This book defines Eurasianism, a political idea with a long tradition, for a new century. Historically, Eurasia was depicted as a “third continent” with a geographical and historical space distinctively different from both Europe and Asia. Today, the concept is mobilized by the Russian foreign policy elite to imagine a close relationship with China and indirectly inspires the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. A Russian-Chinese partnership forms the core of a new Eurasian region, yet Turkey, India, Hungary, Central Asia and the other parts of the supercontinent are also embracing Eurasian concepts. This book is of interest to scholars of Russian and Chinese foreign policy, to economists, and to scholars of political thought.
This book constitutes the proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Formal Concept Analysis, ICFCA 2021, held in Strasbourg, France, in June/July 2021.
The 14 full papers and 5 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 32 submissions. The book also contains four invited contributions in full paper length.
The research part of this volume is divided in five different sections. First, "Theory" contains compiled works that discuss advances on theoretical aspects of FCA. Second, the section "Rules" consists of contributions devoted to implications and association rules. The third section "Methods and Applications" is composed of results that are concerned with new algorithms and their applications. "Exploration and Visualization" introduces different approaches to data exploration.
This book constitutes the proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Mathematical Optimization Theory and Operations Research, MOTOR 2021, held in Irkutsk, Russia, in July 2021.
The 29 full papers and 1 short paper presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 102 submissions. Additionally, 2 full invited papers are presented in the volume. The papers are grouped in the following topical sections: combinatorial optimization; mathematical programming; bilevel optimization; scheduling problems; game theory and optimal control; operational research and mathematical economics; data analysis.
The book begins with a discussion of what a performant system is and progresses to measuring performance and setting performance goals. It introduces different classes of queries and optimization techniques suitable to each, such as the use of indexes and specific join algorithms. You will learn to read and understand query execution plans along with techniques for influencing those plans for better performance. The book also covers advanced topics such as the use of functions and procedures, dynamic SQL, and generated queries. All of these techniques are then used together to produce performant applications, avoiding the pitfalls of object-relational mappers.
Not only is May otherwise undescribed in writing, but it is also the only small Vietic language documented and analysed in such detail, and one of few endangered Austroasiatic languages described so thoroughly. May is predominantly monosyllabic, yet retains traces of affixes and consonant clusters that reflect older disyllabic forms. It is tonal, and also manifests breathy phonation and vowel ongliding, yielding a remarkable complexity of syllable types. The lexicon, which is extensively documented, has a substantial archaic component. Consequently, the volume provides an invaluable resource for comparative historical and typological studies.
The materials of The International Scientific – Practical Conference is presented below. The Conference reflects the modern state of innovation in education, science, industry and social-economic sphere, from the standpoint of introducing new information technologies. It is interesting for a wide range of researchers, teachers, graduate students and professionals in the field of innovation and information technologies.
Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in Russia and Former USSR States is the first full-scale commentary in English that aims at analysing the application of the New York Convention in Russia. The Convention introduced a straightforward model for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, which has had a unifying global effect, and created homogeneous national legal regimes in the field of commercial law. The 15 sovereign states that emerged from the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991, all having adopted the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, today are drawing increasing attention from international law firms and global arbitral institutions. This book is compiled under the editorship of the Secretary General of the Russian Arbitration Association with attention to various relevant national laws and procedures.
