Backward Regions Research Articles

Identifying the Ecotourism Potential Locations using AHP and Weighted Overlay Analysis: A case of Bundelkhand region in Central India

Ecotourism has been growing faster than other forms of tourism due to increasing awareness and an ongoing sustainable development paradigm. Its capacity to help grow the local economy and livelihood in backward and remote regions has been recognized in numerous studies in recent years. The Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh stands as one of India’s severely underdeveloped areas. Its condition arises from a drought-prone agrarian economy shaped by unfavorable geological and climatic conditions. The NITI Aayog & UNDP report from 2012 on the region identified tourism as one of the potential measures to fight poor socio-economic development in the area. Fortunately, the region has six protected areas yet to be explored for its full potential for ecotourism development. So, this study focuses on the initial step of ecotourism planning, i.e., mapping the potential ecotourism locations using a multi-criteria decision-making approach, in which eight diversified ecotourism-related criteria have been selected based on geographical characteristics of the region, literature and field observations. Those criteria have been weighted using the Analytical Hierarchy Process for GIS-based Weighted Overlay Analysis and suitability mapping. Further, two highly potential locations over the region have been identified through ecotourism potentiality mapping and verified through field visits.

INVESTMENTS AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE REGIONAL ECONOMY

This article emphasizes that the task of the economic policy of each country should be the task of the socio-economic development of the regions, the implementation of investment policy, increasing the efficiency of investments, ensuring safe conditions for investment in various investment objects in the region. Because there are problems with attracting foreign investment in the territory of the republic. If we turn to world experience, then the main attention is focused on attracting foreign capital in the transformation of backward regions into developed ones. It is these questions that determine the relevance of the topic.

Measuring Poverty and its Associated Factors in Different Backward Regions of Bangladesh

Poverty is one of the major problems for a developing country and it is much more complex in the backward regions such as Monga, Haor, Char, Hilly, Costal areas, etc. Because of the complexity of this problem, governments often fail to execute proper policies to get rid of poverty in these regions. Thus, the present study aims to discuss the poverty measurement technique being used in and the factors associated with poverty in these regions. The data for this study is extracted from Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2010, conducted by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). Poverty in Bangladesh was earlier measured by direct calorie intake (DCI) method. The food energy intake (FEI) method was first used in the Poverty Monitoring Survey 1995. The cost of basic need (CBN) method is used in this study to measure poverty which was first used in HIES 1995-1996 and then in HIES-2000. Besides, two-level binary logistic regression is used to identify the factors associated with poverty. The analyses found that the households of the regions Monga, Haor, Hilly, Char and Costal areas were below upper poverty line (poor) were 79%, 50%, 48%, 66%, and 39% respectively and the households of the regions Monga, Haor, Hilly, Char and Costal areas were below lower poverty line (extreme poor) were 68%, 37%, 30%, 53%, and 26% respectively. The potential factors having significant association with poverty were found to be age and education of household head, specific region, household size, household types, number of dependents, per capita income, household own land, access to electricity, amount of cultivable land, engagement in livestock, engagement in fishing and farm forestry, household non-agricultural assets, remittance receiving from outside, number of male and female earner in the family.

The Financial Density and Improvement of Urban Technological Efficiency: An Estimation Based on the Stochastic Frontier Approach

Exploring the relationship between finance and economic growth is a key direction of financial economics. However, most of the literature starts from the aggregate perspective and uses the GDP or per capita GDP as the explained variable to study the role of finance. Such a perspective ignores the heterogeneity of financial activities with respect to geographical distribution and makes it difficult to distinguish the roles of factor input and efficiency improvement. Because of this, this article introduces a “density” perspective on new economic geography and the measurement of the efficiency of the transition of development economics into financial economics. This article uses the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) method to measure the technical efficiency (TE) of 272 cities in China from 2005 to 2018 and then, based on “forward-looking” and “backward-looking” methods, measures the impact of financial density on urban technical efficiency. This study found that overall, before the financial crisis in 2008, the contribution of financial density to technical efficiency showed a downward trend, and in the regional and provincial dimensions, the distribution of financial density’s contribution to technical efficiency was generally in line with that of backward regions, with less regularity in developed regions. In the urban dimension, the contribution rate of financial density to resource-based cities with slow technological progress or advanced cities with rich financial resources is not very prominent and may even play a negative role; however, cities that are at a medium level of development, rich in population resources, have convenient transportation, and have a certain industrial foundation can greatly promote the improvement of technical efficiency. Therefore, it may be possible to optimize the marginal contribution of urban financial density to the technical efficiency of Chinese cities by encouraging the flow of financial resources and activities from cities with small marginal effects to those with large marginal effects.

