Side Of Border Research Articles

Borders, cross-border cooperation and depopulation: the case of the Spanish-Portuguese North-Central Border.

Cross-border cooperation has been (and still is) one of the main assets of the acquis communitiare in everything that refers to cross-border development. In fact, development initiatives aimed at addressing the problems of intra-European border areas could have better results if they were concerted (horizontally coordinated) and executed jointly by the governments, national, and local actors from both border sides, to improve their populations' quality of life. The study goal is to provide new contributions that enrich critical reflection and debate on the issue of depopulation, in order to propose economic policy recommendations within a framework of cross-border institutional cooperation and inter- and intra-governmental coordination of political actors involved. We prepared a descriptive analysis of its evolution during the period 1960-2020, with three essential variables: a) population evolution border based on the losses or gains verified with respect to 1960; b) critical population mass existing in 2020 based on the indicator of population density (inhabitants per square kilometer), and c) level of population aging based on the indicator percentage of population over 65 years of age over total population. Our descriptive analysis exclusively covers the border municipalities located along the both sides of the Spanish-Portuguese north-central border line, a total of 49 border municipalities (nine Portuguese and 40 spanish). The results show the existence of this recessive demographic continuum, which extends to both sides of the border, causes the need to face the depopulating phenomenon from a transnational and European perspective, in the sense that 'national' solutions to the phenomenon will not be able to offer answers common and consistent to a phenomenon as complex as depopulation. It is necessary to reinforce the existing cross-border cooperation, providing it with greater operability at the level of institutional and administrative coordination, deepening the multilevel governance of the territory.

Promoter-Adjacent DNA Hypermethylation Can Downmodulate Gene Expression: TBX15 in the Muscle Lineage.

TBX15, which encodes a differentiation-related transcription factor, displays promoter-adjacent DNA hypermethylation in myoblasts and skeletal muscle (psoas) that is absent from non-expressing cells in other lineages. By whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) and enzymatic methyl-seq (EM-seq), these hypermethylated regions were found to border both sides of a constitutively unmethylated promoter. To understand the functionality of this DNA hypermethylation, we cloned the differentially methylated sequences (DMRs) in CpG-free reporter vectors and tested them for promoter or enhancer activity upon transient transfection. These cloned regions exhibited strong promoter activity and, when placed upstream of a weak promoter, strong enhancer activity specifically in myoblast host cells. In vitro CpG methylation targeted to the DMR sequences in the plasmids resulted in 86-100% loss of promoter or enhancer activity, depending on the insert sequence. These results as well as chromatin epigenetic and transcription profiles for this gene in various cell types support the hypothesis that DNA hypermethylation immediately upstream and downstream of the unmethylated promoter region suppresses enhancer/extended promoter activity, thereby downmodulating, but not silencing, expression in myoblasts and certain kinds of skeletal muscle. This promoter-border hypermethylation was not found in cell types with a silent TBX15 gene, and these cells, instead, exhibit repressive chromatin in and around the promoter. TBX18, TBX2, TBX3 and TBX1 display TBX15-like hypermethylated DMRs at their promoter borders and preferential expression in myoblasts. Therefore, promoter-adjacent DNA hypermethylation for downmodulating transcription to prevent overexpression may be used more frequently for transcription regulation than currently appreciated.

The Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital: Evidence from the Golden Age of Upward Mobility

School quality affects upward mobility in educational attainment. This conclusion comes from an analysis of families with coresident teenage children in the 1940 census. We study parents in the bottom quartile of the education distribution and define “upward mobility” as a generational move up the educational ladder to the top three quartiles of the child’s cohort. At the state level, upward mobility is strongly tied to teacher wages. This relationship holds when we narrow our focus to families on adjacent sides of state borders in the South, where state minimum salary laws created sharp teacher-wage differences between otherwise similar counties.

Semantic Expectation Effects on Object Detection: Using Figure Assignment to Elucidate Mechanisms.

