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In one of his books Erving Goffman writes that “in many situations certain categories of persons may not be authorized to be present, and that should they be present, this in itself will constitute an improper act” and without doubt this statement refers to poor persons. Analyses carried out within the framework of the “Discourses of poverty and social exclusion” research project have shown that the issue of presence or its denial in public spaces and places constitutes a category that often permeates the ways of constructing and presenting poverty and the poor. Therefore places that are appropriate for the poor, as well as those to which access is limited or forbidden are discursively constructed. It is therefore interesting both in what situational conditions the poor are prohibited to enter and when such a ban gets lifted. In this paper, referring to the grid of analytical categories proposed by Goffman, I would like to reconstruct the ways of locating the poor in public spaces and the position that they may occupy in these spaces – conditions allowing their presence, reasons for exclusion and removal, as well as adaptation practices. In this analysis the floor will be taken by the non-poor (representatives of social institutions), that is by those that dominate in these discourses and influence the outlining of areas of admission and areas of inaccessibility.
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Rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT) results in significant changes in various aspects of social life. The paper presents selected problems concerning the impact of ICT on the form of social structure and social order, both in the internal and global context. The most visible of the direct consequences of the ICT growth is the digital divide – the gap between individuals, groups and regions in their access to ICT. During last decades that phenomenon is being visibly reduced. Nevertheless it still shapes a new model of social order in which various social groups – and in the global perspective, several regions of the world – stay behind leaders of the information revolution. Concepts of ‘information apartheid’ or ‘virtual colonization’ are often used to describe that phenomenon adequately. Both models stress the role of ICT as the stimulus for the increase of economic, social and civilization polarization between the developed and the developing countries and regions. It is a paradox that ICT can at the same time stimulate the advancement of the marginalized groups as well. A spectacular example of such a process is the Village Phone Program, the project of mobile phones distribution in the rural and poor parts of Bangladesh. The project turned out to be not only profitable for its participants. It also succeeded in improving overall living standard and economic competitiveness of participating communities. Thus, smart use of ICT can lead to the reduction of social divisions and social exclusion.
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Social exclusion has been considered by EU and UN as one of fundamental barriers of economic growth and sustainable development. The purpose of the article is presentation of banks’ activities in Poland and around the world on field of combating social exclusion. I present products and services dedicated to less affluent people, having no credit capacity, which may activate entrepreneurship and help combating social exclusion and services supporting activities of small and medium enterprises. Article describes technical and communication innovations employed in banking that serve in fight against exclusion.
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In musical science polyphony. has been emphasized repeatedly as a phenomenon characteristic for the Western European musical development, differentiating it from the Orthodox tradition of Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages. The article makes an attempt to follow manifestations of polyphony in the ecclesiastical music in the Orthodox Balkan region on the basis of written musical sources. “The Ison drone” /dron diaphony/ characteristic for the region is presented according to observations on modern ecclesiastical chanting practice /by authorities on ecclesiastical chanting such as prof. Gregorius Stathis and the protopsaltes of the Bulgarian Church Peter Dinev/. Data on Ison-chanting from neumed sources from XIV century are followed: appearance of the direction “vastakton” in kalophonic chants /according to the manuscript Athens No.2422 the use of this direction in Polyeleos cycle is described by Koukoumas/, pointing out that possibly this direction for Ison-dronning is conncected with the tendency for increasing the festive brilliance of the chant /in complex musical “full score”/ - a function parallel to the function of Polyphony in its early appearance in the Western European ecclesiastical music in IX century. But the Ison-diaphony on the Balkans does not receive further theoretical significance, it remains traditional and is not expressed in the written musical sources. An attempt is made in the article to derive new information about the Ison chanting in the Middle Ages on the basis of the late Byzantine neume classification and the position of the neume sign “Ison” /meaning repetition of the preceding tone/ in it; the definitions of the sign introduced into the treatise papadikai are interpreted. In this respect the principal characteristic feature of the Balkan Orthodox musical-theoretical terminology in the late Byzantine period is emphasized /XIV - XV c./: its close connection with theology /in the neume classifications are introduced concepts related to basic theological ideas - e. g. signs “bodies” (Somata) and “spirits” (Pneumata), signs “hypostaseis”/. The theological meaning of the connection between the sign “ison” and the Orthodox doctrine of the Holy Trinity is emphasized /according to a treatise by Michael Blemmydes from XIII c./. Thus the hypothesis is supported that the theological meaning of the ecclesiastical music characteristic for the Orthodox church, which remains “music-cult” NI. Loskii/ until the Balkan Revival in XIX century, preserves the Ison-diaphony and does not let it develop. It is accepted that the symbolism of the sign “ison” also determines the aesthetics of the performance of the droning sound Ison. The article is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of prof. Dr. Constantin Floros.
