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This article presents the information on the valorization of waste generated during the production of tissue paper. The possibility of bioconversion of the polysaccharide part of paper sludge into simple sugars has been evaluated. The options for processing the paper sludge before enzymic hydrolysis to achieve the maximum yield of monosaccharides have been considered. Pretreatment with acids has been found to be a key step before the biocatalytic cleavage of waste polysaccharides. An additional yield of enzymic hydrolysis products after pretreatment with acids has been obtained by pre-extraction of the paper sludge with spirit or acetone. It has been established that the most intense enzymic hydrolysis of readily available fractions of the paper sludge takes place in the first 10–12 hours. Further, the process slows down, probably due to the action of the remaining components of the fillers, as well as an increase in the proportion of the difficult-to-hydrolyze polysaccharide part. In all cases, the proportion of absolutely dry non-hydrolyzed residue has been about 43±2 % of the dry matter of the paper sludge. The main products of enzymic hydrolysis have been glucose and xylose. The resulting sugars have been used for mixotrophic cultivation of the Tetradesmus obliquus and Chlorella vulgaris algae. Yeast strains have been selected for the conversion of monosaccharides from the paper sludge. In a series of experiments on non-sterile yeast cultivation, the Candida utilis PAL D and Debaryomyces hansenii SWING R cultures have turned out to be the most productive (within 2.10±0.14 g of air-dry yeast weight/dm3 per 24 hours). The degree of conversion of hydrolysate sugars has been 70±2 %. Most of the remaining sugars (about 80 %) have been represented by xylose. Complete utilization of the sugars has taken place on the 2nd day when having added an extra nitrogen source to the medium. On the other hand, the spent nutrient medium after yeast separation has been suitable for mixotrophic cultivation of microalgae. It has been revealed that the economic costs of pre-treatment of the paper sludge with nitric acid can be leveled by using the resulting salts as a nitrogen source for cultivating yeast. In doing so, the yield of yeast biomass increases by almost 2 times.

The article introduces attraction marketing methods employed by Russian monthly popular science magazine Diletant. The authors compared the printed version and the website. The paper magazine attracts the reader mainly by the topic name printed on its cover as a unique creolized text. The further semantics of the front media text includes various aspects of the main topic. Color highlights both topical issue and regular features. The comparative analysis with the online version revealed some significant differences. The website has a muted color scheme and minimal animation; it contains neither video nor audio materials. Like in the printed version, the function of attraction belongs mainly to illustrations and subtitles. Online Diletant is interactive in navigation, tests, and surveys, which are, however, the only form of interactivity: the site does not provide comments, forums, “likes”, etc. Such limited use of attention-seeking tools makes the digital version of Diletant uncompetitive and inferior to its paper issue.

The paper considers the question that has gained relevance in the last decade: whether the cryptocurrency bitcoin is money. The economic literature provides different opinions on this issue. The analysis shows that disagreements arise because of the different understanding of the category of ‘money’ rather than because of the nature of bitcoin. The author analyzes popular interpretations of money in terms of their applicability to the definition of the role and place of cryptocurrencies in the financial system. The purpose of this study is to define money as a financial instrument that linksthe creation of gross social product with its distribution. The author believes that money emerged and exists as a tool that ensures a connection between the contribution of each economic entity to the total product of society and the right to receive an equivalent amount of goods from this gross product. At the same time, the author defines money as an ‘ideal right’ to receive a share of the gross social product. In this regard, the analysis of bitcoin shows that this cryptocurrency allows obtaining goods from the gross social product in many countries, while bitcoin owners do not contribute to the gross social product. Based on this, bitcoin cannot be considered money; it is a money substitute, or surrogate money. At the same time, bitcoin was created as money and performs the functions of money, but to a limited extent. Bitcoin can only perform the functions of money as a supplement to an existing official currency. It is not capable of functioning as the only currency in a society. The interpretation proposed in this paper can be used for the purposes of developing the Russian law on cryptocurrencies is currently being worked on by the Government and the Central Bank of Russia.

Continuity of generations is a very serious issue for Harbin residents. Harbin residents have always tried to preserve the memory of their ancestors. Preserving the history of Russian emigration has a high relevance of the problem. The history of many Russian families is connected with Harbin, where there was the largest Russian diaspora. Nowadays this city is the administrative center of the Chinese province of Heilongjiang. We should not forget about the people who built the Chinese Eastern Railway, as well as about the Russian emigrants who lived in Harbin, but kept the image of Russia in their hearts and contributed enough to Russian culture and science. The purpose of this paper is to study the Russian emigrants life in Harbin and to restore contact with their descendants. The article uses historical and system analysis and bibliographic research method. The paper tells about the amazing life of Nikolai Nikolaevich Znamensky: his childhood in Harbin, his relatives, his move to the USSR, his admiration of nowadays China, and also focuses on the message of Nikolai Nikolaevich Znamensky to modern Harbin residents.

INTRODUCTION. This paper reflects historical overview of long-standing emergence of mechanisms of judicial protections of patent rights conferred by European patens which begun even in 1950-s and ended with start of operations of the Unified Patent Court in 2023. The paper demonstrates that the establishment of the similar mechanism within the Eurasian Patent Organization or Eurasian Economic Union may require different approaches because of possible centralization of industrial property protection under Eurasian Patent Organization.METHODS AND MATERIALS. The research materials for this paper are scientific works of foreign and Russian scientists and officials of the European Patent Office and the Eurasian Patent Office, legal acts of international and regional levels and drafts thereof. Methodological basis of this research are general and special scientific methods.RESEARCH RESULTS. This paper suggests periodization in emergence and evolution of dispute resolution mechanisms for European patents, reveals rationales for establishment of the unified patent judiciary in Europe and outlines directions for further research of prospects of creation of the similar mechanism in the Eurasian region. Some findings made in this article may facilitate the growth of such researches.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. European Union (EU) accumulated broad experience in establishment of the dispute resolution mechanisms for European patents. Due to uniqueness the Unified Patent Court is of great interest when researching prospect of improvements of the patent judiciary and quasi-judicial mechanisms under the Eurasian Patent Convention. However, trends of developments of the Eurasian Patent Organization and possible centralization of the regional protection of industrial property may testify that a Eurasian analogue of the Unified Patent Court would have a different institutional form.

The Socratic narration in Plato's Protagoras begins with the appearance of a young man. Early in the morning, a boy who had just learned that the sophist from Abdera is in town and who is yearning to meet him, goes to Socrates to request his accompanying. It is for this young man, and thanks to him, that Socrates, after a careful examination, decides to attend the gathering at Callias' house to converse with Protagoras. According to the narrative, the boy is the true catalyst for Socrates' attention and dedication to the sophist and, consequently, the real promoter and instigator of the dialogue. This paper mainly aims at shedding some light on the ethos and psychology of this young man named Hippocrates. Far from the picture often presented of him, merely of an innocent and helpless young man exposed at the dangers of the sophists’ teachings, this work stresses the boldness and excitement of a passionate and impulsive fellow whose irrationality is a potential threat not only for himself, but especially for those surrounding. In addition to the analysis of his ethos and psychology, the paper opens discussing to what extent and in what sense Hippocrates may be considered an associate of Socrates, and ends up speculating, relying on the Protagoras, about the possible causes that brought to the corruption of the souls of youth’s as such.

