Understudied Issues Research Articles

How Threat Mobilizes the Resurgence and Persistence of US White Supremacist Activism: The 1980s to the Present

Despite a centuries-long history of violent mobilization, white supremacist activism (WSA) has received relatively little sociological attention outside a small, specialized subfield. Disciplinary interest began to change after Trump's 2016 election; the 2017 violent attack in Charlottesville, Virginia; and the January 6, 2021, insurrection. In recognition, this review article focuses on what has been learned about contemporary WSA since the 1980s. We categorize studies by their unit of analysis—individual or micro, meso, and macro levels—to highlight analytic commonalities and distinctions and to underscore the central role that threat plays in the ebb and flow of WSA. As part of our discussion, we also point to unresolved and understudied issues. We conclude by identifying issues that future research should address.

Transfer Adaptation Learning: A Decade Survey.

The world we see is ever-changing and it always changes with people, things, and the environment. Domain is referred to as the state of the world at a certain moment. A research problem is characterized as transfer adaptation learning (TAL) when it needs knowledge correspondence between different moments/domains. TAL aims to build models that can perform tasks of target domain by learning knowledge from a semantic-related but distribution different source domain. It is an energetic research field of increasing influence and importance, which is presenting a blowout publication trend. This article surveys the advances of TAL methodologies in the past decade, and the technical challenges and essential problems of TAL have been observed and discussed with deep insights and new perspectives. Broader solutions of TAL being created by researchers are identified, i.e., instance reweighting adaptation, feature adaptation, classifier adaptation, deep network adaptation, and adversarial adaptation, which are beyond the early semisupervised and unsupervised split. The survey helps researchers rapidly but comprehensively understand and identify the research foundation, research status, theoretical limitations, future challenges, and understudied issues (universality, interpretability, and credibility) to be broken in the field toward generalizable representation in open-world scenarios.

Наука в позднесоветских вузах: регулирование, иерархии, взаимодействия

The introductory article problematizes the understudied issues of the institutional history of science in the late Soviet higher education (HE) from the 1950s to the 1980s, generalizing on the articles of the thematic issue. The authors depart from the idea of multiple modes of governance and the agency of universities and rely on a combination of “history from above” and “history from below”. Analyzing organizational forms along with insti-tutional logics, the authors find that the functioning of HE science was more complex than proponents of its “secondary” character and isolation from the academic and industrial sectors suggest. The increasing substantive and organizational complexity of HE science required more fine-tuned management. However, the development of non-directive regulatory mechanisms and informal interactions, while partially solving this problem, even led to increased tension under the dominance of command-administrative measures. The late Soviet period is charac-terized by the increasing complexity of HEI hierarchy in terms of the volume and nature of scientific research work (R&D). High competition led to the consolidation of a group of leading universities, which later became the forerunners of post-Soviet national research universities. Although HEIs demonstrated remarkable adaptabil-ity to changes in scientific and technological policies, their agentic strategies were reactive, tending to maintain the status quo rather than contribute to institutional changes. The late Soviet period was also marked by the im-plicit spread of pro-market logics and mechanisms of interaction, such as competition, contract research, effi-ciency discourse, economization, and quantification. It enables us to find the deep roots of neoliberal reforms in post-Soviet higher education in Soviet legacy.

Synchronization in synchromodality

One of the stepping stones towards the physical internet is synchromodality, which enables a seamless, flexible, and resilient interconnected network for door-to-door service. As its name suggests, synchronization is the core of synchromodality, but its concept is not yet clearly understood. This paper presents a classification of the literature on synchromodality based on proposed types of synchronization and discusses synchronization methods. Within the complexity of synchromodality, challenges in synchronization are recognized, resulting in several emerging issues. We recommend future research directions to address under-studied issues, highlighting the importance of multi-agent systems with learning for real-time decision making. Additionally, an integrated framework is developed to provide a comprehensive understanding of how synchronization works among various elements in a synchromodal transportation system.

Caregiver Burden and Its Relationship to Health-Related Quality of Life in Craniopharyngioma Survivors.

