This study examined the influence of the executive board of directors’ gender diversity on the financial performance of listed companies on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, for the period 2011 to 2019. The analysis of the composition and different characteristics of the board and the executive directors proved to be effective tools for corporate governance in countries with an emerging capital market. Therefore, a disclosure index on directors’ characteristics was used to moderate the interaction between gender diversity and financial performance, based (...) on the theoretical framework provided by upper echelon theory. The study contributes to the enrichment of the literature both by using the composite indicator built by applying the multiway PCA method on panel data to express financial performance and by designing the ten EGLS panel models involving five financial indicators and two proxies for gender diversity. The results showed that there is a positive impact of the proportion of women on the executive board of directors on financial performance, measured through the composite index, ROA, ROE, and SOL. A statistically significant impact of gender diversity on financial performance was found only for SOL, in the case of the Blau index. Also, using the random-effects model to perform the panel data analysis, the results showed that a higher executive board size can be associated with better financial performance measured through the composite index, ROA, ROE, and EPS. Practical implications are significant for the board of executives’ composition, the complexity of the relationship with the board, and reshaping governance practices. (shrink)

Nationalism is inextricably connected with the modern history of nations and nationstates, and reflects the axiological sets derived from the aspirations of young nations. However, recent political, economic and social developments at the global level have determined the resurgence of nationalism, and signs of the pheno¬menon are also visible in Europe, although the old continent has enabled principles of cross-border solidarity and cohesion through transnational constructions such as the European Union. Europeanism, European identity and identification with Europe are still fragile, (...) and rather indefinite, and at the same time challenged by new and powerful types of nationalism. The present work argues that national education emerged and developed as a natural response to the formation and affirmation of nationstates, whereas multicultural, respectively intercultural education may answer the needs of contemporary societies, which face pressure to balance complex national and transnational mutations. This paper's contribution is to focus on the European context, and it stresses the necessity of transnational agreement on terms and semantics connected with intercultural education, given its potential role in supporting equity, solidarity and social stability. (shrink)

Reclamation is the phenomenon of an oppressed group repurposing language to its own ends. A case study is reclamation of slur words. Popa-Wyatt and Wyatt (2018) argued that a slurring utterance is a speech act which performs a discourse role assignment. It assigns a subordinate role to the target, while the speaker assumes a dominant role. This pair of role assignments is used to oppress the target. Here I focus on how reclamation works and under what conditions its benefits (...) can stabilise. I start by reviewing the data and describing preconditions and motivations for reclamation. Can reclamation be explained in the same basic framework as regular slurring utterances? I argue that it can. I also identify some features that must be a prediction of any theory of reclamation. I conclude that reclamation is an instance of a much broader class of acts we do with words to change the distribution of power: it begets power, but it also requires it. (shrink)

DNA microarrays are perfectly suited for comparing gene expression in different populations of cells. An important application of microarray techniques is identifying genes which are activated by a particular drug of interest. This process will allow biologists to identify therapies targeted to particular diseases, and, eventually, to gain more knowledge about the biological processes in organisms. Such an application is described in this paper. It is focused on diabetes and obesity, which is a genetically heterogeneous disease, meaning that multiple defective (...) genes are responsible for the diseases. The paper is divided in three parts, each dealing with a different problem addressed to our study. First we validate the data from our microarray experiment. We identified significant systematic sources of variability which are potentially issues for other microarray datasets. Second, we applied multiple hypothesis testing to identify differentially expressed genes. We found a set of genes which appear to change in expression level over time in response to a drug treatment. Third, we tried to address the problem of identification of co-expressed genes using cluster analysis. This last problem is still under discussion. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage cible la pratique qui est solidaire de la fondation de la connaissance realisee par la phenomenologie, en voyant dans cette pratique la condition meme de la formulation positive de son projet. Dans cette perspective, la critique sociale et la psychopathologie sont notamment les deux champs pratiques ou la phenomenologie se trouve investie, par-dela son premier elan de critique theorique, pour intervenir sur les formes de normativite qui y sont a l'oeuvre. En abordant ces champs a travers les differentes (...) contributions qui le composent, l'ouvrage ambitionne d'analyser la portee pratique de la phenomenologie et de tester sa capacite a generer une attention au pouvoir emancipateur ou alienant des organisations sociales. L'hypothese de fond, collectivement partagee, est que la phenomenologie peut apporter une contribution a la construction d'une nouvelle posture critique a meme de participer a l'emancipation des individus en situation de souffrance et d'injustice.". (shrink)

