The study is devoted to methodological problems, modern and historical discourses of the study of the institutional origins, achievements and present of the diplomacy of the Kingdom of Belgium. The authors emphasise the relevance and significance of the subject, which has not received a comprehensive comparative analysis in modern Ukrainian and world historiography. When analysing the model of diplomacy and the diplomatic system of the Kingdom of Belgium, the authors focus on the features and national specificity of the stages of the institutional history and the present of Belgian diplomacy in the system of international political coordinates. Special attention is focused on the expediency of implementing in Ukraine the best diplomatic examples (models) and achievements of Belgian diplomacy in the conditions of a globalised world system.
The article emphasises the methods of research, which is interdisciplinary in nature and is based on important cognitive principles: scientificity, historicism and objectivity. The use of various general and special methods allowed the authors to determine the trajectory of scientific research for the real reconstruction of historical and modern events, institutional stages of formation and the current state of the model of diplomacy of the Kingdom of Belgium.
The historical legacy and modern practical experience of the diplomacy of the Kingdom of Belgium have not lost their relevance to this day; bilateral Belgian-Ukrainian relations firmly connect Belgium and Ukraine through centuries and millennia of European history.
Keywords: international relations, foreign policy, diplomacy, public diplomacy, institutional history, institutionalisation, Ukraine, Belgium.


Dependency theory is a situation where by rich world totally dominate the established economic order. These countries benefit more than an economic relationship. It is a situation whereby third countries or less developed countries (LDCs) sometimes) depend on the western world for economic, political, socio-cultural, technological etc. success, so that every economic decisions are made and manipulated power countries – the adage that says he who pays the dictates the tone. Nigeria, like several "unde countries, has always had the illusion that For example, one of the main objectives of the Development Plan 1981-1985 "is self reliance" been defined in the plan to mean increased dependence on our own resources in seeking to achieve the various society as well as efforts to achieve optimum utilization our human and material resources (Fourth Development Plan 1981-1985). But the implementation development plan does not appear to objective of a self-reliant development. Nigeria is developing has persisted over time to associate development with mere artifacts industrialized west and east. This wrong conception development has made Nigerian leaders educators out a wrong development strategy which favours the industrialized west to the detriment of Nigerian has created a dependency situation in which Nigerian


The so‐called ''matching problem'' in the earlier formulations of the reactive infinite‐order sudden approximation (RIOSA) is analyzed in detail. The kinematics of a new, two‐angle‐dependent RIOSA scheme, which is based on an independent selection of the ''frozen'' angles in the reactants and products channels, is derived. It is shown that the only pairs of these angles to be excluded from consideration are those which violate the ''collinearity conservation rule.'' The new scheme does not invoke any additional assumption which is not an inherent part of the RIOSA approach. It is free from the matching problem and treats the different arrangement channels in a completely symmetrical fashion.


Whistleblowing as a signaling tool for perceived irregularities is now recognized as one of the most important processes that should be implemented in every organization. Its importance and relevance to the proper, lawful operation of an organization is emphasized by the provisions of EU Directive 2019/1937 on the protection of whistleblowers. They focus primarily on the implementation of the rules and procedures to enable whistleblowing and ensure sufficient protection for whistleblowers. The purpose of the paper was to assess the practical aspects of the implementation and dissemination of the whistleblowing tool in selected Polish business entities in the face of the requirements set by EU Directive 2019/1937. The study carried out confirmed the position presented so far in the literature of not providing sufficient and effective tools not only for the implementation of whistleblowing, but also for the protection of whistleblowers. Thus, it showed that most of the surveyed companies are only at the beginning of the path in implementing EU-compliant whistleblowing systems. The reasons for the above should be seen not only on the part of the entities, but also in the delayed process of implementing EU law into national law.


The aim of this paper is to survey a wide range of publications in order to identify the factors influencing Local Economic Development (LED). We offer a classification of the drivers of LED, including local endowments, collective and institutional behaviour, autonomous economic processes and policy measures implemented by public, private and non-profit stakeholders for promoting LED.


Eric A. Kirk, Kevin J. Gilmore, and Charles L. Rice Neuromuscular Laboratory, School of Kinesiology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; and The Canadian Centre for Activity and Ageing, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada


We investigate methods for aggregating the judgements of multiple individuals in a linguistic annotation task into a collective judgement. We define several aggregators that take the reliability of annotators into account and thus go beyond the commonly used majority vote, and we empirically analyse their performance on new datasets of crowdsourced data. Human annotation of linguistic resources has become indispensable in computational linguistics, especially with regards to semantic and pragmatic information, which is yet beyond the reach of robust automatic labelling. Most annotation campaigns involve a small group of trained annotators who may not always agree on their judgements. The reliability of the annotation is typically assessed by quantifying the level of inter-annotator agreement, while the final annotation to be released is consensuated amongst experts. In recent years, however, crowdsourcing methods such Amazon's Mechanical Turk (AMT) have shaken up this scenario by making it possible to rapidly recruit large numbers of untrainned annotators at a low cost. This offers great opportunities—in particular, if we consider that the community of speakers is the highest authority regarding linguistic knowledge—but also creates several challenges: amongst others, how to obtain good quality annotations from untrainned and unmonitored individuals, and how to combine large numbers of possibly conflicting judgements into a single joint annotation. In this paper we focus on the latter challenge. Our aim is to investigate and empirically test methods for aggregating the judgements of large numbers of individuals in a linguistic annotation task conducted via crowdsourcing into a collective judgement. Most researchers who turn to crowdsourcing to collect data use majority voting to combine the participants' responses (Sayeed et al., 2011; Zarcone and R¨


Synopsis:We show how linear typing can be used to write C functions which modify their heap allocated arguments in a f unctional way without explicit "pointer surgery." We present this both as a "design pattern" for writing C-code in a functional style and as a compilation process from linearl y typed first-order functional programs into malloc()-freeC code. The main technical result is the correctness of this compila tion. A number of examples including list quicksort and breadthfirst traversal are given. Comparisons with existing compil ers are described. We discuss various extensions, in particular an extension w th FIFO queues admitting constant time catenation and enqueui ng, and an extension of the type system to fully-fledged intuitio n stic linear logic.


Serratia Marcescens (SM) is often an opportunist that has been associated as a cause of healthcare-associated infection and in some people who inject drugs (PWID). Decisions about the treatment of SM infections are difficult given the small clinical studies available and concerns for multidrug resistance. SM has the ability to produce inducible AmpC b-lactamase and may acquire extended-spectrum b-lactamase (ESBL). Evidence-based guidance is lacking in terms of identifying preferred antimicrobial therapy of SM bacteremia and endocarditis. Compared to other reports, our hospital has one of the largest SM data sets to compare.

 This observation study included adult patients admitted to our hospital (2016–2019) with SM bloodstream infections, including endocarditis. Patients were excluded from the analysis, if they had a concomitant infection with another gram-negative organism. Our evaluation was designed to: compare outcomes associated with different antibiotic regimens, evaluate how care differed in PWID patients versus others, and identify factors associated with obtaining infectious diseases expert consultations (ID Consult).

 Forty-three patients met study inclusion/exclusion. Twenty-eight patients (65.1%) had ID Consults. Twenty-four (55.8%) were PWID. Endocarditis was diagnosed in 30.2% of patients. The most common regimen was cefepime +/- aminoglycoside, followed by a carbapenem +/- aminoglycoside. Combination therapy was only recommended during ID Consult. Piperacillin-tazobactam was used in 11.6% of patients. No regimen displayed an efficacy or safety advantage over another. Most patients (90.7%) cleared their blood stream within 48 hours of antibiotic start. Phenotypic susceptibility testing did not identify either ESBL or AmpC production in any of the isolates, including recurrences. Multi-drug resistance was not appreciated. Significant factors associated with obtaining ID Consult were: PWID (p=0.004), endocarditis (p=0.0002), sepsis (p=0.022), surgical intervention (p=0.003).

 We could not identify an advantage with any particular antibiotic treatment regimen in this study. Induction of AmpC or selection of ESBL organisms was not displayed by any of the organisms.

 All Authors: No reported disclosures


The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of work environmental factors and self-compassion on the burnout of school counselors. The subjects of this study were 312 school counselors under the D District Office of Education participated. In order to examine the effects of individual, organizational, and self-compassion factors on burnout, correlation and hierarchical regression were applied. Individual factors were gender, age, health status, and personal hobbies. Organizational factors were employment type, working hours, and job satisfaction. Self-compassion and burnout were measured using the Korean version of self-compassion and Baslach burnout instruments. The correlation analysis showed that the three factors are correlated with each other. In the hierarchical regression analysis, three models were developed as personal, organizational, and self-compassion factors. The results of regression analysis are as follows. The influence of self-compassion on burnout was stronger than the organizational factor (i.e., employment type, working time, job satisfaction) and the personal factor (i.e., age, health status, hobby). There were no significant differences between genders. This study results suggest that self-compassion can reduce a level of burnout significantly, although personal and organizational factors have a significant impact on burnout. Further study and suggestions for reducing the level of burnout of school counselors were discussed.


The authors propose a simple image coding algorithm using VQ (vector quantization) and clustering interpolation, which avoids an explicit interpolation operation by employing different but related codebooks at the encoder and the decoder of a vector quantizer. Computer simulations indicated that images reconstructed with clustering interpolation had smaller mean square errors than those obtained with linear or contour-based interpolation. In order to reduce coding artifacts and to improve reconstruction quality at low bit rates, an adaptive corrector stage with block classification is also included. Computer simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm at about 0.3 b/pixel.<<ETX>>


In this paper we want to show the curiosities of The prose of the world in regard to the problem of alterity. For it we have divided it in three paragraphs: 1) an Introduction, in which we insist on Merleau-Ponty's fundamental worry; 2) the second epigraph in which we expose the theory of alterity present in The prose of the world, and 3) a conclusion in which we insist on the importance of taking into account the unpublished books full of mistakes.


