Hasil untuk "International relations"

Robyn Larracy, Eve MacDonald, Angkoon Phinyomark et al.

Biometric footstep recognition, based on a person's unique pressure patterns under their feet during walking, is an emerging field with growing applications in security and safety. However, progress in this area has been limited by the lack of large, diverse datasets necessary to address critical challenges such as generalization to new users and robustness to shifts in factors like footwear or walking speed. The recent release of the UNB StepUP-P150 dataset, the largest and most comprehensive collection of high-resolution footstep pressure recordings to date, opens new opportunities for addressing these challenges through deep learning. To mark this milestone, the First International StepUP Competition for Biometric Footstep Recognition was launched. Competitors were tasked with developing robust recognition models using the StepUP-P150 dataset that were then evaluated on a separate, dedicated test set designed to assess verification performance under challenging variations, given limited and relatively homogeneous reference data. The competition attracted global participation, with 23 registered teams from academia and industry. The top-performing team, Saeid_UCC, achieved the best equal error rate (EER) of 10.77% using a generative reward machine (GRM) optimization strategy. Overall, the competition showcased strong solutions, but persistent challenges in generalizing to unfamiliar footwear highlight a critical area for future work.

Ramon Odebunmi

The Russo-Ukraine and Palestine-Israeli conflicts are one of the most devastating geo-political conflicts in the 21st century. From human rights perspective, the alleged violations of international law in the ongoing war in Ukraine and Palestine respectively are not only considered as abhorrent, but also raises significant concerns about the legitimacy of Russia and Israel’s aggression against Ukraine and Palestine respectively. The laws of war are means to an end to achieve legitimacy by showing respect for rule of law and abiding by universal ethical and moral principles. This paper therefore argues that Russia and Israel’s use of force against Ukraine and Palestine respectively violates international humanitarian law or law of wars on the basis of Article 2(4) and Article 51 of the UN Charter. This paper seeks to determine the legitimacy and illegitimacy of the military aggression of Russia and Israel in the context of international humanitarian law. To achieve this objective, the paper adopts the qualitative method of inquiry. This paper adopts the Just War theory to strengthen the argument of this paper by interrogating the legitimacy and illegitimacy of Russia and Israel’s use of force against Ukraine and Palestine as well as the conduct of the war. The paper concludes that Russia and Israel’s use of military force negates the universal principle of morality and ethics as their actions seriously negates the provisions of Article 2(4) and Article 51 of the UN charter. Israel’s use of force in Gaza is disproportionate, while Russia’s conduct of the war violates the prohibition of the use of force as provided by international humanitarian law.

A. G. Nesterov, E. O. Muslimova

This study examines the development of transregional relationships between the Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, Macao, and various countries and regions in Europe. It argues that Macao possesses unique rights that enable the region to engage in independent international activities within economic and cultural domains. The findings indicate that Macao is currently focused on diversifying its economy and expanding its potential international partnerships, particularly through cooperation with Lusophone countries and regions. While collaboration with European regions remains relatively limited, it is noteworthy in terms of economic partnerships with the federal states of Germany and traditional ties with Portugal. The research highlights that a key element of Macao's cultural policy and international cultural cooperation is Lusophony, which involves the promotion and dissemination of the Portuguese language and culture — a historical legacy that continues to evolve within the framework of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries. Furthermore, it reveals that Macao is actively seeking to enhance its connections with European regions, particularly in the economic, cultural, and educational sectors. The current government of Macao plays a significant role in this initiative, enjoying full support from the central government of the People’s Republic of China.

Valery P. Zhuravel, Sergey N. Grinyaev, Tatyana A. Parfenyuk

The article presents an analysis of the results of the international scientific conference «International problems of the New Geopolitics of the Arctic», held on November 25, 2025 at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the participation of specialists from eight countries. The paper examines the current geopolitical situation in the Arctic region against the background of geostrategic transformations caused by political tensions in Eastern Europe. The authors analyze the Russian position on the development of international cooperation in the North, characterizes the reports of foreign participants of the conference, reflecting the positions of their states on issues of Arctic security, economic development and scientific cooperation. The key contradictions between the militarization of the region and its preservation as an area of low tension have been identified in relation to the Arctic from the countries of the West and the East. New mechanisms of cooperation between Russia and the states of the Asia-Pacific region, the role of China and India as priority partners in the development of the Northern Sea Route and scientific research are considered. Special attention is paid to the issues of scientific diplomacy as a tool for maintaining dialogue in the context of political confrontation.

