptosis. Autophagy involves multiple processes such as phagocytosis or endocytosis, formation of the autophagosome, recycling of intracellular proteins, and degradation of extracellular antigens. At the cellular level, autophagy can determine cell fate, that is, survival or death. LC3 processing is a marker of autophagy because it is a major step in the formation of the autophagosome. Generally, conversion of LC3A/B-I to LC3A/B-II indicates the activation of autophagy because it involves ubiquitinaselike enzymes that cause the selective degradation of target molecules [18] . In the present study, the ratio of conversion of LC3A/B-I to LC3A/B-II decreased in a dose-dependent manner (Figure 4 ), suggesting that autophagy was one of the cell death processes in macrophages with the different degrees of contribution. PU.1 is one of the transcription factors in monocytes and plays pivotal roles in the expression of various genes [19, 20] . Expression of PU.1 indicates the involvement of apoptotic pathways [21, 22] . Interestingly, exposure of RAW246.7 cells to higher concentrations of GO types decreased the expression of PU.1 and conversion of LC3A/B-I to LC3A/B-II. These results suggest that PU.1 plays a regulatory role in inducing autophagy in RAW246.7 cells. Furthermore, GAPDH expression was not affected by the increase in the concentrations of GO types. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on constant GAPDH expression in macrophages exposed to surfacefunctionalized GOs. Therefore, GAPDH may be used instead of p-Act to normalize gene expression in macrophages. These results highlight the need for further studies to determine mechanisms underlying immune response or cellular toxicity, including autophagy, to establish strategies for preventing or treating respiratory and immunological toxicities in humans. Furthermore, these results indicate that appropriate preparation of GOs is necessary in manufacturing plants and industrial environments.

Macrophages engulf graphene materials and convert them into biodegradable intracellular nanomaterials.

Macrophages inhibit the endocytosis of polyethylene glycol-and bovine serum albumin-functionalized graphene but stimulate the endocytosis of polyetherimide-functionalized graphene.

These results indicate that surface-functionalized graphene exerts diverse effects from biodegradation to nanotoxicity that may injure various organs.

Graphene induces apoptosis, autophagy, and inflammation in macrophages through NF B or p38 MAPK by increasing the expression of TNF.

Generally, conversion of LC3A/B-I to LC3A/B-II indicates the activation of autophagy because it involves ubiquitinaselike enzymes that cause the selective degradation of target molecules.

PU.1 is one of the transcription factors in monocytes and plays pivotal roles in the expression of various genes.

Expression of PU.1 indicates the involvement of apoptotic pathways.


GO was produced using a modified Hummers method, and rGO was produced using hydrazine hydrate [7] . Dodecylamine (DA) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were used to functionalize GO or rGO. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to determine the results of surface functionalization. Optical microscopy was used to investigate cell viability. The measurements obtained were used to elucidate the effects of GO, DA-GO, rGO, and SDSrGO on the viability of RAW264.7 cells and the mechanisms underlying their death.

GO was produced using a modified Hummers method, and rGO was produced using hydrazine hydrate.


Unique properties of graphene are important under in vivo or intracellular conditions as well as under ex vivo or extracellular conditions. GO and rGO effectively inhibit the growth of bacteria, with minimal cytotoxic effects [4] . RAW264.7 mouse macrophage cell line has long been used as an in vitro model for studying the response of inflammatory molecules to various synthetic stimuli. Macrophages are the first immune response cells that represent the innate immune system. Macrophage response is critical for survival at cell, tissue, organ, and system levels. Therefore, dose-and sizerelated effects of GO or rGO on the morphology, viability, and mortality of RAW264.7 cells should be considered while developing biomedical applications of GO. Most previous studies have used rGO or GO without any surface treatments. However, the physicochemical properties of GO depend on its surface [5] . The most critical issue associated with the use of rGO or GO in biomedical applications is to establish versatile functionalization methods for producing GOs that are surface functionalized with biomolecules or biomaterials, with minimal detrimental effects on the bioactivity of these compounds. Therefore, the effect of surface-functionalized GOs on the viability of RAW264.7 cells should be analyzed to determine their nanosafety. Furthermore, surface-functionalized GO-induced intracellular molecular and genetic mechanisms in RAW264.7 cells must be elucidated for determining health care and environmental controls.

GO and rGO effectively inhibit the growth of bacteria, with minimal cytotoxic effects.

However, the physicochemical properties of GO depend on its surface.


Variable damping through the use of magnetorheological (MR) fluids is a strategy currently being used commercially in vehicle shock absorbers and seismic vibration dampers for civic structures [1] , [2] . In the field of human-machine interaction, particularly that of wearable robotics, high strength-to-weight ratio actuators are required to maximize assistive and rehabilitative potential [3] . MR-based actuators can potentially achieve these high ratios and have the additional advantages of rapid response time and high fidelity control [4] , [5] . In orthotic applications, these characteristics allow MR fluid dampers to be tuned to the individual needs of a patient and adjusted if the patient's condition changes. Moreover their rapid dynamic response makes them suitable for use in active devices that vary the damping in real-time. This study was conducted for the optimization of a custom MR damper for use in an active medical orthosis for the attenuation of pathological tremor [6] . Thus the models developed are on a relatively small scale (dimensions are presented in the following section). The method used, however, could potentially be extended to larger-scale devices without difficulty.

Variable damping through the use of magnetorheological (MR) fluids is a strategy currently being used commercially in vehicle shock absorbers and seismic vibration dampers for civic structures.

In the field of human-machine interaction, particularly that of wearable robotics, high strength-to-weight ratio actuators are required to maximize assistive and rehabilitative potential.

MR-based actuators can potentially achieve these high ratios and have the additional advantages of rapid response time and high fidelity control.

This study was conducted for the optimization of a custom MR damper for use in an active medical orthosis for the attenuation of pathological tremor.


Design and evaluation of such dampers prior to their construction requires a high fidelity model with wide scope. This modeling is problematic, however, due partially to the inherent nonlinearities of fluid dampers in general and partially to the piecewise nature of the mathematical description of Bingham plastics. As a result, the majority of dynamic models to date have been phenomenological in nature [7] , [8] . In the following sections of this paper the authors explore a multiphysics finite element approach to the static and dynamic modeling problems described and provide data from experiments on a prototype damper for model validation.