The impact of immigration on national labour markets is of increasing concern for policy makers. Employment, unemployment and wages are the traditional channels examined by social scientists when bringing evidence to the decision-making table. However, this paper contributes to the more limited empirical literature on migration's effects on unemployment duration, by exploiting the deregulation of migration policies between Switzerland and the European Union. It applies a counterfactual approach and implements difference-in-differences methodology paired with inverse probability weighting. This paper concludes ultimately that the abolition of the priority granted to local workers results in a rise in unemployment


The paper reviews the characteristic features of a volumetric neutron source based on the gas dynamic trap and the results of current experiments at GDT device on modeling of the operational regimes of the neutron source. Some limiting factors in the current experiments and possible next steps towards more comprehensive modeling in a future experimental device are discussed.


The study examined the impacts of gender and farmers' level of education on access to agricultural extension services in Abuja. A purposive technique was adopted for sample selection while semistructured questionnaires were used for data collection. A sample of 80 rural male and female farmers who had post secondary, secondary, primary and no formal school education were used for the study. In each of the four educational categories, 10 male and 10 female farmers were selected. Two-way analysis of variance was used for data analysis and results indicated that irrespective of education, there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in gender access to agricultural extension services. But, the mean response (3.03) indicated that female farmers had slightly more access to agricultural extension services than their male counterparts (2.98). Similarly, irrespective of gender, there was no significant (p > 0.05) effect of farmers' level of education on access to agricultural extension services. Remarkably, farmers who had no formal school education had more access (3.40) to agricultural extension services than farmers who had at least primary school education. Furthermore, there was no significant (p > 0.05) interaction effect of gender and education on farmers' access to agricultural extension services. Based on the findings, the paper concluded that gender and level of education were not major determinants of farmers' access to agricultural extension services in the study area.


Since copper electrorefining has been used in industrial production, the purification of copper electrolyte has received much attention, but the solubilities of As, Sb and Bi in copper electrolyte have not been systematically studied. In this paper, the solubilities of As, Sb and Bi in copper electrolyte and their existing forms in copper anode slime were studied. It was found that the solubilities of Sb(III), Bi(III) and Sb(V) all increase first and then decrease sharply with the increase in H2SO4 concentration. As(V) can increase the solubilities of Sb(III), Bi(III) and Sb(V) in H2SO4 solution as it can combine with them to form complexes, while As(III) can only make the solubility of Sb(III) increase. Though As(V) can make the solubilities of Sb(III), Bi(III) and Sb(V) increase, their solubilities in copper electrolyte don't increase but decrease with the increase in arsenic concentration because they can combine with each other to form the precipitate of arsenato antimonates under normal conditions. The solubility of Sb(III) in copper electrolyte decreases noticeably with the decrease in temperature from 55°C to 33°C, which leads to the obvious increase in copper electrolyte turbidity. Moreover, it was confirmed that the As, Sb and Bi containing in copper anode slime and floating slime are all in the form of amorphous, and they cannot be turned into crystal until the treatment temperature rise to over 500°C.


Abstract Set against the major restructuring of decision-making processes within local government and the wider modernisation agenda for public services, this paper suggests that the scrutiny process (specifically in relation to local authority health scrutiny) can be described in two analytically different, but not necessarily contradictory, ways. It could be seen as a process to increase the levels of local democracy or as a form of integration across different organisations/sectors. The article is informed from the first half of a three-year evaluation that includes interview and observational data from in-depth case study research in five local authorities and their associated Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). The research highlights examples of health scrutiny in terms of both democratic input and integration/joined-up working by organisations from different public sectors, to facilitate scrutiny reviews and resulting changes. It is suggested that further evaluation of the continued development of health scrutiny will be required to examine the potential longer-term impacts on local governance issues, partnership working and the health of the local population.


B ioterrorism was a concern of some in government even before Al Qaida–manned planes took down the World Trade Center towers. The anthrax letters greatly heightened that concern and extended it to our citizens as well. The nation responded with billions of dollars: biodefense research and development, medical countermeasures, equipment, training first responders, and funding construction of numerous high-containment laboratories. A next generation of scientists began working with what had been called, just since the mid-90s, ''select agents''; these were generally ''high-risk'' pathogens, including some that had been studied in state-sponsored biological warfare programs during the Cold War. We spared no expense in attempting to protect the nation from this newly rediscovered threat from biology. Nearly a decade later, the Commission on the Prevention of WMD was in the formative stages of drafting its report, A World at Risk, when a senior scientist at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases killed himself, and the FBI quickly announced that they were about to identify him as the mailer of the deadly anthrax letters. The commission's report raised the risk of biological terrorism above nuclear terrorism and stated that the nation should ''be more concerned that scientists will become terrorists than that terrorists will become scientists.'' About the same time, Congressional testimony and concern in the science community resulted in 4 national level studies generally addressing what we now call ''the insider threat'' in biology. In addition, 2 working groups on biosecurity were established in response to 2 White House Executive Orders. The 4 committee studies were completed and released over the next year. A Defense Science Board study, Department of Defense Biological Safety and Security Program (May 2009), acknowledged the insider threat as a very difficult problem, noted that the Department of Defense had the most stringent laboratory security regulations, recommended laboratory video cameras in labs rather than a 2-person rule (1 person to watch another scientist at work), encouraged tailoring the Personnel Reliability Programs (PRP) in biological labs to avoid having a negative impact on research, and underscored the importance of public awareness regarding risk reduction. The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity study, Enhancing Personnel Reliability Among Individuals with Access to Select Agents (May 2009), noted that progress in biological research is essential for the nation's future and suggested the Select Agents and Toxins list be ''stratified'' by risk level and that PRPs not be made part of a nationally regulated program. The study underscored the importance of strong leadership and a culture of personal responsibility in laboratories. The Trans-Federal Task Force report, Optimizing Biosafety and Biocontainment Oversight ( July 2009), supported local oversight of laboratory security programs, transparency and accountability, and coordination of national oversight of select agents and toxins to reduce the redundant regulatory burden on labs. It also encouraged development of an equivalent of the Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories guide for animal and plant disease research, and it encouraged more public outreach. Finally, the National Academies of Science released a study, Responsible Research with Biological Select Agents and Toxins (September 2009), leading with the call for building a culture of trust, engaging stakeholders, requiring government inspectors to have technical and laboratory experience, and pointing out the futility of attempting to implement an overly stringent agent accountability program.


Fault detection of mechanical equipment based on vibration analysis consists in determine the relation between measured signal and fault model signals. Fault model signals are generated by simulation based on a prior knowledge about the mechanical behavior of the process. The signature analysis is considered the most popular fault detection method now a day because it can easily detect the common mechanical faults such as unbalance, misalignment, crack, bearing deterioration, looseness etc. Unbalance and misalignment are the common faults in the mechanical system which create the another fault in the system. The present paper discusses the fundamentals of Signature analysis and signal processing for identifying the spectrums for the misalignment fault.


I. A study of didactic documentary films intended for the teaching of cinema. The analyses treat, in particular, certain of the author's own productions, which supplement the text of the thesis. Ii. A study of several fiction films termed "reflexive" : to what extent may these films be considered to be documentaires on themselves?


The need to visualise sets of data and networks within a company is awell-known task. In this thesis, research has been done of techniques used to visualize complex networks in order to find out if ...


THE following stories and songs were collected during the winter and spring of 1914, while I was holding the fellowship of the University Museum, Philadelphia, in the International School of Archkeology and Ethnology in Mexico. I was at the time engaged in studying the Aztec dialects of southern Vera Cruz and the adjacent portions of Oaxaca. I cannot say exactly where or when they were taken down, nor can I give my data concerning my informants, because my original note-book containing the stories and such data was lost, owing to the regrettable Vera Cruz incident. I went into the field early in January, but after about three months I returned to Mexico. Fortunately, I left a copy of the stories with Mr. Gamio, Inspector-General of Monuments, in order to have the Spanish revised and put into typewritten form. However, during the troublesome months that followed, they as well /as some of my other manuscripts were lost, but were finally recovered, after apparently no little effort on the part of Mr. Gamio. I want here to take the opportunity of publicly thanking him as well as Dr. Tozzer, who assisted me in recovering them. On my first trip of that year I visited Tuxtepec and the surrounding country, inhabited by the Chinantecs and Mazatecs, as well as the Aztec villages of the Lower Papalohuapam. Since I did not secure any stories in Spanish from the Chinantecs or Mazatecs, these stories must come from Tuxtepec, Santiago, or Acula, all three old Aztec towns. In all probability, my informants were Aztecs; but this would make little difference, because all the Mexicans of this region are more or less conversant with this type of stories and songs. During my second trip that year, I visited the Aztec villages in the southeastern part of the State,' and received a fairly large number of stories, in addition to folk lore and songs; but unfortunately one of my bags was stolen just after the Vera Cruz incident, and, as I have never since been able to find the note-book containing that material, I suppose it must have disappeared at that time.2


Abstract:In the literature dealing with parliamentary diplomacy, the role that the European Parliament (EP) can play in the formation and conduct of European Union (EU) foreign policy is intensively studied. Yet analyses thus far have not dealt with how the EP can urge the EU and its member states to ensure foreign policy coherence. The essay aims to fill this gap. It draws on empirical data from the EP's approach toward the Israel-Palestine conflict and aims to identify the ways the EP, although not directly and officially in charge of ensuring EU coherence, can contribute to promoting coherence in the EU's foreign policy.