The views on the soul in the philosophical-theological thought of Au-relius Augustine (354–430 AD) hold a special place. When considering practically any of his teachings—whether it be his doctrine on the cosmos, time, memory, the relationship between free will and divine predestination, or his philosophy of history and pedagogy—we are inevitably compelled to take them into account or directly engage with them. His works are also associated with the so-called "psychologism" of Augustine, a concept high-lighted by numerous scholars delving into his truly vast creative heritage. The purpose of this paper is to explore the research devoted to the concepts of the soul (both individual and cosmic) in the works of Augustine or related to them. Additionally, it aims to identify works that address the issue of how Augustine's ideas about the soul were perceived in the early Middle Ages, using Cassiodorus [c. 487 – c. 578 AD] as an example. The studies, which encompass the aspects of Augustine’s psychological conception, are examined according to thematic principles, and divided into the following groups: (I) Studies dedicated to the exploration of Augustine’s cosmology, human existence, and soul (Among them: “Augustine’s Philosophy of Mind” by Gerard O’Daly [1987]; “Augustine: Ancient Thought Baptized” by J. Rist [1994]; “The World-Soul and Time in St. Augustine” [1983] and “Augus-tine’s Theory of Soul” [2003] by Roland Teske, and others). (II) Works demonstrating the influence of early teachings, traditions, and texts on Augustine (for example, “The Divine Sense: The Intellect in Patris-tic Theology” [2007] by Anna Williams and “Memory in Plotinus and Two Early Texts of St. Augustine” [1976] by Gerard O’Daly, among others). (III) Studies focused on the examination of individual works of Augustine with regard to their psychological aspects (Including: “An Analysis of Saint Augustine’s De immortalitate animae” [1980] and “The Fall of the Soul in Saint Augustine: A Quaestio Disputata” [1986] by Richard Penaskovic; “Augustine, Conf. IX, 10, 24” [1958] by John Taylor, and others). (IV) Papers indicating Cassiodorus’s reception and assimilation of Au-gustine’s teachings on the soul (e.g., e.g. “The Manuscripts of Cassiodorus’ De anima” [1959] by J.W. Halporn; “Cassiodoro e la grecità” [1986] by A. Garzya, “Il sottofondo culturale del De anima di Cassiodoro” [1995] by R. Masulo, etc.).

This paper examines the Talyshi people, an Iranian ethnic group divided by the Araxes River between Azerbaijan and Iran. The division, a result of the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813), placed the Talyshis within two distinct political and cultural paradigms. The northern Talyshis, under the successive rule of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and Azerbaijan, were confronted with a Turkish political and cultural orientation that contrasted with their Iranian linguistic and cultural heritage. This orientation led to significant shifts in identity, with the Talyshis becoming minorities within a Turkic-speaking, Turkish-oriented Azerbaijan. Southern Talyshis who remained in Iran experienced a more consistent cultural development within the Iranian paradigm, despite political changes. This study examines the impact of these divisions on Talyshi identity, language preservation and socio-cultural adaptation. It discusses the challenges of assimilation and cultural preservation faced by the Talyshis, their linguistic characteristics, and the revival of Talysh self-awareness and nationalism in the face of external pressures. The paper uses a comprehensive analysis of historical, linguistic and ethnographic data to provide insights into the resilience of Talysh identity amidst political and cultural change.

This paper examines the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) among the Dawoodi Bohra community in Pakistan. FGM, a non-therapeutic alteration of the female genitalia, is examined through the lenses of religion, culture and health. The Dawoodi Bohra, predominantly based in Karachi, practice FGM as a religious and cultural rite, linking it to notions of purity and social acceptance. Despite global efforts to outlaw and eradicate FGM, it persists, underpinned by deeply held beliefs and the insular nature of the community. The physical and psychological effects of FGM are profound, leading to immediate and long-term complications such as severe pain, infection and psychological trauma. This paper discusses the impact of these practices on women’s health and rights, while critiquing the lack of an effective legal framework in Pakistan to combat FGM. In addressing this issue, the paper contributes to the broader discourse on gender-based violence and the rights of women and children in patriarchal societies.

Modern energy systems are often used as a medium for information transmission, including confidential information, which makes relevant the task of ensuring its security, which today is solved using not only cryptographic but also steganographic means that ensure concealment of the very fact of confidential information transmission. The steganographic method with code control of the additional information embedding possesses practical important qualities, but in its original form requires the presence of a container for successful information extraction, which is not always desirable in practice, while the known modification of this steganographic method allows blind decoding is characterized by an insufficient level of resistance to attacks against the embedded message. The purpose of this paper is to improve the efficiency of the steganographic method with code control of the additional information embedding and blind decoding. This purpose was achieved by identifying two factors that determine the occurrence of errors during blind decoding of additional information in the steganographic method with code control: variation of sub-blocks, and errors caused by attacks against the embedded message. We pro-pose the theoretical and practical rationale for codewords that provide the best level of re-sistance to both factors. The most significant result of the paper is a reduction in the number of decoding errors of the steganographic method with code control of the additional information embedding and blind decoding by 12.01% compared to the result known in the literature through a reasonable choice of codewords used to embed the additional information.

This article expands upon the author's previous work regarding the Vostok Oil project, initially discussed in the Gubkin University journal. It focuses on the establishment and development of the Zvezda Shipyard project, arguing its critical role in the potential development of the Vostok Oil and Gas province. The paper posits that without the Zvezda Shipyard, it would not be feasible to exploit the Vostok Oil and Gas province or significantly enhance the transportation and logistics capabilities of the Northern Sea Route (NSR). The development of Zvezda's new production facilities is presented as essential for the advancement of the Russian Arctic, facilitating a pivotal eastward shift in the Russian economy. The significance of the Zvezda project and the strategic decisions leading up to it are discussed in detail, demonstrating how they integrate the development of the NSR, the exploitation of Vostok Oil fields, and the establishment of investment and technological foundations for Russia's long-term strategy. This strategy addresses both socio-economic goals and defense and security challenges. Additionally, the paper provides quantitative analyses of the multiplicative effects generated by the Zvezda Shipyard project's realization.

Personalization is one of the keyways to improve the performance of conversational agents. It improves the quality of user interaction with a conversational agent and increases user satisfaction by increasing the consistency and specificity of responses. The dialogue with the agent becomes more consistent, the inconsistency of responses is reduced, and the responses become more specific and interesting. Training and testing personalized conversational agents requires specific datasets containing facts about a persona and texts of persona’s dialogues where replicas use those facts. There are several datasets in English and Chinese containing an average of five facts about a persona where the dialogues are composed by crowdsourcing users who repeatedly imitate different personas. This paper proposes a methodology for collecting an original dataset containing an extended set of facts about a persona and natural dialogues between personas. The new RuPersonaChat dataset is based on three different recording scenarios: an interview, a short conversation, and a long conversation. This is the first dataset for dialogue agent personalization collected which includes both natural dialogues and extended persona’s descriptions. Additionally, in the dataset, the persona’s replicas are annotated with the facts about the persona from which they are generated. The methodology for collecting an original corpus of test data proposed in this paper allows for testing language models for various tasks within the framework of personalized dialogue agent development. The collected dataset includes 139 dialogues and 2608 replicas. This dataset was used to test answer and question generation models and the best results were obtained using the Gpt3-large model (perplexity is equal to 15.7). The dataset can be used to test the personalized dialogue agents’ ability to talk about themselves to the interlocutor, to communicate with the interlocutor utilizing phatic speech and taking into account the extended context when communicating with the user.

