The article analyzes the ethical and theological content of the apocryphal Syrian "autobiography" of St. Clement of Rome, as well as its early Slavic translation. The study uses historical-philosophical, patristic and philological methodology to outline the specific teachings, attributed to St. Clement by this Greek-speaking Syrian text from the pseudo-Clementine cycle. The methods of comparative textology and translation studies are used to analyze the features of the Slavic version of the work. The study revealed that, contrary to the ideas of (...) the publisher of the Slavic version, P. Lavrov, the translation was undoubtedly made according to the archaic, pre-metaphrasic version of the work. Therefore, it can be dated to the ninth century and come from the school of Cyril and Methodius. The popularity of the monument among Slavic readers is partly explained by the archaic features of the original version of the work preserved in the translation, such as graphic imagery, expressive presentation, and numerous dialogues. Such a lively account facilitated the perception of the conceptually rich ethical content of the work. At the heart of both Greek and Slavic versions is the ethical category of philanthropy, which figures as a central Christian virtue. Much of the Epitome is devoted to a detailed explanation of this category and its distinction from other virtues. In the original, the ethics of philanthropy is opposed to the astrological ideology represented by Clement’s father Faust. Faust's views are based on the natural philosophical ideas of the early Greek Stoics. Apostle Peter, Clement's teacher, responds to his arguments from the standpoint of Judeo-Christian monotheism, referring to the biblical history of his people. Thus, Hellenism is confronted with biblical monotheism. So, Epitome appears a kind of argument in the controversy between Gentile Christians and Judeo-Christians, which has troubled the Syrian Church for centuries. However, in translation, this clash of worldviews remains obscured, as the translator does not seem to recognize either the terminology of Stoic natural philosophy, or astrological issues, or the debate between the traditions of Peter and Paul in Syria. Thus, all the Stoic terminology of Faust is reduced to a single concept of "being". Therefore, in the translated version, the controversy is not so much between Christianity and astrology, as between ethics and "ontology". Instead, the translator enriches the philosophical outline of the work with polysemic Slavic vocabulary, which sheds new light on the role of the bishop in Peter’s instructions to Clement. Comparison of the Greek and Slavic versions of the Epitome – an autobiography attributed to St. Clement – with his only authentic work, 1Corinthians, allowed to draw another unexpected conclusion. All these works are not only devoted to one main problem - the restoration of peace in the controversial Christian community, but also offer similar ways out of the crisis through brotherly love, solidarity and respect for the otherness of the fellow Christians. This may indicate either that the author of the Syrian apocrypha was inspired by the true Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, or that the image of St. Clement, that developed in the early tradition, dictated the message of the pseudo-epigraph quite powerfully. Due to this consonance, the apocryphal work of the Syrian Ebionites did to some extent acquaint Slavic readers with the ideas of Clement of Rome, whose only authentic work was almost unknown in the Middle Ages. (shrink)

Insulators play a central role in subdividing the chromosome into a series of discrete topologically independent domains and in ensuring that enhancers and silencers contact their appropriate target genes. In this review we first discuss the general characteristics of insulator elements and their associated protein factors. A growing collection of insulator proteins have been identified including a family of proteins whose expression is developmentally regulated. We next consider several unexpected discoveries that require us to completely rethink how insulators function (and (...) how they can best be assayed). These discoveries also require a reevaluation of how insulators might restrict or orchestrate (by preventing or promoting) interactions between regulatory elements and their target genes. We conclude by connecting these new insights into the mechanisms of insulator action to dynamic changes in the three‐dimensional topology of the chromatin fiber and the generation of specific patterns of gene activity during development and differentiation. (shrink)

A conceptual and mathematical model of a social community behavior in a choice situation under a veil of ignorance, where two alternative policies—Rawlsian maximin and Harsanyian utilitarianism—can be implemented through the aggregation of individual preferences over these two policies, is constructed and investigated. We first incorporate in our conceptual model psychological features such as risk-aversion and prosocial preferences that likely underlie choices of welfare policies. We secondly develop and select the mathematical model presented it by means of an autonomous system (...) of ordinary differential equations. A qualitative analysis of this system global phase-plane behavior shows possible tendencies of community development under social choices over Rawlsian or utilitarian societies depending on psychological parameters such as risk aversion and prosocial preferences. (shrink)

Діалог релігій стає однією з характерних рис сучасної епохи. Джерелом відомостей за цим питанням може слугувати арабо-мусульманська біографічна література. Яскравим зразком біографічної літератури є "Вафайат аль-а'йан ва-анбал 'абна' аз-заман" ("Некрологи знатних осіб і замітки про їхніх сучасників") Ібн Халлікана. У цьому творі поряд із біографіями мусульман згадуються відомості й про представників християнської релігії. Серед згадок про християн унікальним є повідомлення про Ібн Сакa', який перейшов з ісламу в християнство й переїхав до Константинополя.

