Webinar-Based Education: The Opportunities and Challenges of Using the Zoom Meeting Application in the Academe

The article shows the nature of conflicts between social groups in society according to the position of Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism. The nature of conflicts between religious groups, ethnic groups and economic classes is described. Religious-authoritarian, religious-tolerant and secular approaches to religious conflicts are considered.

In this article it is discussed some relevant issues in regard to inequalities in the consumption of health care services and the construction of more equitable health care system in Brazil. The concept of inequalities in health is distinguished from the concept of inequalities in the consumption of health care services. It is argued that the geographical dimension of health care service consumption differs from the social dimension. This implies that a better distribution of financial resources between geographical regions acts at the level of regional inequalities but might not have a positive impact on existing social inequalities. A more equitable system depends on a greater participation on the financing of the system of the richer people. It depends on the solidarity of the different social groups in society. The present situation of great scarcity of financial resources calls for a definition of priorities. Nonetheless, it is argued that the establishment of priorities in the availability of health care services is an ethical approach only if it is assumed to be a transient strategy directed to the construction of a system based in universal access for all those in need.

Research of neuroticism nowadays increasingly touches upon the social aspect of psychological sciences. The level of expression of neuroticism affects not only a person’s well-being but also has a certain influence on an individual's self-esteem, ability to freely communicate, and self-realization in society. In this article the problem of neuroticism is considered from the social-psychological point of view, special attention is paid to the manifestation of social neuroticism among immigrants, with special importance on research on social neuroticism in conditions of change of social environment and adaptation to new social conditions is emphasized. It was found that among immigrants, the level of neuroticism correlates with the level of satisfaction with the profession and has certain gender differences in the intensity of correlations. Negative correlations were found between the degree of professional satisfaction and low self-esteem in the group of men (-799**), depression in the groups of men (-869**) and women (-797***). The practical significance of the work also lies in the social significance of the study, the results of which can be supplemented by studies on the characteristics and manifestation of social neuroticism among various age groups of immigrants and other social groups in society.

It was almost November 2012 when Hurricane Sandy, a late arrival in an otherwise quiet tropical season, slammed into the Mid-Atlantic US coastline. Millions of residents were plunged into darkness and billions of dollars in property and infrastructure were flooded or washed away in surging waters. Blizzard conditions struck the Appalachians as the hybrid Halloween monster moved inland. Savage Sand and Surf: The Hurricane Sandy Disaster is multi-faceted examination into one of the most recent natural disasters in the United States. Scholars from multiple disciplines address a wide range of important aspects of this event, including unique meteorological and social impacts of Sandy, Sandy’s intersection with vulnerable social groups in society, and social institutions’ adaptations to the disaster. Also, different theoretical models of disasters are explored and applied to better understand and prepare for similar events in the future.

Organizations have long struggled with appropriate interventions to mitigate knowledge worker turnover. Because of their unique skills, knowledge workers have a considerably higher rate of turnover than traditional workers, and they are expensive to replace. Organizations use performance appraisal systems to identify and retain critical employees. Knowledge workers enable organizations to remain creative and innovative as well as maintain their competitive edge. The purpose of this study was to use systematic review of extant literature to show how organizations can effectively use performance appraisal systems to improve the retention of knowledge workers. This was done by gathering evidence on performance appraisal systems and knowledge workers from various databases and conducting a rigorous synthesis of available evidence. The efficacy of appraisal systems in mitigating knowledge worker churn was viewed through the lens of expectancy theory and a conceptual framework was developed. Expectancy theory focuses on an individual’s belief that they can obtain desired outcomes if they exert certain effort. Knowledge workers want to be challenged and evaluated based on objective criteria. A thematic analysis of the evidence revealed important themes for management practice: identify and segment knowledge workers, ensure a positive perception of the appraisal system via ‘voice’ inclusion, and deploy competent job evaluators for accurate performance evaluation. This is the first known systematic review of the literature which focuses on the competence of the appraiser as an important influence on knowledge workers’ reaction to appraisal outcome and how this impacts intention to quit.

This research paper is a policy summary for developing af research topics of graduate students. The selection of 12 proposals were sampled by purposive sampling. The framework in policy proposal on development consisted of 1) Department of Education, 2) Department of Education Administration and Development, 3) Department of Educational Technology and Communications, and 4) Department of Physical Education and Exercise Science. The results showed that the plicy proposal is an appropriate and feasibilily.