This book investigates whether treaty interpretation at the ECtHR and WTO, which are sometimes perceived as promoting 'self-contained' regimes, could constitute a means for unifying international law, or, conversely, might exacerbate the fragmentation of international law. In this regard, the practice of the ICJ on treaty interpretation is used for comparison, since the ICJ has made the greatest contribution to the development and clarification of international law rules and principles. Providing a critical analysis of cases at the ICJ, ECtHR and (...) WTO, both prior to and since the adoption of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, the book reveals how the ECtHR and WTO apply the general rules of treaty interpretation in patterns which are similar to those used by the ICJ to address difficulties in interpreting the text of treaties. Viewed in the light of the ECtHR's and WTO's interpretative practices, both the VCLT's general rules of interpretation and the ICJ's interpretative practice serve to counteract the fragmentation of international law.. (shrink)

In this paper I intend to analyze the possibility of social justice as fair maximal utility starting from two different perspectives about justice – justice as fairness and justice as social choice or mutual advantage. The thesis I defend and reconstruct here is that a co-operative solution can be implemented only in a democratic society where a certain kind of justice principles is applied. This solution, however, is not a solution, if we do not really understand the principles which are (...) being involved in it or if we do not use a proper concept of justice. My proposal here could bring some light both upon this issue and on the logical clarification. In order to realize this, I take into account at least two problems: 1) the problem of compatibility between the announced concept and the existence of social inequalities; 2) Nozick’s objection concerning the compensation of inequalities involved by this kind of justice. I intend to analyze Rawls’ solution of compensatory beneficial in order to test whether it could be considered dangerous for the preservation of equidistance of the rules and, hence, for the justice as impartiality, as Nozick claims in his work Anarchy, State and Utopia, the concept of reasonability which is used here as being complementary to the concept of rationality and useful for this matter. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungNach zwölf Jahren intensiver Forschung etablierte der Ophthalmologe Theodor Leber (1840–1917) am Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts in der Entzündungsforschung die Chemotaxis der Leukozyten. Obwohl sich seine Theorie damals reibungslos in die immunologische Forschung einschrieb, wird sein Name jedoch bis heute nur in der englischsprachigen Fachliteratur mit der Chemotaxis verknüpft. In seinem Experimentalsystem hatte Leber zwar schon Anfang der 1880er Jahre eine Theorie der chemischen Attraktion der Leukozyten beim Entzündungsprozess entwickeln können. Aber seine unkonventionelle Methodik—die Einführung von chemisch indifferentem Fremdmaterial zur (...) Auslösung einer Entzündung am Kaninchenauge—widersprach schon vom Ansatz her dem zu diesem Zeitpunkt dominant bakteriologischen Denkstil der Entzündungsforschung. In diesem Forschungsfeld hielt Leber an einer Forschungspraxis fest, die aus einer engen Verzahnung von experimenteller und theoretischer Arbeit bestand. Erst als eine Öffnung des bakteriologischen Denkstils eingetreten war, gelang es Leber seine auf losen Protokollseiten festgehaltenen Versuchsbeobachtungen in überzeugende Belege seiner Entzündungstheorie zu transformieren. Die mikrohistorische Rekonstruktion von Lebers experimenteller und schriftlicher Arbeit anhand seiner Laborprotokolle erschließt die Forschungspraxis eines Wissenschaftlers, der in der damals etablierten mikrobiologischen Entzündungsforschung kaum Anerkennung fand. Durch Verbindung der mikrohistorischen Rekonstruktion mit einer makrohistorischen Analyse lassen sich außerdem Beharrungsfaktoren im Prozess der Wissensentstehung offenlegen. Leber entwickelte eine spezifische Papiertechnik, durch die er seine experimentellen Erkenntnisse zwar mobilisierte und stabilisierte, aber nicht mit dem Fortschreiten der Wissenschaft mithalten konnte. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungNach zwölf Jahren intensiver Forschung etablierte der Ophthalmologe Theodor Leber (1840–1917) am Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts in der Entzündungsforschung die Chemotaxis der Leukozyten. Obwohl sich seine Theorie damals reibungslos in die immunologische Forschung einschrieb, wird sein Name jedoch bis heute nur in der englischsprachigen Fachliteratur mit der Chemotaxis verknüpft. In seinem Experimentalsystem hatte Leber zwar schon Anfang der 1880er Jahre eine Theorie der chemischen Attraktion der Leukozyten beim Entzündungsprozess entwickeln können. Aber seine unkonventionelle Methodik—die Einführung von chemisch indifferentem Fremdmaterial zur (...) Auslösung einer Entzündung am Kaninchenauge—widersprach schon vom Ansatz her dem zu diesem Zeitpunkt dominant bakteriologischen Denkstil der Entzündungsforschung. In diesem Forschungsfeld hielt Leber an einer Forschungspraxis fest, die aus einer engen Verzahnung von experimenteller und theoretischer Arbeit bestand. Erst als eine Öffnung des bakteriologischen Denkstils eingetreten war, gelang es Leber seine auf losen Protokollseiten festgehaltenen Versuchsbeobachtungen in überzeugende Belege seiner Entzündungstheorie zu transformieren. Die mikrohistorische Rekonstruktion von Lebers experimenteller und schriftlicher Arbeit anhand seiner Laborprotokolle erschließt die Forschungspraxis eines Wissenschaftlers, der in der damals etablierten mikrobiologischen Entzündungsforschung kaum Anerkennung fand. Durch Verbindung der mikrohistorischen Rekonstruktion mit einer makrohistorischen Analyse lassen sich außerdem Beharrungsfaktoren im Prozess der Wissensentstehung offenlegen. Leber entwickelte eine spezifische Papiertechnik, durch die er seine experimentellen Erkenntnisse zwar mobilisierte und stabilisierte, aber nicht mit dem Fortschreiten der Wissenschaft mithalten konnte. (shrink)

