Different Types Of Regions Research Articles

New Approach for Untangling the Role of Uncommon Calcium-Binding Proteins in the Central Nervous System.

Although Ca2+ ion plays an essential role in cellular physiology, calcium-binding proteins (CaBPs) were long used for mainly as immunohistochemical markers of specific cell types in different regions of the central nervous system. They are a heterogeneous and wide-ranging group of proteins. Their function was studied intensively in the last two decades and a tremendous amount of information was gathered about them. Girard et al. compiled a comprehensive list of the gene-expression profiles of the entire EF-hand gene superfamily in the murine brain. We selected from this database those CaBPs which are related to information processing and/or neuronal signalling, have a Ca2+-buffer activity, Ca2+-sensor activity, modulator of Ca2+-channel activity, or a yet unknown function. In this way we created a gene function-based selection of the CaBPs. We cross-referenced these findings with publicly available, high-quality RNA-sequencing and in situ hybridization databases (Human Protein Atlas (HPA), Brain RNA-seq database and Allen Brain Atlas integrated into the HPA) and created gene expression heat maps of the regional and cell type-specific expression levels of the selected CaBPs. This represents a useful tool to predict and investigate different expression patterns and functions of the less-known CaBPs of the central nervous system.

Mineral Economic Regionalization in the Context of Resource Crisis and Sustained Economic Growth

As mineral resources are the material basis of social and economic development, the study on the correlation between the mineral resource industry and the regional economy, which aims at a scientific division of economic zones and a clear understanding of industrial characteristics, is crucial in addressing issues related to the management of resources and economy such as regional industrial development and territorial and spatial planning. By discussing the relation between dependence on mineral resources and national economy development, this study divides the Chinese mainland into three resource-based regions, nine resource-assisted regions and 19 non-resource-based regions based on quantified regional differences underpinned by the theory of threshold effects for measurement data. Furthermore, policy recommendations are proposed to pave the path for differentiated regional development after considering multiple factors including features of regional economy and resource potential. In addition to better serving and supporting economic development, territorial and spatial planning and the strategy of mineral resources, such recommendations are expected to provide differentiated development strategies for different types of regions.

Interregional differences of life expectancy in rural Russia - Assessment of socio-economic, demographic, behavioural and ecological factors.

The article is aimed at studying the effects of social, economic, demographic, behavioural and environmental factors on the life expectancy of rural people in different types of regions. Using cluster analysis, we identified four relatively homogeneous groups of Russian regions in terms of life expectancy. The impact of socio-economic, demographic and environmental indicators on life expectancy of the rural population was assessed using regression models. We identified regions with low life expectancy for the rural population, and factors that have negative effect on life expectancy at birth. The main ones were alcohol abuse, high unemployment and emissions of pollutants into the air. The regression analysis showed that investments aimed at the development of health care, provision of social services and improvement of residential premises contributed to an increase in life expectancy. Significant factors in regions with high life expectancy were a lower number of recorded crimes per 100,000 of the population and a decrease in high unemployment, as well as an increase in educational expenses. In the group of regions where life expectancy of the rural population was approaching the average level in Russia, an important factor was also an increase in the level of education. We conclude that a regionally differentiated approach is necessary when introducing social policy changes, and measures aimed at increasing the life expectancy of the rural population should take into account the distinctive differences in socioeconomic development of the various regions of Russia.

Factors affecting green innovation: An analysis of patent and regional heterogeneity

To achieve sustainable development, it is vitally important to identify the factors driving urban green innovation and evaluate the contributions of different factors. This study uses a Chinese patent full-text database from 2005 to 2016 to identify the number of green patents at the prefecture level and analyzes the main determinants that lead to differences in green innovation level in different regions and types, and their respective contributions by regression and decomposition. This study finds that first, China's green innovation level is characterized by unbalanced development among different regions — the coastal areas develop rapidly while the inland areas develop comparatively slowly. Green innovation output is polarized among different cities, and the trend is more severe in inland areas. Second, economic development acts as the leading factor influencing the overall green innovation output of China both in inland and coastal areas, factor input follows as the second influencing factor, while government behavior has a comparatively small impact on green innovation. Third, regarding green patents of different types in different regions, economic development still serves as the major factor of unbalanced output of all kinds of patents, and government behavior has a relatively obvious regional characteristic, whose impact on inland areas is more evident.

Exploring a leading and lagging regions dichotomy: does entrepreneurship and diversity explain it?

