Keywords: Romania; Apuseni Mountains; Viorel Sicoe; Romanian Academy of Sciences; Romanian mountains; gold
Romania’s Apuseni Mountains are ‘heaven on earth,’ but some experts say a planned gold-mining operation will transform the area into a ‘cyanide hell on earth.’
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Paper furniture design is not a novelty; at our school, too, students have designed objects and even a dome made from paper. What is new is that our colleagues created useful elements and presented them to the most demanding users - children. Having seen the response and spirited understanding of the children, I was very happy about this collaboration between the university and the nursery.
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Keywords: YouTube; young people; Montenegro; violence; prostitution; teenagers; Modern technology; Balkans; brutality
Balkan societies now have video evidence that transition does not equate to tranquility.
More...Keywords: crisis; Romania; investment; labour force; economic growth
First of all, Romanian foreign trade has passed through structural changes since the decision of following the European economic rules, being part of European Union. Until the end of 2008, on the back of strong growth in the internal demand and because of important investment needs, imports have overwhelmed the exports, leading to a deep deficit in our commercial balance. We consider this moment a breakpoint, between the rate of economic growth (about 9% in 2008), one of the highest rate within European space and the manifestation of the crisis. These impacts of the economic and financial crisis found an instable economic structure and discrepancies in different macroeconomic balances, like foreign trade balance, in a word, a weak economy, not prepared for such events.
More...![Humanity [On the Frankfurtian Theme ]](/api/image/getissuecoverimage?id=picture_2011_4215.jpg)
Humanity has long since (perhaps not long enough to entirely forget the days of poverty, but certainly long enough for this to be mentioned only as a thing of the distant past) been the wealthiest family in our village. On the slope of the only hill in this area, even more stately than the weather station on its top, the new House of Humanity stands erect and appears, with the very firmness of its flawlessly plastered walls, to summarize that self-sufficiency, that quiet self-confidence (although some idlers and malicious persons would call it arrogance) that the family exuded when they would head together toward the church, dressed in their Sunday best. Lording over the small houses crammed along the dusty lowland road, this brick home is probablyno longer a part of the village in the full sense of the word. Its few visitors will only be reminded of village life by a tractor in the garage, the stench of fertilizer always lingering in the yard (especially on hot days), muddied boots in the hallway, and perhaps even traces of mud on the (truth be told somewhat clumsily) varnished wood floor in the living room.
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Keywords: Environmental claims; greenwashing; green products; sins of greenwashing; stakeholders;
Canadians are becoming increasingly concerned about the environmental performance of firms, and are also seeking the environmental information on consumer products. Consequently, almost every Canadian firm takes the environment‘ topic as hot to its marketing policies and promoting greenness‘ to benefit from self-declared environmental claims. However, many firms advertise the eco-friendly practices hiding their real activities; the practice called green washing, which causes the stakeholders to doubt the sincerity of green marketing of all firms. Therefore, the environmental claims must be verifiable if consumers and other stakeholders are to understand the value of the environmental information the companies highlight. The primary purpose of this paper is to find out how and why the Canadian companies practice green washing. Secondly, to identify the stakeholders who demand the environmental information relating to the product‘s entire lifecycle and can examine the attributes of environmental claim to recognize green washers. Using the ―Seven Sins of Green washing model, Canadian Standard Association guidelines, and world best practices, we examined, in a sample of consumer products with the self-declared environmental claim, whether the claim might be false, misleading and deceptive or accurate, meaningful, and reliable. We found a considerable amount of green washing attributes in environmental claims by Canadian firms.
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Keywords: Urşi; wooden church; inter-disciplinary research; iconography; al fresco painting; al secco painting; degradation factors; biodeterioration; conservation-restoration;
Part of the salvation plan of the 60 wooden churches, initiated by the Order of Architects in Romania, the wooden church of Urși, Popești Village, Vâlcea County, is in a new posture: going from the urgent intervention, meant to protect immediately and remove the danger of an imminent collapse to an inter-disciplinary-based research, planning and the operations of consolidation and conservation-restoration of the church architecture together with its artistic components (mural painting, iconostasis and icons, and furniture). The anamnesis, the iconographic and stylistic analysis, the technological analysis about the nature of materials employed in the al fresco and al secco paintings, the initiation of microclimate monitoring, the identification of degradation factors, with a deep analysis of the biodeterioration are the branches of the inter-disciplinary research undertaken at Urși. The execution of the general conservation-restoration project of the church made possible a long-term allocation of the operations through which the church will be rendered to the community. The article closes with a plea for the authorities to get involved in saving a type of monuments representative for the history of Romanian art facing disappearance.
