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African swine fever (ASF) is a notifiable animal disease with large impact on the pig farming sector and the wild boar population. As of March 2018, ASF is present in the Baltic Member States of the European Union, Poland, Czech Republic, and Romania, and it threatens to spread further towards Germany. Against this background, early warning strategies have to be implemented and possible control measures updated. Since an effective vaccine is lacking, a profound understanding of the pathogenesis and epidemiology is of utmost importance to design suitable control measures, especially for wild boar. While profound data is available for the sylvatic cycle of the disease in Africa, disease dynamics among European wild boar are far from being understood and remain to be elucidated. For this reason, the presented studies targeted the characterization of relevant virus strains and the further validation of suitable alternative sampling tools to generate diagnostic data. It was already known, that dry-swabs are suitable for pathogen and antibody detection of Classical and African swine fever but the applicability on field samples of poor quality and the combination with point-of-care test systems needed to be assessed. It could be shown, that dry-swabs minimize the risk of contamination and allow still decent diagnostic results without the need of a cooling device during transport and storage. This simple tool could encourage hunters and foresters to intensify the sampling of fallen wild boar which is urgently required for early disease detection. Furthermore, an Estonian field strain has been characterized in detail. Four animal trials including wild boar and different domestic pig breeds have been carried out for biological characterization. Rather variable disease courses with lethalities ranging from 0% (domestic pigs) to 100% (wild boar) have been observed. Full-genome sequencing revealed a large-scale mutation (14 kilo base pairs) in the re-isolated strain and screening of field samples demonstrated a locally and temporally limited circulation of the strain in north-eastern Estonia. In addition, a long-term animal trial provided data on the controversially discussed role of persistently or chronically infected survivor pigs acting as potential carriers. It could be shown, that swine surviving the acute phase of the disease, can recover completely and eliminate the virus. Under the experimental conditions no transmission to sentinel pigs, commingled 99 days after the inoculation was observed. This data contributed to the deeper understanding of the epidemiological behavior of ASF and could help to optimize disease control. ; Aufgrund ihrer enormen Bedeutung für die Schweinefleischindustrie und die Wildschweinpopulation gehört die Afrikanische Schweinepest (ASP) aktuell zu den gefürchtetsten anzeigepflichtigen Tierseuchen. Die Erkrankung tritt derzeit unter anderem im Baltikum, in Polen, Tschechien und Rumänien auf und eine Ausbreitung nach Deutschland ist zu befürchten. Da kein wirksamer Impfstoff zur Verfügung steht, kommt dem Verständnis der Pathogenese und Epidemiologie eine noch größere Bedeutung zu. Über den sylvatischen Zyklus der Erkrankung in Afrika ist schon relativ viel bekannt, während die Wiedereinschleppung der Tierseuche in die europäische Wildschweinpopulation viele neue Fragen aufwirft. Die vorgestellten Studien umfassen die Charakterisierung von relevanten Virusstämmen und die weiterführende Validierung von alternativen Beprobungsverfahren. Tupferproben waren als brauchbare Alternative für den Nachweis der klassischen und Afrikanischen Schweinepest bereits bekannt, aber die Belastbarkeit der Methode im Einsatz mit schlechter Probenqualität und die Kombination mit Sofortdiagnostika musste noch erprobt werden. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass die verwendeten Tupfer, die ungekühlt transportiert werden können, eine simple und kontaminationsarme Probennahme erlauben. Dieses vereinfachte Verfahren könnte Jäger und Förster zur intensiveren Beprobung von Fallwild motivieren und so zu einer frühzeitigen Entdeckung der Tierseuche beitragen. Außerdem wurde ein estnisches Isolat des Virus der Afrikanischen Schweinepest im Detail untersucht. Zu diesem Zweck wurden zunächst vier Tierexperimente mit Haus- und Wildschweinen durchgeführt. Die beobachteten Krankheitsverläufe waren mit einer Letalität zwischen 0% (Hausschwein) und 100% (Wildschwein) sehr variabel. Eine Vollgenomsequenzierung zeigte eine große Mutation (14 Kilobasenpaare) im Genom des Re-Isolates. Untersuchte Feldproben konnten das temporär und regional begrenzte Vorkommen des Isolats im Nordosten Estlands belegen. Des Weiteren lieferte ein Langzeittierexperiment wichtige Daten zum Thema der persistent oder chronisch infizierten Schweine, die als potenzielle Überträger der Erkrankung kontrovers diskutiert werden. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass Schweine, die die akute Phase der Erkrankung überleben, in der Lage sind, sich vollständig zu erholen und das Virus zu eliminieren. Unter experimentellen Bedingungen konnte 99 Tage nach der ASP-Infektion keine Übertragung der Tierseuche auf zugestallte Sentineltiere beobachtet werden. Diese Daten tragen zu einem tieferen Verständnis der ASP-Epidemiologie bei und können helfen die Tierseuchenbekämpfung zu optimieren.

La riflessione pedagogica è stata da una parte accusata di silenzio e di mancanza di approfondimento rispetto alle responsabilità educative coinvolte nello sviluppo dei fenomeni mafiosi; d'altra parte ci confrontiamo con la diffusa domanda di comprensione di tali realtà e del ruolo della società civile e con un aumento di interesse, da parte delle Istituzioni, verso percorsi educativi. Questa ricerca intende contribuire al dibattito pedagogico sulle possibili progettualità educative per costruire una risposta civile alla problematica delle mafie. Per fare ciò, si accostano diverse griglie interpretative (storiche, sociologiche, giuridiche) e si confrontano percorsi di differenti criminalità organizzate (mafia, camorra, 'ndrangheta a livello nazionale e internazionale in primis, ma anche Yakuza, Cosa nostra americana e Triadi) con l'obiettivo di formarsi un angolo visuale più ampio e nello stesso tempo profondo della problematica mafiosa nella società globalizzata. Da questo confronto emerge l'importanza di comprendere, accanto alla pervasività delle mafie, la permeabilità dei contesti e le convergenze con gli stili esistenziali inautentici del nostro tempo, improntati al consumo, all'utilitarismo, al disimpegno, all'antropocentrismo. Ripercorrendo l'evoluzione delle iniziative che sono state svolte sul piano politico-istituzionale e su quello civile, constatiamo soprattutto a partire dagli anni '80 l'emergere del discorso educativo. Per comprendere i possibili obiettivi educativi, si analizzano infine diversi progetti, narrati attraverso la documentazione, le interviste e i questionari rivolti ai protagonisti, e confrontati con le riflessioni pedagogiche in merito alla cittadinanza e alla legalità. L'ascolto dei familiari delle vittime, le esperienze dei campi della legalità "tra nord e sud", di rigenerazione sociale e cura degli spazi e dei beni pubblici e dell'abitare la città, consentono di aprire l'orizzonte all'utopia di una civiltà dell'empatia, a patto di non sottrarsi all'investimento educativo nello sviluppare la capacità di ascolto della realtà e delle ragioni dell'altro, di coltivare l'arte della resistenza nel segno dell'empatia. ; Pedagogy has been blamed of silence and superficiality on the relationship between mafias and education; however, nowadays we are facing a spreading of interest among civil society and institution around educational projects. This research aims to contribute to the pedagogical debate around possible directions to support the civil society response to the problems of mafias. First of all, it deepens different theoretical framework (sociological, criminological, historical, law) and compares the different evolution of mafias (Cosa nostra, camorra, 'ndrangheta in the italian and international context, but also yakuza, triads, and italo-american mafia). The aim is to keep a wide and deep perspective of the problem of mafias in the globalized era. From this analysis emerges the importance of comprehension not only of the pervasiveness of the phenomenon but also the permeability of the contexts and the convergence with inauthentic lifestyles which are connected with consumption, utilitarianism, anthropocentrism and disengagement. Considering this, the research address to understand the evolution of political-institutional and civil initiatives. The importance of education has increased since the '80s, when the law enforcement agents have started to be murdered. To comprehend possible educational goals, the research analyzes different projects, which are narrated through the documentation, interviews and surveys of actors involved and it confronts them with the pedagogical reflections on citizenship and legality. Listening to the relatives of victims, working on the land confiscated to mafiosi and turned into social land trust or social projects, restoring and taking care of public spaces and goods, trying new way of social living: these practices allow us to open the horizon to the utopy of the civilization of empathy if we engage in the development of the ability to comprehend reality and the reasons of the other and to nurture the art of resistence, in the sign of empathy.

