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Sample records for causal constructions russian

  1. Model of the Russian Federation Construction Innovation System: An Integrated Participatory Systems Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emiliya Suprun

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available This research integrates systemic and participatory techniques to model the Russian Federation construction innovation system. Understanding this complex construction innovation system and determining the best levers for enhancing it require the dynamic modelling of a number of factors, such as flows of resources and activities, policies, uncertainty and time. To build the foundations for such a dynamic model, the employed study method utilised an integrated stakeholder-based participatory approach coupled with structural analysis (MICMAC—Matrice d'Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée à un Classement Cross-Impact Matrix. This method identified the key factors of the Russian Federation construction innovation system, their causal relationship (i.e., influence/dependence map and, ultimately, a causal loop diagram. The generated model reveals pathways to improving construction innovation in the Russian Federation and underpins the future development of an operationalised system dynamics model.

  2. The Relevance of Causal Social Construction

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    Marques Teresa

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Social constructionist claims are surprising and interesting when they entail that presumably natural kinds are in fact socially constructed. The claims are interesting because of their theoretical and political importance. Authors like Díaz-León argue that constitutive social construction is more relevant for achieving social justice than causal social construction. This paper challenges this claim. Assuming there are socially salient groups that are discriminated against, the paper presents a dilemma: if there were no constitutively constructed social kinds, the causes of the discrimination of existing social groups would have to be addressed, and understanding causal social construction would be relevant to achieve social justice. On the other hand, not all possible constitutively socially constructed kinds are actual social kinds. If an existing social group is constitutively constructed as a social kind K, the fact that it actually exists as a K has social causes. Again, causal social construction is relevant. The paper argues that (i for any actual social kind X, if X is constitutively socially constructed as K, then it is also causally socially constructed; and (ii causal social construction is at least as relevant as constitutive social construction for concerns of social justice. For illustration, I draw upon two phenomena that are presumed to contribute towards the discrimination of women: (i the poor performance effects of stereotype threat, and (ii the silencing effects of gendered language use.

  3. Causal Relationship between Construction Production and GDP in Turkey

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    Hakkı Kutay Bolkol

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This study empirically investigates the causal relationship between construction production and GDP for Turkey during 2005Q1-2013Q4 period. Because it is found that, there is no cointegration which means there is no long run relationship between variables, VAR Granger Causality Method is used to test the causality in short run. The findings reveal that, the causality runs from GDP to Building Production and Building Production to Non-Building Production (i.e. bidirectional relationship. Findings of this paper suggest that, because there is no long run relationship between Construction Production (Building and Non-Building and GDP and also in short run the causality runs from GDP to Construction Production, the growth strategy based on mainly Construction Sector growth is not a good idea for Turkey.

  4. Causal Relationship between Construction Production and GDP in Turkey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hakkı Kutay Bolkol

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available This study empirically investigates the causal relationship between construction production and GDP for Turkey during 2005Q1-2013Q4 period. Because it is found that, there is no cointegration which means there is no long run relationship between variables, VAR Granger Causality Method is used to test the causality in short run. The findings reveal that, the causality runs from GDP to Building Production and Building Production to Non-Building Production (i.e. bidirectional relationship. Findings of this paper suggest that, because there is no long run relationship between Construction Production (Building and Non-Building and GDP and also in short run the causality runs from GDP to Construction Production, the growth strategy based on mainly Construction Sector growth is not a good idea for Turkey.

  5. "Great Ideas" in Russian Psychology: Personality Impact on Psychophysiological Functions and Causal Approach to Self- determination

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    Irina A. Mironenko

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Russian psychology has brought into the world science at least two great ideas: the conditioned reflex (Pavlov and the zone of proximal development (Vygotsky. These concepts were formulated before “iron curtain” fell. Since then Russian science dropped out from the view of western colleagues for decades. Now it is challenged to re-join international mainstream. Are we in a position to contribute?A key concept for Russian psychology is personality impact on psycho-physiological functions and causal approach to self-determination. The concept of selfdetermination appeared in Western theories in 1980-es and since then it has been developed in the context of teleological humanitarian approach. In Russian science the concept of self-determination dates back to 1934, when it was defined by Rubinstein as “sub’ekt”. Self-determination of ontogenesis of psycho physiological functions resulting from confluence of ontogenesis and social development was explicated by Russian scientists whose theoretical reasoning and empirical results are compared to Western counterparts.

  6. Investigating the multi-causal and complex nature of the accident causal influence of construction project features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manu, Patrick A; Ankrah, Nii A; Proverbs, David G; Suresh, Subashini

    2012-09-01

    Construction project features (CPFs) are organisational, physical and operational attributes that characterise construction projects. Although previous studies have examined the accident causal influence of CPFs, the multi-causal attribute of this causal phenomenon still remain elusive and thus requires further investigation. Aiming to shed light on this facet of the accident causal phenomenon of CPFs, this study examines relevant literature and crystallises the attained insight of the multi-causal attribute by a graphical model which is subsequently operationalised by a derived mathematical risk expression that offers a systematic approach for evaluating the potential of CPFs to cause harm and consequently their health and safety (H&S) risk implications. The graphical model and the risk expression put forth by the study thus advance current understanding of the accident causal phenomenon of CPFs and they present an opportunity for project participants to manage the H&S risk associated with CPFs from the early stages of project procurement. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Causality in Psychiatry: A Hybrid Symptom Network Construct Model

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    Gerald eYoung

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Causality or etiology in psychiatry is marked by standard biomedical, reductionistic models (symptoms reflect the construct involved that inform approaches to nosology, or classification, such as in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition; American Psychiatric Association, 2013. However, network approaches to symptom interaction (i.e., symptoms are formative of the construct; e.g., McNally, Robinaugh, Wu, Wang, Deserno, & Borsboom, 2014, for PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder are being developed that speak to bottom-up processes in mental disorder, in contrast to the typical top-down psychological construct approach. The present article presents a hybrid top-down, bottom-up model of the relationship between symptoms and mental disorder, viewing symptom expression and their causal complex as a reciprocally dynamic system with multiple levels, from lower-order symptoms in interaction to higher-order constructs affecting them. The hybrid model hinges on good understanding of systems theory in which it is embedded, so that the article reviews in depth nonlinear dynamical systems theory (NLDST. The article applies the concept of emergent circular causality (Young, 2011 to symptom development, as well. Conclusions consider that symptoms vary over several dimensions, including: subjectivity; objectivity; conscious motivation effort; and unconscious influences, and the degree to which individual (e.g., meaning and universal (e.g., causal processes are involved. The opposition between science and skepticism is a complex one that the article addresses in final comments.

  8. Construction of the migration flows forecasting into Russian regions

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    Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Tarasyev

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a dynamic model that can predict the dynamics of migration flows between source countries and host regions, as well as the dynamics of wage levels there. The model is constructed within the framework of neoclassical economics and human capital theory in continuous time. Thanks to liberalization of migration policy in Russia in 2007, the model could be successfully employed to Russian regions and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS, which have visa-free entry regulations with the Russian Federation. Employing the model on statistical data, we forecast the number and origin composition of foreign labor force from the CIS into Russian regions for 2010-2016. The purpose of our further research is to classify migrants by skills

  9. Story grammar elements and causal relations in the narratives of Russian-Hebrew bilingual children with SLI and typical language development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fichman, Sveta; Altman, Carmit; Voloskovich, Anna; Armon-Lotem, Sharon; Walters, Joel

    2017-09-01

    While there is general agreement regarding poor performance of children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) on microstructure measures of narrative production, findings on macrostructure are inconsistent. The present study analyzed narrative abilities of Russian-Hebrew bilingual preschool children with and without SLI, with a particular focus on story grammar (SG) elements and causal relations, in order to identify macrostructure features which distinguish bilingual children with SLI from those with typical development. Narratives were collected from 35 typically developing bilinguals (BiTD) and 14 bilinguals with SLI (BiSLI) in both Russian/L1 and Hebrew/L2 using a retelling procedure (LITMUS-Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives) (Gagarina, Klop, Kunnari, Tantele, Välimaa, Balčiūnienė, Bohnacker, & Walters, 2012). Each story contained three episodes, and each episode introduced a different protagonist with explicitly stated Goals (G), Attempts (A) and Outcomes (O). Causal relations assessed included Enabling, Physical, Motivational, and Psychological relations, following Trabasso & Nickels (1992). Each Goal-Attempt-Outcome (GAO) episode was examined for the use of SG elements and causal relations. Group differences emerged for both aspects of macrostructure. For causal relations, narratives of BiSLI children contained fewer Enabling and Physical relations, and differed qualitatively from those of BiTD children. For SG elements, BiSLI children referred to fewer SG elements than BiTD children in the first episode, but performed like BiTD children in the second and the third episodes. Story grammar elements in specific episodes along with Enabling and Physical causal relations distinguish the narratives of children with BiSLI from those with BiTD, which stresses the importance of examining wider array of macrostructure features in narratives. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. A multifactorial analysis of the Russian adversity impersonal construction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kizach, Johannes

    2014-01-01

    The adversity impersonal construction involves two arguments: an accusative and an instrumental. The order of these two elements is investigated with the help of 669 examples taken from a Russian corpus, and the analysis shows that the primary determinants of the word order are the pronominality...

  11. Problems of Russian construction education in an age of innovation: socio-cultural and legal aspects

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    Pryadko Igor

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we estimate changes of Russian higher education, aimed to incorporate In this paper we estimate changes of Russian higher education, aimed to incorporate the latter in the Bologna process. The analysis of the reforms is given in terms of need in training specialists of the construction industry. The article analyzes the conclusions reached on the issue by some teachers of Russian universities of civil engineering. Among the reasons for concern from the part of the Russian education community, it is called the low level of knowledge about the tasks of re-forms and lack of information regarding measures to improve the educa-tion system. The investigation, in particular, points out that today the main issue of reforming is seen in creation of a single European intellectual space. At the same time, the questionnaire showed that the achievement of the stated purpose is prevented by the following factors: low level of stu-dent-builders in foreign languages and insufficient income. These circums-tances make education abroad almost impossible for most students from Russia and reduce the competitiveness of graduates from Russian universi-ties in labor market of the countries that joined to the Bologna system. The authors of the article pay special attention to the needs of executives of construction firms in qualified specialists. Most of the experts note the iso-lation of universities from solving problems of building practice, a notice-able lag of the national educational system from the western ones in train-ing specialists in construction logistics and organization of construction sites.

  12. Causal boundary for stably causal space-times

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Racz, I.

    1987-12-01

    The usual boundary constructions for space-times often yield an unsatisfactory boundary set. This problem is reviewed and a new solution is proposed. An explicit identification rule is given on the set of the ideal points of the space-time. This construction leads to a satisfactory boundary point set structure for stably causal space-times. The topological properties of the resulting causal boundary construction are examined. For the stably causal space-times each causal curve has a unique endpoint on the boundary set according to the extended Alexandrov topology. The extension of the space-time through the boundary is discussed. To describe the singularities the defined boundary sets have to be separated into two disjoint sets. (D.Gy.) 8 refs

  13. Economics of high-rise construction: the feasibility of skyscrapers building in the Russian cities

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    Petrov, Artur; Petrova, Daria

    2018-03-01

    The article considers the economic aspects of constructing high-rise buildings in the world and in Russia. Data on the number of high-rise buildings in Russian cities with a million population are presented. It is proved that interest in high-rise construction in Russia has been formed only in Moscow and partly in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. The analysis showed that the reason for this is the expensiveness of high-rise construction. According to the enlarged macro-calculation, the cost of building 1 m2 of the area of the Federation Towers complex (Moscow City) is about 2710 /m2. Practically a possibility of return on investments in the foreseeable time interval exists only in Moscow. For the regions of Russia this task is rather complicated. Population density in regional Russian cities is quite low, business entities do not have the necessary financial resources for investing in high-rise construction, and investments from abroad absent.

  14. An environmental impact causal model for improving the environmental performance of construction processes

    OpenAIRE

    Fuertes Casals, Alba; Casals Casanova, Miquel; Gangolells Solanellas, Marta; Forcada Matheu, Núria; Macarulla Martí, Marcel; Roca Ramon, Xavier

    2013-01-01

    Despite the increasing efforts made by the construction sector to reduce the environmental impact of their processes, construction sites are still a major source of pollution and adverse impacts on the environment. This paper aims to improve the understanding of construction-related environmental impacts by identifying on-site causal factors and associated immediate circumstances during construc- tion processes for residential building projects. Based on the literature and focus g...

  15. Model of the Russian Federation Construction Innovation System: An Integrated Participatory Systems Approach

    OpenAIRE

    Emiliya Suprun; Oz Sahin; Rodney A. Stewart; Kriengsak Panuwatwanich

    2016-01-01

    This research integrates systemic and participatory techniques to model the Russian Federation construction innovation system. Understanding this complex construction innovation system and determining the best levers for enhancing it require the dynamic modelling of a number of factors, such as flows of resources and activities, policies, uncertainty and time. To build the foundations for such a dynamic model, the employed study method utilised an integrated stakeholder-based participatory ap...

  16. Causal Factors of Corruption in Construction Project Management: An Overview.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Owusu, Emmanuel Kingsford; Chan, Albert P C; Shan, Ming

    2017-11-11

    The development of efficient and strategic anti-corruption measures can be better achieved if a deeper understanding and identification of the causes of corruption are established. Over the past years, many studies have been devoted to the research of corruption in construction management (CM). This has resulted in a significant increase in the body of knowledge on the subject matter, including the causative factors triggering these corrupt practices. However, an apropos systematic assessment of both past and current studies on the subject matter which is needful for the future endeavor is lacking. Moreover, there is an absence of unified view of the causative factors of corruption identified in construction project management (CPM). This paper, therefore, presents a comprehensive review of the causes of corruption from selected articles in recognized construction management journals to address the mentioned gaps. A total number of 44 causes of corruption were identified from 37 publications and analyzed in terms of existing causal factors of corruption, annual trend of publications and the thematic categorization of the identified variables. The most identifiable causes were over close relationships, poor professional ethical standards, negative industrial and working conditions, negative role models and inadequate sanctions. A conceptual framework of causes of corruption was established, after categorizing the 44 variables into five unique categories. In descending order, the five constructs are Psychosocial-Specific Causes, Organizational-Specific Causes, Regulatory-Specific Causes, Project-Specific Causes and Statutory-Specific Causes. This study extends the current literature of corruption research in construction management and contributes to a deepened understanding of the causal instigators of corruption identified in CPM. The findings from this study provide valuable information and extended knowledge to industry practitioners and policymakers as well as

  17. Language and Social Identity Construction: A Study of a Russian Heritage Language Orthodox Christian School

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    Moore, Ekaterina Leonidovna

    2012-01-01

    Grounded in discourse analytic and language socialization paradigms, this dissertation examines issues of language and social identity construction in children attending a Russian Heritage Language Orthodox Christian Saturday School in California. By conducting micro-analysis of naturally-occurring talk-in-interaction combined with longitudinal…

  18. When Russians Learn English: How the Semantics of Causation May Change

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    Wolff, Phillip; Ventura, Tatyana

    2009-01-01

    We examined how the semantics of causal expressions in Russian and English might differ and how these differences might lead to changes in the way second language learners understand causal expressions in their first language. According to the dynamics model of causation (Wolff, 2007), expressions of causation based on CAUSE verbs (make, force)…

  19. Reading L2 Russian: The Challenges of the Russian-English Dictionary

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    Comer, William J.

    2014-01-01

    This descriptive study examines when and how students use Russian-English dictionaries while reading informational texts in Russian and what success they have with word lookup. The study uses introspective verbal protocols (i.e., think-alouds) to follow how readers construct meaning from two texts while reading them for a limited time first…

  20. Russian oil workers seek employment abroad

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports that American oil workers discouraged by bleak employment opportunities in the U.S. petroleum industry face increasing competition abroad from Russians seeking a living wage. Moscow's Zagrantrud (Foreign Labor) firm believes millions of Russian skilled and unskilled workers in many occupations will try to find jobs in other countries. The Russian enterprise says it is selecting a group of construction workers to build a refinery in Columbia. Kuwait also wants Russian construction personnel. Russia is especially eager to find overseas work for petroleum industry workers who have lost their jobs in Viet Nam and Cuba. The number of specialists from the former U.S.S.R. in Cuba, many of them engaged in oil exploration and production or pipeline and refinery construction, has fallen from several thousand 2 years ago to 250 at present as Moscow's relations with Havana cooled

  1. A theory of causal learning in children: causal maps and Bayes nets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gopnik, Alison; Glymour, Clark; Sobel, David M; Schulz, Laura E; Kushnir, Tamar; Danks, David

    2004-01-01

    The authors outline a cognitive and computational account of causal learning in children. They propose that children use specialized cognitive systems that allow them to recover an accurate "causal map" of the world: an abstract, coherent, learned representation of the causal relations among events. This kind of knowledge can be perspicuously understood in terms of the formalism of directed graphical causal models, or Bayes nets. Children's causal learning and inference may involve computations similar to those for learning causal Bayes nets and for predicting with them. Experimental results suggest that 2- to 4-year-old children construct new causal maps and that their learning is consistent with the Bayes net formalism.

  2. Analysis of administrative barriers in the industry of the high-rise construction in Russian Federation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaychenko, Irina; Borremans, Alexandra; Gutman, Svetlana

    2018-03-01

    The article describes the concept and types of administrative barriers encountered in various areas of the enterprise. The particularities of the Russian high-rise construction industry are described and a comparative analysis of administrative barriers in this sector is performed. The main stages and administrative procedures when the developers implement investment and construction projects in the field of high-rise construction are determined. The regulatory and legal framework for the implementation of investment and project activities in the high-rise construction industry has been studied and conclusions have been drawn on its low level of precision in the issue of the formation of competitive and efficient high-rise construction markets. The average number of administrative procedures for the implementation of the investment and construction project in the field of high-rise construction is determined. The factors preventing the reduction of administrative barriers in the high-rise construction industry are revealed.

  3. Causal boundary for strongly causal spacetimes: Pt. 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szabados, L.B.

    1989-01-01

    In a previous paper an analysis of the general structure of the causal boundary constructions and a new explicit identification rule, built up from elementary TIP-TIF gluings, were presented. In the present paper we complete our identification by incorporating TIP-TIP and TIF-TIF gluings as well. An asymptotic causality condition is found which, for physically important cases, ensures the uniqueness of the endpoints of the non-spacelike curves in the completed spacetime. (author)

  4. Causal theory in (2+1)-dimensional Qed

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scharf, G.; Wreszinski, W.F.

    1994-01-01

    The program of constructing the S-matrix by means of causality in quantum field theory goes back to Stueckelberg and Bogoliubov. Epstein and Glaser proposed an axiomatic construct where ultraviolet divergences do not appear, leading directly to the renormalized perturbation series. They have shown that in the causal theory the UV problem is a consequence of incorrect distribution splitting. This paper studies the causal theory in (2+1)D Qed

  5. The problems and perspectives for the introduction of high-rise construction in Russian cities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pershina, Anna; Radzhabov, Mehman; Dormidontova, Tatyana

    2018-03-01

    The propose of academic affairs is discovery the principal areas of concern high-rise construction in Russia. Examples of modern Russian and foreign high-rise construction are considered in the work. The most important problems and their solutions for Russia are identified on their basis. The everyone area of concern is considered separately. Ecology problems and influence of high-rise construction for the healthy and psychological effect of people are considered special. High-rise constructions influence negative and positive for urban environment in Moscow and Samara cities. The experience lack, defects in requirements document, which don't include all high-rise constructions specific, system problem of construction and often non-availability of proper control at the existing requirements document result for complexity of designing, construction and operation. At this moment, high-rise constructions temp is increasing in Moscow. Feasibility of high-rise buildings come up in regions of Russia. The reasons include high material inputs, irregularities of requirements network and utility lines and maintenance problems. The researching follow up of conclusions and recommendations for high-rise constructions development in Russia. The reasons of high-rise buildings are urbanization of people and necessary of concentration labor supply. The important tasks for organization are creating compact urban environment, decrease urban area for development, using an innovative technology for construction and properly maintenance. The balance between the preference of high-rise construction, inputs for construction and influence for ecology are resolve for this task.

  6. High-Rise Construction in Densely Dwelled Cities: Requirements for Premises Insolation and Consequences of their Violation in Russian Law and Jurisprudence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gongalo, Boris; Gudovicheva, Lubov; Gubareva, Anna; Dobrynina, Larisa

    2018-03-01

    The issues of constructing high-rise, primarily residential, buildings have a great social significance. Not every plot of land, acquired in the Russian Federation is suitable for high-rise construction. Therefore, every construction company that plans to erect a multi-apartment building, a high-rise office building, or a skyscraper must take into account not only technical norms but as well sanitary legislation regulations that set obligatory requirements about insolation of apartments. The article includes a short study of several norms in the Russian legislation regarding insolation of dwellings; analises the problems of judicial interpretation of the statutory limitations. In this aspect it researches the debatable questions arising in practice of state arbitration courts dealing with the lawsuits on allocation of land-plots by the local administration. The analysis of the judicial practice is followed by description of the difficulties facing the developers of land-plots, concerning the project and territorial planning documentation.

  7. Causal relationship: a new tool for the causal characterization of Lorentzian manifolds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garcia-Parrado, Alfonso; Senovilla, Jose M M

    2003-01-01

    We define and study a new kind of relation between two diffeomorphic Lorentzian manifolds called a causal relation, which is any diffeomorphism characterized by mapping every causal vector of the first manifold onto a causal vector of the second. We perform a thorough study of the mathematical properties of causal relations and prove in particular that two given Lorentzian manifolds (say V and W) may be causally related only in one direction (say from V to W, but not from W to V). This leads us to the concept of causally equivalent (or isocausal in short) Lorentzian manifolds as those mutually causally related and to a definition of causal structure over a differentiable manifold as the equivalence class formed by isocausal Lorentzian metrics upon it. Isocausality is a more general concept than the conformal relationship, because we prove the remarkable result that a conformal relation φ is characterized by the fact of being a causal relation of the particular kind in which both φ and φ -1 are causal relations. Isocausal Lorentzian manifolds are mutually causally compatible, they share some important causal properties, and there are one-to-one correspondences, which are sometimes non-trivial, between several classes of their respective future (and past) objects. A more important feature is that they satisfy the same standard causality constraints. We also introduce a partial order for the equivalence classes of isocausal Lorentzian manifolds providing a classification of all the causal structures that a given fixed manifold can have. By introducing the concept of causal extension we put forward a new definition of causal boundary for Lorentzian manifolds based on the concept of isocausality, and thereby we generalize the traditional Penrose constructions of conformal infinity, diagrams and embeddings. In particular, the concept of causal diagram is given. Many explicit clarifying examples are presented throughout the paper

  8. CONSTRUCTION OF STATISTICAL MODEL THE OVERALL POPULATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION ON THE BASIS OF RETROSPECTIVE FORECAST

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    Ol’ga Sergeevna Kochegarova

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The article considers the retrospective forecast of the total population of the Russian Federation for the period 2001–2017. comparative analysis of the actual values of the total population of the Russian Federation on 20.03.2017 according to the Federal state statistics service of the Russian Federation received the forecast value. Model selection forecasting was carried out by the method of selection of growth curves on the basis of correlation and regression analysis and least squares method. A quality selection of the regression equation was determined with the least error of approximation of time series levels. Analysis of the significance of the selected regression equation by statistical methods allows to make a conclusion about the right choice of models and the possibility of its use for population estimates. Purpose: to estimate the significance of selected regression equations for the forecast of the population. Methodology in article: the fitting of growth curves on the basis of correlation and regression analysis and least squares method. Results: received confirmation of the effectiveness of the constructed model for forecasts of demographic processes. Practical implications: the obtained results should be used when building forecasts of demographic processes.

  9. The philosophical implications of Russian conceptualism

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    Mikhail Epstein

    2010-01-01

    Conceptualism identifies itself as a predominantly Russian-Soviet mode of thinking. In the West, the correlation between ideological signs and observable reality has been persistently validated through scientific and economic practice; while in Russia, traditionally, reality itself has been constructed from ideological signs generated by its ruling minds as a kind of hyper-reality. Thus, Russian Conceptualism sees itself not as a mere replica of Western postmodernism, but as a reflection of the underlying structures of Russian history, where the signs of reality have always been subject to ideological manipulation.

  10. Evidence for weight effects in Russian

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kizach, Johannes

    2012-01-01

    It is well-known that factors such as weight, pronominality, animacy and newness influence word order in several languages, but whereas newness repeatedly has been argued to be a relevant factor for Russian, little or no attention has been paid to weight. In this paper, which is based on evidence...... from corpus data, weight is demonstrated to have a very significant influence on word order in Russian. Specifically, four constructions are tested: Postverbal PPs, the double object construction, adversity impersonals and the order of S, V and O. In all cases the same pattern emerges: The heavier...

  11. Is the tourism-economic growth nexus time-varying? Bootstrap rolling-window causality analysis for the top ten tourist destinations

    OpenAIRE

    Shahbaz, Muhammad; Ferrer, Román; Hussain Shahzad, Syed Jawad; Haouas, Ilham

    2017-01-01

    This paper explores the time-varying causal nexus between tourism development and economic growth for the top ten tourist destinations in the world, namely China, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, over the period 1990-2015. To that end, a bootstrap rolling window Granger causality approach based on the modified Granger causality test developed by Toda and Yamamoto (1995) and Dolado and Lütkepohl (1996), ...

  12. Causal localizations in relativistic quantum mechanics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castrigiano, Domenico P. L.; Leiseifer, Andreas D.

    2015-07-01

    Causal localizations describe the position of quantum systems moving not faster than light. They are constructed for the systems with finite spinor dimension. At the center of interest are the massive relativistic systems. For every positive mass, there is the sequence of Dirac tensor-localizations, which provides a complete set of inequivalent irreducible causal localizations. They obey the principle of special relativity and are fully Poincaré covariant. The boosters are determined by the causal position operator and the other Poincaré generators. The localization with minimal spinor dimension is the Dirac localization. Thus, the Dirac equation is derived here as a mere consequence of the principle of causality. Moreover, the higher tensor-localizations, not known so far, follow from Dirac's localization by a simple construction. The probability of localization for positive energy states results to be described by causal positive operator valued (PO-) localizations, which are the traces of the causal localizations on the subspaces of positive energy. These causal Poincaré covariant PO-localizations for every irreducible massive relativistic system were, all the more, not known before. They are shown to be separated. Hence, the positive energy systems can be localized within every open region by a suitable preparation as accurately as desired. Finally, the attempt is made to provide an interpretation of the PO-localization operators within the frame of conventional quantum mechanics attributing an important role to the negative energy states.

  13. Socio-Economic Problems of the Russian Construction of Art Nouveau Period (on the Example of A.I. Lishnevsky’s Activity

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    Aleksandr I. Chepel

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The author studies the specifics of Russian architect’s work on the example of the activity of prominent architect of Art Nouveau period A.L. Lishnevsky (1868–1942. The special attention is paid to the architect’s relations with the authorities, contractors and workers, as well as with customers and colleagues. The author shows the opinion of citizens about the activities of an architect as a builder and businessman, reveals the main socio-economic problems which the architect faced from the moment of inception and approval of the project prior to its actual implementation. The author attempts to trace the mechanism of professional networking in the architecture environment of that time, and to reveal the peculiarities of private architectural bureaus (“offices”. The attention is paid to the assessment by the architect of their own professional activity. A.L. Lishnevsky’s activity is a good example of architect’s work in the construction business. A native of the city of Kherson, he received the metropolitan education at the Art Academy, then for over six years (1895–1901 he worked as a municipal architect in Elisavetgrad (Kirovograd, since 2016 – Kropivnytsky during the period of rapid economic and cultural growth of the town. After 1901 and up to 1917 he was actively engaged in municipal and private construction in the capital of the Russian Empire, Saint Petersburg. The relevance of the topic is determined by the fact that the Art Nouveau period architect worked in capitalism construction market, and was forced to deal with issues similar to those that the architects of our time solve. The study is based on materials from Russian archives and periodicals of late 19th – early 20th century.

  14. Dynamics of Quantum Causal Structures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castro-Ruiz, Esteban; Giacomini, Flaminia; Brukner, Časlav

    2018-01-01

    It was recently suggested that causal structures are both dynamical, because of general relativity, and indefinite, because of quantum theory. The process matrix formalism furnishes a framework for quantum mechanics on indefinite causal structures, where the order between operations of local laboratories is not definite (e.g., one cannot say whether operation in laboratory A occurs before or after operation in laboratory B ). Here, we develop a framework for "dynamics of causal structures," i.e., for transformations of process matrices into process matrices. We show that, under continuous and reversible transformations, the causal order between operations is always preserved. However, the causal order between a subset of operations can be changed under continuous yet nonreversible transformations. An explicit example is that of the quantum switch, where a party in the past affects the causal order of operations of future parties, leading to a transition from a channel from A to B , via superposition of causal orders, to a channel from B to A . We generalize our framework to construct a hierarchy of quantum maps based on transformations of process matrices and transformations thereof.

  15. Entanglement, non-Markovianity, and causal non-separability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milz, Simon; Pollock, Felix A.; Le, Thao P.; Chiribella, Giulio; Modi, Kavan

    2018-03-01

    Quantum mechanics, in principle, allows for processes with indefinite causal order. However, most of these causal anomalies have not yet been detected experimentally. We show that every such process can be simulated experimentally by means of non-Markovian dynamics with a measurement on additional degrees of freedom. In detail, we provide an explicit construction to implement arbitrary a causal processes. Furthermore, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for open system dynamics with measurement to yield processes that respect causality locally, and find that tripartite entanglement and nonlocal unitary transformations are crucial requirements for the simulation of causally indefinite processes. These results show a direct connection between three counter-intuitive concepts: entanglement, non-Markovianity, and causal non-separability.

  16. Slovakian-Russian partnership as a part of the supply chain for nuclear power plants and advanced Russian technology for nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ivanov, T.; Chernyakhovskaya, Y.

    2009-01-01

    The first nuclear power project in the Slovak Republic was launched in 1958 through close cooperation with the Russian nuclear industry. Since then the Slovak and Russian nuclear branches were never separated. Technical and economic performances of the NPP units constructed with participation of Russian specialists were and continue being one of the best globally. The culture of business and competence of ASE is based on about 40 years of experience in construction of 29 NPP power units abroad with 20 GW total capacity. ASE strives to present to the Customers line of NPP designs ready for implementation and well-developed network of the multi-functional alliances and JVs. Currently, large-scale NPP projects involve public-private partnership (PPP) more and more. ASE development vision is to flexibly conform to Customers' requirements and needs and to diversify in related segments of EPC-business, namely designing, manufacturing, electric power trade, etc. Systematical approach to the fostering of mutual relations under the new economic conditions and nuclear renaissance, the Slovak-Russian cooperation in NPP engineering, manufacturing and construction are once again promising and long-term oriented. (authors)

  17. On semasiological princiles of constructing and usage of medical eponyms in Spanish, English and Russian languages

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Михаил Юрьевич Чернышов

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The paper discusses preliminary results of a comparative onomasiological investigation related to constructing medical eponyms, which correspond to identical denotata, in Spanish, English and Russian languages. Pragmatic and social-cultural (ethic motives of generation, extensive usage and variations of both eponyms and their acronym forms as the tools for renewal of the respective terminological systems are explained. The principle of usage (not usage of proper names in medical terms has been revealed. A discovery of interaction between the pragmatic motivation and the social-cultural motivation is described.

  18. Causal inference in nonlinear systems: Granger causality versus time-delayed mutual information

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Songting; Xiao, Yanyang; Zhou, Douglas; Cai, David

    2018-05-01

    The Granger causality (GC) analysis has been extensively applied to infer causal interactions in dynamical systems arising from economy and finance, physics, bioinformatics, neuroscience, social science, and many other fields. In the presence of potential nonlinearity in these systems, the validity of the GC analysis in general is questionable. To illustrate this, here we first construct minimal nonlinear systems and show that the GC analysis fails to infer causal relations in these systems—it gives rise to all types of incorrect causal directions. In contrast, we show that the time-delayed mutual information (TDMI) analysis is able to successfully identify the direction of interactions underlying these nonlinear systems. We then apply both methods to neuroscience data collected from experiments and demonstrate that the TDMI analysis but not the GC analysis can identify the direction of interactions among neuronal signals. Our work exemplifies inference hazards in the GC analysis in nonlinear systems and suggests that the TDMI analysis can be an appropriate tool in such a case.

  19. INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH «DEVELOPMENT OF RUSSIAN MARKET OF NANOTECHNOLOGICAL PRODUCTS IN CONSTRUCTION UNTIL 2020». PART 2. ANALYSIS OF THE WORLD MARKET

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    GUSEV Boris Vladimirovich

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Some results of the industrial research «Development of Russian market of nanotechnological products in construction until 2020» have been published. Authors invite all interested specialists and specialized organization to take part in the broad public discussion.

  20. Spatial hypersurfaces in causal set cosmology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Major, Seth A; Rideout, David; Surya, Sumati

    2006-01-01

    Within the causal set approach to quantum gravity, a discrete analogue of a spacelike region is a set of unrelated elements, or an antichain. In the continuum approximation of the theory, a moment-of-time hypersurface is well represented by an inextendible antichain. We construct a richer structure corresponding to a thickening of this antichain containing non-trivial geometric and topological information. We find that covariant observables can be associated with such thickened antichains and transitions between them, in classical sequential growth models of causal sets. This construction highlights the difference between the covariant measure on causal set cosmology and the standard sum-over-histories approach: the measure is assigned to completed histories rather than to histories on a restricted spacetime region. The resulting re-phrasing of the sum-over-histories may be fruitful in other approaches to quantum gravity

  1. Dynamics of Quantum Causal Structures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Esteban Castro-Ruiz

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available It was recently suggested that causal structures are both dynamical, because of general relativity, and indefinite, because of quantum theory. The process matrix formalism furnishes a framework for quantum mechanics on indefinite causal structures, where the order between operations of local laboratories is not definite (e.g., one cannot say whether operation in laboratory A occurs before or after operation in laboratory B. Here, we develop a framework for “dynamics of causal structures,” i.e., for transformations of process matrices into process matrices. We show that, under continuous and reversible transformations, the causal order between operations is always preserved. However, the causal order between a subset of operations can be changed under continuous yet nonreversible transformations. An explicit example is that of the quantum switch, where a party in the past affects the causal order of operations of future parties, leading to a transition from a channel from A to B, via superposition of causal orders, to a channel from B to A. We generalize our framework to construct a hierarchy of quantum maps based on transformations of process matrices and transformations thereof.

  2. Ukrainian-Russian Mixed Speech “Suržyk” within the System of Ukrainian and Russian Interaction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Salvatore Del Gaudio

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The question of different forms of real and/or presumed mixed speech, a consequence of the interaction between Ukrainian and Russian and widely known as “Suržyk,” remains central in much of contemporary Ukrainian and, more widely, East Slavic sociolinguistic and language contact research. This article pursues a twofold aim: first, I intend to reaffirm my personal hypothesis on the formation process of this mixed speech, which has at times been cited without attribution in the scholarly literature. Second, the paper aims to examine the functioning of Ukrainian-Russian Suržyk within a broader sociolinguistic framework that takes into account other forms of language interaction. Ukrainian-Russian mixed speech in fact has to be assessed and separated from other factors, such as the Ukrainian variety of Russian, dialects, etc. This approach has rarely been applied in previous studies on the topic. The role played by current language ideology is a further essential aspect in establishing which language elements should be attributed to Ukrainian-Russian Suržik. This undoubtedly affects the average speaker’s judgment about the degree of authenticity of Ukrainian forms. One can note a tendency to restrict the synonymic potential of Ukrainian in favor of lexemes and constructions that are dissimilar to Russian. This situation tends to alter the language consciousness of younger generations of Ukrainian speakers, who are likely to perceive as Russian (and therefore part of the Ukrainian-Russian mix elements that are in fact authentic Ukrainian speech elements. These and other related aspects will be the object of my discussion.

  3. Causal and causally separable processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oreshkov, Ognyan; Giarmatzi, Christina

    2016-09-01

    The idea that events are equipped with a partial causal order is central to our understanding of physics in the tested regimes: given two pointlike events A and B, either A is in the causal past of B, B is in the causal past of A, or A and B are space-like separated. Operationally, the meaning of these order relations corresponds to constraints on the possible correlations between experiments performed in the vicinities of the respective events: if A is in the causal past of B, an experimenter at A could signal to an experimenter at B but not the other way around, while if A and B are space-like separated, no signaling is possible in either direction. In the context of a concrete physical theory, the correlations compatible with a given causal configuration may obey further constraints. For instance, space-like correlations in quantum mechanics arise from local measurements on joint quantum states, while time-like correlations are established via quantum channels. Similarly to other variables, however, the causal order of a set of events could be random, and little is understood about the constraints that causality implies in this case. A main difficulty concerns the fact that the order of events can now generally depend on the operations performed at the locations of these events, since, for instance, an operation at A could influence the order in which B and C occur in A’s future. So far, no formal theory of causality compatible with such dynamical causal order has been developed. Apart from being of fundamental interest in the context of inferring causal relations, such a theory is imperative for understanding recent suggestions that the causal order of events in quantum mechanics can be indefinite. Here, we develop such a theory in the general multipartite case. Starting from a background-independent definition of causality, we derive an iteratively formulated canonical decomposition of multipartite causal correlations. For a fixed number of settings and

  4. Causal and causally separable processes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oreshkov, Ognyan; Giarmatzi, Christina

    2016-01-01

    The idea that events are equipped with a partial causal order is central to our understanding of physics in the tested regimes: given two pointlike events A and B , either A is in the causal past of B , B is in the causal past of A , or A and B are space-like separated. Operationally, the meaning of these order relations corresponds to constraints on the possible correlations between experiments performed in the vicinities of the respective events: if A is in the causal past of B , an experimenter at A could signal to an experimenter at B but not the other way around, while if A and B are space-like separated, no signaling is possible in either direction. In the context of a concrete physical theory, the correlations compatible with a given causal configuration may obey further constraints. For instance, space-like correlations in quantum mechanics arise from local measurements on joint quantum states, while time-like correlations are established via quantum channels. Similarly to other variables, however, the causal order of a set of events could be random, and little is understood about the constraints that causality implies in this case. A main difficulty concerns the fact that the order of events can now generally depend on the operations performed at the locations of these events, since, for instance, an operation at A could influence the order in which B and C occur in A ’s future. So far, no formal theory of causality compatible with such dynamical causal order has been developed. Apart from being of fundamental interest in the context of inferring causal relations, such a theory is imperative for understanding recent suggestions that the causal order of events in quantum mechanics can be indefinite. Here, we develop such a theory in the general multipartite case. Starting from a background-independent definition of causality, we derive an iteratively formulated canonical decomposition of multipartite causal correlations. For a fixed number of settings and

  5. The phone makes us scream: corpus study of English and Russian

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julia Kuznetsova

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available This study explores English and Russian speech verbs with phone prepositional phrases (PPs. It investigates two hypotheses: 1 A phone PP produces an independent construction and 2 A phone PP can be freely added to any speech verb. Two constructions in English and two constructions in Russian are used as the material for the analysis. In both languages I explore a neutral phone construction and compare it with a construction meaning ‘speak into the phone’. I present a new method – statistical profiling, that explores which words occur in a slot of a construction most frequently and how that frequency list for a slot is changed if another slot is filled. This paper shows that English on the phone phrase can freely be added to any speech and sound verb, while other phone PPs produce different phone constructions.

  6. Management of Russian military plutonium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zaleski, C.P.

    1996-01-01

    The objective of this paper is to propose and discuss a solution which enables storing as quickly as possible all weapons-grade plutonium from Russian military program in a way which would prevent diversion. Two main conditions apply to this solution. First, it should be achieved in a manner acceptable to Russian government, notably by preserving plutonium for possible future energy production, and second, the economics of the total system should be good enough to ensure no charge or limited charge for the storage of plutonium. A proposal is made to store plutonium in a specially designed fast reactor or specially designed reactor core. This solution could be favorable in comparison to other solutions applying the above mentioned goal and conditions. Additionally the proposed solution would have the following side advantages: utilizing available personnel and installations of the Russian nuclear complex; providing possible basis for decommissioning of older and less safe Russian reactors; giving experience of construction and operation of a series of sodium-cooled fast reactors. The major problem however is the need for large capital investment with the risk of getting no adequate return on investment due to difficult political and economic situation in Russia

  7. On the conceptual distinction of general causality orientations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olesen, Martin Hammershøj

    electronic questionnaires of dispositional personality traits (NEO-FFI) and general causality orientations (GCOS). Proposed separate latent models and alternative shared latent models of the underlying individual differences constructs had been developed in a previous exploratory study (Olesen, Thomsen......, that is general causality orientations can be understood as characteristic adaptations of dispositional traits....

  8. "Signs of honor" among Russian inmates in Israel's prisons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shoham, Efrat

    2010-12-01

    The unique nature of Israeli society as an immigrant society has also affected the prison population in Israel. This article focuses on a social and cultural phenomenon that particularly characterizes the prisoners of Russian origin, the phenomenon of tattoos. Using postmodernist theories, the article examines the function of the tattoo among Russian prisoners and the role it plays in constructing the criminal self-identity of these inmates in Israeli prisons. The tattoos observed during 2005-2006 among the Russian prisoners in four major Israeli prisons reflect the values of the Russian criminal subculture from which they evolved and were imported. This subculture is characterized by a hierarchical class structure and manifestations of machismo, domination, defiance, rebellion, and open antagonism against the Establishment and its representatives.

  9. Lithuania’s Images in Russian Mass Media after the Annexation of Crimea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pugačiauskas Virgilijus

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available One of the distinctive features of Russia’s confrontation with the West over the 2014-2016 period is the intensification of Russian propaganda both in foreign countries and within the state. Lithuania, whose relations with a major neighbour were not normalized, and which openly supported Ukraine’s position, attracted the additional attention of Russian mass media in which an incitement to anti- Lithuanian moods was bolstered. In this case, it is endeavoured to generally describe how the mass media (television and newspapers played a role in contriving a social construct and ascertain the Lithuanian quantitative characteristics which are presented in Russian mass media. Referring to the analysis, one can distinguish three prevailing negative images of Lithuania - that is, Russophobic and anti-Russian; a falsifier of history; and a failing and non-influential state. These images, being consistently and purposefully exploited in Russian information space, almost with no alternative sources, turned into undeniable truth for the majority of Russian citizens. This provides the Kremlin with vast possibilities of manipulation in constructing the tactics and strategy of geopolitical instability. On the other hand, one should not forget that such a negative picture of Lithuania serves as a way in which Russian society justifies Putin’s political system and demonstrates its superiority over the values of the Western world.

  10. Thermionic system evaluation test (TSET) facility construction: A United States and Russian effort

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wold, S.K.

    1993-01-01

    The Thermionic System Evaluation Test (TSET) is a ground test of an unfueled Russian TOPAZ-II in-core thermionic space reactor powered by electric heaters. The facility that will be used for testing of the TOPAZ-II systems is located at the New Mexico Engineering Research Institute (NMERI) complex in Albuquerque, NM. The reassembly of the Russian test equipment is the responsibility of International Scientific Products (ISP), a San Jose, CA, company and Inertek, a Russian corporation, with support provided by engineers and technicians from Phillips Laboratory (PL), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and the University of New Mexico (UNM). This test is the first test to be performed under the New Mexico Strategic Alliance agreement. This alliance consists of the PL, SNL, LANL, and UNM. The testing is being funded by the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) with the PL responsible for project execution

  11. Causal Indicator Models: Unresolved Issues of Construction and Evaluation

    Science.gov (United States)

    West, Stephen G.; Grimm, Kevin J.

    2014-01-01

    These authors agree with Bainter and Bollen that causal effects represents a useful measurement structure in some applications. The structure of the science of the measurement problem should determine the model; the measurement model should not determine the science. They also applaud Bainter and Bollen's important reminder that the full…

  12. Causally nonseparable processes admitting a causal model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feix, Adrien; Araújo, Mateus; Brukner, Caslav

    2016-01-01

    A recent framework of quantum theory with no global causal order predicts the existence of ‘causally nonseparable’ processes. Some of these processes produce correlations incompatible with any causal order (they violate so-called ‘causal inequalities’ analogous to Bell inequalities ) while others do not (they admit a ‘causal model’ analogous to a local model ). Here we show for the first time that bipartite causally nonseparable processes with a causal model exist, and give evidence that they have no clear physical interpretation. We also provide an algorithm to generate processes of this kind and show that they have nonzero measure in the set of all processes. We demonstrate the existence of processes which stop violating causal inequalities but are still causally nonseparable when mixed with a certain amount of ‘white noise’. This is reminiscent of the behavior of Werner states in the context of entanglement and nonlocality. Finally, we provide numerical evidence for the existence of causally nonseparable processes which have a causal model even when extended with an entangled state shared among the parties. (paper)

  13. The construction of ‘geopolitical spaces’ in Russian foreign policy discourse before and after the Ukraine crisis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Svarin

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Focusing on discourses by the ruling elite, this article examines the construction of ‘geopolitical spaces’ in Russian foreign policy. Based on a critical geopolitical analysis, suggesting that territory, space and geographies are being actively (reformulated by those in power, this article analyzes how policy-makers define and articulate the importance of a particular geographical region for their foreign policy. It analyzes how the three ‘geopolitical spaces’ – Eurasia, the Euro-Atlantic and the Asia-Pacific – are defined by Russia's political leaders and how each space fulfils a particular function for the pursuit of Russian interests abroad. In a second part, this article takes into account the events in and around Ukraine starting in late 2013 and analyzes how Russia's discourse toward the traditional ‘geopolitical spaces’ changed as a result. It is argued, that while Russia previously strived for membership in each of the three ‘geopolitical spaces’, the Ukraine crisis and its impact on Moscow's relation with the West led to a reorientation of Russia's geopolitical vision toward the East and most importantly toward Eurasia. The establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union was instrumental for the promotion of a new vision of wider Eurasian integration.

  14. Pioneering Russian wind tunnels and first experimental investigations, 1871-1915

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorbushin, A. R.

    2017-11-01

    A review of foreign and Russian sources is given mentioning the pioneering wind tunnels built in Russia at the turn of 19th and 20th centuries. The first wind tunnel in Russia was constructed by V.A. Pashkevich at the Mikhailovsky Artillery Academy in St. Petersburg in 1871. In total from 1871 through 1915, 18 wind tunnels were constructed in Russia: 11 in Moscow, 5 in St. Petersburg and 2 in Kaluga. An overview of the pioneering Russian wind tunnels built by V.A. Pashkevich, K.E. Tsiolkovsky, prof. N.E. Zhukovsky, D.P. Ryabushinsky and prof. K.P. Boklevsky is given. Schemes, photographs, formulas, description of the research and test results taken from the original papers published by the wind tunnel designers are given. Photographs from the N.E. Zhukovsky Scientific and Memorial Museum and the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences are used in the article. Methods of flow visualization and results of their application are presented. The Russian scientists and researchers' contribution to the development of techniques and methods of aerodynamic experiment is shown, including one of the most important aspects - the wall interference problem.

  15. Causality and matter propagation in 3D spin foam quantum gravity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oriti, Daniele; Tlas, Tamer

    2006-01-01

    In this paper we tackle the issue of causality in quantum gravity, in the context of 3d spin foam models. We identify the correct procedure for implementing the causality/orientation dependence restriction that reduces the path integral for BF theory to that of quantum gravity in first order form. We construct explicitly the resulting causal spin foam model. We then add matter degrees of freedom to it and construct a causal spin foam model for 3d quantum gravity coupled to matter fields. Finally, we show that the corresponding spin foam amplitudes admit a natural approximation as the Feynman amplitudes of a noncommutative quantum field theory, with the appropriate Feynman propagators weighting the lines of propagation, and that this effective field theory reduces to the usual quantum field theory in flat space in the no-gravity limit

  16. The discourse of causal explanations in school science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slater, Tammy Jayne Anne

    Researchers and educators working from a systemic functional linguistic perspective have provided a body of work on science discourse which offers an excellent starting point for examining the linguistic aspects of the development of causal discourse in school science, discourse which Derewianka (1995) claimed is critical to success in secondary school. No work has yet described the development of causal language by identifying the linguistic features present in oral discourse or by comparing the causal discourse of native and non-native (ESL) speakers of English. The current research responds to this gap by examining the oral discourse collected from ESL and non-ESL students at the primary and high school grades. Specifically, it asks the following questions: (1) How do the teachers and students in these four contexts develop causal explanations and their relevant taxonomies through classroom interactions? (2) What are the causal discourse features being used by the students in these four contexts to construct oral causal explanations? The findings of the social practice analysis showed that the teachers in the four contexts differed in their approaches to teaching, with the primary school mainstream teacher focusing largely on the hands-on practice , the primary school ESL teacher moving from practice to theory, the high school mainstream teacher moving from theory to practice, and the high school ESL teacher relying primarily on theory. The findings from the quantitative, small corpus approach suggest that the developmental path of cause which has been identified in the writing of experts shows up not only in written texts but also in the oral texts which learners construct. Moreover, this move appears when the discourse of high school ESL and non-ESL students is compared, suggesting a developmental progression in the acquisition of these features by these students. The findings also reveal that the knowledge constructed, as shown by the concept maps created

  17. Causal Reasoning in Medicine: Analysis of a Protocol.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuipers, Benjamin; Kassirer, Jerome P.

    1984-01-01

    Describes the construction of a knowledge representation from the identification of the problem (nephrotic syndrome) to a running computer simulation of causal reasoning to provide a vertical slice of the construction of a cognitive model. Interactions between textbook knowledge, observations of human experts, and computational requirements are…

  18. Causality violation, gravitational shockwaves and UV completion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hollowood, Timothy J.; Shore, Graham M. [Department of Physics, Swansea University,Swansea, SA2 8PP (United Kingdom)

    2016-03-18

    The effective actions describing the low-energy dynamics of QFTs involving gravity generically exhibit causality violations. These may take the form of superluminal propagation or Shapiro time advances and allow the construction of “time machines”, i.e. spacetimes admitting closed non-spacelike curves. Here, we discuss critically whether such causality violations may be used as a criterion to identify unphysical effective actions or whether, and how, causality problems may be resolved by embedding the action in a fundamental, UV complete QFT. We study in detail the case of photon scattering in an Aichelburg-Sexl gravitational shockwave background and calculate the phase shifts in QED for all energies, demonstrating their smooth interpolation from the causality-violating effective action values at low-energy to their manifestly causal high-energy limits. At low energies, these phase shifts may be interpreted as backwards-in-time coordinate jumps as the photon encounters the shock wavefront, and we illustrate how the resulting causality problems emerge and are resolved in a two-shockwave time machine scenario. The implications of our results for ultra-high (Planck) energy scattering, in which graviton exchange is modelled by the shockwave background, are highlighted.

  19. URN:NBN:fi:tsv-oa7031 DOI: 10.11143/7031 The island monastery of Valaam in Finnish homeland tourism: Constructing a “Thirdspace” in the Russian borderlands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mikula, Maja

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The Orthodox island monastery of Valaam in Russian Karelia is today a popular destination for Finnish tourists visiting Russia’s western borderlands. Many of these tourists are descendants of the Karelians who had evacuated the area following World War II. The monastery’s institutionally sanctioned genealogies construct it as the civilizing force, which had brought Christian enlightenment to the local heathen population. This discursive template is played out in the way the place is presented to visitors, with each highlight telling a carefully constructed story that promotes the monastery’s significance for the Russian religious and national identity. Yet, drawing on lived experience, as well as on popular culture, family lore and meanings from collective memory, the Finnish visitors break the monolithic official discourse and produce a complex “thirdspace” in their own measure. This paper is based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews conducted during a homeland visit to Ladogan Karelia in June 2010.

  20. Russian Science and Russian State: Image of a Scientist in Modern Russian Cinema

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Svetlana M. Medvedeva

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The article analyses the image of a scientist represented in recent Russian movies. The article discusses two groups of questions: (1 nature and role of popular science in the life of society; (2 national features of scientific cultures. The article agues that popular science should not be conceived as a week copy of the real science. On the contrary, modern models of science communication assume that popular science have its own value and is able to influence scientific practices. Simultaneously we assume, that since popular science is less integrated with international scientific norms, it can easer reveal national traditions of scientific life. As a result, the analyze of recent Russian movies shows that the tradition established in Peter I times for Russian scientists to work out their self-identity in concern with Russian state still exists (scientist- state supporter/scientist- oppositionist. Actually the modern interpretation of dilemma between state patriotism and liberalism given by modern movies shows that Russian scientist don't have real choice, because they loose anyway whereas the state always wins. So owing to recent movies this representation of hopeless destiny of a scientist is becoming widespread in Russian public culture.

  1. Environmental restoration plans and activities in the Russian Federation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boldyrev, V.; Komarov, A.; Kuzin, R.; Shatalov, V.

    1997-01-01

    The report deals with the status of environmental restoration of uranium-contaminated sites and the methods to reduce radionuclides concentration in the solid and liquid wastes as well as their utilization potential. Attention is given to the waste utilization in agriculture and civil engineering construction. With this in view, the paper deals with waste water purification and applicable standards for natural radionuclides content in solid waste for utilization in construction activities. All works are carried out in accordance with the Special Complex Programme for environmental restoration of contaminated uranium mining and milling sites caused by the activities of the industries engaged in nuclear materials production for the Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation. The Programme is an integral part of the Federal Programme ''Conversion of Russian Defense Industries in 1993-2000''. (author)

  2. RUSSIAN INDUSTRY INVESTMENT SITUATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. V. Pochukaeva

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The actual deficiency of investment into Russian industry innovative development increases its technological drag from industries of countries with developed markets. Although the rate of investment into real sectors of Russian economics mid 2000 was higher compared to the previous period, annual investment amounts were much lower than in 1990. At present, highest investment amounts are directed to industry extractive branches and to the commerce. Amounts invested to various economy branches do not correspond to their contribution to the country’sGross Added Product; particularly underinvested are manufacturing industry branches. At present, foreign share in the country economy total investment makes 15–18%. Recently, most interesting for foreigners was investment to machine-building branches with overwhelming part (for example, 90% in 2007–2008 of foreign investment into the machine-building industry being directed to creation of new automobile plants. Today, first place in the list of foreign investors’ preferences in Russia is taken by the machine-tool construction sector.