As a result, the majority of dynamic models to date have been phenomenological in nature.


Compressed air is used in energy storage for electric plants. Such compressed air energy storage (CAES) uses large (10e6 f t 3 ) underground caverns to store compressed air up to 7.7MPa (1100psi). Regeneration is achieved by mixing the compressed air with natural gas which is then used to power a turbine for electricity generation. There are currently two plants in the US that utilize CAES for energy storage [7] . A similar idea of using compressed air as energy storage is being developed on smaller scale power devices such as uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) [8] .

There are currently two plants in the US that utilize CAES for energy storage.

A similar idea of using compressed air as energy storage is being developed on smaller scale power devices such as uninterruptible power supplies (UPS).


Until now, much of our understanding about urban dynamics came from traditional surveys conducted by human agents either physically or by phones [19, 28] . While this way of collecting data provides detailed information about urban behaviors, it remains hard to update and present many weaknesses regarding generalization and scalability. More recently, researchers have looked into the use of mobile data such as Call Detailed Records (CDRs) to model urban dynamics [24, 10, 11] . These attempts have been quite successful in building accurate models for different dynamics such as mobility, traffic congestion, and land use at city-wide scales. However, these two methods suffer major drawbacks related to the high financial (CDRs) and labor (human operated surveys) costs required to acquire the data needed, which makes its availability very limited. For instance, CDRs are not only expensive, but are also highly proprietary (telecommunication companies) posing serious data sharing challenges.

Until now, much of our understanding about urban dynamics came from traditional surveys conducted by human agents either physically or by phones.

More recently, researchers have looked into the use of mobile data such as Call Detailed Records (CDRs) to model urban dynamics.


Several theories suggest links between motor development and specific aspects of language. The development of gestures is the foremost example of this. Motor skills influence the performance of gestures and studies have shown that children with language delays very often have a history of problems with gestures (Iverson and Goldin-Meadow 2005; Zambrana et al. 2012a) . Further, theories of motor cognition, i.e. the notion that cognition is embedded in actions, suggest that perception and action share common computational codes and underlying neural architectures. This idea has been further developed in the study of mirror-neurons. It has been suggested that the mirror-neuron system is the basic neural mechanism from which language has developed, and that this system represents a strong link between language and action representation (Rizzolatti and Arbib 1998) . Theories of embodied cognition argue that motor resonance enhances language comprehension (Glenberg and Kaschak 2002; Fischer and Zwaan 2008) . These theories suggest that a broader developmental focus should be employed both in research and in clinical practice when investigating language and motor development.

Motor skills influence the performance of gestures and studies have shown that children with language delays very often have a history of problems with gestures.

It has been suggested that the mirror-neuron system is the basic neural mechanism from which language has developed, and that this system represents a strong link between language and action representation.

Theories of embodied cognition argue that motor resonance enhances language comprehension.


Lately, researchers have questioned the specificity of several developmental disorders (Goorhuis-Brouwer and Wijnberg-Williams 1996; Snowling 2012) . The frequent overlap in symptoms across domains in developmental disorders as well as co-morbid diagnoses suggests less clear distinction between clinical groups, especially in children, than suggested by the diagnostic systems. When comparing children diagnosed with SLI or DCD to children with no previously suspected disorder but with low standard scores on language or motor skills, researchers found that diagnosed children were more pervasive underachievers on a large set of measures of developmental difficulties additional to those corresponding to their diagnosis compared to those with low standard scores (Dyck and Piek 2010) . This observation suggests that a broader developmental focus should be employed both in research and in clinical practice.

Lately, researchers have questioned the specificity of several developmental disorders.

When comparing children diagnosed with SLI or DCD to children with no previously suspected disorder but with low standard scores on language or motor skills, researchers found that diagnosed children were more pervasive underachievers on a large set of measures of developmental difficulties additional to those corresponding to their diagnosis compared to those with low standard scores.


Gestures are closely aligned with speech and facilitate reasoning and learning [31] . They can help people describe and understand abstract information and abstract objects [32] . Gesture scholars often distinguish between beat gestures and iconic gestures. Beat gestures are rhythmic hand movements that convey no semantic information, but are believed to facilitate lexical access [33] . When describing an artefact, for instance, a person might make three short repeated gestures to help formulate what she is trying to say (e.g., shaking one hand).

Gestures are closely aligned with speech and facilitate reasoning and learning.

They can help people describe and understand abstract information and abstract objects.

Beat gestures are rhythmic hand movements that convey no semantic information, but are believed to facilitate lexical access.


How many SU(n+1)-invariant metric connections on S 2n+1 with skew-symmetric torsion are there? Which are the tensor fields which permit to give explicit expressions of such connections? The answer to these questions depends on the dimension of the sphere S 2n+1 as follows. The space of SU(n + 1)-invariant metric connections with skew-symmetric torsion has one free parameter except for S 5 and S 7 and, in both cases, such space depends on three free parameters. For the spheres S 2n+1 with n = 2, 3, the 3-differential form ω ∇ obtained from the torsion of the invariant metric connection ∇ is proportional to η ∧ dη (Remark 4.10). Here η is the 1-differential form metrically equivalent to the Hopf vector field ξ (19) . Thus, these connections can explicitly be written from the usual Sasakian structure on S 2n+1 (Sections 3 and 4).

Here η is the 1-differential form metrically equivalent to the Hopf vector field ξ.


The Mecanum wheel, a kind of omnidirectional wheel, has got a wider range of applications in the field of mobile robots in recent years [6] [7] [8] [9] . The movements in any direction on flat surface can be achieved by a combination of three Mecanum wheels or more than three ones. Mecanum wheel platform (MWP) has a high application value in the industrial field. The kinematic characteristic of MWP is the basis of the research on motion control research and application of MWP. The motion simulation of virtual prototyping is an effective research method.

The Mecanum wheel, a kind of omnidirectional wheel, has got a wider range of applications in the field of mobile robots in recent years.