Few aspects of today’s world system demand such urgent response as our ability to produce sustainable food. Yet at the same time as malnutrition plagues the world, overuse of land, water, and energy in the agricultural and livestock sectors exacerbates environmental degradation and climate change. This important book, in its focus on the interrelated topics of food, nutrition, animals, health, and environment, critically analyses whether the current food production chain – as regulated by domestic, European, and international food law – is sufficient to guarantee a sustainable food supply, respectful of the right of future generations to adequate nutrition and a healthy environment. The book’s chapters, written by eminent scholars from a variety of countries and legal backgrounds – including leading experts at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) – explore such issues and topics linked to food production as the following: – concentrated animal feeding operations; – relation of human well-being and animal welfare; – manufacturing, trade, and distribution of food products; – human rights concepts of right to food and right to health; – the COVID-19 Pandemic and the One Health Approach; – genetically modified organisms; – deforestation, habitat destruction and zoonoses; – food naming and labelling; and – food risk management. Throughout there is reference to an abundance of legislation, treaties, conventions, and case law at domestic, regional, and international levels, with particular attention to European, US, and World Trade Organization law and the work of the FAO. The book clearly demonstrates the necessity for reform of the global system of food production in the direction of a more sustainable and environment-friendly model. In its authoritative discussion of the relations among fields of law that are rarely discussed together – food law and the environment, food law and human rights, food law and animal welfare – this collection of chapters will prove a valuable resource both for officials working in food governance and security and for lawyers and scholars concerned with environmental management, sustainable development, and human rights around the world.
Historians devote a great deal of attention to the diplomacy that led Russia into the Great War, but have tended to neglect the course of this diplomacy once the fighting erupted. This volume addresses that lacuna with a broad range of essays examining the foreign relations of the empire, as well as its republican and early Soviet successors, from the July 1914 Crisis to the end of the Civil War in 1922.
Written by distinguished and emerging scholars from North America, Europe, Russia, and Japan, the essays make abundant use of Russian archival collections, largely inaccessible until the 1990s, to reassess the conjectures and conclusions previously drawn from other sources. While some chapters focus on traditional “diplomatic” history, others adopt new “international history” by placing Russia’s relations with the world in their social, intellectual, economic, and cultural contexts.
Arranged in roughly chronological order, the first volume covers the late imperial period, from 1914 through mid-1916, while the second proceeds through the revolutions of 1917 and the Civil War, up to the end of that conflict in 1922. Together, these books’ comments should foster a renewed appreciation for international relations as a central element of Russia’s Great War and Revolution.
the Great War, but have tended to neglect the course of this diplomacy once the fighting erupted. This volume addresses that lacuna with a broad range of essays examining the foreign relations of the empire, as well as its republican and early Soviet successors, from the July 1914 Crisis to the end of the Civil War in 1922. Written by distinguished and emerging scholars from North America, Europe, Russia, and Japan, the essays make abundant use of Russian archival collections, largely inaccessible until the 1990s, to reassess the conjectures and conclusions previously drawn from other sources. While some chapters focus on traditional “diplomatic” history, others adopt new “international history” by placing Russia’s relations with the world in their social, intellectual, economic, and cultural contexts. Arranged in roughly chronological order, the first volume covers the late imperial period, from 1914 through mid-1916, while the second proceeds through the revolutions of 1917 and the Civil War, up to the end of that conflict in 1922. Together, these books’ comments should foster a renewed appreciation for international relations as a central element of Russia’s Great War and Revolution.
This book examines the development of bilateral energy relations between China and the two oil-rich countries, Kazakhstan and Russia.
Challenging conventional assumptions about energy politics and China’s global quest for oil, this book examines the interplay of politics and sociocultural contexts. It shows how energy resources become ideas and how these ideas are mobilized in the realm of international relations. China’s relations with Kazakhstan and Russia are simultaneously enabled and constrained by the discursive politics of oil. It is argued that to build collaborative and constructive energy relations with China, its partners in Kazakhstan, Russia, and elsewhere must consider not only the material realities of China’s energy industry and the institutional settings of China’s energy policy but also the multiple symbolic meanings that energy resources and, particularly, oil acquire in China.
China’s Energy Security and Relations with Petrostates offers a nuanced understanding of China’s bilateral energy relations with Kazakhstan and Russia, raising essential questions about the social logic of international energy politics. It will appeal to students and scholars of international relations, energy security, Chinese and post-Soviet studies, along with researchers working in the fields of energy policy and environmental sustainability.
asks whether the Caspian functions as a conceptual framework for various forms of exchange in commerce, diplomacy, political culture, forces of dissent and revolutionary movements, movement of peoples, material culture, art, and literature as well as ecology, disease, navigation and maritime culture. Are there tangible historical ties in the early modern and modern periods between regions of the Caspian littoral – Iran, the South Caucasus, Dagestan, Russia, and Central Asia? In what ways do exchanges in this region connect to neighboring, more established cultural and political spheres and with broader trends of global history? Can these ties create a viable field of study beyond Middle Eastern, Eurasian, and Russian studies to underscore interregional connections? Can the Caspian be conceptualized as an alternative or as a compliment to more established frames, such as the Persianate World or Central Eurasia and the steppe? To what extent can the links within this region be separated from state-centered histories of Iran and the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union?
