Stated Goals Research Articles

International legal approach to liability and prosecution for concluding and participating in anti-competitive agreements

Economic development is one of the main goals of states, state entities and unions. An important place in the development of the economy is to maintain and ensure competition. The legal order and forms of maintaining competition in state entities are different. At the same time, they are all aware of the high public danger of anti-competitive agreements. In this connection, the legislation of most countries and unions (organizations) provides for the prohibition of anti-competitive agreements and serious measures of prosecution for their conclusion. The aim of the work is the author's analysis of the international legal approach to the regulation of liability and prosecution of persons (both legal and physical) for the conclusion and participation in anti-competitive agreements. In this work, the methods of logical and analytical analysis of the legislation of countries, international organizations and unions were used. According to the results of the study, it can be concluded that the importance (and hence the danger of cartels) of combating anti-competitive agreements is understood in most countries with leading economies. This danger is recognized both at the level of the state itself and at the level of state unions and organizations. The international community pays great attention to the issue of competition. The competition law of developed countries and international organizations in which they are composed is a developed system of effective regulation. In order to optimize the interaction of law enforcement agencies and agencies involved in the fight against cartels, it is necessary to create common information bases, regulate the exchange of documents and information. In our opinion, it seems necessary to develop and implement the institute of joint activities by foreign agencies.

Curriculum Goal-Conditioned Imitation for Offline Reinforcement Learning

Offline reinforcement learning (RL) enables learning policies from pre-collected datasets without online data collection. Although it offers the possibility to surpass the performance of the datasets, most existing offline RL algorithms struggle to compete with behavior cloning policies in many dataset settings due to trading off policy improvement and additional regularization to address the distributional shift issue. In many cases, if one can imitate a sequence of sub-optimal sub-trajectories in data and properly <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">“stitch”</i> them toward reaching an ideal future state, it may potentially result in a more reliable policy while avoiding the difficulties that present in typical value-based offline RL algorithms. We borrow the idea of curriculum learning to embody the above intuition. We construct a curriculum that progressively imitates a sequence of sub-optimal trajectories conditioned on a series of carefully constructed future states and cumulative rewards as goals. The sub-optimal trajectories gradually guide policy learning toward reaching the ideal goal states. We name our algorithm Curriculum Goal-conditioned Imitation (CGI). Experimental results show that CGI achieves competitive performance against state-of-the-art offline RL algorithms, especially for challenging tasks with long horizons and sparse rewards.

How does information encountering enhance purchase behavior? The mediating role of customer inspiration

With the explosive growth and fragmented dissemination of information, information encountering, a form of passive information acquisition, has become a dominant way for consumers to obtain consumption information online. This means of acquiring information may have implications for consumer behavior. The current research explored the influence of information encountering on purchase behavior. Three online experiments were conducted to test the interaction between information relevance (interest-related vs. problem-related) and consumers' goal state (no-goal vs. other goal) in relation to purchase behavior, and tested whether this link was mediated by customer inspiration. Results showed that information relevance and goal state interacted to predict purchase behavior. Specifically, purchase behavior was highest when participants encountered problem-related information in the no-goal state and when participants encountered interest-related information in the other-goal state. Moreover, customer inspiration mediated these effects. Our work expands the literature on information encountering and customer inspiration, and has implications for enterprises’ information dissemination strategies.

A critical race analysis of Māori representation in university strategic documents in Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT Following the recent claims lodged at two universities in Aotearoa New Zealand alleging the existence of racism, there has been scepticism towards the professed commitments by universities to create an inclusive and safe environment for Indigenous Māori. As a Kaupapa Māori-informed study, we (a group of Māori and Tauiwi scholars) employed tenets of Critical Race Theory to examine how the representation of Māori is racialised and subordinated in university strategic documents. We located five predominant discourses portraying different mechanisms that reify whiteness in university practices such as the selective interpretation of Te Tiriti articles, targeted recruitment of Māori, framing of Māori as dependent on the Crown to succeed, commodification of mātauranga Māori, and avoidance of conversations about structural racism, colonisation, and racial equity. Our findings suggest that university strategic goal statements need to incorporate a critical race analysis, or else risk perpetuating practices that fall short of challenging the status quo.

Are SMART goals fit-for-purpose? Goal planning with mental health service-users in Australian community pharmacies.