Frege’s distinction between force and sense is a central pillar of modern thinking about meaning. This is the idea that a self-standing utterance of a sentence S can be divided into two components. One is the proposition P that S’s linguistic meaning and context associates with it. The other is S’s illocutionary force. The force/sense distinction is associated with another thesis, the embedding principle, that implies that the only content that embeds in compound sentences is propositional content. We argue that (...) both the Force/Sense distinction and the principle of embedding are seriously challenged by figurative language, and irony in particular. We conclude that theorists need to go back to the drawing board about the nature of illocutionary acts. (shrink)

Economic diplomacy is known as a symbol of the European Union and represents its primary function. With the development of science and new ways of communication, the European Union can organize a new approach for its economic diplomacy. The main advantage of the European Union as a soft power is that its economic and diplomatic interests are represented in a manner that is based not on confrontation but economic collaboration with other states. The disadvantage is that this domain is presently (...) not used enough to represent EU interests. This paper describes economic diplomacy in general and the economic diplomacy of the EU in particular. Divided into three parts, the goal of this study is to outline the importance of economic diplomacy, its evolution, the influence of this domain on the creation of previous economic treaties, and its possible future impact on the development of new agreements between the European Union and its neighbor countries. The main methodology used is descriptive, presenting the evolution of this field and the new business strategies that can be used to improve cooperation at the eastern border of the European Union. Therefore we present here the historical background of EU economic diplomacy, its present issues and future challenges. The quantitative data used in this research paper are based on information from EU websites and on the actual events concerning debates about economic diplomacy and its future. The research questions presented herein follow the general evolution of this domain and its mutual influence with EU’s businesses strategies. (shrink)

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic is having a major impact on the lives of everyone, but in particular on the health and well-being of older people. It has also disrupted the way that individuals access services and interact with one another, and physical distancing and “Stay at Home” orders have seen digital interaction become a necessity. While these restrictions have highlighted the importance of technology in everyday life, little is known about how older adults have responded to this change. Methods: Two (...) surveys, one in 2019 and another in 2020 collected data on a combined total of 1923 older adults aged 65 years and older in Canada. These looked at how older adults think about and use technology, with the 2020 survey additionally questioning how COVID-19 has impacted their use and attitudes towards technology. Results: While older adults feel more isolated in 2020, many feel positive about the benefits of technology and have increased technology use during the pandemic to support their health, wellness, and communication needs. Discussion: The results highlight the potential of technology for supporting older adults in various aspects of healthy aging. While these results point to the opportunities afforded by technology, challenges remain, such as how social and economic factors influence technology uptake. (shrink)

