Punishment Procedures Research Articles

Blockchain-Based Access and Timeliness Control for Administrative Punishment Market Supervision

Administrative punishment is one of the most important ways of enforcing administrative law in the field of market supervision in China. However, at the current stage, the abuse of data access permission and the difficulty in managing timeliness in administrative punishment still remain unresolved, which hinders the legalization and standardization of the administrative punishment system. Inspired by blockchain, which is inherently traceable, tamper-proof, and transparent, we design a system, punishment supervisor (PEATS), which is suitable for administrative punishment and technically overcomes the defects of the traditional administrative punishment procedure. To prevent the abuse of data access permission, we innovatively introduce the ACG (authorization control gateway) to verify the access permission of users based on the records in the MSD (market supervision department) contract. To ensure the timeliness of the administrative punishment procedure, we design a special case contract that has the same status as the general case processing state of administrative punishment to track case progress on the blockchain. We experiment and evaluate PEATS in terms of functionality and performance and find that PEATS provides traceability, transparency, and timeliness assurance. In addition, PEATS has 80.9% of the throughput of a traditional server with no more than an additional 3% latency and at most 60 KB additional storage space per case.

MANAGEMENT OF SUBORDINATES’ ACTIONS: HOW TO ENSURE THE ACCURACY OF OFFICIAL PUNISH?

Аnnotation. Consistent and persistent efforts of Ukraine to become a member of the European Union require a systematic approach to further improvement of management activities in the field of public administration. Forced or accidental mistakes of public sphere managers occur as a result of low management qualifications, they do not provide an opportunity to bring the efficiency of public organizations to a fundamentally new level. Among the functions of management, motivation and punishment of subordinates are the most problematic, due to low attention to these aspects in domestic and foreign scientific literature. Recent research and publications analysis. Problems of improving managerial activity are studied in the works of such leading scientists and practitioners as I. Adizes, A. Fayol, H. Ford, V. Tarasov, O. Friedman, B. Tracy, P. Drucker, R. Blake, J. Mouton. However, many questions regarding the effective influence of a manager on subordinates remain open to this day. The paper objective is the analysis of complex negotiations with a subordinate during the punishment procedure, identification of subordinates’ typical techniques to avoid punishment, offering optimal options for the manager's response. The paper main body. The mechanism of conducting complex negotiations between a manager and a subordinate during the punishment procedure is analyzed. The typical methods of subordinates to avoid punishment are determined, and the optimal options for the manager’s response during this procedure are distinguished. It is emphasized that punishment is an integral part of the manager’s professional competence. It was found that moral punishment should be considered the most effective, because it acts as a prevention of administrative punishment application, while simultaneously forming a model of subordinate behavior in accordance with corporate norms. Moral punishment is carried out through the subordinate’s recognition of the fallacy of his actions through internal rethinking and correction of his/her ”picture of the world”. It is accentuated that manager should be punished for the violation, not its consequences. It is proved that management should include the approaches of theory X and theory Y according to the views of David McGregor. It is revealed that the punishment of a subordinate should not be accompanied by rudeness, disrespect, humiliation, insult, accusation, revenge, etc. The sequence of stages in complex negotiations with a subordinate is substantiated, the purpose and content of each stage is determined. Negotiations with subordinates during punishment should simultaneously solve several tasks: satisfy the interests of the case, improve relations with team, strengthen authority of the manager. A significant difference between the concepts of “mistake” and “misdemeanor” in the employee’s activity was determined. The manager’s readiness to punish subordinates can be considered as part of demandingness: the ability to demand from the subordinate a model of behavior that the manager considers correct in relation to existing corporate norms. Conclusions. The theoretical approaches discussed in the article require practical implementation and consolidation as skills. For this, it is recommended: First, it is advisable for the manager to take a critical look at the level of his management competencies development: planning, delegation and control. It are these functions that have the greatest impact on the accuracy of tasks performed by subordinates. Secondly, when implementing the method of punishment described above, it is necessary to prepare in advance for difficult negotiations with a subordinate. Perhaps this work will seem boring to a practicing manager, but the methodology should be written down in a synopsis and learned by heart. At first, it is better not to improvise, but to clearly act according to the algorithm. Thirdly, no matter how rude it may seem, but in order to consolidate the skill of punishing subordinates, the manager needs practice. It is necessary to start training on subordinates who do not feel sorry. This category includes those who constantly violate discipline and corporate regulations, employees with a low level of performance, insufficient responsibility, or those who should have been fired yesterday.