  3. SEARCH OF NATIONAL STYLE IN RUSSIAN ARCHITECTURE IN XIX - EARLY XX CENTURIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Татьяна Сергеевна Семичевская

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This article deals with the process of establishment and development the Russian revival style in Russian Empire’s architecture of the 19th - early 20th centuries. During this period Russian society experienced intense changes that included innovations in technology, engineering and the art of building. Taking its origin from “Russian-byzantine” style in orthodox church building, the Russian revival style developed as a mixture of tradition and innovation. This eclectic style was inspired by the romantic revival movement of Western Europe and based on the interest in the historic monuments of the nation, especially in examples of pre-Peterine Russian architecture of the 17th century. The historicism of Russian Revival style resonated with the popular nationalism and pan-Slavism of the period. New style became a manifestation of the Russian national idea depicting in stone the specialty and uniqueness of our history and culture. Today the increasing interest to national cultural heritage actualizes the investigations of this extraordinary period of creativity represented by works of such famous architects as V. Stasov, K. Thon, V. Sherwood, I. Ropet and others. The appealing to “Russian-byzantine” style in modern church construction shows the power and vitality of its creative impulse.

  4. Exploring Causal Models of Educational Achievement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parkerson, Jo Ann; And Others

    1984-01-01

    This article evaluates five causal model of educational productivity applied to learning science in a sample of 882 fifth through eighth graders. Each model explores the relationship between achievement and a combination of eight constructs: home environment, peer group, media, ability, social environment, time on task, motivation, and…

  5. Researching Informal Labour Migration: Russian Realities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lev Perepelkin

    2006-09-01

    Full Text Available Modern Russian society is affected by “non-resident informal employment”: a regular productive activity that is not firmly and officially registered in accordance with Russian foreign labour regulations. A specific characteristic of this phenomenon in Russia is that the multimillion flow of CIS working age citizens enters Russia absolutely legally, but with the intention of working in the so-called shadow or semi-legal economy. The authors’ main aim is to present a complex and balanced evaluation of the situation. On one hand they argue that this labour migration was of some use to Russia, i.e. in the early 1990’s large groups of “informal” foreign workers filled an economic niche, unpopular among local labour force (construction and repair, small sized retail trade etc. and thus enabled to solve the deficit in many services and satisfy needs for basic products. On the other hand, a negative reflection of such shadow employment exceeded all of its conjuncture benefits from post-soviet “gastarbeiter” labour.. The permanency of these migration contingents undermines the Russian labour market, not only from the point of wages and working conditions. It provides and maintains not only unfair labour practices, but also the deterioration of common morals and ethics: the devaluation of positive values, the predominance of cynic pragmatism in Russian people and legislative nihilism.

  6. Russian desman (Desmana moschata: Talpidae at the edge of disappearance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marina V. Rutovskaya

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The population of the Russian desman in all historical areas is currently no more than 8000–10,000 individuals. The estimated population size of the Russian desman is based on direct surveys during 2010–2016. We observed over 266 km of the coastline in eight regions where the desman lives. Since the early 20th century the number of specimens has been steadily declining. In addition to the previously described factors that determine the reduction of the population size, such as land reclamation, the construction of hydroelectric stations and the flourishing of poaching at the end of the last century, the status of the Russian desman population is adversely affected by periodic droughts and the absence of floods. Currently Protected Areas remain as the only passive measure to protect the Russian desman in the absence of a programme to species protection nor state support.

  7. QED representation for the net of causal loops

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciolli, Fabio; Ruzzi, Giuseppe; Vasselli, Ezio

    2015-06-01

    The present work tackles the existence of local gauge symmetries in the setting of Algebraic Quantum Field Theory (AQFT). The net of causal loops, previously introduced by the authors, is a model independent construction of a covariant net of local C*-algebras on any 4-dimensional globally hyperbolic space-time, aimed to capture structural properties of any reasonable quantum gauge theory. Representations of this net can be described by causal and covariant connection systems, and local gauge transformations arise as maps between equivalent connection systems. The present paper completes these abstract results, realizing QED as a representation of the net of causal loops in Minkowski space-time. More precisely, we map the quantum electromagnetic field Fμν, not free in general, into a representation of the net of causal loops and show that the corresponding connection system and the local gauge transformations find a counterpart in terms of Fμν.

  8. Causal imprinting in causal structure learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Eric G; Ahn, Woo-Kyoung

    2012-11-01

    Suppose one observes a correlation between two events, B and C, and infers that B causes C. Later one discovers that event A explains away the correlation between B and C. Normatively, one should now dismiss or weaken the belief that B causes C. Nonetheless, participants in the current study who observed a positive contingency between B and C followed by evidence that B and C were independent given A, persisted in believing that B causes C. The authors term this difficulty in revising initially learned causal structures "causal imprinting." Throughout four experiments, causal imprinting was obtained using multiple dependent measures and control conditions. A Bayesian analysis showed that causal imprinting may be normative under some conditions, but causal imprinting also occurred in the current study when it was clearly non-normative. It is suggested that causal imprinting occurs due to the influence of prior knowledge on how reasoners interpret later evidence. Consistent with this view, when participants first viewed the evidence showing that B and C are independent given A, later evidence with only B and C did not lead to the belief that B causes C. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. The New Generation Russian VLBI Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finkelstein, Andrey; Ipatov, Alexander; Smolentsev, Sergey; Mardyshkin, Vyacheslav; Fedotov, Leonid; Surkis, Igor; Ivanov, Dmitrij; Gayazov, Iskander

    2010-01-01

    This paper deals with a new project of the Russian VLBI Network dedicated for Universal Time determinations in quasi on-line mode. The basic principles of the network design and location of antennas are explained. Variants of constructing receiving devices, digital data acquisition system, and phase calibration system are specially considered. The frequency ranges and expected values of noise temperature are given.

  10. Deictic Reference as a Means for Constructing the Character Image in a Dubbed Cartoon Snow Postman: Comparative Analysis of the Lithuanian, Russian and English Versions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danguolė Satkauskaitė

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The article aims at examining how the main character Snowman’s image is constructed by applying an abundant number of deictic expressions in the Lithuanian, Russian and English versions of the cartoon Snow Postman. The research was based on M. Consten’s conception of direct and indirect reference and the model of visual-verbal cohesion proposed by N. Baumgarten. The study has revealed that in both, Russian and Lithuanian versions of the cartoon, the main character’s dialogues are loaded with deictic expressions which mark the same referents. In this way, the main character is shaped as a dull, forgetful being, unable to store and process a huge amount of information in his head. In the English version, deictic instances are sparsely used, thus the character image is quite different here: the snowman is less absent-minded and fuzzy.

  11. Optimal causal inference: estimating stored information and approximating causal architecture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Still, Susanne; Crutchfield, James P; Ellison, Christopher J

    2010-09-01

    We introduce an approach to inferring the causal architecture of stochastic dynamical systems that extends rate-distortion theory to use causal shielding--a natural principle of learning. We study two distinct cases of causal inference: optimal causal filtering and optimal causal estimation. Filtering corresponds to the ideal case in which the probability distribution of measurement sequences is known, giving a principled method to approximate a system's causal structure at a desired level of representation. We show that in the limit in which a model-complexity constraint is relaxed, filtering finds the exact causal architecture of a stochastic dynamical system, known as the causal-state partition. From this, one can estimate the amount of historical information the process stores. More generally, causal filtering finds a graded model-complexity hierarchy of approximations to the causal architecture. Abrupt changes in the hierarchy, as a function of approximation, capture distinct scales of structural organization. For nonideal cases with finite data, we show how the correct number of the underlying causal states can be found by optimal causal estimation. A previously derived model-complexity control term allows us to correct for the effect of statistical fluctuations in probability estimates and thereby avoid overfitting.

  12. Causality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearl, Judea

    2000-03-01

    Written by one of the pre-eminent researchers in the field, this book provides a comprehensive exposition of modern analysis of causation. It shows how causality has grown from a nebulous concept into a mathematical theory with significant applications in the fields of statistics, artificial intelligence, philosophy, cognitive science, and the health and social sciences. Pearl presents a unified account of the probabilistic, manipulative, counterfactual and structural approaches to causation, and devises simple mathematical tools for analyzing the relationships between causal connections, statistical associations, actions and observations. The book will open the way for including causal analysis in the standard curriculum of statistics, artifical intelligence, business, epidemiology, social science and economics. Students in these areas will find natural models, simple identification procedures, and precise mathematical definitions of causal concepts that traditional texts have tended to evade or make unduly complicated. This book will be of interest to professionals and students in a wide variety of fields. Anyone who wishes to elucidate meaningful relationships from data, predict effects of actions and policies, assess explanations of reported events, or form theories of causal understanding and causal speech will find this book stimulating and invaluable.

  13. Causal events enter awareness faster than non-causal events

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pieter Moors

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Philosophers have long argued that causality cannot be directly observed but requires a conscious inference (Hume, 1967. Albert Michotte however developed numerous visual phenomena in which people seemed to perceive causality akin to primary visual properties like colour or motion (Michotte, 1946. Michotte claimed that the perception of causality did not require a conscious, deliberate inference but, working over 70 years ago, he did not have access to the experimental methods to test this claim. Here we employ Continuous Flash Suppression (CFS—an interocular suppression technique to render stimuli invisible (Tsuchiya & Koch, 2005—to test whether causal events enter awareness faster than non-causal events. We presented observers with ‘causal’ and ‘non-causal’ events, and found consistent evidence that participants become aware of causal events more rapidly than non-causal events. Our results suggest that, whilst causality must be inferred from sensory evidence, this inference might be computed at low levels of perceptual processing, and does not depend on a deliberative conscious evaluation of the stimulus. This work therefore supports Michotte’s contention that, like colour or motion, causality is an immediate property of our perception of the world.

  14. Russian Federation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-01-01

    In the Russian Federation (RF), management of radioactive wastes will be carried out within the framework of the Federal Target Program for management of radioactive wastes and used nuclear materials for the period 1996-2005. The agency within the RF responsible for this program is the Ministry of Russian Federation on Atomic Energy. Current radioactive waste disposal activities are focused on creating regional repositories for wastes generated by radiochemical production, nuclear reactors, science centers, and from other sources outside of the nuclear-fuel cycle (the latter wastes are managed by Scientific and Industrial Association, 'RADON'). Wastes of these types are in temporary storage, with the exception of non-fuel cycle wastes which are in long term storage managed by SAI 'RADON'. The criteria for segregating between underground or near-surface disposal of radioactive waste are based on the radiation fields and radionuclide composition of the wastes. The most progress in creating regional repositories has been made in the Northwest region of Russia. However, development of a detailed design has begun for a test facility in the Northeast for disposal of radioactive wastes generated in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk provinces. The feasibility study for construction of this facility is being evaluated by state monitoring organizations, the heads of administrations of the Arkhangelsk and Murmansk provinces, and Minatom of Russia

  15. Polish-Bulgarian-Russian, Bulgarian-Polish-Russian or Russian-Bulgarian-Polish dictionary?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Violetta Koseska-Toszewa

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Polish-Bulgarian-Russian, Bulgarian-Polish-Russian or Russian-Bulgarian-Polish dictionary? The trilingual dictionary (M. Duszkin, V. Koseska, J. Satoła and A. Tzoneva is being elaborated based on a working Polish-Bulgarian-Russian electronic parallel corpus authored by Maksim Duszkin, Violetta Koseska-Toszewa and Joanna Satoła-Staśkowiak, and works by A. Tzoneva. It is the first corpus comparing languages belonging to three different Slavic language groups: western, southern and eastern. Works on the dictionary are based on Gramatyka konfrontatywna bułgarsko-polska (Bulgarian-Polish confrontative grammar and the proposed there semantic-oriented interlanguage. Two types of classifiers have been introduced into the dictionary: classic and semantic. The trilingual dictionary will present a consistent and homogeneous set of facts of grammar and semantics. The Authors point out that in a traditional dictionary it is not clear for example whether aspect should be understood as imperfective / perfective form of a verb or as its meaning. Therefore in the dictionary forms and meaning are separated in a regular way. Imperfective verb form has two meanings: state and configuration of states and events culminating in state. Also perfective verb form has two meanings: event and configuration of states and events culminating in event. These meanings are described by the semantic classifiers, respectively, state and event, state1 and event1. The way of describing language units, mentioned in the article, gives a possibility to present language material (Polish, Bulgarian, Russian in any required order, hence the article’s title.

  16. Russian Federation country report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Labyntseva, Marina [Non governmental educational institution, ' ATOMPROF' , Aerodromnaya st., 4, 197348 St Petersburg (Russian Federation)

    2008-07-01

    Nuclear in the Russian Federation: 31 reactors at 10 nuclear power plants, 454 nuclear material storage facilities, 16475 sources of ionizing radiation, 1508 storage facilities for radioactive material and radioactive waste. Nuclear power: 10 nuclear power plants with total installed capacity of 23.242 GWe, Total nuclear electricity generation 160 bln kWh in 2007, Share of nuclear electricity in the overall electricity generation is 16%. Future of nuclear power: Nuclear power development program for the period from 2007 to 2020: Lifetime extension of existing units, Completion of construction of nuclear power units at existing sites (Rostov-2, Kalinin-4, Beloyarsk-4). Construction of new nuclear power plants near existing NPP (Novovoronezh NPP-2, Leningrad NPP-2, Kursk NPP-2,Kola NPP-2) and Construction of new nuclear power plants: (Nizhny Novgorod NPP, Tver NPP, Central NPP, South Urals NPP, Seversk NPP, Primorskaya NPP, 2 floating nuclear power plants at Severodvinsk and Pevek). Radioactive waste management: The Law on radioactive waste management will be introduced to State Duma in June 2008. The radioactive waste management strategy includes construction and reconstruction of: Storage facilities for some 120 thousand cubic meters, RW treatment complexes at nuclear fuel cycle enterprises, Storage facilities and RW treatment complexes at nuclear power plants, Storage facilities for RW coming from non-nuclear facilities for 140 thousand cubic meters, Decommissioning of 140 facilities, Decontamination of territories, buildings and constructions with the total area of 1658 thousand square meters. Development of competences: In 2006 about 313 thousand employees were working at nuclear industry (Top level managers - 0,6%, Intermediate level managers - 6,0%, Specialists - 31,6%, Workers - 62%). The demand of Rosatom State Corporation will be 7000 - 8000 persons annually of more then 140 professions, among them: 2800 persons with higher professional education, 2000

  17. Theories of Causality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Robert

    2010-03-01

    There are a wide range of views on causality. To some (e.g. Karl Popper) causality is superfluous. Bertrand Russell said ``In advanced science the word cause never occurs. Causality is a relic of a bygone age.'' At the other extreme Rafael Sorkin and L. Bombelli suggest that space and time do not exist but are only an approximation to a reality that is simply a discrete ordered set, a ``causal set.'' For them causality IS reality. Others, like Judea Pearl and Nancy Cartwright are seaking to build a complex fundamental theory of causality (Causality, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000) Or perhaps a theory of causality is simply the theory of functions. This is more or less my take on causality.

  18. ATLAS presents award to a Russian manufacturer within an ISTC project

    CERN Multimedia

    2004-01-01

    On 28 January the Russian machine building plant Molniya was awarded a prize for best ATLAS suppliers, for excellence in the construction of 29 modules for the Hadronic End-Cap Calorimeter of ATLAS. An ATLAS supplier award ceremony was held on Wednesday 28th January. The award for the most exceptional contribution to construction of the future detector was presented to the Russian company Molniya, a former weapons manufacturer based near Moscow. The Molniya machine building plant constructed a total of 29 modules for the LAr Hadronic End-Cap Calorimeter (HEC) of ATLAS. Thirteen are series modules which have already been integrated into the four wheels of the detector. The remaining 16 are calibration modules, designed for the ATLAS beam tests. To manufacture the unique copper plates and module structures required, the company set up a dedicated production process and developed stringent quality control criteria. The task was completed on time, within budget and the completed modules surpassed required qua...

  19. Entanglement, holography and causal diamonds

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Boer, Jan; Haehl, Felix M.; Heller, Michal P.; Myers, Robert C.

    2016-08-01

    We argue that the degrees of freedom in a d-dimensional CFT can be reorganized in an insightful way by studying observables on the moduli space of causal diamonds (or equivalently, the space of pairs of timelike separated points). This 2 d-dimensional space naturally captures some of the fundamental nonlocality and causal structure inherent in the entanglement of CFT states. For any primary CFT operator, we construct an observable on this space, which is defined by smearing the associated one-point function over causal diamonds. Known examples of such quantities are the entanglement entropy of vacuum excitations and its higher spin generalizations. We show that in holographic CFTs, these observables are given by suitably defined integrals of dual bulk fields over the corresponding Ryu-Takayanagi minimal surfaces. Furthermore, we explain connections to the operator product expansion and the first law of entanglemententropy from this unifying point of view. We demonstrate that for small perturbations of the vacuum, our observables obey linear two-derivative equations of motion on the space of causal diamonds. In two dimensions, the latter is given by a product of two copies of a two-dimensional de Sitter space. For a class of universal states, we show that the entanglement entropy and its spin-three generalization obey nonlinear equations of motion with local interactions on this moduli space, which can be identified with Liouville and Toda equations, respectively. This suggests the possibility of extending the definition of our new observables beyond the linear level more generally and in such a way that they give rise to new dynamically interacting theories on the moduli space of causal diamonds. Various challenges one has to face in order to implement this idea are discussed.

  20. Entanglement, holography and causal diamonds

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Boer, Jan de [Institute of Physics, Universiteit van Amsterdam,Science Park 904, 1090 GL Amsterdam (Netherlands); Haehl, Felix M. [Centre for Particle Theory & Department of Mathematical Sciences, Durham University,South Road, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom); Heller, Michal P.; Myers, Robert C. [Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics,31 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5 (Canada)

    2016-08-29

    We argue that the degrees of freedom in a d-dimensional CFT can be re-organized in an insightful way by studying observables on the moduli space of causal diamonds (or equivalently, the space of pairs of timelike separated points). This 2d-dimensional space naturally captures some of the fundamental nonlocality and causal structure inherent in the entanglement of CFT states. For any primary CFT operator, we construct an observable on this space, which is defined by smearing the associated one-point function over causal diamonds. Known examples of such quantities are the entanglement entropy of vacuum excitations and its higher spin generalizations. We show that in holographic CFTs, these observables are given by suitably defined integrals of dual bulk fields over the corresponding Ryu-Takayanagi minimal surfaces. Furthermore, we explain connections to the operator product expansion and the first law of entanglement entropy from this unifying point of view. We demonstrate that for small perturbations of the vacuum, our observables obey linear two-derivative equations of motion on the space of causal diamonds. In two dimensions, the latter is given by a product of two copies of a two-dimensional de Sitter space. For a class of universal states, we show that the entanglement entropy and its spin-three generalization obey nonlinear equations of motion with local interactions on this moduli space, which can be identified with Liouville and Toda equations, respectively. This suggests the possibility of extending the definition of our new observables beyond the linear level more generally and in such a way that they give rise to new dynamically interacting theories on the moduli space of causal diamonds. Various challenges one has to face in order to implement this idea are discussed.

  1. STATE AND PROSPECTS OF RUSSIAN-VIETNAMESE COOPERATION IN NUCLEAR ENERGY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gordeev-Burgvits Mikhail Alekseevich

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In 2010 the Vietnam government arrived at a decision to build the first nuclear power plant in the country Ninh Thuan 1 according to Russian project and with the help of Russian specialists. The construction of NPP in Vietnam will essentially relieve the deficit in energy production. The political leaders of Vietnam reckon upon the further growth of the economy. Energy of Vietnam is now generally held on big HPPs and TPPs. Small hydropower and such renewable energy sources as sun and wind play an important role in energy production. Because of the small amount of falls in the recent years in spite of monsoon climate, HPPs in Vietnam produce energy using not their full capacity. In TPP coal, diesel oil and gas is used as energy resources. The share of coal is still quite big (around 18 % and coal TPPs have a serious negative impact on the environment. That’s why the specialists count on the development of nuclear energy. The paper presents the plans for the construction of a nuclear power plant "Ninh Thuan" in Vietnam, the alleged NPP project, its advantage over other projects, prerequisites and prospects for cooperation between the Russian and Vietnamese governments in this field.

  2. Overview of the Russian nuclear industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2008-02-01

    In 2004, President Poutine decided to replace the atomic energy ministry (Minatom) by the federal atomic energy agency (Rosatom). Several projects were launched during the next two years which aimed at bringing back Russia to the fore front of the world leaders of nuclear energy use and nuclear technology export. In 2007, Rosatom agency was changed to a public holding company and a new company, named Atomenergoprom, was created which gathers all civil nuclear companies (AtomEnergoMash for the exploitation of power plants, Technabsexport (Tenex) specialized in enrichment or Atomstryexport in charge of export activities). Thus, Rosatom is at the head of all civilian and military nuclear companies, of all research centers, and of all nuclear and radiological safety facilities. In 2006, Russian nuclear power plants supplied 15.8% of the whole power consumption. Russia wishes to develop its nuclear program with the construction of new reactors in order to reach a nuclear electricity share of 25% from now to 2020. This paper presents first the 2007 institutional reform of the Russian atomic sector, and the three sectorial federal programmes: 1 - development of the nuclear energy industrial complex for the 2007-2010 era and up to 2015 (future power plants, nuclear fuel centers and reactor prototypes), 2 - nuclear safety and radioprotection for the 2008-2015 era (waste management, remedial actions, radiation protection), 3 - military program (confidential). Then, the paper presents: the international actions (export of Russian technology, cooperation agreements, non-proliferation), the situation of the existing nuclear park (reactors in operation, stopped, under construction and in project), the fuel cycle activities (production of natural uranium, enrichment, fuel fabrication, spent fuel storage, reprocessing, waste management), the nuclear R and D in Russia, and the nuclear safety authority. (J.S.)

  3. Linearization of weak hand holds in Russian Sign Language

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kimmelman, V.

    2017-01-01

    Russian Sign Language (RSL) makes use of constructions involving manual simultaneity, in particular, weak hand holds, where one hand is being held in the location and configuration of a sign, while the other simultaneously produces one sign or a sequence of several signs. In this paper, I argue that

  4. Is There a Causal Relation between Mathematical Creativity and Mathematical Problem-Solving Performance?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tyagi, Tarun Kumar

    2016-01-01

    The relationship between mathematical creativity (MC) and mathematical problem-solving performance (MP) has often been studied but the causal relation between these two constructs has yet to be clearly reported. The main purpose of this study was to define the causal relationship between MC and MP. Data from a representative sample of 480…

  5. Chinese Global and Russian Spatial Strategies: Harmonization Potential

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavel Aleksandrovich Minakir

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available A probability of the harmonization of the Chinese sub-global strategy ‘One Belt, One Road’, proposed in 2013, and Russian integration project for the Eurasia economic cooperation are reviewed as well as the influence of this potential synchronized project on the Far Eastern segment of the Russian spatial strategy. It is noted that the problems of spatial heterogeneity gave push to the ‘One Belt, One Road’ project when China approached the point in economic development where different regional economic zones demand new infrastructural solutions for maintaining economic dynamics. The article shows that the declared co-development of countries involved is based on the rigid pragmatic financial-credit and infrastructural expansion of Central Asian model: mandatory provision of significant share in property (controlling stake, if possible, mandatory financing with construction contract and guaranteed future export of services for operating the facilities, ensuring the rights on full (or no less than 50% export of raw materials for further processing to China, employing Chinese labor in Russian-Chinese enterprises, and using Chinese machinery and equipment

  6. Causal universe

    CERN Document Server

    Ellis, George FR; Pabjan, Tadeusz

    2013-01-01

    Written by philosophers, cosmologists, and physicists, this collection of essays deals with causality, which is a core issue for both science and philosophy. Readers will learn about different types of causality in complex systems and about new perspectives on this issue based on physical and cosmological considerations. In addition, the book includes essays pertaining to the problem of causality in ancient Greek philosophy, and to the problem of God's relation to the causal structures of nature viewed in the light of contemporary physics and cosmology.

  7. Mental Programs and Social Behavior Patterns in Russian Society

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lubsky, Anatoly Vladimirovich; Kolesnykova, Elena Yuryevna; Lubsky, Roman Anatolyevich

    2016-01-01

    The objective of the article is to reconstruct the mental programs, their cognitive, axiological and connotative structures, and construction on this basis of various modal patterns of social behavior in Russian society. Methodology of the article is based on an interdisciplinary scientific approach making it possible to conceptually disclose the…

  8. Present status and recent improvements of water chemistry at Russian VVER plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mamet, V.; Yurmanov, V.

    2001-01-01

    Water chemistry is an important contributor to reliable plant operation, safety barrier integrity, plant component lifetime, radiation safety, environmental impact. Primary and secondary water chemistry guidelines of Russian VVER plants have been modified to meet the new safety standards. At present 14 VVER units of different generation are in operation at 5 Russian NPPs. There are eight 4-loop pressurised water reactors VVER-1000 (1000 MWe) and six 6-loop pressurised water reactors VVER-440 (440 MWe). Generally, water chemistry at East European VVER plants (about 40 VVER-440 and VVER-1000 units in Ukraine, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Finland and Armenia) is similar to water chemistry at Russian VVER plants. Due to similar design and structural materials some water chemistry improvements were introduced at East European plants after they has been successfully implemented at Russian plants and vice versa. Some water chemistry improvements will be implemented at modern VVER plants under construction in Ukraine, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Iran, China, India. (R.P.)

  9. The Russian gas industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-01-01

    The Russian Federation holds the world's largest proven natural gas reserves, and produces more natural gas than any other nation. Russian exports of gas to Europe and the other nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have a significant impact on natural gas markets throughout Europe and Asia. The aim of this three part study is to inform the international energy and investment community about the current status of the Russian gas industry and the prospects for its future development through 2010. It is also intended to provide an opportunity for the appropriate authorities in the Russian Federation to assess the needs of the industry and to consider areas for possible collaboration with the international investment community and international organizations in a rapidly changing economic and business environment. The study was prepared by the Energy Branch of the United Nations Department for Development Support and Management Services (UN/DDSMS). It was financed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Part I describes Russian gas reserves and potential resources, and overviews the country's gas producing, pipeline and distribution industries. Additionally, it summarizes the markets for Russian natural gas including domestic and external markets. It discusses the primary economics and potential factors that currently impact the Russian gas industry during the Federation's transition toward a market economy. Part II highlights possible directions for the development of the Russian gas resource base, including upstream gas production and downstream marketing in five-, ten- and fifteen-year time frames. It projects export opportunities for Russian Federation gas and evaluates the options for shaping regional and international markets. Part III addresses the legal and regulatory framework and fiscal regime of the Russian gas industry. It also reviews the major investment requirements and the equipment and training needs of the Russian gas

  10. The Russian oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rucker, Laurent

    2003-01-01

    This article proposes a brief discussion of various assessments of Russian oil reserves, of the evolutions of Russian oil production (Russia is the second world producer after Saudi Arabia), of the distribution of Russian oil exports among various regions, and of the decrease of Russian oil consumption between 1992 and 2002. It describes the evolution of the actor system as the oil sector has been largely privatised since 1992, and indicates the main companies which should control the Russia market on a medium term. It also discusses the obstacles for the development of Production Sharing Agreements (PSA) between these companies. It addresses the issue of modernisation of the oil transport system as its status and its condition are often an obstacle to oil export for Russian companies. The article finally discusses the price issue, the relationship between Russia and other OPEC countries, and the need for huge investments

  11. The prospects of the Russian Oil Sector in the context of the global financial crisis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Belyi, A.V.

    2009-01-01

    This article examines the history of the Russian oil industry. It shows in articular its progress to become a competitive producer, capable of adapting itself to new situations. At the same time, it must be emphasized that Russian oil prospects are highly dependent on the oil pipeline network. Construction o new infrastructures may be postponed as a result of the global financial crisis. (author)

  12. In defense of causal-formative indicators: A minority report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bollen, Kenneth A; Diamantopoulos, Adamantios

    2017-09-01

    Causal-formative indicators directly affect their corresponding latent variable. They run counter to the predominant view that indicators depend on latent variables and are thus often controversial. If present, such indicators have serious implications for factor analysis, reliability theory, item response theory, structural equation models, and most measurement approaches that are based on reflective or effect indicators. Psychological Methods has published a number of influential articles on causal and formative indicators as well as launching the first major backlash against them. This article examines 7 common criticisms of these indicators distilled from the literature: (a) A construct measured with "formative" indicators does not exist independently of its indicators; (b) Such indicators are causes rather than measures; (c) They imply multiple dimensions to a construct and this is a liability; (d) They are assumed to be error-free, which is unrealistic; (e) They are inherently subject to interpretational confounding; (f) They fail proportionality constraints; and (g) Their coefficients should be set in advance and not estimated. We summarize each of these criticisms and point out the flaws in the logic and evidence marshaled in their support. The most common problems are not distinguishing between what we call causal-formative and composite-formative indicators, tautological fallacies, and highlighting issues that are common to all indicators, but presenting them as special problems of causal-formative indicators. We conclude that measurement theory needs (a) to incorporate these types of indicators, and (b) to better understand their similarities to and differences from traditional indicators. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  13. Causal ubiquity in quantum physics. A superluminal and local-causal physical ontology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Neelamkavil, Raphael

    2014-01-01

    A fixed highest criterial velocity (of light) in STR (special theory of relativity) is a convention for a layer of physical inquiry. QM (Quantum Mechanics) avoids action-at-a-distance using this concept, but accepts non-causality and action-at-a-distance in EPR (Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Paradox) entanglement experiments. Even in such allegedly [non-causal] processes, something exists processually in extension-motion, between the causal and the [non-causal]. If STR theoretically allows real-valued superluminal communication between EPR entangled particles, quantum processes become fully causal. That is, the QM world is sub-luminally, luminally and superluminally local-causal throughout, and the Law of Causality is ubiquitous in the micro-world. Thus, ''probabilistic causality'' is a merely epistemic term.

  14. Causal ubiquity in quantum physics. A superluminal and local-causal physical ontology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Neelamkavil, Raphael

    2014-07-01

    A fixed highest criterial velocity (of light) in STR (special theory of relativity) is a convention for a layer of physical inquiry. QM (Quantum Mechanics) avoids action-at-a-distance using this concept, but accepts non-causality and action-at-a-distance in EPR (Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Paradox) entanglement experiments. Even in such allegedly [non-causal] processes, something exists processually in extension-motion, between the causal and the [non-causal]. If STR theoretically allows real-valued superluminal communication between EPR entangled particles, quantum processes become fully causal. That is, the QM world is sub-luminally, luminally and superluminally local-causal throughout, and the Law of Causality is ubiquitous in the micro-world. Thus, ''probabilistic causality'' is a merely epistemic term.

  15. Causality in Science

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina Puente Águeda

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Causality is a fundamental notion in every field of science. Since the times of Aristotle, causal relationships have been a matter of study as a way to generate knowledge and provide for explanations. In this paper I review the notion of causality through different scientific areas such as physics, biology, engineering, etc. In the scientific area, causality is usually seen as a precise relation: the same cause provokes always the same effect. But in the everyday world, the links between cause and effect are frequently imprecise or imperfect in nature. Fuzzy logic offers an adequate framework for dealing with imperfect causality, so a few notions of fuzzy causality are introduced.

  16. No simple dual to the causal holographic information?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Engelhardt, Netta [Department of Physics, Princeton University,Princeton, NJ, 08544 (United States); Wall, Aron C. [Institute for Advanced Study,Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ, 08540 (United States)

    2017-04-21

    In AdS/CFT, the fine grained entropy of a boundary region is dual to the area of an extremal surface X in the bulk. It has been proposed that the area of a certain ‘causal surface’ C — i.e. the ‘causal holographic information’ (CHI) — corresponds to some coarse-grained entropy in the boundary theory. We construct two kinds of counterexamples that rule out various possible duals, using (1) vacuum rigidity and (2) thermal quenches. This includes the ‘one-point entropy’ proposed by Kelly and Wall, and a large class of related procedures. Also, any coarse-graining that fixes the geometry of the bulk ‘causal wedge’ bounded by C, fails to reproduce CHI. This is in sharp contrast to the holographic entanglement entropy, where the area of the extremal surface X measures the same information that is found in the ‘entanglement wedge’ bounded by X.

  17. Russians and Ukrainians plan new gas line

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    TREND

    2003-01-01

    Paper deals with the building of new gas line between Russia and the Ukraine. In September 2003 Gazprom and Naftohaz Ukraine signed protocol about conditions of Russian gas transit through Ukrainian area for 2004. There is guaranteed quantity of transported gas on the level of 127,8 billions cubic meters by Russian side, 110 billions of it should next lead to Europe. Treaty refills long-term contract between Naftohaz and Gazprom about gas transit through Ukraine for period 2003-2013. Both countries and its companies plan to accept particular capital decision about building of new gas line Novopskov-Uzgorod till end of this year, which will be parallel with gas line Soyuz. It will allow to enlarge transportation system capacity by 28 billion cubic meters. Construction of about 1600 km long ducting system will require 1.6 billion USD by annual capacity about 15 billion cubic meters. If capacity would be doubled by construction of another compressor stations, capital expenses rise to 2.2 billions USD. It can be completely built in 7 years. Its linear part with one compressor can be already built in 3 years. Slovensky Plynarensky Podnik (SPP) would certainly have advantages from possible realisation of new gas line and from consequential transit increase. (Author)

  18. The Russian State, Lenin and the Central Asia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. M. Korhzokin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Central Asian nations faced a challenge of state-building objectives after the collapse of the USSR. However, it was a complicated task, because those nations were parts of the Russian and, lately, the Soviet state. State-building objectives include the creation of new historical narrative. Central Asia is now experiencing the process that is called "national novel" in the Western European historiography. Central Asian national variants of historical narratives serve as a conceptual basis for the writing of school and university textbooks. The introduction of ideological constructs through the education system is carried out everywhere. However, it is important to note that inevitable ideological indoctrination should not undermine scientific essence of textbooks. Politics of nation formation and the preservation of its identity is implemented and fostered by states carefully as well as clumsy. There is no doubt that there is an inevitable and practical need for constructing "national novel" in the new states. But historical politics should not ignore some of the methodological and at the same time mental traps that exist in the field of studying the history of the peoples of Central Asia in the period of the Russian Empire.

  19. Russia-A New Empire Under Construction. The Russian Policy towards Former Communist Satellites-Mechanisms of Exertion of Influence

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-12-01

    Michael Fortmann (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004), 5-6. 19 These can be cases of Romania , Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland who...Federation • Mitropolit .Andrian (Chetvergov) – the chief of Russian Orthodox Old Believers Church 71 John B. Dunlop, “Aleksandr...preparation for the next confrontation. As a famous Russian philosopher, Nikolay Bierdaeev wrote in 1918 : The old quarrel in the Slavic family, a

  20. Emergence of new Russian and foreign investors in the Russian oil and gas complex

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arbatov, A.A.

    1996-01-01

    A critical analysis is presented of the factors influencing foreign investment in Russian oil and gas exploration and production. Greater stability in the Russian economy would help and unfortunately some elements of the Russian bureaucracy hinder quick decision making. Western investors could improve their position by concentrating on developments which are unlikely to be developed by Russian companies in the next decade. (author)

  1. Russian separation program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rea, J.L.

    1993-01-01

    A small contract signed in FY92 with the Khlopin Radium Institute marked the beginning of the Russian Separations program. Under this contract the Khlopin Radium Institute performed laboratory and dynamic hot-cell testing using cobalt dicarbollide technology on simulated radioactive wastes similar to those found at DOE sites in the United States. The current scope of investigation has been extended to identify prospective technologies for application to other United States needs. The Khlopin Radium Institute project served as a model for three other pilot scale technology development projects. The premise of the pilot scale projects is to enable Russian scientists to demonstrate their technology in the context of DOE needs, using Russian technical expertise has proven to be a cost-effective means of screening Russian technologies

  2. progress on the U.S.-Russian excess weapons plutonium disposition program. Panel discussion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feinroth, Herb; Sicard, Bruno; Kudryavtsev, Evgeny; Sprankle, Kenneth A.; Nesbit, Steve; Gadsby, Robert; Aratani, Kiyonori

    2001-01-01

    Full text of publication follows: On September 1, 2000, the United States and Russia signed a historic agreement to each dispose of 34 tons of excess weapons plutonium by 2025, or sooner if possible. The agreement was conditional on international financing of the Russian program. The parties are now attempting to establish a specific program for disposition of the Russian plutonium and to secure commitments for international financing of the Russian program. In the United States, efforts are moving forward to design, license, and construct the necessary facilities for its disposition program. With the assistance of France and Germany, efforts are moving forward in Russia to plan and design appropriate reactor modifications as well as the needed facilities for plutonium conversion and mixed-oxide fabrication. Japan and Canada are also participants in the Russian disposition program. This panel session will review the status of actions taken to bring this agreement to fruition. (authors)

  3. Causal reasoning in physics

    CERN Document Server

    Frisch, Mathias

    2014-01-01

    Much has been written on the role of causal notions and causal reasoning in the so-called 'special sciences' and in common sense. But does causal reasoning also play a role in physics? Mathias Frisch argues that, contrary to what influential philosophical arguments purport to show, the answer is yes. Time-asymmetric causal structures are as integral a part of the representational toolkit of physics as a theory's dynamical equations. Frisch develops his argument partly through a critique of anti-causal arguments and partly through a detailed examination of actual examples of causal notions in physics, including causal principles invoked in linear response theory and in representations of radiation phenomena. Offering a new perspective on the nature of scientific theories and causal reasoning, this book will be of interest to professional philosophers, graduate students, and anyone interested in the role of causal thinking in science.

  4. A theory of causal learning in children: Causal maps and Bayes nets

    OpenAIRE

    Gopnik, A; Glymour, C; Sobel, D M; Schulz, L E; Kushnir, T; Danks, D

    2004-01-01

    The authors outline a cognitive and computational account of causal learning in children. They propose that children use specialized cognitive systems that allow them to recover an accurate "causal map" of the world: an abstract, coherent, learned representation of the causal relations among events. This kind of knowledge can be perspicuously understood in terms of the formalism of directed graphical causal models, or Bayes nets. Children's causal learning and inference may involve computatio...

  5. From Russian weapons grade plutonium to MOX fuel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Braehler, G.; Kudriavtsev, E.G.; Seyve, C.

    1997-01-01

    The April 1996, G7 Moscow Summit on nuclear matters provided a political framework for one of the most current significant challenges: ensuring a consistent answer to the weapons grade fissile material disposition issue resulting from the disarmament effort engaged by both the USA and Russia. International technical assessments have showed that the transformation of Weapons grade Plutonium in MOX fuel is a very efficient, safe, non proliferant and economically effective solution. In this regard, COGEMA and SIEMENS, have set up a consistent technical program properly addressing incineration of weapons grade plutonium in MOX fuels. The leading point of this program would be the construction of a Weapons grade Plutonium dedicated MOX fabrication plant in Russia. Such a plant would be based on the COGEMA-SIEMENS industrial capabilities and experience. This facility would be operated by MINATOM which is the partner for COGEMA-SIEMENS. MINATOM is in charge of coordination of the activity of the Russian research and construction institutes. The project take in account international standards for non-proliferation, safety and waste management. France and Germany officials reasserted this position during their last bilateral summits held in Fribourg in February and in Dijon in June 1996. MINATOM and the whole Russian nuclear community have already expressed their interest to cooperate with COGEMA-SIEMENS in the MOX field. This follows governmental-level agreements signed in 1992 by French, German and Russian officials. For years, Russia has been dealing with research and development on MOX fabrication and utilization. So, the COGEMA-SIEMENS MOX proposal gives a realistic answer to the management of weapons grade plutonium with regard to the technical, industrial, cost and schedule factors. (author)

  6. Contribution to the discussion of P.M. Fayers and David J. Hand: Causal variables, indicator variables and measurement scales: an example from quality of life

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Keiding, Niels

    2002-01-01

    Causal variables; Clinimetric scales; Composite scales; Construct validity; Measurement scales; Multi-item scales; Quality-of-life instruments......Causal variables; Clinimetric scales; Composite scales; Construct validity; Measurement scales; Multi-item scales; Quality-of-life instruments...

  7. Russian nuclear industry and the perspectives on the world market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nefedov, G. F.

    2008-01-01

    The development of the NPP capacities in Russia is presented. Federal Target Program 'Development of the Nuclear Power Industry of Russia in 2007-2010 and till 2015' (Government Decree of October 06 2006) is adopted. The scope of financing under the Program till 2015 is €41bill., of which budget financing is €19 bln. The goals are: to launch 10 new NPP units and to start 10 more projects by 2015; to actively promote the Russian nuclear fuel cycle organizations production on the world markets; to expand NPP construction and and operation outside Russia. The institutional reform to meet the goals is presented. NPP with russian VVER projects worldwide are presented

  8. EXPLORATION OF A RUSSIAN CONSUMER ON AN EXAMPLE OF RUSSIAN TOURISTS IN SPAIN

    OpenAIRE

    Glotova, Elena

    2013-01-01

    This thesis represents an intent to get an insight into the market with one of the biggest potential for today – the Russian market. The purpose of the research was to make a profile of the Russian consumer. The study of a Russian consumer and a Russian tourist should be able to help companies understand better the market, draw attention to the need of giving more importance to creating consumer profiles based not only on demographics but on mentality as well. The case company is a technologi...

  9. A Bayesian nonparametric approach to causal inference on quantiles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Dandan; Daniels, Michael J; Winterstein, Almut G

    2018-02-25

    We propose a Bayesian nonparametric approach (BNP) for causal inference on quantiles in the presence of many confounders. In particular, we define relevant causal quantities and specify BNP models to avoid bias from restrictive parametric assumptions. We first use Bayesian additive regression trees (BART) to model the propensity score and then construct the distribution of potential outcomes given the propensity score using a Dirichlet process mixture (DPM) of normals model. We thoroughly evaluate the operating characteristics of our approach and compare it to Bayesian and frequentist competitors. We use our approach to answer an important clinical question involving acute kidney injury using electronic health records. © 2018, The International Biometric Society.

  10. Experience of shipping Russian-origin research reactor spent fuel to the Russian Federation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-11-01

    The primary goal of the Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return (RRRFR) programme is to advance nuclear non-proliferation objectives by eliminating stockpiles of Russian-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU). The RRRFR programme was first conceived during trilateral discussions among the USA, the Russian Federation and the IAEA, initiated in 1999, when participants identified more than 20 research reactors in 17 countries having Russian/Soviet supplied fuel. In 2000, the Director General of the IAEA sent a letter to 15 countries asking for their willingness to return HEU spent fuel to the Russian Federation. Fourteen countries responded positively to the Director General's letter. In 2004, the Russian Federation and the USA signed a Government-to-Government Agreement concerning cooperation to return the Russian produced research reactor nuclear fuel to the Russian Federation. This agreement established the legal framework necessary for the cooperation between the Russian Federation and the USA for the return of Russian supplied research reactor fuel from eligible countries. Under the Bratislava agreements concluded by Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin in February 2005, both countries committed to completing all shipments of Russian-origin HEU spent fuel currently stored outside research reactors by the end of 2010. Up to the time of writing (May 2009) the programme has completed 19 shipments totalling over 838 kg of Russian-origin HEU spent and fresh fuel which has been returned from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Kazakhstan, Latvia, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. During this time, the programme successfully removed all HEU from two countries, Latvia and Bulgaria. HEU spent fuel shipments have been the most complex shipments under the RRRFR programme, which will be the focus of this publication. The first shipment of HEU spent fuel from Uzbekistan was completed in January 2006, followed by HEU spent fuel

  11. Repeated causal decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hagmayer, York; Meder, Björn

    2013-01-01

    Many of our decisions refer to actions that have a causal impact on the external environment. Such actions may not only allow for the mere learning of expected values or utilities but also for acquiring knowledge about the causal structure of our world. We used a repeated decision-making paradigm to examine what kind of knowledge people acquire in such situations and how they use their knowledge to adapt to changes in the decision context. Our studies show that decision makers' behavior is strongly contingent on their causal beliefs and that people exploit their causal knowledge to assess the consequences of changes in the decision problem. A high consistency between hypotheses about causal structure, causally expected values, and actual choices was observed. The experiments show that (a) existing causal hypotheses guide the interpretation of decision feedback, (b) consequences of decisions are used to revise existing causal beliefs, and (c) decision makers use the experienced feedback to induce a causal model of the choice situation even when they have no initial causal hypotheses, which (d) enables them to adapt their choices to changes of the decision problem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

  12. Confounding factors in determining causal soil moisture-precipitation feedback

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tuttle, Samuel E.; Salvucci, Guido D.

    2017-07-01

    Identification of causal links in the land-atmosphere system is important for construction and testing of land surface and general circulation models. However, the land and atmosphere are highly coupled and linked by a vast number of complex, interdependent processes. Statistical methods, such as Granger causality, can help to identify feedbacks from observational data, independent of the different parameterizations of physical processes and spatiotemporal resolution effects that influence feedbacks in models. However, statistical causal identification methods can easily be misapplied, leading to erroneous conclusions about feedback strength and sign. Here, we discuss three factors that must be accounted for in determination of causal soil moisture-precipitation feedback in observations and model output: seasonal and interannual variability, precipitation persistence, and endogeneity. The effect of neglecting these factors is demonstrated in simulated and observational data. The results show that long-timescale variability and precipitation persistence can have a substantial effect on detected soil moisture-precipitation feedback strength, while endogeneity has a smaller effect that is often masked by measurement error and thus is more likely to be an issue when analyzing model data or highly accurate observational data.

  13. Exploratory Study Investigating the Opinions of Russian-Speaking Parents on Maintaining their Children's Use of the Russian Language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sue Kraftsoff

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available This study explored why and how Russian speaking parents in an Irish context maintained the Russian language in their school-age children. Using a self-administered unstandardised questionnaire, the opinions of 16 Russian-speaking parents, reporting on 24 children, were surveyed. Of this sample, five parents were then interviewed using focus group methodology. The main findings revealed that Russian-speaking parents living in Ireland strongly supported Russian language maintenance in their families and wanted their children to be as fluent as possible in the Russian language. The reasons for the support of Russian language were: cultural preservation, general knowledge of languages in addition to English, and communication with the homeland. Methods employed to maintain the Russian language included conversing with children through Russian, reading and watching Russian TV/DVD. Although most parents spoke only Russian to their children, just three children were considered by their parents to have sufficient language skills to interact through Russian in Russian speaking countries. Interestingly, 15 children were thought to have adequate skills in Russian to speak with those outside their immediate family when in Ireland. Congruent with other studies of bilingualism, development of English, or the secondary, majority language, was also important to parents, as they lived in a dominant English-speaking society.

  14. Percentile curves for body fatness and cut-offs to define malnutrition in Russians

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nikolaev, D. V.; Rudnev, S. G.; Starunova, O. A.; Eryukova, T. A.; Kolesnikov, V. A.; Ponomareva, E. G.; Soboleva, N. P.; Sterlikov, S. A.

    2013-04-01

    Here, we report first results of the large-scale ongoing bioelectrical impedance body composition study in Russians. By the end of 2012, 216 out of 800 Russian Health Centres submitted raw bioimpedance data on 844,221 adults and children aged 5-80 years, representing nearly 0.6% of the Russian population, who were accessed cross-sectionally using the same type of bioimpedance meter, ABC-01 Medas. Estimates of overweight, obesity, and normal weight obesity prevalence in the general population, as well as characteristics of diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of the conventional WHO BMI-based criteria of obesity depending on age are obtained. The smoothed reference centile curves for percentage fat mass are constructed, and localized cut-offs for fatness and thinness are provided that can be used both at the individual and epidemiological levels.

  15. Percentile curves for body fatness and cut-offs to define malnutrition in Russians

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nikolaev, D V; Eryukova, T A; Kolesnikov, V A; Rudnev, S G; Starunova, O A; Ponomareva, E G; Soboleva, N P; Sterlikov, S A

    2013-01-01

    Here, we report first results of the large-scale ongoing bioelectrical impedance body composition study in Russians. By the end of 2012, 216 out of 800 Russian Health Centres submitted raw bioimpedance data on 844,221 adults and children aged 5–80 years, representing nearly 0.6% of the Russian population, who were accessed cross-sectionally using the same type of bioimpedance meter, ABC-01 Medas. Estimates of overweight, obesity, and normal weight obesity prevalence in the general population, as well as characteristics of diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of the conventional WHO BMI-based criteria of obesity depending on age are obtained. The smoothed reference centile curves for percentage fat mass are constructed, and localized cut-offs for fatness and thinness are provided that can be used both at the individual and epidemiological levels.

  16. Emergent Geometry from Entropy and Causality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engelhardt, Netta

    In this thesis, we investigate the connections between the geometry of spacetime and aspects of quantum field theory such as entanglement entropy and causality. This work is motivated by the idea that spacetime geometry is an emergent phenomenon in quantum gravity, and that the physics responsible for this emergence is fundamental to quantum field theory. Part I of this thesis is focused on the interplay between spacetime and entropy, with a special emphasis on entropy due to entanglement. In general spacetimes, there exist locally-defined surfaces sensitive to the geometry that may act as local black hole boundaries or cosmological horizons; these surfaces, known as holographic screens, are argued to have a connection with the second law of thermodynamics. Holographic screens obey an area law, suggestive of an association with entropy; they are also distinguished surfaces from the perspective of the covariant entropy bound, a bound on the total entropy of a slice of the spacetime. This construction is shown to be quite general, and is formulated in both classical and perturbatively quantum theories of gravity. The remainder of Part I uses the Anti-de Sitter/ Conformal Field Theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence to both expand and constrain the connection between entanglement entropy and geometry. The AdS/CFT correspondence posits an equivalence between string theory in the "bulk" with AdS boundary conditions and certain quantum field theories. In the limit where the string theory is simply classical General Relativity, the Ryu-Takayanagi and more generally, the Hubeny-Rangamani-Takayanagi (HRT) formulae provide a way of relating the geometry of surfaces to entanglement entropy. A first-order bulk quantum correction to HRT was derived by Faulkner, Lewkowycz and Maldacena. This formula is generalized to include perturbative quantum corrections in the bulk at any (finite) order. Hurdles to spacetime emergence from entanglement entropy as described by HRT and its quantum

  17. THE MURMANSK INITIATIVE - RF: COMPLETING CONSTRUCTION AND START-UP TESTING

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    CZAJKOWSKI, C.; BOWERMAN, B.S.; DYER, R.S.; SORLIE, A.A.; WESTER, D.

    1998-01-01

    The Murmansk Initiative - RF was instigated to address Russia's ability to meet the London Convention prohibiting ocean dumping of radioactive waste. The Initiative, under a trilateral agreement, will upgrade an existing low-level liquid radioactive waste treatment facility, increasing capacity from 1,200 m 3 /year to 5,000 m 3 /year, and expand the capability to treat liquids containing salt (up to 10 g/L). The three parties to the agreement, the Russian Federation, Norway, and the US, have split the costs for the project. All construction has been provided by Russia. Construction of mechanical systems (piping and valves, pumps, sorbent columns, settling tanks, surge tanks) is nearly complete, with instrumentation and control (I+C) systems the last to be installed. Delays to the I+C installation have occurred because changes in system specifications required some additional US-supplied computer control equipment to be purchased, and clearance through customs (both US and Russian) has been slow. Start-up testing has been limited to testing of some isolated sub-systems because of the delays in I+C installation. Final construction activities are also hampered by the current state of the Russian economy. The specific impact has been completion of the cementation unit, which was not funded under the trilateral agreement (but funded by the Russian government). Russian regulatory authorities have stated that final licensing for expanded capacity (5,000 m 3 /year) will not be given until the cementation unit is on-line

  18. Causal ubiquity in quantum physics a superluminal and local-causal physical ontology

    CERN Document Server

    Neelamkavil, Raphael

    2014-01-01

    A fixed highest criterial velocity (of light) in STR (special theory of relativity) is a convention for a layer of physical inquiry. QM (Quantum Mechanics) avoids action-at-a-distance using this concept, but accepts non-causality and action-at-a-distance in EPR (Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Paradox) entanglement experiments. Even in such allegedly non-causal processes, something exists processually in extension-motion, between the causal and the non-causal. If STR theoretically allows real-valued superluminal communication between EPR entangled particles, quantum processes become fully causal. That

  19. Causes of ransom private railways in the Russian Empire during the reign of Alexander III

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavel A. Gurianov

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available This article focuses on a number of reasons, redemption of private railways in the Russian Empire during the reign of Alexander III. Preconditions for this step. After the defeat in the Crimean War, the state began to consider two basic ways construction of railways: the expense of the treasury at the expense of private capital, including foreign ones. Attempts to organize joint capital of private foreign and domestic on the example of the main Russian Railway Company ended sadly. Foreign capital is mainly interested in speculation on the Russian stock exchange, as a result the majority of the company's shares went to the Russian capital. To support the private Russian capital the government has gone the way of the guarantee capital, in certain cases, as a joint stock or bond or one of the types of capital. When distribution concessions were not crucial economic factors, and the proximity to the elite or the corruption component. Often concession won by those who offered the lowest price, which affects the quality of railway construction in the country. As a result of the concession is not got the most professionally trained people who are almost entirely the burden shifted to the state, and profits for the most part getting any private owners. As a result, such practice is ruinous for the Treasury forced the government to buy back a significant portion of private railways on acceptable terms. As a result, initially malpractice and corruption safeguards prevent a real manifestation of self-employment initiatives

  20. Financial networks based on Granger causality: A case study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papana, Angeliki; Kyrtsou, Catherine; Kugiumtzis, Dimitris; Diks, Cees

    2017-09-01

    Connectivity analysis is performed on a long financial record of 21 international stock indices employing a linear and a nonlinear causality measure, the conditional Granger causality index (CGCI) and the partial mutual information on mixed embedding (PMIME), respectively. Both measures aim to specify the direction of the interrelationships among the international stock indexes and portray the links of the resulting networks, by the presence of direct couplings between variables exploiting all available information. However, their differences are assessed due to the presence of nonlinearity. The weighted networks formed with respect to the causality measures are transformed to binary ones using a significance test. The financial networks are formed on sliding windows in order to examine the network characteristics and trace changes in the connectivity structure. Subsequently, two statistical network quantities are calculated; the average degree and the average shortest path length. The empirical findings reveal interesting time-varying properties of the constructed network, which are clearly dependent on the nature of the financial cycle.

