Modelling Consensus Emergence With Nonlinear Dynamics

The study of emergent, bottom-up, processes has long been of interest within organizational and group research. Emergent processes refer to how dynamic interactions among lower-level units (e.g. individuals) over time form a new, shared, construct or phenomena at a higher level (e.g. work group). To properly study emergence of shared constructs one needs models, and data, that both take into account variability across individuals and groups (multilevel), and variability over time (longitudinal). This article makes three contribution to the modelling and theory of of consensus emergence. First, we formulate two separate patterns of consensus emergence; homogeneous and heterogeneous. Homogeneous consensus emergence is characterized by gradual and almost deterministic adjustments of the individual trajectories, whereas heterogeneous consensus emergence show more randomly oscillating trajectories towards consensus. Second, we introduce a model-invariant statistic that measures the strength of the consensus; and allows for comparisons between different models and patterns of consensus emergence. Third, we show how Gaussian Processes can be used to further extend the consensus emergence models, allowing them to capture nonlinear dynamics, on both individual and group level, in emergent processes. Using an established data set, we show that conclusions on the pattern of consensus emergence can change depending on whether the nonlinear group mean change over time is adequately modelled or not. Thus it is crucial to correctly capture the group dynamics to properly understand the consensus emergence.

Assessment of the effectiveness of the electronic educational environment “Moodle” by the cadets of the higher educational institution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Problem and goal. The beginning of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic led to the widespread transition of universities in the country and around the world to distance learning. The analysis of available studies in Russia, South Africa, Switzerland and other countries of the world allowed to conclude that there are insufficient comparisons of assessments of the use of distance education technologies before the coronavirus pandemic and after its first waves. The article is devoted to the study of the problem of assessing the capabilities of the electronic information educational environment Moodle in the educational organization of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia before and during COVID-19. Methodology. A comparison of the results of a survey among cadets of the Ryazan branch of the Vladimir Kikot Moscow University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in 2017 and 2021 was made. Results. The empirical study revealed that after the first two waves of the pandemic and the gradual return to a more traditional full-time form of education among the cadets there are no those who rarely use the Moodle. The number of positive assessments of the effectiveness of using the Moodle and its impact on reducing the time spent on studying has increased. The article explains the identified request of students to improve the means of distance learning, in particular, in the direction of reducing complexity, increasing entertainment, reducing the time for checking materials. Conclusion. Working in an electronic information educational environment has become familiar to students, and they have come to realize the need to solve small problems. There is an ingrained understanding of the inevitability of introducing elements of distance learning into full-time education.

Mesoptychia morrisoncola (Jungermanniaceae, Marchantiophyta) – An Addition to the Bryoflora of Indian Eastern Himalaya

Mesoptychia morrisoncola (Horik.) L. Söderstr. & Vá?a – earlier known in Indian bryoflora from Gulmarg in Jammu & Kashmir, is described for the first time form Sikkim in Eastern Himalaya. Identification key to the Indian species of the genus has been provided.

Sampling and Reconstruction of Continuous-Time Signals

This chapter presents the theory for transferring a continuous-time signal into its discrete-time form by sampling, and then converting the obtained samples to a digital signal suitable for processing in a processing machine, using the procedure of sample quantizing and coding. Then, the procedure of converting a digitally processed signal into discrete signal samples and the reconstruction of the initial continuous-time signal via a lowpass reconstruction filter is presented. The theory provides the mathematical base for both analogue-to-digital and digital-to-analogue conversions, which are extensively used for processing signals in discrete communication systems. The chapter goes on to show that the Nyquist criterion must be fulfilled to eliminate signal aliasing in the frequency domain. Finally, the mathematical model for transferring a continuous-time signal into its discrete-time form, and vice versa, is presented and demonstrated for a sinusoidal signal.

Nieudana wyprawa lisiogórska jako próba ruchu powstańczego w 1846 roku na terenie miasta Tarnowa i okolic w świetle wybranych tytułów prasowych

The Unsuccessful Lisiogórska Expedition as an Attempt of the Insurrectionary Movement in 1846 on the Territory of the Town of Tarnow and its Surroundings in the Light of Memories of Franciszek Wiesiołowski The article presents events which occurred on Tarnów lands before and during the unsuccessful insurrectionary movement in 1846 – the movement called Krakow Uprising. The article focuses on the fate of the count Franciszek Wiesiołowski who was appointed by the Central Committee in Poznań as the governor of Galicia responsible for the whole military movement on this area. The discussed period includes the time form the first days of February 1846 to 19 February, which means to the day when the independence burst on the Tarnów land was nipped in the bud. The article is mainly based on the diary of Franciszek Wiesiołowski – thanks to his personal account from the period preceding the uprising we get to know in detail the analyzed events, especially the expedition to Lisia Góra which was instantly stopped. This event, and the fact that other troops were dispersed or arrested, contributed to putting an end to the unfinished revolt. It was also the beginning of a short but violent period of chaos called the Galician Slaughter.

