bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Barroque Paradise of Santa María Tonantzintla (Part II)
Authors: Glockner Julio
Published: February 2017

The baroque church of Santa María Tonantzintla is located in the Valley of Cholula in the Central Mexican Plateau and it was built during 16th-19th century. Its interior decoration shows an interesting symbolic fusion of Christian elements with Mesoamerican religious aspects of Nahua origin. Scholars of Mexican colonial art interpreted the Catholic iconography of Santa María Tonantzintla church as the Assumption of the Virgin Mary up to the celestial kingdom and her coronation by the holy Trinity. One of those scholars, Francisco de la Maza, proposed the idea that apart from that, the ornaments of the church evoke Tlalocan, paradise of the ancient deity of rain known as Tlaloc. Following this interpretation this study explores the relation between the Virgin Mary and the ancient Nahua deity of Earth and fertility called Tonatzin in order to show the profound syncretic bonds which exist between Christian and Mesoamerican traditions.
Our God is Gold: Vlashika Rom at a Crossroads?
Authors: Andrš Zbyněk
Published: February 2017

This article explicates the sociocultural dynamics in the changing lives of the Vlashika Rom group in the Czech and Slovak Republics and contemplates the prospective development of this Roma subculture. To provide a better insight into the endeavour of the Vlashika Rom to maintain their integrity and into their adaptation strategies, the author outlines the genesis of this subethnic group, pointing out the historical circumstances that have formed them in the past. Contrary to former descriptions, the author provides an entirely new concept for dividing the Vlashika Rom into subgroups, identifying three distinct levels that create social boundaries within this community. He describes the way of living of this subgroup in the past as well as the relationships between the Vlashika Rom and the dominant society. Frequently antagonistic, these relationships depend on their way of life, substantially determined by the way they earn their living. The author analyses the inner resources that keep sustaining the contemporary Vlashika Rom culture and, drawing on his own experience and impulses from literature, inquires how long this anachronistic yet at the same time very adaptable culture will be able to resist the assimilation pressures deriving from the very nature of the modern national state.
Odzemok: Cultural and Historical Development
Authors: Ivan Matúš
Published: February 2017

This article characterizes the male dance odzemok as one of the most representative dances in the broad spectrum of Slovak folk dances. A more detailed analysis and subsequent analysis of the literature confirms the absence of a comprehensive integrated material concerning odzemok in a wider context. This text further highlights the historical development of said male dance in the central geographic area, and analyzes the factors that led to the development of its present form.
Heuristic Optimization Approach to Selecting a Transport Connection in City Public Transport
Authors: Kul’ka Jozef , Mantič Martin , Kopas Melichar , Faltinová Eva , Kachman Daniel
Published: February 2017

The article presents a heuristic optimization approach to select a suitable transport connection in the framework of a city public transport. This methodology was applied on a part of the public transport in Košice, because it is the second largest city in the Slovak Republic and its network of the public transport creates a complex transport system, which consists of three different transport modes, namely from the bus transport, tram transport and trolley-bus transport. This solution focused on examining the individual transport services and their interconnection in relevant interchange points.
Influence of The Endowment Effect on The Valuation of Goods. An Experimental Verification
Authors: Gawrońska Magdalena
Published: February 2017

The article refers to the issue of the endowment effect, which acts as a mechanism that influences valuation. The paper’s main aim is to verify the endowment effect phenomenon for branded, fast-moving consumer goods. The subject of this paper also includes examining whether short-term possession, generates the endowment effect. It also studies how the possibility of using a product influences the power of the examined phenomenon. In order to verify the proposed hypothesis, an economic experiment was used. Its results were analyzed with the use of descriptive statistics and econometric methods. The study demonstrated that the endowment effect determines the perception of goods and influences their valuation.
The Implementation of Variable Costing in the Management of Profitability of Sales in trade Companies
Authors: Dyhdalewicz Anna
Published: February 2017

The aims of the paper are twofold: first, to present selected approaches to the construction of an income statement based on variable costing, which evolved towards the preparation of a tool for multi dimensional measurement and an analysis of profitability of sales; second, to discuss the possibility of using it in trade companies. The paper is composed of the following parts:

1) The first part contains a presentation of the general rules of construction of financial result accounts on the basis of variable costing, providing the basis of preparing multi task contribution income statements in various entities;

2) The second part is devoted to the general assumptions concerning the activity in trade companies, which should be observed in the creation of the information needed for the segment profitability reporting according to the rules of variable costing;

3) In the third part, one proposes a report on customer profitability and basic financial ratios, which are related to it, are defined. The financial ratios can be used to conduct an analysis of profitability of sales in a trade company. This approach uses the evaluation of profitability made by taking into account the size and structure of sales and it includes the costs related to customer service.

