Unconditional Support Research Articles

Current Status and Challenges of Korean Medical School Admissions Policies

Medical school admission policies vary from country to country. In Korea, medical school admission policies reflect the policy choices made by the Ministry of Education. After the Korean War, universities implemented their own entrance exams, and since then, various admissions processes have been implemented with consideration of the fairness of the exam and the increase in private education expenses. The introduction of the medical graduate school system has led many universities to implement tests separate from the academic ability test. Currently, 40 medical schools have been approved by the government and are responsible for providing medical education, but there is a growing movement to open new medical schools in various regions. The excessive interest in medical school admissions in Korea is creating an unfavorable social atmosphere, where academies are even being operated for elementary school students to help them achieve an eventual goal of entering medical school. Furthermore, an irresponsible and sudden increase in the number of students admitted to medical school is causing a disruption in medical education. Medical schools need unconditional government support to strengthen their role in the community and the nation, and policy consideration is needed to ensure that universities are as autonomous as possible.

Impact of Unconditional Support to Reduce Food Insecurity During the Pandemic of Covid 19

Vulnerable populations are always highly affected by any disaster. They have deficient coping capacity as they depend on daily income activities and need a diversified source of income. So, those people are highly impacted by any disease. The result of such a disaster may lead to food insecurity. Methods: For the survey, 1,598 people who got unconditional support were under consideration. Out of the total population, 317 samples were surveyed using proportionate random sampling for the study. The research methodology is a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) with a Pretest-Posttest Design. A smart survey through KOBO tools was done using trained local enumerators. Data collected through the survey was downloaded to Excel and analysed using Excel. Results: Cereals (99%) was the most consumed food type, while white tuber and root (2.2%) were the least consumed. Food consumed in four or more types increased from 42% to 87%. Livelihood Coping Strategies indicator (L-CSI) was used as a descriptor of a household’s coping capacity alongside the R-CSI. The responses were categorized into stress, crisis, and emergency strategies. The number of HHs under the crisis category reduced from 15.4% to 4.1%. Similarly, the number of households under the Emergency category reduced from 12.3% to 3.8%, and the number of crises reduced from 58.2 % to 6.8% Conclusion: The study showed from the calculation R-CS that conditional support of the vulnerable people increased by nearly one-third (35%) within a month of support and helped them with coping strategies.

Can Ethnic Minority Political Parties Influence the Policy Process in Fragmented Societies? Insights from Sri Lanka

Existing scholarship from developing countries explores the dynamics of identity/ethnocentric politics and finds that in fragmented societies, politicians’ identities tend to influence government policies to favour their own community or group. Against this backdrop, the article explores how the Hill Country ethnic minority community of Sri Lanka influences the policy process through electoral politics. Findings reveal that ethnic minority parties systematically use rational choice theory to influence policy processes to gain material and welfare benefits. The study highlights the fact that ethnic parties tend to induce strong ethnic feelings using ethno-populism to mobilize voters, provide unconditional support, maintain an ever-changing coalition with the ruling administration and have political bargaining based on ethnic headcounts to influence policies. The article informs that this pattern is harmful to post-conflict societies striving for sustainable peace and reconciliation and highlights the necessity of inclusive and impartial policies and institutions, political consolidation and inter-ethnic justice to accommodate ethnic minorities in the mainstream politics and development to prevent deepening ethnopolitical cleavages in the guise of electoral politics.

Global North–South Reparations: Demand‐side and Supply‐side Policies with a Dynamic View of International Trade and Finance

ABSTRACTThis study begins with an overview of illustrative scenarios that historically have resulted in imbalances of economic well‐being, growth and stability which demarcate the Global South and the Global North. The authors examine alternative approaches to reparations for those structural imbalances, from monetary transfers that are more likely to have demand‐side implications to capacity‐building approaches that are more likely to affect supply‐side conditions for the Global South. Targeted supply‐side strategies lean more towards rehabilitation rather than purely compensatory measures aimed at redress for historical injustices and exploitations faced by the Global South. Economic analysis underpins a discussion of these different reparations strategies. The authors argue that a dynamic approach to understanding the impact of reparations is essential. This calls for a broader strategy to be adopted, offering unconditional support in practical areas such as industrial policy, investment in manufacturing, capacity building in research and development, and initiatives for general infrastructure development. More importantly, these policies must be guided by the needs identified by the people of the nations in the Global South. Moreover, for any reparations endeavours to have enduring effects, they must be reinforced by the elimination of current external imbalances that exist within the frameworks of international economic relations.

