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Bulgarian Innovation Policy: Options for the Next Decade

Bulgarian Innovation Policy: Options for the Next Decade

Author(s): Kostadinka Simeonova,Daniela Tchonkova,Ruslan Stefanov,Miglena Molhova-Vladova,Milanka Slavova,Teodora Georgieva,Todor Yalamov,Marin Petrov,Daniela Mineva,Todor Galev,Fani Koleva,Lora Pavlova,Angel Milev / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2010

Keywords: innovation; Bulgarian innovation policy; technological development; science and technology; entrepreneurship in Bulgaria; information and communication technologies; technology policy

The Innovation.bg report provides a reliable annual assessment of the innovation potential of the Bulgarian economy and the condition and opportunities for development of the Bulgarian innovation system. The fourth survey of Innovation Activity of Bulgarian Business (INA-4), conducted by the Applied Research and Communications Fund, revealed a considerable increase of innovation activity of Bulgarian enterprises in 2009 (71% - share of companies with innovations) compared to 2008 (43%). It reflected the positive consequences of the country’s accession as a full member of the European Union and the efforts of business to respond to the requirements of competitive European markets and legislation. The crisis encouraged enterprises to seek ways to differentiate their products and services, as well as to send clearer messages to consumers, which led to an increase of market innovations. At the same time the 2010 report underlines that the innovation activity of Bulgarian businesses experiences the impact of the economic crisis through the fall of public and private R&D funding, as well as through the deterioration of the overall business and innovation environment (higher risk aversion, personnel reductions, consumer markets stagnation, etc.). The long delayed reforms in science and education, the lack of systematic and institutional interaction between them and the business sector (e.g. transfers of new technological solutions are sporadic), as well as the inefficient management and utilization of European funds allotted for economic modernization additionally exacerbate the problems caused by the crisis. The report Innovation.bg 2010: The Innovation Policy of Bulgaria: Opportunities for the Next Decade highlights the possibilities that 2010 presents for critical decision-making and mobilization of enterprise and innovation activity, human and intellectual capital to achieve economic recovery from the crisis and sustainable growth. For Bulgaria this means updating of the current National Innovation Strategy, providing linkages to the guidelines for the development of science and the economy, and a clear commitment at the highest level of government.

Russian State and Civil Society in Interaction: An Ethnographic Approach

Russian State and Civil Society in Interaction: An Ethnographic Approach

Author(s): Kulmala Kulmala / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2011

Interaction between civil society organizations and the state in Russia is analyzed on the basis of fieldwork in the Sortavala district in Karelia. The liberal and statist models wrongly assume that civil society and the state are distinct and opposing entities; this study shows that in practice they overlap and intersect. The often-made distinction between policy-advocacy and service-provision organizations is overly reductionist, since one organization can perform both functions. The cases discussed are a Municipal Social Service Center that bundles public and civic efforts; an independent child protection organization that actively collaborates with the authorities; and a network of women’s organizations that has successfully proposed regional policy initiatives. The article presents a case for studying state-civil society relations in Russia ethnographically and at the local and regional level.

CRIMINAL PROTECTION OF PRIVATE LIFE

CRIMINAL PROTECTION OF PRIVATE LIFE

Author(s): Radu Slăvoiu / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2012

Keywords: New Criminal Code; the protection/violation of private life; harassment; professional office; means of interception of communications

This study is meant, first of all, to analyze the incriminations that the new Romanian Criminal Code sets for the protection of a person’s private life as a social value of maximum significance both for the human being and for any democratic society as a whole.There are two criminal offences treated in this study that are not to be found in the current criminal legislation: violation of private life and criminal trespassing of a legal person’s property. Likewise, the study will bring forth the novelties and the differences regarding the offences of criminal trespassing of a natural person’s property, disclosure of professional secret, violation of secret correspondence, illegal access to computerized system and illegal interception of electronic data transfer – acts that when, directly or indirectly, committed can cause harm to the intimacy of a person’s life.As an expression of the interdisciplinary nature of this subject, the study also sets out, as a subsidiary aspect, an evaluation of the circumstances under which the new criminal proceeding legislation allows public authorities to interfere with an individual’s private life. Thus, the emphasis is on the analysis of the circumstances under which special surveillance and investigation techniques can be used as evidence proceedings regulated by the new Romanian Criminal Procedure Code.