4) In the last parts, the conclusions are made on the basis of the discussion presented in the paper. The methodology of the contribution income statement on the basis of variable costing enables its implementation in various branches of business, including trading activity, due to universal rules used for its creation. However, constructing a profitability report requires individual assumptions, which take into consideration the specific character of a given trade company and its information needs.
Studies of Firm Capital Structure Determinants in Poland: An Integrative Review
Authors: Cwynar Andrzej , Cwynar Wiktor , Dankiewicz Robert
Published: February 2017

We investigated 34 empirical studies aimed at examining the capital structure determinants in firms operating in Poland to test to what degree the financing patterns were steady during the observed period (2001-2012). Specifically, in conducting the survey we were motivated by the following research questions which constitute the objectives of the article: (1) which factors - country or firm-specific - are more relevant in explaining leverage in Poland, (2) which theory - trade-off or pecking order - gains greater support in Poland, and (3) what is the significance of the optimal capital structure notion in Poland. Our results show that financing patterns changed importantly during the last 20 years, which manifests itself mainly in gradual increase in debt ratios with a dominant role of short-term debt, along with the decrease in the importance of country-specific factors (especially in large-sized, listed firms). The signs of the associations between leverage and the key firm-specific factors remained relatively stable during the investigated period, with the exception concerning tangibility. These signs provide greater support for pecking order theory, with at most a moderate role of the target capital structure.
Venture Capital and Private Equity Investment Strategies in Selected European Countries
Authors: Dziekoński Krzysztof , Ignatiuk Sławomir
Published: February 2017

Private equity and venture capital (PE/VC) funding is the provision of equity capital by financial investors to non-quoted companies with high growth potential. It has a particular emphasis on entrepreneurial activities rather than on mature businesses. PE/VC investors differ on several dimensions including: investment targets, screening evaluation methods, governance mechanisms, and objectives. The paper is a continuation of the discussion that concerns investment strategies of PE/VC funds. While studying the PE/VC market it is important to analyze the origin and structure of capital. The authors assumed that different types of investors have different investment strategies. Our research is an attempt to answer the following research question: whether the investor type, on the European PE/VC market, has an impact on the selection of industries. The paper presents results of statistical analysis of venture capital and private equity funds investment strategies in selected countries.
R&D Tax Incentives for Innovation and Managerial Decisions
Authors: Walicka Monika , Prystrom Joanna
Published: February 2017

In many countries tax incentives are a popular means of realizing political, economic and social objectives. The main motive of their application is oft en to achieve and accelerate the selected activities in the public interest and also stimulate development of industry, and induce growth in research and investment. The key element that helps a company achieve a competitive advantage is innovation. Global competition forces the production of unique products and services. Tax incentives in science, research and development are important in stimulating innovation. The purpose of this article is to show the level of managerial awareness about R&D tax incentives, the level of R&D tax incentive usage by companies in Poland, and main obstacles that managers meet with R&D tax incentives in practice. We explore R&D tax incentives as a government instrument on R&D management and aim to find the reasons why Polish companies do not take advantage of them. We examine 275 companies using a semi-structured questionnaire. Our findings suggest that many firms report lack of knowledge about such incentives, and firms find many obstacles to reach all of the requirements which are necessary to use the incentives. Due to our analysis we find that large firms, especially those that implement innovation, are more likely to use the tax incentives, but small and medium sized companies find more obstacle. The effect of this tax policy is significant mainly in large, high-tech sector firms.
Photooxidative Degradation of Pesticides in Water; Response Surface Modeling Approach
Authors: Cvetnic Matija , Ukic Sime , Kusic Hrvoje , Bolanca Tomislav , Bozic Ana Loncaric
Published: February 2017

The conventional water treatment technologies, mostly relying on physical and biological processes, seem to be inadequate for effective removal of priority substances such as pesticides, while advanced oxidation processes showed a good performance for the same purpose. The aim of the study was to evaluate UV-C/H
Reaction characteristics of oxygen generation from plate-like potassium superoxide within a confined space
Authors: Jia Yanxiang , Liu Yingshu , Wang Sanzhou
Published: February 2017

