Behavioral models of nonlinear filters based on discrete time cellular neural networks

The nonlinear dynamic system modeling based on the input/output relationship results from solving the approximation problem. One can distinguish two large classes: polynomials and neural networks. The different types of neural networks draw attention. The discrete time feedforward cellular neural network is suggested for filtering non-Gaussian noise, as well as the example of nonlinear filters modeling to cancel the impulse noise is represented

Financial dollarization in Russia: causes and consequences

We review some aspects of financial dollarization in Russia, applying the main relevant theories to analyze the dynamics of several dollarization indicators. An econometric model of the short run dynamics of deposit and loan dollarization is estimated for the last decade. We find that ruble appreciation was the main driver of the de-dollarization that occurred then and of the later episode of renewed dollarization. We estimate the overall (and sectoral) currency mismatches of the Russian economy. The results show a gradual improvement of the net foreign currency position of the public sector, where we have seen significant accumulation of international reserves by the Bank of Russia and repayment of government debt. Evidence is also presented for the significant currency risk vulnerability of the nonbanking private sector. Several existing empirical studies are examined in order to assess the growth losses of the Russian economy following the crisis of 2008, which was linked with the financial dollarization.financial dollarization; currency mismatch; balance sheet effects; Russia

Preface to the Special Issue: The Divine, the Demonic and the Beyond in Belief, Narrative and Practice of Central and East Asia

Preface to the Special Issue: The Devine, the Demonic and the Beyond in Belief, Narrative and Practice of Central and East Asia

Postsotsialistliku Mongoolia taasärkavad vaimolendid: rahvapärased teooriad ja praktikad

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsiooneMongoolia, „Igavese sinitaeva ja kuldse maa riik“, on Sise-Aasias eriline piirkond. Nii nimetatakse ka rahvusriiki, mis ametlikult esindab mongolitele iseloomulikku kultuuri – nende järeltulijaid, keda keskajal tunti võitmatute rändvallutajatena ja Tšingis-khaani rajatud suure Mongoolia impeeriumi valdajatena. Mongoolia impeeriumi peetakse suurimaks ühtseks riigiks Aasia ja Euroopa aladel. Mongoolia kultuur on olnud seotud paljude teiste, nende hulgas iidsete iraani, uiguuri, turgi, tiibeti ja Kesk-Aasia kultuuridega. Mongoolia ei ole paaril viimasel sajandil olnud maailmas riigina eriti nähtav ning enamik (vähemalt teadusekaugemaid lääne) inimesi on hakanud seda alles hiljuti taasavastama ja nüüd huvitutakse hoopis muust: seekord kui maast, mida iseloomustavad varjatud vabadusepüüded, metsik loodus, elavad traditsioonid ja kirglik vaimsus. Tõepoolest, tänapäeval esindab Mongoolia omapärast kultuuri, mis ühendab endas väga erinevaid väljendusvahendeid ja seisab silmitsi tänapäevaste probleemidega. See on kultuur, mis on surutud Venemaa ja Hiina vahele ning sunnitud toime tulema keerulises geopoliitiliste huvide võrgustikus, säilitades positsiooni ida- ja läänemaailma vahel, kohanedes üleilmastumise ja kiire linnastumisega, püüdes seejuures siiski säilitada oma traditsioonilisi väärtusi ja elustiili ning jäädes truuks oma rändkarjuste pärandile. Mongoolia pikk ajalugu kätkeb paljusid suuri ja dramaatilisi sündmusi, mis on Mongoolia kultuuri mõjutanud tasapisi, aga teinekord ka väga jõuliselt. Neist ajaloolistest protsessidest kõige märgatavam ja julmem oli sotsialism, mis kestis üle seitsmekümne aasta (1924–1991). Nii on tänapäevane Mongoolia näide sellest, kuidas selle keerulise ajaloolise katsumusega toime tulla, kuidas seda on kontseptualiseeritud ja ületatud, ja millel on nii üldisem tähtsus „nõukogulike ühiskondade“ mõistmiseks paljude sarnase minevikuga riikide seas. Rahvusluse esilekerkimises ja postsotsialistlikus Mongoolias on olnud suur roll üleloomulikul ja religioossusel – need olid ateistliku režiimi vaenlased ja ohvrid, mis olid olnud aastakümneid alla surutud ja mõistetud elama varjatud, hillitsetud elu. 1990. aastate alguses naasis üleloomulik element uuesti Mongoolia kultuuri, näidates selgelt oma suurt elujõudu ja makstes kätte hävinud ateistlikule ideoloogiale. Traditsioonilised üleloomulikud kujutluspildid ja motiivid hõlmasid erinevaid valdkondi ja kontekste, muutudes nii oluliseks osaks ühiskonnast: need olid Tšingis-khaani vaim, „rahva kaitsja ja isa“, riiklikult pühaks kuulutatud mägede jumalused, kohalikud loodusvaimud, erinevad deemonid, vaimud ja rahutud hinged jne. Neist said rahvusliku ärkamisaja ja uue riigi ideoloogilised sümbolid, milles väljendusid nii kollektiivne mälu ja sotsiaalsed suhted kui ka argielu mured, postsotsialistliku riigi lootused ja tänapäevased hirmud, pälvides üha suurema hulga rituaaliekspertide tähelepanu.Mongolia, the “Land of the Eternal Blue Sky and Golden Earth”, is a special area of Inner Asia. It is also the name of a nation-state officially representing the distinctive culture of Mongols, descendants of those who in medieval times were famous as invincible nomadic conquerors, holders of the great Mongolian Empire founded by Genghis Khan and regarded as the largest contiguous state formation between Asia and Europe. Mongolian culture has ties to multiple cultural traditions including the ancient Iranian, Uyghur, Turkic, Tibetan and Central Asian cultures. Mongolia has not been as visible on the world stage over the last few centuries, and most people (at least, most western non-scholars) only began to rediscover it recently and in a new perspective: this time as a hidden land of freedom, wild nature, living traditions and flourishing spirituality. Indeed, nowadays Mongolia represents a peculiar culture, combining very different features and facing contemporary challenges. It is a culture that is sandwiched between Russia and China and must move in a complex web of geopolitical interests, maintaining a position between the eastern and western worlds, undergoing the processes of globalization and a rapid urbanization, while still attempting to preserve traditional values and lifestyle and remaining close to its pastoralist heritage. Between now and then, there has been a long road of great and dramatic events influencing Mongolian culture both gradually and harshly. The most significant and cruel of the recent ones was the experience of socialism which lasted for more than seventy years (1924–1991). Hence, nowadays Mongolia presents an example of handling, conceptualizing and overcoming this arduous experience, which has more general importance for understanding ‘Soviet-type societies’ in a number of such countries with a similar past. Significant roles in the ‘national revival’ and post-socialist Mongolian society were played by various categories of the supernatural and religious – the atheistic regime’s enemies and victims, suppressed and condemned for dozens of years to a hidden, ‘whispering’ form of existence. In the early 1990’s, the supernatural burst back into Mongolian culture, clearly demonstrating its superior vitality and taking its revenge on the ruined atheistic ideology. Traditional images and motifs of the supernatural occupied various realms and contexts, revealing their important social character: the spirit of Genghis Khan, the main patron of the nation, supernatural lords of the state worshiped mountains, local nature spirits, the lord of the fire, hearth, various demons, ghosts and restless souls, etc. They became symbols of the national revival and the new state ideology, expressions of collective memories and social relations, as well as of the sorrows of private life, the hopes and fears of post-socialist reconstruction and the present time, demanding (and receiving) the attention of an increasing number of specialists in ritual concerns. The Mongolian example of national and religious revivals has a number of peculiar features. One of these is that while the supernatural figures are the most active mouthpieces of independence and nationalism, the creators of post-socialist spiritual and public environment, they are not from ‘high’ pantheons or epic traditions as often would be the case when constructing national identities. On the contrary, Mongolian representatives of the supernatural belong to realm of vernacular beliefs very close to everyday life. This work tries to follow the clues and to reveal the grounds for vitality of some supernatural and religious concepts in contemporary Mongolia.https://www.ester.ee/record=b542310

