Destination States Research Articles

Persistence in Alcohol Consumption: Evidence from Migrants

How malleable is alcohol consumption? Specifically, how much is alcohol consumption driven by the current environment versus individual characteristics? To answer this question, we analyze changes in alcohol purchases when consumers move from one state to another in the United States. Right after moving, movers’ alcohol purchases converge sharply toward the average level in their destination state, implying that the current environment explains about two-thirds of the differences in alcohol purchases. The adjustment takes place both on the extensive and intensive margin.

MOBILE PASSENGER AND WATER LOADS MOBILE APPLICATION "MY BOAT"

In the northern region, more precisely in the state of Amazonas there is a great demand for river trips, rivers are the permanent roads that in the water regime puts to the test a whole logistics of passengers and cargo that require strategies for universal comfort of passengers, however the poor organization of ticket purchases ends up becoming a waste of time mainly for people who live far from the center of Manaus-AM, thus delaying these users who are often unable to make their trips. In view of all the problems faced daily by users in relation to the use of river transport in the northern region, more precisely in the state of Amazonas, the idea of developing the “my boat” application was conceived and designed and will in turn facilitate the means of travel by these users to the vessels to their destinations. The application in a simple, fast and safe way, will pass all information to users, such as: departure time, ticket prices, name of vessels available for destination States and Municipalities.

Debt, trafficking and safe migration: The brokered mobility of Vietnamese sex workers to Singapore

In popular thinking, debt evokes notions of vulnerability and bondage, while irregular migration for sex work conjures up the hazards of human trafficking and modern slavery11The term ‘irregular migration’ refers to ‘movement of persons that takes place outside the laws, regulations, or international agreements governing the entry into or exit from the State of origin, transit or destination’, as defined by the International Organisation for Migration. Vietnamese sex workers enter Singapore legally or regularly with a valid Social Visit Pass. However, they break the law by working without a proper working visa and in a sector, the sex trade, that is illegal. As a result, they are deemed irregular migrants by the Singaporean authorities.. These perceptions inform ‘safe migration’ policies aimed at ordering and regulating migration and combating informality to increase migrants’ safety and well-being; the assumption being that illegality puts migrants at risk of abuse. This article challenges these assumptions with an ethnographic study of brokerage practices in the quasi-family networks that facilitate the irregular and circular migration of Vietnamese sex workers to Singapore. In these networks, brokers sell a migration package on credit to their clients, the migrant sex workers, who repay it through sexual labour. This package includes all the services necessary for the women to migrate temporarily and work safely in Singapore. Most crucially, it serves as an entrée into the broker’s business and social network, as a way of forming an enduring relationship. Without denying the power of debt to create inequality, obligation and exploitation, this article shows that debt can also be a profitable, non-coercive and reciprocal device for brokers and sex workers alike, a vector of ‘safety’ which limits some of the risks they encounter in a repressive and uncertain host environment. This finding stems from a novel framework in economic anthropology, the ‘socio-economy of debt’ (Guérin, 2018), which complicates moral views of debt through an empirical examination of the materiality, power dynamics and social and moral meanings of debt arrangements and relationships.

The Integration of Interstate Migrants in India: A 7 State Policy Evaluation

AbstractInterstate migration in developing countries is a key income generating strategy for low‐income households. In India, despite the importance of migration between states, interstate migrants continue to face significant integration barriers in their destination states. The impact of state borders on migration within India is significant and large. This study presents one of the first attempts at creating a set of indicators to understand the role of state‐level policies for the integration of interstate migrants in a developing country. After illustrating the process behind the creation of this tool and the tool in itself, we compare seven of the major migrant destination states of India, based on their policy frameworks relevant to the integration of interstate migrants. Out of these states, we found that Kerala state is the most inclusive of interstate migrants but that overall, policymakers in the considered Indian states have a long way to go to improve the integration of interstate migrants.

Firearm laws and illegal firearm flow between US states.