The Power of Procedure

Abstract While contemporary observers judged Suriname’s legal system to be extremely cruel, arbitrary, and above all outrageously biased, the written record reveals that its criminal court closely adhered to procedure, weighed slave testimony and did not cast judgement outright. This article asks what place slave punishment and legal procedure had in the Suriname system of slavery, and how and why this changed over time. The Suriname legal system offers an almost continuous record of criminal trials held before its main colonial court as well as a record of its locally passed regulations. Research indicates that the court turned away from severe physical mutilation and capital punishments over the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The decline of plantocratic dominance and its overbearing use of force suggests a gradual embedding of the court system, making it a predictable institution promoting (an unequal) social cohesion. This leads us to suggest that the amelioration policies of the nineteenth century were not a transformation in the legal system resulting solely from a metropolitan intervention, but were partly a continuation of a trend in the colony itself.

The aversiveness of timeout from response-dependent and response-independent food deliveries as a function of delivery rate.

Seven experiments with rats assessed the aversiveness of timeout using punishment and avoidance procedures. Experiments 1 and 2 considered the contributions of stimulus change, suspending the response-reinforcer contingency, response prevention, the general disruption in the reinforcement schedule during time-in, and overall decreases in reinforcement. Results support the conclusion that response-contingent timeouts punish behavior because they are signaled periods during which an ongoing schedule of positive reinforcement is suspended. Experiments 3, 4, and 5 assessed effects of the reinforcement rate during time-in on the punitive efficacy of timeout and, for comparison, electric shock. Evidence for a direct relation between reinforcement rate and punitive efficacy was equivocal. In Experiments 6 and 7, responding avoided timeout from response-independent food deliveries. Responding was acquired rapidly when it avoided timeouts from free deliveries of pellets or a sucrose solution, but not when it avoided free deliveries of water. At steady-state, avoidance rates and proficiency were directly related to the rate of pellet or sucrose deliveries. The relation between the nature of the time-in environment and the aversiveness of timeout was clear in our avoidance experiments, but not in our punishment experiments. We discuss interpretive problems in evaluating the aversiveness of timeout in the punishment paradigm.

Comparing Group-Contingency and Individualized Equivalence-Based Instruction to a PowerPoint Lecture to Establish Equivalence Classes of Reinforcement and Punishment Procedures with College Students

Comparing Group-Contingency and Individualized Equivalence-Based Instruction to a PowerPoint Lecture to Establish Equivalence Classes of Reinforcement and Punishment Procedures with College Students

Law and Justice in Japanese Popular Culture: From Crime Fighting Robots to Dueling Pocket Monsters

Law and Justice in Japanese Popular Culture: From Crime Fighting Robots to Dueling Pocket Monsters

Contingent Skin-Shock Treatment and the Reversal of Effects on Severe Problem Behavior

We completed a retrospective analysis of the addition and removal of a contingent skin-shock (i.e., positive punishment) procedure as part of the comprehensive behavioral treatment of severe problem behaviors. Participants demonstrated clinically significant decreases in the frequency of severe aggressive and health dangerous (e.g., self-injurious) behaviors when contingent skin-shock was in place. Immediate and substantial increases in problem behavior and emergency restraint were observed upon discontinuation of the procedure. The findings provide support for the supplemental use of contingent skin-shock as the least intrusive, most effective, and efficient treatment available for the severe problem behaviors of some individuals.

