Search

Background: Research examining the potential effects of stimulant exposure in childhood on subsequent development of substance use disorder (SUD) have focused on differences in the brain reward system as a function of risk. Methods: 18 drug naïve children ages 7 to 12 years (11 High Risk [ADHD + ODD/CD]; 7 Low Risk [ADHD only]), underwent fMRI scans before and after treatment with mixed amphetamine salts, extended release (MAS-XR). We examined correlations between clinical ratings and fMRI activation at baseline and following treatment as a function of risk status. Results: High Risk children had higher activation than Low Risk children at baseline during both the Reward and Surprising Non-Reward conditions. Treatment produced strong differential effects on brain activation pertinent to group and reward outcome. Conclusions: Findings support the hypothesized role of reward mechanisms in SUD risk, and suggest that stimulant treatment may have differential effects on reward processing in relation to SUD risk.

We aimed to screen children aged 18-48 months in the general population of nine Russian regions for risk of mental, behavioral and developmental disorders (MBDDs) including autism spectrum disorders (ASD) using an original screening tool. The prevalence of the risk for MBDDs is 1307:10,000 (13.07%), the prevalence of clinically verified cases of MBDDs is 151:10,000 (1.51%), whereas the prevalence of ASD among them is 18:10,000 (0.18%). Basing on our results, the screening procedures are already integrated into the Russian primary care system since the end of 2019. Screening of the risk for MBDDs including ASD in Russia among children in the general pediatric population is a promising area of preventive medicine.

Purpose: This article presents the theoretical framework, research design, methodology, and main findings of the comparative measurement of ethical-moral competences of 15-year-old upper secondary students in Shanghai, under the ETiK-International-Shanghai project. Design/Approach/Methods: By dividing the ethical-moral competences into the categories of basic ethical-moral knowledge, ethical-moral judgment competence, and competence in developing ethical-moral action plans, a survey of 2,036 students was conducted, using a reliable and valid testing instrument. Findings: In general, 15-year-olds from homes with more educational resources perform higher in all three scales across all countries taken under consideration in our study. Furthermore, school practices, teaching, as well as quantity and quality of instruction play a very important role in the moral education process and especially in developing students' proficiency levels of ethical-moral knowledge, reasoning competence, as well as students' high abilities in developing moral action plans. When relevant educational background factors are held constant, Chinese students show lower average scores on basic ethical-moral knowledge and moral judgment competence. With exception of the tested Vienna students, all other European samples scored better than the Chinese students--also on the test for developing ethical-moral action plans. However, Chinese students are especially able to display outstanding empathy when dealing with suffering, misfortune, and sorrow, as well as in their willingness to help others. Originality/Value: The findings of this article can foster thinking about which topics should be further discussed to improve the ethical-moral knowledge and competences of Chinese students and highlight requirements for the further development of moral education in China at the levels of teaching, curriculum, teacher education, and research.