Around the world marine engine failure is one of the major causes of maritime accidents. Marine engines are part of complicated propulsion system of ships. Failure of such systems yield severe consequence, which have been observed during the accident of MV Bright Field [1][2] in 1996 and accident of MV Planet V [3] in 2012. During a ship's operational lifetime, engine failures are not rare and preparations are always undertaken beforehand to prevent engine failure and catastrophic consequences. However, in such scenarios the operators' decisions play very crucial role, particularly during a voyage. For example, the investigation of the Bright Field accident revealed that if the chief engineer of the ship had manually overridden the engine restart procedure, the accident could have been avoided or the accident could have resulted in less consequence [1]. It could be regarded as a fact that in critical situations, ship crew may make a mistake and accident can occur. However, accidents may also occur due to faulty interaction among the crew members which was observed during the MV Bright Field accident as well [2]. Therefore, the interaction among ship crew and their action with the ship is an area of interest for accident investigators.


Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have achieved prominent progress in recent years and demonstrated remarkable properties in spectral–spatial hyperspectral image (HSI) classification. However, conventional spatial-context-based CNNs commonly adopt the single patchwise scheme to represent the to-be-classified samples, which often fails to completely investigate the wealthy spectral–spatial information in complicated situations. For instance, it has great probability to cause misclassifications on the irregular or inhomogeneous areas, especially for the borders across different classes. To counteract this deficiency, we propose a unified multi-direction network (MDN) for HSI Classification (HSIC), which can exhaustively explore the abundant spectral and detailed spatial-context information through multi-direction samples. Additionally, considering the image-spectrum merged structure of the HSI, 3-D Squeeze-and-Excitation residual (3DSERes) blocks are devised in each stream of the framework to consecutively learn the spectral and spatial from low-level to high-level features. Specifically, 3DSERes can not only facilitate fluent gradient in backpropagation through skip connections, but also emphasize the significant spectral–spatial features and constrain the futile ones. This characteristic is beneficial to enhance the model's generalization capability even with limited training samples. Furthermore, for properly aggregating the multi-direction deep features, we exploit the simple, yet effective attentional spectral prior (ASP) creatively through leveraging the original spectral correlations. Extensive experimental results on three benchmark data sets indicate that the proposed MDN-ASP can achieve promising classification performance compared to the state-of-the-art methods.


A 4f-month-old female infant had a melanoma arising in the mucosa overlying the maxilla. Melanoma in infancy is a clinical curiosity. Transplacental transfer of melanoma from mother to foetus has been reviewed by Skov-Jensen, Hastrup & Lambrethsen (1966). There is no evidence that such was the case here. This lesion in situ, the resected specimen and a photomicrograph of the lesion are shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, respectively. No other case in infancy or childhood was seen. The rarity of truly malignant melanoma in childhood has been appreciated since Allen & Spitz (1953) described juvenile melanomas.


tions in other industries. Specifically, the material, construction, and testing requirements for the steel vessels fabricated for the natural gas, chemical, petroleum, nuclear, and space industries are usually more severe than the same requirements for water storage. And those in the water-supply field benefit directly from this experience in materials, conruction, and test methods. The selection of ,a water storage tank to fill the needs of a city or industry deserves a careful and critical evaluation of the alternate designs available, the history of dependable services, and the economic factors.


We propose a new type of hybrid ARQ protocol, in which the channel-adaptive variable rate channel coding scheme is combined with the multi-copy retransmission strategy so as to optimize the system performance under the delay constraint of real-time ATM services in broadband radio access networks. The main feature of the multi-copy retransmission strategy in this scheme is to maximize the average throughput for the given FEC rate subject to the prescribed cell loss requirement of the real-time wireless ATM services while augmenting the reliability of slow channel state estimation process required for the channel-adaptive FEC scheme. The analysis shows that under a harsh fading channel, the proposed approach is useful for achieving the prescribed cell loss performance without significantly degrading the average throughput.


Introduction: Abdominal pain is one of the most common symptoms in patients referred for Upper Gastrointestinal (UGI) Endoscopy examination in our centre. Helicobacter pylori is a gram-negative, helically shaped, microaerophilic bacterium usually found in the stomach, and is associated with peptic ulcer disease and gastric malignancy. The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence of H. pylori among our patients. Material and Methods: This study comprised of 5910 patients referred from various departments to our Endoscopy centre, who had undergone UGI Endoscopy during the period of 2 years at Zoram Medical College starting from November 2017 to October 2019. All patients referred for Endoscopy were included. Age ranges from 8 years to 92 years old. UGI Endoscopy was performed by Endoscopist/Surgeons in all subjects as a primary diagnostic investigation and interpretation of the findings as observed by a single observer was noted. Rapid Urease test was done in almost all the cases. Results: Helicobacter pylori infection was found in 24.95% of total cases. It is found that majority of patients with Duodenitis (78.67%) and Ulcers of stomach (77.11%) were found to be positive for H. pylori thereby underlying its significance in their etiology. In cases of reflux esophagitis alone, only 12 cases out of 1062 (1.21%) were found positive. 31 cases of 218 normal endoscopic study shows Helicobacter pylori test positive. Conclusion: We conclude that Investigation for H. pylori should be considered for all patients undergoing endoscopy especially those who have gastric or duodenal lesions and other chronic medical problems as its association with these conditions are higher.


165 Inorganic compounds with nickel in the oxidation state +1 are rarely known. In oxide chemistry only few examples are reported [1], all with Ni in linear coordination by oxo-ligands. In the last decade only, the study of ternary and higher nitridometalates has been a rapidly growing field of inorganic solid state chemistry [2,3] and led to an abundance of Ni compounds. Ternary lithium nitridonickelates(I) Li2[(Li1–xNix)N] (Fig. 1), derived from the binary fast lithium ion conductor a-Li3N ≡ Li2[LiN] [4], have attracted considerable attention. The crystal structures of phases Li2[(Li1–xMx)N] with M = Cu, Ni, Co have already been reported as early as 1949 by Sachsze and Juza [5]. Recently, the respective substitution phases with M = Mn, Fe were also described [6]. In contrast to the ternary lithium substitution phases, the ternary alkaline earth nitridonickelates Ca[NiN] [7, 8], Sr[NiN] [9], Ba[NiN] [10], and Ba8N[Ni N]6 [11] show no substitution effects between nickel and the alkaline earth elements. A recent re-investigation of the system BaNi-N resulted in the compound Ba2[Ni3N2] [12] (Fig. 2a). The distinct and low average oxidation states fueled our interest in the electronic and magnetic properties of these compounds. Also in quaternary lithium alkaline-earth nitridonickelates, substitution of nickel by lithium takes place readily [13], but up to now, no data on physical properties are available. The crystal structure of a-Li3N ≡ Li2[LiN] (Fig. 1) contains infinite chains ` [LiN2 – /2] of alternating nitrogen and lithium (Li(1)) atoms. These chains are interconnected via further Li(2) in trigonal planar coordination by N within the layers formed by the nitride species ("Li2N"-layers) [4]. In the crystal structure of Li2[(Li1–xNix)N], the linearly by nitrogen coordinated Li(1) site is partially substituted by Ni in a random manner. For the Ni substitution series single phase samples with x up to 0.85(1) were obtained, while a sample with x = 0.93 contained small amounts of elemental Ni. The samples were of deep maroon color at low x and brass colored for x $ 0.79. This change in color as a function of x is associated with the appearance of metallic conductivity at high x values (see below). The dependences of the unit cell parameters a and c, of the average chain length q = 1 + x/(1 – x), and of the distance d(Li/Ni–N) on x are plotted in Fig. 3. With increasing x the parameter c decreases nearly linearly (the data of the x = 0.34(1) and x = 0.43(1) samples included in the plot were previously determined on single crystals [13]). In contrast, the parameter a, related to the distance d(Li(2)–N) within the crystallographic (001) plane, increases only slightly. The parameters c of phases with x $ 0.79 are already shorter than two times the bond lengths in the structurally related compounds Li[NiN] [14], Li5[Ni N]3 [14, 15] and Ca[NiN] [7, 8]. Based on our X-ray diffraction Rietveld refinements, the characteristic mass changes during TG experiments, and the chemical analyses, the vacancy concentration within the basal plane (Li(2)) is much lower (# 5 %) than concluded from neutron diffraction studies by different authors (17 % – 42 % [16, 17]). The magnetic moments observed in samples of the isostructural copper series Li2[(Li1–xCux)N] indicate, that the Li(2) vacancy concentration, which is expected to lead to the formation of M species, must be even smaller (# 1 %). Low-Valency Nitridonickelates


They might not be the cute and cuddly offspring most farmers look for but recent rain in Queensland has spurred on a baby boom for one crocodile producer.


Abstract : The Showcase for Biotechnology 2005 conference brought together scientists and medical professionals from across the country and Europe to present and discuss their research and clinical findings in all phases of biomolecular research including DNA sequencing, genotyping, expressional analysis, protein separation and identification, and biomedical informatics analysis.


Grey literature is an important information resource , and Internet makes it easier to organize them. This paper introduces how the System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe£¨SIGLE£© and GreyNet organize the grey literature. And then it presents how to organize grey literature in China in network environment. Finally, by contrast a conclusion is drawn that there are several disadvantages in the grey literature organization in China.


