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The archetype of ideal city is one of the most significant in the development of world culture due to the fact that the idea of perfect world order, embodied in a spatial image, has reflected from ancient times the most important value orientations of the cultures of the Middle Ages and the Modern Times, both of the West and of the East. In Russian culture, the archetype of ideal city is embodied in the images of the Heavenly Jerusalem and the City of Kitezh. We have chosen as an object of research the works of Russian naive artists of the 20th century, which allows us to trace the development dynamics of this archetype in modern Russian culture. The subject of the research is the embodiment and peculiar interpretation of the archetype of ideal city in the works of naive artists Pavel Petrovich Leonov (1920—2011), Vagan Yerevandovich Sakiyan (1926—2002), Yury Dmitryevich Deev (1944—1998). The aim is to identify culturally conditioned interpretations of the national archetypes of ideal city in the naive art of the twentieth century. The article also conducts a multi-level cultural research of the creative world of the naive artists P.P. Leonov, V.E. Sakiyan and Yu.D. Deev, revealing the most characteristic features of this art phenomenon. The study of national Russian culture involves referring to a number of works on cultural studies, philosophy, mythology, history, philology, folklore studies, etc., devoted to the issues of national archetypes. The analysis of the naive painting works by Russian artists is carried out on the basis of cultural-philosophical, comparative-historical, typological, and analytical approaches. The naive art as a cultural phenomenon of Russian culture is very little studied in modern science; meanwhile, it combines many different cultural-psychological, cultural-historical and socio-cultural phenomena.

AbstractDigit ratio (2D:4D) – a proxy for prenatal sex steroids – shows sex, nationality and ethnic differences and is linked to pubertal onset. It is unclear whether right-left 2D:4D (Dr-l) also correlates with prenatal sex steroids, as evidence of these differences has been less conclusive. The present study examined the effects of sex, nation, ethnicity, age and self-reported pubertal development (i.e. the rate of physical development and age at menarche [females] or first shave [males]) on Dr-l in a large online study (the BBC internet study). Digit lengths were self-measured in 201,865 adults (110,955 males) and the sample of nations included 41 countries. Participants reported the self-perceived rate of physical pubertal development on a five-point scale (from very slow to very fast) and provided information on the age at menarche or first shave. Adult (>17 years) males had lower Dr-l than females with weak effect size across 41 nations (males-females; d = −.065, p < .0001). There were sex and ethnicity effects on Dr-l across seven ethnic groups with males < females and lower Dr-l in Whites and Middle/Near Eastern participants compared to Asian, Black and Chinese respondents. Considering age effects, the authors focused on participants >12 years; there were stable sex differences and a weak positive effect of age on Dr-l. Dr-l showed a positive relationship with the rate of physical development and a negative relationship with age at menarche or first shave. Relationships were present in males and females with stronger effects in the latter. It is concluded that Dr-l shows a weak sex difference (males < females) independent of nation, ethnicity and age, and suggest that Dr-l is a proxy for prenatal sex steroids.

In the article the development of the idea of civic consiousness of a personality is revealed in historic retrospection. The authors emphasize that in socio-historical terms, civic consciousness is a consequence of socio-political, socio- economic and cultural processes. Therefore, every state has always been interested in shaping this feature of its citizens. The idea of a civic society goes back to the era of ancient civilization. This term was actually coined by the Romans, who spoke of a civic union, community. Shaping Civil Law was one of the achievements of ancient Romans. In the Middle Ages, civic consiousness was valued less than in ancient times. In the period of Renaissance the importance of personal creativity and activity was increased. The Reformation emphasized the importance of a believer's direct communion with God. The emergence of nations shaped new views on the state and human rights. The term "civic consiouness" spread due to the Great French Revolution of the XVIII century, during which an official addressing " citizen" appeared The Enlightenment contributed to the emergence of philosophy of natural rights. In the XIX century independent civil society organizations became an important factor in social development. In the article due attention is paid to the views of Ukrainian thinkers M. Drahomanov, M. Hrushevsky, I. Franko conserning the role of the civil society and the education of its members as the basis of Ukrainian statehood. During the XX century the idea of a civil society gradually lost its leading position in political thought. Instead, the theory and practice of the state became increasingly important. Radical political changes that engulfed the countries of Eastern and Central Europe in the late 1980s brought the idea of a civil society back to the center of theoretical reasoning and public life. The authors conclude that civic culture structures the social space of civil society, orienting the general needs and norms in its implementation, individual characteristics and views ...