The article examines and examines the research of foreign specialists in the field of economics and healthcare organization, who used a comparative approach to analysis in their works. The article examines the features of the application of mechanisms and models of health management characteristic of different countries, studied the experience of the UK, USA, Sweden, Finland, Germany and Japan. The article systematizes the views of scientists on the problem of applying comparative research in the field of healthcare. The article defines (...) generalizations that characterize almost all existing healthcare systems in the world today. Studies are shown that allow us to identify common principles of the organization of health systems in the world, but, at the same time, to identify specific regional and national conditions that become the basis of existing regional, subnational and national health systems. In Russia, at the same time, the healthcare system includes an insurance component and private medicine. The development of the modern healthcare system in Russia can be assessed as not very positive, since with a general reduction in the number of medical personnel and the number of medical institutions in the 90s, this trend is currently continuing, albeit in a more smoothed form. A common place in the development of the healthcare system remains the growth of paid medical services and the orientation of sectoral public authorities in the direction of the development of the health care market with the strengthening of the role of the private sector. The healthcare system is undergoing, on the one hand, an upswing due to the growth of investments caused by coronavirus infection, and, on the other hand, especially for "traditional" diseases, the trend outlined in previous years continues. (shrink)

Research on the negative foundations of time will not lose its relevance as long as the connection, stated by M. Heidegger in 1927, remains legitimate and systemically justified. Sein und Zeit do not look like the classical opposition of being and thinking, being and phenomenon, being and existence, which are shaped very antinomically according to the philosophical tradition. M. Heidegger’s “being and time”, in relation to which we are talking about the possibilities of temporal derivatives among the phenomenological and ontological (...) “given”, we have to define as a Wende der Zeit, in other words, the “turn of time” for the philosophy of positive. What times are meant? On the one hand, times of modern metaphysical projects that sought to overcome the framework of existence without the slightest effort in the direction of its own autonomous disclosure. On the other hand, there will remain times that are only maturating: the destruction of philosophy under the onslaught of pointless “twisting of words”, which never had any special consequences. The main issues of the article will be devoted to the ontological and contextual thematization of time among two atypical dimensions for the concept of chronos : the eon and the retarded Nothing. The aim of the article is to describe the constitution of time on the basis of the negative copula of being and as a subject of radical ontology at the same time. The tasks we will focus on are as follows: first of all, we will conduct a phenomenological analysis of time in relation to the retarded Nothing concepts such as ἐνέργεια of Aristotle, cairological παρουσία of Augustine, transcendental scheme of I. Kant and the absolute temporal flow of E. Husserl. Secondly, we will single out the negative copula of being from the field of essence within the framework of ontological differentiation. Finally, we will deduce the eon from the etymological primacy of “eternity” in favor of the epoch-making experience of active negation. In order for the passage of time to become proportionate to its carrier, and for the philosophy of positivity, which has reached its completion and has ceased to be an obstacle at the “turn of time”, we will critically analyze impersonal time. Orientation to Greek concepts is paradigmatic in this case. (shrink)

A nation cannot exist without national culture and national self-consciousness. These concepts are decisive in the development of the nation. Values are the priorities of any nation, determined by its culture and self-awareness. The national cool is the basis for the formation and development of national self-consciousness. The aim is to analyze the influence of national culture on the formation of national consciousness. Justify their objective and subjective factors of formation, which are based on the motivational core of personality behavior. (...) National culture and national self-consciousness are the main features of a nation, without which it cannot exist and develop as a whole. National culture and national self-consciousness are one whole of the spiritual world of nations and nationalities. The development of national culture and national self-consciousness is an objective regularity. Naturally, contradictions in this process will exist and demand their resolution or escalate into conflicts. With a timely solution, they will play the role of an indicator of national development. (shrink)