Dealing with callers' racialised talk in suicide preventive helplines: Accomplishing (anti)racism in the context of unconditional support.

This article investigates how mental health counsellors on helplines in Sweden deal with racism from callers who self-categorise as non-racialised. Previous studies have identified racism as a problem in health care interactions, but there is limited knowledge about the features of racialised talk and how staff respond. In this study, we use conversation analysis and membership categorisation analysis to examine racialised talk in 17 audiorecorded calls, a subset of 458 calls to suicide preventive helplines. The analysis shows that racialisation functions as a resource for callers to make sense of their mental health difficulties. This speaks to the complexity of responding to racism in a mental health setting, as counsellors must see to callers' needs, and calling out racialised talk may alienate callers. Call-takers manage this problem in three ways: (1) questioning racialised talk, (2) supporting the callers' stance in a way that makes it ambiguous if call-takers are coproducing racism or affiliating with callers' lives being difficult and (3) supporting callers' problems as mental health issues while resisting a potentially racist trajectory. The study offers direct insight into the workings of racism in health care and how practitioners can balance health care users' needs for support with an antiracist position.

PERSONNEL CERTIFICATION AS A COMPANY DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

The purpose of this article is to explore how personnel certification serves as a strategic tool for organisational development. It examines the importance of certifying employees as a means of enhancing organisational capability and competitiveness. By examining the role of certification in improving employee skills and knowledge, the article sheds light on its impact on organisational performance and growth. It also discusses how certified personnel contribute to building a skilled workforce, fostering innovation and meeting industry standards. Overall, the article highlights the importance of personnel certification as a proactive approach to advancing organisational development goals. The object of the study is the process of personnel certification and its impact on the company's development. Methodology. The use of an integrated method helps to eliminate formalism and subjectivity in personnel certification, increase openness and objectivity in the assessment, and stabilise the social and psychological climate in the team. When applying this method, a prerequisite is the unconditional support of the first manager, who should lead the personnel certification and implement its results through the HR services. Without it, certification will be formal and will not yield positive results. The comprehensive method of personnel evaluation integrates various assessment techniques to provide a holistic understanding of an individual's skills, competencies and performance within an organisation. It takes into account multiple factors such as job performance, behavioural characteristics and growth potential, allowing for a thorough analysis of an employee's contribution to the organisation. The comprehensive method of personnel evaluation is based on the use of groups of methods: descriptive method (biographical method; method of oral and written assessments, method of group discussions, method of standards, matrix method and method of free and compulsory choice of assessment situations); combined methods are methods based on the descriptive principle, but formalised with the help of conventional quantitative indicators (sum of scores method, method of specified groupings, testing). Research results. Evaluating personnel performance helps to attract and retain highly skilled and motivated employees, while analysing the effectiveness of recruitment strategies and methods will help to attract talented employees. Practical implications. The use of personnel evaluation methods will allow to understand how personnel certification contributes to creating a positive working environment and increasing the level of employee satisfaction; to study the impact of personnel certification strategies on the company's reputation among employees; to formulate specific recommendations for practical managers and personnel specialists for the successful implementation of personnel certification strategy; to develop strategic solutions aimed at increasing the competitiveness and stability of the company. Value/Originality. Personnel certification helps to improve internal and external communication, which contributes to a more effective exchange of information and helps to maintain unity among employees; it allows companies to adapt to changes in the labour market, creating attractive conditions for employees in new conditions. In general, effective personnel certification is determined by the ability not only to attract but also to retain talented employees, thus contributing to the sustainable development of the company in a competitive business environment.