The threat of climate change to the sustainability of farmers' livelihoods is becoming more significant. Research on the impact of climate change on the sustainability of farmers' livelihoods could provide a scientific basis for enhancing farmers' adaptability to climate change, reducing farmers' livelihood vulnerability, and promoting the formulation of governmental adaptation strategies. Although studies have assessed the impact of climate change on the sustainability of farmers' livelihoods, their analysis units have been aggregated. Therefore, this study was grouped based on geographical location (north and south regions), and then an additional grouping was conducted according to the internal economic factors of each region. Using data from China's labor-force dynamic survey as our sample, this study measured the sustainable livelihood in agricultural households. This research provided a method to quantify the sustainability of farmers' livelihoods based on measurements of poverty vulnerability. Additionally, using the annual average temperature as the core explanatory variable to describe climate change, this study evaluated the impact and heterogeneity of climate change on the sustainability of farmers' livelihoods and replaced the annual average temperature with the normalized vegetation index to conduct a robustness test. The empirical study showed that the average annual temperature significantly decreased the sustainability of farmers' livelihoods. The average annual temperature change had a greater impact on farmers in the southern provinces as compared to those in the north. Southern coastal regions, eastern coastal regions, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the northeast regions were the key areas of concern. Finally, considering the current risk vulnerability of farmers, we concluded that crop breeding should be oriented to the trend of climate change, farmers' risk prevention awareness should be increased, financial tools should be enhanced to mitigate the impact of meteorological ...

Imperial formations occupy a key place in the political and religious history of Humankind. The article traces the evolution of this phenomenon, with a future global perspective, from the time of the emergence of macrostates in the Ancient World, through the period of the classical empires of Antiquity to the religious empires of the Middle Ages and the late empires of the New Age, in the space of Asia Minor and the Greater Mediterranean. The focus is on the transformation of the ideological foundations of imperial formations, traced primarily on the basis of titular formulas, which are the most important source on the history of the ideological self-identification of states. The analysis revealed several evolutionary phases of imperial construction, characterized by the following features: 1) "mechanical" consolidation of primary polys-nomic political formations around a particular military-administrative center, with the preservation of mosaicism and polycentrism in the religious sphere; 2) formation of the new generation of all-imperial religious systems (usually associated with the ruler's cult), designed to complement military and political consolidation by an ideological one; 3) displacement of primary personality-oriented imperial cults by more morally authoritative universal religions with a transcendental ideal (Christianity, Islam); 4) secondary politicization of theocratic empires, leading to the consolidation of religious-state dualism (emperor / patriarch; caliph / sultan); 5) final decline of politicized theocracies and their more or less painful transformation into national states of the modern type, formed in the specific conditions of Western Europe. The phenomenon of instability of monopolar geopolitical structures and, on the contrary, the impressive stability of bipolar configurations, embodied in the evolutionary space of the Greater Mediterranean in the competitive coexistence of Hellenism and the East, Rome and Iran, Byzantium and the Caliphate, the Russian and Ottoman empires, was identified.

The Kurdish question is a heritage of the post-WW1 peacemaking – an unfortunate legacy that has cast a long shadow for a century. The dreams of the Kurdish national movement that had developed in the late phase of the Ottoman Empire to gain its own Kurdish nation-State were disappointed after 1919, instead the Kurdish territories were incorporated into the newly founded States of Turkey, Iraq and Syria. None of these new States was ready to accept political rights for a Kurdish community as a separate people on their territory – just to the contrary, the new Turkish Republic was decided to assimilate Kurds in their 'great' Turkish nation, and also the soon forming new States of Iraq and Syria repressed any sign of Kurdish separatism and insistence on Kurdish traditions and a distinct ethnicity. A new situation developed in the aftermath of the US interventions since 1991. The events following these interventions were the starting point for the de facto autonomy that developed in Kurdish Northern Iraq throughout the 1990s. Hopes for an autonomy arrangement for the mainly Kurdish territories in the eastern parts of Turkey were to arise some years later. After 2011, a new opportunity for (factual) Kurdish self-government opened up in Syria as a side effect of the civil war in that State. The paper looks look into the normative benchmarks on how to deal with the Kurdish question. In a first part, the essay will reconstruct the major legal reference points concerning self-determination of the Kurdish people. In a second step, the text will turn to autonomy arrangements as a middle-ground solution for the need for structures of 'internal self-determination'. In a third step, as a concession to 'realpolitik', the minimalist options in the context of minority protection will be mapped, in their potentials, but also in their pitfalls.