Равновесие и динамика адсорбции паров воды на металлорганическом каркасе MOF-801

В работе представлены результаты исследования равновесия и динамики адсорбции паров воды на металлоорганическом каркасе MOF-801 с целью оценки потенциала его применения в системах адсорбционного охлаждения. Показано, что адсорбция воды на MOF-801 характеризуется S-образными изобарами IV типа по классификации ИЮПАК. В условиях типичного рабочего цикла адсорбционного холодильника (АХ) MOF-801 обменивает 0,21 г/г и может быть регенерирован при 80-85°С, что позволяет использовать источники низкотемпературной теплоты (солнечная энергия). Динамика адсорбции на гранулах MOF-801 в условиях рабочего цикла АХ происходит в режиме, при котором скорость процесса определяется отношением S/m площади поверхности теплопереноса S к массе адсорбента m. Эффективность и удельная мощность АХ с использованием пары "MOF-801-вода" достигают 0,67 и 2 кВт/кг соответственно, что представляет большой практический интерес

The worth of immigrants' educational credentials in the Canadian labour market

The literature has reported that immigrants’ foreign credentials have been undervalued in Canada. However, the extent to which immigrants’ credentials attained in different world regions have been valued or undervalued is unclear. This study uses data from the 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey to assess the worth of immigrants’ educational credentials in Canada, taking into account different fields of study. The major findings indicate that there were significant gross and net earnings disparities among immigrant men and women with educational credentials attained in different world regions. Foreign credentials from the US and Northern and Western Europe of immigrant men and those from the USA and all parts of Europe of immigrant women had an earnings advantage compared to immigrants whose credentials were from Canada. The results also suggest that immigrant men with foreign credentials in health fields and in commerce, management and business administration had the greatest difficulties to getting their foreign credentials recognized. Similar to immigrant men, foreign education of immigrant women in the fields of commerce, management and business administration as well as in natural, applied sciences and engineering was the most devaluated compared to women with Canadian credentials. In addition, both immigrant men and women with education from the USA and Northern and Western Europe irrespective of the field of study had the best chance to enjoy an earnings premium over their counterparts with Canadian education. The relationship between education and earnings among Canadian immigrants is further explained using a political economy perspective of racialization

Cascade Structure of Digital Predistorter for Power Amplifier Linearization

In this paper, a cascade structure of nonlinear digital predistorter (DPD) synthesized by the direct learning adaptive algorithm is represented. DPD is used for linearization of power amplifier (PA) characteristic, namely for compensation of PA nonlinear distortion. Blocks of the cascade DPD are described by different models: the functional link artificial neural network (FLANN), the polynomial perceptron network (PPN) and the radially pruned Volterra model (RPVM). At synthesis of the cascade DPD there is possibility to overcome the ill conditionality problem due to reducing the dimension of DPD nonlinear operator approximation. Results of compensating nonlinear distortion in Wiener–Hammerstein model of PA at the GSM–signal with four carriers are shown. The highest accuracy of PA linearization is produced by the cascade DPD containing PPN and RPVM