Settlement System Research Articles

Opting Out of unclos Tribunals: The Impact of Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean (Somalia v. Kenya)

Abstract On 2 February 2017, the International Court of Justice (icj) handed down its judgment on preliminary objections in the case concerning Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean (Somalia v. Kenya) holding that it may proceed to the merits phase. Kenya had raised an objection rooted in Part xv (“Settlement of disputes”) of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (unclos). It contended that the Convention’s dispute settlement system is an agreement on the method of settlement for its maritime boundary dispute with Somalia and therefore falls within the scope of Kenya’s reservation to its optional clause declaration recognizing the Court’s jurisdiction as compulsory. The reservation excludes “[d]isputes in regard to which the parties to the dispute have agreed or shall agree to have recourse to some other method or methods of settlement”. This article provides an analysis of the icj’s interpretation of Part xv of unclos and assesses its potential implications for the Convention’s dispute settlement mechanism.

Evolution of Ural cities at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries

The growth of cities and the transformation of their urban structure reflect the impact of numerous factors: economic, political, social, ideological and others. The Ural region with its concentration of larger cities is among the most urbanised in Russia. The paper explores the urbanistic processes in the Ural region at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries in the context general economic, political and moral factors. The methodological basis of the research rests on the theories of urbanisation and urban development, and the evolutionary approach. The study uses analytical, statistical, and comparative methods. The data for 1989–2022 reflecting the dynamics of urbanistic processes is taken from the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation. The boundaries of the Ural agglomerations are sourced from the official territorial and strategic planning documents. The findings indicate several trends in the transformation of the Ural settlement system and its urbanistic structure, in particular, a qualitative change of the cities’ industrial structure, a decrease in the employment in industry and a fall in the urban population, intensification of agglomerations processes and population tending to concentrate in larger cities. The indicated processes of deurbanisation and deindustrialisation of the Ural region result in the augmented share of larger cities, greater imbalance between size groups of cities. The paper is the first to describe the Ural Urban Square that encompasses four larger urban agglomerations – Ekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Ufa, and Perm. The paper underscores that the Ural Urban Square becomes a place of concentration of investment, human, economic, and social resources, the core of the development of the Ural macroregion and its neighboring territories.

BRICS enlargement: Benefits for Russia and priority areas for further cooperation

Aim. To identify the advantages of BRICS enlargement and justify the most priority areas of further cooperation from the point of view of Russia’s geopolitical and geo-economic interests. Objectives. To study scientific materials in the context of the research topic; to assess the impact of BRICS on the political situation in the world arena and identify promising areas of further cooperation; to assess the change in the balance of power in the global energy market; to identify the most effective areas of cooperation between the countries to ensure BRICS security; to specify the relevant interaction between the countries in the financial sphere; to assess the impact of BRICS on integration with African countries; to identify the most priority areas of further cooperation; to identify the most effective areas of cooperation between the countries of the BRICS and Russia.Methods. The study uses the methods of analysis, synthesis, generalization, and systematic approach.Results. The article assesses the advantages of the expansion of the association and the directions of further cooperation from the point of view of Russian geopolitical and geo-economic interests. The article substantiates that the most promising areas of cooperation are deepening the coordination of foreign policy of the BRICS countries, implementation of measures to ensure collective security, establishment of monopoly pricing in the energy market, introduction of a common settlement system and a single unit of account for the countries of the association, implementation of large-scale logistics projects. The author proposes a mechanism for pricing commodities in BRICS units of account, whereby the exchange market price in BRICS units of account is adjusted by the BRICS countries based on agreements between them.Conclusions. BRICS is changing the vector of global development from unipolar to multipolar. Russia, being in the center of these processes, increases its political weight due to the commitment of more and more countries to the ideas of changing the existing world order. The most priority areas for further interaction are the work in the direction of foreign policy coordination of the member countries, joint search for effective responses to the challenges and threats to international and regional security, closer cooperation in the field of pricing in the energy market, financial sphere, scientific and technical sector and high technology; implementation of global logistics projects.

Hillforts in the settlement system of the Sambian-Natangian culture of the South-Eastern Baltics in the 1st millennium AD

The article discusses the settlement system of the Sambian-Natangian culture of the South-Eastern Baltic region in the 1st millennium AD, the role of hillforts in it, and the structure of individual settlement centres. Hillforts are considered as dominants in the cultural landscape; together with unfortified settlements and economic zones they formed single districts. Burial grounds were located on the periphery of such centres. Individual settlement centres produced clusters of sites in the locations of amber gathering on the Kaliningrad Peninsula, along the Pregol River and the Kaliningrad Bay coast, which were important for the control of transport routes. This system was quite stable and could exist for a long period during the 1st millennium, evolving into the settlement system of the early medieval Prussians.

