TRANSFORMATION LEADERSHIP IN VIRTUAL TEAMS

The article is devoted to a new model for organizing production activities that is adequate to the challenges of digitalization – virtual organizations. The authors show that the widespread adoption of virtual organizations that have no clear boundaries in space and time over the past decade gives rise to new management problems. Old management models based on hierarchy, authoritarian approach, and punishment / reward as the main motivators are not effective in virtual teams. Traditional transactional leadership should be replaced by transformational leadership, which involves an individual approach, intellectual stimulation, idealized influence and inspiring motivation. The authors indicate the social and psychological difficulties of the spread of transformational leadership. The paper emphasizes the need for the formation of leadership, managerial and digital competencies for effective leadership in project virtual teams

Virtual teams formation: Remote team building and leadership

The article examines the problem of increasing the efficiency of virtual teams, a specific form of labor organisation in the digital economy. The relevance of remote team building of virtual teams is revealed. The essence of the remote team and team building is investigated. Based on the study of the results of empirical sociological research, the advantages and disadvantages of virtual teams are determined. The problem of remote team building technologies, team building methods at all stages of virtual team formation is raised. The main directions of the team leadership transformation are revealed. The problems faced by the leadership of virtual teams at differents stages of their formation, group dynamics are shown remote team-building tools for their resolution are suggested. The results of the article can be used in further research on the problems of organising teamwork in the digital economy, in developing proposals and recommendations for specialists in the field of personnel management for use in practice

State Language, Language Situation and Language Policy in Legislation: Representations in the Russian Federal Law “On the State Language of the Russian Federation

The article addresses the issue of language situation and language policy through the analysis of legislation. Taking a social constructionist approach to law, the authors claim that a legal text can be explored for the purpose of discovering typical representations and linguistic resources that conceptualise languages, language situation and language policy. The paper offers a concise overview of domestic and foreign scholarship in the field as well as offering definitions for the basic categories used in the research. The analysis of the Russian Federal Law “On the State Language of the Russian Federation” shows that the Russian language is constructed as a state language, which has a few aspects. It is represented as an instrument of national unity, an instrument of maintaining culture, and an instrument of international impact. In terms of semantic roles, the Russian language is represented not only as an agent and instrument, but also as a patient, the object of negative and positive impact. The contexts mentioning the Russian language and other languages and idioms construct the relations between the languages as mutually reinforcing (thus, constructing the semantics of unity) or mutually excluding (thus, constructing the semantics of opposition)

Transforming educational space under the impact of the pandemic: student and teacher well-being in higher education

The article presents the study of some areas of educational space transformation under the COVID-19 pandemic influence. The focus of attention is on such problems as the cognitive well-being of the student, the tutor model of teacherstudent relations in the digitalising educational space, the functioning of academic mobility institution in a pandemic and post-pandemic world. Cognitive well-being of students implies mastering digital literacy with strict adherence to the norms of digital ethics. A tutor in modern education plays the role of not only a developer of an individual educational trajectory, but also a controller and educator. For the successful implementation of tutoring functions, the teaching staff of universities needs additional training. The main trends in academic mobility are internal and virtual mobility. The authors conclude that educational organisations need for adequate infrastructural policy, and educational space – inevitable transformations in budget financing. The results of the article can be used in further research on the higher education transformation problems, in the development of proposals and recommendations for specialists in the of higher education management field for use in practice

TRUST AS A VIRTUAL TEAM EFFECTIVENESS FACTOR

A relatively new phenomenon in management practice – a virtual team has been considered. Based on a study of a wide range of domestic and foreign sources, it has been shown, what problems arise during the formation and operation of virtual teams. Attention on the problem of mutual trust in the team has been focused. It has been concluded that the lack of common social norms and opportunities for mutual control, the lack of direct personal contacts, cross-cultural problems, and the lack of informal communication impede confidence building. However, the rapid idealization of a communication partner, the ability to create the effect of physical presence with minimal means can contribute to building trust and team spirit. The article is addressed to specialists in the field of personnel management and all interested in modern technologies of labor management

GENDER-SPECIFIC INFLUENCE OF Aу MUTATION ON PROGENY METABOLIC PHENOTYPE, FETAL GROWTH AND PLACENTAL GENE EXPRESSION IN MICE

Obesity during pregnancy increases the risk of obesity in offspring. To correct the offspring development in obese mothers, it is necessary to reveal the molecular mechanisms that mediate the influence of the maternal environment on the offspring ontogenesis. Leptin levels increase with obesity. In C57Bl mice, the Ау mutation is associated with elevated blood levels of leptin in pregnant females and exerts a gender-specific effect on the metabolic phenotype of mature offspring. Aim: to study the influence of Ау mutation on sensitivity to diet-induced obesity in male and female offspring, on fetal and placental weight and on the expression of genes in the placentas of the fetuses of different sexes. Body weight and food intake on a standard and an obesogenic diet, fetal and placental weights on pregnancy days 13 and 18, and gene expression of glucose transporters (GLUT1, GLUT3), neutral amino acid transporters (SNAT1, SNAT2, SNAT4), insulin-like growth factor 2 IGF2 and its receptor IGF2R were measured in male and female offspring of и ɑ/ɑ (control) and Ау/ɑ mothers. Ay mutation influenced the body weight only in male offspring, which consumed a standard diet, and did not influence obesity development in both male and female offspring. The weight of fetuses and placentas in Ау/ɑ as compared to ɑ/ɑ  females was reduced on day 13 of pregnancy and was not different on day 18. On day 13 of pregnancy, the mRNA levels of the examined genes did not differ in placentas of male and female fetuses in ɑ/ɑ  females. In Ау/ɑ females, the gene expression of GLUT1, GLUT3, SNAT1 and SNAT4 was reduced in female placentas compared to male placentas. The results suggest that the sex-specific transcription response of placentas to elevated leptin levels in pregnant Ау/ɑ females can mediate the gender-specific impact of Ау mutation on the offspring metabolism in postnatal life