  1. Modernization of the Russian Automobile Road Network on the Base of Innovative Technologies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. A. Zhukov

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: the main goal of the article is to build a conceptual model for the organization of effective functioning of the points of economic and innovative growth of the region in modern conditions, taking into account regional and municipal limitations of internal and external nature, with the aim of ensuring economic security, effective interaction of subjects of the "business-power" system Taking into account the influence of institutional factors. Methods: in the present study the following methods were used: systemic approach, methods of social diagnosis, comparative analysis, method of expert evaluations, and method of statistical processing of information. Results: the short characteristic of modern development and technical level of the Russian automobile roads network as the important part of the automobile roads material-technical base is presented. Realization process of the actual task putted by Russian President V.V. Putin to transport builders: two times increasing construction of automobile roads is analyzed. The reality of decision this task due to modernization roads economy material-technical base on the base of innovative technologies and progressive world experience in the field of roads construction is scientifically proved. Conclusions and Relevance: in spite of losing now in decision of the actual task putted by Russian President V.V. Putin to transport builders: two times increasing construction of automobile roads, nevertheless the real possibilities to reach the important aim still remain. It may be done only due to scientifically grounded modernization of the roads economy material-technical base on the base of innovative technologies and progressive world experience in the field of roads construction 

  2. Former Audit Partners on Audit Committees: Implications for Russian Corporate Governance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Genevieve Scalan

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The Moscow Exchange in conjunction with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD continues to address improvements in Russian corporate governance by conducting annual roundtables (OECD, 2017.  My research relates to corporate governance provided by audit committees. I examine relationships between former audit partner (FAP audit committee members and auditors, via a network similar to the interlocking directorate.  Using a dataset of U.S. auditor dismissals, I construct unique network variables measuring the relational ties between FAP audit committees and auditors.  I find some evidence suggesting ties created by former audit partners may increase auditor switching possibly indicating impaired auditor independence. This outcome suggests implications for Russian corporate governance because it is likely Russian Boards of Directors would experience similar circumstances as their U.S. counterparts.  As the Moscow Exchange continues its partnership with the OECD to improve corporate governance, audit quality and auditor independence should be considered in the dialogue.

  3. Russian translations for Cochrane.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yudina, E V; Ziganshina, L E

    2015-01-01

    Cochrane collaboration has made a huge contribution to the development of evidence-based medicine; Cochrane work is the international gold standard of independent, credible and reliable high-quality information in medicine. Over the past 20 years the Cochrane Collaboration helped transforming decision-making in health and reforming it significantly, saving lives and contributing to longevity [1]. Until recently, Cochrane evidence were available only in English, which represents a significant barrier to their wider use in non-English speaking countries. To provide access to evidence, obtained from Cochrane Reviews, for health professionals and general public (from non-English-speaking countries), bypassing language barriers, Cochrane collaboration in 2014 initiated an international project of translating Plain language summaries of Cochrane Reviews into other languages [2, 3]. Russian translations of Plain language summaries were started in May 2014 by the team from Kazan Federal University (Department of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology; 2014-2015 as an Affiliated Centre in Tatarstan of the Nordic Cochrane Centre, since August 2015 as Cochrane Russia, a Russian branch of Cochrane Nordic, Head - Liliya Eugenevna Ziganshina) on a voluntary basis. To assess the quality of Russian translations of Cochrane Plain Language Summaries (PLS) and their potential impact on the Russian speaking community through user feedback with the overarching aim of furthering the translations project. We conducted the continuous online survey via Google Docs. We invited respondents through the electronic Russian language discussion forum on Essential Medicines (E-lek), links to survey on the Russian Cochrane.org website, invitations to Cochrane contributors registered in Archie from potential Russian-speaking countries. We set up the survey in Russian and English. The respondents were asked to respond to the questionnaire regarding the relevance and potential impact of the Cochrane Russian

  4. The Russian Orthodox and Islamic Languages in the Russian Federation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bustanov, A.K.; Kemper, M.

    2013-01-01

    What happens to the Russian language if it is used by Muslims? Bustanov and Kemper (2012) analyzed the use of Islamic terminology in a variety of texts by contemporary Muslim authors from several regions of the Russian Federation. This led them to the hypothesis that one can speak of a new

  5. Non-Causal Computation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ämin Baumeler

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Computation models such as circuits describe sequences of computation steps that are carried out one after the other. In other words, algorithm design is traditionally subject to the restriction imposed by a fixed causal order. We address a novel computing paradigm beyond quantum computing, replacing this assumption by mere logical consistency: We study non-causal circuits, where a fixed time structure within a gate is locally assumed whilst the global causal structure between the gates is dropped. We present examples of logically consistent non-causal circuits outperforming all causal ones; they imply that suppressing loops entirely is more restrictive than just avoiding the contradictions they can give rise to. That fact is already known for correlations as well as for communication, and we here extend it to computation.

  6. Causality re-established.

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Ariano, Giacomo Mauro

    2018-07-13

    Causality has never gained the status of a 'law' or 'principle' in physics. Some recent literature has even popularized the false idea that causality is a notion that should be banned from theory. Such misconception relies on an alleged universality of the reversibility of the laws of physics, based either on the determinism of classical theory, or on the multiverse interpretation of quantum theory, in both cases motivated by mere interpretational requirements for realism of the theory. Here, I will show that a properly defined unambiguous notion of causality is a theorem of quantum theory, which is also a falsifiable proposition of the theory. Such a notion of causality appeared in the literature within the framework of operational probabilistic theories. It is a genuinely theoretical notion, corresponding to establishing a definite partial order among events, in the same way as we do by using the future causal cone on Minkowski space. The notion of causality is logically completely independent of the misidentified concept of 'determinism', and, being a consequence of quantum theory, is ubiquitous in physics. In addition, as classical theory can be regarded as a restriction of quantum theory, causality holds also in the classical case, although the determinism of the theory trivializes it. I then conclude by arguing that causality naturally establishes an arrow of time. This implies that the scenario of the 'block Universe' and the connected 'past hypothesis' are incompatible with causality, and thus with quantum theory: they are both doomed to remain mere interpretations and, as such, are not falsifiable, similar to the hypothesis of 'super-determinism'.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Foundations of quantum mechanics and their impact on contemporary society'. © 2018 The Author(s).

  7. US, Chinese, and Russian Perspectives on the Global Order

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-01-01

    NAFTA , and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, currently being negotiated. Moreover, the 6 Kissinger...agenda. A multipolar order is also important to protect Russia’s internal institutions. While the Russian Constitution provides for a framework of...constructed. Prospects for peace depend in large measure on how these three states, as well as other international actors, can resolve their various normative claims on what constitutes a legitimate order.

  8. Disease causality extraction based on lexical semantics and document-clause frequency from biomedical literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Dong-Gi; Shin, Hyunjung

    2017-05-18

    Recently, research on human disease network has succeeded and has become an aid in figuring out the relationship between various diseases. In most disease networks, however, the relationship between diseases has been simply represented as an association. This representation results in the difficulty of identifying prior diseases and their influence on posterior diseases. In this paper, we propose a causal disease network that implements disease causality through text mining on biomedical literature. To identify the causality between diseases, the proposed method includes two schemes: the first is the lexicon-based causality term strength, which provides the causal strength on a variety of causality terms based on lexicon analysis. The second is the frequency-based causality strength, which determines the direction and strength of causality based on document and clause frequencies in the literature. We applied the proposed method to 6,617,833 PubMed literature, and chose 195 diseases to construct a causal disease network. From all possible pairs of disease nodes in the network, 1011 causal pairs of 149 diseases were extracted. The resulting network was compared with that of a previous study. In terms of both coverage and quality, the proposed method showed outperforming results; it determined 2.7 times more causalities and showed higher correlation with associated diseases than the existing method. This research has novelty in which the proposed method circumvents the limitations of time and cost in applying all possible causalities in biological experiments and it is a more advanced text mining technique by defining the concepts of causality term strength.

  9. Russian Language Course

    CERN Multimedia

    2009-01-01

    The Russian Cultural Circle is organising a new course of "Russian for Beginners", and is continuing a course for Advanced Students (3rd year). Interested persons are invited to contact: Mrs M. Mikhailova e-mail : mailto:mmmacha@hotmail.com Tel. 022 788 27 53

  10. Mobile Melt-Dilute Treatment for Russian Spent Nuclear Fuel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Peacock, H.

    2002-01-01

    Treatment of spent Russian fuel using a Melt-Dilute (MD) process is proposed to consolidate fuel assemblies into a form that is proliferation resistant and provides critically safety under storage and disposal configurations. Russian fuel elements contain a variety of fuel meat and cladding materials. The Melt-Dilute treatment process was initially developed for aluminum-based fuels so additional development is needed for several cladding and fuel meat combinations in the Russian fuel inventory (e.g. zirconium-clad, uranium-zirconium alloy fuel). A Mobile Melt-Dilute facility (MMD) is being proposed for treatment of spent fuels at reactor site storage locations in Russia; thereby, avoiding the costs of building separate treatment facilities at each site and avoiding shipment of enriched fuel assemblies over the road. The MMD facility concept is based on laboratory tests conducted at the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC), and modular pilot-scale facilities constructed at the Savannah River Site for treatment of US spent fuel. SRTC laboratory tests have shown the feasibility of operating a Melt-Dilute treatment process with either a closed system or a filtered off-gas system. The proposed Mobile Melt-Dilute process is presented in this paper

  11. Russian-Saudian Political Interaction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. G. Kosach

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The article analyzes the development of Russian-Saudi political interaction after the restoration (at that time of Soviet-Saudi relations of bilateral relations in September 1990. The article focuses on the role of the Russian Muslim community in shaping the Russian politics towards Riyadh in the 1990-2000s. The authors state there are both periods of “crises” and detente in the development of Russian-Saudi political interaction that were marked by events in Chechnya and former Yugoslavia in 1994-2000, “Arab Spring” 2011, the post-September 2015 era, the Russian anti-terrorist campaign in Syria. The alternation of these periods is the constant of Russian-Saudi political contacts, despite the similarity in the approaches of both sides to the ways and methods of solving crisis situations in the Middle East region, as well as the Saudi’s pro-Russian position regarding the change in the status of the Crimea and the situation in the east of Ukraine. The general attitude of both sides towards ISIS and Jabha al-Nusra as a source of terrorism, regional instability and the challenge of international security does not remove the two main contradictions that divide Moscow and Riyadh – attitude toward the official Syrian regime and the Iran’s regional policy. The study comes to the conclusion that Russia and Saudi Arabia are interested (albeit for various reasons in diversifying their foreign policy and foreign economic relations.

  12. Russian Model Of The Administrative Justice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natalja I. Jaroshenko

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available On December 25, 2014 it would be twenty-one year since the Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted on the national referendum on December 12, 1993. During this time, almost all constitutional provisions are implemented. The key point of course was the judicial reform in Russia, launched simultaneously with the adoption of Constitution of the Russian Federation. Adopted the new Civil Procedural Code, Criminal Procedural Code, Arbitration Procedural Code of the Russian Federation, Federal Constitutional Law "On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation", Federal Constitutional Law "On the courts of general jurisdiction in Russia", Federal Constitutional Law "On the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation". However, during twenty-one year of Russian Constitution work, the question on establishment of administrative courts in our country has not been resolved. Merger of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, which happened in the year 2014, also shown the need to resolve the status of administrative courts in Russia. Previously submitted to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation the draft of the Federal Constitutional Law "On the Federal Administrative Courts in the Russian Federation" and is on the revision, which does not correspond to changes in the judicial system of the Russian Federation. Despite the failure of the Federal Constitutional Law "On the Federal Administrative Courts in the Russian Federation", in the opinion of the author, and it should be called that way, it Russia has already developed an own model of the Russian administrative justice, which is very specific.

  13. Further properties of causal relationship: causal structure stability, new criteria for isocausality and counterexamples

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garcia-Parrado, Alfonso; Sanchez, Miguel

    2005-01-01

    Recently (Garcia-Parrado and Senovilla 2003 Class. Quantum Grav. 20 625-64) the concept of causal mapping between spacetimes, essentially equivalent in this context to the chronological map defined in abstract chronological spaces, and the related notion of causal structure, have been introduced as new tools to study causality in Lorentzian geometry. In the present paper, these tools are further developed in several directions such as (i) causal mappings-and, thus, abstract chronological ones-do not preserve two levels of the standard hierarchy of causality conditions (however, they preserve the remaining levels as shown in the above reference), (ii) even though global hyperbolicity is a stable property (in the set of all time-oriented Lorentzian metrics on a fixed manifold), the causal structure of a globally hyperbolic spacetime can be unstable against perturbations; in fact, we show that the causal structures of Minkowski and Einstein static spacetimes remain stable, whereas that of de Sitter becomes unstable, (iii) general criteria allow us to discriminate different causal structures in some general spacetimes (e.g. globally hyperbolic, stationary standard); in particular, there are infinitely many different globally hyperbolic causal structures (and thus, different conformal ones) on R 2 (iv) plane waves with the same number of positive eigenvalues in the frequency matrix share the same causal structure and, thus, they have equal causal extensions and causal boundaries

  14. Comprehensive survey of the Russian nuclear industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2004-03-01

    This document presents the organization of nuclear activities in the Russian federation: Minatom and its replacement by the federal agency of atomic energy, personnel, nuclear power plants (VVER, RBMK, fast neutron and mixed reactors), availability and power production, export of activities (construction of nuclear power plants in Slovakia, Iran, China, India, project in Viet Nam), expansion of the nuclear power plants park (improvement of plants safety, increase of service life), completion of uncompleted plants, the construction of which was stopped after the Chernobyl accident and the reorganization of the former-USSR, construction of new generation power plants (VVER-640, -1000 and -1500), fuel cycle facilities (geographical distribution, production of natural uranium, conversion and enrichment), fuel fabrication, reprocessing processes and spent fuel storage, management of radioactive wastes (leasing), R and D activities (organizations and institutes), research programs of the international scientific and technical center, nuclear safety authority (Gosatomnadzor - GAN). (J.S.)

  15. DETERMINANTS OF FDI INFLOWS: THE CASE OF RUSSIAN REGIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oleg Svyatoslavovich Mariev

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper empirically analyses the determinants of foreign direct investment inflows into the Russian regions. This problem has become highly relevant for the necessary modernization of the Russian economy after the recent economic slowdown and sharp decrease in budget revenues. The authors model foreign direct investment flows with the use of the gravity approach according to which investment flows are positively correlated with the size of the investor’s country as well as the size of the recipient region and are negatively correlated with the distance between investor and recipient. The empirical analysis is based on a constructed database consisting of the foreign direct investment flows from 179 investor countries into 78 Russian regions for the period 2006–2013. The authors apply the Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood method and identify the following factors determining foreign direct investment inflows into the Russian economy: the gross domestic product of the investor’s country, the gross domestic product per capita in the recipient region, the distance from the investor to Moscow, the openness of the region, the economic situation in the region, the innovative capacity of the region and the foreign direct investment of the previous period. Interestingly, the distance from the recipient region to Moscow matters for the regions in the western part of Russia (relatively close to Moscow but is not significant for the regions in the eastern part (remote regions.

  16. A quantum causal discovery algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giarmatzi, Christina; Costa, Fabio

    2018-03-01

    Finding a causal model for a set of classical variables is now a well-established task—but what about the quantum equivalent? Even the notion of a quantum causal model is controversial. Here, we present a causal discovery algorithm for quantum systems. The input to the algorithm is a process matrix describing correlations between quantum events. Its output consists of different levels of information about the underlying causal model. Our algorithm determines whether the process is causally ordered by grouping the events into causally ordered non-signaling sets. It detects if all relevant common causes are included in the process, which we label Markovian, or alternatively if some causal relations are mediated through some external memory. For a Markovian process, it outputs a causal model, namely the causal relations and the corresponding mechanisms, represented as quantum states and channels. Our algorithm opens the route to more general quantum causal discovery methods.

  17. Russian Orthography and Learning to Read

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kerek, Eugenia; Niemi, Pekka

    2009-01-01

    The unique structure of Russian orthography may influence the organization and acquisition of reading skills in Russian. The present review examines phonemic-graphemic correspondences in Russian orthography and discusses its grain-size units and possible difficulties for beginning readers and writers. Russian orthography is governed by a…

  18. Ethnic Russian Minority in Estonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Włodarska-Frykowska Agata

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The article examines the position of Russians in Estonia and their relation with ethnic Estonians. The author analyzes models of the society integration introduced by Tallinn after 1991. The results raise questions regarding language education in Estonia, the proficiency level of Estonian is getting widely known by Russians, but on the other hand, there is still a significant part of the population that cannot communicate in Estonian. Those who have a good command of Estonian tend to be better integrated and to coexist with both Estonians and Russians. Russians living in Estonia are supposed to be equally involved in social and political life of the state. The potential of all residents has to be effectively and considerably used, especially when the number of population is decreasing. The position of Russians in Estonia is a major domestic and bilateral issue in the relations with the Russian Federation.

  19. Epidemiological causality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morabia, Alfredo

    2005-01-01

    Epidemiological methods, which combine population thinking and group comparisons, can primarily identify causes of disease in populations. There is therefore a tension between our intuitive notion of a cause, which we want to be deterministic and invariant at the individual level, and the epidemiological notion of causes, which are invariant only at the population level. Epidemiologists have given heretofore a pragmatic solution to this tension. Causal inference in epidemiology consists in checking the logical coherence of a causality statement and determining whether what has been found grossly contradicts what we think we already know: how strong is the association? Is there a dose-response relationship? Does the cause precede the effect? Is the effect biologically plausible? Etc. This approach to causal inference can be traced back to the English philosophers David Hume and John Stuart Mill. On the other hand, the mode of establishing causality, devised by Jakob Henle and Robert Koch, which has been fruitful in bacteriology, requires that in every instance the effect invariably follows the cause (e.g., inoculation of Koch bacillus and tuberculosis). This is incompatible with epidemiological causality which has to deal with probabilistic effects (e.g., smoking and lung cancer), and is therefore invariant only for the population.

  20. Detection of Russian olive witches’-broom disease and its insect vector in Northwestern Iran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hajizadeh Abasalt

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Recently, Russian olive trees showing witches’-broom and little leaf symptoms have been widely observed in northwestern and central Iran. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR and nested PCR assays using phytoplasma universal primer pairs confirmed phytoplasma symptomatic infection of trees. Sequence analyses showed that ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris’ was the causal agent of the disease in these regions. However, RFLP results using restriction enzymes HpaII, EcoRI, HinfI and AluI indicated that the collected isolates in these regions are genetically different. In addition, leafhopper Macropsis infuscata was recognized as a possible insect vector of the disease for the first time.

  1. Role of Comparative Analysis in Cognitive Oriented Teaching Methods of Russian as Foreign Language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diana M. Mironova

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This article discusses some basis for the comparative representation of the language material from the view point of cognitive approach in teaching Russian as a foreign language. There is an attempt to comprehend the conceptual significance of the native language consideration during the formation of metalinguistic knowledge of learners in the Russian language. On the example of interlingual lexical correspondences and prepositional-case constructions it is analysed mental structures and mechanisms that provide link between language and extralinguistic reality in the consciousness of the Spanish-speaking students.

  2. Discrete causal theory emergent spacetime and the causal metric hypothesis

    CERN Document Server

    Dribus, Benjamin F

    2017-01-01

    This book evaluates and suggests potentially critical improvements to causal set theory, one of the best-motivated approaches to the outstanding problems of fundamental physics. Spacetime structure is of central importance to physics beyond general relativity and the standard model. The causal metric hypothesis treats causal relations as the basis of this structure. The book develops the consequences of this hypothesis under the assumption of a fundamental scale, with smooth spacetime geometry viewed as emergent. This approach resembles causal set theory, but differs in important ways; for example, the relative viewpoint, emphasizing relations between pairs of events, and relationships between pairs of histories, is central. The book culminates in a dynamical law for quantum spacetime, derived via generalized path summation.

  3. Causal Analysis After Haavelmo

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heckman, James; Pinto, Rodrigo

    2014-01-01

    Haavelmo's seminal 1943 and 1944 papers are the first rigorous treatment of causality. In them, he distinguished the definition of causal parameters from their identification. He showed that causal parameters are defined using hypothetical models that assign variation to some of the inputs determining outcomes while holding all other inputs fixed. He thus formalized and made operational Marshall's (1890) ceteris paribus analysis. We embed Haavelmo's framework into the recursive framework of Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) used in one influential recent approach to causality (Pearl, 2000) and in the related literature on Bayesian nets (Lauritzen, 1996). We compare the simplicity of an analysis of causality based on Haavelmo's methodology with the complex and nonintuitive approach used in the causal literature of DAGs—the “do-calculus” of Pearl (2009). We discuss the severe limitations of DAGs and in particular of the do-calculus of Pearl in securing identification of economic models. We extend our framework to consider models for simultaneous causality, a central contribution of Haavelmo. In general cases, DAGs cannot be used to analyze models for simultaneous causality, but Haavelmo's approach naturally generalizes to cover them. PMID:25729123

  4. Russian nuclear industry exports

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gorbatchev, A.

    2016-01-01

    Rosatom is the world leader for the export of nuclear technologies. 34 reactors of Russian technology are being built or planned worldwide. Most reactors proposed by Rosatom are third generation VVER-1200 units with an electric power output of 1200 MWe. Although the nuclear island is always built by Rosatom, the remain of the plant can be subcontracted to other enterprises and European companies are sought because they would bring a european quality touch to Russian works. One of the main assets of Rosatom is to propose an integrated offer from supplying nuclear fuel to managing nuclear waste via the turnkey building of nuclear power plants. Another important asset is the financial assistance of the Russian state through state credit or the support from Russian national banks that appears to be a decisive advantage in the international competition to win markets. We have to temper the Russian export perspectives by noting that most projects are set in countries that are prone to instabilities and that the economic crisis affecting Russia has a negative impact on its financial means. (A.C.)

  5. [A study of relation between hopelessness and causal attribution in school-aged children].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakurai, S

    1989-12-01

    This study was conducted to investigate the relation between hopelessness and causal attribution in Japanese school-aged children. In Study 1, the Japanese edition of hopelessness scale for children developed by Kazdin, French, Unis, Esveldt-Dawsan, and Sherick (1983) was constructed. Seventeen original items were translated into Japanese and they were administrated to 405 fifth- and sixth-graders. All of the items could be included to the Japanese edition of hopelessness scale. The reliability and validity was examined. In Study 2, the relation between hopelessness and causal attribution in children were investigated. The causal attribution questionnaire developed by Higuchi, Kambare, and Otsuka (1983) and the hopelessness scale developed by Study 1 were administered to 188 sixth-graders. Children with high scores in hopelessness scale significantly attributed negative events to much more effort factor than children with low scores. It supports neither the reformulated learned helplessness model nor the causal attribution theory of achievement motivation. It was explained mainly from points of self-serving attribution, cultural difference, and social desirability. Some questions were discussed for developing studies on depression and causal attribution in Japan.

  6. A Theory of Causal Learning in Children: Causal Maps and Bayes Nets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gopnik, Alison; Glymour, Clark; Sobel, David M.; Schulz, Laura E.; Kushnir, Tamar; Danks, David

    2004-01-01

    The authors outline a cognitive and computational account of causal learning in children. They propose that children use specialized cognitive systems that allow them to recover an accurate "causal map" of the world: an abstract, coherent, learned representation of the causal relations among events. This kind of knowledge can be perspicuously…

  7. The Russian Orthodox Church and atheism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teuvo Laitila

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the religious tide in Russia has been quick to rise. During the Soviet era, religion – particularly Orthodox Christianity and Islam – was considered to be one of the ‘enemies of the people’. Since the late 1990s however, Russian politicians at all levels of the power structure have associated themselves either with the Orthodox, or on some occasions with the Muslim, clergy. The present state of affairs in the relations between religion and the state are well illustrated by the cordial liaison of the late Patriarch Aleksii II with President Vladimir Putin and the equally warm involvement of President Dmitry Medvedev, and his wife Svetlana Medvedeva, with the new Patriarch Kirill, who was elected in January 2009. Some have even argued that ‘today’ (in 2004 the Church and state are so extensively intertwined that one can no longer consider Russia to be a secular state. Polls seem to support the claim. While in 1990 only 24 per cent of Russians identified themselves as Orthodox, in the sense that they felt themselves to be Russians as well, in 2008 the number was 73 per cent. However, less than 10 per cent, and in Moscow perhaps only 2 per cent do actually live out their religiosity.Why did Russia turn towards religion? Is religion chosen in an attempt to legitimise power, or in order to consolidate political rule after atheist-communist failure? My guess is that the answer to both is affirmative. Moreover, whatever the personal convictions of individual Russians, including politicians, religious, mainly Orthodox Christian, rhetoric and rituals are used to make a definitive break with the communist past and to create, or re-create, a Greater Russia (see Simons 2009. In such an ideological climate, atheism has little chance of thriving, whereas there is a sort of ‘social demand’ for its critique.I therefore focus on what the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC has had to say about atheism and

  8. TEACHING THE GRAMMAR OF RUSSIAN LANGUAGE AS FOREIGN IN RUSSIAN TEXTBOOKS FOR BEGINNERS (OPINION OF THE CHINESE TEACHER)

    OpenAIRE

    Zeng, T.

    2017-01-01

    Increased interest towards studying the Russian language in China evokes the interest of Chinese teachers of the Russian language to educational and methodological materials created by their Russian colleagues. First and foremost, Chinese philologists are interested in nationally oriented textbooks. In this article, we discuss the main features of grammar in Russian textbooks aimed at Chinese students who are just beginning to learn Russian. This paper compares nationally oriented textbooks “...

  9. Reconstruction of Nanoindustry Institutes in the Russian Federation in the Unfavorable Global Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oleg Vasilyevich Inshakov

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Nanoindustry evolution is caused by the global extension of new technological mode, which requires the construction of effective institutes and mechanisms of regulating its subjects’ relations. In the conditions of unfavorable external environment and unsolved internal problems of Russian nanoindustry development, not only the role of basic nanoindustrialization institutes increases, but the problem of reconstructing their activity and prospective updating of institutions arises. Regardless of level and scale, forms and content, the institutional reconstruction will become a part of a rapid response to external changes and a component of strategic programming of Russian nanoindustry. The Russian government acted as a main institute of national nanoindustry development and support. New special-purpose/universal, financial/nonfinancial, formal/informal institutes, which make up the structure of target investment and resource supply of nanoindustry at various stages of its formation, become active agents of state policy in this sphere. This institutional system should reflect the level and type structure of nanoindustry, corresponding to its strategic perspective. An important role in overcoming negative trends in nanoindustry now belongs not to formal and corporate development institutes but to associative, initiative and complementary ones partially replacing the state as its substitutes. The authors describe the options of international financial funds and integration-type institutes’ reconstruction for Russian nanoindustry in current situation. The feasibility of orienting the construction of nanoindustry institutes to basic relationships of its subjects that ensures their relevance and effectiveness, is argued. The authors’ version of nanoindustry institutes classification is suggested for applying as a testing analyzer of institutes functioning in order to determine their reconstruction directions, identify and supplement missing links

  10. QUALITY OF HUMAN RESOURCES IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sofronov Daniil Sergeevich

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Human resources serve as the basis for development of the national economy, as a whole, and the construction industry, as its constituent part. The problem of inferior labor productivity within the framework of the national economy and its construction industry is considered in the paper. The author has identified the reasons why the productivity of the national economy and its construction industry is low. Low quality manpower is one of the reasons. Analysis of the statistical information has proven that the quality of the manpower in the construction industry is unsatisfactory. The author has also analyzed the relation between the construction industry development pattern and the quality of the manpower. Low manpower quality is a consequence of low personnel training and development expenditures assumed by local construction companies, if compared to the same assumed in the developed economies. Russian businesses do not invest any proceeds into their employees, as any employee may leave the company at any moment, and the employer will lose the investment. Therefore, the performance rate of the Russian construction industry cannot catch up with its western counterpart. The author also provides the analysis of the western personnel development concept. The author also makes his suggestions designated to reverse the unfavourable trend of the construction industry.

  11. Towards quantum gravity: a framework for probabilistic theories with non-fixed causal structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hardy, Lucien

    2007-01-01

    General relativity is a deterministic theory with non-fixed causal structure. Quantum theory is a probabilistic theory with fixed causal structure. In this paper, we build a framework for probabilistic theories with non-fixed causal structure. This combines the radical elements of general relativity and quantum theory. We adopt an operational methodology for the purposes of theory construction (though without committing to operationalism as a fundamental philosophy). The key idea in the construction is physical compression. A physical theory relates quantities. Thus, if we specify a sufficiently large set of quantities (this is the compressed set), we can calculate all the others. We apply three levels of physical compression. First, we apply it locally to quantities (actually probabilities) that might be measured in a particular region of spacetime. Then we consider composite regions. We find that there is a second level of physical compression for a composite region over and above the first level physical compression for the component regions. Each application of first and second level physical compression is quantified by a matrix. We find that these matrices themselves are related by the physical theory and can therefore be subject to compression. This is the third level of physical compression. The third level of physical compression gives rise to a new mathematical object which we call the causaloid. From the causaloid for a particular physical theory we can calculate everything the physical theory can calculate. This approach allows us to set up a framework for calculating probabilistic correlations in data without imposing a fixed causal structure (such as a background time). We show how to put quantum theory in this framework (thus providing a new formulation of this theory). We indicate how general relativity might be put into this framework and how the framework might be used to construct a theory of quantum gravity

  12. Neural Correlates of Causal Power Judgments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denise Dellarosa Cummins

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Causal inference is a fundamental component of cognition and perception. Probabilistic theories of causal judgment (most notably causal Bayes networks derive causal judgments using metrics that integrate contingency information. But human estimates typically diverge from these normative predictions. This is because human causal power judgments are typically strongly influenced by beliefs concerning underlying causal mechanisms, and because of the way knowledge is retrieved from human memory during the judgment process. Neuroimaging studies indicate that the brain distinguishes causal events from mere covariation, and between perceived and inferred causality. Areas involved in error prediction are also activated, implying automatic activation of possible exception cases during causal decision-making.

  13. Reducing Children’s Behavior Problems through Social Capital: A Causal Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    López Turley, Ruth N.; Gamoran, Adam; McCarty, Alyn Turner; Fish, Rachel

    2016-01-01

    Behavior problems among young children have serious detrimental effects on short and long-term educational outcomes. An especially promising prevention strategy may be one that focuses on strengthening the relationships among families in schools, or social capital. However, empirical research on social capital has been constrained by conceptual and causal ambiguity. This study attempts to construct a more focused conceptualization of social capital and aims to determine the causal effects of social capital on children’s behavior. Using data from a cluster randomized trial of 52 elementary schools, we apply several multilevel models to assess the causal relationship, including intent to treat and treatment on the treated analyses. Taken together, these analyses provide stronger evidence than previous studies that social capital improves children’s behavioral outcomes and that these improvements are not simply a result of selection into social relations but result from the social relations themselves. PMID:27886729

  14. Causal-implicative relationships in the Serbian hypotaxis (Complex of generative complex sentences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vojvodić Dojčil P.

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper analyzes the causal-implicative relationships in the segmented complex sentences with a “closed” (asymmetric, mandatory bi-situational generative (conditional semantic structure on the corpus of the Serbian language. The generative (conditional semantic structure consists of meaningfully interconnected antecedents and consequents that are based on the principle of subordination. These sentences are characterized with a general causal link due to the specific implicative relationship between the segments that can be realized within dependent clauses with diverse categorically-differential semantics (i.e. causal, consecutive, final, conditional and concessive. The author reaches a conclusion that the given implicative relationships (P ⇒ Q, P ⇐ Q/Q ⇒ P, P ⇔Q, P ⇒ Q´ Δ P´ ⇒ Q represent, in fact, semantic invariants of generative complex sentences. It is pointed out that the structure, formation and functioning of these relationships (sentences are always determined by the interconnectedness of syntax and lexicon. They are based on a general causal adverbial meaning of the conjunctions in a subordinate clause, which are also used to determine the adverbial semantics of a sentence as a whole. The article discusses in particular the aspectual-temporal correlations that are realized in complex sentences with a generative structure. It has been noted very often in the literature that there is no differentiation made among all of the types of the hypothetical conditionality - real, eventual, potential and unreal. The paper analyzes taxis of simultaneity and succession (anteriority/posteriority of the main and subordinate clause predicates in conditional sentences as a special type of the relative-temporal relationships within the same temporal plan. In order to interpret these correlations, the Serbian data was compared to the data in Russian and Polish. It is noted that the Northern Slavic languages (in this case Russian and

  15. Post-Fukushima trends in russian nuclear energy and public perception

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gagarinskiy, A. Yu.

    2012-01-01

    The gloomy 'nuclear spring' of 2011 in practice had virtually no effect on the new nuclear construction program in Russia, which keeps its second place in the world as concerns the number of new NPP units under construction. Russian positions on the world nuclear power plant construction markets have improved. Current intensive analysis of Fukushima-Daiichi accident consequences is already starting to influence not only specific safety enhancement measures at operating units, but also the opinions related to strategic areas of future nuclear energy development. This paper is intended to demonstrate the nuclear community's position on the development strategy, as well as post-Fukushima trends in the activities of public forces, which try to form the attitude towards the nuclear option. (authors)

  16. Agency, time and causality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas eWidlok

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Cognitive Scientists interested in causal cognition increasingly search for evidence from non-WEIRD people but find only very few cross-cultural studies that specifically target causal cognition. This article suggests how information about causality can be retrieved from ethnographic monographs, specifically from ethnographies that discuss agency and concepts of time. Many apparent cultural differences with regard to causal cognition dissolve when cultural extensions of agency and personhood to non-humans are taken into account. At the same time considerable variability remains when we include notions of time, linearity and sequence. The article focuses on ethnographic case studies from Africa but provides a more general perspective on the role of ethnography in research on the diversity and universality of causal cognition.

  17. Structural Equations and Causal Explanations: Some Challenges for Causal SEM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Markus, Keith A.

    2010-01-01

    One common application of structural equation modeling (SEM) involves expressing and empirically investigating causal explanations. Nonetheless, several aspects of causal explanation that have an impact on behavioral science methodology remain poorly understood. It remains unclear whether applications of SEM should attempt to provide complete…

  18. Modern Church Construction in Urals. Problems and Prospects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Surin, D. N.; Tereshina, O. B.

    2017-11-01

    The article analyzes the problems of the modern Orthodox church architecture in Russia, special attention is paid to the problems of the Ural region. It justifies the importance of addressing to this issue connected with the Orthodox traditions revival in Russia over the last decades and the need to compensate for tens of thousands of the churches destroyed in the Soviet period. The works on the theory and history of the Russian architecture and art, studies of the architectural heritage and the art of building of the Ural craftsmen are used as a scientific and methodological base for the church architecture development. The article discloses the historically formed architectural features of the Russian Orthodox churches the artistic image of which is designed to create a certain religious and aesthetic experience. It is stated that the restoration of the Russian church construction tradition is possible on the background of architectural heritage. It sets the tendencies and vital tasks in church construction and outlines a complex of measures to solve these tasks at the public and regional levels.

  19. Russian Capital in Latvia: Trends and Perspectives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N A Volgina

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The article deals the issue of the positions of Russian capital in Latvian market. The paper aims to estimate the volume and dynamics of Russian capital inflows into Latvia in compliance with Russian economic interests; to identify key sectors of Latvian economy that Russian capital is interested to invest in; to systemize information concerning Russian firms investing in Latvia; to assess the role of Russian capital in Latvian economy in comparison with other foreign investors; to propose author’s view on challenges and perspectives of Latvian-Russian investment cooperation in the situation of economic sanctions and geo-political conflict in east Ukraine. The author underlines that at the end of 2013, investments of Russian business to Latvia constituted about 5.0% of the total FDI stock and by that time Russia was the 7th largest investor with 0.5 bln euro of capital invested. The main sectors of Russian interests in Latvia are - gas supply, transport communications (transit corridors, banking and real estate. The article concludes that though the future of Russian-Latvian economic relations in the short-run is on a substantial pressure of geopolitical factors, the economic interests in mutual investment relations will prevail in the long-run perspectives.

  20. The Problem of Neutralization of Reactionary Masses in the Russian Technologies of CWD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Petrov, V.

    2007-01-01

    11, 2006 at Conference of OPCW terms of destruction of the chemical weapon for Russia and USA were prolonged to 5 years, till April, 29, 2012. At all intentions to achieve these terms in the Russian technologies are available a number of technical problems which can complicate works on the CWD. One of them concerns the problems connected to neutralization of reactionary masses of the CWD. In the Russian Federation it is not constructed yet any enterprise for destruction with a full cycle. The question of neutralization of reactionary masses yet does not find the full decision. In this connection there is a threat of that the problem of reactionary masses can appear outside of works on destruction is direct of CW and beyond the framework of 2012. The technical analysis of possible technologies and directions of neutralization of reactionary masses of destruction of lewisite and POS in the Russian technologies of the CWD is carried out. (author)

  1. The Problem of Neutralization of Reactionary Masses in the Russian Technologies of CWD

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Petrov, V [Institute of Applied Mechanics UrB of the Russian Academy of Science, Izhevsk (Russian Federation)

    2007-07-01

    11, 2006 at Conference of OPCW terms of destruction of the chemical weapon for Russia and USA were prolonged to 5 years, till April, 29, 2012. At all intentions to achieve these terms in the Russian technologies are available a number of technical problems which can complicate works on the CWD. One of them concerns the problems connected to neutralization of reactionary masses of the CWD. In the Russian Federation it is not constructed yet any enterprise for destruction with a full cycle. The question of neutralization of reactionary masses yet does not find the full decision. In this connection there is a threat of that the problem of reactionary masses can appear outside of works on destruction is direct of CW and beyond the framework of 2012. The technical analysis of possible technologies and directions of neutralization of reactionary masses of destruction of lewisite and POS in the Russian technologies of the CWD is carried out. (author)

  2. The New Russian Book

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pristed, Birgitte Beck

    This book takes up the obtrusive problem of visual representation of fiction in contemporary Russian book design. By analyzing a broad variety of book covers, the study offers an absolutely unique material that illustrates a radically changing notion of literature in the transformation of Soviet ...... the fields of Russian studies, contemporary book and media history, art, design, and visual studies.......This book takes up the obtrusive problem of visual representation of fiction in contemporary Russian book design. By analyzing a broad variety of book covers, the study offers an absolutely unique material that illustrates a radically changing notion of literature in the transformation of Soviet...... print culture to a post-Soviet book market. It delivers a profound and critical exploration of Russian visual imaginary of classic, popular, and contemporary prose. Among all the carelessly bungled covers of mass-published post-Soviet series the study identifies gems from experimental designers...

  3. ASPECTS OF COMMODIFICATION OF RUSSIAN IN FINLAND

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ханнес Виимаранта

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This article examines the commodification of Russian in Finland, where recent decades have seen a sharp rise in the size of the Russian-speaking population and the number of tourists from Russia. We particularly consider the use of Russian in the fields of traditional and medical tourism, education, and culture - all of them areas where Russian tourists show a strong preference for services in their native language. The need to provide a variety of services in Russian means that proficiency in Russian is a sig-nificant asset on the job market, both for immigrants and for the relatively small number of Finns who can speak the language. We also note that there is considerable demand among Russian-speaking parents in Fin-land for educational services to supplement their children’s school education.

  4. Causality discovery technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, M.; Ertl, T.; Jirotka, M.; Trefethen, A.; Schmidt, A.; Coecke, B.; Bañares-Alcántara, R.

    2012-11-01

    Causality is the fabric of our dynamic world. We all make frequent attempts to reason causation relationships of everyday events (e.g., what was the cause of my headache, or what has upset Alice?). We attempt to manage causality all the time through planning and scheduling. The greatest scientific discoveries are usually about causality (e.g., Newton found the cause for an apple to fall, and Darwin discovered natural selection). Meanwhile, we continue to seek a comprehensive understanding about the causes of numerous complex phenomena, such as social divisions, economic crisis, global warming, home-grown terrorism, etc. Humans analyse and reason causality based on observation, experimentation and acquired a priori knowledge. Today's technologies enable us to make observations and carry out experiments in an unprecedented scale that has created data mountains everywhere. Whereas there are exciting opportunities to discover new causation relationships, there are also unparalleled challenges to benefit from such data mountains. In this article, we present a case for developing a new piece of ICT, called Causality Discovery Technology. We reason about the necessity, feasibility and potential impact of such a technology.

  5. Reasoning with Causal Cycles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rehder, Bob

    2017-01-01

    This article assesses how people reason with categories whose features are related in causal cycles. Whereas models based on causal graphical models (CGMs) have enjoyed success modeling category-based judgments as well as a number of other cognitive phenomena, CGMs are only able to represent causal structures that are acyclic. A number of new…

  6. Divergent Accounts of Equivalent Narratives: Russian-Swedish Interdevochka Meets Swedish-Russian Lilya 4-ever

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lars Lyngsgaard Fjord Kristensen

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available In a region that is traditionally considered to be transnational, Nordic cinema has often posed as the prime case for a transnational cinema. The paper contests this notion of Nordic transnationality by analysing two films that depict two Russian women travelling to Sweden. Interdevochka/Intergirl (Todorovski, 1989, USSR and Lilya-4-ever (Moodysson, 2004, Sweden challenge the inclusiveness of the region and make explicit the fact that Russian identities are not part of the homogenous mixture of the region. Instead, Russian identities of cross-border prostitution are cinematically subjected to rejection and victimisation. This paper examines how Lilya-4-ever adheres to a European anxiety narrative by performing a Russian return narrative and how Interdevochka/Intergirl portrays ‘the fallen soviet woman’ by travelling to Sweden. These cinematic representations of the female Russian identity travelling to Sweden differ from each national context, but by probing into a comparative analysis the paper will reveal that both films need the Other to narrate these stories of transnational labour migration.

  7. Accident Causal Factors on the Building Construction Sites: A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Opeyemi Samuel Williams

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The concerns for cost, quality and timely delivery of projects have been in existence from time immemorial, whereas the passion for these should be extended to safe execution of site works by the construction participants, as safety of life is very paramount. However, high level of commitment that is essential for the safe execution of site works has become a taboo. Hence, a plethora of accidents takes place on the site ranging from falls from height, contact with working tools, vehicle-related, slip and trip, collapse, exposure to harmful substances, to lifting and handling object accidents. It is pertinent to know that, responsibility for accidents on site cuts across all project participants (clients, consultants, contractors, workers, as well as the construction site environment. Recognition of the construction participants and site environmental factors as agents of accident is the focus of this research. Through extensive review of literature, a copious number of factors were identified and subsequently grouped under five factors as client-related, consultant-related, contractor-related, construction workers-related, and construction site-related. However, there has been a dearth of research in the grouping of accident contributing factors. The identification and understanding of these factors will go a long way in mitigating construction accidents, coupled with proven measures taken in positively addressing them. Efforts to prevent these causative factors include inter alia elimination of hazards from design, effective safety management, adequate planning of activities and employment of seasoned professionals by the client. The contractors are to embark on staff safety auditing, set up safety committees, conduct regular training for staff, use innovative technology, uphold housekeeping and report accident occurrence, while strict adherence to safety regulations must be adopted by all construction operatives.

  8. Characteristics of Russian Professionals’ Organizational Behavior

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V V Khurtina

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The paper describes organizational behavior of Russian professionals at the individual and organizational levels. The characteristics of Russian professionals’ organizational behavior are examined on the basis of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey of HSE, depending on the qualification level and age.

  9. Heutiges Russisch (Contemporary Russian)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Russisch, 1976

    1976-01-01

    For the purpose of supplying information on actual contemporary Russian usage, this article excerpts sections on noun usage and variations of the genitive ending in the masculine singular from "Stilistik der russischen Sprache" (Russian Language Style) by D. Rosental and M. Telenkowa. (Text is in German.) (FB)

  10. THE SYSTEMIC CRISIS OF THE CIVILIZATION OF THE WEST IN UNDERSTANDING OF MODERN RUSSIAN AND FOREIGN SCIENTISTS – COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ilya Leonidovich Morozov

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available This article discusses the most characteristic of the concept of foreign (by J. Jacobs, C. Huntington, P. Buchanan, T. Sarrazin and Russian (by A.I. Utkin, A.S. Panarin, I.N. Panarin of political scientists, devoted to the identification and analysis of systemic problems of the West, leading its further development in the civilizational impasse and find ways of gathering the negative trend of further developments. Purpose: to reveal General and specific features in Russian and foreign political and futurological concepts, dedicated to understanding the crisis of modern Western civilization. Research methodology: when working with the texts analyzed was used the comparative method, system method. The results of the study: the similarity of understanding of both foreign and Russian scientists causality of the observed crisis of modern Western civilization, identified the key factors of the crisis: the rejection of the strategy of industrial production on its own territory, the loss of “national will” and the transition to a mass political psychological model of tolerance, understood as tolerance and compliance requirements by migrating to the West of the peoples, the mass psychology of consumerism, constant military operations in the Western countries in different regions of the world, the erroneous policy of confrontation with Russia. The negative trend of politicization and simplification in the study of the topic by Russian analysts, caused by market conditions of the moment. The scope of the results: the activity of institutions of the Russian state authorities responsible for the adoption and implementation of foreign policy decisions; the academic development of new concepts in the theory of politics and international relations.

  11. Structure and Strength in Causal Induction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffiths, Thomas L.; Tenenbaum, Joshua B.

    2005-01-01

    We present a framework for the rational analysis of elemental causal induction--learning about the existence of a relationship between a single cause and effect--based upon causal graphical models. This framework makes precise the distinction between causal structure and causal strength: the difference between asking whether a causal relationship…

  12. Regression to Causality : Regression-style presentation influences causal attribution

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bordacconi, Mats Joe; Larsen, Martin Vinæs

    2014-01-01

    of equivalent results presented as either regression models or as a test of two sample means. Our experiment shows that the subjects who were presented with results as estimates from a regression model were more inclined to interpret these results causally. Our experiment implies that scholars using regression...... models – one of the primary vehicles for analyzing statistical results in political science – encourage causal interpretation. Specifically, we demonstrate that presenting observational results in a regression model, rather than as a simple comparison of means, makes causal interpretation of the results...... more likely. Our experiment drew on a sample of 235 university students from three different social science degree programs (political science, sociology and economics), all of whom had received substantial training in statistics. The subjects were asked to compare and evaluate the validity...

  13. The Russian nuclear data research programme

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1995-11-01

    The report contains the Russian programme of nuclear data research, approved by the Russian Nuclear Data Committee on 16 December 1994. It gives surveys on nuclear data needs, on the structure of nuclear data activities, on experimental facilities for nuclear data measurements at five Russian institutes, on theoretical model work, nuclear data evaluation, and nuclear data testing. It describes four Russian nuclear data centers and their relations to the International Nuclear Data Centres Network, and their holdings of nuclear data libraries of Russian and international origin. A summary of nuclear data applications in energy and non-energy fields is given. An appendix contains a detail nuclear data research programme for the years 1995 - 2005. (author). 16 refs, 1 fig., 6 tabs

  14. Russian Sentence Adverbials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lorentzen, Elena; Durst-Andersen, Per

    2015-01-01

    way or the other to take their starting point in the previous discourse. It is, however, stressed that the specificity of the Russian language is found in modal adverbials where a division between external and internal reality exists. We end the examination by discussing the function of word order......Sentence adverbials (SA) in Russian are analyzed in their totality, i.e. from a lexical, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic point of view. They are classified according to Hare’s three utterance components which yields (1) neustic, (2) tropic and (3) phrastic SAs. These components are used...... to represent semantic paraphrases of Russian SAs in utterances from various types of discourse in order to show their exact contribution to the meaning conveyed by the entire utterance. They are further subdivided according to their function: (1) into connectives and non-connectives; (2) into attitudinal...

  15. Russian Language Classes

    CERN Multimedia

    2008-01-01

    The Russian Cultural Circle is organising a new Russian course for beginners and will continue its course for advanced students (3rd year), both from September onwards. Anyone interested in taking part is invited to contact Mrs M. Mikhailova (e-mail: mailto:mmmacha@hotmail.com or tel. 022 788 27 53) or Mrs C. Kukowka (e-mail: mailto:christinekukowka@orange.fror tel. ++ 33 4 50 42 43 22 after 8.00 p.m.).

  16. THE EUROPEAN UNION VERSUS THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George GRUIA

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The article is part of a comprehensive social, juridical and economic study that seeks to find solutions to the current geopolitical situation where the Russian Federation has expanded its territory using force without the consent of the Kiev government or EU member states on Crimea. This situation, in conjunction with the Syrian refugee crisis, with the political crisis on the government formation in Germany, with the Brexit, with the establishment of Austria's controversial government, the sanction of Poland by the Council of Europe and, last but not least, with the problems facing the formation of the new inland government may and should be analyzed together and is one of the purposes of this study, which will be partial analyzed and presented in this article. The author wishes to open a constructive scientific discussion with the academic bodies empowered to properly inform the civil society and not only without favoring any of the parties involved in this issue, namely: the EU states (Germany, Austria, Poland, and Italy and the Russian Federation. The author presents the results obtained by the EU in conjunction with NATO's actions in Eastern Europe

  17. Causality in Europeanization Research

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lynggaard, Kennet

    2012-01-01

    to develop discursive institutional analytical frameworks and something that comes close to the formulation of hypothesis on the effects of European Union (EU) policies and institutions on domestic change. Even if these efforts so far do not necessarily amount to substantive theories or claims of causality......Discourse analysis as a methodology is perhaps not readily associated with substantive causality claims. At the same time the study of discourses is very much the study of conceptions of causal relations among a set, or sets, of agents. Within Europeanization research we have seen endeavours......, it suggests that discourse analysis and the study of causality are by no means opposites. The study of Europeanization discourses may even be seen as an essential step in the move towards claims of causality in Europeanization research. This chapter deals with the question of how we may move from the study...

  18. Russian electrometallurgy: Achievements, problems, prospects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Utochkin, Yu. I.; Semin, A. E.

    2011-12-01

    The changes in the Russian metallurgy, in particular, electric furnace steelmaking, having occurred in the recent years are analyzed. The main increase in the steelmaking output is due to putting into operation of new electric furnaces in new miniworks and enterprises equipped earlier with open-hearth furnaces. Reaching the rated capacity of a furnace in Russia substantially lags behind foreign enterprises. Only 30-35% of the Russian market of corrosion-resistant steel are provided by Russian metal.

  19. Overview of the Russian nuclear industry; Le panorama nucleaire russe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2008-02-15

    In 2004, President Poutine decided to replace the atomic energy ministry (Minatom) by the federal atomic energy agency (Rosatom). Several projects were launched during the next two years which aimed at bringing back Russia to the fore front of the world leaders of nuclear energy use and nuclear technology export. In 2007, Rosatom agency was changed to a public holding company and a new company, named Atomenergoprom, was created which gathers all civil nuclear companies (AtomEnergoMash for the exploitation of power plants, Technabsexport (Tenex) specialized in enrichment or Atomstryexport in charge of export activities). Thus, Rosatom is at the head of all civilian and military nuclear companies, of all research centers, and of all nuclear and radiological safety facilities. In 2006, Russian nuclear power plants supplied 15.8% of the whole power consumption. Russia wishes to develop its nuclear program with the construction of new reactors in order to reach a nuclear electricity share of 25% from now to 2020. This paper presents first the 2007 institutional reform of the Russian atomic sector, and the three sectorial federal programmes: 1 - development of the nuclear energy industrial complex for the 2007-2010 era and up to 2015 (future power plants, nuclear fuel centers and reactor prototypes), 2 - nuclear safety and radioprotection for the 2008-2015 era (waste management, remedial actions, radiation protection), 3 - military program (confidential). Then, the paper presents: the international actions (export of Russian technology, cooperation agreements, non-proliferation), the situation of the existing nuclear park (reactors in operation, stopped, under construction and in project), the fuel cycle activities (production of natural uranium, enrichment, fuel fabrication, spent fuel storage, reprocessing, waste management), the nuclear R and D in Russia, and the nuclear safety authority. (J.S.)

  20. Causality and headache triggers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turner, Dana P.; Smitherman, Todd A.; Martin, Vincent T.; Penzien, Donald B.; Houle, Timothy T.

