Assessing Economic Security of the Russian Federation in Technological Field

The article studies elements of technological sphere, such as science, technology and innovation. Appraisal of economic security of Russia was conducted by using methodology of utmost crucial indicators. The most important indicators and their crucial values based on the principle ‘resources – results’ were selected, which gave an opportunity to estimate the efficiency of resource investment and their use. The author substantiated the threshold values for each indicator The method of utmost crucial values together with zoning by the degree of risk can allow us to identify the possibility of threat arising and understand their degree for spheres being investigated. During the analysis the standing of values in accordance with zone distribution was estimated and general trends were found out. On the basis of estimation the general dynamics of indicators was plotted in the form of indexes of economic security and on their foundation the integral appraisal of the condition of economic security in technological field was built. In conclusion the author stated the overall level of technological sphere and described threats to economic security of Russia.

Maximizing Scalability in Literacy Game App Design for Minority Languages

Minority language communities lack access to educational technology that facilitates literacy skill building. The approach currently taken by most educational game app developers privileges widely spoken languages and often requires intensive resource investment. In response, a new game app was designed to provide easily localized, pedagogically appropriate games for literacy skill building. Scalability to multiple minority languages was possible through a programming design based on language packs that could be compiled by local implementation teams without specialized technical skills and without significant resource investment. We describe the scalability issues encountered when localizing the app for the initial ten minority language pilot groups and how a language-neutral app design that relies on language packs to specify language-specific content and parameters can adequately address these issues. When it comes to meeting the demands of growing education technology markets in underserved Indigenous and minority communities, localizing an app initially designed for maximum scalability is more feasible than investing significant resources converting apps custom designed for one language into new languages.

The Relationship Between Organisational Culture, Leadership Supportive Climate and Hospital Employees’ Perception of Organisational Attractiveness and Level of Innovative Behaviour

Background Within the domain of health services research there has been little research focusing on how organisational culture is associated with leadership supportive climate and specifically whether and how organisational culture and leadership supportive climate either individually or mutually are related to employees’ perception of the attractiveness of the organisation and employees’ level of innovative behaviour. These knowledge gaps in previous research motivated the implementation of this study. Methods The conceptual model developed was tested on a sample (N = 1008) of hospital employees. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS–SEM) was employed to test the conceptual models, using the SmartPLS 3 software. To test the mediator effect, a bootstrapping test was used, revealing whether the direct and indirect effects were statistically significant, and at the same time, when combining two tests, determining the type of mediator effect. Results The results can be summarized in four key findings: i) organisational culture was found to be positively directly related to leadership supportive climate (\(\beta\) = 0.87) and organisational attractiveness (\(\beta\) = 0.45), ii) leadership supportive climate was found to be positively directly related to both organisational attractiveness (\(\beta\) = 0.22) and employees’ individual innovative behaviour (\(\beta\) = 0.37), iii) the relationships between organisational culture, leadership supportive climate and employees’ innovative behaviour were both found to be mediated through organisational attractiveness, iv) leadership supportive climate was found to mediate the relationship between organisational culture and organisational attractiveness as well as the relationship between organisational culture and employees’ innovative behaviour. Conclusions Organisational culture and leadership supportive climate were highly correlated and imperative drivers to employees’ perception of organisational attractiveness and employees’ level of innovative behaviours. Managers of hospitals should consider organisational culture and leadership supportive climate as two organisational resources that are potentially manageable and controllable. Consequently, managers should actively invest in the two organisational resources. Such resource investment will lead to resource capitalisation manifested in both a growth in employees’ perception of organisational attractiveness as well as employees’ level of innovative behaviour.