Craniopharyngioma (CP) is a rare brain tumor associated with severe comorbidities that reduce survivor health-related quality of life (HRQOL). However, CP impact on caregivers is unknown. To measure caregiver burden and examine its relationship to survivor HRQOL and other determinants in CP. Eighty-two participants who self-identified as caregivers of CP survivors responded to an online survey including caregiver-reported Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), and the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI). Caregivers reported an average of 13 out of 29 health conditions in survivors following tumor treatment, including excess weight, hypopituitarism, fatigue, mood, cognition, social issues, temperature dysregulation, visual impairment, and sleep problems. Strikingly, 70% of survivors who experienced obesity also experienced hyperphagia. ZBI scores were moderate with a median of 37. PedsQL total scores were poor with a median of 46.2. ZBI scores were independent of caregiver level of education and care duration. Both scores were independent of income, survivor age, gender, age at diagnosis, or tumor recurrence. In contrast, both scores depended on the number (P < .001) and the type of survivor health problems, with significantly worse scores for caregivers or survivors with symptoms of hypothalamic dysfunction (P < .001) including hyperphagia but not obesity. PedsQL total scores significantly predicted ZBI scores (P < .001). Survivor poly-symptomatology predicted and incurred significant caregiver burden. Our study separated hyperphagia and obesity and identified hyperphagia and other hypothalamic dysfunction symptoms as understudied issues. Altogether, these findings draw particular attention to the unmet needs of CP survivors and their caregivers.

Dynamics of indicators characterizing the health of children in the territory of military conflict. The impact of rehabilitation measures: cohort study

Background. There are still understudied issues concerning the health indicators of children who are in conditions of conducting warfare in primary school age. Objective. The aim of the study is to evaluate comprehensive rehabilitation measures to optimize health indicators (physical, functional and mental capacity parameters) of primary school children in conditions of military conflict.Methods. An examination of 419 elementary school children was conducted in the period from March 2022 to September 2022 including. The main group: 128 children, who lived in the territory of military operations. Control group: 291 children who lived peaceful territories. The indicators (body mass index, Robinson index, vital index, strength index, V.A. Shapovalova power index and mental capacity of children according to the results of V.Ya. Anfimov correction task) were compared before the start of the developed comprehensive rehabilitation program and 6 months after the start of its implementation.Results. It was found that all elementary school children who lived in locations of military conflict had a decrease in physical and functional parameters of varying degrees of severity, as well as indicators of mental capacity. The comprehensive rehabilitation program promoted to the normalization of the studied indicators in evacuated (57/86, 56%) children in comparison with children who remained in the locations of military operations (43/70, 49%). The studied indicators had the highest recovery rates at the age of 7-8 years. The most vulnerable was a subgroup of 9-10 years old boys who permanently living in conditions of conducting warfare. The development and implementation of the comprehensive integration program using individual rehabilitation routes had an optimizing effect on the studied indicators of physical and functional conditions, as well as cognitive performance in 101 children of the main subgroups, which amounted to 78.9%.Conclusion. Under the influence of the comprehensive integration rehabilitation program, optimization of health indicators was observed in children living in locations of conducting warfare. The most pronounced effect was observed in children who left the territories of shelling as a result of evacuation to Rostov-on-Don.

Relationship between Board Characteristics, ESG and Corporate Performance: A Systematic Review

In recent years researchers have been paying significant attention to Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) principles as a crucial factor in company performance. This paper aims to summarize the trends and findings in academic literature devoted to the board of directors as a determinant of ESG performance and non-financial disclosure quality. This paper also summarizes the key findings for a board’s moderating effects on the impact of ESG on corporate financial performance. The results of qualitative analysis of more than 70 empirical papers demonstrate that board independence is the most widely considered parameter, interpreted as a positive factor for strengthening a board’s monitoring function according to agency theory. There is no consensus on board size: larger boards include directors who represent the interests of a wider range of stakeholders (stakeholder theory), however, the increase in board size leads to a complicationof decision-making and controlling processes. Researchers mostly agree that an augmentation of women’ and foreigners’ representation among directors positively affects ESG performance and disclosure quality, although the lack of critical mass may dilute this effect. As for CEO’s role in the board, while some researchers argue that CEO duality enhances agency conflict, deterring corporate transition to ESG, other authors claim that a CEO’s organizational power may enhance the ESG transition due to a faster implementation of board decisions. One of the crucial determinants for this effect is the board members’ diversified professional expertise, including specialized education and experience, for the effective monitoring of managers’ performance. Finally, there is a growing interest in the role of board sustainability committees,which accumulate the required professional expertise for developing environmental and social strategies (resource-based theory). By examining the key board characteristics’ effect on corporate ESG performance and disclosure quality, this paper contributes to corporate governance literature, expanding the field for further research. Moreover, the paper highlights several understudied issues for further research.

