Peculiarities of countering legalization of criminal income with the help of virtual assets: legislative regulation and practical implementation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to define and characterize peculiarities of countering the legalization of criminal income with the help of virtual assets. Design/methodology/approach The analysis of the legislative delineation and the realities of the practical implementation of the features of combating the legalization of criminal proceeds with the help of virtual assets in Ukraine was carried out with the help of general scientific methods of cognition. The systematic method helped identify the main ways to legalize criminal proceeds with the help of virtual assets. Using legal techniques, proposals will be formulated to amend draft legislation on legislative regulation of the concept of “virtual assets”. The generalization method was used to develop ways to combat the legalization of criminal proceeds with the help of virtual assets. The method of legal forecasting was used to substantiate the proposed areas of combating money laundering with the help of virtual assets. The method of extrapolation will be used to determine the possibility of implementing foreign experience in domestic practice to combat money laundering with the help of virtual assets. Findings One of the relatively new and increasingly popular ways of money laundering is to commit this act with the help of virtual assets. Methods of money laundering through virtual assets include services for the conversion of virtual assets, P2P exchange, gambling sites, virtual asset mixers and the use of fictitious internet sites selling digital goods. The difficulty of counteracting the legalization of criminal proceeds with the help of virtual assets is primarily due to the lack of legislative regulation of the concept of “virtual assets” in Ukraine. Yes, the draft law is currently being finalized. Besides, even the current edition is not evaluated by the authors as perfect. After all, the issue of the content of the concept of “virtual assets” and its relationship with virtual securities, cryptocurrency and virtual property remains unresolved. Originality/value One of the relatively new and increasingly popular ways of money laundering is to commit this act with the help of virtual assets. Methods of money laundering through virtual assets include services for the conversion of virtual assets, P2P exchange, gambling sites, virtual asset mixers and the use of fictitious internet sites selling digital goods. It is essential to intensify financial monitoring by financial control bodies over the activities of conversion service centers. Moreover, given the transnational nature of legalizing criminal proceeds, especially those committed through virtual assets, international cooperation in combating this crime is vital. The authors have proposed specific measures to ensure that a coherent consolidation of efforts can be built.

The role of software in science: a knowledge graph-based analysis of software mentions in PubMed Central

Science across all disciplines has become increasingly data-driven, leading to additional needs with respect to software for collecting, processing and analysing data. Thus, transparency about software used as part of the scientific process is crucial to understand provenance of individual research data and insights, is a prerequisite for reproducibility and can enable macro-analysis of the evolution of scientific methods over time. However, missing rigor in software citation practices renders the automated detection and disambiguation of software mentions a challenging problem. In this work, we provide a large-scale analysis of software usage and citation practices facilitated through an unprecedented knowledge graph of software mentions and affiliated metadata generated through supervised information extraction models trained on a unique gold standard corpus and applied to more than 3 million scientific articles. Our information extraction approach distinguishes different types of software and mentions, disambiguates mentions and outperforms the state-of-the-art significantly, leading to the most comprehensive corpus of 11.8 M software mentions that are described through a knowledge graph consisting of more than 300 M triples. Our analysis provides insights into the evolution of software usage and citation patterns across various fields, ranks of journals, and impact of publications. Whereas, to the best of our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive analysis of software use and citation at the time, all data and models are shared publicly to facilitate further research into scientific use and citation of software.

Digitalization of the Japanese Economy by the Example of the Banking Sector: Current Results, Prospects and Problems