Although the selected research methodology has limitations such as correlational design, self-reports, and non-probabilistic sampling, several lessons can be gleaned from this study, particularly about the need to cultivate positive attitudes toward and capacity of research use. Firstly, teacher education programs can help practitioners develop a solid foundation in the skills needed to engage in and with research by formulating questions, finding solutions by searching for and appraising existing information for appropriateness, applying the information, and evaluating its effectiveness. Teacher programs should balance courses in curriculum and instruction with systematic inquiry activities and classes that emphasize the practical value of evidence generated from research. Ideally, professors should communicate an interest in pedagogical and education research to underscore the importance of such research in informing Brock Education Journal, 25 (1), Fall 2015 classroom practice. Secondly, a more systemic approach is needed to ensure that using research-based information is not abandoned once novice practitioners enter the school system. Research-based information should be readily accessible to busy practitioners and decision makers. There needs to be a "place," a public resource where such information can be brought together, assessed for quality and relevance, and then organized for professional use. Effective models for condensing research-based information and communicating it to educational professionals can be found in the health and social care fields. Similarly, expansion of research brokering organizations as intermediaries between educational research and practice may stimulate research use by their capacity-building functions, implementation support, organizational development, and policy influence (Cooper, 2014) . Finally, there need to be structures in place to support the practitioner. These structures should: (a) provide access to research that is written for non-scientists and accompanied by clear recommendations and demonstrations on how it is to be effectively applied, (b) integrate on-going research-based professional development, (c) create opportunities and stimulating intellectual needs to share experience gained in research implementation, and (d) put in place administrative and managerial support structures for the time and energy required.

Similarly, expansion of research brokering organizations as intermediaries between educational research and practice may stimulate research use by their capacity-building functions, implementation support, organizational development, and policy influence.


The study of wave propagation and scattering in fractal structures is important in practical applications such as communications, remote sensing and navigation [22] . The phenomenon of wave propagation in fractal structures can be described by replacing these confining fractal structures with a D-dimensional fractional space. Thus, given this simple value of D, the real system can be modeled in a simple analytical way.

The study of wave propagation and scattering in fractal structures is important in practical applications such as communications, remote sensing and navigation.


The key enzyme in hydrolysis of cellulose is cellulase. Cellulase is a complex system consisting of an endo--(14)-glucanase and an exo--(14)-glucanase. The products of the combined actions of the two enzymes are glucose oligomers such as cellobiose and cellotriose. Fungi and some aerobic cellulolytic bacteria also produce a cellobiase [-(14)-glucosidase], which produces glucose from cellobiose and cellotriose [2] . Cellulase has been known to be strongly inhibited by its own products, i.e. glucose and cellobiose [3] . To alleviate this problem in cellulosic ethanol production, a process called simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) was developed. In this process, enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation are carried out simultaneously in a single reactor. Thus, the sugars that are released in the enzymatic hydrolysis step are quickly fermented to ethanol and hence their inhibition on the cellulase system is significantly reduced or almost completely eliminated [1] . In the SSF process, however, there arises another problem as a result of the accumulation of ethanol. It has been observed that ethanol inhibited both partially purified cellulases and early commercial cellulase enzyme products [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] . The inhibition of Trichoderma reesei cellulase by ethanol was found to be non-competitive in two separate studies [3, 7] . In another study, the inhibitory effect of ethanol on cellulase from Trichoderma viride was found to be more significant in the later stages of the hydrolysis than in the initial stages of this process. It was also suggested that ethanol inhibited cellulase by depressing the adsorption of exoglucanase on cellulose [11] .

Fungi and some aerobic cellulolytic bacteria also produce a cellobiase [-(14)-glucosidase], which produces glucose from cellobiose and cellotriose.

Cellulase has been known to be strongly inhibited by its own products, i.e. glucose and cellobiose.

Thus, the sugars that are released in the enzymatic hydrolysis step are quickly fermented to ethanol and hence their inhibition on the cellulase system is significantly reduced or almost completely eliminated.

It has been observed that ethanol inhibited both partially purified cellulases and early commercial cellulase enzyme products.

The inhibition of Trichoderma reesei cellulase by ethanol was found to be non-competitive in two separate studies.

It was also suggested that ethanol inhibited cellulase by depressing the adsorption of exoglucanase on cellulose.


In the experiments performed to study the effect of ethanol on the cellobiase activity of Accellerase® 1500, -cellulose was replaced with the same quantity of cellobiose, i.e. 6.50 g, and the enzyme dosage was kept at 0.25 mL/g substrate. The effect of ethanol on enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated barley straw was studied using Accellerase® 1500 and Accellerase® XY. In these experiments, because it was difficult to reproducibly distribute the slurries having exactly the same solid contents, the vials were set up individually. The moisture content of the barley straw was pre-determined on a moisture balance (model MB45, Ohaus Corporation, Pine Brook, NJ, USA) and the quantity equivalent of 0.50 g dry mass was weighed and placed in each vial. The volumes of buffer, ethanol and enzyme were added accordingly as described previously. The enzyme loading in these experiments was 0.25 mL/g glucan in the pretreated barley straw, which was determined as 49.2 wt% dry-basis by the standard NREL procedure [16] .

The enzyme loading in these experiments was 0.25 mL/g glucan in the pretreated barley straw, which was determined as 49.2 wt% dry-basis by the standard NREL procedure.


Distillation is one of the most energy-intensive unit operations in commercial fuel ethanol process. Since the energy demand and thus operating cost of distillation decrease with increase in ethanol concentration in the feed stream, it is highly desirable to obtain final ethanol concentrations in the fermentor as high as possible. Typically the minimum ethanol concentration that should be achieved in the fermentation to ensure an economically feasible process is about 50 g/L [13] . Since cellulosic materials tend to absorb water quickly and increase their bulk volume, high final ethanol concentrations could not be obtained in a simple batch SSF process. To bring final ethanol concentrations to 50 g/L or higher, a fed-batch SSF process was needed. In such a process, both substrate and fresh enzyme had to be added at intervals during the course of the fermentation [14] . Thus, some of the enzyme would be in short contact with the ethanol produced and some would be exposed to ethanol for extended periods. Therefore, it is of interest to study the effect of ethanol on the activities of cellulolytic enzyme products at various contact times.

