The subject of this study is the introduction of cultivated and useful plants along the routes of the Great Silk Road and their impact on the formation of cultural landscapes in Eurasia.

   The research methods include historical-geographical and landscape analysis, as well as the use of archaeobotanical and ethnobotanical data supplemented by information from historical sources. The study examines key introduced species (grapevine, pomegranate, tea, cotton, saffron), their migration pathways, forms of acclimatization, and zones of naturalization.

   The findings indicate that the exchange of plants contributed to the development of sustainable agroecosystems, garden and park culture, as well as food and medicinal diversity.

   The Great Silk Road is viewed as a biocultural corridor that united the landscapes of the East and West. The article also provides recommendations for integrating historically significant species into contemporary landscape and ecological design. The results can be utilized for the preservation of agro-biodiversity and the creation of sustainable territories with consideration of cultural heritage.

   This biographical article is a continuation of the story about Gennady Aleksandrovich Blinov (1919 – 2007) – Candidate of Historical Sciences, associate professor, long-term head of the Department of the Kemerovo State Medical Institute [9]. The main content of the article is his participation in pedagogical, research work, veteran activity in the university staff. The entire period of G. A. Blinov's work at the KemSMI was devoted to teaching the history of the CPSU. The sources for writing this article were the documents of four archives (the State Archive of Kuzbass, the archives of the KemSMU, the KemSU and the KuzSTU), the Museum of History of the KemSMU. Almost all of them were introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The memoirs of G. A. Blinov himself and people who knew him, periodicals, research and reference literature are involved. The work is based on a civilizational approach. It uses both general scientific (comparison, analysis, synthesis) and historical (problem-chronological) research methods. The article recreates the main stages of G. A. Blinov’s life and work related to his work at the Kemerovo State Medical Institute. It attempts to identify the influence of various factors on the professional activity and personal life of G. A. Blinov. The difference of this article is that its author tried to show the fate of his hero against the background of the era. Generations have come to life and continue to come, for whom the details of the life of older generations are unknown and incomprehensible.

   Communication with difficult contingent acts as a predictor of burnout.

   The goal is to identify the features of burnout in communication with difficult contingent.

   A mathematical analysis of 2024 Scopus articles was conducted. It was found that burnout of caregivers, pediatric nurses, early childhood service providers, foster caregivers, working parents, employees of child protection centers, investigators (law enforcement officers) investigating crimes related to materials on sexual abuse of children, etc. when communicating with a difficult contingent (hyperactive children, children with autism, children with complex care needs, victims of violence, persons with attention deficit disorder, persons at risk, etc.) is characterized by escape from oneself, perceived stress, secondary traumatic stress, depersonalization, depression, exhaustion, vicarious trauma during work, personal traumatic experience, tension, dissatisfaction, mental health disorder, reduction of personal achievements, parental stress, hidden burnout, stress, anxiety, satisfaction with compassion, physical and emotional distancing from others, cynicism, emotional exhaustion. The focus is on the need to prevent burnout when communicating with a difficult contingent, which helps maintain activity, health, quality of professional life, communication and mood; strengthen involvement, leadership qualities, responsibility and sustainability; strengthen well-being, survival, constructive communication and self-esteem.

   Against the backdrop of the internationalization of higher education and the growing number of international students at Russian universities under the Ministry of Health, the problem of their successful integration into the educational and socio-cultural environment is becoming particularly relevant. The specifics of the adaptation of international students in medical education remains an understudied area requiring deep and focused research.

   The subject of the research, which highlights the main difficulties, is the theoretical aspects of the problems of integration of international medical university students into a new environment.

   The study's results confirm that medical students represent a distinct group of learners who face particularly complex issues related to their stay and education. The intensive academic workload, early contact with patients, and the need to rapidly acquire linguistic, intercultural, and ethical competencies make this process more challenging. In the course of the research, the following methods were used: theoretical analysis of scientific literature, comparative analysis of adaptation theories, systematization of existing approaches, and analysis of domestic and international experience.

   The main conclusion is that the effective integration of international medical students into the educational environment requires targeted efforts and increased attention from the university.

   To overcome the existing challenges, comprehensive work is needed to maintain the psychological well-being of international students and to facilitate the resolution of socio-cultural, linguistic, and professional difficulties.

   In addition to professional competencies, modern employers place significant emphasis on well-developed cross-disciplinary competencies, the ability to think creatively, and strong soft skills. Project-based learning in schools can support the development of these competencies, help students with self-identification, reveal their potential, and foster the formation of soft skills. Although the organization of project activities in schools is regulated by the Federal State Educational Standards (FSES), in practice it often does not sufficiently promote student independence. This article presents a model of school project implementation that closely reflects real-life conditions and contributes to the maximum development of students’ independence and soft skills. Optimal conditions for implementing “new-format” projects are identified. The article also describes the structure of the project office coordinating project activities at the Municipal Budgetary General Education Institution “Lyceum No. 62,” outlining its functional areas and objectives.