The legal nature of evidence in the international doctrine of constitutional law

The article is devoted to relevant, but understudied issues related to the formation of the evidence base in the doctrine of constitutional law. Legitimation of the constitutional process by evidence can be successful regardless of the goal preferred by the subjects of the constitution. If constitutional design prioritizes the goal of substantive legitimacy, it legitimizes the broad powers of the constitutional judge through the need to maximize the evidence gathered. If, on the contrary, the constitutional design gives priority to the goal of procedural legitimacy, it legitimizes the function of the constitutional judge through the development of a fair procedure of proof. In this way, the outcome of the trial can more easily gain the approval of the community and strengthen confidence in the functioning of constitutional justice. The fundamental right to evidence is constitutionally protected to the extent that it is implicit in the right to due process. The author pays special attention to the definition of the content of the concept of proof in the constitutional judicial process based on the analysis of the norms of international constitutional law, which are characterized by the presence of a set of certain methods of cognition, that is, scientifically determined and practically tested rational methods or a system of methods of obtaining the necessary amount of knowledge for making an objective and well-founded decision. Evidence in a judicial constitutional process should be understood as a certain process of learning by the subjects of this process — judges and the apparatus of constitutional jurisdiction as a whole, which is implemented as the collection, verification and evaluation of evidence. In this extremely complex intellectual process, proof plays an important role as a logical action during which the truth of an opinion or position is substantiated and established.&#x0D; As a result of working on this topic, the author investigated and highlighted two discourses on procedural legitimation. In the first case, legitimization is the result of a test procedure check that takes place before an ordinary judge. In the second case, legitimation is the result of the absence of a complex procedure of proof before a constitutional judge.

DESIGNS OF HEAT EXCHANGER DEVICES ON TWO-PHASE HEAT TRANSFER ELEMENTS FOR AIR HEAT DISPOSAL IN VENTILATION SYSTEMS: OVERVIEW

Background. Heat exchangers-utilizers for recovery of ventilation air heat are widely used for increasing of buildings energy efficiency. Two-phase elements, such as: thermosyphons, heat pipes and pulsating heat pipes are applied to these heat exchangers for increasing of efficiency of heat transfer between hot and cold air. But such heat exchangers should have high temperature efficiency, enthalpy efficiency and energy efficiency at low aerodynamic drag. Moreover, working conditions of ventilation systems, such as: relatively low working temperatures and low temperature difference between hot and cold air, make it difficult to choose heat carriers for two-phase elements. Thus, it is necessary to solve a number of complex problems for designing of effective heat exchangers-utilizers based on two-phase elements.&#x0D; Objective. To find out unresolved and understudied issues of designing of heat exchangers-utilizers based on two-phase elements for ventilation systems.&#x0D; Methods. Analysis of described in literature designs, their characteristics and results of investigations.&#x0D; Results. General features of two-phase elements based heat exchangers-utilizers designs and a number of issues which need further investigation were detected as a result of literature sources analysis.&#x0D; Conclusions. Heat exchangers based on two-phase heat transfer elements have wide perspective of applying and provide full heat efficiency up to 85%. But there is a number of unsolved issues connected with: optimization of two-phase elements and heat exchangers design, ribbing optimization, investigation of heat transfer intensity and heat transfer coefficients, investigation of aerodynamic drag, condensate rejecting.

Workplace violence, bullying, burnout, job satisfaction and their correlation with depression among Bangladeshi nurses: A cross-sectional survey during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BackgroundDepression is one of the most serious yet understudied issues among Bangladeshi nurses, bringing health dangers to this workforce. This study aimed to investigate how workplace violence (WPV), bullying, burnout, and job satisfaction are correlated with depression and identify the factors associated with depression among Bangladeshi nurses.MethodsFor this cross-sectional study, data were collected between February 26, 2021, and July 10, 2021 from the Bangladeshi registered nurses. The Workplace Violence Scale (WPVS), the Short Negative Acts Questionnaire [S-NAQ], the Burnout Measure-Short version (BMS), the Short Index of Job Satisfaction (SIJS-5), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) were used to measure WPV, bullying, burnout, job satisfaction, and depression, respectively. Inferential statistics include Pearson’s correlation test, t-test, one-way ANOVA test, multiple linear regression, and multiple hierarchal regression analyses were performed.ResultsThe study investigated 1,264 nurses (70.02% female) with an average age of 28.41 years (SD = 5.54). Depression was positively correlated with WPV, bullying, and burnout and negatively correlated with job satisfaction (p <0.001). According to the multiple linear regression model, depression was significantly lower among nurses with diploma degrees (β = -1.323, 95% CI = -2.149 to -0.497) and bachelor’s degrees (β = -1.327, 95% CI = -2.131 to– 0.523) compared to the nurses with master’s degree. The nurses who worked extended hours (>48 hours) had a significantly higher depression score (β = 1.490, 95% CI = 0.511 to 2.470) than those who worked ≤ 36 hours. Depression was found to be significantly higher among those who did not receive a timely salary (β = 2.136, 95% CI = 1.138 to 3.134), rewards for good works (β = 1.862, 95% CI = 1.117 to 2.607), and who had no training on WPV (β = 0.895, 95% CI = 0.092 to 1.698).ConclusionsControlling burnout, bullying, and workplace violence, as well as improving the work environment for nurses and increasing job satisfaction, are the essential indicators of reducing depression. This can be accomplished with integrative support from hospital executives, policymakers, and government officials.