The present article addressed the issue of university teachers' working experience in the field of class-oriented online teaching English in higher educational institutions. The central aim of this study was a detailed description of the system for assessing reading skills utilized in English proficiency tests (CAE (C1), TOEFL, IELTS), as well as a comprehensive analysis of testing results. As a part of a thorough investigation, the article detailed three major reading modes and tasks most commonly used in such tests (scan-reading, skim-reading, and in-depth reading). Besides, in order to obtain reliable conclusions about the reasonability of the test tasks, the study took into account the tests' duration, the number and types of tasks, as well as the length of reading passages proposed. The research population comprised 622 second-year students from all faculties of the National Research University "Higher School of Economics" (Nizhny Novgorod Campus, Russia) with English proficiency levels from B1 to C1+. All data required for the study were collected from the outcomes of international English exams (CAE (C1), TOEFL, IELTS), conducted in the form of testing in 2013, 2014, and 2015. The results of this examination showed that 97% of students involved successfully solved multiple choice tasks, 96% demonstrated an understanding of the dependence between headings and text fragments, and 95% succeeded in gap-filling tasks. Provided that research participants were engaged in active work on English reading comprehension improvement throughout the examination period, 95% of students have mastered their reading skills.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the status of university accelerators (UAs) in Australia, expanding a similar paper on related entrepreneurship education (EE) in 2019. The aim is to review neoteric global best practice UA, aligning context and specific inference to the impact of UAs in Australia. Design/methodology/approach: The authors introduce an iterative and emergent inquiry into multi-method research, including a quantitative examination of Australian UAs, Leximancer algorithmic analyses of entrepreneurial strategic intent and narratives from best practice applications. Findings: The paper highlights the sparse and inconsistent distribution across UAs in Australia, further characterized by significant symbolic motives of operation. Furthermore, the integration of EE evidenced on global UA is not as evident in Australia, highlighting outcomes more specific to the success of nascent (student) startups as opposed to educational outcomes. Research limitations/implications: Limitations include the availability and accuracy of online documents and data, although implications have been mitigated using multi-method research design. Practical implications: Despite the provision of critical grounding for practitioners and researchers in developing UAs, further research is recommended regarding the efficacy and impact of these accelerators. Originality/value: This study is the first multi-methods emergent inquiry into UAs in Australia, coupled with integration of EE. The authors provide guidelines and inferences for researchers, educators, policymakers and practitioners alike as they seek to explore and act upon the impact of UAs.

The purpose of this study was to provide insight into contextual factors predicting the extent of principals' sense of self-efficacy, or capacity, for instructional leadership, school management, and parent engagement in public schools in the city of Bishkek following Kyrgyzstan's decentralization reforms post-independence. Findings indicate three contextual factors influencing principals' capacity that deserve attention in developing school leadership training: (i) principals' sense of job satisfaction; (ii) their perception of the effectiveness of instructional supports in improving student learning; and (iii) teacher capacity for maintaining communication with parents. Findings pointed to the significance of the emerging elitization of public schools in Bishkek, and parental pressures for extra-curricular, enrichment to promote student-centered learning that influence school leadership. The study expands the literature on school leadership in the context of decentralization, particularly in post-Soviet countries.

As globalisation increases, Higher Education Institutions are challenged to produce more young graduates to meet the corporate world's demand for highly qualified, mobile international managers. Business and management programmes are required to have international components to attract the best students. To date, the majority of research has focused on the management and quality of such programmes with few studies undertaken from the students' perspective. This article examines students' motivations to study on an internationally franchised academic programme, prior expectations and whether these were met. Students of international franchised management programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate level studying in five different countries were asked what motivated them to choose this form of study over other possibilities open to them, their prior expectations and how satisfied they were with their actual experiences. The results confirmed some previous findings, i.e. the significance of enhanced employability potential. However, they also identified new themes, showing how the students' funders influenced the choice of study and how that influence was affected by gender. The results also queried students' true motivation for these programmes and the international academic franchisees' potential to meet those expectations fully.

The article considers the structure of the inequality of access to extra-curricular education in Russia and factors influencing it. Among the main barriers are the territorial context, urban and rural education, the families' socioeconomic status and cultural capital. It is also showed that the factors of the inequality are also produced with strong spatial (interregional, inter-municipal) differentiation; the sector's peculiarities of regulation and policy. Despite active measures of the state policy in increasing participation coverage of in extracurricular education and activities, the questions of social differentiation's risks remain not solved. Tools for identifying risk categories have not been developed.