With the rise of cities as geographical units, there have been a growing number of municipal partnerships and networks. Government-led intercity cooperation at regional scale—regional city-to-city (C2C) cooperation booms in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region in the last two decades. Urban competitiveness is a concept tied to intercity competition that decides the relative position of cities in urban ranking. In regional C2C cooperation, urban competitiveness serves as the asset of partner-cities and usually as one of the primary targets of the cooperation. However, there is a general lack of studies on the influence of urban competitiveness on regional C2C cooperation. The introduction of the perspective of urban competitiveness is an approach of developing a comprehensive framework connecting factors of regional C2C cooperation. The objective of this research is to analyze the influence of urban competitiveness on regional C2C cooperation in China's local context. In this study, the added value of regional C2C cooperation is divided into added value of urban competitiveness and political added value brought by intervention from upper-level governments. Three typology of C2C cooperation (i.e. hybrid, hierarchical and spontaneous) have been identified. Three cases in the YRD region including the Jiangyin-Jingjiang Industrial Park of Jiangsu Province, Suzhou-Suqian Industrial Park, and Shanghai Caohejing Hi-Tech Park Haining Sub-park are selected for case studies accordingly. This study indicates that urban competitiveness and government intervention are crucial to regional C2C cooperation. Urban competitiveness is essential in regional C2C partnership maintenance, while intervention from upper-level governments is effective and efficient in strategy formulation and partner selection. The measurement of urban competitiveness in the YRD region in 2002, 2005, and 2008 indicates the partner-city with relatively larger urban competitiveness is more likely to assume a leading role in the C2C partnership. Noticeably, it is found that the intervention from the provincial government tends to consolidate such impact. The measurement also reveals that urban competitiveness in the YRD region is transforming from an investment-driven stage to an innovation- and human capital-driven stage. Noticeably, the increasing weighting of basic factors in the building of urban competitiveness found in the YRD region is hard to be explained by the mainstream urban competitive advantage theories. Therefore, a localization of the theories is advocated by this research. Imprints of China's local context transpire in the three cases, including economic decentralization and simultaneous political centralization. The role of provincial government is weakened in China's political restructuring. However, revealed by the case studies, intervention from provincial government to regional C2C cooperation is still observed to be effective in terms of strategy formulation and negotiation. With the rise of public-private partnership focusing on investment and economic growth, as well as strong government intervention in regional C2C cooperation, the three cases reflect China's urban entrepreneurialism. Furthermore, a recent shift in China's urban entrepreneurialism has been found in the region, which is the increasing emphasis on environmental care for sustainable development. This recent shift accords with the global movement toward environmentalism for sustainable development. The underlying logic and reasons are different from those in the West, resting upon the different nature of involvement and governing process. The findings of this research contribute to a better understanding of the relations between urban competitiveness and regional C2C cooperation in China's local context and the role of governments. As one of the most developed regions in China, the experiences in the YRD region can shed light on the development of other developing areas. ; published_or_final_version ; Urban Planning and Design ; Doctoral ; Doctor of Philosophy

In early 2001, after the disastrous election of 2000, Florida decided to revamp its voting systems, as well as its elections laws, because it did not want another disaster. The "Electronic Voting Systems Act" (the "Act"), ostensibly modernized Florida's outdated voting machines by authorizing the use of "electronic and electromechanical voting systems in which votes are registered electronically or are tabulated on automatic tabulating equipment or data processing equipment" prohibiting any apparatus or device "for the piercing of ballots by the voter". Central to the recount process overhaul was the introduction in Florida of a whole new type of voting system based on the use of Direct Recording Electronic voting machines ("DREs"). DREs were jointly touted by the Florida Department of State and the Florida Association of Supervisors of Elections ("FSASE"), as having "the highest levels of accuracy and security." The virtue lies mostly no in their purported accuracy and reliability but rather, in the fact that DREs allegedly eliminated all possibility of overvotes and reduced undervotes to instances where the voter made the concious choice to withhold his vote in a particular contest. In 2001, Florida's recount laws were changed to reflect the new landscape where overvotes were non-existant and undervotes were intentionally created. The prototype DRE known as the iVotronic sold by Nebraska-based Election Systems & Software ("ES&S"). Much like the concept car in the local auto show, the iVotronic had never been used in any election anywhere in the world. The first use for Florida's DREs was the September 10, 2002 Democratic gubernatorial primary. In Miami-Dade County, the results were disastrous. Some polls did not open for many hours because pollworkers had difficulty activating the iVotronic machines, while others opened with only one machine, pollworkers were unable to activate the machines and voters were turned away because there was no back-up system of paper substitute ballots for them to vote on, while some precincts were unable to print "zero" tapes and others were unable to print results tapes at poll closing. County pollworkers experienced many problems collecting and reading votes from the PEBs (Personnal Electronic Ballot). According to County auditors, many problems occurred because "the iVotronics lacked self-diagnostic functions to alert pollworkers of problems encountered during activation, operation, ballot collection and deactivation. Damage control was attempted establishing practices including the use of County employees as Voting Systems Supervisors, troubleshooters, hot line operators and pollworkers replacing in the citizen pollworker. While the spin masters were able to sell the concept that the problems of September 2002 were mostly caused by normal bumps that happen with the implementation of new technology and poor pollworker training, the fact is that the technology could and did "malfunction" in an actual election. The premise of this paper is that as demonstrated by the experiences of Miami-Dade County in the years following the infamous November 2000 election, the accuracy and reliability of DREs is far from clear as the underlying technology is, to put it charitably, "not quite ready for prime time." As a result, Florida's voting systems and elections law overhaul has been nothing short of the road to perdition – leaving the State in a more precarious position than before 2000 when it comes to voting system accuracy and security and converting the isolated problem of messy manual recounts into a deeper problem of untrustworthy and unverifiable results regardless of the closeness of the contest.

In early 2001, after the disastrous election of 2000, Florida decided to revamp its voting systems, as well as its elections laws, because it did not want another disaster. The "Electronic Voting Systems Act" (the "Act"), ostensibly modernized Florida's outdated voting machines by authorizing the use of "electronic and electromechanical voting systems in which votes are registered electronically or are tabulated on automatic tabulating equipment or data processing equipment" prohibiting any apparatus or device "for the piercing of ballots by the voter". Central to the recount process overhaul was the introduction in Florida of a whole new type of voting system based on the use of Direct Recording Electronic voting machines ("DREs"). DREs were jointly touted by the Florida Department of State and the Florida Association of Supervisors of Elections ("FSASE"), as having "the highest levels of accuracy and security." The virtue lies mostly no in their purported accuracy and reliability but rather, in the fact that DREs allegedly eliminated all possibility of overvotes and reduced undervotes to instances where the voter made the concious choice to withhold his vote in a particular contest. In 2001, Florida's recount laws were changed to reflect the new landscape where overvotes were non-existant and undervotes were intentionally created. The prototype DRE known as the iVotronic sold by Nebraska-based Election Systems & Software ("ES&S"). Much like the concept car in the local auto show, the iVotronic had never been used in any election anywhere in the world. The first use for Florida's DREs was the September 10, 2002 Democratic gubernatorial primary. In Miami-Dade County, the results were disastrous. Some polls did not open for many hours because pollworkers had difficulty activating the iVotronic machines, while others opened with only one machine, pollworkers were unable to activate the machines and voters were turned away because there was no back-up system of paper substitute ballots for them to vote on, while some precincts were unable to print "zero" tapes and others were unable to print results tapes at poll closing. County pollworkers experienced many problems collecting and reading votes from the PEBs (Personnal Electronic Ballot). According to County auditors, many problems occurred because "the iVotronics lacked self-diagnostic functions to alert pollworkers of problems encountered during activation, operation, ballot collection and deactivation. Damage control was attempted establishing practices including the use of County employees as Voting Systems Supervisors, troubleshooters, hot line operators and pollworkers replacing in the citizen pollworker. While the spin masters were able to sell the concept that the problems of September 2002 were mostly caused by normal bumps that happen with the implementation of new technology and poor pollworker training, the fact is that the technology could and did "malfunction" in an actual election. The premise of this paper is that as demonstrated by the experiences of Miami-Dade County in the years following the infamous November 2000 election, the accuracy and reliability of DREs is far from clear as the underlying technology is, to put it charitably, "not quite ready for prime time." As a result, Florida's voting systems and elections law overhaul has been nothing short of the road to perdition – leaving the State in a more precarious position than before 2000 when it comes to voting system accuracy and security and converting the isolated problem of messy manual recounts into a deeper problem of untrustworthy and unverifiable results regardless of the closeness of the contest.

