Putin's strategy: stabilization through subordination to the US

La posició de Rússia en el món ve determinada per les seves relacions amb els Estats Units. Després de la seva derrota a la guerra freda, tant els demòcrates com els comunistes esperen alguna forma de paritat, però els Estats Units no havien derrotat Rússia per concedir la paritat. Els Estats Units es van retirar unilateralment del Tractat ABMel 2001, l'inici de les negociacions va perdre el seu sentit, l'OTAN s'ha expandit gradualment malgrat les objeccions de Rússia i Rússia ha acceptat les bases dels Estats Units a l'Àsia Central. Rússia pot buscar consol en el fet que el NMD no és tecnològicament convincent, que l'OTAN és massa feble per a l'acció—Rússia també forma part de l'OTAN—, en l'eliminació de l'amenaça terrorista talibana i en l'absència d'un enfrontament directe amb els Estats Units. Per tal de protegir-se de les amenaces com la insurgència txetxena, Rússia ha fixat la seva atenció a reformar l'exèrcit i en la capacitat convencional. Avui els tractes de Rússia amb Líbia, l'Iraq, l'Iran i Corea del Nord tenen més a veure amb càlculs comercials que no pas amb desafiaments als Estats Units. Les seves relacions especials amb la Xina i l'Índia—que són realment independents dels Estats Units—també tenen motius comercials, com ara la venda d'armes a gran escala, i no motius estratègics, tot i que aquests últims sempre es mantenen a la reserva per si són necessaris.Russia’s position in the world is determined by its relations with the US. After its defeat in the ColdWar, both democrats and communists hoped for some form of parity but the US had not defeated Russia to concede parity. The US unilaterally withdrew from the ABM Treaty in 2001, the START negotiations lost all meaning, NATO has steadily expanded despite Russia’s objections and Russia has accepted US bases in Central Asia. Russia can seek solace in the NMD not being technologically convincing, in NATO being too flabby for action (and Russia itself being a part of NATO), in the terrorist threat of the Taliban being eliminated, and in the absence of direct confrontation with the US. In order to ward off threats like the Chechen insurgency, Russia has turned its attention to reforming the army and to conventional capability. Today, Russia’s dealings with Libya, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea have more to do with commercial calculations than challenges to the US. Its special relationships with China and India – that are genuinely independent of the US – are likewise driven by commercial issues, such as large scale arms sales, rather than strategic considerations, although the latter are always kept in reserve should they be needed

Russia in theTwenty-first Century

Russia’s position in the world is determined by her relations with the US, with both the Democrats and the Communists expecting some form of parity. But the US has not defeated Russia in the Cold War to concede parity. The US unilaterally withdrew from the ABM Treaty in 2001; the START negotiations have lost meaning; NATO has been steadily expanded over Russian objections; and Russia has accepted US bases in Central Asia. Russia can seek solace in the NMD not yet being technologically convincing, in NATO being too flabby for action and Russia herself being a part of NATO, in the terrorist threat of the Taliban being eliminated, and in the absence of direct confrontation with the US. Therefore Russia has turned her attention to conventional capability to beat off threats like the Chechen insurgency and to reforming the army. Russia’s dealing with Libya, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea have more to do with commercial calculations than challenges to the US. Her special relationships with China and India, the ones that are genuinely independent of US, are likewise driven by the commercial issue of large scale arms sales rather than strategic considerations, although the latter are always kept in view in case they have to be activated

Immigrant Labour in the Context of Demographic Change, Youth Unemployment and Job Mismatches: The Case of Italy

This thesis explores the impact of immigrant labour inflow on labour market segmentation in Italy. In particular, it explores the potential of immigrant labour to resolve challenges caused by a demographic transition and a shrinking workforce in Italy as well as relative shortages of labour and skill mismatches in the labour market. This question is of relevance because: Italy on the one hand has the largest share of ageing population amongst European countries with 22.6% aged 65 and older , while on the other, it faces the challenge of high youth unemployment with 32% of population between 15 and 25 being out of the work force in 2018 . Further, the country has witnessed a spike in immigrant labour with foreign residents in Italy amounting to as much as 11 % of the total population in 2021. In this context, massive immigrant labour inflow is seen as a potential solution to supplementing a diminishing working age population and thereby increasing the working age population ratio and the population size in general. It is also seen as a means of filling in gaps in the labour market caused by labour shortages due to skill mismatches and task preferences of native workers in sectors of the Italian economy. The study has found that even when foreign-born workers in the Italian labour market have similar characteristics with regard to educational level, gender, place of residence and age group they are unlikely to compete with Italian workers for jobs. Rather, they occupy very different sectors from an occupational perspective within the Italian labour market. Foreign born workers on an average tend to perform tasks demanding hard physical labour while native workers tend to specialize in tasks of a sedentary nature that require higher level of skills and formal training. The study and analysis in this thesis taken together point to the possibility of immigrant labour being a potential and promising means to resolve the problems faced by an economy with an increasingly ageing workforce and with large scale skill mismatches. Further, the contribution of immigrant labour could be seen as a likely means of avoiding a slump in growth rates of the economy and thereby maintain the standard of living of the entire population. Keywords: Demographic change, Immigration, Labour markets, Skills, Mismatches, Human capital, Employment.Englis

