Search

This study attempts to detect papers originating from the Russia‐based paper mill 'International Publisher' LLC. A total of 1,063 offers to purchase co‐authorship on a fraudulent papers published from 2019 to mid‐2022 on the 123mi.ru website were analysed. This study identifies at least 451 papers that are potentially linked to the paper mill, including one preprint, a duplication paper and 16 republications of papers erroneously published in hijacked journals. Evidence of suspicious provenance from the paper mill is provided: matches in title, number of co‐authorship slots, year of publication, country of the journal, country of a co‐authors and similarities of abstracts. These problematic papers are co‐authored by scholars from at least 39 countries and are submitted to both predatory and reputable journals. This study also demonstrates collaboration anomalies in questionable papers and examines indicators of the Russia‐based paper mill. The value of co‐authorship slots offered by 'International Publisher' LLC from 2019 to 2021 is estimated at $6.5 million. Since this study only analysed a single paper mill, it is likely that the number of papers with forged authorship is much higher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the problem of calculating the volume calendar plan of a paper mill. The presented mathematical model and methods make it possible to schedule paper production orders between several paper machines (PM) to even their loading, devise cutting plans for each winder and arrange the order of their implementation. When forming cutting plans, orders are grouped in accordance with such parameters as grammage, roll diameter, core diameter, product type and number of layers. Deadlines and volumes in customer orders are taken into account. The cutting plans for each winder account for the allowable roll width limits and the maximum number of knives. To find the optimal schedule, a combination of the following criteria is used: minimal trim loss, minimal changes to the knives' setup and smooth transitions by product grades. Solution algorithms are presented that use a combination of the simplex method, the column generation, the branch and bound methods, the greedy algorithm and the local search procedure. We tested the solution approach on real production data from a paper mill in European Russia and obtained the production sequence that better matches deadlines in customer orders compared to the plan devised manually by production planners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the tragedy in Ukraine deepens, it's clear that the world should end its dependency on Russian oil. It will be ironic, however, if nations disentangling themselves from this compromised energy source instead turn to another energy source with destructive impacts: harvesting and burning forest wood for fuel, which increases carbon emissions compared to fossil fuels, and degrades forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the intersection between generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and labour market by developing a comprehensive framework to analyse the current state of scientific interest in this emerging topic. The research employs a quantitative methodology, using a comparatively implemented bibliometric analysis, thus examining two major databases, Web of Science and Scopus with the aim to provide a deeper understanding of academic landscape. The research focuses on the database with the largest number of relevant papers, providing insight into the concentration of academic activity in the field, both in terms of evolution over time, trends, countries, keywords and authors with the highest research impact. The research reveals a significant gap in the literature concerning the impact of GenAI in labour market, with only one small percentage of papers addressing this topic. Key findings include a rise in publications post-2018, particularly from the USA, Russia and China, and a lack of developed research networks. This article concludes the further exploration of the implication of GenAI on the labour market is needed, with potential directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nguyen, O. T. H., Aksenov, I., Phan, N. T., & Sakulyeva, T. (2021). Russia's foreign policy priorities in the Asia‐Pacific region. Journal of Public Affairs, e2745. https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2745. The above article, published online on 17 August 2021 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) has been retracted by agreement between the journal's Editor‐in‐Chief, Laura Corazza and Shaista Wasiuzzaman and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. The retraction has been agreed following concerns regarding manipulation of the peer review and publishing process. Concerns were originally raised by a third party (1). Further investigation by the publisher has found manipulation of the peer review process, and overlapping text with other publications. The retraction has been agreed because the peer review of the article was compromised and there is unattributed overlap between this article and several other articles (2)(3). Abalkina, A. (2022). Publication and collaboration anomalies in academic papers originating from a paper mill: evidence from a Russia‐based paper mill https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.13322 Burdzik, T. (2019). Slowly but Surely: Russia's Foreign Policy in Southeast Asia https://russiancouncil.ru/en/analytics‐and‐comments/columns/asian‐kaleidoscope/slowly‐but‐surely‐russia‐s‐foreign‐policy‐in‐southeast‐asia/?sphrase%5fid=34631795 Rumer, E., Sokolsky, R., Vladicic, A. (2020). Russia in the Asia‐Pacific: Less Than Meets the Eye https://carnegieendowment.org/publications/82614 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do a university leader's publication patterns change after appointment? Until now, few studies have examined whether administrative burden has a significant effect on a leader's publication patterns. This study seeks to evaluate changes in individual publication patterns in relation to academic productivity and increased administrative load. The