Public finance solutions to high unemployment in Europe have often been advocated during the past years. With unemployment concentrated among the young and unskilled, it has been suggested that the reduction of social security contributions for low wage earnings, financed by a carbon tax, could yield a double dividend, the reduction of unemployment and the abatement of pollution. A decline in average labor taxes reduces unemployment if it generates lower pretax wages. Pretax wages fall if real after tax income from unemployment and leisure is not affected or only partially affected by the change in average taxes. When unemployment benefits are not taxed in a unionized economy, lower average labor taxes reduce the replacement ratio, and unions are willing to accept lower pretax wages because the net income loss from employment increases. Changes in labor taxation do not necessarily require that average labor taxes vary. In principle, a switch from payroll to income taxes, given average rates, could affect wage pressure and unemployment. The empirical evidence to date, however, does not support this possibility.When labor taxation is nonlinear, another opportunity is to vary the degree of labor tax progressivity. Economic theory suggests that higher progressivity could reduce unemployment. Suppose that wages are bargained over by unions. When a union contemplates the possibility of a wage hike, it has to consider that say for a 1% increase in the after tax wage the pretax wage increases by 1/v, where v denotes the coefficient of residual income progression. This implies that the expected employment loss associated to the higher after tax wage is e/v, where e is the elasticity of labor demand. Since v<1 with progressive taxation, this loss is higher with progressive than with proportional taxation. It follows that, when labor markets are not perfectly competitive, a certain degree of tax progressivity can be desirable because it makes wage increases less attractive to unions, with positive consequences on the unemployment rate.This empirical paper adds to the existing literature additional evidence based on Italian data. We use both panel and grouped data to study the effects of average and marginal (payroll and income) tax rates on wage pressure, and investigate whether these effects vary by skill, age group and region of residence.Our empirical findings are summarized as follows:a) changes in average payroll taxes are not fully absorbed by offsetting changes in the after tax wage and affect both pretax wages and employment;b) the estimated effects of changes in average income taxes on pretax wages are mixed but on balance the evidence suggests that after tax wages do not fully offset these changes;c) higher tax progressivity increases pretax wages;d) there are significant differences in the relationship between labor taxes and pretax wages by age group but not by region of residence or skill.We also find that the estimated elasticity of pretax wages to changes in marginal tax rates, given average rates, is large and ranges between 0.919 and 1.131, depending on the specification being used. It is difficult to explain this large positive elasticity exclusively with the argument that the labor supply effect prevails over the wage moderation effect. Therefore, we add an additional mechanism, the relative wage effect, and describe how it can contribute to producing the above results. Briefly put, when individuals and unions care about relative wages and an increase in tax progressivity reduces the own wage via the wage moderation effect, this reduction translates into lower relative wages, which can only be avoided by increasing wage pressure.

Rhetoric from the Pentagon and the arms industry suggests that integrating artificial intelligence, or AI, into U.S. weapons, communications, and surveillance systems will improve efficiency, innovation, and national security. The Pentagon is beginning to back its rhetoric on emerging technology with resources. The department's Office of Strategic Capital now has the authority to grant executive loans and loan guarantees to invest in firms researching and developing 14 "critical technologies," including hypersonics, quantum computing, microelectronics, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act authorizes the Advanced Defense Capabilities Pilot, which contains a mandate to establish public-private partnerships with the goal of "leverag[ing] private equity capital to accelerate domestic defense scaling, production, and manufacturing." Proponents argue that the rapid development and deployment of autonomous systems, pilotless vehicles, and hypersonic weapons will shorten the time between recognizing a potential threat and destroying it — a process analysts and military leaders often refer to as shortening the "kill chain." This shift is portrayed as a positive development, when in fact it could easily enable deadly escalations by accident or design. A case in point is Israel's use of targeting systems incorporating AI to generate targets for military strikes in its brutal seige on Gaza. A recent investigation revealed the use of "Lavender," an AI-based program developed by the Israeli army designed to identify all suspected operatives in the military wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as potential bombing targets. Rather than using this capability to focus on discrete targets and spare civilians, the Israeli Defense Forces are using Lavender to multiply the number of targets to attack in a given time frame, increasing the pace of attack and the number of casualties, which now stand at over 33,000 deaths and tens of thousands injured. The investigation revealed that the Israeli army preferred to only use unguided missiles, commonly known as "dumb" bombs (in contrast to "smart" precision bombs) to target alleged junior militants marked by Lavender. These bombs can indiscriminately destroy entire buildings and cause significant casualties. "You don't want to waste expensive bombs on unimportant people — it's very expensive for the country and there's a shortage [of those bombs]," said C., one of the intelligence officers speaking to +972 Magazine, which broke the story on Lavender. The Lavender machine is not the first time the Israeli military has used AI. "The Gospel," another system largely built on AI, is said to generate targets at a fast pace. As noted by +972 Magazine, "A fundamental difference between the two systems is in the definition of the target: whereas The Gospel marks buildings and structures that the army claims militants operate from, Lavender marks people — and puts them on a kill list." Far from enabling more precise strikes that reduce civilian harm, the AI-targeted attacks increased impunity in the bombing of Gaza. As a member of the Israeli military posted to Gaza put it, "I don't know how many people I killed as collateral damage … the focus was on creating as many targets as quickly as possible."The U.S. Congress has demonstrated its commitment to spurring on "collaborative defense projects between the United States and Israel in emerging technologies" through bills such as the United States-Israel Future of Warfare Act, which is just one avenue through which the United States continues to fund and support Israeli military operations. In February, the Senate approved an additional $14.1 billion for Israeli military operations via a supplemental funding package, but the fate of that aid package awaits action by the House. But some members of Congress have pushed back against the risks of emerging technologies by introducing legislation to establish governance and regulations of AI. The Federal AI Governance and Transparency Act, for example, aims to ensure that "the design, development, acquisition, use, management, and oversight of artificial intelligence in the Federal Government… [is] consistent with the Constitution and any other applicable law and policy, including those addressing freedom of speech, privacy, civil rights, civil liberties, and an open and transparent Government."Accidents in the use of AI systems have their own potentially dire consequences, as pointed out by Michael Klare in a report for the Arms Control Association: "many analysts have cautioned against proceeding with such haste until more is known about the inadvertent and hazardous consequences of doing so. Analysts worry, for example, that AI-enabled systems may fail in unpredictable ways, causing unintended human slaughter or uncontrolled escalation."The Pentagon has given lip service to the potential dangers posed by widespread weaponization of AI, but its calls for responsible use of these systems ring hollow in the face of its public commitments to deploy advanced technology as quickly as possible. Last August, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks unveiled her department's "Replicator Initiative" in front of an audience of arms-producing companies, pledging to deploy large numbers of new systems by late 2025, possibly including "swarms of drones" designed to overwhelm Chinese defenses in a potential U.S-China conflict.Meanwhile, venture capital firms like Andreesen-Horowitz and the Founders Fund are pouring billions of dollars into emerging military tech startups, hoping to cash in when some of them become major Pentagon contractors. In addition, these firms have been rushing to increase their lobbying clout by hiring dozens of ex-military officers as advisers and advocates for higher Pentagon spending on AI-driven systems. The promoters of these new battlefield technologies are marketing them with evangelical fervor, suggesting that not only are they central to being able to "beat" China in a conflict, but that they are the key to restoring U.S. global military dominance. At a time when cooperation between Washington and Beijing is essential for addressing urgent threats like climate change, pandemics, and global poverty, cheerleading for a new high-tech arms race with China is both dangerous and counterproductive.So what is to be done? First, there needs to be greater transparency about new weapons systems in development, how they might be used, and whether the technology is being shared with other nations. Also, the revolving door between the military, the Pentagon, and the emerging tech sector needs to be carefully regulated, including prohibitions on direct lobbying of former colleagues still in government. In addition, Washington should consider the calls of scientists and advocates for a ban on robotic weapons and in the meantime, increase transparency, regulation, and oversight of these technologies. And all this needs to be coupled with a rethinking of U.S. global strategy that reduces reliance on military intervention and prioritizes diplomacy in U.S. interactions with governments, organizations, and individuals.Developing a new generation of military technology will not solve our world's most pressing problems, and there is a strong chance that it will make them worse. The time to push back against the illusions promoted by the people who will profit from taking AI to war is now.

