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Currently available technologies of medical care for patients with chronic non-specific lung diseases (CNLDs), including those with chronic bronchitis and asthma, make it possible to move the epicenter of active treatment from the inpatient to the outpatient facilities. Among the existing non-pharmacological treatments for CNLDs, speleogalotherapy has become increasingly popular. Speleogalotherapy is a specific type of treatment using the microclimate of karst caves, salt mines, or artificial climate chambers of various modifications. The microclimate of karst caves is characterized by a relatively high degree of radioactivity and air ionization, presence of a highly dispersed aerosol, increased concentration of carbon dioxide, relatively low temperature, high absolute humidity, absence of microbes and allergens, and stability of meteorological factors. Multiple studies evaluating different variants of speleogalotherapy in patients with chronic bronchitis and asthma suggest that this type of treatment ensures positive effect in both groups of patients. The dry fine salt aerosol mainly affects the bronchial tree and increases the activity of the respiratory epithelium resulting in an increased sputum production with subsequent cleansing of the bronchi. It also ensures disinfection, which eliminates or mitigates existing respiratory dysbacteriosis.

The article considers the use of innovative methods of teaching in the form of a business game when studying the discipline «Infectious diseases in children» at the Children’s Infection Diseases Department of the Volgograd State Medical University, which contributes to the formation of professional skills based on knowledge and the development of creative abilities. There are presented methodology for organizing and conducting a business game is presented on the example of a simulation mannequin of a child of the first months of life with clinical symptoms of measles.

Currently, breeders often use multidimensional statistics methods to process a large set of experimental data. To characterize the breeding value of 20 sorghum lines with cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS lines) under arid cultivation conditions, during the research there was applied a cluster analysis, allowing to group the lines into clusters according to similar indicators from 15 analyzed agronomic and physiological characteristics. The studies were carried out during 2019-2021, various in meteorological conditions: the hydrothermal coefficient was 0.59-0.84 during the vegetation period of plants. Cytoplasmic male sterility lines were sown at a density of 100 thousand plants per 1 hectare. Breeding and physiological traits were evaluated according to generally accepted methods. The assessment of agronomic and physiological characteristics was carried out according to generally accepted methods. For further practical work, based on the results of the conducted studies, four CMS lines of grain sorghum (clusters 2, 3, 5) were identified according to a complex of physiological and breeding characteristics. Sterile lines (A2 Vostorg, M35-1А Pischevoe 614, A3 Feterita 14 and A2 KVV 114) were distinguished by the highest seed yield of 3.02-3.50 t/ha, high water content (72.7-73.7 %) and water retention capacity of leaves (72.2-84.3 %), low water deficiency (6.5-8.7 %). The study of moisture loss during the natural wilting of leaves confirmed the high resistance to drought in the flowering phase of the sterile A2 KVV 114 line, in which the intensity of moisture loss after 1 hour was only 9.9 %, 1.5 h – 15.8 % and 24 h – 68.6 %. In breeding for increasing drought resistance the CMS-line A1 Efremovskoe 2 (the sixth cluster) should be noted, as it was inferior to the above-described lines only in terms of low water deficiency (16.5 %), indicating average drought resistance. The line is the tallest with large leaves (length – 46.7 cm, area – 163.8 cm2) and form 3.21 t/ha of seeds on average for the period presented. The use of the obtained data provides the increasing of the breeding process for the creation of productive drought-resistant F1 sorghum hybrids.

Youth extremism continues to be relevant considering the fluid and changeable character of the contemporary world: new risk factors emerge while social institutions designed to provide social stability malfunction. The article aims at presenting the family attitudes among the youth which are connected to the problem of infantilism (social-psychological maturity), the attitude towards non-traditional gender relations, to the infidelity in romantic relationships, and how the media and TV series may contribute to an increased risk of extremism among the younger generations. The article is based on the data from six original studies on the above-mentioned issues conducted at the RUDN University in 2017-2019 with different sociological methods (questionnaire survey, focus groups and content analysis): a 2017 survey of RUDN students titled “Personal freedom through the eyes of young people” (N = 470); content analysis of four episodes of four Russian TV series in 2017; validation results for the method “Diagnostics of social immaturity in young people” (N = 500); four focus groups on the “Transformation of the contemporary social image of the Russian woman” in 2019; two focus groups with female students on the “Infidelity in romantic relationships” in 2021, and a 2021 survey of Moscow university students on extremism. The broad scope of topics covered in the study in the frame of up-to-date relevant research allowed for several findings which clarified the aspects that should be stressed when implementing the youth and family policy: the conscious parenting training for young families, systematic monitoring of social immaturity of young people in family and everyday life, restoration of the educational system to its former esteem as a counter to the present service sector. Some gradual changes can already be observed in the clear policy on same-sex relationships and attention to the media content at the government level.

