Experimental study of properties of heavy concrete with bottom ash from power stations

This article deals with the influence of cement quantity, plasticizing additives and compaction time on the strength and water consumption of concrete during its manufacturing using bottom ash from a thermal power station. The study was carried out using three factorial experiments. Variables varied on three levels. The obtained pattern functions characterize a relationship between strength, water consumption and variable factors. These factors include cement quantity, plasticize additives and compaction time. Compilation of Pareto effect charts allowed estimation of the significance of function indexes. Analysis of surface pattern function has revealed the optimal correlation between additive quantity and compaction time, cement quantity and additive quantity, cement quantity and compaction time. Compression strength of concrete was taken as the pattern in the pattern function. When analyzing the pattern function with water consumption as a pattern, optimal correlations between additive quantity and compaction time, cement quantity and additive quantity, cement quantity and compaction time were revealed. Application of STATISTICA 12 software has specified values of factors when the maximum strength is achieved. Correlations of components which have an impact on water consumption have been determined. The conclusions contain the quantitative findings of the study

CRITERIA AND INDICATORS OF FORMATION OF HUMANISTIC AND VALUE ATTITUDE OF PRIMARY SCHOOLCHILDREN TOWARDS THEMSELVES

Scientific works show that it is necessary to solve the humans problem of the formation of values and value attitude. Early school age is a period of active development of ideological orientations, interests, behavioral strategies, assessments and self-evaluation. The purpose of the study lay in developing and testing the diagnostic tools of the formation of a humanistic and value attitude of the schoolchildren towards themselves and in determining on this basis the appropriate pedagogical conditions for improving the investigated quality. The primary schoolchildren (n = 317, age 8-9) took part in the study. The results of the preliminary stage of the pedagogical experiment revealed the need to raise the level of humanistic and value attitude of children (low level – 61,5%, average level – 30,9%, high level – 7,6%). Primary school teachers are important organizers of the educational process with students, but they do not use enough methods that are effective in solving this research problem. In order to humanize the environment in primary school, authors suggest using game exercises, conversations, elements of training, including children in various types of socially significant activities, creating axiological educational situations, etc.

BUSINESS GAMES IN QUASI-PROFESSIONAL FUTURE TEACHERS’ TRAINING TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF GIFTED CHILDREN

The relevance of the selection and development of the independent component of the preparing the future specialists of psychological and pedagogical profile in a higher educational institution, the purpose of which is to develop students’ competence in developing children’s giftedness, is substantiated. The arguments according to the need of the development of requirements and complex of qualities and skills for identifying and developing of children’s giftedness by the future teachers, starting with teachers of preschool education institutions, are given. The complexity and inconsistency of the forming the gifted individuals, the presence of special educational needs due to high abilities, original thinking, special worldview, asynchrony and other manifestations of giftedness are shown. The results of a students’ questioning regarding the using the business games in the process of preparing them for working with gifted children are presented. The significance of quasi-professional activity in general and business games in particular during the preparing the future teachers for the development of children’s giftedness is revealed. On the basis of the generalization of working experience, the pedagogical conditions of its successful organization in teaching the basic disciplines are highlighted.

Psychological Counseling of Clients in Crisis Situations

The article expands scientific ideas about methods and techniques of dealing with crisis situations in different approaches to psychological counseling of clients who are experiencing current crisis realities in a complex social space. Different psychological approaches to the problem of the impact of psychological counseling on the crisis states of clients at the integrative and systemic levels are analyzed. Significant features of the approaches most often used in the practice of crisis psychological counseling –gestalt-therapeutic, cognitive-behavioral, and existential– are highlighted. Based on the generalization of the theoretical and methodological foundations of crisis counseling, the important role of subject-activity, professionally competent, personality-oriented approaches is highlighted. The importance of maintaining a person’s mental health in a crisis and providing him/her with psychological assistance in counseling and therapeutic practice is emphasized. A theoretical and methodological approach to the requirements for the criteria of consulting practice effectiveness is indicated. The structurization, conditions for organization and providing crisis counseling at different stages (areas) of work is described. The use of a neuropsycho-corrective approach in the practice of crisis counseling is recommended. The significance of the integrative psychological approach to counseling mentioned by foreign and domestic researchers on the basis of a holistic vision of the relationship between the client’s psychological resources and the requirements of the crisis situation is noted. It is emphasized that the management of crisis education should be handled by the personnel services of organizations of extreme profile.</em