Cryopreservation of epididymal semen of domestic cat

Domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus) is used as a model species for developing effective methods of wild felids’ semen cryopreservation. The present study represents a comparison of domestic cat semen cryopreservation with two commercially available cryoprotectant agents (CPAs): CaniPlus Freeze (CPF) and SpermFreeze (SF). Semen was collected from the caudal epididymises of adult males and frozen with CPF and SF, correspondingly. The viability of frozen-thawed spermatozoa was evaluated by VitalScreen kit, staining with hematoxylin and eosin was performed for analysis of the spermatozoa morphology; both analyses were combined with the light microscopy. The viability rate of the frozenthawed semen cryopreserved with CPF and SF did not differ: 32.3±4.4 % for CPF and 43.3±4.0 % for SF. Total percentage of morphologically normal spermatozoa after freezing and thawing domestic cat semen was 26.0±2.3 % for CPF and 23.9±1.9 % for SF. In both cases, there were no differences from non-frozen semen, in the latter group the total percentage of spermatozoa with normal morphology was 29.0±4.1 %. The most frequent anomalies were the anomalies of tail, and the rarest anomalies were head defects. The percentages of spermatozoa with anomalies of the head, mid piece, tail and combined did not differ in these three groups. Taken together these results suggest that both CPAs are suitable for the purpose of domestic cat semen freezing and cryopreservation, although CPF was designed for Canidae semen cryopreservation and SF was developed for human semen freezing and so far was used exclusively in reproductive medicine. It might be concluded that these two commercially available cryoprotectant media are applicable for the purposes of domestic cat breeds’ semen cryopreservation

Association of genotypes of cows of the Kholmogory breed by beta-casein with milk productivity

The aim of the study is to identify the frequency of occurrence of various allelic variants and genotypes of beta-casein in cows of the Kholmogory breed and their relationship with dairy productivity. The tasks of the research are genotyping of cattle of the Kholmogory breed by the beta-casein locus and establishing its connection with qualitative and quantitative indicators of dairy productivity. As the objects for the research there were taken 150 cows of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd lactation. An allele-specific variant of the PCR method (AS-PCR) was used to identify A1 and A2 beta-casein. As the result it had been established that in the studied part of the herd, 23 % of animals had the A2A2 genotype, 43 % of animals had the A1A1 genotype and 34 % of animals had the A1A2 genotype. For 100 days of the first lactation, animals with A1A2 genotype showed the highest value in milk yield. Animals with A2A2 genotype for 305 days of lactation had the highest milk yield and the amount of milk protein, however, the difference was not statistically significant compared to the animals with A1A2 genotype. Genotype A1A1 has lower indicators by all the parameters studied, with a significant difference relative to genotypes A1A2 and A2A2. Thus, the study of CSN2 is a promising area of scientific research, and the results of the study of beta-casein genotypes can be used as a marker selection in improving the herds of the Kholmogory breed

Comparison of in vivo and in vitro preimplantation embryo development in OXYS and WAG rats

OXYS rats are the model of precocious senescence. Numerous studies addressed physiology and behavior in rats of this strain during a postnatal period of their life, however, preimplantation development in OXYS rats has not yet been investigated. This study is addressing preimplantation embryonic development in OXYS rats both in vivo and in vitro. Rats of the WAG strain were used as controls. For studying the in vivo development, the embryos were collected from OXYS and WAG rats on day 5 post coitum, the stages of embryo development were estimated, the percentage of embryos at blastocyst stage and the cell numbers in these blastocysts were counted. In a special experiment, for studying in vitro development, the embryos were collected from both rat strains on day 4 post coitum and were cultured in vitro in P1 medium for 48 hours with or without supplementation with IGF-1 (200 ng/mL). Thereafter the percentage of embryos at blastocyst stage and the cell numbers in these blastocysts were counted in the same manner as for the in vivo experiment. This study reports that in vivo derived blastocysts of OXYS rats contain fewer cells on day 5 of their development than in vivo derived blastocysts of WAG rats. In vitro culture of the early preimplantation embryos in P1 medium mitigated the difference in the rate of embryo development between these two strains, the addition of IGF-1 into culture medium exerts neither negative nor positive effect on the rate of in vitro embryo development in rats of both strains

Genome resource banking in the family Felidae

Many of the extant Felidae species are endangered or vulnerable. Others being not endangered as a whole species contain endangered subspecies. Only a very few cat species, besides domestic cats, are not in the risk group. Cryopreservation of embryos and gametes is a modern approach for ex situ mammalian genetic resources conservation. Freezing of semen has been successfully applied to the domestic cat and to more than 25 wild members of this family. However, embryos/oocytes cryopreservation was successful for only a small number of felids. Domestic cat and four wild Felidae species produced offspring after cryopreservation and subsequent embryo transfer. Regarding freezing of oocytes, so far different cryopreservation methods are still being experimentally tried exclusively for domestic cat. Genome Resource Bank (GRB) containing frozen semen of Amur leopard cat, bobcat and Eurasian lynx was established at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Novosibirsk. As a result of this project, original methods of feline semen freezing have been developed; embryos of domestic cat have been successfully frozen as well. Approaches to freeze domestic cat’s oocytes have also been tried. During this work, we combined biological and physical methods. In particular, the process of freezing embryos and oocytes was monitored with Raman spectroscopy. Different methods of frozen-thawed spermatozoa and embryonic viability testing were used in this study, including vital staining and subsequent fluorescent and light microscopy, and heterologous in vitro fertilization