Problem setting. Changes in the socio-economic development of the country, caused by geopolitical, technological, economic and social factors, create new challenges for the competition policy of the state. The COVID-19 pandemic added to this list, significantly affecting the activities of the business environment, households, and the world economy in general. The development of an effective competition environment in commodity markets is a prerequisite for the restoration of stable economic growth on the basis of innovation and investment development.In this regard, there is a need to rethink the mechanism and set of instruments of competition policy on their adequacy to the current situation, their effectiveness and ability to ensure the achievement of goals and objectives. Nowadays, the emphasis of competition policy is changing, caused by changes in the competition environment and the objectives of economic policy in general. At the same time, the formation of competition policy should take place as a holistic system of influence by public authorities on the activities of economic entities and commodity markets in accordance with national goals and priorities of socio-economic development.Recent research and publications analysis. The works of Ukrainian and foreign scientists, including V. Lagutin, Z. Borysenko, A. Gerasimenko, G. Filyuk, K. Kantur, T. Shvydka, Y. Yasko, T. Shcherbakova, M. Porter, O. Kilievich and others.are devoted to the study of theoretical and applied principles of competition policy.Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. Despite significant developments in competition policy, there are still crucial problems to solve regarding the mechanism, tools and methods of competition policy, considering the socio-economic changes in society, changes of the emphasis in its implementation, given the existing problems, dynamics and structure of violations of competition law, the need for coordination of competition policy with the entire system of state regulation of the national economy and adaptation to competition practices in developed countries. Therefore, further research is needed to improve the state's competition policy in the face of new challenges.The main purpose of the article is a theoretical study of competition policy, identification of the main problems in the implementation of competition policy on the basis of analysis of the Western Regional Territorial office of Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and formulation of recommendations for their elimination.Paper main body. Competition policy is one of the most important and complex forms of economic policy of the state. In its content, it is much broader than antitrust regulation, as it aims not only to limit and terminate monopolistic practices, anticompetitive agreements between economic entities and government actions, but also to develop and maintain effective economic competition, including through the application of competition law.Nowadays, the main focus of the state's competition policy is to strengthen its preventive nature in order to promote fair competition, as well as to end the monopolistic behavior of both enterprises and public authorities.The most important principles of competition policy, which are mainly reflected in the current legislation and correspond to the best world practices are: improving the welfare of society; flexibility of competition policy; increasing the competitiveness of the national producer; promotion of entrepreneurial activity; creating opportunities for access to the benefits created by natural monopolies; coordination of the state's competition policy with the priorities of economic policy and the goals of state regulation in general.Analysis of antitrust authorities showed that in the total number of violations of competition law the largest share are anticompetitive concerted actions of economic entities, violations in the form of anticompetitive actions by government, local authorities, bodies of administrative management and control, which significantly reduce the effectiveness of competition policy of the state at all levels.An actual problem in the implementation of state competition policy is to ensure equal conditions for all business entities, regardless of the type of ownership. This is due to the fact that most commodity markets in Ukraine are characterized by the presence of state-owned enterprises. Thus, according to the OECD and the World Bank (as of 2018), approximately 19 commodity markets in Ukraine have at least one state-owned enterprise; The number of utility companies is constantly increasing: at the beginning of 2021, 14,174 of them were registered in Ukraine, which is 22% more than in 2018.A reflection of the existing problems is the discrepancy between the amounts of fines imposed by the regulator for violating competition law and the amounts of fines actually paid. Thus, for the period of 2017-2020, the Western Regional Territorial office of Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine imposed fines for violation of competition law in the amount of over UAH 95 million, and in fact UAH 11219543 was collected from violators, which is only 11.8%. The factors of this situation are: imperfection of legal norms and insufficient justification of penalties for business entities; low competitive culture of market participants, low responsibility of violators of competition law and "commitment" of government officials to some of them; lack of effective motives to prevent anticompetitive actions in economic activities, and lack of support and development of competition in commodity markets.Among all areas of state competition policy today, we consider the protection of competition and demonopolization of potentially competitive and monopolistic markets to be the main ones. In order to prevent collusion and counteract cartel agreements, it is necessary to establish effective interaction between the regulator and law enforcement agencies, expand the powers of the AMCU to inspect business entities, and introduce competitive conditions at all stages of public procurement. The control, transparency and targeting of state aid, as well as the cessation of discrimination in the actions of public authorities, are the key to ensuring the equality of economic entities, especially in the face of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Termination of unfair competition practices based on fair competition advocacy.Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies. The main task of the state's competition policy is to ensure the effectiveness of competitive relations in commodity markets, which leads to increased competitiveness of the domestic economy. All instruments and mechanisms of state competition policy should be used solely to develop effective competition in commodity markets. Competition policy, adapted to modern requirements and challenges, should encourage competition between producers, which will improve the quality of goods, services, the formation of economically reasonable prices and reduce them, and thus increase the level of satisfaction of society's needs.The main instruments of competition policy should be preventive measures, strengthening the level of responsibility of economic entities for violations of competition law, as well as competition advocacy aimed at forming a competitive culture of market participants, the predominance of the principles of fair, transparent competition. ; Обґрунтовано суть, принципи і особливості конкурентної політики. На основі аналізу звітності Західного Міжобласного територіального відділення Антимонопольного комітету України визначено головні проблеми реалізації конкурентної політики в умовах сучасних соціально-економічних викликів. Визначено головні напрямки удосконалення конкурентної політики, спрямовані на розвиток конкуренції, демонополізацію потенційно конкурентних та монопольних ринків.