Goal planning is an important element in brief health interventions provided in primary healthcare settings, with specific, measurable, achievable, realistic/relevant, and timed (SMART) goals recommended as best practice. This study examined the use of SMART goals by Australian community pharmacists providing a brief goal-oriented wellbeing intervention with service-users experiencing severe and persistent mental illnesses (SPMIs), in particular, which aspects of SMART goal planning were incorporated into the documented goals. Goal data from the PharMIbridge Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) were used to investigate how community pharmacists operationalized SMART goals, goal quality, and which SMART goal planning format aspects were most utilized. Goals were evaluated using the SMART Goal Evaluation Method (SMART-GEM) tool to determine how closely each documented goal met the SMART criteria. Goals were also categorized into five domains describing their content or purpose. Descriptive analysis was used to describe the SMART-GEM evaluation results, and the Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to compare the evaluation results across the goal domains. All goals (n = 512) co-designed with service-users (n = 156) were classified as poor quality when assessed against the SMART guidelines for goal statements, although most goals contained information regarding a specific behaviour and/or action (71.3% and 86.3%, respectively). Less than 25% of goals identified how goal achievement would be measured, with those related to lifestyle and wellbeing behaviours most likely to include measurement information. Additionally, the majority (93.5%) of goals lacked details regarding monitoring goal progress. Study findings raise questions regarding the applicability of the SMART goal format in brief health interventions provided in primary healthcare settings, particularly for service-users experiencing SPMIs. Further research is recommended to identify which elements of SMART goals are most relevant for brief interventions. Additionally, further investigation is needed regarding the impact of SMART goal training or support tools on goal quality.

Social influence and external feedback control in humans.

This article aims to unravel the dynamics of social influence by examining the processes that occur when one person is the target of another's influence. We hypothesized that these processes are part of a feedback loop system in an individual. This loop involves the situation (input), a goal state (reference), a comparator, a selection mechanism, a feedback predictor, and an action (output). Each element can become the target of social influence, and different types of social influence can be classified and explained by how these elements are targeted. For instance, attempting to persuade another person with strong arguments targets the goal state of the affected individual, while obedience targets the selection mechanism, and violence targets the action. In summary, this article aims to categorize, order, and explain phenomena in social influence research using a feedback loop framework focusing on the influenced individual.

Advanced persistent threats and the “big four”: State-sponsored hackers in China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea in 2003–2021

The author investigates a range of international hacking groups collectively known as advanced persistent threats (APTs), which have conducted a concentrated number of cyber operations from four authoritarian states – China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea. The author collected data on 112 APTs that operated in 2003-2021 across the globe and analyzed their behavior and state affiliations to conclude that APTs’ ties to the “big four” can be explained by the strategic goals of authoritarian states to supplement their military and economic power. The ties have also much to do with states possessing sufficient political capital at home to challenge existing norms of cyberspace behavior. Moreover, the big four boast a high degree of digital expertise and heavy investment into the superiority of cyber offense over defense. The author provides empirical support for the findings in a comparative case study of Chinese and Iranian cyber forces.

Motivation as a Lens for Understanding Information-seeking Behaviors.

Most prior research characterizes information-seeking behaviors as serving utilitarian purposes, such as whether the obtained information can help solve practical problems. However, information-seeking behaviors are sensitive to different contexts (i.e., threat vs. curiosity), despite having equivalent utility. Furthermore, these search behaviors can be modulated by individuals' life history and personality traits. Yet the emphasis on utilitarian utility has precluded the development of a unified model, which explains when and how individuals actively seek information. To account for this variability and flexibility, we propose a unified information-seeking framework that examines information-seeking through the lens of motivation. This unified model accounts for integration across individuals' internal goal states and the salient features of the environment to influence information-seeking behavior. We propose that information-seeking is determined by motivation for information, invigorated either by instrumental utility or hedonic utility, wherein one's personal or environmental context moderates this relationship. Furthermore, we speculate that the final common denominator in guiding information-seeking is the engagement of different neuromodulatory circuits centered on dopaminergic and noradrenergic tone. Our framework provides a unified framework for information-seeking behaviors and generates several testable predictions for future studies.

Motivated with joy or anxiety: Does approach-avoidance goal framing elicit differential reward-network activation in the brain?