Recent research explores the high proliferation of conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccination, and their potential effects within digital media environments. By means of a 2 × 2 experimental design (N = 945) conducted in Romania, we explore whether exposure to media messages promoting conspiracy theories about vaccination versus media messages debunking such conspiracy narratives could influence people’s intention to either support or argue against vaccination in front of their friends and family (interpersonal influence). We also analyze the moderation effects of (...) education and critical thinking. Main results show that both conspiracy and counter-conspiracy media content about vaccination negatively affect people’s willingness to discuss the topic with others, which offers support for a silencing effect. Education and critical thinking moderate the main effects, but only to some extent and in certain experimental conditions. (shrink)

The young generation of the ’80s was born and entirely educated under communist ideology. And yet indoctrination failed for some of these young people, who saw the West as a symbol of a better society to aspire to. In order to escape from S.R. Romania, some of them risked their lives in the “adventure” of crossing the border illegally. The main opponents of the fugitives, the border guards, were part of the same age group. In many cases, they behaved brutally (...) toward the fugitives. Did they come to see them as traitors, or was it just the context in which this adversity manifested itself mixed with the soldiers’ fear of their superiors’ punishments? The study is part of a more extensive research regarding the phenomenon of illegal border crossing during Ceaușescu`s dictatorship. Through this study, I aim to analyse the two situations in which some of the young people of the ’80s could find themselves: opponents of the regime (when fleeing to the West was a form of protest) and involuntary “servants” of the system, such as border soldiers, respectively. Also, I focused on identifying the reasons for the conflict between the two categories of young people belonging to the same generation. (shrink)

In this paper the authors discuss the continuing dilemma for doctors who have to tell a patient that he has cancer, particularly the moment when he should confirm a diagnosis that most patients have already sensed. For the writers it is most important that the doctor should be a bridge for the patient to return to his everyday world from the physical and spiritual isolation which his disease has created.

Slurring is a kind of hate speech that has various effects. Notable among these is variable offence. Slurs vary in offence across words, uses, and the reactions of audience members. Patterns of offence aren’t adequately explained by current theories. We propose an explanation based on the unjust power imbalance that a slur seeks to achieve. Our starting observation is that in discourse participants take on discourse roles. These are typically inherited from social roles, but only exist during a discourse. A (...) slurring act is a speech-act that alters the discourse roles of the target and speaker. By assigning discourse roles the speaker unjustly changes the power balance in the dialogue. This has a variety of effects on the target and audience. We show how these notions explain all three types of offence variation. We also briefly sketch how a role and power theory can help explain silencing and appropriation. Explanatory power lies in the fact that offence is correlated with the perceived unjustness of the power imbalance created. (shrink)

The interest in data anonymization is exponentially growing, motivated by the will of the governments to open their data. The main challenge of data anonymization is to find a balance between data utility and the amount of disclosure risk. One of the most known frameworks of data anonymization is k-anonymity, this method assumes that a dataset is anonymous if and only if for each element of the dataset, there exist at least k − 1 elements identical to it. In this (...) paper, we propose two techniques to achieve k-anonymity through microaggregation: k-CMVM and Constrained-CMVM. Both, use topological collaborative clustering to obtain k-anonymous data. The first one determines the k levels automatically and the second defines it by exploration. We also improved the results of these two approaches by using pLVQ2 as a weighted vector quantization method. The four methods proposed were proven to be efficient using two data utility measures, the separability utility and the structural utility. The experimental results have shown a very promising performance. (shrink)