The COVID-19 pandemic generated the largest disruption of educational systems in history in many countries around the world, leading to a decision to switch to E-Learning in all subjects. At universities, and in fact in all “traditional” study domains, many restrictions were applied, preventing the presence of students and faculty on campus. The transition to E-Learning in an emergency involved breaching barriers and posed challenges for faculty that required an immediate response. In the current study, we examined the opinion of lecturers regarding the strengths and weaknesses of E-Learning from different aspects from a systemic, multi-institutional perspective. The study consisted of 223 lecturers teaching at various academic institutions: universities, academic teaching colleges, academic engineering colleges, and private colleges. The research findings show that the preference for E-Learning is not high: Only one third of the lecturers expressed a preference for online learning. The lecturers noted the lack of social and emotional personal interaction with both students and lecturers as one of the main weaknesses of e-learning. Moreover, most of the lecturers do not perceive E-Learning as enhancing the quality of teaching and learning. The research findings indicate the roles of the lecturer in the digital era, in teaching, and particularly – the role of the professional elements in charge of teaching and learning at academic institutions, primarily with regard to the pedagogical aspects. The research further indicates the need for perceptual changes also among lecturers, who should reexamine teaching and learning processes and adapt their function and fields of responsibility to the new opportunities afforded by the technological tools and learning environment. The research findings also show that the success of E-Learning requires suitable pedagogical educational approaches rather than using the same teaching patterns as in the traditional frontal approach and transferring them to the digital platform. Although this study attempts to illuminate teaching during a health crisis that was forced on the faculty, it also focuses on the possible meanings of teaching and learning processes after the end of the current crisis. Specifically, the research findings show that it is necessary to hold a thorough discussion among policy makers in higher education and academic institutions regarding the new effective designation of the campus after the COVID-19 crisis, the distinction between the virtual and the actual in academic teaching, and challenges and ways of coping with the new reality.

