Studies on the determinants of school results have shown that they depend largely on the context of learning. Concerning the pandemic, teachers have been forced to find online teaching methods, which leads us to the central issue of this study of whether the effectiveness of online education depends on teachers’ digital skills. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed the perceived digital competences of Romanian pre-tertiary cycle teachers about their professional status, school location, gender, age, taught field, and prior participation in (...) training for online teaching. Using data from 3,419 self-completed questionnaires in an online survey of teachers performed at the beginning of the global lockdown in March 2020, we have built two reliable measures of perceived digital skills, namely the Self-Assessed Multimedia and Online Skills Score and the Self-Assessed Digital Office Skills Score, which were the dependent variables in our study. Hierarchical linear regressions were used to test the hypotheses regarding the variations of dependent variables, measuring the two concepts of self-assessed digital skills. These concepts underlined that both decrease with age and are positively affected by prior attendance at training sessions for online teaching skills and by having ICT and informatics as a taught subject field. However, teachers of all specialties are relatively significantly less skilled in this field. The most important results concern the impact of gender and professional status on the teachers’ self-assessed digital competences. In summary, it appears that self-assessed office digital skills are a specialism demonstrated mainly by female teachers, while multimedia and online skills are perceived by teachers to be a “male” domain. Simultaneously, net of the other variables, a higher status within the teaching profession correlates positively with perceived office digital skills. Lastly, implications for future research, as well as for educational interventions and policies, are discussed. (shrink)

Hermeneutics approaches the meaning of life quite uniquely: it grasps the intrinsic intelligibility of life by employing a universal concept of meaning, applicable to all phenomena. While other conceptions identify the meaning of life with values or scopes, hermeneutics starts from a grass-roots work on the meanings that are embedded at every level of reality. In this paper, I analyze this approach, especially focusing on Husserl, Heidegger, and Gadamer. First, I outline Husserl’s philosophy of meaning as developed in response to (...) the crisis of meaning. Second, I discuss Heidegger’s concept of meaning and his understanding of life as self-movement. Third, I analyze Gadamer’s concept of common sense and his idea of hermeneutic mediation that conveys the meaning of life itself. (shrink)

The positions Ross & Spurrett (R&S) take on issues of information, causality, functionalism, and emergence are actually implicit in the theory and practice of statistical physics, specifically in the way it relates macroscopic collective coordinates to microscopic physics. The reasons for taking macroscopic physical variables like temperature or magnetization to be real apply equally to mental properties like pain.

Review of Sorina Paula Bolovan (ed.), Ciprian Firea, Nicoleta Marţian, Sorin Marţian, Diana Covaci, Călătorie prin patrimoniul ecleziastic transilvănean. Ghid istoric, artistic şi pastoral (Journey through the Transylvanian Ecclesiastic Heritage. Historical, Artistic and Pastoral Guide), (Cluj-Napoca: Mega, 2011).

The ageing population has become one of the major issues, with manifold consequences upon the economic welfare and elderly living standards satisfaction. This paper grasps an in-depth assessment framework of the ageing phenomenon in connection with the labor market, with significant implications upon economic welfare, across the European Union. We configure our research on four distinctive groups of the EU–27 countries based on the Active Ageing Index mapping, during 1995–2018, by acknowledging the different intensities of ageing implications on economic well-being (...) from one group of countries to another. The methodological endeavor is based on Structural Equation Modelling. Empirical results highlight that the ageing dimensions and labor market productivity notably shape the socioeconomic development of EU countries, visibly distinguished across the four panels. The economic development induced remarkable positive spillover effects on the welfare of older people, under the influence of the ageing credentials and dynamic shaping factors. Our research advances the literature underpinnings on this multifaceted topic by investigation made on specific groups of the EU countries and distinctive strategies proposed for each group of countries, as effective results for improving the well-being of older people. Constant policy rethinking and adequate strategies should be a top priority for each specific group of EU countries, to further sustain the ageing phenomenon, with positive implications mostly on elderly welfare. (shrink)

The terms “contemplation” and “standpoint,” as used by Lukács, have almost disappeared from the vocabulary of scholars studying the contemporary world of work. This paper aims to rehabilitate these terms by arguing that, despite its shortcomings, a Lukácsian approach offers a valuable perspective for examining labor experiences. I first outline the foundations of Lukács's reification theory by focusing on objective reification. Then, I reconstruct the concepts of contemplation and having a standpoint of experience by surveying Lukác's analysis of how different (...) actors in capitalism experience reality. I conclude by exploring the implications of reification theory for analyzing market-centered regimes of control. The article can be read as an invitation for researchers investigating the world of labor to reengage with reification theory. (shrink)