Simulation studies related to the particle identification by the forward and backward RICH detectors at Electron Ion Collider

The Electron-Ion collider (EIC) will be the ultimate facility to study the dynamics played by colored quarks and gluons in the phenomenology of nucleons and nuclei, described by Quantum Chromodynamics. The physics programs will greatly rely on efficient particle identification (PID) in both the forward and the backward regions. The forward and the backward RICHes of the EIC have to be able to cover wide acceptance and momentum ranges; in the forward region a dual radiator RICH (dRICH) is foreseen and in the backward region a proximity-focusing RICH can be foreseen to be employed. The geometry and the performance studies of the dRICH have been performed as prescribed in the EIC Yellow Report using the ATHENA software framework. This part of our work reports the effort following the call for EIC detector proposal and the studies related to the forward and the backward RICH performance. In the forward region, the dRICH performance showed a pion- kaon separation from around 1 GeV/c to 50 GeV/c at a three sigma level; the proximity focusing RICH (pfRICH) foreseen for the backward region can reach three sigma separation up to 3 GeV/c for e/π and up to 10 GeV/c for π/K mass hypotheses.

Disparity in Education Expenditure and Economic Growth in India: An Analysis

Enhancing the educational achievements of the population has long been recognized as a crucial factor in driving economic growth, tracing back to the era of Adam Smith. Therefore, prioritizing the improvement of educational attainment is imperative for cultivating economic development. India is widely recognized for its alarmingly high number of individuals with limited access to education. The education system is characterized by a chaotic and disjointed combination of public and private institutions, lacking a viable mechanism to establish effective educational standards. The private sector, in particular, has displayed little capability in executing welfare programs aimed at improving education. So, the expenditure directed by Government towards education sector is recognised as an important input in the education production process which would ensure better educational outcomes. Economic growth is a wider concept where education expenditure plays an important role to boost the economy. It is just like fuel to economy. So, expenditure is at most required. Here the paper tries to examine the disparity in public education expenditure and economic growth. So, study has taken 14 major Indian states by grouping into forwarded states and backword states. It is observed that convergence growth performance of developed and backward region has been reducing of regional disparity in the country in terms of Per capita income and in terms of education expenditure it is also reducing. So we can go for nexus analysis between two variables.

Nuclear Modification Factor of Neutral Pions in the Forward and Backward Regions in p-Pb Collisions.

The nuclear modification factor of neutral pions is measured in proton-lead collisions collected at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon of 8.16TeV with the LHCb detector. The π^{0} production cross section is measured differentially in transverse momentum (p_{T}) for 1.5<p_{T}<10.0 GeV and in center-of-mass pseudorapidity (η_{c.m.}) regions 2.5<η_{c.m.}<3.5 (forward) and -4.0<η_{c.m.}<-3.0 (backward) defined relative to the proton beam direction. The forward measurement shows a sizable suppression of π^{0} production, while the backward measurement shows the first evidence of π^{0} enhancement in proton-lead collisions at the LHC. Together, these measurements provide precise constraints on models of nuclear structure and particle production in high-energy nuclear collisions.