Purpose: the purpose of this study is to examine the current state of Japan's digital transformation, with a focus on the banking sector, analyzing specifc examples, identifying obstacles that hinder the achievement of expected results.Methods: the article is based on the analysis of scientifc and analytical materials devoted to the problem of research, a set of general scientific methods is applied, including comparison, scientifc generalization, analogy, etc.Results: the article presents the main trends and current results of digitalization of Japanese banks, provides examples of projects, identifies problematic areas of the implemented policy. A hypothesis is put forward about the key role of the government in the development of new standards for the organization of work, taking into account the use of innovative technologies. For Japan, digitalization is chosen as a key tool to mitigate the current socio-economic situation. Digitalization is already being implemented in the healthcare sector, agriculture, etc. Another sector at the center of digitalization is the fnancial one. Financial technologies form new markets and products. Non-banking companies penetrate into the areas occupied by classical banks, competing and even displacing them.These processes are observed both in Japan and in other countries of the world, including Russia. Therefore, studying the Japanese experience of integrating digital technologies into the fnancial sector is important. Although Russia is among the leaders in the digitalization of the financial sector, it is difcult for fntech companies to break into the Russian market due to pressure from large classical banks, as well as the lack of trust in fntech companies from the population.Conclusions and Relevance: in contrast to the manufacturing sector, digitalization of non-manufacturing areas is slower in Japan. This is due to a shortage of qualifed personnel, fnancial risks, etc. Today, the priority for fnancial institutions remains to create the basis for the introduction of digitalization and improve management efciency. From the point of view of ensuring the stability of the fnancial system, it is expected that the Bank of Japan, together with the government, will encourage initiatives in the feld of fnancial development.

The Role of Non-Bank Financials in the Formation of Long-Term Resources for Economic Growth in Russia

The development of the activities of non-bank financial institutions that accumulate the resources of the national savings system on a long-term basis is seen as a factor in increasing investment in the Russian economy and its growth rates. When carrying out the study, we used general scientific methods, methods of structural, weigh, and dynamic analysis, and comparisons of performance indicators of non-bank financial institutions. Problems in the activities of organizations in the non-banking sector of the Russian financial market are predetermined by the parameters and trends in the development of the socio-economic situation in Russia, including insufficient efficiency of regulatory practices. The positive dynamics of the development of non-bank financial intermediaries is qualified as unstable; it is not supported by the solution of the structural and institutional problems of the Russian economy. In view of this, an increase in their role in the redistribution process is associated both with decisions of a more general order and with the improvement of the regulatory and supervisory practices implemented by the Bank of Russia. The solution to the identified problems in the development of the non-banking segment of the financial market should be aimed at turning it into an effective mechanism for capital formation to ensure economic growth.

Tax obligation fulfillment

The subject. The article is devoted to the study of the mechanism of tax obligation fulfillment. The author established that there are several points of view in understanding the legal essence of the fulfillment of an obligation in Russia and abroad: 1) contractual theories (the general contractual theory, the theory of a real contract, the limited contractual theory); 2) the theory of target impact; 3) the theory of real impact.The purpose of the article is to determine the legal essence of tax obligation fulfillment, to study the concept of the tax obligation fulfillment, the mechanism for exercising subjective rights and obligations, and the criteria for the proper fulfillment of a tax obligation.The methodology. The author uses general and specific scientific methods of scientific research: observation, systemic-structural, dialectical, analysis, comparative jurisprudence and others.The main results, scope of application. There are two sides of the tax obligation fulfillment: legal and factual. From an actual point of view, the tax obligation fulfillment is a set of operations by its parties with the object of the obligation. As a result, the object of the obligation must pass from one owner to another. From a legal point of view, the tax obligation fulfillment always represents the realization of its content through the exercise of rights and the fulfillment of obligations.The author believes that the tax obligation fulfillment should not be equated with the fulfillment of the obligation to pay tax, since not every obligation is executed through the payment of tax. In this regard, a situation may arise when the obligation is properly fulfilled by the debtor, and the creditor does not receive the property grant (for example, if a loss is received at the end of the tax period).The mechanism of the implementation of subjective tax rights and the fulfillment of obligations is a certain system of legal means and algorithms of behavior that allow to determine the appropriate size of the claim of a public law entity on the taxpayer's property and ensuring the transfer of the monetary is equivalent to this economic benefit to the budget system. This mechanism is a set of algorithms for the behavior of subjects of tax liability, defined by law, using specific legal means. As such means, depending on the party of the tax obligation, the law provides, for example, a tax return, a requirement to pay tax, etc. The mechanism of exercising subjective rights and fulfilling obligations includes the following stages: 1) pre-implementation; 2) procedural implementation; 3) actual implementation; 4) protection of the violated right.The author identifies five criteria for the proper fulfillment of a tax obligation: 1) the proper subjects of execution; 2) the proper place; 3) the proper time; 4) the proper object; 5) the proper way.Conclusions. The legal essence of the tax obligation fulfillment can be characterized as a transaction between its parties, aimed to mutual termination and the emergence of the rights of its parties. In order to protect the rights of bona fide taxpayers the author proposes to enshrine in tax legislation a ban on contradictory behavior in the process of fulfilling a tax obligation.