Recent evidence suggesting that object detection is improved following valid rather than invalid labels implies that semantics influence object detection. It is not clear, however, whether the results index object detection or feature detection. Further, because control conditions were absent and labels and objects were repeated multiple times, the mechanisms are unknown. We assessed object detection via figure assignment, whereby objects are segmented from backgrounds. Masked bipartite displays depicting a portion of a mono-oriented object (a familiar configuration) on one side of a central border were shown once only for 90 or 100 ms. Familiar configuration is a figural prior. Accurate detection was indexed by reports of an object on the familiar configuration side of the border. Compared to control experiments without labels, valid labels improved accuracy and reduced response times (RTs) more for upright than inverted objects (Studies 1 and 2). Invalid labels denoting different superordinate-level objects (DSC; Study 1) or same superordinate-level objects (SSC; Study 2) reduced accuracy for upright displays only. Orientation dependency indicates that effects are mediated by activated object representations rather than features which are invariant over orientation. Following invalid SSC labels (Study 2), accurate detection RTs were longer than control for both orientations, implicating conflict between semantic representations that had to be resolved before object detection. These results demonstrate that object detection is not just affected by semantics, it entails semantics.

Stop the War! Europeans, Homes, Kindergartens, Hospitals, Universities, and Global Science Are under the Missiles!

5:00 a.m. of February 24, 2022… The citizens of peacefully sleeping Kyiv woke up from several powerful explosions. Russia insidiously attacked our beloved capital, flashed in our heads. The announced USA intelligence data published in recent reports turned out to be true, we thought. Quick internet news search revealed that similar explosions happened in other cities and villages of Ukraine―a European country with more than 40 million of citizens. Large-scale invasion of Russian troops and missile attacks, which were warned by world intelligence, began. Breaking news reported the invasion noted from the multiple border sides―the territory of Belarus, Russia, and temporary occupied Crimean peninsula. The multiple deaths of civilians, children, and the military, the shelling of hospitals, kindergartens, multi-storey residential buildings, and missile strikes on critical infrastructure are not a complete list of all Russian war crimes against humanity which have been recorded during the last five days of February. And today, at evening of February 28, 2022, we are noticing how the life of all Ukrainians is changed forever. Five days of military resistance of our phenomenally brave Ukrainian defense forces against Russian occupants clearly showed the enemy how strong is the spirit of Ukrainians and the state political apparatus. International support of Ukraine and sanctions being imposed on Russia by civilized countries continues to grow making a significant pressure on Russian Federation to stop the war.

PAKISTAN IS AT POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC RISK AFTER TALIBAN TAKEOVER OF AFGHANISTAN

The change in Afghanistan always affected the whole region of Central Asia and especially Pakistan because both countries have a unique relationship. They have religious, cultural, and ethnic connections. They were described as inseparable brothers by former Afghan leaders like Hamid Karzai. So as far as peace and security of the region is concerned stability among both sides of borders is important. After 21 years of insurgency the recent takeover of Afghanistan by Taliban, who are known as Pashtun Islamic fundamentalists, has brought significant changes in the region. This research is focused on the political and economic impacts of Pakistan’s Afghan Policy on Pakistan after Taliban takeover of Kabul. It is also looking into the strength and weaknesses, irritants and multipliers of Pak- Afghan policy to make suggestions for improvement. The primary purpose of this study is to identify the ways through which Pakistan can overcome its Political and economic crises after Taliban in Afghanistan and to give a new direction to Pak-Afghan relations for peace and Stability in the region. The article also tries to analyze the international political stance on Current Pak-Afghan relations and is divided into four parts, 1) Pakistan’s Afghan policy after August 15, 2021(Taliban take over) 2). International Political Stance on Pakistan’s Perspective of Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan 3). Impact of Taliban rule on Pakistan’s economy 4). Way out…. Suggestions and recommendations Keywords: Taliban, Policy, Economy, Afghanistan, International Politics, Institutions, Governance, militancy.

Assessment of impervious surface in border area using multi-index from landsat 8 and fuzzy c means

This paper describes the process to generate an impervious surface map from Landsat 8 multi-index, namely urban index (UI), normalized difference built-up index (NDBI), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and land surface temperature (LST). These multi-index and LST were input into fuzzy c means (FCM) clustering algorithm to create four fuzzy raster maps, namely high UI, high NDBI, low NDVI, and high LST. The output from FCM served as input for the fuzzy overlay method (FOM) resulted in impervious surface and non-impervious surface classes in the form of a raster map with 30 m x 30 m spatial resolution. The western border between Bogor Municipality and Bogor Regency is chosen as a study area because of data imbalance in both municipal authorities to delineate urban regions in conventional methods. Therefore FCM and FOM were applied to tackle the uncertainty might come from data imbalance and serve as time-saver methods to map impervious surface. The final impervious surface map yielded from the aforementioned methods, shows 82% overall accuracy. Results show that the impervious surface area in Bogor Municipality western border side is around 11.33 km2 (66.45%), while the impervious surface area in Bogor Regency border side is around 14.35 km2 (62.2%).