Collaboration, cooperation, coordination: a history of the Bretton Woods twins’ efforts to work together

Why and how international organizations (IOs) collaborate, cooperate and coordinate (the 3Cs) are important but understudied issues in international political economy today. The three terms are rarely defined in the IR literature or by the IOs themselves and are often used interchangeably. However, the differences matter in terms of when, how and why staff of different IOs are expected to work together, and whether and how such efforts contribute to IO performance. This article develops the concepts of the 3Cs, drawing from work in the public administration, management and organizational design fields. It illustrates ways in which the differences matter by examining the history of efforts by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank to work together. The two Bretton Woods siblings were explicitly designed to be complementary partners at the apex of the post-World War II global economic order. I argue that formal collaboration efforts between the Fund and the Bank took place through at least 25 attempts by the two institutions to define how to work together, and may be categorized into four different, sometimes overlapping approaches, from basic information sharing to fully engaged joint initiatives. What they have called ‘collaboration’ is in fact a range of engagement. Efforts by the Fund and Bank to work more closely together have been an ongoing struggle, driven by unavoidable institutional overlap, which intensified at times of systemic change and external shock. This case is important to the study of how IOs work together, given these institutions have a unique relationship and may be seen as a most-likely case of successful collaboration.

Genius Lies in the Sense of Place

Through Dyhia Belhabib's life story the broken academia system finds itself far from reality. Throughout her life, she has seen and experienced the struggles of a minority to succeed in the world of academia even when working harder for the pursuit of knowledge. The idea that one who fits elsewhere may not be able to produce sound research has led individuals to take unconventional paths in the pursuit of research. This edition of Poplar and Ivy works to shed light on these unconventional career paths in nontraditional research that shed light on global and local understudied issues.

Overparenting, emotion dysregulation, and problematic internet use among female emerging adults

Although associated with adverse mental health and occupational outcomes, the etiology of internet addiction and displays of risqué social media content are two understudied issues. Research has suggested that overparenting could be associated with these internet-related behavioral issues either directly or indirectly through the development of emotion dysregulation. The association between overparenting and problematic internet use was examined among a sample of female emerging adults. Emotion dysregulation was also investigated as a potential mediator for this association. Female college students (N = 257) completed surveys at three time points over the course of one semester. Structural equation modeling suggested differential associations based on specific domains in which overparenting occurred. Emotion dysregulation fully mediated the association between overparenting in the personal/social domain and both internet addiction and risqué social media content. Academic/career-related overparenting was directly associated with internet addiction. Future directions for research and implications of the current study were provided.

Behaving Badly in Early and Medieval China

Behaving Badly in Early and Medieval China

Sociology from the Global South and the Global North: Systematising Characteristics and Relations

The article defines characteristics and relations between sociology from the Global South and the Global North, depicted in the literature. Despite the variety of research on the topic, studies of Northern and Southern sociology lack definite description of regional sociologies and their (unequal) relations as well as clear indicators used to assign countries to either region in terms of sociology that still uses classical geopolitical division. On the basis of research of knowledge production and academic relations between Southern and Northern sociology, the author defines main issues of discussion and specific characteristics of these regional sociologies and systematises them under one model. The model reflects four main areas of confrontation between sociology from the North and the South: origin and historical development; research orientation and capabilities; recognition and influence on the global scale; research cooperation and flow of knowledge. In addition, the article presents the alternative model for the recently emerged resistant Southern sociology. In the further research the model can be used to define understudied issues, (re)assign countries concerning sociology and investigate the actual characteristics of Southern and Northern sociology in comparison to the ones presented in the research.

Untapped and Understudied Issues in Influencer Advertising

Untapped and Understudied Issues in Influencer Advertising

Эпидемические заболевания в Калмыцкой степи Астраханской губернии в конце ХIХ – начале ХХ в.