But to explain. Dissipation inspires the wrath of the moralist and the envy of most others; for the physicist, however, it is merely faintly depressing. We call something dissipative if it looses energy to waste-heat. (Technically: if volume in the phase space is not conserved.) The famous Second Law of Thermodynamics amounts to saying that, if something is isolated from the rest of the world, it will dissipate all the free energy it has. Equivalently, it maximizes its entropy. Thermal equilibrium (...) is the state of maximum entropy. (shrink)

Magna Carat is a highly significant document that found the way into the rights and the constitutions. Magna Carat is a symbol of human and constitutional rights. Social insurance is part of the social security and the recognition of social security as a basic human right is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948 at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris and furthermore the European Conventions on Human Rights, specially (...) the article 6. Magna Carat demonstrated the limitations from the arbitrarily. Magna Carat is a foundation of the powers of Parliament and the legal principles, as the rule of law, the rule that everybody has equality before the law. It promised the access to justice. In that respect Magna Carta is still a challenge for many states and officials. The myth of Magna Carta is the protection of the personal rights and is held in great respect by the legal communities against the arbitrary of the authority In respect of the aim of this international conference to see the way how these principles have found their implementation in contemporary legislations as well as to identify the problems that occur regarding these rights, an overview of the Albanian right to appeal for the social insurance rights. The right to appeal to higher authorities against any decisions and the judicial review against the unfavorably resolved appeals. (shrink)

"Chuang Tzu" means "Master Chuang". If we are to believe traditional accounts (like those in the Records of the Historian , by Ssu-ma Ch'ian), he lived in the fourth century BC, contemporary with Plato and Aristotle. He was from a place called Meng, probably in the state of Sung, where he was "an official in the lacquer garden"; nobody knows what that means. Chuang Chou is also recorded as being a member of the Chi-Hsia academy maintained by the larger and (...) more advanced state of Ch'i, along with many of his most famous philosophical contemporaries, like Mencius and Hui Shih. And that is about it, so far as Chuang Chou goes. (shrink)

This paper investigates the Generalized Traveling Salesman Problem (GTSP), which is an extension of the well-known Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), and it searches for an optimal tour in a clustered graph, such that every cluster is visited exactly once. In this paper, we describe a novel Memetic Algorithm (MA) for solving efficiently the GTSP. Our proposed MA has at its core a genetic algorithm (GA), completed by a Chromosome Enhancement Procedure (CEP), which is based on a TSP solver and the (...) Shortest Path (SP) algorithm and for improving the convergence characteristics of the GA, a Local Search (LS) operation is applied for the best chromosomes in each generation. We tested our algorithm on a set of well-known instances from the literature and the achieved results prove that our novel memetic algorithm is highly competitive against the existing solution approaches from the specialized literature. (shrink)

The temple is delimited itself from the house by privileging specifically a hierofanic place of the sacred. The delimitation of the temple from the house is not equivalent with the concrete aspect of it, so is indicated an existential – qualitative value of this delimitation. The temple as a stable structure of the sacred transcends by indicating a non-localizable determination: interface between the non-appropriated territory of nature and the settlement.

We have created the homunculus and have seen the monstrous being. Forty days the sperm lay buried in manure and each day at noon the Master turned his magnet across it, muttering foreign words. Then, on the fortieth day he showed me the resemblance of a man, but it was transparent, without a corpus. He told me we should feed the loathsome object for exactly forty weeks, and all this time allow it to lie in its bed of manure in (...) a continual and even temperature, so that its every member might develop. This we did, much against my will. And it grew into a human child, though much smaller than any born of Woman. Now, my friends ask me to make one for them That they may be as horrified as I. I would do so for their admiration, except that I am merely the apprentice of the Master, and I am afraid. (shrink)

Recommended: Edo Airoldi, David M. Blei, Stephen E. Fienberg, Anna Goldenberg, Eric P. Xing and Alice X. Zheng (eds.), Statistical Network Analysis: Models, Issues, and New Directions [Disclaimer: contains one of my papers .] Aaron Clauset and Cristopher Moore, "Accuracy and Scaling Phenomena in Internet Mapping", cond-mat/0410059 = Physical Review Letters 94 (2005).