Dentro del mundo tan complejo, las sociedades tan diversas que lo componen y la situación tan delicada que las personas junto a la naturaleza están viviendo, actualmente, la creatividad y su aplicación en todos los ámbitos, y más en la construcción de la paz, es un claro desafío para la sociedad del siglo XXI. En este contexto, el monográfico La creatividad en la filosofía para hacer las paces: Nuevos horizontes interdisciplinarios es una recopilación de nueve artículos en los que autores (...) y doctores internacionales han reflexionado sobre la importancia de la creatividad en la construcción de la cultura de paz, cada uno y cada una de ellas enfocando su teoría hacía ejemplos de edificación creactiva que parten de problemas cotidianos. Son aportaciones que abogan por una creatividad como competencia de dar un paso más para superar lo ordinario, yendo más allá de lo familiar y de lo habituado, orientando siempre la mirada hacia la paz. En estos casos se debe hablar de la voluntad de arriesgar y de la motivación impulsada por la pasión, como motores para el devenir creativo y constructor. (shrink)

The Covid-19 pandemic is a global threat that affects a large part of the population, but the risks associated with it are higher for some people compared with others. Previous studies show that lower socioeconomic status is associated with more chronic stress and less marital satisfaction. Thus, the uncertainty caused by the pandemic might greatly affect those who were already vulnerable. This longitudinal study explores the extent to which stress originated outside and inside the relationship is associated with marital satisfaction (...) during the Covid-19 pandemic and whether the associations are different based on the socioeconomic status of the participants. The study was conducted at two points in time with a sample of 144 married Romanian couples. We used the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model with Mediation and multi-group SEM analysis. Higher levels of external stress were associated with subsequent lower marital satisfaction for women with higher SES. For the couples with lower SES, men's level of internal stress during the first assessment mediated the relationship between their higher level of external stress at the first time point and their partner's lower marital satisfaction during the second assessment. Our results show that men and women respond differently during a crisis and that couples with lower SES are more prone to greater stress and lower levels of marital satisfaction. We finally suggest that the therapists, health professionals, policy makers, and researchers should take into account the existing vulnerabilities of a couple when offering psychological and health services during the Covid-19 pandemic. (shrink)

The question whether AI systems have agency is gaining increasing importance in discussions of responsibility for AI behavior. This paper argues that an approach to artificial agency needs to be teleological, and consider the role of human goals in particular if it is to adequately address the issue of responsibility. I will defend the view that while AI systems can be viewed as autonomous in the sense of identifying or pursuing goals, they rely on human goals and other values incorporated (...) into their design, and are, as such, dependent on human agents. As a consequence, AI systems cannot be held morally responsible, and responsibility attributions should take into account normative and social aspects involved in the design and deployment of the said AI. My argument falls in line with approaches critical of attributing moral agency to artificial agents, but draws from the philosophy of action, highlighting further philosophical underpinnings of current debates on artificial agency. (shrink)

Dan ZAHAVI, Husserl and Transcendental Intersubjectivity. A Response to the Linguistic-Pragmatic Critique ; Françoise DASTUR, Chair et langage. Essais sur Merleau-Ponty ; Jean GREISCH, Michel Henry et l’épreuve de la vie ; Elisabeth STRÖKER, The Husserlian Foundations of Science ; John McCUMBER, Metaphysics and Oppression, Heidegger’s Challenge to Western Philosophy ; Marc RICHIR, Phénoménologie en esquisses. Nouvelles fondations ; Raphaël GÉLY, La genèse du sentir. Essai sur Merleau-Ponty ; John SALLIS, Force of Imagination: The Sense of the Elemental ; Bin (...) KIMURA, L’entre. Une approche phénoménologique de la schizophrénie ; Dermot MORAN, Tim MOONEY, The Phenomenology Reader ; Ion COPOERU, Structuri ale constituirii ; Fabio CIARAMELLI, La distruzione del’desiderio. Il narcisismo nell’epoca di consumo di massa ; Pierre KELLER, Husserl and Heidegger on Human Experience. (shrink)

This paper tries to show that the naturalistic view of addiction is mired in contradictions that stem from reducing the addict to a weak-willed subject who loses control over his or her body. From a phenomenological perspective, addiction reveals itself to be a habit which eventually becomes harmful, but has its primary sources in the embodied needs of a worldly subject. The aim of this paper is to uncover the dimensions of the lived addiction that are neglected in the contemporary (...) naturalistic discourse: the lived-body and the worldly context of the addict. Firstly, we try to do justice to the variety of addictions by underlying that their new and surprising forms are determined by the intersubjective tissue wherein the subject operates. Secondly, the loss of control in addiction, how the subject deals with the tendency to satisfy a need, is experienced as powerlessness, as expressed in the accounts of ecstasy addicts regarding altered states of mind. The last section of this paper will argue that this sense of powerlessness cannot be equated with a weakness of the will because a strong, forceful will engenders the same vertigo of being prey to strange powers. The embodied aspect of addiction and the spontaneous, bodily need it saturates will clarify further this claim. (shrink)