    2013-01-01

    Objective The objective of this study was to explore the conditions necessary to assign causal status to headache triggers. Background The term “headache trigger” is commonly used to label any stimulus that is assumed to cause headaches. However, the assumptions required for determining if a given stimulus in fact has a causal-type relationship in eliciting headaches have not been explicated. Methods A synthesis and application of Rubin’s Causal Model is applied to the context of headache causes. From this application the conditions necessary to infer that one event (trigger) causes another (headache) are outlined using basic assumptions and examples from relevant literature. Results Although many conditions must be satisfied for a causal attribution, three basic assumptions are identified for determining causality in headache triggers: 1) constancy of the sufferer; 2) constancy of the trigger effect; and 3) constancy of the trigger presentation. A valid evaluation of a potential trigger’s effect can only be undertaken once these three basic assumptions are satisfied during formal or informal studies of headache triggers. Conclusions Evaluating these assumptions is extremely difficult or infeasible in clinical practice, and satisfying them during natural experimentation is unlikely. Researchers, practitioners, and headache sufferers are encouraged to avoid natural experimentation to determine the causal effects of headache triggers. Instead, formal experimental designs or retrospective diary studies using advanced statistical modeling techniques provide the best approaches to satisfy the required assumptions and inform causal statements about headache triggers. PMID:23534872

  1. Russian natural gas exports-Will Russian gas price reforms improve the European security of supply?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sagen, Eirik Lund; Tsygankova, Marina

    2008-01-01

    In this paper we use both theoretical and numerical tools to study potential effects on Russian gas exports from different Russian domestic gas prices and production capacities in 2015. We also investigate whether a fully competitive European gas market may provide incentives for Gazprom, the dominant Russian gas company, to change its export behaviour. Our main findings suggest that both increased domestic gas prices and sufficient production capacities are vital to maintain Gazprom's market share in Europe over the next decade. In fact, Russia may struggle to carry out its current long-term export commitments if domestic prices are sufficiently low. At the same time, if Russian prices approach European net-back levels, Gazprom may reduce exports in favour of a relatively more profitable domestic market

  2. Aggression, conflict resolution, popularity, and attitude to school in Russian adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Butovskaya, Marina L; Timentschik, Vera M; Burkova, Valentina N

    2007-01-01

    The objective of the present study was to examine the effects of aggression and conflict-managing skills on popularity and attitude to school in Russian adolescents. Three types of aggression (physical, verbal, and indirect), constructive conflict resolution, third-party intervention, withdrawal, and victimization were examined using the Peer-Estimated Conflict Behavior (PECOBE) inventory [Bjorkquist and Osterman, 1998]. Also, all respondents rated peer and self-popularity with same-sex classmates and personal attitude to school. The sample consisted of 212 Russian adolescents (101 boys, 111 girls) aged between 11 and 15 years. The findings attest to significant sex differences in aggression and conflict resolution patterns. Boys scored higher on physical and verbal aggression, and girls on indirect aggression. Girls were socially more skillful than boys in the use of peaceful means of conflict resolution (they scored higher on constructive conflict resolution and third-party intervention). The attributional discrepancy index (ADI) scores were negative for all three types of aggression in both sexes. Verbal aggression is apparently more condemned in boys than in girls. ADI scores were positive for constructive conflict resolution and third-party intervention in both genders, being higher in boys. In girls, verbal aggression was positively correlated with popularity. In both sexes, popularity showed a positive correlation with constructive conflict resolution and third-party intervention, and a negative correlation with withdrawal and victimization. Boys who liked school were popular with same-sex peers and scored higher on constructive conflict resolution. Girls who liked school were less aggressive according to peer rating. They also rated higher on conflict resolution and third-party intervention. Physical aggression was related to age. The results are discussed in a cross-cultural perspective. Copyright 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  3. A call for theory to support the use of causal-formative indicators: A commentary on Bollen and Diamantopoulos (2017).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hardin, Andrew

    2017-09-01

    In this issue, Bollen and Diamantopoulos (2017) defend causal-formative indicators against several common criticisms leveled by scholars who oppose their use. In doing so, the authors make several convincing assertions: Constructs exist independently from their measures; theory determines whether indicators cause or measure latent variables; and reflective and causal-formative indicators are both subject to interpretational confounding. However, despite being a well-reasoned, comprehensive defense of causal-formative indicators, no single article can address all of the issues associated with this debate. Thus, Bollen and Diamantopoulos leave a few fundamental issues unresolved. For example, how can researchers establish the reliability of indicators that may include measurement error? Moreover, how should researchers interpret disturbance terms that capture sources of influence related to both the empirical definition of the latent variable and to the theoretical definition of the construct? Relatedly, how should researchers reconcile the requirement for a census of causal-formative indicators with the knowledge that indicators are likely missing from the empirically estimated latent variable? This commentary develops 6 related research questions to draw attention to these fundamental issues, and to call for future research that can lead to the development of theory to guide the use of causal-formative indicators. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  4. Einstein causal quantum fields on lattices with discrete Lorentz invariance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baumgaertel, H.

    1986-01-01

    Results on rigorous construction of quantum fields on the hypercubic lattice Z 4 considered as a lattice in the Minkowski space R 4 are presented. Two associated fields are constructed: The first one having on the lattice points of Z 4 is causal and Poincare invariant in the discrete sense. The second one is an interpolating field over R 4 which is pointlike, translationally covariant and spectral in such a manner that the 'real' lattices field is the restriction of the interpolating field to Z 4 . Furthermore, results on a rigorous perturbation theory of such fields are mentioned

  5. Viscous causal cosmologies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Novello, M.; Salim, J.M.; Torres, J.; Oliveira, H.P. de

    1989-01-01

    A set of spatially homogeneous and isotropic cosmological geometries generated by a class of non-perfect is investigated fluids. The irreversibility if this system is studied in the context of causal thermodynamics which provides a useful mechanism to conform to the non-violation of the causal principle. (author) [pt

  6. Causal inference based on counterfactuals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Höfler M

    2005-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The counterfactual or potential outcome model has become increasingly standard for causal inference in epidemiological and medical studies. Discussion This paper provides an overview on the counterfactual and related approaches. A variety of conceptual as well as practical issues when estimating causal effects are reviewed. These include causal interactions, imperfect experiments, adjustment for confounding, time-varying exposures, competing risks and the probability of causation. It is argued that the counterfactual model of causal effects captures the main aspects of causality in health sciences and relates to many statistical procedures. Summary Counterfactuals are the basis of causal inference in medicine and epidemiology. Nevertheless, the estimation of counterfactual differences pose several difficulties, primarily in observational studies. These problems, however, reflect fundamental barriers only when learning from observations, and this does not invalidate the counterfactual concept.

  7. The argumentative impact of causal relations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Anne Ellerup

    1996-01-01

    such as causality, explanation and justification. In certain types of discourse, causal relations also imply an intentional element. This paper describes the way in which the semantic and pragmatic functions of causal markers can be accounted for in terms of linguistic and rhetorical theories of argumentation.......The semantic relations between and within utterances are marked by the use of connectors and adverbials. One type of semantic relations is causal relations expressed by causal markers such as because, therefore, so, for, etc. Some of these markers cover different types of causal relations...

  8. Best Practices for Gauging Evidence of Causality in Air Pollution Epidemiology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dominici, Francesca; Zigler, Corwin

    2017-12-15

    The contentious political climate surrounding air pollution regulations has brought some researchers and policy-makers to argue that evidence of causality is necessary before implementing more stringent regulations. Recently, investigators in an increasing number of air pollution studies have purported to have used "causal analysis," generating the impression that studies not explicitly labeled as such are merely "associational" and therefore less rigorous. Using 3 prominent air pollution studies as examples, we review good practices for how to critically evaluate the extent to which an air pollution study provides evidence of causality. We argue that evidence of causality should be gauged by a critical evaluation of design decisions such as 1) what actions or exposure levels are being compared, 2) whether an adequate comparison group was constructed, and 3) how closely these design decisions approximate an idealized randomized study. We argue that air pollution studies that are more scientifically rigorous in terms of the decisions made to approximate a randomized experiment are more likely to provide evidence of causality and should be prioritized among the body of evidence for regulatory review accordingly. Our considerations, although presented in the context of air pollution epidemiology, can be broadly applied to other fields of epidemiology. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  9. Russian: An Active Introduction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De La Cruz, Nina

    The Active Introduction is one of the modules in an array of materials used in Russian training for beginners at the Foreign Service Institute. It is essentially a catalog of sentences relating to typical daily activities which can be combined to form different communication sequences in dialog form. Students learn to speak Russian through…

  10. A Causal Model of Consumer-Based Brand Equity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Szőcs Attila

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Branding literature suggests that consumer-based brand equity (CBBE is a multidimensional construct. Starting from this approach and developing a conceptual multidimensional model, this study finds that CBBE can be best modelled with a two-dimensional structure and claims that it achieves this result by choosing the theoretically based causal specification. On the contrary, with reflective specification, one will be able to fit almost any valid construct because of the halo effect and common method bias. In the final model, Trust (in quality and Advantage are causing the second-order Brand Equity. The two-dimensional brand equity is an intuitive model easy to interpret and easy to measure, which thus may be a much more attractive means for the management as well.

  11. Entropy for theories with indefinite causal structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Markes, Sonia; Hardy, Lucien

    2011-01-01

    Any theory with definite causal structure has a defined past and future, be it defined by light cones or an absolute time scale. Entropy is a concept that has traditionally been reliant on a definite notion of causality. However, without a definite notion of causality, the concept of entropy is not all lost. Indefinite causal structure results from combining probabilistic predictions and dynamical space-time. The causaloid framework lays the mathematical groundwork to be able to treat indefinite causal structure. In this paper, we build on the causaloid mathematics and define a causally-unbiased entropy for an indefinite causal structure. In defining a causally-unbiased entropy, there comes about an emergent idea of causality in the form of a measure of causal connectedness, termed the Q factor.

  12. This construction is too hot to handle

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Kim Ebensgaard

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents a synchronic study of an adjectival construction. More specifically, it discusses the [too ADJ to V]-construction (e.g. Tommy was too full to walk), which expresses a causal relation in which the ADJ-element, drawing on the adjectival property of scalarity, specifies a degree ...

  13. This construction is too hot to handle

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Kim Ebensgaard

    This paper presents a synchronic study of an adjectival construction. More specifically, it discusses the [too ADJ to V]-construction (e.g. Tommy was too full to walk), which expresses a causal relation in which the ADJ-element, drawing on the adjectival property of scalarity, specifies a degree ...

  14. Pairwise measures of causal direction in the epidemiology of sleep problems and depression.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tom Rosenström

    Full Text Available Depressive mood is often preceded by sleep problems, suggesting that they increase the risk of depression. Sleep problems can also reflect prodromal symptom of depression, thus temporal precedence alone is insufficient to confirm causality. The authors applied recently introduced statistical causal-discovery algorithms that can estimate causality from cross-sectional samples in order to infer the direction of causality between the two sets of symptoms from a novel perspective. Two common-population samples were used; one from the Young Finns study (690 men and 997 women, average age 37.7 years, range 30-45, and another from the Wisconsin Longitudinal study (3101 men and 3539 women, average age 53.1 years, range 52-55. These included three depression questionnaires (two in Young Finns data and two sleep problem questionnaires. Three different causality estimates were constructed for each data set, tested in a benchmark data with a (practically known causality, and tested for assumption violations using simulated data. Causality algorithms performed well in the benchmark data and simulations, and a prediction was drawn for future empirical studies to confirm: for minor depression/dysphoria, sleep problems cause significantly more dysphoria than dysphoria causes sleep problems. The situation may change as depression becomes more severe, or more severe levels of symptoms are evaluated; also, artefacts due to severe depression being less well presented in the population data than minor depression may intervene the estimation for depression scales that emphasize severe symptoms. The findings are consistent with other emerging epidemiological and biological evidence.

  15. Russian Language Analysis Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Serianni, Barbara; Rethwisch, Carolyn

    2011-01-01

    This paper is the result of a language analysis research project focused on the Russian Language. The study included a diverse literature review that included published materials as well as online sources in addition to an interview with a native Russian speaker residing in the United States. Areas of study include the origin and history of the…

  16. The history of the Russian Orthodox Church in Denmark (1741-2016 seen in a Danish-Russian historical perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christensen Carsten Sander

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the history and the problems of the Russian Orthodox Church in Denmark – and here seen in a Danish-Russian historical perspective, especially, in the last 300 years. The relations between the Danes and the Orthodox Church began, however, around 900 years before, in the Eastern European state of Kievan Rus. The article shows that the history of the church is closely linked to the political development in Russia. In this article, the history of the church and the changing Russian congregations will be illuminated in a historical perspective so that both the church and church buildings will throw a new light on the role of the Russian Church in both Danish and Russian history. In addition, it will be analysed to what extent trade policy, strategy and power policy and family relations have influenced the role and position of the Russian Church in Danish history.

  17. LMFR core and heat exchanger thermohydraulic design: former USSR and present Russian approaches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    The information presented in this report is dealing with liquid metal cooled fast reactors some of which are in operation (France, Japan, Russian federation) or under construction. Comprehensive thermal hydraulic research both experimental and numeric applied to such reactors was carried out in the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering (IPPE), Obninsk, Russian Federation. The IAEA Working Group on fast Reactors (IWGFR) recommended that IPPE should generalize its thermal hydraulic studies as well as results of other countries published previously in the field of liquid metal flow distribution and heat transfer in fuel pin and heat exchanger rod bundles (France, Germany, Japan, India, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and United States). The validity of computer codes and design approaches was proven by comparison of calculated results with measured values of velocity, pressure, temperature distributions in rod bundles cooled/heated by liquid metal, usually sodium. The report includes the methodology and philosophy of the analytical and experimental investigations when applied to core and heat exchanger thermal hydraulic design of Light Water Moderated Fast Reactors (LMFRs)

  18. Causal inference in public health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glass, Thomas A; Goodman, Steven N; Hernán, Miguel A; Samet, Jonathan M

    2013-01-01

    Causal inference has a central role in public health; the determination that an association is causal indicates the possibility for intervention. We review and comment on the long-used guidelines for interpreting evidence as supporting a causal association and contrast them with the potential outcomes framework that encourages thinking in terms of causes that are interventions. We argue that in public health this framework is more suitable, providing an estimate of an action's consequences rather than the less precise notion of a risk factor's causal effect. A variety of modern statistical methods adopt this approach. When an intervention cannot be specified, causal relations can still exist, but how to intervene to change the outcome will be unclear. In application, the often-complex structure of causal processes needs to be acknowledged and appropriate data collected to study them. These newer approaches need to be brought to bear on the increasingly complex public health challenges of our globalized world.

  19. Consequential Constructions in Contemporary European Portuguese: A Contribution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Cristina Macário Lopes

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study is to provide an integrated description of consequential constructions in European contemporary Portuguese, relating their syntactic, semantic and pragmatic behavior. It will be argued that the discourse segment introduced by the connectives 'consequentemente', 'de forma que', 'daí' '(que', 'de modo que', 'por isso', 'assim' can be analyzed in terms of a supplement (Huddleston & Pullum 2002, not syntactically integrated with its anchor, but semantically related to it. Semantically, consequential constructions may be paraphrased by causal ones involving an adverbial subordinate clause. But, unlike causal constructions, consequential ones connect two distinct speech acts. The suppression of the consequential connective may trigger two different readings, but it will be argued that, for pragmatic reasons (Levinson 2000, the preferential reading is still the consequential one.

  20. Putting a cap on causality violations in causal dynamical triangulations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ambjoern, Jan; Loll, Renate; Westra, Willem; Zohren, Stefan

    2007-01-01

    The formalism of causal dynamical triangulations (CDT) provides us with a non-perturbatively defined model of quantum gravity, where the sum over histories includes only causal space-time histories. Path integrals of CDT and their continuum limits have been studied in two, three and four dimensions. Here we investigate a generalization of the two-dimensional CDT model, where the causality constraint is partially lifted by introducing branching points with a weight g s , and demonstrate that the system can be solved analytically in the genus-zero sector. The solution is analytic in a neighborhood around weight g s = 0 and cannot be analytically continued to g s = ∞, where the branching is entirely geometric and where one would formally recover standard Euclidean two-dimensional quantum gravity defined via dynamical triangulations or Liouville theory

  1. Russian geological education in the world market (the case of Russian State Geological Prospecting University

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vasily Ivanovich Lisov

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Higher geological education in Russia and in MSGPI-RSGPU specific. It - engineering. The mineral deposits determine the development of the global industry and foreign trade. Growing global demand for the profession of geologists and mining engineers. Training of foreign students in Russia has its own geopolitical and economic importance. In Russia a strong resource-based economy. It attracts students from developing countries. MGRI-RSGPU is the leading universities training specialists for mining. The article presents data about the University and types of education. Shown scientific and educational problems in higher education. This article discusses the prospects for the promotion of Russian higher geological education at the world market of educational services. The increasing role of new scientific and technological achievements in mining, enhanced environmental as well as staff requirements is revealed. Given that the leading schools in the mining industry, in addition to Russia, are formed in Canada, Germany, USA, Australia, Great Britain, many developing countries rich in natural resources, have begun to form their own national centers for training in this area. Under such competitive conditions Russian geological education maintains its own niche. Recognition of this is the active participation of Russian universities in the creation and development of the World Forum of sustainable development of mineral universities (WFURS, described in the article. The main factors of competitiveness that led to leading positions of Russian State Geological Prospecting University in system of the Russian geological education are described. Particular attention is paid to the international activities of Russian higher educational institutions including Geological Prospecting University. The basic statistics (both in the context of the country, and in the field of foreign undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at this university is provided. The

  2. Russian perspectives: The past shapes the present

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Houck, R.P.

    1994-11-01

    This document contains an outline of a speech given to a group of professionals at Pacific Northwest Laboratory which was intended to give an unbiased view of Soviet perceptions. Topics discussed include: The new mission of US and Soviet labs and institutions to develop products and dedicate research to post cold war threat, historical prospectives of Russia, Russian military roles and missions, ideology of Russian politics, evils of capitalism, Russian civil war, communism, world war II, Russian losses during the war, the cold war, reasons why America should care what happens in Russia, the internal threat against a market-based economy, the US should help, and the Russian people and their attitudes.

  3. A Bright Future for Russian Higher Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kishkovsky, Sophia

    2000-01-01

    Russian higher education is reinventing itself, but in distinctly Russian ways. While universities embrace new technology, students are frustrated as new freedoms confront old educational methods (grueling entrance exams, rote learning, dictatorial professors, and minimal participation). Education is still basically Russian, though capitalism is…

  4. Causality Statistical Perspectives and Applications

    CERN Document Server

    Berzuini, Carlo; Bernardinell, Luisa

    2012-01-01

    A state of the art volume on statistical causality Causality: Statistical Perspectives and Applications presents a wide-ranging collection of seminal contributions by renowned experts in the field, providing a thorough treatment of all aspects of statistical causality. It covers the various formalisms in current use, methods for applying them to specific problems, and the special requirements of a range of examples from medicine, biology and economics to political science. This book:Provides a clear account and comparison of formal languages, concepts and models for statistical causality. Addr

  5. THE PRINCIPLES OF PHONOLOGICAL WORD STRUCTURE COMPARISON OF RUSSIAN AND CHINESE LANGUAGES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexey N. Aleksakhin

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to the phonological structure of words of Russian and Chinese languages. With phonological point of view the word as a Central significant unit of language is a sequence of consonants and vowel phonemes. A comparative study shows that the phonological structure of the Russian words prevail consonant phonemes and the phonological structure of the Chinese words prevail vowel phonemes. The phonological system of the Russian language is characterized by consonant dominant, and the phonological system of the Chinese language Mandarin is characterized by vocal dominant. In the vowel system of the Russian language there are six vowel phonemes, in the vowel system of the Chinese language Mandarin there are thirty-one vowel phonemes. The typical sound pattern of words of the Chinese language consists of vowel combinations. The strong (vowels differ in different effective modes of vocal cords vowels are implemented in the even phonological position; the weak vowels are implemented in the left and right odd phonological positions of the syllabic matrix 0123. Consonant phonemes of the Chinese language are implemented only in the zero phonological position. The Sound variety of simple one-syllable words of the Chinese language is constructed by oppositions: twenty-five consonants in the zero position, thirty-one strong vowel phonemes in the even position, as well as three weak vowels in the left odd position and five weak vowels in the right odd position . The typical distribution of consonant and vowel phonemes is shown in the following examples of words: 0123 - guai «obedient», gudi «rotate», guài «strange». The opposition of weak vowels with a derivative phonological zero is also an effective method of making words: guai «obedient» - gai «must» - gua « blow» - ga «a dark corner». Both Russian and Chinese Synharmonia variety of sound words is supported by five derivative phonological zeros that are phonetically in

  6. The Principles Of Phonological Word Structure Comparison Of Russian And Chinese Languages

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexey N. Aleksakhin

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to the phonological structure of words of Russian and Chinese languages. With phonological point of view the word as a Central significant unit of language is a sequence of consonants and vowel phonemes. A comparative study shows that the phonological structure of the Russian words prevail consonant phonemes and the phonological structure of the Chinese words prevail vowel phonemes. The phonological system of the Russian language is characterized by consonant dominant, and the phonological system of the Chinese language Mandarin is characterized by vocal dominant. In the vowel system of the Russian language there are six vowel phonemes, in the vowel system of the Chinese language Mandarin there are thirty-one vowel phonemes. The typical sound pattern of words of the Chinese language consists of vowel combinations. The strong (vowels differ in different effective modes of vocal cords vowels are implemented in the even phonological position; the weak vowels are implemented in the left and right odd phonological positions of the syllabic matrix 0123. Consonant phonemes of the Chinese language are implemented only in the zero phonological position. The Sound variety of simple one-syllable words of the Chinese language is constructed by oppositions: twenty-five consonants in the zero position, thirty-one strong vowel phonemes in the even position, as well as three weak vowels in the left odd position and five weak vowels in the right odd position . The typical distribution of consonant and vowel phonemes is shown in the following examples of words: 0123 - guai «obedient», gudi «rotate», guài «strange». The opposition of weak vowels with a derivative phonological zero is also an effective method of making words: guai «obedient» - gai «must» - gua « blow» - ga «a dark corner». Both Russian and Chinese Synharmonia variety of sound words is supported by five derivative phonological zeros that are phonetically in

  7. A frequency domain subspace algorithm for mixed causal, anti-causal LTI systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fraanje, Rufus; Verhaegen, Michel; Verdult, Vincent; Pintelon, Rik

    2003-01-01

    The paper extends the subspacc identification method to estimate state-space models from frequency response function (FRF) samples, proposed by McKelvey et al. (1996) for mixed causal/anti-causal systems, and shows that other frequency domain subspace algorithms can be extended similarly. The method

  8. Big russian oil round

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Slovak, K.; Beer, G.

    2006-01-01

    The departure of Mikhail Khodorkovsky has brought an end to the idyllic times of supplies of Russian oil to the MOL-Slovnaft group. The group used to purchase oil directly from Yukos. But now brokers have again entered the Central European oil business. And their aim is to take control over all of the oil business. The Russians demonstrated the changed situation to Slovakia last autumn: you will either accept the new model, or there will be problems with oil deliveries. Consumers got the message. The main brokers of Russian oil in Central Europe are the Swiss companies Glencore and Fisotra. Little information is available regarding these commodity brokers. But the information available is sufficient to indicate that these are not small companies. Glencore undertakes 3% of all international oil trades. With an annual turnover of 72 billions USD, it was the biggest Swiss company by turnover in 2004. Fisotra also has an extensive product portfolio. It offers financial and commercial services and does not hide its good relations with Russian oil companies. Between 1994 and 1998, it managed their financial operations with major western companies such as BP, Cargill, Elf, Exxon, Shell, Total, and Mutsubishi and also with Glencore. Fisotra states that some of its clients achieved an annual turnover of 1.5 billions USD. At present, the Swiss brokers receive a fee of 1 to 1.5 USD per barrel. The Russian political elite must be aware of these brokerage services as the oil transport through the transit system is closely monitored by the state owned company Transneft. (authors)

  9. Countering Russian Active Measures

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-04-16

    information laundering has proven effective in several occasions.20 In 2016, Russian social media actors circulated a fake news story about the...Soviet Union, individuals in positions of power funneled communist party financial resources to off-shore bank accounts and later used this money to...international offshore banking industry, they [the current oligarchs] stole money that belonged to the Russian state, took it abroad for safety

  10. Probabilistic Feasibility of the Reconstruction Process of Russian-Orthodox Churches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chizhova, M.; Brunn, A.; Stilla, U.

    2016-06-01

    The cultural human heritage is important for the identity of following generations and has to be preserved in a suitable manner. In the course of time a lot of information about former cultural constructions has been lost because some objects were strongly damaged by natural erosion or on account of human work or were even destroyed. It is important to capture still available building parts of former buildings, mostly ruins. This data could be the basis for a virtual reconstruction. Laserscanning offers in principle the possibility to take up extensively surfaces of buildings in its actual status. In this paper we assume a priori given 3d-laserscanner data, 3d point cloud for the partly destroyed church. There are many well known algorithms, that describe different methods of extraction and detection of geometric primitives, which are recognized separately in 3d points clouds. In our work we put them in a common probabilistic framework, which guides the complete reconstruction process of complex buildings, in our case russian-orthodox churches. Churches are modeled with their functional volumetric components, enriched with a priori known probabilities, which are deduced from a database of russian-orthodox churches. Each set of components represents a complete church. The power of the new method is shown for a simulated dataset of 100 russian-orthodox churches.

  11. The Functions of Danish Causal Conjunctions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rita Therkelsen

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available In the article I propose an analysis of the Danish causal conjunctions fordi, siden and for based on the framework of Danish Functional Grammar. As conjunctions they relate two clauses, and their semantics have in common that it indicates a causal relationship between the clauses. The causal conjunctions are different as far as their distribution is concerned; siden conjoins a subordinate clause and a main clause, for conjoins two main clauses, and fordi is able to do both. Methodologically I have based my analysis on these distributional properties comparing siden and fordi conjoining a subordinate and a main clause, and comparing for and fordi conjoining two main clauses, following the thesis that they would establish a causal relationship between different kinds of content. My main findings are that fordi establishes a causal relationship between the events referred to by the two clauses, and the whole utterance functions as a statement of this causal relationship. Siden presupposes such a general causal relationship between the two events and puts forward the causing event as a reason for assuming or wishing or ordering the caused event, siden thus establishes a causal relationship between an event and a speech act. For equally presupposes a general causal relationship between two events and it establishes a causal relationship between speech acts, and fordi conjoining two main clauses is able to do this too, but in this position it also maintains its event-relating ability, the interpretation depending on contextual factors.

  12. Space and time in perceptual causality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benjamin Straube

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Inferring causality is a fundamental feature of human cognition that allows us to theorize about and predict future states of the world. Michotte suggested that humans automatically perceive causality based on certain perceptual features of events. However, individual differences in judgments of perceptual causality cast doubt on Michotte’s view. To gain insights in the neural basis of individual difference in the perception of causality, our participants judged causal relationships in animations of a blue ball colliding with a red ball (a launching event while fMRI-data were acquired. Spatial continuity and temporal contiguity were varied parametrically in these stimuli. We did not find consistent brain activation differences between trials judged as caused and those judged as non-caused, making it unlikely that humans have universal instantiation of perceptual causality in the brain. However, participants were slower to respond to and showed greater neural activity for violations of causality, suggesting that humans are biased to expect causal relationships when moving objects appear to interact. Our participants demonstrated considerable individual differences in their sensitivity to spatial and temporal characteristics in perceiving causality. These qualitative differences in sensitivity to time or space in perceiving causality were instantiated in individual differences in activation of the left basal ganglia or right parietal lobe, respectively. Thus, the perception that the movement of one object causes the movement of another is triggered by elemental spatial and temporal sensitivities, which themselves are instantiated in specific distinct neural networks.

  13. Optimization of a dynamic uncertain causality graph for fault diagnosis in nuclear power plant

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Yue Zhao; Francesco Di Maio; Enrico Zio; Qin Zhang; Chun-Ling Dong; Jin-Ying Zhang

    2017-01-01

    Fault diagnostics is important for safe operation of nuclear power plants (NPPs).In recent years,data-driven approaches have been proposed and implemented to tackle the problem,e.g.,neural networks,fuzzy and neurofuzzy approaches,support vector machine,K-nearest neighbor classifiers and inference methodologies.Among these methods,dynamic uncertain causality graph (DUCG)has been proved effective in many practical cases.However,the causal graph construction behind the DUCG is complicate and,in many cases,results redundant on the symptoms needed to correctly classify the fault.In this paper,we propose a method to simplify causal graph construction in an automatic way.The method consists in transforming the expert knowledge-based DCUG into a fuzzy decision tree (FDT) by extracting from the DUCG a fuzzy rule base that resumes the used symptoms at the basis of the FDT.Genetic algorithm (GA) is,then,used for the optimization of the FDT,by performing a wrapper search around the FDT:the set of symptoms selected during the iterative search are taken as the best set of symptoms for the diagnosis of the faults that can occur in the system.The effectiveness of the approach is shown with respect to a DUCG model initially built to diagnose 23 faults originally using 262 symptoms of Unit-1 in the Ningde NPP of the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation.The results show that the FDT,with GA-optimized symptoms and diagnosis strategy,can drive the construction of DUCG and lower the computational burden without loss of accuracy in diagnosis.

  14. Optimization of a dynamic uncertain causality graph for fault diagnosis in nuclear power plant

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Yue Zhao; Francesco Di Maio; Enrico Zio; Qin Zhang; Chun-Ling Dong; Jin-Ying Zhang

    2017-01-01

    Fault diagnostics is important for safe operation of nuclear power plants (NPPs).In recent years,data-driven approaches have been proposed and implemented to tackle the problem,e.g.,neural networks,fuzzy and neurofuzzy approaches,support vector machine,K-nearest neighbor classifiers and inference methodologies.Among these methods,dynamic uncertain causality graph (DUCG) has been proved effective in many practical cases.However,the causal graph construction behind the DUCG is complicate and,in many cases,results redundant on the symptoms needed to correctly classify the fault.In this paper,we propose a method to simplify causal graph construction in an automatic way.The method consists in transforming the expert knowledge-based DCUG into a fuzzy decision tree (FDT) by extracting from the DUCG a fuzzy rule base that resumes the used symptoms at the basis of the FDT.Genetic algorithm (GA) is,then,used for the optimization of the FDT,by performing a wrapper search around the FDT:the set of symptoms selected during the iterative search are taken as the best set of symptoms for the diagnosis of the faults that can occur in the system.The effectiveness of the approach is shown with respect to a DUCG model initially built to diagnose 23 faults originally using 262 symptoms of Unit-1 in the Ningde NPP of the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation.The results show that the FDT,with GA-optimized symptoms and diagnosis strategy,can drive the construction of DUCG and lower the computational burden without loss of accuracy in diagnosis.

  15. Multifractal structures for the Russian stock market

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ikeda, Taro

    2018-02-01

    In this paper, we apply the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA) to the Russian stock price returns. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to reveal the multifractal structures for the Russian stock market by financial crises. The contributions of the paper are twofold. (i) Finding the multifractal structures for the Russian stock market. The generalized Hurst exponents estimated become highly-nonlinear to the order of the fluctuation functions. (ii) Computing the multifractality degree according to Zunino et al. (2008). We find that the multifractality degree of the Russian stock market can be categorized within emerging markets, however, the Russian 1998 crisis and the global financial crisis dampen the degree when we consider the order of the polynomial trends in the MFDFA.

  16. Dynamic factor analysis in the frequency domain: causal modeling of multivariate psychophysiological time series

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Molenaar, P.C.M.

    1987-01-01

    Outlines a frequency domain analysis of the dynamic factor model and proposes a solution to the problem of constructing a causal filter of lagged factor loadings. The method is illustrated with applications to simulated and real multivariate time series. The latter applications involve topographic

  17. Paradoxical Behavior of Granger Causality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Witt, Annette; Battaglia, Demian; Gail, Alexander

    2013-03-01

    Granger causality is a standard tool for the description of directed interaction of network components and is popular in many scientific fields including econometrics, neuroscience and climate science. For time series that can be modeled as bivariate auto-regressive processes we analytically derive an expression for spectrally decomposed Granger Causality (SDGC) and show that this quantity depends only on two out of four groups of model parameters. Then we present examples of such processes whose SDGC expose paradoxical behavior in the sense that causality is high for frequency ranges with low spectral power. For avoiding misinterpretations of Granger causality analysis we propose to complement it by partial spectral analysis. Our findings are illustrated by an example from brain electrophysiology. Finally, we draw implications for the conventional definition of Granger causality. Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Goettingen

  18. On causality of extreme events

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Massimiliano Zanin

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Multiple metrics have been developed to detect causality relations between data describing the elements constituting complex systems, all of them considering their evolution through time. Here we propose a metric able to detect causality within static data sets, by analysing how extreme events in one element correspond to the appearance of extreme events in a second one. The metric is able to detect non-linear causalities; to analyse both cross-sectional and longitudinal data sets; and to discriminate between real causalities and correlations caused by confounding factors. We validate the metric through synthetic data, dynamical and chaotic systems, and data representing the human brain activity in a cognitive task. We further show how the proposed metric is able to outperform classical causality metrics, provided non-linear relationships are present and large enough data sets are available.

  19. CENTENARY OF 1917 RUSSIAN REVOLUTION IN THE FOCUS OF ANTI-RUSSIAN HISTORICAL PROPAGANDA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Вардан Эрнестович Багдасарян

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The article analyzes the anti-Russian historical narrative focused on the 1917 events. The relevance of the theme is determined bythe wide-ranging discussion on the Russian revolution due toits anniversary. The authors solve the problem of the scientific criticism of the anti-Russian myths, focused on the assessments and interpretations of the two Russian revolutions of 1917. In the article there are shown the ideological basis and political context of the coverage of the events of 1917. The authors analyze 5 historical ideologemes, which are disseminated in the public consciousness. They also show the cognitive and political implications of adopting the respective ideology. As a typical liberal myth, the authors regard the interpretation of the October Revolution as “stolen freedom” provided by the February revolution. In the article there is shown that through the myth of “stolen freedom” the whole history of Russia is presented as a reproduction of the “totalitarian regime”. The authors prove the incorrectness of showing Bolsheviks as the initiators of the use of mass terror tactics, to which all major opposing forces resorted. There is considered the connection of the interpretation of the Revolution as the manifestation of the “Russian rebellion” with the Russophobic myth of the Russian barbarism. The authors criticize the idea of the Bolshevik imperialism, which is allegedly based on the ideology of world revolution. The article gives the deconstruction of the myth of the Bolshevik regime illegitimacy and shows the cognitive contradictions of the attempts to counter the concepts of “October Revolution” and “October Coup”. The authors reveal that the thesis of the Constituent Assembly, as an illustration of the Bolshevik illegitimacy, doesn’t correspondent to the historical facts. The authors conclude that the issues of covering the events of both the Revolutionand the Great Patriotic War are linked to the national

  20. An improved Four-Russians method and sparsified Four-Russians algorithm for RNA folding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frid, Yelena; Gusfield, Dan

    2016-01-01

    The basic RNA secondary structure prediction problem or single sequence folding problem (SSF) was solved 35 years ago by a now well-known [Formula: see text]-time dynamic programming method. Recently three methodologies-Valiant, Four-Russians, and Sparsification-have been applied to speedup RNA secondary structure prediction. The sparsification method exploits two properties of the input: the number of subsequence Z with the endpoints belonging to the optimal folding set and the maximum number base-pairs L. These sparsity properties satisfy [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], and the method reduces the algorithmic running time to O(LZ). While the Four-Russians method utilizes tabling partial results. In this paper, we explore three different algorithmic speedups. We first expand the reformulate the single sequence folding Four-Russians [Formula: see text]-time algorithm, to utilize an on-demand lookup table. Second, we create a framework that combines the fastest Sparsification and new fastest on-demand Four-Russians methods. This combined method has worst-case running time of [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. Third we update the Four-Russians formulation to achieve an on-demand [Formula: see text]-time parallel algorithm. This then leads to an asymptotic speedup of [Formula: see text] where [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] the number of subsequence with the endpoint j belonging to the optimal folding set. The on-demand formulation not only removes all extraneous computation and allows us to incorporate more realistic scoring schemes, but leads us to take advantage of the sparsity properties. Through asymptotic analysis and empirical testing on the base-pair maximization variant and a more biologically informative scoring scheme, we show that this Sparse Four-Russians framework is able to achieve a speedup on every problem instance, that is asymptotically never worse, and empirically better than achieved by

  1. Fine-grain concrete from mining waste for monolithic construction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lesovik, R. V.; Ageeva, M. S.; Lesovik, G. A.; Sopin, D. M.; Kazlitina, O. V.; Mitrokhin, A. A.

    2018-03-01

    The technology of a monolithic construction is a well-established practice among most Russian real estate developers. The strong points of the technology are low cost of materials and lower demand for qualified workers. The monolithic construction uses various types of reinforced slabs and foamed concrete, since they are easy to use and highly durable; they also need practically no additional treatment.

  2. Evaluation of tte International System In Russian Official Discourse and Academic Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Igor A. Istomin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The article draws a comparison between Russian official and expert foreign policy discourses, focusing on representations of the power balance and relations between major states as the defining features of international system. The author attempts to identify actual and potential contribution of academics in the Russian foreign policy thinking. Conceptual documents and programme statements of national leadership elevate the notion of 'polycentric world' as a value in itself, which guides national actions on international arena. Although, until the late 2000s its rise was perceived as a welcome, but remote prospect, since the U.S. failures in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as global financial crisis expectations regarding it construction increased. They are accompanied, however, by a more critical appraisal of the concept. The mainstream Russian expert community shares normative appreciation of the polycentric global system as an intrinsic good. It also nourishes expectations of its emergence with almost inevitable certainty. Most of the time, it does not take into account concerns incorporated in the Western IR theories, regarding destabilizing effect of competition between multiple centers of power. The article demonstrates that both Russian political leadership and expert community perceive polycentric system as an international 'great power concert', which is just one and relatively rare form of it. It requires not only virtual parity in capabilities of several players, but also the lack of serious disputes among them. Meanwhile, in the Russia academic community there is a place for a critical tradition, which associates current decentralization of the international system with its chaotization and weakening governance. In recent years this approach gains additional prominence. However, the Russian debates on global order lacks more elaborated discussion regarding sources of power in international system as well as explanation of the binding

  3. Russian Language Development Assessment as a Standardized Technique for Assessing Communicative Function in Children Aged 3–9 Years

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prikhoda N.A.,

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The article describes the Russian Language Development Assessment, a standardized individual diagnostic tool for children aged from 3 to 9 that helps to assess the following components of a child’s communicative function: passive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, knowledge of semantic constructs with logical, temporal and spatial relations, passive perception and active use of syntactic and morphological features of words in a sentence, active and passive phonological awareness, active and passive knowledge of syntactic structures and categories. The article provides descriptions of content and diagnostic procedures for all 7 subtests included in the assessment (Passive Vocabulary, Active Vocabulary, Linguistic Operators, Sentence structure, Word Structure, Phonology, Sentence Repetition. Basing on the data collected in the study that involved 86 first- graders of a Moscow school, the article analyzes the internal consistency and construct validity of each subtest of the technique. It concludes that the Russian Language Development Assessment technique can be of much use both in terms of diagnostic purposes and in supporting children with ASD taking into account the lack of standardized tools for language and speech development assessment in Russian and the importance of this measure in general.

  4. Causal symmetric spaces

    CERN Document Server

    Olafsson, Gestur; Helgason, Sigurdur

    1996-01-01

    This book is intended to introduce researchers and graduate students to the concepts of causal symmetric spaces. To date, results of recent studies considered standard by specialists have not been widely published. This book seeks to bring this information to students and researchers in geometry and analysis on causal symmetric spaces.Includes the newest results in harmonic analysis including Spherical functions on ordered symmetric space and the holmorphic discrete series and Hardy spaces on compactly casual symmetric spacesDeals with the infinitesimal situation, coverings of symmetric spaces, classification of causal symmetric pairs and invariant cone fieldsPresents basic geometric properties of semi-simple symmetric spacesIncludes appendices on Lie algebras and Lie groups, Bounded symmetric domains (Cayley transforms), Antiholomorphic Involutions on Bounded Domains and Para-Hermitian Symmetric Spaces

  5. Archetypes of the spiritual movement in Russian historiosophy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sorokina Tatyana Evgenievna

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The article considers the main principles of Russian philosophy of history. The most discussed historiosophical idea, going through a variety of transformations, remains Slavyanofil doctrine of special destiny of Russia, its spiritual integrity. The author focuses on the fact that preserving «national archetype» as a key issue, Russian historiosophy offered various options related to the West as a symbol of a different worldview. Mindful of the global fascination with Buddhist understanding of human destiny and history of the world, it must be said that the Russian historiosophy presumed itself in opposition to the Buddhist concept of the historiosophical. Briefly it is explained the reasons for the occurrence of classical Russian literature historiosophical space. 1. The national literature was perceived by Russian thinkers as the «second history». 2. Figures of historical discourse were five Russian classics: Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy. 3. The fate and the works of Russian writers of the inherent rationale of national historical path in its different variants. 4. The Russian philosophy of history, to show interest in religious issues, examines the life and work of every writer as a definite spiritual model of public importance and is being implemented in the historical world. It is commented on historico-philosophical concept of Leontiev and Fedorov, Rozanov and Solovyov who emphasize that eschatology is the semantic core of Russian philosophy of history.

  6. English/Russian and Russian/English glossary of physical protection terms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soo Hoo, M.S.

    1995-07-01

    This glossary was prepared in fulfillment of the Glossary Preparation Task identified in the Program Plan for providing Assistance to the Russian Federation in Nuclear Material Control and Accounting and Physical Protection. The Program Plan is part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program as provided for under House Resolution (H.R.) 3807 (Title II, as referenced under Public Law (P.L.) 102-229. The terms in this glossary were derived from physical protection training material prepared at Sandia. The training material, and thus refinements to the glossary, has undergone years of development in presentation to both domestic and international audiences. Also, Russian Colleagues and interpreters have reviewed the translations for accuracy

  7. English/Russian and Russian/English glossary of physical protection terms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Soo Hoo, M.S. [ed.

    1995-07-01

    This glossary was prepared in fulfillment of the Glossary Preparation Task identified in the Program Plan for providing Assistance to the Russian Federation in Nuclear Material Control and Accounting and Physical Protection. The Program Plan is part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program as provided for under House Resolution (H.R.) 3807 (Title II, as referenced under Public Law (P.L.) 102-229. The terms in this glossary were derived from physical protection training material prepared at Sandia. The training material, and thus refinements to the glossary, has undergone years of development in presentation to both domestic and international audiences. Also, Russian Colleagues and interpreters have reviewed the translations for accuracy.

  8. Multimodal shipments under program on Russian-origin research reactor SFA return to Russian Federation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dorofeev, A.N.; Ivashchenko, A.A.; Kanashov, B.A.; Komarov, S.V.; Komarov, S.N.; Barinkov, O.P.

    2010-01-01

    The paper describes experience in preparation and organization of research reactor nuclear material import under the Program on Russian-Origin Highly Enriched Uranium Return to the Russian Federation. It also summarizes evolution of transport equipment, conveyances and routes and describes types of packages, their adaptation and certification, safety issues, peculiarities and prospective use of the packagings and conveyances. (author)

  9. Geologists of Russian origin in the francophone countries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tchoumatchenco, P.; Durand-Delga, M.; Ricour, J.; Wiazemsky, M.

    2016-10-01

    Many ethnic Russian geologists have lived and worked in Francophone countries. We describe in this paper the life and career of geologists (i.e. all Earth scientists - geologists, mineralogists, tectonicians, geophysicists, geochemists, paleontologists, mining and drilling engineers, hydrogeologists, cosmos - geologists, etc.), regardless of their original nationality (Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Germans, etc.) born in the territory of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union or the Russian Federation. (Author)

  10. Predicting Causal Relationships from Biological Data: Applying Automated Causal Discovery on Mass Cytometry Data of Human Immune Cells

    KAUST Repository

    Triantafillou, Sofia; Lagani, Vincenzo; Heinze-Deml, Christina; Schmidt, Angelika; Tegner, Jesper; Tsamardinos, Ioannis

    2017-01-01

    Learning the causal relationships that define a molecular system allows us to predict how the system will respond to different interventions. Distinguishing causality from mere association typically requires randomized experiments. Methods for automated  causal discovery from limited experiments exist, but have so far rarely been tested in systems biology applications. In this work, we apply state-of-the art causal discovery methods on a large collection of public mass cytometry data sets, measuring intra-cellular signaling proteins of the human immune system and their response to several perturbations. We show how different experimental conditions can be used to facilitate causal discovery, and apply two fundamental methods that produce context-specific causal predictions. Causal predictions were reproducible across independent data sets from two different studies, but often disagree with the KEGG pathway databases. Within this context, we discuss the caveats we need to overcome for automated causal discovery to become a part of the routine data analysis in systems biology.

  11. Predicting Causal Relationships from Biological Data: Applying Automated Causal Discovery on Mass Cytometry Data of Human Immune Cells

    KAUST Repository

    Triantafillou, Sofia

    2017-09-29

    Learning the causal relationships that define a molecular system allows us to predict how the system will respond to different interventions. Distinguishing causality from mere association typically requires randomized experiments. Methods for automated  causal discovery from limited experiments exist, but have so far rarely been tested in systems biology applications. In this work, we apply state-of-the art causal discovery methods on a large collection of public mass cytometry data sets, measuring intra-cellular signaling proteins of the human immune system and their response to several perturbations. We show how different experimental conditions can be used to facilitate causal discovery, and apply two fundamental methods that produce context-specific causal predictions. Causal predictions were reproducible across independent data sets from two different studies, but often disagree with the KEGG pathway databases. Within this context, we discuss the caveats we need to overcome for automated causal discovery to become a part of the routine data analysis in systems biology.

  12. IS RUSSIAN DECOMMODIFYING IN CATALONIA?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Микел Кабал-Гуарро

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The data collected in an ethnographic study conducted between 2014 and 2016 in tourist areas in Catalonia, Spain shows that the mastery of Russian has become a profitable commodity in Spanish tourism industry. The purpose of this paper is to show where and how Russian is used in the service industry and trace the commodification of the language over time. Against the background of fluctuating numbers of Russian-speaking visitors, this analysis will contribute to a better understanding of processes of language commodification and decommodification and the relationship between wider political and economic con-texts and valorisation of particular languages and speakers.

  13. SOCIAL ACTIVITIES OF PARISH CLERGY IN CIRCUMSTANCES OF GOVERNMENTALIZING OF ORTHODOX CHURCH IN RUSSIAN EMPIRE OF 19 TH CENTURY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Светлана Геннадиевна Зубанова

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the experience of the Russian empire of the 19 th century in creating the conditions for social activities of the Russian Orthodox Church. The author describes such types of the Russian Orthodox Church activities aimed at helping those in need as helping the poor, coordinating the work of poor-houses, collecting donations, supporting parochial schools, poor houses, orphanages, hospitals, construction and reconstruction of churches. The author analyzes the role of the parochial patronages in the charity and social service activities, as well as in the moral and spiritual education of the population. The work of the well-known members of the clergy which forms a part of the Russian Orthodox Church and Russian history in general is given as an example of the above mentioned activities. The article extensively covers the responsibilities of parish priests, the difficulties which they come across, and highlights the reasons for the negative attitude towards the clergy in the late 19 th - early 20 th centuries. The author summarizes the historical lessons of the social activity of the Russian Orthodox Church. The article provides grounds for the opinion that the social activities of the Church should not interfere with its main religious functions, and the partnership of the state and the Russian Orthodox Church in the social projects should contribute to the improvement of people’s life and their moral and spiritual growth.

  14. Nuclear energy and politics in Russian ATWS conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gagarinski, A.

    1998-01-01

    Relations between politics and nuclear power in the countries of sustainable development has been many times discussed during the short history of nuclear energy, and regularly arising new events, even very important (in Sweden, USA, etc.), just add to the formed understanding of the problem. Russia for 10 years lives in conditions of a transition period, which seems similar to ATWS-type accidents at nuclear power plants. In these conditions the effect of politics on nuclear power and vice versa are seen very clearly, and, more important, change swiftly, which may present interest for the countries with smoother public processes. The role of political processes in nuclear power is obvious and may be reduced to three main factors: change of political system and transition to market economy have placed nuclear power, though still within state sector, in an absolutely new economic condition, which determine its today's situation as 'Survival'; new possibilities of political influence and opposition to nuclear power (mainly struggle against construction of new nuclear fuel cycle objects) on a levels of authority (local, regional, federal); impact of the USSR collapse on the situation in Russian nuclear power was due sooner to temporary weakening of control and regulatory structures, than to the fact, that some fuel cycle elements have found themselves abroad (the factor of uranium resources' loss is unimportant at present). Nuclear safety was chosen to be the subject of Moscow 1996 Summit, initiated with the purpose of Russia coming closer to G7. The Summit has confirmed the thesis on the possibility of nuclear power o play an important role in the world energy demand in accordance with sustainable development goals. successful activities of Russia-USA Commission for economic and technological cooperation, known as 'Gore-Chernomyrdin' Commission, is to a large extent determined by positive nuclear decisions. Eastern direction of Russian nuclear export (Iran, China

  15. Russian Loanword Adaptation in Persian; Optimal Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kambuziya, Aliye Kord Zafaranlu; Hashemi, Eftekhar Sadat

    2011-01-01

    In this paper we analyzed some of the phonological rules of Russian loanword adaptation in Persian, on the view of Optimal Theory (OT) (Prince & Smolensky, 1993/2004). It is the first study of phonological process on Russian loanwords adaptation in Persian. By gathering about 50 current Russian loanwords, we selected some of them to analyze. We…

  16. Genetic stock identification of Russian honey bees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bourgeois, Lelania; Sheppard, Walter S; Sylvester, H Allen; Rinderer, Thomas E

    2010-06-01

    A genetic stock certification assay was developed to distinguish Russian honey bees from other European (Apis mellifera L.) stocks that are commercially produced in the United States. In total, 11 microsatellite and five single-nucleotide polymorphism loci were used. Loci were selected for relatively high levels of homogeneity within each group and for differences in allele frequencies between groups. A baseline sample consisted of the 18 lines of Russian honey bees released to the Russian Bee Breeders Association and bees from 34 queen breeders representing commercially produced European honey bee stocks. Suitability tests of the baseline sample pool showed high levels of accuracy. The probability of correct assignment was 94.2% for non-Russian bees and 93.3% for Russian bees. A neighbor-joining phenogram representing genetic distance data showed clear distinction of Russian and non-Russian honey bee stocks. Furthermore, a test of appropriate sample size showed a sample of eight bees per colony maximizes accuracy and consistency of the results. An additional 34 samples were tested as blind samples (origin unknown to those collecting data) to determine accuracy of individual assignment tests. Only one of these samples was incorrectly assigned. The 18 current breeding lines were represented among the 2009 blind sampling, demonstrating temporal stability of the genetic stock identification assay. The certification assay will be used through services provided by a service laboratory, by the Russian Bee Breeders Association to genetically certify their stock. The genetic certification will be used in conjunction with continued selection for favorable traits, such as honey production and varroa and tracheal mite resistance.

  17. The New Russian Nationalism

    OpenAIRE

    Kolstø, Pal; Blakkisrud, Helge

    2016-01-01

    Assessing the transformation of Russian nationalist discourse in the 21st century Russian nationalism, previously dominated by ‘imperial’ tendencies – pride in a large, strong and multi-ethnic state able to project its influence abroad – is increasingly focused on ethnic issues. This new ethno-nationalism has come in various guises, like racism and xenophobia, but also in a new intellectual movement of ‘national democracy’ deliberately seeking to emulate conservative West European nationalism...

  18. Electromagnetic pulses, localized and causal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lekner, John

    2018-01-01

    We show that pulse solutions of the wave equation can be expressed as time Fourier superpositions of scalar monochromatic beam wave functions (solutions of the Helmholtz equation). This formulation is shown to be equivalent to Bateman's integral expression for solutions of the wave equation, for axially symmetric solutions. A closed-form one-parameter solution of the wave equation, containing no backward-propagating parts, is constructed from a beam which is the tight-focus limit of two families of beams. Application is made to transverse electric and transverse magnetic pulses, with evaluation of the energy, momentum and angular momentum for a pulse based on the general localized and causal form. Such pulses can be represented as superpositions of photons. Explicit total energy and total momentum values are given for the one-parameter closed-form pulse.

  19. High-rise construction in the Russian economy: modeling of management decisions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miroshnikova, Tatyana; Taskaeva, Natalia

    2018-03-01

    The growth in the building industry, particularly in residential high-rise construction, is having considerable influence on the country's economic development. The scientific hypothesis of the research is that the execution of town-planning programs of high-rise construction depends to a large extent on the management of the provision of material resources for the construction of a millionth city, while the balance model is the most important tool for establishing and determining the ratio between supply and demand for material resources. In order to improve the efficiency of high-rise building management, it is proposed to develop a methodology for managing the provision of construction of large cities with material resources.

  20. Gazprom vs. other Russian gas producers: The evolution of the Russian gas sector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lunden, Lars Petter; Fjaertoft, Daniel; Overland, Indra; Prachakova, Alesia

    2013-01-01

    The non-Gazprom gas producers (NGPs) doubled their share of the Russian domestic gas market between 2000 and 2010 and have continued growing since then. For several years especially Novatek expanded. More recently, Rosneft has emerged as a key player, not least through its purchase of TNK-BP. This article begins with an overview of the companies in the Russian gas sector, their resource bases and capacities, and subsequently examines whether differences in field development costs and export market access may make it rational for Gazprom to continue ceding market share to the NGPs. With rising costs of Gazprom's queue of greenfield developments, any delays in Gazprom's investment program may be compensated through increased NGP production. The article argues that the NGPs are ready to fill the gap, may be allowed to do so and are already increasing their market share in an increasingly competitive market. The stage may now be set for a continued gradual transformation of the Russian gas market, in which the interests of Gazprom and the NGPs may be complementary or may be pitted against each other, but those of the Russian Federation are in any case likely to be better fulfilled than in the past. - Highlights: • Other Russian gas producers, especially Novatek and Rosneft, are taking market shares from Gazprom. • Gazprom has a monopoly on exports and has had a de facto monopoly on the domestic pipeline grid through its control over trunk pipelines. • Gazprom's greenfield projects are more expensive than those of other producers. • Gazprom's loss of market shares to other producers in the domestic market may actually be in Gazprom's interest

  1. Principal stratification in causal inference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frangakis, Constantine E; Rubin, Donald B

    2002-03-01

    Many scientific problems require that treatment comparisons be adjusted for posttreatment variables, but the estimands underlying standard methods are not causal effects. To address this deficiency, we propose a general framework for comparing treatments adjusting for posttreatment variables that yields principal effects based on principal stratification. Principal stratification with respect to a posttreatment variable is a cross-classification of subjects defined by the joint potential values of that posttreatment variable tinder each of the treatments being compared. Principal effects are causal effects within a principal stratum. The key property of principal strata is that they are not affected by treatment assignment and therefore can be used just as any pretreatment covariate. such as age category. As a result, the central property of our principal effects is that they are always causal effects and do not suffer from the complications of standard posttreatment-adjusted estimands. We discuss briefly that such principal causal effects are the link between three recent applications with adjustment for posttreatment variables: (i) treatment noncompliance, (ii) missing outcomes (dropout) following treatment noncompliance. and (iii) censoring by death. We then attack the problem of surrogate or biomarker endpoints, where we show, using principal causal effects, that all current definitions of surrogacy, even when perfectly true, do not generally have the desired interpretation as causal effects of treatment on outcome. We go on to forrmulate estimands based on principal stratification and principal causal effects and show their superiority.