We have measured the static and dynamic spin fluctuations in a crystal of La{sub 2{minus}{ital x}}Sr{sub {ital x}}CuO{sub 4+{ital y}} in the spin-glass doping regime. The static spin correlations are well described by a simple model in which the inverse correlation length {kappa}({ital x},{ital T})={kappa}({ital x},0)+{kappa}(0,{ital T}). The dynamic spin fluctuations exhibit a simple scaling behavior in {omega}/{ital T} for temperatures 10 K{le}{ital T}{le}500 K for the measured energies 4.5{le}{omega}{le}12 meV.


The developing tourist industry proposes higher and higher demands to the intelligent tourist guide system, which can take place of the traditional artificial guide service. Functions of intelligent automatic interpretation, real time navigation, intelligent route planning and surrounding service reminder are included in it. With rapid development of electronic information technology and computer technology as the support, this thesis combines with the shortest path algorithm and related knowledge of graph theory to design algorithm and processing scheme. Moreover, this thesis also introduces research design of intelligent tourist system as well. Thus, the function of APP on the android platform is realized.


Although solar and wind energy are most frequently cited in popular media and scholarly reports, biomass is the greatest current source of total renewable energy for the United States, as well as other leading nations. Top nations for total biomass production in 2012 were China, followed by the U.S. and Brazil. Federal government programs have given the U.S. leadership in ethanol production. However, environmentalists are critical of ethanol produced from corn. U.S. cellulosic ethanol production was initiated in 2014 but remains far behind targeted levels. Forest and wood products are prominent energy resources for Sweden and Finland, which lead in biomass production per capita. Germany is the international leader in renewable energy policy. Its feed-in tariff (FIT), initiated in 1991 for an initial 20-year period, provided the stimulus for Germany's success in fostering growth of diverse renewable energies, including solar and wind energy, and biogas. The FIT is a widely used policy, including in China and Japan and some U.S. states but has not been employed by the U.S. federal government. Commitment, cooperation, and stable national and European policies have fostered biomass energy development in Europe. However, despite large potentials, minimal increase in U.S. biomass production other than corn-based ethanol is attributable to policy conflicts and a complex regulatory environment.


This chapter considers the ingredients of successful action for malicious prosecution. The claimant must show: that the defendant prosecuted him; that the prosecution ended in the defendant's favour; that there was no reasonable and probable cause for the prosecution; and that the defendant was actuated by 'malice'. It covers not merely criminal prosecutions but certain forms of abuse of civil process, for example tort claims alleging deceit or malice. Damage also in all cases is a necessary ingredient. The tort, while ancient, is still being actively litigated, and the chapter analyses a number of recent cases in the higher appellate courts.


Waterworks company is allowed to cut off the water supply of a defaulting client, as this would not entail a breach of the client's human right to water.


Objective:Monitoring the EEG before and during operation to find out a proper surgery method of refractory epilepsy.Methods:Studied 98 cases who were took the operation from 2002 January to 2004 July.Results:The time of follow-up study range from 1 to 2.5 years,average(1.5±0.4)months.Among them:63 recuperations,10 significant improvements,12 improvements,13 inefficacies,0 aggravations.Except with early and transient complications,the patients have no serious long term complications.Conclusion:It is safe for the patients with refractory epilepsy to have the combination of several surgery methods,and it is more precise to locate the focus of epilepsy infection with use of EEG monitor before and during operation.


A purpose of developing a sound source tracking system in this paper is to reduce the noise efficiently from the received signal...


Discrimination of an acoustic variable (various durations of silence) was measured when, as part of a synthetic speech pattern, that variable cued a phonemic distinction and when the same variable appeared in a non-speech context. in the speech case the durations of silence separated the two syllables of a synthesized word, causing it to be heard as rabid when the intersyllabic silence was of short duration and as rapid when it was long. with acoustic differences equal, discrimination proved to be more acute across the /b,p/ phoneme boundary than within either phoneme category. This effect approximated what one would expect on the extreme assumption that the listeners could hear these sounds only as phonemes, and could discriminate no other differences among them; however, the approximation was not so close as for certain other consonant distinctions. In the case of the non-speech sounds the same durations of silence separated two bursts of noise tailored to match the onset, duration, and offset characteristics of the speech signals. There was, with these stimuli, no appreciable increase in discrimination in the region corresponding to the location of the phoneme boundary. If we assume that the functions obtained with the non-speech patterns represent the basic discriminability of the durations of silence, free of the influence of linguistic training, we may conclude that the discrimination peaks in the speech functions reflect an effect of learning on perception. It was found, too, that discrimination of the non-speech patterns was, in general, poorer than that of the speech. From this we conclude that the effect of learning must have been to increase discrimination across the phoneme boundary; there was no evidence of a reduction in discrimination within the phoneme category.


The invention, for public sale, by applying a sufficient amount of liquid nitrogen trickle (trickle) as to create a high speed of freezing food, to a high-speed freezer for food contained in a package having a plurality of cavities. Liquid nitrogen is dispensed into the cavity through a plurality of nozzles of each of the upper surface center by gravity from the vacuum brush Iain a decorated container from the atmospheric pressure, it is injected into the cavity in a short time, respectively. The nitrogen gas is generated in practice, it is used to make a sufficiently oxygen free atmosphere cold enough to keep the freezing process after distribution. This process is compared with other freezing processes, as well as reducing the amount of liquid nitrogen required, reducing the physical space required for the personnel, equipment, and its installation and operation, reducing the associated costs. High-speed freezer, in liquid nitrogen, the nozzle, the cavity, the gravity


This paper describes a training project for work with Southeast Asian refugees using an integrated family systems approach. The author has found using a model integrating a structural, strategic, life cycle and Milan systemic therapy helpful at three level of project work: consulting with agencies serving the population, training students for this work, and intervening clinically with the refugees themselves.


Polynomial sharpening of amplitude responses of cascaded-integrator-comb (CIC) filters is often used to improve folding-band attenuations. The design of sharpened CIC (SCIC) filters is based on searching the polynomial coefficients ensuring required magnitude response. Several design methods have been developed, resulting in real, integer, and sum-of-powers-of-two (SPT) coefficients. The latter are preferable since they result in multiplierless structures. In this paper, we present a method for the design of SCIC filters with SPT polynomial coefficients by using the minimax error criterion in folding bands. To obtain the coefficients, we use a global optimization technique based on the interval analysis. The features of the presented method are illustrated with the design of wideband SCIC filters.


Let E be an optimal elliptic curve over Q of prime conductor N. We show that if for an odd prime p, the mod p representation associated to E is reducible (in particular, if p divides the order of the torsion subgroup of E(Q)), then the p-primary component of the ShafarevichTate group of E is trivial. We also state a related result for more general abelian subvarieties of J0(N) and mention what to expect if N is not prime.


In this study, sugarcane molasses (SCM) was pre-treated in a low-cost fermentation medium to produce probiotic biomass of Lactobacillus paracasei ssp. paracasei F19 (LPPF19) with the combination of dilution, centrifugation, and acid hydrolysis (5 molar sulfuric acid, 60 °C/2 h). Microtox analysis, inductively coupled mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were used to measure the effects of SCM pretreatment on the fermentation process. The results showed that the hydrolysis of sucrose into glucose and fructose was 98%, which represented an increase of 44.4% in the initial glucose content (fermentation-limiting sugar), and harmful heavy metals, such as arsenic, cadmium, and lead, were reduced by 50.3, 60.0, and 64.3%, respectively. After pretreatment, with the supplementation of only yeast extract and salts (Na, K, Mg, and Mn), a biomass of 9.58 log CFU/mL was achieved, approximately ten times higher than that for the control medium used (MRS/DeMan, Rogosa, and Sharpe). The cost reduction achieved compared to this commercial medium was 68.7% in the laboratory and 78.9% on an industrial scale. This work demonstrated that SCM could be used in a cheaper and more effective alternative fermentation to produce LPPF19.


Purpose: This study aims to analyze the relationship between digital HRM and SMEs Performance, the relationship between digital innovation and SMEs Performance and analyze the relationship between digital HRM and digital innovation

Design/methodology/approach: This research method is a quantitative survey, research data obtained by distributing online questionnaires to 760 SMEs owners. Data analysis used a structural equation model (SEM) with SmartPLS 3.0 software. The stages of data analysis are validity, reliability and significance tests. The sampling technique used is simple random sampling. The questionnaire used in this study uses a Google form which will be distributed to respondents. This questionnaire measurement method uses a Likert scale of 5, namely Strongly Disagree (STS), (2) Disagree Answers (TS), (3) Neutral Answers (N), (4) Agree Answers (S), Strongly Agree (SS)

Findings: The results of this study showed that digital HRM has a positive and significant impact on SMEs Performance, digital innovation has a positive and significant impact on SMEs Performance, digital HRM has a positive and significant impact on digital innovation

Practical implications: The findings of this study can be used by SMEs owners to increase their performance by implementing digital HRM and digital innovation. Moreover, for academics, it can support new knowledge as well as supporting theories.

Original/value: A significant contribution to the SMEs performance, digital HRM has a positive and significant impact on SMEs Performance, digital innovation has a positive and significant impact on SMEs Performance, digital HRM has a positive and significant impact on digital innovation. This result strengthens the results of previous studies.