As the EU’s relations with Russia remain at an all-time low and continue to be in a state of paralysis, marked by de-institutionalisation, inertia and estrangement, the EU’s policy towards Russia seems up for review. By taking stock of the implementation of the EU’s Global Strategy and the five principles that are guiding EU-Russia relations, this volume provides a forward-looking angle and contributes to a better understanding of the current EU-Russia relationship and the prospects for overcoming the existing deadlock. By bringing together European and Russian scholars and adopting an interdisciplinary perspective that combines insights from EU studies, international relations, and European and international law, the book provides a comprehensive and holistic view on the state of affairs in EU-Russia relations.
Non-destructive testing technology methods are usually used for detection, location and sizing of both surface and internal defects of different nature. The School of Non-Destructive Testing of the Tomsk Polytechnic University, Russia, is promoting scientific research and industrial applications of non-destructive testing technology, which includes microwave, acoustical (ultrasonic), infrared, magnetic, vibration, radiography, visual and other testing and related methods, for safety of operation of medical and industrial processes. Today, there is a need for educational materials that will help in the formation and continuous training of their specialists in non-destructive testing. This tutorial can be used as a complementary technical document to enhance the skills of NDT professionals and as a basic resource to educate managers and decision makers in the industry about the future of NDT. The current timely book presents recent advantages and perspective directions in scientific investigations and industrial applications of non-destructive testing in different areas including medicine, quality assurance, sensors and engineering systems: ultrasionic tomography, infrared inspection and spectral analysis, surface material control, diagnostics of metal nanopowders, biomedical engineering. NDT takes centre stage in our technological world, books that highlight what is possible are both welcome and instructive. I am delighted to see this comprehensive book take shape and promote the field to the next generation of researchers looking AQ1 for new avenues to explore.
Given Australia’s lack of energy security strategy, it is not surprising that the country is void of institutional knowledge and know-how of Russian foreign energy strategy. The ‘lucky country’ as it were, relies entirely on sea-lines of communication to the north to supply fuel and to export Australian coal and natural gas. Australia has entered the 2020s as the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter; however, maintaining complacency in Canberra’s current export activities will ultimately lead to a long-term security crisis. This book critically examines Russian energy strategy in the Asia-Pacific, with a view to determining the security implications for Australia. Russia is important for global energy security chains because of its vast resource wealth and its geographical position – a pivotal position to supply both the European and Asian markets. Australia has no such luxury, geographically constrained as an island continent; it relies on the nearby Asia-Pacific import market to demand our energy and to facilitate the delivery of our national oil supplies. Understanding Russian foreign energy strategy in the region is crucial given the growing energy requirements in Australia’s emerging Asia-Pacific arena.
This volume provides an understanding of how systems of child protection evolve in disparate cultural, social and economic contexts. Using the former Soviet Union as a starting point, it examines how 13 countries have developed, defined and evolved their system of protecting children and providing services to families over the last 25 years since independence. The volume runs an uniform approach in each country and then traces the development of unique systems, contributing to the international understanding of child protection and welfare. This volume is a fascinating study for social scientists, social workers, policy makers with particular interest to those focusing on children, youth, and family issues alike as each chapter offers a clear and compelling view of the central changes, competing claims and guiding assumptions that have formed each countries individual approach to child protection and family services.
The 50th volume in the book series ‘Global Perspectives on Higher Education' offers a stimulating and thoughtful assessment of higher education from a global perspective which addresses the challenges and prospects for the next decade. The challenges now faced by higher education and its likely future prospects and patterns are examined in terms of policy papers and case studies. Five broad topics are considered: the situation of academic faculty, the demand for access, the role of the university in society and its governance, funding trends, and higher education’s international dimensions.