main expectation is that rectors opt for collaboration instead of publishing single‐authored papers. The analysis of publication data on Russian rectors demonstrates that: (1) a rector's academic productivity is significantly positively related to the share of single‐authored papers and papers in inter‐organizational co‐authorship; (2) every additional year in office adds to the share of co‐authored papers and impedes a yearly increase in article numbers; and (3) previously high individual productivity has a mitigating effect on an increasing share of institutionally co‐authored papers. The results suggest that administrative burden induces changes in collaboration patterns of university leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The best way to understand the environmental status of a certain region involves thorough non-target analysis, which will result in a list of pollutants under concern. Arkhangelsk (64° 32′ N 40° 32′ E, pop. ~ 344,000) is the largest city in the world to the north of the 60th parallel. Several industrial enterprises and the "cold finger" effect represent the major sources of air contamination in the city. Analysis of snow with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry allows detecting and quantifying the most hazardous volatile and semivolatile anthropogenic pollutants and estimating long-term air pollution. Target analysis, suspect screening, and non-target analysis of snow samples collected from ten sites within the city revealed the presence of several hundreds of organic compounds including 18 species from the US EPA list of priority pollutants. Fortunately, the levels of these compounds appeared to be much lower than the safe levels established in Russia. Phenol and dioctylphthalate could be considered as the pollutants of concern because their levels were about 20% of the safe thresholds. ChromaTOF® Tile, MetaboAnalyst software platform, and open-source software protocols were applied to process the obtained data. The obtained clusterization results of the samples were generally similar for various tools; however, each of them had certain peculiarities. Bis(2-ethylhexyl) hexanedioate, benzyl alcohol, phthalates, aniline, dinitrotoluenes, and fluoranthene showed the strongest influence on the clusterization of the studied samples. Possible sources of the major pollutants were proposed: car traffic and pulp and paper mills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we analyze the cited references in 1.38 million papers by Russian (co-)authors indexed in the Web of Science database until May 2022. Similarly, to the established processes in the so-called Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (RPYS), we study the distribution of the references across the cited years and seek to identify the peak years with the publications that attracted the most attention of Russian scholars. In this way, the historical roots of Russian science may be traced and we take a closer look at these most influential works. In addition, we investigate the evolution of the mean age of references and of their average number per paper over time and inspect the most frequently cited sources. The results show that the average number of references in Russian papers has been steadily increasing, but the mean age of references has been declining in the most recent years. Also, the foundations of Russian science seem to be physics of particles and electrochemistry and have recently become based more internationally than in the past. This study is the first of its kind and may help better understand the character of Russian research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the assessment of woody biomass resources in Russia and the Baikal region. The analysis of the literature demonstrates that the Baikal region has considerable amounts of waste from the logging, timber processing, and pulp and paper industries (up to 220 PJ). A review of utilization technologies for woody biomass demonstrates that the existing technologies based on biomass gasification are promising for energy purposes. The gasification of biomass for small-capacity power plants has some advantages compared to its combustion. This paper considers an autonomous power system that consists of photovoltaic converters, wind turbines, storage batteries, a biomass gasification power plant, and a diesel power plant. A mathematical model used to optimize the system's structure finds the minimum of the total discounted costs for the creation and operation of the system with some constraints met. Based on mathematical modeling, the cost-effectiveness of such a power supply system is assessed for different climatic zones of the Baikal region and the coastal area of Lake Baikal. The findings indicate that the optimal solution is the integration of various renewable energy sources in hybrid power systems. The proportion of energy sources of different types in the installed capacities is found. The study demonstrates that the optimal structure of the power system can provide significant savings (the total discounted costs are reduced by almost 2.5 times compared to the option using a diesel power plant alone). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is rather easy to identify the leading universities in a country, there are different established methods and indicators of excellence. Generally, it is more challenging to find 'the second best' universities which have the potential to become leaders, 'the firsts'. In Russia, such an attempt has been made. The program of 'Pillar Universities' was realized in 2016–2020, in two stages. This paper analyzes the initial stage of the project and its outcomes. We aim to investigate how the program affected the output of the universities from the bibliometric point of view. The results, obtained by bibliometric methods, are encouraging. There is an increase in publication output above the Russia's average growth. Multidisciplinarity, domestic and international collaboration also increase. Those universities which had no papers in the top journals started publishing their research there. The overall effect of the 'pillar project' is found