The paper is devoted to a conceptual model of cell patterning, based on a generalized notion of the epigenetic code of a cell determining its state. We introduce the concept of signaling depending both upon the spatial distance between cells and the distance between their cell states (s-distance); signaling can repel cells in the space of cell states (s-space) or attract them. The influence of different types of repelling signaling on the evolution of cells is considered. Stabilizing signaling, namely a (...) signaling monotonically decreasing with s-distance, causes the restoring of cell states after perturbations; destabilizing signaling, i.e., the one in which the signaling monotonically increases with s-distance, causes the appearance of pairs of cells with alternating cell states (one close to the state conventionally called “head”, and another close to the “tail” state). Non-monotonic (in s-space) signaling splits the cells into groups. The model shows that different types of signaling may provide different types of cellular patterns. General principles for applying this model to complex cellular structures are discussed. (shrink)

The article reviews the assessment of the School of Antioch by the first Ukrainian hagiographer, St. Dymytriy Tuptalo. Methods: The comparative-historical methodology and, above all, the Tradition history method reveal not only explicit but also implicit links between Kyivan and Antiochian theology. Conclusions: Interpreting the 4th -5th-centuries theological collisions, Tuptalo consistently clung to the viewpoint of the School of Antioch, rejecting the accusals from the side of Alexandrian tradition. St. Dymytriy systematically reproduces in his Synaxarion the historical narratives of the (...) Antiochians. An unequivocal indicator of Dymytriy’s position is his attitude to Antioch's most controversial figures: in particular, he enlists Theodoret of Cyrrhus among the "holy fathers" and mentions Diodorus of Tarsus among the "Church luminaries", along with other figures of the Meletian party. Such an independent evaluation of the Antiochian heritage is undoubtedly due to the concordance of the theological thinking of Dymytriy with the worldview of the Antiochians. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In our current moment, there is considerable interest in networks, in how people and things are connected. This essay outlines one approach that brings together insights from actor-network theory, social network analysis, and digital history to interpret past scientific activity. Multispecies network analysis (MNA) is a means of understanding the historical interactions among scientists, institutions, and preferred experimental animals. A reexamination of studies of sexual behavior funded by the Committee for Research in Problems of Sex between the 1920s and (...) the 1940s demonstrates the applicability of MNA to clarifying the relations that sustained this area of psychology. The measures of weighted degree and betweenness can highlight which nodes (whether organisms or institutions) were particularly “central” to this network. Rats featured as the animals most widely studied during this period, but the analysis also reveals distinct institutional and disciplinary cultures where different species were favored as either surrogates for humans or representatives of more general biological groups. (shrink)

The article discusses teaching the analysis of documentary films from the standpoint of a discursive approach. The importance of teaching the analysis of documentary films is due to the specifics of audiovisual production. A documentary film is a polyosemiotic construct combined with verbal, pictorial and sound signs, which are important for the translator to take into account in the translation process. The discursive approach allows to teach future translators to analyze not only the work as a whole, but also to (...) analyze the historical and socio-cultural context in which it was created. (shrink)

У статті розглянуто вплив візантійської антропології на думку Григорія Сковороди і преп. Паїсія Величковського. За допомогою порівняльно-історичного методу та методу історії традиції (tradition history) простежено застосування українськими богословами XVIIІ ст. візантійської патристичної спадщини. Доповнюючи нещодавнє дослідження М.Ґ.Бартоліні, присвячене розробці Сковородою ідей Александрійської школи патристики, стаття аналізує мотиви, позичені ним у Антіохійської школи. Це, зокрема, своєрідна філософія дозвілля та християнський епікуреїзм, що відлунює вчення Йоана Золотоуста про легкість і природність християнського способу життя. Порівняння містичної антропології двох богословів показало відмінність шляхів їхньої (...) інтроспекції, яка у Сковороди присвячена, передусім, самопізнанню, а в Паїсія – автентичному пошуку Іншого: Бога, наставника, подвижницької громади. (shrink)

У статті розглянуто основні педагогічні метафори, які побутували в Антіохійській школі патристики. Дослідження засноване, насамперед, на матеріалі гомілій свт. Іона Золотоуста De inani gloria, Adversus oppugnatores vitae monasticae, In Matthaeum, Ad populum Antiochenum, а також на окремих творах Феодорита Кирського і Северіана Габальського. Ці твори проаналізовано крізь призму теорії метафори П. Рікера, докладені Н. Райтом та Р. Хейзом до вивчення життєсвіту релігійних громад. Такий аналіз допоміг виявити у творах Золотоуста та інших антіохійців співіснування двох основних педагогічних метафор різного походження. Метафора (...) чистого аркушу, що походить з трактату Аристотеля De anima, розглядає процес освіти в категоріях активного формування педагогом ментальності вихованця. У Золотоуста ця метафора набуває вигляду складного палімпсесту, де первинний текст постійно записується новими шарами, редагується і відновлюється знову. До цього процесу взаємного навчання і редагування свт. Іоан закликає усіх своїх слухачів. Натомість метафора фортеці, укорінена в Павловій антропології і в Платоновій теорії анамнезису, імплікуючи значно більшу самодостатність особистості, застерігає від надмірного педагогічного конструктивізму. Ця парадигма представляє людський ум (νους) як храм або місто, збудоване за Божим задумом, що розвивається за законами, закладеними Творцем. Завдання педагога в такому сценарії – радше оберігати тонкий і складний внутрішній світ дитини від примітивної логіки оточення, щоб не перешкоджати її природному розвитку за Божим задумом. У Золотоуста, Феодорита та інших антіохійців співіснують обидві метафори, але метафора чистого аркушу – переосмисленого як палімпсест – докладається радше до просвіти дорослих християн, тоді як метафора фортеці застосовується стосовно виховання дітей. (shrink)