Dopaminergic Regulation of Nucleus Accumbens Cholinergic Interneurons Demarcates Susceptibility to Cocaine Addiction

BackgroundCholinergic interneurons (ChINs) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) play critical roles in processing information related to reward. However, the contribution of ChINs to the emergence of addiction-like behaviors and its underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. MethodsWe employed cocaine self-administration to identify two mouse subpopulations: susceptible and resilient to cocaine seeking. We compared the subpopulations for physiological responses with single-unit recording of NAc ChINs, and for gene expression levels with RNA sequencing of ChINs sorted using fluorescence-activated cell sorting. To provide evidence for a causal relationship, we manipulated the expression level of dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) in ChINs in a cell type–specific manner. Using optogenetic activation combined with a double whole-cell recording, the effect of ChIN-specific DRD2 manipulation on each synaptic input was assessed in NAc medium spiny neurons in a pathway-specific manner. ResultsSusceptible mice showed higher levels of nosepoke responses under a progressive ratio schedule, and impairment in extinction and punishment procedures. DRD2 was highly abundant in the NAc ChINs of susceptible mice. Elevated abundance of DRD2 in NAc ChINs was sufficient and necessary to express high cocaine motivation, putatively through reduction of ChIN activity during cocaine exposure. DRD2 overexpression in ChINs mimicked cocaine-induced effects on the dendritic spine density and the ratios of excitatory inputs between two distinct medium spiny neuron cell types, while DRD2 depletion precluded cocaine-induced synaptic plasticity. ConclusionsThese findings provide a molecular mechanism for dopaminergic control of NAc ChINs that can control the susceptibility to cocaine-seeking behavior.

Vigilantism in Ghana: Trends, Victim Characteristics, and Reported Reasons

AbstractVigilantism is gaining popularity in Africa as a means of self‐defence, enacting justice, policing morality, and sanctioning (perceived) wrongdoings. Drawing on content analysis of 172 media reports from 2001 to 2018, this study examined the trends and patterns of vigilantism, characteristics of victims, and reported reasons for recourse to vigilantism within the Ghanaian context. Results showed a considerable increase in reported cases of vigilantism within the 18‐year period, with most of the cases reported in urban settings. Theft and robbery emerged as the most frequently suspected crimes for which victims were attacked and, in many cases, killed. The study underscores the implications of vigilantism in terms of disdaining human life and dignity. It calls for the need to revisit the justice administration systems and punishment procedures, as well as resourcing and empowering law enforcers to fight crime, including vigilantism.

A Systematic Review of Interventions to Address Inappropriate Masturbation for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder or Other Developmental Disabilities

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities (ASD/DD) may engage in socially inappropriate masturbation that puts them or others at risk for harm. This may lead professionals, parents, and other stakeholders to intervene in ways that suppress safe, socially appropriate, and gratifying masturbation. Single case experimental intervention research may support prevention of inappropriate masturbation as well as increasing access to specialized instruction for safe and socially appropriate masturbation by individuals with ASD/DD. We conducted a systematic literature review of single case experimental interventions research focused on inappropriate masturbation by individuals with ASD/DD. We found limited experimental studies published over the past 40 years. Various approaches were used to reduce inappropriate masturbation and/or increase appropriate masturbation. Relatively few studies included methods to prevent inappropriate masturbation, and a majority of studies used multi-faceted interventions. We also found a reduction in the use of punishment procedures over time. Studies were subjected to quality appraisal using What Works Clearinghouse standards and revealed relatively few studies of high methodological rigor. Implications for research and practice are discussed in light of the limited evidence and ethical considerations.