There has been a long debate about the role of industry structure in the literature on why some regions successfully achieve economic growth, while other regions stagnate or decline. This paper provides an empirical analysis in which we, based on a cluster analysis, develop a taxonomy for regional growth. In a second part of the study, we explore how specialization and entrepreneurship are meaningful to discriminate between the different types of regions. Our results suggest that regional entrepreneurship and industry diversity characterized by relatedness are key elements in understanding why some regions are leading while others lag behind. The suggested taxonomy is argued to contribute with a nuanced perspective that can enhance discussions about improvements of regional development policies and to further empirical analysis on the topic.

Why can deep convolutional neural networks improve protein fold recognition? A visual explanation by interpretation.

As an essential task in protein structure and function prediction, protein fold recognition has attracted increasing attention. The majority of the existing machine learning-based protein fold recognition approaches strongly rely on handcrafted features, which depict the characteristics of different protein folds; however, effective feature extraction methods still represent the bottleneck for further performance improvement of protein fold recognition. As a powerful feature extractor, deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) can automatically extract discriminative features for fold recognition without human intervention, which has demonstrated an impressive performance on protein fold recognition. Despite the encouraging progress, DCNN often acts as a black box, and as such, it is challenging for users to understand what really happens in DCNN and why it works well for protein fold recognition. In this study, we explore the intrinsic mechanism of DCNN and explain why it works for protein fold recognition using a visual explanation technique. More specifically, we first trained a VGGNet-based DCNN model, termed VGGNet-FE, which can extract fold-specific features from the predicted protein residue-residue contact map for protein fold recognition. Subsequently, based on the trained VGGNet-FE, we implemented a new contact-assisted predictor, termed VGGfold, for protein fold recognition; we then visualized what features were extracted by each of the convolutional layers in VGGNet-FE using a deconvolution technique. Furthermore, we visualized the high-level semantic information, termed fold-discriminative region, of a predicted contact map from the localization map obtained from the last convolutional layer of VGGNet-FE. It is visually confirmed that VGGNet-FE could effectively extract distinct fold-discriminative regions for different types of protein folds, thereby accounting for the improved performance of VGGfold for protein fold recognition. In summary, this study is of great significance for both understanding the working principle of DCNNs in protein fold recognition and exploring the relationship between the predicted protein contact map and protein tertiary structure. This proposed visualization method is flexible and applicable to address other DCNN-based bioinformatics and computational biology questions. The online web server of VGGfold is freely available at http://csbio.njust.edu.cn/bioinf/vggfold/.

Regional features of innovative development and differentiation of directions of innovation policy of Russia

In our manuscript we have made an attempt to study specific sides of Russian Federation's innovative development, analyze its impact in economy growth and provide main ways of innovative policy realization in different types of regions. The method is based on partial abstraction from the unique properties of each region, thereby uniting them into homogeneous groups using k-means method. Further analysis of the determination of the main factor at the level of country was carried out using decision trees functions with the subsequent collection of OOB errors. Group analysis was carried out using regression analysis. As a result, the authors obtained five types of regions (with a high, above average, average, below average, low level of innovative development), provided an individual characteristic for each group regarding the innovation development and identified prerogative innovative factors that can be considered by the state as a criterion for differentiating state policy and regulation of the development of innovation policy.

Policy options for green regional development: Adopting a production and application perspective

Abstract Green and sustainable developments have received increasing attention in recent years due to challenges emanating from climate change and worsening environmental conditions. Although these are problems of global nature, actions have to be taken often at lower spatial scales. We focus on innovation and industrial policies and on the regional level since green development often can be supported here by respective policies. However, effective policies have to consider that individual regions face different kinds of challenges for moving towards a ‘greener’ future. This article develops a framework that allows taking such differences into account. We distinguish between the production side of ‘green technologies’ (i.e. the industries that develop and produce such technologies) and the application side (i.e. the adoption of such technologies by firms and the wider society), and we investigate what challenges might prevail on both sides and explore the potential role of policies for different types of regions.

Специальные инструменты развития регионов России как ресурс межрегиональной интеграции

The diversity of regional situations in Russia requires a differentiated approach to building regional policies for different types of regions. Under this approach, a number of instruments have been developed to promote regional development, however they are based on the separation of regions and the strengthening of their vertical linkages. At the same time, the resource of synergistic development through interregional interaction remains virtually unused. In this regard, the purpose of the article was to inventory the existing special regimes of regional development (special economic zones, clusters, regions of a special type, territories of advanced development and others), identify legislative opportunities for implementing interregional cooperation within their framework, and analyze actual results of such instruments in Russia. Based on the analysis of the legislative framework and the practice of using the special instruments under consideration, a range of measures has been formulated to accelerate their effectiveness in the methodological and institutional sphere. A range of mechanisms that will allow the inclusion of the criterion of interregional cooperation in the structure of relevant instruments is proposed. At the same time, the fact of differentiation of possible additional (involving interregional ties) mechanisms depending on the type of region and the purpose of the implemented special development formats is taken into account.