Although fatal shootings on U.S. college campuses are statistically rare, students are routinely confronted with information suggesting that shootings are rampant and unavoidable. Pre-crisis interventions should address the threat of deceptive claims and restore beliefs that universities are capable of protecting students from violence. This experiment investigated the effectiveness of inoculation-based messages as a complementary approach to pre-crisis strategies for student resilience. Results revealed that, after reading about a simulated shooting, inoculated students had greater certainty and more positive beliefs in a university's ability to prevent and respond to a shooting. Findings suggest that inoculation can establish a buffer of confidence in an institution's crisis management infrastructure, even when faced with a shocking tragedy. Practical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Can web-based interactive student response systems (SRSs) improve student performance in large introductory international relations courses? Does switching from first-generation clicker-based SRSs to second-generation web-based SRSs impact student learning? To answer these questions, we draw data from multiple offerings of Introduction to International Relations between 2012 and 2018; some used no interactive software, others used first-generation clicker-based SRSs, and yet others used a second-generation web-based SRSs. Our model includes control variables such as the availability of supplemental instruction, student's gender, class rank, and major. This article argues in favor of using web-based interactive platforms in large political science classes administered via portable electronic devices (laptops, tablets, and cell phones) as their positive impact outweighs possible distraction associated with availability of electronic devices in these classes. Our analysis finds that second-generation web-based SRSs are a consistent predictor for improved student performance in large introductory political science offerings. Nonetheless, the study suggests tampered optimism about the role that this type of SRSs can have on critical thinking and analytical skills.

The purpose of this review was to understand the impact of second generation antipsychotic (SGA)-induced weight gain on youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), including the clinical evidence, mechanisms, monitoring guidelines, and treatments. To achieve this, multiple MEDLINE/PUBMED and Google database searches were performed and analyzed articles from January 2001 to April 2018. Existing evidences indicates youth with ASDs may be more prone to SGA-induced weight gain than youth with other psychiatric illnesses. The mechanism by which such weight gain occurs is unclear, but is likely multifactorial. Guidelines have been developed to monitor SGA-induced weight gain, though the existing guidelines have had limited adherence by clinicians. The available randomized control trials that have analyzed the benefit of metformin in youth suffering from SGA-induced weight gain have produced conflicting results, but the data looking specifically at youth with ASD have been positive. Increasing data on use of topiramate, melatonin, and zonisamide to treat SGA-induced weight gain in youth also exists and warrants further study. However, overall, the current understanding of the effect of SGA-induced weight gain on youth with ASD and the therapeutic use of medications like metformin is limited, but the existing literature provides useful guidelines for future research. The clinical algorithms for monitoring and managing SGA-induced weight gain have shown promise; however, their utility in routine clinical practice requires further investigation.

We propose a crowdsourcing-based framework to iteratively and rapidly bootstrap a dialog system from scratch for a new domain. We leverage the open-source modular HALEF dialog system to deploy dialog applications. We illustrate the usefulness of this framework using four different prototype dialog items with applications in the educational domain and present initial results and insights from this endeavor.

The relevance of the professional competence creation problem declared in the article that complies with current time requirements and specialists, first of all requires facilitation of interaction of the central education chain--the educational institution, with production (that is the personnel's consumer). Thus the problem of organic combination of society's requirements and production, with the level of professional school development, becomes very important. The aim of the article lays within the definition of technical profile competitive specialists' training conditions, with quality formed professional competencies as part of "production"--"educational institution" interaction. In Russian and worldwide pedagogics has a lot of experience in researching issues related to competitiveness and competencies creation. Many famous scientists developed various aspects of educational organizations competitiveness problem and questions of integration in pedagogics. The method of modeling of creating conditions and professional competencies development that allows to overview this issue as a holistic pedagogical process and provides an effective way to train competent, competitive professionals with high level of professional competence is the chief method to discover this issue. The structure of presented competent specialists training system includes targeting, methodological, substantial, organizational-procedural and resultative components and allowed us: to analyze the state of the problem on the current stage of pedagogics and, according to this base, to disclose the organizational-pedagogical conditions of the competitive and competent specialists training; systematize the compound and the system of securing and developing specialist's competitiveness and for the production within the vocational school. System is directed to the integration of specialists' theoretical and professional-production training, where its professional competence formation, development and evolution is happening. The realization of these conditions allows to significantly reduce the adaptive period of young specialist's entry into the manufacture production process. The presented system has the practical value for the vocational educational institutions during training of qualified workers and employees as well as mid-level professionals.

