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This paper describes the general architecture of the decision support system. This system is intended for solving problems of spatial planning and regional management. Spatial planning allows for the analysis and coordination of various activities in time and space, taking into account the state of the surrounding ecosystems. Application of spatial planning methods in the scale of a region allows to estimate complex influence of various activities (economic, environmental, military, etc.) both on natural and ecological systems, and on other activities. In addition, spatial planning methods allow to detect and prevent potential conflicts between major stakeholders operating within a region's borders. Currently, spatial planning and regional management decision makers use different software systems to analyse heterogeneous data. However, such systems are often imperfect and cannot meet the information needs of decision makers. We believe that in order to improve the efficiency of decision support it is necessary to carry out preliminary preparation of visualized information in accordance with the information needs of a particular user. For this purpose, we suggest using adaptive approaches to visualize heterogeneous data, including cognitive geovisualization. The architecture offered in the paper will increase the efficiency of decision making in the field of spatial planning and regional management. The architecture includes methods and tools of detection and identification of potential contradictions, associated with the activity of the main stakeholders of the region, operating common natural objects, resources and territories. To identify potential conflicts of nature users, the previously developed conceptual model of the subject area, semantic model of the subject area and technology for dynamic visualization of spatial data are used. The integrated approach to data processing and visualization proposed in this paper can be used to build cognitive user interfaces for decision support systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of our research is to develop methods, models and algorithms of cognitive geovisualization for regional management support systems. The paper describes the information technology of automated synthesis of cognitive user interface. The cognitive interface increases the efficiency of working with space-time data when solving spatial planning tasks. We used the methods of system analysis, conceptual modeling and ontological design of subject area. Special attention was paid to the issues of user interaction with the information system and the problem of cognitive user overload. As a result, the method of dynamic visualization of spatial data for cognitive interfaces of regional management support systems was developed. This method allows you to visualize space-time data, taking into account the context of the visual data analysis task. A feature of the method is the ability to adapt the resulting geo-images taking into account the peculiarities of visual information perception by the end user. For this purpose, special algorithms were developed that allow to take into account the semantic description of objects of visualization. The developed method can be used to implement cognitive interfaces in information systems supporting regional management and spatial planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart cities are a relatively new phenomenon that requires careful study. A particularly interesting and complex issue is the question of the prospects for the development of smart cities in the far north and in the Arctic zone. Arctic and northern territories have a number of features, such as the focal (localized) nature of economic activity, the uneven distribution of people, the concentration of the population in cities, the low population density, harsh climatic conditions, low transport accessibility, underdeveloped transport system, etc. In this regard, cities in the far north are the main type of settlement for a large number of citizens. The area of large cities in the far north (such as Murmansk, Tromsø, Norilsk and others) can range from several hundred to several thousand square kilometers. Therefore, we consider cities as complex spatially-distributed bio-socioeconomic systems that can be managed using information systems for supporting regional governance based on spatial data. For effective management of smart cities in the far north you need a good understanding of the goals and prospects of their development. This article describes the main factors that will influence the development of smart cities in the far north in the next twenty years. To assess the impact of these factors on the development of smart cities and to identify the main dependencies between them, we used the system approach and the scenarios method. Based on the analysis of available scientific data, the main trends in the development of the world economy and driving forces in the Arctic, certain assumptions, uncertainties and "wild cards" were formulated. Using them, we created several scenarios for the potential development of smart cities in the far north. Also in the last part of the article we pay attention to the problems of smart cities management. As effective management tools, we propose to use information systems supporting regional management with a cognitive interface and tools for dynamic visualization of spatial data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the perspective of social constructivism, the cultural shock is one of the possible forms of individual experiencing a clash with an alien socio-cultural reality. Both the actualization of otherness, and