Brass is a popular engineering material used in a variety of applications requiring good strength, ductility, corrosion resistance and machinability. This work focuses on the analysis of Stress – Strain Hysteresis Loops obtained in low cycle fatigue experiments in order to determine the internal and effective components of the stress amplitude which provide valuable information about damage mechanisms. Cyclic plastic straining has been studied using the SAP method (Statistical Approach of Plastic deformation). This approach allows the evaluation of the effective and internal stresses, effective elastic modulus and the probability density function, f(σic), which reflects the microstructure of the plastically deformed material. f(σic) obtained from each reversal exhibits two peaks in α/β brass, corresponding to the plastic deformation of each component phase of this material. At low strain amplitudes and during the initial loading cycles, a single peak has been generally observed. However, at high strain amplitudes and at the stabilization stage of the hysteresis loop, two distinct peaks could be distinguished. Further, relative to the effective stress, the internal stress shows a hardening effect with strain amplitude.


Fog computing infrastructure aims to offload computing resources from cloud providers by placing edge devices closer to end-users and/or data sources. Systems and methods for developing and deploying an application in Fog nodes are still in their infancy. In this work, we present FogGuru, a fog computing platform meant to facilitate application deployment in Fog environments. FogGuru builds upon the stream processing paradigm for fog applications design; its implementation makes use of the open-source Apache Flink stream processing engine. The demo will showcase a Fog-based traffic analytics application deployed using FogGuru and running on a fog node, composed of a cluster of five Raspberry Pis.


Recently, Buffalo Law Review published Richard Albert's article on "quasi-constitutional amendments." These are, in Albert's words, "sub-constitutional changes that do not possess the same legal status as a constitutional amendment, that are formally susceptible to statutory repeal or revision, but that may achieve constitutional status over time as a result of their subject-matter." In this essay, I respond to Albert's illustration and understanding of this of this phenomenon. The central point I make concerns Albert's insistence on quasi-constitutional amendments being the result of a "self-conscious" effort to circumvent "onerous rules of formal amendment" in order to alter the operation of a set of existing norms in the constitution. I argue that a truly comprehensive theory of quasi-constitutional amendments – or of the broader phenomenon of informal constitutional change - is also able to account for constitutional change that is caused by facts not accompanied by a (demonstrable) intent or awareness of the change on the part of constitutional actors. Recognizing such change, which I refer to as "silent constitutional change," has implications for the way we should describe processes of constitutional development and explain why constitutional change does not always come about through the "front door" of a formal constitutional amendment procedure.


The objective of this article is to study violent victimization among single mothers. This is mainly achieved by examining variations within the group of single mothers. The study is based on the Annual Survey of Living Conditions conducted by Statistics Sweden. The analysis includes a total of 1,713 single mothers. One of the central issues in this study is to examine the significance of factors related to participation in public entertainment, residential neighbourhood and resource deficiencies at the individual level. One important conclusion from the study is that differences in levels of exposure to violence, both within the group of single mothers and between this group and other women, are primarily related to levels of individual welfare resources.


Background: There is a substantive body of evidence that achievement goal orientations influence academic outcomes. However, students in developing countries and non-college populations are underrepresented in the existing goal orientation research. Involving students from new contexts and in lower levels of education may enhance generalizability of the construct and add to the pool of knowledge in this area. Methods: The study involved 385 students selected through proportionate stratified random sampling from 10 public secondary schools in Embu County. Data were collected through an adapted Achievement Goal Orientation Questionnaire. Academic achievement was inferred from students' examination grades. Results: A significant positive correlation was found between approach achievement goal orientation and academic achievement (r(383) = .20, p <.05).A significant negative correlation was found between avoidance achievement goal orientation and academic achievement (r(383) = -.15, p < .05). The equation for predicting academic achievement from achievement goal orientation was significant (F (2, 382) = 13.49, p < .05). Approach achievement goal orientation had a higher and positive predictive value while avoidance achievement goal orientation had negative predictive value. Conclusions: We urge parents and teachers to enhance approach achievement goal orientation among learners.


Surface passivation of the perovskite photo absorber is a key factor to improve the photovoltaic performance. So far robust passivation strategies have not yet been revealed. Here, we demonstrate a successful passivation strategy which controls the Fermi-level of the perovskite surface by improving the surface states. Such Fermi-level control caused band-bending between the surface and bulk of the perovskite, which enhanced the hole-extraction from the absorber bulk to the HTM side. As an added benefit, the inorganic passivation layer improved the device light stability. By depositing a thick protection layer on the complete device, a remarkable waterproofing effect was obtained. As a result, an enhancement of VOC and the conversion efficiency from 20.5% to 22.1% was achieved. We revealed these passivation mechanisms and used perhydropoly(silazane) (PHPS) derived silica to control the perovskite surface states.


The possibilities of dissolving grade pulp production from poplar by an ethanol-water process were investigated. The effects of ethanol ratio, cooking temperature and acid catalyst ratio on unbleached, bleached and alkali-purified pulps were studied. It was seen that catalyst ratios exceeding 0.01% caused serious yield and viscosity losses. The results showed that with the catalyst ratio to pulping liquor exceeding 0.01%, pulp yield and viscosity were reduced to an unacceptable level. The best pulping result was obtained at 40% ethanol consistency, 180 oC pulping temperature and 150 min reaction time without the addition of acid catalyst to the pulping liquor. After bleaching and alkali purification, the pulp obtained had a 30.7% yield, 95.8% a-cellulose content, 677 cm3/g viscosity, 83% ISO brightness, 1.80% residual pentosans, 0.33% copper number and 0.14% ash content. However, brightness was increased to 88.5% ISO level with the application of a multistage bleaching (CEHDED) sequence instead of chlorite bleaching without serious losses in yield or a-cellulose content at normal viscosity levels. It is concluded that these pulps meet dissolving grade pulp quality requirements.


Summary 1. Although shade tolerance is often assumed to be a fixed trait of species, recent work has reported size-related changes in the relative and absolute light requirements of woody taxa. We hypothesized that, in evergreen forests, light requirements of shade-tolerant species that accumulate multiple foliage cohorts will be more stable during juvenile ontogeny than those of intolerant species with short leaf lifetimes. 2. We quantified the light environments occupied by three size classes of 13 coexisting evergreens in a temperate rainforest, to determine how size influenced their relative shade tolerance. Minimum light requirements (MLRs) of species were estimated by computing the 10th percentile of the distribution of juveniles in relation to percentage canopy openness, for each size class. Leaf life span in low light (2%‐5% canopy openness) was estimated by recording survival of marked leaves over 12 months, or retrospectively on species with clearly discernible foliage cohorts. 3. Agreement of ranks of species' MLR across size classes was significant, although not strong (Kendall's W = 0·159, P = 0·02). MLRs of the most shade-tolerant species changed little between size-classes, whereas those of most of the less-tolerant species rose with increasing size. 4. Shift in MLR across size-classes was negatively correlated with leaf life span, possibly because of the effects of leaf life span on biomass distribution and whole-plant carbon balance. Survival of light-demanding species with short leaf lifetimes may thus depend on their encountering increasing light levels as they grow taller, whereas progressive accumulation of an extensive leaf area by late-successional taxa enables them to continue to tolerate low light despite increasing size. 5. Results suggest that shade-tolerance differences between evergreens become increasingly apparent with increasing size. In identifying a relationship with leaf life span, this work also provides a basis for predicting changes in species' light requirements during juvenile ontogeny.


SUMMARY The hierarchical Dirichlet process (HDP) can provide a nonparametric prior for a mixture model with grouped data, where mixture components are shared across groups. However, the computational cost is generally very high in terms of both time and space complexity. Therefore, developing a method for fast inference of HDP remains a challenge. In this paper, we assume a symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) cluster, which has been widely used in recent years. To speed up the inference on an SMP cluster, we explore hybrid two-level parallelization of the Chinese restaurant franchise sampling scheme for HDP, especially focusing on the application to topic modeling. The methods we developed, Hybrid-AD-HDP and Hybrid-Diff-AD-HDP, make better use of SMP clusters, resulting in faster HDP inference. While the conventional parallel algorithms with a full message-passing interface does not benefit from using SMP clusters due to higher communication costs, the proposed hybrid parallel algorithms have lower communication costs and make better use of the computational resources.


Beach erosion rates are often determined by delineating historical shoreline positions from maps and aerial photographs and more recently global positioning systems (GPS). The high water line is usually selected as the shoreline indicator for mapping purposes; it is defined as the wet ted bound and by "markings left on the beach by the last high tide." The high water line that is acquired from field determination or photogrammetric means is assumed to represent the mean shoreline position for that year, but field studies have shown that its position is variable because of changes in water level due to waves, wind, tides, and other factors. This study investigated the short-term variability in the high water line location over tidal cycles, days, and months through field observations and interpretation of videotape data. Studies, undertaken at Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland and at the Field Research Facility at Duck, North Carolina, indicated that the high water line is a useful shoreline indicator within certain limits. GPS acquired shorelines based on actual identification of the high water line in the field are deemed more accurate than photo-interpreted shorelines for coastal erosion mapping and management.


To mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and alleviate the pressure on medical resources, state and local governments in Illinois mandated measures of social distancing, including sheltering at home. While necessary during a pandemic, these measures have the potential to undermine the very essential social and family ties that individuals depend upon on during moments of crisis. Prior experiences with disasters teach us that the distress people experience will be due both to the pandemic itself and to the losses of communality and support that result from these disruptions. Because of persistent and widespread racial inequities and residential segregation,2 the pandemic will likely impact communities unevenly, resulting in families and communities of color, including undocumented persons, being among the hardest hit. Mobilizing community and family resilience can help promote positive coping for all, and prevent adverse health and mental health outcomes, especially for the most vulnerable. Community resilience is the sustained ability of a community to utilize available resources to respond to, withstand, and recover from adverse situations. This brief describes four primary sets of resources that underlie community resilience: Economic development (the level of resources, their diversity, and equity); Social capital (social support, participation, bonds, roots, and commitment); Information and communication (trusted information sources and positive narratives); and Community competence (collective action and decision-making skills, collective efficacy, and empowerment). Access to some versions of these resources are critical during a disaster. To mitigate against potential negative outcomes during the response and recovery phases over the next nine months, the primary recommendation of this brief is that Illinois rapidly launch a new Resilient Illinois Initiative that provides targeted training and support to communities and families. This initiative will build and strengthen their resilience for coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. This can be achieved through a public-private collaborative effort funded by the state, led by a community-based organization with support from university researchers, which will engage a network of community-based organizations so as to reach communities and families throughout Illinois.


Abstract. The interaction of the solar wind with the ionosphere of planet Mars is studied using a three-dimensional hybrid model. Mars has only a weak intrinsic magnetic field, and consequently its ionosphere is directly affected by the solar wind. The gyroradii of the solar wind protons are in the range of several hundred kilometers and therefore comparable with the characteristic scales of the interaction region. Different boundaries emerge from the interaction of the solar wind with the continuously produced ionospheric heavy-ion plasma, which could be identified as a bow shock (BS), ion composition boundary (ICB) and magnetic pile up boundary (MPB), where the latter both turn out to coincide. The simulation results regarding the shape and position of these boundaries are in good agreement with the measurements made by Phobos-2 and MGS spacecraft. It is shown that the positions of these boundaries depend essentially on the ionospheric production rate, the solar wind ram pressure, and the often unconsidered electron temperature of the ionospheric heavy ion plasma. Other consequences are rays of planetary plasma in the tail and heavy ion plasma clouds, which are stripped off from the dayside ICB region by some instability. Key words. Magnetospheric physics (solar wind interactions with unmagnetized bodies) – Space plasma physics (discontinuities; numerical simulation studies)


Scholars describe organizing professionalism as 'the intertwinement of professional and organizational logics in one professional role'. Organizing professionalism bridges the gap between the often-described conflicting relationship between professionals and managers. However, the ways in which professionals shape this organizing role in daily practice, and how it impacts on their relationship with managers has gained little attention. This ethnographic study reveals how nurses shape and differentiate themselves in organizing roles. We show that developing a new nurse organizing role is a balancing act as it involves resolving various tensions concerning professional authority, task prioritization, alignment of both intra- and interprofessional interests, and internal versus external requirements. Managers play an important yet ambiguous role in this development process as they both cooperate with nurses in aligning organizational and nursing professional aims, and sometimes hamper the development of an independent organizing nursing role due to conflicting organizational concerns.


The thesis addresses the contrast between the popUlarity of plays with historical characters, i.e.
characters that recognisably resemble historical figures, on the British stage and the lack of
academic literature that deals with this issue. On the basis of such a practical observation, a
working definition is established, in which the existence of such a characters, or the reflection
about the process of life-writing are included, and the consequences of the use of biographical
material are outlined.
A crucial effect is the establishment of a very different relationship between the world of the
play and the world outside the theatre in which it is produced and received. This question is
discussed in the light of different theories that deal with the idea of reference and a functional
approach that concentrates on the way in which different modes of reference, such as fact or
fiction, are used is suggested.
On this basis scripts and productions of biographical plays are analysed with regard to the way
in which they present the relationship between themselves and the past lives they portray. In
addition, comments by playwrights and practitioners are presented. The second section focuses
on the reception of biographical theatre, establishing a theoretical model in which its particular
features are described. It is then applied to the reactions of a small group of spectators who were
interviewed about various biographical plays and to published reactions to life writing in the
theatre. Finally the conclusions suggest that the questions that are raised in the particular context
of biographical theatre go beyond this immediate field, as the relationship between
performances and the world is of importance for all theatre. The theoretical and methodological
framework that is established in this thesis could therefore contribute to other areas of theatrical
research as well.


To clarify at what point a skilled pianist's ability surpasses a novice pianist's with regard to basic temporal controllability of maintaining a uniform tempo, skilled and novice pianists tapped a piano keyboard and an aluminum board in equal intervals. They used three types of finger motions for the tapping. The temporal fluctuation in the tapping was analyzed by Fourier analysis to estimate the temporal controllability. As a result, when tapping with a single finger, there was no difference in the controllability between skilled and novice pianists. Skilled pianists had excellent controllability when they coordinated multiple finger motions as well as when they tapped with a single finger. However, novice pianists showed poor control for multiple finger tapping in contrast to single finger tapping. These results suggest that years of piano lessons do not improve basic controllability of maintaining a uniform tempo. They only improve the ability to coordinate multiple finger motions. There were no significant differences between the piano keyboard and the aluminum board for either skilled or novice pianists. It rejected the assumption that novice pianists were unskilled at controlling a piano keyboard.


Programmed cell death (PCD) is an essential part of the defence response in plants and animals against pathogens. Here, we report that PCD is also involved in defence against pathogens of fungi. Vegetative incompatibility is a self/non-self recognition system in fungi that results in PCD when cells of incompatible strains fuse. We quantiŽ ed the frequency of cell death associated with six vegetative incompatibility (vic) genes in the Ž lamentous ascomycete fungus Cryphonectria parasitica. Cell death frequencies were compared with the effects of vic genes on transmission of viruses between the same strains. We found a signiŽ cant negative correlation between cell death and virus transmission. We also show that asymmetry in cell death correlates with asymmetry in virus transmission; greater transmission occurs into vic genotypes that exhibit delayed or infrequent PCD after fusion with an incompatible strain. Furthermore, we found that virus infection can have a signiŽ cant, strain-speciŽ c, positive or negative effect on PCD. SpeciŽ c interactions between vic gene function and viruses, along with correlations between cell death and transmission, strongly implicate PCD as a host-mediated pathogen defence strategy in fungi.


Purpose: To investigate the association of ABCB1-C3435T transition with breast cancer risk which was followed by a meta-analysis. Methods: In a case-control study we collected blood samples from 290 women (including 150 breast cancer patients and 140 healthy controls). ABCB1-C3435T genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. A meta-analysis was performed for a total of 13 eligible studies involving 5,835 cases and 8,178 controls. Results: The results of case-control study revealed a significant association between T allele (OR=1.770, 95%CI=1.2362.535, p=0.002), CT genotype (OR=1.661, 95%CI=1.0172.713, p=0.042), and TT genotype (OR=3.399, 95%CI=1.4098.197, p=0.006) with breast cancer risk. Data from meta-analysis revealed a significant association between ABCB1-C3435T polymorphism and breast cancer risk in allelic (OR=1.243, 95%CI=1.079-1.432, p=0.003), co-dominant (OR=1.349, 95%CI=1.042-1.746, p=0.023), dominant (OR=1.204, 95%CI=1.019-1.422, p=0.029), and recessive (OR=1.226, 95%CI=1.011-1.488, p=0.039) models.


This study sought to add to the knowledge and understanding of the organizational change process for successfully implementing an integrated information literacy program in one American high school. Participant experiences were accessed to identify and describe elements of their successful change process, barriers and supports that affected its success, and discover the relationships among key concepts. It also explored participants' beliefs about the affect of the program on student achievement and examined how these beliefs affected implementation. A qualitative naturalistic inquiry was conducted and reported in a case study format. A Delphi study identified potential high schools meeting study criteria and purposive sampling identified study participants. Primary sources were in-depth, open-ended interviews focused on participants' recollections and understandings of the change process, with additional data drawn from relevant school/state documents, a personal research journal, and relevant literature. Data were analyzed using grounded theory practices. Findings indicated that successful implementation was dependent upon six key concepts: (1) distributed leadership (core concept); (2) effective leadership (3) open and frequent communication (4) better relationships; (5) shared aspects of teaching and learning (6) elements of the information literacy program. Conclusions were: (1) simultaneous occurrence of need, opportunity and leadership for change was essential for successful implementation; (2) distributed leadership practiced by administrators empowered the teacher-librarian and teachers to assume leadership roles; (3) teacher-librarian leadership requires access to ongoing, high quality professional development; (4) continuous high quality, staff development and teacher-librarian staff development role are essential for successful implementation; (5) full-time teacher-librarian and full-time secretary may be inadequate staffing for an integrated program; (6) teacher-librarian's open and frequent communication is key to successful implementation; (7) teachers are at different places on the institutionalization continuum; (8) most serious barriers to implementation are time constraints, heavy workload, and fear of changing one's teaching; (9) a successful program requires a combination of key supporting factors; (10) school library and teacher-librarian role changes are indicators of successful implementation; (11) improved staff relationships result from and propel successful implementation; (12) an integrated information literacy program with a central role for the teacher-librarian contributes to improved teaching and learning.