Considerable variation in firearm legislation exists. Prior studies show an association between stronger state laws and fewer firearm deaths. We hypothesized that firearms would flow from states with weaker laws to states with stronger laws based on proximity and population. Crime gun trace data from 2015 to 2017 was accessed from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and compared with the count and composition of firearm legislation in 2015 among the contiguous 48 states. Additional independent variables included population, median household income, distance, and presence or absence of a shared border. We used Exponential Random Graph Models to identify predictors of traced firearm transfers between origin and destination states. After controlling for network structure, firearm laws in origin states were associated with fewer traced firearm transfers (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 0.88; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83-0.93; p < 0.001). Conversely, more firearm laws in destination states were associated with more traced firearm transfers (IRR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.06-1.15; p < 0.001). Larger population at the origin was associated with increased transfers (IRR, 1.38; 95%CI, 1.27-1.50; p < 0.001), as was larger population at the destination state (IRR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.35-1.56; p < 0.001). Greater distance was associated with fewer transfers (for each 1,000 km; IRR, 0.35; 95% CI, 0.27-0.46; p < 0.001), and transfers were greater between adjacent states (IRR, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.90-3.27; p < 0.001). State firearm legislation has a significant impact on gun trafficking even after controlling for network structure. States with stricter firearm legislation are negatively impacted by states with weaker regulations, as crime guns flow from out-of-state. Epidemiologic, level III.

Procedure for the Apportionment of Integrated Goods and Services Tax

The July 2017 Reform relies upon “Integrated Goods and Services Tax” (IGST) as the pivot. Every “supply” of goods and/or services has a “place of supply” as destination and the State in which it is located is taken as its “destination State”. Reliance on IGST is expected to enable the overlap, without any “repugnance” constraint, of the legislative competences of the Union and every destination State in concurrently levying and collecting every central and state Goods and Service Taxes (CGST and SGST). Since the Union would share the political space reserved for States to levy and/or collect pre-GST taxes on a sub-set of supplies, the Reform is designed to avoid harm to the “interests” of the States as secured in Article 274. IGST is therefore required to be “apportioned” to the Union and every destination State to enable the computation of sums of moneys to form part of the respective Consolidated Funds. “Apportionment” of IGST is different from the “assignment” to the collective of all States, subject to “distribution” of the assigned tax revenues (including revenues forming part of the Consolidated Fund of India in consequence of apportionment of IGST to the Union), to every State in the collective. This paper considers the procedure for apportionment of IGST in the light of legislative history leading to the Reform and of the applicable norms of statutory interpretation. Key words: Apportionment, Assignment, Integrated Goods and Services Tax.

The restitution of illicitly exported cultural properties: Recent Italian cases

The question of restitution of removed cultural properties to which existing treaties do not apply for chronological or other reasons, is far from being settled under customary international law. It seems that an evolutionary trend is developing in present customary international law according to which claims related to the movements of cultural properties should be addressed in order to achieve an equitable solution, taking into account all relevant circumstances. These circumstances include: factors surrounding the removal of the cultural property from the state of origin, in particular the legality of the removal under the law of the state of origin or the substantive injustice of the removal; the importance of the cultural property for the state of origin, including its emblematic character; harm to the integrity of the cultural context from which the cultural property was removed; the amount of time since the cultural property was removed from the state of origin; the appreciation for and the care used to preserve the cultural property in the state of destination; the state of origin’s commitment to care for the preservation of the cultural property if it is returned to it. Agreements between the Italian Ministry of Cultural Properties and activities by American museums are aimed at resolving disputes over the return of cultural properties in order to reach an equitable solution taking into account all relevant circumstances. This objective should govern relations between states of origin and states of destination of cultural properties, and should also be shared, if this is the case, also by nonstate entities concerned. Non-adversarial procedures, such as negotiation, mediation or conciliation, should be put in place to achieve the objective.