Psycho-Pedagogical Prevention of Aggressive Behaviours in Athletes

Life activities of students from higher education institutions are largely influenced by certain adverse factors (social, psychological, environmental ones), which in turn negatively affect their physical and mental health and cause particular behavioural deviations such as aggression. The research aims to theoretically justify, develop and experimentally verify the programme on prevention of aggressive behaviours in athletes due to cultivating their humanistic values and capacity for self-actualization. The research sample of the formative experiment comprised 177 athletes (92 respondents in the experimental group and 85 respondents in the control group). The research assumes that, if well-developed, humanistic values of individual self-actualization (developing one’s positive attitude towards the surrounding people, ability to understand them, accept oneself and others and reality, striving for new knowledge, identifying oneself in this world, setting goals) can be considered as a means of prevention of aggressive behaviours in students; the process of developing athletes’ capacity for self-actualization as a means of psychological prevention of aggressive behaviours is determined by an appropriate organization of activities performed by students, their parents, psychologists, teachers based on personality-oriented and humanistic approaches. The level of self-actualization was based on E. Shostrom’s test and the self-actualization scale by A. Jones and R. Crandall; the level of aggression was identified based on the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory. The accuracy of changes in the groups was verified using the Mann-Whitney U Test. Results. A quantitative interpretation of the results obtained from the formative experiment proves that the arithmetic mean of self-actualization parameters in respondents in the experimental group has increased significantly (by 22%), whereas they have remained almost unchanged in the control group. Concerning the arithmetic mean of parameters of aggressive behaviours in athletes, they have decreased significantly (by 18%) in the experimental group. This is because athletes' capacity for self-actualization has been developed without direct influence on their aggressive behaviours. Conclusions. In comparison with their peers in the control group, athletes in the experimental group have significantly improved their conflict management skills as a result of developing a more positive attitude towards others, as well as behavioural flexibility, communication skills and capacity for self-development.</p

Inquiry in University Mathematics Teaching and Learning

The book presents developmental outcomes from an EU Erasmus+ project involving eight partner universities in seven countries in Europe. Its focus is the development of mathematics teaching and learning at university level to enhance the learning of mathematics by university students. Its theoretical focus is inquiry-based teaching and learning. It bases all activity on a three-layer model of inquiry: (1) Inquiry in mathematics and in the learning of mathematics in lecture, tutorial, seminar or workshop, involving students and teachers; (2) Inquiry in mathematics teaching involving teachers exploring and developing their own practices in teaching mathematics; (3) Inquiry as a research process, analysing data from layers (1) and (2) to advance knowledge inthe field. As required by the Erasmus+ programme, it defines Intellectual Outputs (IOs) that will develop in the project. PLATINUM has six IOs: The Inquiry-based developmental model; Inquiry communities in mathematics learning and teaching; Design of mathematics tasks and teaching units; Inquiry-based professional development activity; Modelling as an inquiry process; Evalutation of inquiry activity with students. The project has developed Inquiry Communities, in each of the partner groups, in which mathematicians and educators work together in supportive collegial ways to promote inquiry processes in mathematics learning and teaching. Through involving students in inquiry activities, PLATINUM aims to encourage students` own in-depth engagement with mathematics, so that they develop conceptual understandings which go beyond memorisation and the use of procedures. Indeed the eight partners together have formed an inquiry community, working together to achieve PLATINUM goals within the specific environments of their own institutions and cultures. Together we learn from what we are able to achieve with respect to both common goals and diverse environments, bringing a richness of experience and learning to this important area of education. Inquiry communities enable participants to address the tensions and issues that emerge in developmental processes and to recognise the critical nature of the developmental process. Through engaging in inquiry-based development, partners are enabled and motivated to design activities for their peers, and for newcomers to university teaching of mathematics, to encourage their participation in new forms of teaching, design of teaching, and activities for students. Such professional development design is an important outcome of PLATINUM. One important area of inquiry-based activity is that of “modelling” in mathematics. Partners have worked together across the project to investigate the nature of modelling activities and their use with students. Overall, the project evaluates its activity in these various parts to gain insights to the sucess of inquiry based teaching, learning and development as well as the issues and tensions that are faced in putting into practice its aims and goals

