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Gladiatorial combats were much more than violent spectacles to entertain an enthusiastic audience. The first such events were held in connection to funerary practices and, as the Roman Empire grew, the combats gained a new dimension, this time related to the imperial cult. Moreover, the organisation, choreography and promotion of these combats become the embodiment of the new reality of the Roman world and its symbiosis with the Greek culture. This study aims to analyze one of the aspects of this symbiosis in the Black Sea, starting from the Greek and Latin terminology used in relation to the organisation of gladiatorial combats in the Pontic provinces.

Background: Studies have shown that the venous system tends to collapse during hypovolemic shock. The use of the bone marrow space for infusions is an effective alternative, with the tibial insertion site being the norm. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine a quick intraosseous infusion method that could be an alternative to the tibial route in neonates during emergency situations. Method: A sample of 30 neonatal cadavers was dissected to explore a possible alternative to the tibial insertion site. The needle was inserted in the superolateral aspect of the humerus. The needle infusion site was then dissected to determine possible muscular and neurovascular damage that might occur during the administration of this procedure, with the greatest concern being the posterior circumflex humeral artery and axillary nerve exiting the quadrangular space. The distance of the needle insertion site was measured in relation to the soft tissue aswell as to bony landmarks. Results: The calculated 95% confidence interval shows that the needle can be safely inserted into the intraosseous tissue at the greater tubercle of the humerus 9.5 mm – 11.1 mm from the acromion. This is about a little finger’s width from the acromioclavicular joint. Conclusion: Anatomically, the described site is suggested to offer a safe alternative access point for emergency infusion in severely hypovolemic newborns and infants, without the risk of damage to any anatomical structures.

The metaphysical theology proposed by Paul Tillich offers the perspective of a constant connection between the human existential journey and the problem of Non-Being. Centered on the idea of Being, both metaphysics and theology seem to place the issue of Nothingness, of Emptiness, in the background. In reality, the dialectic between Being and Non-Being constitutes the central dynamic for the entire evolution of existence and, likewise, of human thought. Confrontation with Non-Being becomes one of the most important sources of reflection and fundamental ontic experiences. From Non-Being arises anxiety, manifesting in multiple forms that appear equally devastating to our consciousness. A natural question would be: how did those in the past overcome anxiety, and how can we do so today? Paul Tillich believes we are mistaken. Anxiety cannot truly be overcome; instead, it can and must be assimilated—otherwise, convulsive despair could overwhelm the consciousness.

Social moral obligation, its automatism and false faces, declarative and regulatory laws, the individual and social ego, collective solidarity and the pulsation of creative emotion, intelligent and instinctual society, open and closed social dynamics, Divinity as a transcendent religious reference point and Reason as the limit of moral-philosophical endeavors - all these concepts and themes are just a few of the major subjects that crystallize Bergsonian vitalism's conception, a conception that cannot be identified with religious forms of metaphysical approach but clearly approaches the scenario of thought and experience proposed by these forms. This text attempts to capture such a similarity and dialectical interplay between the concepts evoked above.

In the context of capitalist globalisation and time-space compression (as defined by David Harvey), several socio-spatial theorists have analysed the relationship between the local and the global, as well as how certain regional representations are the product of cultural interferences and hybridisations. From this point of view, our special issue, Uneven Worlds. Beyond the Canons of Cultural Representations, investigates the role played by regional and (semi-)peripheral cultures within world-systems and geographies of uneven development, and explores how they resist the false homogenisation implied by globalisation. Whether or not we are drawn to global fictions that have emerged from postcolonial literary studies and have employed tropes such as “hybridity, diaspora, transculturation, subaltern, hegemony, deterritorialisation, rhizome, mestizo, Eurocentrism and othering” (O’Brien and Szeman 2001, 605), in relation to world literature or to the “one, and unequal” world-literary system (Moretti 2004, WReC), a certain reminiscence of the Iron Curtain, an impossible translation, and a lack of porosity characterise the circulation of peripheral literatures towards the centre. While writers such as Abdulrazak Gurnah, Shehan Karunatilaka and Mohamed Mbougar Sarr are recuperated in the central circuit of the Nobel, Booker and Goncourt prizes, but still living and producing in the centre, we chose to explore the mechanisms of resistance, the impossibility of translation and the subversive strategies of “cultural management” that export various models of the periphery.

The criminal investigation regarding the commission of certain deeds provided by the criminal law presupposes the administration, depending on the category and complexity of the facts, of some types of means of proof through which to find out the truth. In this respect, forensic expertise may in some cases be the key element in the research activity, respectively it may be the means of evidence from which conclusive, relevant and useful evidence can be obtained to establish the crime committed and the person who committed it., and subsequently to be held accountable.