Migration Policies and Threat-based Extraversion. Analysing the Impact of European Externalisation Policies on African Polities

Following the crisis of 2015-2016, the European Union and its member states have increasingly prioritised the external dimension of their migration policies. The impact of such key policy development on non-European polities, especially African ones, has so far been neglected by research. Building upon the work of Jean François Bayart, the authors analyse this emerging configuration through the concept of “extraversion”, by expanding its original focus on the intermediation role of post-colonial African leaderships in the exploitation of natural resources by foreign actors. In what the authors call “threat-based extraversion”, governments of non-European migration-sending (and/or transit) states capitalise on securitised international perceptions of migration by positioning themselves as proxy implementers of restrictive migration policies dictated by potential destination states in Europe. The article identifies some potential perverse effects of threat-based extraversion and sketches an agenda for future research.

The European Union’s Plan to Amend the ‘First Country of Asylum’ and ‘Safe Third Country’ Concepts

Abstract This article examines the European Commission’s 2016 proposals relating to asylum procedures and the Dublin mechanism. In particular, it analyses what State responsibility for protection means in the context of the ‘first country of asylum’ and ‘safe third country’ concepts, which are addressed in the Commission’s Asylum Procedures Proposal. What effect does the common responsibility of all parties to the Refugee Convention have on a particular State’s individual obligations when it examines a refugee’s application for protection? Can a State simply transfer asylum seekers to another State without seeking assurances from that ‘safe third country’ that they will be granted access to refugee status determination procedures? Does a State’s responsibility end after it removes an asylum seeker or is it obliged to cooperate with the destination State? Does merely transiting through a country mean that it is a ‘safe third country’ to which an asylum seeker can be returned? Can an asylum seeker be sent to a State that is safe in one or two regions, but is otherwise unstable? The article considers these and other questions, taking a sceptical approach to the European Commission’s proposal relating to the ‘safe third country’ concept.

Integration of Monitoring Systems for Tourist Destinations into National Environmental Monitoring Systems

Monitoring the state of a tourist destination is determined by the fact that each site must not only have an infrastructure of the appropriate type, but also maintain an equilibrium ecological state, which is determined by whether human activities are either minimized or not implemented at all. In the regions of the Arctic, this interaction is also due to the fact that a significant part of eco-tourism is organized in a location dominated by water tourism. In accordance with this, we define the actual formation of a model of monitoring a water body as based on ecological tourism in the Arctic regions. The novelty of the proposed research is determined by such a factor, which forms an assessment of the quality of the environmental monitoring carried out in order to fully realize the possibility of reducing the anthropogenic load. The authors have developed a strategy, model and practical application for ecosystems based on the use of hydro resources. The application of the obtained results is possible in those ecosystems that are exposed to intense effects and may experience a decrease in recreational capacity. The authors show that the developed model can be fully implemented in the territories, which currently can offer tourists rest in hydrozones, but due to the high load they cannot always accept a sufficient number of tourists.

A Novel Rubik’s Cube Problem Solver by Combining Group Theory and Genetic Algorithm

Rubik’s cube is one of the most challenging problems in the field of evolutionary algorithm and group theory. Several algorithms have been considered to solve this problem in recent years. The solution of Rubik’s cube is different from other search algorithms. Finding the goal state is the target of the normal search algorithms. However, in this problem, the start (origin) and goal (destination) states are known and the challenge is to provide a convenient and efficient method for finding the shortest path between origin and destination. Existing solutions can be divided into several categories. In the first category, by dividing problem into sub-problems, researchers have tried to simplify and solve the cube. Apart from the divide and conquer method, the second category by creating a similar concept to the lookup tables tries to reduce computational costs with dynamic programming. Last category focused on the evolutionary algorithms to solve the problem. Regarding the fact that Rubik’s cube is one of the models in the field of group theory, we have proposed a novel method for solving this problem by a combination of group theory and genetic algorithm. The main idea of the proposed algorithm is finding and removing repeated states by group theory, because there are several repeated individuals (states) in different generations of genetic algorithm. The experimental results show a huge sieve in individuals per generations. In these experiments, by a significant reduction in the populations size, the speed of finding solutions has been increased by more than $$64\%$$.