“Kunst ja Kodu” 1973–1980

Almanahh "Kunst ja Kodu" 1973-1980

Author(s): Andres Kurg / Language(s): Estonian / Issue: 02/2004

Keywords: Soviet Studies; Soviet art; art magazines; home decoration magazines; Modernism; Estonian art; Popular culture; Baltic art; Pop art

This article will look at the leading home decoration magazine from the Soviet period, “Kunst ja Kodu” (“Art and Home”), during the 1970s. It will firstly endeavour to analyse the magazine’s position and significance in the context of the changed art paradigm of the 1960s, foremostly the approach to art unleashed by Pop Art and then in the context of the peculiarities of the Soviet private space. Finally, it will examine how the magazine constructed a personal urban landscape opposed to the official channels of representation. Most researchers of the Soviet period have emphasised the special nature of the private sphere in the period in question, seeing it as a unique oasis in the midst of public totalitarianism. According to this approach the home, as a theme, allowed greater freedom for the makers of the almanac and offered cover for the introduction of forbidden or partially forbidden topics. But I think “Kunst ja Kodu” contains more complex levels of meaning in that the magazine can be viewed as a parallel to SOUP 69, an Estonian Pop Art group whose artistic activities are connected with the ideas of opposition to mass production, mass media and everyday life – which stems from Pop Art.

Use and Possible Mis-Use of Irony in Post–1989 Romania The Case of Print Media Discourse (A Pragmalinguistic Analysis)

Use and Possible Mis-Use of Irony in Post–1989 Romania The Case of Print Media Discourse (A Pragmalinguistic Analysis)

Author(s): Andreea Cristina Ghiţă / Language(s): English / Issue: 01/1997

Impacts of Inter-Organizational Networks on Industrial Upgrading at the Firm Level: Evidence from the Romanian Food Processing Industry

Impacts of Inter-Organizational Networks on Industrial Upgrading at the Firm Level: Evidence from the Romanian Food Processing Industry

Author(s): Denis Eylem Yörük / Language(s): English / Issue: 09/2001

Keywords: the shift from centrally planned economy to marketbased economy; Foreign Direct Investment;

Over the last decade transition in the Central and East European Countries (CEECs) has altered the industrial structure of traditional industries, not only due to the system change from centrally planned economy to free market economy but also due to the strong globalization effects. Although transition is a gradual process, the aspiration of accession to the EU has provided an impetus to rapidly harmonize with the global economic system in these countries. Therefore, they have actively engaged in international business and their firms are compelled to position themselves quickly in the new markets. As is well known, in the last two decades, economic globalization has influenced the growth of multinational enterprises and the CEECs have competed for as large a piece as possible of this cake. Within the region, we observe differences among the countries due to different reasons, which are out of the scope of this paper.

The Slovak Academy of Sciences and Arts in the years 1945 – 1952

The Slovak Academy of Sciences and Arts in the years 1945 – 1952

Author(s): Adam Hudek / Language(s): English / Issue: Supplement/2012

Keywords: The Slovak Academy of Sciences and Arts; Organization of scientific research; Communist Party; Ideologization; Marxist science

The development of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and Arts in the turbulent period 1945 – 1952 documents the illusory nature of ideas about the possibility of the autonomous development of science and research in a society experiencing great political shocks. The article analyses the political and ideological influences that inevitably directed the functioning of the academy. The institution was formally apolitical, but, in reality, it was largely dependent on the current government, so it inevitably became an object of political struggles in the state. The aim of the article is also to point out how the academy attempted to make pragmatic use of the current political situation to achieve the status of the leading institution in Slovak science and research.

