Article
Toward a Calculus of Redundancy: Signification,Codification, and Anticipation in Cultural Evolution
This article considers the relationships among meaning generation, selection, and the dynamics of discourse from a variety of perspectives ranging from information theory and biology to sociology. Following Husserl's idea of a horizon of meanings in intersubjective communication, we propose a way in which, using Shannon's equations, the generation and selection of meanings from a horizon of possibilities can be considered probabilistically. The information-theoretical dynamics we articulate considers a process of meaning generation within cultural evolution: information is imbued with meaning, and through this process, the number of options for the selection of meaning in discourse proliferates. The redundancy of possible meanings contributes to a codification of expectations within the discourse. Unlike hardwired DNA, the codes of nonbiological systems can coevolve with the variations. Spanning horizons of meaning, the codes structure the communications as selection environments that shape discourses. Discursive knowledge can be considered as meta-coded communication that enables us to translate among differently coded communications. The dynamics of discursive knowledge production can thus infuse the historical dynamics with a cultural evolution by adding options, that is, by increasing redundancy. A calculus of redundancy is presented as an indicator whereby these dynamics of discourse and meaning may be explored empirically.
Properties of Erdos measure and the invariant Erdos measure for the golden ratio and all values of the Bernoulli parameter are studies. It is proved that a shift on the two-sided Fibonacci compact set with invariant Erdos measure is isomorphic to the integral automorphism for a Bernoulli shift with countable alphabet. An effective algorithm for calculating the entropy of an invariant Erdos measure is proposed. It is shown that, for certain values of the Bernulli parameter, the algorithm gives the Hausdorff dimension of an Erdos measure to 15 decimal places.
Properties of Erdos measure and the invariant Erdos measure for the golden ratio and all values of the Bernoulli parameter are studies. It is proved that a shift on the two-sided Fibonacci compact set with invariant Erdos measure is isomorphic to the integral automorphism for a Bernoulli shift with countable alphabet.
The present article examines the main peculiarities of modern development of the sources of Private International Law, including domestic legislation, international treaties, international customs, case law, legal acts of international organizations and lex mercatoria. The author proved that at present the main trend of the development of domestic legislation as a source of PIL consists of its intensive and extensive codification. Another trend of the development of PIL sources undermines the enlargement of instruments of non-state regulation of private international relations, namely, lex mercatoria as an example of soft law. As far as the development of PIL sources in the European Union is concerned, two trends may be observed simultaneously: firstly, formation of European conflict law and European Civil Procedure by instruments not only having legal force but also having direct application on the territory of the EU Member States (regulations); secondly, formation of the unified material rules regulating private relations amongst different subjects on the territory of the EU, which are contained either in regulations, or in non-binding documents.
The article examines current trends in the process of national codifications of international private law (PIL) on the example of countries in Asia and Africa. The choice of the subject of the study is due to the fact that the PIL of these countries is least known to the Russian reader. Meanwhile, the process of codification of PIL is global, covering all regions of the world, including Asia and Africa. The legislation of these countries demonstrates the whole variety of forms and methods of codification of PIL, the whole range of contradictions and problems that arise when developing new laws and modernizing old ones. The article concluded that in the codification of MPEs in African and Asian countries, the intrabranch form dominates, with a considerable number of legislators preferring the intrabranch integrated method; there is a direct borrowing of the European models adopted many years ago, often without their adaptation to current trends in the development of the PIL; many laws on PIL in Islamic countries have a religious tint, which may hinder the normal development of cross-border private relations.
In this paper we propose a new machine learning concept called randomized machine learning, in which model parameters are assumed random and data are assumed to contain random errors. Distinction of this approach from "classical" machine learning is that optimal estimation deals with the probability density functions of random parameters and the "worst" probability density of random data errors. As the optimality criterion of estimation, randomized machine learning employs the generalized information entropy maximized on a set described by the system of empirical balances. We apply this approach to text classification and dynamic regression problems. The results illustrate capabilities of the approach.
The study dwells on the problem of interaction between North American legal doctrine and codifications of private international law in the state of Louisiana and the Province of Quebec. Covering both classical and modern USA schools of thought in the area of conflict of laws, the article also includes a comparative analysis of Book IV (Conflict of Laws) of Louisiana Civil Code and Book X (On private international law) of Quebec Civil Code respectfully. On comparing these acts, the authors dwell on a thesis that, in spite of the obvious similarities between respectful legal systems, one cannot state undoubtedly that American doctrine of private international law has been recepted by abovementioned codifications in equal measure. Therefore, despite all the similarities, the doctrinal traditions on which they are respectfully based are actually different.
This article is devoted to the Digest of the Laws of the Russian Empire – an embodiment of the operative legal system in late imperial Russia. Even though the Digest contained the law in force, and thus should be studied as a crucial source on Russian (legal) history, its meaning has been often overlooked. The reason for that is a remarkable difference between the original texts of laws adopted by the legislator, and their published form in the Digest. This difference came from the necessary editing procedures when every new piece of legislation was included in the existing system of the Digest. This strange feature of legal procedure when two different versions of a particular law – the original one and the one codified in the Digest – both remained in force should be considered as a part of official autocratic legality in late imperial Russia. Even though it may seem inefficient and irrational, the practice of obligatory codification of laws in the Digest existed for a rather long time – from 1835 until 1917. My research aims to find possible explanations for the Digest’s prolonged existence in the context of political and legal culture of late imperial Russia. What did Russian ‘official legality’ actually mean on the levels of theory and action?
