Mycotoxin detoxification of food by lactic acid bacteria

Today, a few hundred mycotoxins have been identified and the number is rising. Mycotoxin detoxification of food and feed has been a technically uphill task for the industry. In the twenty-first century, the public demand is healthy food with minimum use of chemicals and preservatives. Among all the fungal inhibition and mycotoxin detoxification methods so far developed for food, biopreservation and biodetoxification have been found safe and reliable. Nowadays, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are of great interest as biological additives in food owing to their Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) classification and mycotoxin detoxification capability. The occurrence of fungul growth in the food chain can lead to health problems such as mycotoxicosis and cancer to humans due to producing mycotoxins such as aflatoxins. Biopreservation is among the safest and most reliable methods for inhibition of fungi in food. This review highlights the great potential of LAB as biodetoxificant by summarizing various reported detoxification activities of LAB against fungal mycotoxins released into foods. Mechanisms of mycotoxin detoxification, also the inherent and environmental factors affecting detoxifying properties of LAB are also covered.

On the relationship between party polarization and citizen polarization

Do party policy offerings simply reflect public opinion or do parties shape public demand for policies? Theories of party position-taking and the operation of democracy expect parties to track their supporters’ positions, while scholarship of public opinion has shown voters often adopt the position of their preferred parties. We apply both of these theoretical expectations to the relationship between citizen polarization and party polarization and additionally argue that the relationship between them should be stronger among more politically more engaged and sophisticated citizens. We draw on aggregated survey data from 174 cross-national and national election studies from 19 established democracies, to assess the extent to which citizen polarization responds to party polarization, the extent to which parties respond to changes in citizen polarization, and whether these relationships differ across different groups of citizens. We estimate seemingly unrelated error-correction models employing data on party and citizen positions from 1971 to 2019. Our findings suggest that citizen polarization follows party polarization and also that politically engaged and sophisticated citizens are more responsive to changes in party polarization than the politically less engaged and unsophisticated. In contrast, we find little evidence that party polarization responds to changes in citizen polarization.

The Impact of COVID Pandemic Consequences on Public Demand for Competence Formation in Humanitarian Education

The COVID pandemic has affected all human activity, most of all education. Lockdowns obliterated traditional teaching. Student attitudes towards educational format and content have also changed. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the pandemic consequences on public demand for competence formation in humanitarian education. Gathered through systemic written surveys (Project Tuning methodology) and interviewing the respondents (173 faculty and 322 students), participants to CIES-2020 and PPPMSF-2021 international conferences, the data were systematized, rated and analyzed using the methods of statistical analysis. Consequently, actual public demand for student competences was formulated. Top five choices by the faculty include: 1) ability to adapt to and act in new situation; 2) commitment to safety; 3) ability to search for, process and analyze information; 4) skills in the use of information and communications technologies; 5) ability to evaluate and maintain the quality of work. The student choices differ from faculty prioritizing the abilities: 1) to work autonomously; 2) to design and manage projects; 3) to adapt to and act in new situation; 4) to apply knowledge in practical situations; 5) to work in an international context. The results have shown a statistically significant difference between the public demand prior to the pandemic and after the introduction of social distancing measures. Views of faculty and students on the importance of particular competences have remained divergent, and the specific priorities are changing. One noticeable trend is prioritizing the ability to adapt to new situations by both faculty and students.

The mission of the University in the conditions of a multicultural region

The main goal of the presented article is to explicate the capabilities of a modern university to effectively pursue social policy in a multicultural region. The article examines the educational trends of recent years related to public demand and opportunities for the implementation of the third mission of the university. In this regard, attitudes towards communication, the practice of intellectual leisure and the active participation of universities in the creation of information networks were identified as the main educational trends. The article provides a description of socio-cultural markers that make it possible to speak with confidence about the criteria for identifying multicultural regions typical for Russia. The authors of the article draw attention to the need for universities to more actively participate in the formation of regional identities in order to ensure the cultural security of the country's residents. In conclusion, the article concludes that universities have a high potential to act as a resource for cultural stabilization and socialization in a multicultural region, that is, together with the state and civil society institutions, to implement programs aimed at harmonizing interethnic relations.