Bioclimatic indices for use in studies of ecosystem function, species distribution, and vegetation dynamics under changing climate scenarios depend on estimates of surface fluxes and other quantities, such as radiation, evapotranspi-ration and soil moisture, for which direct observations are sparse. These quantities can be derived indirectly from meteorological variables, such as near-surface air temperature, precipitation and cloudiness. Here we present a consolidated set of simple process-led algorithms for simulating habitats (SPLASH) allowing robust approximations of key quantities at ecologically relevant timescales. We specify equations, derivations, simplifications, and assumptions for the estimation of daily and monthly quantities of top-of-the-atmosphere solar radiation, net surface radiation, photosynthetic photon flux density, evapotranspiration (potential, equilibrium, and actual), condensation, soil moisture, and runoff, based on analysis of their relationship to fundamental climatic drivers. The climatic drivers include a minimum of three meteorological inputs: precipitation, air temperature, and fraction of bright sunshine hours. Indices, such as the moisture index, the climatic water deficit, and the Priestley–Taylor coefficient , are also defined. The SPLASH code is transcribed in C++, FORTRAN, Python, and R. A total of 1 year of results are presented at the local and global scales to exemplify the spatiotemporal patterns of daily and monthly model outputs along with comparisons to other model results.


Amorphous transition metal oxides have attracted significant attention in energy storage devices owing to their potentially desirable electrochemical properties caused by abundant unsaturated dangling bonds. However, the amorphization further amplifies the shortcoming of the poor intrinsic electronic conductivity of the metal oxides, resulting in unsatisfying rate capability and power density. Herein, freestanding amorphous Ca-doped V2 O5 (a-Ca-V2 O5 ) cathodes are successfully prepared via in-situ electrochemical oxidation of Ca-doped VO2 nanoarrays for wearable aqueous zinc-ion batteries. The doping of Ca and construction of freestanding structure effectively uncover the potential of amorphous V2 O5 , which can make full use of the abundant active sites for high volumetric capacity and simultaneously achieve fast reaction kinetics for excellent rate performance. More importantly, the introduction of Ca can notably reduce the formation energy of VO2 according to theoretical calculation results and realizes amorphous to crystalline reversible conversion chemistry in the charge/discharge procedure, thereby facilitating the reversible capacity of the newly developed a-Ca-V2 O5 . This work provides an innovative design strategy to construct high-rate capacity amorphous metal oxides as freestanding electrodes for low-cost and high-safe wearable energy-storage technology. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


HL-60 is a multipotential human leukemia cell line widely used as an in vitro model to investigate myeloid differentiation. A variety of compounds can reproducibly induce these cells to differentiate towards specific lineages. However, under what appear to be similar experimental conditions, various laboratories have reported either neutrophilic differentiation or monocytic differentiation after butyric acid induction. We investigated different hypotheses to explain these dissimilar findings. First, the potential role of variable 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (VD3) concentrations in commercial fetal calf serum was assessed. Second, possible differences between laboratories inherent to the HL-60 cells themselves were explored. Lineage was assessed by morphology, histochemistry (nonspecific esterase), and neutrophil-specific (CD15) and monocyte-specific (MO2) surface antigens. We found that increasing concentrations of VD3 spanning the range reported in commercial fetal calf serum (25 to 155 pg/ml) act in synergy with butyric acid to result in higher monocyte/neutrophil ratios at the higher VD3 concentrations. Different lots of serum led to monocyte/neutrophil ratios in proportion to their VD3 concentrations. Starting with HL-60 cells obtained from different laboratories, several single-cell clones were derived which yielded either high percentages of monocytes, high percentages of neutrophils, or intermediate mixes of both cell types after induction with butyric acid. We conclude that the wide variation of VD3 concentration found in different lots of commercial fetal calf serum and intrinsic differences in HL-60 cells are two identifiable factors that can explain the discrepancies in lineage observed by different investigators after butyric acid induction of HL-60 cells.


ABSTRACT Introduction: Periodontitis is an inflammatory dysbiotic disease. Among putative dysbiosis causes, transmission of Porphyromonas gingivalis between individuals of the same family remains unclear. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to assess the likelihood of shared detection of Porphyromonas gingivalis among cohabiting family members. Methods: A literature search was conducted on different databases up to September 2018. Articles assessing the presence of P.gingivalis between members of the same family were screened. Only English literature was retrieved, whereas no limits were applied for bacterial sampling and detection methods. Results: Overall, 26 articles published between 1993 and 2017 met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 18 articles were used for meta-analyses. Based on bacterial culture, the likelihood of an intra-familial transmission of P.gingivalis once a member of the family harbors the bacterium is estimated at 63.5% (n = 132 pairs of family members); this drops to 45% when pooling together culture and Polymerase-Chain-Reaction (n = 481 pairs), whereas it is estimated at 35.7% when genotyping is applied (n = 137 pairs). Conclusion: Pooled results suggest that the likelihood of detecting P.gingivalis within within family members is moderately frequent. Personalized periodontal screening and prevention may consider intra-familial co-occurrence of P.gingivalis as feasible.


Functional recovery in the end target muscle is a determinant of outcome after peripheral nerve injury. The neuromuscular junction (NMJ) provides the interface between nerve and muscle and includes non-myelinating terminal Schwann cells (tSCs). After nerve injury, tSCs extend cytoplasmic processes between NMJs to guide axon growth and NMJ reinnervation. The mechanisms related to NMJ reinnervation are not known. We used multiple mouse models to investigate the mechanisms of NMJ reinnervation in both sexes, specifically whether macrophage-derived vascular endothelial growth factor-A (Vegf-A) is crucial to establishing NMJ reinnervation at the end target muscle. Both macrophage number and Vegf-A expression increased in end target muscles after nerve injury and repair. In mice with impaired recruitment of macrophages and monocytes (Ccr2−/− mice), the absence of CD68+ cells (macrophages) in the muscle resulted in diminished muscle function. Using a Vegf-receptor 2 (VegfR2) inhibitor (cabozantinib; CBZ) via oral gavage in wild-type (WT) mice resulted in reduced tSC cytoplasmic process extension and decreased NMJ reinnervation compared with saline controls. Mice with Vegf-A conditionally knocked out in macrophages (Vegf-Afl/fl; LysMCre mice) demonstrated a more prolonged detrimental effect on NMJ reinnervation and worse functional muscle recovery. Together, these results show that contributions of the immune system are integral for NMJ reinnervation and functional muscle recovery after nerve injury. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This work demonstrates beneficial contributions of a macrophage-mediated response for neuromuscular junction (NMJ) reinnervation following nerve injury and repair. Macrophage recruitment occurred at the NMJ, distant from the nerve injury site, to support functional recovery at the muscle. We have shown hindered terminal Schwann cell (tSC) injury response and NMJ recovery with inhibition of: (1) macrophage recruitment after injury; (2) vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VegfR2) signaling; and (3) Vegf secretion from macrophages. We conclude that macrophage-derived Vegf is a key component of NMJ recovery after injury. Determining the mechanisms active at the end target muscle after motor nerve injury reveals new therapeutic targets that may translate to improve motor recovery following nerve injury.


The landscape industry has become one of the industries with higher resource and energy consumption, and the implementation of urban low-carbon landscape construction is of great significance to improve the ecological environment. In this study, the method of low-carbon landscape construction was studied from two aspects including the carbon source control and carbon sink, as well as both direct and indirect effect. The results showed that the low-carbon landscape construction can be controlled from five aspects including landscape planning, landscape design, low-carbon landscape technology, low-carbon landscape behavior and low-carbon policy. Through a series of low-carbon measures, carbon emissions can be controlled at a reasonable level during the urban landscape construction, which also promotes the sustainable development of urban ecological environment.


[1] To analyze and interpret the chemical record, the 2007 Phoenix Mars Lander includes four wet chemistry cells. These Wet Chemistry Laboratories (WCLs), part of the Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA) package, each consist of a lower "beaker" containing sensors designed to analyze the chemical properties of the regolith and an upper "actuator assembly" for adding soil, water, reagents, and stirring. The beaker contains an array of sensors and electrodes that include six membrane-based ion selective electrodes (ISE) to measure Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+, NO3−/ClO4−, and NH4+; two ISEs for H+ (pH); a Ba2+ ISE for titrimetric determination of SO42−; two Li+ ISEs as reference electrodes; three solid crystal pellet ISEs for Cl−, Br−, and I−; an iridium oxide electrode for pH; a carbon ring electrode for conductivity; a Pt electrode for oxidation reduction potential (Eh); a Pt and two Ag electrodes for determination of Cl−, Br−, and I− using chronopotentiometry (CP); a Au electrode for identifying redox couples using cyclic voltammetry (CV); and a Au microelectrode array that could be used for either CV or to indicate the presence of several heavy metals, including Cu2+, Cd2+, Pb2+, Fe2/3+, and Hg2+ using anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV). The WCL sensors and analytical procedures have been calibrated and characterized using standard solutions, geological Earth samples, Mars simulants, and cuttings from a Martian meteorite. Sensor characteristics such as limits of detection, interferences, and implications of the Martian environment are also being studied. A sensor response library is being developed to aid in the interpretation of the data.


For several years now, the ν-SNS collaboration has been working to place a small neutrino detector at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Lab. If successful, the experiment may produce the needed neutrino-nucleus cross sections on solid targets such as iron and aluminum. These reaction probabilites are of great interest for a number of reasons, including: neutrino astronomy, explosive nucleosynthesis, and nuclear structure. However, success for this project requires a very efficient cosmic ray detector to exclude backgrounds. The system would need to be ∼99% efficient while remaining affordable in a difficult financial climate for basic science. The first half of this thesis addresses a prototype cosmic ray veto based on extruded scintillator with embedded wave-length-shifting fibers. This approach has been successfully used before, and may provide the performance needed for this project. However, our results suggest some additional research and development would be required to meet the requirements for the ν-SNS experiment. The second half of this thesis relates to experimental work to study the resonance strength of the 23Mg(p,γ)24Al reaction. For this purpose a radioactive ion beam experiment has been conducted at TRIUMF using the DRAGON experiment. This reaction is thought to play an important role during explosive nucleosynthesis such as novae and X-ray bursts. If so, then accurate knowledge of this break-out reaction would help explain the isotopic abundances around that mass range in the universe. Our results suggest the rate of this reaction at astrophysically relevant energies is lower than predicted and might further exclude explosive binary systems as the production site for such elements as 26Al.