to be positive. Bibliometrics is widely used for assessing higher education institutions and is free from local peculiarities. This allows using the observations of this study in a broader context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper it is displayed the resilience of the Ukrainian educators and students during the ongoing conflict with Russia, with a particular focus on the role of online learning platforms. Despite the challenges posed by air raids, evacuations, and infrastructure damage, educators have swiftly transitioned to virtual classrooms using platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, AllUkrainian Online School and others. These platforms not only provide continuity in education but also serve as spaces for emotional support, fostering discussions about the conflict and offering solidarity to students amidst uncertainty. While significant challenges persist, including reaching students in heavily affected regions, the adaptability and dedication of Ukrainian educators underscore the resilience of the human spirit in adversity. Online learning continues to serve as a beacon of hope, ensuring that the pursuit of knowledge endures even in the darkest of times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The above article, published online on July 2021 in Wiley Online Library https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/spe.2964 has been retracted by agreement between the journal's Editor‐in‐Chief and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. The retraction has been agreed following concerns regarding manipulation of the peer review and publishing process. Concerns were originally raised by a third party (1). Further investigation by the publisher has found manipulation of the peer review process. The retraction has been agreed because the peer review of the article was compromised. The authors disagree with this retraction. Abalkina, A. (2022). Publication and collaboration anomalies in academic papers originating from a paper mill: evidence from a Russia‐based paper mill https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.13322 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Withdrawal: The withdrawal has been agreed following concerns regarding manipulation of the peer review and publishing process. Concerns were originally raised by third parties [1, 2]. Further investigation by the publisher has found manipulation of the peer review process. The withdrawal has been agreed because the peer review of the article was compromised. [1] B. E. Perron, O. T. Hiltz‐Perron, B. G. Victor, Revealed the inner workings of a papermill, 2021. https://retractionwatch.com/2021/12/20/revealed‐the‐inner‐workings‐of‐a‐paper‐mill/ [2] A. Abalkina, Publication and collaboration anomalies in academic papers originating from a paper mill: evidence from a Russia‐based paper mill, 2022. https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.13322 The above article, published online as accepted article, prior to the version of record, on June 07, 2021 in Wiley Online Library (http://wileyonlinelibrary.com) has been withdrawn by agreement between the journal's Editor in Chief and Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the beginning of Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine, numerous articles have been written about the reasons why the Moscow Patriarchate supports it and how the church is legitimising the aggression. The usual ideational suspects were named, i.e. russkiy mir, 'Holy Rus' and 'Moscow, the Third Rome'. In this paper I draw attention to an important yet overlooked concept which allows the church's leadership to present their support for the war as a noble act. I analyse how the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church understands justice in relation to politics, especially the international order and foreign relations. The goal of the paper is to reconstruct the justice narrative of the Moscow Patriarchate – its content, the context in which it appears and its role. The findings are based on interpretative discourse analysis of a sample of 403 documents retrieved from the official websites of the Moscow Patriarchate (2000–2023). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orthopteroidea is an ecologically diverse group of incompletely transformed insects that includes several insect orders similar in development and structure. Many species from Dermaptera, Orthoptera, Mantodea, and Blattodea are sensitive to anthropogenic influences and are indicators of the external environment. Some species cause damage to agriculture and forestry; others are inhabitants of human dwellings and pests of food supplies. The aim of this study is to describe fauna of some orders of Orthopteroidea in the Republic of Mordovia, in the central part of European Russia. This study was conducted in April–October 1971, 1984, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, and 2004–2023. All possible habitats were studied using a variety of methods (entomological traps, pitfall traps, pan traps, etc.). An acoustic method of species identification was also used. For each observation, the coordinates of location, abundance, and dates were recorded. The dataset contains 4865 occurrences. In total, 16,644 specimens of Orthopteroidea were studied. The dataset contains 71 species including Dermaptera (4), Orthoptera (62), Mantodea (1), and Blattodea (4). Of these, 13 species are identified for the first time in the region; these mainly inhabit steppe areas. The presence of two Orthoptera species has not been confirmed yet during our studies; these species are noted in this paper according an old published paper. The biodiversity of Mordovia includes 73 species from four orders. The biology of numerous species, their seasonal dynamics, and some descriptions of biotopes and number of new species are described. Dataset:  https://doi.org/10.15468/cmr3yy. Dataset License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