The present study aims to elucidate whether insight problem solving could be facilitated by the cognitive component of humour. The authors take interest in whether the logical mechanisms of humour can affect how fast insight problems are solved. To that end, the authors conducted two experiments where participants solved insight problems after watching visual humorous stimuli such as videos and slideshows. The first experiment demonstrated the overall impact of facilitation by humour on insight problem solving; however, it did not show (...) any difference in how particular logical mechanisms of humour affect the solution time of insight problems. The second experiment showed that the cognitive component of humour could selectively affect insight problems whose difficulty stems from different sources. These results suggest that the cognitive component of humour, when operationalised as logical mechanisms and schema switching, contributes to solving insight problems. (shrink)

The purpose of the study is to develop methodological recommendations for strategic planning of the development of enterprises in the sphere of material and technical supply of agriculture on the basis of the theoretical provisions of strategic management. The article focuses on the specifics of the considered wholesale sector, certain aspects of the marketing strategy of enterprises in this area, the recommended parameters of the customer survey, the possibilities of using the balanced scorecard and the justification of the economic feasibility (...) of the planned activities. The scientific novelty of the work carried out consists in identifying the features of developing a strategy for wholesalers of agrochemical products and forming an appropriate methodological complex. As a result, various aspects of substantiating strategic directions of development were demonstrated using specific examples and the advantages of measures for their implementation were argued. (shrink)

The purpose of the study is to study the main criteria that ensure the development of the regional agricultural industry. Since the development of the subjects of Russia is based on the need to search for new management tools that ensure the long-term development of all sectors of the national economy, state support and state regulation play a special role in the management of the industry. The research focuses on two groups of industry development. The first group includes labor, natural, (...) material, technical and financial resources. The second group includes investment, information, innovation, research and production, and socio-infrastructural resources. However, the second group of resource base factors has a direct impact on the final position of the agricultural sector. As a result, a mechanism for managing the resources of the agricultural sector of the region, based on the growth factors of the agricultural sector, has been identified. (shrink)

The article considers approaches in order to study large municipal entities and their economic potential. The authors specify that large municipal entities in modern conditions have a multifunctional structure, so they propose an interdisciplinary approach to their study. The article discusses such approaches to analyzing large municipalities as: philosophical; research from the perspective of social sciences and the humanities (political science, sociological, psychological, historiographic and ethnographic approaches). The authors analyze large municipalities from the perspective of the geographical approach; urban theory; (...) urban planning and architecture. The problem of studying large municipalities in the legal sciences is separately investigated. With the help of the economic approach the authors show that at the core of urbanization and the emergence of large municipalities there are three effects: comparative advantage, concentration effect, and localization effect. The authors give classification of large municipalities. The authors propose a systematic approach to analyzing large cities, representing the unity of the functional approach, open systems methodology and the factor approach. Under the latter, it is proposed to understand the economic potential of the city, which presupposes the possibility of efficient use of available resources and their maximum inclusion in social reproduction in order to meet the needs of the municipality population. The authors substantiate the classification of the economic potential of a large municipal formation, which consists of: the resource (basic and used), innovative and infrastructural potentials. (shrink)