This article approaches the situations of exclusion and segregation derived from public housing policy in Bogotá, particularly in the Ciudadela Nuevo Usme (UPZ 61 in the town of Usme), identified in the solidarity extension project "Usmeando" the right to city and land use in the post-conflict period, which led the Research Group "Urban Processes in Habitat, Housing and Information" of the National University of Colombia, in association with the social and community process of the Usme Popular Public Hearing in 2017. This aproximación arises from the approach to the realities and territorial conflicts, as well as from a joint look between the organized community and inhabitant of UPZ 61, and the researchers. For this, research, action and community participation instruments were used, which allowed the development of strategies to tackle problems related to the inhabited territory.In short, this document contains critical reflections on the issues related to the territory and the daily life of inhabiting this place (housing without a city), and the challenges that emerge from it. It also addresses the limitations for the construction of the social fabric; the social management of the urban and its conflicts; the results of said management from the perspective of the conceived to the lived; and the potential of the experience. ; Este artículo se aproxima a las situaciones de exclusión y segregación derivadas de la política pública de vivienda en Bogotá, particularmente, en la Ciudadela Nuevo Usme (UPZ 61 de la localidad de Usme), identificadas en el proyecto de extensión solidaria Usmeando el derecho a la ciudad y el ordenamiento territorial en el posconflicto, que lideró el Grupo de Investigación "Procesos Urbanos en Hábitat, Vivienda e Informalidad" de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, en asocio con el proceso social y comunitario Audiencia Pública Popular de Usme en el año 2017.Esta aproximación surge del acercamiento conjunto a las realidades y conflictosterritoriales por parte de la comunidad organizada y habitante de la UPZ 61 y los investigadores. Para ello, se hizo uso de instrumentos de investigación, acción y participación comunitaria, que permitieron el desarrollo de estrategias para el abordaje de problemáticas vinculadas al territorio habitado. En suma, este documento contiene reflexiones críticas acerca del territorio y la cotidianidad del habitar este lugar (vivienda sin ciudad) y los retos que de ella emergen. También aborda las limitaciones para la construcción del tejido social; la gestión social de lo urbano y sus conflictos; los resultados de dicha gestión desde la perspectiva de lo concebido a lo vivido; y las potencialidades de la experiencia. ; Cet article aborde les situations d'exclusion et de ségrégation dérivées de la politique de logement public à Bogotá, en particulier dans la Ciudadela Nuevo Usme (UPZ 61 dans la localité d'Usmé), identifiée dans le projet d'extension de solidarité "Usmeando" le droit à la ville et l'utilisation des terres dans la période post-conflit, qui a dirigé le groupe de recherche «Processus Urbains dans l'Habitat, le logement et l'information» de l';Université Nationale de Colombie, en association avec le processus social et communautaire de l'Audition Publique Populaire d'Usme en 2017. Cette approche découle de l'approche des réalités et des conflits territoriaux, ainsi que d'un regard conjoint entre la communauté organisée et habitant de l'UPZ 61 et les chercheurs. Pour cela, des instruments de recherche, d'action et de participation communautaire ont été utilisés, ce qui a permis de développer des stratégies pour faire face aux problèmes liés au territoire habité.Bref, ce document contient des réflexions critiques sur les enjeux liés au territoire et à la vie quotidienne d'habiter ce lieu (logement sans ville), et les enjeux qui en émergent. Il aborde également les limites de la construction du tissu social ; la gestion sociale de l'urbain et de ses conflits ; les résultats de ladite gestion du point de vue du conçu au vécu ; et le potentiel de l'expérience. ; Este artigo aborda as situações de exclusão e segregação derivadas da política de habitação pública em Bogotá, particularmente na Ciudadela Nuevo Usme (UPZ 61 na cidade de Usme), identificadas no projeto de extensão solidária "Usmeando" o direito de uso da cidade e da terra no período pós-conflito, que liderou o Grupo de Pesquisa "Processos Urbanos em Habitat, Moradia e Informação" da Universidade Nacional da Colômbia, em associação com o processo social e comunitário da Audiência Pública Popular de Usme em 2017.Essa abordagem surge da abordagem das realidades e dos conflitos territoriais, bem como de um olhar conjunto entre a comunidade organizada e os habitantes da UPZ 61 e os pesquisadores. Para isso, foram utilizados instrumentos de pesquisa, ação e participação comunitária, que permitiram o desenvolvimento de estratégias para enfrentar problemas relacionados ao território habitado.Em resumo, este documento contém reflexões críticas sobre as questões relacionadas ao território e a vida cotidiana de habitar esse local (moradias sem cidade), e os desafios que daí emergem. Também aborda as limitações para a construção do tecido social; a gestão social do urbano e seus conflitos; os resultados dessa gestão sob a perspectiva do concebido para o vivido; e o potencial da experiência.

Early stress tests, used primarily as risk management tools, date back as far as the 1990s. Programs conducted by the IMF, Bank of England, Dodd-Frank Act, Bank of Japan, Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority and the World Bank promoted the used of stress tests. The basic idea the introduction of stress testing was to ensure that banks have sufficient capital to cover their risks, and to ensure that banks and banking systems are more resilient to economic and financial shocks. This paper provides an overview of the recent implementation of stress testing by regulatory agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Switzerland and the European Union. This article also gives an overview of the stress testing methodology developed by the National Bank of Ukraine and in accordance with Basel III recommendations. The aim of research is comparative evaluation of key aspects of system-wide stress tests in different finance systems: Euro area, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Japan, the United States and Ukraine, identifying identification of similarities and differences and prospects for the development in our country. To substantiate the theoretical positions and reasoning of the conclusions general scientific methods are used, including system, abstract-logical approach, as well as methods of formalization, analysis and synthesis of information, comparative analysis. During the study, a comparative analysis of the stress-testing methodology in six countries was conducted. The scientific importance of the work lies in the fact that on the basis of the conducted research it is possible to improve stress-testing of Ukrainian banking system based on best practices from developed countries. The value of the research is that it is increasingly necessary to used best practices of stress tests as a powerful tool in risk management, in micro prudential and macroprudential policies. Results of researches can to used not only in development methodology of stress-testing, but also in case-study of banking. JEL Classification: E37, E44, G10, G21, G28 ; Перші стрес-тести, які використовувалися переважно в якості інструментів управління ризиками, датуються 1990-ми роками. Програми, впроваджені МВФ, Банком Англії, Законом Додда-Франка, Банком Японії, Швейцарським органом з нагляду за фінансовим ринком і Світовим банком, сприяли подальшому використанню стрес-тестів. Основна ідея введення стрес-тестування полягала в забезпеченні банків достатнім капіталом для покриття своїх ризиків і зростанні стійкості банків і банківських систем до економічних і фінансових потрясінь. У даній статті узагальнено досвід стрес-тестування регулюючими органами в Сполучених Штатах, Великобританії, Японії, Швейцарії та Європейському союзі. У цій статті також дається огляд методології стрес-тестування, розробленої Національним банком України відповідно до рекомендацій Базель III. Метою дослідження є порівняльна оцінка ключових аспектів загальносистемних стрес-тестів в різних фінансових системах: зоні євро, Великобританії, Швейцарії, Японії, США та України, виявлення подібностей, відмінностей і перспектив подальшого розвитку. Для обґрунтування теоретичних положень і висновків використовуються загальнонаукові методи, в тому числі системний, абстрактно-логічний підхід, а також методи формалізації, аналізу та узагальнення інформації, порівняльний аналіз. В ході дослідження було проведено порівняльний аналіз методології стрес-тестування в шести країнах. Наукова значимість роботи полягає в систематизації передового досвіду стрес-тестування розвинених країн та розробці на їх основі рекомендацій щодо поліпшення методики стрес-тестів банківської системи України. Цінність дослідження полягає в обґрунтуванні необхідності використовувати кращі методи стрес-тестів в якості потужного інструменту управління ризиками в мікропруденціальной і макропруденційних політиці. Результати досліджень можуть бути використані не тільки в розробці методології стрес-тестування, але і в тематичному дослідженні банківської справи. JEL Classification: E37, E44, G10, G21, G28 ; Ранние стресс-тесты, используемые в основном в качестве инструментов управления рисками, датируются 1990-ми годами. Программы, проводимые МВФ, Банком Англии, Законом Додда-Франка, Банком Японии, Швейцарским органом по надзору за финансовым рынком и Всемирным банком, способствовали использованию стресс-тестов. Основная идея введения стресс-тестирования состояла в обеспечении банков достаточным капиталом для покрытия своих рисков и сделать так, чтобы банки и банковские системы были более устойчивыми к экономическим и финансовым потрясениям. В данной статье обобщен опыт недавнего стресс-тестирования регулирующими органами в Соединенных Штатах, Великобритании, Японии, Швейцарии и Европейском союзе. В этой статье также дается обзор методологии стресс-тестирования, разработанной Национальным банком Украины и в соответствии с рекомендациями Базель III. Целью исследования является сравнительная оценка ключевых аспектов общесистемных стресс-тестов в различных финансовых системах: зоне евро, Великобритании, Швейцарии, Японии, США и Украине, выявление сходств, различий и перспектив дальнейшего развития. Для обоснования теоретических положений и выводов используются общенаучные методы, в том числе системный, абстрактно-логический подход, а также методы формализации, анализа и обобщения информации, сравнительный анализ. В ходе исследования был проведен сравнительный анализ методологии стресс-тестирования в шести странах. Научная значимость работы состоит в систематизации передового опыта стресс-тестирования развитых стран и разработке на их основе рекомендаций по улучшению методики стресс-тестов банковской системы Украины. Ценность исследования заключается в обосновании необходимости использовать лучшие методы стресс-тестов в качестве мощного инструмента управления рисками в микропруденциальной и макропруденциальной политике. Результаты исследований могут быть использованы не только в разработке методологии стресс-тестирования, но и в тематическом исследовании банковского дела. JEL Classification: E37, E44, G10, G21, G28

Reseach object are; 1) to know about the profile of maize farmer enterprise in Gorontalo Regency; 2) to know the people characteristic at home industry group in Todito village at Pulubala sub-district; 3) Economics analysis for Sweat Maize Dodol. Data analysis used is descriptive method, SWOT and economics analysis. The result of this research is 1) Groups of farmers enterprise, the more much of members and land is worked on by maize farmer found at Dunggala village in Batudaa sub-district. At Pulubala Sub-district the more much of groups of farmer enterprise at Puncak Village, and the members is more much found at Toidito, but the largest land worked on by maize farmer is at Puncak village; 2) Production analysis for home industry for Maize Stick with tasted by Shrimp from Llimboto Lake will get profit if the income above of break event is Rp 120.000,- if production is over of break even point is 11,975 gram and will follow of the price over of break even point about Rp 52.500. Production analysis for home industry for Dodol sweat maize will get profit if the income earned over of break even point is Rp 170,174, if production is earned over of break even point 6,90 basket and if the price is over of break even point is about 19.550; 4) Main distribution development strategy of corn stick and corn dodol are developing corn distribution product, increased the volume of production, to reach the market target, and increased the promotion of product and price information. Key words: Corn Production, Distribution Development Strategy AbstrakPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk; 1) Mengetahui profil petani jagung di Kabupaten Gorontalo; 2) Mengetahui karakteristik pelaku industri rumah tangga di Desa Todito, Kecamatan Pulubala; 3) Analisis ekonomi dodol jagung manis. Analisis data menggunakan analisis deskriptif, SWOT, dan analisis ekonomi. Hasil peneltian: 1) Kelompok, jumlah anggota dan luas tanaman jagung terbanyak di Kecamatan Batudaa terdapat di Desa Dunggala. Di Kecamatan Pulubala kelompok petani jagung terbanyak dan lahan terluas terdapat di Desa Puncak, dan jumlah anggota kelompok terbanyak terdapat di Desa Toidito; 2) Keuntungan industri stik jagung rasa udang di Danau Limboto dengan pendapatan di atas BEP (Break Even Point) sebesar Rp. 120.000,- dengan BEP produksi sebesar 11,975 gram dan BEP harga Rp. 52.500. Keuntungan industri dodol jagung manis dengan pendapatan di atas BEP sebesar 170,174, dengan BEP produksi sebesar 6,90 keranjang, dan BEP harga sebesar 19.550. 3) Strategi utama pengembangan distribusi stik jagung dan dodol jagung adalah mengembangkan produk distribusi jagung, meningkatkan volume produksi, untuk mencapai target pasar, dan meningkatkan promosi produk dan informasi harga. Kata Kunci: Produksi Jagung, Strategi Pengembangan Distribusi REFERENCESAhmad, Lisna. 2011 dan 2012.Analisis sifat fisiokimia dan respon konsumen terhadap tepung pudding instan hasil formula siteping jagung dan karagenan. Laporan Penelitian. Gorontalo: Lemlit UNG.Ahmad, Lisna. 2013. Kajian dan pengembangan crackers nike hasil formulasi tepung jagung dan ikan nike. Laporan Penelitian. Gorontalo: Lemlit UNG.Muhammad, Fadel. 2012. Indonesia effortstowards the leading of maize agribusiness and agroindustry in the world by 2025. Paparan disampaikan pada International Maize Conference. Gorontalo 22-24 November 2012.Friedman, John. 1990. Empowerment: the politics of alternative development (Cambridge MA & Oxford UK: Blaekwell, 1982Halid, Amir. 2010. Dampak agropolitan jagung terhadap penurunan angka kemiskinan di Kabupaten Gorontalo;.Laporan PenelitianHalid, Amir, 2014. Pengembangan profitabilitas jagung, Idaes Publishing, Gorontalo.Halid, Amir, M.I. Bahua, Z. K. Antuli. I. Abdul 2016 Maize processing production development as the economic driven of people in Gorontalo Province. Cnference On Proceedings Malaysia Indonesia International Conference on Economic, Management and Accounting (MIICEMA) 2016, ISBN 978-602-98081-4-8Hasan, M. Ani. 2011. Aktualisasi program pemberdayaan masyarakat pedesaan guna peningkatan pertumbuhan ekonomi daerah dalam rangka ketahanan nasional. Laporan Penelitian.Hasan, A.M., R. Ilato, A. Halid dan L. Ahmad. 2016. Farmer empowerment through prcessing of maize and each waste in to productive economic comodity in Boalemo Regency of Gorontalo. International Journal of Bussiness, Accounting and Management. Vol.1 Issue 3. ISSN 2527-3531: 53-64Hatu, Rauf . 2010. Pemberdayaan dan pendampingan sosial masyarakat. Gorontalo: Jurnal inovasi.Ibrahim, Amin. 2009. Pokok-pokok administrasi publik dan implementasinya. Bandung: Refika AditamaIlato, Rosman dan Bahua, M. Ikbal. 2013. Analisis rantai nilai komoditas jagung serta strategi peningkatan pendapatan petani jagung di Propinsi Gorontalo. Penelitian MP3EI 2011-2025). Gorontalo: Lemlit UNG.Junaidi, J., Amir, A., & Hardiani, H. (2014). Potensi klaster agroindustri usaha mikro kecil dan menengah di Provinsi Jambi. Jurnal Perspektif Pembiayaan dan Pembangunan Daerah, 2(1), 9-20.kajian kebijakan agribisnis komodistas unggulan daerah di Provinsi Gorontalo, Balai Pengkajian Teknologi Pertanian (BPTP) Gorontalo, 2012Kementerian Koordinator Bidang Perekonomian Republik Indonesia: Masterplan percepatan dan perluasan pembangunan ekonomi Indonesia 2011-2025: Jakarta: 2011Mubyarto, 1984. Strategi pembangunan pedesaan. Yogyakarta: P3PK UGM.Ruslan, M. dan Anwari WMK. 2006. Pemberdayaan masyarakat – mengantar manusia mandiri, demokratis dan berbudaya. Khanata.Sjahrir dan Koreten, 1988. Pembangunan berdimensi kerakyatan. Jakarta. Yayasan Obor Indonesia.Suyono, Haryono dan Haryanto, R. 2007. Pedoman pembentukan dan pengembangan pemberdayaan keluarga – POSDAYA.Balai Pustaka.Renstra Dinas Pertaniandan Ketahanan Pangan Provinsi Gorontalo 2012-2017Sutomo. 2009. Pembangunan masyarakat. Yogyakarta. Pustaka Pelajar.Tesoriero, Frank, Jim Ife. 2008 Community development. community based alternatives in an age of globalisation. Yogyakarta. Pustaka Pelajar

Purpose—the focus of this article is to explore difficulties that are encountered by students during the first term at university. It is well known that students can have various problems in learning English and make mistakes in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. The native language of a learner affects learning and using English. Speaking and e-listening are the skills that are more common on an everyday basis than reading and writing. Moreover, these skills are more difficult to master. English vocabulary presents another problem for language learners. Albeit, at the university level students study English for Specific Purposes (ESP), in other words, the foreign language for their future profession, and they might face particular difficulties in their studies of ESP. Design/methodology/approach—the research paper adopts the qualitative research approach. The questionnaire on learner perceptions of difficulties in e-learning was administered to students of three different specializations. Students' self-assessments of achievements or failures were analysed. Findings. The results indicated that perceptions of difficulties to adapting to university studies depended on their chosen specialization. The findings show that undergraduates of all three investigated specializations encounter the same difficulties, but to a different degree. In other words, there are no significantly specific difficulties due to the complexity of