France’s reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was initially conciliatory. However, the current French President’ statements, Macron, gradually changed, suggesting a potential shift in France's stance. The French president recently suggested troops could be sent to Ukraine to fight the Russians, a move that could significantly impact the course of the war. Our paper aims to address this possibility. How feasible would this be from a military perspective? Second, are there any other relevant political actors that will support it? Third, why has Paris changed its position to such a radical stance? We start from the theoretical design of realist constructivism. Postcolonial theories and the concept of locked-in path dependence supported this research. The methods follow the path of historical synthesis, discourse analysis of key political actors, and text analysis of defense white papers. Quantitative military variables are used to understand France’s and the EU’s military-industrial complex capabilities and assess its potential. The collapse of France’s neocolonial empire in Africa and Russia’s growing influence in the region partially explains Macron’s discourse change. This is correlated with the need to follow a more independent European security policy and the worsening military situation in Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) within the Arctic Cultural Circle by comparing three influential texts: the Russian travelogue Dersu, the Trapper (1923); the Canadian memoir People of the Deer (1952); and the Chinese novel The Last Quarter of the Moon (2005). By examining these texts, which depict the Indigenous cultures of the Nanai, the Ihalmiut, and the Ewenki, the study identifies shared ecological perspectives. These include an emphasis on the sacredness of nature, as seen in their animistic worship and spiritual connection to the environment; a holistic relationship between humans and nature, characterized by a wise and sustainable use of resources and a minimal sense of ownership; and a sense of reciprocity among all living beings, fostering mutual care and respect within the natural world. The paper further contends that the TEK of the circle offers valuable reference for addressing contemporary environmental and social challenges posed by climate change and biodiversity loss, particularly in the context of modernization and globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Russia's propaganda discourse on Twitter during the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The study employs network analysis, natural language processing (NLP) techniques, and qualitative analysis to identify key communities and narratives associated with the prevalent and damaging narrative of "fascism/Nazism" in discussions related to the invasion. The paper implements a methodological pipeline to identify the main topics, and influential actors, as well as to examine the most impactful messages in spreading this disinformation narrative. Overall, this research contributes to the understanding of propaganda dissemination on social media platforms and provides insights into the narratives and communities involved in spreading disinformation during the invasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, western countries have imposed a number of economic sanctions on Russia, including freezing its foreign currency reserves, restricting the flow of trade and cutting off its access to SWIFT. The sharp fall in euro and US dollar denominated transactions has in turn impacted Russia's trade with India, as it is now harder for the two countries to exchange payments. In this context, this paper explores the messaging, clearing and settlement alternatives available for making/receiving payments between India and Russia. Specifically, the paper examines a rupee–ruble trade arrangement, central bank digital currency, the linkage of faster payment systems and card infrastructures, the Russian System for Transfer of Financial Messages, and bilateral messaging systems. In addition, the authors evaluate various considerations pertaining to these options, as well as the implications, from the perspective of central banks, banks and merchants/customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Economic Horizons / Ekonomski Horizonti is the property of Economic Horizons and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper aims to address the possible role of the Eastern European Orthodox Church as an alternative channel to ensure fruitful negotiations to end the Russo-Ukrainian war that has still ongoing since 2022. As the majority religion in Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe as a whole, the Orthodox branch of Christianity has a transnational influence on its followers, including prominent political figures in the aforementioned territories. Utilizing qualitative research methods, this paper is written to provide arguments about whether the Orthodox Church, with its immense presence in the belligerents' spiritual beliefs, will be able to be employed as a channel to end the Russo-Ukrainian war. In this paper, analysis is conducted through the usage of J. W. McDonald's "The Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy" (2012) journal article about multi-track diplomacy and D. Johnston's Faith-Based Diplomacy: Trumping Realpolitik (2003) book about faith-based diplomacy to gauge the Orthodox Church's potential as a channel of diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine. This paper finds that overall, the Orthodox Church fails to fulfil the criteria that Johnston (2003) posits; one of the most fatal is the organization's inability to reconcile the belligerents' deep historical wounds. Due to the Orthodox Church's traditional role that has always been closely tied to the Russian government, its capability to build an acceptable negotiation channel is severely impeded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Soft Computing technique is one of the essential problems solving techniques for the researchers present in the world. Compared to other issues solving techniques, the Soft Computing domain gives outstanding performance, so the researchers are concentrating the Soft Computing domain for solving problems. Soft Computing domain categorizes into many sub-domains, like Neural Networks, Machine