The U-Pb dating (SHRIMP-II on zircon) was obtained for the first time from the basement of the West Siberian Plain in the Western half of the region. It is established that a large part of the protolith of the metamorphic depth in the Shaim-Kuznetsov meganticlinorium contained sedimentary late- and middle-Devonian rocks (395-358 million years). Probably, greywackes served as a substrate of metamorphic rocks substrate, which were formed largely in the erosion of ophiolitic association rocks. The U-Pb method helped to specify late carbonic age of granite plutons composing the Shaim-Kuznetsov meganticlinorium. It turns out that the kernels of anticlinoria are not Precambrian blocks, but Paleozoic magmatic and metamorphic complexes, i.e., the formations of the lower and middle part of the crust. In the Eastern part of Western Siberia, the tectonic zoning of the basement of East Khanty-Mansiisk Autonomous district is held and 8 submeridional structural-formational zones are determined with different sets and structure of composing formations, history of geological development and physical regions. On the basis of generalization and analysis data, we have compiled a new geological map of the pre-Jurassic base of the Eastern part of the Khanty-Mansiisk Autonomous district, significantly refining the predecessors' maps.

The purpose of this study is to analyze of Eurasianism, which began during the Russian scientific and philosophical emigration and has generated sharp discussion over the last century. Within the framework of Eurasianism, extensive research has been conducted on a wide range of interrelated topics, much of whose theoretical and practical significance is just beginning to be realized. The main objective of the article is the identification of various aspects of the national question, and its many issues which form the basis of Eurasian ethnosociology. Eurasianism has re-examined, among other issues, the inequality of national communities and the ways to eliminate this inequality, the conditions for fruitful interaction between ethnic groups, the nature of nationalism, and many more. Eurasianists have proposed a systemic and holistic approach to the national question, as an alternative to the prevailing ideas of today and, in the authors' opinion, an appropriate heuristic, especially given the deepening of many national problems in the modern world.

The anomalous thermal expansion of water in the 0 °C-4 °C range is extremely important to life on Earth, but it is normally not presented experimentally in educational settings. This paper presents a simple experiment to explore the anomalous thermal expansion of water in the 0 °C-4 °C range and the heat exchange processes in natural bodies of water in the winter and spring.

There are many phenomena, interesting, simple experiments and effects, that await their in-depth explanation from the point of view of physics. Some of them have been well known for a long time but their numbers are increasing, especially with the introduction of new technology in everyday life. In this paper we consider a simple experiment that everyone can perform at home in their kitchen with a handheld blender and a glass of water. When the blender is turned on with the blade close to the bottom, it is possible to lift the glass without holding it in any other way. The explanation of this experiment, however, turned out to be unusually complicated, and we had to consider a large number of different effects. Some of the phenomena that seemed like favorites to explain the effect were ruled out through controlled experiments. The final (in our opinion) explanation turned out to be a variation of one of the famous early experiments in physics--the Magdeburg hemispheres. This experiment demonstrates that interesting physics effects can hide everywhere--even under a kitchen blender.

This paper takes a new look at a well-known physics demonstration--the Cartesian diver. A general overview is provided as well as some new twists on the old classic. A new version is proposed that can demonstrate some of the finer details of scuba diving. A hydrodynamic method of lifting sunken divers is presented.

In this paper we consider the well-known experiment with the 'heavy' newspaper that breaks a stick that it is laid on. Using several appropriate control experiments we show that the currently invoked explanation using atmospheric pressure cannot be correct. We perform a theoretical analysis and propose a new explanation based on the rotational motion of the stick.