Students are the most socially influenced group due to being poorly protected from various risks, which is used by extremist and terrorist organizations. Such an impact on the younger generation can be ensured by various social-psychological mechanisms, such as suggestion, emotional contagion, imitation, persuasion, etc., which can be used for their involvement in extremist activities. Any influence can be effective under the high conformity; concerning involvement in extremist organizations, such influence can be dangerous for both person and society. The article presents the results of the study of the characteristics that can affect the level of students’ conformity. The authors conducted an experiment based on focus groups and methods for diagnosing suggestibility, emotional intelligence and psychotypes. The dependent variable was the level of conformity. The topic for discussion was attitudes to infidelity as the easiest and acceptable to discuss. All participants were women with a negative attitude to the topic. In the experiment, two groups participated - to influence the initial (negative) attitude with stimulus and special techniques. The groups were homogeneous in terms of emotional intelligence: one group was below average, the second group was above average. The experiment showed that students with an anxious and emotive radical tend to demonstrate a certain degree of conformity. There is no direct correlation between conformity and the level of emotional intelligence, but the authors suggest the influence of empathy on conformity. The results of the research can contribute to new forms of preventive work at universities, including monitoring of those student characteristics that can affect the level of conformity.

The issues of physiological and mental health of young people have always remained in the focus of researchers’ attention, however, there are practically no works where the “healthy personality” is considered more broadly, including the features of its functioning in a social context. The authors propose the concept of a “healthy personality”, which includes the following components: emotional stability and psychological well-being, a low degree of suggestibility and adherence to the values of goodness and security. These components meet the challenges of the modern world and underlie the ability of a student’s personality to withstand the challenges of extremism. A combination of techniques was used to create the concept: 1) “General Health Questionnaire” by Goldberg, 2) Schwartz Questionnaire and 3) “Suggestibility Test” by S.V. Klauchek and V.V. Delaryu. With the help of tools that include these methods and thematic blocks (attitudes towards the media, extremism, civic and political position), a questionnaire survey was conducted on a sample of 1,500 people representing the Russian students of three Moscow universities – RUDN University, Moscow State University and National Research University Higher School of Economics in terms of courses and areas of study.The purpose of the article is to develop a research concept of “healthy personality” based on a combination of existing methods used to measure conformity, psychological stability and emotional well-being and value orientations. As a result, the level of emotional stability and psychological wellbeing of Moscow students, the type of value orientations, and their level of conformity are revealed. The dominant personality type, calculated on the basis of the results of the methods, turned out to be “relatively healthy personality” (67.6%), one fifth of the respondents were classified as “healthy personality”, however, every tenth student is a “personality at risk”. The proposed concept can be used during sociological monitoring of educational services of the university in order to diagnose risk groups among first-year students.

The ratification of the Lanzarote Convention by Russia in 2013 entails several issues that cannot be resolved without the help of social-humanitarian sciences. Information from sociology, psychology, and jurisprudence has been used to create a concept for the empirical study of the domestic violence against children - to improve the implementation of the Convention in Russia. The concept considers two aspects of the problem - social and social-cultural. The article presents the Russian experience of how the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse are implemented. The authors analyze statistical data on the number of families in which a sexually abused child is brought up; the number of abortions and childbirths by minors; the number of minors in educational colonies; the work of the childrens helpline; the number of mediation services; the number of social service organizations for families and children; the number of professionals working with children in programs aimed at preventing and protecting children from sexual exploitation and abuse; the number of organizations providing psychological-pedagogical and medical-social assistance; the number of specialized multifunctional centers providing assistance to families and child victims of sexual abuse; the number of specialized green rooms for investigating crimes related to minors; the number of specialists accompanying minors who have come into conflict with the law at all stages of the investigation and court proceedings; the number of professionals trained under the Child Sexual Violence Protection Program and now assisting families and child victims of violence. The article will be useful for readers who study the implementation of the Lanzarote Convention and the issues of child sexual abuse and domestic violence.