Major League Baseball's geographic line-up essentially was constant between 1903 and 1953, when the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee and the new publicly financed stadium built on their behalf. Other MLB teams moved prior to the 1954, 1955, 1958, 1961, 1968, 1970, 1972, and 2005 seasons. In addition to team relocation, MLB has added new teams several times since 1950. The first expansion occurred in 1961, in response to the threat of a proposed third league, with the addition of the Los Angeles Angels and a new incarnation of the Washington Senators. Subsequent MLB expansion occurred in 1962, 1969, 1977, 1993 and 1998. What had been sixteen-team league in 1960 grew to thirty franchises by 2006, an increase of 87.5%. While there has been relatively little academic study of the effects of team relocation, "conventional wisdom" holds that MLB league expansion leads to distribution of the available baseball talent across more teams, and that the thinning of talent has a greater negative effect on quality of pitching than on hitting. Furthermore, it is widely believed that competitive balance is reduced for at least the first year following expansion. This paper analyzes the effects of MLB expansion and team relocation between 1950 and 2004 on trends in game attendance, within-season competitive balance, and the balance between offense and defense. This is done by testing a series of time-series "shock" models on a comprehensive statistical data set assembled from The Baseball Archive and number of other sources. The models consider the effects of relocation and expansion shocks of differing relative magnitudes, while controlling for changes in MLB's population coverage, the effects of new stadia, and the consequences of labor strife. Taking these controls into account, team relocation was found to have a depressing effect on the trend of increasing average MLB attendance per home date during 1950-2004, but not on competitive balance, or on the balance between offense and defense. League expansion was found to have no net effect on trends in average MLB home date attendance, or the balance between offense and defense. However, expansion was found to depress growth in home date attendance for incumbent (i.e., non-expansion) teams, to reduce competitive balance, and to set back the trend of increasing of average team fielding percentage. The reduction in competitive balance in expansion years was found to hold across all teams, as well as among incumbent teams only.


Supply system for a railway vehicle comprising: - electrical first and second converters (90, 92) capable of transforming each single-phase voltage or continuously received by a catenary (4) in a three phase voltage supplied to, respectively, a first and second (32, 34) three-phase power board able to distribute electrical energy to each car of the railway vehicle several networks, being the first and second electrically isolatable networks together, -several air conditioners (42 to 44) installed in several respective cars, each air conditioning unit comprising at least one compressor (52) in order to produce cold air expelled into the carriage, this compressor being electrically connected to the first network to be supplied with three-phase voltage by the first converter, -some auxiliary electrical loads (38, 40), other than the compressors, electrically connected to the second mains to be powered in three phase voltage by the second converter, characterized in that: - the first converter (90) is capable of receiving information from a network (46) for transmitting information between a power unit ( 30) and the air conditioners (42 to 44) and to deduce from this information the electrical power demand of each air conditioner, indicating this demand electric power required by the compressor of the air conditioner for cooling and / or dehumidifying the air inside the car which is installed, and -the first converter comprises a module (100) adjusting the amplitude and / or frequency of the three phase voltage supplied to the first power line, depending on the demands sent by each air conditioning .


Yersinia bacilli belong to the Pasteurella group. The three genera implicated in human infections are: Yersinia (pest/s, pseudotuberculosis and enterocolitica), Pasteurella (multocida) and Francisella {tularensis). These organisms are small, gram-negative rods or coccoid bacilli which can be differentiated by means of cultural and serologic procedures. Human yersiniosis is a generally accepted name for a disease caused by Y. pseudotuberculosis and Y. enterocolitica. Acute diarrhea and/or abdominal pain are the most common symptoms. Aches and pain simulating acute appendicitis are usually due to mesenteric lymphadenitis but occasionally to terminal ileitis. Erythema nodosum and other exanthemata, nonsuppurative arthritis, iritis and myalgia are also frequent manifestations of this disease.'' ^ ; r, ': '


Significance Carbon and nitrogen cycles have been altered dramatically by human activities. Methane-producing (methanogenic) and methane-consuming (methanotrophic) microorganisms control the emission of methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases, to the atmosphere. Earlier studies identified methanotrophic microorganisms that use methane as an electron donor and oxygen, sulfate, nitrite, and nitrate as electron acceptors. Previous research showed that methanotrophy coupled to the reduction of oxidized metals could be important in the environment. In the current paper, we identified archaea of the order Methanosarcinales, related to "Candidatus Methanoperedens nitroreducens," which couple the reduction of environmentally relevant particulate forms of iron and manganese to methane oxidation, filling one of the remaining lacunas in anaerobic methane oxidation. Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is crucial for controlling the emission of this potent greenhouse gas to the atmosphere. Nitrite-, nitrate-, and sulfate-dependent methane oxidation is well-documented, but AOM coupled to the reduction of oxidized metals has so far been demonstrated only in environmental samples. Here, using a freshwater enrichment culture, we show that archaea of the order Methanosarcinales, related to "Candidatus Methanoperedens nitroreducens," couple the reduction of environmentally relevant forms of Fe3+ and Mn4+ to the oxidation of methane. We obtained an enrichment culture of these archaea under anaerobic, nitrate-reducing conditions with a continuous supply of methane. Via batch incubations using [13C]methane, we demonstrated that soluble ferric iron (Fe3+, as Fe-citrate) and nanoparticulate forms of Fe3+ and Mn4+ supported methane-oxidizing activity. CO2 and ferrous iron (Fe2+) were produced in stoichiometric amounts. Our study connects the previous finding of iron-dependent AOM to microorganisms detected in numerous habitats worldwide. Consequently, it enables a better understanding of the interaction between the biogeochemical cycles of iron and methane.


: Objective: To evaluate cuspal deflection of mesio-occluso-distal (MOD) cavities restored with short fiber-reinforced composite. Materials and Methods: Two different commercially available composite resin restorations; short fiber-reinforced (ever X Posterior GC, Tokyo Japan) and conventional micro-hybrid (G-aenial universal resin composite GC, Tokyo Japan) resin composite restorative material bonded with a universal adhesive (G-Premio BOND GC, Tokyo Japan) were used in the current study. A total of 40 sound maxillary human premolars were selected for the cuspal deflection test and received standardized MOD cavity preparations suitable for each test. The sample was divided into four groups; Group A: conventional microhybrid resin composite (conv.), Group B: short fiber-reinforced composite (SFRCs), Group C: short fiber-reinforced composite laminated with conventional microhybrid resin composite (SFRCs+conv.), Group D: short fiber-reinforced composite "cut off" then laminated with conventional microhybrid resin composite. Measuroscope was used to evaluate the cuspal deflection. For the cuspal deflection test, the collected data from each test were tabulated, coded and then statistically analyzed. One-way ANOVA followed by a post-hoc Tukey test was used for multiple comparisons. The level of significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: Both Group A (conv.) and Group C (SFRCs+conv.) showed insignificant differences in cuspal deflection values, in comparison with groups B ( SFRCS) and D (Cut off) (p > 0.05). There were significant differences in cuspal deflection between Group A (conv.) and group c (SFRCs+conv.) (p < 0.05). There were significant differences in cuspal deflection between groups, B( SFRCS) and group D (Cut off) (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Conventional resin composites exhibit higher cuspal deflection values than those containing short fibers. Laminating conventional resin composite to SFRCS, as per the manufacturer's instructions, increases cuspal deflection values more than SFRCS. The cut-off technique seems to have a positive effect on the cuspal deflection value.


System error measurement is the essential step in actuator frequency characteristic testing and is studied to provide qualified results for system error compensation. We explored the approaches using swept sine and fast Fourier transform. We found that digital smoothing is introduced for improving accuracy of fast Fourier transform. The experiment numerical examples verified accuracy and robustness of swept sine and validity of FFT. These methods were applied to measure system error in actuator test system, the experiments showed that swept sine method could gain smooth and stable results and FFT method could achieve rather close results with swept sine.


Moving cast shadow detection is critical for outdoor video surveillance system because shadow points are often mis-classified as object points, which causes errors in segmentation and tracking. We propose a novel approach using intrinsic image combined with a model-based classifier to segment cast shadow. First, the moving object and its shadow are segmented roughly by background subtraction. Then, the color invariant areas are identified by intrinsic image based on illuminant invariance. We take a region comparison method instead of pixel by pixel to determine shadow area in these two steps. Meanwhile, a conclusion is drawn that using dynamic method to construct histogram will cause instability. Accordingly, a simple algorithm for finding minimum entropy is built when projecting ID intrinsic image. The proposed algorithm is demonstrated on a video sequence. The performance comparisons show that the proposed method can detect penumbra and provides highest performance compared with the conventional ones.


The authors examine the juridical idea of extremist used in the criminal law of the Russian Federation. This work is an attempt to solve the problem of differentiating between this concept and the freedom of expression. The establishment of boundaries and limits of these phenomena is important for both lawmakers and law enforcers. The authors use the attributes of the phenomenon of «extremism» in an attempt to understand its form and contents. To achieve this, they analyze views on different scholars on extremism, the law and its amendments, clarifications of the highest court authorities of the country regarding the object of this research, and study the doctrinal practice of experts – linguists and psychologists. They synthesize the discovered meanings of extremism and identify its features. The obtained information allowed the authors to conclude that the definition of extremism formulated in the law is not precise, it lacks clear boundaries and, at the categorial level, could be viewed as an abstract concept. This concept, incorporated in the law, has a negative impact on the quality of the law and impedes the right choice of interpretation by national courts. The fuzziness of legal prescriptions has not yet been eliminated by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and the law enforcement practice of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. All this creates endless opportunities for interpreting the law at the local level. The authors present disturbing statistics that show a tremendous growth in the number of offences in this area in recent years. They believe that the cause of the problem is the above-mentioned law that allows excessive interpretation by the law enforcer. The presented research deals with the bottlenecks of constitutional law as it analyzes the freedom of expression with its boundaries and limits. The authors discuss the conflict of constitutional and criminal laws from the viewpoint of enforcing specific law clauses. The research includes constructive criticism of the instruments used by experts (linguists and psychologists) who perform their tasks for criminal cases and materials on speech goals, which belongs to the domain of criminalistics. The authors present their own vision of this problem based on the opinion of scholars, historical experience and court practice.