E-CNY Vehicle-to-Grid Real-Time Settlement System

e-CNY Vehicle-to-Grid Real-Time Settlement System

Trade war: the steel and aluminum markets and the trade governance

The international institutionalism has been under debate. The World Trade Organization (WTO) has not been immune to strong criticisms that has been exacerbated in recent years. A turning point in this process was the trade war between the United States and China that began in 2018. It was characterized by tariff increases that persist. The contribution of this work is to show how these measures taken by relevant global players (such as the United Sates and China) have significantly affected the international markets and it impacted on third countries, not only in terms of trade flows but also when considering the international trade regulatory framework. The drop in the demand from the United States implied a fall in the global demand that caused a fall in international prices. Moreover, it is shown that Trump's measures were successful given that China was substituted by other suppliers. Finally, his protectionist strategy against China, was accompanied by a broader strategy against the World Trade Organization by blocking not only the negotiations during the Buenos Aires Ministerial Conference but also the Dispute Settlement System.

교통사고와 과실상계의 판례법리 - 「자동차사고 과실비율 인정기준」에 대한 비판적 분석을 겸하여

The Civil Law of Korea has a negligence settlement system as a legal principle that limits compensation for damages caused by illegal activities(torts). If the negligence of the victim(creditor) has affected the occurrence and increase of the damage, the amount of compensation for damages of the perpetrator(debtor) shall be reduced by taking this into account. It is the attitude of a firm precedent of court decisions that “fault” in the contributory negligence is distinguished from “fault” that is a requirement for illegal activities. That is not a strong negligence of violating obligations, but a weak carelessness required by the principle of good faith. According to court decisions of Korea, a noteworthy solution is drawn when, for example, the perpetrator becomes the victim at the same time, and the victim becomes the perpetrator at the same time, that is, when an accident occurs due to the “fault” of both parties, resulting in an obligation to compensate for damages. Considering that the ratio represents the degree of strong negligence and violation of obligations of both parties regarding the accident itself, the “fault” to be taken into account of the victim(creditor) will usually be greater than the negligence contributed to the occurrence of the accident, so there is a difference between the ratio of the amount of money that the creditor and the debtor will share as a result of the negligence settlement and the ratio of the degree of strong negligence above. For the same reason, the sum of the ratio of the amount of compensation for damages of negligence to be taken into account when offsetting the negligence of one party and the ratio of the other party's negligence is hard to be 1 (100%). However, the “Criteria of contributory negligence in the car accident cases”, which plays a big role in resolving traffic accidents in Korea, shows a different conclusion from the court decisions set forth above. In particular, in the case of automobile versus automobile accidents, the sum of the amount of compensation for damages for negligence to be taken into account when one party's negligence is always 1 (100%), that is, when there is a mutual negligence offset, the amount of money to be shared is called the “fault ratio.” This ratio has the same value for each other's illegal activities. “Criteira of contributory negligence in the car accident cases” of Korea was prepared by referring to Japan's “Certification Standards for Permocation in Civil Traffic Laws,” and Japan's standards take the same attitude with Korea. The Japanese Civil Code also has similar provisions for illegal activities(torts) and contributory negligence with Korea, but Japanese court decisions consider “fault” to be taken into account in contributory negligence as “fault,” which is a requirement for the establishment of illegal activities(torts), which is different from Korean court decisions. As a result, Japan's “Certification Standards for Permocation in Civil Traffic Laws,” faithfully reflects Japan's case practice, which is different from our court practice, and as our “Criteira of contributory negligence in the car accident cases” refers to this Japan standard, it is thought that there was a deviation between our criteria and our court practice.

An alternative settlement system for the BRICS countries

The relevance of the research topic lies in the imperatives of the modern geo-economic and geopolitical confrontation between the leading centers of the world financial system and the need to continue to carry out transactions through alternative channels within the existing international system of payments and exchange. Due to the lack of prospects for lifting sanctions against Russia, the author formulates proposals that allow participation in international exchange based on the currencies of friendly countries and a common currency for their entire group. From the point of view of practical implementation, the results of the article allow Russia, through the mechanism of commercial and contract (exchange) rates for currency pairs of monetary units of the BRICS countries, to carry out trade transactions with friendly countries. The author concludes that integration into the current system of world finance through alternative channels allows small countries to join the BRICS group using concession methods through the mechanism of commercial rates.