Financial law and financial science in Russian Federation and Czech Republic (comparative research)

The methodology. Comparative legal, historical and analytical scientific methods were used. The main results, scope of application. Formation of financial-legal theory in both countries took place under the circumstances of political changes. In relation to the Czechoslovak Republic, the attention is focused on the period from the formation of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918 to the formation of the Czech Republic in 1993, and the main emphasis is made on the period of the 21st century. Periodization of financial law and financial science, and also the system of financial law considers the teaching of financial law and financial science at the Faculty of Law, Charles University. The study also characterizes the process of development of financial law and financial science in pre-revolutionary Russia, highlights the Soviet period of development of financial law, focuses on the problems of development of modern financial law. Periodization of financial law, as well as the system of financial law, are presented from the perspective of teaching of the subject of financial law at the faculties of law. The authors suppose that the modern system of financial law and financial science has retained the original division into two parts, general and specific. All sub-branches of the special part of financial law may be divided into three main blocks: (1) sub-branches of the fiscal part of financial law; (2) sub-branches of the non-fiscal part of financial law; common sub-branches of the non-fiscal part of financial law.Conclusions. The hypothesis about the unity of the principles of financial law and financial science, and public finance as the main category, as well as about the independence of this branch of public law was confirmed during the study. Due to the growing volume of legal regulation in both countries, the historical division of the financial law system is not enough, there is an extensive fragmentation of division in the financial law system. We are observing the emergence of new sub-branches, which are likely to tend to the formation of new branches.

Investigating Scientists’ Views of the Family Resemblance Approach to Nature of Science in Science Education

In this paper, we use the “Family Resemblance Approach” (FRA) as a framework to characterize how scientists view the nature of science (NOS). FRA presents NOS as a “system” that includes clusters or categories of ideas about the cognitive-epistemic and social-institutional aspects of science. For example, the cognitive-epistemic aspects include aims and values such as objectivity and scientific methods such as hypothesis testing. Social-institutional aspects refer to a range of components including social values such as honesty about evidence and institutional contexts of science such as research institutions. Characterized as such, NOS is thus a system of interacting components. The initial account of FRA was proposed by philosophers of science and subsequently adapted and extended for science education including through empirical studies. Yet, there is little understanding of the extent to which FRA coheres with scientists’ own depictions about NOS. Hence, an empirical study was conducted with scientists to investigate their views about FRA as well as their views of NOS using the FRA framework. In so doing, the research sought to explore the utility of FRA from scientists’ point of view. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of 17 Taiwanese scientists’ responses to a set of written questions indicates that scientists are in agreement with the FRA account of NOS, and they detail all aspects in their reference to NOS, although the social-institutional aspects are underrepresented in their depiction. Implications for further studies and science education are discussed.

Legislative Development of Criminal Proceedings and Evidence in the Slovak Republic (1993-2021)

Background: In this article, the author focuses on the legislative development of criminal proceedings and evidence after the establishment of the Slovak Republic. This article pays special attention to the issue of evidence and means of proof. It also deals separately with the legal regulation of using information and technical means. It briefly suggests possible directions of development in the field of evidence, reflecting the current state of development of science and technology, as well as changes in the security situation. Methods: The scientific methods of historical analysis and legal comparison were used to process the research data. Results and Conclusions: Developments in this area are constantly advancing, and the area of evidence in criminal proceedings in the Slovak Republic will inevitably be subject to updating.

Spices

The term “spices” has been derived from the word “species,” which was connected to the group of exotic foods in medieval times. Spices and herbs have a long history of culinary use, medicinal properties, and as additives and thus have a distinct place in Ayurveda. Exhibiting the merits of spices by scientific methods still remains a challenge. This review investigates the anti-diabetic properties in preventing and managing diabetics and associated complications with commonly used spices. The bioactive compounds in these spices are additionally discussed. The major aim and object of the present work is to investigate the customary therapeutic usage of basic Indian spices and to corelate their observed pharmacological activities with the presence of explicit bioactive compounds present for the treatment or counteractive action of diabetes. This includes the basic underlying mechanism of their blood glucose lowering property including exploratory experimental evidence from proposed animal and human trials.