Typically the minimum ethanol concentration that should be achieved in the fermentation to ensure an economically feasible process is about 50 g/L.

In such a process, both substrate and fresh enzyme had to be added at intervals during the course of the fermentation.


Lignocellulosic biomass has attracted considerable attention as potential feedstocks for production of fuel ethanol mainly because they are renewable and available in very large quantities. The biochemical conversion route for ethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass consists of two key consecutive steps, namely production of fermentable sugars and bioconversion of those sugars to ethanol by suitable microorganisms. Fermentable sugars can be produced from the carbohydrate fractions by hydrolysis with concentrated sulfuric acid or by enzymatic hydrolysis. Typically a pretreatment step is required prior to enzymatic hydrolysis. The purpose of pretreatment is to chemically or physically alter the structure of the matrix, thus allowing enzymatic hydrolysis to proceed at high rates and achieve high sugar yields [1] . Normally, pretreatment/enzymatic hydrolysis is more favorable than direct hydrolysis by concentrated sulfuric acid.

The purpose of pretreatment is to chemically or physically alter the structure of the matrix, thus allowing enzymatic hydrolysis to proceed at high rates and achieve high sugar yields.


Amine scrubbing is the most mature among the technologies available for CO 2 capture. This process consists in employing an amine solution to first absorb and then release CO 2 in a pair of columns with a heat exchanger inbetween. Critical parameters affecting its viability are how much CO 2 can be absorbed by the solvent, how much CO 2 can be released, and how much energy is demanded for its regeneration [1] . Table 1 shows the abbreviations and symbols used throughout this work in the discussion of these properties.

Critical parameters affecting its viability are how much CO 2 can be absorbed by the solvent, how much CO 2 can be released, and how much energy is demanded for its regeneration.


In general, the coefficients and the test function g do not always have the smoothness properties assumed in the papers cited above. Mikulevičius & Platen proved that there still exists some order of convergence of the weak Euler approximation for nondegenerate diffusion processes under Hölder conditions on the coefficients and g [10] . Kubilius & Platen and Platen & Bruti-Liberati considered a weak Euler approximation in the case of a nondegenerate diffusion process with a finite number of jumps in finite time intervals [8, 20] .

Mikulevičius & Platen proved that there still exists some order of convergence of the weak Euler approximation for nondegenerate diffusion processes under Hölder conditions on the coefficients and g.

Kubilius & Platen and Platen & Bruti-Liberati considered a weak Euler approximation in the case of a nondegenerate diffusion process with a finite number of jumps in finite time intervals.


Theorem 3 (Katerinis and Woodall [13] ). Let k ≥ 2 be an integer and let G be a graph of order n ≥ 4k − 6 and binding number bind(G) such that kn is even and bind(G) > (2k−1)(n−1) k(n−2)+3 . Then G has a k-factor.

Theorem 3 (Katerinis and Woodall).

Then G has a k-factor.


Old concrete is the most abundant material among various types of construction and demolition wastes. Recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) are composed of an intimate mix between aggregates and hardened cement paste [7] [8] [9] [10] . The fine fraction of RCA (FRCA), essentially composed of mortar and hardened cement paste, possesses a large water demand which makes it harder to recycle into concrete and mortar compared to coarser RCA [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] .

Recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) are composed of an intimate mix between aggregates and hardened cement paste.

The fine fraction of RCA (FRCA), essentially composed of mortar and hardened cement paste, possesses a large water demand which makes it harder to recycle into concrete and mortar compared to coarser RCA.


Like concrete, mortar manufactured with FRCA generally present a lower strength and as a consequence a lesser durability than similar mortar composed of natural sand [22] [23] [24] . Generally, compressive strength of mortar decreases as the content of FRCA increases. A few authors mentioned that the use of FRCA does not jeopardize the mechanical properties of mortar up to a replacement of 30% [25, 26] . But for other authors the use of FRCA is not good for the properties of mortar due to the high water absorption and adherent cement paste content [27] [28] [29] [30] . However, the influence of different granular classes of the recycled sand on the properties of mortars has not been systematically studied.

Like concrete, mortar manufactured with FRCA generally present a lower strength and as a consequence a lesser durability than similar mortar composed of natural sand.

A few authors mentioned that the use of FRCA does not jeopardize the mechanical properties of mortar up to a replacement of 30%.

But for other authors the use of FRCA is not good for the properties of mortar due to the high water absorption and adherent cement paste content.


In conclusion, we have demonstrated sexual dimorphism in size and body proportions in A. insculpta. Also, our results show that the direction of both aspects of sexual dimorphism is the same across the analyzed populations, while the degree of dimorphism varied between them. A. insculpta females exhibit a morphology that may be associated with increased fecundity in this sex, while the male body may be shaped by intrasexual selection. This study provides initial data on sexual dimorphism in a callipodidan millipede. We focused on general body size and body proportions and included some measurements that have not been recorded in previous studies related millipede body size [71] . Millipedes are an underrepresented animal group in studies of this type and much comprehensive data, especially on population structure, behavior, mating strategies or utilization of environmental resources, are lacking, so many factors that may influence the degree and direction of sexual dimorphism are unknown. Such studies will shed new light on millipede biology and more help us to broaden our knowledge about patterns of sexual dimorphism.

We focused on general body size and body proportions and included some measurements that have not been recorded in previous studies related millipede body size.


However, there is clear evidence that the full range of services required to support death at home are very far from being implemented, either in England or elsewhere [6] . Crucially, we are not aware of any studies that have attempted to identify the proportion of admissions that could have been avoided given existing and current local service provision. In addition, we are not aware of any previous published studies that have examined the issue of potentially avoidable admissions within this patient population which have adopted the standpoint of the admitting clinician, for whom managing clinical risk and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the patient is of primary concern. Existing data informing current policy making has been retrospectively gathered from clinical notes after a patient has died, preventing a detailed exploration of the wider context of 'real life' decision making within an acute clinical situation. This approach also precludes an exploration of hospital admissions amongst patients who have palliative care needs, but do not die during that admission.

