Socionic Multi-Agent Systems Based on Reflexive Petri Nets and Theories of Social Self-Organisation

This contribution summarises the core results of the transdisciplinary ASKO project, part of the German DFG's programme Sozionik, which combines sociologists' and computer scientists' skills in order to create improved theories and models of artificial societies. Our research group has (a) formulated a social theory, which is able to explain fundamental mechanisms of self-organisation in both natural and artificial societies, (b) modelled this in a mathematical way using a visual formalism, and (c) developed a novel multi-agent system architecture which is conceptually coherent, recursively structured (hence non-eclectic) and based on our social theory. The article presents an outline of both a sociological middle-range theory of social self-organisation in educational institutions, its formal, Petri net based model, including a simulation of one of its main mechanisms, and the multi-agent system architecture SONAR. It describes how the theory was created by a re-analysis of some grand social theories, by grounding it empirically, and finally how the theory was evaluated by modelling its concepts and statements.Multi-Agents Systems, Petri Nets, Self-Organisation, Social Theories

Corruption manual for beginners: "Corruption techniques" in public procurement with examples from Hungary

This paper develops 30 novel quantitative indicators of grand corruption that operationalize 20 distinct techniques of corruption in the context of public procurement. Each indicator rests on a thorough qualitative understanding of rent extraction from public contracts by corrupt networks as evidenced by academic literature, interviews and media content analysis. Feasibility and usefulness of the proposed indicators are demonstrated using micro-level public procurement data from Hungary in 2009-2012. While the prime value of this broad set of indicators is the possibility of combining them into a robust composite indicator of high-level corruption, the high degree of detail also reveals that many regulatory interventions have succeeded in changing the form of corruption, but not its overall incidence

Epenthetic vowels in Japanese: A perceptual illusion?

In four cross-linguistic experiments comparing French and Japanese hearers, we found that the phonotactic properties of Japanese (very reduced set of syllable types) induce Japanese listeners to perceive ``illusory'' vowels inside consonant clusters in VCCV stimuli. In Experiments 1 and 2, we used a continuum of stimuli ranging from no vowel (e.g. ebzo) to a full vowel between the consonants (e.g. ebuzo). Japanese, but not French participants, reported the presence of a vowel [u] between consonants, even in stimuli with no vowel. A speeded ABX discrimination paradigm was used in Experiments 3 and 4, and revealed that Japanese participants had trouble discriminating between VCCV and VCuCV stimuli. French participants, in contrast had problems discriminating items that differ in vowel length (ebuzo vs. ebuuzo), a distinctive contrast in Japanese but not in French. We conclude that models of speech perception have to be revised to account for phonotactically-based assimilations

THE TRUE AND FAIR VIEW CONCEPT IN ROMANIA: A CASE STUDY OF CONCEPT TRANSFERABILITY

There is an enormous literature relating to the true and fair view (hereafter TFV). We are concerned with how the concept is actually perceived by various actors in an emerging economy which has only recently joined the European Union, i.e. Romania. Romania has a code law system with an obvious preference for the legal form. Two main steps have been taken for the purpose of our study. First, textual analysis of all accounting regulations has been performed with respect to the provisions regarding the TFV concept. Second, nine in-depth semi-structured interviews have been conducted with top representatives of the Romanian regulator, preparers, auditors and professional bodies. The perception on TFV depends firstly on the category: for auditors, this is a guide or a vital concept, closely related to substance over form, relevance and usefulness for users, while for regulators and preparers, TFV is primarily compliance with the rules.true and fair view ; true and fair view override ; Romania

ERISA and the Limits of Equity

The extent to which the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) is a statute that sounds in equity is considered. It is argued that Congress should revisit basic issues of benefits policy for which judicial reliance has not furnished fully considered answers