  2. [Bioethics in Russian neurology and epileptology].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mikhalkovska-Karlova, E P

    2016-01-01

    Historical roots and further development of bioethics in domestic neurology and epileptology are considered. The main bioethical principles were established during the formation of the Russian clinical school and neurosciences. It is most distinctly seen in the development of bioethics in neurology and epileptology. In the author's opinion, the Russian scientist V.M. Bekhterev had played a prominent role in the field. In the time when the term "bioethics" was not coined and its principles were not formulated, V.M. Bekhterev had created the Russian league against epilepsy and established the foundations of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) as the organizations working on the problems of medical and social care to patients with epilepsy. In Russia, the Russian society of neurologists has been doing a great work in the field.

  3. Causal Set Generator and Action Computer

    OpenAIRE

    Cunningham, William; Krioukov, Dmitri

    2017-01-01

    The causal set approach to quantum gravity has gained traction over the past three decades, but numerical experiments involving causal sets have been limited to relatively small scales. The software suite presented here provides a new framework for the generation and study of causal sets. Its efficiency surpasses previous implementations by several orders of magnitude. We highlight several important features of the code, including the compact data structures, the $O(N^2)$ causal set generatio...

  4. High-rise construction in historical cities through the example of Saint Petersburg

    Science.gov (United States)

    Granstrem, Maria; Zolotareva, Milena; Slavina, Tatyana

    2018-03-01

    The article sets forth results of the landscape visual analysis of the interaction of high-rise construction facilities with the environment of historical urban spaces. A toxic connection of high-rise construction facilities with the established urban landscape was analyzed and recorded. One of the latest stages of the reconstruction of historical cities, which penetrated many European countries at the end of the 20th century, also started in the beginning of the 21st century in Russia, where the reconstruction of historical facilities and territories became one of the leading trends of architectural activity. Therefore, problems of the interaction between the old city and new high-rise construction nearby historical centers are extremely relevant for Russian architects. Specific features of Russian high-rise construction within visual borders of historical cities, developed at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries, repeat past urban-planning mistakes spread in Europe in the second half of the 20th century. High-rise construction in close proximity to historical centers of cities violates an established scale and destroys a historical city silhouette.

  5. Spectral dimension in causal set quantum gravity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eichhorn, Astrid; Mizera, Sebastian

    2014-01-01

    We evaluate the spectral dimension in causal set quantum gravity by simulating random walks on causal sets. In contrast to other approaches to quantum gravity, we find an increasing spectral dimension at small scales. This observation can be connected to the nonlocality of causal set theory that is deeply rooted in its fundamentally Lorentzian nature. Based on its large-scale behaviour, we conjecture that the spectral dimension can serve as a tool to distinguish causal sets that approximate manifolds from those that do not. As a new tool to probe quantum spacetime in different quantum gravity approaches, we introduce a novel dimensional estimator, the causal spectral dimension, based on the meeting probability of two random walkers, which respect the causal structure of the quantum spacetime. We discuss a causal-set example, where the spectral dimension and the causal spectral dimension differ, due to the existence of a preferred foliation. (paper)

  6. The causal link between energy and output growth: Evidence from Markov switching Granger causality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kandemir Kocaaslan, Ozge

    2013-01-01

    In this paper we empirically investigate the causal link between energy consumption and economic growth employing a Markov switching Granger causality analysis. We carry out our investigation using annual U.S. real GDP, total final energy consumption and total primary energy consumption data which cover the period between 1968 and 2010. We find that there are significant changes in the causal relation between energy consumption and economic growth over the sample period under investigation. Our results show that total final energy consumption and total primary energy consumption have significant predictive content for real economic activity in the U.S. economy. Furthermore, the causality running from energy consumption to output growth seems to be strongly apparent particularly during the periods of economic downturn and energy crisis. We also document that output growth has predictive power in explaining total energy consumption. Furthermore, the power of output growth in predicting total energy consumption is found to diminish after the mid of 1980s. - Highlights: • Total energy consumption has predictive content for real economic activity. • The causality from energy to output growth is apparent in the periods of recession. • The causality from energy to output growth is strong in the periods of energy crisis. • Output growth has predictive power in explaining total energy consumption. • The power of output growth in explaining energy diminishes after the mid of 1980s

  7. A Bifactor Approach to Model Multifaceted Constructs in Statistical Mediation Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez, Oscar; MacKinnon, David P.

    2018-01-01

    Statistical mediation analysis allows researchers to identify the most important mediating constructs in the causal process studied. Identifying specific mediators is especially relevant when the hypothesized mediating construct consists of multiple related facets. The general definition of the construct and its facets might relate differently to…

  8. EDWARD SUESS AND RUSSIAN GEOLOGISTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Boris A. Natal’in

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The publication is devoted to the history of one of the greatest concepts of tectonics of Asia, that has been widely accepted and yet obliterated with time, while the splendors of this concept are doubtful. Numerous citations in the Russian papers to «The Face of the Earth» by Edward Suess and the fact that he was elected a Corresponding Member of the Imperial Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences clearly demonstrate how highly Suess’s contribution to studies of the structure and geological evolution of Asia was valued by the Russian geological community. Suess’s letters to Vladimir A. Obruchev give evidence how close and productive the relationship between Edward Suess and the Russian researchers was in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries and also illustrate how the great tectonic concept of Asia [Suess, 1908] was born and developed. The idea of centrifugal propagation of tectonic waves of the Altaids from a continental node located somewhere in Siberia was mainly inspired by Suess’s profound scientific intuition. The idea matured after Edward Suess got acquainted with Ivan D. Chersky’s paper [Черский, 1886] that greatly facilitated in shaping and improving this idea. It was mailed to Suess by Vladimir A. Obruchev who translated the paper, attached his own map and provided explanations to Chersky’s ideas. The available historical documents suggest that Vladimir A. Obruchev facilitated communication between the Russian geologists, on the one side, and Edward Suess and other Austrian geologists who conducted geological studies in Asia, on the other side. Being actively involved in exchange of publications and cooperation in field data processing, Edward Suess was aware of all the details of the Russian geological studies.In addition to the concept of tectonic arcs of the Altaids and descriptions of main geological structures located in Northern Asia and China, Edward Suess adopted a concept of disjunctive dislocations

  9. THE MYTH OF THE RUSSIAN EXISTENTIAL THREAT

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-04-01

    Putin’s intent. What we can do is learn from his actions, and what we see suggests growing Russian capabilities, significant military modernization...AU/ACSC/POWELL, N/AY16 AIR COMMAND AND STAFF COLLEGE AIR UNIVERSITY THE MYTH OF THE RUSSIAN EXISTENTIAL THREAT...The methodology focuses on Russian capability, capacity, and intention to threaten NATO members’ existence. While Russia does possess nuclear weapons

  10. Russian nominal semantics and morphology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nørgård-Sørensen, Jens

    The principal idea behind this book is that lexis and grammar make up a single coherent structure. It is shown that the grammatical patterns of the different classes of Russian nominals are closely interconnected. They can be described as reflecting a limited set of semantic distinctions which ar...... or weaker, of Russian. Students will see a pattern in what is traditionally described as disparate subsystems, and linguists may be inspired to consider the theoretical points concerning language as a coherent system, determining usage.......The principal idea behind this book is that lexis and grammar make up a single coherent structure. It is shown that the grammatical patterns of the different classes of Russian nominals are closely interconnected. They can be described as reflecting a limited set of semantic distinctions which...... are also rooted in the lexical-semantic classification of Russian nouns. The presentation focuses on semantics, both lexical and grammatical, and not least the connection between these two levels of content. The principal theoretical impact is the insight that grammar and lexis should not be seen...

  11. ¿CONFIEREN PODERES CAUSALES LOS UNIVERSALES TRASCENDENTES?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Tomás Alvarado Marambio

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available This work discusses the so-called ‘Eleatic’ argument against the existence of transcendent universals, i. e. universals which does not require instantiation for its existence. The Eleatic Principle states that everything produces a difference in the causal powers of something. As transcendent universals seem not to produce such a difference, transcendent universals seem not to exist. The argument depends crucially on the justification and the interpretation of the Eleatic Principle. It is argued, first, that it is not very clear that the principle is justified, and, second, that there are several alternatives for its interpretation, in relation with the different theories one can endorse about modality or causality. Anti-realist theories of modality or causality are not very appropriate for the understanding of what should be a ‘causal power’. Neither does a realist theory of causality conjoined with a combinatorial theory of possible worlds. A ‘causal power’ seems to be better understood in connection with a realist –non-reductionist– theory of causality and a causal theory of modality. Taken in this way the Eleatic Principle, nonetheless, it is argued that transcendent universals do ‘produce’ a difference in causal powers, for every causal connection requires such universals for its existence.

  12. Re-thinking local causality

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Friederich, Simon

    There is widespread belief in a tension between quantum theory and special relativity, motivated by the idea that quantum theory violates J. S. Bell's criterion of local causality, which is meant to implement the causal structure of relativistic space-time. This paper argues that if one takes the

  13. mediation: R package for causal mediation analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Tingley, Dustin; Yamamoto, Teppei; Hirose, Kentaro; Keele, Luke; Imai, Kosuke

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, we describe the R package mediation for conducting causal mediation analysis in applied empirical research. In many scientific disciplines, the goal of researchers is not only estimating causal effects of a treatment but also understanding the process in which the treatment causally affects the outcome. Causal mediation analysis is frequently used to assess potential causal mechanisms. The mediation package implements a comprehensive suite of statistical tools for conducting su...

  14. Term Croatian considered in russian context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Željka Čelić

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Term Croatian is considered in Russian context, i. e. context of Russian scientific material (which is comparable to the unwritten situation in universities. Russian scientific texts connect term Croatian, almost without an exception, with the term Serbian in words such as Serbo-Croatian. This point of view is politically approved in the period untill 1990’s, but it exists in the 21st century’s scientific material. The nature of the problem lays, at the same time, in politics, language and society; thus, the question is: what is the reason of such a context in which Croatian language is placed now? There are no arguments for it, especially if it is for Slovak language politically based and language approved to be an entity – in comparison to the Czech language; for Ukrainian (once Littlerussian – at least in principle, in comparison to the Russian, or, more convincable, Belorussian to Russian (the standard Belorussian language exists from 1905. The term Croatian is independently, even in new books, connected with terms of soil, state, nation, but not language. And though today, because of political reasons, exists an awareness of Croatian language without its Serbian mirror reflexion, the term Serbo-Croatian stays. Thus, this paper looks through the history concerning Croatian language in 19, 20 and 21st century’s Russian philology, including Juraj Križanić and Vatroslav Jagić – innovators of the Croatian word in Russia.

  15. Causal knowledge and the development of inductive reasoning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bright, Aimée K; Feeney, Aidan

    2014-06-01

    We explored the development of sensitivity to causal relations in children's inductive reasoning. Children (5-, 8-, and 12-year-olds) and adults were given trials in which they decided whether a property known to be possessed by members of one category was also possessed by members of (a) a taxonomically related category or (b) a causally related category. The direction of the causal link was either predictive (prey→predator) or diagnostic (predator→prey), and the property that participants reasoned about established either a taxonomic or causal context. There was a causal asymmetry effect across all age groups, with more causal choices when the causal link was predictive than when it was diagnostic. Furthermore, context-sensitive causal reasoning showed a curvilinear development, with causal choices being most frequent for 8-year-olds regardless of context. Causal inductions decreased thereafter because 12-year-olds and adults made more taxonomic choices when reasoning in the taxonomic context. These findings suggest that simple causal relations may often be the default knowledge structure in young children's inductive reasoning, that sensitivity to causal direction is present early on, and that children over-generalize their causal knowledge when reasoning. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. [Chemical pollution of baby food products in the Russian Federation].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pivovarov, Yu P; Milushkina, O Yu; Tikhonova, y l; Aksenova, O I; Kalinovskaya, M V

    One of the main problems of nutrition of children and adolescents is to assess chemical contamination of baby food products and the establishment of the relation with the health of the child population. With the entering different chemical compounds in the body of the child there can be observed disorders of the nervous, urinary, cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal tract, as well as metabolic deteriorations, degenerative processes in parenchymal organs and bone destruction. The aim of the study was to analyze data on chemical contamination of baby food products in the Russian Federation for 2012-2014. The analysis was executed on the data of Federal Information Fund of social and hygienic monitoring of the Russian Federation. There were identified priority pollutants (toxic elements, nitrites, nitrates, nitrosamines, pesticides, hydroxymethylfurfural, mycotoxins) and risk areas (the Lipetsk region, the Krasnodar Territory, the Republic of Adygea, city of Moscow, Tatarstan, the Kabardino-Balkar Republic, the Ryazan region). There are detected contamination levels not exceeding MAC (in the dynamics of the three years offollow up, on average 22%), requiring their hygienic assessment. There were determined the baby food products containing most common occurred chemical contaminants: fruits and vegetables products, canned products, canned meat, cereals, dairy products, liquid and adapted and partially adapted milk formalas. Identified data indicate to a need for further studies of chemical substances in products for children’s nutrition in order to establish the causal relationships with a various diseases and the substantiation of methodological approaches to the risk assessment of combined exposure to chemical contaminants in concentrations up to the MPC on health of children, including infants.

  17. Causal Diagrams for Empirical Research

    OpenAIRE

    Pearl, Judea

    1994-01-01

    The primary aim of this paper is to show how graphical models can be used as a mathematical language for integrating statistical and subject-matter information. In particular, the paper develops a principled, nonparametric framework for causal inference, in which diagrams are queried to determine if the assumptions available are sufficient for identifiying causal effects from non-experimental data. If so the diagrams can be queried to produce mathematical expressions for causal effects in ter...

  18. [Historical causality and relative contemporaneity Einsteinian relativity in the historical sciences].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bontems, Vincent

    2014-01-01

    The construction of historical frame of reference based on the distinction between and articulation of phenomenological and chronological times. As it relativises the notion of simultaneity and inverts its relation to causality, the special theory of relativity can induce analogous modes of reflection on the themes of "contemporaneity" in the history of art (Panofsky) and in epistemology (Bachelard). This "relativist" method, often misunderstood, sheds light on both historical and presentist methods.

  19. Russian Pharmaceutical Companies Export Potential in Emerging Regional Clusters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena Vladimirovna Sapir

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This article analyzes a diverse range of the enterprise’s export potential growth factors in emerging pharmaceutical clusters of Central European Russia. Classification and comparative analysis were used to identify export potential attributes (production, finance, labor and marketing, which have allowed to reveal the strong connection of cluster and regional factor groups with the results of export performance. The purpose of the study is to provide exports-seeking pharmaceutical companies with a set of tools to enhance their export potential. The hypothesis that the cumulative impact of the specified attributes leads to the strengthening of pharmaceutical cluster export potential and promotes an effective integration of the region in the world economic space, is developed and tested. The methodology combines the geo-economy-based theory with the theory of clusters competitive advantages. The impacts of export potential growth factors are estimated by using an econometric model based on math statistics. Thus, five Russian regional pharmaceutical clusters (Belgorod, Kaluga, Moscow, Oryol, Yaroslavl are shown. Findings identify an objective causal link between enterprise export potential growth and competitiveness factors of cluster origin (network business chains, production functions interconnectedness and flexibility, production localization. An action plan for the purpose of the maximum use of competitive advantages of the cluster organization for export activities of the entities of the pharmaceutical industry is developed. Conclusions and recommendations of the study are intended to enterprises in pharmaceutical industry and regions’ public authorities, implementing cluster development strategies. It is thus essential to improve marketing and organizational innovations, reduction of commercial expenses under the cluster environment, development of drugs production and delivery chains from R&D to end-users in order to enjoy greater

  20. CORPORATIONS IN RUSSIAN ECONOMICS OF TODAY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. A. Shirokovskikh

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available In Russian economics there are purely Russian private corporations as well as mixed state/private owned and transnational corporations. Specific ways of forming corporations in Russia resulted in corporate management models different from those used abroad (exclusive of largest holdingcompanies with considerable participation of the state. Difference in the corporation forms is determined by relations between owners and top managers. Efficient and sustainable (in the western sense functioning of Russian corporations may become effective only after long timeprovided RF ownership right legislation gets simultaneously improved.

  1. Coverage of Russian psychological contributions in American psychology textbooks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aleksandrova-Howell, Maria; Abramson, Charles I; Craig, David Philip Arthur

    2012-01-01

    Internationalizing psychology is an important component of current globalization trends. American textbooks on the history of psychology and introductory psychology were surveyed for the presence of historical and contemporary important Russian psychologists to assess the current status of Russian-American crossfertilization. Of a list of 97 important Russian psychologists, as determined by the editors of the Russian journal Methodology and History in Psychology, less than 22% are mentioned in the reviewed texts. The most common names were Pavlov, Luria, and Vygotsky. As the internet is arguably the single most important factor affecting the increase of international communication and dissemination of knowledge, we also searched for these 97 names on various websites, most notably Wikipedia and Google. Forty-one internet sites contained some amount of biographical information about Russian psychologists. On Wikipedia, 14 Russian psychologists had articles documenting biographical information. We also developed a rubric to determine the amount of information available on the internet for these psychologists and compared Wikipedia's mean score with various other websites. Wikipedia pages on average had a significantly higher score than the rest of the internet. Recommendations to improve Russian coverage in America are provided and include: (1) developing pages on Wikipedia and other virtual venues highlighting Russian contributions, (2) soliciting articles for US journals from Russian psychologists, and (3) incorporating Russian contributions in introductory and historical textbooks. We provide a partial bibliography of Russian contributions that can be used by authors of such textbooks. We would like to thank Dr Viktor Fedorovich Petrenko and Dr Igor Nikolaevich Karitsky from the journal Methodology and History of Psychology for supplying the names of the Russian psychologists. We would also like to express our appreciation to Robert García for reviewing and

  2. RG flow and thermodynamics of causal horizons in higher-derivative AdS gravity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Banerjee, Shamik; Bhattacharyya, Arpan

    2016-01-01

    In http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.01343 [hep-th], one of the authors proposed that in AdS/CFT the gravity dual of the boundary c-theorem is the second law of thermodynamics satisfied by causal horizons in AdS and this was verified for Einstein gravity in the bulk. In this paper we verify this for higher derivative theories. We pick up theories for which an entropy expression satisfying the second law exists and show that the entropy density evaluated on the causal horizon in a RG flow geometry is a holographic c-function. We also prove that given a theory of gravity described by a local covariant action in the bulk a sufficient condition to ensure holographic c-theorem is that the second law of causal horizon thermodynamics be satisfied by the theory. This allows us to explicitly construct holographic c-function in a theory where there is curvature coupling between gravity and matter and standard null energy condition cannot be defined although second law is known to hold. Based on the duality between c-theorem and the second law of causal horizon thermodynamics proposed in http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.01343 [hep-th] and the supporting calculations of this paper we conjecture that every Unitary higher derivative theory of gravity in AdS satisfies the second law of causal horizon thermodynamics. If this is not true then c-theorem will be violated in a unitary Lorentz invariant field theory.

  3. The selective power of causality on memory errors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marsh, Jessecae K; Kulkofsky, Sarah

    2015-01-01

    We tested the influence of causal links on the production of memory errors in a misinformation paradigm. Participants studied a set of statements about a person, which were presented as either individual statements or pairs of causally linked statements. Participants were then provided with causally plausible and causally implausible misinformation. We hypothesised that studying information connected with causal links would promote representing information in a more abstract manner. As such, we predicted that causal information would not provide an overall protection against memory errors, but rather would preferentially help in the rejection of misinformation that was causally implausible, given the learned causal links. In two experiments, we measured whether the causal linkage of information would be generally protective against all memory errors or only selectively protective against certain types of memory errors. Causal links helped participants reject implausible memory lures, but did not protect against plausible lures. Our results suggest that causal information may promote an abstract storage of information that helps prevent only specific types of memory errors.

  4. Italian and Russian Verse: Two Cultures and Two Mentalities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stefano Garzonio

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available Italian and Russian Verse: Two Cultures and Two Mentalities The present text was given as a talk at Stanford University in 2003. Here the author presents a comparative analysis of Russian and Italian versification and pays attention to the cultural contacts between these two poetical traditions in an effort to define the role played by Italian patterns in Russian verse. In this perspective the author offers a history of Russian poetical translation of Italian texts pointing out the different opinions of Russian poets about the “musicality” of Italian verse. The combined influence of language and culture in modelling different Russian poetical forms in a chronological perspective is underlined.

  5. Rate-Agnostic (Causal) Structure Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plis, Sergey; Danks, David; Freeman, Cynthia; Calhoun, Vince

    2015-12-01

    Causal structure learning from time series data is a major scientific challenge. Extant algorithms assume that measurements occur sufficiently quickly; more precisely, they assume approximately equal system and measurement timescales. In many domains, however, measurements occur at a significantly slower rate than the underlying system changes, but the size of the timescale mismatch is often unknown. This paper develops three causal structure learning algorithms, each of which discovers all dynamic causal graphs that explain the observed measurement data, perhaps given undersampling. That is, these algorithms all learn causal structure in a "rate-agnostic" manner: they do not assume any particular relation between the measurement and system timescales. We apply these algorithms to data from simulations to gain insight into the challenge of undersampling.

  6. CMS Honours Three Russian and Bielorussian companies

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    On 7 March, CMS handed out the three latest Gold Awards under its scheme for honouring its best suppliers suppliers (c.f. Bulletin n°10/2003). Three Russian and Bielorussian firms were honoured, on the occasion of a visit by dignitaries from the two countries. CERN played host to Anatoly Sherbak, Head of the Fundamental Research Department of the Russian Federation Ministry of Industry and Science, Ambassador Sergei Aleinik, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Belarus to the Office of the United Nations at Geneva, Andrei Pirogov, Assistant Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the Office of the United Nations, and Alexei Sissakian, Vice Director of the JINR (Joint Institute for Nuclear Research) at Dubna in Russia. The directors of the three Russian and Bielorussian firms have received their awards and are seen with the visiting Russian and Bielorussian dignitaries and the CMS leaders in front of the CMS hadron calorimeter, on the spot where the detector is being assembled.These promi...

  7. Causality and analyticity in optics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nussenzveig, H.M.

    In order to provide an overall picture of the broad range of optical phenomena that are directly linked with the concepts of causality and analyticity, the following topics are briefly reviewed, emphasizing recent developments: 1) Derivation of dispersion relations for the optical constants of general linear media from causality. Application to the theory of natural optical activity. 2) Derivation of sum rules for the optical constants from causality and from the short-time response function (asymptotic high-frequency behavior). Average spectral behavior of optical media. Applications. 3) Role of spectral conditions. Analytic properties of coherence functions in quantum optics. Reconstruction theorem.4) Phase retrieval problems. 5) Inverse scattering problems. 6) Solution of nonlinear evolution equations in optics by inverse scattering methods. Application to self-induced transparency. Causality in nonlinear wave propagation. 7) Analytic continuation in frequency and angular momentum. Complex singularities. Resonances and natural-mode expansions. Regge poles. 8) Wigner's causal inequality. Time delay. Spatial displacements in total reflection. 9) Analyticity in diffraction theory. Complex angular momentum theory of Mie scattering. Diffraction as a barrier tunnelling effect. Complex trajectories in optics. (Author) [pt

  8. Russian factory inspection (1882-1918): cui bono?

    OpenAIRE

    Volodin , Andrei Y.

    2008-01-01

    This study deals with history of important state institution in late Russian Empire - factory inspection. Such aspects of institutional development as evolution of legislative regulations, growth of staff, and complication of functions (and particularly, mediation in labour conflicts) are scrutinized. This paper presents some results on Russian experience of labour law implementation seeking to determine and evaluate the role and efficiency of Russian factory inspectors in conflicting triangl...

  9. Diagnostic reasoning using qualitative causal models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sudduth, A.L.

    1992-01-01

    The application of expert systems to reasoning problems involving real-time data from plant measurements has been a topic of much research, but few practical systems have been deployed. One obstacle to wider use of expert systems in applications involving real-time data is the lack of adequate knowledge representation methodologies for dynamic processes. Knowledge bases composed mainly of rules have disadvantages when applied to dynamic processes and real-time data. This paper describes a methodology for the development of qualitative causal models that can be used as knowledge bases for reasoning about process dynamic behavior. These models provide a systematic method for knowledge base construction, considerably reducing the engineering effort required. They also offer much better opportunities for verification and validation of the knowledge base, thus increasing the possibility of the application of expert systems to reasoning about mission critical systems. Starting with the Signed Directed Graph (SDG) method that has been successfully applied to describe the behavior of diverse dynamic processes, the paper shows how certain non-physical behaviors that result from abstraction may be eliminated by applying causal constraint to the models. The resulting Extended Signed Directed Graph (ESDG) may then be compiled to produce a model for use in process fault diagnosis. This model based reasoning methodology is used in the MOBIAS system being developed by Duke Power Company under EPRI sponsorship. 15 refs., 4 figs

  10. mediation: R Package for Causal Mediation Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dustin Tingley

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we describe the R package mediation for conducting causal mediation analysis in applied empirical research. In many scientific disciplines, the goal of researchers is not only estimating causal effects of a treatment but also understanding the process in which the treatment causally affects the outcome. Causal mediation analysis is frequently used to assess potential causal mechanisms. The mediation package implements a comprehensive suite of statistical tools for conducting such an analysis. The package is organized into two distinct approaches. Using the model-based approach, researchers can estimate causal mediation effects and conduct sensitivity analysis under the standard research design. Furthermore, the design-based approach provides several analysis tools that are applicable under different experimental designs. This approach requires weaker assumptions than the model-based approach. We also implement a statistical method for dealing with multiple (causally dependent mediators, which are often encountered in practice. Finally, the package also offers a methodology for assessing causal mediation in the presence of treatment noncompliance, a common problem in randomized trials.

  11. Causal asymmetry across cultures: Assigning causal roles in symmetric physical settings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea eBender

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available In the cognitive sciences, causal cognition in the physical domain has featured as a core research topic, but the impact of culture has been rarely ever explored. One case in point for a topic on which this neglect is pronounced is the pervasive tendency of people to consider one of two (equally important entities as more important for bringing about an effect. In order to scrutinize how robust such tendencies are across cultures, we asked German and Tongan participants to assign prime causality in nine symmetric settings. For most settings, strong asymmetries in both cultures were found, but not always in the same direction, depending on the task content. This indicates that causal asymmetries, while indeed being a robust phenomenon across cultures, are also subject to culture-specific concepts. Moreover, the asymmetries were found to be modulated by figure-ground relations, but not by marking agency.

  12. Amodal causal capture in the tunnel effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bae, Gi Yeul; Flombaum, Jonathan I

    2011-01-01

    In addition to identifying individual objects in the world, the visual system must also characterize the relationships between objects, for instance when objects occlude one another or cause one another to move. Here we explored the relationship between perceived causality and occlusion. Can one perceive causality in an occluded location? In several experiments, observers judged whether a centrally presented event involved a single object passing behind an occluder, or one object causally launching another (out of view and behind the occluder). With no additional context, the centrally presented event was typically judged as a non-causal pass, even when the occluding and disoccluding objects were different colors--an illusion known as the 'tunnel effect' that results from spatiotemporal continuity. However, when a synchronized context event involved an unambiguous causal launch, participants perceived a causal launch behind the occluder. This percept of an occluded causal interaction could also be driven by grouping and synchrony cues in the absence of any explicitly causal interaction. These results reinforce the hypothesis that causality is an aspect of perception. It is among the interpretations of the world that are independently available to vision when resolving ambiguity, and that the visual system can 'fill in' amodally.

  13. Space-time as a causal set

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bombelli, L.; Lee, J.; Meyer, D.; Sorkin, R.D.

    1987-01-01

    We propose that space-time at the smallest scales is in reality a causal set: a locally finite set of elements endowed with a partial order corresponding to the macroscopic relation that defines past and future. We explore how a Lorentzian manifold can approximate a causal set, noting in particular that the thereby defined effective dimensionality of a given causal set can vary with length scale. Finally, we speculate briefly on the quantum dynamics of causal sets, indicating why an appropriate choice of action can reproduce general relativity in the classical limit

  14. Comprehensive survey of the Russian nuclear industry; Le panorama nucleaire russe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2004-03-01

    This document presents the organization of nuclear activities in the Russian federation: Minatom and its replacement by the federal agency of atomic energy, personnel, nuclear power plants (VVER, RBMK, fast neutron and mixed reactors), availability and power production, export of activities (construction of nuclear power plants in Slovakia, Iran, China, India, project in Viet Nam), expansion of the nuclear power plants park (improvement of plants safety, increase of service life), completion of uncompleted plants, the construction of which was stopped after the Chernobyl accident and the reorganization of the former-USSR, construction of new generation power plants (VVER-640, -1000 and -1500), fuel cycle facilities (geographical distribution, production of natural uranium, conversion and enrichment), fuel fabrication, reprocessing processes and spent fuel storage, management of radioactive wastes (leasing), R and D activities (organizations and institutes), research programs of the international scientific and technical center, nuclear safety authority (Gosatomnadzor - GAN). (J.S.)

  15. RUSSIAN REVOLUTION WAS PREPARED ON CAPRI...” MICHAIL PERVUKHIN ABOUT A RUSSIAN COLONY ON CAPRI (BASED ON THE A.M. GORKY ARCHIVE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marina A. Arias-Vikhil

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available In his essay “The Russians on Capri” (1924, a Russian journalist Mikhail Pervukhin describes the discovery of Capri by Russian artists and writers before the events of 1905 and the development of the Russian colony on the island afterwards. Pervukhin relates the origin and the history of the Russian colony on Capri to the period from 1906 through 1913, when the island became a residence of Russian political immigrants. He sees Gorky’s arrival on Capri as a major catalyzer in the development of the colony due to the defining and formative nature of the political and literary activity of the latter. The Russian revolution of 1905 had radically changed the structure of the Russian population on Capri: since that time it mostly consisted of political refugees. Pervukhin’s evidence is one of the most important documents on Gorky’s reception in Italy. Pervukhin left documentary and artistic evidence of Gorky’s residence on the island written with a special focus on Gorky’s role in the Russian Revolution of 1917 and its critical reconsideration. The author emphasized the political component in the life of the colony. He criticized activities of the Capri school for workers founded by Gorky and Lunacharsky. According to Pervukhin, Russian revolutionaries were indifferent to the beauty of the island and to the “eternal” values swept away by the storm of the October Revolution.

  16. Representing Personal Determinants in Causal Structures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bandura, Albert

    1984-01-01

    Responds to Staddon's critique of the author's earlier article and addresses issues raised by Staddon's (1984) alternative models of causality. The author argues that it is not the formalizability of causal processes that is the issue but whether cognitive determinants of behavior are reducible to past stimulus inputs in causal structures.…

  17. [Causal analysis approaches in epidemiology].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dumas, O; Siroux, V; Le Moual, N; Varraso, R

    2014-02-01

    Epidemiological research is mostly based on observational studies. Whether such studies can provide evidence of causation remains discussed. Several causal analysis methods have been developed in epidemiology. This paper aims at presenting an overview of these methods: graphical models, path analysis and its extensions, and models based on the counterfactual approach, with a special emphasis on marginal structural models. Graphical approaches have been developed to allow synthetic representations of supposed causal relationships in a given problem. They serve as qualitative support in the study of causal relationships. The sufficient-component cause model has been developed to deal with the issue of multicausality raised by the emergence of chronic multifactorial diseases. Directed acyclic graphs are mostly used as a visual tool to identify possible confounding sources in a study. Structural equations models, the main extension of path analysis, combine a system of equations and a path diagram, representing a set of possible causal relationships. They allow quantifying direct and indirect effects in a general model in which several relationships can be tested simultaneously. Dynamic path analysis further takes into account the role of time. The counterfactual approach defines causality by comparing the observed event and the counterfactual event (the event that would have been observed if, contrary to the fact, the subject had received a different exposure than the one he actually received). This theoretical approach has shown limits of traditional methods to address some causality questions. In particular, in longitudinal studies, when there is time-varying confounding, classical methods (regressions) may be biased. Marginal structural models have been developed to address this issue. In conclusion, "causal models", though they were developed partly independently, are based on equivalent logical foundations. A crucial step in the application of these models is the

  18. RUSSIAN PERIODICALS AT THE TURN OF THE 19TH -20TH CENTURIESON RUSSIAN MIGRANTS’ SOCIOCULTURAL ADAPTATION IN CENTRAL ASIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Р А Арсланов

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In the Russian historiography, the views of the publicists of the early 20th century of the Russian colonists’ life in Central Asia aren’t duly highlighted. The novelty and aim of the research consist in revealing the general and particular in the Russian periodicals’ percep-tion of the colonization of Turkestan, in determining their ideological bent. The authors have discovered that all the reviewed periodicals were adherents of Central Asia colonization. They supported the imperial policy of the government with minor reserva-tions. Most publicists noted that the settling of colonists depended on the actions of the central government, which insuffi ciently took into account the local conditions. However, publicists differed in the choice of the main direction and in the assessments of the value of colonists’ adaptation activity; they proposed various ways of developing the intercultural dialogue.The authors come to the conclusions that liberal periodicals paid special attention to the economic activities of Russian immigrants, assessing the degree of their adaptation by the level of well-being achieved. The Narodnik periodicals considered migrants as a part of the peasant world of Russia. They were concerned, above all, about the colonists’ commu-nity, which they considered an effective means of adaptation, preserving the culture and moral qualities of the Russians. Probably, they considered it a pledge of building fair relations with the local population. Conservative and offi cial publicists viewed Russian immigrants primarily as support of the Russian government in Central Asia. That is why they paid special attention to the preservation of assimilation qualities of the Russians, the loss of which could become, in their view, an obstacle to the strengthening of the empire positions in the region.

  19. Repeated Causal Decision Making

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hagmayer, York; Meder, Bjorn

    2013-01-01

    Many of our decisions refer to actions that have a causal impact on the external environment. Such actions may not only allow for the mere learning of expected values or utilities but also for acquiring knowledge about the causal structure of our world. We used a repeated decision-making paradigm to examine what kind of knowledge people acquire in…

  20. Causality in Classical Electrodynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savage, Craig

    2012-01-01

    Causality in electrodynamics is a subject of some confusion, especially regarding the application of Faraday's law and the Ampere-Maxwell law. This has led to the suggestion that we should not teach students that electric and magnetic fields can cause each other, but rather focus on charges and currents as the causal agents. In this paper I argue…

  1. Analysis of unintended events in hospitals: inter-rater reliability of constructing causal trees and classifying root causes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smits, M.; Janssen, J.; Vet, de H.C.W.; Zwaan, L.; Timmermans, D.R.M.; Groenewegen, P.P.; Wagner, C.

    2009-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Root cause analysis is a method to examine causes of unintended events. PRISMA (Prevention and Recovery Information System for Monitoring and Analysis: is a root cause analysis tool. With PRISMA, events are described in causal trees and root causes are subsequently classified with the

  2. Analysis of unintended events in hospitals : inter-rater reliability of constructing causal trees and classifying root causes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smits, M.; Janssen, J.; Vet, R. de; Zwaan, L.; Groenewegen, P.P.; Timmermans, D.

    2009-01-01

    Background. Root cause analysis is a method to examine causes of unintended events. PRISMA (Prevention and Recovery Information System for Monitoring and Analysis) is a root cause analysis tool. With PRISMA, events are described in causal trees and root causes are subsequently classified with the

  3. Analysis of unintended events in hospitals: inter-rater reliability of constructing causal trees and classifying root causes.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smits, M.; Janssen, J.; Vet, R. de; Zwaan, L.; Timmermans, D.; Groenewegen, P.; Wagner, C.

    2009-01-01

    Background: Root cause analysis is a method to examine causes of unintended events. PRISMA (Prevention and Recovery Information System for Monitoring and Analysis) is a root cause analysis tool. With PRISMA, events are described in causal trees and root causes are subsequently classified with the

  4. Health Care in the Russian Federation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Younger, David S

    2016-11-01

    The Russian Federation health system has its roots in the country's complex political history. The Ministry of Health and Social Development and its associated federal services are the principal Russian institutions subserving the Russian Federation. Funding for the health system goes through 2 channels: the general revenue budget managed by federal, regional, and local health authorities, and the Mandatory Health Insurance Fund. Although the Soviet Union was the first country in the world to guarantee free medical care as a constitutional right to all its citizens, quality and accessibility are in question. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Russian- Chinese relations : towards an energy partnership

    OpenAIRE

    Garanina, Olga

    2007-01-01

    18 p.; This paper aims to investigate the Russian-Chinese energy relations in the context of evolution of bilateral strategic relations since 1991.The research is focused on Russia and encompasses three main aspects: strategic approach of Russian-Chinese relations, Russian hydrocarbons production and export potential and prospects for the Eastern Russia. The paper is based on qualitative analysis. It shows that the framework of bilateral relations is globally favourable for creation of costly...

  6. The causal perturbation expansion revisited: Rescaling the interacting Dirac sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Finster, Felix; Grotz, Andreas

    2010-01-01

    The causal perturbation expansion defines the Dirac sea in the presence of a time-dependent external field. It yields an operator whose image generalizes the vacuum solutions of negative energy and thus gives a canonical splitting of the solution space into two subspaces. After giving a self-contained introduction to the ideas and techniques, we show that this operator is, in general, not idempotent. We modify the standard construction by a rescaling procedure giving a projector on the generalized negative-energy subspace. The resulting rescaled causal perturbation expansion uniquely defines the fermionic projector in terms of a series of distributional solutions of the Dirac equation. The technical core of the paper is to work out the combinatorics of the expansion in detail. It is also shown that the fermionic projector with interaction can be obtained from the free projector by a unitary transformation. We finally analyze the consequences of the rescaling procedure on the light-cone expansion.

  7. The causal perturbation expansion revisited: Rescaling the interacting Dirac sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finster, Felix; Grotz, Andreas

    2010-07-01

    The causal perturbation expansion defines the Dirac sea in the presence of a time-dependent external field. It yields an operator whose image generalizes the vacuum solutions of negative energy and thus gives a canonical splitting of the solution space into two subspaces. After giving a self-contained introduction to the ideas and techniques, we show that this operator is, in general, not idempotent. We modify the standard construction by a rescaling procedure giving a projector on the generalized negative-energy subspace. The resulting rescaled causal perturbation expansion uniquely defines the fermionic projector in terms of a series of distributional solutions of the Dirac equation. The technical core of the paper is to work out the combinatorics of the expansion in detail. It is also shown that the fermionic projector with interaction can be obtained from the free projector by a unitary transformation. We finally analyze the consequences of the rescaling procedure on the light-cone expansion.

  8. Supporting inquiry learning by promoting normative understanding of multivariable causality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keselman, Alla

    2003-11-01

    Early adolescents may lack the cognitive and metacognitive skills necessary for effective inquiry learning. In particular, they are likely to have a nonnormative mental model of multivariable causality in which effects of individual variables are neither additive nor consistent. Described here is a software-based intervention designed to facilitate students' metalevel and performance-level inquiry skills by enhancing their understanding of multivariable causality. Relative to an exploration-only group, sixth graders who practiced predicting an outcome (earthquake risk) based on multiple factors demonstrated increased attention to evidence, improved metalevel appreciation of effective strategies, and a trend toward consistent use of a controlled comparison strategy. Sixth graders who also received explicit instruction in making predictions based on multiple factors showed additional improvement in their ability to compare multiple instances as a basis for inferences and constructed the most accurate knowledge of the system. Gains were maintained in transfer tasks. The cognitive skills and metalevel understanding examined here are essential to inquiry learning.

  9. Kant on causal laws and powers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henschen, Tobias

    2014-12-01

    The aim of the paper is threefold. Its first aim is to defend Eric Watkins's claim that for Kant, a cause is not an event but a causal power: a power that is borne by a substance, and that, when active, brings about its effect, i.e. a change of the states of another substance, by generating a continuous flow of intermediate states of that substance. The second aim of the paper is to argue against Watkins that the Kantian concept of causal power is not the pre-critical concept of real ground but the category of causality, and that Kant holds with Hume that causal laws cannot be inferred non-inductively (that he accordingly has no intention to show in the Second analogy or elsewhere that events fall under causal laws). The third aim of the paper is to compare the Kantian position on causality with central tenets of contemporary powers ontology: it argues that unlike the variants endorsed by contemporary powers theorists, the Kantian variants of these tenets are resistant to objections that neo-Humeans raise to these tenets.

  10. Russian food products marke: New CEFTA export opportunity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stanojević Nataša

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to point out the unexploited export potential of CEFTA economies to the Russian market, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. More precisely, the Russian food market is examined, because of its size, the lack of domestic supply and actual changes of trading partners due to political and security antagonisms. The competitiveness of CEFTA food production on the Russian food market was analyzed by using two classical instruments of competitiveness - coefficient of conformity (CC and real effective exchange rate (RER.CC is applied first to the CEFTA export and Russian import of food in total, and then to the six main Russian import food products. The results indicate the highest degree of matching between Russian import and all CEFTA country export of fruits, vegetable and its processed commodities. RER is calculated to show competitiveness in terms of prices in bilateral trade, and result shows a very favorable ratio of currency, except in the case of Montenegro and Bosnia because their fixation to euro. Due to the small size of CEFTA production and non-proportional large Russian market, the interconnection, e.g. forming the value chain made of CEFTAs agriculture and food industry companies is suggested as the basis of new CEFTA export strategy.

  11. Causal Inference in the Perception of Verticality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Winkel, Ksander N; Katliar, Mikhail; Diers, Daniel; Bülthoff, Heinrich H

    2018-04-03

    The perceptual upright is thought to be constructed by the central nervous system (CNS) as a vector sum; by combining estimates on the upright provided by the visual system and the body's inertial sensors with prior knowledge that upright is usually above the head. Recent findings furthermore show that the weighting of the respective sensory signals is proportional to their reliability, consistent with a Bayesian interpretation of a vector sum (Forced Fusion, FF). However, violations of FF have also been reported, suggesting that the CNS may rely on a single sensory system (Cue Capture, CC), or choose to process sensory signals based on inferred signal causality (Causal Inference, CI). We developed a novel alternative-reality system to manipulate visual and physical tilt independently. We tasked participants (n = 36) to indicate the perceived upright for various (in-)congruent combinations of visual-inertial stimuli, and compared models based on their agreement with the data. The results favor the CI model over FF, although this effect became unambiguous only for large discrepancies (±60°). We conclude that the notion of a vector sum does not provide a comprehensive explanation of the perception of the upright, and that CI offers a better alternative.

  12. An Evaluation of Active Learning Causal Discovery Methods for Reverse-Engineering Local Causal Pathways of Gene Regulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Sisi; Kemmeren, Patrick; Aliferis, Constantin F.; Statnikov, Alexander

    2016-01-01

    Reverse-engineering of causal pathways that implicate diseases and vital cellular functions is a fundamental problem in biomedicine. Discovery of the local causal pathway of a target variable (that consists of its direct causes and direct effects) is essential for effective intervention and can facilitate accurate diagnosis and prognosis. Recent research has provided several active learning methods that can leverage passively observed high-throughput data to draft causal pathways and then refine the inferred relations with a limited number of experiments. The current study provides a comprehensive evaluation of the performance of active learning methods for local causal pathway discovery in real biological data. Specifically, 54 active learning methods/variants from 3 families of algorithms were applied for local causal pathways reconstruction of gene regulation for 5 transcription factors in S. cerevisiae. Four aspects of the methods’ performance were assessed, including adjacency discovery quality, edge orientation accuracy, complete pathway discovery quality, and experimental cost. The results of this study show that some methods provide significant performance benefits over others and therefore should be routinely used for local causal pathway discovery tasks. This study also demonstrates the feasibility of local causal pathway reconstruction in real biological systems with significant quality and low experimental cost. PMID:26939894

  13. Causal Learning and Explanation of Deep Neural Networks via Autoencoded Activations

    OpenAIRE

    Harradon, Michael; Druce, Jeff; Ruttenberg, Brian

    2018-01-01

    Deep neural networks are complex and opaque. As they enter application in a variety of important and safety critical domains, users seek methods to explain their output predictions. We develop an approach to explaining deep neural networks by constructing causal models on salient concepts contained in a CNN. We develop methods to extract salient concepts throughout a target network by using autoencoders trained to extract human-understandable representations of network activations. We then bu...

  14. Heutiges Russisch (2) (Contemporary Russian [2])

    Science.gov (United States)

    Russisch, 1976

    1976-01-01

    Considers contemporary Russian usage with regard to variations in the genitive, accusative and nominative inflections and the synonymity of full and shortened adjective forms. Material is excerpted from "Stilistik der russischen Sprache" (Russian Language Style) by D. Rosental and M. Telenkowa. (Text is in German.) (FB)

  15. Electronic Repository of Russian Historical Statistics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tykhonov, Vyacheslav; Kessler, Gijs; Markevich, Andrei; de Vries, Jerry

    2014-01-01

    The Electronic Repository for Russian Historical Statistics brings together data extracted from various published and unpublished sources in one place. Its principal focus is Russian economic and social history of the last three centuries (18th-21st). The repository caters to the needs of the

  16. Detecting Bots on Russian Political Twitter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stukal, Denis; Sanovich, Sergey; Bonneau, Richard; Tucker, Joshua A

    2017-12-01

    Automated and semiautomated Twitter accounts, bots, have recently gained significant public attention due to their potential interference in the political realm. In this study, we develop a methodology for detecting bots on Twitter using an ensemble of classifiers and apply it to study bot activity within political discussions in the Russian Twittersphere. We focus on the interval from February 2014 to December 2015, an especially consequential period in Russian politics. Among accounts actively Tweeting about Russian politics, we find that on the majority of days, the proportion of Tweets produced by bots exceeds 50%. We reveal bot characteristics that distinguish them from humans in this corpus, and find that the software platform used for Tweeting is among the best predictors of bots. Finally, we find suggestive evidence that one prominent activity that bots were involved in on Russian political Twitter is the spread of news stories and promotion of media who produce them.

  17. Russian Contract Law for Foreigners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrey Shirvindt

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The book by Maria Efremova, Svetlana Yakovleva and Jane Henderson aims to serve as a short introduction to Russian contract law for a foreign lawyer. Assuming that the target readership are mainly English lawyers the book’s second aim, expressly stated by the authors (pp. i, 1, is to make lawyers from common law countries familiar with codified law, with Russian law being just an example. The book covers most of the general law of obligations as well as some questions of formation and invalidity of contracts that belong to the general part of the Civil Сode, with this preceded by a brief introduction into the Russian law dealing with its history, federal structure and state agencies of Russia, its court system, sources of law and legal profession.

  18. Russian New Art of Hybrid Warfare in Ukraine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rusnáková Soňa

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The main aim of this paper is to analyse the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. For the purposes of the paper, the theory of hybrid warfare was chosen as an analytical category. Throughout the paper, the concept of hybrid warfare is examined and applied on case study of Crimean annexation. Hybrid warfare, especially in connection with Russian actions in Crimea has been an intensely debated concept. There is an ongoing debate among scholars concerning the meaning of the concept, its existence and employment by the Russian Federation. This paper showed that the article of Valeriy Gerasimov – the incumbent Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation-invoked a new warfare strategy for the Russian Federation which was consequently for the very first time in its full spectre and effectivity employed on case of Crimean annexation in March 2014. Observing the application of the hybrid warfare in practice serves the purposes of countering its further potential application in post-Soviet space and Russian ‘near abroad’.

  19. Repair of Partly Misspecified Causal Diagrams.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oates, Chris J; Kasza, Jessica; Simpson, Julie A; Forbes, Andrew B

    2017-07-01

    Errors in causal diagrams elicited from experts can lead to the omission of important confounding variables from adjustment sets and render causal inferences invalid. In this report, a novel method is presented that repairs a misspecified causal diagram through the addition of edges. These edges are determined using a data-driven approach designed to provide improved statistical efficiency relative to de novo structure learning methods. Our main assumption is that the expert is "directionally informed," meaning that "false" edges provided by the expert would not create cycles if added to the "true" causal diagram. The overall procedure is cast as a preprocessing technique that is agnostic to subsequent causal inferences. Results based on simulated data and data derived from an observational cohort illustrate the potential for data-assisted elicitation in epidemiologic applications. See video abstract at, http://links.lww.com/EDE/B208.

  20. Contaminant transport modeling studies of Russian sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsang, Chin-Fu

    1993-01-01

    Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) established mechanisms that promoted cooperation between U.S. and Russian scientists in scientific research as well as environmental technology transfer. Using Russian experience and U.S technology, LBL developed approaches for field investigations, site evaluation, waste disposal, and remediation at Russian contaminated sites. LBL assessed a comprehensive database as well as an actual, large-scale contaminated site to evaluate existing knowledge of and test mathematical models used for the assessment of U.S. contaminated sites

  1. Russian Airpower in the Second Chechen War

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Evans, Robert

    2001-01-01

    .... In the earlier conflict, Russian Air Force operations concentrated on achieving control of the air, directly supporting Russian ground forces, and attacking rebels in the foothills and mountains of southern Chechnya...

  2. Heutiges Russisch (Schluss) (Contemporary Russian [Conclusion])

    Science.gov (United States)

    Russisch, 1976

    1976-01-01

    Considers two aspects of contemporary Russian language usage: (1) synonymity of prepositions, and (2) semantic and stylistic differences arising when certain verbs govern nouns in different cases. Material is excerpted from "Stilistik der russischen Sprache" (Russian Language Style) by Rosental and M. Telenkowa. (Text is in German.) (FB)

  3. Zoning of the Russian Federation territory based on forest management and forest use intensity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. A. Маrtynyuk

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Over extended periods issues of forest management intensification are important in all aspects of Russian forest sector development. Sufficient research has been done in silviculture, forest planning and forest economics to address forest management intensification targets. Systems of our national territory forest management and forest economics zoning due to specifics of timber processing and forest area infrastructure have been developed. Despite sufficient available experience in sustainable forest management so far intensification issues were addressed due to development of new woodlands without proper consideration of forest regeneration and sustainable forest management operations. It resulted in forest resource depletion and unfavorable substitution of coniferous forests with less valuable softwood ones in considerable territories (especially accessible for transport. The situation is complicated since degree of forest ecosystem changes is higher in territories with high potential productivity. Ongoing changes combined with the present effective forest management system resulted in a situation where development of new woodlands is impossible without heavy investments in road construction; meanwhile road construction is unfeasible due to distances to timber processing facilities. In the meantime, changes in forest legislation, availability of forest lease holding, and promising post-logging forest regeneration technologies generate new opportunities to increase timber volumes due to application of other procedures practically excluding development of virgin woodlands. With regard to above, the Russian territory was zoned on a basis of key factors that define forest management and forest use intensification based on forest ecosystem potential productivity and area transport accessibility. Based on available data with GIS analysis approach (taking into consideration value of various factors the Russian Federation forest resources have been

  4. Functional equations with causal operators

    CERN Document Server

    Corduneanu, C

    2003-01-01

    Functional equations encompass most of the equations used in applied science and engineering: ordinary differential equations, integral equations of the Volterra type, equations with delayed argument, and integro-differential equations of the Volterra type. The basic theory of functional equations includes functional differential equations with causal operators. Functional Equations with Causal Operators explains the connection between equations with causal operators and the classical types of functional equations encountered by mathematicians and engineers. It details the fundamentals of linear equations and stability theory and provides several applications and examples.

  5. Classical planning and causal implicatures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blackburn, Patrick Rowan; Benotti, Luciana

    In this paper we motivate and describe a dialogue manager (called Frolog) which uses classical planning to infer causal implicatures. A causal implicature is a type of Gricean relation implicature, a highly context dependent form of inference. As we shall see, causal implicatures are important...... to generate clarification requests"; as a result we can model task-oriented dialogue as an interactive process locally structured by negotiation of the underlying task. We give several examples of Frolog-human dialog, discuss the limitations imposed by the classical planning paradigm, and indicate...

  6. Porphyry of Russian Empires in Paris

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bulakh, Andrey

    2014-05-01

    Porphyry of Russian Empires in Paris A. G. Bulakh (St Petersburg State University, Russia) So called "Schokhan porphyry" from Lake Onega, Russia, belongs surely to stones of World cultural heritage. One can see this "porphyry" at facades of a lovely palace of Pavel I and in pedestal of the monument after Nicolas I in St Petersburg. There are many other cases of using this stone in Russia. In Paris, sarcophagus of Napoleon I Bonaparte is constructed of blocks of this stone. Really, it is Proterozoic quartzite. Geology situation, petrography and mineralogical characteristic will be reported too. Comparison with antique porphyre from the Egyptian Province of the Roma Empire is given. References: 1) A.G.Bulakh, N.B.Abakumova, J.V.Romanovsky. St Petersburg: a History in Stone. 2010. Print House of St Petersburg State University. 173 p.

  7. Causal inference in economics and marketing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varian, Hal R

    2016-07-05

    This is an elementary introduction to causal inference in economics written for readers familiar with machine learning methods. The critical step in any causal analysis is estimating the counterfactual-a prediction of what would have happened in the absence of the treatment. The powerful techniques used in machine learning may be useful for developing better estimates of the counterfactual, potentially improving causal inference.