Introduction. The article examines the understudied issues of how and to what extent epidemic diseases used to spread across Kalmyk uluses (‘districts’) in the late 19th – early 20th centuries, with special attention be paid to employed control and monitoring methods. The problem was covered in a number of published reports delivered at the First Congress of Astrakhan physicians to have worked in Kalmyk-inhabited lands during the period under study, and the former contain their shared their experiences and valuable findings. Historians hardly ever approached the topic in just a few papers. Goals. So, the work aims at a detailed survey of epidemic diseases in the Kalmyk Steppe of Astrakhan Governorate in the late 19th – early 20th centuries. Materials and Methods. The study employs a set of general scientific and specific historical research methods. The observance of the historicism principle made it possible to avoid modern misinterpretations of the century-old events examined, while system-analysis techniques and interdisciplinary approaches resulted in that certain specific events of Kalmyk life were analyzed as parts of an overall picture. The article mainly explores and newly introduces materials of the Medical Department — a healthcare agency within the Kalmyk People’s Administration — currently stored at the National Archive of Kalmykia. Results. Despite the remoteness of Kalmyk nomadic settlements (Kalm. khoton) from administrative centers and first-aid stations, healthcare practitioners still were efficient enough to promptly respond in case of epidemic outbreaks. Besides treatment proper, the medical, administrative and police personnel were largely responsible for quarantine and disinfection activities, medical examination and supervision of people living around the periphery of the effective disease area. Conclusions. The analysis of materials dealing with the issue reveals Kalmyk districts were widely affected by epidemic diseases, such as typhus, smallpox, measles, diphtheria and others, while cholera and plague were not that often. It should be admitted that the frequent occurrence of those diseases in medical records across the Kalmyk Steppe was determined by their endemicity to have resulted from a number of reasons.

Critical Unresolved and Understudied Issues in Clinical Teacher Education

Throughout the history of formal teacher education in the United States, clinical experience has been identified as the key component in a teacher education program upon which all other aspects of ...

Labor intensity in context of information and communication technologies sustainable development

The information and communication technologies (ICT) impact on labor intensity is one of the actual, but understudied interdisciplinary issues of modern science and practice. Observations and analysis of labor processes in context of the ICT use point out the increase in labor intensity. The purpose of the research is to identify key sources of workers’ labor intensity growth under the ICT development, regardless of the field of professional activity. The article highlights such sources as increase in work strenuousness, growth of number of labor functions and operations, lengthening working day, and also change in work and rest regime. A special focus is on the problem of «leisure time colonization». An ∩-shaped correlation between labor intensity and productivity is presented. The general conclusion that unlimited growth of labor intensity is inconsistent with the sustainable development and effective development of human capital is made.

КОММУНИКАТИВНЫЕ ЧАСТИЦЫ КАК СРЕДСТВА РЕПРЕЗЕНТАЦИИ АКТУАЛЬНОЙ ИНФОРМАЦИИ В ХУДОЖЕСТВЕННОМ ДИСКУРСЕ (НА МАТЕРИАЛЕ АНГЛИЙСКОГО, ИСПАНСКОГО И РУССКОГО ЯЗЫКОВ)

This article examines one of the issues of fiction discourse and communicative syntax that has not yet been sufficiently studied, i.e. the role of limiting particles in the communicative and syntactic organization of a sentence in the English, Spanish and Russian literary discourse. These particles are considered with rhetorical means which are of particular importance in literary discourse. Various lexical and syntactic constructions can be used as rhetorical means (for example, word order, lexical repetitions, inversion, etc.), as well as literary figurative forms. It is worth noting that one of the relatively understudied issues of actual syntax remains the question of communicative pragmatic functions of limiting particles, which occupy a special place in the system of linguistic means of expressing the actual division in literary discourse, and their role in the communicative and syntactic organization of a sentence in the English, Spanish and Russian languages. Communicative (actual) division is one the most important aspects of the utterance which marks, according to the particular speech situation and communicative and pragmatic intentions, logical parts of the utterance – theme and rheme, determining the meaning of the utterance as a speech unit.Actual division is seen as an individual speech act, relating to a particular situation and defined by the communicative intent of the speaker, as a phenomenon that is not subject to standardization and generalization. Several methods of actualization are simultaneously involved in forming the communicative (actual) division of a sentence, some of them being the main and others being auxiliary means which can replace, supplement or reinforce each other. Thus, each language has a fairly rich system of communication-oriented means that have received a stable and standardized character, designed specifically for expressing the communicative division of a sentence and providing the speaker (writer) an opportunity to choose the necessary ways of its implementation in accordance with a specific speech situation and the purpose of the utterance.