Phase-field-crystal description of active crystallites: Elastic and inelastic collisions

The active Phase-Field-Crystal (aPFC) model combines elements of the Toner-Tu theory for self-propelled particles and the classical Phase-Field-Crystal (PFC) model that describes the transition between liquid and crystalline phases. In the liquid-crystal coexistence region of the PFC model, crystalline clusters exist in the form of localized states that coexist with a homogeneous background. At sufficiently strong activity (related to self-propulsion strength), they start to travel. We employ numerical path continuation and direct time simulations to first investigate the existence regions of different types of localized states in one spatial dimension. The results are summarized in morphological phase diagrams in the parameter plane spanned by activity and mean density. Then we focus on the interaction of traveling localized states, studying their collision behavior. As a result, we distinguish "elastic" and "inelastic" collisions. In the former, localized states recover their properties after a collision, while in the latter, they may completely or partially annihilate, forming resting bound states or various traveling states.

The study of hydrothermal fields on ocean bottom with deep submersibles «Mir»

In this article, the methods of geological research of hydrothermal fields on the ocean floor with the use of deep manned submersibles Mir-1 and Mir-2 are considered. A brief description of the Mir submersibles and their advantages over foreign counterparts is given. The results of geological studies of hydrothermal fields of various types in different regions of the World Ocean are presented. Quantitative estimations of ore formation and methane seeps in some areas of Mirs research are given.

Characteristics of Surface Ozone and Impact Factors at Different Station Types During the Autumn in Guangzhou

Surface ozone (O3) has become the primary air pollutant in Guangzhou. Due to the influences of topography, meteorological conditions, and differences in precursor emissions, there are also large differences in the characteristics, formation mechanisms, and influencing factors of ozone in different areas of the same city. Based on the ground measurement data for October 2015 at four air quality monitoring stations that represent different types of regions in Guangzhou [urban area:Guangzhou Monitoring Center (GMC); upwind suburbs:Huadu Normal School (HNS); downwind suburbs:Panyu Middle School (PMS); Mountain area:Maofengshan (MFS)] and the WRF simulated meteorological data, the changing characteristics, influencing factors, and sensitivity of O3 were studied at each station. The results showed that the diurnal variation of O3 and NOx exhibit unimodal and bimodal characteristics (except for NOx at the MFS station). The peak ozone concentration appeared on Saturday at the GMC, HNS, and MFS stations, and on Thursday at the PMS station. The ozone concentration at the MFS station was the highest (98.61 μg·m-3), whereas that at the GMC station was the lowest (44.83 μg·m-3). The NOx inflection point intervals for O3 at different sites were:GMC:55-90 μg·m-3; PMS:30-60 μg·m-3; MFS:10-20 μg·m-3. The temperature inflection point intervals affecting the rate of O3 formation at different sites were:GMC:28-30℃; HNS:26-28℃; PMS:24-26℃; however, this was not obvious at the MFS station. The relative humidity inflection point intervals were:GMC:55%-65% ; HNS and PMS:60%-70% ; MFS:80%-85%. The wind speed(WS) of the light wind type was proportional to the O3 concentration. The O3 concentration at the PMS site was the highest in the northwest wind direction, and the O3 concentration at the MFS site was the highest in the other wind directions. By analyzing the multivariate linear fitting of impact factors on the O3 concentration, the main controlling factors at each site were:GMC:WS and T; PMS and HNS:T and RH; MFS:RH and WS. The ozone sensitivity at each site was as follows:GMC and HNS had a VOCs-limited regime, MFS had a NOx-limited regime, and PMS had a transition regime.