In the article the avatar-based learning and teaching (A-BL&T) as a concept of control and managing knowledge in modern socio-economic conditions is proposed to use for assessment a university's economic efficiency. It is shown that all elements, methods and techniques (tools) do not operate in isolation, but rather are interrelated, complementing each other. All of them are used in the process of management and, in a combination, are powerful tools for increasing efficiency of management. Based on the example of avatar-based learning and teaching in Russian universities as modern educational environments, a conceptual model, methodology, and methods have been obtained for the automation of planning and calculation of the academic load in the university.

In this paper a well-known experiment is considered that is used to demonstrate some aspects of water boiling. It is shown that the currently popular explanation is wrong and a better explanation is proposed, backed up with experimental data. Variations of the experiment are proposed that can be used for a more in-depth examination of the intricate details of the process of boiling.

The study describes the latest recommended and adopted clinical and management practice for children and adults with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) in Russia and discusses the most recent research work by Russian clinicians and neuroscientists in the field. The study also presents data from the first epidemiological studies on ASD prevalence and explores the latest recommendations for clinical-biological assessments for ASD diagnosis and management in Russia. The authors call for collaboration of experts in ASD field to exchange clinical and research ideas between professionals from Russia and Western European countries and expand our mutual knowledge about ASD. This should include clinical and neurobiological studies aiming to develop differential rational approaches for ASD individual management throughout lifespan of these affected individuals.

This paper presents a new way to demonstrate the principle behind mirages in air in the lab. The setup is simple and includes a modified laser illuminator that allows direct comparison between the deflected light rays and their straight path.

In this article we consider a well-known simple, very accessible demonstration of surface tension with a small boat propelled by substances that change the surface tension of water. A simple quantitative evaluation is provided that matches well with experimental data. A modification to the experiment is proposed allowing it to continue for a long time for more dramatic effect. Different molecular 'fuels' are explored with ethanol coming out as the most appropriate for educational demonstration purposes.

The article presents the results of an experimental study on the motion of a neodymium magnet on an inclined duralumin plate. During experiments, the time of motion was measured, and the steady-state velocity of the magnet motion was determined. To measure the time, a robotic set was used, which made it possible to measure the time of the motion with an accuracy of 0.001 s. It is demonstrated that the velocity of the motion of a magnet in the case when its direction is perpendicular to the magnetic moment (vector directed from the south pole of the magnet to the north) and both vectors lie in the plane parallel to the plate is 3.3 times larger than in the case when these vectors are parallel. The article gives a qualitative explanation of this phenomenon. In the non-stationary formulation, the problem of the motion of a conductor in a homogeneous magnetic field is solved. It is demonstrated that in the approximation when the self-induction effects can be neglected, the solution has the self-similarity property (that is, the solution contains no parameters other than the variable coordinate and time). The dependence of the coordinate of the conductor on the travel time turned out to be similar to that for a magnet.

In this article we consider the well-known demonstration of friction by two interleaved books. We consider a factor that has not been part of the popular explanation--atmospheric pressure. We provide three control experiments to demonstrate the role of atmospheric pressure in the two-book experiment and an additional simple demonstration of the action of atmospheric pressure in principle.

This study describes the possibility and advantages of utilizing simple computer codes to complement the teaching techniques for high school physics. The authors have begun working on a collection of open source programs which allow students to compare the results and graphics from classroom exercises with the correct solutions and further more to be able to easily interact with the source code in order to modify and create their own software. We believe that teaching and learning physics needs to benefit from the modern developments in computer sciences, thus creating a connection between textbook exercises and the use of computers is desirable. The personal experience of the authors suggests that solving a physics problem with the aid of a computer leads to a better understanding of the physical properties of the systems involved in the exercise.

In this paper, we report on the results of an experiment in teaching discrete mathematics to students majoring in business informatics. We supplemented our problem-based approach to teaching the course with a set of Likert-scale surveys or questionnaires that helped improve the students' performance. On the one hand, these surveys gave us feedback and, on the other, encouraged the students to reflect on the subject-matter. The experiment was quite successful, as the grades obtained by the students on the exam were significantly higher than usual. Here, we describe the structure of the surveys and the method of evaluation of the experimental results.