Plate-like potassium superoxide (PLPS) can be used for atmosphere control and life support as chemical oxygen in coal mine refuge chambers. To simulate oxygen generation of single PLPS piece in a confined space, five groups of experimental studies under different temperatures and humidities were performed in a simulator. Under these experimental conditions, temperature and humidity were proportional to the increase rate of oxygen concentration and inversely proportional to the effective time of oxygen generation. A kinetic model of single potassium superoxide was established based on the experimental data and their description by reaction kinetics. The evolution of oxygen was divided into fast and slow reaction stages. The explanation of the behavior of the fast reaction stage is controlled by interfacial reaction and the slow reaction stage by internal diffusion. The suitable ranges of the kinetic model and three application parameters were determined from the oxygen concentration build-up using PLPS pieces.
Good Europeans?
Authors: Riegert Kristina
Published: February 2017

Television news narratives are sites where national and transnational identities are cultivated and mobilised. The question is not whether Swedish, Danish or British news stories about Europe are domesticated to fit national news bulletins, but how events are domesticated and how ‘we’ are made European by the programmes’ producers. The analysis of all European stories between 15-21 November 1999 in three national public service news bulletins indicate that viewers are offered different images of Europe during this week, and that journalists play active roles in constructing ‘themes’ which link together different types of news stories into narratives about ‘us’ and ‘them’. From these there emerged a Swedish ‘moralising global villager’, slightly superior but willing to adapt to changing international realities, an anxious and conscientious Danish ‘we’, trying to do its share despite its self-imposed limitations on EU cooperation, and an engaged humanitarian British ‘we’, who is global in scope but prefers to keep a distance from time consuming Euro-squabbles.
Proximity and Distance
Authors: Simonsen Anne Hege
Published: February 2017

This article shows the great interest in foreign affairs and other international influences in three Norwegian newspapers between 1880 and 1930. International coverage has received relatively little interest in Norwegian press history, but should be considered a vital element in creating a national imagery in a young state which gained its independence in 1905. The article shows how proximity and distance are political as well as geographical concepts, contributing to our notions about social dynamics in other societies. The article is based on a pilot study conducted on behalf of the Norwegian Press History project.
“We Represent a Potential, not a Problem”
Authors: Fogt Anne , Sandvik Margareth
Published: February 2017

Media plays a crucial role in democratic and political participation. Media is also important in construction of identity and for the feeling of belonging. In this article we concentrate on the media habits of young minority people in Norway. These groups have a crosscultural competence, a double identity, and an interest in news both from their heritage nation and from Norway. They are frequent users of online newspapers, and they are highly skilled in ICT. Further, their interests in news are combined with a critical awareness of how different minority groups are presented. Altogether, these circumstances represent a new situation for media producers and for journalism in general. In a multicultural community, journalists ought to be aware of the diversity of their audience and be willing to include minorities in news productions. Most importantly, a balanced presentation of minorities in media is a prerequisite for inclusion.
The Value of Internet Research to Danish Council Reporters
Authors: Sparre Kirsten
Published: February 2017

This article presents the findings from qualitative interviews with nine Danish council reporters on how they use the Internet for research on council affairs. Through qualitative interviews, the article aims to qualify and expand findings from survey research on journalists’ use of the Internet for research and asks how much value journalists add to information found on the Internet and how important Internet research is compared to other types of research. The journalists interviewed found that the council website was useful as a provider of factual information about the council and a searchable archive of council affairs. Most importantly, the website expands the opportunities for monitoring council affairs. Journalists also found that access to Internet-based information on websites outside the council has improved the quality of their products. Generally, council reporters add context, opinions, and democratic control to information found on the Internet and do not see the Internet as a competitor for audience attention.
Youth as Producers
Authors: Kaare Birgit Hertzberg
Published: February 2017

What are the actual inner processes taking place when youth shape and share stories about their lives through digital storytelling? In the present study, we follow an experiment in religious education in a local congregation outside Oslo. In the autumn of 2005, the Church of Norway initiated a project wherein young people raised questions of faith and life in short biographical mini-films called ‘Digital Faith Stories’. As the title suggests, digital tools are central to the project. We focus on the youth participants, analysing their role as media producers and following the construction of their stories. The adult leaders of the project are also given some attention. The analysis shows that the method of ‘Digital Storytelling’ might lead to a more systematic educational method for including the lifeworld of the young in religious training. The research has been carried out in cooperation with Prof. Knut Lundby.
Shame: Ingmar Bergman’s Vietnam War
Authors: Hedling Erik
Published: February 2017

Ingmar Bergman’s film Skammen [Shame] (1968), about a married couple trapped between the warring parties in a bloody civil war, triggered fierce ideological debate in Sweden. According to the harsh critics of the film, among whom the leading critic was well-known author Sara Lidman, Bergman had managed to create propaganda for the American government and its controversial war in Vietnam. In the present paper, the debate is studied historically in relation to ongoing research about the culture of the late 1960s in Sweden. The studied material consists of press clippings, Bergman scholarship, and Bergman’s own recently released papers at the Ingmar Bergman Foundation Archive in Stockholm. Furthermore, questions about meaning and interpretation regarding film viewing are dealt with, taking into consideration developments in contemporary film theory.
How 12 Cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed were Brought to Trigger an International Conflict
Authors: Bonde Bent Nørby
Published: February 2017

The publication of twelve Mohammed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten (JP) led to consumer boycotts, burning embassies and official demands for UN to intervene.