The paper describes possibilities of increasing the energy efficiency and reducing the takeoff weight of unmanned medium-heavy vertical takeoff and landing aerial vehicles of the airplane type. The authors propose a new hybrid type of unmanned aerial vehicle with a hybrid propulsion system, its aerodynamic design, method of realization of vertical takeoff/landing and cruising mode of flight which make it possible to reduce the takeoff weight of the aircraft, the weight of the basic propulsion system and the mass growth factor in comparison with the existing unmanned aerial vehicle of similar class, made according to the previously known technical solutions. The authors propose a methodology for optimizing the parameters of the configuration of the unmanned aerial vehicle considering the peculiarities of the implementation of vertical takeoff. The paper presents calculations of characteristics of vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicles of existing types and the new hybrid type. The authors give quantitative estimates of improving unmanned aerial vehicle characteristics due to the new proposed technical solutions.

The subject of the research in the paper is academic ethics in the professional relationships of university teachers. The final results are presented on the basis of in-depth interviews with representatives of the academic staff of Russian universities (N=35). The purpose of the paper is to show how academic ethics as a value-normative phenomenon supports the professional relationships of academic staff at the university and forms certain values that ensure the effectiveness of the scientific and educational process. In this interpretation, the emphasis is placed on identifying the creative potential of academic ethics, its impact on the scientific and educational process at the university in terms of professional interaction of its main subjects. An assessment of the structure and content of academic ethics is given. It is established that academic ethics, being an element of academism in the higher education system, influences the formation of value-normative attitudes of respect and recognition. In addition, the importance of this phenomenon for the strategic development of the university and at the same time the preservation of academic traditions is revealed. The article also summarizes the assessments of the state of academic ethics at universities formulated by informants. In such assessments, value-semantic reflection prevails, which makes it possible to identify academic ethics as a factor of effective professional interaction between subjects of the educational process in order to achieve joint goals for the formation of their value world and professional knowledge and skills.

Subject. The goal of “Smart University” information system is to increase the efficiency and quality of the academic process at Saint Petersburg State University of Economics through the automation of its various aspects and phases which is based on mathematical modelling. The optimization model of finding a fair matching of students to academic trajectories is discussed in the paper as a mathematical kernel of one of the information system’s components. Objectives. The goal of the paper is to provide an exact mathematical formulation and corresponding numerical results to the problem of finding a fair matching of students to academic trajectories, their preferences and academic performance was taken into account. Method. The optimization model was developed to find a matching in the many-to-one two-sided market, the corresponding concept of stable matching and conflicts was discussed. Results. The optimization model of finding a fair matching was verified by numerical simulations with the full-scale data for the students of the “Econоmics” academic program of the Saint Petersburg State University of Economics. Numerical results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed model in finding a fair matching with a minimum number of conflicts and with a maximal level of satisfaction of agents from both sides of the market (students and academic trajectories) with the matching obtained.

The theory of academic exchanges emphasises the importance of international cooperation to improve the quality of education, stimulate innovation and promote cultural diversity. China and Russia are two major world powers with rich history and culture. The exchange of international students between the countries is an important aspect of the friendly format of cooperation in higher education. During such exchange, students can improve their foreign language skills, enrich their personal life experience, ensure high competitiveness in employment, and expand their knowledge and skills in the field of their profession. This paper analyses the current situation and predicts future directions of educational exchange through various prisms, including the experience of academic student exchange between universities in the two countries. It analyses the attitudes of Chinese students studying at SPbSU towards higher education in Russia. The author notes that academic exchanges and foreign learning experiences provide opportunities for international students to broaden their horizons and fulfil their emotional needs in study and life. Students from both countries have the opportunity to immerse themselves in a different cultural and academic environment, improve their intercultural communication skills and broaden their global perspectives. It also focuses on the opinion of Chinese students about the quality of higher education in Russia. Academic exchanges of students are of great importance for the state, as they act as instruments of forming «soft power» in another country, strengthen diplomatic relations between countries, form a positive image of the state, attract investments, etc. Thus, academic exchanges are a way for countries to develop cooperation at various levels - from educational to economic. Thus, academic exchanges are a way for countries to develop co-operation at various levels - from educational to economic. Purpose. To investigate the current state of the concept of academic student exchange between China and Russia, to study the significance of this international co-operation for the development of the higher education system. Methodology. The paper uses collection and analysis of information sources, historical method, comparison and generalisation, survey with the help of the author's questionnaire. SPSS Statistics 23 software is used to analyse empirical data. Results. The result of the work is the identification of the peculiarities of the sphere of academic exchange of students between China and Russia, the determination of the importance of this cooperation for the development of the higher education system at the international level. The author concludes that cooperation in the development of innovations in key areas of education contributes to the smoothing of cultural differences between the countries, and expands opportunities for students of both countries in higher education. Practical implications. The results of the study can be used in the educational sphere of international cooperation. Teachers and specialists involved in planning the educational process in the university sphere have the opportunity to create an innovative approach to improve the academic exchange programme for students, taking into account the socio-cultural criteria analysed in the article.

Accounting and finance are intricately intertwined with the global quest for environmental sustainability by applying accounting and finance tools for carbon reduction initiatives. Clean energy financial investment is one of the many alternative tools through which accounting contributes to carbon reduction. Accordingly, this paper analysed the impact of separate and integrated clean energy investment alternatives on carbon reduction. Data on clean energy financial investment and carbon emission per capita were collected from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and Our World in Data archives, respectively. Data was analysed by using multiple pooled OLS to evaluate the impact of individual clean energy financial investments on carbon reduction and the impact of integrating the various clean energy financial investment alternatives on carbon reduction separately. Findings show that individual clean energy financial investments may not separately offer desired carbon reduction, hence, albeit some negative coefficients, individual clean investments showed no significant impact on carbon reduction. However, furthering the test by pooling all the clean energy financial investment alternatives shows a significant negative effect of clean energy financial investment on carbon reduction at a P-value of 0.05. This shows that an integration of different alternatives of clean energy financial investment may offer an enhanced reduction of carbon emission, which outweighs the effect of relying on a single clean energy investment alternative. The findings offer significant insight for policy makers’ future strategies towards a combination of multiple clean energy financial investments. Furthermore, the findings from this paper are a further testament that accounting and finance are connected with the global quest for environmental sustainability through the application of accounting and financial investment tools in conducting clean energy financial investment.

The search for alternative sources of useful minerals is a pressing issue. One such possible source is the processing of lean gold-bearing ores, which previously did not seem feasible to exploit for subsoil users, leading to their disposal in off-balance ore dumps. Processing these resources becomes economically viable as gold prices rise and processing technologies improve over time. This paper presents the elemental and mineralogical composition of lean gold-bearing ore dumps from the Golden Pride Project (GPP) mining operation in Tanzania’s Lihendo district. This area contains an old dump of lean gold-bearing ores, weighing approximately 1.4 million tons. Extracting valuable components from lean mineral raw materials is a current priority. Sampling was conducted to study the dumps. Boreholes were drilled to a depth of 1 m, covering a total sampling area of 20 ha; 18 samples, each averaging 3 kg in weight, were collected. The results of X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) indicated the presence of Fe, S, Si, Ca, Ca, Mn, Cu, Al, Cr, Ti, As, and Ag in the collected samples. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed that the main minerals in the dumps are muscovite, kaolinite, quartz, montimorillonite, and goethite. The average gold grade in the selected samples is 0.72 g/t. Studies of the grain-size distribution and gold distribution by grain-size classes after ore grinding demonstrated that the majority of gold (74%) is in the −75 μm class. In the initial mineral material of the dumps, the share of the +30-50 mm grain-size class is 81%. The paper proposes potential methods for processing lean dumps of gold-bearing ores. One such methods involves crushing the dump material, separating the −75 μm class, and subjecting it to direct leaching or leaching using “carbon-in-pulp” technique. Heap leaching appears to be the most promising method for extracting gold from such dumps in terms of technical and economic feasibility. Positive experience has been reported in applying this process to ores of similar mineralogical type.