An Historical Background of Andalusia’s Unemployment: An Institutional Perspective

This work aims to shed light on the ultimate causes of structural unemployment in the Spanish region of Andalusia where it persistently exceeds the already high national average. The origins of modern Andalusia hark back to the Early Modern Age when most Iberian states amalgamated into a single entity. Unlike its northern counterparts, Andalusia was mostly a Muslim country and its incorporation in the Western European world was implemented through forced assimilation. Five centuries after the conquest, the transposition of northern institutions into the South has resulted in a backward region with age-old problems of economic development and unemployment. I have brought together elements such as violence, landownership, trust, and the role of the state, from the point of view of the original institutional economics

RE-VISITING ACT EAST POLICY AND NORTHEAST INDIA: A VIEW FROM THE PERIPHERY

Northeast India's geo-strategic location and natural resources make it an important factor in India's Act East (AEP). The region extensive international border connects with neighbouring countries in South and Southeast Asia, and this has potential for a thriving border trade. Moreover, ethnically and culturally, the region enjoys close affinity with Southeast Asian countries. These cross-cultural affinities as well as the geo-strategic location of the region provide a rich incentive for India to strengthen close ties with Southeast Asian nations. However, the region has been deliberated upon in various ways, both through academic and non-academic prisms. Some perceive it as a volatile region with internecine ethnic conflicts and insurgency movements that shape the region’s socio-political landscape, while others perceive it as a region endowed with high potential for economic development. Of late, the region has been a recipient of generous financial grants disbursed by the central government, but nevertheless, it remains one of the most backward regions in the country, marked by acute unemployment and poverty despite being potentially rich in natural resources.

Intergovernmental transfers and fiscal equalization across the north‐eastern states of India: Evidence from panel data

While numerous studies have tried to analyze the impact of intergovernmental transfers in fostering fiscal equalization in India, there need to be more studies in the context of north‐eastern (NE) states. Situating in a geographically isolated and economically backward region, the states of NE India depend heavily on central fiscal transfers to meet expenditures and to promote various economic activities in the region. One of the essential objectives of these transfers is to achieve fiscal equity. Hence, the study attempts to analyze the fiscal equalizing nature of the intergovernmental transfers across NE India during 1991–2019. The coefficient of variation (CV) analysis results indicates that although fiscal transfers reduced the magnitude of disparity in the own‐source revenue across the NE states, a significant amount of disparity still exists in the resource base across these states. The regression analysis findings suggest that the transfers across these states need to be more fiscal equalizing. The per capita gross state domestic product emerges as a positive and significant in predicting per capita transfers, and hence it questions the progressivity of central transfers. When assigning the interstate share of transfers, more weight should be placed on fiscal equalizing factors such as per capita income. The Finance Commission of India should emphasize fiscal equalizing criteria when allocating weights and recommending transfers to the NE States. Additionally, states with low incomes should be recognized in plan schemes.

Transmission grating couples and enhances the second harmonic of the electron beam to generate tunable high-power terahertz radiation.

Vacuum electronic devices utilizing free-electron-based mechanisms are a crucial class of terahertz radiation sources that operate by modulating electron beams. In this study, we introduce what we believe is a novel approach to enhance the second harmonic of electron beams and substantially increase the output power at higher frequencies. Our method employs a planar grating for fundamental modulation and a transmission grating operating in the backward region to augment the harmonic coupling. The outcome is a high power output of the second harmonic signal. Contrasting with traditional linear electron beam harmonic devices, the proposed structure can achieve an output power increase of an order of magnitude. We have investigated this configuration computationally within the G-band. Our findings indicate that an electron beam density of 50 A/cm2 at 31.5 kV can produce a 0.202 THz center frequency signal with an output power of 4.59 W. As the electron beam voltage is adjusted from 23 kV to 38.5 kV, the output signal frequency shifts from 0.195 THz to 0.205 THz, generating several watts of power output. The starting oscillation current density at the center frequency point is 28 A/cm2, which is significantly lower in the G-band compared to conventional electron devices. This reduced current density has substantial implications for the advancement of terahertz vacuum devices.