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Keywords: ethnographic area; Hunedoara County; folk architecture; folk costumes; folklore; traditions;
Hunedoara County 7016 km2 (3% of the total area of the country) lies in the central-western part of the country, between the Central and the Western Carpathians, in a mountainous area with a lot of valleys. From a historical point of view, it is situated between Transylvania and Banat. The variety of the natural environment and the richness of the cultural elements (artistic, ethnographic, historical) offers ethnographic complexity to the county which has six distinct parts: Momârlan Land, Haţeg Land, Strei Valley, Pădureni Land, Orăştie Land, Mureş Valley and Zarand Land
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Keywords: cultural heritage; cultural assets; religious museum collection; exhibition; cult objects;
Hurezi monastery (1690-1697), a stately and splendid building is anational architectural monument (VL-II-m-A-09894) which is a part of UNESCO’sWorld Heritage. The main building was founded by Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu,the largest compound of monastic architecture in Wallachia, and is home to one ofthe most important religious collections hosted by a known museum, showcasingvarious exhibits: icons, jewels, old books, goldsmithing pieces, embroideries, cultvessels, furniture, altars, iconostases, the holy doors etc. These heritage items arehosted by the Royal Mansion, which was a guest house, and now it’s a museum. Asfar as the art and culture of Wallachia is concerned, the 17th and the 18th centurieswitnessed a period of crystallization and flourishing of Romania’s first national style– the Brancovan style – named after Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu – a synthesisinspired by art symbols of the Byzantine tradition and echoes of late Renaissanceand Baroque. In 2014, the National Institute of Heritage, by means of the culturalproject “Museums and religious collections”. The Brancovan and Post-Brancovantreasury harbored by the Hurezi and Brâncoveni monasteries” is meant to restore anexhibition that showcases high-value heritage objects that are part of our nationalculture, dating back to the above-mentioned period, but also to refresh the memoriesof modern people about the exceptional cultural dimension that Wallachia knewduring Brâncoveanu’s reign; other purposes of this endeavor are (1) to draw theattention upon the poor preservation state of most of this part of our movableheritage, (2) the manner in which it is presented in collections and religiousmuseums and the need for restoration, (3) its inclusion in the National CulturalHeritage, according to Law 182/2000 (amended by Government Decision 886/2008),and its classification into “Fund” (national value) and “Treasury” (goods withspecial value for humanity) and other cult objects of very high value.
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Keywords: Polska Kronika Filmowa [Polish Film Chronicle]; architecture; town planning; history; methodology;
The materials used by architectural historians to research the post-war period are very limited, and the available archive resources are incomplete and dispersed. In this context, of special significance are other forms of visual materials that documented the spatial reality of the communist period. Documentary films, and in particular the Polska Kronika Filmowa [Polish Film Chronicle] newsreel, can make an an important contribution to and a resource for historical research on contemporary Polish architecture. This text contains methodological reflections on the role of film studying the history of contemporary architecture. It describes the new research options, including the ability to recreate original spatial phenomena, and also the contemporary techniques and technology as well as the educational dimension of the Polish Film Chronicle. In this context, it is especially interesting to compare the documentary material from the Chronicle with other archival material, e.g. drawings, plans and photographs. This method provides an additional opportunity for a fuller and more objective recreation of space in 3D. This “reverse modelling” can be used to restore or preserve the original condition of structures, or even to rebuild ones no longer existing.
More...Keywords: ecological products; organic farming; environmental certification; eco-labels; organic food;
The organic products that have been produced in harmony with nature and maintain the health of the population are increasingly required on the market in Romania. The production is directed especially to food, but non-food products are made in Romania or imported, too. Although the diversity and percentage of these products increased and the number of operators in this field is also increased, the achievements are relatively insignificant representing less than 1 % of total production; this fact may be explained by a variety of reasons, like technological, economic, bureaucratic, etc. Therefore, it is necessary primarily to grow the organic production in both agriculture and industry. Farmers must be supported by the government in achieving their final products. In a sustainable development, the intervention of state to support those who produce organic food and non-food should be felt more strongly.