The article analyses why the religious protests in Denmark generated the astonishing international reactions. It concludes that a very hostile rhetoric against Muslims in Denmark and mounting international tensions were important pre-disposing causes for the conflict.

In an analysis of the strategy used by Imams from the Danish Muslim communities the article concludes that they chose a policy of conflict escalation and mobilisation through keeping focus on the religious dimension of the crisis.

The article points to several options, which were not used by the Danish government to de-escalate the conflict and illustrates how the government contributed to conflict escalation by making the case solely a matter of defending freedom of expression.

Finally the article suggests some lessons to be learned, if other cross-cultural crises should appear in European countries in the future.
Ownership Concentration in the TV Industry
Authors: Tjernström Sune
Published: February 2017

The wish to limit ownership concentration in the media industry has been common in the newspaper sector, but hardly very successful. As commercial television was more extensively introduced, governments saw possibilities of limiting ownership concentration in this sector. One such case is the Swedish TV4, owned at the start in 1991 by a consortium of financial and smaller publishing groups, but now controlled by the biggest player in the national media business. What happened on the way and what were the obstacles to media policy in this field? Some would argue that this is an area in which media policy failed. Alternatively, this development can be understood as a case in which the nature of corporate policy is revealed. A third option would be to observe the interaction between corporate interests and the government as an example of so-called political management. This article examines these scenarios in the context of commercial television in Sweden. The case study provides a deeper understanding of the nature of ‘institutional competitiveness’, politics vs. business, nationally based media firms vs. other Scandinavian players.
Distribution and Use of Image-evoking Language Constructions in Written News
Authors: Grunwald Ebbe , Lauridsen Jørgen
Published: February 2017

Linguistic exposures are image constructions and some of the most distinctive mechanisms in the discourse community of journalism.

By exposing the journalistic writers add focus, detail and substantiation to their stories. Linguistic exposures are tools that evoke images in the readers’ minds and help establish and improve the basis of interest and understanding.

We are combining linguistic and statistical methods to investigate exposures in the news of five Danish national papers in order to determine how widespread it is, and with what force and impact the techniques are used.

Our study contributes to existing knowledge by focusing on form rather than content. We investigate the creative use of specific structural elements of the language as the prevailing contact establishing tools of journalistic discourse. Our data are based on news from Berlingske Tidende, B.T., Politiken, Ekstra Bladet and Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten.
Research Project. Tv-entertainment
Authors: Frandsen Kirsten
Published: February 2017

Entertainment in the media has often been described in negative terms as phenomenons which are not serious or not informative or it has become a sort of black box in receptionstudies containing a wide variety of pleasure oriented or, emotional experiences with the audience. Entertainment on television has undergone great changes during the last decades and is currently far more complex than earlier, today being part of everyday television and including more genres and mediaplatforms than ever. This project intends to discus new approaches to entertainment in order to better understand the very nature of entertainment on television and it implies 6 empirical oriented subprojects that will explore the nature of different types of programmes.
Media Use in Estonia
Authors: Vihalemm Peeter
Published: February 2017

The article gives an overview of general trends in media use in Estonia over the last 15 years, making some comparisons with Nordic countries.

Since the beginning of postcommunist transformation in 1991, the media landscape in Estonia has faced substantial changes. A completely renewed media system has emerged, characterized by a diversity of channels, formats, and contents. Not only the media themselves, but also the patterns of media use among audiences, their habits and expectations, have gone through a process of radical change. Changes in the Estonian media landscape have some aspects in common with many other European countries, such as the impact of emerging new media and global TV; others are specific features of transition to a market economy and democratic political order.