Psychological research on human motivation repeatedly observed that approach goals (i.e., goals to attain success) increase task enjoyment and intrinsic motivation more strongly than avoidance goals (i.e., goals to avoid failure). The present study sought to address how the reward network in the brain—including the striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex—is involved when individuals engage in the same task with a focus on approach or avoidance goals. Participants reported stronger positive emotions when they focused on approach goals, but stronger anxiety and disappointment when they focused on avoidance goals. The fMRI analyses revealed that the reward network in the brain showed similar levels of activity to cues predictive of approach and avoidance goals. In contrast, the two goal states were associated with different patterns of activity in the visual cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum during success and failure outcomes. Representation similarity analysis further revealed shared and different representations within the striatum and vmPFC between the approach and avoidance goal states, suggesting both the similarity and uniqueness of the mechanisms behind the two goal states. In addition, the distinct patterns of activation in the striatum were associated with distinct subjective experiences participants reported between the approach and the avoidance conditions. These results suggest the importance of examining the pattern of striatal activity in understanding the mechanisms behind different motivational states in humans.

The Features and Problems of Management and Oversight of State-owned Enterprises and Sover-eign Funds in the RA

The article discusses the role of state-owned joint stock companies in the country's economy and financial system. Analyzing the viewpoints of a number of famous economists, a number of problems typical for effective SOE management were raised. The role of SOEs has been considered by three separate viewpoint. In one case as they considered as bodies that pay dividends to the state budget and provide state budget revenues and in the other case as bodies active within the framework of state policy in areas where private participation is not possible to achieve the stated goals of the state. In addition, in terms of state funds, SOEs were considered as entities providing financial flows in the form of investments in the economy. In the article, the problems and possible risks of the SOE management process in RA were identified and classified in the mentioned cases, as well as innovative proposals for their solution were presented. Compilations of statistical data on state-owned companies in foreign countries have been carried out. Management challenges, financial processes, operational efficiency and productivity, transparency and accountability, legislative, political, social economic and other issues discussed in the system approach were highlighted in the process of managing the state share of SOEs.

Social influence and external feedback control in humans

This article aims to unravel the dynamics of social influence by examining the processes that occur when one person is the target of another’s influence. We hypothesized that these processes are part of a feedback loop system in an individual. This loop involves the situation (input), a goal state (reference), a comparator, a selection mechanism, a feedback predictor, and an action (output). Each element can become the target of social influence, and different types of social influence can be classified and explained by how these elements are targeted. For instance, attempting to persuade another person with strong arguments targets the goal state of the affected individual, while obedience targets the selection mechanism, and violence targets the action. In summary, this article aims to categorize, order, and explain phenomena in social influence research using a feedback loop framework focusing on the influenced individual.

ANALISIS DAYA SAING DAN FAKTOR-FAKTOR YANG MEMPENGARUHI NILAI EKSPOR TEKSTIL DAN PRODUK TEKSTIL INDONESIA

The purpose of this study is to determine the competitiveness of the Textile Products and Textile Products (TPT) of Indonesia and factors that affect the value of the export in 7 years. The data used in this study are secondary data of 35 data consisting of time series and cross section data. The analysis techniques used are Revealed Decorative Advantage (RCA) and multiple linear regression. The results showed that Indonesia's competitiveness to the destination country is still low in that period, with the average value of RCA &lt;1. The results also show that simultaneously competitiveness, economic distance, non-tariff measures and GDP state in purpose of the export value of Indonesian TPT. Partially competitiveness has no significant effect on the export values of Indonesian TPT, the distance for negative and significant effect on the TPT Indonesia, with the GDP State of goals that can mode of economic distance on TPT Indonesia, and non-tariff measures is able to affect the export value of TP Indonesia every one in the goal countries.

Towards efficiently solving the rubik’s cube with deep reinforcement learning and recursion

The Rubik’s cube is a prototypical combinatorial puzzle that has a large state space with a single goal state. The goal state is unlikely to be retrieved using orders of randomly generated moves, posing unique challenges for machine learning. The proposed work is above to solve the Rubik’s cube with recursion and DeepCubeA, a deep reinforcement learning approach that learns how to solve increasingly difficult states in reverse from the goal state without any specific domain knowledge. DeepCubeA solves 100% of all test patterns, finding a shortest path to the goal state 60.3% of the time. Deep Cube A generalizes to other combinatorial puzzles andis able to solve the 15 puzzle, 24 puzzle, 35 puzzle, 48 puzzle, Lights Out and Sokoban, finding a shortest path in the majority of verifiable cases. These models were trained with 1 4 GPUs and 20 30 CPUs. This varies throughout training as the training is often stopped and started again to make room for other processes. Further our experimentation compares the results of Rubik’s cube solving among both recursion and DeepCubeA and also with the state of art models. Later, we intend to develop a new deep learning model with an application.