John F. Krizmanic, Scott Nutter

The Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder for the International Space Station (TIGERISS) is under construction and is planned for launch in 2027 and will be attached at the SOX location on the Columbus module on the ISS. TIGERISS will make the first definitive measurements of Ultra-Heavy Galactic Cosmic Rays (UHGCRs; Z >29) on an individual element basis past barium ($^{56}$Ba), through the lanthinides, and to lead ($^{82}$Pb). TIGERISS has a geometry factor of 1.06 m$^2$ sr and is comprised of four planes of single-sided silicon strip detectors (SSDs) arranged in orthogonal X-Y layers with an X-Y pair above and an X-Y pair below two large-area Cherenkov detectors. The top Cherenkov detector is comprised of a mosaic of aerogel radiators (n =1.05) while the bottom Cherenkov detector has an acrylic radiator (n = 1.49). The combination of the Cherenkov velocity measurements with the precise measurements of the ionization and trajectory of the traversing cosmic rays leads to highly accurate charge measurements of $<$ 0.25 c.u. over the entire elemental range of $^5$B through $^{82}$Pb. These TIGERISS measurements are highly sensitive in determining the strength of s-process, r-process, and rp-processes of Galactic nucleosynthesis while providing critical data needed for multi-messenger studies to determine the contributions of extreme phenomena, including supernovae (SN) and Neutron Star Mergers (NSMs), in the production of galactic matter. The science goals of TIGERISS, mission status, instrument design and performance of the TIGERISS SSD subsystem in relation to the measurements and science goals of TIGERISS are discussed in this paper.

Kefelegn Tesfaye Abate

Perpetual peacebuilding needs inclusive, participatory, and transformative approaches. The practice of conflict approach determines the resolution and relapse of conflicts. This study focuses on the nature and experiences of conflict interventions in the Guji-Burji protracted inter-ethnic conflict. The study uses a qualitative research approach. The data were collected from primary and secondary sources through interviews, FGDs, and document analysis. As per the findings, the Guji-Burji inter-ethnic conflict is cyclical and has caused devastating human security impacts. The structural cause of the conflict lies in the failure of ethnic federalism over boundary conflict and ethnic politicization in post-1991. It is also fueled by the proliferation and illegal use of small arms, dacoity and rhetorical honor, diversion and the ethnicization of micro disputes, and an untransformative approach to conflict interventions. The conflict approaches have failed to address the parties’ positions, interests, and needs to achieve perpetual peace, which is most crucial. Besides, the intervention approaches are not inclusive, participatory, integrated, and transformative but rather partial, politicized, and ethnocentric. Therefore, it requires a transformative approach to intervention that addresses the genesis of the conflict through boundary resettlement, profound community dialogue, and unconditional forgiveness to build trust and realize sustainable peace.

Olga S. Chikrizova

The relevance of the study of Islamist terrorism is due to its destructive impact on national and global security, as well as on the dialogue between Western and Eastern, particularly Muslim, nations since the early 2000s. Islamist terrorism reinforces entrenched prejudices against Islam and Muslims, leading to their demonization and the subsequent prevention of constructive interaction between communities professing different religions, thus hindering the establishment of relations based on mutual trust. This study examines the number of terrorist attacks committed by Islamist groups and their victims between 2000 and 2020, and tests the methodology for scoring their terrorist activities. Based on the Global Terrorism Database and the author’s sample of 155 groups broadcasting Islamist ideology, three stages of the development of Islamist terrorism were identified, a direct proportional relationship between the number of terrorist attacks and the number of victims was proven, and the geography of Islamist terrorist activity was analyzed. Methodologically, this study combines the analysis of terrorism as both a political phenomenon and a religious manifestation, and Islamist terrorist groups themselves are seen as political projects masquerading as religiously motivated communities. In contrast to the destabilization of Iraq, which along with Afghanistan became another platform for training terrorists, the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, had little impact on Islamist terrorism. Quantitative analysis revealed that the Middle East and North Africa was mistakenly perceived as the “epicenter” of Islamist terrorism in 2000-2020, as Southeast Asia was the leader in terrorist attacks in 2000, while South Asia occupied 1st place in 2003, 2005-2013, and 2018-2020. It has been confirmed that instability at the local and national levels serves as a fertile ground for Islamist terrorism. The possibilities and limitations of the proposed methodology are outlined, and the prospects for its further application in scientific studies of Islamist terrorism are described.

