The article analyzes the main trends of the development of cross-border e-commerce, presents the position of the main characters: both supporters of «free trade» and protectionism on issues such as government regulation, as well as further development of cross-border e-commerce.

Ethnic nepotism theory predicts that even in times of communal peace altruism is more pronounced within than between ethnic groups. The present study tested the hypothesis that altruism in the form of alms giving would be greater within than between ethnic groups, and greater between more closely related groups than between more distant groups. The three groups chosen for study were ethnic Russians, Moldavians, and Gypsies. Russians are genetically closer to Moldavians than to Gypsies. Observations were made of 128 ethnic (...) Russian, 25 Moldavian, and 25 Gypsy beggars receiving gifts from ethnic Russians in Moscow trains. The Gypsies were mainly girls, contrary to the Russian sample. Multivariate analysis identified three main strategies: active, personified, and appeasing-undirected. Russian strategies were most variable. Gypsies presented strong charity releasers: 84% were children who played music and sang and showed appeasing-undirected behavior. The few adults were highly submissive or friendly. Nevertheless, their success was limited compared with that of ethnic Russians despite the latter’s demanding behavior and their being mostly mature or elderly persons. Moldavians received an intermediate amount of charity. The hypothesis was supported. (shrink)

The article refutes the widespread view that Dostoevsky's Christian beliefs were strictly Orthodox. It is proved that Dostoevsky's religious and philosophical searches' central tendency is the criticism of historical, ecclesiastical Christianity as a false, distorted form of the teaching of Jesus Christ and the desire to restore this teaching in its original purity. Modern researchers of the history of early Christianity find more and more arguments in favor of the fact that the actual teaching of Jesus Christ is contained in (...) that religious movement, which the church called the Gnostic heresy. The exact philosophical expression of the teaching of Christ was received in the later works of J.G. Fichte, whose ideas had a strong influence on the Russian writer. Like Fichte, Dostoevsky understands Christ as the first person who showed the possibility of revealing God in himself and gaining divine omnipotence and eternal life directly in earthly reality. In this sense, every person can become like Christ. Dostoevsky's main characters walk the path of Christ and show how difficult this path is. The article shows that Dostoevsky used in his work not only the philosophical version of true Christianity developed by German philosophy, but also the key motives of the Gnostic myth, primarily the idea that our world, filled with evil and suffering, is created not by the supreme, good God-Father, but by the evil Demiurge, the Devil. (shrink)

The solution of the outer multiplicity problem in the tensor product of U(3) irreducible representations (irreps) developed by Biedenharn et al.(1–7) and realized through the well-known Draayer-Akiyama (DA) computer code(8) is extended to the quantum algebra Uq(3). An analytic formula for special stretched Uq(3) Wigner coefficients, $$\left\langle {(\lambda _1 \mu _1 ) H_1 , (\lambda _2 \mu _2 ) \varepsilon _2 \Lambda _2 m_2 \left| { (\lambda _3 \mu _3 ) H_3 } \right.} \right\rangle _{\max }^q $$ is derived using (...) a projection operator method.(9–10) In this expression Hi denotes the highest weight vector of the (λiμi) irrep; the subscript “max” means coefficients corresponding to a unit tensor operator with a maximal characteristic null space; and q is the usual quantum label so the standard U(3) Wigner coefficient, which is required in the DA code, can be obtained in the q→1 limit of the theory. To illustrate the theory, some Uq(3) Wigner coefficients for the tensor product (22)×(22) are calculated. The procedure for evaluating nonhighest weight Wigner Uq(3) coefficients follow the DA prescription. (shrink)

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Smirnov was born on March 2, 1931. He graduated from Moscow State University in 1954. From 1957 till 1961 he was a lecturer in philosophy and logic at the Tomsk University. Since 1961 his scientific activity continued in Moscow at the Institute of Philosophy of Academy of Sciences of the USSR. From 1970 and till the last days of his life V. A. Smirnov was lecturer and then Professor at the Chair of Logic at Moscow State (...) University. V. A. Smirnov played an important role at the Institute of Philosophy of Russian Academy of Sciences being the Head of Department of Epistemology, Logic and Philosophy of Science and Technology, and the Head of Section of Logic. Last years he was the leader of the Centre of Logical Investigations of Russsian Academy of Sciences. In 1990-91 he founded a new non-goverment Institute of Logic, Cognitive Sciences and Development of Personality for performing research, teaching, editorial and organization activity in the field of humanities. At the Department of Philosophy of Moscow State University and at the Institute of Philosophy V. A. Smirnov and his close colleagues have founded a Russian logical school which brought up many talented researchers who work at several scientific centres in various countries. (shrink)

Since the time of Ivan the Terrible, the history of Russia has been a succession of astonishing flights and falls. The sacrifices made by the Russian narod on the altar of development are so great, and the achievements so incommensurate with the efforts expended, that a number of questions must arise: Why do things happen this way? Why does Russia not develop "normally"? And what is "normal" development? Is it possible for Russia, and under what conditions? What are the causes (...) of the oddities in Russian development? (shrink)