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Keywords: Interactive whiteboard; Microsoft Sway;configurable panels; online content;
Using the interactive whiteboardwith Microsoft Sway presentations makes the geography lesson more attractive forstudentssensitive to any gadget. Although Sway has limited design options over PowerPoint, it becomes very useful when the presentation is highly dependent on online content. The application works with configurable panels where text, images, video and audio files can be inserted, links to Internet sources can be created, or YouTube, Vimeo, etc. can be embedded. Grouping information can be done in different ways. Students can interact with the Sway content using the interactive whiteboard pen, such as the Settera online geographic game. Even if the existence of an interactive whiteboard is a beautiful dream for most schools, the Sway application can also be used with common means, such as a laptop and a video projector. Everything is to have teachers willing to create geographic content with this app.
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Keywords: Freight forwarder; FIATA; Bill of lading; fraud; trade logistics; Certificate of receipt
Nowadays when the complexity of services provided by freight forwarders is increasing, especially when dealing with multimodal transport or project logistics, unified freight forwarders’ documents are one of the main instruments in cross border trade facilitation. While discussing the role of freight forwarder in multimodal transport, the author presents an analysis of several key documents that are commonly used in trade logistics herewith revealing the impact of indeterminacy of freight forwarding responsibilities.The purpose of this article is to introduce the reader to freight forwarders’ documents and forms with a focus on the models of usage of FIATA Bill of Lading and FIATA Forwarders Certificate of Receipt.Two scenarios of primary concern, respecting possible schemes of fraudulent usage of FIATA Bill of Lading are revealed in the article together with possible solutions for reducing the risk.
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Keywords: Romanian Diplomats; compensation; First World War; InterWar Period;
In this article I tried to identify the diplomats who where compesanted by the Romanian state in the Interwar Period, the context and the amounts they received. At the end of the war, the diplomats sent several lists, wishing to be reimbursed with various amounts of money. We noticed two different situations in which they were compensated: a special and a general one. What happened at the beginning of 1922, during the ministry of Gheorghe Derussi, is rather an exception, a special situation, when only four diplomats received compensations after which the Ministry of Finance interrupted the payment. In 1925 and after this year, diplomats were compensated as a result of the decision taken by the Minister of Finance, in October 1925, to grant compensations to those who were officials at the time Romania entered the war and who had suffered damages as a result of this decision.
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Keywords: healing environment; experience-based co-design; satisfaction; nursing staff;
Sriphat hospital, Chiang Mai, Thailand, outpatient department (OPD) is under pressure as a consequence of high patient demand. The hospital administration has, therefore, approved the construction of a new building to cater for out-patients. Research has shown that the architectural features of a hospital building can affect therapeutic outcomes. Much of the support for this effect comes from research in evidence-based design (EBD) which aims to show a strong scientific link between environment and healthcare outcomes. An alternative view, the experience-based co-design process (EBCD), does not disagree with EBD per se, but argues for design input from those who will be the ultimate users (stakeholders) of a construct. Nursing Staff have a wealth of experience regarding building features that support their goal of an effective, efficient, and safe hospital working environment. This study involves an EBCD strategy model that considers the input from intended users of a new OPD. Input from current OPD nursing staff was gathered using survey and focus group discussion. Results indicated valuable insights from nurses. The adopted strategy is considered beneficial in determining user input to the design process.
More...Keywords: color; lighting; glamour; interior; design;
Purpose of the article. Clarity of the color palette and the means of lighting for the interior in glamorous stylistics. Methodology. General scientific (analysis, synthesis, generalization, etc.) of art analysis were used. Scientific novelty. The glamour in the interior was considered from the experimental side, and the methods of applying color and light were defined, serving as the primary artistic and decorative accents in the design concepts of the chosen sample. The idea of glamour interior is formulated, by the research of stylistic features of which, its modern trends ("digital baroque," "glamorous" neoclassic, glamorous "Provence," oriental glamour, "fashion" glamour) are determined. Conclusions. In the article, the primary color trends in the modern, glamorous interior and the ways of the extensive use of light and its relationship with color were considered. In connection with the fact, that glamour seeks to create a unique impression, the accents in favor of color and light effects are the first for interiors above the mentioned direction.
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Keywords: compounds; noun phrases; lexicalisation; calque;
This paper discusses nominal compounds and nominal phrases in English on the one hand and in SCBM on the other on the basis of recent linguistic literature and research. Comparison is relevant since these nominal structures originate from analytic languages, of which English is a representative. It is a significant contributor, particularly in more recent history of the two languages. On this basis, implications are drawn with respect to word formation rules that apply to relatively new loan nominal phrases in SCBM.
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