Campos Neutrais Revista Latino-Americana de Relações Internacionais

M Casolino, D Barghini, M Battisti et al.

Mini-EUSO is a telescope launched on board the International Space Station in 2019 and currently located in the Russian section of the station. Main scientific objectives of the mission are the search for nuclearites and Strange Quark Matter, the study of atmospheric phenomena such as Transient Luminous Events, meteors and meteoroids, the observation of sea bioluminescence and of artificial satellites and man-made space debris. It is also capable of observing Extensive Air Showers generated by Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays with an energy above 10$^{21}$ eV and detect artificial showers generated with lasers from the ground. Mini-EUSO can map the night-time Earth in the UV range (290 - 430 nm), with a spatial resolution of about 6.3 km and a temporal resolution of 2.5 $μ$s, observing our planet through a nadir-facing UV-transparent window in the Russian Zvezda module. The instrument, launched on 2019/08/22 from the Baikonur cosmodrome, is based on an optical system employing two Fresnel lenses and a focal surface composed of 36 Multi-Anode Photomultiplier tubes, 64 channels each, for a total of 2304 channels with single photon counting sensitivity and an overall field of view of 44$^{\circ}$. Mini-EUSO also contains two ancillary cameras to complement measurements in the near infrared and visible ranges. In this paper we describe the detector and present the various phenomena observed in the first year of operation.

Justin Rosenberg

In recent decades, the discipline of International Relations (IR) has experienced both dramatic institutional growth and unprecedented intellectual enrichment. And yet, unlike neighbouring disciplines such as Geography, Sociology, History and Comparative Literature, it has still not generated any ‘big ideas’ that have impacted across the human sciences. Why is this? And what can be done about it? This article provides an answer in three steps. First, it traces the problem to IR’s enduring definition as a subfield of Political Science. Second, it argues that IR should be re-grounded in its own disciplinary problematique: the consequences of (societal) multiplicity. And finally, it shows how this re-grounding unlocks the transdisciplinary potential of IR. Specifically, ‘uneven and combined development’ provides an example of an IR ‘big idea’ that could travel to other disciplines: for by operationalizing the consequences of multiplicity, it reveals the causal and constitutive significance of ‘the international’ for the social world as a whole.

A. V. Nikitina, O. Shersheniuk, I. Kyrchata et al.

The article analyzes the concepts to determine the essence of the investment project. The theoretical and methodical approach to the definition of an investment project, which will provide the possibility for a clear identification of the essential features, ensure an effective interaction with internal and external dynamic environment is offered. The most common classification features of investment projects are singled out. The main features of the definition of the functions of investment management as a management system and a special area of enterprise management are determined. It was emphasized that for the steady positive development of industrial enterprises in a competitive and rapidly changing environment, effective management of investment activity of enterprises is a necessary condition for functioning. In addition, it is proved that in the context of the limited financial and other types of resources, the use of an integrated approach to investing is one more major area for improving the efficiency of management of investment processes at the macro level, and an integrated investment design is a system-integrated process of management of a set of investment projects that are subordinated to a single strategic plan focused on the successful implementation of the enterprise investment program. The necessity of further, more profound research of investment management in conditions of uncertainty and risk is substantiated. The next stage of the research should be the construction of a system for making investment decisions in conditions of uncertainty and risk.

Charlie Beil

'Internal spacetime' is a modification of general relativity that was recently introduced as an approximate spacetime geometric model of quantum nonlocality. In an internal spacetime, time is stationary along the worldlines of fundamental (dust) particles. Consequently, the dimensions of tangent spaces at different points of spacetime vary, and spin wavefunction collapse is modeled by the projection from one tangent space to another. In this article we develop spinors on an internal spacetime, and construct a new Dirac-like Lagrangian $\mathcal{L} = \barψ(i \slashed \partial - \hatω) ψ$ whose equations of motion describe their couplings and interactions. Furthermore, we show that hidden within $\mathcal{L}$ is the entire standard model: $\mathcal{L}$ contains precisely three generations of quarks and leptons, the electroweak gauge bosons, the Higgs boson, and one new massive spin-$2$ boson; gluons are considered in a companion article. Specifically, we are able to derive the correct spin, electric charge, and color charge of each standard model particle, as well as predict the existence of a new boson.