Besides discussing general trends, the article gives insights into some audience- related aspects of changes, more specifically age and ethnicity.
Images of Victory Images of Masculinity? Images of Victory Images of Masculinity?
Authors: Lippe Berit von der
Published: February 2017

The focus of this article will be on the televised constructions, both in leading American mass media and in the two leading Norwegian television networks, of Bush’s announcement of victory in Iraq on May 1 2003, on board the battleship Abraham Lincoln. The article opens with a consideration of hegemony in mass media, focusing on hegemonic discourse in general, and at times of war in particular. Looking through my ‘gendered lenses’ might reveal how some kinds of hegemonic masculinity are embedded in this discourse and regarded as universal. The intention is to shed light on how non-hegemonic discourses (such as those in Norwegian media) are restrained, in subtle ways, from being counter-hegemonic. By highlighting the gendered perspectives the article may also serve as a kind of feminist and non-military intervention in dichotomic discourses, be it the dichotomies war-peace, victory-defeat or characteristics attributed to “we” and “them”. The approach is strongly influenced by cultural analysis, critical discourse analysis as well as by rhetorics.
Sounding the Media
Authors: Jensen Klaus Bruhn
Published: February 2017

Sound remains significantly underresearched as a form of communication, as a modality of experience, and as a resource for cultural expression and social action. This article provides an overview of the several disciplinary and interdisciplinary sources of contemporary sound studies. As a point of departure, the article identifies and contextualizes three prototypes of sound - speech, music, and environmental soundscapes - with reference to previous work in linguistics, musicology, history, and other fields of study. A wide range of contributions are reviewed with particular reference to their explanatory value concerning different types of sound media. The article distinguishes between three degrees of media, enabling communication in the flesh, mechanically or electronically reproduced communication, and digitally mediated communication. In each case, sound can serve as a vehicle of information, as a mode of communication, and as a means of action. The article outlines a conceptual matrix, integrating the sound prototypes, the media forms, as well as the social uses of sound, with a view to further research. Finally, some specific issues on the agenda of current sound studies are discussed.
The Empire and the Egyptians
Authors: Eide Elisabeth
Published: February 2017

This article explores how three different analytical approaches to texts may work together to a certain extent in a critical approach to journalistic representation, in this case of the “non-western” world. Focusing on short news items dealing with the nationalist uprising in Egypt in 1919, the texts are analysed using critical discourse analysis, but also inspired by Said’s Orientalism critique, Bourdieu’s field theory including the notion of journalism as an autonomous field, albeit with a weak autonomy.
Constructing Karl Popper
Authors: Hornmoen Harald
Published: February 2017

In the US, a new generation of science journalists are employing narrative techniques in their writing. What are the characteristics of this journalism? Why does it employ narrative techniques?

This article attempts to give some answers to these questions by drawing on studies of science and the media. I argue that literary science journalism is predominantly cast in a characteristic semi-narrative, coinciding with what has been regarded as the main aim of this journalism: a skilled translation of abstract knowledge assumed to have been developed by scientist sources.

In a comparative analysis of profiles of scientists written by the journalist John Horgan, I contrast his texts as they first appeared in the magazine Scientific American with later versions in his book The End of Science. The analysis sheds some light on how the different media provide different frames for the journalist’s literary portrayals of the scientists as well as different possibilities with regard to expressing a subjective and critical view on their scientific achievements.
Everyday Talk and the Conversational Patterns of the Soap Opera
Authors: From Unni
Published: February 2017

The soap opera has been explored from many different angles. This article examines the relationship between one of the general characteristics of the genre, the fact that there is far more talk than action, and the ways people actually talk in the soap. The article uses Bakhtin’s concept of speech genre as its source of inspiration and as an analytical tool that has the potential to be used in respect to many other genres that, in various ways, are constituted in talk.
Representations of Ethnicity in Journalism
Authors: Pietikäinen Sari
Published: February 2017

This article examines ethnic representations in the Finnish news discourse. Adopting a critical discourse analytical framework, the article examines textual manifestations of ethnic representations, the journalistic practices impinging on them and, finally, the significance of ethnic representations in the news. The study suggests that the marginalized position of ethnic minorities, journalistic practices and the insensitivity of the representational power of the news discourse together result in ethnic representations that contribute to the fragmentation of community, rather than to a sense of belonging.
The St. Petersburg Media in Transformation
Authors: Pasti Svetlana
Published: February 2017

The article describes the transformation of contemporary Russian media in the dual framework of common trends initiated and set to a great extent from the centre of power in Moscow, on the one hand, and specifics pertaining in the regions, on the other. As common trends characterising the post-Soviet society and media we note capitalization, westernization, commercialization and corruption. Their specific character was formed by the political and economic conditions pertaining in St. Petersburg from the end of the 1990s to the beginning the 2000s. The article is based on an empirical study of St. Petersburg media conducted 1998-2001. The data consist of pilot interviews with eleven experts in 1998, in-depth interviews with thirty journalists in the editorial offices of the eight basic media in 1999, and a survey of eleven experts in 2001. Asking in what ways the common trends dovetail into the local context, the article describes the conditions for journalism and its emerging characteristics. On the one hand, the study reveals crucial changes after the decade of reforms, such as the intensive development of informational and advertising services in society and commercialization of media and journalist’s labour. On the other hand, the study notes the forces of continuity deriving from the fact that the media and journalists formerly served the interests of the political and economic groups rather than the interests of the public.
Some aspects of the occurrence and behaviour of the crane Grus grus in Poland in light of pre-investment wind-farm monitoring
Authors: Busse Przemysław
Published: February 2017