The frequency of cyberattacks has been rapidly increasing in recent times, which is a significant concern. These attacks exploit vulnerabilities present in the software components that constitute the targeted system. Consequently, the number of vulnerabilities within these software components serves as an indicator of the system’s level of security and trustworthiness. This paper compares the accuracy, trainability and stability to configuration parameters of several neural network architectures, namely Long Short-Term Memory, Multilayer Perceptron and Convolutional Neural Network. These architectures are utilized (...) for forecasting the number of software vulnerabilities within a specified timeframe for a specific software product. By evaluating these neural network models, our aim is to provide insights into their performance and effectiveness in vulnerability forecasting. (shrink)

University life is colourful, filled with a plethora of memorable moments both academic and non-academic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, first-year university students’ academic experiences may have differed from their expectations due to being conducted fully online. The COVID-19 pandemic denied first-year students the opportunity to join in-person classes and become involved in university activities in a physical setting. All activities were moved to virtual settings, and students could only contact their classsmates and lecturers via social media platforms. This derailment (...) of expectations may dampen students’ enthusiasm and impact their levels of motivation and happiness. To explore this phenomenon, a study was conducted with 143 first-year psychology students to examine their self-reported motivational and happiness levels before and after seven weeks of online classes. This study included 113 females and 30 males with a mean age of 20.68. Data collected revealed that students’ motivation and happiness levels declined significantly after their online classes. Based on the level of agreement with one item—‘Overall, I am happy with my university life’—48 students agreed, 76 were neutral, and 19 indicated dissatisfaction. This study may assist the university and relevant authorities in understanding students’ perceptions of dealing with academic and life challenges while learning online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, psychological strategies should be considered to enhance first-year students’ motivation and happiness levels when faced with online classes in their new first semester. (shrink)

In this paper we investigate a particular two-stage supply chain network design problem with fixed costs. In order to solve this complex optimization problem, we propose an efficient hybrid algorithm, which was obtained by incorporating a linear programming optimization problem within the framework of a genetic algorithm. In addition, we integrated within our proposed algorithm a powerful local search procedure able to perform a fine tuning of the global search. We evaluate our proposed solution approach on a set of large (...) size instances. The achieved computational results prove the efficiency of our hybrid genetic algorithm in providing high-quality solutions within reasonable running-times and its superiority against other existing methods from the literature. (shrink)

Among Singularists, it has been widely accepted that one can have singular thought by acquaintance, and that acquaintance encompasses the perceptual acquiring, memorizing and communicating of singular thoughts. I defend the possibility of having a singular thought via extending acquaintance to intermediaries other than just through written and spoken words. On my account, singular thought includes two types of representations, namely indexical-iconic representation and indexical-discursive representation. Also, it is determined by two constraints: (i) the acquaintance constraint: singular thought includes a (...) causal-historical relation to the object; and (ii) the cognitive significance constraint: we have a cognitive capacity to deliberately encode an indexical-iconic representation into an indexical-discursive representation, which enables us to have a singular thought. (shrink)

My aim in this paper is to examine how Kent Bach's theory of singular thought about material objects meets the requirements of transmitting de re thought. I identify a certain possible paradox haunting Bach's move of extending acquaintance in order to widen the scope of singular thought and I attempt to answer this possible paradox. First, I briefly present the manner in which Bach motivates extended acquaintance and which constraints he puts on it. I then address the problem of the (...) sorites paradox which might lead not only to Bach's communication-based de re thoughts, but perception-based de re thoughts in general, thus defined. Finally, I offer my tentative solution to the problem of extended acquaintance which consists in introducing two constraints on singular thought, namely (i) the (external) acquaintance constraint and (ii) the (internal) cognitive significance constraint, and two types of representations, namely indexical-iconic representations and indexical-discursive representations which are together crucial for having a singular thought. (shrink)

In this paper I comment on Inan’s notions of propositional and objectual curiosity. Even though Inan offers an interesting and intuitive distinction between propositional and objectual curiosity, I want to question two aspects of his theory of curiosity. One aspect concerns his thesis that propositional curiosity is interdependent on epistemic attitudes such as belief, certainty and interest. Another aspect of his theory that I discuss is his thesis that objectual curiosity is not reducible to propositional curiosity. In more detail, in (...) the fi rst part, I start off by explaining what propositional curiosity is according to Inan and I bring up two worries that I call: (i) over-complexity as a result of subjectivity and (ii) overcomplexity as a result of dynamics for the above mentioned epistemic attitudes. Both worries stress the problem of over-complexity of Inan’s theory of propositional curiosity. In the second part, I argue that objectual curiosity is, contrary to Inan’s hypothesis, reducible to propositional curiosity. I further argue that the object of wh- questions that, according to Inan, express objectual curiosity can either be about the truth value of general or singular proposition. In addition, I suggest that only the reading where wh- questions express curiosity in a form of de re reading and have a singular proposition as their content is the one that is compatible with Inan’s notion of objectual curiosity. (shrink)