Migration and human rights: The law as a reinforcer of gendered borders

Borders follow migrants even inside the territory of their State of destination. These ‘sticky’ figurative borders may flow directly from immigration norms and practice or indirectly from other areas of law. This Special Issue focuses on the gendered nature of these borders, as they rely on/reinforce socially constructed norms of masculinity and femininity. As a result, these figurative borders undermine the equal enjoyment of human rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers along gender lines. Specifically, gendered borders are analysed in relation to the themes of asylum, domestic labour and gender-based violence. The human rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in these domains are analysed in an integrated and complex fashion. The analysis demonstrates that migrants, refugees and asylum seekers navigate and challenge not only sticky figurative borders, but also borders between different areas of law. The (non)interaction between these different areas of law may equally create or reinforce unequal human rights protection along gender lines. The law, across different areas and through the workings of diverse categories, definitions and standards, may thus work as a border-reinforcer.

Carrier Sanctions and the Conflicting Legal Obligations of Carriers: Addressing Human Rights Leakage

Carrier sanctions, by which transport companies are penalised if they do not refuse embarkation to undocumented persons, play a role in perpetuating harms (denial of refugee protection; death) against migrants. They do so because transport companies are obliged to, by legislation of destination states inEurope, North America and Australia. The potential accountability and responsibility of carriers for these harms has not been addressed in literature on human rights law. This article fills this gap through the application of Iris Young’s social connection model to address the contemporary harms of carrier sanctions. We propose that, faced with conflicting legal obligations, carriers have moral and legal obligations to remedy, through strategic actions, the harms to which they contribute. We outline a number of possible practices that carriers can use to do so.

Short-term prediction of the closing price of financial series using a [formula omitted]-machine model

This research addresses the problem of the short-term prediction of the closing prices of financial series. As a method of solution, an ϵ-machine model is proposed, which is constructed with a probabilistic finite state machine with an input function and an output function. The definition of the alphabet of the ϵ-machine is generated by transforming the values of the returns of the financial series into integers, using the central limit theorem. The transition between the source and destination states is determined by three rules, based on the calculation of Shannon’s entropy. To validate the model, we used values from the American financial series S&P500, Nasdaq, Nyse-Amex, Nyse-Composite, IPC-MMX, and the Asian companies Hang Seng and Nikkei n225. The results obtained were contrasted with the predictions using the Naïve strategy financial model. The results are very encouraging, since in all cases the results of our model were closer to the real values than those obtained with Naïve strategy. It is noteworthy that in four series the change of sign was predicted with an approximation of close to 60%.

Containment instead of Refoulement: Shifting State Responsibility in the Age of Cooperative Migration Control?

Containment policies whereby destination States provide funding, equipment and training to transit States that intercept refugees on their behalf suggest that destination States try to circumvent the prohibition of refoulement and raise the question to what extent destination States can avoid responsibility for violations of the rights of migrants and refugees by cooperating with transit States. Answering this question requires broadening the analysis beyond the principle of non-refoulement, including not only international human rights law, especially the right to leave and the concept of jurisdiction, but also the law of State responsibility, notably the prohibition of complicity. This article argues that, although it remains debatable whether the principle of non-refoulement applies when transit States intercept migrants and refugees on behalf of sponsoring destination States, the wider network of international law rules constrains the latter’s ability to avoid responsibility when implementing cooperative migration control policies.