The article presents the results of the search for methodological ways to improve the quality of sociological information obtained in the focus group discussion. Today the scientific sphere is changing, and, in addition to the development of new methods, the existing interdisciplinary ones are being adapted to the specific research goals. An important way for improving sociological methods is the study of psychological aspects of respondents behavior during focus groups, since unconscious reactions can indicate the potential information bias and affect the quality of the project results. In the RUDN University, a three-stage methodological experiment was conducted based on the psychological technique 7 radicals, the Specific Affect Coding System (SPAFF) and the personal differential method. At the first stage, the experiment aimed at examining the ability of respondents without special knowledge in the field of psycho-typing to identify the dominant radicals. At the second stage, representatives of different psycho-types assessed each other so that the researchers would develop recommendations for the seating of focus group participants. At the third stage, the quality of the data obtained in focus groups was assessed depending on the moderators special skills (knowledge of psycho-types, FACS and SPAFF). Thus, the recommendations for moderators were developed - to increase the efficiency of work with focus group participants and to improve the quality of sociological data. The moderator needs knowledge in three areas: respondents psycho-types, affects in SPAFF, and the proxemic component (seating of respondents). The authors assess the prospects for introducing psychological techniques into the training system for focus group moderators and provide recommendations for moderators based on the results of the multi-stage experiment. Its results partially solve the problem of the quality of the focus group data by explaining the need to teach moderators interdisciplinary techniques (SPAFF and psycho-typing of the focus-group participants).

One of the results of the implementation of the «Export of agricultural products» («Eksport produkcii APK») Federal Project was an increase in the supply of domestic products on the world market. During the years 2015–2020 on average, the export of Russian agricultural products was increasing 16% per year. Conditions such as the strengthening of Russia’s position in the global agri-food market, the need to ensure the achievement of the target indicators of the Federal project, impose high requirements on management information for the agro-industrial complex. The article focuses on examining the export potential of grain since it is a key product in the structure of Russian agricultural exports. The goal of the study is to quantify the export potential of grain production. The study was carried out on the materials from the Orenburg region of the years 2015–2019. The authors defined the export potential of grain production as a part of the gross grain harvest intended for export, not exceeding the value of domestic consumption. A change in such a metric should not pose a threat to the food security of the region for each particular type of agricultural product. To characterize the export potential of the industry, calculations were made based on the balance of resources and the use of grain, with the indicator of self-sufficiency in grain and other relative indicators being calculated. Research methods which were used: comparison, balance method, method of relative values, statistical methods of analysis of dynamics and structure, etc. The information which was used as a base of the study comes from the official data of Rosstat and its territorial body in the Orenburg region, as well as from the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation. The study concluded that the basis for strengthening and increasing the export potential of grain production with stable values of domestic consumption is to increase production by improving agricultural technologies and state policy for the development of agriculture and rural areas. The state should exercise control over the enhancement of export potential. Otherwise, there may be a threat to the food security of the region, as well as of the country as a whole. Scientific novelty of the research: the authors formulated the definition of the concept of «export potential of grain production», the authors also substantiated the system of indicators and performed a comprehensive measurement of the export potential of grain production in the Orenburg region. The significance of the research results for practice is to improve information and analytical support for the management of production and export of agricultural products.