the cultural shock, belong to the subjective reality. This is the result of the mental activity of a particular person, the product of his consciousness. It is important that these elements of subjective reality can be objectified by a person within the framework of social interactions in the form of verbalized and unverbalized actions. An extreme form of such objectification may be non-constructive forms of interaction between the carriers of cultural differences, such as the aggressive manifestations of intolerance, cross-cultural conflicts, extremism, xenophobia and others. In this paper we have tried to answer the question of how cultural differences are experienced by a person and how these differences are actualized in the form of culture shock. We also wanted to know how the culture shock is constructed at the level of consciousness of respondents and in what form is manifested their reaction. As a theoretical and methodological basis, we used the theory of social constructivism. We also used the snowball method and the saturation method. As a result, descriptions of situations of cultural shock were obtained in the form of unstructured texts. The main research method was the "cultural shock" method. To work with texts, techniques of structural analysis of text, typology and qualitative analysis of documents were used. As the result of the cultural shock situations descriptions analysis, we found the general structure of the descriptions that was typical of all the stories. Based on this structure, we have compiled a matrix of descriptions of cultural shock situations. Also, the main types of respondents' reactions to the situation of cultural shock were revealed. Most situations of cultural shock describe short-term contacts with an "alien" culture. Therefore, in most cases, respondents describe cultural shocks associated with the manifestations of culture on everyday (food, clothing, manners, basic life manifestations, etc.) and conventional (personal space, interpersonal distance, forms of expression of feelings, typical forms of relations and interaction, styles of thinking, etc.) levels. At the same time, almost none of the respondents described the situation of cultural shock associated with the spiritual sphere of social relations (values, worldview, ethics, aesthetics, etc.). The most likely reason is that cultural shocks associated with the spiritual realm are usually experienced by persons with a deeper immersion in "alien" culture. In addition, it can be noted that the majority of respondents preferred not to express their reaction explicitly. The prevailing reaction of the respondents can be called as "surprise, without negative coloring". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practice of extremism and terrorism is an actual threat in the modern world. The national security of Russia is no exception in this sense. In the context of negative statistics of extremism, the methods of scientifically based prevention of intolerance in all its forms acquire great importance. The scientific task of this research is monitoring of political tolerance of the population of the Russian Arctic region (Murmansk region) as well as the diagnosis of the risk groups of intolerant behavior. The paper presents some of the results of the fourth wave of long-term sociological monitoring (the first wave - in 2007 - 319 respondents, the second wave - in 2009 - 449 respondents, the third wave - in 2011 - 421 respondents and the fourth wave - in 2016 - 702 respondents). The sample represents the age-sex and settlement structure of the adult population of the region. The maximum statistical error in all researches did not exceed +/- 4.5% with a confidence level of 95.4%. The method of collecting sociological data is a personal, standardized interview. Measurement of political tolerance was carried out with the help of the author's methodology "Values and attitudes of political tolerance". Formalization, processing and statistical analysis of data were carried out in the SPSS software environment. As methods of statistical analysis of primary data, descriptive statistics methods were used. The research showed that most residents of the Murmansk region adhere to the values of political tolerance. The average group value of political tolerance for the total number of respondents was 25.8 points. This value can be interpreted as a high level (where the index value from 8 to 15 - low level, from 16 to 23 - average level and from 24 to 32 - high level). The ratio of population groups within the sample in terms of the expression of their values of political tolerance is the following. The percentage of respondents for whom the values of political tolerance are of low significance was 5.1%, the average significance - 23.2% and high significance - 71.7%. At the same time, a stable trend was found when the values of political tolerance are weakly actualized in conditions of interaction with a particular "political other", in other words, at the level of attitudes, respondents are mostly intolerant. Values of political tolerance are partly declarative, weakly actualized in socio-political practice. The index of political tolerance of the population at the level of the social attitudes is 44.4 points and describes the average level of tolerance among residents of the Murmansk region in relation to Russian political parties (where from 18 to 36 points - low level of party tolerance, from 37 to 54 - average level and from 55 to 72 - high level). Frequency analysis allowed to reveal the ratio of subgroups of the population showing low, medium and high levels of tolerance, which are respectively 20.5%, 66.7% and 12.8%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]