Learning, and Genetic Algorithm. Through this paper, we considered to study the impact produced by the Institutions as well as authors in the domain of Soft Computing from the year 1999 to 2019 for PubMed database. From the overall study, we found that China has made more number of publications, author productivity, and influential authors. Some countries, like Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, with minimum author productivity and minimum publications from the Asian continent in the Soft Computing-related domains. From the research, we determined that china dominates in terms of Institutions wise and Author productivity in the field of Soft Computing domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global energy sector is in a period of transition, during which time it is expected that renewable and low-carbon energy sources, such as wind and solar, will replace traditional fossil fuels, including oil, gas, and coal. The energy transition is happening not only to limit the environmental impact of fossil fuel production and consumption but also to ensure energy security, reliability, access, affordability, and sustainability. The importance of the energy transition has been amplified by recent events, notably the Russian-Ukraine conflict. Economic, financial, and trade sanctions against Russia, and in particular its oil and gas industry, have forced countries to find new suppliers in the short term, but also to investigate new and more sustainable sources to guarantee long-term energy security. Given the importance of energy, it is perhaps not unexpected that there is a considerable body of recent academic literature, particularly over the last 4–5 years, studying what industries, consumers, governments, and markets can do to help bring about a faster energy transition. In this paper, we provide a review of the literature that pertains to the economic aspects of the energy transition. While our initial search of the literature is targeted at uncovering all relevant articles on the subject, we focus most of our discussion on the most influential articles in prominent journals and articles published in this journal—Energies. This review is intended to help identify active topics and potential research gaps and provide future direction, so we hope it will prove useful to the readers and authors interested in this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the main features of digital repression in Russia, especially in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The repression of digital activism is not a new phenomenon in Russia; however, it gained fresh momentum during the Russian-Ukrainian war. Security has been used as a pretext to expand the state's authority at the cost of individuals' rights and freedoms. To control political narratives, suppress online dissent and surveil regime critics, the government has significantly tightened the national legislation through its media regulator, Roskomnadzor. The aftermath of the war, harsh sanctions and increased anti-regime movements have also deepened Russia's aspirations toward 'digital sovereignty'. Meanwhile, regardless of a number of important initiatives in this direction, domestic digital space still remains an ambitious goal to be fulfilled. This paper concludes that, along with other devastating consequences, the war in Ukraine will provoke further digital repression in Russia aimed at achieving the Kremlin's goal of "digital sovereignty". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Political Science Studies / Studia Politologiczne is the property of University of Warsaw and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: The current paper is devoted to the analysis of the mediation of non-heteronormative masculinities within discourses on intimate partner violence (IPV) and domestic violence and abuse (DVA) in contemporary Russian media. Methods: The article presents a discourse analysis of five samples of media texts devoted to IPV and/or DVA among LGBTQ people. The media texts were sampled through a keyword search completed on the websites of two openly pro-LGBTQ media outlets (news and entertainment portals Meduza and Takie Dela) and two media outlets catered for predominantly LGBTQ audiences (the news and entertainment portal Parni PLUS and the website of the NGO SPID-Tsentr). Results: The interpretative qualitative analysis of the sampled texts demonstrated that the IPV/DVA survivors' confessional narratives are framed within wider discourses on non-heteronormative masculinities, which are represented both as transgressing concepts of hegemonic masculinity and as challenging stereotypes about non-heteronormative masculinities. Conclusions: The outcome of the analysis presented in the paper is that there is evidence of the emergence of new media discourses on IPV and DVA among LGBTQ communities. Drawing on feminist discourses on IPV and DVA in heterosexual relationships and using media strategies of LGBTQ coming-out confessional narratives, the sampled media data reveals an ongoing search for a new language of discussing the relatively new societal problem. Further research into mediation of non-heteronormative male survivors of IPV and DVA promises insightful findings concerning the evolution of discourses on non-heteronormative masculinities in contemporary Russian media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Filosofija, Sociologija is the property of Lithuanian Academy of Sciences Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Urban transformation in the post-socialist city is connected to comprehensive debates. This paper steers the reader through these, emphasising three contentions that serve to clarify the approach to two interconnected questions: How do people give meaning to urban transformation? In which ways does an analysis of societal change in a peripheral city in pre-war Russia contribute to debates on global urbanism? The paper is structured in three main parts, beginning with the review of the post-socialist city literature. The focus in this study is on experiences, bringing a more human perspective on urban transformation in combination with