   The focus of the study is on project module groups.

   The research methods used include component-structural and functional analysis, as well as comparative analysis. One of the innovative approaches to project implementation is the organization of work within project module groups. The article defines the structure of a project module group and details the key functions of each of its members. This “new-format” approach to project implementation is aimed at developing students’ cross-disciplinary competencies and fostering a systemic approach to problem-solving.

   The study concludes that the proposed project format contributes to the formation and development of cross-disciplinary competencies and soft skills, which in turn supports the development of students’ giftedness.

   The subject of the study is the peculiarities of the functioning of English and Russian verbs with the general meaning «being located on the terrain, to protrude beyond the edge of another object» in local situations of describing the asymmetry or relief of the organization of natural objects in a fragment of space densely filled with them.

   It is shown that in language the realization of the concept of relief in the description of natural objects is carried out through the combined functioning of verbs and multi-part-of-speech deictic units in a local situation, which actualize additional semantic components of locality and expand the general semantic scope of the local situation. The study used the method of continuous sampling and the techniques of component, contextual and comparative analysis. The results of the study demonstrate that the realization of the concept of natural environment relief within the general semantic scope of a local situation is ensured by its typology, which is based on the principle of observability of the described spatial fragment with an explicit expression of the observer's location and the visualization of the edge or boundary of the object (left/right/upper/lower limit), the direction of the observer’s gaze, and the trajectory of their movement across the spatial fragment. This typology also includes units denoting objects with different topologies, which are variablely schematized in language (horizontal/vertical).

   The novelty of the work lies in the practical study of the means of linguistic representation of spatial relations, in particular, in the transmission of such a specific characteristic of the natural environment as relief by verbs with local semantics.

   A conclusion is drawn regarding the formation of a typology of local situations involving verbs and deictic multi-part-of-speech units. These situations are based on the observer's explicit visualization of the edges or boundaries of closely adjacent natural objects with different topologies.

   The article aimed to identify the role of AI in the development of various human activities, as well as to identify potential threats and limitations of its application.

   The object of this study is various economic sectors: banking and insurance, public services, industry, and agricultural technology.

   Research on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) is extremely relevant. The first works on this topic appeared at the beginning of the last century: Alan Turing, John McCarthy, Marvin Lee Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester and other researchers actively pursued the idea of creating AI. The work is devoted to the study of the experience of using AI in various spheres of human activity: banking and insurance, provision of public services to the population, agriculture and industry. The differences between AI and biological intelligence are also given. The dangers and limitations of the use of AI are considered. It has been revealed that the use of AI has its own peculiarities: it is necessary to consciously treat the answers provided by neural networks, correctly formulate search queries, and understand that AI does not replace professional opinion. The use of AI can be accompanied by security threats, so you should be careful about uploading personal data to the neural network.

   The article presents the results of the author’s content analysis (main method) of materials placed in the free access of the Internet.

   The aim was to characterize the factors determining the image of a migrant from these territories transmitted to the mass consciousness.

   The subject of our research is the specific construction of this image in the Internet audience (residents of Kuzbass).

   The basis of the general population was information messages about conflict situations involving migrants. There is clearly an author’s desire for the most vivid presentation of the material, which is confirmed by the abundance of details related to the hooligan acts of the latter. Against this background, only isolated stories (within the framework of an information site and an article) orient the reader to a calm perception of ethnic diversity in the region. The analyzed content allowed us to assume (as a key idea) that the image of representatives of the peoples of the Caucasus and Transcaucasia living in Kuzbass as a whole does not go beyond the stereotypes established at the everyday level. This is confirmed by the identified trends, within the framework of the analyzed content, both focusing on conflict events and author’s judgments at the level of everyday consciousness. As a result, the considered image is largely destructive and refers the reader to the already established negative perception of migrants from the Caucasus. At the same time, the constructive part of the image is largely determined by the mythologeme characteristic of the Kuzbass media about the exclusively peaceful experience of coexistence of ethnic groups in the region. According to the conclusions drawn, on the one hand, we are faced with the predominance of diverse negative characteristics of «Caucasians» living in the region. At the same time, attempts to correlate conflict precedents with the idea of a «peaceful multinational Kuzbass» are clearly traced in some stories.

   Major players—the great world powers—are currently unable to offer a comprehensive stabilization formula or a comprehensive development strategy for the region. Therefore, further fragmentation and growing ungovernability are a long-term trend for Middle Eastern countries... The recent and relatively brief military conflict between Iran and Israel has left more questions than it has answered. The question of who is the relative winner in this confrontation, as well as the consequences of the war for both states significant in the Middle East context and for the entire region as a whole, have not yet been fully answered. Naturally, each of the parties involved in the conflict, as well as their foreign supporters, answer these questions differently, based on their own interests and ideological priorities. This article is an attempt to clarify and elucidate only a few aspects of the processes unfolding in the Middle East today, for which the Iran-Israel conflict has acted as a catalyst.