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Understanding how Public Service Motivation (PSM) is tied to ethical or unethical conduct is critically important, given that civil servants and other public-sector employees throughout the world have been shown to exhibit high PSM levels. However, empirical evidence about the relationship between PSM and ethical or unethical behavior remains limited, due in part to the challenges of observing unethical conduct and overcoming social desirability bias in self-reported measures. We address these challenges by employing incentivized experimental games to study the relationships between PSM and two types of unethical behavior—corruption and dishonesty—as well as one type of ethical behavior: altruism. Based on data from approximately 1,870 university students at three research sites in Russia and Ukraine, we find evidence of a robust negative association between PSM and willingness to engage in corruption and a positive association between PSM and altruistic behavior. Results concerning dishonesty are more mixed. Our findings indicate that corruption and dishonesty are related yet fundamentally distinct concepts, particularly with respect to their compatibility with PSM. The findings additionally demonstrate that hypotheses about PSM and behavioral ethics generated in the Western context generalize well to the starkly different institutional context of the former Soviet Union.

The article analyses the system of public governance in Russia, including two main sub-divisions of reforms, namely, civil service reform, and administrative reform. The authors examine the principal historical stages of both reforms as the parts of the Russian system of public governance evolution. The configuration of main actors of Russian governance reforms and of government–market relations are presented. The paper focuses on generalising some major characteristics of the administrative mechanisms of governance in Russia as the complex and interlinked entities. Some key elements of Russian governance reforms are described, including organisational aspects of civil service, optimisation of the functions and structure of the executive bodies, implementation of results-based management mechanisms and improvement of the regulatory system, public services delivery, one stop shop procedures, E-government.

Performance-based budgeting (PBB) has extensive applications in Russia across various levels of the budget system. The Russian federal budget is presently drafted in conjunction with performance management (PM) tools—strategies, plans, programmes, and projects. Budget information is increasingly transparent, creating opportunities for the public to be involved in budget decisions and outcome evaluations. Despite this, the budgeting system in Russia leaves room for inefficiency, opportunistic behaviour, and corruption. To improve the results-focused orientation of budget spending, it is necessary to develop an evidence-based approach, expand the well-informed involvement of parliaments, citizens, and businesses in the budget process, and strengthen the stimulation and responsibility of chief executives and project managers for achieving results.

In this study, we applied Speech-to-Text Recognition (STR) and Computer-Aided Translation (CAT) technologies in combination during lectures in English to facilitate Russian speaking students' comprehension of lecture content. The instructor lectured in English, the STR system generated texts from the voice input, and the CAT system then simultaneously translated the STR-texts into Russian. We aimed to test the feasibility of applying STR and CAT technologies in combination to support learning of Russian speaking students during lectures in English. To this end, we designed an experiment. Three groups with twenty students in each were formed and all students attended the same lectures. Students in a control group attended lectures without any support, students in an experimental group 1 attended lectures with STR support (i.e. they were presented with texts in English generated from the instructor's speech), and students in an experimental group 2 attended lectures with STR and CAT support (i.e. they were presented with texts in Russian translated from English). We compared language ability and post-test results of students in three groups and we surveyed perceptions of students in the experimental group 2 about usefulness of translated texts for their learning. Our results showed that applying STR and CAT technologies was a useful approach; translated texts helped improve learning performance of the experimental group 2 students compared to the control condition significantly. More specifically, translated texts were beneficial both for low and high ability students in the experimental group 2, so that their scores of the tests were much better compared to those of students in the control condition. When students got used to translated texts and found their strength and limitations, they better utilized these texts for their learning. This is why learning progress of students was increasing from Lecture 1 to Lecture 2. Our results also showed that low ability students benefit from translated texts the most; their language ability was lower than that of high ability students before the experiment but after it, learning performance had no significant difference. Finally, most of the students in the experimental group 2 perceived translated texts as useful for their learning and they intended to use them in the future for learning.

In this paper we will consider a problem of registration of radio signals from distant sources, natural pulsars or artificial SETI signals. These signals possess a number of common properties, i.e. they are weak, almost indistinguishable from the background noise, are strongly localized on celestial sphere, have spectral characteristics smeared by dispersion on interstellar medium and Doppler drift, suffer from near-Earth electromagnetic interference. In this paper we will overview existing methods for registration of such signals and discuss some alternatives. We implement selected methods as data filters connected to data processing workflow, with 3D Virtual Environment as a frontend, integrate the methods into a system for radio astronomical monitoring StarWatch and apply them for detection of pulsar signals from BSA telescope at Pushchino Radio Astronomy Observatory and narrow band signals in SETI database setilive.org.