Ornithological pre-investment monitoring at planned wind farm sites is a standard and obligatory procedure in Poland and other EU countries. Pre-investment wind farm monitoring has a very important ‘side effect’ to its main goal (the safety of bird populations), namely the collection of valuable avifaunistic data from many localities that most probably would never be studied if not for the obligation to prepare environmental reports when wind energy investments are planned. The main aim of this paper is to show what we can learn from obligatory pre-investment monitoring when the standard field monitoring procedure and unified evaluation methodology are used. As an example the Common Crane Grus grus was selected, as a bird listed in Annex 1 of Directive 2009/147/EC and easy to identify and count. The data were collected at 155 controlled monitoring sites all over Poland, but mainly along the Baltic coast and in the Masurian Lake District. The methodology of the data collection and evaluation of results was strictly according to a paper by Busse (2013). The presentation of the results includes the numerical distribution of cranes in all seasons and some details of their behaviour - observations of birds on the ground and those using the air space: below the future rotor swept area of the wind turbines, at the rotor swept height, and flying above it. The estimated collision rates vary depending on the area, season and local heights of movements. It was concluded that such an evaluation of data already collected could be helpful in evaluating a particular site in comparison with other, previously studied localities.
Civil Society in the 2004 Romanian Elections: Watchdog, Involved Arbiter or Political Actor?
Authors: Muntean Aurelian , Gheorghiţă Andrei
Published: February 2017

Civil society has proven outstanding capacities of involvement in the 2004 general elections in Romania and put a remarkable pressure on the political society. This paper aims to discuss the consequences of such involvement for both the political and civil society. We also investigate the conditions that have favoured a successful challenge of the main political actors by the most visible civic advocacy organizations. Further, we inquire how deep can an actor from the civil society go into the lands of the political society. In the end, we weight the achievements and the failures of civil society’s active involvement in the game of elections.
Links Between Work, Character, and Education. The Actuality of Erich Fromm’s Analytical Social Psychology
Authors: Bierhoff Burkhard
Published: February 2017

This article reveals the basic ideas of Erich Fromm’s analytical social psychology and shows links among work, character and education. Social changes may be better understood in the background of work evolution. Today the concept of waged work has been extended to unpaid activities. At the same time, the working life has been changed from a stable model to a flexible one. The work, its standards and social distribution, are also different now. Erich Fromm’s concept of ‘social character’ clarifies the changes and explains the consequences of the social changes. The relations to work are also different. During these changes - unemployment included - concepts of the unconditional basic income were studied. These concepts explain why it’s possible for people without waged work to participate in community life and consumption, without being excluded. The author presents the basic social changes that affected many different subpopulation and age groups.
Young People’s Services in an Age of Neoliberalism
Authors: Brotherton Graham , Hyland Christina , Jones Iain , Potter Terry
Published: February 2017

This article brings together four different perspectives which explore the way in which various policy initiatives in recent years have sought to construct young people resident in the United Kingdom within particular policy discourses shaped by neoliberalism. In order to do this it firstly considers the way in which the assumptions of neoliberalism have increasingly been applied by the new Coalition Government to young people and the services provided for them; it then considers the particular role of New Labour in the UK in applying these ideas in practice. Specific examples from the areas of young people’s participation in youth services and higher education policy are then considered.
How to Create Safety for Battered Women? Conclusions from Several Decades of Research and Practice in Europe
Authors: Gahleitner Silke Birgitta
Published: February 2017

A two-year project on ‘A Comparative Analysis of Community-Focused Initiatives Aimed at Supporting Women, Children and Young People who have been the Focus of Violence, Exploitation or Trafficking in Three Regions of the United Kingdom, Germany and Romania’ which was funded by the Daphne programme, was carried out by Newman University College in Birmingham/England together with the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences, Berlin/Germany and Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu/Romania. Service users, in particular, and policy-makers and professional helpers were asked about their experiences with the care structures in their respective countries. The results show that even after many decades of providing professional support for women in violent relationships services are still frequently unable to help the victims to find a ‘safe place’ which could allow them to escape from the violence. The article collates the results of the Daphne project and recent international research on the subject of trauma and domestic violence, reflects on the causes of this gap in care provision and suggests how professional approaches to solving this dilemma could be improved.
Analysis of the Romanian National Data System on Child Abuse and Neglect
Authors: Tonk Gabriella , Szigeti Júlia
Published: February 2017

This article proposes to perform a mainly qualitative analysis of the national data collection system on child abuse and neglect from the perspective of the right of the child to protection, participation and development.

