Historiographic issues regarding the position of the orthodox and roman catholic churches in soviet Ukraine in the years 1920–1930

The aim of this article is to identify the features of the researchers’ approach to the study of the history of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic clergy in the 1920s and 1930s in Soviet Ukraine. Methodological tools of the research cover a set of basic research methods: historiographical analysis, synthesis, typology of scientific areas, comparative analysis and more. The novelty of the study is that from a new point of view highlights the importance of Christian denominations in the modern socio-political process, clarifies the social status of Orthodox and Roman Catholic clergy in Ukraine in 1920-30’s. On the basis of the historiographical analysis of the available literature on this problem, it can be stated that this issue from the 1920s to the present day has been more or less analyzed by historians. There are some achievements in the study of this issue. In modern historiography, the study of the history of Christian denominations is one of the priority scientific areas. Despite the politicization of the works of Soviet authors of the second half of the 20th century, they thoroughly analyzed the development of Orthodoxy and Catholicism in the Russian Empire and on the territory of the USSR, studied the relations of these churches with the tsarist government, and later with the Soviet authorities. However, there are still a number of issues that need to be improved. The perspective of further developments can be the study of church bibliography, ethno-confessional composition of churches, inter-confessional relations, regional studies, documentary studies. Keywords: clergy, religion, Ukraine, spiritual values, Christian denomination

Determining an Optimal Structure of a Portfolio Containing Assets of Mature and Emerging Markets

In the modern world, derivatives on leading stock indices are very often the focus of attention of portfolio investors. Inclusion of such tools in a portfolio actually allows investing immediately in the economy of a particular country or its individual sector. The aim of the work is the formation of an optimal investment portfolio containing derivatives on stock indices of countries with mature and emerging stock markets. To achieve this goal, the study solves the following tasks: two optimal portfolios — the portfolio containing indices of developed countries and the portfolio containing indices of emerging countries — are formed; the mixed portfolio containing indices of both sectors is formed; a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of the resulting portfolios is carried out. To obtain an optimal portfolio structure, the Markowitz model is used. The results of applying this model allow to draw the following conclusions regarding the investment attractiveness of the stock market of mature and emerging economies. In terms of portfolio risk level, it is possible to obtain a couple of portfolios, one of which would contain only assets of mature markets, and the other — only assets of emerging ones. However, in this case, the level of profitability will be significantly lower in the portfolio consisting of assets of the mature sector. The mixed portfolio provides a much wider range of alternative investment options based on the efficient frontier, both in terms of the risk and profitability criterion

Fair Value Accounting Model for Stock Indices

When forming the risk portion of an investment portfolio, one may include into it both stocks of individual companies representing different sectors of the economy in different regions, and derivative financial instruments, such as futures on stock indices. The latter are an excellent instrument for investing in a country's stock, eliminating the necessity for the investor to solve the non-trivial problem of determining the optimal set of attractive assets, because, as a rule, the stock index includes the most successful companies in most industries. If one only decides to include stock indices in the portfolio on the basis of their current price, it can be assumed that in the moment one should invest in assets that have not gone up at all or enough, yet. However, this estimate is not objective, as indices have different volatility, and therefore, it is incorrect to compare the absolute size of the drawdown in crisis time, and those of the growth rate in the post-crisis period, if one wants to determine overvalued and undervalued assets. Obviously, when making the final decision on whether to include stock indices in the portfolio, it is also necessary to rely on the results of a fundamental analysis of these assets. So, the articles aims at determining the structure of the risk portion of the investment portfolio by identifying instruments that are underestimated in terms of their fundamental characteristics. To achieve the aim of the study, the following main tasks were solved: the initial set of exogenous factors influencing the dynamics of stock indices was determined; the parameters of the models of stock indices dependence on the factors influencing them are assessed, the corresponding projected values are calculated; a set of instruments is determined for including stock indices in the investment portfolio by comparing their real and model values. The models created make it possible to determine the optimal structure of an investment portfolio, which would include stock indices futures for such countries as Taiwan, Mexico, Brazil, Great Britain, Germany and the USA

Does shyness interact with peer group affiliation in predicting substance use in adolescence?

