Death and the Penguin: modularity,alienation and organising

ABSTRACT

The originality of this paper lies in the ways in which it explores how the depiction of organised crime within Andrey Kurkov’s novel Death and the Penguin can inform our understanding of organisational modularity. This non-orthodox approach might open up new avenues of thought in the study of organisational modularity while further illustrating how novelistic worlds can inform accounts of organisational realities. Two main research questions underlie the paper. How can Andrey Kurkov’s novel further our understanding of the complexity of organisational worlds and realities by focusing our attention on different landscapes of organising? How does Kurkov’s novel help us grasp the concept of modularity by drawing attention to new forms of modular organisation? Drawing from our reading of Kurkov’s novel, we primarily explore organisational modularity through Kurkov’s depiction of organised crime and consider the themes of alienation and isolation in the context of modular organising.     

The Eurasian Economic Union: Development Prospects and Possible Obstacles

This article analyzes the development prospects and problems for the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). It examines issues of integration within the EAEU, as well as interactions with other countries, both CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) and non-CIS. The main problem of integration within the EAEU is the dominance of redistributive motives over productive ones. This article assesses the extent of Russian oil and gas transfers to EAEU partners and the impact of tax maneuvers on their size. It shows that the creation of mechanisms for redistributing profits within the EAEU will allow a positive economic effect to materialize from free trade agreements with non-CIS countries. The article assesses the risks for the EAEU related to Russia’s introduction of a unilateral ban on food imports from countries on the sanctions list and to the possible establishment of tariffs on trade with Ukraine.     

National Culture on the Cross-National Variation of Homicide: An Empirical Application of the Inglehart–Welzel Cultural Map

Although there has been a growing literature on the effects of culture on the cross-national variation of homicide, this literature remains limited in the operationalization of national culture as well as in the modeling of the cultural effects. Adopting a multidimensional measure of national culture developed in the World Values Survey, this study examines the effects of various aspects of national culture, as well as their interaction, on the cross-national variation of homicide. The findings of this study provide evidence for the effect of national culture on homicide variation across countries while painting a more complex picture about the potential mechanisms of these effects.     

大数据整合运用中的逻辑问题研究

为推进大数据技术在司法实践中的运用与发展,概述大数据在司法领域的运用现状,分析大数据在司法实践中整合运用的必要性和可行性。以职务犯罪大数据为例,探讨职务犯罪的特点,其对大数据整合运用的需求更为强烈。大数据具有数量庞大、种类繁多、生成快速、价值密度低等特点,因此必须采取科学有效的方法对其进行整合运用,而逻辑方法在归纳、分析、整合、运用大数据等方面具有不可替代的作用。在大数据整合运用过程中,必须遵循基本的思维规律,避免出现逻辑错误,影响数据的运用效果,甚至发生冤假错案。     

师范院校通识教育的实施策略

基于通识教育的内涵和师范教育的特性,师范院校通识教育的使命体现在两个层面:终极层面,即"完整的人"的培养;专业层面,即教育信念的培养。师范院校通识教育在理念、课程、教师、教学方式、教学管理等方面还存在问题。改进和完善师范院校通识教育,必须首先确立科学的通识教育理念,明确通识教育的使命,加强对通识教育理念的宣传;从通识教育的理念和使命出发,顶层设计通识教育课程体系;强化通识教育师资建设,建设一支专、兼结合的优质通识教育课程师资队伍;创新通识教育教学方式,积极推进小班讨论教学、研究型教学,强化经典导课程教学,在专业方向课程教学中融渗通识教育,将专业教育和通识教育有机结合;加强通识教育管理工作,探索建立全校层面的通识教育机构,建立通识教育质量评估反馈机制,建立通识教育课程教学助教制,实施双导师制,推进优质通识教学资源共享。     

An algorithmic approach to construct D-optimal saturated designs for logistic model

In this paper, locally D-optimal saturated designs for a logistic model with one and two continuous input variables have been constructed by modifying the famous Fedorov exchange algorithm. A saturated design not only ensures the minimum number of runs in the design but also simplifies the row exchange computation. The basic idea is to exchange a design point with a point from the design space. The algorithm performs the best row exchange between design points and points form a candidate set representing the design space. Naturally, the resultant designs depend on the candidate set. For gain in precision, intuitively a candidate set with a larger number of points and the low discrepancy is desirable, but it increases the computational cost. Apart from the modification in row exchange computation, we propose implementing the algorithm in two stages. Initially, construct a design with a candidate set of affordable size and then later generate a new candidate set around the points of design searched in the former stage. In order to validate the optimality of constructed designs, we have used the general equivalence theorem. Algorithms for the construction of optimal designs have been implemented by developing suitable codes in R.     