Methodology, Analysis of Legal-Archaeological Objects Demonstrated on an Example of Coat of Arms

Methodology, Analysis of Legal-Archaeological Objects Demonstrated on an Example of Coat of Arms

Author(s): Jiří L. Bílý / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2012

Thought Experimenting as Mental Modeling: Empiricism without Logic

Thought Experimenting as Mental Modeling: Empiricism without Logic

Author(s): Nancy J. Nersessian / Language(s): English / Issue: 20/2007

Keywords: Thought experiments; model-based reasoning; embodiment; simulation; mental models

The paper argues that the practice of thought experimenting enables scientists to follow through the implications of a way of representing nature by simulating an exemplary or representative situation that is feasible within that representation. What distinguishes thought experimenting from logical argument and other forms of propositional reasoning is that reasoning by means of a thought experiment involves constructing and simulating a mental model of a representative situation. Although thought experimenting is a creative part of scientific practice, it is a highly refined extension of a mundane form of reasoning. It is not a mystery why scientific thought experiments are a reliable source of empirical insights. Thought experimenting uses and manipulates representations that derive from real-world experiences and our conceptualizations of them.

‘Socialist in form, national in content’? The ‘national-international relation’ in the ideological economy of romantic Leninism

‘Socialist in form, national in content’? The ‘national-international relation’ in the ideological economy of romantic Leninism

Author(s): Emanuel COPILAȘ / Language(s): English / Issue: 17/2012

Keywords: revolutionary workers democracy; socialist ethics; education; revolutionary socialist patriotism; democratic centralism; personality cult; socialist economy

The present paper tries to bring forward an ideological reinterpretation of the Romanian communist ideology from the „golden age”. „Romantic Leninism” implies an apparently incompatible ideological hybridity between Leninism, Romanticism and even Fascism, endemic with reference to the other communist regimes from Eastern Europe and even the whole world. Without neglecting its international manifestations, the accent lies here on several concepts considered to be the theoretical backbone of what I have named romantic Leninism. Following the analysis of the ideological structure of romantic Leninism, this part of the paper deals with Nicolae Ceaușescu’s personality cult and the particular type of socialist economy implemented during his leadership, both underlined by the heroic-romantic ideal of „building socialism”. On the whole, I intend to prove that romantic Leninism represented, under different appearances, a unified assault over the „bourgeois” conscience of Romanian society, in the attempt of replacing it with another type of conscience, that of the well-known „new man”, robotized and following exclusively the party’s goals, which he accepts as his own.

Analysis of the Educational Statistics of the Sudanese Secondary Certificate

Analysis of the Educational Statistics of the Sudanese Secondary Certificate

Author(s): A.W. Mohamed Issam / Language(s): English / Issue: 7/2011

Keywords: Sudan; Education; Metamorphosis; Knowledge Transfer; Pass Marks; Weakened Structure; Destabilization;

In the past two decades many voices were raised calling for corrections, restructuring and improvements of the Sudanese educational system. Complaints focused on the weakness of university students. However, their weaknesses were traced back to the elementary, secondary and high secondary educational phases. Economic restrains, lack of facilities and meager numbers of qualified instructors were pointed out as the prime causes. However, in this paper we hypothesize that besides those reasons basic impediments were entrenched in the whole educational system. The metamorphosis the Sudanese educational system has foreseen in the early 1970s and 1990s have distorted students knowledge base. Changing the system into purely Arabic based and partially abolishing English language weakened a well-known and strong system Sudan has known for generations. The current paper analyzes those effects and review some parameters to contain them. It is concluded here that interventions by lowering the students' pass mark rates have affected their knowledge and education capabilities. That gave them false sense of passing from an educational phase to another. However, the result is worse knowledge transferred into another educational phase and then to the university. The result is like Zeno or Achilles paradox and a worse graduate education.

Innovation Agenda for Sustainable Growth and Competitiveness

Innovation Agenda for Sustainable Growth and Competitiveness

Author(s): Marin Petrov,Teodora Georgieva,Ruslan Stefanov,Daniela Tchonkova,Todor Galev,Roumyana Georgieva,Robert Hickey,Denitsa Marinova,Metodi Naydenov,Plamen Shalafov,Albena Vutsova,Todor Yalamov / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2014

The tenth issue of the annual Innovation.bg report continues a tradition of presenting and analysing the status of the national innovation system and its building blocks, and assessing the innovation potential of the economy as a factor for competitiveness on international markets. Ten years are a period, which allows a retrospective look assessing what has been achieved, while understanding the prospects for the future and providing recommendations based on good and bad practices. In addition, Innovation.bg 2014 is an agenda for addressing the main challenges of the rapidly changing business environment and upcoming hard decisions in the search of drivers for technological development and innovations.