However, there is clear evidence that the full range of services required to support death at home are very far from being implemented, either in England or elsewhere.


Ostrich nesting behavior is unique, with both the major and minor hens laying eggs in the same nest. However, egg incubation is carried out exclusively by the male and major hen (Bertram, 1992) . The incubation period in the wild lasts 39-42 days, and the hatchlings are precocial (Sauer and Sauer, 1966; Siegfried and Frost, 1974; Swart et al., 1987; Bertram, 1992) .

However, egg incubation is carried out exclusively by the male and major hen.

The incubation period in the wild lasts 39-42 days, and the hatchlings are precocial.


Word sense disambiguation (WSD) is the process of finding the correct meaning or "sense" of words that have multiple meanings. WSD resolves ambiguities by identifying the correct meaning of a word based on its context. Although research in this area has now been going on for decades, it is still considered a difficult problem. WSD is as hard as an AIcomplete problem, a technical term in artificial intelligence and complexity theory, which means solving it would require solving all the difficult problems in artificial intelligence (AI), such as natural language understanding [1] .

WSD is as hard as an AIcomplete problem, a technical term in artificial intelligence and complexity theory, which means solving it would require solving all the difficult problems in artificial intelligence (AI), such as natural language understanding.


There are many approaches to address the WSD problem for domain-independent text [1] [2] . WSD algorithms can be distinguished as supervised learning or unsupervised. Supervised learning approaches use machine-learning techniques and require an annotated corpus for training, while the unsupervised approaches do not require any annotated corpus and mostly rely on an external source of knowledge like a thesaurus or an ontology.

There are many approaches to address the WSD problem for domain-independent text.


In practice, UML is applied in three main scenarios. First, UML is the notation of choice when creating early drafts of requirement specifications, and software or database designs. Use case diagrams and design sketches are often created from scratch and modified over several iterations. The diagrams do not have to adhere to the strict UML standards; they are used in an explorative way (Rumbaugh et al., 2004) .

The diagrams do not have to adhere to the strict UML standards; they are used in an explorative way.


Second, in large-scale software engineering environments, software design and implementation are kept in sync using sophisticated round-trip engineering tools (Medvidovic et al., 1999) . These are capable of generating code stubs from design blueprints, of generating diagrams from existing code, and of propagating changes from one artifact to others. The models and diagrams must conform to formal criteria; only in this way are the tools able to handle the relations between diagrams and code.

Second, in large-scale software engineering environments, software design and implementation are kept in sync using sophisticated round-trip engineering tools.


A freely flexible stretched film is called a membrane. Let Ω be an open bounded set of R n with the smooth boundary Γ. We set Q = (0, T ) × Ω, Σ = (0, T ) × Γ for T > 0. The nonlinear equation of the longitudinal motion of a vibrating membrane surrounding Ω is described by the following Dirichlet boundary value problem: in Ω, (1.3) where y is the height of the membrane. Then the reasonable physical candidate for the potential energy is the surface area of h = y(x), x ∈ Ω, since energy is stored in the membrane when it is stretched. Equation where J(y) is the surface area of the graph y. And it is well known that the nonlinear term in (1.1) appears in the minimal surface problems as a nonlinear elliptic operator. For the base of that we refer to Gilbarg and Trudinger [3] .

For the base of that we refer to Gilbarg and Trudinger.


Liquid crystals (LCs) are classical examples of mesophases that combine the fluidity of liquids with the orientational and positional order of solids [8] . Nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) are the simplest type of LCs for which the constituent asymmetric molecules have no translational order but exhibit a degree of long-range orientational order i.e. certain distinguished directions of averaged molecular alignment in space and time. The mathematics of NLCs is very rich and there are at least three continuum theories for NLCs in the literature -the Oseen-Frank, the Ericksen and the Landau-de Gennes theories. These theories typically have two key ingredients -the concept of a macroscopic order parameter and a free energy whose minimizers model the physically observable stable nematic equilibria. The Oseen-Frank theory is the simplest continuum theory restricted to purely uniaxial nematics with a single preferred direction of molecular alignment and a constant degree of orientational order. The Oseen-Frank order parameter is just a unit-vector field that models this single special direction, with two degrees of freedom, referred to as the director field. The Oseen-Frank energy density is a quadratic function of the director and its spatial derivatives; in the so-called one-constant approximation, the Oseen-Frank energy density reduces to the Dirichlet energy density. The Oseen-Frank theory has been remarkably successful but is limited to purely uniaxial materials and can only describe low-dimensional defects. For example, minimizers of the Dirichlet energy density can only support isolated point defects and these point defects have the celebrated radial-hedgehog profile with the molecules pointing radially outwards everywhere from the point defect [4] . Minimizers of the Oseen-Frank free energy with multiple elastic constants (subject to certain constraints) have a defect set of Hausdorff dimension less than one [18] . However, confined NLC systems frequently exhibit line defects and even surface defects or wall defects.

Liquid crystals (LCs) are classical examples of mesophases that combine the fluidity of liquids with the orientational and positional order of solids.

For example, minimizers of the Dirichlet energy density can only support isolated point defects and these point defects have the celebrated radial-hedgehog profile with the molecules pointing radially outwards everywhere from the point defect.

Minimizers of the Oseen-Frank free energy with multiple elastic constants (subject to certain constraints) have a defect set of Hausdorff dimension less than one.


Building on this idea, we propose a variant of the LdG energy, with a modified elastic energy density and the LdG bulk potential, for Dirichlet boundaryvalue problems on three-dimensional domains. The modified elastic energy exhibits a subquadratic growth in |∇Q| p with 1 < p < 2, for |∇Q| sufficiently large and interpolates to the usual Dirichlet energy density, |∇Q| 2 for bounded values of the gradient. This elastic energy density is necessarily not homogeneous, introducing various technical difficulties. A suquadratic variant of the Oseen-Frank theory was proposed by Ball & Bedford, [3] .

A suquadratic variant of the Oseen-Frank theory was proposed by Ball & Bedford.