analysis of structural dimensions impeding on the everyday. In the second part, Togliatti is introduced as a research site and details on data collection are provided. The paper contributes empirically with a study of urban transformation in the auto-town Togliatti in the Samara region southeast of Moscow, Russia. The third part is devoted to interlocutors' perspectives and the emergence of the narrative of 'becoming marginal'. In conclusion, becoming marginal is a narrative that gives meaning to the historical conjuncture and the grievances people reflect on as they reason about individual life trajectories. While place-specific, these experiences link to global (urban) discussions on marginality and precarity. The paper underscores that making sense of experiences means to reflect on these in context, and in a final discussion, it reflects how much more difficult such research has become after Russia's military attack on Ukraine on 24 February 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a detailed and insightful bibliometric analysis of environmental education research in Russia offering an integrated view of progress, impact and main actors of the field. Fundamental information was gained from journal articles, conference papers and other significant academic distributions that were included in the Scopus database. These included measurements involving issues like distributions and references/year, neighboring country comparisons, authorship patterns, affiliations and sources of financial support etc. The analysis of Russian exploration of environmental education presented in the paper provides an outline for further work in a crucial area Russia can be effective here, drawing on its experience with this demand to contribute to the development of environmental education and global sustainability efforts in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that a prestige-humiliation dynamic is a systems-level force that shapes state behavior. Connecting psychological factors to structural realism, we observe the following: the more powerful a state becomes, the more it could seek to overturn past humiliation through aggressive prestige-seeking acts. This is done to reassert its power and status to erase past humiliation and achieve prestige even at the expense of others. Three historical examples will be discussed: Nazi Germany's erasure of the Treaty of Versailles, China's Century of Humiliation, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's expansion into Eastern Europe against Russia. The paper will then define face-saving behavior, allowing a competitor to preserve prestige and avoid humiliation as a way to deescalate tension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study builds on the recent literature by investigating how various types of African stock markets responded to the Russia-Ukraine crisis (commonly referred to as the black-swan event). The empirical analysis used in this paper centred on event study analysis, a statistical technique used to measure the impact of a specific event. The findings show that the black-swan event had a significant negative impact on African stock markets (14/20), with stocks having a negative abnormal return on the event day, and out of this, nine stocks' abnormal returns are statistically significant. These include Safaricom Kenya, Commercial International Bank, Attijariwafa Bank, Morocco Casablanca Index, Egyptian Exchange 30, Nairobi All Share Index, AVI Equity, MCB Group Ltd, FTSE/JSE All Share, Delta Corp. Ltd, Stock Exchange of Mauritius, Tunisia Stock Exchange, Tanzania All Share Index, and Banque de Tunisie. Furthermore, the study discovers that African stock markets reacted heterogeneously to the impact of the crises, while some stocks were severely affected, some were minimally affected. The study concludes that African stock markets should build a resilient market capable of withstanding external shock and reducing the risk of contagion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) and ergonomic risk factors are very common in bakery workers. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to (1) assess the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among bakers because they use automated machines or traditional baking, and (2) to determine the strategies to prevent musculoskeletal disorders in bakers. METHODS: A systematic review of PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science was conducted from the beginning to February 4, 2022, based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Mesh keywords and phrases were used to execute the search strategy. Information on MSDs and ergonomic risk factors in bakery workers was collected. Two reviewers worked independently on study selection, data extraction, and paper quality ranking. RESULTS: This study identified 14 papers from seven countries. Although the prevalence of MSDs in bakery workers has been studied, only a handful of them have been studied ergonomic risk factors, and the findings have been very limited. The association between different risk factors and MSDs seemed significant compared to many other occupational diseases. The traditional bread-baking system and lack of mechanization may increase the risk of MSDs in bakery workers. CONCLUSION: WRMSDs for bakery workers have been less studied than other occupational diseases. Our systematic review found several significant relations between the factors influencing the prevalence of MSDs. This study also showed the comparison of traditional and modern cooking systems with diseases of the upper limbs, shoulders, and back pain as possible fields for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to the resolution of the problem of risk management in a high-risk market environment. The goal of this paper was to study the experience of and prospects for the use of responsible innovations as tools for managing the financial risks of high-tech companies' projects for their sustainable development (using the example of companies in Russia's IT sphere in 2022–2023). We used the SEM method to study the daily statistics of the Moscow Exchange in 2022–2023. As a result, we