BIMSTEC

The ongoing pandemic has drastically affected the Bay of Bengal countries. Greater cooperation is suggested as these countries are fighting against the common problem and challenge of the coronavirus pandemic. Regional cooperation has become important to overcome the barriers that are mainly pandemic driven which has resulted in an increase in the cost of production and trade in the region. The chapter discusses the benefits that India is likely to get with higher integration with the immediate neighbouring countries with special reference to BIMSTEC region. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) region is a dynamic region with trade as the driver of growth. The region is often overlapped with SAARC regional grouping with almost similar members. BIMSTEC gained its lost recognition in the year 2016, due to its high growth potential to develop sustainably.

Normative Power ASEAN? Globalisation of Asian Values and Its Limits

The idea of normative power Europe, pioneered by Ian J. Manners, is usually applied to the European Union’s foreign policy. It states that the EU promotes one’s norms and values among adjacent states, determining what is “normal” in international relations. This paper, along with the burgeoning literature that looks for normative power beyond Europe, argues that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is another regional grouping that attempts to disseminate its norms and values worldwide, thus transforming itself into a nascent “normative power.” Structure-wise, this paper proceeds as follows. First, I will briefly overview the concept of Ian Manner’s normative power and its applicability to Europe and Asia. Second, I will determine the Asian values that may be the basis for ASEAN’s normative stance in the world. My comparison of ASEAN and the EU’s values are structured along with several topical issues: the role of a state in people’s quotidian life and the question of human rights promotion. I exemplify the latter with the Myanmar crisis that evoked harsh criticism of the international community. I conclude that the transformation of ASEAN into a “normative power” is rather dubious since there are limits in promoting the Asian norms and values. In ASEAN, there is a group of developing countries that reject Western universalism and struggle to find their own way in world politics.

Self-Organizing Map Menggunakan Davies-Bouldin Index dalam Pengelompokan Wilayah Indonesia Berdasarkan Konsumsi Pangan

ABSTRAKKecukupan konsumsi pangan merupakan salah satu penunjang terbentuknya sumber daya manusia unggul yang menjadi fokus kebijakan pembangunan di Indonesia. Agar konsumsi pangan terpenuhi, salah satu cara yang dapat dilakukan adalah melakukan pengelompokan wilayah berdasarkan konsumsi pangan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengelompokkan wilayah Indonesia berdasarkan konsumsi pangan berdasarkan data konsumsi kalori per kapita sehari dari berbagai komoditas pangan. Pengelompokan wilayah dilakukan dengan metode self-organizing map (SOM) dengan terlebih dahulu ditentukan jumlah cluster optimum menggunakan nilai Davies-Bouldin Index (DBI) terkecil. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa hasil cluster optimum yang terbentuk sejumlah 4 cluster dengan jumlah anggota untuk cluster 1 sebanyak 22 provinsi, cluster 2 sebanyak 10 provinsi, cluster 3 sebanyak 1 provinsi, dan cluster 4 sebanyak 1 provinsi.ABSTRACTAdequate food consumption is one of the supports for forming superior human resources, which is the focus of development policies in Indonesia. To fulfill food consumption, one way to be done is to group regions based on food consumption. This study aims to classify regions of Indonesia based on food consumption based on average daily per capita calorie consumption data from various food commodities. Regional grouping is done using the self-organizing map (SOM) method by first determining the optimum number of clusters using the smallest Davies-Bouldin Index (DBI) value. The results showed that the optimum cluster results were 4 clusters with the number of members for cluster 1 as many as 22 provinces, cluster 2 as many as 10 provinces, cluster 3 as many as 1 province, and cluster 4 as many as 1 province.

Creating a Region

This chapter begins with China’s ambitious effort to create an entirely new regional grouping: the China–CEEC (Central and Eastern European Countries) Partnership, or “16+1.” Despite the paucity of China’s economic presence, its fragile diplomatic ties in the region, and flimsy regional coherence, 16+1 proved largely successful. The second case, examining Beijing’s investment promotion efforts, demonstrates Beijing’s capacity for learning and adaptation. The third case explores Beijing’s creative response to CEEC trade deficits, including its strategic provision of export certifications and encouragement for Chinese agricultural firms to invest in CEE countries while expanding their exports to China. The final case assesses China’s bilateral influence attempts: targeting key CEE states by providing economic benefits. Across these four cases, Beijing’s orchestration approach proved largely effective, rapidly mobilizing broad participation with high implementation coherence at low cost.

Southeast Asia

Migration governance in Southeast Asia is shown to be strongly influenced by representations of its temporariness, which shape responses to labour migration and to forced displacement. The idea that migrant workers are temporary and that forcibly displaced people require temporary protection in the region and resettlement outside it has become embedded within repertoires of migration governance in Southeast Asia that shape what governing actors know how to do and also what they think they should be doing. The chapter focuses on ASEAN as a key regional grouping but one that has significant constraints on its ability to act on migration issues and on the Bali Process, which is a more informal regional consultation process and brings Australian influence into the Southeast Asian region.

Quo vadis, V4? What is the potential of the Czech Republic to promote its interests within the framework of the V4?