Risking safety and rights: online sex work,crimes and ‘blended safety repertoires’

It has been well established that those working in the sex industry are at various risks of violence and crime depending on where they sell sex and the environments in which they work. What sociological research has failed to address is how crime and safety have been affected by the dynamic changing nature of sex work given the dominance of the internet and digital technologies, including the development of new markets such as webcamming. This paper reports the most comprehensive findings on the internet‐based sex market in the UK demonstrating types of crimes experienced by internet‐based sex workers and the strategies of risk management that sex workers adopt, building on our article in the British Journal of Sociology in 2007. We present the concept of ‘blended safety repertoires’ to explain how sex workers, particularly independent escorts, are using a range of traditional techniques alongside digitally enabled strategies to keep themselves safe. We contribute a deeper understanding of why sex workers who work indoors rarely report crimes to the police, reflecting the dilemmas experienced. Our findings highlight how legal and policy changes which seek to ban online adult services advertising and sex work related content within online spaces would have direct impact on the safety strategies online sex workers employ and would further undermine their safety. These findings occur in a context where aspects of sex work are quasi‐criminalized through the brothel keeping legislation. We conclude that the legal and policy failure to recognize sex work as a form of employment, contributes to the stigmatization of sex work and prevents individuals working together. Current UK policy disallows a framework for employment laws and health and safety standards to regulate sex work, leaving sex workers in the shadow economy, their safety at risk in a quasi‐legal system. In light of the strong evidence that the internet makes sex work safer, we argue that decriminalisation as a rights based model of regulation is most appropriate.     

The business of writing: literature as a commodity in Claudia Piñeiro’s Betibú

This article presents considerations about the status of literature as a commodity and writers as professionals in the twenty-first century. These considerations are based on an analysis of Argentine writer Claudia Piñeiro’s Betibú (2011), which follows the story of an Argentine crime novel writer who becomes a ghostwriter after her latest novel receives harsh reviews for being considered commercial rather than literary. I argue that the novel in question points out misconceptions about the influence of the book industry on the aesthetic quality of literary writing, highlighting the need for literary criticism to look into everyday relations between readers, authors, and editors.     

校园贷刑事规制问题研究

互联网金融发展使得新型金融产品应运而生。校园贷具有数额小、效率高、门槛低等优势，吸引了有超前消费需求的在校大学生。由于平台监管缺失、大学生消费非理性等因素，校园贷滋生出了高利贷、骗贷、裸贷等乱象，部分行为还构成了违法犯罪。与其他网络贷款方式相比，校园贷具有借款对象单一性、贷款方式隐蔽性、抵押方式非具象性、催款手段违法性、受害学生犯罪转化性等特征，导致校园贷走入迷途。为了有效规范和严格治理校园贷，可以通过建立犯罪防控体系、促进联合监管、强化学生法治意识等路径，将校园贷引入良性发展轨道，最终实现良好的法律效果和社会效果。     

产业共性技术扩散中政府作用最优力度分析——基于变换的Bass模型

基于一定理论假设将Bass模型中技术扩散的内部影响因素和外部影响因素分别与市场作用和政府作用对应起来，并着眼于政府作用对市场作用的“挤出”效应建立起政府作用与市场作用之间的函数关系，以此来对Bass模型进行变换，使其能刻画政府作用对产业共性技术扩散速度和时间路径的影响。基于变换的Bass模型，以最大化技术扩散速度为目标构建最优化问题以求得政府作用最优力度，由最优化问题可知政府作用对市场作用的“挤出”效应越大，最优政府作用力度就应该越小。还基于相关数据进行了数值模拟分析，并且验证了模型的有效性。研究认为:由于存在政府干预对市场作用的“挤出”效应，在促进产业共性技术扩散中需要把握最优的干预力度即政府作用最优力度，在量化政府作用和市场作用的基础上，求解出来的政府作用最优力度系数可为政府有效和适当干预技术扩散提供理论上的一个尺量。