A Research on Protection of Consumer Privacy in E-Commerce

E-Ticarette Tüketici Gizliliğinin Korunması Üzerine Bir Araştırma

Author(s): Serpil Karlidağ,Selda Bulut / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 4/2015

Keywords: E-shopping; Protecting privacy; Content analysis;

As consumers benefit from online shopping they are concerned with the protection of their personal information. This study aims to analyze what kind of policies eshopping web sites implement to protect their customers’ personal information. Data of the study have been obtained by examining Turkey’s 50 leading e-shopping web sites. Content analysis has been used to examine the collected data. The coding categories have been derived directly from the privacy policy texts. Privacy texts have been coded in the same way by two different people and the validity of inferences has been provided. Accordingly, the shopping web sites explain that they do not transfer the personal information to the third parties without any notification. However they have exceptions. Some businesses see the customers’ information as their own property and use them for their own gain. Moreover, they do not take any responsibilities to protect customer’s information.

Meaningful Citizenship A Study on Farmer-Labor Politics in Minnesota at the End of the 19th Century

Meaningful Citizenship A Study on Farmer-Labor Politics in Minnesota at the End of the 19th Century

Author(s): Jeffrey Kolnick / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2001

Keywords: Citizenship; democracy; national politics; Farmer-Labor Politics; Minnesota;

This study reveals the challenges of defining a meaningful citizenship for workers and farmers in an era of rapid industrialization. A democracy for more than 100 years in 1892, the United States continued to struggle with the meaning of citizen­ ship in profound ways. The legacy of slavery and civil war were still fresh, as was the aftermath of a savage policy of genocide against the indigenous peoples of North America. Immigrants from southern and eastern Europe challenged long established Protestant Americans to find room in their polity for peoples long considered infe­rior. And though granted the vote in a handful of western states, women remained largely excluded from the protections and privileges of citizenship. With the retreat from civil rights legislation during the Reconstruction already well underway by 1892, the meaning of citizenship was severely restricted to a minority of white men.

A Study to Measure the Effects of Green Management Perceptions on Business Performance

İşletmelerin Yeşil Yönetim Algılarının İşletme Performansı Üzerindeki Etkisini Ölçmeye Yönelik Bir Araştırma

Author(s): Güzide Karakuş,Meral Erdirençelebi / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 4/2018

Keywords: Green Management; Environment; Sustainability; Business Performance; Green Business Functions;

The Green Management Approach, which can also be called environmentally friendly management or environmentally conscious management, is an environment-oriented movement in the activities of the enterprises. Environment-oriented means enterprises’ taking environmental impacts into account in all activities carried out, educating employees on environmental awareness, using technologies that do not harm the environment or causing less damage to the environment as far as possible, and trying to minimize environmental impacts in operational activities, etc. that it is an understanding which includes all these activities. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of the awareness of green at medium-sized and large enterprises operating in Konya province, which is an industrial city in Turkey, on business functions and performances. The survey method was chosen as the data collection method in the study. In this framework, 150 enterprises were included in the study and the data obtained from 83 operations were analyzed. In the direction of the analyzes performed, results of green management perceptions and green business functions sub-factors (production, accounting, logistics, human resources, and marketing) and business performance are found to be positively, meaningfully, moderately, and highly related to each other.