Spatial Correlation Network Analysis of Industrial Green Technology Innovation Efficiency in China

Exploring the spatial correlation network and its structural characteristics of China’s industrial green technology innovation efficiency is significant for promoting the coordinated development of inter-regional industrial green transformation. Based on the innovation value chain, this paper divides China’s industrial green technology innovation system into three interrelated sub-stages: technology research and development, achievement transformation, and commercialization. The NSBM model is used to measure the efficiency of industrial green technology innovation in 30 provinces and cities in mainland China from 2011 to 2020. The modified gravity model and social network analysis method are introduced to explore its spatial correlation network’s structural characteristics and evolution rules. The results show that the spatial network correlation intensity of the three stages of green technology innovation efficiency in regional industry has gradually strengthened. There is no strict hierarchical structure, and the spatial network tends to be stable. The network shows an apparent “core–edge” distribution in all three stages, with the eastern coastal and central more developed regions at the network’s core. Meanwhile, the northeastern and western remote areas are at the network’s edge and less connected with other regions’ provinces and cities. The distribution of network blocks in the three stages of green technology innovation efficiency is similar. The net benefit block mainly includes the eastern coastal and surrounding developed areas. The net spillover block mainly consists of the economically backward northwest region. The broker block is primarily distributed in the surrounding provinces and cities of the Bohai Rim. The bidirectional spillover block is mainly located in the southwest region. Finally, some suggestions are put forward to promote the coordinated improvement of regional industrial green technology innovation efficiency from the perspective of integrity, individuality, and agglomeration.

W±-boson production in p–Pb collisions at sqrt{s_{textrm{NN}}} = 8.16 TeV and Pb–Pb collisions at sqrt{s_{textrm{NN}}} = 5.02 TeV

The production of the W± bosons measured in p–Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon–nucleon collision sqrt{s_{textrm{NN}}} = 8.16 TeV and Pb–Pb collisions at sqrt{s_{textrm{NN}}} = 5.02 TeV with ALICE at the LHC is presented. The W± bosons are measured via their muonic decay channel, with the muon reconstructed in the pseudorapidity region −4 < {eta}_{textrm{lab}}^{mu } < −2.5 with transverse momentum {p}_{textrm{T}}^{mu } > 10 GeV/c. While in Pb–Pb collisions the measurements are performed in the forward (2.5 < {y}_{textrm{cms}}^{mu } < 4) rapidity region, in p–Pb collisions, where the centre-of-mass frame is boosted with respect to the laboratory frame, the measurements are performed in the backward (−4.46 < {y}_{textrm{cms}}^{mu } < −2.96) and forward (2.03 < {y}_{textrm{cms}}^{mu } < 3.53) rapidity regions. The W− and W+ production cross sections, lepton-charge asymmetry, and nuclear modification factors are evaluated as a function of the muon rapidity. In order to study the production as a function of the p–Pb collision centrality, the production cross sections of the W− and W+ bosons are combined and normalised to the average number of binary nucleon–nucleon collision 〈Ncoll〉. In Pb–Pb collisions, the same measurements are presented as a function of the collision centrality. Study of the binary scaling of the W±-boson cross sections in p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions is also reported. The results are compared with perturbative QCD calculations, with and without nuclear modifications of the Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs), as well as with available data at the LHC. Significant deviations from the theory expectations are found in the two collision systems, indicating that the measurements can provide additional constraints for the determination of nuclear PDFs and in particular of the light-quark distributions.

Dynamic Pattern and Evolution Trend of the New Four Modernizations Synchronous Development in China: An Analysis Based on Panel Data from 31 Provinces