The study performed with the initiative of ChildONEurope network identifies a few characteristics of good practice regarding the development of complex databases on child abuse and neglect. These characteristics are organized around three elements that will constitute analyzing criteria for the present study, applied to the Romanian data systems. The three elements are: objectives, criteria and resources.

The main scopes of the study are: 1. Presenting the Romanian data system regarding child abuse and neglect; 2. Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the Romanian data system based on the above mentioned criteria; 3. Identifying new directions for development of the data collection and monitoring the Romanian child protection system.

In order to achieve the above mentioned scopes, a qualitative analysis has been made of the Romanian institutional-legislative framework, through document analysis, completed with an interview with the representative of the National Authority for Protection of Family and Child’s Rights. Here the study aims to identify the possible gaps and ambiguousness of the legal framework that could be one of the sources of unreliable data.

The analysis of the national database has been made through document analysis, while one of county level databases has been made through implementation of a questionnaire in 47 county directorates for social assistance and child protection, completed with 3 interviews with representatives of two local institutions from Cluj County.
Vote Transfers, Thwarted Voters and Newcomers in the 2009 Presidential Runoff in Romania
Authors: Gheorghiţă Andrei
Published: February 2017

This article investigates the role of thwarted voters and newcomers in setting the result of the December 6th, 2009 presidential runoff in Romania. For this purpose it employs panel survey data from the Romanian Election Studies, collected across three waves: pre-election, between the two rounds, post-election. Initially, it draws a picture of the main evolutions in turnout and vote between the first and the second round, with a special emphasis on vote transfers and risks associated to turnout and pro-winner overreporting. Then it analyzes the thwarted voters and their rationalities of making second-order electoral choices in the presidential runoff. The influence of campaign developments and long-term party/candidate preferences is assessed. Finally, the article investigates the profile of newcomers (people only voting in the runoff) and the mechanisms of political mobilisation in their case. A special attention is given to how newcomers make the electoral choice in the presidential runoff and to the influence of the campaign developments on that choice.
Roma in Special Education: Discriminating, Segregating, and Limiting Opportunities to Roma Students by Placing Them in Special Schools
Authors: Roth Maria , Văetişi Lorena
Published: February 2017

In social and educational practices, a number of ‘negative’ descriptive categories such as minority or disability determines inequalities and deepens the vulnerability of such groups. We focus on the Roma students enrolled in Special Education and analyse the mechanisms of (re)producing stereotypes and discrimination. We interpret qualitative research data, conducted in a technical high-school from Cluj-Napoca. Our study concludes that Roma schoolchildren enrolled in special education, whether or not really disabled are discriminated against (on behalf of an educational practice that reinforces the stigma of an inferior ethnic group, socio-culturally marginalized) and thus, their opportunities are severely limited, since their very youthful years, spent in school education.
Effect of Geotextile Reinforcement on Shear Strength of Sandy Soil: Laboratory Study
Authors: Denine Sidali , Della Noureddine , Dlawar Muhammed Rawaz , Sadok Feia , Canou Jean , Dupla Jean-Claude
Published: February 2017

This paper presents results of a series of undrained monotonic compression tests on loose sand reinforced with geotextile mainly to study the effect of confining stress on the mechanical behaviour of geotextile reinforced sand. The triaxial tests were performed on reconstituted specimens of dry natural sand prepared at loose relative density (Dr = 30%) with and without geotextile layers and consolidated to three levels of confining pressures 50, 100 and 200 kPa, where different numbers and different arrangements of reinforcement layers were placed at different heights of the specimens (0, 1 and 2 layers). The behaviour of test specimens was presented and discussed. Test results showed that geotextile inclusion improves the mechanical behaviour of sand, a significant increase in the shear strength and cohesion value is obtained by adding up layers of reinforcement. Also, the results indicate that the strength ratio is more pronounced for samples which were subjected to low value of confining pressure. The obtained results reveal that high value of confining pressure can restrict the sand shear dilatancy and the more effect of reinforcement efficiently.
Time elements and oscillatory fluctuations in the Keynesian macroeconomic system
Authors: Murakami Hiroki
Published: February 2017