This article dears with some problems related to application of Wolfgang’s and Ferracuti's subculture of violence theory explanation of violent criminal behaviour. Wolfgang and Ferracuti adopted in their concept cultural approach to explanation of crime in general, and violent crime in particular. Doing so, they rejected openly usefulness in this particular area of Merton’s anomie theory. They adopted so-called normative theory of culture, when means that they understand under the term culture a normative system consisting of values, norms and behavioral patterns, which exert pressure over individuals being under their influence, what results in uniformity of human behaviour. Application of this concept in criminology means that there may exist specific normative systems containing such values and norms which may lead individuals influenced by them to criminal behaviour. In other words it means, that when we observe within certain social group high criminality rates, higher than the average ones in a given society we may explain them in terms of the specific features of the culture of this group. This way of thinking is not totally new in American criminological literature. The best example of it constitutes W.B. Miller’s concept of flower-class culture as a generating milieu of gang delinquency. Wolfgang and Ferracuti claim that disproportionately high rates of violent crimes among and members of American lower-class (especially members of ethnic minorities) result from specific subculture existing within this social group, which they call subculture of violence. This subculture is the specific normative system which is characterized by tolerance and permissiveness which respect to the use of violence in interpersonal relations. The use of violence is perceived by members of such subculture as something normal and natural, they do not consider it as either illegal or immoral. On the contrary, violent people showing physical prowess and readiness of high enjoy many social rewards, high social status and prestige. People who do not conform to the requirements of such subculture face many troubles within their groups, including even possible ostracism. Wolfgang's and Ferracuti's concept contains evidently two separate layers. The first one, sociological, deals with subculture of violence as a social phenomenon and the problems related to the existence, functioning and transmission of violence related norms and values within society. The concept of subculture itself plays here a key role. The second one, psychological, deals with psychological consequences for the individuals of being under influence of such subcultural ethos. The main concern here are changes in attitudes and ways of perceiving environment resulting from the adoption of subcultural values, which one observes among violent people. These two layers are connected by very important thesis that aggression and violence constitute learned behaviour deeply internalised in the personalities of individuals. As it was said before subculture of violence thesis was conceived by Wolfgang and Ferracuti primarily to explain excessively high rates of violent crime among members of American lower class. But they point out as well to other examples of such subcultures as for example barbaricino code in Sardinia, customary vendetta in Albanova district in Italy, Colombian violencia or ,,criminal tribes'' in India. All this means that they treat their concept as a broader integrated criminological theory of violent criminal behaviour not limited to specific American context. One can point out to many attempts in the USA at empirical verification of the violent subculture thesis. First of all it is necessary to mention researches done by S. Ball-Rokeach and H. Erlanger. They attempted to verify Wolfgang's and Ferracuti's claims that there must exist significant differences in value systems and attitudes towards the use of violence between violent and non-violent persons, and that people who engage very often in violent incidents enjoy within their communities many social rewards including high status and prestige. The subculture of violence thesis was also used to explain a well-known in the American literature phenomenon of excessively high rates of violent crimes, especially homicides in the southern states. Among attempts at cultural explanations of this phenomenon one can point out first of all to contributions by Hackney, Gastill and Erlanger as well. All mentioned above researches hardly brought conclusive results. They involve many methodological shortcomings' and generally speaking seem to be too simply conceived, using too crude tools to pretend to be real tests of the subculture of violence thesis. This concept still awaits real, comprehensive attempt at empirical verification. When evaluating Wolfgang's and Ferracuti's concept from the theoretical point of view one has to start from the proposition which seems - as it was said before-to constitute the core of the entire concept: aggression and violence constitute learned behaviour. At this moment it is easy to observe similarity with E. D. Sutherland's differential association theory. Sutherland was speaking about conflict between criminal and non-criminal cultures. Existence of this conflict made it possible for an individual to have contacts with patterns of both criminal and law-abiding behaviour. Prevalence of one of them in the immediate environment of the individual decided about its future behavior. Very similarly Wolfgang and Ferracuti speak about the conflict between dominant culture (which they call non-violent culture) and subculture (which they call subculture of violence). This conflict makes possible differential association in the Sutherland’s meaning of the term. There is however one important difference. Sutherland, as it is well know, was strongly influenced in his thinking by G. H. Mead’s symbolic interactionism and sociology of Ch. H. Cooley, what resulted in particular attention paid to the primary social groups and direct interaction. For Sutherland the process of learning criminal behaviour could take place only by means of direct interaction within primary social groups. It is not easy to interpret Wolfgang’s and Ferracuti’s theory with respect to this problem, as they are not very explicit within the subculture. It makes it necessary to carry out a more detailed analysis of what they understand under the term subculture. They say on the one hand that the concept of subculture is strictly connected with the concept of social group. It seems however that this last concept they understand very broadly, when they say that individuals sharing certain values, norms and behavioral patterns constitute social groups. This means that under the term subculture they understand just individuals sharing particular norms and values, at least partly distinct from those existing in the dominant culture. This means as well that such sharing of values does not require direct interaction between individuals. It leads finally to a very important statement that subculture may exist widely dispersed spatially. It is necessary to underline that such understanding of the term subculture is not totally alien even to the contemporary adherents of symbolic interactionism. An article by A. Fine and S. Kleinman constitutes clear example. The essence of this approach is an attempt to avoid ,,reification’’-as above authors call it-of the concept of subculture, what means equaling it with certain social structure, in other words social group. It seems however that one should not press this point of view to the extreme. Interpretation of the meaning of the term culture in terms of individuals behaviour is quite popular in social anthropology, to mention only R. Linton. But it may lead also to certain consequences absurd from sociological and behaviour point of view. It may mean that if somebody behaves in a certain way, he adheres to certain norms and values of which his behaviour is a result. If not, it means that he does not adhere to them. In fact, it is a great simplification from the point of view of the mechanisms of human behaviour. In such a situation the concept of subculture lacks clear empirical meaning and loses its explaining potential. It seem that Wolgang's and Ferracuti's stance results from a very individualistic approach paying attention only to the relation culture-individual, while neglecting a very important one: culture-social group. Very helpful in solving presented above problems may be more detailed analysis of the psychological mechanisms of learning. What is interesting is that Wolfgang and Ferracuti do not go into details with respect to this, and mention only eventual usefulness of either Eysenck's or Bandura’s concepts. This lust one seems to be particularly suitable for the purposes of interpreting subculture of violence concept. Bandura's concepts of observational learning, as well as clear distinction between learning and performance, and analysis of the process of learning from three separate points of view, i.e. acquisition mechanisms instigation mechanism and maintenance mechanisms may be here particularly useful. It means that subculture of violence supplies to individual patterns of violence and aggression which are observed, memorized and in this way learned. It is also obvious that these patterns are not supplied by abstract subculture itself, but by behaviour of other individuals in the immediate environment. It is clear however that there are no people who behave constantly violently, what Wolfgang and Ferracuti admit, but do not elaborate on it. Learned violent patterns may result in violent behaviour only sometimes, when they meet necessary instigating stimuli. They may become more consistent and durable behavioral patterns only when necessary maintaining mechanisms come into being. It is obvious that subculture of violence may, serve as the supplier of both instigating and maintaining mechanisms. Especially these last may be very important. Bandura provides a very important distinction between internal and external control of human behaviour .Internal control means rewards, reinforcements coming from the individual's self. Here internalized values and norms come into action and play on important role. Behaviour, being in accordance with them brings satisfaction to the individual. This aspect of maintaining mechanisms constiutes main subject for Wolfgang and Ferracuti. But there is another one: external control, reinforcements, rewards coming from social environment, from social groups. Wolfgang and Ferracuti pay less attention or almost none to this aspect, because to analyse it one has to connect the meaning of the term subculture with the term social group, what they refuse to do. External control can not be an attribute of subculture itself. It is the function of groups. When one recognizes that subcultural system may be analysed only as a normative system of given- social groups, the possible influence of it becomes much broader. In such an interpretation subcultural influence is not limited only to mechanisms of internal control. Individuals may behave violently because they receive many external rewards for such behaviour. Because of this violent behaviour does not have necessarily to bring special satisfaction to the individual. Such behaviour may result from well known in social psychology mechanisms of group pressure and conformity with group standards. In sum, it seems to be very profitable to use Bandura’s social learning theory to interpret and to broaden Wolfgang's and Ferracuti’s subculture of violence thesis. It is necesary of course to modify their use of the term subculture and connect it strictly with social structures and groups. In such a situation subcultural influence from the psychological point of view may not be limited to the mechanisms of internal control but extended to the external control by social groups, -what makes possible application of the theory as a theory of violent behaviour in general.