  8. Language categories in Russian morphology

    OpenAIRE

    زهرایی زهرایی

    2009-01-01

    When studying Russian morphology, one can distinguish two categories. These categories are “grammatical” and “lexico-grammatical”. Grammatical categories can be specified through a series of grammatical features of words. Considering different criteria, Russian grammarians and linguists divide grammatical categories of their language into different types. In determining lexico-grammatical types, in addition to a series of grammatical features, they also consider a series of lexico-semantic fe...

  9. Energy-saving measures in multi-storage housing construction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Мария Дмитриевна Коровина

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available In this article the main directions of energy saving in multi-storey housing construction and methods for increasing energy efficiency are considered. The main problems of implementing energy-saving measures were touched; the need for their analysis during the development of each construction project with a view to choosing the most effective complex from the energy, economic, ecological and social points of view was justified. It is noted that such an approach can become an important factor of saving energy in the sphere of housing construction and reducing the energy intensity of the entire Russian economy.

  10. TRANSFORMATION OF FAMILY IN MODERN RUSSIAN SOCIETY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olga Anatolevna Otradnova

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The article examines concept of family in Russian society, changes in interpretation of family, connected with modern tendencies and processes in different sociocultural spheres.   The article is structured and has accurate limits of introduction, main part and conclusion. The relevance of the research is caused by present-day crisis tendencies connected with suicide actions, atomization and hedonization of society, value depreciation of family.  The object of the research is to analyze the conception of family and its transformation in condition of modern Russian society. The tasks are to determine the term family, to analyze approaches to understanding of the family and its genesis, detect some peculiarities of modern Russian society, research the transformation of interpretation of family in modern society; the matter of investigation is modern Russian society, the subject is the transformation of family structures; the following methods of research are used: historical and cultural approach, typological method, existential method, common logic procedures. The research contains author’s definition of the term family, historical and cultural analysis and typological explication of the approaches to interpretation of the problem, classification of family structures - which have been formed in Russian society- on the base of statistic and sociological data.   Some interweaving of concept family with the most important existential values (love, freedom, responsibility were investigated and some tendencies for further development of family relationship in Russian society were revealed, its problems and prospect were emphasized. The results of the investigation testify that modern types of matrimonial relationship differ in limitation of functionality, mutual responsibility, thereby it is possible to state that interpretation of family in modern Russian society has transformed.

  11. Intelligent diagnosis of jaundice with dynamic uncertain causality graph model*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Shao-rui; Geng, Shi-chao; Fan, Lin-xiao; Chen, Jia-jia; Zhang, Qin; Li, Lan-juan

    2017-01-01

    Jaundice is a common and complex clinical symptom potentially occurring in hepatology, general surgery, pediatrics, infectious diseases, gynecology, and obstetrics, and it is fairly difficult to distinguish the cause of jaundice in clinical practice, especially for general practitioners in less developed regions. With collaboration between physicians and artificial intelligence engineers, a comprehensive knowledge base relevant to jaundice was created based on demographic information, symptoms, physical signs, laboratory tests, imaging diagnosis, medical histories, and risk factors. Then a diagnostic modeling and reasoning system using the dynamic uncertain causality graph was proposed. A modularized modeling scheme was presented to reduce the complexity of model construction, providing multiple perspectives and arbitrary granularity for disease causality representations. A “chaining” inference algorithm and weighted logic operation mechanism were employed to guarantee the exactness and efficiency of diagnostic reasoning under situations of incomplete and uncertain information. Moreover, the causal interactions among diseases and symptoms intuitively demonstrated the reasoning process in a graphical manner. Verification was performed using 203 randomly pooled clinical cases, and the accuracy was 99.01% and 84.73%, respectively, with or without laboratory tests in the model. The solutions were more explicable and convincing than common methods such as Bayesian Networks, further increasing the objectivity of clinical decision-making. The promising results indicated that our model could be potentially used in intelligent diagnosis and help decrease public health expenditure. PMID:28471111

  12. Intelligent diagnosis of jaundice with dynamic uncertain causality graph model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Shao-Rui; Geng, Shi-Chao; Fan, Lin-Xiao; Chen, Jia-Jia; Zhang, Qin; Li, Lan-Juan

    2017-05-01

    Jaundice is a common and complex clinical symptom potentially occurring in hepatology, general surgery, pediatrics, infectious diseases, gynecology, and obstetrics, and it is fairly difficult to distinguish the cause of jaundice in clinical practice, especially for general practitioners in less developed regions. With collaboration between physicians and artificial intelligence engineers, a comprehensive knowledge base relevant to jaundice was created based on demographic information, symptoms, physical signs, laboratory tests, imaging diagnosis, medical histories, and risk factors. Then a diagnostic modeling and reasoning system using the dynamic uncertain causality graph was proposed. A modularized modeling scheme was presented to reduce the complexity of model construction, providing multiple perspectives and arbitrary granularity for disease causality representations. A "chaining" inference algorithm and weighted logic operation mechanism were employed to guarantee the exactness and efficiency of diagnostic reasoning under situations of incomplete and uncertain information. Moreover, the causal interactions among diseases and symptoms intuitively demonstrated the reasoning process in a graphical manner. Verification was performed using 203 randomly pooled clinical cases, and the accuracy was 99.01% and 84.73%, respectively, with or without laboratory tests in the model. The solutions were more explicable and convincing than common methods such as Bayesian Networks, further increasing the objectivity of clinical decision-making. The promising results indicated that our model could be potentially used in intelligent diagnosis and help decrease public health expenditure.

  13. Interactions of information transfer along separable causal paths

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Peishi; Kumar, Praveen

    2018-04-01

    Complex systems arise as a result of interdependences between multiple variables, whose causal interactions can be visualized in a time-series graph. Transfer entropy and information partitioning approaches have been used to characterize such dependences. However, these approaches capture net information transfer occurring through a multitude of pathways involved in the interaction and as a result mask our ability to discern the causal interaction within a subgraph of interest through specific pathways. We build on recent developments of momentary information transfer along causal paths proposed by Runge [Phys. Rev. E 92, 062829 (2015), 10.1103/PhysRevE.92.062829] to develop a framework for quantifying information partitioning along separable causal paths. Momentary information transfer along causal paths captures the amount of information transfer between any two variables lagged at two specific points in time. Our approach expands this concept to characterize the causal interaction in terms of synergistic, unique, and redundant information transfer through separable causal paths. Through a graphical model, we analyze the impact of the separable and nonseparable causal paths and the causality structure embedded in the graph as well as the noise effect on information partitioning by using synthetic data generated from two coupled logistic equation models. Our approach can provide a valuable reference for an autonomous information partitioning along separable causal paths which form a causal subgraph influencing a target.

  14. Does Causality Matter More Now? Increase in the Proportion of Causal Language in English Texts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iliev, Rumen; Axelrod, Robert

    2016-05-01

    The vast majority of the work on culture and cognition has focused on cross-cultural comparisons, largely ignoring the dynamic aspects of culture. In this article, we provide a diachronic analysis of causal cognition over time. We hypothesized that the increased role of education, science, and technology in Western societies should be accompanied by greater attention to causal connections. To test this hypothesis, we compared word frequencies in English texts from different time periods and found an increase in the use of causal language of about 40% over the past two centuries. The observed increase was not attributable to general language effects or to changing semantics of causal words. We also found that there was a consistent difference between the 19th and the 20th centuries, and that the increase happened mainly in the 20th century. © The Author(s) 2016.

  15. Causality, spin, and equal-time commutators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abdel-Rahman, A.M.

    1975-01-01

    We study the causality constraints on the structure of the Lorentz-antisymmetric component of the commutator of two conserved isovector currents between fermion states of equal momenta. We discuss the sum rules that follow from causality and scaling, using the recently introduced refined infinite-momentum technique. The complete set of sum rules is found to include the spin-dependent fixed-mass sum rules obtained from light-cone commutators. The causality and scaling restrictions on the structure of the electromagnetic equal-time commutators are discussed, and it is found, in particular, that causality requires the spin-dependent part of the matrix element for the time-space electromagnetic equal-time commutator to vanish identically. It is also shown, in comparison with the electromagnetic case, that the corresponding matrix element for the time-space isovector current equal-time commutator is required, by causality, to have isospin-antisymmetric tensor and scalar operator Schwinger terms

  16. Causal inference, probability theory, and graphical insights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, Stuart G

    2013-11-10

    Causal inference from observational studies is a fundamental topic in biostatistics. The causal graph literature typically views probability theory as insufficient to express causal concepts in observational studies. In contrast, the view here is that probability theory is a desirable and sufficient basis for many topics in causal inference for the following two reasons. First, probability theory is generally more flexible than causal graphs: Besides explaining such causal graph topics as M-bias (adjusting for a collider) and bias amplification and attenuation (when adjusting for instrumental variable), probability theory is also the foundation of the paired availability design for historical controls, which does not fit into a causal graph framework. Second, probability theory is the basis for insightful graphical displays including the BK-Plot for understanding Simpson's paradox with a binary confounder, the BK2-Plot for understanding bias amplification and attenuation in the presence of an unobserved binary confounder, and the PAD-Plot for understanding the principal stratification component of the paired availability design. Published 2013. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

  17. RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION ACCORDING TO RUSSIAN ARTHRITIS REGISTRY DATA (COMMUNICATION I

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. L. Nasonov

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents the materials of the Russian Arthritis Registry (OREL that includes 3276 patients from 11 Russian Federation's largest research-and-practical centers situated in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Kazan, Tula, Yaroslavl, Tyumen. It discusses the main goals of setting up registries, compares the results of an analysis of the data available in the Russian Registry OREL and registries of European countries and the USA. The findings suggest that there is non-uniform information on clinical, laboratory, and instrumental parameters in the national registers of a number of European countries and the USA. According to its basic characteristics, the Russian Registry OREL compares favorably with a number of other registries in the completeness of data collection, which allows a general idea of rheumatoidarthritis (RA patients in Russia. For further development of the OREL Registry, it is necessary to concentrate our attention on the following main areas: to improve the quality of filling out documents; to follow-up patients receiving different RA therapy regimens according to the guidelines of the Association of Rheumatologists of Russia for the treatment of RA; to conduct in-depth studies of comorbidity, primarily depressive disorders; to analyze adverse reactions that make RA therapy difficult; to actively use modules for patients' self-rating of their condition; to develop nursing care, etc.

  18. Causality as a Rigorous Notion and Quantitative Causality Analysis with Time Series

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, X. S.

    2017-12-01

    Given two time series, can one faithfully tell, in a rigorous and quantitative way, the cause and effect between them? Here we show that this important and challenging question (one of the major challenges in the science of big data), which is of interest in a wide variety of disciplines, has a positive answer. Particularly, for linear systems, the maximal likelihood estimator of the causality from a series X2 to another series X1, written T2→1, turns out to be concise in form: T2→1 = [C11 C12 C2,d1 — C112 C1,d1] / [C112 C22 — C11C122] where Cij (i,j=1,2) is the sample covariance between Xi and Xj, and Ci,dj the covariance between Xi and ΔXj/Δt, the difference approximation of dXj/dt using the Euler forward scheme. An immediate corollary is that causation implies correlation, but not vice versa, resolving the long-standing debate over causation versus correlation. The above formula has been validated with touchstone series purportedly generated with one-way causality that evades the classical approaches such as Granger causality test and transfer entropy analysis. It has also been applied successfully to the investigation of many real problems. Through a simple analysis with the stock series of IBM and GE, an unusually strong one-way causality is identified from the former to the latter in their early era, revealing to us an old story, which has almost faded into oblivion, about "Seven Dwarfs" competing with a "Giant" for the computer market. Another example presented here regards the cause-effect relation between the two climate modes, El Niño and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). In general, these modes are mutually causal, but the causality is asymmetric. To El Niño, the information flowing from IOD manifests itself as a propagation of uncertainty from the Indian Ocean. In the third example, an unambiguous one-way causality is found between CO2 and the global mean temperature anomaly. While it is confirmed that CO2 indeed drives the recent global warming

  19. (In)Complete Acquisition of Aspect in Second Language and Heritage Russian

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mikhaylova, Anna

    2012-01-01

    This dissertation compares the knowledge of Russian Verbal Aspect in two types of learners enrolled in college level Russian courses: foreign language learners of Russian whose native language is English and heritage language speakers of Russian whose dominant language at the time of study is English. Russian Aspect is known to be problematic both…

  20. K-causality and degenerate spacetimes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dowker, H. F.; Garcia, R. S.; Surya, S.

    2000-11-01

    The causal relation K+ was introduced by Sorkin and Woolgar to extend the standard causal analysis of C2 spacetimes to those that are only C0. Most of their results also hold true in the case of metrics with degeneracies which are C0 but vanish at isolated points. In this paper we seek to examine K+ explicitly in the case of topology-changing `Morse histories' which contain degeneracies. We first demonstrate some interesting features of this relation in globally Lorentzian spacetimes. In particular, we show that K+ is robust and the Hawking and Sachs characterization of causal continuity translates into a natural condition in terms of K+. We then examine K+ in topology-changing Morse spacetimes with the degenerate points excised and then for the Morse histories in which the degenerate points are reinstated. We find further characterizations of causal continuity in these cases.

  1. COMPLEX EXAMINATION FOR FOREIGN CITIZENS IN RUSSIAN LANGUAGE AND HISTORY AND FUNDAMENTALS OF RF LEGISLATION AS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR OF THEIR SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ADAPTATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Владимир Матвеевич Козьменко

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The article considers the educational strategy of Russian history, Russian language and basics of the Russian legislation, implemented among labour migrants in terms of their work permit, citizenship of the Russian Federation after the positive exams. The analysis showed that this important work is conducted in the Russian University of friendship of peoples, which is one of the developers of modules for all the above disciplines and Creator of test tasks, unique methods of teaching foreigners, etc. that will start to be implemented in full since January 2015, This work is connected with the fact that currently the Russian Federation and, in particular, the Moscow region are experiencing difficulties in the field of migration policy. In this situation the state authorities tried to provide possible assistance to people in difficult life situation. In particular, migrants were allocated premises for permanent and temporary residence, land for construction of housing, provided medical care, conducted training and education of children in schools and kindergartens, for seniors and low-income issues were resolved on payment of pensions and allowances, etc. But at the same time, financial opportunities of the Russian regions for solution of all problems of migrants did not increase. Such problems are standing before the authorities practically all subjects of the Russian Federation. With this in mind, the article suggests ways of solving these problems.

  2. Basic guide of modern Russian education

    OpenAIRE

    Ibragimova, Liliya; Rodikov, Alexander

    2014-01-01

    This article is devoted to the study of the problems of modern Russian education in the context of globalization of the world of education. The publication addresses the main guide of the modern Russian education. It presents an analysis of contemporary processes of globalization and their impact on the international scientific community.

  3. Causal inference in econometrics

    CERN Document Server

    Kreinovich, Vladik; Sriboonchitta, Songsak

    2016-01-01

    This book is devoted to the analysis of causal inference which is one of the most difficult tasks in data analysis: when two phenomena are observed to be related, it is often difficult to decide whether one of them causally influences the other one, or whether these two phenomena have a common cause. This analysis is the main focus of this volume. To get a good understanding of the causal inference, it is important to have models of economic phenomena which are as accurate as possible. Because of this need, this volume also contains papers that use non-traditional economic models, such as fuzzy models and models obtained by using neural networks and data mining techniques. It also contains papers that apply different econometric models to analyze real-life economic dependencies.

  4. Open Access Publishing - A Challenge for Russian Psychology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    BORIS B. VELICHKOVSKY

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Publication practices in Russian psychology have changed a lot since the break-up of the Soviet Union, but still differ substantially from those in the Western countries. In the last decade, an exponen-tial growth of the number of scientific psychological journals was observed, but in general, scientific publishing is not a profitable business in Russia. There is a lot of variability in the accessibility and quality of the journals. In sum, psychological publishing in today’s Russia is not well developed. Open access (OA publishing technologies seem to bring clear benefits to Russian psychology, but there are some problems that prevent their ready acceptance. First, there is a linguistic problem – Russian read-ers and writers have bad command of foreign languages. Second, there is a problem of background – Russian readers and writers are not used to Western-style research papers. Third, there is an economic problem – it is unclear, whether Russian universities and funding agencies will ever be ready to support publications in OA-journals. Thus, self-archiving and no-fee OA seem to be the most obvious ways to introduce OA to Russian psychologists.

  5. Bayesian networks improve causal environmental ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rule-based weight of evidence approaches to ecological risk assessment may not account for uncertainties and generally lack probabilistic integration of lines of evidence. Bayesian networks allow causal inferences to be made from evidence by including causal knowledge about the problem, using this knowledge with probabilistic calculus to combine multiple lines of evidence, and minimizing biases in predicting or diagnosing causal relationships. Too often, sources of uncertainty in conventional weight of evidence approaches are ignored that can be accounted for with Bayesian networks. Specifying and propagating uncertainties improve the ability of models to incorporate strength of the evidence in the risk management phase of an assessment. Probabilistic inference from a Bayesian network allows evaluation of changes in uncertainty for variables from the evidence. The network structure and probabilistic framework of a Bayesian approach provide advantages over qualitative approaches in weight of evidence for capturing the impacts of multiple sources of quantifiable uncertainty on predictions of ecological risk. Bayesian networks can facilitate the development of evidence-based policy under conditions of uncertainty by incorporating analytical inaccuracies or the implications of imperfect information, structuring and communicating causal issues through qualitative directed graph formulations, and quantitatively comparing the causal power of multiple stressors on value

  6. Hierarchical organisation of causal graphs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dziopa, P.

    1993-01-01

    This paper deals with the design of a supervision system using a hierarchy of models formed by graphs, in which the variables are the nodes and the causal relations between the variables of the arcs. To obtain a representation of the variables evolutions which contains only the relevant features of their real evolutions, the causal relations are completed with qualitative transfer functions (QTFs) which produce roughly the behaviour of the classical transfer functions. Major improvements have been made in the building of the hierarchical organization. First, the basic variables of the uppermost level and the causal relations between them are chosen. The next graph is built by adding intermediary variables to the upper graph. When the undermost graph has been built, the transfer functions parameters corresponding to its causal relations are identified. The second task consists in the upwelling of the information from the undermost graph to the uppermost one. A fusion procedure of the causal relations has been designed to compute the QFTs relevant for each level. This procedure aims to reduce the number of parameters needed to represent an evolution at a high level of abstraction. These techniques have been applied to the hierarchical modelling of nuclear process. (authors). 8 refs., 12 figs

  7. A rede de causalidade da insegurança alimentar e nutricional de comunidades quilombolas com a construção da rodovia BR-163, Pará, Brasil The causality of nutrition and food insecurity of quilombola communities with the construction of the BR-163, highway, Pará, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denise Oliveira e Silva

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Trata-se da descrição de resultados baseados na elaboração de um modelo de determinação causal de forma participativa e abrangente, realizada em seis comunidades quilombolas no município de Santarém, no Estado do Pará, sobre a rede de causalidade da insegurança alimentar e nutricional com a abertura da Rodovia BR-163. MÉTODOS: O processo investigativo utilizou métodos de abordagem sócio-antropológica tendo como base o desenvolvimento de um modelo de causalidade construído por meio da realização de grupos focais com representantes da comunidade. RESULTADOS: Os resultados do estudo demonstraram que a utilização de abordagens participativas estimula a auto-estima da comunidade e o empoderamento sobre os fatores que determinam seus problemas. O modelo causal construído revela que a insegurança alimentar e nutricional, para as comunidades, estabelece que fatores históricos relacionados à posse da terra e ao seu uso atual baseado em práticas predatórias, são os aspectos fundamentais na compreensão da rede de determinação causal da insegurança alimentar e nutricional. CONCLUSÃO: O racismo e suas nuances sociais têm contribuído para a invisibilidade social dessas comunidades nas políticas públicas brasileiras. As comunidades quilombolas se consideram em insegurança alimentar e nutricional e indicam que a abertura da Rodovia BR-163 pode ser uma ameaça ao etno-desenvolvimento sustentável na região. E referem que o desenvolvimento econômico esperado com a abertura desta rodovia, se não for realizado com base na participação da comunidade, pode aumentar a fome, a miséria e o racismo.OBJECTIVE: This work describes results based on the participative and encompassing development of a model of causal determination done in six quilombola communities of Santarém, Pará State, regarding the causality of food and nutrition insecurity with the construction of the BR-163 highway. METHODS: The research process

  8. The Russian Novel, Literature: 5113.88.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dade County Public Schools, Miami, FL.

    Developed for a high school quinmester unit on the Russian novel, this guide is designed to give students the opportunity to become familiar with the major works of Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevski. Performance objectives for the course include studying the general facets of 19th century Russian culture and history, analyzing the novels of…

  9. Dynamics and causality constraints

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sousa, Manoelito M. de

    2001-04-01

    The physical meaning and the geometrical interpretation of causality implementation in classical field theories are discussed. Causality in field theory are kinematical constraints dynamically implemented via solutions of the field equation, but in a limit of zero-distance from the field sources part of these constraints carries a dynamical content that explains old problems of classical electrodynamics away with deep implications to the nature of physicals interactions. (author)

  10. Meta-analysis: Problems with Russian Publications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verbitskaya, E V

    2015-01-01

    Meta-analysis is a powerful tool to identify Evidence Based medical technologies (interventions) for use in every day practice. Meta-analysis uses statistical approaches to combine results from multiple studies in an effort to increase power (over individual studies), improve estimates of the size of the effect and/or to resolve uncertainty when reports disagree. Meta-analysis is a quantitative, formal study design used to systematically assess previous research studies to derive conclusions from this research. Meta-analysis may provide more precise estimate of the effect of treatment or risk factor for a disease, or other outcomes, than any individual study contributing to the pooled analysis.We have quite a substantial number of Russian medical publications, but not so many Meta-Analyses published in Russian. Russian publications are cited in English language papers not so often. A total of 90% of clinical studies included in published Meta-Analyses incorporate only English language papers. International studies or papers with Russian co-authors are published in English language. The main question is: what is the problem with inclusion of Russian medical publications in Meta-Analysis? The main reasons for this are the following: 1) It is difficult to find Russian papers, difficult to work with them and to work with Russian journals:a. There are single Russian Biomedical Journals, which are translated into English and are included in databases (PubMed, Scopus and other), despite the fact that all of them have English language abstracts.b. The majority the meta-analyses authors use in their work different citation management software such as the Mendeley, Reference Manager, ProCite, EndNote, and others. These citation management systems allow scientists to organize their own literature databases with internet searches and have adds-on for the Office programs what makes process of literature citation very convenient. The Internet sites of the majority of

  11. Causal uncertainty, claimed and behavioural self-handicapping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Ted; Hepburn, Jonathan

    2003-06-01

    Causal uncertainty beliefs involve doubts about the causes of events, and arise as a consequence of non-contingent evaluative feedback: feedback that leaves the individual uncertain about the causes of his or her achievement outcomes. Individuals high in causal uncertainty are frequently unable to confidently attribute their achievement outcomes, experience anxiety in achievement situations and as a consequence are likely to engage in self-handicapping behaviour. Accordingly, we sought to establish links between trait causal uncertainty, claimed and behavioural self-handicapping. Participants were N=72 undergraduate students divided equally between high and low causally uncertain groups. We used a 2 (causal uncertainty status: high, low) x 3 (performance feedback condition: success, non-contingent success, non-contingent failure) between-subjects factorial design to examine the effects of causal uncertainty on achievement behaviour. Following performance feedback, participants completed 20 single-solution anagrams and 12 remote associate tasks serving as performance measures, and 16 unicursal tasks to assess practice effort. Participants also completed measures of claimed handicaps, state anxiety and attributions. Relative to low causally uncertain participants, high causally uncertain participants claimed more handicaps prior to performance on the anagrams and remote associates, reported higher anxiety, attributed their failure to internal, stable factors, and reduced practice effort on the unicursal tasks, evident in fewer unicursal tasks solved. These findings confirm links between trait causal uncertainty and claimed and behavioural self-handicapping, highlighting the need for educators to facilitate means by which students can achieve surety in the manner in which they attribute the causes of their achievement outcomes.

  12. Russian Language in the Central Asia Region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ksenia Petrovna Borishpolets

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available He article is devoted to the role of the Russian language in Central Asia and its development perspectives in the context of the Eurasian integration processes. Russian language has a long historical tradition in Central Asia and hasn't lost its importance even at the background of two waves of "derussification" that took place after 1991. Notwithstanding the decrease of the status, it keeps substantial public significance. During last two decades only in Turkmenistan we are witnessing the decrease in spreading of the Russian language among title population of the Central Asia region. Its positions as an active communication channel is secured not only by the social tradition, but also by the competitiveness of the Russian language education, advantages of the bilingual business, requirements of the labor migrants, HR interests and by some other pragmatic thoughts, which role within the context of Eurasian economic integration will increase. Despite the difficulties, it is too early to speak about the decrease of the Russian language in the Central Asia region. It is more likely that the institutes itself that maintain it and promoting it are at the low ebb. New scales and forms of practical work that is interested not only for Russia, but also Central Asia countries are required. Pressure on the resources of the Russian language increases the possibility of ethnic conflicts and strengthens the positions of political radicalism in Central Asia region.

  13. Russian – Chinese Trade and Exchange Rate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dmitry Alexandrovich Izotov

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available The author assesses the impact of the Yuan exchange rate volatility on the indicators of the Russian-Chinese trade (the analysis is made on the ground of the statistical database CEIC. Quantitative estimates of changes in Russian-Chinese merchandise trade by commodity groups (in the HS classification due to the revaluation of the CNY against the USD were obtained via the regression analysis. In the case of the revaluation of the Yuan to the US dollar the value of Russian exports may increase for such commodity groups as mineral products, chemical industry products, base metals, precious stones and metals, and vehicles. This article shows that the value of Chinese imports will decrease for such merchandise groups as transport vehicles, machinery and equipment, leather industry products, non-precious metals and products from them; in this case, the import of the food industry products, mineral products and optical instruments will decrease insignificantly. The author concludes that the revaluation of the Yuan, contributing to the growth of Russian exports and the reduction in Chinese imports, will not cause a radical change in structure of the Russian-Chinese trade

  14. Causal knowledge and reasoning in decision making

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hagmayer, Y.; Witteman, C.L.M.

    2017-01-01

    Normative causal decision theories argue that people should use their causal knowledge in decision making. Based on these ideas, we argue that causal knowledge and reasoning may support and thereby potentially improve decision making based on expected outcomes, narratives, and even cues. We will

  15. Expert Causal Reasoning and Explanation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuipers, Benjamin

    The relationship between cognitive psychologists and researchers in artificial intelligence carries substantial benefits for both. An ongoing investigation in causal reasoning in medical problem solving systems illustrates this interaction. This paper traces a dialectic of sorts in which three different types of causal resaoning for medical…

  16. Links between causal effects and causal association for surrogacy evaluation in a gaussian setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conlon, Anna; Taylor, Jeremy; Li, Yun; Diaz-Ordaz, Karla; Elliott, Michael

    2017-11-30

    Two paradigms for the evaluation of surrogate markers in randomized clinical trials have been proposed: the causal effects paradigm and the causal association paradigm. Each of these paradigms rely on assumptions that must be made to proceed with estimation and to validate a candidate surrogate marker (S) for the true outcome of interest (T). We consider the setting in which S and T are Gaussian and are generated from structural models that include an unobserved confounder. Under the assumed structural models, we relate the quantities used to evaluate surrogacy within both the causal effects and causal association frameworks. We review some of the common assumptions made to aid in estimating these quantities and show that assumptions made within one framework can imply strong assumptions within the alternative framework. We demonstrate that there is a similarity, but not exact correspondence between the quantities used to evaluate surrogacy within each framework, and show that the conditions for identifiability of the surrogacy parameters are different from the conditions, which lead to a correspondence of these quantities. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  17. Eisenhart's theorem and the causal simplicity of Eisenhart's spacetime

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Minguzzi, E [Department of Applied Mathematics, Florence University, Via S. Marta 3, 50139 Florence (Italy)

    2007-06-07

    We give a causal version of Eisenhart's geodesic characterization of classical mechanics. We emphasize the geometric, coordinate-independent properties needed to express Eisenhart's theorem in light of modern studies on the Bargmann structures (lightlike dimensional reduction, pp-waves). The construction of the space metric, Coriolis 1-form and scalar potential through which the theorem is formulated is shown in detail, and in particular a one-to-one correspondence between Newtonian frames and Abelian connections on suitable lightlike principal bundles is proved. The relation of Eisenhart's theorem in the lightlike case with a Fermat-type principle is pointed out. The operation of lightlike lift is introduced and the existence of minimizers for the classical action is related to the causal simplicity of Eisenhart's spacetime.

  18. Some aspects of public relation activities at Russian NPPs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ermakov, Sergei

    1995-01-01

    Full text: Since 1992 Rosenergoatom has managed most of the Russian NPPs. Here in this report we present its main public relations activities. 1. The leading role of the management of Rosenergoatom (Direction of Public Relations) is in relations with the public. 2. The main public relations activities are: - contact with the selected and administrative authorities of different levels, - interaction with mass media, - information of employees, - information of, and interaction with, the people of the areas close to the NPPs and especially of the nearby towns, - organising and carrying out opinion polls, - celebration campaigns at NPPs. 3. The use of NPPs' information centers and groups for PR activities: - construction and equipping of NPPs' public information centers; organising excursions, lectures, debates at NPPs; - publishing of news papers at NPPs and at NPPs' towns. 4. Public information in the regions close to the NPPs construction sites (Far East, Kostroma, Rostov, Veronezh regions). 5. Conclusions on the activities and plans for the future. (author)

  19. The Russian Orthodox Church in Religious Space of Kazakhstan: Stages and Peculiarities of Institutional Model (XVIII – Beginning of ХХ Centuries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuliya A. Lysenko

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The article features attempts on analyzing the cultural – historic situation, which conditioned the formation of orthodox population and institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan in XVIII – beginning of XX centuries. The article also features the construction techniques of diocesan, parochial schools in the region and the main activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan. The results of complex analysis let determine the decree of integration effectiveness in cultural-religious space of the region, to reveal influential objective and subjective factors.

  20. Non-Gaussian Methods for Causal Structure Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimizu, Shohei

    2018-05-22

    Causal structure learning is one of the most exciting new topics in the fields of machine learning and statistics. In many empirical sciences including prevention science, the causal mechanisms underlying various phenomena need to be studied. Nevertheless, in many cases, classical methods for causal structure learning are not capable of estimating the causal structure of variables. This is because it explicitly or implicitly assumes Gaussianity of data and typically utilizes only the covariance structure. In many applications, however, non-Gaussian data are often obtained, which means that more information may be contained in the data distribution than the covariance matrix is capable of containing. Thus, many new methods have recently been proposed for using the non-Gaussian structure of data and inferring the causal structure of variables. This paper introduces prevention scientists to such causal structure learning methods, particularly those based on the linear, non-Gaussian, acyclic model known as LiNGAM. These non-Gaussian data analysis tools can fully estimate the underlying causal structures of variables under assumptions even in the presence of unobserved common causes. This feature is in contrast to other approaches. A simulated example is also provided.

  1. The AIDA-MOX 1 program: Results of the French-Russian study on peaceful use of plutonium from dismantled Russian Nuclear weapons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yegorov, N.N.; Kudriavtsev, E.; Poplavsky, V.; Polyakov, A.; Ouin, X.; Camarcat, N.; Sicard, B.; Bernard, H.

    1997-01-01

    The Intergovernmental Agreement signed on November 12, 1992, between the governments of France and the Russian Federation instituted cooperation between the two countries for the safe elimination of the excess Russian nuclear weapons. France has allocated 400 million francs to this program, covering transportation and dismantling of nuclear weapons, interim storage and subsequent commercial use of the nuclear materials from the dismantled weapons, nuclear materials accountancy and safeguards, and scientific research. The concept of loading commercial Russian reactors with fuel fabricated from the plutonium recovered from dismantled nuclear weapons of the former Soviet Union is gaining widespread acceptance, and is at the heart of the French-Russian AIDA/MOX project

  2. Causal beliefs about depression in different cultural groups—what do cognitive psychological theories of causal learning and reasoning predict?

    OpenAIRE

    Hagmayer, York; Engelmann, Neele

    2014-01-01

    Cognitive psychological research focuses on causal learning and reasoning while cognitive anthropological and social science research tend to focus on systems of beliefs. Our aim was to explore how these two types of research can inform each other. Cognitive psychological theories (causal model theory and causal Bayes nets) were used to derive predictions for systems of causal beliefs. These predictions were then applied to lay theories of depression as a specific test case. A systematic lite...

  3. Legal Portion in Russian Inheritance Law

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inshina, Roza; Murzalimova, Lyudmila

    2013-01-01

    In this paper the authors describe the right to inherit as one of the basic human rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The state has set rules according to which after a person's death, his or her property is inherited by other persons. The Russian civil legislation establishes the institution of legal portions that is…

  4. Illness causal beliefs in Turkish immigrants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Klimidis Steven

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background People hold a wide variety of beliefs concerning the causes of illness. Such beliefs vary across cultures and, among immigrants, may be influenced by many factors, including level of acculturation, gender, level of education, and experience of illness and treatment. This study examines illness causal beliefs in Turkish-immigrants in Australia. Methods Causal beliefs about somatic and mental illness were examined in a sample of 444 members of the Turkish population of Melbourne. The socio-demographic characteristics of the sample were broadly similar to those of the Melbourne Turkish community. Five issues were examined: the structure of causal beliefs; the relative frequency of natural, supernatural and metaphysical beliefs; ascription of somatic, mental, or both somatic and mental conditions to the various causes; the correlations of belief types with socio-demographic, modernizing and acculturation variables; and the relationship between causal beliefs and current illness. Results Principal components analysis revealed two broad factors, accounting for 58 percent of the variation in scores on illness belief scales, distinctly interpretable as natural and supernatural beliefs. Second, beliefs in natural causes were more frequent than beliefs in supernatural causes. Third, some causal beliefs were commonly linked to both somatic and mental conditions while others were regarded as more specific to either somatic or mental disorders. Last, there was a range of correlations between endorsement of belief types and factors defining heterogeneity within the community, including with demographic factors, indicators of modernizing and acculturative processes, and the current presence of illness. Conclusion Results supported the classification of causal beliefs proposed by Murdock, Wilson & Frederick, with a division into natural and supernatural causes. While belief in natural causes is more common, belief in supernatural causes

  5. Illness causal beliefs in Turkish immigrants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Minas, Harry; Klimidis, Steven; Tuncer, Can

    2007-07-24

    People hold a wide variety of beliefs concerning the causes of illness. Such beliefs vary across cultures and, among immigrants, may be influenced by many factors, including level of acculturation, gender, level of education, and experience of illness and treatment. This study examines illness causal beliefs in Turkish-immigrants in Australia. Causal beliefs about somatic and mental illness were examined in a sample of 444 members of the Turkish population of Melbourne. The socio-demographic characteristics of the sample were broadly similar to those of the Melbourne Turkish community. Five issues were examined: the structure of causal beliefs; the relative frequency of natural, supernatural and metaphysical beliefs; ascription of somatic, mental, or both somatic and mental conditions to the various causes; the correlations of belief types with socio-demographic, modernizing and acculturation variables; and the relationship between causal beliefs and current illness. Principal components analysis revealed two broad factors, accounting for 58 percent of the variation in scores on illness belief scales, distinctly interpretable as natural and supernatural beliefs. Second, beliefs in natural causes were more frequent than beliefs in supernatural causes. Third, some causal beliefs were commonly linked to both somatic and mental conditions while others were regarded as more specific to either somatic or mental disorders. Last, there was a range of correlations between endorsement of belief types and factors defining heterogeneity within the community, including with demographic factors, indicators of modernizing and acculturative processes, and the current presence of illness. Results supported the classification of causal beliefs proposed by Murdock, Wilson & Frederick, with a division into natural and supernatural causes. While belief in natural causes is more common, belief in supernatural causes persists despite modernizing and acculturative influences. Different

  6. Characterizing time series: when Granger causality triggers complex networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge, Tian; Cui, Yindong; Lin, Wei; Kurths, Jürgen; Liu, Chong

    2012-08-01

    In this paper, we propose a new approach to characterize time series with noise perturbations in both the time and frequency domains by combining Granger causality and complex networks. We construct directed and weighted complex networks from time series and use representative network measures to describe their physical and topological properties. Through analyzing the typical dynamical behaviors of some physical models and the MIT-BIHMassachusetts Institute of Technology-Beth Israel Hospital. human electrocardiogram data sets, we show that the proposed approach is able to capture and characterize various dynamics and has much potential for analyzing real-world time series of rather short length.

  7. Characterizing time series: when Granger causality triggers complex networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ge Tian; Cui Yindong; Lin Wei; Liu Chong; Kurths, Jürgen

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, we propose a new approach to characterize time series with noise perturbations in both the time and frequency domains by combining Granger causality and complex networks. We construct directed and weighted complex networks from time series and use representative network measures to describe their physical and topological properties. Through analyzing the typical dynamical behaviors of some physical models and the MIT-BIH human electrocardiogram data sets, we show that the proposed approach is able to capture and characterize various dynamics and has much potential for analyzing real-world time series of rather short length. (paper)

  8. Covariation in Natural Causal Induction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Patricia W.; Novick, Laura R.

    1991-01-01

    Biases and models usually offered by cognitive and social psychology and by philosophy to explain causal induction are evaluated with respect to focal sets (contextually determined sets of events over which covariation is computed). A probabilistic contrast model is proposed as underlying covariation computation in natural causal induction. (SLD)

  9. The place of ‘Russian music’ on the multicultural map of Europe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Piotrowska Anna G.

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Both Russian and non-Russian composers and music critics willingly used the notion of Russian exoticism to differentiate the Russian musical legacy from the (western European tradition, especially in the 19th century. At the same time, various Russian musical practices were considered to be exotic in Russia itself. In this article it is suggested that these two perceptions of Russian music influenced each other, having an impact on the formation of Russian national music. It is further claimed that Russian music served both as an internal and external tool for defining the country’s musical culture on the multicultural map of Europe.

  10. Exploring Individual Differences in Preschoolers' Causal Stance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alvarez, Aubry; Booth, Amy E.

    2016-01-01

    Preschoolers, as a group, are highly attuned to causality, and this attunement is known to facilitate memory, learning, and problem solving. However, recent work reveals substantial individual variability in the strength of children's "causal stance," as demonstrated by their curiosity about and preference for new causal information. In…

  11. Influence of transport infrastructure on the industrial development of the Russian regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizaveta Eduardovna Kolchinskaya

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Objective to build a model describing the relationship between the level of transport infrastructure development of the region and the level of industrial development in the region. Methods calculation of the integral indicators of a particular industry development regression analysis method of the production function constructing. For regression analysis the paper uses panel data models with random and fixed effects and the pooled panel data model. To check the quality of the regression model the Fisher and Student ttests were used. To test the model for heteroskedastic properties tests by Park Glazer GoldfeldQuandt and White were applied. Results models of linear and logarithmic specifications with random and fixed effects were built as well as pooled panel data models. Significant coefficients of transport infrastructure indicators were obtained in both cases only in the pooled panel data models. The model which considered the railway density index as one of the characteristics of the transport infrastructure of the region showed the negative coefficient of this variable. Scientific novelty for the first time on the basis of Russian regions statistics using regression models of panel data the dependence has been studied between the level of transport development in the region and the dynamics of industrial production in it. As the characteristic of transport infrastructure development the specially designed integral indicator was used i.e. the transport enterprises and communications functioning in the region summarizing several characteristics of enterprises in the industry. Practical value the obtained results can be used to predict effects of adopting decisions on improving the transport infrastructure in the Russian Federation regions. The results and conclusion can serve as a basis for further research on this topic and be applied in the characterization of the Russian economy. In addition the results can be used in the educational

  12. Waking up to Complexity: Using Christopher Clark's the Sleepwalkers to Challenge Over-Determined Causal Explanations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holliss, Claire

    2014-01-01

    Teaching student to construct causal argument is a staple of history teaching and, in this year, questions about the causes of the First World War are particularly pertinent and once again the public eye. Claire Holliss, however, became dissatisfied with existing approaches to teaching students about the causes of the First World War. In…

  13. Integrated Treatment and Storage Solutions for Solid Radioactive Waste at the Russian Shipyard Near Polyarny

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Griffith, A.; Engoy, T.; Endregard, M.; Busmundrud, O.; Schwab, P.; Nazarian, A.; Krumrine, P.; Backe, S.; Gorin, S.; Evans, B.

    2002-01-01

    Russian Navy Yard No. 10 (Shkval), near the city of Murmansk, has been designated as the recipient for Solid Radioactive Waste (SRW) pretreatment and storage facilities under the Arctic Military Environmental Cooperation (AMEC) Program. This shipyard serves the Northern Fleet by servicing, repairing, and dismantling naval vessels. Specifically, seven nuclear submarines of the first and second generation and Victor class are laid up at this shipyard, awaiting defueling and dismantlement. One first generation nuclear submarine has already been dismantled there, but recently progress on dismantlement has slowed because all the available storage space is full. SRW has been placed in metal storage containers, which have been moved outside of the actual storage site, which increases the environmental risks. AMEC is a cooperative effort between the Russian Federation, Kingdom of Norway and the United States. AMEC Projects 1.3 and 1.4 specifically address waste treatment and storage issues. Various waste treatment options have been assessed, technologies selected, and now integrated facilities are being designed and constructed to address these problems. Treatment technologies that are being designed and constructed include a mobile pretreatment facility comprising waste assay, segregation, size reduction, compaction and repackaging operations. Waste storage technologies include metal and concrete containers, and lightweight modular storage buildings. This paper focuses on the problems and challenges that are and will be faced at the Polyarninsky Shipyard. Specifically, discussion of the waste quantities, types, and conditions and various site considerations versus the various technologies that are to be employed will be provided. A systems approach at the site is being proposed by the Russian partners, therefore integration with other ongoing and planned operations at the site will also be discussed

  14. Automated Determination of the Type of Genre and Stylistic Coloring of Russian Texts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barakhnin Vladimir

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we propose the algorithm of automated definition of the genre type and semantic characteristics of poetic texts in Russian. We formulated the approaches to the construction of a joint (“two-dimensional” classifier of genre types and stylistic colouring of poetic texts, based on the definition of interdependence of the type of genre and stylistic colouring of the text. On the basis of these approaches the principles of formation of the training samples for the algorithms for the definition of styles and genre types were analyzed. The computational experiments with a corpus of texts of the Lyceum lyrics of A.S.Pushkin were implemented, which showed good results in determining the stylistic colouring of poetic texts and sufficient results in determining the genres. The proposed algorithms can be used for automation of the complex analysis of Russian poetic texts, significantly facilitating the work of the expert in determining their styles and genres by providing appropriate recommendations.

  15. Is the balkanization of the ukrainian-russian conflict probable?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrey Petrovich Koshkin

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Objective to determine the possibility and probability of Balkanization of the UkrainianRussian intersocietal relations. Methods the need to study the main factors affecting the state of the modern RussianUkrainian conflict in its ethnopolitical dimension with the predominat focus on intersocietal relations determined the use of the historicalgenetic comparativehistorical and typological methods of investigation integrated with the systemic approach. Results the main parallels are shown that occur when comparing the ethnopolitical situation in the Balkans and above all the SerbianCroatian relations with the current RussianUkrainian conflict mainly at the level of relations of Russians and Ukrainians as ethnic groups. The ethnosocial and ethnopolitical differences of the genesis and current state of both conflicts do not provide a sufficient basis for specific predictions about the inevitable Balkanization of the RussianUkrainian conflict. Scientific novelty the article proves the inconsistency of unambiguous similes of the RussianUkrainian conflict and interethnic SerbianCroatian conflict at intersocietal and associated levels it shows the significant differences of the conflict situations that do not lead to dogmatic conclusions about the development of the RussianUkrainian relations by the Yugoslavia scenario. Practical significance the main provisions and conclusions of the article can be used in scientific and pedagogical activity in the study of ethnos and ethnicity in the analysis of ethnopolitical processes in modern Ukraine and consideration of the status and prospects of the development of RussianUkrainian relations. nbsp

  16. Multivariate Granger causality between CO2 emissions, energy consumption, FDI (foreign direct investment) and GDP (gross domestic product): Evidence from a panel of BRIC (Brazil, Russian Federation, India, and China) countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pao, Hsiao-Tien; Tsai, Chung-Ming

    2011-01-01

    This paper addresses the impact of both economic growth and financial development on environmental degradation using a panel cointegration technique for the period between 1980 and 2007, except for Russia (1992-2007). In long-run equilibrium, CO 2 emissions appear to be energy consumption elastic and FDI inelastic, and the results seem to support the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. The causality results indicate that there exists strong bidirectional causality between emissions and FDI and unidirectional strong causality running from output to FDI. The evidence seems to support the pollution haven and both the halo and scale effects. Therefore, in attracting FDI, developing countries should strictly examine the qualifications for foreign investment or to promote environmental protection through the coordinated know-how and technological transfer with foreign companies to avoid environmental damage. Additionally, there exists strong output-emissions and output-energy consumption bidirectional causality, while there is unidirectional strong causality running from energy consumption to emissions. Overall, the method of managing both energy demand and FDI and increasing both investment in the energy supply and energy efficiency to reduce CO 2 emissions and without compromising the country's competitiveness can be adopted by energy-dependent BRIC countries.

  17. Russian gas in the west European market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nikitin, B.A.

    1996-01-01

    The paper relates to the Russian supply of natural gas to the west European market. Following themes are discussed: The resource basis of the gas industry; analysis of the European gas market; projects for Russian gas supply to Europe; international co-operation

  18. RUSSIAN STOCK MARKET INSTITUTIONAL PARTICIPANTS: HABITUS AND PRACTICES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Boris Borisovich Podgorny

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The global investment experience shows that economic growth is impossible without the creation of an effective national stock market. Also, along with the solution of the funds inflow into the economy, developed stock market contributes the creation of a mass economy owners community. Economic characteristics – economy demand for credit resources (especially in sanction terms, the availability of the savings among the Russian population, rates reduction on bank deposits, – saying that “investment boom” should take place in Russia today, in which a significant part of the population must be taken mass participation in the stock market, including the way through collective investment. However, the current situation does not allow us to talk about the successful development this direction of the Russian stock market. In this article, prepared in the framework of the author’s special sociological theory «The Russian Stock Market as a Social Space» [27], presented the results of Russian stock market institutional investors study including: the statistical indicators characterizing institutional investors on the stock market were analyzed; the practices caused by the existing habitus of Russian stock market institutional investors were classified and studied. It was found that the habitus of most institutional investors participating in the Russian stock market is marked a speculative nature.

  19. Russian spent marine fuel as a global security risk

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gussgard, K.; Reistad, O.

    2001-01-01

    Russian marine fuel is a trans-national security concern. This paper focuses on specific technical properties of Russian marine nuclear fuel especially relevant for evaluating different aspects on nuclear proliferation, in addition to risks associated with regional environmental degradation and illegal diversion of radiological substances. Russian fresh fuel for marine reactors has been involved in several significant cases of illicit trafficking of special nuclear materials. The amount and quality of nuclear materials in Russian spent marine fuel give also reason for concern. Not less than 200 marine reactor cores are ready for having their spent fuel unloaded and preliminary stored on shore in the Far East and North West of Russia, and large amounts of spent naval fuel have been stored at Russian military bases for decades. In order to assess the security risks associated with Russian spent marine fuel, this paper discusses the material attractiveness of spent fuel from all types of Russian marine reactors. The calculations are based on a model of a light water moderated Russian icebreaker reactor. The computer tool HELIOS, used for modelling the reactor and the reactor operations, has been extensively qualified by comparisons with experimental data and international benchmark problems for reactor physics codes as well as through feedback from applications. Some of these benchmarks and studies include fuel enrichments up to 90% in Russian marine reactors. Several fuel data cases are discussed in the paper, focusing especially on: 1) early fuel designs with low initial enrichment; 2) more modern fuel designs used in third and fourth generation of Russian submarines probably with intermediate enriched fuel; and 3) marine fuel with initial enrichment levels close to weapons-grade material. In each case the fuel has been burned until k eff has reached below 1. Case 1) has been evaluated, the calculations made as basis for this paper have concentrated on fuel with

  20. Cultural Identity in Everyday Interactions at Work: Highly Skilled Female Russian Professionals in Finland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Malgorzata Lahti

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The dominant research strands into social interaction in culturally diverse workplaces have focused on issues of organizational efficiency and discrimination, and they have treated cultural identity as static, monolithic, and universally shared. This study aims to problematize this view. It is argued that our understanding of cultural workplace diversity could be extended through the integration of interpretive and critical interpersonal communication theorizing on cultural identity as dynamic and processual, constructed between and among people in everyday workplace interactions and in relation to larger social, political, and historical forces. This argument is illustrated by an analysis of in-depth interviews with 10 female Russian immigrants in Finland who performed interactionintense knowledge work. The women talked about their everyday workplace interactions and how they thought Russian identity mattered in them. These data were analyzed with the inductive method of interpretive description designed to provide a systematic description of the phenomenon delineating its characteristic themes and accounting for individual variations within it. The analysis led to the identification of four communication sites for distinct formations of Russian identity: expressing professionalism, managing initial encounters, facing stigma, and facilitating intercultural learning. The findings offer novel insights into social interaction in culturally diverse workplaces with implications for both employee well-being and organizational processes.

  1. Russian Media Education Researches: 1950-2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Federov, Alexander

    2010-01-01

    This article analyzed the development of Russian media education researches from 1950 to 2010 years. The list of theses of the Russian authors on the subject of Media Education is about 180 titles since 1950. Nearly 70 of them have been defended for the recent 10 years. From 1950 till 1959 six theses were defended, from 1960 till 1969--15; from…

  2. Russian Revolution: triumph or tragedy?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Drozdov Sergey Valentinovich

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The present paper focuses on the most important events that happened in Petrograd from February to October 1917 and radically changed the whole character of the country. The paper also deals with their participants’ actions which turned out to be critical for Russian history. The research is based on credible sources and literature. The author tries to understand how the mighty Russian Empire collapsed within several days and why the left extremists took over as a result.

  3. Russian Medieval Military Architecture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rappoport, Pavel

    1969-12-01

    Full Text Available In Russia defensive works were not less important than in Western Europe. Russian chronicles are full of reports of the building of towns, of their siege and defence. In Ancient Russian the word town meant not a town in the modern sense, but only a fortified settlement as distinct from an unfortified one. Thus the concept town applied to medieval towns proper and to citadels, feudal castles and even fortified villages. Every population centre with a wall round it was called a town. Moreover, until the 17th century this word was frequently applied to mean the fortifications themselves.

  4. The consequences of political dictatorship for Russian science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soyfer, V N

    2001-09-01

    The Soviet communist regime had devastating consequences on the state of Russian twentieth century science. Country Communist leaders promoted Trofim Lysenko--an agronomist and keen supporter of the inheritance of acquired characters--and the Soviet government imposed a complete ban on the practice and teaching of genetics, which it condemned as a "bourgeois perversion". Russian science, which had previously flourished, rapidly declined, and many valuable scientific discoveries made by leading Russian geneticists were forgotten.

  5. Behavioural Pattern of Causality Parameter of Autoregressive ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In this paper, a causal form of Autoregressive Moving Average process, ARMA (p, q) of various orders and behaviour of the causality parameter of ARMA model is investigated. It is deduced that the behaviour of causality parameter ψi depends on positive and negative values of autoregressive parameter φ and moving ...

  6. Tachyons and causal paradoxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maund, J.B.

    1979-01-01

    Although the existence of tachyons is not ruled out by special relativity, it appears that causal paradoxes will arise if there are tachyons. The usual solutions to these paradoxes employ some form of the reinterpretation principle. In this paper it is argued first that, the principle is incoherent, second, that even if it is not, some causal paradoxes remain, and third, the most plausible ''solution,'' which appeals to boundary conditions of the universe, will conflict with special relativity

  7. Causal beliefs about depression in different cultural groups – What do cognitive psychological theories of causal learning and reasoning predict?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    York eHagmayer

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Cognitive psychological research focusses on causal learning and reasoning while cognitive anthropological and social science research tend to focus on systems of beliefs. Our aim was to explore how these two types of research can inform each other. Cognitive psychological theories (causal model theory and causal Bayes nets were used to derive predictions for systems of causal beliefs. These predictions were then applied to lay theories of depression as a specific test case. A systematic literature review on causal beliefs about depression was conducted, including original, quantitative research. Thirty-six studies investigating 13 non-Western and 32 Western cultural groups were analysed by classifying assumed causes and preferred forms of treatment into common categories. Relations between beliefs and treatment preferences were assessed. Substantial agreement between cultural groups was found with respect to the impact of observable causes. Stress was generally rated as most important. Less agreement resulted for hidden, especially supernatural causes. Causal beliefs were clearly related to treatment preferences in Western groups, while evidence was mostly lacking for non-Western groups. Overall predictions were supported, but there were considerable methodological limitations. Pointers to future research, which may combine studies on causal beliefs with experimental paradigms on causal reasoning, are given.

  8. Bell Discourse in Russian Culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Элеонора Р Лассан

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The article focuses on the symbolic meaning of Russian ringing of bell in the Russian discourse. According to Lotman’s definition of symbol, it has dual nature: an invariant essence and its modification in relation to the cultural context. The article introduces informative and linguistic modifications of the bell topic in the Russian poetic discourse of the 19th, the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century. The author of the article provides the detailed analysis of such discursive descriptions of bell ringing as the ringing of church bells and alarm . The author arrives at the conlusion that the alarm topic prevails in contemporary poetry and this indicates the state of public dissatisfaction. In the 19th and the 20th centuries lexemes the ringing of church bells and alarm were used literally, but in the 21st century lexeme alarm acquires metaphorical meaning of call for blood.