The article analyzes the philosophical concept of the “porous self” of J. Rivera. The originality of this concept in the post-phenomenological project is determined by the role of theological constructions that modify the primal experience of self-consciousness. This modification allows us to interpret the phenomenological description of the human self as different from the classical — “porous” temporality, i.e., correlating through “two entrances”—the internal and external—with eternity. Within this approach, the primary phenomenon of the constitution of the "porous" self becomes (...) the inner word, which in the appeal to eternity turns out to be the original self-awareness of the self as a temporality. The secondary phenomenon of the constitution of the “porous” self is not the mundane temporality of M. Heidegger, but Epektasis as an intense striving towards the end of time in General. The worldly temporality of the self, transformed by faith, is phenomenologically revealed as open to eternity in each of its moments. The third phenomenon of the temporality of the self is Memoria, whose interpretation reveals how the structure of the inner consciousness of time by E. Husserl can be framed ontologically and harmoniously integrated into the theological concept. The article shows how, based on this understanding of both the internal and external openness of the “porous” self for eternity, the integral structure of its temporality is formed. The temporality of the porous self is a modification of Husserl’s time diagrams and the intertwining of two streams of temporality at the same time from past to future and from future to past, which itself constitutes a phenomenal field of events of self. This understanding of temporality sets new perspectives for the phenomenological analysis of subjectivity. (shrink)

The authors prove and describe the action of new networking mechanisms of formation of identities which arise in the context of societal transformations of the modern society. The networking mechanisms of identity formation represent a complex of interrelated and interdependent practices in global information and communication space, promoting individual and collective identification, interiorization and reflection. The complex includes the mechanism of network communication, mechanism of reflexive involvement of a person into the public space, mechanism of network topos-structuring and mechanism of (...) public crowdsourcing. The results of the empirical research show that the functionality of the mechanism of network communication for reproducing/positioning traditional identities and projecting new identities resides in its digital nature and a network ethos. The mechanism of reflexive involvement of individuals into the public space enables individual and collective actors to project the independent social worlds requiring the creation of their own virtualized public spaces that are closely linked with the common social space. The mechanism of network toposstructuring and mechanism of public crowdsourcing, forming situation and problem identities, have the high mobilization potential to update the activity of network communities in the form of individuals’ initiatives and large-scale civil movements where new sustained identities form which can also gain the protest nature. The authors come to conclusion that the complex of network mechanisms produces the dynamic matrix of the identity of a modern person allowing to take the opportunities for its development in the contemporary conditions of new social reality formation. At the same time, the complex of networking mechanisms is not stable; its content depends on those institutional practices which determine further conditions, processes and results of formation of identities, requiring their conceptual understanding and empirical research in social sciences. (shrink)

The authors prove and describe the action of new networking mechanisms of formation of identities which arise in the context of societal transformations of the modern society. The networking mechanisms of identity formation represent a complex of interrelated and interdependent practices in global information and communication space, promoting individual and collective identification, interiorization and reflection. The complex includes the mechanism of network communication, mechanism of reflexive involvement of a person into the public space, mechanism of network topos-structuring and mechanism of (...) public crowdsourcing. The results of the empirical research show that the functionality of the mechanism of network communication for reproducing/positioning traditional identities and projecting new identities resides in its digital nature and a network ethos. The mechanism of reflexive involvement of individuals into the public space enables individual and collective actors to project the independent social worlds requiring the creation of their own virtualized public spaces that are closely linked with the common social space. The mechanism of network toposstructuring and mechanism of public crowdsourcing, forming situation and problem identities, have the high mobilization potential to update the activity of network communities in the form of individuals’ initiatives and large-scale civil movements where new sustained identities form which can also gain the protest nature. The authors come to conclusion that the complex of network mechanisms produces the dynamic matrix of the identity of a modern person allowing to take the opportunities for its development in the contemporary conditions of new social reality formation. At the same time, the complex of networking mechanisms is not stable; its content depends on those institutional practices which determine further conditions, processes and results of formation of identities, requiring their conceptual understanding and empirical research in social sciences. (shrink)

This paper is devoted to computer modelling of the development and regeneration of multicellular biological structures. Some species are able to regenerate parts of their body after amputation damage, but the global rules governing cooperative cell behaviour during morphogenesis are not known. Here, we consider a simplified model organism, which consists of tissues formed around special cells that can be interpreted as stem cells. We assume that stem cells communicate with each other by a set of signals, and that the (...) values of these signals depend on the distance between cells. Thus the signal distribution characterizes location of stem cells. If the signal distribution is changed, then the difference between the initial and the current signal distribution affects the behaviour of stem cells—e.g. as a result of an amputation of a part of tissue the signal distribution changes which stimulates stem cells to migrate to new locations, appropriate for regeneration of the proper pattern. Moreover, as stem cells divide and form tissues around them, they control the form and the size of regenerating tissues. This two-level organization of the model organism, with global regulation of stem cells and local regulation of tissues, allows its reproducible development and regeneration. (shrink)