How Property Rights Matter to Firm Resource Investment: Evidence from China’s Property Law Enactment

Although property-rights theory has long been used to explain firms’ ownership of resources, research on the channels through which property rights affect heterogeneous firms’ investment in building resources remains scarce. Leveraging a property-law enactment in China, we find that strengthening property-rights protection leads private firms to make greater intangible and tangible asset investment compared with state-owned firms and that these effects are mediated by external equity and debt financing. Further, we unpack resource heterogeneity by explicating key differences between intangible and tangible assets, and we document an alignment between asset intangibility and financing approaches such that for intangible asset investment, equity plays a larger mediation role, whereas for tangible asset investment, debt’s mediating effect is greater. We contribute to the strategy literature by using property-rights theory to link together asset intangibility and financing approaches and by showing that the strength of property-rights protection affects firms’ resource investment and shapes firm heterogeneity.

Investment platform as a modern financial tool for attracting private investment in mortgages in Russia

В России с 01.01.2020 года изменились инвестиционные возможности частных инвесторов. Вступил в силу федеральный закон №259-ФЗ «О привлечении инвестиций с использованием инвестиционных платформ и о внесении изменений в отдельные законодательные акты Российской Федерации», который систематизировал платформенные решения для инвестиций онлайн в единый цифровой ресурс «Инвестиционная платформа». Частным инвесторам предоставляются государственные гарантии в части действия финансового механизма, тогда как предпринимательские риски они несут самостоятельно. В статье автор рассмотрит возможности частных инвесторов составить конкуренцию банкам в качестве первичных кредиторов в недвижимость, и конкретно, инвестировать собственные средства в ипотеку на приобретение недвижимости. Это ещё один шаг к секьюритизации ипотечных активов. Рынок ценных бумаг характеризует деловую активность инвесторов, а ипотека должна стать ещё доступнее для граждан. In Russia, since 01.01.2020, the investment opportunities of private investors have changed. Federal Law No. 259-FZ «On attracting investments using investment Platforms and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation» has entered into force, which systematized platform solutions for online investments into a single digital resource «Investment Platform». Private investors are provided with state guarantees regarding the operation of the financial mechanism, while they bear the business risks themselves. In the article, the author will consider the possibilities of private investors to compete with banks as primary lenders in real estate, and specifically, to invest their own funds in a mortgage for the purchase of real estate. This is another step towards the securitization of mortgage assets. The securities market characterizes the business activity of investors, and mortgages should become even more accessible to citizens.

Third-Party Punishment Mechanism and Corporate Cooperation in Environmental Investment: Experiments on Public Goods Game

In the context of corporate environmental investment (EI), this paper designs an experiment on public goods game without punishment and an experiment on that game with third-party punishment (TPP). Then, the influence of IEP and TPP mechanism on corporate EI behaviors was tested in details. The results show that different enterprises vary in IEP and took heterogenous behaviors in the two corporate EI experiments; the introduction of TPP pushed up the environmental resource investment of enterprises and increased the success rate of EI cooperation; IEP and TPP exerted a significantly positive influence on corporate EI behaviors; the introduction of TPP, coupled with the consideration of corporate IEP, can effectively elevate corporate EI and improve the eco-environment.

Viewing Cancer Through the Lens of Corruption: Using Behavioral Ecology to Understand Cancer

All biological systems depend on signals for coordination: signals which pass information among agents that run the gamut from cells to organisms. However, their very importance makes signals vulnerable to subversion. How can a receiver know whether a signal is honest or deceptive? In other words, are signals necessarily a reliable indicator of agent quality or need? By drawing parallels to ecological phenomena ranging from begging by nestlings to social insects, we investigate the role of signal degradation in cancer. We thus think of cancer as a form of corruption, in which cells command huge resource investment through relatively cheap signals, just as relatively small bribes can leverage large profits. We discuss various mechanisms which prevent deceptive signaling in the natural world and within tissues. We show how cancers evolve ways to escape these controls and relate these back to evasion mechanisms in ecology. We next introduce two related concepts, co-option and collusion, and show how they play critical roles in ecology and cancer. Drawing on public policy, we propose new approaches to view treatment based on taxation, changing the incentive structure, and the recognition of corrupted signaling networks.