Three-dimensional seismic reflection study was conducted for the EasternBaghdad oil field which is located in the middle part of Iraq within Al-Madaaenprovince that belong to Baghdad governarate, South of Diyala River , this fieldincludes two southern parts (S1 and S2), the study area was about 781.905 km 2 forthe upper Cretaceous age, synthetic seismogram was generated from data of EB-5and EB-1 wells. Saadi reflector was picked and identified to determine the HarthaFormation. The seismic sections and time slice maps confirmed that the upperCretaceous age was affected by faults and the indicators of faults ended withinHartha Formation and continue to the deeper formations with increasing intensity.The attribute section was applied on time slice and shows that the area was affectedby normal fault parallel to the structure of the field trends (NW-SE). Time, velocityand depth maps of Hartha reflector depending on data from wells (EB-1, EB-2, EB-6, EB-30, EB-52, EB-54) the maps show the structural picture of East Baghdadstructural nose opened toward NW and trending (NW-SE) that confirmed by 3Dvolume which prepared for the studied area. DHI was identified as flat spot, dimspot and sag , when applying attributes like (instantaneous phase and InstantaneousFrequency) has been proved the absence of hydrocarbons in EB-15 well on otherhand found in adjacent wells such as EB-2 and EB-5 because of facies changes andnot structural change. A scaling facies change was identified at (inline 40910 andinline 47960) , Mound (inline 48310), as well as the work of the Isochron map,which was used to find Isopach and a suitable site for drilling wells.

Abstract
Hungary joined the European Union in 2004 but started to participate in EU crisis management operations well before. Since the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) was a new policy area at that time, it was an extraordinary experience for Hungary to be integrated into a policy still under development.
Aft er briefly detailing the foreign and security policy options Hungary faced right after the transition from communism, this paper analyses Hungary's contribution to the CSDP. The CSDP is based on two pillars — one operational and the other related to capability-building. The paper first analyses Hungary's participation in the civilian and military operations launched in the framework of the CSDP. Specifically, it explores the operations Hungary has joined, the kind of capacities it has contributed and the deficiencies and problems that have emerged in this sphere. Second, the paper addresses Hungary's perspectives and aspirations regarding capability development. Specifically, it looks at how Hungary views the future of the CSDP, especially in light of the country's participation in permanent structured cooperation (PESCO), the central element in the EU's joint defence capability development.
Methodologically, the paper employs qualitative content and discourse analysis, drawing on relevant secondary literature and analyses of official EU and Hungarian (legislative and non-legislative) documents. Surveying Hungary's participation in EU crisis management operations since the beginning of the CSDP, the paper finds it has joined 42 per cent of civilian and 70 per cent of military operations. These have been in the immediate neighbourhood but also distant locations (Africa, Central Asia, and the Near East). At the same time, distinct challenges have hampered Hungary's contribution to certain operations, such as a dearth of foreign language skills and a lack of strategic airlift and mobile logistics capabilities. The paper also finds that regional defence cooperation was not the central driver of cooperation within PESCO projects. Overall, Hungary is somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of the number of PESCO projects it participates in.

Excavations of Iluraton give a vivid idea of the life of the garrison of a small fortress on the western approaches to Panticapaeum, the capital of the Bosporan kingdom, and the level of development of the local fortification of the Roman period. The earliest building remains of Iluraton of the middle of the 1st century AD are a small tower with an adjacent section of the defensive wall and a well with an underground passage. This fortress did not last long and was destroyed several decades later during the military conflicts between the Bosporus and the Late Scythians. The reconstruction of the defensive lines of Iluraton is carried out not earlier than the second third of the 2nd century AD. At the end of this century, when the military and political situation on the western borders of the Bosporus worsened again, a radical reconstruction of the entire territory of urban development took place. The three fortress walls were further strengthened at the base by an anti-ram belt. Another obstacle was created by a moat cut into the rock to a depth of 1.5 m. The last stage was the construction in the first third of the 3rd century AD of a strip of residential development behind the north-western defensive wall. During attack narrow passages between houses were laid, creating an additional obstacle in the way of the enemy. New information about this period was obtained in 2013, when it became possible to record the eastern corner of the fortress – a semicircular bastion with a diameter of about 8 m carried down the hill. At the beginning of the second half of the 3rd century all the fortifications were seriously damaged by the destruction caused by the powerful earthquake. Soon after Iluraton ceased to exist due to the events of the period of the Gothic Wars.