The Effect of Behavior–based Safety Interventions on the Reduction of Unsafe Behavior

Background: Behavioral-based safety interventions such as the safety training system and reward and punishment procedures were used in most industries in order to reduce unsafe behaviors. Methods: In this applied study, unsafe behavior was evaluated by collecting data through observation, interviews, checklists and the Safety Behavior Sampling technique. After conducting safety training, as well as reward and punishment procedures for two consecutive months, unsafe behaviors were evaluated again. To determine the rate and diversity of the behaviors through a pilot study, a sample size of 1162 was determined to be observed. Moreover, to analyze the data and to specify the relationship between the variables, the ratio test, contingency tables, chi-square test and SPSS 22 statistical software package were used. Results: The results of the study showed that 22.8% of employees’ behaviors were unsafe before applying interventions, which got decreased to 17% after the intervention. There was also a significant relationship between the unsafe behaviors of the employees and their work experience (P-value was 0. 004), age (P-value was 0.023), work shift (P-value was 0.027), day of the week (P-value was 0. 007) and month of year (P-value was 0. 043). Conclusions: The paper indicated that continuous implementation of safety training courses and continuous implementation of the reward and punishment system are necessary in order to reduce unsafe behaviors.

Effects of delayed time-out on problem behavior of preschool children.

Time-out is a common negative punishment procedure in home and school settings. Although prior studies have shown time-out is effective, more research is needed on its effects when implementation is imperfect. We evaluated delays to time-out with 4 preschool children who engaged in some combination of aggression, property destruction, and rule breaking. Target behavior decreased for all subjects exposed to delayed time-out, with 3 of 4 subjects displaying low levels of target behavior even when time-out was delayed by 90-120 s. These data suggest delayed time-out might be effective in situations in which a caregiver or teacher cannot implement time-out immediately.

Neuroqueerness as Fugitive Practice: Reading Against the Grain of Applied Behavioral Analysis Scholarship

In its relatively short lifespan, applied behavioral analysis—the shaping of human behavior through operant conditioning—has risen to a state of eminence in the teaching and treatment of autistic children. This article reads the archive of behaviorist scholarship with and against the grain to two ends. First, I argue that behaviorism is a prevailing form of what gender studies scholar Kyla Schuller terms biophilanthropy, a form of biopolitics in which the technologies of control are rebranded as philanthropic ventures. I use biopolitics to demonstrate how inclusion into the capitalist society marks some (the includable) for life and some (the nonincludable) for (social) death, and some for violence aimed at recuperating the normative future. I use a case study from the corpus of behaviorist scholarship, “Effects of Punishment Procedures on the Self-Stimulatory Behavior of an Autistic Child,” to demonstrate how futurity is leveraged to seduce the teacher into the biopolitical project. My second use of this archive is to engage in a critical rereading of the text, locating moments of embodied resistance by the subject of the experiment. I make critical connections between the overlooked resistances within the archive of behaviorism and place these fugitive practices in continuity with contemporary notions of “neuroqueer(ing)” theorized by autistic scholars and activists.

Treatment of self‐injurious behavior using differential punishment of high rates of behavior (DPH)

The purpose of the current investigation was to explore the effectiveness of differential punishment of high rates of behavior (DPH) to treat the severe self‐injury of a 28‐year‐old man with autism in an adult day program setting. DPH procedures involve the use of an established criterion related to a rate of responding within some time interval at which a punisher is delivered. The implementation of DPH in this study resulted in a substantial long‐term reduction of severe self‐injurious behavior. These findings are significant in that they provide a model for the design and implementation of punishment procedures that can be adopted in applied settings where staff resources are limited. The results of this study have implications for the treatment of severe problem behavior among individuals with autism across settings and age groups.

The combined effects of noncontingent reinforcement and punishment on the reduction of rumination.

The current study extends the literature on the assessment and treatment of rumination through the evaluation of a combined reinforcement- and punishment-based intervention. The study included a single participant with a history of rumination maintained by automatic reinforcement, as identified via a functional analysis. Both noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) with preferred edible items and punishment, in the form of a facial screen, were implemented separately to evaluate their independent effects on the occurrence of rumination. The final treatment package included both NCR and punishment procedures. Implementation of the combined treatment resulted in a 96.5% reduction in rumination relative to baseline. Procedural modifications and integrity errors also were evaluated.

