Liberal peace and South Asia

Following the end of the Cold War, South Asia has been in transition in a number of ways. Based on the Kantian tripod of democracy, economic interdependence and institution, this article assesses whether liberal peace has taken root in South Asia. It concludes that although an incipient liberal order may be discerned in the region, South Asia has yet to change fundamentally to become a zone of liberal peace. Particularly the Indo-Pakistani relationship remains frosty which constrains the building of a liberal order in the region

Sheikh Hasina Government’s India policy: a three-level game?

This article seeks to analyze the sources of the Sheikh Hasina government’s India-positive foreign policy approach from theoretical and empirical standpoints. Theoretically, it engages three broad schools of thought and their competing claims about state foreign policy behaviour. These claims then are examined in the context of Bangladesh’s foreign policy towards India. It is argued here that three levels—individual, unit/national and external environment—need to be engaged together to understand the sources of the Sheikh Hasina government’s India polic

An Analysis of Trend of Urbanisation in Tripura, India

Tripura is a small state in North East India. It evolves as an independent ‘Princely State’ and maintains its princely status after 1947 also. In 1949, Tripura merges with Indian Union and becomes a full-fledged state in 1972. The state is on its paths of development as an important member of North Eastern Council. Development and growth are usually related with the extent of urbanisation. The present paper analyses trend of urbanisation in Tripura

Design of a CMOS-Memristive Mixed-Signal Neuromorphic System with Energy and Area Efficiency in System Level Applications

The von Neumann architecture has been the backbone of modern computers for several years. This computational framework is popular because it defines an easy, simple and cheap design for the processing unit and memory. Unfortunately, this architecture faces a huge bottleneck going forward since complexity in computations now demands increased parallelism and this architecture is not efficient at parallel processing. Moreover, the post-Moore\u27s law era brings a constant demand for energy-efficient computing with fewer resources and less area. Hence, researchers are interested in establishing alternatives to the von Neumann architecture and neuromorphic computing is one of the few aspiring computing architectures that contributes to this research effectively. Initially, neuromorphic computing attracted attention because of the parallelism found in the bio-inspired networks and they were interested in leveraging this advantage on a single chip. Moreover, the need for speed in real time performance also escalated the popularity of neuromorphic computing and different research groups started working on hardware implementations of neural networks. Also, neuroscience is consistently building a better understanding of biological networks that provides opportunities for bridging the gap between biological neuronal activities and artificial neural networks. As a consequence, the idea behind neuromorphic computing has continued to gain in popularity. In this research, a memristive neuromorphic system for improved power and area efficiency has been presented. This particular implementation introduces a mixed-signal platform to implement neural networks in a synchronous way. In addition to mixed-signal design, a nano-scale memristive device has been introduced that provides power and area efficiency for the overall system. The system design also includes synchronous digital long term plasticity (DLTP), an online learning methodology that helps train the neural networks during the operation phase, improving the efficiency in learning when considering power consumption and area overhead. This research also proposes a stochastic neuron design with a sigmoidal firing rate. The design introduces variability in the membrane capacitance to reach different membrane potential leading to a variable stochastic firing rate

The BRI and Sino-Indian geo-economic competition in Bangladesh: Coping strategy of a small state

This article explains the Sino-Indian geo-economic competition in Bangladesh in the wake of the former’s launching of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013. Beijing intends to fund various large-scale infrastructure projects in Bangladesh under the BRI which has prompted India to make its own offer of economic assistance to counter the Chinese initiative. The Sino-Indian competition has created challenges and opportunities for Bangladesh. Dhaka is pursuing a balanced policy to manage the competition and advance its own interests

DETERMINING THE KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR MANAGING THE WAREHOUSE PERFORMANCE: A CASE STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL LOGISTIC COMPANY

Measuring the performance of a warehouse is necessary to enhance the efficiency of the logistics system. To enhance warehouse efficiency, it is essential to define Key Efficiency Indicators (KPIs). This study attempts to discover the KPIs of warehouses to enable warehouse managers to take corrective measures quickly and effectively for their warehouses. This master's thesis is based on a case study that was conducted at DHL, which is a multinational corporation. A qualitative methodology was used in this study, and primary data was gathered via a total of ten interviews, both formal and semi-structured. KPIs and operation and process management were the subjects of secondary data analysis, which included perusing scholarly articles. In addition, internal papers were used as a supplementary source. This study has found 13 KPIs that are associated with warehouse operations. It has been determined that productivity and demand forecast accuracy are the two most important key performance metrics. This research will add to the knowledge about suitable KPIs used for measuring warehouse performance. KEYWORDS

SAARC and region-building: is South Asia a region?

'Region' is a contested concept. Although scholars have extensively debated the issue, there is no consensus on the definition of region. While some scholars emphasise geographic proximity as a key factor, others put importance to cognitive and ideational factors, yet some others seek to combine the two perspectives to define region. Against such a background, this paper explains the complexities of defining South Asia as a region. It explores the historical evolution of the identification of the region and analyses how region building in recent decades, instead of consolidating its regionness, has produced a multiplicity of discourses, narratives and meanings about South Asia as a region. This is particularly evident if South Asia is examined in terms of 'economic', 'security' and 'cultural' region. Importantly, these discourses, narratives and meanings are not necessarily symmetrical and compatible with each other although they co-exist in an uneasy manner at both regional and national levels. And, they are contingent and subject to change over time

IRX4は膵の発がんで重要な役割を果たしている

要約のみTohoku University堀井明課

Do the Family Structures Influence the Academic Performance between Native Children and Immigrant Children?

The study aims to find out the differences in academic performances among native, first-generation immigrant, and second-generation children when their family structure differs by two-parent families and single-parent families. Children of Finland and Great Britain are chosen from the PISA 2012 dataset for the analysis. Linear regression with stepwise models and interaction between immigration status and family structure has been used for the analysis. The study found that there is a significant difference in academic performance among Finnish native and immigrant children, however, after controlling Economic, Social, and Cultural status (ESCS), the significant association between academic performance and second-generation immigrant children has been lost. And no significant differences have been found when family structure interacts with immigrant status. Finnish native children who are raised by both parents have the highest significant PISA scores among all the groups of children and 1st generation immigrant children from one-parent families have the lowest estimated PISA scores. British 1st generation immigrant children with two-parent family backgrounds have the highest estimated PISA scores and British 2nd generation immigrant children from single-parent families have the lowest estimated PISA scores. Negative significant associations on academic differences have been found between native and second-generation immigrant groups. Correspondingly, a negative significant interaction effect has been found between family structure and second-immigrant status after controlling ESCS. According to the study, it can be argued that Finland’s 1st generation immigrant children and British second-generation children from one-parent families are having the double disadvantage of being immigrants and being single-parent familie