The Roots of the Crises in the WTO Appellate Body and Reform Proposals

Since the WTO Appellate Body "suspension" crisis, how to reform the Appellate Body has become a hot topic among member states. Especially after the official "suspension" of the Appellate Body, member states have put forward proposals to reform the Appellate Body, but these proposals have failed to achieve substantive results, and the reform of the Appellate Body has been stalled. Therefore, analyzing and studying the reform of the WTO Appellate Body is conducive to promoting the reform of the Appellate Body, getting rid of the crisis of the Appellate Body, and also has positive significance to the reform of the WTO dispute settlement system. The three parts of this article are as follows: the first part studies the WTO Appellate Body's fundamental procedures and gives a general overview of the body to lay the theoretical foundation for the subsequent investigation of the WTO Appellate Body's issues; The second portion examines the legal ramifications of the WTO suspension conundrum. The more divisive practical matters, such as overtime hearings, confusing hearing scope, and the influence of Appellate Body decisions on precedent; The third section of the WTO Appellate Body Reform Suggestions includes suggestions from WTO members regarding current trends in the reform, academic theory surrounding the reform, Appellate Body cases, and reform of the practice of combining future reform of the WTO-specific measures.

Unpacking Legitimacy Perceptions of Investment Dispute Settlement: Effects of Outcome and Procedure

Abstract How do citizens perceive different avenues for resolving investor–state disputes in case of an unfavorable decision? In this article, I argue that the interplay between procedure- and outcome-related considerations influences citizens’ legitimacy beliefs toward investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) systems. First, an unfavorable ISDS ruling should decrease public legitimacy beliefs in the country that got sued. Second, the type of dispute settlement mechanism should influence legitimacy beliefs, leading to different assessments of the legal proceedings. I fielded a survey experiment in France, Germany, and the United States to test these theoretical expectations. The findings confirm that an unfavorable ISDS ruling has a strong negative effect on public perceptions of the legal proceeding, but further show that appropriate design choices can boost public legitimacy beliefs. These results have important implications for the debate about ISDS reform and the scholarship on legitimacy in global governance. The impact of unfavorable decisions on public legitimacy beliefs has been widely overlooked.

A Railway Roadbed Deformation Monitoring System Using Deep Learning and AI Intelligent Technology

The author has designed an automated monitoring system for settlement and deformation of high-speed railway subgrade. Firstly, an automated monitoring system is designed based on sensors, data collection and transmission, client tracking and querying, monitoring result processing, automated warning, manual monitoring data analysis, monitoring data analysis and evaluation. Secondly, the system software and hardware are designed, the author calculated and analyzed engineering examples from the perspective of practical applications using artificial neural network methods, obtained corresponding deformation analysis models, and predicted deformation. Finally, the practical application of the system was analyzed for its effectiveness. The experimental results indicate that, the BP artificial neural network method is used to model and predict the Deformation monitoring data. On the premise of 20 learning samples and 4 prediction samples, the Root-mean-square deviation of the prediction is 0.32mm, which shows that the deformation prediction using BP model is feasible and effective in a certain precision range. It has been proven that the application of artificial neural network methods in monitoring and prediction of practical engineering has certain practical significance.

Research on the Impact of Digital Currencies on the Internationalisation of the Renminbi and the Role of Promotion

The internationalisation of the RMB faces many opportunities and risks under the current new international development situation. It is precisely for this reason that the Chinese government should take every step carefully, and it should seize the opportunity now that the hegemony of the US dollar is loosening. The Chinese government is at the forefront of the development of the digital RMB and has already put it into practice many times. It has China's unique dual operation system, controlled anonymity and so on. The Chinese government should maintain the advantage, continuously improve the digital RMB standard, and vigorously develop the settlement system of digital RMB. This paper is based on the current status of the preliminary development of the central bank digital currency, analyses the advantages of the Chinese government's legal tender digital currency, for the study of the impact of the digital currency on the process of RMB internationalisation has a certain reference value.