Tomogrophic ultrasound imaging is gaining popularity in breast cancer detection. Reconstructing the acoustic properties of a breast from the ultrasound measurements is stated as a nonlinear inverse problem, which is usually solved by linearized methods because of computational efficiency. However, linearization of the problem reduces the quality of the reconstruction. To improve the accuracy, we developed and tested a three-dimensional nonlinear inversion method that allow for three-dimensional reconstruction of the breast in terms of speed of sound. The method, referred to as contrast source inversion (CSI), uses an integral equation formulation to describe the inverse acoustic scattering problem. The resulting integral equation is solved to reconstruct the unknown contrast (speed-of-sound profile of the breast). The contrast and contrast sources (the product of the contrast with the total field) are iteratively updated by minimizing a cost functional using conjugate gradient directions. In this study, we tested the CSI method on synthetic data retrieved form full-wave simulations for a realistic three-dimensional cancerous breast model. Results show that the CSI method outer performs other conventional methods as it yields speed-of-sound reconstructions that are akin to the model. This shows that the approach offers a contribution to the detection of breast cancer.


The BMBF project "Urban Agriculture as integrative element of a climate-optimized urban development" was designed as a inter- transdisciplinary research project, generating target and transformation knowledge in the field of multifunctional open space systems in the context of emerging megacities and the challenges going along with this development. One component of it is the is the Pilot Project "Peri-urban tourism and agriculture" exploring on possibilities on how to conserve and further develop the recreational benefit of small scale agriculture while improving the livelihoods of the farming families linking local tourism and peri-urban agriculture, processing and direct marketing. This article tries to link selected challenges of a transdisciplinary research approach: framing the problem, dealing with a multitude of actors, defining the types of knowledge and following the principle of recursiveness to the almost six year lasting research process. It describes the methods that were used during the main two phases of the action research process and describes the various types of knowledge generated. The conclusions reflect the application of the transdisciplinary approach itself, insights gained, and some limitations that the project team experienced during the application of the methods and collaboration with the various actors.


HISTOCHEMICAL .ISTOCHEMICAL and electron microscopic investigations have been useful in the determination of the histogenesis of many appendage tumors for two reasons. First, the immature cells of appendage tumors, like immature cells of cutaneous appendages of the human embryo, contain certain enzymes that are quite specific for each cutaneous appendage. Second, the electron microscopic examination of the appendage tumors reveals details which are not recognizable on examination with the light microscope. With these new methods, many conventional viewpoints of the light microscopist have been confirmed, whereas, some were disproved. 1-4 In this review, the histogenesis of eccrine poroma, syringoma, eccrine spiradenoma, cylindroma, and calcifying epithelioma will be discussed. Materials and Methods All histochemical methods and materials used were the same as those used previously. 5-12 Original electron micrographs used for Fig 2, 3, 6, 8, and 10 were taken with a high resolution electron microscope (Hitachi HU-11C) at accelerating voltage


Heteroanionic materials are a burgeoning class of compounds that offer new properties via the targeted selection of anions. However, understanding the design principles and achieving successful syntheses of new materials in this class are in their infancy. To obtain mechanistic insight and a panoramic view of the reaction progression from beginning to end of the formation of a heteroanionic material, we selected BiOCuSe, a well-known thermoelectric compound, and utilized in situ synchrotron powder diffraction as a function of temperature and time. BiOCuSe is a layered material, which crystallizes in a common mixed anion structure type: ZrSiAsFe. Two reactions of starting materials (Bi2O2Se + Cu2Se and Bi2O3 + Bi + 3Cu + 3Se) were studied to determine the effect of precursors on the reaction pathway. Our in situ investigation shows that the ternary-binary Bi2O2Se + Cu2Se reaction proceeds without intermediates to directly form BiOCuSe, while the binary-elemental Bi2O3 + Bi + 3Cu + 3Se reaction generates many intermediates before the final product forms. These intermediates include CuSe, Bi3Se4, Bi2Se3, and Cu2Se. While the stoichiometric loading of the precursors necessarily dictates the identity of the first intermediates, kinetics also plays a contributing role in stabilizing unexpected intermediates such as CuSe and Bi3Se4. Understanding and establishing a link between the selection of precursors and the reaction pathways improves the potential for rational synthesis of heteroanionic materials and solid-state reactions in general.


Globulin isolates from native sunflower seed and industrial extraction meal obtained by extraction with different electrolyte solutions and subsequent isoelectric precipitation are relatively poor in the essential amino acids lysine, threonine, and methionine as compared to defatted seed meals. On the other hand, albumins separated by means of polyanionic complexing agents (sodium alginate and aluminium potassium sulphate) are relatively rich in these amino acids, and albumin-globulin-co-precipitates have a correspondingly balanced amino-acid composition, being also reflected by nutrition physiological values as BW, NPU, and EAA-index. As compared to seed meals protein isolates are characterized furthermore by a better protein digestibility.


Code generation for a system specified by a block diagram facilitates the fast and efficient evaluation of the design space. As a drawback, automatically generated code includes a certain amount of data management overhead compared to handwritten code, especially When the block diagram includes fine granular structures. The authors present a strategy how to overcome certain types of overhead by introducing a novel code generation approach. While traditional tools are based on a one-to-one correspondence between a block on the block diagram level and a functional kernel on the code synthesis level, one new functional kernel for a group of blocks is generated automatically. Doing so, a maximum of dataflow information available from the block diagram level is employed to organize the kernel in an efficient way, having a regard to the designer's criterion. As a result, reduction in memory consumption and an increased throughput can be achieved jointly.


BACKGROUND: Walking difficulties put an individual at high risk of falling, institutionalisation and even death. The use of robotical rehabilitation or assistive devices for walking has gained considerable interest as a means of improving patients' gait abilities. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this research was to examine patients' intrinsic motivation to train with a wearable hip exoskeleton (Honda Walking Assist). METHODS: Rehabilitation patients (stroke, medullar lesion, orthopaedic surgery) and elderly (> 65 yrs) with walking difficulties were recruited for this study (n= 23). Each walked with the Honda Walking Assist for 30 minutes during one therapy session and completed the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) afterwards. RESULTS: All participants presented with high scores on the IMI, in particular for the items 'interest/enjoyment' (median: 43; 25th–75th perc.: 37–46; maximal score: 49), 'perceived competence of walking' (35 [31–38]; max. score 42) and 'value/usefulness' (44 [35–49]; max. score 49). CONCLUSIONS: This robotic exoskeleton for assisted walking was considered a valuable device by the majority of participants, eliciting a high degree of motivation and enjoyment.


Traditionally, in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics, representations of the self have been conspicuously absent. Capabilities of systems are listed explicitly by developers during construction and choices between behavioral options are decided based on search, inference, and planning. In robotics, while knowledge of the external world has often been acquired through experience, knowledge about the robot itself has generally been built in by the designer. Built-in models of the robot's kinematics, physical and sensory capabilities, and other equipment have stood in the place of self-knowledge, but none of these representations offer the flexibility, robustness, and functionality that are present in people. In this work, we seek to emulate forms of self-awareness developed during human infancy in our humanoid robot, Nico. In particular, we are interested in the ability to reason about the robot's embodiment and physical capabilities, with the robot building a model of itself through its experiences.


Empirical evidence suggests that charitable contributions to public goods may be driven not only by the familiar warm-glow of giving motive but also as a means for businesses to signal high product quality. Building on this finding, we present an analytical framework that characterizes the optimal government policy, assuming that the government may either directly provide the public good or subsidize its private provision. We show that in the optimal solution the government should subsidize the private provision of the public good and refrain from direct provision. We further demonstrate that the optimal degree of subsidization should decrease with the extent to which the signal is informative, and may even turn into a tax when the signal is sufficiently strong. Finally, we compare the current practice in the US, a charitable contribution deduction provided by Section 170 of the US Tax Code, with the optimal design suggested by our normative analysis and offer changes that would bring the Section closer to the social optimum.


The need to graduate students with the knowledge and skills required to meet the research requirements of industry requires identification of how students can progressively develop these skills. Based within the context of conceptual discussion and empirical case studies of the teaching-research nexus, the authors undertook a desktop audit of a selection of current Australian institutional experience of developing research skills. The aim was to identify evidence of the how student skills are progressively developed. Analysis of the outcomes of the audit revealed an emphasis on designing curriculum for single courses' rather than through progressive development over a programme of studies. Assessing this against the conceptual framework adopted for this paper, a focus on research content rather than research processes and problems was found in which students are treated as 'audience' rather than 'participants. The authors conclude that, despite recognition of the need to scaffold research skills progressively through pathways across an entire programme of studies that engages students in research, there is little evidence that this is occurring. Based on these findings the authors propose a more holistic, collaborative approach to the design of progressive pathways for students to develop research skills. The collaborative element requires engaging academics and professional staff with responsibility for curriculum design in Communities of Practice. The authors welcome further research to explore this conclusion further.


