Universities of World-Class Scientific and Educational Centers and Their Importance in the Performance Indicators and Development of Regions

The article considers the sphere of education as one of the directions of political and managerial practices for the development of regions. The importance of educational institutions of higher education as part of world-class scientific and educational centers (RECs) created in the context of the implementation of the national project “Science” is evaluated. The task assigned to the centers to activate interregional interaction, as expected, will contribute to the innovative development of the subjects of the Russian Federation and the economic and technological connectivity of the territories. In the context of the task, data from the official REC websites, data from the international rating THE, the Moscow international rating MosIUR for 2020, regulatory legal acts, as well as secondary data on the problem under study are analyzed. It is shown that RECs have become a kind of superstructure (construction), uniting several groups of actors under one sign of the center: universities, scientific organizations, organizations from the real sector of the economy, supported by the subject of the Russian Federation under the personal control of the governors. The peculiarity of such centers was not only the association of universities with high international ratings from different regions, but also the participation of the same university in several RECs. Such an organizational technique, by pulling together the north and south, the west and the east, the inclusion of the same universities in different RECs, suggests that this, on the one hand, strengthens interregional interaction, increases the values of the performance indicators of the project participants, but on the other hand, complicates the objective assessment of the REC activities themselves. Based on the study, the hypothesis is expressed that the existing approaches to assessing the effectiveness of REC generate a variety of imitation forms of activity, including reporting, and need to be improved. It is concluded that the activities of RECs will contribute to the breakthrough development of those regions on the territory of which they are formed, but at the same time strengthen interregional imbalances.

Formalization of Regional Strategies with Allowance for the Long-Term Consequences of the Interaction between Internal and External Components of Regional Socio-Economic Systems

Aim. The presented study aims to define a methodological approach to the formalization of regional strategies with allowance for the prospective benefits from the interaction between internal and external components of regional socio-economic systems for the national economy.Tasks. The authors determine the essence of strategic management of regional development by analyzing the internal processes of the interaction between subsystems, components, and elements of the region as a complex socio-economic system; compare the specific features of the functioning and interaction of administrative divisions in a planned and market economy; substantiate the principles of mutually beneficial interregional interaction and the need to improve supra-regional economic efficiency in view of the allowance made for the projected effects of interregional interaction in rational strategic planning; define the concept of strategic management of regional socio-economic systems and formulate an approach to the formation of the management process.Methods. This study use general scientific methods, including systems analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction, detalization and generalization, modelling.Results. The process of formation and coordination of regional strategies is conceptualized as a basic element of the organizational mechanism of strategic management of the functioning and development of regional socio-economic systems. A system diagram is provided that makes allowance for three hierarchical levels of management (federal, interregional, regional), each acting on the appropriate level of abstraction and introducing its inherent critical aspects of rational planning of national spatial development. It is shown that strategic planning of interregional interaction at the supra-regional level makes it advisable to develop multi-regional, multi-sectoral computer models that would help to achieve a state of interaction close to economic equilibrium, thus ensuring future functioning of the national economy based on the planning principle applied in a brand new way.Conclusions. The system of strategic management of regional development and interregional interaction should be a multilevel, hierarchically ordered mechanism for the formation and implementation of a strategic plan for the spatial development of the country. Such a system should be aimed at functionally maintaining social and economic, planned and competitive balance between national expediency determined by state strategic priorities and independent regional development guidelines without degenerating into bureaucratic formalism when creating regional development concepts on the one hand and without turning into a constant competitive struggle of divergent interests of the regions on the other. It is advisable to develop an integrated (supra-regional) approach to the strategic management of regions as regional socio-economic systems based on the conceptual organizational-managerial mechanism for their functioning and development. This approach should be aimed at achieving the planned supra-regional efficiency (socio-economic balance) using not-yet-manifested projected interregional synergetic and agglomeration effects from the use of interregional (national) infrastructure, scientifically based implementation of absolute and relative regional advantages in the process of determining and planning future regional specialization at the federal level, deployment and development of the territorial cores of intersectoral clusters serving as the starting points of growth for an optimally balanced crystal lattice of spatial development on the national scale, implementation of interregional interaction of expected quantity and quality, mathematically justified with allowance for the needs of interregional and intersectoral exchange, intra- and intersystem structures, elements, communicative relationships, dynamics and stages of the life cycle of industries, organizations, the ability to adapt to changes in the external environment of the regions included in the system.

Modelling the Heterogeneity of the Mutual Influence between Russian Regions in the Manufacturing Industry

As factors affecting interregional interactions play an important role in regional economic development. Thus, developing a methodology for assessing these interactions is becoming urgent. The article proposes a methodological approach to analyse the factors influencing possible interactions between Sverdlovsk oblast and other constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the manufacturing industry. It is hypothesised that the elements of an interregional interaction matrix are proxy variables characterising the degree of this interaction. An economic analysis of relations and production chains between Sverdlovsk oblast and other constituent entitles confirmed this hypothesis. First, based on the spatial distribution of manufacturing output in the examined regions, values of an indicator showing the strength of their mutual influence were determined. Second, the impact of economic, infrastructural and institutional factors on the obtained indicator, characterising the inter action between Sverdlovsk oblast and other regions, was assessed using quantile regression. In this case, such a technique was chosen instead of the classical ordinary least squares (OLS) regression that incorrectly estimates the dependencies between the studied variables. This is expressed in the fact that the regression coefficients de pend on q-quantile of the dependent variable. We have revealed that price levels of the examined regions do not affect their possible interactions with Sverdlovsk oblast. Simultaneously, the dissemination of knowledge acts a driver of interaction between the considered regional manufacturing industries. The research findings can be used to prepare strategies, programmes and schemes for the placement and development of industries, considering the potential of Sverdlovsk oblast and other Russian regions.