Modernity, characterized by informatization, globalization and unprecedented acceleration of all social processes, significantly differs from the reality that existed several decades ago, which affects new generations whose lifestyle differs completely from their parents. The period of growing up has changed, and society faces the challenges of infantilization which, on the one hand, is determined by various factors (media, virtualization, etc.) and, on the other hand, increases the impact of these factors. The article considers theoretical foundations of the concept social infantilism, its fundamental differences from the psychological interpretation of infantilism, its manifestations in the contemporary Russian society, and some methodological approaches to its measurement. The article presents the details of the development and testing of the sociological methodology for measuring the level of social infantilism. The development of this methodology consisted of several stages: at the first stage, a questionnaire was designed and tested on a group of students (30 respondents), then the projective technique collage was used for validation on two mini-groups of students - with maximum and minimum indicators of infantilism. At the final stage, the corrected questionnaire was tested on a representative sample of the RUDN University students (N = 550). Social infantilism can be diagnosed in one of the spheres - political, economic, everyday life, family relations and ideological views - or as a generalized phenomenon (present in all spheres). The developed method was validated in the test form and can be used in educational institutions.

The article deals the possibilities of using early clinical and anamnestic data for the diagnosis of severe bronchial obstruction in children.The aim of the study was to search for informative indicators that affect the severity of bronchial obstruction against the background of acute respiratory viral infections, and to develop a mathematical predictive model for use at the stages of hospitalization.Materials and methods. The study was based on the examination and observation of 386 children aged 1 month to 5 years who were treated in the respiratory department and the intensive care unit with a diagnosis of bronchial obstruction syndrome. To search for informative indicators, 34 anamnestic signs were studied, including those in mother-child pairs. Comparison of indicators was carried out according to Student's t-test for independent samples and у 2 test to assess categorical differences. To assess the effect of each independent variable on the outcomes of interest, variables reaching P ≤ 0.25 in bivariate analysis were included in a multivariate logistic regression model.Results. Mathematical processing showed that only 1 9 factors were identified as significantly influencing the severity of the disease (p < 0.001), while others were not potential determinants of severity. For the main ones, diagnostic values were calculated and a mathematical forecasting model was built with a high level of reliability — 95%.

The development of inclusive education progresses at different speeds across the world. In the Russian Federation inclusive education is developing primarily at the school level but one of the most crucial aspects of socialization is additional education, and in this regard the needs of children with special needs and disabilities remain an outstanding issue. A concept of the national monitoring of additional education for children with special needs and disabilities is proposed. The article presents the project of the toolkit for the national monitoring of entities engaged in additional educational activities for children with special needs and disabilities, which includes eight blocks: organizational structure of entities engaged in implementing additional educational programs for children in each constituent territory of the Russian Federation; implementation of additional educational programs for children with special needs and disabilities in entities with various subordination and organizational structures; material and technical support; staffing and professional training for specialists engaged in implementing additional educational programs for children with special needs and disabilities; information on ongoing additional educational programs for children with special needs and disabilities; typical obstacles which arise in the course of activities organized by entities engaged in implementing additional educational programs for children with special needs and disabilities; information resources and the system of inter-agency interaction in the course of the implementation of additional educational programs for children, including those with special needs and disabilities; financing of entities engaged in implementing additional educational programs for children. The presence/absence of a regional centre of additional education for children is going to be identified, as well as its official name, and the number of subordinate entities which implement additional educational programs in the corresponding Russian region in various areas: arts, sports, science, sociology and pedagogy, technical sciences, tourism and local history, intellectual games. The article could be of assistance for experts who study inclusion problems.

Особая опасность экстремизма состоит в том, что основная доля новых членов вербовки в экстремистские организации состоит из молодых людей. Поэтому в рамках настоящей работы авторы предпринимают попытку исследовать ранее не изучавшуюся тему взаимосвязи склонности молодёжи к экстремизму и особенностей демонстрируемых ими невербальных реакций. При определении современных принципов исследования невербального поведения заостряется внимание на том, что толкование невербального поведения человека должно проходить при включении в контекст индивидуальной базовой модели поведения индивида, учёте конкретных обстоятельств и наблюдения динамики изменения вербального и невербального поведения. Распространение молодёжного экстремизма объясняется недостаточной полово-возрастной зрелостью молодых людей, нарушением их эмоциональной устойчивости в условиях негативного воздействия контента СМИ и социальных сетей, развитием тенденций вербовки новых членов посредством социальных сетей и иных электронных платформ. В практическом разделе статьи на основе анализа мирового опыта рассматриваются государственные и общественные программы по противодействию различным формам экстремизма среди молодых людей. При обсуждении результатов делается вывод о многостороннем проявлении влияния экстремизма на молодое население и критикуется отсутствие в настоящее время исследований, объединяющих изучение невербальных реакций людей и их склонность к экстремизму. В качестве дальнейшей перспективы развития мер по борьбе с экстремизмом предлагается проведение эмпирических междисциплинарных исследований в области взаимосвязи невербального поведения и молодёжного экстремизма.