I was delighted to read in "Caring for Canadian military families" in the January issue of Canadian Family Physician that research is under way to identify medical concerns specific to Canada's military families.[1][1] My interest is personal. I am the son of a career officer and World War II


We investigate a stochastic individual-based model for the population dynamics of host-virus systems where the microbial hosts may transition into a dormant state upon contact with virions, thus evading infection. Such a contact-mediated defence mechanism was described in Bautista&al. (2015) for an archaeal host, while Jackson-Fineran (2019) and Meeske&al. (2019) describe a related, CRISPR-Cas induced, dormancy defense of bacterial hosts to curb phage epidemics. We first analyse the effect of the dormancy-related model parameters on the probability and time of invasion of a newly arriving virus into a resident host population. Given successful invasion, we then show that the emergence (with high probability) of a persistent virus infection ('epidemic') in a large host population can be determined by the existence of a coexistence equilibrium for the underlying dynamical system. That is an extension of a dynamical system considered by Beretta-Kuang (1998), known to exhibit a Hopf bifurcation, giving rise to a 'paradox of enrichment'. We verify that the additional dormancy component can, for certain parameter ranges, prevent the associated loss of stability. Moreover, the presence of contact-mediated dormancy enables the host population to attain higher equilibrium sizes - and still avoid a persistent epidemic - than hosts without this trait.


Significance The receptor tyrosine kinase KIT is aberrantly activated primarily by somatic mutations in gastrointestinal stromal tumors and in a subset of acute myeloid leukemia, melanoma, and other cancers. Treatment of these cancers with tyrosine kinase inhibitors shows durable clinical response, but drug resistance and disease progression eventually occur in all patients. Here we describe monoclonal antibodies that block the activity of KIT and its oncogenic mutant. Structural and biochemical analyses of anti-KIT antibodies in complex with a KIT fragment demonstrated that KIT antibodies bind to a critical Achilles heel region that is essential for receptor activation. These antibodies may provide a potentially unique therapeutic approach for the treatment of tumors driven by WT or oncogenically mutated KIT. Somatic oncogenic mutations in the receptor tyrosine kinase KIT function as major drivers of gastrointestinal stromal tumors and a subset of acute myeloid leukemia, melanoma, and other cancers. Although treatment of these cancers with tyrosine kinase inhibitors shows dramatic responses and durable disease control, drug resistance followed by clinical progression of disease eventually occurs in virtually all patients. In this report, we describe inhibitory KIT antibodies that bind to the membrane-proximal Ig-like D4 of KIT with significant overlap with an epitope in D4 that mediates homotypic interactions essential for KIT activation. Crystal structures of the anti-KIT antibody in complex with KIT D4 and D5 allowed design of affinity-matured libraries that were used to isolate variants with increased affinity and efficacy. Isolated antibodies showed KIT inhibition together with suppression of cell proliferation driven by ligand-stimulated WT or constitutively activated oncogenic KIT mutant. These antibodies represent a unique therapeutic approach and a step toward the development of "naked" or toxin-conjugated KIT antibodies for the treatment of KIT-driven cancers.


Information for Mendeley uses, including citation download assistance, bibliography creation, and tips to make Mendeley a time-saving, citation management tool Link to training courses at the MSU Libraries


A method for applying a is injected from cured foam is formed protection element at at least one corner of an article, in which a quantity of foam-forming components in a bag, which bag is then applied against the object to there, to cure and to form the protection element .


The installation of slope drainage is often an economic means of ensuring the stability of a road cutting. Drainage may be installed either when the cutting is first made, or at a later date as a remedial measure. This report describes a study of the effect of slope drainage in a newly-made cutting in London clay. Two adjacent sites were studied, a Western site of unweathered grey clay, and an Eastern site of weathered brown clay. At each site, pore pressure measurements were made in experimental lengths with and without drainage over a period of nearly a decade. At one of the two sites, the Western site, pore pressures were high. The slope drains did not function properly, and even after repair had little effect on pore pressures. At the Eastern site, pore pressures were initially low but increased over a period of years, and the slope drains did eventually bring about some reduction in pore pressure. These observations are compared with those for an older cutting in London clays. In these cases at least, slope drainage was found to be more effective as a remedial measure than in new construction. (A)


The purpose of this document is to present a preliminary evaluation the utility of the FAA Safety Analytics Thesaurus (SAT) utility in enhancing automated document processing applications under development at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC). Current development efforts at ARC are described, including overviews of the statistical machine learning techniques that have been investigated. An analysis of opportunities for applying thesaurus knowledge to improving algorithm performance is then presented.


: Industry 4.0 and the associated idea of society 4.0 pose speci fi c challenges for the concept of sustainable development. These challenges relate, inter alia , to responsibility, in which the changes to date have overall entailed: In the context of society 4.0 there is a need for shared responsibility. The problem of justice and therefore the implementation of sustainable development not only becomes an open problem, but also requires constant updating and speci fi c optimisation.


This issue of AIDS includes data from HIV serosurveys conducted in the Johns Hopkins Emergency Department (ED) over nearly three decades, including data from 2013 that have not been previously published [1]. The earliest of the serosurveys, conducted in 1986 and 1987, aimed to document prevalence of HIV infection, with an eye toward quantifying occupational risk for healthcare providers [2,3]. These early studies demonstrated the need for universal infection control precautions. A follow-up study in 1988 aimed to identify trends in HIV prevalence, document adherence to universal precautions implemented in the interim, and assess the burden of HIV-related service use in an emergency setting [4]. Together, these early serosurveys painted a picture of the epidemiology of HIV in an inner-city ED, examining the associations of demographic, risk, and geographic factors with HIV infection. They also have been important in understanding clinical presentations and courses for those patients with both known and unrecognized HIV infection in emergency settings.


Attempts to produce Polymers by reaction of bis(p-fluorobenzoyl)durene, in diphenyl sulfone at 260–350 °C, with a range of bisphenols {quinol(hydroquinone), bisphenol σ(4,4′-sulfonyldiphenol), 4,4′-dihydroxybenzophenone, 4,4′-dihydroxybiphenyl, bisphenol A(4,4′-isopropylidenediphenol) and 4,4′-thiodiphenol [bis(p-hydroxyphenyl) sulfide]} in the presence of sodium and/or potassium carbonate, are described. Only the first three bisphenols have proved satisfactory. The thermal and mechanical properties of the Polymers produced have been compared with those of some unmethylated analogues derived from bis(p-fluorobenzoyl)benzene, and with those of 'Victrex' poly(ether ether ketone)(PEEK) and poly(ether sulfone)(PES); the best of the durene-derived Polymers, while showing good mechanical strength and toughness, are less thermally stable in air than the unmethylated equivalents or the commercial materials.


Identifying financial distress condition is more important than learning bankruptcy. Because company must meet financial distress first then bankruptcy will follow. Unfortunately, many researchers more like to study bankruptcy rather than financial distress. Financial distress still can be managed by the management and, even better, financial distress can be identified before it occurs. The main purpose of this research is to identify factors that can make a corporate financial distress condition by analyzing historical data and comparing it to current condition. Industry-Relative ratios, Unadjusted Financial Ratios and Auditor Reputation are the variables which would be analyzed in this research. After having historical information that shows us the influencing factors, I will compare it to current condition of manufacture industry. So, all of us can know does Indonesia Manufacture Industry have a financial distress indication or not. The research population is Indonesia manufacture companies. The samples are companies which delisted from Jakarta Stock Exchange at 2000-2003 periods and all listed manufacturing companies until today. The Sampling method in this research is Purposive Sampling Method. The statistic method that used in this research is regression of logistic test. Enter technique is used to create the model. This technique is useful for establishing highest classification power. After obtains the factors that affect financial distress, then compare it to the current condition and gain a list of manufacture companies that indicate a financial distress condition. Overall, the research results show us that unadjusted financial ratios have higher classification power than industry-relative ratios. Another important highlight is the auditor reputation has insignificant relation to the financial distress condition. In conclusion, there are 1% of Indonesia manufacture companies that indicate a financial distress condition. Shareholders, Investors, Creditors and the management must pay attention to this phenomenon.


Characters and distribution of PGM resources in Zimbabwe's Great Dyke were introduced.The PGM resource,mining,processing and production capability of platinum mine in Zimbabwe were summarized in details.Indicate that mining is the key to develop the PGM resources in Zimbabwe's Great Dyke.


Using 2‐D DIGE, we constructed a quantitative 2‐D database including 309 proteins corresponding to 389 protein spots across 42 lymphoid neoplasm cell lines. The proteins separated by 2‐D PAGE were identified by MS and assigned to the expression data obtained by 2‐D DIGE. The cell lines were categorized into four groups: those from Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) (4 cell lines), B cell malignancies (19 cell lines), T cell malignancies (16 cell lines), and natural killer (NK) cell malignancies (3 cell lines). We characterized the proteins in the database by classifying them according to their expression level. We found 28 proteins with more than a 2‐fold difference between the cell line groups. We also noted the proteins that allowed multidimensional separation to be achieved (1) between HL cells and other cells, (2) between the cells derived from B cells, T cells and NK cells, and (3) between HL cells and anaplastic large cell lymphoma cells. Decision tree classification identified five proteins that could be used to classify the 42 cell lines according to differentiation. These results suggest that the quantitative 2‐D database using 2‐D DIGE will be a useful resource for studying the mechanisms underlying the differentiation phenotypes of lymphoid neoplasms.