Xinyi Zhao, Samin Aref, Emilio Zagheni et al.

Germany has become a major country of immigration, as well as a research powerhouse in Europe. As Germany spends a higher fraction of its GDP on research and development than most countries with advanced economies, there is an expectation that Germany should be able to attract and retain international scholars who have high citation performance. Using an exhaustive set of over eight million Scopus publications, we analyze the trends in international migration to and from Germany among published researchers over the past 24 years. We assess changes in institutional affiliations for over one million researchers who have published with a German affiliation address at some point during the 1996-2020 period. We show that while Germany has been highly integrated into the global movement of researchers, with particularly strong ties to the US, the UK, and Switzerland, the country has been sending more published researchers abroad than it has attracted. While the balance has been largely negative over time, analyses disaggregated by gender, citation performance, and field of research show that compositional differences in migrant flows may help to alleviate persistent gender inequalities in selected fields.

Ем Н.

Every year, tens of thousands of women from developing countries cross borders to marry men from developed countries. Men in Western Europe and the United States are looking for future partners from Russia and Eastern Europe, while men in East Asia and Australia find wives in the countries of Southeast Asia. Transnational marriage puts these women in a vulnerable position because women lack the resources, language skills, social support and legal protection in receiving countries. For more than twenty years of socio-economic, scientific, educational, cultural cooperation with the countries of the former Soviet Union, South Korea has become a recognizable and attractive brand for everyone. One of the results is an increase in transnational marriages, most often ethnic women of the CIS. The author considers the features of the international marriage of ethnic Koreans married in South Korea. A “Eurocentric” perspective on the choice of a South Korean citizen as a marriage partner for CIS girls can greatly assist Korean government and non-governmental organizations in adjusting policies to attract migrant women, as well as in implementing policies for the integration and adaptation of Russianspeaking ethnic Korean women in Korea. Key words: Interethnic marriage, CIS, historical homeland, marital migration, Koreans of the CIS.

Roberta Costabile, Gelsomina Catalano, Bernardo Cuteri et al.

Decision support systems play an important role in medical fields as they can augment clinicians to deal more efficiently and effectively with complex decision-making processes. In the diagnosis of headache disorders, however, existing approaches and tools are still not optimal. On the one hand, to support the diagnosis of this complex and vast spectrum of disorders, the International Headache Society released in 1988 the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD), now in its 3rd edition: a 200 pages document classifying more than 300 different kinds of headaches, where each is identified via a collection of specific nontrivial diagnostic criteria. On the other hand, the high number of headache disorders and their complex criteria make the medical history process inaccurate and not exhaustive both for clinicians and existing automatic tools. To fill this gap, we present HEAD-ASP, a novel decision support system for the diagnosis of headache disorders. Through a REST Web Service, HEAD-ASP implements a dynamic questionnaire that complies with ICHD-3 by exploiting two logical modules to reach a complete diagnosis while trying to minimize the total number of questions being posed to patients. Finally, HEAD-ASP is freely available on-line and it is receiving very positive feedback from the group of neurologists that is testing it.

Olivier Accominotti, Stefano Ugolini

This chapter presents a history of international trade finance - the oldest domain of international finance - from its emergence in the Middle Ages up to today. We describe how the structure and governance of the global trade finance market changed over time and how trade credit instruments evolved. Trade finance products initially consisted of idiosyncratic assets issued by local merchants and bankers. The financing of international trade then became increasingly centralized and credit instruments were standardized through the diffusion of the local standards of consecutive leading trading centres (Antwerp, Amsterdam, London). This process of market centralization/product standardization culminated in the nineteenth century when London became the global centre for international trade finance and the sterling bill of exchange emerged as the most widely used trade finance instrument. The structure of the trade finance market then evolved considerably following the First World War and disintegrated during the interwar de-globalization and Bretton Woods period. The reconstruction of global trade finance in the post-1970 period gave way to the decentralized market structure that prevails nowadays.