Introduction. The paper discusses the advantages and features of the main existing methods of connecting wooden columns and crossbars.Materials and methods. It was proposed to increase the load-bearing capacity and reduce the deformability of joints by modifying the joints with the introduction of epoxy resin between the screw and the wood and between the overlay and the end of the wooden element to which it is attached and modifying the design of the overlays.Results. As a result, a constructive solution for connecting wooden columns and crossbars was developed, which has increased reliability compared to the studied connections and is free of their disadvantages. This result was achieved due to the presence of an adhesive layer between the screw and the wood, as well as between the overlay and the wooden element, the making of notches on the sides of the overlays attached to the wooden elements, the increased length of the screws screwed into the overlay with a groove, compared to the length of the screws screwed into an overlay with a tenon, placement of holes for screws at an angle of 90° to the surface of the overlay into which the screws are screwed.Conclusions. An urgent issue is the development of constructive solutions for connections of wooden elements, in particular the interfaces of columns and crossbars. The paper discusses the advantages and features of the main existing methods of connecting wooden columns and crossbars.

Objectives This paper focuses on recognising and addressing the challenges of ADHD in early childhood girls. The paper aims to fill a gap in the scientific literature by focusing on the specificity of ADHD in girls, which differs from symptoms in boys. It also aims to raise awareness of the issue of ADHD among parents and teachers and to provide practical therapeutic guidance and educational support that is tailored to the needs of girls with ADHD. Material and methods The source materials for this publication will be various monographs and articles by special educators. The collected material will allow the analytical-critical method to synthetically realise the indicated aim of the work. Results Parents should learn to anticipate potential conflict situations, to exclude them or to plan in such a way that the child can cope with them. It is the parents' task to plan the day in such a way as to introduce a ritual and a daily routine of repetitive activities. Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder need to acquire skills to deal with conflict, emotional labile, anxiety and stress. Conclusions Often undiagnosed girls suffer alone together with their disorder. Close cooperation between parents and teachers is an indispensable element in the treatment of ADHD. A child with ADHD should be allowed to participate in the educational and educational process. It is important to get to know the peer group so that girls with ADHD can learn to recognise themselves and their own reactions and abilities.

This paper indicates significance of generational diversity management in modern business. Due to certain social, political and economic circumstances each generation is specific, with its own skills, interactions and expectations. What is common for all of them is the willingness to find the right employer. The one open to human needs and aware of their work commitment; the one to offer appropriate work surroundings, self- development and adequate gratification. The paper is aimed at presenting those generational disparities, for awareness of them is crucial in efficient human resources management. Worksite is the natural environment, where such age-related experiences and opinions clash, enabling to gain the right perspective and choose the most effective and innovative directing solution. Generationally diverse team brings multilevel benefits for both sites and aids enterprise development.

The withdrawal of US troops and the rapid takeover of Kabul by the Taliban (recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in the Russian Federation) in Afghanistan in 2021 shocked the world community. Even though the PRC actively opposes international terrorism, which the Taliban movement (recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in the Russian Federation) is accused of supporting, it has become one of the few countries that have begun to cooperate with the new Afghan regime. In the light of these events, China’s view of the situation in Afghanistan is puzzling, in particular, we are interested in how these events are reported in Chinese press. In this paper, first, we trace the evolution of the PRC’s official position on Afghanistan, and then, using frame analysis, analyze the coverage of the events of 2021 in the PRC by focusing on three authoritative newspapers, Chinese language versions of “People’s Daily”, “Global Times”, and “The Paper”. Our study demonstrates that the Chinese press supports China’s foreign policy in general and its policy in Afghanistan in particular. Stability in Afghanistan and cooperation with the Taliban (recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in the Russian Federation) on issues of Uighur separatism are important for China’s national security. In the Chinese media, the Taliban (recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in the Russian Federation) are not presented as accomplices of terrorism, which China is fighting within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization but are described as representatives of the Afghan people who aim to restore the security and stability in the country. When discussing the Taliban (recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in the Russian Federation) takeover in the Chinese media, the focus is often not on the crimes of the new regime - repression, abuse of power, restriction of rights, but on shortcoming of the US policy. The latter reflects an important discursive practice in the Chinese media, “othering” the United States.

Dispersion-strengthened composite materials belong to the group of promising structural materials characterised by a diverse combination of properties. The paper considers examples of the creation and heat treatment of composite materials based on aluminium alloys strengthened by the titanium carbide dispersed phase characterised by high hardness, elastic modulus, and good melt wettability. At present, self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) is the most accessible, inexpensive and effective way to obtain them. The authors substantiate the expediency and show their successful experience of the formation in the composition of the AMg2 and AMg6 industrial alloys of a titanium carbide dispersed phase with a particle size of 130 nm in an amount of up to 10 wt. % using the SHS method, which makes it possible to increase the hardness of the alloys. Additional heating of the AMg2–10%TiC and AMg6–10%TiC samples after synthesis also contributes to the further increase in hardness. The complex of studies of physical, mechanical and operational characteristics presented in the paper was carried out to compare the properties of the work-hardened matrix alloys and the samples of composite materials before and after heating. The test results showed that heat treatment reduces the porosity of the composites and significantly increases their hardness and microhardness. A slight decrease in compressive strength at a significant increase in wear resistance is observed. It was found that composite materials are characterised by high corrosion resistance to carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide corrosion corresponding to the level of matrix alloys. The results obtained allow recommending the developed materials for the production of parts of the connecting rod and piston group, bearings and other wear-resistant parts of friction units.

Conducting a study on this topic is becoming relevant due to the rapid introduction of digital technologies in the agricultural sector, which requires urgent study to effectively address current challenges in agriculture. The purpose of this paper is to analyse innovative approaches to improving the efficiency of economic activity in the agri-food sector. The methods used include the analytical method, classification method, functional method, statistical method, synthesis method, and others. The study found that the use of innovative approaches has significantly improved the productivity and sustainability of the agricultural sector. The use of blockchain technologies has increased trust in the supply chain by providing verified and transparent information on product quality. The analysis of large volumes of data has made it possible to develop specialized solutions and strategies tailored to specific business conditions in different regions. The results show an increase in the resilience of the agricultural sector to changes in economic and climate conditions. The findings of the study highlight the potential of digital transformation as a strategic tool for innovative and sustainable development of the agricultural sector. The study identified key strategies for the future implementation of digital technologies, taking into account the needs of the agricultural sector. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of introducing digital technologies to increase efficiency, improve management and ensure the sustainability of the industry in today’s digital economy. The practical significance of the paper is to analyse and highlight the factors that affect productivity and resource management in agriculture, which serves as a basis for further research and development of specific strategies and recommendations to improve the efficiency of the sector