We study minimizers of this modified LdG free energy, in the limit of vanishing elastic constant, by analogy with the work in Majumdar & Zarnescu [24] . The limiting map in our case, is a φ-minimizing map with a defect set of zero d− p Hausdorff measure, where d = 2 or d = 3 according to the dimension of the domain. The limiting map is C 1,α for α ∈ (0, 1) away from the defect set and we prove that the modified LdG minimizers converge uniformly to the φ-minimizing map away from the defect set of the φ-minimizing map. The essential difference is that the φ-minimizing map can support higherdimensional defects, in contrast to the minimizing harmonic map which can only support point defects. As noted above, we would expect the LdG defects to converge to the defects of the φ-minimizing map as the correlation length shrinks to zero and hence, a comprehensive study of the defects of the φ-minimizing map can yield new possibilities for the modified LdG defects too.

We study minimizers of this modified LdG free energy, in the limit of vanishing elastic constant, by analogy with the work in Majumdar & Zarnescu.


Countervailing the current and future adverse climate risks will require adaptation measures. In 2011, the Chinese government announced an important policy requiring that 600 billion USD be invested in agricultural irrigation [6] . The policy set several quantitative targets for improving irrigation over 10 years, starting in 2011. The most important plan is to expand the irrigated area by 2.67 million ha (equivalent to a 4.4% increase). Although the quantitative target is clearly framed, concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of irrigated area expansion in climate risk mitigation [7] .

In 2011, the Chinese government announced an important policy requiring that 600 billion USD be invested in agricultural irrigation.

Although the quantitative target is clearly framed, concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of irrigated area expansion in climate risk mitigation.


Earth has over 117 million lakes with a surface larger than 2000 m 2 (Verpoorter et al., 2014) . These lakes are of major importance for ecosystem services like drinking water, food and human health (Paerl and Otten, 2013) . Environmental pressures such as eutrophication, global warming, land use change and overexploitation affect lake ecosystems and endanger the provision of these ecosystem services (Raworth, 2017; Rockström et al., 2009) . As a consequence of these pressures, algal blooms are becoming increasingly frequent and severe (Paerl and Huisman, 2009) .

Earth has over 117 million lakes with a surface larger than 2000 m 2.

These lakes are of major importance for ecosystem services like drinking water, food and human health.

Environmental pressures such as eutrophication, global warming, land use change and overexploitation affect lake ecosystems and endanger the provision of these ecosystem services.

As a consequence of these pressures, algal blooms are becoming increasingly frequent and severe.


The expost facto or comparative design was used to investigate cause and effect relationship among the variables of the study. This research design is a systematic empirical inquiry in which the scientist does not have direct control of independent variables because their manifestations have already occurred or because they are inherently not manipulable (Kelinger, 1986) . The design helps this study to identify some existing consequences and set backs by analyzing data to establish possible causal factors for teachers' perception of difficulty of science concepts/topics in Primary Science in the study area.

This research design is a systematic empirical inquiry in which the scientist does not have direct control of independent variables because their manifestations have already occurred or because they are inherently not manipulable.


The long time behavior of random walks on graphs is one of principal themes among probability theory, harmonic analysis, geometry, graph theory, group theory and so on. In particular, the central limit theorem (CLT), a generalization of the Laplace-de Moivre theorem, has been studied intensively and extensively in various settings. Our main concern is such a long time behavior of random walks with periodic structures by using ideas from homogenization theory. Generally speaking, homogenization theory is a method which relates a periodic system to the corresponding homogenized system through a scaling relation between the time and the underlying space (cf. Bensoussan-Lions-Papanicolaou [4] ). However, since the notion of the scale change on graphs is not defined, it is not possible to apply this method directly to the case where the underlying space is a graph. Therefore, it is necessary to find a realization of the graph, preserving the periodicity, in a space on which a scaling is defined.

Bensoussan-Lions-Papanicolaou).


In a study evaluating alcohol intake in 103 pregnant women, demonstrated that fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) might be used together with EtG in long term follow-up of the alcohol intake [30] . EtG level in fingernail is crucial in definition of the alcohol intake behavior of pregnant women. In addition, EtG analyses in fingernail samples may be useful in professionals (surgeons, pilots, drivers, etc.) in which the alcohol intake is of high importance, and before organ transplantation operations.

In a study evaluating alcohol intake in 103 pregnant women, demonstrated that fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) might be used together with EtG in long term follow-up of the alcohol intake.


In addition, this study implemented a rapid method in a novel way to determine the distribution of mineral wool fiber lengths and widths. Typically, lengths and widths are analyzed using a scanning electron or optical microscope [20] . The proposed approach can analyze up to 200,000 individual fibers per sample point and analysis takes time only about 3 min.

Typically, lengths and widths are analyzed using a scanning electron or optical microscope.


Mineral wools, including rock and glass wools, are the most common insulating materials in the world. Rock wool (RW) is the principal type produced, glass wool (GW) is second, being produced at about one-third of the volume of RW, and slag wool is no longer used in significant volume [1] . Synthetic mineral wool fibers are produced at high temperatures by melting mineral raw materials [2] . The molten mixture is fiberized by a highspeed spinning process, and a small quantity of additive are used to bind the fibers together (typically ureaphenol-formaldehyde-based solutions). Mineral or silicon oils may be added to reduce generation of dust and make the product water repellent.

Rock wool (RW) is the principal type produced, glass wool (GW) is second, being produced at about one-third of the volume of RW, and slag wool is no longer used in significant volume.

Synthetic mineral wool fibers are produced at high temperatures by melting mineral raw materials.


Catalase is an antioxidant enzyme that helps in neutralizing the toxic effect of H 2 O 2 . Hydrogen peroxide is not reactive enough to cause a chain of lipid peroxidation reactions, but its combination with superoxide radical produces hydroxyl radicals that are highly reactive and thus initiate lipid oxidation reaction [15] . This lipid peroxidation damages the cell membrane resulting in the development of several physiological and pathological disorders. Catalase prevents this by conversion of hydrogen peroxide to water and non-reactive oxygen species,thereby preventing the generation of hydroxyl radical and protecting the cell from oxidative damage [16] . Our studies showed that there was distinct increase in the levels of glutathione, superoxide dismutase and catalase following treatment with T. chebula as alcohol extract compared to treatment with SRBC and cyclophosphamide. Therefore, the extract has both antioxidant as well and immunomodulatory activities, and is thus capable of protecting cells from oxidative damage.

