From an Undergraduate Special Education Student to an Expert Researcher

Becoming an expert researcher is important for students majoring in special education. Studying the issue is relevant and urgent due to the fact that there are quite a number of diverse and flexible education forms for the persons with special educational needs; educational needs shape the preparation process of a universal teacher, the one who is willing to seek for innovative technologies and is capable of doing research. The goal of the article is to describe and systematize the effective organizational forms, methods, and techniques of personal and professional development for students who are to become future special education teachers capable of doing independent research. Methods used are observation and survey as a result of which 160 students studying in a special education program of Saratov State University were interviewed; the study revealed the dynamics of their self-assessment regarding their professional qualities and creative abilities. The study confirms the necessity to enhance the students’ personal, creative and research potential in various types of training, educational and social activities provided at the university. The procedural model of an expert researcher development created and proposed by the authors enables the possibility to focus on professional growth and self-improvement of future special education teachers. The proposed model can be recommended for use; its implementation is in accordance with the general educational trend to problem and project training using active methods of work with the teacher in the forms of scientific, creative, interactive collaboration

Improving the Effectiveness and Demand for Educational Programs in Financial Technologies

The research purpose is to develop proposals for improving the quality of education in the field of innovative financial technologies.Methods. The following methods were used in the research: theoretical methods, including review and analytical study, comparison and generalization methods, as well as empirical methods, such as expert assessments (questionnaire survey), and statistical methods (statistical observation). Conclusion. Analyzing the respondents’ assessment, the data were obtained that allowed revealing that in practice, the development of the labor market associated with digitalization faced certain problems. In particular, it was revealed that, despite the potential value of improving the quality of education in the field of financial technologies, increasing the level of knowledge and competencies, there was a problem associated with reducing jobs, which in turn increased an opportunity for developing the labor market. Based on the results obtained, conclusions were formulated demonstrating the relationship between the quality of training of labor forces and innovative changes in the economy within the educational process and educational programs

Taxonomic Composition of Protist Communities in the Coastal Stratified Lake Kislo-Sladkoe (Kandalaksha Bay, White Sea) Revealed by Microscopy

Lake Kislo-Sladkoe is a stratified water body partly isolated from the White Sea. Perennial meromixis in the lake irregularly alternates with mixing events. Taking into account that the protists of Arctic coastal stratified water bodies are understudied, we evaluated for the first time the vertical structure, species richness, and diversity of protists assigned to different taxonomic groups in Lake Kislo-Sladkoe using light, luminescent, and scanning electron microscopy. To test the research hypothesis that a mixing event affects the vertical stratification and species composition of protists in a stratified lake, we compared the protist communities of Lake Kislo-Sladkoe in two extremely different states: strong meromixis vs. full vertical mixing. A total of 97 morphologically distinct phototrophic, heterotrophic, and mixotrophic protists were revealed with the most diverse supertaxa SAR (59), Obazoa (9), and Excavates (14). The hidden diversity of protists (43 species) was a bit less than the active diversity (54 species). A taxonomic list and micrographs of cells for the observed protists are provided. The majority of species revealed are cosmopolitan or widespread in the northern sea waters. The vertical patterns of protist communities were absolutely different in 2018 and 2021. In July 2018, clearly distinct protist communities inhabited different layers of the lake. Bloom of cryptophyte Rhodomonas cf. baltica was detected in chemocline, whereas the maximum density of its grazers was observed in adjacent layers, mainly dinoflagellates Gymnodinium sp. and Scrippsiella trochoidea, as well as a ciliate Prorodon sp. In 2021 due to the recent mixing of lake and seawater, there were no distinct communities in the water column except the superficial 0–1 m layer of fresh water

Changing the rules of the game: an analysis of EU influence on electricity and gas liberalization: with a focus on the Baltic Sea Region, and future challenges to EU energy market regulation

This study analyses the expansion of the EU into energy market regulation. It shows that the limits to EU influence and, thereby, EU energy market regulation for the internal energy market, begin where EU influence affects national interests with regard to ensuring energy security. This scientifically established insight bears an important practical implication. The further development of EU energy market regulation as a cornerstone of the internal energy market faces a particular policy challenge: It is necessary to establish a regulatory framework for the internal electricity and gas market, which acknowledges the primacy of national energy security interests. This finding is important in the light of the new and increasing energy policy challenges that some Member States face today, not least as a result of a liberalized energy market. Moreover, in the context of new systemic risks arising from ongoing energy market integration, a politically unstable (in the worst case - collapsing) EU regulatory framework can cause significant social and economic costs for individual Member States. With regard to that, the study points to the increasingly complex policy areas that are made subject to EU integration and calls for more attention to the related regulatory and political risks - also with a view to the current euro crisis. Diese Studie analysiert die Expansion der EU in die Energiemarktregulierung. Sie zeigt, dass die Grenzen des EU Einflusses und damit des EU Regulierungsrahmens für den Energiebinnenmarkt dort beginnen, wo nationale Interessen mit Blick auf die Gewährleistung der Energieversorgungssicherheit tangiert werden. Diese Erkenntnis hat eine wichtige praktische Implikation. Die weitere Ausgestaltung der EU Energiemarktregulierung und damit des Fundaments des Energiebinnenmarktes steht vor einer besonderen politischen Herausforderung: Es gilt einen stabilen gemeinschaftlichen Regulierungsrahmens für den europäischen Strom- und Gasmarkt unter dem Primat nationaler Energiesicherheitsinteressen bereitzustellen. Dies ist von Bedeutung im Lichte wachsender und neuer energiepolitischer Herausforderungen für die einzelnen Mitgliedstaaten, nicht zuletzt als Folge eines liberalisierten Energiemarktes. In Anbetracht neuer systemischer Risiken, die sich aus einem integrierten europäischen Energiemarkt ergeben, kann ein politisch instabiler (im schlimmsten Fall kollabierender) gemeinschaftlicher Regulierungsrahmen für die Mitgliedstaaten hohe soziale und ökonomische Kosten nach sich ziehen. An dieser Stelle verweist die Studie auf die immer komplexeren Integrationsgegenstände der EU und fordert, dass den damit einhergehenden Risiken, regulatorischer und politischer Art, grössere Aufmerksamkeit zu schenken ist - gerade auch mit Blick auf die aktuelle Krise der Gemeinschaftswährung