‘LOOBAN’: A MULTIPLE-CASE STUDY ON DELINQUENCY OF TEENAGERS SHAPED BY DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES

Young people engage in delinquent behavior. It covers crimes against persons, crimes against things, crimes against public order, and drug offenses. Delinquent behavior is, therefore, an unmanageable activity that affects the community. This research presents the different experiences of three delinquent teenagers whose dysfunctional families shaped them in a community called “Sitio Looban” in the Philippines. This study utilized a qualitative multiple-case study to understand and describe the different stories of each participant-case. The study sought to answer the research questions about the family factors that contribute to the delinquency of teenagers, their delinquent experiences, and their feelings and thoughts as delinquent teenagers. The researchers used an in-depth interview to gather the necessary data from the informants. Within-case and cross-case analysis were used to analyze the data, wherein emerging themes were created to describe the family factors that contributed to the delinquency of the teenagers, which include broken family, poor parenting, home discord vis-à-vis peer influence, child neglect, poor family, and family binge drinking. Emerging themes were also created to discuss the delinquent experiences of teenagers, which involve theft, using counterfeit money, and gambling cheating. There were also emerging themes created to describe the feelings and thoughts of the delinquent teenagers, which include: unconditional love and support, happiness towards friendship, regrets, fear, embarrassment, and hatred and anger. This study supports the Strain Theory and Social Control Theory, which explain that negative relationships with family lead to delinquent behaviors in teenagers. Implications for practice and future researchers are provided in this paper.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0737/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Бюджетно-финансовое положение субъектов Российской Федерации: среднесрочные тенденции в региональном разрезе

The article is devoted to the changes in the fiscal and financial situation of Russian regions in 2020–2022. During this period, the regions faced a new challenge in the form of a pandemic. The author gives a quantitative assessment of the changes that have occurred, analyzes the features of support measures and the regional policy being implemented. The article examines changes in the parameters of regional budget revenues, budget deficits and debt burden. In addition, the author identifies a group of regions with maximum changes in per capita budget revenues and the factors that caused these changes. The author pays special attention to measures in the field of debt policy, methodology for equalization grant allocation, as well as demographic characteristics affecting regional expenditures. The article presents proposals for possible further improvement of the system of interbudgetary fiscal relations, including approaches to the provision of unconditional gap-filling financial support.

Some young adults can maintain good oral health despite socioeconomic challenges.

The association between dental caries experience and socioeconomic status, as reflected in income and educational level, is well known. However, some individuals maintain good health despite socioeconomic disadvantage. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore salutogenic (health-promoting) factors among healthy caries-free young adults of low socioeconomic status. Seventeen participants (11 women), 19-23 years of age, who were caries-free and of low socioeconomic status were interviewed in-depth. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach. The theme revealed was 'Building trust and shifting responsibility from parent to child throughout children's development lays the salutogenic foundation for oral health', comprising three categories: (i) a basis for health; (ii) creating one's own path by testing wings; and (iii) developing resources for health. A feeling of trust was expressed, participants were confident in the unconditional support of their caregivers, and caregivers were trusting participants to be able to take control over their own oral health. Health-promotive factors were established not only by instilling healthy habits during childhood, but also by parental guidance through adolescence, enabling young adults to develop resources and assets to take control over their own health independently.

Doctrinal Approaches to the Problem of the Influence of a Fundamental Change in Circumstances on the Operation of Treaties

The paper is devoted to the study of the views on the problem of the influence of a fundamental change in circumstances on the operation of treaties that existed in the science of international law before the adoption of the Vienna Convention on the Law of International Treaties of 1969. The author analyzes the following approaches, common in international legal science, to the problem of applying the rebus sic stantibus clause in interstate contractual practice: its unconditional support; her denial; recognition of the admissibility of using a clause in the presence of a number of conditions.Based on the study of special scientific literature, conclusions are drawn regarding the validity and acceptability of each of the approaches, which to a certain extent contributes to a proper understanding of the true meaning of the current conventional norm on the impact of a fundamental change in circumstances on international treaties. An analysis of the first approach, which assumes the right of any of the states party to the treaty to refuse to implement it in the event of such a change in circumstances that seriously affects the fundamental rights of this state, leads to the conclusion that in the absence of clear criteria for the use of a clause, it is almost impossible to reliably answer the question of whether after a change in circumstances, the implementation of the contract will threaten the fundamental rights of the state. The denial of the rebus sic stantibus clause was argued either by challenging its legal essence or by stating its inconsistency with the principle of pacta sunt servanda. The third approach, which is the most realistic, won approval at the UN Vienna Conference on the Law of Treaties and was normatively enshrined in the Vienna Convention of 1969, which ultimately made it possible to remove uncertainty regarding the impact of a fundamental change in circumstances on the operation of international treaties.

