Roman Yankovsky
Published: July 25, 2020
For the last five years there has been a global boom of interest in cryptocurrencies, followed by the fall of their rates; at the same time, there was a wave of enthusiasm regarding the public offering of tokens (ICO) and disillusionment in them (due partly to the active counteraction by American and other influential regulators). Disputes on doctrine moved from suggestions of a new object of property rights to prohibitive initiatives. As these eventful years have shown, the global financial system is sufficiently stable to digest even such a decentralized phenomenon as cryptocurrency. In my opinion, it is now time …
Christophe S. Hutchinson
Published: July 25, 2020
Blockchain is a catch-all term for a combination of three technologies: distributed ledger, cryptology and network protocols. The first enables storing the same info in different places, the second allows secure transactions to be recorded and then encrypted on the distributed ledger. The third element governs the network and verifies transactions across the network automatically and independently. Considered by many as “the biggest technological innovation since the Internet”1, blockchain is a decentralized, more secure and transparent model for transactions that operates on an encrypted peer-to-peer basis. This model makes trust between parties superfluous by instead placing trust in the underlying …
Ilya Ilin
Published: July 25, 2020
Language technology (LT) in its broad sense comprises speech technology, computational linguistics, and natural language processing technology. These technologies are expected to have great economic potential and a considerable impact on the everyday life of society. The development of LT fosters applications for artificial intelligence (AI) and broadens the horizon for its advancement. LT deals not only with written forms of linguistic expression but also extends to voice and speech. Voice excluding speech or its contents is a combination of unique physical patterns, such as vocal qualities, volume, speed, and certain other biometric data. Voice can provide medically relevant information, …
Vladislav Arkhipov
Published: July 25, 2020
The restrictions for disseminating certain kinds of information that is considered publicly offensive and (or) dangerous has made topical a fundamental problem of the limits of reasonable interpretation and application of law to the contexts that could be characterized as virtual, playful or otherwise non-serious. From the standpoint of interdisciplinary approach including mostly philosophy of law and game studies, the underlying problem reflected in the representative examples above, has substantial similarities with the “magic circle” concept studied in the research direction that is conventionally called “videogame law”. However, existing theories of magic circle, both in game studies and law, are …
Nikolay Dmitrik
Published: July 25, 2020
The world is connected — governments, business and people are increasingly living and working in a globally connected digital space. People no longer identify themselves as belonging to spatial communities (neighborhood, town, city or country) but by subscribing to digital ecosystems like Apple or Android, Facebook or VKontakte, etc. Governments use digital platforms at the local, regional and national levels to administer certain powers and procedures (even electoral campaigns) and to get feedback from their citizens. As citizens become digital citizens — connected to a wide range of internet resources including electronic government, banking, local management systems, as well as …
Maria Kolsdorf
Published: July 25, 2020
Analysis of causes and outcome of recent judicial conflict between solid database companies.
Aga Nowak
Andy Hodson
Published: Oct. 23, 2014
Our long-term study gives a rare insight into meltwater hydrochemistry following the transition of Austre Brøggerbreen from polythermal to cold-based glaciation and its continued retreat. We find that the processes responsible for ion acquisition did not change throughout the period of records but became more productive. Two regimes before and after July/August 2000 were identified from changes in solute concentrations and pH. They resulted from increased chemical weathering occurring in ice-marginal and proglacial environments that have become progressively exposed by glacier retreat. Carbonate carbonation nearly doubled between 2000 and 2010, whilst increases in the weathering of silicate minerals were also …
Kevin A. Hughes
Peter Convey
Published: May 12, 2014
The introduction of non-native species to Antarctica in association with human activities is a major threat to indigenous biodiversity and the region's unique ecosystems, as has been well-demonstrated in other ecosystems globally. Existing legislation contained in the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty does not specifically make the eradication of non-native species mandatory, although it is implicit that human-assisted introductions should not take place. Furthermore, to date, eradications of non-native species in the Treaty area have been infrequent and slow to progress. In 2005 an additional Annex (VI) to the Protocol was agreed concerning “Liability arising from environmental …
Guojie Xu
Yuan Gao
Published: Nov. 17, 2014
Atmospheric aerosol samples were collected over the Southern Ocean (SO) and coastal East Antarctica (CEA) during the austral summer of 2010/11. Samples were analysed for trace elements, including Na, Mg, K, Al, Fe, Mn, Ni, Cd and Se, by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The mean atmospheric concentrations over the SO were 1100 ng m−3 for Na, 190 ng m−3 for Mg, 150 ng m−3 for Al, 14 ng m−3 for Fe, 0.46 ng m−3 for Mn and 0.25 ng m−3 for Se. Over CEA, the mean concentrations were 990 ng m−3 for Na, 180 ng m−3 for Mg, …
Walter N. Meier
Ge Peng
Donna J. Scott
Matt H. Savoie
Published: Dec. 22, 2014
A new satellite-based passive microwave sea-ice concentration product developed for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Data Record (CDR) programme is evaluated via comparison with other passive microwave-derived estimates. The new product leverages two well-established concentration algorithms, known as the NASA Team and Bootstrap, both developed at and produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The sea-ice estimates compare well with similar GSFC products while also fulfilling all NOAA CDR initial operation capability (IOC) requirements, including (1) self-describing file format, (2) ISO 19115-2 compliant collection-level metadata, (3) Climate and Forecast (CF) …