Continuous development in academic learning can be hindered by rigid rules, resulting in a disconnection between students and the learning process. Promoting socialization and a sense of belonging in the academic environment contributes to student satisfaction. The ability to manage emotions is crucial when facing social challenges, preventing the emergence of emotional instabilities. This article presents a literature review that addresses the teaching and learning process. Based on this review, a structured questionnaire was developed and administered to 108 students from the integrated technical courses at the Tarauacá campus of IFAC, with the purpose of collecting relevant data on their perceptions, opinions, and experiences. Through this process, the psychological consequences of these aspects and their impact on academic performance and learning were aimed to be understood. Upon analyzing the selected studies and the questionnaire results, it is evident that there are practical, cognitive, and emotional challenges that affect students' learning process. To overcome these obstacles, it is important to address issues such as social pressure, differences in learning pace, and inappropriate practices, creating a positive learning environment and adapting pedagogical approaches to students' needs. The constructive approaches proposed in the reviewed studies positively influence students' academic performance, stimulating essential skills and promoting a holistic education. However, it is necessary to rethink the structure of education to keep students motivated, considering issues such as school dropout caused by challenges like remote campus location and financial limitations.

Background: Doing regular physical activity has many benefits, but the reality is people do not do it. Education is one of the efforts to promote sufficient physical activity in society. The study aims to provide a systematic review of the impact of educational program enhancing in physical activity. Methods: A systematic literature review using preferred reporting items for systematic reviews. A precise search of the journal database was identified and thematic analysis was used to summarize the findings. The study using three databases, conducted from 2012 to 2022, language in English, the research design was an experimental study, and using educational program interventions. We used Boolean with keywords: Physical activities AND education. The articles obtained are downloaded and analysis by the authors. The analysis was conducted by comparing the increase in physical activity after the intervention. Results: Nine articles from the database were eligible for review, it was found that education was provided in many models, such: (1) consultation; (2) distributing physical activity videos: (3) environmental modification; (4) assisting physical education; (5) improving healthy eating and active living policies; (6) specific exercise; (7) face to face training and educational booklet; (8) The Pender's HPM (nine 4-h training sessions and consulting support via telephone contact and social media group; and (9) based on socio-ecological model and conducted on 4 levels. Comprehensive education using a socio-ecological model is suitable for improving the changing physical activity (2612,15 MET-min/week). Conclusions: Participants who were given a comprehensive education program and behavior change theory produced high changes in physical activity.

Nonobstructive Chronic Bronchitis: A Sentinel for Risk of Premature Death in Smokers?