Eseohe Glory Okoedion, Ugo Chuks Okolie

In one form or another, the phenomena associated with “meaning transfer” become central issues in a lot of recent work on semantics. This study is our contribution towards clarifying the expression “The Meaning of Life” in the proceedings of the 2010 Literary Society of Nigeria (LSN) Annual Conference. Our modus operandi for that set objective is to elucidate the formulation the meaning of life in the conference”s theme and sub-themes, by examining incisively the notion of meaning within the said formulation. Our interest in meaning is rooted in semantics, an academic discipline universally defined as “the study of meaning”. Our intellectual tools for the analysis are (i) the symbolist theory of meaning, attributable to Ogen & Richards (1923), as well as to Lyons (1981 & 1995); (ii) the performative theory of meaning in Uwajeh (1996b, 1996c, 2002 & 2010); and (iii) the subjective well-being theory of meaning, in Diener, Lucas & Oishi (2002). The overall thrust of our argumentation shows up through our confronting the meaning in the 2010 LSN Annual conference”s “The Meaning of Life” with the meaning in “The Study of Meaning” of semantics.

N. U. Seniuk, Zachary de Groot

This article is devoted to studying the motives, preferences, and market entry barriers for Russian high-tech start-ups and small innovative enterprises (SIE) that took part in the “Startup Village” event held at Skolkovo Innovation Centre in May 2019. Due to limitations in neoclassical theories, corporate motivation at the micro-level cannot be accurately quantified. Thus, this work uses survey and interview methods to gather primary data directly from top representatives of participating enterprises. In total, about 100 participants were interviewed. Every respondent expressed intentions to engaged in for eign economic activity; half of them already have experience operating outside of Russia. Further, 44% intend to sell their business or intellectual property rights outright, with only 12% ready to cooperate in a join venture. Based on the analysis of the results, the corporate motives of Russian startups and SIEs going abroad is in seeking: new markets (17.3%), improved efficiency (20.0%), resources (40.0%), and strategic assets (22.7%). This is diverges significantly from the average estimates made by UNCTAD in 2005/2006, where they found motivation from foreign companies in developing and transition economies to be 51%/22%/13%/14%. Against this background, Russian innovative enterprises appear far more resource-oriented and more interested in finding strategic assets. However, they are notably less interested in acquiring new markets or efficiency gains. Additionally, the preferences in foreign partners by Russian enterprises exhi bit some variety. Many choose the CIS countries (mainly Belarus and Kazakhstan) and BRICS nations (primarily China) as desirable partners. Most also express interest in developed economies in the EU (namely Germany). Among the main barriers to establishing foreign relations is the lack of personal finances and other key resources, as well as a lack of state support in promoting Russian companies abroad. Based on the obtained results, impactful recommendations are offered to the government of the Russian Federation to strengthen the investment motivation of Russian innovative enterprises. Also, recommendations are given to advance the international cooperation of BRICS in the form of joint global value chains (GVCs) using their own innovative capability.

Mayra Nilson, Vard Antinyan, Lucas Gren

Internal software quality determines the maintainability of the software product and influences the quality in use. There is a plethora of metrics which purport to measure the internal quality of software, and these metrics are offered by static software analysis tools. To date, a number of reports have assessed the validity of these metrics. No data are available, however, on whether metrics offered by the tools are somehow validated in scientific studies. The current study covers this gap by providing data on which tools and how many validated metrics are provided. The results show that a range of metrics that the tools provided do not seem to be validated in the literature and that only a small percentage of metrics are validated in the provided tools.

Velykodska Olena

The article deals with basic requirements to the translation for specific purposes, namely legal translation. The problem posed here is defining object and theoretical basis of legal translation. The question of the necessity of information search as an integral part of translation strategy has been raised. Detailed analysis revealed that the requirements of professional translators include knowledge of lexical and grammatical peculiarities of both languages in legal sphere; deep understanding of the concepts employed by specialists in particular field and the specialist terms used to express these concepts and their relationships in the source and target languages. It is recommended that evaluation of the translation may be done on the following principles: communicative pragmatic norms of translation; equivalent norms of translation; absence of contextual, cultural, functional, lexico-grammatical mistakes.