The book aims to trace and explain the historical evolution of Moscow, the capital of the Tsardom of Russia, Soviet Union and Russian Federation, as a political entity and political community, and to understand what place Moscow occupied within the Russian political space and what role it played in Russian political life for centuries until 2018. The authors consistently examine the dramatic political history of the contemporary Russian capital in the Moscow (13th – 17th centuries) and St. Petersburg (18th – 19th centuries) epochs, in the Soviet period, in the post-Soviet era, and identify its key points and the most pivotal events.
This article examines the Russian project of Greater Eurasia, the reasons for launching such an initiative, and its possible influence on the current regional and global trends in the field of geopolitics, security policy, and relations between Russia and the European Union. The article argues that Greater Eurasia, as a developing geo-economic and geostrategic community, opens up opportunities for Russia and the European project to reset their relationship by creating new zones of mutual development.
In this article, we consider the problem of a discrepancy between, on the one hand, lay prescriptive judgments on the necessity of altruistic actions and, on the other, attributing moral worth to these actions. Based on Kantian theory of morality, we hypothesized that lay attributions of the moral worth of altruistic actions would be inversely related to normative ought-judgments according to which these actions should be performed, as having positive evolutionary-based utilitarian externalities for the actors. To test this general hypothesis, we conducted two experiments using the same set of vignettes that were constructed based on systematically varying such factors as relatedness, reciprocity, the size of donation, and probability of meeting in the future. The results provide overall confirmation of our assumption, as evaluative judgments about the moral worth were inversely dependent on information provided about possible contributions from such consequentialist, payoff-based mechanisms as kinship and expected reciprocity, while prescriptive judgments were positively influenced by such information cues.
A revised version of the Multicultural Ideology Scale (rMCI) is currently being developed to measure endorsement of multiculturalism in different cultural contexts. This study, which is part of a wider cross-cultural research project, presents the first assessment of the rMCI scale in the German language. The measure aims to cover several attitudinal dimensions of multiculturalism, relevant to the integration of different ethnocultural groups: Cultural Maintenance, Equity/Inclusion, Social interaction, Essentialistic Boundaries, Extent of Differences, and Consequences of Diversity. Two independent datasets were acquired from Germany (N = 382) and Luxembourg (N = 148) to estimate the factor structure of the rMCI using different confirmatory factor analysis techniques. The findings suggest that a 4-factor solution, including Cultural Maintenance, Equity/Inclusion, Social interaction, and Consequences of Diversity, was the best fit for the data. Most of these subscales demonstrated adequate psychometric properties (internal consistency, convergent, and discriminant validity). The 4-factor model of the rMCI was partially invariant across the two ethnic groups and full measurement invariance was established across gender.
Background: Abnormal language development in both expressive and receptive domains occurs in most children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), although the language deficit is not a core symptom of ASD. However, previous studies disagree on the difference in the degree of impairment between expressive and receptive language in ASD. Existing research has concentrated on vocabulary and ‘global expressive and receptive language’, often using parental reports for language assessment. Moreover, most of these studies have focused on toddlers and preschoolers with ASD, whereas data from school-aged children with ASD are very limited. At the same time, the age of children might account for the inconsistencies across publications on expressive-receptive language difference in children with ASD.
Aims: The goal of the study was to directly compare the expressive and receptive language abilities of Russian primary-school-aged children with ASD (7–11 years old) at the levels of vocabulary, morphosyntax, and discourse.
Methods: 82 children with ASD participated in language testing. We used tests from the Russian Child Language Assessment Battery in order to assess vocabulary, morphosyntax, and discourse in expressive and receptive domains.
Results: Our results revealed different expressive and receptive patterns, depending on the linguistic level and tests complexity. Importantly, we showed that children’s non-verbal IQ partly accounted for the difference between production and comprehension abilities.