The Life and Death of a Child: Mortuary and Bodily Manifestations of Coast–Interior Interactions during the Late Formative Period (AD 100–400), Northern Chile

Camelid pastoralism, agriculture, sedentism, surplus production, increasing cultural complexity, and interregional interaction during northern Chile's Late Formative period (AD 100–400) are seen in the flow of goods and people over expanses of desert. Consolidating evidence of material culture from these interactions with a bioarchaeological dimension allows us to provide details about individual lives and patterns in the Late Formative more generally. Here, we integrate a variety of skeletal, chemical, and archaeological data to explore the life and death of a small child (Calate-3N.7). By taking a multiscalar approach, we present a narrative that considers not only the varied materiality that accompanies this child but also what the child's life experience was and how this reflects and shapes our understanding of the Late Formative period in northern Chile. This evidence hints at the profound mobility of their youth. The complex mortuary context reflects numerous interactions and long-distance relationships. Ultimately, the evidence speaks to deep social relations between two coastal groups, the Atacameños and Tarapaqueños. Considering this suite of data, we can see a child whose life was spent moving through desert routes and perhaps also glimpse the construction of intercultural identity in the Formative period.

Prehispanic Highland Textile Technologies: A View from the First Millennium AD at Hualcayán, Ancash, Peru

The exceptional preservation of perishable artifacts on the arid west coast of the Andes has led to an abundance of knowledge on prehispanic textile production. Yet comparatively little of this knowledge is based on highland examples due to their poor preservation in the moist environment of the Andean sierra. Systematic excavations in 2011–2012 at the archaeological complex of Hualcayán in highland Ancash, Peru, revealed surprisingly well-preserved textiles and cordage from four partially looted machay-style tombs. In this article we provide an overview of textile forms, production techniques, and iconography from a sample of 292 textile and cordage fragments, equaling 20% of Hualcayán's assemblage. This work contributes to a better understanding of ancient Andean weaving in general and interregional interaction during the Early Intermediate period and Middle Horizon (ca. AD 1–1000) in particular. Significantly, we document variability in cotton yarn and a general uniformity in camelid yarn and weaving techniques in the overall sample. These findings, in combination with similarities in weaving techniques and style between coastal examples and Hualcayán's fabrics, suggest a coastal–highland relationship.

LATE CHALCOLITHIC CERAMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN IRAQI KURDISTAN: THE STRATIGRAPHIC SOUNDING AT KANI SHAIE

Kani Shaie is a small archaeological site in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, centrally located in the Bazian Basin, a narrow valley at the western edge of the Zagros Mountains along the major route between Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah. Its main mound was inhabited almost continuously from the fifth to the middle of the third millennium, c. 5000–2500 B.C.E. This period of Mesopotamian prehistory, corresponding to the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, witnessed major transformations such as initial urbanism and intensification of interregional interaction networks. The recent resurgence of fieldwork in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is beginning to reveal local trajectories that do not always match the established chronological framework, which is largely based on changes in ceramic technology and styles observed in northern Mesopotamia. Here, we discuss the ceramic sequence retrieved from a step trench at Kani Shaie spanning the entire Late Chalcolithic (c. 4600–3100 B.C.E.). A bottom-up approach to potting traditions at the site allows an initial assessment of the relationship between local communities in the Zagros foothills and large-scale developments in the Mesopotamian world. We argue that the evidence from Kani Shaie reflects a long process in which different communities of practice made active choices of adopting, adapting, or rejecting non-local cultural practices.

A Reversal of Fortune: Problematical Deposit 50, Tikal, Guatemala

The contents, context, and date of Problematical Deposit 50 bear on the origin, function, and meaning of Teotihuacan stylistic traits in the Southern Maya Lowlands. Archaeological data and material culture research appear to support emulation and adaptation by local rulers and elites, while an actual presence of Teotihuacanos is asserted by epigraphy and iconography. PD 50, the partial contents of a probable Early Classic chamber burial, appears to support local emulation, but an extraordinary pottery vessel, nicknamed here the “Arrival Bowl,” implies direct contact. The chronology and archaeological context demonstrate that the appearance of Teotihuacan stylistic traits at Tikal during the later Early Classic period is functionally distinct from the goods distributed over an interregional interaction sphere of much longer duration in which both Central Mexico and the Maya area participated. Furthermore, together with other features at Tikal, PD 50 suggests that adoption of Teotihuacan ideology by Tikal's elite was eventually met with resistance that contributed to the violence at the end of the Early Classic period that is manifested in the archaeological record.