Introduction. The party-political system of Estonia, with traditionally Euro-optimistic elites leading it, was previously characterized by the presence of a number of so-called “Russian political parties”, which traditionally professed Euroscepticism and criticized the European Union as whole or certain areas of its activities. The purpose of the article is to determine the specific features of the Eurosceptic party discourse of “Russian parties” in Estonia. Materials and Methods. The information basis of the paper consisted of the results obtained using a combination of the comparative method (method of comparative analysis) and the method of discourse analysis. A single case study design was chosen for the paper. The data obtained as a result of using the discourse analysis method made it possible to study the indicators of the Eurosceptic discourse of “Russian parties” and process their programs, manifestos, electoral platforms, as well as statements of their high-ranking representatives. Results. It was revealed that the use of Euroscepticism by the analyzed “Russian parties” when targeting the Russian-speaking diaspora of the state in a number of cases (for example, in case of the Estonian Center Party) has shown some efficacy, allowing it to mobilize the electorate among Russian-speaking citizens. However, it was found that for small marginal “Russian parties” in Estonia this did not demonstrate productivity and benefit, since such efforts did not bring them a significant number of votes in elections at various levels. Most of them, adhering to Eurosceptic protest declarations, were never able to take part in “mainstream politics” of Estonia; thereby they failed to implement their Eurosceptic political agenda. Discussion and Conclusion. The results allow us to conclude that a specific characteristic of the Eurosceptic party discourse of the majority of “Russian parties” in Estonia is its focus on pragmatism for ethnic Russian residents living in this state in the form of concrete results that are useful for them: the desire to improve the existing discriminatory position of ethnic Russian population in Estonia through appealing to Brussels, to solve the problem of so called non-citizens, and, finally, to establish good relations between Estonia and its eastern neighbor state – Russia. The results of this study can find application in the academic activities of universities in our country, may be of interest to political and regional scientists studying political processes in the Baltic States.

The main goal of this paper is to contribute to an overall understanding of the phenomenon of globalisation of higher education. Given that in our country the globalisation of higher education has been approached without attempting to provide a more comprehensive definition of the phenomenon, in the first part of the paper, the basic elements and domains that provide the basis for a more complete definition of the globalisation of higher education will be listed and a difference will be made in relation to similar phenomena, such as internationalisation and Europeanisation. Apart from a more comprehensive understanding of globalisation by pointing out its epistemological foundations in the papers from the end of the 20th century, which the domestic scientific public did not pay enough attention to, the paper also provides an overview of approaches to the study of the impact of globalisation on higher education, both the initial ones, which were developed by international organisations, and the academic ones, which enabled a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon of globalisation of higher education. By contributing to a more comprehensive definition of the observed phenomenon, in this paper we intend to contribute to a broader understanding of the phenomenon of globalisation relative to the current view in which globalisation is understood as a modern phenomenon and its impact on higher education is observed after a certain period in which it supposedly arises. The paper affirms the claim that globalisation is just a new name for a phenomenon that has existed in modern civilisation for much longer than the end of the 20th century, and the expansion of higher education contributed to its genesis.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the concept and model of parental involvement in the research on students’ educational achievement. The concept of parental involvement arose in the field of educational policies of the English-speaking countries and market-oriented education systems. Research has shown that different forms of parental involvement have significant effects on school learning outcomes. The Coleman Report in the US and the policy of “educational parentocracy” in the UK significantly stimulated research in this area. The review of the relevant literature confirms the multidimensionalityof the concept of parental involvement which includes parental support for school learning at home and at school, as well as structural and relational aspects. The paper presents two most prominent models of parental involvement in children’s education – the model of overlapping spheres of influence and the so-called DNA or dual navigation model. In the concluding section of the paper, the authors state that the existing conceptualizations and models of parental involvement include different types of parental activities, which is important for the creation and evaluation of school programs of parental involvement. As a consequence of the dominance of the Anglo-American conceptual and research framework, on the one hand, an interdisciplinary approach in the field of research on parental involvement in children’s education is highlighted. On the other hand, an authentic pedagogical view of the goals and effects of parental involvement in education as a subject of study of autonomous science in the tradition of continental Europe has been neglected. It is expected that future research will reaffirm those aspects of education that make it precisely “educational”. Relying on pedagogical principles and goals of education in building family-school relationships is a missing link in the existing agenda of global education policy.

The goal of this paper is to determine the degree and direction of the correlation between the self-evaluation of the fifth-grade elementary school students and their success in the classroom. The paper presents the results of the research on students’ self-evaluation and their success in the classroom obtained on a sample of 208 fifth-grade elementary school students from the territory of the city of Banja Luka. An assessment scale was used for the purposes of the research and knowledge tests for the school subjects Serbian Language and Science and Social Studies were prepared. In line with the character of the research, the method of theoretical analysis and synthesis, the survey research method, and the analytical-descriptive method were applied. The results obtained using the Pearson Correlation Coefficient confirmed that students’ self-evaluation is significantly related to their general success at the end of the first term of the fifth grade of elementary school, their success at the end of the first semester in the subjects Serbian Language and Science and Social Studies, and achievements on the knowledge tests for the same school subjects. The obtained results indicate the importance of introducing student self-evaluation in the educational process in the field of achieving better results at school. However, the fact that self-evaluation is not sufficiently represented in our schools is a downside of this research, indicating a need for additional study and research of student self-evaluation, followed by its systematic introduction into educational practice.

This paper is focused on the means of transforming Trinity Sunday and attempts to “reinvent” this festival into the Russian Birch festival. In late 50s of the 20th century in a burst of the anticlerical campaign, the Soviet festival committees were concerned with creating new secular rituals, and anti-religious analogues of festivals, which would be able to get rid of ingrained “popular Orthodoxy”. The modes of performing the meaningful core of Trinity Sunday are a subject of this research, and theatrical and methodological scenario-based experience in holding the Russian Birch festival is an object. This research is based on numerous methodological guidelines, scenarios, reviews, and transcripts of relevant committees, which made it possible to shed light on complicated processes of generating a new festival. This paper represents the way, in which heroic and plot and compositional framework of original Trinity Sunday was being substituted. This research results in the following: in spite of the anticlerical position being declared, which had constituted the basis for the substitution of Trinity Sunday for the Russian Birch festival, in fact, the newly “invented” festival duplicated the basic functions and elements of the trinitarian concept and was within the framework of Trinity Sunday in terms of archetype. Moreover, the association with commemoration of the dead appropriate to Trinity was reflected in a cult of a heroic death of a soldier of the Soviet Army and updating of other cultural agendas.

Hydrocephalus is a central nervous system disorder which most commonly affects infants and toddlers. It starts as an abnormal build-up of cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricular system of the brain. Hence, early diagnosis becomes vital, which may be performed by Computed Tomography (CT), one of the most effective diagnostic methods for diagnosing Hydrocephalus (CT), where the enlarged ventricular system becomes apparent. However, most disease progression assessments rely on the radiologist's evaluation and physical measures, which are subjective, time-consuming, and inaccurate. This paper develops an automatic prediction utilizing the H-detect framework for enhanced accurate hydrocephalus prediction. This paper uses a pre-processing step to normalize the input image and remove unwanted noises, which can help extract valuable features easily. The feature extraction is done by segmenting the image based on edge detection using triangular fuzzy rules. Thereby, the exact information on the nature of CSF inside the brain is highlighted. These segmented images are saved and again given to the CatBoost algorithm. The Categorical feature processing allows for quicker training. When necessary, the overfitting detector will stop model training and thus efficiently predicts Hydrocephalus. The outcomes demonstrate that the new H-detect strategy outperforms the traditional approaches.