The New Four Modernizations (NFM) synchronous development strategy proposed by the Chinese government is an important part of Chinese modernization and is of great significance in promoting the sustainable and high-quality development of the social economy. This paper aims to provide a framework for analyzing the dynamic evolution pattern of China’s NFM synchronous development. We expounded on the theoretical basis of China’s NFM synchronous development strategy. Then, the entropy method and convergence model were used to analyze the dynamic pattern and evolution trend of the NFM synchronous development in China. The findings are as follows: (1) In terms of the current situation of NFM development, China’s new urbanization and industrialization were in the middle stage, while informationization and agricultural modernization were in the initial stage of rapid development. (2) The level of China’s NFM synchronous development continued to improve, but the problem of unbalanced, uncoordinated, and unsynchronized development remained prominent. There were great differences in the development levels of China’s new urbanization, industrialization, informationization, and agricultural modernization, which showed that there was a problem of unbalanced and unsynchronized development within China’s NFM. On the other hand, the synchronous development level of NFM in the eastern, central, and western regions of China showed a spatial pattern of decline although the eastern region was clearly higher than the central and western regions; this revealed that the regional development of NFM in China was unbalanced and uncoordinated. (3) China’s NFM synchronous development has significant σ-convergence and β-convergence, indicating that backward regions are catching up and regional differences will gradually narrow in the future. This study is helpful in understanding the current situation as well as the dynamic pattern and future evolution trend of NFM synchronous development in emerging countries such as China.

A hybrid MCDM model combining Fuzzy-Delphi, AEW, BWM, and MARCOS for digital economy development comprehensive evaluation of 31 provincial level regions in China.

With the deepening of a new round of technological revolution and industrial reform, digital technology has been continuously innovated and widely penetrated into various economic fields. The digital economy (DE) is gradually becoming the focus of China's economic development planning and a new engine to enhance national strength. Evaluating the development level of DE in various regions is conducive to timely discover the shortcomings in China's DE development, as well as provide an important basis for putting forward corresponding policy suggestions. This investigation established a hybrid multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) model for evaluating DE development of 31 provincial level regions in China ranging from 2015 to 2020. Firstly, the evaluation indicator system is established from digital infrastructure, integrated development, social benefits, innovation ability, and electronic-commerce dimensions containing 17 quantitative sub-criteria based on Fuzzy-Delphi method. Secondly, integrated weights of 17 sub-criteria from 2015 to 2020 are computed in terms of objective weights calculated by the anti-entropy weight (AEW) approach from 2015 to 2020 and subjective weights obtained via the best-worst method (BWM). Thirdly, MARCOS model is applied to evaluate the DE development degree of various regions in China ranging from 2015 to 2020. Case analysis illustrates that the DE development of Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Beijing always maintain in the top four from 2015 to 2020, while the southwest and northwest regions in China are obviously fall behind others. And the DE development degree of various regions is primarily affected under the integrated development performance, innovation ability performance, and social benefits performance. Therefore, the backward regions should emphasize the development of software industry and information technology industry. The robustness of the proposed MCDM model combining Fuzzy-Delphi, AEW, BWM and MARCOS is discussed employing three similarity coefficients of rankings. And it is verified that the proposed MCDM model has superior robustness and validity in evaluating DE development.

ASPECTS OF PUBLIC CRISIS MANAGEMENT: BEST PRACTICES AND POSSIBLE IMPLEMENTATION IN UKRAINE

At the article, the experience of public crisis management in the post-war period in Japan and Germany was considered. Among the main features of crisis measures, the following were highlighted: demonopolization of the economy, support for the development of small and medium businesses, tax reform, accelerated industrialization of technologically backward regions of the country, government protectionism of local production, and prevention of foreign and domestic competition. At the article the special attention was paid to the crisis measures used by the governments of some countries in the management of certain depressed areas (Germany, Great Britain, Italy, USA). It was revealed that the key is to stimulate production, business and increase employment in the regions. However, some countries are taking comprehensive measures to improve all regions simultaneously, while others are paying more attention to economically backward regions in order to provide them with the opportunity to take an active part in the socio-economic development of the country. Separately, public crisis management decisions taken by a number of governments in order to minimize the negative consequences of the global financial crisis of 2008 were analyzed. All activities can be combined into several main blocks, namely the creation of an additional system of social protection for employees, the expansion of opportunities for employment growth, the development and implementation of retraining and advanced training programs for employees. Keywords: public crisis management, best practices, implementation, support, government, economic development.