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Changes and challenges are good. Crisis are challenging and changing, so crises are not that bad. In fact, communication during crisis has proven to be an opportunity, rather than a threat to weakened budgets. This paper presents the main changes that occurred in the advertising trends in Romania since the economic crisis emerged. Moreover, this paper is about how advertisers have chosen different and innovative ways of being present on the market, using low budgets. It’s the time of direct consumer communication, 360 strategies, focus on consumer engagement and interaction, creating consumer touch points and building brand stories through emotional rollercoaster and enriching brand experiences. Integrated communication borders switched and pushed new boundaries, with a different focus, this time, consumer centric.
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The purpose of this article is to present the evolution of the phenomenon of insolvency in post communist Romania. An important feature of a market economy it is the active selection mechanism by which solid and efficient firms supersede the least effective and the goods and new activities to replace the old. Present article attempts describes the provisions of the Romanian insolvency law, is investigating the facts existing and possible remedies that could lead to increased competitiveness and functionality of the Romanian economy.
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The aim of the paper is to evaluate the impact of the euro introduction in the Czech Republic on the trade with euro area. The paper continue the present studies on expected impacts of euro introduction. Benefits associated with a monetary union integration for a newly acceding country are the larger, the higher (or the more growing, as appropriate) is the integration of the country’s economy with the countries of the monetary union. These benefits are further subject to reducing the exchange rate volatility in respect of international trade relations. The stabilizing effect of the replacement of the Czech crown with the Euro will lead to the stimulation of mutual trade. The paper concludes that the integration of the Czech economy with the euro area is high (59% for foreign trade and 82% for foreign direct investment inflows) and increasing. For the assessment of the exchange rates volatility the weightet variation coefficient is used. In case the Czech crown is in fact replaced by the euro, the volatility would decrease to one-half. Furthermore, the risk of a monetary crisis would be eliminated. However the Rose Effect in the trade with euro area will be weak.
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The main problems identified in determination of capital structure are referred to identifying the source of relevant funds, evaluation of risks generated by using some funds and their costs in order to ensure the autonomy of the enterprise. The objective of any company is to achieve optimal capital structure, which is approached by minimizing average cost of capital and maximizing the market value of the company. Thus, this paper aims to study the influence of capital structure on the cost of capital and enterprise value, in the case of two multinational companies, in order to identify optimal financial structures, and the differences between them.
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This study is going to examine the relationship among consumer price index (CPI), economic performance, and wheat support prices in order to determine the level of inflation in case of Pakistan. The analysis is made on the monthly time series data from January-1990 to December 2010. The CPI is used as an inflation indicator by taking the percentage change; the GDP is used as the growth variable for measuring economic performance. The ARDL technique had been used to investigate such relationship. The results derived by applying Wald Test suggest that there is a long run cointegrated relationship among the CPI, economic performance and wheat support price. In the short run, the wheat price does affect the inflation. The causality test results show that there is only unidirectional causality between wheat price and rate of inflation. In the end, it is suggested that the tight monetary policy is the not the solution of problem in order to control inflation, on other hand fiscal policy is also contributing in inflation.
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Originally formed as a method for quantifying wealth, accounting changed in line with the evolution of economic phenomena, reaching its peak by developing a general framework for reporting at the international level, in response to increased globalization trends that characterize modern society. The International Accounting Standards Board has successfully gained the status of reference transnational standardization organism, but its democratic deficit allows questions to be asked on its procedural legitimacy. This study aims to emphasize that achieving its goals as an international normaliser depends firstly on the manner in which this body of standardization will be able to fulfil the construction of its procedural legitimacy, and secondly on the completion of the IASB and FASB convergence process as one of the most challenging projects conducted on the financial reporting field. The scientific approach seeks to reveal the accomplishments regarding the development of IASB’s due process and also to analyze the degree of convergence achieved by the most important transnational bodies in accounting regulation.
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The dynamics of ICT (information and communication technology), as an essential component of contemporary socio-dynamics, permeating all fields of activity, is evident and imposes (to the masses of users) competencies and abilities to use a computer. An experienced user, besides the generally used software, knows many programmes specific to a given profession / work etc. Our brief presentation wishes to meet the requirements of all musicians (composers, performers, high school and university teachers) in their undertakings to make/finalise different audio projects, through theoretical systematisation / explanations, and (with regard to practical acquisition) through the presentation of specific techniques for editing pre-existing musical materials in the form of digitalised information. And since our field of activity / research is organically linked to musical creations intended for cinema, the musical materials presented in the present paper (in the form of figure-examples, accessible also in audio file formats that can be listened to / analysed / downloaded from the indicated websites) were all made in order to be successfully used in the short fictional film entitled The Contract (director Horaţiu Damian, 2010).
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The „e-vocal“shows how the effective use of ICT can build bridges between technology and art. The e-learning courses, which can be used in music universities, conservatories, schools and adult education centers are designed to support trainers and students in classical singing independent of time and place. A video file of an aria can be downloaded and alive rehearsal be simulated, in which the student sings according to the interpretation and the timing of the virtual conductor. http://www.e-vocal.com
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