Valproate (VPA) is present in humans and is largely bound to protein. Only free drug is metabolized, and antiepileptic and toxic effects are probably related to free concentrations. By measuring serial free and total serum VPA levels after routine oral doses, we have determined individual in vivo protein binding parameters for 37 patients after a total of 49 separate drug administrations. Binding site concentrations and dissociation constants were fitted using a nonlinear algorithm. On sole VPA (n = 28) the mean dissociation constant was 91 mumol/L, and the mean concentration of binding sites was 1,176 mumol/L. Evidence suggests a second, nonsaturable binding site. Fraction of unbound VPA ranged from 5.4% at low levels up to 38.7%, rising with increasing total concentration. Concurrent therapy with phenytoin (n = 7) or carbamazepine (n = 8) did not cause displacement of VPA. Changes in free fraction were consistently observed during the interdose interval. The data demonstrate that the binding changes are not a factor in decreased VPA levels during coadministration of other antiepileptic drugs.


Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the health literacy level of mothers and domestic accidents and to investigate other situations related to domestic accidents, if any. Methods: Our study was a descriptive study. A face-to-face survey technique was used in the study. The Newest Vital Sign (NVS) scale was used to assess health literacy. The accident history of the children in the last one year was ascertained from the mothers. Results: Among 250 women invited 202 people agreed to participate in the research. Forty-nine mothers (24.30%) stated that their children had a home accident that did not require hospital admission in the last year. Twenty-two mothers (10.90%) stated that they had a home accident requiring outpatient admission to the hospital in the last year, and only 2 mothers (1.00%) had a home accident that required hospitalization. As a result of multivariate logistic regression analysis, it was determined that a one-unit increase in the age of the mother reduces the risk of an accident by 4%, while an increase in the number of children to be cared for increases the risk of an accident 1.58 times. Conclusions: In this sample, one out of every four children is exposed to a domestic accident. While the age of the mother reduces the risk of domestic accidents, the number of children increases the risk of domestic accidents. Simple domestic accidents are on the rise with low health literacy. Family physicians and pediatricians should strive to reduce home accidents with the training they could provide. It should not be forgotten that the risk of accidents is higher for the children of mothers with low health literacy in these trainings.


While there are numerous methods for estimating the fundamental frequency (F0) of speech, existing methods often suffer from pitch doubling or halving errors. Heuristics can be added to constrain the range of allowable F0 values, but it is still difficult to appropriately set the algorithm parameters if one does not know in advance the speaker's age or gender. The proposed method is distinct from most other F0estimation algorithms in that it does not use autocorrelation, cepstral, or pattern-recognition techniques. Instead, information from 32 band-pass filters is combined at every frame, a Viterbi search provides an initial F0-contour estimate, and this estimate is then refined based on intensity discrimination of the speech signal. Despite the use of a large number of filters (which provide complementary information and hence robustness), the implementation works in less than real-time on a 2.4 GHz processor without optimization for processing speed. Results are presented for two corpora, one corpus of an adult male and one of children of different ages. For the first corpus, average absolute error is 4.10 Hz (percent error of 4.15%); for the second corpus, average absolute error is 7.74 Hz (percent error of 3.38%).


Summary In this paper, I designed the remote management system on the Windows Operating System. Remote management system in the Windows operating system was designed for the client and server function. A client function has the ability to allow the system to access from the server. This feature is responsible for monitoring the packet to request access to the client on the network. Remote management capability of the server system has the ability to connect to the system. The connection is made when we direct the client's IP address which we want to access in the server program. The experiment for the proposed functions was conducted. We confirmed that the proposing system worked normally after the experiments.


Over the last decade China's investment in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has increased substantially in volume and become more diversified from natural resources to other industries. Using cross-border mergers and acquisitions data, we demonstrate that since mid-2010s China's overseas investment has tilted toward sectors where China has a comparative advantage in the global markets, a trend similar to that of other major foreign direct investment (FDI) source countries. Moreover, China's rising overseas investment can be linked to the rebalancing of Chinese economy, and LAC stands to benefit from its complementarity vis-a-vis China in sectors where the rising Chinese overseas investment can be met with LAC's own investment gaps. The COVID-19 pandemic could have a long-lasting impact on global value chains and FDI flows, which poses both challenges and opportunities to LAC in attracting FDI, including from China, to support the region's long-run economic development.


Objective: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the phytochemical and In vitro antioxidant property of fruits extract of Murraya koenigii (FEMK). The present study also evaluated the presence and quantification of flavonoids contents in crude extract. Methods: The in vitro antioxidant activity was performed using inhibition of superoxide anions; free radicals scavenging activity by DPPH, H 2 O 2 , NO, reducing power assay and lipid peroxidation method. The investigation was also carried out to evaluate the presence and quantification of flavonoids contents in crude extracts. HPTLC fingerprint profile of FEMK was developed which serves as reference standard for quality control of the extracts. Results: The results of antioxidant activity of Fruit extracts of Murraya koenigii (FEMK) demonstrate to scavenge the free radicals in all in-vitro models indicates antioxidant property. The observed effects of extract could be due to the presence of flavonoids. The flavonoids content was found to be 0.117 %, 0.206 %, and 0.348% w/w in 5mg/ml, 10 mg/ml and 15 mg/ml concentrations of FEMK respectively. Conclusion: The study concludes that the Fruit extract of Murraya koenigii shows moderate to strong antioxidant activities. Thus fruit extract of Murraya koenigii could be useful for the application of disorders related to free radicals.


The sequence of estimates formed by the LMS algorithm for a standard linear regression estimation problem are considered. It is known since earlier that smoothing these estimates by simple averaging will lead to, asymptotically, the recursive least squares algorithm. In this paper it is first shown that smoothing the LMS estimates using amatrix updating will lead to smoothed estimates with optimal tracking properties, also in the case the true parameters are changing as a random walk. The choice of smoothing matrix should be tailored to the properties of the random walk. Second, it is shown that the same accuracy can be obtained also for a simplified algorithm, SLAMS, which is based on averages and requires much less computations.


Premise of research. Leaf mesophyll is often differentiated into a palisade layer with tightly packed, elongated cells (I-cells) and a spongy layer with loosely packed, complex shaped cells. An alternative palisade type, composed of branched H-cells, has evolved in a number of plant lineages. Viburnum (Adoxaceae) possesses both types of palisade, providing an opportunity to assess the significance of evolutionary switches between these forms. Methodology. An anatomical survey of 80 species spanning the Viburnum phylogeny permitted an analysis of palisade differences in relation to other characters. A geometric model of leaf mesophyll surface area for CO2 absorption correlated well with measured photosynthetic capacity in a subset of species, allowing us to infer shifts in photosynthetic function. Pivotal results. Ancestrally, viburnums probably produced a palisade with one layer of H-cells. Multiple transitions to two layers of H-cells (H2) and to one or two layers of I-cells (I1, I2) occurred. These shifts were correlated with increases in photosynthetic capacity, and H2 appear functionally equivalent to I1 with respect to CO2 absorption. Conclusions. Photosynthetic anatomy H2 and I1 palisade may represent alternative evolutionary solutions for increasing leaf CO2 absorption. Additionally, H-cells and I-cells might perform differently with respect to light absorption and/or drought tolerance. The evolution of I-palisade cells may thus have tracked movements into open environments, while H2 could increase photosynthetic capacity in the forest understory.


The paper describes modern technologies of Computer Network Reliability. Software tool is developed to estimate of the CCN critical failure probability (construction of a criticality matrix) by results of the FME(C)A-technique. The internal information factors, such as collisions and congestion of switchboards, routers and servers, influence on a network reliability and safety (besides of hardware and software reliability and external extreme factors). The means and features of Failures Modes and Effects (Critical) Analysis (FME(C)A) for reliability and criticality analysis of corporate computer networks (CCN) are considered. The examples of FME(C)A-Technique for structured cable system (SCS) is given. We also discuss measures that can be used for criticality analysis and possible means of criticality reduction. Finally, we describe a technique and basic principles of dependable development and deployment of computer networks that are based on results of FMECA analysis and procedures of optimization choice of means for fault-tolerance ensuring.


This study was carried from October 1997 to October 1998 with the purpose of investigating the link between the species Vibrio cholerae and zooplankton in the estuaries of rivers Anil and Bacanga in São Luis, Maranhão. Research of viable but non culturable forms of Vibrio cholerae O1, and analyze the correlation between pH values, salinity and water temperature with the presence of bacteria in zooplankton samples. The traditional method of cultivation and fluorescent antibody technique were applied to detect the bacteria. A total of 52 samples of zooplankton were collected. There was a predominance of Copepoda. The culture enabled 55 isolates of Vibrio cholerae non-O1. The serogroups O1 and O139 were identified in 37 (71.1%) and 17 (32.7%) samples respectively by the fluorescence. Viable but non culturable forms of Vibrio cholerae were detected in 70.8% of the samples studied. A significant correlation was established between salinity and the water's pH value and Vibrio cholerae.


The operation of the Aswan High Dam is considered to be a very important and complicated issue. Its complication is due to different engineering and political rules that should be followed. This operation should manage the arriving water to the reservoir in order to sustain Egypt share in addition to the calculation of losses due to evaporation, seepage, and spill water. In a previously published research, based on probability analysis, the authors had proposed to raise the water level of the Aswan High Dam Reservoir on 1 st of August of each year to 178.00 meters above mean sea level instead of 175.00 meters that is currently applied. The reason for this recommendation is to sustain periods of low floods that might be similar to the drought periods that happened from year 1918 to year 1927 and from year 1978 to year 1987. They were also concluded that the maximum probable flood is about 125 Billion Cubic Meters per year. In this research, Aswan High Dam Reservoir water balance model was developed, calibrated, verified, and used for predicting the reservoir balance under different high and severe flood conditions. Investigation of methods that can be used in order to apply this raise of level to 178.00 meters was performed. The operation rules of the reservoir under the proposed water level were also studied in cases of the reservoir full and different values of high and severe flood occurs.