OBSOLETE, OBSOLESCENT, AND RARELY USED VERB FORMS IN CONFEDERATE GRAMMARS

OBSOLETE, OBSOLESCENT, AND RARELY USED VERB FORMS IN CONFEDERATE GRAMMARS

Author(s): Radosław Dylewski / Language(s): English / Issue: 16/2020

Keywords: Confederate grammars; verbal paradigm; irregular verbs; Confederate prescriptivism

Confederate textbooks published between 1861 and 1865 have recently been receiving more and more scholarly attention. Nonetheless, only a handful of publications deal with the linguistic aspects, focusing mainly on the extralinguistic traits typical of textbooks published in the Confederacy during the Civil War. This article aims to, at least partially, fill this void by means of exploring the realm of irregular verbs; more specifically it focuses on those verbs, whose preterite/past participle forms were deemed obsolete/obsolescent/belonging to solemn style in seven prescriptive grammars of the time. In the discussion section, whenever possible, comparisons to existing studies depicting coeval British and American verbal paradigms are carried out. It is assumed that such an approach allows for showing plausible similarities/discrepancies between the patterns offered in Confederate patters and in their British/Northern counterparts.

A Research on the Effects of Intellectual Capital on Business Efficiency

Entelektüel Sermayenin İşletmelerin Verimliliğine Etkilerine Yönelik Bir Araştırma

Author(s): Zekeriya Şahin / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 2/2021

Keywords: Intellectual Capital; Business Efficiency; Technology; Corporate Image;

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of intellectual capital on the productivity of businesses. Therefore, in this study; What are the effects of demographic differences (gender, age, marital status and education) of individuals on intellectual capital and productivity of businesses? Determining the positive aspects in the applications, what are the problems encountered and what can be the measures related to the detected problems? Findings and suggestions on the subject were presented to the relevant parties. Design/methodology/approach- In this study, the relational survey model, which is one of the quantitative research methods, was used. In order to obtain the data, 2 scales, namely "Intellectual Capital Scale" and "Business Efficiency Scale", were used with questions measuring demographic characteristics. S.S. MASKO Istanbul Furniture and Wooden Goods Manufacturers Business Cooperative İkitelli Organized Industry, a questionnaire was applied to 464 people working in the manufacturing and sales stores of the enterprises that continue their activities in Başakşehir. As a result of the questionnaire applications, frequency, reliability, anova and regression analyzes were made using the data related to the answers received from the participants, and the determined research hypotheses were tested. Results – When the regression equation obtained as a result of the regression analysis is examined, it can be said that when the score of structural capital increases by one unit, the productivity score due to education will increase by 0.084 unit. In other words, structural capital positively affects education-related productivity by 8.4%. In addition, it positively affects the time management efficiency perception of customer capital by 14.0%, in other words, improvements in customer capital increase time management efficiency. Discussion – It motivates the human capital of businesses, encourages them to produce many innovative ideas, increases their competitive success and can ensure the continuity of businesses. Therefore, one of the important issues that business managers should pay attention to in the process of business behaviors with innovative ideas is that they should increase business efficiency by protecting strategically important employees. It should be taken into account that conducting field-applied scientific studies on the effects of intellectual capital on the productivity of enterprises can provide significant benefits. Therefore, through the analysis of the data obtained as a result of the analysis of this research; The effects of intellectual capital on the productivity of enterprises have been researched, current problems have been tried to be determined, the increase of positive practices has been expressed, new suggestions have been developed as much as possible and applications that will increase the productivity of the enterprise are proposed.

Effect of Eco-Friendly Packaged Product Properties on Consumer Attitudes and Purchase Intentions

Çevre Dostu Ambalajlı Ürün Özelliklerinin Tüketici Tutum ve Satın Alma Niyetine Etkisi

Author(s): Bülent Özsaçmacı,Handan Özdemir / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 3/2020

Keywords: Eco-Friendly Packaging; Purchasing Intention; Environmental Attitude; Environmental Awareness; Eco-Friendly Marketing Activities;