The paper deals with the history of academic commentary in the Soviet era, particularly the formation of standards for a description of the sources of the text, its creative history, and clarification of the encountered realities incomprehensible to the reader. A separate part of the paper is devoted to the critical editions of Russian “classics” designed for high school institutions, among them, e. g., the five-volume collection of works by A.S. Pushkin, issued by Lev I. Polivanov. The main specificity of these comments is that they precede the literary text and answer questions that students may have in advance. The next object of our analysis is N.L. Brodsky’s commentary on Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin,” intended for secondary school teachers. It became a subject of sharp criticism by V.V. Nabokov, like a commentary on the same novel released by Yu.M. Lotman. A new stage in the genre of commentary has become the Russian version of Nabokov’s “A Novel in Verse by Alexandr Pushkin,” growing into an autobiography and a self-discovery tool for the editor (Nabokov). We are also considering the question of how fair was Nabokov’s criticism of the commentaries of Brodsky and Chizhevsky. Another type of commentary should be that of Odessa researcher S.Z. Lushchik, published as an appendix to Kataev’s novel “Werther has already been written” (1980) and entitled “A real commentary on the novel.” This type of commentary grows into a full-fledged study that discovers unknown and carefully hidden details of the famous Soviet writer’s biography.

Law as a special kind of ideal being, generates its own system of ideas and meanings, the verbal representation of which involves not only directly nominative linguistic units, but also semantic tropes, namely, metaphor. Metaphor is a little-studied linguistic phenomenon in legal science, whose functioning in the language of law is denied by many researchers. However, metaphor is an integral component of the nature of law, realized in its various sources. Stemmed from the deep structures of language, metaphor allows appealing to a priori ideas of law of metaphysical level, not subject to rational argumentation, which becomes an integral part of the legal system, making the legal text understandable and accessible to the recipient. The relevance of the chosen topic is conditioned by the necessity to study the metaphorical meanings of legal language at the stage of creating law and interpreting legal realities. For this end the author uses the methods of semantic analysis, and, in general, raises interest in metaphor and metaphorical model in modern science, as well as functioning of metaphor in the legal space. The novelty of the idea underlying the paper lies in applying metaphorical models for legal texts interpretation. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to prove that metaphorical mechanisms are not alien to the language of law; metaphorical model is one of the most productive in the process of semantization of ideas of law. In the light of the above, application of linguistic tools, primarily, the methods of semantic analysis, to the study of legal language and the language of law, in particular, is relevant. Modern methodological tools of linguistics are able to supplement the traditional methods of legal argumentation and interpretation, actualizing their form and content. The main methods of the research are the linguistic-legal method, logical-linguistic method, methods of historical, contextual and motivational analysis. Frequency and universality of the mechanism of metaphorical modelling for the language of law, actualize new functions of metaphor.

The paper examines the issues of bringing controlling persons to subsidiary liability for the obligations of a company excluded from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. The article determines the judicial procedure for holding controlling persons accountable for claims of creditors. It analyzes the provisions of Russian legislation and judicial practice regarding the grounds for prosecution under paragraph 3.1 Article 3 of the Law on Limited Liability Companies.The research reveals the effect of this rule of law over time and it essence, which excludes the use of the construction of limited liability of participants in a business company. An overview of the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on the issues under consideration including the circle of responsible persons, distribution of burden and circumstances of evidence is provided. The paper distinguishes characteristics of good faith and reasonable behavior of creditors and controlling persons as well as legal presumptions corresponding to the circumstance of the case. The conclusion is formulated on the recognition of subsidiary liability by inheritance of debts of a corporate organization. The paper investigates the competence of the court considering disputes on bringing to subsidiary liability of persons controlling a corporation and distinguishes between the corporate (under the general rules of litigation) and bankruptcy (under the rules of class action) proceedings. The characteristics of the powers of creditors acting in the interests of their civil law community are given. The research allows to ensure uniformity of judicial practice at interpreting the applicable rules of law.

This paper provides data on cases of atypical nesting by the Oriental Turtle Dove Streptopelia orientalis in niches of abandoned stone and brick buildings in Primorsky Krai. This phenomenon was only recorded first in 2019, and during a survey of abandoned military bases in the southwestern part of Primorye, it was found out that nesting in the niches of the walls of abandoned barracks is not an isolated case but is quite widespread here. We found nine similar nests, including incubation of eggs and fledging of nestlings. Apparently, the Oriental Turtle Dove is currently at the next stage of synanthropization. The paper also discusses the modes of synanthropization of other representatives of the Columbidae family.

This paper discusses some observations and conclusions made by Astolphe de Custine, a French traveler and writer, during the summer months he spent in Russia in 1839. He traveled a lot around Russia and visited not only the largest cities of the empire but also the provinces. There are quite a few works about de Custine and his book Russia in 1839 in Russian historiography. However, it is important to pay attention not only to his generalized judgments about Russia but also to the specific details that are included in his famous book. The book contains few sketches of Russian provincial life, but a lot of road impressions of Custine’s travels in the Russian provinces. The road tradition encompasses the conditions, circumstances and situations that accompanied the long-distance overland movement. This topic is located at the intersection of historical knowledge, anthropology, and ethnography. It is connected with the social dimension of daily life. The road tradition of Russia attracted close attention of foreign travelers, who voluntarily or involuntarily compared it with their native road circumstances and situations to which they were more accustomed. Custine noticed the peculiarities of traffic and carriages, road improvement, scenes on suburban highways, and much more. The material reviewed and commented on in this paper makes it possible to clarify Custine’s attitude to the road tradition of Russia. It would be wrong to assume that he did nothing more than criticized the Russian provincial road infrastructure. Some of his observations are quite accurate, which is confirmed by other historical sources, and therefore are of interest to us now. However, in the case of a parallel road between St Petersburg and Moscow, which allegedly existed for the convenience of the Russian tsar, he turned out to be mistaken. In that instance, Custine’s habit of moralizing, shining with his thoughts and formulations on various occasions, played a mean trick on him.

This paper aims to highlight the prevalent challenges faced by Hong Kong Chinese students in utilizing connectives and ensuring coherence in their English academic writing. Research indicates that constructing fluent, effective, and cohesive English written texts that maintain logical flow poses a significant challenge for Chinese learners studying English as a foreign language (EFL). This difficulty is likely attributed to the substantial cultural differences between the English and Chinese languages, regardless of the learners’ grasp of English grammar and vocabulary usage. In order to raise awareness among EFL teachers regarding the struggles Chinese students encounter in mastering connectives and cohesion in English writing, this qualitative study analyses five sample English term papers written by Hong Kong university students majoring in English in 2023. The findings reveal that the Hong Kong EFL participants tend to present their arguments in an indirect and circular manner within their English essay assignments. Additionally, due to cultural norms and politeness, the true intent of their writing is often withheld, and the thesis statement is implicitly inferred towards the end of the essay rather than being explicitly stated at the beginning in the introduction. Furthermore, a focus group interview with the student participants conducted after the written analysis demonstrated that their English academic essays reflect the influence of Chinese social interaction norms on rhetorical patterns. The relevance of this study lies in its potential to inform EFL instruction, enabling educators to better support Hong Kong Chinese students in navigating the complexities of English academic writing and to adapt pedagogical approaches that bridge cultural and linguistic gaps.

The information about main results on geometry of developable surfaces with an edge of regression which have a directrix ellipse in the base is gathered. These surfaces constitute a group called “Ruled surfaces of conical type on elliptical base”. This group includes elliptical cones, torses with two ellipses defined in the parallel planes, equal slope surfaces, and ruled surfaces with the main frame of three superellipses that are ellipses in one coordinate plane and broken straight lines in the other two coordinate planes. The paper presents a method for developing torses onto a plane, approximation of torses by folded surfaces, and parabolic ending of a thin sheet from elastic material into a torse shell. A brief review of the methods of stress-strain and buckling analysis of the considered ruled shells is given, including the displacement-based finite element method and variational energy method. It is shown that analytical methods can be used only in the case of applying the momentless shell theory for ruled thin shells of conical type. The analytical formulae for determining the normal and tangent internal forces in any momentless conic shell with a superellipse in the base are derived. References to forty four scientific articles of other authors, working or having worked on the subject of the paper are given. These references confirm the conclusions of the author and the perspectives of investigations of the considered ruled surfaces and shells.