Throughout this chapter, we focus on firms that are not listed on stock exchanges; our special emphasis is on large firms that may exhibit information asymmetries and agency costs because such companies are most likely to experience corporate governance problems (i.e. expropriation of value at the expense of minority shareholders). More specifically, by "large firms" we mean those that are relatively similar in size to listed firms in the same country. Thus, we focus on widely held, non-listed companies that may be of interest to policy-makers and regulators.


Silicone rubber exhibiting antimicrobial activity, a) at least one silicone rubber derived from a curable silicone rubber-forming composition; b) at least one silver-containing antimicrobial active agent incorporated in X wt% silicone rubber (a), and c) contains at least one carboxylic acid incorporated in Y weight percent silicone rubber (a), wherein the silver-containing antimicrobial agent (b) is itself a silicone rubber (a) to therein of X + Y% by weight when incorporated in an amount, and in the case of a carboxylic acid (c) is incorporated in an amount of X + Y weight percent therein silicone rubber (a) alone, confers significant antibacterial activity against the silicone rubber (a) Although there is no thing therein, silver-containing antimicrobial agent up to X wt% and (b) with a carboxylic acid of up to Y weight percent (c) Combination, gave significant antibacterial activity against the silicone rubber (a), such activity can be seen in the exposed surface and the contact surface with the water-containing material in the presence of a microorganism in contact with that of the silicone rubber (a).


This paper proposes a new approach to solve the short term load forecasting problem that considers electricity price as one of the main characteristics of the system load. The proposed method is derived by integrating the kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) method with locally weighted support vector regression (LWSVR). LWSVR can be derived by modifying the risk function of the support vector regression algorithm with use of locally weighted regression while keeping the regularization term in its original form. In the proposed model, the first stage is using KPCA to extract features and obtain kernel principal components which used to construct the phase space of the multivariate time series of inputs. LWSVR is employed in the second stage to solve the load forecasting problem. In addition, to optimize the weighting function's bandwidth, the weighted distance algorithm is presented. The performance of the proposed model is evaluated with the historical load, temperature and price data from the Victorian electricity market in Australia. The results show that the proposed method provides a relatively better forecasting performance in comparison with other published models employing the same data.


Based on the acid precipitation monitoring data, climate and meteorology in Foshan City,we analysed the present situation of acid precipitation its change regularity, and reason, of its formation,and proposed some prevention countermeasures to control the pollution source and reduce SO 2 .


This paper describes the application of Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI) and Smart Metering based tools for network optimization purposes - situation in Enel Distribuzione, Dec. 2008.


The alterations of the fornix in mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) were investigated using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and T1-weighetd anatomical imaging. The primary goal of this study was to test that hypothesis that the fornix might play a major role in the memory and learning dysfunctions in the post-concussion syndrome, which may related to the white matter (WM) degradations following mild traumatic brain injury. N=24 mTBI patients were longitudinally studied in two time points with 6-month intervals using a 4-Tesla MRI scanner to measure the WM integrity of fornix and the fornix-to-brain ratio (FBR), and compared with matched healthy controls. Our data show that the WM degradation in fornix onset in the acute stage after mild TBI when the post-injury time was less than 6 weeks, and that this WM degradation continued during the following 6-month period of recovery. In summary, using DTI and structural MRI together can effectively detect the fornix changes in both cross-sectional and longitudinal investigations. Further studies are warranted to exam the association between the fornix alterations and neurocognitive performance of TBI patients.


We have seen growing interest in validation of a business process model before it is implemented due to the complexity to model business process. In this paper, we propose a method for analyzing and validating the functional correctness of a business process model. Based on our previous work, we model a business process in UML activity diagrams with OCL constraints, then we give a formal semantics of the business process model, finally we validate the model by prototyping. We have developed a tool -- AutoPA to support our method. When applying the tool, a business process model specified by UML activity diagrams with OCL constraints is transformed into an executable prototype in Java. Both the control flow dimension and the dataflow dimension of the model are considered. With the prototype, users can validate the functional properties of the business process model in an interactive way. We use a real-world example as a case study: the business process of the first delivery of mortgage archive in a risk mitigation system of a bank.


Abstract FOLLOWING the work of Menge et al. (1949), which showed that chicks require an unidentified growth factor in addition to vitamin B12 and other known nutrients, numerous similar observations have been reported. Most of these have been reviewed by Combs (1951), Menge et al. (1952), Briggs (1952) and Branion and Hill (1953). In a preliminary report, Arscott and Combs (1950) presented results which indicated that chicks fed a corn-soybean oil meal type ration responded to two different growth factors. One factor was present in fish meal; the other was supplied by butyl molasses fermentation solubles. Kohler and Graham (1951), and Couch et al. (1952) with chicks and Scott and Jensen (1952) with poults, have obtained similar evidence for two distinct factors. It also has been noted that certain orally administered antibiotics appear to spare the dietary requirement of the chick for unidentified growth factors (Groschke, 1950; Jones and Combs, 1951; …


RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology is well known for its easy to use and features possessed. Mostly it is used for security or authentication purpose as each RFID contains a unique identification code. This unique identification feature is also can be used in the different ways. The study of other RFID techniques will be helpful for better service and security. The navigation system for robots using RFID is proposed in this paper. The movements of the robots completely depend on the RFID tags which are to be scanned. In addition to this another feature of changing the duties which are assigned to the particular RFIDs identification is also added.


Treatment of aneurysms of the ascending aorta, arch aorta, or both are surgically challenging and has traditionally carried a high hospital mortality rate [1-5]. The development of low porosity or impermeable grafts [6], the introduction of hypothermic circulatory arrest with anterograde or retrograde cerebral perfusion [7], enhanced intraoperative myocardial protection, and improved hematologic treatment have resulted in reduced hospital mortality and morbidity rates. Moreover, advances in diagnostic studies, like, computed tomographic scanning [8,9], magnetic resonance imaging [10,11] and transesophageal echocardiography [12,13], as well as better patient selection have contributed to improved results [14].


A maritime surveillance, safety and information regime is proposed, to address lower profile security issues in East Asia. Its objectives would be to help safeguard the peaceful merchant shipping of the region; to create a secure context for the sustained exploitation of the resources of the sea; to contribute to the preservation of the marine environment; and to develop a framework of cooperation that could provide the basis for dealing with higher order contingencies that might arise in this rapidly developing region.It is suggested that the regime could best be established by a series of modest steps dealing with non-controversial matters. Measures suggested include the establishment of networks of cooperation to implement regulations (such as the proposed port-state control network for control of shipping), involving government agencies, commercial groups and regional navies; setting up a database to coordinate and distribute throughout the region open-sourced strategic maritime information; extending...


MANY devices intended for recording the motility of animals have been produced, mostly in pharmacological practice (i.e. Waterman, 1947; Winter and Flataker, 1951; Dews, 1953). In this report a simple apparatus (locomotometer) will be described, which allows for continuous measurement of the locomotor activity (LA) of mice kept under physiological or various experimental conditions for any length of time. Improved designs serving the same purpose may be produced in any electronic workshop. With slight modifications, the same apparatus may also be used for recording the LA of other species of animals. In this report are described also some procedures for both processing and evaluating the numerical data, as well as the interpretation of results obtained using this method. It will be shown in future reports that with this apparatus we could detect and measure significant alterations of the LA displayed by mice infected or intoxicated with sublethal doses of viruses or poisons respectively, as well as demonstrate a significant effect of hunger, sexual drive and other incentives upon the LA of mice.


This research work addresses the problem of mutual coupling between the antenna elements for ultra wideband diversity applications. A novel H‐type decoupling structure has been proposed which successfully suppresses the mutual coupling by 7 to 10 dB as compared to the nondecoupled radiating elements. The decoupling structure has been tested for shared and isolated ground planes. The isolation between the antennas was measured to be more than 25 dB in most of the band. The feasibility of the proposed structure in diversity applications has been analyzed by measuring the envelope correlation coefficient which was found out to be less than −30 dB. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 55:2715–2720, 2013


In this paper, an experimental setup for undergraduate courses to study the damped harmonic motion of a sphere inside a fluid as a function of the medium viscosity is presented. To observe the dependence of the oscillation of the sphere on the medium viscosity, different concentrations of glycerin in water were used. The sphere is suspended on the end of a spring and its displacement is indirectly obtained using a force sensor. To describe the sphere motion, a drag force different from that given by Stokes' law is used. Our experimental results fit satisfactorily when semiempirical coefficients are introduced in the model. The frequency and relaxation time of the sphere oscillations diminish as the concentration of glycerin increases. Boundary effects due to the fluid container size are studied. We found that when the container size decreases the oscillations decay more rapidly due to a greater resistance to the motion of the sphere.


We consider wave maps from the $(1+d)$-dimensional Minkowski space into the $d$-sphere. It is known from the work of Bizo\'n and Biernat \cite{BizBie15} that in the energy-supercritical case, i.e., for $d \geq 3$, this model admits a closed-form corotational self-similar blowup solution. We show that this blowup profile is globally nonlinearly stable for all $d \geq 3$, thereby verifying a perturbative version of the conjecture posed in \cite{BizBie15} about the generic large data blowup behavior for this model. To accomplish this, we develop a novel stability analysis approach based on similarity variables posed on the whole space $\mathbb{R}^d$. As a result, we draw a general road map for studying spatially global stability of self-similar blowup profiles for nonlinear wave equations in the radial case for arbitrary dimension $d \geq 3$.