Ethnic specifics in birth rates in Kazakhstan in the middle of the 20th century

The purpose of this study is to examine ethnic variations in population fertility in the 1950–1960s, formed in the context of socio-economic development of Kazakhstan. The 1959, 1970, 1989 population censuses, and sta-tistical almanacks “National Economy of Kazakhstan” became the source base of this research. The theory of modernization, interpreted as the transition from traditional to modern society and reflecting the details of ethni-cally differentiated process of demographic development of Kazakhstan in the mid-20th century provided the methodological basis of the research. Ethnic differentiation within the settlement system and socio-economic ac-tivities that developed in Kazakhstan in the 1950–1960s led to ethnically distinct birth rates among Kazakhs and Russians. The demographic potential acquired by Kazakhs in the middle of the 20th century became the demo-graphic basis of sovereign Kazakhstan.

Non-fungible tokens, tokenization, and ownership

The emergence of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the blockchain environment has prompted many intriguing questions for private law scholars around the world. A question as basic as whether NFTs can be owned has proven difficult in many countries. This is the first research question of our article, which focuses on NFTs created in the Ethereum system by utilizing standard ERC-721. Because these NFTs are identifiable and distinguishable from all other tokens, the notion of owning an NFT is not unthinkable. Yet no universal answer can be offered. Whether NFTs qualify as objects of ownership must be studied at the level of individual legal systems. We argue that NFTs can be owned under Finnish law, with the same probably applying to many other legal systems. Starting with this notion, we pose two further research questions. As the second research question, we ask what problems of a patrimonial law nature may arise in attempts to connect different kinds of rights, even irrevocably, to owning or holding an NFT. Creditor rights seem relatively easy in this respect because most legal systems allow prospective debtors to obligate themselves as they wish. We also study whether a limited liability company could issue an NFT as a share certificate with legal effects corresponding to those of a physical (paper) share certificate. While an affirmative answer could be justified in some legal systems, Finnish law makes it difficult to tokenize a company's shares other than in the framework of a settlement system within the meaning of the European Union's DLT Pilot Regulation. Even greater difficulties arise in attempts to connect the ownership of a (material) thing and of an NFT so that a person who owns a token also owns the thing. Our third and final research question addresses tokenization of digital art, which gives rise to some special questions. We ask what rights the transferee of an NFT can receive in connection with tokenization of digital art. Here, our main finding is that digital art can be meaningfully tokenized even though digital copies are not regarded as possible objects of ownership.

Residential mobility and new forms of spatial inequality in the settlement system: A comparative study of Estonia and Lithuania

This study examines how socio-spatial inequalities are associated with population concentration and de-concentration processes shaped by residential mobility. The study explores whether the patterns of residential mobility vary in different settlement system contexts. It reviews the cyclical urbanization models and the inequality of opportunities they provide in urban, suburban, and counter-urban contexts for individuals in various life stages. The theoretical models are tested by analysing individual-level data covering the entire populations of Estonia and Lithuania – two countries with similar social but different settlement system contexts. The study utilizes linked individual-level data from the 2011 and 2021 censuses, and harmonized variables in the two countries. The results show that individuals engaging in concentration, suburbanization, or de-concentration have distinct characteristics, with little differences between countries characterized with different settlement systems. While the life-course approach assumes that young people are most likely to urbanize (concentrate), those in family ages shift towards suburbanization, and older individuals tend to counter-urbanize (de-concentrate), our findings challenge these assumptions, demonstrating that young adults have a high likelihood of migration in all three directions. These findings call for more in-depth studies on the interplay between age and migration patterns that would go beyond the life-course approach and delve deeper into the residential decision-making of young people.

Practical proposals for the development of a system of mutual settlements for medical care for labor migrants between the Russian Federation and labor-exporting countries

The object of the study is the humanitarian aspects of ensuring national security in the context of providing medical care to migrants. The subject is associated with the development of a system of mutual settlements for medical care to labor migrants between the Russian Federation and labor-exporting countries. The authors examine in detail the issues related to financial support for the provision of medical care to labor migrants, taking into account their unification into two groups: legal and illegal. The authors propose modernizing the legislation taking into account the minimization of financial risks and imposing the obligation to pay for medical care on the government bodies of the country from which the corresponding migrant arrived. A conclusion is made about the presence of not only direct, but also indirect effects, which, first of all, are associated with ensuring the achievement of the national development goals of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030. Мethods: data analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, graphic tools. Scientific novelty: the author's recommendations on the organization of a system of mutual settlements for medical care to labor migrants between the Russian Federation and labor exporting countries. A conclusion is made on the need to organize it taking into account the existing problems of financial support for the provision of medical care in the context of legal and illegal migrants. The authors propose to form statistics on the amount of expenditures of the budgets of the Russian Federation on the provision of medical care to labor migrants. The presented results will be in demand by the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of Russia and the Ministry of Health of Russia.