The original purpose of the Visegrad Group (VG or V4 – which includes Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) was primarily to support its member states’ accession to the EU and NATO, which it successfully achieved. However, the views on the current cooperation of four Central European countries differ. Some researchers believe that the V4 has transformed since 2004 into a viable project which has become even an inspirational model of cooperation for other regional groupings. According to them, and contrary to doubts about the continuation of the V4 project, membership of the EU has given the V4 a new impulse, and its agenda has been expanded into new areas of cooperation which included EU affairs. Therefore, the V4 operates now as a distinct regional grouping within the EU (i.e. positive input regarding their commitment in several Council presidencies). Others, however, suggest that V4 cooperation seems to be labelled as a defensive project, a coalition within the EU, which is against something (recently the prominent topics have revolved around migration issues) and that it could lead to the marginalisation of the group and thus reduce its importance at the EU level. While discussing the future role of the V4, the article will focus on the Czech Republic, and its potential to promote its interests within the framework of the V4, especially in the context of its current presidency (from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020).

De-dollarization Process in the EAEU Member States as an Element of the Monetary Policy

Economic integration in the EEU region naturally captures the area of cooperation in the monetary sphere, which is a more high-level stage of integration in its classical understanding. The imbalances in macroeconomic development and a number of problems in the monetary systems of the EEU member-countries are an obstacle to the intensification of cooperation in the monetary sphere. One of the significant problems, common to all the EEU member-states is the dollarization of their economies, which imposes restrictions on the ability of monetary bodies to regulate macroeconomic processes in the country. Replacing national currencies in settlements, payments and savings with «hard currencies» reduces the efficiency of transmission channels, worsens volatility indicators of national currencies and strengthens the spiral of formation of negative expectations regarding inflation levels. An increase in the debt load denominated in foreign currency, in particular for individuals, creates additional risks to the monetary systems of countries. This article is devoted to the study of the problems of dollarization of the economies of the EEU member-states, of the required de-dollarization measures, as well as to the analysis of the prospects for the de-dollarization process spreading at the regional grouping level.

Clustering Potensi Susu Sapi Perah Di Kabupaten Boyolali Menggunakan Algoritma K-MeansK-MEANS

Based on data of dairy milk cow in Animal Farms of Boyolali District, only shows the total amount of dairy milk cow in Boyolali District. So that Animal Farms of Boyolali District does not know which areas produce dairy milk cows with large numbers or small. Therefore, an algorithm is needed to facilitate the grouping of potentially dairy milk cow based on milk production data (liter), number of female dairy cows (how many), number of owners and year of production. In this research, using the K-Means algorithm is used to the grouping of potential dairy milk cow producing areas. By using K-Means aims in facilitating the classification of an area that has the greatest potential dairy milk cows, medium and small. The result is an illustration that shows the regional grouping based on dairy milk cow yields, which are 13 districts that have a potency of dairy milk cow (cluster1), 28 districts that have medium potency dairy cows producing (cluster2), and 28 districts less potential dairy milk cows (cluster3). For further research could be carried out the excavation process variation data variables that clustering results produced can be maximized.Keywords: K-Means algorithm, clustering, data mining, dairy milk cows

Chile leader may see more Prosur headaches than kudos

Subject Foreign policy and Prosur. Significance Government-opposition differences on foreign policy are unusual in Chile, but have been triggered by President Sebastian Pinera’s championship of Prosur, a new regional grouping launched in Santiago on March 22. It has been criticised by the left-wing opposition as bringing together only centre-right and right-wing governments. Impacts Trade issues, although remaining important, may become less of a driver of Chile’s foreign policy. There is no clear reason to expect that Prosur will be more successful than previous initiatives like UNASUR. Discrepancies in Chile over foreign policy and, particularly, relations with the Bolsonaro government will persist.

Macroscale intrinsic network architecture of the hypothalamus

Control of multiple life-critical physiological and behavioral functions requires the hypothalamus. Here, we provide a comprehensive description and rigorous analysis of mammalian intrahypothalamic network architecture. To achieve this at the gray matter region (macroscale) level, macroscale connection (macroconnection) data for the rat hypothalamus were extracted from the primary literature. The dataset indicated the existence of 7,982 (of 16,770 possible) intrahypothalamic macroconnections. Network analysis revealed that the intrahypothalamic macroconnection network (its macroscale subconnectome) is divided into two identical top-level subsystems (or subnetworks), each composed of two nested second-level subsystems. At the top-level, this suggests a deeply integrated network; however, regional grouping of the two second-level subsystems suggested a partial separation between control of physiological functions and behavioral functions. Furthermore, inclusion of four candidate hubs (dominant network nodes) in the second-level subsystem that is associated prominently with physiological control suggests network primacy with respect to this function. In addition, comparison of network analysis with expression of gene markers associated with inhibitory (GAD65) and excitatory (VGLUT2) neurotransmission revealed a significant positive correlation between measures of network centrality (dominance) and the inhibitory marker. We discuss these results in relation to previous understandings of hypothalamic organization and provide, and selectively interrogate, an updated hypothalamus structure–function network model to encourage future hypothesis-driven investigations of identified hypothalamic subsystems.