Conclusions: The expressive-better-than-receptive pattern in language has been considered by some authors as the unique hallmark of ASD. However, several studies, including our own, show that this is not a universal characteristic of ASD. We also revealed that expressive and receptive language patterns differed depending on the linguistic level, children’s non-verbal IQ, and assessment tools.
As of July 2021, more than 153 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 globally. Russia has 5.5 million cases with more than 135,000 deaths; while Kyrgyzstan has nearly 132,000 cases and 2000 deaths. While the virus hit the two nations at different times and with different severities, the two nations, as with so many others, both experienced cases of prejudice toward minority groups blamed for the spread of COVID-19. Using integrated threat theory (ITT), this study cross-culturally examines the link between prejudice toward minorities blamed for the spread of COVID-19 in Russia (Asians) and Kyrgyzstan (migrants) and intergroup contact. Results revealed intergroup contact had a positive effect on realistic and symbolic threat. Additionally, results show Kyrgyz respondents had lower levels of symbolic threat than Russian respondents.
In this paper, we present the results of our analysis of the 110-item basic wordlists for four reconstructed and one ancient languages, the linguistic ancestors of five language families which are hypothesized to constitute the Altaic (a.k.a. Transeurasian) macrofamily: Proto-Turkic, Proto-Mongolic, Proto-Tungusic, Middle Korean and Proto-Japonic wordlists. Protolanguage wordlists were reconstructed according to strict criteria of semantic reconstruction, based on accurate semantic glossing of forms in daughter languages. Each involved form was encoded into a bi-consonantal CC-shaped sequence using the consonant class method, after which a recently developed weighted permutation test was applied. In a typical situation, our algorithm makes a small number of type 1 errors (false positive), but the number of type 2 errors (false negative) can be substantial. Our main finding is that pairs between the Nuclear Altaic taxa – Turkic, Mongolic and Tungusic – as well as the Turkic-Japonic and Tungusic-Japonic pairs demonstrate significant p-values. In some cases, this can be attributed to either ancient contacts or genealogical relationships, but at least for the Turkic–Japonic pair, a contact scenario is unlikely owing to geographical remoteness.
We are pleased to present the issue of the JoSPoE dedicated to the initiatives for the international assessment in vocational and higher education. The choice of the topic is determined by the increasing attention to the learning outcomes assessment at both the national and supranational levels, caused by a need for the rise of efficiency and international competitiveness of national educational systems by providing objectivity and comparability. There is a broad discussion, various approaches and assessment tools are under development as part of this transformation.We are proud of the fact that the leading experts from different countries are participating in this issue, as well as that the issue reveals current projects and developments within this topic
We study the problem of fairly allocating indivisible goods and focus on the classic fairness notion of proportionality. The indivisibility of the goods is long known to pose highly non-trivial obstacles to achieving fairness, and a very vibrant line of research has aimed to circumvent them using appropriate notions of approximate fairness. Recent work has established that even approximate versions of proportionality (PROPx) may be impossible to achieve even for small instances, while the best known achievable approximations (PROP1) are much weaker. We introduce the notion of proportionality up to the maximin item (PROPm) and show how to reach an allocation satisfying this notion for any instance involving up to five agents with additive valuations. PROPm provides a well-motivated middle-ground between PROP1 and PROPx, while also capturing some elements of the well-studied maximin share (MMS) benchmark: another relaxation of proportionality that has attracted a lot of attention.
The philosophical meaning of some ideas of modern ecology is revealed in this article, and the possibility of applying an extended ecological approach in scientific research, management and educational activities is substantiated. The heuristic character of the concept of ecosophy, introduced by the Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss and the French semiotician and psychiatrist Félix Guattari, is shown. It is argued that ecology today is not limited to the idea of coexistence and co-evolution of man and nature, but might be understood as an ecology of mind, of knowledge, of action, of communication, of management, and of education.
