CEDIL methods working paper: Making and justifying evidence claims: evidence synthesis of impact evaluations and systematic reviews in international development

In the last few decades, there has been an increasing use of, and demand for, high-quality evidence among decision makers in international development. Evidence from research leads to claims about the effects of intervening in people’s lives to improve specific outcomes. However, this raises the question of how such evidence claims are framed, justified and communicated. This review aims to address this important question by reviewing research findings from impact evaluations and systematic reviews to understand the nature and the scope of evidence claims in the global South

Application of bent crystals at IHEP 70-GeV accelerator to enhance the efficiency of its usage

Bent crystal was extracting 70-GeV protons with average intensity 4*10^11 (as measured in external beamline) per spill of 1.6 s duration, in parallel to the simultaneous work of two internal targets in the accelerator ring. An additional crystal, placed in the external beamline, was deflecting a small part of the extracted beam with intensity 10^7 protons toward another physics experiment. Crystal-extracted beam had a typical size of 4 mm by 4 mm fwhm at the end of the external beamline. Measurements for the extraction efficiency and other characteristics at the simultaneous work of four experimental set-ups are presented. With crystal working in the above-said regime during one month, no degradation of channeling was observed. The studies of extraction efficiency have been continued with new crystals.Comment: 6pp. Presented at EPAC 200

Characterization of proliferative, glial and angiogenic responses after a CoCl2-induced injury of photoreceptor cells in the adult zebrafish retina

The adult zebrafish is considered a useful model for studying mechanisms involved in tissue growth and regeneration. We have characterized cytotoxic damage to the retina of adult zebrafish caused by the injection of cobalt chloride (CoCl2) into the vitreous cavity. The CoCl2 concentration we used primarily caused injury to photoreceptors. We observed the complete disappearance of cones, followed by rods, across the retina surface from 28 to 96 hr after CoCl2 injury. The loss of 30% of bipolar cells was also observed by 50 hr after lesion (hpl). CoCl2 injury provoked a strong induction of the proliferative activity of multipotent Müller glia and derived progenitors. The effect of CoCl2 on retina cells was significantly reduced by treatment with glutamate ionotropic receptor antagonists. Cone photoreceptor regeneration occurred 25 days after injury. Moreover, a single dose of CoCl2 induced vascular damage and regeneration, whereas three injections of CoCl2 administered weekly provoked neovascular-like changes 20 days after injury. CoCl2 injury also caused microglial reactivity in the optic disc, retina periphery and fibre layer. CoCl2-induced damage enhanced pluripotency and proneural transcription factor gene expression in the mature retina 72 hpl. Tumour necrosis factor alpha, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and VEGF receptor mRNA levels were also significantly enhanced by 72 hpl. The injury paradigm we have described in this work may be useful for the discovery of signalling molecules and pathways that participate in the regenerative response and it may serve as a model to screen for compounds that could potentially treat aberrant angiogenesis.Fil: Medrano, Matias. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Pisera Fuster, Antonella. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Sanchis, Pablo Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Paez, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Bernabeu, Ramon Oscar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Faillace, Maria Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay; Argentin

Features of the underground storages construction in depleted oil and gas condensate fields

The paper considers the features of the underground storages (US) construction in depleted oil and gas condensate fields (DOGCFs). The requirements for the structure of the formation, corresponding to the parameters of the object for possible US creation are presented. The influence of geological, hydrogeological, mining and technical rock formation conditions on the reliability and tightness of underground storages, including underground gas storages, has been evaluated. The necessary conditions for the US design are analyzed at the example of the Ach-Su oil and gas condensate field, in the presence of a well-explored trap with acceptable parameters for the construction of an underground storage. An important aspect is the geological conditions that meet the criteria for selecting the object: the required structure, the absence of fracturing faults, high reservoir properties of the formation, a sufficient volume of the deposit for the storage. Geological conditions lay the basis for determining the individual characteristics of the US construction technology at each DOGCF. The refined results for the current gas-saturated pore volume and the rate of pressure drop in the formation are presented, which makes it possible to select improved technological indicators in the course of  operation of the created US. In order to select the optimal option for the design and construction of the US, the results of economic and geological scenarios analysis were studied concurrently with the capabilities of the technological operation of the object and transport system, which can ensure the maximum daily production of the storage

Ferroelectric C* phase induced in a nematic liquid crystal matrix by a chiral non-mesogenic dopant

We report on a ferroelectric chiral smectic C (C*) phase obtained in a mixture of a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) and a chiral nonmesogenic dopant. The existence of C* phase was proven by calorimetric, dielectric and optical measurements, and also by X-rays analysis. The smectic C* which is obtained in such a way can flow, allowing to restore the ferroelectric liquid crystal layer structure in the electro-optical cells after action of the mechanical stress, as it happens with the cells filled with NLC. The proposed method of obtaining smectic C* material allows us to create innovative electro-optical cell combining the advantages of NLC (mechanical resilience) and smectic C* (high switching speed

УСЛОВИЯ ОПТИМАЛЬНОСТИ ВТОРОГО ПОРЯДКА

Nonlinear programming problems are studied. Necessary second order optimality conditions are proved under minimal assumptions about constraints.Необходимые условия второго порядка играют важную роль в теории оптимизации. Это объясняется тем, что большинство используемых на практике численных алгоритмов сводится к нахождению стационарных точек, удовлетворяющих условиям оптимальности первого порядка. В то же время многие задачи оптимизации, особенно задачи высокой размерности, имеют достаточно большое число стационарных точек. В связи с этим возникает проблема усиления необходимых условий за счет привлечения необходимых условий второго порядка для удаления неоптимальных стационарных точек. В данной статье рассматриваются так называемые слабые необходимые условия оптимальности второго порядка и доказывается их справедливость при менее жестких требованиях по сравнению с известными ранее результатами

Optical properties of nematic liquid crystals doped with gold nanorods

Composites consisting of nematic liquid crystal (5-CB) and gold nanorods have been elaborated and investigated with a polarizing microscope. It was detected that the nanorods form inside the oriented liquid crystal matrix their own self-assembling well-ordered structures. Nanorods ordered structures appear as a result of aligning layers action and provides defects corresponding to the spatial distortion of the nematic liquid crystal director field

УСЛОВИЯ РЕГУЛЯРНОСТИ В ЗАДАЧАХ НЕЛИНЕЙНОГО ПРОГРАММИРОВАНИЯ

Weak regularity conditions are studied. Necessary and sufficient conditions of R -regularity are obtained. The relations between different types of regularity conditions are investigated.Условия регулярности играют важную роль в задачах нелинейного программирования, поскольку гарантируют выполнение необходимых условий оптимальности Куна-Таккера. Среди условий регулярности наиболее известным и широко применяемым является условие Мангасаряна-Фромовица. В то же время, несмотря на сравнительную эффективность условий Мангасаряна-Фромовица, существуют достаточно широкие классы задач оптимизации, в которых это условие не выполняется, однако для которых можно указать более слабые условия регулярности, гарантирующие справедливость необходимых условий Куна-Таккера. Целью данной статьи является исследование задач оптимизации, удовлетворяющих ослабленным условиям регулярности