‘Princely seats’ and Thessalian hillforts: pre-urban Greece and the diffusion of urbanism in Early Iron Age Europe

The origins of Iron Age urbanism in temperate Europe were long assumed to lie in Archaic Greece. Recent studies, however, argue for an independent development of Hallstatt mega-sites. This article focuses on developments in Western Thessaly in mainland Greece. The author characterises the Archaic settlement system of the region as one of lowland villages and fortified hilltop sites, the latter identified not as settlements but refuges. It is argued that cities were rare in Greece prior to the Hellenistic period so its settlements could not have served as the model for urban temperate Europe. Consequently, the social and political development of Greece and temperate Europe followed different trajectories.

An Insight into Indian Payment and Settlement Systems

This review article explores the evolution, current state, and future prospects of India's payment and settlement systems. Over the past few decades, these systems have undergone significant transformations driven by technological advancements, regulatory reforms, and the burgeoning demand for efficient financial transactions. The article examines the diverse instruments and platforms that constitute India's payment infrastructure, highlighting the pivotal role of regulatory bodies in shaping its development. Furthermore, it discusses the profound impact of digital innovation on enhancing financial inclusion and accessibility. This review aims to provide a nuanced understanding of how India's payment and settlement systems have evolved to support a robust financial ecosystem.

Modeling terminal Pleistocene and Holocene forager population increase and environmental change in the Central Namib desert, Namibia

This paper examines the interplay of environmental change and human demographic shifts among late Pleistocene and Holocene populations in the hyper-arid context of the Central Namib Gravel plains, Western Namibia. This paper applies a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to arid-zone hunter-gatherer mobility patterns and settlement systems based on variability among ethnographically and historically observed groups. It then applies this model in examining issues related to the Middle-to-Later Stone Age transition at the sites of Erb Tanks and the Mirabib rock shelter. This model suggests that, among modern arid-zone foragers, population density is by far the strongest factor influencing mobility and settlement systems, with higher population densities favoring longer residential site usages and shorter residential moves within smaller territories. In contrast, environmental variables having to do with annual rainfall, rainfall seasonality, and effective temperature affect mobility and settlement systems in ambiguous and statistically insignificant ways. This paper closes by arguing that regional-scale population increases signaled by various features of Later Stone Age archaeological patterning led to local population expansions in the Central Namib Desert, and that this in turn caused a range of recognizable cultural shifts that were strongly linked with adaptations to aridity.

PROPOSALS FOR THE LOCATION OF SOCIAL PROTECTION INSTITUTIONS FOR THE ELDERLY IN THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT

The article discusses the design of social protection institutions in China, their main urban planning directions, which must be based on the current state regulations of the PRC, as well as the DBN (State Building Norms) of Ukraine mentioned in the article. The urban placement of social protection institutions is subordinate to the strategy for the development of the spatial system of settlements. This system of state-guaranteed economic, social, and legal measures provides elderly people with opportunities to overcome the limitations of life activities by creating specialized institutions where inclusive spaces are formed. Defined approaches to the urban placement of these institutions within the city structure include locations in green zones of central city parts, suburbs, and recreational areas of towns and rural settlements. The placement, capacity, and sizes of land plots for social protection institutions must be determined based on the design task, taking into account the requirements of such Ukrainian regulatory acts as: DBN B 2.2-12:2018; DBN B. 2.2-5:2011; DBN V.1.1-7:2016; DBN B 2.3-18:2007; DBN V. 2.2-9: 2018; DBN V. 2.2-16: 2007; DBN V. 2.2-40:2018; DBN V. 2.2 - 10: 2022; DBN V.2.2 -13: 2003; DBN V. 2.2 -16-2018; DBN V. 2.2 - 25: 2009; DBN V.2.2- 11:2002. The location of social protection institutions depends on the chosen development plot because these facilities require adjacent areas to have natural greening, which will facilitate the conduct of rehabilitation and rehabilitation processes within these institutions. The area of green plantings, which will include lawns, flower beds, fruit gardens, and vegetable gardens, must constitute no less than 50% of the plot area of the social protection institution building.