The paper analyzes the legal regulation of the limits of public authority discretion in territorial planning and urban development zoning of municipal entities, defines the limits of judicial control over bills issued by the relevant authorities. Due to comparative legal method we determine that the common feature for Great Britain, Germany and Russia is rather a broad discretion of authorized bodies in doctrine and practice as for planning, which, however, does not exclude control over issued planning acts. In Russia the powers of the bodies regarding preparation and approval of the documents of territorial planning and urban zoning of municipal entities are of discretionary nature. When issuing such acts, the body exercises the freedom of discretion, resulting from the lack and impossibility to define all legal conditions to adopt planning acts. It is noted that the decisions of public authorities, which enact these documents are the variation of discretional planning acts. In comparison to the practice of the Supreme Court of Russia and the courts of general jurisdiction, the local governing body has a broader discretion in regards of the discussed issues. Discretionary nature of such acts does not exclude evaluation of the limits of body’s discretion. The paper concludes that the restrictions of the directorate of the body, while issuing acts of territorial planning and urban development zoning of municipal entities and the possibility of their judicial review are due to the requirements to ground the adopted act by the body, as well as the restrictions of the powers of the body that issued the act. In Russia, the mentioned requirements are partly formalized in the legislation, some of them became judicial practice. Generalized judicial practice demonstrates that acts of territorial planning and urban development zoning of municipal entities result from the requirement to justify the adopted city design and the pursuit of the public goal by the body issuing the act. Normal judicial control of such decisions includes evaluation of the act from the point of legality. In some disputes, courts build their arguments based on the principles of legal certainty, proportionality and trust defense.

The paper deals with one of the key features of the regulation of legal relations in the military environment. Those are the detailed regulation of rights, responsibilities, the execution of assigned tasks and orders. The author sees the reasons for such legal expansion in the historical tradition, i.e. fostering obedience and discipline among military personnel, guidance assistance to inexperienced commanders for them to be able to fulfill the assigned duties, as well as controllability and the intention to unify military activities in various military formations. Dysfunctional manifestations of this management style are instilling the lack of independence in decision-making, the habit of relying on superior management for all matters, the loss of initiative by subordinates, the inability to work in a team, lack of immediate response to sudden changes in the situation or non-standard situations. During military operations, these shortcomings not only reduce the effectiveness of control but are also likely to result in prevailing enemy's will, defeat, and unjustified casualties. Using particular examples of excessive regulation, the author questions the need, limits and degree of detailed legal regulation in the military environment. The paper analyzes the cases of directive control of the German Army (Auftragstaktik) and the commander's model used in respect of the subordinates with no detailed orders, with the subordinates being free to choose means and methods to achieve their goals. As measures to improve the legal regulation of the domestic military administration, the paper proposes to eliminate the legal responsibility of military commanders for deviation from detailed orders in cases they take reasonable risk and do not violate legally protected interests. The study uses the methods of formal logic, i.e. comparison, description, classification, analysis, synthesis, etc., which made it possible to characterize the essence of the legal relations under consideration and compare them with the methods of legal regulation of the relevant labor relations.

The subject of the study is the norms of the legislation of the Russian Federation on the state civil service of the Russian Federation. These norms provide additional guarantees for state civil servants of the Russian Federation for lump-sum subsidy aimed at acquiring accommodation. The purpose of the study is to consider the legal significance of a lump-sum subsidy for buying accommodation, to identify the conditions for the right to this subsidy, to determine whether it is mandatory or optional for the constituent entities of the Russian Federation to exercise their powers to provide employees of the subject of the Russian Federation with a lump-sum subsidy for the accommodation, to propose amendments to the legislation. The methodology of the study are such scientific methods as formal legal, structural functional approaches, comparison, research and analysis of studies and regulations. The study uses scientific research in the field of social security law and economic sciences. As a result of the study, the paper substantiates that a lump-sum subsidy for accommodation is provided in order to ensure the social security of civil servants of the Russian Federation. The right to this payment should be assigned only to those civil servants of the Russian Federation who need it and who, without the state support, are not able to change their financial situation and acquire accommodation. The paper proves the need for codifying the conditions for the right to this lump-sum subsidy. Using the analysis of federal and regional legislation that defines the powers of public law entities in the sphere under consideration, the paper proves the obligatory adoption of legal acts aimed at exercising the right of a civil servant of the Russian Federation to a lump-sum subsidy for the accommodation, regardless of the finances of the relevant budget. In order to have a unified legal regulation of the relations under consideration, the study substantiates the need to combine basic and additional state guarantees for civil servants of the Russian Federation, and presents specific proposals for changing federal legislation.

The paper deals with diverse theoretical understanding of ensuring the criminological security of minors on the international level, and analyzes the regulation of the protection of children's rights. The paper focuses on formulating the conceptual framework of international legal protection of minors. It is proposed to introduce the author's concept of international legal protection of minors. The international legal protection of minors should be understood as a system of normative acts that entrench the rights and freedoms of children, the obligations of the states to exercise these rights and freedoms; as well as international mechanisms for monitoring the fulfillment by the states of their international obligations and protection of the violated rights of each particular minor. The study explores the history of the international legal protection of the rights of minors. It is noted that the international community has adopted a number of normative acts to ensure children’s rights, to prevent juvenile delinquency, the treatment of juvenile offenders, exercising justice. In particular, when it comes to juvenile offenders, the norms of international law are actually the policy of treating such children. At the same time, the key idea of all international legal acts in combating juvenile delinquency is recognizing the priority of preventive measures over punitive ones. Attention is drawn to the fact that due to globalization, no country will be able to fight crime effectively on its own, coordinated efforts of the entire international community are needed. At the same time, the useful law enforcement practices of foreign countries with regard to child protection should be of no less interest. It seems that the Russian Federation should attempt to decrease the level of punishment and incarceration.

The research deals with linguistic and extralinguistic features of the internationalization process of multimedia products text materials. The term internationalization is considered in the paper within the framework of the translation activity “GILT processes” (processes of globalization, internationalization, localization and translation). The article describes the current state of linguistic and translatological studies of the internationalization process. The paper presents the definition of the internationalization concept. The range of procedures carried out in the process of internationalization is defined. The paper describes the most significant technical procedures performed on the product during internationalization. The paper provides some characteristic linguistic transformations caused by the tasks of internationalization. The research paper offers several examples of using internationalization in the video game industry, the film industry and in creating multilingual and global versions of websites. As a result of the conducted research, two directions of internationalization were identified: pre-localization and global ones. The pre-localization direction of internationalization is to create an intermediate version of the product (mainly in English), which serves to simplify localization (following internationalization) into other languages. This approach significantly reduces the cost of creating a multilingual version of the product. The global direction of internationalization is to create a global version of this product in English. It is assumed that users of the global version can be not only native English speakers, but also those who speak it as a foreign language. Due to the wide spread of English as a foreign language in the world, the creation of an internationalized English version of the product allows companies to enter the global market with significantly lower financial costs and in a shorter timeframe than in the case of creating a multilingual version of the same product.

