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This study was designed to identify the unique shaping of the university/student relationship through the lens of the in loco parentis concept. The questions asked were to what extent has in loco parentis defined the relationship of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and its students through the institution's history as framed by: (a) the institution's mission, (b) university governance, (c) the definition of in loco parentis, and (d) institutional culture? Has in loco parentis found its sustenance at this institution through legal or cultural justification, or both? Qualitative case study methodology was utilized to examine in loco parentis within four time periods: (a) Shaping of a Land Grant University, 1891-1907, (b) Expansion of VPI Post World War II, 1945-1955, (c) Establishing the University, 1945-1955, and (d) Framing the Present, 1988- 1992. The research concluded that in loco parentis was historically grounded in the legal interpretation provided by the court. In loco parentis was sustained within this study by the culture of one particular land grant university grounded in its original charge of structuring a military lifestyle. The legal system provided a steady and constant external sustenance of in loco parentis and the institutional culture provided internal justification for in loco parentis as demonstrated within the history and tradition of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Each time period studied provided a view of the University that defined its role to its students in place of parent under the dominant influence of presidential leadership. ; Ph. D. ; incomplete_metadata

The article considers the relationship between the consumer's emotional state and impulse purchases. The authors analyze the effects of the consumer's impulse behavior on buying food products. According to numerous studies of consumer behavior conducted in Russia, the share of purchases defined as impulse purchases has been steadily increasing. Insufficient understanding of the specifics and nature of impulse purchases may negatively affect both consumers' well-being, including their psychological and financial state and companies' financial sustainability in the long term. The article aims to improve understanding of consumer behavior in Russia and identify the relationship between the consumer's emotional state and impulse purchases of food products. Previous research into the topic has allowed the authors to form understanding of impulse purchases and systematize factors influencing them. The effect of consumer's emotional state on impulse purchases of food products has also been described.An empirical study including a series of in-depth interviews and a quantitative survey forms the basis for the present research. To identify the relationship between the consumer's emotional state and impulse purchases of food products in Russia the structural equation modeling method is applied. The result of testing are reveal several alternative models, differences in the patterns of impulse buying behavior of female and male respondents. The research confirmsthat negative emotions significantly affect sensitivity to visual characteristics of products, impulsivity, and unplanned purchasing with both female and male consumers. Positive emotions, in contrast, demonstrate statistical significance with men solely. These findings can be explained by the consumer's desire to reduce emotional tension and improve emotional state.The article provides a basis for further research into emotionally driven consumer behavior and improve predictability of purchasing behavior.

The tradition of attributing mythological and religious meanings to natural phenomena, the formation of a ritual culture associated with trees, stones, water sources, atmospheric phenomena, etc., refers to the most ancient sacred practices of human communities. This stimulated philosophical, cultural, and anthropological studies of this phenomenon in the context of Orthodox culture, aimed at identifying the relations between pagan and Christian symbols and rituals and analyzing the problem of dual faith among the Orthodox population of Russia. Historical studies of the manifestations of folk religiosity are still at the stage of generalizing empirical material. The subject of the article is a study of folk religious practices in the historical context of Khrushchev's anti-religious campaign. The focus of the study is on the Orthodox traditions of venerating water sources. The specificity of the approach is the analysis of the elements of folk religiosity (using the example of the veneration of "holy sources") as a manifestation of everyday practices of adaptation and survival of believers in the USSR. Despite the banishment of religion from public space in the era of Nikita Khrushchev, belief in miracles and miraculous healings and visits to holy places were common not only among Orthodox Soviet people, but also among those who were considered "atheists". Regional features of folk religion in the Urals were the redefinition of holy places in the multi-ethnic space of the region and the use of water sources for folk medicine in an underdeveloped health care system. For certain categories of Soviet citizens (former priests, monks and nuns, marginalized elements, etc.), the sphere of folk religiosity was a space for the realization of subjectivity, different from the "normative" one. As a result of a comparative-historical approach, it is shown that the practices of venerating holy sources in the Urals fit into the all-union framework of the phenomenon.

This paper analyzes the negotiations within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance during the final years of its existence, focusing on the Soviet reform proposals and M. S. Gorbachev's vision of the "Common European Home" as well as on Eastern European reaction to them. In the second half of the 1980s, Gorbachev tried to found a "unified market" for the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance by introducing a market-oriented reform of the organization. However, this attempt did not materialize because of the East German and Romanian objections. After the collapse of Eastern European socialist regimes in 1989, the Soviet leadership urged the member-states to accelerate the reform of this international organization, hoping to achieve the pan-European economic integration through close cooperation between the totally reformed Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the European Community. Although the Central European countries, namely Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland, aspired to join the EC individually, they agreed to participate in a successor organization of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance because the EC was not ready to accept them. Accordingly, by the beginning of 1991, all the member-states agreed to establish a consultative organization, which would be named the Organization for International Economic Cooperation). However, as the Soviet Union failed to sustain trade with the Central European countries, the three countries lost interest in the project. As a result, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance was disbanded without any successor organization. In other words, it did not collapse automatically after 1989 but came to an end as a result of various factors, such as rapidly declining trade between the member-states, Western disinterest in the cooperation with it, and the Central European policy changes.

Moldova is a multi-ethnic state. One third of the country's population is national minorities, including the Gagauz and Bulgarians. There is material evidence in history that negative stereotypes and conflicts existed between two ethnic groups in the region in the early 19th century. But over time, relations between the Gagauz and Bulgarians lost their former acuteness. The article substantiates the need to study ethnic heterostereotypes of the Gagauz and Bulgarians as a brandtheir ethnic identity. The results of the conducted empirical study of ethnic heterostereotypes of the Bulgarian and Gagauz youth prove that in the sphere of intergroup perception, these ethnic groups have a problem - distance from each other. There is a certain tension in the relationship between the Gagauz and Bulgarians, which manifests itself in a hidden, smoldering form. It is expressed in social competition, achieved by ethnocentric evaluative comparison of one's own and another's group in favor of one's own. But, nevertheless, they also have a powerful resource - a positive ethnic identity, which includes not only a positive self-identification, but also a positive image. The authors conclude that it is necessary to strengthen the positive ethnic identity of the Gagauz and Bulgarian youth. Increasing intercultural communication and competence is the main way to bring these two closely adjacent ethnic groups closer together.

In this paper, we studied the moral hazard in healthcare. As part of the analysis, we looked at 126.3 thousand hospitalization cases in the Georgian healthcare system in 2018-2019. According to the group of diagnoses, we compared the length of stay of inpatients funded under government programs with the cases covered by a pocket of patients or private insurance companies. As a result of the study, we found that the length of stay under the universal health care program is, on average, 0.26 days (CI 95%; [0.22-0.30]) longer than in other circumstances. The difference is statistically significant (t = -12.58; P<.05). Thus, our result is the empirical evidence of theoretical reasoning that predicts an increase in the moral hazard under the government healthcare program.

AbstractBy unpacking major views of and dynamics towards the Black Sea region from the Georgian perspective, this analysis addresses two questions: What are Georgia's key perceptions of the Black Sea region? And which role does the Black Sea play in strengthening Georgia's economic and security resilience in a quickly changing environment marked by geopolitical and geo-economic competition? The article concludes with thoughts on the region's future and the role of the EU, Georgia's closest partner, in it.