Inquiry in University Mathematics Teaching and Learning. The Platinum Project

The book presents developmental outcomes from an EU Erasmus+ project involving eight partner universities in seven countries in Europe. Its focus is the development of mathematics teaching and learning at university level to enhance the learning of mathematics by university students. Its theoretical focus is inquiry-based teaching and learning. It bases all activity on a three-layer model of inquiry: (1) Inquiry in mathematics and in the learning of mathematics in lecture, tutorial, seminar or workshop, involving students and teachers; (2) Inquiry in mathematics teaching involving teachers exploring and developing their own practices in teaching mathematics; (3) Inquiry as a research process, analysing data from layers (1) and (2) to advance knowledge inthe field. As required by the Erasmus+ programme, it defines Intellectual Outputs (IOs) that will develop in the project. PLATINUM has six IOs: The Inquiry-based developmental model; Inquiry communities in mathematics learning and teaching; Design of mathematics tasks and teaching units; Inquiry-based professional development activity; Modelling as an inquiry process; Evalutation of inquiry activity with students. The project has developed Inquiry Communities, in each of the partner groups, in which mathematicians and educators work together in supportive collegial ways to promote inquiry processes in mathematics learning and teaching. Through involving students in inquiry activities, PLATINUM aims to encourage students‘ own in-depth engagement with mathematics, so that they develop conceptual understandings which go beyond memorisation and the use of procedures. Indeed the eight partners together have formed an inquiry community, working together to achieve PLATINUM goals within the specific environments of their own institutions and cultures. Together we learn from what we are able to achieve with respect to both common goals and diverse environments, bringing a richness of experience and learning to this important area of education. Inquiry communities enable participants to address the tensions and issues that emerge in developmental processes and to recognise the critical nature of the developmental process. Through engaging in inquiry-based development, partners are enabled and motivated to design activities for their peers, and for newcomers to university teaching of mathematics, to encourage their participation in new forms of teaching, design of teaching, and activities for students. Such professional development design is an important outcome of PLATINUM. One important area of inquiry-based activity is that of „modelling“ in mathematics. Partners have worked together across the project to investigate the nature of modelling activities and their use with students. Overall, the project evaluates its activity in these various parts to gain insights to the sucess of inquiry based teaching, learning and development as well as the issues and tensions that are faced in putting into practice its aims and goals

Phenological shifts of abiotic events, producers and consumers across a continent

Ongoing climate change can shift organism phenology in ways that vary depending on species, habitats and climate factors studied. To probe for large-scale patterns in associated phenological change, we use 70,709 observations from six decades of systematic monitoring across the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Among 110 phenological events related to plants, birds, insects, amphibians and fungi, we find a mosaic of change, defying simple predictions of earlier springs, later autumns and stronger changes at higher latitudes and elevations. Site mean temperature emerged as a strong predictor of local phenology, but the magnitude and direction of change varied with trophic level and the relative timing of an event. Beyond temperature-associated variation, we uncover high variation among both sites and years, with some sites being characterized by disproportionately long seasons and others by short ones. Our findings emphasize concerns regarding ecosystem integrity and highlight the difficulty of predicting climate change outcomes. The authors use systematic monitoring across the former USSR to investigate phenological changes across taxa. The long-term mean temperature of a site emerged as a strong predictor of phenological change, with further imprints of trophic level, event timing, site, year and biotic interactions.Peer reviewe

Chronicles of nature calendar, a long-term and large-scale multitaxon database on phenology

We present an extensive, large-scale, long-term and multitaxon database on phenological and climatic variation, involving 506,186 observation dates acquired in 471 localities in Russian Federation, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan. The data cover the period 1890-2018, with 96% of the data being from 1960 onwards. The database is rich in plants, birds and climatic events, but also includes insects, amphibians, reptiles and fungi. The database includes multiple events per species, such as the onset days of leaf unfolding and leaf fall for plants, and the days for first spring and last autumn occurrences for birds. The data were acquired using standardized methods by permanent staff of national parks and nature reserves (87% of the data) and members of a phenological observation network (13% of the data). The database is valuable for exploring how species respond in their phenology to climate change. Large-scale analyses of spatial variation in phenological response can help to better predict the consequences of species and community responses to climate change.Peer reviewe