scholarly journals Balkan Migration Crises and Beyond

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-203
Author(s):  
Anna Krasteva

Abstract This article has a threefold aim. First, to create a typology of Balkan migration crises. Second, to reflect on how migration is theorized in a crisis situation by analyzing the competing conceptual clusters and proposing new ones. Third, to measure the ratio between the region’s crisis and anti-crisis potential in the field of migration in regard both to agency and policies. The article is structured in four parts. The first part reconstructs the conceptual history of “crisis” and its affirmation as the hegemonic discourse of contemporary times. The second part introduces temporality as a theoretical zoom that illuminates a different migration profile depending on whether we are observing it in a short-term, mid-term, or long-term perspective. The third part presents a new typology of Balkan migration crises based on different criteria. It structures Balkan migration crises into two clusters: real and constructed. The article seeks to answer the question of why, given the abundance of real refugee and migration crises, new ones are constructed. The fourth part goes beyond the crisis and analyzes the migration and development nexus as a major policy innovation. The conclusion offers a comparative analysis of the diverse Balkan migration crises.

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Takahiro Kinoshita ◽  
Kensuke Moriwaki ◽  
Nao Hanaki ◽  
Tetsuhisa Kitamura ◽  
Kazuma Yamakawa ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Hybrid emergency room (ER) systems, consisting of an angiography-computed tomography (CT) machine in a trauma resuscitation room, are reported to be effective for reducing death from exsanguination in trauma patients. We aimed to investigate the cost-effectiveness of a hybrid ER system in severe trauma patients without severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods We conducted a cost-utility analysis comparing the hybrid ER system to the conventional ER system from the perspective of the third-party healthcare payer in Japan. A short-term decision tree and a long-term Markov model using a lifetime time horizon were constructed to estimate quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and associated lifetime healthcare costs. Short-term mortality and healthcare costs were derived from medical records and claims data in a tertiary care hospital with a hybrid ER. Long-term mortality and utilities were extrapolated from the literature. The willingness-to-pay threshold was set at $47,619 per QALY gained and the discount rate was 2%. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were conducted. Results The hybrid ER system was associated with a gain of 1.03 QALYs and an increment of $33,591 lifetime costs compared to the conventional ER system, resulting in an ICER of $32,522 per QALY gained. The ICER was lower than the willingness-to-pay threshold if the odds ratio of 28-day mortality was < 0.66. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis indicated that the hybrid ER system was cost-effective with a 79.3% probability. Conclusion The present study suggested that the hybrid ER system is a likely cost-effective strategy for treating severe trauma patients without severe TBI.


Author(s):  
Zhurinov M.Zh., ◽  
◽  
Teltayev B.B., ◽  
Kalybay A.A., ◽  
Rossi C.O., ◽  
...  

A comparative analysis of the low temperature resistance for a nanocarbon bitumen and other 30 neat and modified bitumens has been performed in the work. The stiffness at the temperatures of -24°С, -30°С and -36°С under technical system Superpave has been accepted as an indicator of low temperature resistance of the bitumens. The stiffness of the bitumens has been determined on a bending beam rheometer (standard ASTM D 6648-08). Before testing the bitumens have been subjected to the double artificial aging: short-term aging – under standard AASHTO Т 240-13 and long-term aging – under standard ASTM D 6521-08. The nanocarbon bitumen has been prepared in the laboratory of the Kazakhstan Highway Research Institute (KazdorNII) with the use of a road bitumen of the grade BND 70/100 produced by the Pavlodar petrochemical plant (PNHZ) and a nanocarbon powder (2% by weight) manufactured from a coal rock of the deposit “Saryadyr” “Corporation “ON-Olzha” LLP, Akmola region, Kazakhstan). The nanocarbon powder (150-200 nm) has been manufactured by three-stage size reduction of the coal rock: I – a mechanical dispergator (up to 2-3 mm), II – an aerodynamic mill (up to 20 mcm), III – a reactor with a rotating electromagnetic field. The neat bitumens of the grades BND 50/70, BND 70/100, BND 100/130 have been produced by the plants of Kazakhstan and Russia; they satisfy the requirements of the standard ST RK 1373-2013. The modified bitumens have been prepared in the laboratory of KazdorNII with the use of the neat bitumens, 7 types of the polymers, crumb rubber and polyphosphoric acid and they satisfy the requirements of the standard ST RK 2534-2014. It has been determined that the nanocarbon bitumen is one of the most resistant at the low temperatures: -24°С, -30°С and -36°С.


Author(s):  
Thafar S. A. Safar ◽  
Karmen B. Katay ◽  
Reem H. Khamis

At the end of 2019, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2). Worldwide researchers and physician try to explore the mechanisms of damage induced by virus, they focus on the short-term and long-term immune-mediated consequences induced by the virus infection. Every day discover a new pathological condition induced by virus and new symptoms and disease may occur after recovery from disease. Our case report is 41 years old, Indian lady who presented to our primary health care centre complaining of multiple small hand joints pain, both elbows and knees pain with swelling of them and prolonged morning stiffness, diagnosed seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (arthritis, positive rheumatoid factor (RF), and X-ray changes) after 1 month recovery from COVID-19 infection. She did not have any joint pain and she had negative RF before COVID-19 infection with no family history of RA.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy BRILLANT

This paper deals with a debate between Hawtrey, Hicks and Keynes concerning the capacity of the central bank to influence the short-term and the long-term rates of interest. Both Hawtrey and Keynes considered the central bank’s ability to influence short-term rates of interest. However, they do not put the same emphasis on the study of the long-term rates of interest. According to Keynes, long-term rates are influenced by future expected short-term rates (1930, 1936), whereas for Hawtrey (1932, 1937, 1938), long-term rates are more dependent on the business cycle. Short-term rates do not have much effect on long-term rates according to Hawtrey. In 1939, Hicks enters the controversy, giving credit to both Hawtrey’s and Keynes’s theories, and also introducing limits to the operations of arbitrage. He thus presented a nuanced view.