quantitatively measured the financial risks of Russian companies in the IT sphere in 2022–2023. The studied case experience of the IT sphere in 2022 confirmed that Russian high-tech companies actively implement responsible innovations based on ESG projects. Our main conclusion is that the financial risks of high-tech companies are reduced in the case of the implementation of responsible innovations. Therefore, it is advisable to implement responsible innovations for the sustainable development of high-tech companies in a high-risk market environment. The theoretical significance of our conclusions lies in the substantiation of the synergetic effect of financial risk management with the help of responsible innovations. The scientific novelty and contribution of this paper to the literature consist in its clarifying the sectorial (in the IT sphere) and market (in a high-risk market environment) specifics of managing the financial risks to companies. We also disclosed a poorly studied and largely unknown unique and leading experience of managing the financial risks of Russian high-tech companies in 2022–2023. The practical significance of our recommendations is that the compiled scenario can be used as a strategic benchmark for the most complete development of the potential of the sustainable development of Russian high-tech companies in 2024. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Important nodes can determine the internal structure of complex networks and reveal the internal relationships of real-world systems, and identifying key nodes in complex networks is one of the important research areas of complex network science. As the king of commodities, changes in the price of gold significantly impact the economic development of various countries. Especially in the early stages of the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine, the price of gold futures has been greatly impacted, and the systemic risks are gradually spreading. In this paper, a gold future price series is mapped into a visibility graph (VG), the characteristics of the gold price time series and key points-in-time, have been explored from the perspective of complex network. First, according to the data structure characteristics of gold futures, this paper converts the closing prices of gold futures of the New York Mercantile Exchange into a complex network through the VG model. Then, by using the complex network model to further delve into the price of gold futures, it is found that the degree distribution of the gold futures network follows a power-law distribution, and has obvious scale-free characteristics. Finally, this paper uses the visual network node shrinking algorithm and the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) analysis method to identify the key nodes of the gold futures visual map to find the key time nodes in the timeline of gold futures market. Analysis of the key time nodes of this market by four methods reveals that the repetition rate of the key time nodes in the methods' top 10 ranking is as high as 82.5%, indicating that the results obtained in this paper are robust. This study introduces a new model to describe the characteristics of gold futures price series, one which can find key time nodes in gold futures prices and provide potential help for predicting gold futures prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lingering COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine have wreaked havoc on the global oil supply chain. The current disruption of the oil supply chain and the rapidly growing energy demand created unprecedented oil shortages and raised the oil price beyond the affordable level. As worldwide oil price hikes continue, there is an urgent need for developing alternative energy sources, such as smart rural energy. Despite its enormous potential as a viable alternative to traditional fossil fuel-based energy sources, smart rural energy has never been fully utilized in society. The limited use of smart rural energy may be related to its lack of commercialization, which could have created more eco-friendly and cost-efficient alternative energy sources. This paper assesses the eco-friendliness and cost-efficiency of smart rural energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass, and hydropower for the first time. This paper is also one of the first studies that intends to develop viable strategic plans for commercializing smart rural energy using strategy maps, which subsequently helps increase public awareness of renewable energy by creating visual communication tools that convey the benefits of smart rural energy commercialization to multiple stakeholders, including government entities, business communities, and energy consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms' contractual relations with a state may give lenders a positive signal and facilitate access to debt. This paper studies the impact of public procurement contracts on firms' access to debt using an extensive survey of Russian manufacturing firms combined with accounting and procurement data. It shows that earnings from state-to-business contracts increase the short-term debt twice as much as revenue from private contracts. Long-term debt is not affected by public contracts differently compared to private contracts. The debt sensitivity to public contracts is four times larger for politically connected firms, although it is still positive and significant for non-connected and small firms. The paper concludes that political connection does not entirely suppress the beneficial access to debt that public contracts create. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Russia–Ukraine war requires management scholars to reflect on the interconnectedness of research themes across countries, and across management disciplines. This paper introduces the papers in this mini special section and discusses the interdisciplinary implications of the Russia–Ukraine war on themes that include – but are not limited to – management theory, banking, energy, culture, psychology and international entrepreneurship and innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]