the professional vocabulary that students must learn. The ratings of Psychology, Social Work and Public Policy and Management students reveal higher mean values and wider range of Standard Deviations than reported by other researchers (Berman, Cheng, 2001). The results obtained imply that Lithuanian learners are more positive than their foreign counterparts. Computations of Pearson's correlations coefficients demonstrate that there are some good correlational relationships within each specialization. Research limitations. A limited number of respondents might raise a question of the reliability of the findings and require a further study into the issue. The respondents in this research were students of three different specializations, namely, Psychology (68), Social Work (26) and Public Policy and Management (52), who study ESP at the Faculty of Social Policy at Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius, Lithuania. Practical implications. The respondents were asked to indicate the degree of difficulty they had with the ESP language skills on the Likert's scale ranging from "very difficult" (1) to "very easy" (5). The analysis of the responses by a means of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software suggests that despite the limited number of the respondents, the results may be extended beyond the studied samples. Originality/Value. The value of this study encompasses the statistical processing of the responses, which should prove whether the findings are reliable or not. ; Studentai su anglų kalba specialiesiems tikslams elektroninėje aplinkoje susipažįsta jau pirmaisiais mokslo metais, t. y. anksčiau nei su savo specialybės dalykais. Studentų lingvistinę kompetenciją lemia daug veiksnių. Žinoma, kad įvairiuose pasaulio universitetuose profesinę anglų kalbą (ESP) studijuojantys studentai susiduria su daugeliu sunkumų. Viena iš priežasčių yra ta, kad anglų kalbos tarimas, leksikos vartosena bei gramatinės struktūros kelia studentams nemažai problemų. Taip pat gimtosios kalbos įgūdžiai turi įtakos anglų kalbos vartojimui. Dažniau pritaikomi e. klausymo ir kalbėjimo įgūdžiai nei skaitymo ar rašymo, kuriuos yra sunkiau įsisavinti. Kadangi universitetinėse profesinės užsienio kalbos studijose studentai mokosi savo būsimos profesijos kalbos, anglų kalbos specialybės žodynas, kurio dėka studentai gali gerai suprasti dėstomo dalyko esmę, yra dar viena rimta problema. Straipsnyje analizuojami sunkumai, su kuriais studentai, studijuojantys profesinę anglų kalbą Mykolo Romerio universitete, susiduria pirmo semestro metu. Tyrime dalyvavo Socialinės politikos fakulteto trijų specializacijų, psichologijos (68), socialinio darbo (26) ir viešosios politikos ir vadybos (52), pirmo kurso studentai. Anglų kalbos kursas atspindėjo studentų profesinės kalbos poreikius ir atitiko socialinių mokslų bakalauro laipsnio reikalavimus, nustatytus ES dokumente "The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages". Studentų lygis buvo B2 ir C1. Sudarant apklausos anketas, buvo remtasi Evans ir Morrison (2011) parengtomis anketomis, kurias mokslininkai naudojo tyrinėdami universiteto pirmo semestro studentų nuomonę apie sunkumus, mokantis užsienio kalbų. Naudojant Linkerto penkių balų skalės sistemą respondentų atsakymai svyravo nuo (1) "labai sunku" iki (5) "labai lengva". Šio darbo tikslas išsiaiškinti, ar sunkumai, su kuriais susiduria Mykolo Romerio universiteto pirmo kurso studentai, priklauso nuo pasirinktos specializacijos. Žinoma, kad mokymo(si) kokybei didelę reikšmę turi studentų savianalizė. Straipsnyje analizuojama studentų pasiekimų ir nesėkmių savianalizė. Savianalizės tyrimus viena iš autorių pradėjo dar 2003 m. Ribotas respondentų skaičius gali įtakoti rezultatų tikrumą, todėl reikėtų tolesnių studijų. Gauti anketos atsakymai, statistiškai apdoroti naudojant SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) programinį paketą, dažnai rodo, kad nepaisant riboto respondentų skaičiaus, rezultatus galima taikyti didesnėse respondentų grupėse. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad sunkumai, prisitaikant prie universitetinių studijų, priklauso nuo pasirinktos specializacijos. Pagrindinė šių tyrimų išvada, kad visų trijų tirtų specializacijų pirmo kurso studentai susiduria su tais pačiais sunkumais, bet skirtingu laipsniu. Kitaip sakant, nėra reikšmingų specifinių sunkumų dėl specialybės žodyno, kurį studentai turi išmokti, sudėtingumo. Lyginant užsienio tyrinėtojų ir mūsų tyrimų rezultatus galima daryti išvadą, kad lietuviai studentai yra labiau pozityvūs vertinant savo profesinės kalbos įgūdžius nei užsienio studentai.

What's the basic story of economic regulation? Econ 101 courses repeat the  benevolent dictator theory of regulation: There is a "market failure," natural monopoly, externality, or asymmetric information. Benevolent regulators craft optimal restrictions to restore market order. In political life "consumer protection" is often cited, though it doesn't fit that economic structure. Then "Chicago school" scholars such as George Stigler looked at how regulations actually operated.  They found "regulatory capture." Businesses get cozy with regulators, and bit by bit regulations end up largely keeping competition down and prices up to benefit existing businesses. We are, I think, seeing round three, and an opportunity for a fundamentally new basic view of how regulation operates today. The latest news item to prod this thought is FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr's scathing dissent on the FCC's decision to cancel $885 million contract to Starlink. Via twitter/X: Quoting from the dissent itself (my emphasis): Last year, after Elon Musk acquired Twitter and used it to voice his own political and ideological views without a filter, President Biden gave federal agencies a greenlight to go after him. During a press conference at the White House, President Biden stood at a podium adorned with the official seal of the President of the United States, and expressed his view that Elon Musk "is worth being looked at."1 When pressed by a reporter to explain how the government would look into Elon Musk, President Biden remarked: "There's a lot of ways."2 There certainly are. The Department of Justice, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have all initiated investigations into Elon Musk or his businesses.Today, the Federal Communications Commission adds itself to the growing list of administrative agencies that are taking action against Elon Musk's businesses. I am not the first to notice a pattern here. Two months ago, The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote that "the volume of government investigations into his businesses makes us wonder if the Biden Administration is targeting him for regulatory harassment."3 After all, the editorial board added, Elon Musk has become "Progressive Enemy No. 1." Today's decision certainly fits the Biden Administration's pattern of regulatory harassment. Indeed, the Commission's decision today to revoke a 2020 award of $885 million to Elon Musk's Starlink—an award that Starlink secured after agreeing to provide high-speed Internet service to over 640,000 rural homes and businesses across 35 states—is a decision that cannot be explained by any objective application of law, facts, or policy.When the Biden administration launches an "all of government" initiative, they mean all of government. A tweeter queriesShow me the man, and I'll find the crime. Three felonies a day. In the same vein, I found most interesting in the twitter files and scathing Missouri V. Biden decision the question, just how did the government force tech companies to censor the government's political opponents? "Nice business you have there. It would be a shame if the alphabet soup agencies had to look into it." This doesn't fit either the econ 101, benevolent nanny, or regulatory capture view. Fundamentally, regulators have captured the industry, not the other way around. They hold arbitrary discretionary power to impose huge costs or just shut down companies. They use this power to elicit political support from the companies. There is a bit of old Chicago school capture in the deal. Companies get protected markets. But the regulators now don't just want a few three martini lunches and a cozy revolving door to "consultant" jobs. They demand, political support. The regulators are more political ideologues than gently corruptible insiders.  Sometimes regulators seem to attack businesses just for fun, like suing a moving company for age discrimination. But maybe here too they are showing everyone what they can do, or scoring some ideological points so people get the message.  The increasing arbitrariness of regulation is part of the process. I find myself nostalgic for the good old days of the Administrative Procedures Act, public comment, cost benefit analysis, and formal rule making. Now regulators just write letters or take legal action, which even if unsuccessful can bankrupt a company.  Using administrative courts, the regulators are prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner all rolled in to one. Unrelated. $885 million / 640,000 = $1,3825. The federal government apparently thinks it's worthwhile for taxpayers to pay $1,382 to give rural households access to satellite internet. If anyone asked, "would you rather $x in cash or a starlink account?" (which, I think, they also have to pay for) I wonder if x would be much more than $50. 