International audience ; This paper documents the Late-Holocene environmental changes and human presence in the northern Danube delta using a multidisciplinary approach that combines geoscientific data with archaeological findings, historical texts, and maps. It follows the formation and progression of the Chilia distributary and the reconfiguration of socioeconomic activities. Sedimentary facies identified on five new cores by changes in texture properties, magnetic susceptibility, geochemistry, and macro- and microfauna composition together with the newly obtained chronology constrain the complex evolution of the Chilia branch as filling in a long-lasting bay and then of a giant lagoon (Thiagola) which covered most of the northern delta since the Old Danube lobe inception (ca. 7500 yrs BP) till modern Chilia development. It initiated during the Greek Antiquity (ca. 2500 yrs ar BP) at the delta apex, while in Roman times (ca. 1800 yrs BP) it pursued its slow flowing into the vast Thiagola Lagoon. The most dramatic transformations occurred in the last 800 years when the river passed east of the Chilia promontory, rapidly went through the present-day Matița-Merhei basin (several decades), and created its first open-sea outlet. Solid discharge increased in two distinct periods, once in the Middle Ages (ca. 750 yrs BP) and then in the Modern Period (ca. 150 yrs BP) due to human-induced land-use changes in the Danube watershed. The chronology of the cultural remains on the pre-deltaic Chilia promontory and the multiproxy analysis of a sediment core retrieved nearby downstream suggest the terrestrial connection of the island with the mainland in ancient times. The hitherto contended issue of the old Thiagola Lagoon and its location are redefined here, as are the original identifications of ancient and medieval toponyms and hydronyms, especially for Chilia-Licostomo, Byzantine, Genoese, Moldavian, Ottoman, and Russian trading point of great importance in the political and economic history of the Black Sea and ...

International audience ; This paper documents the Late-Holocene environmental changes and human presence in the northern Danube delta using a multidisciplinary approach that combines geoscientific data with archaeological findings, historical texts, and maps. It follows the formation and progression of the Chilia distributary and the reconfiguration of socioeconomic activities. Sedimentary facies identified on five new cores by changes in texture properties, magnetic susceptibility, geochemistry, and macro- and microfauna composition together with the newly obtained chronology constrain the complex evolution of the Chilia branch as filling in a long-lasting bay and then of a giant lagoon (Thiagola) which covered most of the northern delta since the Old Danube lobe inception (ca. 7500 yrs BP) till modern Chilia development. It initiated during the Greek Antiquity (ca. 2500 yrs ar BP) at the delta apex, while in Roman times (ca. 1800 yrs BP) it pursued its slow flowing into the vast Thiagola Lagoon. The most dramatic transformations occurred in the last 800 years when the river passed east of the Chilia promontory, rapidly went through the present-day Matița-Merhei basin (several decades), and created its first open-sea outlet. Solid discharge increased in two distinct periods, once in the Middle Ages (ca. 750 yrs BP) and then in the Modern Period (ca. 150 yrs BP) due to human-induced land-use changes in the Danube watershed. The chronology of the cultural remains on the pre-deltaic Chilia promontory and the multiproxy analysis of a sediment core retrieved nearby downstream suggest the terrestrial connection of the island with the mainland in ancient times. The hitherto contended issue of the old Thiagola Lagoon and its location are redefined here, as are the original identifications of ancient and medieval toponyms and hydronyms, especially for Chilia-Licostomo, Byzantine, Genoese, Moldavian, Ottoman, and Russian trading point of great importance in the political and economic history of the Black Sea and neighboring regions.

This study is the latest in a series of LBNL research into U.S. ESCO industry characteristics and market trends. The research is based on interviews with ESCO industry executives conducted during the fall of 2019 and the first half of 2020. Nearly all companies that identified themselves as ESCOs were contacted as part of this project. We find that after a period of little growth (2011-2014), industry revenues reached an estimated $6 billion in 2018, or a 3.4% annual average growth rate from 2015-2018. ESCOs primarily serve the public an institutional sectors (e.g., federal, state, and local governments; university and colleges; and K-12 schools). In 2018, project investments by public and institutional organizations accounted for over 90% of industry revenue, which is consistent with previous industry studies. ESCO activity in the Middle Atlantic, East North Central, and Pacific regions in the U.S. delivered the highest share of revenue in 2018, which is also consistent with earlier research. ESCOs reported that a majority of their customers use energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs) primarily for facility capital improvement needs and resilience rather than utility savings. In addition, the importance of non-energy benefits (e.g., water savings, avoided operations and maintenance costs, and avoided capital costs) accounted for in the project savings guarantee reportedly increased in all markets during 2016-2018 compared to previous time periods. The study found that the ESCO industry faces several key challenges, including: (1) increasing project development times due to more complex projects and other factors; (2) difficulty finding qualified subcontractors in some regions, including minority- women- and disadvantaged population-owned small business enterprises; and (3) difficulty accessing project documents and quickly fulfilling customer requests to justify project payments several years into the performance period of a project.