A Preliminary Study on the Engineering Properties of Clay Soil

Karl Von Terzaghi, the father of soil mechanics, says, “There is no other soil which is as problematic as clay soil”. In many places across the badlands of Alberta, clay soil is known to be troublesome and cause issues with buildings and infrastructure. Climate conditions, erosion and weathering can cause the unstable clay soil to create landslides, which consequently damage many of these structures. For this reason, engineers are sent to these sites to monitor and collect data over a period of time to compare and contrast their results. The purpose of this study is to learn and understand the properties of clay soils through different classification and index tests. Two clay soils, kaolinite and bentonite, were tested for their properties and their results were compared. Some of the tests performed include the hydrometer analysis, pycnometer analysis, and atterberg limits. The hydrometer analysis is the process in determining the size of silts and clays (when sieves cannot be used). The pycnometer analysis is used to determine the specific gravity of a substance. Atterberg limits are used to determine the water content at which a soil starts to shift from liquid, plastic or semi-solid. These tests were done in two different solutions - one containing distilled water and one with saline water - to understand the effect of the solution on the liquid and plastic limits. The goal of this study was achieved and the results can be used to understand more about the engineering properties of clay soils and apply these studies to future field work. By understanding these properties, further research can be done to discover long term solutions to landslides caused by the problematic soil

Settlement Analysis of Back-to-Back Reinforced Retaining Walls

Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) walls are one of the most common soil-retaining structures in the world. They are cost-effective soil-retaining structures that can tolerate large settlements compared to conventional gravity retaining walls. MSE walls are also an economical way to meet everyday earth retention needs for highway and bridge grade separations, railroads, commercial and residential developments. However, available literature and design guidelines for back-to-back MSE walls are limited. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of reinforced back-to-back MSE walls on wall settlements and facing deformations. Models of unreinforced and reinforced retaining walls were modeled and compared using commercially available finite element package PLAXIS 2D and a finite difference package FLAC 2D. Parametric studies were performed to determine the effect of types of facing, spacing between the reinforcements, axial stiffness of reinforcement, friction angles of backfill and foundation soil on foundation settlement, surface settlement, and horizontal displacement of the facing panel. The effects of varying spacing between reinforcements, and friction angle of backfill soil on the critical failure surface and the tension developed in the reinforcements were also studied

The cow, caste and contemporary art in India: aesthetic ecologies and social hierarchies in the twenty-first century

This thesis aims to understand the interaction between the cow, caste, and contemporary art in twenty-first-century India. The cow is a highly contentious animal in India, largely due to its links with politics and religion. Particularly, the religious and political nature of the cow is associated with upper caste Hinduism where it is framed as a divine mother figure. Violence ‘in the name of the cow’ often takes place against those who do not subscribe to this framing of the cow, like members of the Dalit community who engage with the cow as animal as a source of beef and labour. Overall, it appears as though it is the cow, in its image, that is most visible in Indian society and culture, as opposed to the cow as an animal. The violence that takes place against Dalits, for instance, is in the name of the cow-as-image. This suggests that the cow’s animal nature or animality (cow-as-animal) is often superseded by its divine image (cow-as-image). By focusing on four contemporary artists from India and the diaspora who identify as Dalit—G. Chandru (b.1951), Sajan Mani (b.1981), Siddhesh Gautam (b.1991), and Kirtika Kain (b.1990)—this thesis considers the extent to which these artists attempt to disengage from the normative religious and political associations of the cow in India. The artists are presented here as disrupting and unsettling long-established social hierarchies and power structures of caste in relation to the cow. The thesis uses caste studies and animal studies as an approach to consider the artists’ varying interventions and disruptions. Chandru’s painted cows demonstrate that even in attempts to highlight the cow’s animality, it is its divine image that most often dominates perceptions. Sajan Mani’s performances as the cow highlight themes of food, labour, and the art world in relation to caste discrimination, using the cow-as-image and cow-as-animal to underscore these conceptions. The digital cow that Siddhesh Gautam illustrates on social media shows that the hegemonic upper caste associations of the cow can be disrupted and underlined by employing tools like satire and cartooning. Finally, Kirtika Kain shows that the material presence of the cow, especially cow dung, can represent a personal and collective narrative rooted in diasporic histories and experiences of caste and thus separate from its normative religious associations. Ultimately, the thesis argues that bringing together the cow-as-image and the cow-as-animal helps to critique and challenge social hierarchies like caste. Such a bringing together of the animal and the image is a merging of aesthetic ecologies and social hierarchies which aspire to dismantle systems of oppression

Machine learning for energy consumption optimization in HVAC systems

This project aims to optimise energy consumption in Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning systems modifying their working schedules. Taking advantage of a machine learning algorithm I have developed (based on Python), schedules can be daily updated depending on multiple variables and guaranteeing comfort. To facilitate the interaction with the algorithm, I have also created a simple website to introduce the data required and to display the results. The project has been developed in Montrol Open Solutions, SL