Evolution after the COVID of the invisibility of precarities (ECOVIP): Overview of an action research project to decipher the urban factory of invisibility

Due to weak economies or ill-adapted public policies aggravated by the pandemic, official services dedicated to the unconditional reception and support of people in psychosocial distress in large urban areas are often put to the test. Here is the approach of the action research “Evolution after COVid-19 of the Invisibility of Precarities” (ECOVIP) dedicated to this phenomenon, as well as its first results concerning the precarity of unemployed “young” seniors (50-64 years old) in Lyon, France. This participative research is based on workshops that bring together professionals from both the front-line psychosocial field and other fields such as employment or work, and in which they are offered a free expression of their lived situations of reception of precarious people. The first results provided by the scientific and transparent analysis of these exchanges show both a fairly precise understanding of the institutional decision leading to increasing invisibility, and the emergence of innovative professional resources capable of curbing it.

Experiences of Parents of Trans and Non-Binary Children Living in the Region of Quebec

The coming out process differs for everyone, and parents may experience difficulties such as external stress, ostracism and finding local services. Access to resources is, therefore, fundamental, and parents need support in accompanying their children. Methods: This research was carried out in two waves. Firstly, data collection began with parents of TNB children living in the Gaspésie, Bas-Saint-Laurent and Îles-de-la-Madeleine regions, who participated in five group meetings. Secondly, nine in-depth interviews were conducted with parents living in the province of Quebec, outside major urban centres. Results: This article presents the synergy between the two waves of data collection. The results show that parents report various experiences of vulnerability in the process of accepting their children’s gender identity. Despite this, the families we met provided their children with unconditional support to help them navigate various service structures. Conclusions: Although parents of TNB children living in regional areas face similar difficulties to their urban peers, the lack of resources and access to services limits their options, contributing to their isolation. As a result, these parents must employ strategies to initiate change and improve their conditions.

Covering the invasion of Ukraine on Russia's evening TV news

This article examines the coverage of the first few weeks of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian TV in the evening news program, Vremya ( Time) on the Russian prostate Channel One. The purpose of the study was to find out how Russia's main news program built its agenda and what its message was for the audience. For this, the study conducted a content analysis of the news, measuring the type, frequency and duration of topics, sources and points of view, specific narratives, and tone. The results of the analysis showed that television news was a part of the state's information policy to clarify the goals and objectives of the invasion and to promote the psychological mobilization of society around the political leadership, in the face of the West's unconditional support for Ukraine.

Different Approaches to Managerial Support for Flexible Working: Implications for Public Sector Employee Well-Being

Improving well-being is an important human resource management issue within public sector organizations as it is linked with improved employee and organizational outcomes. A key antecedent to employee well-being is work–life balance, which can be supported or impeded by flexible working. The extent to which flexible working supports work–life balance and, ultimately, well-being depends on how flexible working is implemented, where managers play a central role. Managers can enable work–life balance by providing employees with work-family-specific support, which incorporates a range of behaviors, including facilitating access to flexible working. However, research to date says little about how and why managers engage in these behaviors and whether this differs within the same organizational context. This article addresses this gap, presenting four approaches to managerial support for flexible working: unconditional support, performance contingent support, no support, and support based upon the approval of others (transfer responsibility). It explores the reasons for each approach through the lens of Conservation of Resources (COR) theory. It suggests that different approaches create the potential for employee well-being to vary considerably within the same organizational and team context. These findings inform how to support and manage flexible working arrangements in ways that optimize well-being in the public sector.