While humans are the best of creations and God’s caliphs on Earth, such a status is always hard to achieve and necessitates many efforts and too much practice. This world also has a two-way path, one terminating in the lowest of the low and the other culminating in the highest of the high. It means that one way leads to misfortune and misery and the other to happiness and perfection. To attain happiness, accountability can be of utmost importance. Besides, the (...) purpose of human creation is closeness to God by preferring the right path, which is not often possible unless they speak the truth and make the best use of the enlightening teachings of the revelation to spot the bad and good, becoming aware of their own duties and responsibilities and ultimately putting them into effect. This research aimed to investigate the mediating role of values in the relationship between accountability and trust among Muslim managers and employees in Islamic organisations, using a descriptive method through a field study. The statistical population included 2500 senior Muslim managers and employees of Iraqi government organisations, selected via simple random sampling. In this research, structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis was recruited for data analysis in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Analysis of a Moment Structures (AMOS). The study results demonstrated that accountability in Muslim managers and employees has a significant positive effect on trust (p = 0.45) and values (p = 0.81). Moreover, the findings revealed that values have a positive effect on reinforcing trust in Islamic organisations (p = 0.54), and above all bolster the relationship between accountability in managers and employees and organisational trust (p = 0.43).Contribution: The accountability of managers and employees can have a positive effect on individuals’ performance in organisations. In general, psychological pressures in organisations result in organisational transformation and then maintain values through trust-building. Such changes can be subsequently operationalized and have a profound impact on people’s behaviour by affecting work order and keeping them always growing, agile and diligent, in order to reach a new level of performance. (shrink)

Background Since the UK Abortion Act (1967), women have travelled from Ireland to the UK for legal abortion. In 2011 >4000 women did so. Knowledge and attitudes of medical students towards abortion have been published, however, this is the first such report from Ireland. Objective To investigate medical students’ attitudes towards abortion in Ireland. Methods All medical students at the University of Limerick, and physicians who graduated from the university within the previous 12 months, were invited via email to complete (...) an anonymous online survey. The questionnaire comprised 17 questions. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed. Results Response rate was 45% (n=169; 55% women; 88.2% <30 years of age; 66.7% Irish; 29.2% North American). Outcomes were: abortion should not be legally available (7.1%), abortion should be allowed in limited circumstances only (35.5%), abortion should be legally available upon request (55%). 72.8% of respondents were moderately/strongly prochoice (74% of women/71% of men/72% and 76% of Irish and North American respondents, respectively). Students aged >30 years were less likely to be prochoice (55%). While 95.2% believed that education on abortion should be offered within medical school curricula, 28.8% stated that they would decline to terminate pregnancies even if legally permitted. While 58.8% indicated that they might perform legal abortions once qualified, 25.7% would do so under limited circumstances only. Conclusions The majority of participants wanted education regarding abortion. Despite being predominantly prochoice, considerably fewer students, irrespective of nationality, indicated that they would perform abortions. (shrink)

It is widely accepted that some characteristics and aspects of spirituality have been mentioned in the religious beliefs, teachings and practices of many divine religions, including Islam. This has recently drawn researchers’ attention, working in the fields of psychology and religion, towards the relationship between religion and spirituality. At present, research on industrial and organisational psychology seeks to shed light on the relationship between religiosity, intelligence and cognitive abilities. In addition, a healthy organisation is a place where individuals attend their (...) workplace with interest and are proud to work there. In fact, a healthy organisation can be achieved with regard to physical–mental health, security, belongings, meritocracy and the valuation of knowledge and expertise. Considering the significance of this study, it aimed to reflect on the relationship between workplace spirituality and organisational health in manufacturing and service companies in Malaysia. Hence, a total number of 30 trading companies in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Langkawi were selected as the statistical population of the study and 3820 employees in these organisations were investigated by simple random sampling through questionnaires distributed to collect the data required for analysis in SPSS software. The results revealed that the given organisations had good levels of spirituality and health. Accordingly, it was concluded that WPS had a significant positive effect on OH.Contribution: This article contributes to the relationship between WPS and OH in manufacturing companies. (shrink)