Hydrogen peroxide is not reactive enough to cause a chain of lipid peroxidation reactions, but its combination with superoxide radical produces hydroxyl radicals that are highly reactive and thus initiate lipid oxidation reaction.

Catalase prevents this by conversion of hydrogen peroxide to water and non-reactive oxygen species,thereby preventing the generation of hydroxyl radical and protecting the cell from oxidative damage.


Oxidation of membrane lipid molecules causes damage resulting in the development of several physiological and pathological disorders. Inhibition of lipid peroxidation is the best way to avoid these disorders in the body [11] . The present study shows that T. chebula alcohol extract inhibited lipid peroxidation compared to treatment with SRBC and cyclophosphamide.

Inhibition of lipid peroxidation is the best way to avoid these disorders in the body.


There is a rise in the usage of herbal plants to treat diseases of the immune system over the last century. Besides, compared to synthetic drugs, herbal drugs are frequently considered to be less toxic and with fewer side effects. Therefore, the search for more effective and safer agents that exert immunomodulatory activity has intensified across the world [3] .

Therefore, the search for more effective and safer agents that exert immunomodulatory activity has intensified across the world.


Immunostimulation and immunosuppression both need to be tackled in order to regulate normal immunological functioning. Therefore, stimulatory or suppressive agents which possess activity to normalize or modulate pathophysiological processes are called immunomodulatory agents. Among suppressive synthetic substances, cyclophosphamide has been extensively studied. However, the major drawback of this drug is myelosuppression, which is undesirable [2] . Moreover, natural adjuvants, synthetic agents and antibody reagents are used as immunomodulatory agents. Nevertheless, there are major limitations to the general use of these agents such as increased risk of infection and generalized effect throughout the immune system.

However, the major drawback of this drug is myelosuppression, which is undesirable.


Disentangling the direction of the relationship that links psychopathological risk and obesity might inform both treatment programs and assessment protocols. This highlights the importance of specifically screening for mental distress in obese populations not merely as an associated factor that supports intervention, but as a key element to work on clinically, in order to promote effective and long-lasting weight loss. Research has demonstrated through longitudinal studies that psychopathology in childhood and adolescence is a robust predictor of obesity in adulthood [18, 19] . Nevertheless, the role of mental health in the actual fostering of obesity in adults has been scarcely addressed, due to the limited power of cross-sectional studies in demonstrating causal links between variables. However, some authors have recently posited that even cross-sectional research can offer useful information on causal relationships in clinical settings, provided that it is based in a robust methodology [20, 21] .

Research has demonstrated through longitudinal studies that psychopathology in childhood and adolescence is a robust predictor of obesity in adulthood.

However, some authors have recently posited that even cross-sectional research can offer useful information on causal relationships in clinical settings, provided that it is based in a robust methodology.


The compound gyroplane is a combination of gyroplane and fixed-wing aircraft. It has advantages of the both flight vehicles, and uses autorotation rotor and fixed wing as lifting surface. The flight performance of the aircraft is similar with gyroplane at low speed. When it is flying at high speed, collective pitch of rotor is reduced, so the rotor is unloaded to avoid disadvantages such as wingtip stalling. Thus the drag of forward flight is reduced, and the fixed wing undertakes most of the weight [1] . Because the compound rotorcraft has configuration features of both fixed-wing aircraft and rotorcraft, the fast and effective method of aerodynamic analysis becomes a key and difficult point of gyroplane design.

Thus the drag of forward flight is reduced, and the fixed wing undertakes most of the weight.


In order for chemosynthetic symbioses to thrive, symbionts must have access to an electron donor, used as an energy source (sulfide), and an electron acceptor (oxygen or nitrate). Vesicomyid clams accomplish the uptake of both sulfide and oxygen, which do not normally exist in the same water mass due to rapid oxidation, by bridging spatially the gap between sulfide-rich sediment and oxygen-laden seawater. These species of clam orient themselves with the anterior (foot) positioned within sulfide-rich sediment, and the siphons extended into overlying oxygenated water. Their depth of burial within the sediment is somewhat variable and may be linked to the depth and steepness of the interstitial sulfide gradient. Sulfide is acquired from the reduced sediment through their highly vascularized foot, using a unique extracellular sulfide-binding component (Childress et al. 1993) . Although the exact nature of this component is unknown, researchers have suggested that zinc may play an important role in sulfide binding by this compound (Childress et al. 1993) .

Sulfide is acquired from the reduced sediment through their highly vascularized foot, using a unique extracellular sulfide-binding component.

Although the exact nature of this component is unknown, researchers have suggested that zinc may play an important role in sulfide binding by this compound.


Few oral products have been approved by regulatory authorities, resulting in "off-label" or unlicensed use and extempore pharmacy compounding [2] [3] [4] . Discussions with physicians and pharmacists revealed different recommendations on doses, formulations, and drug of choice. The diversity was confirmed in a later survey [5] . Some oral vitamin E products may contain excipients, such as polyethylene glycol, propylene glycol, ethanol, or polysorbate 80, which have been associated with adverse drug reactions in children.

Few oral products have been approved by regulatory authorities, resulting in "off-label" or unlicensed use and extempore pharmacy compounding.

The diversity was confirmed in a later survey.


Recently various wideband monopole configurations such as circular disc, rectangular patch and ring have been reported. In particular circular disc and rectangular monopole antennas have been widely studied due to the feature of simple structure [3] . Also several planar monopole antennas with various shapes have been investigated. For ex., some of these antennas include E-shaped slot, S-shaped-slot, use defected ground structure and slot in the tapered radiating etc. These antennas are either relatively large, have limited impedance bandwidth or exhibit non-omnidirectional radiation patterns [4] [5] [6] . So, in this paper an attempt is made to use stubs to obtain the wide bandwidth with reduced size. The technique used in this article presents the inherent advantages of planar antennas for operation behind the UWB spectrum as defined by FCC. This is achieved by putting stubs in ground plane and in the sides of the radiating patch of a microstrip fed monopole antenna which acts like a resonant structure. Further the slots have been introduced in the stubs of ground plane and the study was made. Radiation patterns in E-plane and H-plane have been presented.