Cigarette use and binge drinking are risky behaviors emerging during adolescence. Although many beneficial factors are well documented, studies linking shyness to substance use are somehow conflicting, which may be due to the contribution of moderators. Therefore, the present study has 2 objectives: (a) to prospectively analyze the association between shyness and substance use during adolescence, and (b) to test the moderating role of peer group affiliation on the relationship between shyness and substance use. Participants are 1447 adolescents from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, a representative cohort of single-birth children born between 1997 and 1998 in the province of Quebec, Canada. Shyness was assessed at age 12 years. Peer group affiliation, as well as past year cigarette use and binge drinking were assessed at age 15 years. Logistic regressions were used to analyze the data. All analyses were carried out using weighted data accounting for the complex multistage sample design. Results show that shyness negatively predicts the use of tobacco and the occurrence of binge drinking while controlling for confounding variables. However, shyness does not interact with peer group affiliation in predicting substance use. This is the first study that confirms the presence of a negative relationship between shyness and substance use during adolescence over a 3-year period. Results suggest that shyness could exert a beneficial effect against substance use notwithstanding the adolescent’s social context

Methodological vector of professional training development of foreign language teachers

Until recently, the question of the methodological role in the professional activity of a teacher, depending on the peculiarities of the performed functions, has remained unexplored. Also, a number of urgent problems have not been fully studied. What is the actual connection between teaching methodology and methodology? What is the influence of methodology on teaching methodology? How can methodology help teachers while implementing their multifunctional professional tasks? This study can be divided into several stages: identification of the connection between the general methodology of teaching foreign languages and methodology (the first stage of the research); clarification of the main directions of the methodological function implementation of the theory of teaching foreign languages (second stage of the research); specifying the conditions of the successful implementation of the methodological function of teaching foreign languages theory (third stage of the research). The study not only reveals the connections between teaching methodology with methodology, but also identifies the prospects for the development of methodological thought in relation to the professional training of foreign language teachers. This prospect is closely related to the methodological function of teaching methodology. The implementation of the present function is aimed at the research, reconstruction and description of certain methods and value-based objects of language education as well as methodological reflection of scientific research conducted within the framework of the given study and the educational activity. The consideration of the teaching methodology from the point of view of methodology allows us to reveal the content and direction of the methodological function realisation within the given science as well as to provide arguments for the significance of the inclusion into the scientific vocabulary of such categories as ‘methodological consciousness’ and ‘methodological culture’

Personal Educational Medium of A Creative Teacher In The Continuing Education System

Along with the sociocultural, natural and technogenic life environments in the post-industrial society, the information environment, embodied by the media and the global Internet, is becoming the leading one. In the information environment, individual activity is transferred to the Internet. It includes professional activities mediated by distance technologies, social networking, Internet communities, personal sites, blogs, twitters, collections of scientific, educational, literary and artistic publications, news, movies, concerts, meetings, etc. In this context, the dual social role of the teacher as a provider and, at the same time, consumer of educational services is highlighted. The development of general and professional competencies (especially socio-communicative) affects the success of a teacher in the field of socialization, education and upbringing of young people in the society based on innovations and high technologies. The education system demands a teacher who is able to implement innovative changes in the educational process, requires fundamentally new technological support for innovations and involves the development of the relevant norms of innovative behavior and description of the models, types and methods of disseminating innovative pedagogical experience. Such a teacher meets the requirements of the Russian national project “Our New School” and should be one of the most important resources for modernizing the education system as a whole and, in particular, in terms of continuing professional development. High-quality performance of professional labor functions (training, educating, upbringing) implies the possession of competencies in the analysis, exchange and dissemination of innovative pedagogical technologies. Professional development of a teacher is impossible without the need to transmit the positive experience to wide pedagogical communities