Affiliate entity represents an avatar of the legal entity that has generated and continues to generate different interpretations of the provisions of tax law, from a legal and economic point of view, due to the subjective nature of its relationship with other persons that it controls directly or indirectly. This situation is provided in the context of the transfer prices at which the legal person is obliged to carry out its activity, namely the sale of goods or the provision of services, both to affiliates and to independent persons, when transferring its taxable income between various states for optimizing the effective tax. Thus, in this paper will be exposed the affiliation situations of the legal entity and the procedure of transfer pricing within the affiliation relationship.

This paper proposes to reveal some aspects of tax law regarding the nature and method of income taxation made by individuals who provide consumers with digital content, following the conclusion with the latter of a contract for the supply of digital content, in short, the activity of streaming. Although this concept appeared almost a hundred years ago, streaming has become a tool often used since the late 2000s in the video game, music, television and radio industries. In recent years, however, especially in 2020, it has become an important source of income for various categories of people, active for some, becoming a job, or passive, as a hobby. However, the considerable increase of them, implicitly and of the amount of realized incomes can raise problems, as well as if and in what way they can be taxed, given the forms of obtaining them.

Drawing on Nietzsche’s dichotomy between the Apollonian and Dionysian principles pertaining to classic tragedy, in this article, I consider the poem “Fan mail Freddy Mercury” by Marlene van Niekerk, from Kaar (2013) from that perspective. The poem deals with the rock musician Freddy Mercury and from my reading is shown to be exemplifying the Dionysian spirit through Mercury’s movements, his performance and his vocal range. From my reading of the text it is evident that there was a strong fusion of the Apollonian and Dionysian in the life and work of Freddy Mercury. Despite his rebellious spirit and his negation of the faith of his childhood, culture dictated that he be buried in his faith. Van Niekerk, with her insight into the philosophy of Nietzsche, adds another dimension to the poem when she invokes Zarathustra, Nietzsche’s prophetic figure, to be distinguished from the historical god of the Zoroaster faith. The metaphorical language used by the poet suggests her Dionysian playfulness.

The East-West Romanian labor market disparities occurred and have been amplified by the rapid regional economic progress based on entrepreneurial spirit, corroborated with specific market opportunities. The end of the second millenium marked the liberalization of the Romanian labor market due to the transition from the planned economy to the open economy. As a result of this transition, the economic globalization phenomenon occurred and shaped Romania, both positively and negatively. However, at the beginning of the twenty-third century, some Romanian economic sectors are facing serious issues as far as the labor force is concerned, or rather the lack of labor force. The objective of this research paper was to explore the East-West Romanian labor market disparities under the influence of globalization and entrepreneurship through the lens of socio-economic indicators. Results confirm that the Eastern Romania is encountering serious labor issues with direct effect on particular economic sectors.

A fundamental objective of stock market regulation is investor protection, which influences the stability and the degree of development of capital markets. We use eleven years (2006-2016) of panel data from the World Bank, on the evolution of minority shareholders' protection. This paper aims at understanding the connection between regulation and the development of capital markets, both for developed and emerging European Union countries. The results are consistent with some of the results from empirical research in law, demonstrating a positive link between investor protection and stock market development during the analyzed period, after controlling for other drivers of stock market development, such as GDP growth and level of taxation. The results outline the importance of stock market regulation, making clear that minority shareholder regulation and its enforcement should be further improved in the European Union member states.

The present paper establishes a dialog between Paul Celan’s poetry and Slavoj Žižek contemporary thought, centered on the Shoah and its repercussions as its focal point. By means of the analysis of three aspects in particular —the notion of evil, the sense of darkness and the idea of an absconding God— it also approaches questions of the poetic representability of the Shoah and the aesthetic accessibility of Celan’s poetry, which eventually leads to a slightly broader conclusion on the role and importance of aestheticization of trauma, in the Lacanian sense, in general

The current study deals with art collectors in Timişoara during the interwar period, documenting the Museum of Banat’s acquisitions policy between the 1950s and the 1960s, during the period of dissolution of the collections assembled between the two World Wars and the dispersal of cultural goods of artistic value created by artists within the Moritz and Bianka Schönberger’s family circle: painters Oskar Szuhanek, Albert Varga, Albert Krausz, sculptors Géza Rubletzky, Ferdinand Gallas and graphic artists Julius Podlipny, Nándor Kóra Korber.

This paper proposes an exploration of various points of intersection between poetry, thought and contemporary photography by means of a ‘parallactic’ analysis of the volume El truco preferido de Satán, a compilation by Spanish poet Jenaro Talens that features a selection of fragments from Walter Benjamin’s unfinished magnum opus, The Arcades Project, which have been paired up with photographs by Alberto García-Alix, arguably the most renowned artistic chronicler of the Movida Madrileña in the 1980s. The resulting relationship of intermediality and supplementarity is a complex one, with moments of proximity, but also of extraneation. In order to capture these nuances and to elevate the obtained insights to a more general level, the notion of parallax, particularly in one of Slavoj Žižek’s specific formulations, serves as this essay’s methodological framework, as it sets out to understand García-Alix’s photographs as the elusive, spectral, parallactic supplement that discovers what would otherwise remain hidden in Benjamin’s fragments.