The public of the West learned about the activities of the outstanding Soviet intelligence agent Richard Sorge immediately after the end of the Second World War, thanks to the assessments of his activities in American sources. In the USSR, he became widely known only in 1964 thanks to Nikita Khrushchev. The article shows that the combination of personal and professional qualities of Sorge, ideological motivation allowed him to achieve outstanding results in intelligence activities. It is noted that under his leadership, illegal residencies in China, and then in Japan, received unique intelligence information, which helped the leadership and military command of the USSR to make informed political and military-strategic decisions. Richard Sorge was one of the most prominent intelligence officers in the history of the intelligence services. The authors describe facts that characterize the daily work of an intelligence officer: how he headed residencies in extremely difficult countries for work, successfully managed agent networks, personally conducted recruiting work, collected important intelligence information, analyzed it and prepared reports to Moscow. The organization of networks led by Sorge has been studied by many foreign intelligence services and has consistently been highly rated. In publications dedicated to Sorge, two approaches to creating his image are clearly traced, which is noted by the authors of the article. The first approach presents him as the archetype of a movie hero, agent and super spy, receiving classified information in alcoves and restaurants. It is designed for the general reader and first appeared in the West. Another image, partially ideologized and propagandistic, spread in the USSR and East Germany. He presented Richard as a knight of the revolution without fear or reproach. In this article, the authors made an attempt to create a real and objective assessment of his activities, in particular in Japan. The authors of the article, using Western and new Russian sources, have chosen the method of historical psychology in order to represent the way of thinking of this outstanding person and connect it with his actions in leading the group entrusted to him. ; О деятельности выдающегося советского разведчика Рихарда Зорге общественность Запада узнала сразу после окончания второй мировой войны благодаря оценкам его деятельности в американских источниках. В СССР же он получил широкую известность только в 1964 году благодаря Никите Хрущёву. В статье показано, что сочетание личных и профессиональных качеств Зорге, идеологическая мотивация позволили ему добиться выдающихся результатов в разведывательной деятельности. Отмечено, что под его руководством нелегальные резидентуры в Китае, а потом в Японии, получали уникальную разведывательную информацию, которая помогла руководству и военному командованию СССР принимать обоснованные политические и военно-стратегические решения. Рихард Зорге был одним из наиболее выдающихся разведчиков в мировой истории спецслужб. Авторы описывают факты, характеризующие повседневную работу разведчика: как он возглавлял резидентуры в крайне сложных для работы странах, успешно руководил агентурными сетями, лично вел вербовочную работу, собирал важную разведывательную информацию, анализировал ее и готовил донесения в Москву. Организация сетей, руководимых Зорге, изучена многими иностранными спецслужбами и неизменно оценивалась очень высоко. В публикациях, посвященных Зорге, отчетливо прослеживаются два подхода к созданию его имиджа, что отмечено авторами статьи. Первый подход представляет его как архетип киногероя, агента и супершпиона, получающего секретную информацию в альковах и ресторанах. Он рассчитан на массового читателя и впервые появился на Западе. Другой образ, частично идеологизированный и пропагандистский, распространялся в СССР и Восточной Германии. Он представляло Рихарда рыцарем революции без страха и упрека. В настоящей статье авторами предпринята попытка создать реальную и объективную оценку его деятельности, в частности в Японии. Авторы статьи, используя западные и новые российские источники, избрали метод исторической психологии, чтобы представить образ мыслей этого выдающегося человека и связать с его действиями по руководству вверенной ему группой. ; Про діяльність видатного радянського розвідника Ріхарда Зорге громадськість Заходу дізналася відразу після закінчення Другої світової війни завдяки оцінками його діяльності в американських джерелах. В СРСР же він отримав широку популярність тільки в 1964 році завдяки Микиті Хрущову. У статті показано, що поєднання особистих і професійних якостей Зорге, ідеологічна мотивація дозволили йому домогтися видатних результатів у розвідувальній діяльності. Відзначено, що під його керівництвом нелегальні резидентури в Китаї, а потім в Японії, отримували унікальну розвідувальну інформацію, яка допомогла керівництву і військовому командуванню СРСР приймати обгрунтовані політичні та військово-стратегічні рішення. Ріхард Зорге був одним з найбільш видатних розвідників у світовій історії спецслужб. Автори описують факти, що характеризують повсякденну роботу розвідника: як він очолював резидентури в украй складних для роботи країнах, успішно керував агентурними мережами, особисто вів вербування роботу, збирав важливу розвідувальну інформацію, аналізував її та готував донесення в Москву. Організація мереж, керованих Зорге, вивчена багатьма іноземними спецслужбами і незмінно оцінювалася дуже високо. У публікаціях, присвячених Зорге, чітко простежуються два підходи до створення його іміджу, що відзначено авторами статті. Перший підхід являє його як архетип кіногероя, агента і супершпигуна, який отримує секретну інформацію в альковах і ресторанах. Він розрахований на масового читача і вперше з'явився на Заході. Інший спосіб, частково ідеологізований і пропагандистський, поширювався в СРСР і Східної Німеччини. Він представляло Ріхарда лицарем революції без страху і докору. У цій статті авторами зроблена спроба створити реальну і об'єктивну оцінку його діяльності, зокрема в Японії. Автори статті, використовуючи західні і нові російські джерела, обрали метод історичної психології, щоб представити образ думок цієї видатної людини і пов'язати з його діями по керівництву ввіреній йому групою.

The article addresses the issues to what extent the region of the Northern Black Sea Region can be considered a classic frontier; how much the Black Sea Cossack Host can be considered the successor of the Zaporizhzhya Sich and what reasons can explain the appearance of the Black Sea army. It is concluded that the steppe frontier of the Northern Black Sea Region had a number of features that contradict the example of the classic frontier, where the emergence of political power was preceded by the arrival of settlers, and the region remained within the feudal framework and eventually lost its limited autonomy. In this region, the mass migration of people to the southern territory, where there was a special system of sentry and village service, was promoted by state policy; and in new places there was practically no local settled population. The establishment of the Black Sea Cossack Host on the southern border of the Russian Empire was necessary for the state. The need to again re-organize the Cossack army from the scattered Zaporozhian Cossacks was caused primarily by the 2nd Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792) during the reign of Catherine II. However, this military formation by the Russian government was perceived as not quite a normal phenomenon, but which it tolerated because of the need to defend the southern borders and because of the military campaigns in the southern direction. The Zaporozhian Sich ceased to exist in 1775, but later revived its historical heritage in the form of the Black Sea Cossack Host. Тhe Black Sea Cossacks brought with them to their new residence - in the regions north of the Kuban River - the elements of self-government practiced in the former Zaporozhian Sich. The former Zaporozhian Cossacks transferred the traditions of Zaporizhia to new places of settlement. As a rule, these power orders limited "Cossack democracy" and put the entire Cossack structure within the framework of the Russian state system. ; В статье рассмотрены вопросы, в какой степени регион Северного Причерноморья можно считать классическим фронтиром, насколько Черноморское войско может считаться преемником Запорожской Сечи и какими причинами можно объяснить появление Черноморского войска. Сделан вывод, что степной фронтир Северного Причерноморья имел ряд особенностей, которые противоречат примеру классического фронтира, где появление политической власти предшествует прибытию поселенцев, а область оставалась в пределах феодальной рамки и со временем утратила свою ограниченную автономию. В этом регионе массовому переселению людей на южную территорию, где существовала особая система сторожевой и станичной службы, способствовала государственная политика; и на новых местах практически не было местного оседлого населения. Запорожская Сечь в 1775 г. прекратила своё существование, но позже возродила его историческое наследие в форме Черноморского войска. Черноморские казаки перенесли с собой на новое местожительство элементы самоуправления, практиковавшиеся в бывшей Запорожской Сечи. Давая черноморской старшине некоторую самостоятельность в вопросах внутреннего устройства, царское правительство вводило ограничения в области казачьего самоуправления. Черноморское войско на южной границе Российской империи было учреждено по соображениям государственной безопасности. Необходимость снова организовать казачье войско из разрозненных и рассеянных запорожцев была вызвана, прежде всего, очередной войной с Османской империей. Государтсвенная власть смотрела на Черноморское войско как на необходимое зло, которое она терпела ради колонизации и защиты южной границы. ; The article addresses the issues to what extent the region of the Northern Black Sea Region can be considered a classic frontier; how much the Black Sea Cossack Host can be considered the successor of the Zaporizhzhya Sich and what reasons can explain the appearance of the Black Sea army. It is concluded that the steppe frontier of the Northern Black Sea Region had a number of features that contradict the example of the classic frontier, where the emergence of political power was preceded by the arrival of settlers, and the region remained within the feudal framework and eventually lost its limited autonomy. In this region, the mass migration of people to the southern territory, where there was a special system of sentry and village service, was promoted by state policy; and in new places there was practically no local settled population. The establishment of the Black Sea Cossack Host on the southern border of the Russian Empire was necessary for the state. The need to again re-organize the Cossack army from the scattered Zaporozhian Cossacks was caused primarily by the 2nd Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792) during the reign of Catherine II. However, this military formation by the Russian government was perceived as not quite a normal phenomenon, but which it tolerated because of the need to defend the southern borders and because of the military campaigns in the southern direction. The Zaporozhian Sich ceased to exist in 1775, but later revived its historical heritage in the form of the Black Sea Cossack Host. Тhe Black Sea Cossacks brought with them to their new residence - in the regions north of the Kuban River - the elements of self-government practiced in the former Zaporozhian Sich. The former Zaporozhian Cossacks transferred the traditions of Zaporizhia to new places of settlement. As a rule, these power orders limited "Cossack democracy" and put the entire Cossack structure within the framework of the Russian state system.