МЕТОДИЧЕСКОЕ ПОЛЕ ЦЕЛЕПОЛАГАНИЯ В ПРОГРАММНО-ЦЕЛЕВОМ УПРАВЛЕНИИ

Purpose: the purpose of the study is to analyze the scientific and practical toolkit of program-target management in terms of available target-setting practices to improve the quality and performance of the procedures of setting and managing goals in the framework of solving the problems of conjugation of state and regional management. Methods: research procedures were carried out with the use of general theoretical and formal-logical methods of research, which allowed us to describe, compare, generalize, identify positive characteristics and determine methodological difficulties of the techniques and algorithms considered in scientific sources, associated with the setting, coordination and management of goals in the implementation of program-target management, as well as to form conclusions on their application in changing conditions. Results of the work. During the study, an understanding of the “life cycle” of goal setting was formed and its structure was determined in the form of interrelated tasks. The methodological support of existing practices for solving each goal-setting problem is considered, the positive characteristics of methods for solving them are identified and the problems accompanying them are identified. For the task of constructing goal statements based on a generalization of discovered patterns and identified problems of goal setting identified in the process of studying the experience of implementing this task within the framework of program-target management, requirements for goal statements were formed and grouped and a content analysis was carried out to assess the possibility of implementing these requirements in the considered requirements. Conclusions. The results of the study make it possible to expand the scientific and methodological field of goal-setting procedures, increase the validity, effectiveness and quality of decisions made within the framework of the implementation of program-target management, especially in terms of the choice of approaches and methods for coordinating projects and programs that implement the target settings of federal and state bodies at the regional level management.

An integrative control theory perspective on consciousness.

An integrative account of consciousness should have a number of properties. It should build upon a framework of nonconscious behavior in order to explain how and why consciousness contributes to, and addresses the limitations of, nonconscious processes. It should also encompass the primary (phenomenal), secondary (access), and tertiary (self-awareness) aspects of consciousness. A number of accounts have proposed a role for consciousness in the prediction of sensory input, yet these proposals do not address how organisms deal with multiple, unpredictable, disturbances to maintain control. According to perceptual control theory (PCT), purposiveness is the control of hierarchically organized perceptual variables via changes in output that counteract disturbances which would otherwise increase error between the current value and the reference value (goal state) of each perceptual variable. In PCT, reorganization is the process required for the adaptive modification of control systems in order to reduce the error in intrinsic systems that control essential, largely physiological, variables. The current article proposes that primary consciousness emerges from this system, and is sustained as secondary consciousness through a number of processes including the control of the integration rate of novel information via exploratory behavior, attention, imagination, and altering the mutation rate of reorganization. Tertiary consciousness arises when internally sustained perceptual information is associated with specific symbols that form a parallel, propositional system for the use of language, logic, and other symbolic systems. The hypotheses and initial research designs to test this account are provided. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

On principle of optimality for safety-constrained Markov Decision Process and p-Safe Reinforcement Learning ⋆

We study optimality for the safety-constrained Markov decision process which is the underlying framework for safe reinforcement learning. Specifically, we consider an undiscounted safety-constrained Markov decision process subject to random stopping times. The decision maker's goal is to reach a goal state while avoiding unsafe states with certain probabilistic guarantees. Therefore the underlying Markov chain for any control policy will be Multichain or non-ergodic since by definition there exists a goal set and an unsafe set. Bellman's principle of optimality does not hold for such a safety-constrained Markov decision process in a Multichain setting as highlighted by a counterexample. We resolve the aforementioned counterexample by considering a zero-sum game setting between the policy and the Lagrange multiplier vector. Under suitable assumptions regarding the existence of admissible policy, we propose an off-policy RL algorithm for learning an optimal policy that satisfies the probabilistic safety guarantees. After that, we present the finite time error bound of the proposed RL algorithm. Lastly, we present simulation results of the aforementioned RL algorithm on a robot in a grid world setting.