Our sense of entitlement influences our interactions and attitudes in a range of specific relational contexts, one of them being aging parents’ relationships with their adult children. This study aimed to examine the factor structure of the Sense of Relational Entitlement—aging parents toward their offspring, an 11-item questionnaire that assesses aging people’s sense of relational entitlement toward their children, and examine the associations of its subscales with related personality and mental health constructs. One thousand and six participants, aged 65–99, with (...) at least one child, completed the SRE-ao, Brief Symptom Inventory, Loneliness Scale, and General Belongingness scale. The SRE-ao demonstrated good construct structure using confirmatory factor analysis. Both SRE-ao subscales were significantly and positively associated with anxiety, depression, somatization and sense of loneliness and negatively with sense of belonging. When all variables were entered into a regression model, age, anxiety, and low sense of belonging, but not sense of loneliness, positively predicted both restricted and inflated sense of entitlement. Somatization negatively predicted inflated sense of entitlement. The SRE-ao is a reliable and valid scale that can be used in clinical practice and research to enhance our understanding of parent–child relationships throughout the lifespan. (shrink)

AimThe article presents the results of a study of psychological factors of consumer loyalty concerning electric vehicles. An electric scooter was used as an example of an electric vehicle. The study involved a total of 165 people in China and 150 people in Russia. The study aimed to compare the psychological characteristics of Russian and Chinese consumers based on their attitudes toward an innovative product such as the electric scooter.Hypotheses The identity of Russian and Chinese consumers and the perceived individuality (...) of the product differ significantly; The proximity of the consumer's identity and the image of the product enhances the positive attitude toward the product; Risk strategies of consumer behavior of Chinese and Russians differ.MethodsThe questionnaire included the scales: “Measuring brand personality” by J. Aaker, “Measuring consumer identity” elaborated by Morozova and Antononva, The risk behavior scale by Vasilenko, Tkachenko.Results The first hypothesis was confirmed: there were revealed differences in the consumer behavior of the respondents of these two groups concerning in their self-perception, as well as in the perception of electric scooters. The Russians perceive an electric scooter as energetic, young, extravagant, modern, and unusual; the Chinese are down-to-earth, family-oriented, real. The hypothesis that the correlation of the consumer's identity and the individuality of the product is one of the psychological factors that determine the consumer's loyalty to a product is also confirmed. The Chinese consumers' identity is more close to the product individuality and their loyalty to the product is higher. Risk strategies of consumer behavior of Chinese and Russians significantly differ in terms of satisfaction with choosing of vehicle, the frequency of its use, and the importance of family approval of the choice of vehicle. The results can be used in the marketing strategy development. From the scientifical perspective, these results contribute to an understanding of the consumer loyalty mechanisms associated with consumer identity. (shrink)