Політико-психологічні особливості осіб – прихильників різних сценаріїв підвищення рівня довіри до влади в умовах війни

B a c k g r o u n d . It was emphasized that due to the fact that in 2024 the planned change of power in Ukraine due to martial law will not take place, trust in the government will be the main source of ensuring its legitimacy. The study of the dynamics and structure of political trust, as well as the characteristics of people who are supporters of various scenarios of increasing the level of trust in the authorities, is an issue that is relevant not only of the theoretical side, but also from the position of ensuring a timely response to public requests to ensure the stability and support of the internal potential for the country's fight against the enemy. M e t h o d s . The methods of online survey of respondents using questionnaires and a panel of psychological methods were used to study the level of political participation, values, cognitive orientation (locus of control), and the level of paternalism in relation to government institutions. Content analysis was used to analyse the political discourse in social networks regarding the conditions for increasing trust in the authorities in wartime conditions. The scales selected on its basis were offered for evaluation by our subjects. R e s u l t s . Three groups of respondents with different levels of trust in the authorities were distinguished: complete distrust, partial distrust and unconditional trust. The political and psychological features of people with different levels of trust in the authorities were analysed, in particular differences in the level of political participation, orientation of the locus of control, political preferences of groups with partial and unconditional support of the authorities were revealed. The conditions put forward in the discourse on social networks as significant for maintaining / increasing trust in the current government were analyzed, as well as the analysis of differences in the importance of certain conditions in our subjects with different characteristics. C o n c l u s i o n s . A decrease in the level of trust in the authorities in the conditions of the prolongation of the war is demonstrated, a significant list of complaints against the actions of the current government is highlighted (increasing tendency to authoritarianism, lack of transparency in communication, insufficient actions to fight corruption, transfer of the economy to military rails, etc.) and a corresponding list of conditions that put forward various groups in order to return / increase trust in the authorities.

Zombification of the economy? Assessing the effectiveness of French government support during COVID-19 lockdown

This paper evaluates the risk of zombification of the French economy during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, as a result of the unconditional financial support provided to firms by public authorities, to limit the impact of lockdown measures. We develop a simple theoretical framework based on a partial-equilibrium model to simulate the liquidity and solvency stress faced by a large panel of French firms and assess the impact of government support. Simulation results suggest that those policies helped healthy but illiquid firms to withstand the shock caused by the pandemic. Moreover, the analysis finds no evidence of a “zombification effect”, as less productive companies did not disproportionately benefit from government support.

The Eastern Question in the Views of the Russian Liberals of the Early 20th Century

The study deals with the attitude of Russian liberals of the early 20th century to the Eastern question, which occupied a special place in international politics and whose aggravation became one of the factors leading to the World War I. Various political forces in Russia developed their own variants of its solution, realizing that the fate not only of the country, but of the whole world largely depended on the projects they proposed. The analysis of the liberals’ ambiguous perception of the Russian government’s actions in the Balkans, their attitude to the South Slavs, to the problem of the Black Sea Straits, and to the confrontation between the great powers united in alliances, i.e. all aspects of the Eastern question, will allow us to reconstruct and understand the liberals’ understanding of the connection between foreign policy and Russia’s internal development, national interests, and ideological values. Looking at the views of the liberals of the early 20th century on the Eastern question reveals not only the peculiarities of its perception by the ruling elite and representatives of the legal opposition, but also the roots of the growing alienation of the country’s elite from the people. It was this alienation, which intensified during the war years and manifested itself, among other things, in the different perceptions of the importance of the Eastern question by the authorities, the liberals, and the people, that led to the fall of the first liberal Provisional Government in the spring of 1917. As a result, the people tired of the war and unable to understand the meaning of Russia’s struggle for foreign lands, came to support the Bolsheviks, who exposed the “imperialist plans” of the Provisional Government and advocated peace without annexations and contributions. The paper touches upon the problem of the liberals’ attitude not only to the government’s foreign policy, but also to Russian statehood, the conceptual reasons for their transition from a restrained peace-loving position and the desire to prevent war to its unconditional support. The authors identify the ideological and foreign policy factors that influenced this liberal transit. The main attention is paid to the understanding of representatives of various liberal movements of the Eastern question, which, without exaggeration, took a central place not only in their foreign policy program, but also in the project of internal transformations, which envisaged the creation of Great Russia as a result of its solution. The study identifies and analyzes the innovations introduced by the liberals in the interpretation of the Eastern question under the influence not only of the changing international situation, political and economic modernization of Russia, which was becoming a “Duma monarchy,” but also of the development of the ideology itself; the peculiarities of its perception by representatives of various liberal currents in the country are examined.