The purpose of this chapter is to study the specifics of landscape visualization of the Arctic geo-cultural space in the context of the processes of decolonization and post-exoticism on the example of North-Eastern Chukotka. The study is based on a conceptual analysis of photographs from my personal expedition archive, and it employs two basic concepts, landscape assemblage and visual dispositive.In general, the postcolonial landscape of the North-Eastern Chukotka is characterized by a mixture of the visual dispositives we have identified. These dispositives, intertwining and interacting with each other, create multiple, constantly transforming landscape assemblages. In turn, landscape assemblages are active representatives of the decolonization of the basic geo-cultures of this Arctic region. In the visual aspect, this means fragmentation and simultaneously fractalization of the traditional “colonial view” of the Arctic landscape. Within the framework of the presented visual dispositives, the phenomena of post-exoticism and internal exoticism are formed, making it impossible to return to pre-colonial “landscape optics”.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has revealed problems in school education using ICT. Teachers were forced to start teaching remotely using special, often unfamiliar to them software to communicate with students. The interaction in online lessons is very different from face-to-face classes. This is especially true for lessons with young children who overcome various barriers and may require outside support because of lack of ICT literacy or inappropriate software. However, teachers experience even greater challenges. At the beginning of the urgent transition to distance learning, teachers started to shape spontaneously their teaching methods, taking into account technical problems, such as students’ low speed of Internet connection or lack of webcams. Different teachers were dealing with such problems in different ways: for example, giving assignments on the textbook, and asking to send photos with answers. Besides, there are new barriers related to the order of the lesson. It is important to make sure that children are involved online, therefore there is a need in controlling the children's activity in distance learning, keeping the classroom discipline and sometimes parental involvement. The aim of the research is to identify barriers that hinder effective distance teaching in grade 5 according to teachers’ opinion. To address our aim we used data collected in May 2020 for Sber Gamification Lab research of digital interactive history materials. This research assumes a qualitative analysis. The data consists of 18 semi-structured interviews on multiple topics with history teachers of the 5th grade in Russian schools. Teachers face new challenges because of distance learning, and it is still unclear how to introduce a new lesson format of interactive e-learning, how to manage a lesson, and how to test knowledge remotely. There is no universal solution to distance learning, so it becomes difficult for teachers to provide exciting and engaging lessons. What solutions to these problems have teachers found? Our results showed that teachers began to use a variety of online-activities on history lessons. For example, it is noteworthy that one of the schools has its own Learning Management System (LMS), where the teacher has the ability to create their own tests and control students. It is also important to note that due to the introduction of interactive materials, teachers could not determine their role in the lesson. Some issues were connected with teachers’ digital literacy skills: some teachers did not know how to organize work in groups or pairs, some of them never used communication platforms such as Zoom before. The article concludes with recommendations for solving problems of organizing and conducting remote lessons.
The use of digital resources in school education plays an important role in the modern world, especially in the context of distance learning. Despite this, the school remains quite a conservative social institute, where adoption of new technologies faces a number of external and internal barriers. Thus, there may be insufficient material and resource base of the school, lack of additional time and technical support for teachers, as well as personal characteristics of teachers, their internal attitudes and resistance to change, that deter the successful adoption of digital resources in the educational process. The aim of this research is to identify and describe the strategies for the adoption of digital resources in the educational process by Russian school teachers, and also to detect the determinants of differences in their choices of those strategies. The empirical basis of this study is a randomized controlled trial conducted by researchers of the International Laboratory for Evaluation of Practices and Innovations in Education for the Russian IT company Yandex in the 2018/2019 academic year with 347 Russian schools participated in the study. During the 25 weeks, the experimental group of 165 teachers from these schools was recommended to use the digital service named Yandex.Textbook, which provides individualized digital home tasks in Mathematics and Russian language with automated checking. We analyzed the average weekly number of home tasks given by every teacher to identify their strategies for using Yandex.Textbook. With the help of time series cluster analysis, there were identified three different strategies for using digital resources. The first one presents a situation where a teacher uses Yandex.Textbook from the very beginning with pauses during school holidays. The second strategy is typical for those teachers who join the experiment later and start with a bigger amount of home tasks than the first ones, to compensate for the lost time. The third strategy is usual for teachers who use Yandex.Textbook only once or twice, despite recommendations. Further analysis with the use of multinomial regression showed that relationship of teachers’ characteristics and their strategy choice. Those teachers who are more likely to choose the 2nd strategy (“delayed start”) tend to have a bigger working experience and a lower education level than the teachers that realized the 1st strategy. At the same time, there was no significant relationship between strategy choice and personal ICT and user experience. Besides, chances for choosing the 3rd strategy (“sporadic use”), as well as the 2nd one, are higher for teachers in schools where principals consider the lack of computers with the Internet connection as a significant obstacle to the use of new technologies. This research shows how the external and internal barriers of Russian school teachers determine the dynamics of digital resource adoption in the educational process. These results allow us to identify teachers who may need additional support for the further integration of digital resources. This is an important result for education policymakers and school principals who plan to introduce new digital learning resources into practice.