Забезпечення економічної безпеки на регіональному рівні як напрям державного впливу

Understanding of economic security at the legislative level is not defined as an object of state influence in Ukraine; the means of influence, for the most part, are focused on similar ways of managing the regional economic system. The necessity of finding and developing the most effective management methods for ensuring economic security, in particular at the regional level, is shown. It is argued that ensuring regional economic security must be based on the study of the specificity and systematization of regional-specific risks and threats. It is determined that the main purpose of the state administration for ensuring the economic security of the region is to prevent threats and maintain the overall stability of the regional economic system. As a result of the analysis of the main problems of ensuring the economic security of the country, the essence of the economic security of the regions was identified as one of the components of ensuring national security at the present stage of social development.The content of the author's interpretation of the category «economic security of the region» is grounded on the basis of the systematization of risks and threats specific to different types of regions. It is stated that the economic security of a region means a characteristic of the achieved state of its socio-economic system, which is the ability to withstand possible internal and external threats at the expense of available management tools and remedies that cover as much as possible all spheres of society.The distinctive feature of the proposed definition is the identification of risks and threats specific to different types of regions, respectively, and the means of public administration for economic security for each region must be individual.

An Adaptive Multisensor Image Fusion Method Based on Monogenic Features

Each kind of sensor is designed to adapt to a specific environment and usage scope. In this paper, an adaptive multisensor image fusion method based on monogenic features is proposed. For the proposed method, the monogenic features are extracted from the source images including monogenic amplitude, monogenic phase and monogenic orientation features. The energy matching similarity measure is used to measure the monogenic amplitude feature, and the complex coefficient structure similarity measure is used to characterize the monogenic phase and the monogenic orientation feature. Analyses the monogenic features in different types of regions, different fusion strategies are adopted for different characteristic regions. By means of visible and infrared image fusion, SAR and infrared image fusion experiments, the proposed method can effectively preserve a large amount of information and significantly improve the visual quality of the fused image, which can be evaluated with objective indicators.

A Holling Type II Discrete Switching Host-Parasitoid System with a Nonlinear Threshold Policy for Integrated Pest Management

A nonlinear discrete switching host-parasitoid model with Holling type II functional response function, in which the switch is guided by an economic threshold (ET), is proposed. Thus, if the weighted density of two generations of the host population increases and exceeds the ET, then integrated pest management (IPM) measures are enacted, i.e., biological and chemical measures are implemented together, assuming that the chemical immediately precedes the biological inputs to avoid pesticide-induced deaths of the natural enemies. First, the existence and local stability of the equilibria of two subsystems were studied, and the existence and coexistence of several types of equilibria of a nonlinear switching system were analysed. Next, the nonlinear switching system was investigated by numerical simulation, showing that the system exhibits quite complex dynamic behaviour. A two-dimensional bifurcation diagram revealed the existence and coexistence regions of different types of equilibria including regular and virtual equilibria. Moreover, period-adding bifurcations in two-dimensional parameter spaces were found. One-dimensional bifurcation diagrams revealed that the system has periodic, quasiperiodic, and chaotic solutions, Neimark–Sacker bifurcation, multiple coexisting attractors, period-doubling bifurcations, period-halving bifurcations, and so on. Finally, the initial densities of hosts and parasitoids associated with host outbreaks and their biological implications are discussed.

Demarcating geographic regions using community detection in commuting networks with significant self-loops

We develop a method to identify statistically significant communities in a weighted network with a high proportion of self-looping weights. We use this method to find overlapping agglomerations of U.S. counties by representing inter-county commuting as a weighted network. We identify three types of communities; non-nodal, nodal and monads, which correspond to different types of regions. The results suggest that traditional regional delineations that rely on ad hoc thresholds do not account for important and pervasive connections that extend far beyond expected metropolitan boundaries or megaregions.

An update on memory formation and retrieval: An engram-centric approach.

We explore here that memory loss observed in the early stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a disorder of memory retrieval, instead of a storage impairment. This engram-centric explanation aims to enlarge the conceptual frame of memory as an emergent behavior of the brain and to propose a new treatment strategy for memory retrieval in dementia-AD. The conventional memory hypothesis suggests that memory is stored as multiple traces in hippocampal neurons but recent evidence indicates that there are specialized memory engrams responsible for the storage and the retrieval of different memory types. There are specialized memory engram neurons for each memory type and when information will be stored as a memory arrives in the hippocampus through afferent neurons finds its neuron according to the excitability states of engram neurons. The excitability level in engram neurons seems like a code canalizing the interactions between engrams and information. Therefore, to enhance the excitability of memory engram neurons improves memory loss observed in AD. In addition, we suggest that the hippocampus creates an index for information stored in memory engram cells in specialized regions for different types of memory, instead of storing all information; and different anatomic locations of engram cells and their roles in memory retrieval point out that memory could be an emergent behavior of the brain, and the interaction between serotonin fluctuation and engram neurons could be neural underpinnings of terminal lucidity. The major challenge for this engram-centric memory retrieval model is the translation from bench to patient, specifically the delivery of optogenetic tools in patients. Engram neurons can be specifically activated by optogenetic tools, but optogenetics is an invasive technique which requires optic fiber implantation into the brain. In addition, light can overheat the tissue and thus induce damage in tissue. Furthermore, light is a foreign object and its direct implantation into the brain may cause neuroinflammation, the main trigger of neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, to test the engram hypothesis in human, new tools to allow specific engram activation should be discovered.