The Evolution of Human Sociality. Categorizations, Emotions, and Friendship

This overview describes the ambivalent result of humans’ evolution towards a social and cooperative species. The evolution of friendship, based on commitment rituals and norms, solved the problem of defection in reciprocal altruism. The social brain implies the cognitive capacity of “mentalizing” and of keeping track of the reputation of group members, but, equally as importantly, generates strong emotions depending on the degree of social integration or social exclusion. Strong emotions linked to categories of social relationships, in particular to friends who we regard as almost irreplaceable, generate commitment and reduce social transactions costs and thereby facilitate cooperation. A multilevel perspective on social categorizations reveals, however, that a similar mechanism applies between cultural groups, owing to cultural group-level selection. Humans apply categorical distinctions within and between groups. They distinguish in-group and out-group members by cultural markers, and, in addition, between friends and others. In this perspective, cultural markers generate categorizations and emotions that facilitate unconditional support if required, but can also result in out-group rejection, and, in combination with neurochemicals, in dehumanization as well.

The Role of Higher Education in the Development of United European Values During the Post-War Reconstruction of Ukraine

The article actualizes the role of university education in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. It is emphasized that in the context of Ukraine’s European integration progress and the need to unite Ukrainian society, it is increasingly important to promote, support and develop European values among young Ukrainians – higher education students who will participate in the restoration and development of Ukraine after the end of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Based on sociological research, the authors trace the dynamics of changing value orientations in Ukrainian society from a moderate and sceptical attitude to European integration and a fragmented and contradictory view of European values to unconditional support for the benefits of a democratic European model of social development. Sociological studies show the leading role of young people in perceiving and supporting the values of the United Europe, democratic transformations in Ukraine, respect for rights and freedoms, and the rule of law. The authors focus on the experience of Ukrainian universities in informing, teaching and promoting European values among higher education students from different regions of Ukraine. The authors propose tools for further development of European values during the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine through the introduction of educational programs, disciplines and modules of the Erasmus+ program: Jean Monnet. An important task of higher education is the introduction of educational programs for training specialists for the de-occupied territories, which will ensure effective governance, restoration of democratic mechanisms, social cohesion of Ukrainian society, and removal of possible contradictions and tensions in the de-occupied communities. The key role of higher education in peacekeeping is emphasized.

Lebensraum, geopolitics and race—Palestine as a feminist issue in German-speaking academia

Palestine continues to be a contentious issue in and for Western higher education particularly in Germany and, by extension, in German-speaking academia. In this article we take figurations of Palestine as an analytical lens through which to trouble German-centric epistemologies, understandings of history and their applications inside academic structures. We specifically tackle the silence on and ideological erasure of Palestine in German-speaking academic environments and read this erasure as colonially constituted and stemming from a German Lebensraum ideology, ruling over space and race ‘through science’. We propose to understand contemporary erasures of Palestine through this transnational and transhistorical space-race-and-education-nexus. First, we delineate Lebensraum ideology and its policing barriers and apply it to today’s structures of higher education and the territorial exclusion of Palestinians from those structures by way of education. Within this epistemic nationalist framework—which evicts politicized Palestinians qua Palestinians as (too) political—we discuss how Palestine has become a central tool for the maintenance of white academia, and as such is a decolonial feminist issue relevant for the investigation of power structures in higher education and German political discourses. We finally discuss our theoretical approach vis-à-vis commentaries from and by Palestinians in German-speaking higher education. The authors situate their personal and professional experience on the inside, outside, and on the margins of German academia. In a political landscape that disavows BDS on campuses, brands solidarity with Palestinians as anti-Semitic, and a state doctrine that calls for an uncritical and ‘unconditional support of Israel’, this article is of crucial importance to understand modern knowledge production in Germany and Europe. Our methodology is based on literature reviews, new feminist theorization around issues of silence and solidarity, and preliminary (auto-) ethnographic explorations of Palestinians in and out of German-speaking academia.