  9. Girls by the Church: Construction of a Pussy Riot Event in Finland as a Threat to Russian Gender Roles and Sexual Norms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teivo Teivainen

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In August 2012, pro-Kremlin media in Russia reported widely about an alleged attempt to replay the Pussy Riot stunt at an Orthodox cathedral in Finland. According to the reports, also reproduced by the Russian Foreign Ministry, a Finnish professor was facing several years’ prison sentence in Finnish courts for having attacked the cathedral, carried urine containers, spread homosexual propaganda and committed various acts of blasphemy. Even if the Finnish media, eyewitnesses and state authorities repeatedly denied the claims, the story became a useful way for pro-Kremlin forces to normalise the Pussy Riot trial in Russia. The episode was an example of the recent politicisation of religion, gender and sexuality in the Russian public sphere.

  10. Russian oil prices: courting the world market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khartukov, E.M.

    1995-01-01

    The export and oil pricing of Russian crude was discussed. Russian crude and oil product exports are not yet wholly competitive with world oil markets. It was suggested that to do so, would be neither desirable nor actually possible at present. The reason for this is related to Russia's export duties regime and Russia's trade with its neighbouring countries which include the former Soviet republics. In the first half of 1995, the average border price of crude destined for those countries was US$75.04/tonne as opposed to US$114.77/tonne for crude exported to 'far-abroad', hard-currency markets. A breakdown of Russia's export duties for liquid fuels and a typical breakdown of export and domestic prices for Russian oil was provided. Russian crude is considerably under-priced mainly because of the poor state of the national refining industry which is in need of radical modernization. It was suggested that instead of globalization, it would be more appropriate to redirect the priorities of Russian energy policy towards defining optimal use of Russia's available energy potential, and rationalizing its domestic price structure first, which is the root cause of the national price problem. 5 refs., 5 tabs., 2 figs

  11. Radioactive waste in the Russian Federation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grundfelt, B.; Lindbom, B.

    1994-01-01

    The present report has been produced by Kemakta Consultants Co. under contract from the Swedish Radiation Protection Institute (SSI). The purpose of the study is to give a broad overview of the situation in the Russian Federation with regard to the production and management of radioactive waste. The report also presents an outline of possible risks for environmental and societal consequences of the current waste management practices. The study is intended to be used as a basis for discussions regarding possible international cooperative efforts for improving the waste management system in Russia. The report is mainly based on publicly available literature. In addition, information has been obtained during a two-day visit to the Bochvar Institute and the Russian Atomic Power Ministry, MinAtom, in Moscow. Complementary information has been provided by MinAtom in response to a questionnaire that was sent to MinAtom subsequent to the visit to Moscow. Staff at the Russian embassy in Stockholm has assisted in the organisation of contacts as well as with various clarifications and translations. Some of the information in this report has not been officially confirmed by the Russian authorities. 17 refs, 4 figs, 7 tabs

  12. Linear causal modeling with structural equations

    CERN Document Server

    Mulaik, Stanley A

    2009-01-01

    Emphasizing causation as a functional relationship between variables that describe objects, Linear Causal Modeling with Structural Equations integrates a general philosophical theory of causation with structural equation modeling (SEM) that concerns the special case of linear causal relations. In addition to describing how the functional relation concept may be generalized to treat probabilistic causation, the book reviews historical treatments of causation and explores recent developments in experimental psychology on studies of the perception of causation. It looks at how to perceive causal

  13. Development of Legal and Regulatory Framework for Radioactive Waste Management Safety in the Russian Federation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kudryavtsev, E.

    2016-01-01

    Key RW management challenges in Russian Federation: - Full-scale implementation of legislation for radioactive waste management including administrative arrangements; - Transition from RW storage to RW conditioning and final disposal; - Construction of RW disposal facilities for accumulated waste; - Safety of waste management in connection with decommissioning and remediation activity; - Nuclear legacy liability: balanced approach to RW classification and management options in terms of “exceptional” and “retrievable” waste categories

  14. Russian-Indian Workshop "Radio Astronomy And Star Formation"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zinchenko, Igor; Zemlyanukha, P.

    2017-09-01

    In recent years the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India supported several joint projects in this field. The aims of the workshop were a discussion of the results of these and other relevant projects and promotion of the further Russian-Indian cooperation in this rapidly developing area of astrophysical research. The participants of the workshop represented several Russian and Indian organizations, which have important results in this field. The scientific program included a wide range of relevant observational and theoretical studies. The organizers of the workshop hope that the vivid discussions and tight communications between the participants will lead to increasing cooperation in this field between Russian and Indian researchers.

  15. RUSSIAN LANGUAGE COURSES

    CERN Document Server

    2000-01-01

    Russian Language Courses will be given at CERN from mid-September. For details, please call the teacher, Mrs Mascha Mikhailova, tel. + 41 22 782 62 29. At CERN, please send an e-mail to esthel.laperriere@cern.ch.

  16. Identity, causality, and pronoun ambiguity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sagi, Eyal; Rips, Lance J

    2014-10-01

    This article looks at the way people determine the antecedent of a pronoun in sentence pairs, such as: Albert invited Ron to dinner. He spent hours cleaning the house. The experiment reported here is motivated by the idea that such judgments depend on reasoning about identity (e.g., the identity of the he who cleaned the house). Because the identity of an individual over time depends on the causal-historical path connecting the stages of the individual, the correct antecedent will also depend on causal connections. The experiment varied how likely it is that the event of the first sentence (e.g., the invitation) would cause the event of the second (the house cleaning) for each of the two individuals (the likelihood that if Albert invited Ron to dinner, this would cause Albert to clean the house, versus cause Ron to clean the house). Decisions about the antecedent followed causal likelihood. A mathematical model of causal identity accounted for most of the key aspects of the data from the individual sentence pairs. Copyright © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  17. Investment financing in Russian financial-industrial groups

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Perotti, E.C.; Gelfer, S.

    1998-01-01

    We study whether Russian Financial-Industrial Groups facilitate access by Russianfirms to investment finance. We compare firms which are members of official FinancialIndustrial Groups and/or are owned by a large Russian bank with a control set of large firmscategorized by dispersed ownership or/and

  18. A Causal Theory of Modality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Tomás Alvarado

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available This work presents a causal conception of metaphysical modality in which a state of affairs is metaphysically possible if and only if it can be caused (in the past, the present or the future by current entities. The conception is contrasted with what is called the “combinatorial” conception of modality, in which everything can co-exist with anything else. This work explains how the notion of ‘causality’ should be construed in the causal theory, what difference exists between modalities thus defined from nomological modality, how accessibility relations between possible worlds should be interpreted, and what is the relation between the causal conception and the necessity of origin.

  19. Causal reasoning with mental models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khemlani, Sangeet S.; Barbey, Aron K.; Johnson-Laird, Philip N.

    2014-01-01

    This paper outlines the model-based theory of causal reasoning. It postulates that the core meanings of causal assertions are deterministic and refer to temporally-ordered sets of possibilities: A causes B to occur means that given A, B occurs, whereas A enables B to occur means that given A, it is possible for B to occur. The paper shows how mental models represent such assertions, and how these models underlie deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning yielding explanations. It reviews evidence both to corroborate the theory and to account for phenomena sometimes taken to be incompatible with it. Finally, it reviews neuroscience evidence indicating that mental models for causal inference are implemented within lateral prefrontal cortex. PMID:25389398

  20. Causal reasoning with mental models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khemlani, Sangeet S; Barbey, Aron K; Johnson-Laird, Philip N

    2014-01-01

    This paper outlines the model-based theory of causal reasoning. It postulates that the core meanings of causal assertions are deterministic and refer to temporally-ordered sets of possibilities: A causes B to occur means that given A, B occurs, whereas A enables B to occur means that given A, it is possible for B to occur. The paper shows how mental models represent such assertions, and how these models underlie deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning yielding explanations. It reviews evidence both to corroborate the theory and to account for phenomena sometimes taken to be incompatible with it. Finally, it reviews neuroscience evidence indicating that mental models for causal inference are implemented within lateral prefrontal cortex.

  1. Causal reasoning with mental models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sangeet eKhemlani

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper outlines the model-based theory of causal reasoning. It postulates that the core meanings of causal assertions are deterministic and refer to temporally-ordered sets of possibilities: A causes B to occur means that given A, B occurs, whereas A enables B to occur means that given A, it is possible for B to occur. The paper shows how mental models represent such assertions, and how these models underlie deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning yielding explanations. It reviews evidence both to corroborate the theory and to account for phenomena sometimes taken to be incompatible with it. Finally, it reviews neuroscience evidence indicating that mental models for causal inference are implemented within lateral prefrontal cortex.

  2. Regulation of the Debt Sustainability of the Russian Economy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seleznev, Alexander Z.; Chapluk, Vladimir Z.; Sayrenko, Tatiana N.; Sorokina, Larisa N.; Pertovskaya, Maria V.; Alekseenko, Elena A.

    2016-01-01

    The relevance of the investigating problem is caused by the need to reduce the total aggregated amount of debt in Russian economy in conditions of crisis and the strengthening of external anti-Russian sanctions. In this context, the purpose of this article is to identify measures aimed to regulate debt sustainability of the Russian economy using…

  3. Foundational perspectives on causality in large-scale brain networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mannino, Michael; Bressler, Steven L.

    2015-12-01

    A profusion of recent work in cognitive neuroscience has been concerned with the endeavor to uncover causal influences in large-scale brain networks. However, despite the fact that many papers give a nod to the important theoretical challenges posed by the concept of causality, this explosion of research has generally not been accompanied by a rigorous conceptual analysis of the nature of causality in the brain. This review provides both a descriptive and prescriptive account of the nature of causality as found within and between large-scale brain networks. In short, it seeks to clarify the concept of causality in large-scale brain networks both philosophically and scientifically. This is accomplished by briefly reviewing the rich philosophical history of work on causality, especially focusing on contributions by David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Bertrand Russell, and Christopher Hitchcock. We go on to discuss the impact that various interpretations of modern physics have had on our understanding of causality. Throughout all this, a central focus is the distinction between theories of deterministic causality (DC), whereby causes uniquely determine their effects, and probabilistic causality (PC), whereby causes change the probability of occurrence of their effects. We argue that, given the topological complexity of its large-scale connectivity, the brain should be considered as a complex system and its causal influences treated as probabilistic in nature. We conclude that PC is well suited for explaining causality in the brain for three reasons: (1) brain causality is often mutual; (2) connectional convergence dictates that only rarely is the activity of one neuronal population uniquely determined by another one; and (3) the causal influences exerted between neuronal populations may not have observable effects. A number of different techniques are currently available to characterize causal influence in the brain. Typically, these techniques quantify the statistical

  4. I. Bunin and V. Shukshin: Russian national character problem reflection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alieva Raisa Radzhabovna

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The paper attempts, using the comparative method of comparative studies, to show the level of artistic content of people’s life stories of the creative intimacy of the great Russian writers I.A. Bunin and V.M. Shukshin. The article shows the writers-realists who worked in different times, in different conditions, due to a good, thorough value of the way of people’s life, the depth of creative gift, gift of «staring look», the power and the truth of the patriotic feelings were able to objectively and historically true artistic revealing of the essence of the Russian national character in its complexity, multi-unroundness ambivalence. For both writers the Russian people embody Russia, deeply beloved homeland, its powerful, life-giving strength. They expressed their admiration for the moral beauty of the Russian people, Russian nature, Russian art.

  5. Administrative prejudgment in the Russian criminal law

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akhat Akhnafovich Yunusov

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Objective basing on the research of formation and development of the administrative prejudgment in the Russian criminal law and comparativelegal analysis of this institution as well as the longterm experience in crime investigation to trace the problems and trends of administrative prejudgment and prove the necessity to introduce or to be more precise legalize the administrative prejudgment in the Russian criminal law. Methods the research is based on the general dialectic method of cognition comparative historical formaljuridical methods as well as special and privatelegal methods of research. Results analysis of the main problems and collisions of administrative prejudgment in the Russian criminal law the doctrine and the practice of implementation of this institution can become the basis for legalization of the administrative prejudgment in the Russian criminal law and implementing it for the crimes stipulated in the Special part of the Russian Criminal Code if they are of low or middle gravity and committed intentionally those most often occurred. The article studies the institution of the administrative prejudgment in the Russian criminal law since 1922 until present. Various researchersrsquo opinions are given for and against returning of this institution. Taking into account the criminological indicators the authors express their own opinion on legalization of the administrative prejudgment. Scientific novelty having abandoned the formal approach to the institution of the administrative prejudgment both in the Russian criminal law and in the foreign laws the authors believe that the criminal personality should be the central factor of the administrative prejudgment legalization. In this context the authors state the direct connection between the personal features of a criminal including their inclination to immoral and illegal behavior and the crime committed by them. Practical value the theoretical conclusions formulated in the research

  6. Certain microsyntactic constructions in Russian which include the word čto as a constituent element

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iomdin L.L.

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper reports a study of several Russian syntactic idioms in which one of the lexical units is čto (a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun: The study is focused on syntactic and combinatorial properties of these linguistic entities and their meaning. The issues of adequate treatment of these entities in natural language processing tasks are discussed. The main difficulty here is reliable identification of these entities which could distinguish them from cases where the constituent elements of the idioms appear in the text independently of one another. A case study of one polysemantic syntactic idioms is presented - tol’ko čto ‘just; only’ in contradistinction to the polyseomous particle tol’ko ‘just’.

  7. Meteorological Data from the Russian Arctic, 1961-2000

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set contains monthly means of meteorological observation data from Russian stations from 1961-2000 (for most stations). The Russian station observations...

  8. Support for Separatism in Ethnic Republics of the Russian Federation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hagendoorn, Louk; Poppe, Edwin; Minescu, Anca

    2008-01-01

    This study examines popular support for separatism among Russians and non-Russian titular nationalities (titulars) in 10 ethnic republics of the Russian Federation: Karelia, Komi, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Udmurtia, Adygea, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Sakha-Yakutia and Tuva. A survey was carried

  9. Heterogeneous Causal Effects and Sample Selection Bias

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Breen, Richard; Choi, Seongsoo; Holm, Anders

    2015-01-01

    The role of education in the process of socioeconomic attainment is a topic of long standing interest to sociologists and economists. Recently there has been growing interest not only in estimating the average causal effect of education on outcomes such as earnings, but also in estimating how...... causal effects might vary over individuals or groups. In this paper we point out one of the under-appreciated hazards of seeking to estimate heterogeneous causal effects: conventional selection bias (that is, selection on baseline differences) can easily be mistaken for heterogeneity of causal effects....... This might lead us to find heterogeneous effects when the true effect is homogenous, or to wrongly estimate not only the magnitude but also the sign of heterogeneous effects. We apply a test for the robustness of heterogeneous causal effects in the face of varying degrees and patterns of selection bias...

  10. Moscow – Third Rome as Source of Anti-Western Russian Geopolitic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Justyna Doroszczyk

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Moscow as the Third Rome is the basis of Russian thinking about the state and the Russian nation and also Russian geopolitics. It is a solid foundation of anti-Western tendency in Russian geopolitics. The belief about Russia’s providential mission is a tool of differentiation between the two types of civilizations and cultures – the “rotting” western world and the Russian world, which manifests as a cradle of traditional, conservative values that individualistic, materialistic Western civilisation has rejected.

  11. An Analysis of Ratings of Russian Banks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Soest, A.H.O.; Peresetsky, A.; Karminsky, A.M.

    2003-01-01

    Since the recent financial crisis, both the Russian business community and foreign investors have started to make more and more use of ratings of the reliability of Russian banks, i.e., their ability to meet interest and repayment commitments to the investors.In response to this, the number of

  12. Brief introduction about radiation hygiene in Russian navy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Yu; Min Rui; Pan Zhen

    2005-01-01

    During long-time radiation working practice, there have been established comprehensive radiation hygiene system of technique and regulation in Russian navy. Brief introduction about radiation hygiene in Russian navy are as follows. (authors)

  13. Corporate targeting: Nike on the Russian market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sekulović Ana

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Nike Corporation is one of leading global players in sports apparel and footwear market. Strategic development of Nike Co has always been based on superior marketing and engagement of world-class sportspersons in its advertising campaigns. When USSR collapsed, Nike immediately started with penetration on Russian market. By relying on its outstanding innovativeness in product development and marketing, Nike has become one of three biggest players in the market. As its distributor for Russian market, Nike has chosen Serbia-based company, Delta Sport. The strategy of penetration on Russian market is based on four major pillars: sport marketing, public relations retail marketing and advertising. The most relevant competitors on Russian market are Reebok and Adidas. Trying to increase its market share in the Russian Federation, Nike has used following competitive advantages: global brand, retail discounts and cost decrease. Regarding further development of the company's activities on Russian market, long-term objectives are as follows: maintaining the leading position, unfurling production on whole RF and CIS territories, new contracts and improvement of contracts with existing partners, expanding of retail network, establishment of own production on RF and CIS markets, and orientation of marketing department toward "Sport Marketing". Delta Sport, as an agent of Nike Co, has certain freedom in creating business policy but it still has to comply with basic principles adopted for the whole corporation. The most important factors considered when selecting a strategy are: positive sides of firm, its goals and interests top management relationships, financial resources, personnel qualifications influence of external environment, and time factor. Delta Sport has entirely adopted these principles and also developed internal ones, which are complementary with Nike's.

  14. Entanglement entropy in causal set theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sorkin, Rafael D.; Yazdi, Yasaman K.

    2018-04-01

    Entanglement entropy is now widely accepted as having deep connections with quantum gravity. It is therefore desirable to understand it in the context of causal sets, especially since they provide in a natural manner the UV cutoff needed to render entanglement entropy finite. Formulating a notion of entanglement entropy in a causal set is not straightforward because the type of canonical hypersurface-data on which its definition typically relies is not available. Instead, we appeal to the more global expression given in Sorkin (2012 (arXiv:1205.2953)) which, for a Gaussian scalar field, expresses the entropy of a spacetime region in terms of the field’s correlation function within that region (its ‘Wightman function’ W(x, x') ). Carrying this formula over to the causal set, one obtains an entropy which is both finite and of a Lorentz invariant nature. We evaluate this global entropy-expression numerically for certain regions (primarily order-intervals or ‘causal diamonds’) within causal sets of 1  +  1 dimensions. For the causal-set counterpart of the entanglement entropy, we obtain, in the first instance, a result that follows a (spacetime) volume law instead of the expected (spatial) area law. We find, however, that one obtains an area law if one truncates the commutator function (‘Pauli–Jordan operator’) and the Wightman function by projecting out the eigenmodes of the Pauli–Jordan operator whose eigenvalues are too close to zero according to a geometrical criterion which we describe more fully below. In connection with these results and the questions they raise, we also study the ‘entropy of coarse-graining’ generated by thinning out the causal set, and we compare it with what one obtains by similarly thinning out a chain of harmonic oscillators, finding the same, ‘universal’ behaviour in both cases.

  15. Preschoolers prefer to learn causal information

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aubry eAlvarez

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Young children, in general, appear to have a strong drive to explore the environment in ways that reveal its underlying causal structure. But are they really attuned specifically to casual information in this quest for understanding, or do they show equal interest in other types of non-obvious information about the world? To answer this question, we introduced 20 three-year-old children to two puppets who were anxious to tell the child about a set of novel artifacts and animals. One puppet consistently described causal properties of the items while the other puppet consistently described carefully matched non-causal properties of the same items. After a familiarization period in which children learned which type of information to expect from each informant, children were given the opportunity to choose which they wanted to hear describe each of eight pictured test items. On average, children chose to hear from the informant that provided causal descriptions on 72% of the trials. This preference for causal information has important implications for explaining the role of conceptual information in supporting early learning and may suggest means for maximizing interest and motivation in young children.

  16. Russian energy prices, taxes and costs 1993

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-01-01

    The Russian energy industry may be the country's most promising exporter, but it is struggling to free itself from the heavy regulation and economic distortions inherited from the Soviet era. This analysis examines Russian price and tax policies as well as production costs in 1993, and their effect on supply and demand in the oil, coal, gas and electricity sectors. The study underscores the broad consensus among both Western and Russian experts that primary energy prices should be lifted to world levels. It offers a framework for addressing the great question about how fast this should be done in a country undergoing a tremendous social and political transformation

  17. Liberalization of Russian gas exports: benefits and challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yakunina Alla

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Russian gas export liberalization has been discussed throughout the post-Soviet period. Recently, the number of Gazprom’s export monopoly advocates has been diminishing as a result of dramatic changes in both European and Russian gas markets, which are: increasing international trade in liquefied natural gas; the EU movement from long-term contracts to the commodity markets and hub pricing; substantially increased share of the non-Gazprom gas suppliers at the Russian domestic market. Although there is a potential risk of price decrease in the EU gas market in the case of the Gazprom export monopoly abolition, the benefits of the Russian gas export liberalization would be greater than losses. The gas resource base and the cost of pipeline gas production would allow Russia to improve its positions in the world market.

  18. RRDF-98. Russian reactor dosimetry file. Summary documentation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pashchenko, A.B.

    1999-01-01

    This document summarizes the contents and documentation of the new version of tile Russian Reactor Dosimetry File (RRDF-98) released in December 1998 by the Russian Center on Nuclear Data (CJD) at the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering, Russian Federation. This file contains the original evaluations of cross section data and covariance matrixes for 22 reactions which are used for neutron flux dosimetry by foil activation. The majority of the evaluations included in previous versions of the Russian Reactor Dosimetry Files (BOSPOR-80, RRGF-94 and RRDF-96) have been superseded by new evaluations. The evaluated cross sections of RRDF-98 averaged over 252-Cf and 235-U fission spectra are compared with relevant integral data. The data file is available from the IAEA Nuclear Data Section on diskette, cost free. (author)

  19. Genetic causal beliefs about obesity, self-efficacy for weight control, and obesity-related behaviours in a middle-aged female cohort.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knerr, Sarah; Bowen, Deborah J; Beresford, Shirley A A; Wang, Catharine

    2016-01-01

    Obesity is a heritable condition with well-established risk-reducing behaviours. Studies have shown that beliefs about the causes of obesity are associated with diet and exercise behaviour. Identifying mechanisms linking causal beliefs and behaviours is important for obesity prevention and control. Cross-sectional multi-level regression analyses of self-efficacy for weight control as a possible mediator of obesity attributions (diet, physical activity, genetic) and preventive behaviours in 487 non-Hispanic White women from South King County, Washington. Self-reported daily fruit and vegetable intake and weekly leisure-time physical activity. Diet causal beliefs were positively associated with fruit and vegetable intake, with self-efficacy for weight control partially accounting for this association. Self-efficacy for weight control also indirectly linked physical activity attributions and physical activity behaviour. Relationships between genetic causal beliefs, self-efficacy for weight control, and obesity-related behaviours differed by obesity status. Self-efficacy for weight control contributed to negative associations between genetic causal attributions and obesity-related behaviours in non-obese, but not obese, women. Self-efficacy is an important construct to include in studies of genetic causal beliefs and behavioural self-regulation. Theoretical and longitudinal work is needed to clarify the causal nature of these relationships and other mediating and moderating factors.

  20. Russian LNG: The Long Road to Export

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mitrova, Tatiana

    2013-12-01

    On December 1, 2013 a law on liquefied natural gas (LNG) export liberalization came into legal force in Russia. The law grants two categories of companies other than Russia's state gas giant Gazprom and its subsidiary companies the right to export LNG: (1) users of mineral resources that have a license to construct an LNG plant or to send their gas production for liquefaction, and (2) companies that are more than 50% owned by the Russian government, for gas produced from Russian offshore fields or under production-sharing agreements. This is-without exaggeration-a historic decision for the Russian gas industry, the path to which was certainly not easy. Recent years have seen a radical change in the global economic climate, which has changed the dynamics of the European gas market (gas demand decline and Russian gas import reduction, changing pricing mechanism for a much higher share of spot indexing, European Commission anti-trust investigations against Gazprom, etc) and is increasingly pushing Russia to diversify its gas exports. However, diversifying exports through the development of LNG has proven to be not so simple. Over the past 20 years, with the exception of the Sakhalin-2 project, structured under a project-sharing agreement (PSA) rather than in the framework of national legislation, all other projects failed to come close to completion. The Kharasavey and Baltic LNG projects were abandoned in the early stages of project evaluation, while the Shtokman project progressed to the point of the operating company being created, but in the end was postponed indefinitely. The first stage of LNG development in Russia ended in failure. However, the Russian government considers the development of LNG exports to be a priority, which can be evidenced in all official policy papers. It is believed that LNG will help in achieving a set of objectives, namely: increasing the absolute volume of exports, allowing the country to enter into previously inaccessible markets

  1. “Frog Story” and “Map Task” in the Russian countryside

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margje Post

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available This article reports on experimental work with speakers of standard Russian and Russian dialects on the Kola peninsula. The proposed methodology, though showing some difficulties when applied in a Russian dialectological fieldwork setting, provides data on various varieties of Russian that can prove to be a rich source for many kinds of comparative linguistic research.

  2. Causal attributions of vineyard executives – A mental model study of vineyard management☆

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin FG Schaffernicht

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This article contributes a reference of causal attributions made by vineyard executives in Chile, where increasing costs and stagnating prices challenge the vineyards’ profits. The investigation was motivated by the question how executives interpret the industry's mid term future and how they reflect on steering their companies. Based on in-depth interviews, causal maps were elaborated to represent the executives’ mental models. These are represented as sequences of attributions, connecting variables by causal links. It was found that some mental models guide policies bound to increase the prices, whereas other models suggest taking the prices as givens and control costs. The collection of causal attributions of the vineyard executives (CAVE has been made publicly available. As a result, CAVE can be used by other management scholars to elicit other executives’ mental models and increase the data base available. Since such research will be cumulative, a minimum size for meaningful statistical analysis can be reached, opening up an avenue for improving the design of business policies. CAVE can also serve executives and consultants in constructing causal argumentations and business policies. Future research and development of supporting software are called for. Keywords: Mental models, Strategy, Business model

  3. Mathematical implications of Einstein-Weyl causality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borchers, H.J.; Sen, R.N.

    2006-01-01

    The present work is the first systematic attempt at answering the following fundamental question: what mathematical structures does Einstein-Weyl causality impose on a point-set that has no other previous structure defined on it? The authors propose an axiomatization of Einstein-Weyl causality (inspired by physics), and investigate the topological and uniform structures that it implies. Their final result is that a causal space is densely embedded in one that is locally a differentiable manifold. The mathematical level required of the reader is that of the graduate student in mathematical physics. (orig.)

  4. Introductive remarks on causal inference

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silvana A. Romio

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available One of the more challenging issues in epidemiological research is being able to provide an unbiased estimate of the causal exposure-disease effect, to assess the possible etiological mechanisms and the implication for public health. A major source of bias is confounding, which can spuriously create or mask the causal relationship. In the last ten years, methodological research has been developed to better de_ne the concept of causation in epidemiology and some important achievements have resulted in new statistical models. In this review, we aim to show how a technique the well known by statisticians, i.e. standardization, can be seen as a method to estimate causal e_ects, equivalent under certain conditions to the inverse probability treatment weight procedure.

  5. Importance of the First and the Second Russian Olympic Games for development of sports and Olympic movement in the Russian Empire

    OpenAIRE

    Лях-Породько, Олексій

    2014-01-01

    The article reveals and analyses external and internal (nation-wide and regional) factors which have affected the holding of the First Russian Olympic Games of 1913 in Kiev and the Second Russian Olympic Games of 1914 in Riga are analyzed. It was determined that sports activity in the state was considerably stirred up during 1913–1914 years. It was found that the first Russian Olympic Games directly affected development of governmental-public structure of physical training and sports, creatio...

  6. On Russian/Nordic Investment Competition in the Baltic States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olenchenko Vladimir

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The researchers often overlook the relationships between Russian and Nordic investment capital; and even less attention is paid to studying the competition between the two. Yet this subject can be of particular relevance to the areas that are geographically, historically and culturally close to both Russia and the Nordic countries. Thus, the aim of this article is to understand how the competition between Russian and Nordic capital investment is played out in the Baltic States. The study discusses the principles of Russian and Nordic investment in the Baltic, and suggests ways to regulate these relations. To this end, we compare the investment conditions created in the Baltic States for both Russian and Nordic investors. The analysis shows that most of the Baltic market is controlled by the Nordic capital, which blocks the arrival of Russian investment to the Baltic States. With a nod to a number of previous studies, the authors of this article suggest some adjustments to the theory of foreign direct investment. The study will be also of practical interest to those Russian investors who are seeking entry points to the Baltic markets.

  7. Study of the relationship between the development level and degree of income inequality in the Russian regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marina Yuryevna Malkina

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The subject of this article is the types of relationship between economic development and degree of income inequality in the regions of the Russian Federation. Research methods: testing the modified Kuznets hypothesis; relative deflating of regional parameters; calculating the differentiation and localization coefficients; constructing the Lorentz curves; correlation and regression analysis. Obtained results: 1 for Russian regions author discovered significant direct statistical relationship between the Gini and funds coefficients and the level of real per capita income with increasing returns, as well as less strong direct relationship between coefficients of differentiation mentioned above and the real GDP per capita with diminishing returns; 2 the “social wellbeing” coefficient is proposed and calculated for the regions, which based on localization index of real per capita income relative to the differentiation coefficient, and 3 the degree of interregional disparities in the Russian Federation is evaluated on the basis of the Gini coefficient, coefficient of variation and relative entropy for the nominal and real income and GRP per capita, and Lorenz curves for them are constructed. In this paper, author concluded: 1 presently the level of economic development of the Russian Federation regions negatively affects their income equality due to most of them are on the ascending branch of the S. Kuznets curve, 2 “social welfare” coefficient changes the positions of the middle-income regions more, than that of other regions, and 3 two factors have a positive impact on reducing the regional disparities: more ratio of total personal income to GRP in poor regions relative to rich ones (i.e. greater “social orientation” of poor regions, and positive correlation between income and the cost of living in the regions. The obtained results can be used by researchers in further testing the modified Kuznets hypothesis, as well as by local

  8. Climate change and zoonotic infections in the Russian Arctic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Boris Revich

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Climate change in the Russian Arctic is more pronounced than in any other part of the country. Between 1955 and 2000, the annual average air temperature in the Russian North increased by 1.2°C. During the same period, the mean temperature of upper layer of permafrost increased by 3°C. Climate change in Russian Arctic increases the risks of the emergence of zoonotic infectious diseases. This review presents data on morbidity rates among people, domestic animals and wildlife in the Russian Arctic, focusing on the potential climate related emergence of such diseases as tick-borne encephalitis, tularemia, brucellosis, leptospirosis, rabies, and anthrax.

  9. Lexical Inferencing in Reading L2 Russian

    Science.gov (United States)

    Comer, William J.

    2012-01-01

    This study describes how intermediate-level first language English readers of Russian as a second language deploy lexical inferencing and other strategies when reading informational texts. Fifth-semester students of Russian performed think-alouds while reading two texts; one written for the general adult reader, and the other meant for school-age…

  10. Outcomes of role stress: a multisample constructive replication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kemery, E R; Bedeian, A G; Mossholder, K W; Touliatos, J

    1985-06-01

    Responses from four separate samples of accountants and hospital employees provided a constructive replication of the Bedeian and Armenakis (1981) model of the causal nexus between role stress and selected outcome variables. We investigated the relationship between both role ambiguity and role conflict--as specific forms of role stress--and job-related tension, job satisfaction, and propensity to leave, using LISREL IV, a technique capable of providing statistical data for a hypothesized population model, as well as for specific causal paths. Results, which support the Bedeian and Armenakis model, are discussed in light of previous research.

  11. Just what exactly is a warhead? An analysis of Russian/English translations and definitions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hadley, A.

    1998-06-01

    That there are significant definitional differences between languages is a statement of the obvious. It logically follows that definitional ambiguity occurs when translating a term from one language to another. The far-reaching implications of this fact, however, are not as widely recognized. One word that has been and will continue to be significant is warhead. This analysis (1) examines the different translations and definitions of the word warhead in English and Russian; (2) discusses the usage of warhead in the context of arms control; and (3) explores the implications definitional differences have for future negotiations. It specifically utilizes treaty texts, as well as the Helsinki agreement text, to construct a contextual use of warhead. It is concluded that if US policymakers are committed to including nuclear explosive devices in START III force reductions, negotiators must identify and use a more specific term than warhead or boyegolovka. Also included as an appendix are copies of the signed Helsinki agreement in both English and Russian.

  12. Just what exactly is a warhead? An analysis of Russian/English translations and definitions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hadley, A.

    1998-06-01

    That there are significant definitional differences between languages is a statement of the obvious. It logically follows that definitional ambiguity occurs when translating a term from one language to another. The far-reaching implications of this fact, however, are not as widely recognized. One word that has been and will continue to be significant is warhead. This analysis (1) examines the different translations and definitions of the word warhead in English and Russian; (2) discusses the usage of warhead in the context of arms control; and (3) explores the implications definitional differences have for future negotiations. It specifically utilizes treaty texts, as well as the Helsinki agreement text, to construct a contextual use of warhead. It is concluded that if US policymakers are committed to including nuclear explosive devices in START III force reductions, negotiators must identify and use a more specific term than warhead or boyegolovka. Also included as an appendix are copies of the signed Helsinki agreement in both English and Russian

  13. Nuclear energy and society: Russian dimension

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gagarinski, A.Y.

    2010-01-01

    Nuclear weapons and crisis of confidence resulting from severe accidents have both formed the attitude towards nuclear issues in the Russian minds. The current status of relations between nuclear energy and the public is still close to this politicization of nuclear energy and to the constant irrational fear of radiations. The 3 basic antinuclear arguments usually mentioned are proliferation risk, wastes and accidents. For proliferation risk it is easy to understand that a complete nuclear power phase-out would not prevent the spreading of nuclear weapons because uranium and centrifuges would still exist. For the Russian society, the issue of radioactive wastes is popular these days because the Russian parliament is considering a bill about it. The issue of radioactive wastes seems to be economically and technically solvable. The main problem is nuclear accidents. In Russia this issue is very touchy: we still remember zero-radiation events, which, when happened not very long ago, have aroused panics in whole regions. It is hard to change the idea, well spread in Russian minds that the authorities are always trying to understate the scale of negative events. Nevertheless, some recent polls show that the positive trend in the attitude towards nuclear energy is obvious as it is in most part of the world. (A.C.)

  14. Russian Register of Pregnancy and Epilepsy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. V. Dmitrenko

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The use of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of congenital malformations (CMF. Information on the teratogenicity of AEDs is contradictory. The potential negative effects of new-generation AEDs are less well known. Many physicians and patients face difficulties in establishing a balance between the risk of seizures during pregnancy and that of teratogenicity in the use of AEDs. In most foreign countries, there are national and international pregnancy and epilepsy registries that make possible to centralize and systematize information on the safety of AEDs and to also give a true picture of the state of the problem.The Russian pregnancy and epilepsy register (RPER has been launched since 2017. RPER is a Russian national prospective and retrospective observational study, without interfering with the antiepileptic therapy prescribed by an attending physician to childbearing-aged patients living in the subjects of the Russian Federation. RPER is an independent research initiative and is implemented by neurologists and psychiatrists who provide assistance to women with epilepsy. The main goal of the RPER is to compare the risk of serious CMFs following the maternal intake of various AEDs and their combinations in different regions of the Russian Federation and to develop strategies for preventing CMFs. 

  15. Climate equivalence scales and the effects of climate change on Russian welfare and well-being

    OpenAIRE

    Paul Frijters; Bernard M.S. van Praag

    1998-01-01

    This paper measures the concepts of welfare and well-being in Russia on the basis of two large Russian household surveys, carried out in 1993 and 1994. Welfare refers to satisfaction with income and well-being refers to satisfaction with life as a whole. This paper investigates how climate conditions in various parts of Russia affect the cost of living and well-being. Climate equivalence scales have been constructed for both welfare and well-being.

  16. Quasi-Experimental Designs for Causal Inference

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Yongnam; Steiner, Peter

    2016-01-01

    When randomized experiments are infeasible, quasi-experimental designs can be exploited to evaluate causal treatment effects. The strongest quasi-experimental designs for causal inference are regression discontinuity designs, instrumental variable designs, matching and propensity score designs, and comparative interrupted time series designs. This…

  17. ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF RUSSIAN-GERMAN RELATIONS IN 2000-2013

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Юлия Олеговна Пучинская

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The effective collaboration between the Russian Federation and Germany at the beginning of the 21st century would be impossible without mutually beneficial economic cooperation of the two countries. The analysis of basic stages in the economic relations, achievements and problems are considered by the author to be important for lining-up an all-round picture of the Russian-German relations in the period under review. The main purpose of this article is the consideration and analysis of the economic aspects in the Russian foreign policy towards Germany. The problem considered in the article is of current importance, because in 2000-2013 the economic collaboration of Russia and the German Federal Republic was brought to a high level, but at the same time some considerable potential of cooperation was not fulfilled. With regard to complementarity of the Russian and German economies and their centuries-old experience of collaboration and mutual financial interest, it is possible to suppose that the economic sphere in particular would be a basis of optimization of the Russian-German relations in the long term. In such a way, this article deals with the basic directions of the Russian-German economic cooperation in 2000-2013.The contractual legal base of financial relations is examined with the purpose to reveal strengths and weaknesses as well as perspective possibilities of the optimization in the Russian-German relations in the future.

  18. The Illusive Nature of ‘Russian International Law

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gleb Bogush

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The monograph written by Estonian international law scholar Lauri Mälksoo is impressively well-timed. The record of recent international legal developments involving Russia is striking: the annexation of Crimea and the armed conflict in Ukraine, Russia’s ‘sanctions war’ with the United States and the European Union, nonrecognition and non-compliance with the international arbitral award in the Yukos case, and earlier, in 2013, Russia’s boycott of the proceedings at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Most recently, already subsequent to the publication of Russian Approaches to International Law, in July 2015 the Russian Constitutional Court sent a message of open disregard to Strasbourg by declaring that the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights could not be implemented in Russia if they contradicted the Russian Constitution. In all these instances the Russian government relied on its own reading of international law, which appeared not only to be strikingly different from that of the vast majority of states, but often detrimental to the foundations of the discipline. One might wonder whether these events are just the excesses of authoritarian power-politics, or more fundamentally grounded. Specifically, is there any special Russian international school of legal thought (referred to below as ‘Russian international law’? And if there is, may it serve as a plausible alternative to Western-centric contemporary international law? Lauri Mälksoo’s book is the first genuine response to these questions.

  19. Russian research reactor fuel return program starts shipping fuel to Russia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dedik, T.; Bolshinsky, I.; Krass, A.

    2003-01-01

    For almost four years the United States (U.S), the Russian Federation (R.F.), and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been discussing an initiative to return Soviet/Russian-origin research reactor fuel to the Russian Federation. In a series of bilateral and trilateral meetings in Vienna and Moscow, considerable progress has been made toward defining the Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return Program as well as obtaining the necessary technical data to facilitate the return. More than 20 research reactors in 17 countries that have Soviet- or Russian-supplied fuel have identified. Most of these reactors have stocks of both fresh and irradiated HEU fuel that must be carefully stored and managed for many years to come. On September 21, 2003 the Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return program shipped 14 kg of fresh Russian-origin HEU fuel from Romania to the nuclear fuel fabrication facility in Russia, which represented the beginning of the practical implementation of the program. (author)

  20. Praising the Ruler: Panegyrical Poetry and Russian Absolutism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joachim Klein

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available It is difficult to overrate the importance of the panegyric tradition for early modern Russian literature. Between the middle of the 17th to the end of the 18th century, it was practiced in many different genres—almost all Russian poets praised the ruler. This poetry deserves our interest as a specific form of political literature. As such it is not only relevant for the cult of the Russian monarchs, but it also sheds some light on the political mentality of their loyal—and literate—subjects in the age of Russian absolutism. Panegyrical poetry is per definitionem a thoroughly affirmative, noncritical form of political literature. But this did not prevent it from offering a certain scope for the expression of diverse and even contradictory political ideals. This can be exemplified by the panegyrical poems written in the early 1760s in the context of the coup d’état staged by Catherine II and against the backdrop of the Russo-Prussian peace treaty initiated by her predecessor, Peter III. In this situation, a fundamental difference of opinion about the tasks of the monarch and the mission of the Russian state emerged.

  1. Astronauts Work in the Russian Zvezda Service Module

    Science.gov (United States)

    2001-01-01

    Astronauts Frank L. Culbertson, Jr. (left), Expedition Three mission commander, and Daniel W. Bursch, Expedition Four flight engineer, work in the Russian Zvezda Service Module on the International Space Station (ISS). Zvezda is linked to the Russian built Functional Cargo Block (FGB), or Zarya, the first component of the ISS. Zarya was launched on a Russian Proton rocket prior to the launch of Unity. The third component of the ISS, Zvezda (Russian word for star), the primary Russian contribution to the ISS, was launched by a three-stage Proton rocket on July 12, 2000. Zvezda serves as the cornerstone for early human habitation of the Station, providing living quarters, a life support system, electrical power distribution, a data processing system, a flight control system, and a propulsion system. It also provides a communications system that includes remote command capabilities from ground flight controllers. The 42,000 pound module measures 43 feet in length and has a wing span of 98 feet. Similar in layout to the core module of Russia's Mir space station, it contains 3 pressurized compartments and 13 windows that allow ultimate viewing of Earth and space.

  2. RRDF-98. Russian reactor dosimetry file. Summary documentation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pashchenko, A B

    1999-03-01

    This document summarizes the contents and documentation of the new version of tile Russian Reactor Dosimetry File (RRDF-98) released in December 1998 by the Russian Center on Nuclear Data (CJD) at the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering, Russian Federation. This file contains the original evaluations of cross section data and covariance matrixes for 22 reactions which are used for neutron flux dosimetry by foil activation. The majority of the evaluations included in previous versions of the Russian Reactor Dosimetry Files (BOSPOR-80, RRGF-94 and RRDF-96) have been superseded by new evaluations. The evaluated cross sections of RRDF-98 averaged over 252-Cf and 235-U fission spectra are compared with relevant integral data. The data file is available from the IAEA Nuclear Data Section on diskette, cost free. (author) 9 refs, 22 figs, 2 tabs

  3. Ethnic Motives in Russian Mass Consciousness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natalija Pliskevič

    2000-12-01

    Full Text Available The author examines certain finding on ethnic aspects of mass consciousness in the Russian Federation, as presented in the journal Monitoring public opinion: economic and social changes (rus. Мониторинг общественного мнения: экономические и социальные перемены, published by the All-Russian Centre for the Study of Public Opinion. The problems of national identity and ethnic tension in Russia increased after the collapse of the Soviet empire. Ethnic phobias, complexes and ambitions reached a peak in the period 1993–1995. However, by 1999–2000, according to the surveys, they returned to the 1989–1990 level. The increase until 1995 occurred during the break-down of former Soviet political and administrative relations. By 1994 negative attitudes, apart from a traditional aversion to immigrants from the Caucasus, were directed to peoples of the newly independent former Soviet republics (especially to those from the Baltic states, and to ethnic groups such as the Vietnamese, Gypsies, etc. On the other hand, the subsequent decrease in negative attitudes to other ethnic groups was not so much the result of greater tolerance or the development of civil society, but rather due to an imperial tradition of indifference to ethnic problems. According to L. Gudkov, ethnic views in 1994–1995 showed traces inherited from the Stalinist period. Gudkov found that passivity and a “victim“ complex had assumed a central position in the self-image of Russians. Such a complex serves to exonerate the subject from any feeling of personal blame or deficiency, but also leads to a nostalgic idealisation of the past and a negation of the present. The result is a social syndrome that denies action and an ethnosocial self-awareness that prevents universalisation and the development of a national identity based on the principles of civil society. The “victim“ complex fosters a feeling of threat to the

  4. Gravity and matter in causal set theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sverdlov, Roman; Bombelli, Luca

    2009-01-01

    The goal of this paper is to propose an approach to the formulation of dynamics for causal sets and coupled matter fields. We start from the continuum version of the action for a Klein-Gordon field coupled to gravity, and rewrite it first using quantities that have a direct correspondent in the case of a causal set, namely volumes, causal relations and timelike lengths, as variables to describe the geometry. In this step, the local Lagrangian density L(f;x) for a set of fields f is recast into a quasilocal expression L 0 (f;p,q) that depends on pairs of causally related points pprq and is a function of the values of f in the Alexandrov set defined by those points, and whose limit as p and q approach a common point x is L(f;x). We then describe how to discretize L 0 (f;p,q) and use it to define a causal-set-based action.

  5. Excerpt from Transnational Russian-American Travel Writing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margarita D. Marinova

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Margarita Marinova’s text is excerpted from her new work Transnational Russian-American Travel Writing. The work’s purpose is to examine “the diverse practices of crossing boundaries, tactics of translation, and experiences of double and multiple political and national attachments” found in a group of writings about encounters between Russians and Americans between 1865 and the Russian Revolution of 1905. (These encounters provide a prelude to the more famous American travelogue of 1930s Soviet satirical writers Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov, Odnoetazhnaia Amerika [Single-Storied America]. Contrasting viewpoints on race and ethnicity form an important element of Marinova’s corpus, and one fine example is the extract shown here, which treats the encounter of Russian-Jewish revolutionary Vladimir Bogoraz (Tan with a Black American student working as a Pullman porter, and the Russian’s unwittingly humorous incapacity to view him outside of stereotypes (in a fashion that anticipates the character of the mother in Shirley Jackson’s mordant short story “After You, My Dear Alphonse”.

  6. How multiple causes combine: independence constraints on causal inference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liljeholm, Mimi

    2015-01-01

    According to the causal power view, two core constraints-that causes occur independently (i.e., no confounding) and influence their effects independently-serve as boundary conditions for causal induction. This study investigated how violations of these constraints modulate uncertainty about the existence and strength of a causal relationship. Participants were presented with pairs of candidate causes that were either confounded or not, and that either interacted or exerted their influences independently. Consistent with the causal power view, uncertainty about the existence and strength of causal relationships was greater when causes were confounded or interacted than when unconfounded and acting independently. An elemental Bayesian causal model captured differences in uncertainty due to confounding but not those due to an interaction. Implications of distinct sources of uncertainty for the selection of contingency information and causal generalization are discussed.

  7. BY THE EXPERIENCE OF FOREIGN INTERNSHIP AMONG RUSSIAN STUDENTS’ OF CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT OF IZHSTU AT BRNO UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (2013

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valery P. Grahov

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the study is to investigate the possibilities of foreign internships among Russian students. Methods. The methods involve general-scientific methods of theoretical research – analysis and synthesis. Results. The article is devoted to the analysis of foreign internships of Civil Engineering Department of Kalashnikov Izhevsk State Technical University in foreign universities for a specific period of time. The authors analyze the entry of Russian students into the European educational process. Additionally, the authors describe the educational process of training among Russian students of the Industrial and Civil Construction Department in Brno University of Technology. The training is conducted in accordance with the project of the European Union «Lifelong Learning Programme», which involves some non-profitable projects of foreign exchange of students and teachers; e.g. Erasmus Mundus, that is accessible more or less for all universities all over the world. A brief assessment of teaching subjects in the Czech University is given. The concept of students’ foreign internships as a part of preparation of intended graduates with a degree in «Construction» is extended. Evident, current and future advantages and benefits of such foreign internship projects are noted. Scientific novelty and practical significance. The research findings include the developed recommendations for students’ internship organization in foreign universities. 

  8. Russian Initiatives in Internet Governance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergey Sergeevich Shirin

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to the research of Russian initiatives concerning its participation in international system of Internet governance. In the research, conceptual and theoretic basis for participation of state governments in Internet governance is given, academic discourse of this issue is assessed, the review of main Russian initiatives made from 2005 (since the second stage of the World Summit on Information Society till the present day is carried out. The conclusion is made that the most successful Internet governance initiative of Russia is the implementation of cyrillic top level domains. Much less successful are Russian attempts to reconstruct existing organizational structure of Internet governance. Russian policy is assessed as a policy of preferring loud statements and PR rather than real influence on development of Internet technologies. Russia consideres Internet as political resource and tries to increase its influence on decision making process on a political, not operational level of Internet governance. The author states that federal government of the United States of America has fully lost the control on the domain name systems. These functions are going to be given to the private sector, while ICANN, which was established according to the Memorandum of Understanding/Joint Project Agreement with U.S. Department of Commerce, is becoming a truly independent international organization. Considering this, the author comes to the conclusion that political transformations for the sake of Russia are already made. He also forecast that next initiatives of Russia will be directed to the segmentation of the Internet.

  9. The mistake of the causal relationship

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    О. Д. Комаров

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with issues of the mistake of the causal relationship. The modern criminal law science approaches to the content of the mistake of the causal relationship and its significance to the qualification of the crime are described. It is proved that in cases of dolus generalis different mental attitude of the guilty person to two separate acts of his conduct exist. Consequently, in mentioned above cases mistake of the causal relationship does not have place. The rules of qualification of the crimes commited with the mistake of causation and in cases of dolus generalis are proposed .

  10. Communicative, Educational, Pedagogical Objectives and Planning in Russian Language Teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evtyugina, Alla A.; Hasanova, Irina I.; Kotova, Svetlana S.; Sokolova, Anastasia N.; Svetkina, Irina A.

    2016-01-01

    The relevance of the problem stems from the necessity to distinctly plan educational process and set the goals for successful mastering of Russian language by foreign students in Russian higher educational institutions. The article is aimed at defining the foreign students' objectives for Russian language training, allowing them to get involved…

  11. Causes in the construction of causal law: A psycho-ecological model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Gerald

    2010-01-01

    The article presents an integrated psycho-ecological model of the construction of law, with implications for practice in law and mental health. The model is based on a series of concentric circles, each representing a layer of influence on the construction of law. The circle furthest removed from the center represents the influence of culture, society and industry, in particular, and the circle at the center of the circle represents the case at hand, for example, about individual complainant or mass action. The article begins by arguing that basic terms in relation to cause need clarification and also work is needed to disambiguate the concepts involved. After dealing with these issues, the article examines science and mental health. Is the scientific evidence presented by the expert sufficiently reliable and valid to meet admissibility standards of good compared to poor or junk science? Is the research undertaken for court or presented to court biased, with factors hidden, such as links to industry. Are individual evaluations conducted with biased science serving to justify partial conclusions? The dangers of powerful influences on the construction of law are highlighted, for example, related to the individual complainant malingering and the insurance industry protecting its financial interests at the expense of genuinely injured patients. In conclusion, suggestions for empirical research are offered. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Debts, subsidies and performance of Russian agricultural enterprises

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bezlepkina, I.; Oude Lansink, A.G.J.M.

    2003-01-01

    This study evaluates the impact of capital structure and subsidizing program on technical efficiency of agricultural production on Russian farms. The agency cost, free cash flow, and credit evaluation concepts of finance theory complemented with features of Russian farming provide alternative

  13. Causal independence between energy consumption and economic growth in Liberia: Evidence from a non-parametric bootstrapped causality test

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wesseh, Presley K.; Zoumara, Babette

    2012-01-01

    This contribution investigates causal interdependence between energy consumption and economic growth in Liberia and proposes application of a bootstrap methodology. To better reflect causality, employment is incorporated as additional variable. The study demonstrates evidence of distinct bidirectional Granger causality between energy consumption and economic growth. Additionally, the results show that employment in Liberia Granger causes economic growth and apply irrespective of the short-run or long-run. Evidence from a Monte Carlo experiment reveals that the asymptotic Granger causality test suffers size distortion problem for Liberian data, suggesting that the bootstrap technique employed in this study is more appropriate. Given the empirical results, implications are that energy expansion policies like energy subsidy or low energy tariff for instance, would be necessary to cope with demand exerted as a result of economic growth in Liberia. Furthermore, Liberia might have the performance of its employment generation on the economy partly determined by adequate energy. Therefore, it seems fully justified that a quick shift towards energy production based on clean energy sources may significantly slow down economic growth in Liberia. Hence, the government’s target to implement a long-term strategy to make Liberia a carbon neutral country, and eventually less carbon dependent by 2050 is understandable. - Highlights: ► Causality between energy consumption and economic growth in Liberia investigated. ► There is bidirectional causality between energy consumption and economic growth. ► Energy expansion policies are necessary to cope with demand from economic growth. ► Asymptotic Granger causality test suffers size distortion problem for Liberian data. ► The bootstrap methodology employed in our study is more appropriate.

  14. Progress of the Russian RERTR program: Development of new-type fuel elements for Russian-built research reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vatulin, A. V.; Stetskiy, Y.A.; Mishunin, V.A.; Suprun, V.B.; Dobrikova, I.V.

    2002-01-01

    The new design of pin-type fuel elements and fuel assembly on their basis for Russian research reactors has been developed. The number of following activities has been performed: computational and experimental substantiation of fuel element design; development of fabrication process of fuel elements; manufacturing of experimental assembly for lifetime in-pile tests. The relevant fuel assemblies are considered to be perspective for usage as low-enriched fuel for Russian research reactors. (author)

  15. OVERVIEW OF RUSSIAN CIVIL JUSTICE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. Maleshin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Contemporary Russian civil procedure is not a pure Continental model because it also has procedural features of the common law system, as well as some other original and exceptional features. This article examines the main aspects of Russian civil justice: its main principles; judicial organization, including the structure of the courts and the division between courts of general jurisdiction and arbitrazh (commercial courts, and the Intellectual Property Court; sources of procedural law; bar organization; the jurisdiction of the courts; actions and proceedings; legal costs; evidence; administrative procedure; class actions; enforcement proceedings; and arbitration and mediation.