Effect of finite contact angle on the structure and shear behavior of two-dimensional wet foam

We present simulations of a 2D liquid foam with finite contact angles, over a wide range of liquid fraction. It is shown that, with the increase of liquid fraction, the variation of average coordination number may be characterized by three different regimes (the “flat” regime, the approximate linear regime and the gentle decreasing regime). The detailed distribution of the coordination number is displayed; the fraction of bubbles with the same number of neighbours, as a function of the average coordination number, follows the Gaussian distribution. In addition, we present the variation of the length of the gas-liquid-gas interfaces (films) with the liquid fraction, as well as the distribution of the Plateau border sides. Furthermore, in response to shear, the stress level of the wet foam rises with the increase of contact angle. We find a linear relationship between the yield stress and the cosine of the contact angle.

Real-time observation with metallurgical examination for laser percussion drilling in stainless steel sheets using simultaneous magnetic-ultrasonic assistance

Using simultaneous assistance of the water-based ultrasonic vibrations and a side-loaded magnetic field, the transient real-time observation and metallurgical examination were carried out for laser percussion drilling in stainless steel sheets, aiming for demonstrating the effect of the magnetic-ultrasonic assistance on the hole-drilling process and the metallurgical alteration characteristics. The effect of the camera shooting distance on the signal detection below the hole exit was discussed for laser drilling of through holes. The laser drilling efficiency was characterized based on the real-time observation. It was found that the camera shooting distance affected the signal observation below the hole exit after a workpiece was drilled through due to an optical shield effect of its border side. The influence of the magnetic-ultrasonic assistance was much more notable when the dominant or sufficient heat input for drilling through a hole could not be provided by using a smaller pulse energy, a smaller pulse duration or a bigger laser fluence. The average recast layer thickness of the through-hole middle generated using a millisecond laser could be less than around 5μm when using the water-based ultrasonic assistance accompanied with the magnetic assistance. Compared to the corresponding case without external assistance, a reduction of 40μs was achieved for drilling through a hole by using the simultaneous magnetic-ultrasonic assistance. The average grain size number became bigger for validating the grain refinement in the heat affected zone after laser drilling using the water-based ultrasonic vibrations with and without magnetic assistance.

Asylum and Mass Detention at the U.S.–Mexico Border during COVID-19

The study (URL1) is the work of two scholars living and researching in the United States. Jeremy Slack is a lecturer of geography at the University of Texas (UTEP) in El Paso. He got his doctoral degree at the University of Arizona, his main research area is crimes in connection with state border (human and drug trafficking, violation of rights of other persons) and the problems in connection with procedures of the state power (deportation, brake of family contacts). Josiah Heyman is professor of anthropology at UTEP. The main direction ofhis work is the examination of the perpetrator side of illegal border crossing (mainly between the USA and Mexico) and of the acts of the state power handling these actions and further a confrontation of both sides. In his studies is presented the value order of his master, Eric C. Wolf (URL2), who criticised violence connected to authorities. The publication appeared in the „Journal of Latin American Geography”, which has been published by the Latin American Geographic Conference (CLAG) and has been distributed by the University of Texas Press since its founding in 1970 (URL3). H-index: 20. Actuality of the topic is indisputable, as controlled and uncontrolled global migration and the global human pandemic of Covid-19 affect the population of the whole world.

Clean air in cities: Impact of the layout of buildings in urban areas on pedestrian exposure to ultrafine particles from traffic