The author investigates some Plotinus’ metaphors such as: war as the father of all things, universal life as a theatre performance, longings, works and horrors of bloody terrestrial life as a childish "external game", a battle as pyrrhic… All the mentioned metaphors are important for correct interpretation of ideas by the late Hellenistic philosopher. Plotinus’ doctrine of chaocosmic harmony is stated in its comparison with the data of modern science (of synergetics). The author of the paper confirms a conclusion that (...) the oriental ideas range exerted influence on the great Antique thinker’s creative work. This influence was mediated and included Plato as an intermediary. (shrink)

In an essential way I make use of Frege’s and Vasilev’s ideas. N. A. Vasilev distinguished two levels in a logic. The abstract logic depends on gnoeologic assumptions while the empirical part of logic depends on ontological ones. Vasilev did not change the external logic but he did change the internal one. His system can be viewed as a non-standard syllogistics based on classical propositional logic . Vasilev’s ideas become plain if we discern cleary acts of predication and acts of (...) assertion, the relation of mental contents with the way things are. The second sourse of the idea seems to Frege’s differentation of mental process and assertion, statement . As a symbol of assertion for Frege serves a vertical stroke |. A horizontal stroke following it is correlated with holding a proposition, it makes the sign determined everywhere. In the string of signs the one following the vertical stroke does not express a proposition, it describes a possible state of affairs. (shrink)

We consider several subtle aspects of the theory of neutrino oscillations which have been under discussion recently. We show that the S-matrix formalism of quantum field theory can adequately describe neutrino oscillations if correct physics conditions are imposed. This includes space-time localization of the neutrino production and detection processes. Space-time diagrams are introduced, which characterize this localization and illustrate the coherence issues of neutrino oscillations. We discuss two approaches to calculations of the transition amplitudes, which allow different physics interpretations: (i) (...) using configuration-space wave packets for the involved particles, which leads to approximate conservation laws for their mean energies and momenta; (ii) calculating first a plane-wave amplitude of the process, which exhibits exact energy-momentum conservation, and then convoluting it with the momentum-space wave packets of the involved particles. We show that these two approaches are equivalent. Kinematic entanglement (which is invoked to ensure exact energy-momentum conservation in neutrino oscillations) and subsequent disentanglement of the neutrinos and recoiling states are in fact irrelevant when the wave packets are considered. We demonstrate that the contribution of the recoil particle to the oscillation phase is negligible provided that the coherence conditions for neutrino production and detection are satisfied. Unlike in the previous situation, the phases of both neutrinos from Z 0 decay are important, leading to a realization of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox. (shrink)

Meaning is not a ready-made entity found in dictionaries as signified by a language sign, but rather something which is manufactured through a sense-positing procedure that starts with an initial i...

The fact that the names of two philosophers who lived and worked in such different periods, under conditions of quite dissimilar cultures and civilizations, share the title of this article is in itself enough to require clarification. Nikolai Berdiaev, who belonged to a current of Russian philosophy that called itself mystical, hardly needs to be presented to the reader. Muhyiuddin ibn-'Arabi , the greatest mystic of the Arab Middle Ages, is known as the founder of a philosophical conception that was (...) later referred to as the "unity of being" and enjoyed broad popularity among Islamic thinkers, philosophers, and poets of the late Middle Ages. Moreover, motifs of this conception are not difficult to find in the works of contemporary literati enthralled by the ideas of Islamic mysticism, i.e., of Sufism. Hence these two outstanding figures can be compared on the common ground that they belonged to the current of philosophical thought of mankind that is called mysticism or mystical philosophy. Despite all the differences that doubtlessly exist among Russian, Arabic, and, let us say, European mysticism, there are also certain fundamental common features of this way of looking at the world that enable us to bring all these currents together under a single generic concept. (shrink)

Small cities have a unique socio-economic and cultural potential for developing Russian regions, which is manifested in their unique features: com- pactness, historical heritage, the existence of rare industries and the local economy. At the same time, today in Russia the realization of their potential is primarily hindered by the existing system of politi- cal institutions and practices. The purpose of the work is to analyze the economic potential of small cities. The paper explores the potential for the devel- opment (...) of small cities in relation to the Russian context. So, the authors consider the features of small cities and highlight their economic, social and political problems. As illustrated by the successful ones, the potential of small cities in various sectors of the economy (primary, secondary and tertiary) is analyzed. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of using the studied experi- ence in developing the potential of small cities in various sectors of the economy in the practice of Russian management. As a result, it is concluded that small cities as such can be economically and socially efficient settlements, that is, they can be a completely competitive urbanized unit. However, the tools for the development of such territories should be focused on supporting the promising areas of development, providing an opportunity for independent and responsible development. (shrink)

Legal thinking in the hermeneutic paradigm.