The article examines the notion of drama as a genre category in European and ancient Indian theatrical theory. The analysis of ancient texts, foremost the treatise of the Nāṭyaśāstra, which can be considered the most authoritative primary source for the study of classical Indian poetics, forms the basis of the research. This paper identifies Sanskrit analogues of such fundamental concepts of Western literary theory as “drama,” “genre,” “performance,” “scenicism,” “literariness,” etc. The closest analogical to European definitions of drama and genre Sanskrit notions are investigated in depth. They are primarely nāṭya and prayoga — two terms used to define various performative aspects of the play. Another notion studied in the paper is rūpa, which originally stood for “scenario” and, later on, for textual and literary format of the staged play. Due to its universality, the same term functioned as the general definition of ten “exemplary” spectacular forms. Finally, the category of vṛtti is discussed, employed in the Nāṭyaśāstra for the characterization of stylistic features of early mysterial performances and, later on, of classical Sanskrit plays. The scope of the paper does not limit itself to bringing to light and discussing these various notions. The ultimate goal is to highlight the differences between Eastern and Western poetological systems and to point out fundamental issues arising from the non-critical use of European terminology when interpreting and investigating ancient Indian aesthetics.

In this paper, the problems with the reconstruction of an affricate phoneme *Ä and its reflexes in Hungarian are discussed. Proto-Ugric *Ä is often reconstructed, but its alleged reflexes in Hungarian show unexplained variation (s, z, cs), and many of the etymologies involve other phonological irregularities. It is troubling that although in some cases Hungarian shows s and Khanty and Mansi *Ä, often the reflexes of the affricate show discrepancy, with part of the languages showing regular reflexes of Proto-Uralic *Å. In this paper, the Ugric etymologies suggested in earlier etymological sources are analyzed and new solutions to the problem of Proto-Ugric *Ä and its reflexes in Hungarian are suggested. The problems is also related to the study of the reflexes of Proto-Uralic *Ä in Hungarian.

The research was aimed at analyzing modern algorithms for diagnosing lesions in multiple sclerosis on MRI images. Multiple sclerosis is a severe disease of the central nervous system and ranks first among the causes of disability in patients of young working age. In connection with the development of computer vision and machine learning technologies, the relevance of using these technologies for medical diagnostics is growing. Such approaches are necessary for the effective development and implementation of diagnostic systems using artificial intelligence. Modern algorithms and models for lesion segmentation were selected and implemented. Material and methods. The paper presents CV features of diagnosing multiple sclerosis on MRI images, existing data sets: ISBI-2015, MSSEG-2016, MSSEG-2021; existing algorithms and models for lesion segmentation: U-Net, nnU-Net, TransUnet, TransBTS, UNETR, Swin UNETR. Results and discussion. The architectures and models of nnU-Net, UNETR, Swin UNETR were trained and compared at ISBI2015 with various parameters and loss functions. Four MRI sequences were used: T2-WI, T2-FLAIR, PD, MPRAGE. Lesion segmentation was approved by certified experienced neuroradiologists. Conclusions. The approaches described in the paper including data processing, model training, and results analysis, focused on the selection and development of high-quality computer vision algorithms for identifying multiple sclerosis lesions in MRI images. Identification and segmentation of demyelination foci is a necessary step for diagnosing the disease, as well as for calculating and interpreting more meaningful indicators of disease severity and progression.

Pregnancy in the uterus rudimentary horn (PURH) is a rare form of ectopic pregnancy that develops in women suffering from abnormalities in the development of growth and fusion of the Mullerian paramesonephral ducts. A literature search was conducted in the Web of Science, eLIBRARY.ru, Scopus, PubMed/MEDLINE databases using key words “ectopic pregnancy”, “anomaly”, “complication”, “rudimentary uterine horn”, “diagnosis”, “management”. We selected articles published from 2014 to 2022. A methodological filter was not used to exclude the omission of suitable articles. The study included full-text papers and literary reviews on the subject under study, articles that are not directly related to the topic of PURH were excluded. In order to avoid the inclusion of duplicate publications in the literature review, if two papers by the same authors were found, the study period of each author was studied, and if the dates coincided, the most recent publication was selected. Usually, the PURH is overlooked and can lead to such a formidable complication as hemoperitoneum. Diagnosis and treatment of PURH remains a difficult task. Many women with rudimentary uterine horn have an acute rupture of the uterus during pregnancy. Early diagnosis is the key to successful treatment. Clinicians of various specialties should maintain a high degree of vigilance to prevent morbidity associated with this life-threatening condition.

This paper analyze the nuanced relationship between corporate income tax (CIT ) rate reductions as a tax incentive and foreign direct investments (FDI) across the Western Balkan countries. Additionally, it examines the extent to which they have progressed with their achievements during two decades (2000-2022). The transition of the Western Balkans from a closed and controlled economy to an open market economy has been challenging, but despite this, they have implemented certain policies to compete in the global market. For instance, they have reduced tax rates and offered tax incentives to attract foreign investors. This has had the effect of lowering the average tax rate, specifically in the year 2000, the average tax rate in corporate income tax was around 17%, while in 2023 the average tax rate in corporate income tax is 11%, or 6% lower. However, despite taking measures, the expected results have not been achieved. Privatization of public enterprises has been one of the main investments that these countries have attracted. The paper addresses the problems that have led to poor results and the inability of countries to convince investors for larger investments. In Kosovo, the issue of progress in this area is being overlooked by the government. It is important for Kosovo to recognize that neighboring countries are making significant progress, and therefore, it is critical to conduct research that not only highlights the current situation but also identifies potential solutions for the future.

Metaphor has been established and extensively examined as one of the tools experts deploy to explain, simplify and transform complex scientific discourse into the knowledge suitable for the audience of non-experts. However, relatively little research has been conducted on metaphor scenario (Musolff 2006, 2016a) and its role in this process. Therefore, in this paper we explore how metaphor scenario is used to explain Covid-19 vaccines’ safety and effectiveness to the population in an understandable manner in order to speed up the immunization process in Serbia. By analysing a data set gathered from various Serbian electronic news media sources ( NovaS , N1 , Danas , Vreme , Večernje novosti , Mondo , Politika , Telegraf , Krug ) published from January to December 2021, we aim to explore (1) how the three metaphor scenarios, combat, container and movement, may help simplify complex scientific concepts in the pro-vaccine discourse; and (2) how the conceptual elements of these scenarios and their interconnected relations are used for this purpose. The findings showed that these conventional scenarios manifest their explanatory potential by means of several sub-scenarios, whose conceptual elements establish useful mappings relying on rarely used components of source domains. The results confirm that metaphor scenarios may be used strategically by medical experts as an apt explanatory tool to simplify challengingly complex scientific concepts to the general public. The paper contributes to current research on the role that metaphor and other cognitive instruments play in science popularization.

As the geopolitical situation changes, it is necessary to discuss how politics is structured by metaphor in the context of recent social phenomena, such as the European migrant crisis. This paper analyses the conceptual metaphors politics as war, politics as a game, politics as a trade, and politics as a theater in British and Bosnian-Herzegovinian newspapers. The goal of this study is to establish to what extent and in which situations journalists resort to figurative language to persuade the recipients to view politics in a desired way. The paper aims to reflect on the use of deliberate metaphor as a perspective-changing device by journalists striving to achieve their rhetorical goals and influence recipients’ perception of the political situation. The corpus comprises 174 British and 307 Bosnian-Herzegovinian articles collected from August 2015 to March 2016 (247,912 words). Relying on Steen et al.’s (2010) model of metaphor analysis, the paper investigates the types of metaphor in the corpus, the deliberate use of politics metaphors and their communicative function in migration discourse - discussing both the rhetorical goals of journalists and the rhetorical effects on recipients. It has been established that the analyzed set of metaphors has a divertive and persuasive function in migration discourse. Similar studies are encouraged to shed light on how deliberate metaphors related to politics may have diverging communicative functions in other types of discourse.