A new administrative reform was launched 10 years ago. It developed in a few main directions. First, the whole block of functions of the Federal and Regional bodies of the executive power was subject to revision. The task to do away with the excessive and duplicate functions both of the executive power bodies and their subordinate organizations was set and partially realized. Second, the procedure of performing the functions, that were acknowledged to be necessary, have been improved and regulated. This made it possible to simplify and to reduce the difficulties of interaction of the citizens and business with the public administration to some extent Third, performance management technologies which include program targeted tools and estimates of the administrations work are being actively inculcated. Thus, new conditions have been created for the transition to budgeting the performance management of the public administration, and to forming the budget according to the program principle. Fourth, the executive power has become more open from the information point of view and prepared to interact with civil society. The open government has been set up, standards of an "open ministry" and "open region" have been worked out, open data are being actively formed.Analysis of numerous investigations showed a certain positive result of all these measures. Pussias rates on using new technologies by the public administration have increased. However, business climate has not noticeably improved, and the rates of the economic growth have decreased. The slowing down might have been higher but for the realized reforms.The current situation depends significantly on the fact, that the principles proclaimed at the beginning of the administrative reform have not been completely realized. It refers first of all to the elimination of the excessive state functions, which can especially be seen in the field of control and supervision. The inculcated procedures of estimating the regulation impact of the standard acts projects have not become a real barrier for ineffective excessive regulations. The adopted administrative regulations have made bureaucracy more transparent and specified the measure of its responsibility, but the potential of simplification of the administrative procedures has not been fully realized in especially interdepartmental relations. As for the performance management tools, they have not been coordinated so far and often misguide public administration of the Federal, regional and municipal levels. Citizens participation in public administration, the feed-back system is not effective enough.Many of the deficiencies considered above are brought about by the natural problems of innovations development and inculcation, which need approving and adjusting. However, in many cases insufficient look into the reform, bad coordination, inconsistency and imbalance of the steps in reforming of the administrative system may give a negative result.

65 versiteta imeni P.F. Lesgafta, Vol. 95, No. 1, pp. 30-35. 2. Zhukov Yu.Yu. (2013), “Features of correlations of indicators of personal and educational cognitive activity of students of higher education”, Uchenye zapiski universiteta imeni P.F. Lesgafta, Vol. 96, No. 2, pp. 61-66. 3. Kasatkina, N.E. (2000), Psychological factors of professional self-determination (on the example of experts of physical training), dissertation, St. Petersburg. 4. Serova, L.K. (2005), “Psychological classification of sports”, Materials of the 32nd scientific conference (St. Petersburg, on November 29, 2005), pp. 42. 5. Sukhova, L.V. (2000), Development of informative activity in vocational training of future experts (on the example of non-state highest educational institution), dissertation, Tolyatti, Russian Federation. Контактная информация: zhukleena@mail.ru

Bureaucracy is apt to grow extensively, which manifests itself in its unreasonably broadened powers, staff increase and hence more expenses on their provision in agencies. These regularities are described by V. Niskanen in the model of "a maximizing bureaucrat." Though, this model can be changed by reforms in the public administration through central government decisions on freezing/reducing budget financing, finding and cutting down on excessive bureaucratic functions, introducing mechanisms to stimulate performance.The change of the model is especially relevant in the conditions when extra budget financing is obviously necessary to keep up with the competitive level of salaries in Civil service. It is the situation in the Russian Federation that has been lately, when decisions to increase salaries in the military and law-enforcement services have been realized, and a big salary increase in public administration for the nearest years is being planned. So, it is quite natural for the problem of saving reserves and reducing the number of employees in the public administration apparatus to arise.After analyzing the dynamics of the number of bureaucrats as such over the last years, and the number of people employed in the economy, the authors came to the conclusion that the quantity of the civil servants does not depend only on the number of the population, but also on the volume and the order of carrying out administration functions.The article indicates two main directions of making expenditures on public officers more effective: (1) by extra public administration functions and services reduction; (2) by improving the inner organization of performance, making the processes and procedures simpler, by controlling and stimulating economical spending of the means/money. The authors suggest a set of measures in the frame of these directions that can secure saving the budget money.

Reforms of the public administration are necessary conditions for social andeconomic development of the country, competitive national economy, citizensinvolvement and responsibility. Each country is specifi ed a set of reformswhich refl ect their economy and society development standard as well as politicaland cultural features. As for the Russian Federation the following trends of the enhancing ofthe executive power functioning in general and some administrative processes(functions, services) in particular are topical: implementation of the administrationtechniques according to their results; promoting the management personnelpotential; and, defi nitely, the search of the ways to solve the issue of corruptionand the civil service ethics.

Virtual 3D model of the Valley of Geysers, Kamchatka provides virtual travelling and interactive storytelling in the cyberspace and serves for scientific visualization, geodynamical processes modeling, disaster preparedness and response, environmental studies, ecological education, and virtual ecotourism.