Geochemical studies on core material from middle Proterozoic rocks in the vicinity of Mount Gunson, South Australia, have identified the causes of their secondary alteration and revealed a possible relationship between hydrothermal alteration of volcanic rocks and base metal mineralization in the Stuart shelf-Adelaide geosyncline copper province. This province includes the sedimentary stratiform deposit at Mount Gunson and the giant granite breccia-and hematite breccia-hosted Olympic Dam deposit.Drill holes have intersected the Pandurra Formation and an unconformably underlying sequence of tuffs, siltstones, volcanic breccias, and felsic, intermediate, and mafic igneous rocks. Metasediments and a basal brecciated granite were also intersected in one drill hole. The chemistry of the mafic and intermediate volcanics is similar to ultrapotassic and potassic rocks associated with continental tensional regimes (e.g., high K and Fe 2 O 3 /FeO ratios, and relatively high Mg, Ba, Cr, Ni, Rb, Zr, Ce, La, and Y contents). Chemical, mineralogical, and textural features indicate that Si, Ca, Fe, Na, K, and Cu were mobile and Mg, Al, P, Pb, and Zn relatively inert. Copper values (mostly <20 ppm) are lower than values typical of basaltic rocks, suggesting that Cu has been removed from the system during the circulation of hydrothermal fluids and alteration of primary Fe-Ti oxide, Cu sulfide, and ferromagnesian silicate minerals.Fluid inclusion studies show the presence of both NaCl-CO 2 -rich and CaCl 2 -rich fluids. The former are in early replacement segregations of quartz, fluorite, and orthoclase, whereas the Ca-rich fluids are associated with a later, but possibly overlapping, hydrothermal event resulting from the interaction of magmatic fluids and fluids released during decarbonation reactions.The delta 13 C values of vein and amygdule-filling carbonate in the igneous rocks indicate a dominance of magmatic fluids, with variable addition and mixing of carbon from either solution and/or reaction of sedimentary carbon. Sulfide mineral delta 34 S values suggest a magmatic sulfur source. The delta 34 S values of pyrite from drill hole PY3 (1.9 + or - 0.7ppm) are within the range for sulfide minerals from mafic and ultramafic igneous rocks.Geochemical trends associated with Cu (U, Pb, Zn) mineralization in South Australian Proterozoic rocks indicate it was derived from a mafic to intermediate igneous source. Hydro-thermally altered Gawler Range volcanic and subvolcanic rocks in the region are likely source rocks for these metals.


Round 1 of the Reducing Burglary Initiative (RBI) was built upon a strong evidence base of operational research, which had identified types of measures that can be effective in reducing burglary in local areas. A key objective of the RBI was to find out what works best where. Sixty three Strategic Development Projects (SDPs) were funded by Round 1 of the RBI. These projects were encouraged to develop innovative burglary reduction strategies. As a result, a wide range of interventions was implemented in a variety of contexts making use of different principles.

This paper presents a summary of one of these SDPs where the main interventions implemented were:

- Installation of alley gates
- Improvements to fences
- Property marking
- Publicity campaign, through a newsletter.


Abstract This article argues for the conception of interlegality as a more precise term explaining legal pluralistic arrangements. Interlegality is seen as a continuous process elucidating the interchange of legal perceptions between state law and non-state law, i.e. a dynamic approach to legal pluralism. The empirical case relates to the current Sámi situation in Norway, where a great deal of activity illustrating diverse forms of plurality in legal terms takes place at present. Using a historical perspective as a point of departure, the general argumentation is successively substantiated by diverse case material, such as the Reindeer Pastoralist Law (a state authorized regulation of reindeer herding), the Office of Legal Aid, recent Supreme Court Decisions, the establishment of the District Court of Inner Finnmark, and, finally, the Finnmark Act. Throughout the discussion incorporation and recognition appear as key features generally, whereas the specific Sámi case is explained in summary form by the three conceptions, law, institutions, and practice.


The first anthology of its kind to appear in English, Modern Poetry of Pakistan brings together not one but many poetic traditions indigenous to Pakistan, with 142 poems translated from seven major languages, six of them regional (Baluchi, Kashmiri, Panjabi, Pashto, Seraiki, and Sindhi) and one national (Urdu). Collecting the work of forty-two poets and fifteen translators, this book reveals a society riven by ethnic, class, and political differences--but also a beautiful and truly national literature, with work both classical and modern, belonging to the same culture and sharing many of the same concerns and perceptions.


High-performance vertical GaN-based near-ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on Si substrates with an electroluminescence emission wavelength of 395 nm have been fabricated by designing epitaxial structures to reduce the dislocation density and enhance the electron confinement and hole injection. By designing the epitaxial structures with a continuously Al-composition-graded AlGaN interlayer between an Al0.30Ga0.70N layer and an Al0.15Ga0.85N layer, the dislocation density in epitaxial films has been greatly reduced, and high-quality GaN epitaxial films grown on Si substrates with full-widths at half-maximum for GaN(0002) and GaN(10−12) X-ray rocking curves of 260 and 280 arcsec, respectively, have been obtained. Furthermore, by applying an electron blocking layer with 8 periods of AlInGaN/GaN superlattices, both electron confinement and hole injection have been enhanced accordingly. High-performance vertical GaN-based 395 nm UV LED chips show a high light output power of 535 mW and a low forward voltage of 3.10 V at a current of 350 mA, corresponding to a high wall-plug efficiency of 49.3%, which are the best values for GaN-based 395 nm UV LEDs ever reported. These high-performance near-UV LED chips find application in medical curing, lighting, etc.


We report on an approach to designing high-speed, low-voltage programmable continuous-time filters with an embedded variable-gain amplifier (VGA). The methods we describe here are aimed at implementation in ultra-short-channel, low-voltage CMOS technologies. The seventh-order equiripple filter and VGA combination described here has a -3-dB frequency programmable from 30 to 100 MHz, gain programmable from 0 to 17 dB and 12 dB of boost.


There is a group of people that have special communication needs, because of some disabilities. Problems in interactions with others cause deficits in social experiences and thus influence quality of life and have devastating effect on their personalities. Therefore it seems reasonable to try to amend such situations with a support of technologies involving computers. Unfortunately, the computers interfaces are usually handled with the help of keyboards, mice and display monitors and some people are not able to access such usual equipment. However, contemporary hardware and software may help impaired or handicapped people communicate, live and work more or less normally, because there are several ways of analyzing their intentions that are expressed, e.g., by brain activity, eye movement, head movement, facial gestures, touch, speech, use of feet, use of breath and mouth. In this article, we discuss human-computer interface systems, consisting of a device analyzing physical signals coming from the sources described above and a graphical or non-graphical user interface that could be operated by the disabled persons. We also describe in some details a new electronic platform, called C-Eye, that not only makes possible a communication with a person using it, but also allows an integration of some medical measurements and computer techniques based on man - computer interaction.


The fabrication of electronic devices from sensitive, functional, two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials with anisotropic structural properties has attracted much attention. Many theoretical and experimental studies have been performed; however, such materials have not been used in applications. In this context, the focus has shifted toward the study and synthesis of new materials. Freestanding hydrogen-terminated silicon nanosheets (SiNSs) are a new class of material with outstanding (opto)electronic properties (e.g. photoluminescence at approximately 510 nm) (Nakano 2014 J. Ceram. Soc. Japan 122 748). SiNSs are promising candidates for use in nanoelectronic devices and flexible electronics. Additional reasons for interest in such nanomaterials are their structural anisotropy and the fact that they are made from silicon. Here, we present examples for the application of functionalized SiNS-based composites as active materials for photonic sensors. The implementation of SiNSs in a covalent nanocomposite not only improves their stability but also facilitates subsequent device fabrication. Thus, SiNSs can be used in a straightforward setup preparation procedure. We show that the modification of novel Si-based 2D nanosheets with selected organic components not only opens a new field of photosensitive applications but also improves the processability of these nanosheets (Niu et al 2014 Sci. Rep. 4 4810, Chimene et al 2015 Adv. Mater. 27 7261).


The problems of Web data accessibility and navigation for blind users have become an active research field for the past decade. Many techniques have been created to solve them, some are hardware based and others are software based. Yet, the Web is rapidly evolving toward the far-anticipated Semantic Web (SW): a revolutionary vision extending Web information with well-defined meaning so that it becomes more easily accessible by human users and automated processes. As a result, SW technological breakthroughs such as ontologies and semantic data description, as well as data representation and manipulation technologies (i.e., RDF, OWL, and SPARQL) are being recently explored to improve data accessibility for blind Web surfers. In this paper, we briefly explore existing studies targeting Web data accessibility for blind users, ranging from traditional techniques (Braille output, screen readers, etc.) toward semantically enhanced techniques (using SW technologies). Then, we present an ongoing framework, exploring SW technologies (namely RDF, RDFa and OWL) in order to improve the representation of heterogeneous Web pages (typically pages not conforming to the W3C recommendations for Web page design), adapting the document's contents and presentation so that it best fits the blind user's needs.


The present study focuses on the penetrating resistance of the laminated composite with stepwise graded foam target struck normally by conical-nosed projectiles. The dynamic cavity expansion theory is applied to formulate analytical model. Experimental results verify that this model on account of rigid-perfectly plastic-locking model is suitable for analyzing penetration depth of the projectile into a cellular target. The difference types of foam configurations, with identical areal density, were arranged according to the density of the respective foam. The penetrating process can be divided into 7 stages. Penetrating depth; the effect of mass density and the change of graded/layered core structures of the difference configurations are analyzed. It is found that composite target have a higher penetrating resistance than the monolithic foam material target of equal mass. The analytical results show great potential to reasonable structures for absorbing the dynamics energy and improving the overall penetrating resistance.