We all think we know who Batman and Superman are. They are polar opposites who both happen to wear their underwear over spandex pants, or at least they once did. So, for comic purists and fans of the cinematic DC Universe it may seem bold to claim that Batman is a true superhero and that Superman is not a true superhero. As a matter of a fact, we want to claim something even stronger: something we will prove independently, without only (...) comparing them and without having to worry if one comic character happens to depend on the other. We plan to demonstrate that it is not a matter of comparison between Batman and Superman when it comes to the concept: a true superhero. There is something else that is crucial for each comic character that makes one a true superhero, whereas the other is not—and we are going to reveal what this is exactly. (shrink)

My aim in this paper is to present and discuss Miscevic's position on pejorative terms. Pejorative terms, for Miscevic, are negative hybrid social kind terms that refer directly and pick out social kinds as their referents. Despite sharing some of Miscevic's intuitions on pejorative terms, I raise three main objections to his account. First, I argue that introducing pluralistic commitments about propositions is not helpful in any way for his account. On the contrary, I show that it brings about the (...) falsity of meaning and the failure of reference. Furthermore, I point out that Miscevic is mistaken in trying to avoid the problem of co-reference between terms such as "Boche" and "German". I argue that there is no co-reference present because the referents of these two terms belong to two different social kinds. Finally, I raise a more general objection connected to the reference of social kind terms and, consequently, to pejorative terms as well. I bring up a worry that certain referential theories about pejorative terms, Miscevic's account included, might lack an explanation of what ties a social kind token to a particular social kind type. (shrink)

The recovery after the unprecedented pandemic crisis that Europe has currently been facing is strengthening the strong dependence between social, economic, and environmental fields, maintaining green investments and innovation at the core of the European strategies. Shifting to clean industries is a challenging mission that a complex network of stakeholders and their different interests must take into account. Within this network, the interplay between environmental and financial performance of a company represents a common point with a growing emphasis on the (...) transparency and the materiality capacity of the disclosed information. This paper uses the Structural Equation Modeling and the Gaussian Graphical Models as graphical analysis approaches and offers a first insight about the interaction between environmental materiality measures and financial performance. A preliminary step of the scientific research consisted of a hand-mapping investigation about materiality conditions. Starting from the Materiality Map developed by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, this paper extends the main concept about materiality and investigates it on three different content ranges, which focus on the general environmental policy of the company, the targets set, and its concrete footprint. The methodology approaches were grounded on a newly compiled dataset provided by the Thomson Reuters database for 194 Economic European Area oil and gas companies. The results provide significant evidences for the manifestation of materiality and emphasize the informational content of the individual environmental measures as an important condition for its financial impact. Adding to the environmental-financial performance relationship, our findings have both practical and academic relevance for the economic field and sustainable growth goals. (shrink)

Attentional bias to threat has been almost exclusively examined after participants experienced repeated pairings between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US). This study aimed to determine whether threat-related attentional capture can result from observational learning, when participants acquire knowledge of the aversive qualities of a stimulus without themselves experiencing aversive outcomes. Non-clinical young-adult participants (N = 38) first watched a video of an individual (the demonstrator) performing a Pavlovian conditioning task in which one colour was paired (...) with shock (CS+) and another colour was neutral (CS−). They then carried out visual search for a shape-defined target. Oculomotor measures evidenced an attentional bias toward the CS+ colour, suggesting that threat-related attentional capture can ensue from observational learning. Exploratory analyses also revealed that this effect was positively correlated with empathy for the demonstrator. Our findings extend empirical and theoretical knowledge about threat-driven attention and provide valuable insights to better understand the formation of anxiety disorders. (shrink)

Does the fine-tuning of the universe for life continue in the afterlife? Aquinas would answer yes. In his view, the cosmic conditions post-apocalypse are set to support the resurrected body and the sensible knowledge of God’s majesty as reflected in the renewed material creature. The renewed universe is, thus, fine-tuned for immortal human life. In the first part, I present Aquinas’ version of fine-tuning, referring to earthly life and the afterlife. I distinguish between two modes of fine-tuning: organic and cognitive. (...) In the second part, I analyze the characteristics of the universe post-apocalypse in connection with the resurrected body in general and the qualities of the blessed body in particular. (shrink)