Directed forests and the constancy of Kemeny’s constant

Consider a discrete–time, time–homogeneous Markov chain on states $$1, \ldots , n$$ whose transition matrix is irreducible. Denote the mean first passage times by $$m_{jk}, j,k=1,\ldots , n,$$ and stationary distribution vector entries by $$v_k, k=1, \ldots , n$$ . A result of Kemeny reveals that the quantity $$\sum _{k=1}^n m_{jk}v_k$$ , which is the expected number of steps needed to arrive at a randomly chosen destination state starting from state j, is–surprisingly–independent of the initial state j. In this note, we consider $$\sum _{k=1}^n m_{jk}v_k$$ from the perspective of algebraic combinatorics and provide an intuitive explanation for its independence on the initial state j. The all minors matrix tree theorem is the key tool employed.

Vulnerability, precarity and the people in debates over immigration in local newspapers

Mexican immigrants to the United States increasingly migrate to relatively new places such as Washington state, which now places in the top eight destination states. States wield increasing power to manage migration and negotiate residency at local scales. Although studies focus on migration debates in national and alternative media, little analysis has been done on newspapers in rural communities where migrants work and settle. We examine local English- and Spanish-language newspapers in rural Washington state to demonstrate how English-language newspapers legitimated competing interests and discourses of vulnerability versus precarity, whereas Spanish-language newspapers constituted a collective for rights connected historically to other subaltern groups. We then evaluate the potential for disrupting dominant discourses by local newspapers.

Analysis and Synthesis of Weighted Marked Graph Petri Nets: Exact and Approximate Methods

Numerous real-world systems can be modeled with Petri nets, which allow a combination of concurrency with synchronizations and conflicts. To alleviate the difficulty of checking their behaviour, a common approach consists in studying specific subclasses. In the converse problem of Petri net synthesis, a Petri net of some subclass has to be constructed efficiently from a given specification, typically from a labelled transition system (lts) describing the behaviour of the desired net. In this paper, we focus on a notorious subclass of persistent Petri nets, the weighted marked graphs (WMGs), also called generalised (or weighted) event (or marked) graphs or weighted T-nets. In such nets, edges have multiplicities (weights) and each place has at most one ingoing and one outgoing transition. Although extensively studied in previous works and benefiting from strong results, both their analysis and synthesis can be further investigated. We provide new behavioural properties of WMGs expressed on their reachability graph, notably backward persistence and strong similarities between any two sequences sharing the same starting state and the same destination state. Besides, we design a general synthesis procedure aiming at the WMG class. Finally, when no solution to the synthesis problem exists, i.e., when the given lts is not WMG-solvable, we show how to construct a WMG whose reachability graph is a minimal over-approximation of the given lts.

International Travel Security and the Global Compacts on Refugees and Migration

AbstractThis article examines the security dimension of the Global Compact on Refugees and the Global Compact for Migration and explains how the global compacts expand international cooperation on travel security. Although the Global Compact on Refugees contains relatively few security‐related provisions, many of the Global Compact for Migration's commitments are largely devoted to increasing security by strengthening border controls, improving travel documents, collecting data, using new technologies, like biometrics, and sharing data. By agreeing to increase cooperation on international travel security aimed at reducing irregular migration, migrant origin states have won commitments from migrant destination states to improve conditions for their nationals working abroad. Given that both global compacts are non‐binding and states may take actions to realize some of the compacts’ commitments but not others, the actual consequences of the compacts may vary greatly and lead to unanticipated outcomes.

Seeking the Golden Fleece through Lampedusa: Situating Municipal Action in International Law

The crises of illegal migration by sea, currently plaguing the coastal States around the Mediterranean Sea, have created a situation of tightening border controls. Italy, as a choice destination State for many migrants, has continued to employ measures to ensure that the number of vessels carrying irregular migrants arriving onshore is reduced to the barest minimum. Push-back measures, which are conducted based on bilateral agreements with Libya, are one such method of seaward border management. This article questions the legality of the Italian push-back measures, as a representation of State interest, when placed next to international law. The paper argues that, since such measures of externalisation of border security may conflict with principles of international law, destination States should consciously adopt measures that are sensitive to migrant rights.