  16. Russian energy in the EU market: Bolstered institutionsand their effects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Romanova, Tatiana

    2014-01-01

    The article examines institutional changes in EU–Russian energy relations since 2000. The article explores the ability of transformed institutions to limit the politicisation of energy and to reconcile the EU competitive-market approach with Russian state capitalism. More specifically, the article focuses on changes in intergovernmental, transgovernmental and transnational interactions. The article demonstrates that the gradual strengthening of transgovernmental and transnational institutions has inhibited the politicisation of energy relations and facilitated regulative cooperation between the EU and Russia. However, the potential of shared institutions is constrained by internal institutions on both sides. In Russia, these obstacles are insufficient top-down delegation of responsibilities in the government and its great power aspirations. In the EU, key barriers include inter-institutional rivalries, the EU’s propensity to impose its legislation on external partners and the integration of energy policy with foreign policy. The article presents several policy implications. First, it is futile to institutionally impose the regulative paradigm of one partner on the other; rather, mutual dialogue is needed. Thus, institutions should be structured appropriately. Second, current depoliticisation will require the involvement of not only the EU and Russia but also transit countries, such as Ukraine. Third, transgovernmental and transnational cooperation should be nurtured because this is a useful channel for both information exchange and a regulative convergence of policy implementing mechanisms. Finally, this incremental regulative convergence is the only option available today for the EU and Russia; this is also a way to further depoliticise energy relations. - Highlights: • EU and Russia developed transgovernmental and transnational energy institutions. • It allowed them to face energy challenges: depoliticisation and market construction. • Internal EU and

  17. A Bayesian Theory of Sequential Causal Learning and Abstract Transfer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Hongjing; Rojas, Randall R; Beckers, Tom; Yuille, Alan L

    2016-03-01

    Two key research issues in the field of causal learning are how people acquire causal knowledge when observing data that are presented sequentially, and the level of abstraction at which learning takes place. Does sequential causal learning solely involve the acquisition of specific cause-effect links, or do learners also acquire knowledge about abstract causal constraints? Recent empirical studies have revealed that experience with one set of causal cues can dramatically alter subsequent learning and performance with entirely different cues, suggesting that learning involves abstract transfer, and such transfer effects involve sequential presentation of distinct sets of causal cues. It has been demonstrated that pre-training (or even post-training) can modulate classic causal learning phenomena such as forward and backward blocking. To account for these effects, we propose a Bayesian theory of sequential causal learning. The theory assumes that humans are able to consider and use several alternative causal generative models, each instantiating a different causal integration rule. Model selection is used to decide which integration rule to use in a given learning environment in order to infer causal knowledge from sequential data. Detailed computer simulations demonstrate that humans rely on the abstract characteristics of outcome variables (e.g., binary vs. continuous) to select a causal integration rule, which in turn alters causal learning in a variety of blocking and overshadowing paradigms. When the nature of the outcome variable is ambiguous, humans select the model that yields the best fit with the recent environment, and then apply it to subsequent learning tasks. Based on sequential patterns of cue-outcome co-occurrence, the theory can account for a range of phenomena in sequential causal learning, including various blocking effects, primacy effects in some experimental conditions, and apparently abstract transfer of causal knowledge. Copyright © 2015

  18. Assessing grooming behavior of Russian honey bees toward Varroa destructor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    The grooming behavior of Russian bees was compared to Italian bees. Overall, Russian bees had significantly lower numbers of mites than the Italian bees with a mean of 1,937 ± 366 and 5,088 ± 733 mites, respectively. This low mite population in the Russian colonies was probably due to the increased ...

  19. PROVISION FOR ECONOMIC STABILITY OF CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISES UNDER CONDITIONS OF UNSTABLE RUSSIAN ECONOMY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. A. Kaminsky

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Construction enterprise economic stability is determined as condition at which there is most coordinated interaction of all activity components(financing, manufacturing, human resources, marketing, investment and management. Construction enterprise stability enhancing may beachieved through the implementation of adaptation programs. A mechanism of the impact on economic stability of individual components is described which makes it possible to increase overall stability of the construction company in different situations.

  20. On minimizers of causal variational principles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schiefeneder, Daniela

    2011-01-01

    Causal variational principles are a class of nonlinear minimization problems which arise in a formulation of relativistic quantum theory referred to as the fermionic projector approach. This thesis is devoted to a numerical and analytic study of the minimizers of a general class of causal variational principles. We begin with a numerical investigation of variational principles for the fermionic projector in discrete space-time. It is shown that for sufficiently many space-time points, the minimizing fermionic projector induces non-trivial causal relations on the space-time points. We then generalize the setting by introducing a class of causal variational principles for measures on a compact manifold. In our main result we prove under general assumptions that the support of a minimizing measure is either completely timelike, or it is singular in the sense that its interior is empty. In the examples of the circle, the sphere and certain flag manifolds, the general results are supplemented by a more detailed analysis of the minimizers. (orig.)

  1. TRADITIONS OF RUSSIAN BUSINESS AND CORPORATE PATRIOTISM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. A. Sverdlikova

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A study of employees’ loyalty to organization is usually associated with the analysis of the organizational culture, its norms, values, rules, which create a peculiar relationships the staff and the organization. In modern Russia there is an interesting symbiosis of the different epochs cultures, determining the personnel loyalty to organizations. The article represents the results of the researches received in the last decade by well-known Western and Russian sociological centers, as well as by some separate Russian sociologists. A significant feature of these studies is that they were conducted solely with the use of quantitative methods and in the format of Western corporate values and Western evaluation tools. The author research demonstrates that the corporate culture of Russian organizations, as well as the personnel loyalty, does not meet many inherent in international practice, evaluation criteria. Russian business culture is usually regarded as being in the process of becoming, to some extent, “underdeveloped” in comparison with the culture that exists in countries with strong capitalist traditions. This is not true. Over 25 years in Russia of market economy development have formed a certain system of values, incorporating values of pre-revolutionary business, ideological orientations of the Soviet era and the values that have been formed in recent years. Low degree of personnel’s loyalty towards the organizations, in this respect, is not a symptom of the cultural underdevelopment, it is a specific cultural trait of the domestic business, which has a quite rational basis and is not a subject to exclusively negative interpretation. This conclusion is based on the results of qualitative and quantitative research, conducted using methods of biographical analysis and content analysis of contemporary business periodicals. These qualitative and quantitative research methods in the analysis of the Russian corporate values determine a

  2. Consciousness and the "Causal Paradox"

    OpenAIRE

    Velmans, Max

    1996-01-01

    Viewed from a first-person perspective consciousness appears to be necessary for complex, novel human activity - but viewed from a third-person perspective consciousness appears to play no role in the activity of brains, producing a "causal paradox". To resolve this paradox one needs to distinguish consciousness of processing from consciousness accompanying processing or causing processing. Accounts of consciousness/brain causal interactions switch between first- and third-person perspectives...

  3. Russian Gas Market: Entering New Era

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mitrova, Tatiana; Molnar, Gergely

    2015-04-01

    After a period of extensive growth in the 2000's, the Russian gas industry is now facing numerous challenges. Mounting competition by independent producers and the development of new production by Gazprom, combined with stagnating domestic demand and weakening export markets, have created a situation of overproduction, made worse by western sanctions and low oil and gas prices. Expansion to the East thanks to the recent China deal is not expected to provide much relief before 2024. The coming decade will be critical for the industry and its outcome will largely depend on the government's pricing and institutional policies but the role of the state should remain essential. This document presents the key findings of the New CEDIGAZ report 'Russian Gas Market: Entering New Era'. The report analyses the ongoing changes in the Russian industry and the challenges to be met

  4. International nuclear legislation: proposals of the Russian Federation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    2011-01-01

    Proposals of the Russian Federation on the amendments to Convention on early notification of a nuclear accident and to Convention on nuclear safety, as well as proposals on enhancement of IAEA safety standards are given. It is suggested to fix a provision regarding prompt and limited in time notification of the concerned State Parties of the Convention and the IAEA by a State where an accident has occurred; as well as a provision that would require making relevant information public. It is proposed to provide for the following commitment of Contracting Parties to the Convention: a Contracting Party planning to start construction of a first nuclear installation under its jurisdiction shall take, prior to commencement of the construction, all necessary steps related to long-term planning and establishment of nuclear power infrastructure, in line with the IAEA recommendations. It is pointed out the necessity of a clear procedure of coordination and interaction between a State, concerned operator and regulator. It is necessary to revise the existing design requirements with a view to consider any combination of external impacts on a nuclear installation, as well as to include adequate provisions for nuclear safety in case of such impacts

  5. Remote radiation mapping and preliminary intervention using collaborating (European and Russian) mobile robots

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Piotrowski, L.; Trouville, B.; Halbach, M.; Sidorkin, N.

    1996-12-01

    The primary objective of the IMPACT project is to develop a light-weight and inexpensive mobile robot that can be used for rapid inspection missions within nuclear power plants. These interventions are to cover normal, incident and accident situations and aim at primary reconnaissance (or 'data collecting') missions. The IMPACT robot was demonstrated (April 1996) in a realistic mission at the Russian nuclear plant SMOLENSK. The demonstration, composed of 2 independent but consecutive missions, was held in a radioactive zone near turbine ≠ 4 of Unit 2: remote radiation mapping with localisation of radioactive sources by the IMPACT robot equipped with a (Russian) gamma-radiation sensor; deployment of a Russian intervention robot for the construction of a protective lead shield around one of the identified sources and verification that the ambient radiation level has been reduce. This mission was executed remotely by 2 mobile robots working in collaboration: a NIKIMT robot equipped with a manipulator arm and carrying leads bricks and the IMPACT robot of mission I (radiation measurements and 'side-observer'). This manuscript describes (a) the technical characteristics of the IMPACT reconnaissance robot (3-segmented, caterpillar-tracked body; 6 video cameras placed around the mobile platform with simultaneous presentation of up to 4 video images at the control post; ability to detach remotely one of the robot's segments (i.e. the robot can divide itself into 2 separate mobile robots)) and (b) the SMOLENSK demonstration. (author)

  6. Causal Conceptions in Social Explanation and Moral Evaluation: A Historical Tour.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alicke, Mark D; Mandel, David R; Hilton, Denis J; Gerstenberg, Tobias; Lagnado, David A

    2015-11-01

    Understanding the causes of human behavior is essential for advancing one's interests and for coordinating social relations. The scientific study of how people arrive at such understandings or explanations has unfolded in four distinguishable epochs in psychology, each characterized by a different metaphor that researchers have used to represent how people think as they attribute causality and blame to other individuals. The first epoch was guided by an "intuitive scientist" metaphor, which emphasized whether observers perceived behavior to be caused by the unique tendencies of the actor or by common reactions to the requirements of the situation. This metaphor was displaced in the second epoch by an "intuitive lawyer" depiction that focused on the need to hold people responsible for their misdeeds. The third epoch was dominated by theories of counterfactual thinking, which conveyed a "person as reconstructor" approach that emphasized the antecedents and consequences of imagining alternatives to events, especially harmful ones. With the current upsurge in moral psychology, the fourth epoch emphasizes the moral-evaluative aspect of causal judgment, reflected in a "person as moralist" metaphor. By tracing the progression from the person-environment distinction in early attribution theories to present concerns with moral judgment, our goal is to clarify how causal constructs have been used, how they relate to one another, and what unique attributional problems each addresses. © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as represented by Defence Research and Development Canada 2015.

  7. New ventures shape up for Russian projects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1991-01-01

    This paper reports that the foreign presence in the Soviet oil industry is destined to grow as a result of ventures by Canadian, British, and French companies. Gulf Canada Resources Ltd., Calgary, last week disclosed the government of the Russian republic has granted approvals necessary to enable Gulf Canada and British Gas plc's KomiArctic Oil joint venture to begin production operations immediately. The approvals follow the registration of Komi Arctic Oil by the Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation in November, at which time it became a legally constituted independent company in Russia. Canadian Fracmaster Ltd., also of Calgary, disclosed it plans to spend $75-100 million on three new joint venture production deals in the Russian republic in 1992

  8. The Western Balkans Geopolitics and Russian Energy Politics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhidin Mulalic

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The Energy politics is today at the center of the Russian and the Western Balkans relations. It is widely known that Russia has been playing significant role in world energy supply. Therefore, Russian energy companies have taken a leading role in the promotion of their businesses in the Western Balkans. The Western Balkans region has become geostrategic partner as a transit route for the integration of Russia into the global energy world market. With regards to the transportation of gas Western Balkans as a transit route is determined to fully realize South Stream project. In contrast to “a buffer zone” role, in the past few decades the Western Balkans gained an attention from Russia and became an important geopolitical bridge towards Western Europe. Such geopolitical and geostrategic planning of Russia is apparent with regards to gas and oil. Due to Russian South Stream gas pipeline project the Western Balkans became an important European energy transforming center. These new geostrategic games over the pipeline have also revived the Russian historical interests in the Balkans. This paper aims to analyze Russian-Western Balkans relations with special emphasis on energy politics and geopolitical and geostrategic interdependence of Russia and the Western Balkans.

  9. Construction and characterization of a bacterial artificial chromosome library of the causal agent of Black Sigatoka fungal leaf spot disease of banana and plantain, Mycosphaerella fijiensis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canto-Canché, Blondy; Guillén-Maldonado, Diana Karina; Peraza-Echeverría, Leticia; Conde-Ferráez, Laura; James-Kay, Andrew

    2007-05-01

    A bacterial artificial chromosome library of the causal agent of the Black Sigatoka leaf spot disease of banana and plantain, Mycosphaerella fijiensis, has been constructed using a non-sphaeroplasting technique and characterized using both homologous and heterologous probes. After first and a second size selection of PFGE-fractionated DNA, a ligation was obtained using a 1:4 molar ratio (insert:vector). One hundred random clones were analyzed, and the mean insert size was estimated to be 90 kb. The range of the insert sizes was between 40 and 160 kb. The highest percentage of inserts belonged to the range between 80 and 100 kb; 32% of the inserts had 2 or 3 internal NotI sites. This library consists of 1920 clones, if the genomic size is at least 35 Mb, then this represents 4.9 x genome equivalents, which was supported by hybridization results with homologous and heterologous probes.

  10. Causal inference in biology networks with integrated belief propagation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Rui; Karr, Jonathan R; Schadt, Eric E

    2015-01-01

    Inferring causal relationships among molecular and higher order phenotypes is a critical step in elucidating the complexity of living systems. Here we propose a novel method for inferring causality that is no longer constrained by the conditional dependency arguments that limit the ability of statistical causal inference methods to resolve causal relationships within sets of graphical models that are Markov equivalent. Our method utilizes Bayesian belief propagation to infer the responses of perturbation events on molecular traits given a hypothesized graph structure. A distance measure between the inferred response distribution and the observed data is defined to assess the 'fitness' of the hypothesized causal relationships. To test our algorithm, we infer causal relationships within equivalence classes of gene networks in which the form of the functional interactions that are possible are assumed to be nonlinear, given synthetic microarray and RNA sequencing data. We also apply our method to infer causality in real metabolic network with v-structure and feedback loop. We show that our method can recapitulate the causal structure and recover the feedback loop only from steady-state data which conventional method cannot.

  11. Proceedings of the 5. joint Russian-American computational mathematics conference

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-01-01

    These proceedings contain a record of the talks presented and papers submitted by participants. The conference participants represented three institutions from the United States, Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and two from Russia, Russian Federal Nuclear Center--All Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics (RFNC-VNIIEF/Arzamas-16), and Russian Federal Nuclear Center--All Russian Research Institute of Technical Physics (RFNC-VNIITF/Chelyabinsk-70). The presentations and papers cover a wide range of applications from radiation transport to materials. Selected papers have been indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database

  12. Proceedings of the 5. joint Russian-American computational mathematics conference

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1997-12-31

    These proceedings contain a record of the talks presented and papers submitted by participants. The conference participants represented three institutions from the United States, Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and two from Russia, Russian Federal Nuclear Center--All Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics (RFNC-VNIIEF/Arzamas-16), and Russian Federal Nuclear Center--All Russian Research Institute of Technical Physics (RFNC-VNIITF/Chelyabinsk-70). The presentations and papers cover a wide range of applications from radiation transport to materials. Selected papers have been indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database.

  13. A general, multivariate definition of causal effects in epidemiology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flanders, W Dana; Klein, Mitchel

    2015-07-01

    Population causal effects are often defined as contrasts of average individual-level counterfactual outcomes, comparing different exposure levels. Common examples include causal risk difference and risk ratios. These and most other examples emphasize effects on disease onset, a reflection of the usual epidemiological interest in disease occurrence. Exposure effects on other health characteristics, such as prevalence or conditional risk of a particular disability, can be important as well, but contrasts involving these other measures may often be dismissed as non-causal. For example, an observed prevalence ratio might often viewed as an estimator of a causal incidence ratio and hence subject to bias. In this manuscript, we provide and evaluate a definition of causal effects that generalizes those previously available. A key part of the generalization is that contrasts used in the definition can involve multivariate, counterfactual outcomes, rather than only univariate outcomes. An important consequence of our generalization is that, using it, one can properly define causal effects based on a wide variety of additional measures. Examples include causal prevalence ratios and differences and causal conditional risk ratios and differences. We illustrate how these additional measures can be useful, natural, easily estimated, and of public health importance. Furthermore, we discuss conditions for valid estimation of each type of causal effect, and how improper interpretation or inferences for the wrong target population can be sources of bias.

  14. Mathematical Tools for Geomagnetic Data Monitoring and the Intermagnet Russian Segment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anatoly Soloviev

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, a new approach to the detection of anomalies in geophysical records is connected with a fuzzy mathematics application. The theory of discrete mathematical analysis and collection of algorithms for time series processing constructed on its basis represents the results of this research direction. These algorithms are the consequence of fuzzy modeling of the logic of an interpreter who visually recognizes anomalies in records. They allow analyzing large data sets that are not subjected to manual processing. The efficiency of these algorithms is demonstrated in several important geophysical applications. Plans for an extension of the Russian INTERMAGNET segment are presented.

  15. The birth of contemporary Russia out of the spirit of Russian music

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taraskin Ričard

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available In this article, the author observes and discusses the effects of Russian history on Russian music in the second half of the XXth century. Forming part of author’s long-range persistent polemics against Russian exceptionalism and against the kind of romantic overvaluation of art, the article expresses sharp and provocative views of the main stylistic tendencies in Soviet and Russian music during and after the epoch of the Cold War, as well as after the Second Russian Revolution in 1991. Special attention is paid to the activity and works of the most prominent Russian composers of their time Andrey Volkonsky, Edison Denisov, Nikolai Keretnikov, Arvo Pärt, Elena Frisova, Sofia Gubaidulina and Alfred Schnittke.

  16. Estimation of skill of Russian mutual fund managers

    OpenAIRE

    Parshakov, Petr

    2015-01-01

    Our work is focused on Russian mutual funds managers’ skills versus luck estimating. Using bootstrap procedure we build Jensen’s alpha density for each fund. We find that only 5% of Russian equity mutual funds do have skills (in contrast to luck) to outperform the benchmark.

  17. Ironic imperialism : how Russian patriots are reclaiming postmodernism

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Noordenbos, Boris

    This essay analyzes the recent appearance in Russian letters of ultra-nationalist fantasies about the restoration of Russia's imperial or totalitarian status. This new trend has its roots not only in the increasingly patriotic tone of Russian society and politics, but also in the dynamics of the

  18. Russian-Chinese Humanitarian Cooperation in 1990-s

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E I Ganshina

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to Russian-Chinese humanitarian cooperation in the 90-ies of XX century. The author emphasizes the special importance of humanitarian cooperation between Russia and China for the promotion of national interests and the expansion of Russia's presence in China after the collapse of the USSR, as well as creating a positive image of the Russian state in China by applying the mechanism of “soft power”. The author notes that the 90-ies of XX century were the starting point of cooperation between Russia and China in the humanitarian sphere, it laid the legal foundation of Russian-Chinese humanitarian cooperation, moreover, the main directions and priorities of cooperation between the two countries in the humanitarian field have been identified. However, the author stresses that the practical realization of the objectives of the signed intergovernmental documents was carried out in an insufficiently wide format. And the main reason is the deep socio-economic crisis, which Russia had faced after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and, as a consequence, the lack of funding for joint Russian-Chinese projects in the humanitarian field.

  19. Information causality from an entropic and a probabilistic perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Al-Safi, Sabri W.; Short, Anthony J.

    2011-01-01

    The information causality principle is a generalization of the no-signaling principle which implies some of the known restrictions on quantum correlations. But despite its clear physical motivation, information causality is formulated in terms of a rather specialized game and figure of merit. We explore different perspectives on information causality, discussing the probability of success as the figure of merit, a relation between information causality and the nonlocal ''inner-product game,'' and the derivation of a quadratic bound for these games. We then examine an entropic formulation of information causality with which one can obtain the same results, arguably in a simpler fashion.

  20. Health Information in Russian (Русский)

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Supplements Videos & Tools You Are Here: Home → Multiple Languages → Russian (Русский) URL of this page: https://medlineplus.gov/languages/russian.html Health Information in Russian (Русский) To use ...

  1. Businessmen v. Investigators: who is responsible for the Poor Russian Investment Climate?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dmitry Gololobov

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This article aims to examine the extent to which Russian investigations into economic and financial crimes are influenced by such factors as systemic problems with Russian gatekeepers, the absence of a formal corporate whistle-blowing mechanism and the continuous abuse of the law by the Russian business community. The traditional critical approach to the quality and effectiveness of Russian economic and financial investigations does not produce positive results and needs to be reformulated by considering the opinions of entrepreneurs. The author considers that forcing Russian entrepreneurs, regardless of the size of their business, to comply with Russian laws and regulations may be a more efficient way to develop the business environment than attempting to gradually improve the Russian judicial system. It is also hardly possible to expect the Russian investigatory bodies to investigate what are effectively complex economic and financial crimes in the almost complete absence of a developed whistle-blowing culture. Such a culture has greatly contributed to the success of widely-publicised corporate and financial investigations in the United States and Europe. The poor development of the culture of Russian gatekeepers and the corresponding regulatory environment is one more significant factor that permanently undermines the effectiveness of economic investigations and damages the investment climate.

  2. Causal Mediation Analysis: Warning! Assumptions Ahead

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keele, Luke

    2015-01-01

    In policy evaluations, interest may focus on why a particular treatment works. One tool for understanding why treatments work is causal mediation analysis. In this essay, I focus on the assumptions needed to estimate mediation effects. I show that there is no "gold standard" method for the identification of causal mediation effects. In…

  3. Adaptation of Russian Christian Names into the Mari Language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander L. Pustyakov

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This article analyses the phonetic and morphological adaptation of Christian personal names in the Mari language. The work examines personal names recorded in different regions among the Mari. The composition of the presented data is not exhaustive; it does, however, allow one to observe some general patterns of the adaptation process. The main part of the article is preceded by a brief overview of the Christianization of the Mari region and the contacts between the Mari and the Russian-speaking population; the features of the local dialects of the Russian language are briefly stated. The Mari language incorporated a significant number of Russian names. The source of loans included, besides the standard church name forms, also the numerous varieties found in the Russian dialects. As part of the study, phonetic, structural changes of Christian names in the Mari language are revealed and the reasons for the majority of these transformations are identified. The author also pays attention to the intermediary role of the neighbouring Turkic languages in the penetration of Russian names into the Mari language. Changes in borrowed names were induced by internal Mari linguistic rules, as well as dialectal features of the local Russian dialects. The identification of systematic phonetic and structural transformations helps to determine the origin of obscure anthroponyms.

  4. How to Be Causal: Time, Spacetime and Spectra

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinsler, Paul

    2011-01-01

    I explain a simple definition of causality in widespread use, and indicate how it links to the Kramers-Kronig relations. The specification of causality in terms of temporal differential equations then shows us the way to write down dynamical models so that their causal nature "in the sense used here" should be obvious to all. To extend existing…

  5. On the road toward formal reasoning: reasoning with factual causal and contrary-to-fact causal premises during early adolescence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Markovits, Henry

    2014-12-01

    Understanding the development of conditional (if-then) reasoning is critical for theoretical and educational reasons. Here we examined the hypothesis that there is a developmental transition between reasoning with true and contrary-to-fact (CF) causal conditionals. A total of 535 students between 11 and 14 years of age received priming conditions designed to encourage use of either a true or CF alternatives generation strategy and reasoning problems with true causal and CF causal premises (with counterbalanced order). Results show that priming had no effect on reasoning with true causal premises. By contrast, priming with CF alternatives significantly improved logical reasoning with CF premises. Analysis of the effect of order showed that reasoning with CF premises reduced logical responding among younger students but had no effect among older students. Results support the idea that there is a transition in the reasoning processes in this age range associated with the nature of the alternatives generation process required for logical reasoning with true and CF causal conditionals. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Missionary Activity of the Russian Orthodox Church in Chukotka (17th - early 20th cc.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yurganova Inna Igorevna

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available We consider the missionary activity of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Chukotka Peninsula in the context of civilizational component integration into the Russian imperial areas in the 17th - early 20th centuries, including a brief historiography of the problem, the history of the construction of churches and chapels, the creation of the Orthodox mission, its structure and the territorial boundaries of the missionary activities. The author defines milestones for the Christianization of the Chukchi, introduces into science unpublished archival sources, assesses the activities of missionaries, determines the outcome of the spread of Orthodoxy in the beginning of the 20th century. It has been established that the state and church authorities, taking into consideration the difficulties of serving on the outskirts of the empire, developed a system of privileges and rewards for missionaries: increased salaries, payments ration and others, but missionary (marching service was difficult and dangerous. It is noted that despite the actual transfer of the Chukotka mission Aleutian diocese (headed by future Russian Patriarch Tikhon (Belavin in the beginning of the 20th century, statements of mission and purpose of the missionaries remained the prerogative of the Yakutian bishops. The study found that the spread of Orthodoxy in the Chukotka region in the 17th – early 20th centuries did not become a significant factor in the imperial policy on including the peninsula in the Russian state, which is associated with objective (harsh climate, a nomadic way of life of the population, lack of railways and subjective (long armed resistance, the small number of missionaries and the lack of material software, the lack of permanent control reasons. In order to achieve significant results Chukotka needed constant (regular missionary work, requiring both tangible investments (travel missionaries, food, labor, interpreters, creating living conditions for missionaries

  7. THE ROLE OF THE RUSSIANS OF TAJIKISTAN IN TRANSFORMING TAJIK SOCIETY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. Yu. Nikolaeva

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The Russian population of Tajikistan has traditionally played a prominent role in political, economic, cultural and scientifi c development of the country despite the fact that Russian diaspora has always lacked consolidation. However the collapse of the USSR was followed by increasing deprivation of the Russians insofar as they adapt slowly to a new political and socio-economic system of Tajikistan, feel discriminated, are classifi ed as “poor” and tend to migrate to Russia. According to the author, the problem of the Russians in Tajikistan is a part of a broader “Russian problem of the XXIth century” and stresses the necessity to develop a national policy strategy of Russia.

  8. Causal Rasch models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Jackson Stenner

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Rasch’s unidimensional models for measurement show how to connect object measures (e.g., reader abilities, measurement mechanisms (e.g., machine-generated cloze reading items, and observational outcomes (e.g., counts correct on reading instruments. Substantive theory shows what interventions or manipulations to the measurement mechanism can be traded off against a change to the object measure to hold the observed outcome constant. A Rasch model integrated with a substantive theory dictates the form and substance of permissible interventions. Rasch analysis, absent construct theory and an associated specification equation, is a black box in which understanding may be more illusory than not. Finally, the quantitative hypothesis can be tested by comparing theory-based trade-off relations with observed trade-off relations. Only quantitative variables (as measured support such trade-offs. Note that to test the quantitative hypothesis requires more than manipulation of the algebraic equivalencies in the Rasch model or descriptively fitting data to the model. A causal Rasch model involves experimental intervention/manipulation on either reader ability or text complexity or a conjoint intervention on both simultaneously to yield a successful prediction of the resultant observed outcome (count correct. We conjecture that when this type of manipulation is introduced for individual reader text encounters and model predictions are consistent with observations, the quantitative hypothesis is sustained.

  9. Causal Rasch models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stenner, A Jackson; Fisher, William P; Stone, Mark H; Burdick, Donald S

    2013-01-01

    Rasch's unidimensional models for measurement show how to connect object measures (e.g., reader abilities), measurement mechanisms (e.g., machine-generated cloze reading items), and observational outcomes (e.g., counts correct on reading instruments). Substantive theory shows what interventions or manipulations to the measurement mechanism can be traded off against a change to the object measure to hold the observed outcome constant. A Rasch model integrated with a substantive theory dictates the form and substance of permissible interventions. Rasch analysis, absent construct theory and an associated specification equation, is a black box in which understanding may be more illusory than not. Finally, the quantitative hypothesis can be tested by comparing theory-based trade-off relations with observed trade-off relations. Only quantitative variables (as measured) support such trade-offs. Note that to test the quantitative hypothesis requires more than manipulation of the algebraic equivalencies in the Rasch model or descriptively fitting data to the model. A causal Rasch model involves experimental intervention/manipulation on either reader ability or text complexity or a conjoint intervention on both simultaneously to yield a successful prediction of the resultant observed outcome (count correct). We conjecture that when this type of manipulation is introduced for individual reader text encounters and model predictions are consistent with observations, the quantitative hypothesis is sustained.

  10. Causal Rasch models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stenner, A. Jackson; Fisher, William P.; Stone, Mark H.; Burdick, Donald S.

    2013-01-01

    Rasch's unidimensional models for measurement show how to connect object measures (e.g., reader abilities), measurement mechanisms (e.g., machine-generated cloze reading items), and observational outcomes (e.g., counts correct on reading instruments). Substantive theory shows what interventions or manipulations to the measurement mechanism can be traded off against a change to the object measure to hold the observed outcome constant. A Rasch model integrated with a substantive theory dictates the form and substance of permissible interventions. Rasch analysis, absent construct theory and an associated specification equation, is a black box in which understanding may be more illusory than not. Finally, the quantitative hypothesis can be tested by comparing theory-based trade-off relations with observed trade-off relations. Only quantitative variables (as measured) support such trade-offs. Note that to test the quantitative hypothesis requires more than manipulation of the algebraic equivalencies in the Rasch model or descriptively fitting data to the model. A causal Rasch model involves experimental intervention/manipulation on either reader ability or text complexity or a conjoint intervention on both simultaneously to yield a successful prediction of the resultant observed outcome (count correct). We conjecture that when this type of manipulation is introduced for individual reader text encounters and model predictions are consistent with observations, the quantitative hypothesis is sustained. PMID:23986726

  11. BOLD Granger causality reflects vascular anatomy.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J Taylor Webb

    Full Text Available A number of studies have tried to exploit subtle phase differences in BOLD time series to resolve the order of sequential activation of brain regions, or more generally the ability of signal in one region to predict subsequent signal in another region. More recently, such lag-based measures have been applied to investigate directed functional connectivity, although this application has been controversial. We attempted to use large publicly available datasets (FCON 1000, ADHD 200, Human Connectome Project to determine whether consistent spatial patterns of Granger Causality are observed in typical fMRI data. For BOLD datasets from 1,240 typically developing subjects ages 7-40, we measured Granger causality between time series for every pair of 7,266 spherical ROIs covering the gray matter and 264 seed ROIs at hubs of the brain's functional network architecture. Granger causality estimates were strongly reproducible for connections in a test and replication sample (n=620 subjects for each group, as well as in data from a single subject scanned repeatedly, both during resting and passive video viewing. The same effect was even stronger in high temporal resolution fMRI data from the Human Connectome Project, and was observed independently in data collected during performance of 7 task paradigms. The spatial distribution of Granger causality reflected vascular anatomy with a progression from Granger causality sources, in Circle of Willis arterial inflow distributions, to sinks, near large venous vascular structures such as dural venous sinuses and at the periphery of the brain. Attempts to resolve BOLD phase differences with Granger causality should consider the possibility of reproducible vascular confounds, a problem that is independent of the known regional variability of the hemodynamic response.

  12. The causal structure of utility conditionals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonnefon, Jean-François; Sloman, Steven A

    2013-01-01

    The psychology of reasoning is increasingly considering agents' values and preferences, achieving greater integration with judgment and decision making, social cognition, and moral reasoning. Some of this research investigates utility conditionals, ''if p then q'' statements where the realization of p or q or both is valued by some agents. Various approaches to utility conditionals share the assumption that reasoners make inferences from utility conditionals based on the comparison between the utility of p and the expected utility of q. This article introduces a new parameter in this analysis, the underlying causal structure of the conditional. Four experiments showed that causal structure moderated utility-informed conditional reasoning. These inferences were strongly invited when the underlying structure of the conditional was causal, and significantly less so when the underlying structure of the conditional was diagnostic. This asymmetry was only observed for conditionals in which the utility of q was clear, and disappeared when the utility of q was unclear. Thus, an adequate account of utility-informed inferences conditional reasoning requires three components: utility, probability, and causal structure. Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  13. Meeting up-to-date safety requirements in the Russian NPP projects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tepkyan, G. O.; Yashkin, A. V.

    2014-01-01

    Safety features in Russian NPP designs are implemented by the combination of active and passive safety systems • Russian NPP designs are in compliance with up-to-date international and European safety requirements and refer to Generation III+ • Russian state-of-the-art designs have already implemented some design solutions, which take into account “post-Fukushima” requirements. Russian NPP design principles have been approved during the European discussions in spring 2012, including the IAEA extraordinary session addressed to Fukushima NPP accident

  14. Putin’s Russia: Russian Mentality and Sophisticated Imperialism in Military Policies

    OpenAIRE

    Szénási, Lieutenant-Colonel Endre

    2016-01-01

    According to my experiences, the Western world hopelessly fails to understand Russian mentality, or misinterprets it. During my analysis of the Russian way of thinking I devoted special attention to the examination of military mentality. I have connected the issue of the Russian way of thinking to the contemporary imperial policies of Putin’s Russia.  I have also attempted to prove the level of sophistication of both. I hope that a better understanding of both the Russian mentality and imperi...

  15. The new start for Russian-African relations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Evgeniy Nikolaevich Korendyasov

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Russia's return to Africa is widely discussed in the Russian and foreign scientific and expert circles, on the pages of newspapers and magazines. This covers a broad range of problems of country, regional and global scale, put forward and voiced conflicting estimates and judgments. Abroad, actively promoted the interpretation of the “return” of Russia to the continent as a new direction of neo-imperial ambitions of the new Russia and its aspirations to weaken the position of the West, “golden” its image in the developing countries, in the eyes of Africans. Author analyzes the impact of the emerging political, economic and social realities of the XXI century on the development prospects of the African continent in general, and on the Russian-African relations in particular. The author concludes that the increase in the weight and role of the continent in world politics and economy today requires a rethinking of the Russian approaches to the problems of scale Russian-African partnership and the formation of its long-term vision, building on the existing political, diplomatic and investment and the country's financial resources. The new dynamics of Russian-African relations is connected, first of all, with the development of partnerships in those areas where Russia has competitive potential, production capacities, high competence and experience. Including the development of natural resources, nuclear power and hydropower, military-technical cooperation, the establishment of satellite information and communication systems, cooperation in the sphere of education, health, the fight against epidemics, natural catastrophes. Russia is confident enough to overcome the deep recession of relations with Africa, recorded in the late 80's and 90-ies of XX century. However, it would be premature to claim that full-blooded “return” of Russia to the continent has already taken place. Scaling up comprehensive cooperation will depend, first, on the

  16. Detectability of Granger causality for subsampled continuous-time neurophysiological processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barnett, Lionel; Seth, Anil K

    2017-01-01

    Granger causality is well established within the neurosciences for inference of directed functional connectivity from neurophysiological data. These data usually consist of time series which subsample a continuous-time biophysiological process. While it is well known that subsampling can lead to imputation of spurious causal connections where none exist, less is known about the effects of subsampling on the ability to reliably detect causal connections which do exist. We present a theoretical analysis of the effects of subsampling on Granger-causal inference. Neurophysiological processes typically feature signal propagation delays on multiple time scales; accordingly, we base our analysis on a distributed-lag, continuous-time stochastic model, and consider Granger causality in continuous time at finite prediction horizons. Via exact analytical solutions, we identify relationships among sampling frequency, underlying causal time scales and detectability of causalities. We reveal complex interactions between the time scale(s) of neural signal propagation and sampling frequency. We demonstrate that detectability decays exponentially as the sample time interval increases beyond causal delay times, identify detectability "black spots" and "sweet spots", and show that downsampling may potentially improve detectability. We also demonstrate that the invariance of Granger causality under causal, invertible filtering fails at finite prediction horizons, with particular implications for inference of Granger causality from fMRI data. Our analysis emphasises that sampling rates for causal analysis of neurophysiological time series should be informed by domain-specific time scales, and that state-space modelling should be preferred to purely autoregressive modelling. On the basis of a very general model that captures the structure of neurophysiological processes, we are able to help identify confounds, and offer practical insights, for successful detection of causal connectivity

  17. Trial by Jury in Russian Military Courts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nikolai P. Kovalev

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available One of peculiar features of the military criminal justice system in Russia is that in some cases military defendants may apply for trial by jury. Unlike the existing U.S. court-martial jury and the Russian military jury of the early 1900s (World War I period which were comprised of the members of the armed forces, in modern Russia jurors trying military defendants are civilians. This article aims to provide a brief history of military jury in Russia and identify issues of independence and impartiality in Russian military courts with participation of lay decision-makers. In particular, the article will analyze two high-profile cases which resulted in acquittals of Russian officers accused of killing several Chechen civilians during counter-terrorist operations in Chechnya.

  18. Astrophysical Russian Dolls

    OpenAIRE

    Loeb, Abraham; Imara, Nia

    2017-01-01

    Are there examples of "astrophysical Russian dolls," and what could we learn from their similarities? In this article, we list a few such examples, including disks, filaments, and clusters. We suggest that forging connections across disciplinary borders enhances our perception of beauty, while simultaneously leading to a more comprehensive understanding of the Universe.

  19. Dual Causality and the Autonomy of Biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bock, Walter J

    2017-03-01

    Ernst Mayr's concept of dual causality in biology with the two forms of causes (proximate and ultimate) continues to provide an essential foundation for the philosophy of biology. They are equivalent to functional (=proximate) and evolutionary (=ultimate) causes with both required for full biological explanations. The natural sciences can be classified into nomological, historical nomological and historical dual causality, the last including only biology. Because evolutionary causality is unique to biology and must be included for all complete biological explanations, biology is autonomous from the physical sciences.

  20. Can chance cause cancer? A causal consideration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stensrud, Mats Julius; Strohmaier, Susanne; Valberg, Morten; Aalen, Odd Olai

    2017-04-01

    The role of randomness, environment and genetics in cancer development is debated. We approach the discussion by using the potential outcomes framework for causal inference. By briefly considering the underlying assumptions, we suggest that the antagonising views arise due to estimation of substantially different causal effects. These effects may be hard to interpret, and the results cannot be immediately compared. Indeed, it is not clear whether it is possible to define a causal effect of chance at all. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHING RUSSIAN LANGUAGE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zulfiya SAHIN

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to explicate teaching of Russian as a foreign language throughout history: to identify the main achievements of the field, to determine methods and materials used in this area, to trace the developing process from the very begging till present days, when teaching Russian language as a foreign language became a separate specific discipline. To achieve the set purposes mentioned above the known nowadays studies on the field of teaching and learning Russian as a foreign language were investigated. Basing on obtained sources, the history of teaching Russian language as a foreign language was divided into two periods: before and after becoming separate discipline. In the article not only the main features, such as theories, methods, sources of each period were studied, but also history of teaching Russian language as a foreign language was evaluated as a unified process. Keywords: Teaching-Learning activities, Russian as a Foreign Language, Historical linguistic process

  2. Russian Federation’s plans to deploy nuclear weapons in Crimea: the possible consequences for Ukraine and European security

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. S. Vonsovych

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The article investigates the possible consequences for Ukraine and European security in case of deploying by Russian Federation nuclear weapons in Crimea. It was determined that under current conditions of confrontation between Ukraine and Russia such actions could further complicate the process of resolving the situation in the east of our country and threaten the implementation of peace initiatives regarding the resumption of constructive dialogue. It was found that the reluctance to disclose or hide the real intentions of Russia produces around Ukraine’s borders space of uncertainty and danger. This directly threatens the national security of our state and continue to make use of the power factor in relations with the Russian Federation. It is proved that Ukraine needs to do more emphasis on their own national identity and opportunities to prove its independence with regard to solving such questions. Substantiated the thesis that the European community should now take the necessary measures to prevent the development of the Russian Federation’s plans regarding the deployment of nuclear weapons in Crimea. This will give the opportunity to avoid misunderstandings and create a ground to prevent the destabilization of the European security system.

  3. Palatalization and Intrinsic Prosodic Vowel Features in Russian

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ordin, Mikhail

    2011-01-01

    The presented study is aimed at investigating the interaction of palatalization and intrinsic prosodic features of the vowel in CVC (consonant+vowel+consonant) syllables in Russian. The universal nature of intrinsic prosodic vowel features was confirmed with the data from the Russian language. It was found that palatalization of the consonants…

  4. Determining Directional Dependency in Causal Associations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pornprasertmanit, Sunthud; Little, Todd D.

    2012-01-01

    Directional dependency is a method to determine the likely causal direction of effect between two variables. This article aims to critique and improve upon the use of directional dependency as a technique to infer causal associations. We comment on several issues raised by von Eye and DeShon (2012), including: encouraging the use of the signs of…

  5. Underlying causal factors associated with construction worker fatalities involving stepladders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aneurin Thomas James Grant

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Stepladders are frequently utilized on construction projects as a means of access to elevation. Stepladder heights commonly range from 4 feet (1.2 m to 14 feet (4.3 m. Since these heights are not extreme, there is a common misperception that stepladder use presents a low risk. On the contrary, extreme care must be exercised to ensure that work on stepladders is performed safely, as described in the conspicuously located recommendations and brightly-colored warnings that adorn virtually all newly-purchased equipment. Despite this, accidents involving stepladders occur on a regular basis.  This study was conducted to better understand the underlying causes of these accidents. The narrative descriptions of 180 stepladder-related fatalities were obtained from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and were analyzed to identify the at-risk behaviors that preceded the fatality incidents. The results showed that most of the incidents should have been anticipated and could have been avoided. Unsafe practices such as improper lockout-tagout of electrical equipment, loss of balance, working on a folded stepladder, over-reaching, straddling the ladder, “walking” the ladder, poor footing, and unstable/shifting ladders, among others were identified. Virtually all of these fatalities could have been avoided by adhering to the guidelines posted on the stepladders and by complying with basic safe construction practices. 

  6. Underlying causal factors associated with construction worker fatalities involving stepladders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aneurin Thomas James Grant

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Stepladders are frequently utilized on construction projects as a means of access to elevation. Stepladder heights commonly range from 4 feet (1.2 m to 14 feet (4.3 m. Since these heights are not extreme, there is a common misperception that stepladder use presents a low risk. On the contrary, extreme care must be exercised to ensure that work on stepladders is performed safely, as described in the conspicuously located recommendations and brightly-colored warnings that adorn virtually all newly-purchased equipment. Despite this, accidents involving stepladders occur on a regular basis.  This study was conducted to better understand the underlying causes of these accidents. The narrative descriptions of 180 stepladder-related fatalities were obtained from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and were analyzed to identify the at-risk behaviors that preceded the fatality incidents. The results showed that most of the incidents should have been anticipated and could have been avoided. Unsafe practices such as improper lockout-tagout of electrical equipment, loss of balance, working on a folded stepladder, over-reaching, straddling the ladder, “walking” the ladder, poor footing, and unstable/shifting ladders, among others were identified. Virtually all of these fatalities could have been avoided by adhering to the guidelines posted on the stepladders and by complying with basic safe construction practices.

  7. An Experimental Research on the pCI Rule and Causal Judgment (in Chinese)

    OpenAIRE

    Shao, Z. F.; Wang, J.

    2005-01-01

    This research examined the precision of the pCI rule through three experiments. The results show that first , the tendency of the subjects’ casual judgments was basically similar to the pCI rule. But (a + d) / n predicted human’s casual judgments were even better; second, the increase of subjects’ casual judgments was milder than the pCI rule, and the subjects needed time to construct their own way of judging relationship; finally, different people had different ways of causal judgments, and ...

  8. BUCHAREST AS A CITY BRAND: HOW TO ATTRACT RUSSIAN TOURISTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marina OCHKOVSKAYA

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to investigate the attractiveness of Bucharest and its perception by Russian tourists as well as to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the city and define the idea for positioning statement for this place. Bucharest has a deep history and cultural heritage that are highly appreciated by tourists seeking cultural tourism. Moreover, Bucharest had the nickname of "Little Paris" which implied the beauty of the city. Our study focuses mainly on the target audience of Russian people who appreciate cultural heritage. According to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat, the number of Russians who visited Romania as tourists increased by 73% in the first quarter of 2015 (http://russtd.com/destinations/eastern-europe-loses-almost-half-russian-tourists-year. This increase is a positive sign as it means that Romania and Bucharest are becoming more and more attractive for Russian tourists. Tourists can bring many benefits to the place, both economic and social. In turn, new places with heritage can enrich tourists with new knowledge and broaden their erudition. The study allows us to understand the perception of Bucharest by Russian tourists and single out the key elements of the city of Bucharest. The key elements of the city of Bucharest are rooted in cultural heritage and authenticity, including different styles of architecture, Orthodox churches, classical and folk music, outstanding musicians and food. Bucharest might thus be offered the positioning as a mysterious authentic city revealing the coexistence of different times.To some extent this paper contributes to the understanding of the image of Bucharest in Russian tourists’ eyes, their associations and fears. It gives some insights into factors that make Russians choose touristic destinations. In addition, some ideas for the city positioning, logos and slogans can derive from this paper. The study can be useful for touristic agencies or for the Ministry

  9. Russian mortality beyond vital statistics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2004-04-01

    .69-4.17. Adjustment for other variables reduced the size of these odds ratios, but they remained strikingly large for circulatory disease (adjusted OR=3.54, 95% CI 1.76-7.13 and considerable for external causes (adjusted OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.02-3.00. These may be underestimates of the true effects as nearly all of them increased when employment status (which can in part at least be seen as being on the causal pathway was excluded from the final model. In summary, however, our key finding is that a history of heavy drinking in the recent past is strongly associated with risk of death from circulatory disease. This provides the first individual-level evidence in support of the hypothesis that episodic heavy drinking is key to explaining the heavy burden of circulatory disease mortality among Russian men of working age.

  10. Causal strength induction from time series data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soo, Kevin W; Rottman, Benjamin M

    2018-04-01

    One challenge when inferring the strength of cause-effect relations from time series data is that the cause and/or effect can exhibit temporal trends. If temporal trends are not accounted for, a learner could infer that a causal relation exists when it does not, or even infer that there is a positive causal relation when the relation is negative, or vice versa. We propose that learners use a simple heuristic to control for temporal trends-that they focus not on the states of the cause and effect at a given instant, but on how the cause and effect change from one observation to the next, which we call transitions. Six experiments were conducted to understand how people infer causal strength from time series data. We found that participants indeed use transitions in addition to states, which helps them to reach more accurate causal judgments (Experiments 1A and 1B). Participants use transitions more when the stimuli are presented in a naturalistic visual format than a numerical format (Experiment 2), and the effect of transitions is not driven by primacy or recency effects (Experiment 3). Finally, we found that participants primarily use the direction in which variables change rather than the magnitude of the change for estimating causal strength (Experiments 4 and 5). Collectively, these studies provide evidence that people often use a simple yet effective heuristic for inferring causal strength from time series data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  11. Identity Issues and Challenges Faced by Russian Immigrants in New Zealand

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena Maydell

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Among the processes cosmopolitan societies undergo at the present moment, is the unprecedented increase in mass migration across cultures. What challenges are faced by both immigrants, who have to settle in novel socio-cultural environments, and by the host populations accepting them? The current qualitative study investigates the nature of identity construction among Russian-speaking immigrants in New Zealand, applying thematic analysis for the interpretation of the data collected via 23 in-depth interviews. Among the most common themes articulated by the participants was the feeling of identity loss. A taken-for-granted sense of identity, brought by the participants from their culture of origin, was not validated by their new society of residence, mostly due to the lack of appropriate cultural resources. The participants were faced with a challenge of re-constructing their old identity, or constructing a new one, utilising the available resources in the community around them. At the same time, there was a sub-group for whom this challenge brought the realisation that the nature of their identity is cosmopolitan, rather than located within any particular culture or geographical space.

  12. Experience in Using Russian Program Complex «APM Winmachine» for Computing Local Strength of the Umbilical Mast Bearing Construction in the SR “Soyuz-2.1B"

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. A. Zverev

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The research concerns the computational analyses of local strength of the umbilical mast (UM, which is designed for the prelaunch preparation and launch security of the space rocket (SR "SOYUZ-2" of 1B stage.Based on the finite elements method, modeling and calculation of local strength for the most loaded UM elements are conducted using Russian program complex «APM WINMACHINE». The paper gives a justification for choosing the program complex «APM WINMACHINE, as a program calculation device.In calculating the principles of a local analysis are used. Physical models of the UM particular constructive units are formed to observe them under certain boundary conditions: forces and movements. Parameters of boundary conditions are determined in terms of stress-strain condition of UM simplified model as a whole.As the research results, the paper presents the finite element models of two UM constructive units, namely a joint of the mast farm branches with strengthening of the mast rotating part and an element in the UM bottom rotating part (“the spine”. Besides, there are also the calculated results of the local strength of abovementioned UM rotating part units: a general pattern of the stress distribution with stress values exceeding the allowable ones.The research results allow us to draw conclusions that the units under consideration have performance capability and require their constructive strengthening.The UM developers have taken in consideration recommendations, based on the UM rotating part local strength calculation, making appropriate correction in the project documentation. The experience gained in using the «APM WINMACHINE» allowed us to support the conclusion that it is efficient to solve the tasks of defining stress-strain condition of complicated spatial constructions.

  13. Selecting appropriate cases when tracing causal mechanisms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Beach, Derek; Pedersen, Rasmus Brun

    2016-01-01

    The last decade has witnessed resurgence in the interest in studying the causal mechanisms linking causes and outcomes in the social sciences. This article explores the overlooked implications for case selection when tracing mechanisms using in-depth case studies. Our argument is that existing case...... selection guidelines are appropriate for research aimed at making cross-case claims about causal relationships, where case selection is primarily used to control for other causes. However, existing guidelines are not in alignment with case-based research that aims to trace mechanisms, where the goal...... is to unpack the causal mechanism between X and Y, enabling causal inferences to be made because empirical evidence is provided for how the mechanism actually operated in a particular case. The in-depth, within-case tracing of how mechanisms operate in particular cases produces what can be termed mechanistic...

  14. MODERN TAXATION SYSTEM FORMATION IN RUSSIAN FEDERATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Viktoria Aleksandrovna Tsokova

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The Russian taxation system was formed in the beginning of 90-s and experienced the evolution and sometimes revolution transformations. The state taxation system was created on the basis of the foreign countries’ experience nowever the research testifies the trends of the progressive development of the Russian taxation system elements including the national peculiarities.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12731/2218-7405-2013-7-63

  15. Russian Strategic Communications and Implications for NATO

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-04-06

    such as the electromagnetic spectrum, digital networks, and radio waves.”8 This quote is especially appropriate given that the Russians recently... citizenship may be Latvian or Estonian, their nationality is Russian. This line of thinking by the Kremlin is contrary to the “classical...But it cannot legitimately claim to protect its ethnic conationals who live in another state and hold citizenship of that state.”17 Instances like

  16. Russian Folklore as a Reflection of National Character in the Work of Boris Vysheslavtzev

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alex L. Nalepin

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The essay is focused on the spiritual crisis of Russian culture at the beginning of the 20th Century and on the search of philosophical alternatives to overcome the crisis within the framework of Russian philosophical thought. In particular, it highlights the work of Boris P. Vysheslavtzev, a major thinker among Russian immigrants and his studies in Russian folklore seen as reflection of Russian national character. The essay for the first time introduces new data concerning the specificity of the choice that was highly important for Russian literature and culture as it was for Russian folklore studies.

  17. Explaining quantum correlations through evolution of causal models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harper, Robin; Chapman, Robert J.; Ferrie, Christopher; Granade, Christopher; Kueng, Richard; Naoumenko, Daniel; Flammia, Steven T.; Peruzzo, Alberto

    2017-04-01

    We propose a framework for the systematic and quantitative generalization of Bell's theorem using causal networks. We first consider the multiobjective optimization problem of matching observed data while minimizing the causal effect of nonlocal variables and prove an inequality for the optimal region that both strengthens and generalizes Bell's theorem. To solve the optimization problem (rather than simply bound it), we develop a genetic algorithm treating as individuals causal networks. By applying our algorithm to a photonic Bell experiment, we demonstrate the trade-off between the quantitative relaxation of one or more local causality assumptions and the ability of data to match quantum correlations.

  18. Tachyon kinematics and causality: a systematic thorough analysis of the tachyon causal paradoxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Recami, E.

    1987-01-01

    The chronological order of the events along a spacelike path is not invariant under Lorentz transformations, as is well known. This led to an early conviction that tachyons would give rise to causal anomalies. A relativistic version of the Stueckelberg-Feynman switching procedure (SWP) has been invoked as the suitable tool to eliminate those anomalies. The application of the SWP does eliminate the motions backwards in time, but interchanges the roles of source and detector. This fact triggered the proposal of a host of causal paradoxes. Till now, however, it has not been recognized that such paradoxes can be sensibly discussed (and completely solved, at least in microphysics) only after the tachyon relativistic mechanics has been properly developed. They start by showing how to apply the SWP, both in the case of ordinary special relativity and in the case with tachyons. Then they carefully exploit the kinetics of the tachyon exchange between two (ordinary) bodies. Being finally able to tackle the tachyon causality problem, they successively solve the paradoxes of: (i) Tolman-Regge, (ii) Pirani, (iii) Edmonds, and (iv) Bell. Finally, they discuss a further, new paradox associated with the transmission of signals by modulated tachyon beams

  19. What the Russian School Ought to Be Like.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goncharov, I.

    1995-01-01

    Asserts that Russian society and Russian schools are going through a profound crisis. Maintains that the best approach to solving social and educational problems is to restore and develop national principles and group cohesion. Criticizes the United States and Japanese educational systems and calls for Russia to follow its own path. (CFR)

  20. Grammatical realization of Russian etiquette speech genres: The ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The article is devoted to the issue of grammatical approach application during the teaching of Russian etiquette speech for foreigners. In the practice of teaching Russian as a foreign language, the issues related to the development of etiquette speech genres arise at all stages of language learning, beginning with the first ...