Qutayba ibn Muslim al-Bāhilī is one of the leading soldier-bureaucrats of the Umayyads period. During the time he served as the governor of Khurāsān, he consolidated the Umayyad’s rule in Tokharistan and Transoxiana provinces, and expanded the borders of the state to China by conquering the Kashgar region. His activities for conversion of the people of the conquered regions have great importance in the history of Islam since the intense relations of the Turkish people with Islam fell upon the time (...) of his governorship. It is possible to argue that by introducing the religion to these people Qutayba had played an important role in their conversion to Islam. It is also known that he had sent a delegation to the emperor of China for the same purpose. However, despite all his achievements, it is seen that the academic studies about Qutayba in our country are very rare. Besides, some of the recent studies about him claim that he was a fraud, a trickster, and an untrustworthy person in his military activities; and had committed mass murders and massacres, persecuted innocent people, destroyed and burned the cities of conquered lands. In this article, it is examined that whether these claims and accusations have their justifications or not by consulting the main sources. In fact, what is expected from constructive criticism in this subject and every other area is to clarify the matter and make it more comprehensible of its context. However, it should not be forgotten that some conclusions over Qutayba in these studies might have been drawn to quickly in order to manipulate the conquest movements of the Umayyad period.Summary: The religious interaction and change taken place in the Arabian Peninsula with the emergence of Islam and with the political, military and cultural activities of the Muslims performed during the periods of Prophet Muhammad and the Rāshidūn (rightly guided) Caliphs had significant effects upon the lands of Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Khurāsān where the ancient civilizations located.The success made by the Muslim-Arabs in such a short time is accepted of course as one of the important events of world history. The message of Islam spread rapidly with their extraordinary efforts, and reached quickly in the early days of Islam to the Amu Darya/Oxus River, which is considered to be the natural border between the Iranians and the Turks (Iran and Turan).Although the Turks who had been struggling to dominate the region for centuries gained an opportunity with the disappearance of the Sasanian Empire from history, they could not take advantage of this new situation because of their lack of political unity and a strong state, and the power held by the regional Turkish Sultans were not enough to make their dominance happen. In this conjuncture, the Muslim-Arabs who appeared in the stage of history in a relatively late period but had the ideal of being a regional and a global power had rapidly realised their political and military activities called “conquest” in the Islamic historical sources. When it comes to the period of Caliph ʿUthmān, it is seen that the conditions were very suitable for passing to the east of the Oxus River where the Turkish elements lived intensively. At the time, the absence of a strong Turkish state in the region, and China’s occupation with its own internal problems made an important contribution for the Muslim-Arab capture of the region. In this region, which is called as “Transoxiana” in the Arabic sources, it is seen that the Turks organized their political structures as city-states and regional sultanates. In the north-eastern parts of this region, there was a strong Turkish State called the Turgish State and it provided political and military support to the people of the region who rebelled occasionally the Umayyads.After solving the internal problems of the state largely and suppressing some dangerous revolts, the Umayyad Caliph ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān became capable of initiating military activities beyond the borders of the state. Nevertheless, the period when the actual conquests were made was the period of his son Walīd (86/705-96/715). It is seen that the conquests made in his time were permanent, and the people who lived in the conquered lands accepted Islam to a large extent. The conquest made during Walīd’s time which extended from Kashgar to the Pyrenees, realised at an unprecedented pace. The most important name for the eastern side of the conquests is undoubtedly Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf. Ḥajjāj (75/694-95/714) who acted as the supreme governor of Iraq for nearly twenty years, had achieved important successes in the regions of Transoxiana and Sindh located in the eastern part of the country by the hands of his appointed governors. However, many governors appointed by him to Khurāsān from 75/694 to 86/705 with the hope of reaching his goals in the east could not meet his expectations because of the political, social and economic problems that existed throughout the country, and because of the resulting rebellions in the regions that these problems caused.These unwanted conditions continued to be seen in the region until he appointed Qutayba ibn Muslim as the governor of Khurāsān (86 / 705-96 / 715) who was one of the young commanders and administrators educated by Ḥajjāj personally. Qutayba known as having a close relationship with Ḥajjāj and consulting him when taking important decisions acted in this direction throughout the time he stayed in this position.It is known that the internal conflicts in the region continued during the time when Qutayba was appointed as the governor of Khurāsān. However, he had brought together northern and southern Arabian tribes living in the region with religious, political and economical suggestions and had succeeded in persuading them for military activities that he decided to operate beyond the Oxus. For the Umayyads, these military operations were justified, because the regional sultans who ruled in the western and eastern sides of the Oxus repeatedly violated the agreements they had made before. The tendency of the people of Turkic, Iranian, and Tajik origin who were the real owner of these lands and lived in both sides of the rich Oxus basin for many centuries to violate these agreements was in fact result of a great concern. They now realized that the Muslim-Arabs who followed a systematic settlement policy in the region came to their lands this time without any intention of going back. Even though Qutayba followed a fair and reasonable policy towards them, they violated their agreements with him, formed alliances among themselves and waged military campaigns against Qutayba not to be the subjects of any change in their religion, worldview, and perception of existence.Qutayba, who is believed to have spent his its utmost efforts to make the religion of Islam and the Umayyad political cause permanent in the region under these unfavourable conditions, has been recently criticized by some researchers. The criticisms intensify around the claims that he persecuted people, committed massacres, and behaved unfaithfully by breaking his promises that he made with people. From the perspective of our own times, it is possible to think that sometimes he had taken extreme measures in punishing the sultans and the persons who raised armed struggles against him and caused riots by violating the agreements. However, when the period is compared with the others, it can be easily said that the Umayyads showed in these and other remote areas a considerable amount of tolerance that they had never shown it in their internal conflicts. It is a known fact that he generally clashed with the ones who disrupted agreements, sought help from external forces, established alliances against them, and refused to pay taxes. Based on historical sources, it does not seem to be possible to say that while doing these activities in the region, Qutabya did not behave entirely in a way that his behaviour could be classified as massacres committed against innocent civilians. On the contrary, it is known that Qutayba had given many chances to the people of the region in administrative and military affairs. As a matter of fact, he ruled the city of Bukhara for 20 years with a Turkish ruler whom he appointed and supported, and he included in his army a union of twenty thousand cosmopolitan soldiers assembled from the people of Bukhara, Baykend, Chach and Samarkand and paid a regular salary to them.The fact that his grave known as the “Imam Shaykh Qutayba Tomb” was turned later into a shrine and visited by the people even today despite the passage of long centuries after his death shows that he has been loved by the people of the region and that they have always considered him as a conqueror-bureaucrat who spent his life for the ideals of his religion. (shrink)