The development of clinical skills and judgment is a key area of learning for undergraduate paramedic students but they typically find translating theory to practice a daunting prospect not least because they practice their developing clinical skills in front of others. This paper documents the rationale and outcomes of a peer mentoring program in which selected third year paramedic students took on the role of mentors within a second year clinical practice subject. The second year students reported that the program had resulted in positive changes, including an improvement in their clinical skills. Mentors reported benefits such as forming effective relationships with their mentees, enhanced positive relationship with the staff and support from their fellow mentors. Comments from staff and future directions are discussed.

This paper explores the association between technology readiness, (a meta-construct consisting of optimism, innovativeness, discomfort, and insecurity), attitude, and behavioral intention towards e-learning technologies adoption within an education institution context. The empirical study data is collected at two private universities located in Egypt and UAE. The research explores the role of instructors' technology readiness level, in shaping their attitudes, preference to human interaction and ultimately behavioral intentions towards adopting e-learning technologies. Analysis of the data (Mann-Whitney U non-parametric test) shows no significant differences between instructors at the two universities in terms of technology readiness, attitudes, behavioral intentions, and preference to human interaction. The exploratory results provide evidence for the relationship between instructors' technology, attitude, and behavioral intentions to adopt e-learning technologies. The study finds that preference to human interaction is equally important in Egypt and UAE with a strong potential to affect instructor's behavioral intentions for adopting e-learning technologies. The research results provide initial insights to education managers on the nature and mechanisms of the relationship among the research variables, which would improve the ability of educational institutions to introduce and adopt e-learning technologies. An additional contribution is the validity and reliability tests for Technology Readiness (TR) scale, which shows its viability as a meaningful measurement instrument for use in an educational setting.

In this paper, we discuss examples of assignments for a course in discrete mathematics for undergraduate students majoring in business informatics. We consider several problems with computer-based solutions and discuss general strategies for using computers in teaching mathematics and its applications. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of our approach, we conducted an anonymous survey. The results of the survey provide evidence that our approach contributes to high outcomes and aligns with the course aims and objectives.

The rainbow is a beautiful optical phenomenon that has fascinated humankind since antiquity. It is caused by a huge number of water droplets in the atmosphere illuminated by the Sun. Many noted physicists have contributed to the explanation of the rainbow. The wave theory of the rainbow was developed by George Airy, and modern descriptions are based on Mie scattering as developed by Gustav Mie. For educational purposes the simpler theory by Descartes, which is based solely on geometrical optics and is much more accessible, is used.

In this paper we consider the main properties of cylindrical lenses and propose several demonstrational experiments that can be performed with them. Specifically we use simple glasses full of water to demonstrate some basic geometrical optics principles and phenomena. We also present some less standard experiments that can be performed with such cylindrical lenses. All proposed experiments are accessible and attractive.

In this paper we present three different methods for testing Bernoulli's law that are different from the standard "tube with varying cross-section." They are all applicable to high-school level physics education, with varying levels of theoretical and experimental complexity, depending on students' skills, and may even be useful for university-level educators. Our experiments are well-suited for use in project-based learning, either individually or as a single large project revolving around Bernoulli's law. We also present examples of data we have collected with our experimental setups.

In this paper we present two experiments to measure Boltzmann's constant--one of the fundamental constants of modern-day physics, which lies at the base of statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. The experiments use very basic theory, simple equipment and cheap and safe materials yet provide very precise results. They are very easy and quick to perform, allowing this fundamental constant to be brought to the high-school level as a hands-on experience.