The study of mass consciousness is one of the most pressing sociological issues. Historical memory is a part of mass consciousness, and it is obvious that the historical memory about any event has its specifics in different societies. Today memories about the World War II became an object of manipulation for various political forces that aim at changing public opinion in favor of particular parties, and the youth is especially affected by such influence. The student youth is a reactive social force and can subsequently transfer such influence into actions. Therefore, the study of the international students types of historical memory provides a unique opportunity to reveal the global perception of the World War II. The article presents a typology of historical memory based on the classical structure of social attitude as consisting of affective (views on the justice of the war results), cognitive (knowledge of the war milestones) and behavioral components (knowledge and participation in commemorative events, and family stories). There are nine types of historical memory: personal-historical, dispositional, formal-historical, emotional-historical, fragmentary-historical, mythological-historical, subjective-historical, value-historical, lack-of-memory. The majority of students have an emotional-historical, formal-historical types and lack-of-memory. Without lacking-memory students, the share of which is smaller among Russian students, foreign students have mainly an emotional-historical and formal-historical types of memory, while Russian students rather formal-historical and value-historical types. The article explains the way for identifying types of memory. Thus, it can be useful for methodologists and researchers in sociology of history.

Improving the quality of students’ life is an important task for every university and the educational system as a whole, which fits into the aims of the studies of the social dimension of students’ life. To solve this task, the study of students’ problems is a priority, while the second step can be the creation of university structures that would solve these problems effectively. The article presents an ideal model of the consulting center that can solve such problems. The authors conducted four focus groups in the RUDN University with students of different courses from different countries, and used projective techniques and group discussions to identify models of the consulting center, departments that it should consist of, and qualities of employees working in these departments. The general model of the consulting center includes an information department as its ‘core’ responsible for the distribution of students’ requests to necessary departments; IT department (site, corporate mail, etc.); department of social support (scholarships, financial support, etc.); residence department (registration, dormitory, etc.); department of science and education (grants, competitions, etc.); student committee (leisure). The students prefer to receive all necessary information online, by phone and also in person. The preferred social network for information is Facebook - for foreigners - and VK (Vkontakte) - for Russian students. The students also mentioned three main languages for distribution of information - Russian, English and Chinese. The focus-groups allowed to find out that although some necessary units designed to solve students’ problems already exist, they do not actually solve them due to bureaucratic or other reasons. Therefore, the proposed model of the consulting center can be an effective management solution ‘from the bottom’ that would help the university to communicate with students and to understand their real needs.

The quality of sociological data is the problem that cannot lose relevance in the works of methodologists and practicing sociologists for decades. Procedures and techniques for the improvement of the quality of information for all type of survey methods are developing. The purpose of the article is to inform the interviewers conducting semi-structured or unstructured interviews of the recommendations developed on the basis of the theory of psychotypes (by V.V. Ponomarenko). This technology will allow to improve the quality of sociological data. Identification of the psychotype of the respondent and his emotional reactions to different sensitive topics during the interview are the basis of this technology. Emotional reactions can be traced by nonverbal cues (facial expressions, gestures and poses) and interpreted by the technology of the analysis of nonverbal reactions developed and approved earlier. During the multi-stage experiment, the reactions significant in the course of interview were traced and analyzed - irritation, surprise, sadness, contempt, joy, fear, disgust, stress/discomfort, doubt/indecision, manifestations of mental processes. At the first phase, representatives of ‘ideal types’ of each psychotype were selected by an abridged psychological test and external diagnostics based on sensitive topics. As a result, the recommendations for a semi-structured interview were formulated. To use this technique, it is necessary to test an interviewee before the interview by the abridged psychological technique (in case there are doubts after the visual diagnostics). According to the psychotype the interviewer pays attention to the sensitive topics of the in-terview, and during the interview can reformulate the open-ended questions to reduce the sensitivity of significant topics for each respondent.

