The Policy of Regional Convergence in Russia-Belarus integration: Prospects for Development

In a number of cases, integration of a large international region or an interstate union can only be promoted by political means. The policy of regional economic convergence prevails in many sectors. The single economic market and membership in economic and monetary unions give a new impetus to consolidation. The study aims to identify and explore the problems of political governance, which the Union State of Russia-Belarus faces due to their asymmetric and not completely compatible economies. The author analyzes the process of interstate convergence, considering it as an essential part of integration and explores a number of specific characteristics underlying the Russian-Belarusian economic integration. The author offers a set of criteria of convergence/not convergence of the states, describes the principles of their economic and political rapprochement and offers models of convergence as well as prerequisites for them. The article examines the principles that determine the participation of a country in international integration as well as prospects for the further development of the regional economic and political mechanisms, which are being forme

Human Skeletal Remains Newly Excavated at Karanayevsky Kurgan Cemetery of the Srubnaya Culture

Introduction. This paper presents results of an anthropological and paleopathological studies of newly excavated materials from the Karanayevsky cemetery located in the Southwestern Bashkortostan and attributed to Srubnaya culture. The goal of this study was to introduce new data from kurgan 2, as well as to compare this sample with the samples from other Karanayevsky kurgans, and with synchronous population characteristics of the region. Discussion involves skeletal material from 12 individual burials (nine children and three adults). Methods. Sex, age and the state of preservation/completeness of the remains were assessed. We performed a morphometric study, an analysis of dental morphology, description of pathologies and individual characteristics, taking into consideration the recommendations in the specific literature. The Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to test for the relationship between skeletal preservation, sex, age, and grave construction. A single cranium from the kurgan was compared with the pooled samples from the region using Heincke’s method. The Fisher’s exact test was used to assess the possible statistical differences in frequencies of dental non-metric traits between the Karanayevsky kurgan 2 sample and the pooled Srubnaya samples of the Pre-Urals. Analysis. The skeleton preservation appears to be related to the age of the buried, but to a greater extent varies depending on the depth of the grave. The female skull from kurgan 2 shows characteristics of European ancestry and has mesomorphic morphology with a medium or slightly weakened horizontal and vertical profiling. It shows similarity to the pooled Srubnaya craniological series from the forest-steppe subareas. The dental morphology observed in the sample corresponds to the archaic gracile variant of European ancestry. Osteometric data characterize adult individuals as representatives of the mesomorphic, moderately massive group with reduced or medium limb length. Like in other groups of the region, the sample is defined by the predominance of dental calculus and dental chips, some markers of physiological and mechanical stress and the absence of indicators of specific infections. Results. In general, the Karanayevsky kurgan 2 skeletal sample corresponds to the characteristics of other Karanaevsky cemetery samples, and is consistent with the results on the synchronous sites of the Pre-Urals and Trans-Urals

Drivers of Exchange Rate Dynamics in Selected CIS Countries: Evidence from a FAVAR Analysis

We investigate the likely sources of exchange rate dynamics in selected CIS countries (Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, and Moldova) over the past decade (1999-2008). The analysis is based on country VAR models augmented by a regional common factor structure (FAVAR model). The models include nominal exchange rates, the common factor of exchange rates in the CIS countries, and global drivers such as gold, oil and share prices. Global, regional and idiosyncratic shocks are identified in a standard Cholesky fashion. Based on the decomposition of the variance of forecast errors, their relevance for exchange rates is explored. As a quite robust finding, CIS exchange rates have become more vulnerable to global shocks towards the end of the sample

Ten millennia of hepatitis B virus evolution

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been infecting humans for millennia and remains a global health problem, but its past diversity and dispersal routes are largely unknown. We generated HBV genomic data from 137 Eurasians and Native Americans dated between ~10,500 and ~400 years ago. We date the most recent common ancestor of all HBV lineages to between ~20,000 and 12,000 years ago, with the virus present in European and South American hunter-gatherers during the early Holocene. After the European Neolithic transition, Mesolithic HBV strains were replaced by a lineage likely disseminated by early farmers that prevailed throughout western Eurasia for ~4000 years, declining around the end of the 2nd millennium BCE. The only remnant of this prehistoric HBV diversity is the rare genotype G, which appears to have reemerged during the HIV pandemic