Comparative analysis of distance and full-time forms of education at University

Researched is the problem of implementing distance learning in the higher education system during the coronovirus pandemic. The results of a survey of 186 students of Kurgan State University studying in various scientific fields are considered. A comparative analysis of distance and full-time forms of education showed that half of the students of the humanities and mathematics/technical areas formed a positive attitude to the distance learning format; about a third of these students with a desire and the same number without a desire went to full-time form; they consider the ratio of 50/50% to be the optimal ratio of full-time and distance learning; and the quality of training and teaching, in their opinion, does not depend on the form of educational activity. Among the representatives of the natural science cycle, only 16% of students formed a positive attitude to distance learning and almost half of them (45%) were willing to go to full-time training; 51% believe that the motivation for learning is higher with full-time knowledge acquisition, and the optimal ratio of full-time and remote forms should be 70/30%; at the same time, in their opinion, the quality of education and teaching deteriorates in the distance. This is due, in our opinion, to the specifics of the disciplines studied. Most of the students of all training profiles (76–92%) are sure that it is easier to pass exams, pass border control, and pass certification remotely. 60–70% of all students experienced technical difficulties during the distance learning period. The main advantages of the distance form, according to students, are: the ability to study without leaving home (89–92%), in an individual mode, at a pace (88%); the ability to use hints (80–83%); no need to create a business image (78–86%). The main disadvantages: the lack of "live" communication (56–81%); technical problems (63–57%); reduced availability of material (40–70%); harm to health (40–50%), and others. The main advantages of the full-time form are: the presence of “live” communication (95%), the ability to get an explanation of a difficult question from the teacher (84–96%), the availability of perception of the material (53–76%), the completeness of participation in the educational process (60–67%), etc. Significant disadvantages of the full-time form are material costs for travel and meals at an educational institution (87–88%), loss of time due to the need to get to the place of study (85–87%), difficulties to use hints during control tests (50–75%), the need for regular preparation for classes (20–70%), and others.

Discord. Essays on folk aesthetics in an era of disappearing time. On the novel The Best Is Still to Come [Vsyo vperedi] by V. Belov

The article discusses V. Belov’s novel The Best Is Still to Come [Vsyo vperedi]. Published in 1986, the novel became a target of numerous scathing reviews, remaining one of the writer’s most controversial books to this day. The article examines the polemic between D. Urnov and A. Malgin published in Voprosy Literatury in 1987. The author goes on to propose the novel’s modern interpretation based on such concepts as I. Shaytanov’s ‘one-time form’ and Z. Bauman’s ‘retrotopia.’ He finds that The Best Is Still to Come is unique from the viewpoint of its genre, and so are Belov’s other works Harmony. Essays on folk aesthetics [Lad. Ocherki narodnoy estetiki] and The Daily Life of Russian North [Povsednevnaya zhizn russkogo Severa]. Analysed are the novel’s chronotope, shifts and disruptions of artistic time, and confusion in the artistic space. The key image of this urban novel by Belov, discord (raz-lad ) is contrasted with the image of harmony, con-cord (lad ) that permeates his writings about the traditional rural lifestyle.

Baryogenesis, magnetogenesis and the strength of anomalous interactions

The production of the hypermagnetic gyrotropy is investigated under the assumption that the gauge coupling smoothly evolves during a quasi-de Sitter phase and then flattens out in the radiation epoch by always remaining perturbative. In the plane defined by the strength of the anomalous interactions and by the rate of evolution of the gauge coupling the actual weight of the pseudoscalar interactions turns out to be always rather modest if major deviations from the homogeneity are to be avoided during the inflationary phase. Even if the gauge power spectra are related by duality only in the absence of anomalous contributions, an approximate duality symmetry constrains the late-time form of the hypermagnetic power spectra. Since the hypermagnetic gyrotropy associated with the modes reentering prior to the phase transition must be released into fermions later on, the portions of the parameter space where the obtained baryon asymmetry is close to the observed value are the most relevant for the present ends. For the same range of parameters the magnetic power spectra associated with the modes reentering after symmetry breaking may even be of the order of a few hundredths of a nG over typical length scales comparable with the Mpc prior to the collapse of the protogalaxy.

Inverse kinematics of redundant manipulators with guaranteed performance

In this paper, the inverse kinematics (IK) of redundant manipulators is presented and studied, where the performance of end-effector path planning is guaranteed. A new Jacobian pseudoinverse (JP)-based IK method is proposed and studied using a typical numerical difference rule to discretize the existing IK method based on JP. The proposed method is depicted in a discrete-time form and is theoretically proven to exhibit great performance in the IK of redundant manipulators. A discrete-time repetitive path planning (DTRPP) scheme and a discrete-time obstacle avoidance (DTOA) scheme are developed for redundant manipulators using the proposed method. Comparative simulations are conducted on a universal robot manipulator and a PA10 robot manipulator to validate the effectiveness and superior performance of the DTRPP scheme, the DTOA scheme, and the proposed JP-based IK method.