Impact of high-speed railway construction on spatial patterns of regional economic development along the route: A case study of the Shanghai–Kunming high-speed railway

The Shanghai–Kunming high-speed railway spans the eastern, central, and western regions of China and is an important "horizontal" in the "eight vertical and eight horizontal" railway network of China. This paper estimates the direct impact of opening a high-speed railway on the spatial patterns of regional economic development along the route by integrating GIS technology, spatial panel data models, and the entropy method. The results show that the high-speed railway can significantly increase the economic aggregate and urbanization rates along the route and promote the upgrading of industrial structures, but it has a limited effect on the economic growth rate, showing a weak trend. In terms of spatial patterns, the high-speed railway significantly improves regional accessibility, the strength of economic ties, and economic potential along the route. The regional economy is characterized by weak spatial agglomeration and presents a trend of balanced development. In general, although the economic effect of HSR for the economically lagged regions is smaller in the short term than that in the economically and less economically developed regions, the high-speed railway has the greatest impact on regional economic development and spatial patterns in economically backward areas, thus the economically backward regions have a greater posterior advantage, which is conducive to balancing regional economies and narrowing regional differences.

A Study of the Impact of Population Aging on Fiscal Sustainability in China

China has entered a deeply aging society, and the aging population poses a significant public risk to fiscal sustainability. In this regard, researchers have conducted a large number of studies, but the fiscal sustainability indicators used in the existing literature are not scientific enough, the sample data are too macro, and the heterogeneity analysis is not comprehensive enough. This paper innovatively constructs fiscal sustainability indicators based on data from 4 municipalities directly under the central government, 8 provincial capitals, and 88 prefecture-level cities in China from 2010–2019, and analyzes the impact of population aging on fiscal sustainability in eastern, central, western, and multi-level cities in China, using methods such as two-way fixed-effects models. The study finds that (1) fiscal sustainability is significantly hampered by population aging; that is, the more aging there is, the less fiscal sustainability there is. (2) The inhibitory effect of population aging on fiscal sustainability is greater in developed regions compared to backward regions. Compared to prefecture-level cities, provincial cities (including municipalities and provincial capitals) are much more negatively impacted by population aging on fiscal sustainability. (3) The paths through which population aging inhibits fiscal sustainability are healthcare expenditures and social security employment expenditures. The policy recommendations put forward in this paper are to raise the fertility rate, protect the fiscal expenditures of developed regions and provincial capitals to deal with population aging, and increase the effectiveness of the use of funds for medical and health expenditures and social security employment expenditures. The conclusions and policy recommendations drawn in this paper have a positive effect on China’s response to the fiscal sustainability problems caused by an aging population.

Trends in Agricultural Development Disparities at the Regional and District Levels in Uttar Pradesh

This paper examined the disparities in agricultural development at the regional and district levels in Uttar Pradesh using a composite index (composed of 15 indicators) of agricultural development from 2001 to 2018. The study showed that sharp disparity existed in agricultural development at the regional and district levels in Uttar Pradesh. The primary policy recommendation was that the government should maximize; its efforts to promote the diversification of agriculture toward high-value crops, particularly in the agriculturally backward regions. On the other hand, natural constraints to agricultural production must be minimized through flood control methods and the development of reliable irrigation, particularly in the eastern region and Bundelkhand.

Wing Conformal Load-Bearing Endfire Phased Array Antenna Skin Technology

In this article, a phased array antenna skin is proposed for conformally assembling scenarios and wide scanning applications. Planar inverted F antenna (PIFA) is used as a radiation element of the proposed array due to its low profile and omnidirectional radiation pattern. The PIFA element is conformally assembled in a wing of an aircraft and is designed and fabricated with the technology of composite material, which makes the PIFA element load bearing. The endfire beam synthesis is also investigated, and the proposed array supports wide-angle beam scanning in both forward and backward regions. An array of 240 PIFA elements are designed, simulated, fabricated, and experimentally tested. The fabricated sample is able to bear an overload of 1 g in the mechanical test, and all the electronic experiment results agree well with the simulation data.