Traffic-related pollutant concentrations are typically much higher in near-roadway microenvironments, and pedestrian and resident exposures to air pollutants can be substantially increased by the short periods of time spent on and near roadways. The design of the built environment plays a critical role in the dispersion of pollutants at street level; after normalizing for traffic, differences of a factor of ~5 have been observed between urban neighborhoods with different built environment characteristics. We examined the effects of different built environment designs on the concentrations of street-level ultrafine particles (UFP) at the scale of several blocks using the Quick Urban and Industrial Complex (QUIC) numerical modeling system. The model was capable of reasonably reproducing the complex ensemble mean 3D air flow patterns and pollutant concentrations in urban areas at fine spatial scale. We evaluated the effects of several built environment designs, changing building heights and spacing while holding total built environment volumes constant. We found that ground-level open space reduces street-level pollutant concentrations. Holding volume/surface area constant, tall buildings clustered together with larger open spaces between buildings resulted in substantially lower pollutant concentrations than buildings in rows. Buildings arranged on a ‘checkerboard’ grid with smaller contiguous open spaces, a configuration with some open space on one of the sides of the roadway at all locations, resulted in the lowest average concentrations for almost all wind directions. Rows usually prohibit mixing for perpendicular and oblique wind directions, even when there are large spaces between them, and clustered buildings have some areas where buildings border both sides of the roadways, inhibiting mixing. The model results suggest that pollutant concentrations drop off rapidly with height in the first 10 m or so above the roadways. In addition, the simulated vertical concentration profiles show a moderate elevated peak at the roof levels of the shorter buildings within the area. Model limitations and suggestions both for urban design are both discussed.

ХЕДЖУВАННЯ ВАЛЮТНИХ РИЗИКІВ У МІЖНАРОДНОМУ БІЗНЕСІ З ВИКОРИСТАННЯМ МОЖЛИВОСТЕЙ МІЖНАРОДНОГО ВАЛЮТНОГО РИНКУ

The article is devoted to the study of currency risk hedging in international business. The article notes that the international foreign exchange market is the largest and fastest growing of all world markets. The characteristic features of the international currency market are substantiated and offered. It is also noted that foreign exchange transactions provide economic ties between participants located on different sides of state borders: settlements between firms from different countries for the supply of goods and services, foreign investment, international tourism and business travel. It is determined that hedging of currency risks is the protection of funds from the unfavorable movement of exchange rates, and is carried out in fixing the current value of funds by concluding an agreement on the foreign exchange market. When hedging, the risk of exchange rate changes disappears, and this makes it possible to forecast the company's activities and see the financial result, which is not distorted by exchange rate fluctuations, which will allow you to determine product prices, calculate profits, etc. The main difference between hedging and other types of transactions is that its purpose is not to generate additional profits, but to reduce the risk of potential losses, as risk reduction is almost always necessary to pay, hedging, of course, involves additional costs. Hedging is a way to improve business planning. An enterprise wishing to use this service shall pledge the specified amount, from which losses on its positions will be deducted. In today's conditions, thanks to the foreign exchange market, there is a very reliable way to hedge currency risk. This method is to fix the current value of funds by concluding agreements in this market. With hedging, the company eliminates the risk of exchange rate fluctuations, and this allows you to forecast activities and see the financial result, which is not changed by exchange rate fluctuations. Allows you to pre-determine product prices, determine profits, etc. Thus, the principle of hedging in international business is to open a currency position in a foreign currency account for future transactions to convert funds.

The Impact of Public Pension Deficits on Households' Investment and Economic Activity

US public state pension deficits are very large, accounting for 18.5% of an average state's GDP and up to 50% in Illinois. In principle, households should respond to this heavy future burden by increasing current savings, particularly in safe assets, since pension deficits are countercyclical. Comparing households residing on opposing sides of states' borders, I document that households in larger-deficit states save more, investing more in safe bank deposits and less in risky stocks. Specifically, households hold 0.70 dollars more in deposits and 0.35 dollars less in stocks for each additional dollar of pension deficit. This effect strengthened further following the implementation of new accounting standards in 2015 that made deficits more salient by requiring states to publicly disclose them. Exploiting staggered state pension reforms, I also find that households respond consistently when states reduce pension deficits; they shift savings from deposits to stocks. These reallocations spill over onto local economic activity: as households withdraw deposits following a pension reform, exposed local banks cut lending to local businesses, lowering employment and wages, especially in the non-tradable sector.

Judicial Efficiency and Bank Credit to Firms

This paper analyses empirically the effect of judicial efficiency on bank credit contractual terms for the universe of Italian corporations borrowing from the banking sector. Exploiting within-country variation in the length of bankruptcy proceedings across different jurisdictions, the paper uses a spatial regression discontinuity design that compares credit conditions applied to firms located in municipalities on different sides of jurisdiction borders, controlling for bank characteristics. The results show that judicial efficiency is associated with a reduction in the cost of credit as well as with an increase in its availability for firms, in particular for those at high risk of default. Judicial efficiency increases leverage and investment for high risk firms. All these results suggest that the banking system tilts credit conditions in favor of safe firms as court inefficiency increases. Finally, court efficiency is also associated with a reduction in both the stock and the flow of Non Performing Loans.