Author(s):  
Franz Neumann

This chapter considers a variety of methods of treating Germany. The main objective of the United Nations in the treatment of Germany is to prevent it from ever again becoming a threat to the security of the world. The problem of securing this objective could be approached through destruction of Germany's industrial potential, destruction of Germany as a political entity, and removal from German society of the causes of aggression. The chapter shows that the first two solutions should be deferred until it is clear that the third alternative proves unworkable. In order to eliminate the causes of aggressiveness in German society, temporary and long-term disabilities should be imposed upon Germany. The chapter also examines the causes of German aggression, the United States' policy toward Germany, short-term measures during the period of military government, conditional measures during the probationary period, and permanent impositions upon Germany.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elok Heniwati ◽  
Nella Yantiana ◽  
Gita Desyana

Purpose This paper aims to investigate whether Syariah banks are more financially stable than non-Syariah banks and check the differential impact of explanatory variables in financial health and efficiency in the context of Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach By using unbalanced panel data from Bankfocus over the period 2011–2018, regression analysis is performed with two response variables representing financial health, ZSCORE for return on average assets, liquid asset to deposit and short-term funding ratio. A number of control variables are used as tools to confirm the hypotheses. To check the robustness of the findings, a model with different specifications has been used. Findings The results indicate that while Syariah banks present higher insolvency risk (less health) for long-term activity, the opposite is true for short-term activity. Other findings show that Syariah and non-Syariah banks contribute differently to the national system of financial stability owing to varying influential factors on the bank’s health. Originality/value This paper presents a comparative analysis between the financial stability of Syariah banks and that of non-Syariah banks in Indonesia by building an empirical framework that allows the author to examine the differential effects of each underlying feature on financial stability in Syariah and non-Syariah banks.


Author(s):  
Arlindo Oliveira

This chapter provides a brief review of the history of technology, covering pre-historical technologies, the agricultural revolution, the first two industrial revolutions, and the third industrial revolution, based on information technology. Evidence is provided that technological development tends to follow an exponential curve, leading to technologies that typically were unpredictable just a few years before. An analysis of a number of exponential trends and behaviors is provided, in order to acquaint the reader with the sometimes surprising properties of exponential growth. In general, exponential functions tend to grow slower than expected in the short term, and faster than expected in the long term. It is this property that make technology evolution very hard to predict.


2018 ◽  
pp. 67-81
Author(s):  
Dirk Berg-Schlosser

This chapter focuses on the history of democratization since the late eighteenth century. It introduces the concepts of ‘waves’ (trends) and ‘conjunctures’ (briefer turmoils) and delineates the major developments in this respect. In this way, the major long-term and short-term factors leading to the emergence and breakdowns of democracies are also highlighted. The first long wave occurred during the period 1776–1914, followed by the first positive conjuncture in 1918–19, the second long wave (with some intermittent turbulences) in 1945–88, and the latest conjuncture in 1989–90. The chapter identifies the main ingredients to democratization throughout history, namely: republicanism, representation, and political equality. It concludes by considering some of the current perspectives and dangers for the future of democracy.


2020 ◽  
pp. 0961463X2094403
Author(s):  
Javier Fernández-Sebastián

The main purpose of this article is to raise some questions about temporal comparisons and analogies in the writing of history. The article has four parts. The first one shows that historical discipline, conceptual history and language itself can scarcely be conceived of in the absence of comparisons, implicit or explicit, between events, processes and individuals. The second section provides a few samples of the sources of inspiration of some recurrent temporal parallelisms in the Western tradition. The third identifies two key moments in the history of modern Europe when temporal analogies assumed particular importance. These two periods – two turns of the century (16th century and 18th century) – correspond to transitional phases between successive stages in the development of Western historical consciousness. The article ends with a brief reflection on the usefulness and limits of temporal analogies in the writing of history.


2009 ◽  
Vol 364 (1536) ◽  
pp. 3755-3771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prahlad Gupta ◽  
Jamie Tisdale

Word learning is studied in a multitude of ways, and it is often not clear what the relationship is between different phenomena. In this article, we begin by outlining a very simple functional framework that despite its simplicity can serve as a useful organizing scheme for thinking about various types of studies of word learning. We then review a number of themes that in recent years have emerged as important topics in the study of word learning, and relate them to the functional framework, noting nevertheless that these topics have tended to be somewhat separate areas of study. In the third part of the article, we describe a recent computational model and discuss how it offers a framework that can integrate and relate these various topics in word learning to each other. We conclude that issues that have typically been studied as separate topics can perhaps more fruitfully be thought of as closely integrated, with the present framework offering several suggestions about the nature of such integration.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document