Main trends in treatment of breast cancer patients are reviewed. Application of "inadequate" methods, such as radiation therapy or chemo-hormonotherapy alone, dropped from 16.2% in 1970 to 12.5% in 1977. This tendency is matched by an increasing application of combination therapy including remote gamma-therapy and megavolt radiation therapy (17.7% in 1970 v. 29.0% in 1977). Combination therapy including irradiation, surgery and chemo-and/or hormonotherapy is on upgrade; it was given to 31.2% of breast cancer patients in 1977.


The utilization of the desktop microcomputer, programmable calculator, and scientific calculator has simplified the management of formulas used in pharmacokinetic drug monitoring. However, each is limited by either high cost, lack of portability, or difficulty in operation. The pocket computer offers a solution to these problems. Using the CASIO FX-700P as an example, an aminoglycoside dosing program is presented together with a program listing and sample cases demonstrating its use.


Abstract:In the early 1950s, the Italian government experimented with organized rural settlement in Brazil and the rest of Latin America. Part of a general effort to ease Italy's "overpopulation," rural settlement abroad had special meanings for both Italian and Brazilian elites. These experiments resonated with the memories of mass emigration at the turn of the twentieth century and with the legacy of colonial settlement in Libya and East Africa. These projects also fulfilled ongoing racial and eugenic aspirations in Brazil. Italian rural settlement in Brazil took the form of both employment in the coffee fazendas (estates) and the foundation of relatively homogenous "colonies." However unsuccessful on their own terms, these experiments provide evidence of the links between colonial knowledge and development practices, and they challenge the widespread assumption that Italians simply repressed their colonial past after the end of fascism and military defeat.


Psoriasis causes significant distress and impairment in health-related quality of life (QOL) in afflicted patients. For this reason, QOL is an essential and important measure of treatment outcome in patients with the disease. Clobetasol propionate is a super-highpotent class I topical corticosteroid. The spray formulation is approved for twice-daily use for up to 4 weeks by patients 18 years and older with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Data collected from 2,236 patients enrolled in 5 clinical trials demonstrate consistent improvement in QOL measures using multiple instruments. In a randomized, double-blind trial in patients with scalp psoriasis, treatment with clobetasol propionate 0.05% spray produced significantly greater improvement in QOL compared with vehicle, as measured by the Scalpdex QOL instrument. In another randomized trial in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, clobetasol propionate 0.05% spray produced significantly greater reductions in mean affected body surface area and significantly greater improvements in QOL, as measured by the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), compared with a 0.05% foam formulation. When compared with calcipotriene/betamethasone dipropionate ointment, clobetasol propionate 0.05% spray produced greater rates of lesion clearance and similar improvement in QOL scores after 2 or 4 weeks of treatment. When clobetasol propionate 0.05% spray was used as monotherapy or as an add-on therapy for 4 weeks in a large, observational trial, approximately 80% of patients experienced consistent and significant improvement in QOL on 2 separate, validated QOL instruments (DLQI and the Koo-Menter Psoriasis Index). In conclusion, clobetasol propionate 0.05% spray is an efficacious and safe treatment for plaque psoriasis and produces significant improvement in QOL for affected patients.


In this study, classification of complex objects in images as a whole is compared with classification of its distinctive components using different features. In addition, the impact of feature fusion in part-based object detection is investigated. Applied method, implemented system, conducted tests and their results are presented in this paper. Test results show that, even in the case of a good segmentation, object components are classified more successfully compared to whole object and feature fusion method improves the obtained results to a certain degree.


Between September 1987 and February 1988, Antarctic fur seals Arctocephalus gazella (Peters) at Heard Island fed mainly on fish with an average 95.2% of scats in monthly collections containing fish remains. Pelagic myctophids constituted more than 50% of fish taken by fur seals at the beginning of the summer season and again at the end when there was an influx of non-breeding male seals. During the middle period from October to December, fish from the surrounding shelf area comprised the bulk of the diet. These included various benthic nototheniid species, the bentho-pelagic ice fish Champsocephalus gunnari Lönnberg and skate (Bathyraja spp.), the latter being found in over 60% of scats in October and November. The population of Antarctic fur seals at Heard Island is increasing at about the same rate as at South Georgia. There the increase is thought to be due to the high availability of krill E. superba, but in the present study no euphausiid remains were found, so the increasing population at Heard Island has been supported on a diet of fish. Whether this population increase can be sustained in future on a diet of fish is arguable. Trial fishing around Heard Island indicates that one of the major dietary items of the seals (C. gunnari) is of probable commercial importance and therefore any plans for the establishment of a fishery on Heard Island grounds must be considered in this light.


Concern is often voiced about the declining quality of American schoolteachers. This paper shows that, while the relative quality of teachers is declining, this decline is a result of technical change, which improves the specialized knowledge of skilled workers outside teaching, but not the general knowledge of schoolteachers. This raises the price of skilled teachers, but not their productivity. Schools respond by lowering the relative skill of teachers and raising teacher quantity. On the other hand, college professors, who teach specialized knowledge, are predicted to experience increases in skill relative to schoolteachers. Finally, the lagging productivity of primary schools is predicted to raise the unit cost of primary education. These predictions appear consistent with the data. Analysis of US Census microdata suggests that, from the 1900 birth cohort to the 1950 birth cohort, the relative schooling of teachers has declined by about three years, and the human capital of teachers may have declined in value relative to that of college graduates by as much as thirty percent, but the teacher-student ratio has more than doubled over the last half century in a wide array of developed countries. Moreover, the per student cost of primary school education in the US has also risen dramatically over the past 50 years. Finally, the human capital of college professors has risen by nearly thirty percent relative to schoolteachers.


The expression "future city" is used to be understand semantically as "ideal city". The tendencies dominating recently in urbanization of Polish cities, like: urban sprawl, deindustrialization of the country, spatial chaos in urbanized areas and the symptoms of city shrinking, awoke serious concerns about the future of Polish cities, what makes thinking about the future city as the ideal one more difficult. It seems of great importance to undertake strategies of recovery and rescue of the contemporary cities already today, in order to make them ideal for the future.


A 40-year old white female who was a heavy smoker and who was on oral contraceptives presented at the Maine Medical Center Emergency Room with widespread vascular thrombosis in the forearm and hand six days after injury. Brachial ulnar and radial arteriotomies were performed and blood flow was restored to all of the hand except the distal ring finger. The patient was forbidden to smoke but resumed smoking on the 8th postoperative day. Thrombosis rapidly progressed and 4 weeks later she underwent amputation of the ring and little fingers. The widespread thrombosis on the patients hand was attributed to nicotine which increases peripheral vasoconstriction. Smoking has been associated with increased platelet adhesions and subsequent coagulation. It has also been implicated in occlusive vascular disease of the hand and is said to have a mark effect on both digital perfusion and digital wound healing in a patient with ulnar artery thrombosis. Pills also increase coagulability and contributes to widespread thrombotic disease. Early diagnosis of patients thrombosis and aggressive management including arteriography would have prevented our patients thrombosis with its sequelae of loss of 2 digits and cold sensitive hand.


: The flue gas monitoring plays a vital role in thermal power plants as these emissions contribute to the majority of air pollution and global warming. This project proposed to measure concentration method for flue gas of multiple fuels such as natural gas, coal, oil etc based on NDIR & Electrochemical Sensors. Efficiency of power plants becomes more important due to the demand for cost-efficient energy production & tightening environmental regulations. The main objective of the project is to increase the performance of the plant and to protect the environment, thereby giving a pollution free environment for the future generation. The Flue Gas Analyzer measures the amount of Oxygen, combustible gases such as Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen Oxides and Sulfoxides in the flue with the help of electrochemical Sensors. The measured values of flue gases that are displayed are then compared with their permissible limits


Climate change is a continuous phenomenon that in some conditions it may lead to drought which substantially affects drinking water resources. Also, there may be other associated impacts, such as seawater interruption, water quality deterioration, drinking water deficiency, etc. While climate change affects surface water resources straight over changes in the significant long-lasting climate variables such as rainfall, evapotranspiration, and air temperature, the relationship between groundwater and climate variables is more complicated. The current study aimed to investigate the special effects of different climatic factors including temperature, precipitation, evaporation, and transpiration on the quality of groundwater resources of Varamin plain, Iran. In this study, out of 80 wells with specific spatial information, sampling was done. In the following, the water samples quality were assessed by considering different parameters including pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, anions and cations concentrations, and total hardness. Finally, the raw data mapped by Arc GIS 10.3 software. The results showed that these parameters (except pH) along the plain are highly variable and the spatial distribution of the data is not normal, and the frequency of pixels with fewer values is higher than the spatial mean of the region. Spatial distribution of pH was about 0.05 in all the plain. According to our findings, Correlation analysis showed that water resources quality is influenced by climatic factors. Also, it should be noted that the maximum temperature had the highest impact.