IntroductionIn the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, Romanian universities switched to emergency relocation and online education, with students experiencing a sense of isolation, which affected their well-being, pace and normal learning style, relationships with other colleagues, and Professors. Beyond the technological obstacles that have arisen in learning, the aim of this study is to highlight the psychological variables that are associated and that explain the self-perceived well-being of students, in university, in the pandemic. The psychological variables studied were the following: the (...) level of openness and personal autonomy, as personality traits of students but also the mechanisms for regulating their academic motivation.MethodWe used a questionnaire-based survey, wherein all four research instruments had been validated and adapted to the investigated population. The subjects were BA and MA students at the University of Oradea, Romania, the majority being females with the age range of 27 years old. Pearson Correlation and Multiple Linear Regression were used to test the two hypotheses.ResultsResearch data obtained in the correlation analysis, point out association relationships with moderate and high effects size, between positive attitude toward self, others and student life and: openness to learning, openness to aesthetics, behavioral autonomy, cognitive autonomy, intrinsic motivation, and identification motivation. Furthermore, in regression analysis, it was revealed that regarding the variance of results concerning students’ self-perceived well-being in university, it contributes both of students’ personality traits and their intrinsic motivation and identification motivation.ConclusionThe fundamental conclusion of the research is that, although the personality traits of students explain in a higher percentage the variability of results in students’ self-perceived well-being, motivation regulation mechanisms play an important role, especially in the conditions of online activities. The results have direct implications for the work carried out in universities. The educational policies developed by specialists and government will have to emphasize the ways of forming resilient student communities in periods of sudden transition and adaptation to change which take place in education and society. (shrink)

Two rival accounts of irony claim, respectively, that pretence and echo are independently sufficient to explain central cases. After highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of these accounts, I argue that an account in which both pretence and echo play an essential role better explains these cases and serves to explain peripheral cases as well. I distinguish between “weak” and “strong” hybrid theories, and advocate an “integrated strong hybrid” account in which elements of both pretence and echo are seen as complementary (...) in a unified mechanism. I argue that the allegedly mutually exclusive elements of pretence and echo are in fact complementary aspects enriching a core structure as follows: by pretending to have a perspective/thought F, an ironic speaker U echoes a perspective/thought G. F is merely pretended, perhaps caricaturised or exaggerated, while G is real/possible. (shrink)

Phenomenological critique attempts to retrieve the lived experience of a human community alienated from its truthful condition and immersed in historical crises brought by processes of objectification and estrangement. This introductory article challenges two methodological assumptions that are largely shared in North American Critical Phenomenology: the definition of phenomenology as a first person approach of experience and the rejection of transcendental eidetics. While reflecting on the importance of otherness and community for phenomenology’s critical orientation, we reconsider the importance of eidetics (...) from the standpoint of Husserl’s genetic phenomenology, highlighting its historical and contingent character. Contrary to the received view of Husserl’s classical phenomenology as an idealistic and rigid undertaking, we show that his genetic phenomenology is interested in the material formation of meaning (Sinnbildung), offering resources for a phenomenological approach to a materialist social theory. Keywords: critical phenomenology, critical theory, genetic phenomenology, community, normativity. (shrink)

Slurs are typically defined as conveying contempt based on group-membership. However, here I argue that they are not a unitary group. First, I describe two dimensions of variation among derogatives: how targets are identified, and how offensive the term is. This supports the typical definition of slurs as opposed to other derogatives. I then highlight problems with this definition, mainly caused by variable offence across slur words. In the process I discuss how major theories of slurs can account for variable (...) offence, and conclude that contempt based on group-membership doesn’t cover all the data. I finish by noting that the most offensive slurs are those that target oppressed groups. I claim it is oppression that underpins most offence, and that beyond this offensive property, some slurs are actively used to oppress. (shrink)