Student Academic Dishonesty: The Potential for Situational Prevention

Approximately one-half to three-quarters of university students commit some form of cheating, plagiarism, or collusion. Typical university responses are policy statements containing definitions plus punishment procedures. This paper collates a portfolio of strategies and tactics that seek to design-out, deter, and discourage academic misconduct. It finds many routine tactics exist, from silence and the use of large halls for major exams, to restrictions on electronic devices. Others are less consistently adopted, such as splitting lengthy exams in two to discourage washroom-visits where cheating takes place. The portfolio of tactics is framed in the context of crime opportunity theory and the 25 techniques of situational crime prevention. It is proposed that more consistent application of tactics focusing on environmental design, curricular design, and class management offer significant potential for reducing misconduct. Future research should seek to evaluate and enhance such interventions.

The Effects of Motor and Vocal Response Interruption and Redirection on Vocal Stereotypy and Appropriate Vocalizations

Stereotypy has been defined as repetitive vocal or motor behaviors that are noncontextual with invariant topographies. One intervention to reduce vocal stereotypy and increase appropriate vocalizations is response interruption and redirection (RIRD). Previous research has suggested that RIRD's behavioral mechanism consists of punishment. The purpose of this study was to extend this research by comparing two procedures, namely, vocal and motor RIRD contingent upon the occurrence of vocal stereotypy and to evaluate concomitant increases in appropriate vocalizations. A multiple treatment reversal design was used to compare the effectiveness of both interventions on five children diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Results suggested that both demand topographies were equally effective in reducing vocal stereotypy and increasing appropriate vocalizations. This research replicates previous findings that have suggested that RIRD is a punishment procedure. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

English

This study explores the major challenges that affect students’ enrollment and participation and the key measures schools take to mitigate the challenge and help students continue their education. The data were collected from 23 secondary school grade nine students in Amahara Regional State in Ethiopia using the structured questionnaires from students and teachers as well as by using semi-structured interview from school principals. The results suggest that the major challenges were family related ( opportunity cost of students, family issue such as parental conflict, taking care of family members) factors and associated with individual characteristics of students (disability, illness) are prominent ones. The study also made clear that though the effect size is very small, there is a statistically significant difference between urban and rural students in the reasons for their drop out from school. This study also highlights that schools do not facilitate conditions for poor children to be supported by NGOs or exempt them from school fees. They also do not provide food and health services for poor children. In addition, schools have no guidance and counseling or social worker who can support students when they face problems in schools. Moreover, though schools have no corporal punishment policies and procedures, schools implement other punishment techniques such as to miss class if they arrive late. Key words: Challenges, transition, intervention, primary school, secondary school.

Democratic Punishment in Public Good Games with Perfect and Imperfect Observability

In the context of repeated public good contribution games, we experimentally investigate the impact of democratic punishment, when members of a group decide by majority voting whether to inflict punishment on another member, relative to individual peer-to-peer punishment. Democratic punishment leads to more cooperation and higher average payoffs, both under perfect and imperfect monitoring of contributions, primarily by curbing anti-social punishment and thereby establishing a closer connection between a member’s contribution decision and whether subsequently being punished by others. We also find that participating in a democratic punishment procedure makes even non-contributors’ punishment intentions more pro-social.

Prolonged withdrawal following cocaine self-administration increases resistance to punishment in a cocaine binge.

Drug addiction is characterized by compulsive drug-taking behaviors and a high propensity to relapse following drug cessation. Drug craving and seeking can increase during a period of abstinence, but this phenomenon is not observed in drug-induced reinstatement models. To investigate the effect of withdrawal on cocaine relapse, rats were exposed to extended-access cocaine self-administration and subjected to either 1 or 30 d of withdrawal. When tested during 12 h unlimited access to cocaine (binge), the duration of the withdrawal did not influence cocaine intake. However, using a histamine punishment procedure that greatly suppresses drug-taking behavior, we demonstrate that longer periods of abstinence from cocaine induce a greater persistence in responding for drug in the face of negative consequences.