A new level set way based on GVF was proposed,in order to solve the problem that the level set evolving curve will often stop on the local maximum or isolated edge.So the gradient threshold and the gradient vector flow (GVF)were introduced into the speed stopping function.The gradient threshold was used to keep the edge well, while the gradient field was replaced by GVF to enlarge the attracting range of gradient field and to avoid the level set evolving curve stopping on the local maximum or isolated edge.The experimental results showed that the developed algorithm is verified well than the traditional one.


Welding quality inspection is critical to the quality control of the welding structure. Traditional manual detection requires experienced workers and the method is time-consuming. Currently, deep learning has made great progress in the field of image recognition. However, in terms of industrial defect detection, the contradiction between huge computational parameters and limited imbalanced samples still exists, which makes the deep learning method unable to play its role to the maximum extent. In this case, a combination of deep learning methods and transfer learning methods is considered to improve the performance of the model on limited and imbalanced data sets. The VGG16 model, which is pre-trained on a large number of source data sets, is fine-tuned on our target data sets. In this paper, a new DTN-VGG16 structure is proposed, in which a Global Average Pooling (GAP) layer, Batch Normalization (BN) layer, and Soft-max classifier are added on top of the frozen pre-training model, which can effectively reduce the number of parameters and accelerate the convergence speed of the model. In addition, focal loss function is used to replace the commonly used multi-class cross entropy loss function. By adjusting the parameters of the loss function, the training process has better convergence. Experimental results show that DTN-VGG16 has better performance than other traditional machine learning methods and deep learning models. And the proposed model has good robustness and generalization performance when valid on the real data of aerospace welding seams which is difficult to learn.


This paper investigate the dependence of substrate temperature onto characteristic of Gallium doped Zinc Oxide (Ga:ZnO). Ga:ZnO films were deposited on a glass substrate by RF Magnetron Sputtering using Ga:ZnO ceramic target with 99.99% purity. Sputtering power, argon flow and target distance were fixed in order to investigate the influence of substrate temperature to the growth characteristic, structural and optical properties of the films. Sputtering was performed with RF power of 100 Watt and the argon flow in was set at 10 sccm. The deposition times were fixed at 40 minute for all films. The result shows growth rate for Ga:ZnO growth at higher temperature are lower than at room temperature. Ga:ZnO thin films on different substrate temperature were successfully deposited onto glass substrate. All films are polycrystalline with (0 0 2) preferential orientation and fully transparent films with high transparency over 80 percent were achieved.


Geodesic array of heaters powered by separate electrical supply unit and silicon controlled-rectifier (SCR) control unit produces controlled temperatures over independent zones. Arrays conform to and enclose almost any shape with close thermal coupling and are programmed to reproduce almost any desired time/temperature distribution.


This article addresses the following key points: The FSA is restricting the use of soft dollar commissions and bundled brokerage. The FSA has given the industry an opportunity to implement a Disclosure Code initiative to clearly identify components of commission charges. In December 2004, the FSA will assess whether the industry's work on enhanced transparency is on track to achieve the desired outcomes.


This paper presents some architectural studies regarding mixed signal programmable components (FPGAs or gate arrays). The effect of programmability through the use of switches is analyzed, and it is shown that the result is a transfer function modification when real characteristics of the switches are assumed. Moreover, the paper proposes the use of externally linear, internally nonlinear analog circuits, since this procedure could eliminate the error introduced by the switches. Using this approach, analog area is greatly reduced, and circuits can be built on top of digital technologies. Some experimental results in the analog and digital domain support the proposed approach to mixed circuit reprogrammability, being the basis for a mixed signal FPGA.


Abstract Well–designed cementite–free bainitic steels are important in contributing to unique combinations of strength, toughness and cost. We examine here the relative effects of molybdenum and boron on the kinetics of transformation of austenite particularly into allotriomorphic ferrite and bainite. There are some surprising results on the role of boron, which is found in some circumstances to accelerate the transformation to allotriomorphic ferrite. This, and other features of transformation behaviour are assessed in the context of phase transformation mechanisms.


A new design and analysis of cellular phone casing based on shielding technique is presented in this study to reduce the EM absorption in the human head. A dual band PIFA is designed to operate at 900 MHz and 1900 MHz GSM frequency bands as an internal handset antenna. The specific absorption rate (SAR) in the human head and total absorbed power by the cell phone user are calculated along with antenna performances. It is found that the SAR in the head is reduced due to the proposed casing considerably for both the lower and upper frequency bands. The new mobile casing provides 48.2% reduction in the SAR at 900 MHz and 44.8% reduction at 1900 MHz. In addition, the mobile casing improves the radiation efficiency for 6% and 7% in comparison with without casing configuration at the lower and upper GSM frequency bands respectively.


Overvoltage is one of the most common types of electrical interferences in power supply systems. Significant part of overvoltages is caused by switching off the high inductive load, such as transformers, reactors and electrical machines. This paper is dedicated to vacuum circuit breakers switching off process modeling in Simulink MATLAB for the purpose of power quality problems estimation. Model of the vacuum circuit breaker implements simulation of transient recovery voltage, current chopping and electrical arc. Developed model was used for simulation of overvoltage on example of mine electric power system. Obtained results were compared to available experimental data.


Reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) problem is usually formulated as an optimization problem to minimize an objective function subjected to probabilistic constraint functions which may include deterministic design variables as well as random variables. The challenging task is that, because the probability models of the random variables are often assumed based on limited data, there exists a possibility of selecting inappropriate distribution models and/or model parameters for the random variables, which can often lead to disastrous consequences. In order to select the most appropriate distribution model from the limited observation data as well as model parameters, this study takes into account a set of possible candidate models for the random variables. The suitability of each model is then investigated by employing performance and risk functions. In this regard, this study enables structural design optimization and fitness assessment of the distribution models of the random variables at the same time. As the first paper of a two-part series, this paper describes a new design method considering probability model uncertainties. The robust performance of the proposed method is presented in Part 2. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, an example of ten-bar truss structure is considered. The numerical results show that the proposed method can provide the optimal design variables while guaranteeing the most desirable distribution models for the random variables even in case the limited data are only available.


ABSTRACT Post-war Kosovo has been the subject of a highly intrusive international state-building project, including an unprecedented influx of international administrators, assistance and funds. However, it increasingly bears the hallmark of a weak and captured state. This special issue contributes theoretical and empirical insights that shed light on possible explanations, difficulties and prospects of the state-building project in Kosovo. Theoretically, we investigate how international and local explanations play out, interact and gain dominance over each other; highlight the local factors that shape the experience of state-building; and focus on the hybridity of institution- and state-building on the ground. Empirically, we take stock of two decades of international state-building activities and one decade of independent statehood by providing long-term and in-depth analysis of specific areas of reform – municipal governance, state bureaucracy, normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo, education, creation of armed forces, security sector reforms and reception of Salafi ideologies. Such time-sensitive, case-nuanced and empirically heavy analysis enables the authors to go back and forth between the role of international activities, domestic strategies of resistance and evidence of hybrid reforms in order to test the role of competing explanations.


The research objective is performing probabilistic nonlinear dynamic seismic resistance analysis for the reinforced concrete building frame. The building design is compliant with SP 14.13330.2018 Construction Code. The LS-DYNA software was used for nonlinear dynamic analysis. A set of two-component accelerograms to be analyzed was generated. The set consists of 20 random seismic events with the specified expected values for the predominant frequency and the intensity. The structural response as random processes and values was studied. The resulting experimental response value distributions were fitted to distribution laws. The results showed that the K 1 factor accounting for acceptable damage to buildings and structures should be much larger than specified in the regulatory codes. It indicates that the seismic resistance of the building is insufficient in terms of the near-collapse failure criterion.


could be considered remotely important" {Mountainous Karabagh, 1989, p. 78). In contrast, only three mosques were erected in Shushi, the most important city in Karabagh, before 1885, at the height of Tatar power in the mountainous region (p. 80). Donabedian expands on Turkish claims and Russian motives in Karabagh and demonstrates the lack of resolve on the part of Tatar leaders to earn popular support. His description of how the name "Azerbaijan" came to be used—for the first time in September 1918—under Turkish tutelage (p. 81) is, in itself, a revelation. Claude Mutafian picks up the historical narrative in the 20th century, focusing on the major role that Russia played, especially between 1915 and 1921, when Joseph Stalin apportioned the "autonomous oblast" (region) to Azerbaijan. Reunification attempts began in the 1920s and intensified in the 1960s—long before perestroika in the USSR—but no Soviet leader was interested in rekindling dormant border tensions within the Utopian Soviet Empire. In late 1989, after the tragic Spitak earthquake, the Karabagh Movement galvanized disgruntled Armenians into action. Members of the Karabagh Committee were encouraged to rally behind an environmental protest opposing unsafe nuclear power use, but their aim was to seek self-determination, and, Mutafian clarifies, the revival was the result of policies adopted in Moscow as well as in Baku. In the introduction, Levon Chorbajian, a former Fulbright scholar who lived in Armenia in 1986-87, updates a conflict that now involves the major powers, the United Nations and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and, buttressed by the Donabedian and Mutafian sections, lays out contradictions between the quest for self-determination and the concept of border inviolability. In a time of Palestinian and Kurdish quests for self-determination, this perceptive volume sheds light on how the Armenian-Azeri ethnic conflict evolved and examines its consequences on both protagonists and the region in a coherent and erudite fashion. It is highly recommended for scholars studying and teaching courses on the Middle East. JOSEPH A. KECHICHIAN RAND Corporation