There and Back Again: Post-return experiences of Highly-skilled Belarusian professionals

The research lies at the intersection of two large social research areas—highly skilled migration and return migration—and aims to provide a contribution to the studies of sending countries by focusing on post-return experiences of highly skilled professionals in the Belarusian context. Thus, I explore public attitudes toward migration issues in Belarus; investigate the dynamics of return migration among highly skilled migrants; analyse the complexities of highly skilled people’s lifestyles; and study in which ways they apply socio-cultural remittances to different spheres of their lives. Among the main results of this research are the following. This study has conceptualised return in relation to the transnational involvement of returnees, by introducing the concepts of ‘locally oriented’- and ‘transnationally oriented style of life’. These ideal types of post-return lifestyle differ in degree of mobility, attitudes toward home, consumption practices, and type of employment. International experience of living abroad seems to have had a substantial effect on individual styles of life in terms of transnational orientation. However, it appears to be quite heterogeneous and has evident gender differences in its manifestations. Moreover, I argue that formation and transmission of socio-cultural remittances are strongly heterogeneous and selective processes, which manifest themselves to varying degrees not only in different people, but also in different aspects of people’s lives. The analysis of several socio-cultural remittances in private and public spheres showed that under certain conditions, the formation of ‘reactive’ socio-cultural remittances occurred. What is more, in some cases the socio-cultural remittances appeared to have strong gender differences. The results draw on qualitative content analysis of three online discussions (almost 19 thousand posts) and 43 in-depth interviews with highly skilled Belarusian returnees

Measures of Learning, Memory and Processing Speed Accurately Predict Smoking Status in Short-term Abstinent Treatment-seeking Alcohol-dependent Individuals

Aim: Chronic cigarette smoking appears to adversely affect several domains of neurocognition in those with alcohol use disorders (AUDs). The primary goal of this study was to identify which measures commonly used to assess neurocognition in AUDs accurately predict smoking status of individuals seeking treatment of alcohol dependence. Methods: Treatment-seeking alcohol-dependent participants (ALC; n = 92) completed a comprehensive neuropsychological battery after 33 ± 9 days of abstinence. Measures significantly different between smoking and non-smoking ALC were entered as predictors in binary logistic regression and discriminant analysis models, with smoking status as the dependent variable. Results: Smoking ALC performed significantly worse than non-smoking ALC on measures assessing processing speed, auditory–verbal and visuospatial learning and memory. Using these measures as predictors, a logistic regression model accurately classified 91% of smokers and non-smokers into their respective groups overall and accounted for 68% of the variance in smoking status. The discriminant analysis confirmed the findings from the logistic regression. In smoking ALC, smoking chronicity was inversely related to performance on multiple measures after controlling for lifetime alcohol consumption. Conclusions: Measures of processing speed, learning and memory robustly predicted the smoking status of ALC with high sensitivity and specificity during early abstinence. The results identified specific measures within a comprehensive neurocognitive battery that discriminated smoking and non-smoking alcohol-dependent individuals with a high sensitivity and specificity. The association of greater smoking chronicity and poorer performance on multiple measures after control for alcohol consumption suggests that chronic smoking adds an additional burden to neurocognitive function in those with alcohol dependence

Коклюш у ребенка первого месяца жизни из семейного контакта

A case of whooping cough in a moderate form in a child of the first month of life is described in the presented clinical observation. The moderate form was manifested by the duration of the preconvulsive period up to 5 days, the appearance of cyanosis of the face when coughing in the early stages of the disease (1 week), an increase in the number of coughing attacks. The difficulties of treating pertussis in young children are demonstrated by our observation of the course of the disease. There is no vaccination against pertussis in children in the family due to the refusal of parents and children with prolonged coughing were not examined at the outpatient stage. As a result, chemoprophylaxis was not performed on time and the newborn was discharged from the hospital to the center of pertussis infection. The solution to the problem of reducing the incidence in children in the first months of life should be vaccination of pregnant women in the last stages, and vaccination of the environment, including agerelated revaccinations. В представленном клиническом наблюдении описан случай коклюша у ребенка первого месяца жизни, протекавшего в среднетяжелой форме. Среднетяжелая форма проявлялась длительностью предсудорожного периода до 5 дней, появлением цианоза лица при кашле в ранние сроки болезни (1 неделя), нарастанием числа приступов кашля до 19 в сутки. Наше наблюдение за течением заболевания демонстрирует сложности терапии коклюша у детей раннего возраста. Обращает на себя внимание отсутствие вакцинации против коклюша у детей в семье в связи с отказом родителей и несвоевременное обследование детей с длительным кашлем на амбулаторном этапе. Вследствие этого не проводилась своевременная химиопрофилактика, и новорожденный ребенок был выписан из роддома в очаг коклюшной инфекции. Решением проблемы снижения заболеваемости коклюшем у детей первых месяцев жизни должна быть вакцинация беременных на последних сроках, а также вакцинация окружения, в том числе и возрастные ревакцинации.

