Optimal Claim Settlement Strategies under Constraint of Cap on Claim Loss

In this paper, we examine the question of how to devise an optimal insurance claim settlement scheme under the constraint of a cap on the amount of the claim payment. We establish objective functions to maximize the net benefit due to exaggerated claims while at the same time maximizing the total expected wealth of the insured. Then, we establish a dual objective function to minimize the total expected loss, including the perspective of the insurer. Finally, we illustrate applications of our work and provide numerical analysis of it along with an example.

Peopling Prehistoric Coastlines: Identifying Mid-Holocene Forager Settlement Strategies in Northern Norway

In circumpolar regions, coastlines offer rich constellations of diverse resources and have long been a focus of human habitation. Despite the rich archaeological records that are located along many northern coastlines, there is a relatively limited understanding of the range of factors that informed local settlement strategies. Northern Norway has one of the world’s longest and best-preserved archaeological records of coastal habitation due to post-glacial uplift. Occupation begins in the early Holocene and appears to peak in the mid-Holocene. Our aim in this paper is to investigate the constraints and opportunities that informed the mid-Holocene settlement patterns, between c. 5000 and 0 BC. We present new data that were generated by intensive field surveys and undertake a qualitative multi-scalar analysis of site-locational choices, evaluating the influences of geography, topography and seasonal resource availability. Having identified stretches of the rugged coast as uninhabitable, we proceeded with analyses of the rest of the coastline. Our results indicate that all major settlements were sited to provide safe boat landing, good vantage points and shelter from storms. From these habitation sites, boat technology would have provided flexible access to diverse resources that were available throughout the year, and within a limited travel radius. We also demonstrate that these settlement strategies contrast with the way that the same coastlines were inhabited by pioneering groups in the early Holocene but appear to have some similarities with mid-Holocene coastal settlement patterns in Newfoundland and the Aleutian Islands. Overall, our results suggest that the multiple resources available along northern coastlines often enabled populations to occupy relatively localized areas for long periods. Longer-range mobility and interaction may instead have been primarily driven by socio-political factors rather than subsistence needs.

Settlement Strategies of Caucasian Expatriate Communities in Volgograd Region: Final Third of the XXth Century – Early XXIst Century

The purpose of this article is to study the geographic and demographic dynamics and the main settlement strategies of the leading Caucasian expatriate communities of Volgograd region. The study has found that the accelerated demographic growth of Caucasian communities of the region in the last third of the 20th century and in the early 21st century was primarily determined not by its natural dynamics, but by the arrival of migrants. The educational and labor migration of people born in the Caucasus into the region in the 1950s – 1960s formed small ethnic groups consisting mainly of men and their significant part concentrated in cities. The main reasons for the accelerated growth of regional expatriate communities of the peoples of the Southern Caucasus at the end of the Soviet period became social, economic problems and the growth of interethnic tension in the republics of Transcaucasia. The same factors contributed to a rapid demographic growth of these communities in the 1990s. The central driver of the quantitative growth of the number of North Caucasian expatriate communities in the 1970s – 1980s was the development of livestock husbandry in arid rural areas of the region. This economic niche significantly changed the settlement parameters, social and demographic characteristics of the North Caucasian communities. With a rapid increase of the number of communities, their level of urbanization significantly reduced, but at the same time the gender imbalance changed. The early 21st century for the majority of the Caucasian expatriate communities in the region became a time of quantitative stabilization and optimization of the already existing settlement areas.

Cultural memory of the migrants and accepting society in Russian and abroad: conflict dimension

The goal of this article is the socio-philosophical conceptualization of memory conflicts in the migration society, as well as comparative analysis of the Russian and foreign contexts. Foreign experience was examined within the framework of the policy of assimilation and multiculturalism, as well as politics aimed at formation of transnational identities. The analysis of Russian context was conducted on the basis of determination and classification of conflictogenic factors, main parties of the conflicts, settlement strategies, and types of conflicts in the condition of internal and external migration challenges. The author leans on the constructivist approach, which suggests that perception of the past is predetermined and formed by sociocultural contexts and practices of memory and obscurity. In comparison with the foreign, Russian context demonstrates the prevalence of latent forms of conflict. Russia marks the formation of “parallel” memory communities, when the migrants and accepting society maintain a forced neutrality. If the foreign research indicate mostly status conflicts, in the Russian conditions, the migrants are oriented towards defensive type of memory conflicts. The oversea conflicts of memory mark the clash of modernism and traditionalism, while Russia demonstrated the clash of different versions of traditionalism.

Investigate human responses to Late-Holocene changes of fluvial landforms through Spatial Point Pattern Analysis (Po Plain, N Italy)

<p>In fluvial environments, alluvial geomorphological features had a huge influence on settlement strategies during the Holocene. However, a few projects investigate this topic through quantitative and question-driven analyses of the human-landscape correlation. The Po Valley (N Italy) – located between the Mediterranean regions and continental Europe – is as a key area for the investigation of environmental and cultural influences on settlement strategies since prehistoric times. For instance, the transition from Roman to Medieval times represented a crucial moment for the reorganisation of human settlement strategies in the Po Valley; the process was mainly driven by climate changes and socio-political factors. Spatial Point Pattern Analysis (SPPA) was here employed to provide a solid statistical assessment of these dynamics in the two historical phases. A point pattern (PP) corresponds to the location of spatial events generated by a stochastic process within a bounded region. The density of the PP is proportional to the intensity of the underlying process. The intensity, in turn, can be constant within the region or spatially variable, thus influencing the uniformity of distribution of spatial events. SPPA provides powerful techniques for the statistical analysis of PP data that consist of a complete set of locations of archaeological sites/findings within an observation window. The use of spatial covariates enables the investigation of environmental and non-environmental factors influencing the spatial homogeneity of the point process. Archaeologists have increasingly analyzed such datasets to quantify the characteristics of observed spatial patterns with the aims of deriving hypotheses on the underlying processes or testing hypotheses derived from archaeological theory. The aim of this paper is to assess whether a shift in water management strategies between the Roman and Medieval periods influenced the spatial distribution of settlements, and to evaluate the relative importance of agricultural suitability over flood risks in each historical phase. In particular, the variability settlement patterns between Roman and Medieval phases has been assessed against two related proxies for alluvial geomorphology and agricultural suitability: flood hazard and soil texture. The SPPA performed shows that Roman and Medieval settlement patterns mirror two different human responses to the geomorphological dynamics of the area. Roman land- and water-management were able to minimize the flood hazard, to drain the floodplain and organize a complex land use on different soil types. In the Medieval period, the alluvial geomorphology of the area, characterised by wide swampy meadows and frequent flood events, affected the spatial organisation of settlement, which privileged topographically prominent positions. Social and cultural dynamics played a crucial role in responding to alluvial geomorphological environmental challenges in different times.</p>