Remembering Chris Rumford (1958–2016)

Death is the ultimate border. We who write for a living realize with the passing of a comrade that we write on the hither side of this border, approaching it ourselves on borrowed time. We, too, sh...

По разные стороны границ из-за коронавируса: как люди пытаются вернуться к своим семьям и на работу

По разные стороны границ из-за коронавируса: как люди пытаются вернуться к своим семьям и на работу

An efficient packet image transmission based on texture content for border side security using sensor networks

In surveillance, several algorithms are used to extract meaningful information from an image captured. In the presence of intrusion, cameras will transmit captured images to the sink node via other intermediate nodes. Since, WSNs operate with limited resources; utilisation of resource is needed while processing and transporting images. As the node doesn't need whole image, prioritisation is one of the methods to utilise the available resource. It will prioritise images from its macro-blocks dynamically. Here the camera is attached in sensor nodes, which forms wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSN). It applies an encoding scheme at the source node by naming the blocks as 'important' or 'not-important' based on the information they contain. Here image texture and spectral feature is used as priority measures to weight importance of macro-blocks by their GLCM properties. Experimental result discloses that priority scheme adapts itself to the quality requirements while reducing the bandwidth comparatively.

An efficient packet image transmission based on texture content for border side security using sensor networks

In surveillance, several algorithms are used to extract meaningful information from an image captured. In the presence of intrusion, cameras will transmit captured images to the sink node via other intermediate nodes. Since, WSNs operate with limited resources; utilisation of resource is needed while processing and transporting images. As the node doesn't need whole image, prioritisation is one of the methods to utilise the available resource. It will prioritise images from its macro-blocks dynamically. Here the camera is attached in sensor nodes, which forms wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSN). It applies an encoding scheme at the source node by naming the blocks as 'important' or 'not-important' based on the information they contain. Here image texture and spectral feature is used as priority measures to weight importance of macro-blocks by their GLCM properties. Experimental result discloses that priority scheme adapts itself to the quality requirements while reducing the bandwidth comparatively.

Cross-border Commuting Dynamics: Patterns and Driving Forces in the Alpine Macro-region

ABSTRACT Cross-border commuting is a spatial phenomenon of rising importance throughout Europe. As one of the most concrete aspects of European integration, it facilitates the use of comparative advantages to live and work on different sides of national borders. But despite a general political appreciation of cross-border integration, neither the statistical knowledge base nor its political implications are very high on the agenda. We explore the cross-border commuting dynamics of the Alpine region on a transnational scale, where seven countries meet and cross-border commuting is a relevant pattern posing daily challenges. Against this background, the paper aims to identify the key drivers and explanatory factors of cross-border commuting. In particular, we explore the role of labor market differences, urbanization, and metropolitan quality as well as the distance to the border. Our investigation is based on regional statistical data mobilized in the context of the Alpine Region Preparatory Action Fund (ARPAF) project on cross-border mobility.

Effects of orbital septum fat redistribution on multiple malformation of upper eyelid after blepharoplasty

Objective The multiple malformation of upper eyelid, including the excessive width of fold line, sunken and/or multiple folded upper eyelid are the common complications after blepharoplasty. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical effect of orbital septum fat redistribution on correcting these deformities. Methods From September 2015 to September 2017, 38 patients with multiple malformations of upper eyelid were treated. The incision of upper eyelid and the excessive skin was designed and resected. After completely relieving the scar adhesion zones, we set the lateral orbital septum fat free and transposed it to the inner side of orbital septum or superior border of tarsus with suturing fixation. Then we routinely completed the double eyelid operation. Results Thirty-eight patients with multiple malformations of upper eyelid were treated successfully. The patients were followed up for 6 months to one year, and the results were totally satisfactory. The operation was not performed again. Conclusions The orbital septum fat redistribution can successfully correct the multiple malformation of upper eyelid. It should become a regular procedure in blepharoplasty. Key words: Double eyelid reconstruction; Sunken upper eyelid; Excessive width of fold line; Multiple folded upper eyelids; Orbital septal fat replacement