Direct and inverted connections between factor migration and factor trade in the unified economy

The article focuses its attention on the issues of the interstate factor migration and factor trade mutual dependence and mutual influence within the integration processes. The model of the «distance — the level of the interstate trade» correlation has been offered as well as the reasons of the goods, labor force, entrepreneurship resources in the global economic entities has been defined

Политика региональной конвергенции в российско-белорусском интеграционном процессе: перспективы развития

In a number of cases, integration of a large international region or an interstate union can only be promoted by political means. The policy of regional economic convergence prevails in many sectors. The single economic market and membership in economic and monetary unions give a new impetus to consolidation. The study aims to identify and explore the problems of political governance, which the Union State of Russia-Belarus faces due to their asymmetric and not completely compatible economies. The author analyzes the process of interstate convergence, considering it as an essential part of integration and explores a number of specific characteristics underlying the Russian-Belarusian economic integration. The author offers a set of criteria of convergence/not convergence of the states, describes the principles of their economic and political rapprochement and offers models of convergence as well as prerequisites for them. The article examines the principles that determine the participation of a country in international integration as well as prospects for the further development of the regional economic and political mechanisms, which are being formed now. Based on the given economic indicators, the author gives a forecast of the development of the union state

Analysis of industrial injuries and assessment of the risk of injury to railway power supply workers

The purpose of this study is to analyze industrial injuries and assess the risk of injury to railway power supply workers based on mathematical statistics. It is shown that the level of injuries of this category of employees is at a significant level (the frequency coefficient of general injuries is higher by 2.6 times, and the frequency coefficient of fatal injuries is 5.7 times relative to the corresponding frequency coefficients in general for JSC “Russian Railways”). Based on the research results, the main causes of accidents with a fatal outcome were: poor organization and planning of work, violations of the technological process, violations in the use of personal protective equipment, lack of supervision on the part of the contractor, violation of work rules at the height, the extension of work place. The assessment of the risk of injury of contact network of electricians showed two possible types of accidents with them: electric shock and falling from a height. The probability of accidents is 0.031 and 0.051, respectively, with the number of injuries for each of the received scenarios on the five- year planning horizon being 7.85 and 12.75, respectively. The presented approach to assessing injury risks, supplemented by the method of expert assessments, will allow identifying and evaluating specific hazards at the workplace of linear level enterprises, respectively, to increase the effectiveness of developing of programs to improve working conditions and safety, and the effectiveness of implementing of tools for managing professional risks in order to reduce industrial injuries of employees of power supply divisions

THE CONTENTS OF SOME TRACE ELEMENTS IN THE AQUATIC ORGANISMS OF THE CASPIAN SEA

Objective: to determine the levels of essential elements (copper, zinc and manganese) in the liver of Russian and Persian sturgeon and their basic food sites, as well as in the liver of the Caspian seal, which is a functional depot for many metals. Methods. Sampling was carried out according to generally accepted methods, determination of heavy metals produced by atomic-absorption spectroscopy using atomic absorption spectrometer with connection atomizaciej MGA-MD 915. Results. The concentration of zinc in all investigated sites exceed-valid, while zinc is not able to accumulate up the food chain. The level of accumulation of copper was higher than the maximum prescribed only in the liver of the Caspian seal as the holder of a faster metabolism. Manganese in maximum concentration has been found in the liver of the Caspian seal, but does not exceed the permissible values. Since the liver is the primary organ, concentrating this trace element. Conclusions. Accumulation of trace elements depends on the physiological characteristics of an organism, the properties of the trace element and from Wednesday