MANUEL CASTELLS: THE IMPACT OF THE NETWORK SOCIETY ON THE NATURE OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS

The article deals with Manuel Castells’ theory of network society, corrected and updated according to the new events happened during the last 10 years. The author of the theory registers the major signals of the changing processes in the modern society, happening due to the expansion of networks in the age of technological innovations. Сhanges affected the global economy, finance, structure of labor, migration, the velocity , role and individual's perception of time. An unprecedented increase of urbanization in the world happened as well. The society became multiethnic. The network structure of the society leads to the uprise of a fundamentally new form of communication called mass selfcommunications. The launched process reduces the elitist role of the official issuer of information i.e. the information flows going vertically, and increases the importance of information published in open spaces on the Internet by individuals i.e. information flows going horizontally from individuals to individuals. New technologies let any individual create its own informational system using the Internet and mobile communication tools. Despite the appearance of mass self-communications in an atmosphere of high social instability, this form of communication turns up to be an effective tool in the matrix of social interaction in the Internet. An accelerated growth in number of mass self-communications’ users is being registered due to the revolutionary changes in the field of communication technologies which made wireless mobile communication devices able to stay connected to the Internet almost continuously. Wireless communication becomes the dominant form of communication in the world, being the fastest-spreading communication technology in history. In this regard the role and form of issue of information in mass-media changes. Synergy between mass-communication and all other forms of communication appeared. The result of this process is the emergence of a radically new culture of communication in modern society

The Complexity of Return: Socio-Cultural Remittances of Highly Skilled Belarusians

This article investigates the post-return experiences of highly skilled Belarusian professionals. I concentrate on the socio-cultural aspects of highly skilled migration and view returnees as carriers of new experiences, ideas, and practices by studying the ways in which they apply various socio-cultural remittances to the different spheres of their lives. In particular, I argue that the formation and transmission of socio-cultural remittances are strongly heterogeneous and selective processes, which manifest themselves to varying degrees not only in different people, but also in different aspects of people’s lives. The analysis of several socio-cultural remittances in private and public spheres shows that in some cases the socio-cultural remittances display strong gender differences. Moreover, the highly skilled returnees appear to be proactive remitters: some of them re-interpret and transform the socio-cultural remittances before transmitting them. The research draws on the analysis of 43 in-depth interviews with highly skilled professionals who returned to Belarus after long periods of time spent abroad

Mechanisms of Social Consolidation in the Network Society

During the last five years the world has seen the emergence of mass global and regional social movements outside of institutional structures representing open systems with a spontaneous nature. These social movements do not have any tangible hierarchy and leaders; information within the movement activity is spread virally and mainly using new electronic communication tools - namely, mass self-communication constituting spaces of communication autonomy beyond the control of governments. A feature of the new type of social movements is their emergence in virtual space. Such mass movements manifest intensified consolidation processes in the modern society - due to fundamentally new factors. New practical mechanisms of consolidation amid an increase in the proportion of young people in countries are directly linked with technological developments that influenced in essence communication and changes in the established modern informational society. Virtual mass self-communication becomes the main practical mechanism for social consolidation in the modern informational society. The consolidation process intensifies due to government legitimacy crisis and loss of public trust in government and indicates an emergence of a new form of a civil society

Mechanisms of Social Consolidation in the Network Society

During the last five years the world has seen the emergence of mass global and regional social movements outside of institutional structures representing open systems with a spontaneous nature. These social movements do not have any tangible hierarchy and leaders; information within the movement activity is spread virally and mainly using new electronic communication tools - namely, mass self-communication constituting spaces of communication autonomy beyond the control of governments. A feature of the new type of social movements is their emergence in virtual space. Such mass movements manifest intensified consolidation processes in the modern society - due to fundamentally new factors. New practical mechanisms of consolidation amid an increase in the proportion of young people in countries are directly linked with technological developments that influenced in essence communication and changes in the established modern informational society. Virtual mass self-communication becomes the main practical mechanism for social consolidation in the modern informational society. The consolidation process intensifies due to government legitimacy crisis and loss of public trust in government and indicates an emergence of a new form of a civil society

The Use of "Lepbuk" Technology in the Study of Mathematics in Primary School

В магістерській роботі розглядається проблема використання технології «лепбук» при вивченні математики в початковій школі. Теоретично обґрунтовано, впорядковано і впроваджено в освітній процес початкової школи (уроки математики) ефективні методи і прийоми технології лепбук в початковій школі відповідно до кожного з її етапів. Ефективність використання проєктної технології при вивченні математики в початковій школі доведена визначенням рівня сформованості технології лепбук молодших школярів.The master's thesis considers the problem of using "Lepbuk" technology in the study of mathematics in primary school. Theoretically substantiated, streamlined and implemented in the educational process of primary school (mathematics lessons) effective methods and techniques of laptop technology in primary school in accordance with each of its stages. The effectiveness of the use of project technology in the study of mathematics in primary school has been proven by determining the level of formation of Lepbuk technology in primary school students