Recent reports have revealed that nephropathy leading to kidney injury (KI) is a prevalent complication of COVID-19 and is linked to high mortality and morbidity in diabetes mellitus type II (DM-T-II) patients. This systematic literature review and meta-analysis aimed to critically analyze existing studies and evidence on the impact of COVID-19 on nephropathy and kidney injury in diabetes mellitus type II (DM-T-II) patients. A systematic search was conducted in the Web of Science (WoS), PubMed and Cochrane databases for relevant studies published between March 2020 and July 2023. To ensure the integrity of the systematic literature review and meta-analysis, observational studies that specifically reported post-COVID-19 kidney injury in DM-T2 patients were included, whereas we did not include articles in the press, meta-analyses, case reports, case series, Diabetes Type-I articles or non-English papers. The primary outcome was kidney injury in patients with type II diabetes after contracting COVID-19. The protocol for this study was published on PROSPERO (registration number CRD42023413887). Initially, 6,339 articles were included in the search, from which only 6 observational studies were selected by following the 2020 PRISMA statement. The quality of the evidence was assessed by a tool provided by the National Institutes of Health (observational studies). The total number of participants included in the studies was 14,723. Our systematic literature review and meta-analysis provide compelling evidence that kidney injury is a prevalent complication of COVID-19 infection in the type II diabetes population, with a pooled odds ratio of 2.27 (95% CI: 2.05-2.51; p < 0.00001), often necessitating hospitalization and hemodialysis in severe cases. Covid-19 is associated with a two-fold increase in nephropathy and acute kidney injury in diabetes mellitus type 2 patients compared to non-diabetic patients. This implies that kidney injury is more likely to occur in diabetes mellitus type 2 patients post Covid infection.

This study aims to explore the previous research using systematic literature review related to the ramification between social-emotional learning competence (henceforth, SEL competence) and students’ academic achievement in English learning context related to the integration of SEL in English learning. The study also investigates whether SEL competence levels of EFL/ESL students and teachers are correlate with students’ academic success based on the literature review on the previous study related to the relationship between SEL and English achievement. This study belongs to systematic literature review using PRISMA model for data collection and thematic analysis to analyze the data. The result of systematic literature review showed that SEL competence has a positive correlation with EFL/ESL students’ academic achievement which means the higher SEL competence levels that students have, the higher score in English subject they have. The result also indicated both English teachers’ and students’ SEL competence levels are important for teaching and learning process which connected to the motivation that can increase students’ engagement to learn English. Result showed that the relationship between SEL competence levels and students’ academic achievement in EFL/ESL context linked to the integration of SEL in the classroom, SEL play an important role as the way for students to learn how to control themselves, their relationships, emotions, and SEL does not replace anything in classroom.

Results of the functioning of a flat scale of income tax in the Russian Federation are considered. The need of introducing progressive personal income tax (personal income tax) is proved. On the basis of statistical data for the last 15 years the average annual rates of revenues from personal income tax to budget are analysed and shown graphically. Results of the analysis demonstrate sharp decrease of these payments and negative dynamics in accordance with the results of 2015. Maintaining the current system of personal in-come taxation doesn't allow to form socially oriented taxation in relation to various sectors of society which are sharply differ by the size of received profit. In these conditions it is necessary to develop social and fair system of progressive taxation on the basis of practical experience of economically developed countries. The personal income taxation reform demands careful and detailed study in all directions taking into account the reflection of developed economic situation and practical application for various social groups of society. The solution of these tasks will allow to create the socially oriented taxation.

PurposeThis study aims to holistically present a systematic literature review (SLR) triangulated with bibliometric analysis on environmental, social and governance (ESG) research to synthesize and comprehensively review its evolving journey and emerging research streams.Design/methodology/approachUsing R-studio software, this study carried out a retrospective quantitative bibliometric analysis through performance analysis, science mapping and network analysis, covering 261 documents published on ESG research between 2007 and 2022 in Scopus and Web of Science databases.FindingsPerformance analysis depicts the trends in publications, impactful journals and influential publications, authors and countries, while science mapping incorporates co-words and thematic analysis. Likewise, co-occurrence analysis provided four different clusters, representing ESG research linkage to other management fields along with key insights from co-citation network analysis. Additionally, the theory–context–characteristics–methods (TCCM) framework has provided valuable results in terms of widely and emerging used theories, contexts, characteristics and methodologies in ESG research.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study’s comprehensive bibliometric analysis combined with SLR uncovered a robust roadmap for further investigation in ESG research by identifying the inherent structure and evolution of research themes. This review has not only identified the prevalent gaps in determining priorities for future research but also provides insights which not previously been captured and evaluated on this topic.Originality/valueTo the best of the author's knowledge, no study presents the TCCM framework in the context of bibliometric analysis of ESG research. Besides, a conceptual framework is developed that illustrates antecedents, mediators, moderators and outcomes of research on ESG practices and provides the concluded key takeaways and recommendations for potential authors intending to publish their research papers on ESG practices.