This paper presents a nonideal analysis of a fully-integrated switched-capacitor capacitive transducer for electrical capacitance tomography system. The investigation establishes different types of error source models as well as practical mismatch effects in the derivation of second-order analytical expressions. The analyses are conducted on the basis of heavy stray capacitances of 150 pF typically, in the context of a minimum detection capacitance ranging from 1 to 10 fF. The predicted results agree very well with the HSPICE simulation results using Level 49 BSIM3 models of AMS 0.6-mum CMOS process technology with a single 5-V supply. The conservative simulation results have shown that the capacitive transducer differential output displays a baseline dc offset of 0.083 mV at 25 degC, a change in baseline capacitance of 1 fF from 25 to 40 degC and an output temperature coefficient of 0.045 mV/degC from 25 to 100 degC at the measuring capacitance of 1 pF. Both the predicted and simulated results presented here are better than that of the reported works


Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the pregnancy rates of intrauterine insemination (IUI) and controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) in patients with one-sided tubal occlusion on hysterosalpingography (HSG). Materials and Methods: Patients who underwent COH/IUI were enrolled into this retrospective cohort study. The patients with one-sided tubal occlusion diagnosed under HSG who met the inclusion criteria were accepted into the study group. The control group consisted of patients with unexplained infertility. The outcomes of COH/IUI were compared between the study and control groups. Results: Ninety-seven patients in the study group (n=44) and control group (n=53) who underwent COH/IUI treatment were included into study. The biochemical, clinical, and ongoing pregnancy rates were similar between patients with unilateral occlusion diagnosed under HSG and those with unexplained infertility. The spontaneous pregnancy rate within one year was higher in patients with normal HSG than in patients with unilateral tubal occlusion, but the difference did not show statistical significance. Conclusion: Infertile patients with one-sided tubal occlusion in HSG can be managed as with patients with unexplained infertility and normal HSG findings. In addition, COH/IUI may be considered as the first-line treatment option in the management of these patients.


Although SGD with random reshuffle has been widely-used in machine learning applications, there is a limited understanding of how model characteristics affect the convergence of the algorithm. In this work, we introduce model incoherence to characterize the diversity of model characteristics and study its impact on convergence of SGD with random reshuffle under weak strong convexity. Specifically, minimizer incoherence measures the discrepancy between the global minimizers of a sample loss and those of the total loss and affects the convergence error of SGD with random reshuffle. In particular, we show that the variable sequence generated by SGD with random reshuffle converges to a certain global minimizer of the total loss under full minimizer coherence. The other curvature incoherence measures the quality of condition numbers of the sample losses and determines the convergence rate of SGD. With model incoherence, our results show that SGD has a faster convergence rate and smaller convergence error under random reshuffle than those under random sampling, and hence provide justifications to the superior practical performance of SGD with random reshuffle.


In this paper we investigate the retrieval performance of monophonic and polyphonic queries made on a polyphonic music database. We extend the n-gram approach for full-music indexing of monophonic music data to polyphonic music using both rhythm and pitch information. We define an experimental framework for a comparative and fault-tolerance study of various n-gramming strategies and encoding levels. For monophonic queries, we focus in particular on query-by-humming systems, and for polyphonic queries on query-by-example. Error models addressed in several studies are surveyed for the fault-tolerance study. Our experiments show that different n-gramming strategies and encoding precision differ widely in their effectiveness. We present the results of our study on a collection of 6366 polyphonic MIDI-encoded music pieces.


Aims: We investigate the peculiar properties of a large TeV γ-ray flare from Mrk 501 detected during the 2009 multiwavelength campaign. Methods: We identified the counterpart of the flare in the Fermi/LAT telescope data and studied its spectral and timing characteristics. Results: A strong order-of-magnitude increase of the very-high-energy γ-ray flux during the flare was not accompanied by an increase in the X-ray flux, so that the flare was one of the "orphan"-type TeV flares observed in BL Lacs. The flare lasted about one month at energies above 10 GeV. The flaring source spectrum in the 10-200 GeV range was very hard, with a photon index Γ = 1.1 ± 0.2, harder than that observed in any other blazar in the γ-ray band. No simultaneous flaring activity was detected below 10 GeV. Different variability properties of the emission below and above 10 GeV indicate the existence of two separate components in the spectrum. We investigate possible explanations of the very hard flaring component. We consider, among others, the possibility that the flare is produced by an electromagnetic cascade initiated by very-high-energy γ-rays in the intergalactic medium. Within such an interpretation, peculiar spectral and temporal characteristics of the flare could be explained if the magnetic field in the intergalactic medium is on the order of 10-17 - 10-16 G.


A novel, hybrid parallel C++ framework for
computational solid mechanics is developed and presented. The
modular and extensible design of this framework allows it to
support a wide variety of numerical schemes including discontinuous
Galerkin formulations and higher order methods, multiphysics
problems, hybrid meshes made of different types of elements and a
number of different linear and non-linear solvers. In addition,
native, seamless support is included for hardware acceleration by
Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) via NVIDIA's CUDA architecture for
both single GPU workstations and heterogenous clusters of GPUs. The
capabilities of the framework are demonstrated through a series of
sample problems, including a laser induced cylindrical shock
propagation, a dynamic problem involving a micro-truss array made
of millions of elements, and a tension problem involving a shape
memory alloy with a multifield formulation to model the
superelastic effect.


ABSTRACT Dementia is a growing issue in the United Kingdom (UK) with over 800,000 people affected. Of these people, in excess of 40,000 are aged under 65 years. Thus, a significant number of individuals may be experiencing symptoms of dementia while in employment. In addition, as working lives extend, the potential impact of dementia on the workplace could be substantial. However, to date, there has been little research on experiences of dementia in the workplace. The research that exists highlights the lack of support for workers with dementia. Dementia may be considered to be a disability under the Equality Act 2010. Therefore, the legislation potentially provides a framework for individuals to request that their employer make reasonable adjustments to support their continued employment. International human rights law is potentially another tool that could be utilised to obtain necessary adjustments. This paper argues that in developing the evidence base on workplace experiences of dementia, it is important that the legal framework be considered. This paper reviews the existing literature on dementia in the workplace and embeds this in the legislative framework in order to establish a cross-disciplinary research agenda. While the paper focuses on the UK legal context, the argument presented in the paper is still relevant to other national contexts.


Conjugate gradient method is a method for solving nonlinear optimization problems,especially large-scale problems.In this paper a class of new conjugate gradient methods is presented,with which the global convergence with generalized Wolfe line search is proven.Finally,some numeric tests have been done and the results show that the algorithm is effective.


The purpose of our study is the evaluation of an algorithm to determine the physiological relevance of a coronary lesion as seen in a coronary angiogram. The aim is to extract as much as possible information from a standard coronary angiogram to decide if an abnormality, percentage of stenosis, as seen in the angiogram, results in physiological impairment of the blood supply of the region nourished by the coronary artery. Coronary angiography, still the golden standard, is used to determine the cause of angina pectoris based on the demonstration of an important stenose in a coronary artery. Dimensions of a lesion such as length and percentage of narrowing can at present easily be calculated by using an automatic computer algorithm such as Quantitative Coronary Angiography (QCA) techniques resulting in just anatomical information ignoring the physiological relevance of the lesion. In our study we analyze myocardial perfusion images in standard coronary angiograms in rest and in artificial hyperemic phases, using a drug e.g. papaverine intracoronary. Setting a Region of Interest (ROI) in the angiogram without overlying major vessels makes it possible to calculate contrast differences as a function of time, so called time-density curves, in the basal and hyperemic phases. In minimizing motion artifacts, end diastolic images are selected ECG based in basal and hyperemic phase in an identical ROI in the same angiographic projection. The development of new algorithms for calculating differences in blood supply in the region as set are presented together with the results of a small clinical case study using the standard angiographic procedure.


Since 2014, the war in the Donbas, fueled and sustained by local and regional political priorities, has inflicted a heavy burden of civilian death, injury, displacement, destruction, and lasting trauma. As the conflict continues, the people of Donbas are more isolated than ever from the rest of their country, subjected to discrimination and stigmatization by both the Ukrainian authorities and separatist leaders. Today, a confluence of factors continues to drive conflict in Eastern Ukraine. Triggered by the 2013 Euromaidan protests in Kyiv, the rupture between the post-Maidan Ukrainian government and local elites in the Donbas over aspirations of independence and self-determination highlighted the growing schism between those with Russian-oriented ambitions and those supporting the new Ukrainian regime. As clans, warlords, and oligarchs within Ukraine fight for political influence and financial gain, Russian influence continues to destabilize the Westward-leaning Ukrainian authorities in Kyiv, reinvigorating the enduring geopolitical rivalry between Russia and the West. Humanitarian operations in Eastern Ukraine are also under significant pressure by the separatist authorities. Agencies struggle to bridge the gap between critical needs and their response capacity, while being forced to rely almost exclusively on local organizations. In the process of humanitarian and access negotiations, agencies must guard against the instrumentalization of aid, the blurring of lines between political, military, and relief operations, and an ever-shrinking humanitarian space. What drives this protracted conflict? How have global politics and local agendas contributed to sustaining a "frozen" conflict at the expense of communities and in the interest of asserting nationalist independence at all costs? How have the hopes of local communities in the Donbas withered over time, as they navigate the dissonance in geopolitical rhetoric and their lived reality? What avenues exist for reconciliation and unity amidst this violent divisiveness? This report explores these questions and offers reflections based on more than 250 interviews undertaken during two field visits to Ukraine, in both government and separatist-controlled areas, and one visit to Russia, between November 2019 and January 2020. It also draws on an extensive desk analysis of relevant literature to complement the findings of these interviews and consultations. The Ukrainian, Russian, French, and German translations of the Key Messages, Executive Summary, and Recommendations can be found on the web-page of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative at http://hhi.harvard.edu/.


of the actual living conditions of all classes, might collaborate with the less informed urban authorities. It is essential that we should know whether the Government, having evacuated these people, is content to leave the country districts to struggle on as best they can or whether it is actively engaged in devising new measures to ameliorate the present unsatisfactory situation. There are limits to what people will stand, and in too many cases these limits have already been reached.-i am, etc., Melksham, Sept. 28. I. C. KEIR, M.D.