Introduction: Rwanda has made significant advancements in medical and economic development over the last 20 years and has emerged as a leader in healthcare in the East African region. The COVID-19 pandemic, which reached Rwanda in March 2020, presented new and unique challenges for infectious disease control. The objective of this paper is to characterize Rwanda's domestic response to the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and highlight effective strategies so that other countries, including high and middle-income countries, can learn from its innovative initiatives.Methods: Government publications describing Rwanda's healthcare capacity were first consulted to obtain the country's baseline context. Next, official government and healthcare system communications, including case counts, prevention and screening protocols, treatment facility practices, and behavioral guidelines for the public, were read thoroughly to understand the course of the pandemic in Rwanda and the specific measures in the response.Results: As of 31 December 2020, Rwanda has recorded 8,383 cumulative COVID-19 cases, 6,542 recoveries, and 92 deaths since the first case on 14 March 2020. The Ministry of Health, Rwanda Biomedical Centre, and the Epidemic and Surveillance Response division have collaborated on preparative measures since the pandemic began in January 2020. The formation of a Joint Task Force in early March led to the Coronavirus National Preparedness and Response Plan, an extensive six-month plan that established a national incident management system and detailed four phases of a comprehensive national response. Notable strategies have included disseminating public information through drones, robots for screening and inpatient care, and official communications through social media platforms to combat misinformation and mobilize a cohesive response from the population.Conclusion: Rwanda's government and healthcare system has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with innovative interventions to prevent and contain the virus. Importantly, the response has utilized adaptive and innovative technology and robust risk communication and community engagement to deliver an effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Low- and middle-income countries bear the highest burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) mortality and morbidity. Syria has undergone an epidemiological transition from infectious diseases to NCDs in the past decades. Despite the high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and diabetes in Syria, little is known about medicines utilization or prescriptions for these diseases. The aims of this study are to present the patterns and rates of dispensing medicines used for CVDs and diabetes among patients with government health insurance in Syria and examine age, sex, and regional variation in the dispensing of these medicines. METHODS: Outpatient data from June 2018 to May 2019 on dispensed medicines for 81,314 adults with government health insurance were obtained. The dispensing rate was expressed as the number of defined daily doses (DDDs) per 1000 beneficiaries per day (DID). The DID is a measurement that is used in drug utilization research to control for differences or changes in population size between or within countries. The number of DIDs was adjusted according to beneficiaries' sex, age, and governorate. RESULTS: Beneficiaries received 302.09 DIDs of CVDs medicines and 35.66 DIDs of diabetes medicines, including 0.96 DID of insulin (2.99% of the total of diabetes medicines). CVDs and diabetes medicine dispensing rates were low during the study period and included very low rates of insulin dispensing compared to the dispensing rates of these medicines in other countries in East Mediterranean Region or in Europe. We found lower dispensing rates of CVDs medicines among female beneficiaries (249.59 DIDs) than male beneficiaries (388.80 DIDs). Similarly, the dispensing rates of diabetes medicines among female beneficiaries (29.42 DIDs) were lower than those among male beneficiaries (45.98 DIDs). In addition, there were lower rates of CVDs and diabetes medicines and very low to no dispensing of insulin in some governorates that were partly controlled by the Syrian government compared to ...

Introduction: The number of adults with visual impairments (i.e., blindness or low vision) is increasing, especially with the aging of the population. Although awareness of vision loss as a public health problem is growing, public health budgets are decreasing. This study exemplifies the use of publicly available secondary data and geographic information system (GIS) mapping to spatially map areas of potential higher risk for vision loss and identify where specialized, low vision resources are located, by county, in Michigan. Methods: County-level, publicly available data on risk factors for low vision (health and demographic) and specialized low vision resources (medical, rehabilitation, and community) are extracted from existing public health data sets and information published on the Internet. GIS mapping is applied to visually examine potential areas of disparity between need and resources. Results: Broadly speaking, counties in Michigan with the highest number of risk factors for low vision are clustered in the center of the Lower Peninsula and on the eastern and western ends of the Upper Peninsula. Areas that have fewer resources for low vision are clustered in the thumb area and the middle to upper part of the Lower Peninsula. Resources are concentrated near the state's metropolitan areas (i.e., Detroit and suburbs, Kalamazoo, and Grand Rapids). Discussion: Maps can be helpful in locating areas of health disparities, but they need to be interpreted carefully such as by considering the county's population size. Understanding the eligibility criteria of available services can help to uncover groups of persons not being served. Implications for practitioners: With increasing need for services and shrinking budgets, strategic planning may help alleviate anticipated shortfalls in available services. Use of publicly available data and GIS mapping may be an affordable and efficient method to identify areas of need and resources, for targeted public health efforts in vision.