In this paper, we discuss the relationship between three time lags (the consumption lag, the investment decision lag and the gestation lag) and oscillatory economic fluctuations in the Keynesian IS-LM system. We first confirm that in the absence of time lags, the monotone convergence to the unique equilibrium is observed. Next, we demonstrate that, in the Keynesian IS-LM system, in the existence of the investment decision lag and the gestation lag, oscillatory fluctuations are generated around the equilibrium if the gestation lag is relatively long, while in the existence of the consumption lag and the gestation lag, oscillatory behaviors may not occur. We then conclude that the existence of time lags may be one of the major causes of oscillatory fluctuations.
The novel stairs-like layered compound Co5(OH)6(H2O)2[SO3]2
Authors: Yahia Hamdi Ben , Shikano Masahiro , Avdeev Maxim , Belharouak Ilias
Published: February 2017

The new compound Co5(OH)6(H2O)2[SO3]2 was synthesized by a hydrothermal route and its crystal structure was determined from the combination of single crystal X-ray- and neutron powder-diffraction data. Co5(OH)6(H2O)2[SO3]2 crystallizes with the space group P21/c, a=7.0229(19) Å, b=5.4722(15) Å, c=15.833(4), β=106.34(1)°, V=583.9(3) Å3 and Z=4. The crystal structure consists of a 2D-framework of cobalt octahedra sharing corners and edges and giving rise to a stairs-like layers, interconnected through O–H···O–S4+ hydrogen bonds.
A route to new colorimetric pH sensors
Authors: Wandtke Sebastian , Stalke Dietmar
Published: February 2017

The detection of target molecules via luminescence changes of appropriate sensors is a powerful tool to determine the presence of analytes qualitatively and quantitatively. Therefore, the exploration of synthetic routes to new sensors is important to facilitate the recognition of a large range of analytes. In this report we describe such a new route to sensors and discuss the behavior of the synthesized sensors in the presence of different analytes. The prepared anthracene derivatives belong to two classes of substances. On the one hand imines were synthesized wherein the isomerization of their inherent carbon nitrogen double bond provides an effective non-radiative relaxation pathway. On the other hand amines were received by reduction of the mentioned imines. Their intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) based sensing mechanism allows the detection of protons in a reversible colorimetric fashion. Furthermore, the addition of zinc cations in the aprotic solvent DCM provides the first example showing that the detection of these colorimetric pH sensors is not limited to protons.
Dopamine Modulates Adaptive Prediction Error Coding in the Human Midbrain and Striatum
Authors: Diederen Kelly M.J. , Ziauddeen Hisham , Vestergaard Martin D. , Spencer Tom , Schultz Wolfram , Fletcher Paul C.
Published: February 2017

Learning to optimally predict rewards requires agents to account for fluctuations in reward value. Recent work suggests that individuals can efficiently learn about variable rewards through adaptation of the learning rate, and coding of prediction errors relative to reward variability. Such adaptive coding has been linked to midbrain dopamine neurons in nonhuman primates, and evidence in support for a similar role of the dopaminergic system in humans is emerging from fMRI data. Here, we sought to investigate the effect of dopaminergic perturbations on adaptive prediction error coding in humans, using a between-subject, placebo-controlled pharmacological fMRI study with a dopaminergic agonist (bromocriptine) and antagonist (sulpiride). Participants performed a previously validated task in which they predicted the magnitude of upcoming rewards drawn from distributions with varying SDs. After each prediction, participants received a reward, yielding trial-by-trial prediction errors. Under placebo, we replicated previous observations of adaptive coding in the midbrain and ventral striatum. Treatment with sulpiride attenuated adaptive coding in both midbrain and ventral striatum, and was associated with a decrease in performance, whereas bromocriptine did not have a significant impact. Although we observed no differential effect of SD on performance between the groups, computational modeling suggested decreased behavioral adaptation in the sulpiride group. These results suggest that normal dopaminergic function is critical for adaptive prediction error coding, a key property of the brain thought to facilitate efficient learning in variable environments. Crucially, these results also offer potential insights for understanding the impact of disrupted dopamine function in mental illness.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTTo choose optimally, we have to learn what to expect. Humans dampen learning when there is a great deal of variability in reward outcome, and two brain regions that are modulated by the brain chemical dopamine are sensitive to reward variability. Here, we aimed to directly relate dopamine to learning about variable rewards, and the neural encoding of associated teaching signals. We perturbed dopamine in healthy individuals using dopaminergic medication and asked them to predict variable rewards while we made brain scans. Dopamine perturbations impaired learning and the neural encoding of reward variability, thus establishing a direct link between dopamine and adaptation to reward variability. These results aid our understanding of clinical conditions associated with dopaminergic dysfunction, such as psychosis.