In particular circular disc and rectangular monopole antennas have been widely studied due to the feature of simple structure.

These antennas are either relatively large, have limited impedance bandwidth or exhibit non-omnidirectional radiation patterns.


Integrating renewable energy sources into the existing energy system network is an effective approach in the development of the so-called smart cities. Introducing renewable energy systems into the built environment (i.e. building) is a typical such approach. However, in the built environment, it is challenging to integrate intelligently renewable energy sources and distributed generators as the existing building infrastructures are not designed to accept them into the power system infrastructure. The development of a smart city or a smart building requires harmonizing the renewable energy system with existing heat and power system infrastructure, and with new monitoring and control system [1] .

The development of a smart city or a smart building requires harmonizing the renewable energy system with existing heat and power system infrastructure, and with new monitoring and control system.


The common yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has evolved to utilize iron bound to bacterial siderophores even though it is not known to produce these molecules (Dancis et al. 1994; Crichton and Pierre 2001) . Fe(III)-siderophore complexes diffusing to S. cerevisiae cell surfaces are reduced by surface-bound ferrireductases, thus liberating Fe(II) from the chelates (Crichton and Pierre 2001) . Although yeast have low-affinity Fe(II) transporters, most of the transient free Fe(II) produced under iron stress is quickly reoxidized by membrane-associated multi-copper oxidases before it diffuses away (Dancis et al. 1994) . These oxidases, in turn, are linked closely with high-affinity Fe(III) transporters, enabling the sequential oxidation and uptake of iron (Fig. 8) . This rapid redox cycling on the outer membrane enables S. cerevisiae to pirate iron from siderophore complexes otherwise destined for its prokaryotic neighbors. Of particular note here is that this high-affinity uptake system requires an adequate copper supply.

The common yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has evolved to utilize iron bound to bacterial siderophores even though it is not known to produce these molecules.

Fe(III)-siderophore complexes diffusing to S. cerevisiae cell surfaces are reduced by surface-bound ferrireductases, thus liberating Fe(II) from the chelates.

Although yeast have low-affinity Fe(II) transporters, most of the transient free Fe(II) produced under iron stress is quickly reoxidized by membrane-associated multi-copper oxidases before it diffuses away.


It will be worth investigating whether some time savings in terms of speaker adaptation can be achieved by asking the teacher to record a (read) technical text prior to starting the course. The manual transcription of the lectures themselves, however, remain very important for researching spontaneous speech phenomena, in particular speakerdependent disfluencies [18] . It will also be worth investigating whether the existence of transcribed data for one course can be beneficial for another one, in a totally different domain. This would mean building a corpus of University lectures for several courses.

The manual transcription of the lectures themselves, however, remain very important for researching spontaneous speech phenomena, in particular speakerdependent disfluencies.


In recent years, inconsistencies between FRF values derived from independent observations at different times were identified (Laube et al., 2013; Carpenter et al., 2014) . This could either be caused by real changes in FRF, due to changing atmospheric conditions, or by deficiencies in the way that the tropospheric trends are taken into account in the calculation of FRF. The latter is very likely, as data from different time periods are compared, where trends differ not only in magnitude, but sometimes even in the direction (positive/negative trend), suggesting possibly large impacts of the way that tropospheric trends are considered in the calculation of FRF.

In recent years, inconsistencies between FRF values derived from independent observations at different times were identified.


Chlorine-and bromine-containing substances with anthropogenic sources have a strong influence on ozone depletion in the stratosphere. The gases are emitted in the troposphere, where many of them are nearly inert before they enter the stratosphere at the tropical tropopause. In the stratosphere, many of the molecules will be broken down photochemically and release halogen radicals that intensify ozone destruction (Solomon, 1990) .

In the stratosphere, many of the molecules will be broken down photochemically and release halogen radicals that intensify ozone destruction.


A total of 59 bacterial isolates were obtained and screened for their ability to utilize diesel, benzene, and other PHCs as a sole source of carbon and energy. These isolates were identified as 2 Pseudomonas spp., 1 Bacillus sp., and 1 Micrococcus sp. on the basis of 16s rDNA sequencing. This conforms to the high degradative ability and ubiquity associated with these bacterial types as it concerns biodegradation of both soil and water environments polluted with petroleum and its many derivative products [25, 26] .

This conforms to the high degradative ability and ubiquity associated with these bacterial types as it concerns biodegradation of both soil and water environments polluted with petroleum and its many derivative products.


Mostly linear and branched chained alkanes with diverse chain lengths are present in diesel oil, as well as a diversity of aromatic compounds. Among such compounds, the linear alkanes are considered to be especially easily biodegradable by microbes, but the low solubility of such organic compounds makes their biodegradation slow and difficult due to sluggish rates of dissolution, absorption, adsorption, or transport across the cell. As a general rule, the transport process across the microbial cell depends upon the bioavailability of hydrophobic compounds, which rely on their absorption and dissolution or their partitioning rates [34] . In this study, it was observed that the amplification of diesel oil biodegradation was enhanced by employing microbes that already existed in an oil-contaminated environment. Applications of specifically acclimatized microorganisms can bioaugment the process of bioremediation, since indigenous microbes are well adapted to and acquainted with their own ecosystem. Our isolated soil isolates degraded the diesel well under in vitro conditions, as these strains were isolated from the same environment.

As a general rule, the transport process across the microbial cell depends upon the bioavailability of hydrophobic compounds, which rely on their absorption and dissolution or their partitioning rates.


MSA algorithms employ software agents to operate on multiple solutions. Existing MSA algorithms utilize principles of differential evolution and particle swarm optimization to accomplish interaction between agents [12, 13] . However, the agents in existing algorithms do not possess any sort of individual strategy or preference for exploring solutions, a property which is an integral part of HSAT.

Existing MSA algorithms utilize principles of differential evolution and particle swarm optimization to accomplish interaction between agents.