During the COVID-19 pandemic and the allover shift to remote learning, the need for sufficient material and technical equipment in schools has become very urgent. Forced to hold their classes online, many teachers face a shortage of gadgets and ICT skills to teach successfully.
Russia is no exception in this situation. Despite three waves of digitalization, during which schools were equipped with computers and other devices, many of them were poorly prepared for online learning. In part, this is the consequence of the large territory and decentralized educational policy for schools’ equipping, because of which schools in some regions and municipalities have become more prepared for the challenges of the pandemic.
This paper examines the digital gap between Russian schools and its growth over the past 10 years. The differences in the material and technical base of schools and in their financial capabilities for the acquisition and purchase of new equipment are shown. Also, there are analyzed the differences in the teachers’ qualifications and their digital opportunities at school. Finally, there is shown the relationship between all these differences and the educational outcomes of students from different regions and municipalities.
The results of the study make it possible to single out some territories where low access to digital resources negatively affected the students’ exam results and their choice of further educational trajectory. First, these are residents of remote regions of Siberia and the Far East, where the digital lag of schools overlayed on the infrastructural problems. As a result, these students were the first to be most affected by the forced shift to remote learning. Thus, the coronavirus crisis became a litmus test and widens the digital gap in Russian education.
There is a certain problem of goal-articulation correctness and strategic management of big and mission-critical socio-technical systems (STS). Therefore, the goal of the work is a prove of hypothesis that correct semantic strategic goal definition is the utmost influenceable success factor for progressing STS. The concept of “goal-setting vertical” is defined in the work. Semantic analysis of goal-setting vertical in the case of “Aeroflot Group” with statistical study of practical dependence of regulatory mechanisms is provided. On that basis, the number of management conclusions and recommendations for mission-critical companies is formulated.
Even the most sustainable constitutional systems equip themselves with defensive mechanisms aimed at preserving the democratic nature of the state for generations ahead. Historical experience has shown that a certain degree of militancy is necessary to deter extreme political forces from abusing democratic procedures to gain and retain power. The problem, however, arises from the awareness that preventive mechanisms may unreasonably undermine fundamental political rights, such as freedom of political association.
This chapter aims at uncovering the complexity of the doctrine of “militant democracy” and presenting a variety of constitutional practices implementing the doctrine. The chapter focuses on the existing models of tackling the activity of antidemocratic political parties, acknowledging, however, that the spectrum of militant measures includes other defensive mechanisms. The chapter concludes with preliminary findings regarding the difficulties of creating a coherent prescriptive theory of militant democracy. Due to the risks associated with overuse and misuse of defensive mechanisms, courts should demonstrate caution and continue to develop strategies justifying only those restrictions that are crucial for preservation of the democratic constitutional order.
This paper discusses the recent introduction of master planning tool in the Russian system of urban planning. Public authorities claim that under obsolescence and rigidity of the existing system of spatial planning master plans should become an effective solution for urban growth and development. Despite all the attention, published master plans have an unclear legal status and their introduction often results in some degree of overlap and blurring with existing spatial development institutions. The research critically examines i) how master plans are (not?) being incorporated in existing urban planning institutes ii) the reasons of master planning practice emergence. Going beyond transitional frameworks, the study discusses institutional change in urban planning in a post-socialist city.