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to reveal the effects of the variables as; price, design, perceived quality, environmental attitude, expected benefit and knowledge of eco-friendly packaged market products on consumers' attitudes, awareness and purchasing intentions. Design/methodology/approach – This study presents an applied research sample in the general survey design model (descriptive) based on quantitative data. Within the scope of the study, convenience sampling method was adopted, and online survey application was carried out for this process. Survey data obtained from 401 people; It was classified and analyzed using SPSS 21.0 statistical program, and ANOVA was evaluated by multiple regression analysis and T-test. Findings – In terms of the variables included in the study, it was understood that it positively affected the attitudes, awareness, and purchase intentions of consumers towards environmentally friendly packaged products, whereas demographic factors did not differ significantly with these variables. Discussion – The increasing number of studies on eco-friendly product practices will positively affect the awareness and attitude towards environmentally friendly products and their properties. The increasing number of studies on environmentally friendly product practices will positively affect the awareness and attitude towards environmentally friendly products and their properties. Practitioners in the field of marketing could contribute to this novel eco-friendly movement by highlighting eco-friendly features in terms of design, using sales promotion and publicity tools for directing consumer attitude and demand to eco-friendly packaged products, and enabling eco-friendly production processes for using less materials and resources for environmental purposes.

How Effective Are Social Media Influencers' Recommendations? The Effect of Message Source on Purchasing Intention and e-Word of Mouth (WOM) from a Para-Social Interaction Perspective

How Effective Are Social Media Influencers' Recommendations? The Effect of Message Source on Purchasing Intention and e-Word of Mouth (WOM) from a Para-Social Interaction Perspective

Author(s): Ayşegül ERMEÇ / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2022

Keywords: Para-social interaction; Purchase intention; e-WOM; Influencer marketing; Risk aversion;

Purpose – The aim of this study was to eplain how the source credibility, attitude homophily, interactivity, and para-social interaction are related and affect the attitude toward the post. Following this, the effect of this attitude on buying and e-WOM intention and the moderating role of risk aversion levels in this relationship also has been investigated. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 570 followers of an influencer who mainly share content related to experience products on Instagram. The research model was tested with SEM and multi group comparison analysis using AMOS. Findings – This study revealed that para-social interaction of consumers with influencers results in the generation of a positive attitude towards the recommendation post of the influencer. Also, once a positive attitude towards the post has been generated, it results in the generation of purchase intention and e-WOM engagement. Relationships examined in the context of experience products showed that attitude homophily and influencer's interactivity were the most influential among the antecedents (influencer's credibility, attitude homophily, interactivity) examined in the formation of para-social interaction. In the study, it was also determined that the risk aversion levels of consumers have a moderating effect on the attitude-purchase intention relationship, and even in the context of experience products that are perceived as inherently risky, consumers with low risk aversion tended to make purchases by considering the influencer's share. Discussion – Today, where influencer marketing is used extensively by businesses, it is possible for these activities to create the desired effect by choosing the right influencer. It is crucial to determine what is necessary to ensure that the followers buy the product and have positive word-of-mouth communication that are among the ultimate goals of the influencer's posts.

Religious Ideology in the Gəʿəz Epigraphic Corpus from Yemen

Religious Ideology in the Gəʿəz Epigraphic Corpus from Yemen

Author(s): Georg Hatke / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: Aksum; Ḥimyar; Gəʿəz; Scripture; Christianity; Israel

In the aftermath of their invasion of the South Arabian kingdom of Ḥimyar in 525 CE, the Aksumites of Ethiopia erected a series of inscriptions in Gəʿəz documenting the invasion. Although these inscriptions survive in very fragmentary condition, enough is preserved to indicate that the Aksumites presented their victorious campaign in religious terms, often quoting passages from the Bible. This manner of presentation provides insight into how the Aksumites conceived of themselves and their military venture in Ḥimyar, an undertaking that, while motivated by strategic concerns, had strong religious overtones in that it pitted Christian Aksumites against Ḥimyarite Jews. At the same time, the Aksumites took pains to emphasize their Ethiopian identity in this corpus of inscriptions, as evidenced by the fact that the inscriptions in question were composed in Gəʿəz, the Ethiosemitic lingua franca of Aksum, rather than in the local Sabaic language. That these inscriptions may have been erected as parts of symbolic stone thrones, as were similar Aksumite inscriptions erected elsewhere, would also have served to emphasize the Ethiopian identity of Ḥimyar’s conquerors. Thus, to the extent that the Aksumites identified with the Israelites, they saw themselves as an Israel in a Christian, Ethiopian guise.