Patriotism is designated as a national idea in Russia; nowadays the questions the relevance of patriotic education of the most reactive of social groups - young people - is especially acute. Round table in the format of focus groups with 20 experts working with young people, among them - professors, teachers, veterans, employees public authorities to work with youth was held on the 27th of May 2016 on the basis of the museum-panorama “Battle of Stalingrad” in Volgograd, with the assistance of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. During the two-hour round table were discussed issues of civil and patriotic education of youth, including the theme - “Ultrapatriotizm-Patriotism-pseudo-patriotism” (ratio of the concepts, their similarities and differences, manifestations in modern Russian society among young people), “Today's youth and moral conflicts” (spiritually-moral development of today's youth, its values), “infantilism - the scourge of modern youth?” (problem of infantilism as a barrier in the way of civic and patriotic education), “Does extremist views attractive for young people?” (the attitude of youth to extremism and terrorism, effective countermeasures of youth involvement in extremist groups).

Insincerity of respondents in sociological research is a challenge affecting both quality of the sociological tool and the quality of the data obtained, especially features of the psychological interaction. Insincerity is information which respondents distort intentionally. However, there are two types of such insincerity - ‘objective’, i.e. a protective strategy used to deliberately hide some information, and ‘subjective’, when a respondent is forced to provide irrelevant information due to misunderstanding the question or incompetence. Nonverbal manifestations inform of thoughts and sometimes motives of respondents’ answers. In the example given in the article the ‘objective’ insincerity prevails due to the sensitive topic, while in other types of similar surveys the ‘subjective’ insincerity usually takes place too. Insincerity is not an emotion, rather a complex of cognitive attitudes and processes in a form of respond to a stimuli, but insincerity is accompanied by emotions which are the main differentiating signs of types of insincerity. Using the technology for the analysis of respondents’ nonverbal reactions in sociological research, we can identify the type of insincerity. The authors provide examples of certain emotions as reactions to specific provocative questions under the experiment and make a conclusion about the possibilities to identify not only incorrect or ‘threatening’ questions, but also the types of insincerity when answering such questions.

Using XPS, BET, XRD, TG-DTA, HRTEM-EDX, TPR and UV-Vis Diffuse Reflectance spectroscopic methods the electronic, redox and structural properties of Mn-Na-W/SiO2 catalysts prepared by the incipient wetness impregnation method and mixture slurry method were studied in detail. Since POSS nanotechnology (POSS = polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes) has attracted attention as tooling for synthesis of catalysts with novel properties and functionalities, we expanded this method for the preparation of Mn-Na-W/SiO2 catalyst. The physicochemical and catalytic properties of Mn-Na-W/SiO2 catalysts prepared by conventional methods and POSS nanotechnology were examined comparatively. In all studied Mn-Na-W/ SiO2 catalysts both individual oxides (MnOx, WO3) and bimetal oxide phases (Na2WO4, MnWO4) are found in addition to oxide particles of high dispersion. The UV-Vis Diffuse Reflectance indicates that Na+ cations facilitates stabilization of octahedrally coordinated Mn3+Oh cations in the isolated state, while Mn3+Oh promote the disordering of W6+ cations in the supported system. The Mn-Na-W/ SiO2 prepared using metal-POSS precursors marks out presence of unglobular SiO2 particles, higher dispersion of MnOx and MnWO4 particles and more easily reducible metal-oxide species. The catalysts prepared by incipient impregnation method and mixture slurry method have practically similar catalytic performance while the catalyst prepared by POSS nanotechnology method shows lower activity and selectivity. At 800‒850 °C the increase of C2 hydrocarbons yield from 4 to 15% and the rise of molar ratio С2Н4/C2H6 from 0.2 to 1 are observed when impregnation or mixture slurry method are used for catalyst preparation instead of POSS nanotechnology method.

Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples` (who has been considered fraternal for a long time) representations of the modern world currently due to many factors are subjected to complex processes of transformation. So the importance of the historical period of the Great Patriotic War in the life of all three peoples, the memory of which has an important means of confrontation western propaganda, is certainly true. The article presents the results of the study of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian students’ and their parents’ representations of the Great Patriotic War. The study was being held in Peoples’ friendship University of Russia, immediately after the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory.

The article analyses some ethno-cultural features of emotional/emotive communication which cause failures in intercultural interaction due to misinterpretation of their pragmatic meaning. It demonstrates that pragmatic differences concern the degree of emotional openness and self-control of the speakers, in both verbal and nonverbal communication as well as the sphere of social norms and rules. They are of a systematic character and are predetermined by culture. This thesis is demonstraded with examples from various cultures and a particular emphasis is put on English and Russian language and culture. Focusing on ethnocultural level of communication, I ignore individual peculiarities of communicators and admit to a high level of generalization that is justifiable in intercultural research. The data was taken from theoretical sources, dictionaries, questionnaires and ethnographic observation. I used the methods of pragmatic, contrastive and discourse analyses. The results show that for successful intercultural communication one should possess emotive-cultural competence which is an integral component of intercultural communicative competence.

The contemporary world brings the problems of international relations that have reached the global scale to the forefront, because political actions inevitably affect relations between peoples of the countries involved. The article presents the results of the sociological research aimed to identify mutual perception and concepts of the contemporary world among citizens of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine on the example of Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. Belarus, Ukraine and Russia are Slavic countries with common history, united by the Russian language, and forming the basis of the “Russian World”. However, the tragic events of 2013-2014 in Ukraine and global political processes raise the question of how close the peoples of these countries are now and how similar their concepts of the contemporary world are. The authors used the semantic differential method, method of associations and projective questions and focused on the categories «attitude towards countries» (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the global leaders), «attitude towards peoples of the countries» and «attitude towards the language», which formed the basis of the matrix showing the key concepts of the contemporary world among Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian students of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia.

Submitted by optimizing the treatment of acute stenosing laryngitis (croup) in children. The use of short courses of topical and systemic corticosteroids showed high clinical efficiency, shortening hospital stay, good tolerability and absence of side effects.

The set of mechanisms for the implementation of the idea of the single European space of higher education including the access to higher education, advice and guidance for the students, their material support, providing equal opportunities and social equality allows the majority of young people to achieve a high level of education and facilitates their personal self-realization. The social dimension as one of the areas of the Bologna process implementations was first announced in the context of mobility support and the strategy of lifelong learning, in the present time it is a complex system of social support for students including accommodation, medical care, nutrition and other social services. All these aspects of the social dimension of the students’ life have become the subject of the European research project Eurostudent taking place in 25 European countries. Russia for the first time took part in this project as an associate member: in the spring of 2014, we conducted a survey with the methodology of the international research project. The methodological issues of the project techniques are considered in the article as well as some conclusions based on the results of the survey conducted at the People’s Friendship University of Russia.

The article deals with some gaps in English and Russian languages which are revealed through comparative analysis, and states that culture specific vocabulary requires particular attention in foreign language teaching as it is a rich source of information about a target culture and language.

The article identifies the possibilities and the necessity to analyze the nonverbal reactions in the focus groups studies. The authors analyze the key nonverbal expressions of the respondents in the focus group research, the possibilities of their interpretation, as well as the problems of their identification and evaluation. Thus, the authors focus on the group dynamics and gestures as specific features of the focus groups.

The paper deals with a Russian assessment of the communicative behavior of middle class English speakers and aspects of rudeness considered acceptable by them in a friendly discourse. The problem has been studied from the point of view of ethical norms in intercultural communication.

The paper touches upon some implicit language mechanisms used by British, American and Russian mass media, particulary in news texts, to influence public opinion by forming some specific stereotypes in the minds of the masses while relating to political and social events as well as countries and public figures.

The article deals with the problem of language and culture transfer which follows the process of intercultural communication and impedes understanding. It suggests that teaching communicative style which is shaped by cultural differences, communicative values, and politeness strategies helps students of the second language to understand the target culture and its people, to overcome ethnocentrism and negative stereotyping, to adapt their communicative bahaviour to a new culture and as a result to develop their intercultural communicative competence.