The point of departure of this article is the relation be- tween religion and power. In general this relation is based upon the complex process of individualization and socialization. The scope of this study is to translate the problem of the relation between religion and power in a phenomenological study of „lock-up space” (prison space). The study is organized around the concept of delimitation. This concept involves the spatial dimension of constitutionality on the general forms of a person’s being -in-the-world. (...) Regarding “lock-up space,” two complementary actions are brought into discussion: “ob- fuscating” the architectural types in the “lock-up space” and the “instrumentalization”(fr.) excessive in this type of space by the increase of the delimitation “mecha- nism.” Finally, the central problem of this analysis can be formulated in the following way: How can we find the bi- nomial religion-power in the “obfuscating” manner of habitat (at the level of the „lock-up space”)? Does the excessive delimitation in “lock-up space” destroy the bal- ance between individualization and socialization? (shrink)

This paper argues that Heidegger’s description of death as a phenomenon of life opens a path to immortality different from the classical arguments. In the first part, I will explain why, for Heidegger, the account of immortality must start from a phenomenology of death, and I will analyze the characteristics of Being-towards-death. Then, I will discuss the relationship between immortality and death’s revelation of Being. Finally, I will examine the Christian background of Heidegger’s conception of death and immortality, and I (...) will address some objections. (shrink)

Despite the depiction of decisions to formalize informal firms as rational and ethical, many entrepreneurs in developing countries continue to operate informally regardless of its perceived illicit status. While existing research on why entrepreneurs choose informality emphasizes the economic costs and benefits of such decisions, this often overlooks the realities of the informal economy and the constraints which marginal populations—particularly women—face. In this paper, we use institutional theory and sensemaking to understand the experiences of women in the informal economy and (...) what formalization means to them. We use a qualitative approach to collect data from 90 women entrepreneurs in three different cities in Nepal. In our findings we identify three groups of women with distinctive understandings of formalization—business sustainability, livelihood sufficiency and strategic alignment. Their interpretation of formalization reveals the complex, dynamic, and cyclical nature of formalization decisions. Decisions are also guided by the optimization of social and emotional logics, whereby formalization is conceived differently depending on different life stages, experiences within the informal economy and wider socio-cultural contexts. Our findings highlight the ethical implications of formalization where being a ‘good citizen’, rather than complying with formal rules and regulations, is about attuning to and fitting in with socially prescribed roles. Our research provides a nuanced view of formalization decisions, challenging idealized and ethical notions of formalization as a desired end state. (shrink)

Versamos sobre um projeto de extensão que busca qualificar processos pedagógicos no fazer docente, oportunizando espaços de crescimento, criação, prazer, auto e heteropercepção de contextos físicos, sociais, sensíveis e artísticos, além de redefinir concepções pedagógicas, cognitivas e existenciais. Ao fruir e interagir com processos de arte, essa, na dimensão constitutiva do humano, passa de área de conhecimento a evento configurador de sentidos e, nessa perspectiva, proporciona transformações, reavaliação de escolhas, abertura a novas possibilidades e olhares. O real não se deixa (...) apreender, é inseparável da existência e, ao se aproximar da ordem, dionisíaca, na forma da criação, desnaturaliza o olhar, bagunça referências, predispondo à abertura ao mundo. A ordem, criadora, integra e confere um lugar às coisas, e sua ética garante um princípio vital dinâmico que anima o social, assegurando o retorno de uma ordem nova, atravessada pela metamorfose. O processo, dialógico, tenta garantir a diversidade, a pluralidade, um ressignificar do ensinar/aprender. É desenvolvido por docentes e alunos de uma universidade federal com 75 educandas de 6 a 12 anos em situação de vulnerabilidade social e se estrutura em três momentos interligados: um processo formativo, uma oficina e uma avaliação com expressões variadas dos participantes e memórias dos acontecidos. Como resultado, temos observado uma compreensão alargada da teoria, da prática, da criação, da Arte e uma formação mais qualificada, atravessada pela sensibilidade. A imersão na Arte em seus processos, materiais, ações, eventos, etc. tem permitido transfigurar atos, fatos, realidades, posturas, a partir de dados do sensível e do inteligível, constituindo uma Metamorfose Pedagógica. Essa, autorreferente, proporciona a emergência de um espírito criador, crítico, irreverente, incerto, inconstante, ruidoso e mutante, mantendo aberta a possibilidade de transmutação, de metamorfose, decorrente do contato com a criação. Esse processo, em sua complexidade, tem, na experiência estética, a tarefa de instaurar uma cognição específica, que resgata o prazer da estesia e de um olhar mais humanizador. (shrink)