The Role of Energy in Türkiye-Russia Relations: A View from the Perspective of Mutual Dependence

Policies focusing on strategic energy resources play a key role in achieving certain goals of states by integrating them with other areas. Energy, in particular, has strategic importance and is one of the most critical issues in this context. Considering the opportunities and threats associated with strategic energy resources, the energy problem may be perceived as a chronic ailment that is difficult to solve for some states. It is also a fact that these resources increase the dependence of states. Energy is seen as a factor that forms the basis of interdependence in Turkish-Russian relations. With the increase in Türkiye’s energy needs, its energy relations with Russia have gained great importance in the 21st century. Russia, with its rich energy resources, plays an important role in Türkiye’s energy supply, and Türkiye is an important market for Russia’s energy exports. This study analyses the energy relations between Türkiye and Russia within the framework of interdependence theory. Despite the tensions in the political arena, energy relations have been and continue to be conducted according to the principle of interdependence. The study first introduces the interdependence theory and then analyses the energy policies and energy situation of both countries in detail. At the end of the study, the course of energy relations between Türkiye and Russia is analyzed, and a detailed evaluation is made.

Comparing COVID–19 Budgeting Responses: New Budgeting Principles that Resulted from the Pandemic

This study provides a comparative analysis of the budget limits of the Commonwealth of Independent States members, focusing on fiscal responses to the COVID crisis and options for improving the structure. The methodology comprised a statistical approach based on assessments of macroeconomic indicators for 2020–2021, as well as world rankings and several measurement systems. The following new budgeting principles were formulated as a result of the comparative analysis of public administration. The proposed principles focus on monitoring, assessing, and forecast data of long‑term sustainability management and other fiscal risks. The proposed budgeting principles could provide a country with the new opportunities needed to expand its potential during further economic advancement in global politics. The central result of this work is a renewed approach to budget management using data on the actual economic situation and adaptability to changes. The proposed budget management scheme lays the foundation for the future development of a country’s potential and aligns with the priority goals of the CIS member states in terms of democracy. The value of this research lies in presenting and summarizing the analysis of the budget management system and the detailing of budgetary policies to identify and reflect the political priorities of countries. This helps formulate recommendations and suggestions for improving the budgetary process, achieving a balanced distribution of resources, and attaining strategic development goals. The practical application of the findings will allow budget policy specialists, economists, and statisticians to become familiar with the changes in the institutional landscape amid COVID–19 and assess the situation in their region through the prism of administrative sovereignties.

Effective management of science development as a whole: approaches to the topic

The paper examines the issues of managing the science development as a whole. The purpose of the study is to increase the efficiency of management of the development of science by identifying factors that contribute to or hinder the development of science as a whole and to consider approaches to assessing the level of development of science. The article suggests approaches to this topic, which are expressed in the consideration of science as a whole, as well as in an attempt to approach the construction of a model that allows taking into account the intensity of the influence of the whole set of factors on the development or inhibition of science as a whole. For this purpose, the following factors were identified and systematized, those that: always contribute to the development of science as a whole; always inhibit the development (hinder the development) of science as a whole; as well as those that both slow down and accelerate the development of science.For this reason, some of the factors have been identified that: always contributing to the development of science as a whole; always hindering the development of science as a whole; both hindering and accelerating the development of science. The systematization of these factors has been carried out. A statement of the research goal is proposed and, based on its decomposition, five tasks are set. Some shortcomings of modern methods and techniques of monitoring, evaluating the progress of scientific research and determining the level of development of science, based on scientometric indicators, are indicated. An approach is proposed to assess the level of science development depending on the time period under consideration, external conditions and the intensity of the factors influence on the development or inhibition of science as a whole

Features of economic sanctions as a tool to protect the strategic interests of the United States

The widespread use of economic sanctions as an instrument of foreign policy has caused a growing interest in assessing the effectiveness of their use to achieve the strategic goals of the initiator state. The article summarizes the main characteristics of economic sanctions as an instrument of foreign policy. The features of modern U.S. sanctions policy are presented. Special attention is paid to the conduct of anti-Russian sanctions by the coalition of countries led by the United States in 2022 and the assessment of the achievement of the stated goals.