The efficacy of inoculation theory has been confirmed by decades of empirical research, yet optimizing its effectiveness remains a vibrant line of investigation. The present research turns to psychological reactance theory for a means of enhancing the core mechanisms of inoculation--threat and refutational preemption. Findings from a multisite study indicate reactance enhances key resistance outcomes, including: threat, anger at attack message source, negative cognitions, negative affect, anticipated threat to freedom, anticipated attack message source derogation, perceived threat to freedom, perceived attack message source derogation, and counterarguing. Most importantly, reactance-enhanced inoculations result in lesser attitude change--the ultimate measure of resistance. (Contains 8 tables, 2 figures, and 6 notes.)

In this paper we present a novel way to demonstrate the Hall effect and study some of its main properties using basic materials and easily obtainable measuring devices.

The purpose of this study is to expand the testing ground of the Interface Hypothesis (Sorace, 2006) by investigating the degree to which second language (L2) learners of Bulgarian with English as their first language (L1) had acquired the pragmatic function of clitic doubling as a topicality marker. Advanced and intermediate L2 speakers of Bulgarian, as well as a control group of Bulgarian native speakers, participated in the experiment. The experimental materials included a proficiency test and a pragmatic felicity task. The results showed that the intermediate participants did not differentiate between the felicitous and the infelicitous options in the pragmatic felicity task in a target-like manner as their responses either did not exhibit a statistically significant difference or favored the response closest to the L1. However, the advanced L2 learners had successfully acquired the pragmatic meaning of clitic doubling in Bulgarian and performed in a native-like manner. The study highlights the fact that successful learning at the syntax-discourse interface cannot be excluded, and more research--exploring as many interface conditions as possible--needs to be carried out in order to validate the Interface Hypothesis as a legitimate constraint that permanently hinders native-like performance. (Contains 3 tables, 4 figures and 9 notes.)

This article presents a new technique for performing most well-known demonstrations of wave optics. Demonstrations which are normally very hard to show to more than a few people can be presented easily to very large audiences with excellent visibility for everyone. The proposed setup is easy to put together and use and can be very useful for high-school physics teachers and even university professors. (Contains 6 figures.)

This chapter traces the development of short-cycle higher education in Bulgaria. An emphasis is placed on (a) the evolution of nonuniversity short-cycle institutes and (b) the challenges of bridging the gap between secondary and higher education and creating links between vocational and academic learning pathways. The case study of Bulgaria may provide insights applicable to other postcommunist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, such as Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, and Estonia, where nonuniversity institutions and programs of shorter duration have faced similar challenges of recognition and incorporation since 1989. (Contains 1 table and 3 notes.)

Two new experiments are offered concerning the experimental verification of Boyle's law and the ideal gas law. To carry out the experiments, glass tubes, water, a syringe and a metal manometer are used. The pressure of the saturated water vapour is taken into consideration. For educational purposes, the experiments are characterized by their accessibility and the considerable precision of results.

A university that consists of several thousand students and personnel is a major organization. But it is rather difficult to determine its place in the typology of the organizations that are studied by sociology. Until recently, sociology in Russia did not pay due attention to the study of the organizational aspects of systems of education. In this article, the authors have pointed out the contradiction between the needs of society and the organizational structure of professional education. Their analysis of the characteristics of the university corporation is presented on the basis of materials from sociological surveys conducted at Novgorod Iaroslav the Wise State University in 1994 through 2003. (Contains 6 notes.)

From the point of view of their age, student science societies and special-interest circles are among the most venerable forms of corporate association among students in colleges and universities. In this article, the author traces the formation of different societies and special-interest circles by college students in different universities in Russia. Among other things, the author discusses the effect brought about by the Russian Revolution to these societies and special-interest circles.

Discusses the status and future of the rural former Soviet school. Reports that rural education has been restructured to influence students' lives, even outside school. Argues that the rural school schedule must promote comprehensive, harmonious individual development. Describes the schedule and some of the problems with rural education. (SG)

The relationship between Eastern and Western languages is explored. Possible origins and the spread of language over the Eurasian land mass are discussed. (CW)