In the collection of issues there are published the works of the participants of the III International scientific-practical conference "Systematization of legislation: theoretical development" (Kazan, October 23, 2015) on topical issues of legal science and practice.
The stereotype content model (SCM), originating in the United States and generalized across nearly 50 countries, has yet to address ethnic relations in one of the world’s most influential nations. Russia and the United States are somewhat alike (large, powerful, immigrant-receiving), but differ in other ways relevant to intergroup images (culture, religions, ideology, and history). Russian ethnic stereotypes are understudied, but significant for theoretical breadth and practical politics. This research tested the SCM on ethnic stereotypes in a Russian sample (N = 1115). Study 1 (N = 438) produced an SCM map of the sixty most numerous domestic ethnic groups (both ethnic minorities and immigrants). Four clusters occupied the SCM warmth-by-competence space. Study 2 (N = 677) compared approaches to ethnic stereotypes in terms of status and competition, cultural distance, perceived region, and four intergroup threats. Using the same Study 1 groups, the Russian SCM map showed correlated warmth and competence, with few ambivalent stereotypes. As the SCM predicts, status predicted competence, and competition negatively predicted warmth. Beyond the SCM, status and property threat both were robust antecedents for both competence and warmth for all groups. Besides competition, cultural distance also negatively predicted warmth for all groups. The role of the other antecedents, as expected, varied from group to group. To examine relative impact, a network analysis demonstrated that status, competition, and property threat centrally influence many other variables in the networks. The SCM, along with antecedents from other models, describes Russian ethnic-group images. This research contributes: (1) a comparison of established approaches to ethnic stereotypes (from acculturation and intergroup relations) showing the stability of the main SCM predictions; (2) network structures of the multivariate dependencies of the considered variables; (3) systematically cataloged images of ethnic groups in Russia for further comparisons, illuminating the Russian historical, societal, and interethnic context.
2nd edition of the first volume of "Capital" by K. Marx, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the publication.
This collection includes materials presented for discussion during three conferences held at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies, the Russian Academy of Sciences, in 2013 through 2015 and published in Russian under common title of the Vietnam Studies in Russia. The collection consists of six subject sections covering the main areas of research and touching upon various realms of Vietnam's internal and foreign policies, social and cultural processes in that country. Part one includes papers discussing the current trends in relations between Russia / USSR and Vietnam. Part two analyzes political situation in Vietnam and its challenges in the region. Part three looks at Vietnam's socio-economic development under the impact of renovation reforms and market economy building. Part four highlights different episodes of Vietnam's history, and Part five represents studies in cultural area. Part six consists of topics on Vietnamese linguistics and literature. The original papers in this collection rely on a wide range of sources and documents, and reflect their authors' own findings. The authors' views do not necessarily represent those of the collection compilers. This collection is the second of its kind in the Russian Federation and is intended for distribution abroad. Volume One was edited by IFES RAS and published by Forum Publishing House in 2014.
Current predictive models of collective action have devoted little attention to personal values, such as morals or ideology. The present research addresses this issue by incorporating a new axiological path in a novel predictive model of collective action, named AICAM. The axiological path is formed by two constructs: ideology and moral obligation. The model has been tested for real normative participation (Study 1) and intentional non-normative participation (Study 2). The sample for Study 1 included 531 randomly selected demonstrators and non-demonstrators at the time of a protest that took place in Madrid, May 2017. Study 2 comprised 607 randomly selected participants who filled out an online questionnaire. Structural equation modelling analysis was performed in order to examine the fit and predictive power of the model. Results show that the model is a good fit in both studies. It has also been observed that the new model entails a significant addition of overall effect size when compared with alternative models, including SIMCA. The present research contributes to the literature of collective action by unearthing a new, independent path towards collective action that is nonetheless compatible with previous motives. Implications for future research are discussed, mainly stressing the need to include moral and ideological motives in the study of collective action engagement.
We integrated models of discrimination of immigrants by combining established approaches to prejudice and discrimination towards immigrants (proximate explanations) using assumptions of Evolutionary-Coalitional Theory (ultimate explanations). Based on this perspective, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), and multicultural ideology (MCI) were considered as sociofunctional motives for attitudes towards immigrants. We examined relationships between individual differences in beliefs about the social world (dangerous worldview and competitive worldview) as more distal antecedents, and RWA, SDO, and MCI as more proximal antecedents, and the endorsement of discrimination of immigrants in the socioeconomic domain by Russian majority group members as the outcome. Data were collected among 576 participants from 33 regions in Russia, using online social media. MCI predicted endorsement of discrimination of immigrants by Russian majority group members better than did RWA and SDO. SDO predicted only economic aspects of the endorsement of discrimination. The results are discussed within the Russian context, with its ethnically diverse composition of the population and high migration rates.