EDITABLE THEMATIC DECOR IN THE DESIGN OF RESIDENTIAL INTERIOR

The article studies the problem of editable thematic decor in the residential interior as a relevant social phenomenon that has historically contingent genesis and significant potential for development in the future. It has been found that the complex analysis of editable thematic interior decor as a modern public demand is insufficiently reflected in scientific sources. Under current conditions of globalization and social mobility, the number of people who want to periodically decorate their homes for holidays grows, although these actions are of ancient origin and ethno-cultural decor traditions are varied. The changes in public priorities concern the theme of the editable decor more than the desire to use it in houses. Most people should occasionally solve the problem of arranging festive decorative elements in the interior which often means a temporary malfunction of the residential space. The appearance of editable thematic interior decor was originally connected with sacral, magical functions, that’s why in the traditions of many cultures a common approach to arranging decorative elements has been created. The decor protects the main constructional elements of a house and the points of contact of the interior and exterior. In modern homes these are entrance and balcony doors, windows, a fireplace - they are frequently decorated even nowadays. It is possible to identify the places where the residents will arrange festive decorations in the future and make their tasks easier at the stage of an architectural project. In order to do this we need to identify special free places and spaces for the periodical arrangement of the decor by equipping them with the necessary infrastructure; to create an attachment system for the decor. This issue requires further study, in particular in the creation of a potential platform for cooperation in different scientific spheres

Sociology of the Japanese, by the Japanese, for the Japanese: A short history of unintentional indigenization of sociology in Japan

The majority of Japanese social scientists have treated the idea of indigenization of social sciences as unrelated to them. However, sociology in Japan also has its own characteristics shaped by the structure of the Japanese society. Since long ago, Japanese sociologists have tried to analyze the unique characteristics of Japanese society and published numerous books on this subject for the Japanese public. Even their eagerness to introduce Western theories of sociology was an integral part of this effort to elucidate Japan’s ‘uniqueness’. The fact that Japan was not colonized and managed to develop an extensive domestic education/labor/language/publishing market played an important role in this predominantly domestic focus of Japanese sociology. The specific nature of the domestic public demand also contributed to this situation. Although it has been gradually changing since 2000s, this autarky resulted in a weak presence of Japanese sociology in the global academic community.

INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE AS A PART OF READYNESS OF FUTURE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONALS FOR INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

The article is devoted to the study of the formation of intercultural competence of future specialists in the field of “Information Technology”, taking into account current trends in education in the context of globalization and strengthening intercultural ties. Various aspects of intercultural competence are considered. The relevance of the study of the problem of formation of intercultural competence of future specialists in the field of “Information Technology” in connection with the growing level of public demand for such specialists is emphasized. The essence of the debatable concepts “competence” and “competency” is specified. Keywords: intercultural competence; intercultural competency; readiness for intercultural communication; future specialists; competences; information technologies; personality; foreign languages; education.

Teaching the Science in Neuroscience to Protect From Neuromyths: From Courses to Fieldwork

In recent decades, Cognitive Neuroscience has evolved from a rather arcane field trying to understand how the brain supports mental activities, to one that contributes to public policies. In this article, we focus on the contributions from Cognitive Neuroscience to Education. This line of research has produced a great deal of information that can potentially help in the transformation of Education, promoting interventions that help in several domains including literacy and math learning, social skills and science. The growth of the Neurosciences has also created a public demand for knowledge and a market for neuro-products to fulfill these demands, through books, booklets, courses, apps and websites. These products are not always based on scientific findings and coupled to the complexities of the scientific theories and evidence, have led to the propagation of misconceptions and the perpetuation of neuromyths. This is particularly harmful for educators because these misconceptions might make them abandon useful practices in favor of others not sustained by evidence. In order to bridge the gap between Education and Neuroscience, we have been conducting, since 2013, a set of activities that put educators and scientists to work together in research projects. The participation goes from discussing the research results of our projects to being part and deciding aspects of the field interventions. Another strategy consists of a course centered around the applications of Neuroscience to Education and their empirical and theoretical bases. These two strategies have to be compared to popularization efforts that just present Neuroscientific results. We show that the more the educators are involved in the discussion of the methodological bases of Neuroscientific knowledge, be it in the course or as part of a stay, the better they manage the underlying concepts. We argue that this is due to the understanding of scientific principles, which leads to a more profound comprehension of what the evidence can and cannot support, thus shielding teachers from the false allure of some commercial neuro-products. We discuss the three approaches and present our efforts to determine whether they lead to a strong understanding of the conceptual and empirical base of Neuroscience.