Typologization of Regions of the Russian Federation on Reasons of Refusal from Using Electronic Government Services

Today, the right choice of public policy mechanisms based on identifying pressing needs of users for realizing the economic, social and cultural benefits of introducing information and communication technology (ICT) tools when interacting with government bodies seems very relevant. However, regional differentiation of the level of development of information society requires the development of differentiated mechanisms for implementing electronic government projects. On the basis of the empirical analysis of regional features of objective reasons for the refusal by the rural population to use information and communication technology to get state and municipal services, a typology of the Russian regions for the share of the population that refused to use public services in electronic form for objective reasons is built. Based on the assessment of regression models, including indicators of the level of economic development of the regions, as well as the level of the ICT infrastructure development, factors that have the greatest influence on the objective reasons for the refusal of the rural population to use ICT tools to get state and municipal services for Russia as a whole and for different types of regions are identified. The paper establishes that the effectiveness of government measures to introduce e-government services and reduce the degree of differentiation of Russian regions on the use of this type of service depends on increasing investment in information and communication technologies, on reducing the cost of connecting and maintaining the ICT infrastructure for the rural population, as well as on the wide information work among the population about the benefits of using e-government services. It is also established that in terms of a sufficiently developed ICT infrastructure, the role of human capital is increasing in the number of factors influencing the objective reasons for non-use of the Internet to get state and municipal services.

Transformation in industrial specialisation and features of economic development across the subjects of the Russian Federation

Crisis phenomena in Russia stimulate interest in researching the influence of regions’ industrial specialisation on the rates and trajectories of their economic development. The paper aims to examine the transformation of industrial specialisation across the Russian regions and correlate it with their economic development. The methodological basis of the study rests on the theoretical concepts of regional and spatial economics, systems analysis, and strategic management. The authors monitor the changes in the industrial specialisation across the subjects of the Russian Federation in 2008–2016, as well as the dynamics of their economic development by using a combination of methods: dialectical, causal, comparative, structural and cluster analysis. The paper identifies the strategic challenges and priority areas for the modern development of the regions of the Russian Federation. Based on the analysis of the economy of 61 subjects of the Russian Federation, the authors draw conclusions on the transformation of regional industrial specialisation in a specific type of economic activity; on the relationship between economic development and the nature of specialisation (mono-specialisation, multi-specialisation); on the dynamics of developed regions among the groups of mono-specialised and multi-specialised ones. The study detects the types of economic activity, which affect economic development the most. The analysis of the dynamics of industrial specialisation results in the conclusion that there are regions with stable and unstable specialisation. The article proposes promising directions of the state structural policy for different types of regions. The theoretical and practical significance of the study lies in the fact that the developed method allows not only evaluating the transformations in the industrial specialisation of the regions, but also correlating them with the economic development of the subjects of the Russian Federation.

Resources and Environmental Pressure, Carrying Capacity, And Governance: A Case Study of Yangtze River Economic Belt

The analysis of the relationship between regional resources and environment and human activities plays an important role in sustainable regional development. This study proposes the pressure–capacity–governance (PCG) model, an analytic framework for the assessment of the resources and environmental pressure (REP), carrying capacity (RECC) and governance (REG) levels over a large watershed scale, with the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) as the study area. A limiting factor analysis is used to recognize the limiting factors of the regional RECC. The coupling analysis of resources and environmental pressure–capacity–governance identifies the regional potential and utilization direction. The research results are as follows. (1) The REP, RECC and REG levels of the YREB exhibit spatial differences. The REPs of the upper reaches are lower than those of the lower reaches, which does not match the RECC but matches the REG levels. (2) The proportions of unused land, water resources, and atmospheric environmental quality are the main limiting factors of the regional RECC. (3) The PCG analysis framework is used as the basis to divide the YREB into several subareas to analyse the resources and environmental potential carrying capacity and utilization direction of different types of region. This research may provide decision-making references for regional sustainable development at the large watershed scale.