This article examines the representation of masculinity in André Brink’s novel, The Rights of Desire. Following a remark in Roger Boylan’s review of the novel in the Boston Review; this analysis concentrates on Brink’s depiction of Afrikaner masculinity and the idea that the character Ruben Olivier represents Brink’s conception of the contemporary Afrikaner male, in particular the older Afrikaner male. This is an attempt at determining the validity of Robert Morrell’s thesis on masculinity, namely that it is about “men making and remaking masculinity, about challenging hegemonic masculinity and reconstituting it.” The question is whether Brink’s portrayal of Afrikaner masculinity confronts the hegemonic and patriarchal power structures associated with Afrikaner men, and whether it provides the reader with a new perspective on Afrikaner masculinity. This article investigates Brink’s representation of firstly, the ways Afrikaner men relate to other men, and secondly, the depiction of Afrikaner men in relation to their social class and to women.

This article studies short food supply chains (SFSC) and analyzes the way participants in these SFSC invest in environmental values and representations. For this purpose, we use the concept of environmental capital. Our analysis is mainly based upon 40 interviews with various participants in the SFSC in the Limousin region (agricultural producers, consumers, intermediaries, local government actors, etc.) and twenty analytical forms of collective SFSC organizations. We use these interviews and forms to understand the importance that is given to environmental issues in the development of SFSC. Although the organic products are over-represented among the agricultural products commercialized through SFSC, the environmental issues are rarely mentioned in the interviews, as are health issues. The agricultural producers and the consumers hardly talk about environmental issues. Yet, if SFSC participants do not frequently speak about the environment, some signs show that these participants have some environment-related expectations. We thus analyze these signs and the conditions of their production. We also demonstrate that the valorisation of the environmental dimension of the SFSC depend on social, cultural and economic capitals.

In 2008 the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Housing (now the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration) prepared the growth poles policy for Romania, establishing seven growth poles to be financed through the Regional Operational Programme 2007-1013, under the Priority Axis no. 1. For 2007-2013 there were also established 11 urban development poles. At present the Ministry is discussing with the European Commission the new Regional Operational Programme 2014-2020 in which the main policy lines regarding integrated territorial development also take into consideration the improvement of the quality of life and the “appearance” of towns and strengthening their role in the region. The main urban agglomerations (county seats) are seen as development engines of the regions. The authors analyze the results obtained and the problems that appeared at regional level in what concerns the projects financed under Axis 1 of the ROP 2007-2013 by answering two main questions: did they really had the estimated impact on the growth and urban development poles and on the regions? and was there really an integrated approach used? Based on the results obtained from the analysis of the previous programming period the authors try to recommend some improvements that could be taken into consideration for the development of the Integrated urban development plans and priority projects that are going to be financed by ESI funds under Axis 4 of the new ROP 2014-2020, recommendations that could be taken into consideration when preparing the Guidelines for applicants for this axis.

In this essay the emphasis is on the interplay between masculinity and femininity and in particular that of white masculinity versus black femininity, as well as the role played by black female sexuality in the formation of masculine identity in a rural setting in apartheid South Africa. The essay also looks at the representation of the female body and the role of the female body as site of contestation of socio-political assumptions about masculinity and femininity. The text under discussion is Zakes Mda’s The Madonna of Excelsior (2002), which is based on real life events that occurred in the small Free State town of Excelsior in the 1970s.

In this article we undertake a semiotic reading of the Campanile Clock Tower Monument in Port Elizabeth. The monument was built in 1920 to commemorate the arrival of the British Settlers in 1820. The theoretical departure of our analysis is the five narrative codes identified by Roland Barthes in his unconventional reading of Sarrasine. The article shows the extent to which the observer (reader?) is able to encode the monument with new textual possibilities as well as reading it against the grain within a new context. The original symbolism of the monument as a symbol of colonial enterprise and white English-speaking South African identity is also deconstructed in the process.

This article examines Breyten Breytenbach’s representation of the prison, particularly in his collection of prison poems, Die ongedanste dans (“The undanced dance”, 2005). Using Foucault’s seminal work on the birth of the prison as a theoretical point of departure, this analysis shows how Breytenbach describes the buildings, life within prison, past-times in prison, as well as indicate to what extent the language and expressions used by the prisoners have influenced his writing. A central aspect of Foucault’s writing on the prison is the concept of panopticism and in Breytenbach’s poetry there is a definite reference to elements pertaining to this such as constant surveillance and the omnipresence of the wardens. In his poems written in prison there is a definite awareness of the spacing of the body and the exertion of power over the body of the prisoner as other by the wardens, who with their guns and batons are the one wielding the power in prison.

The paper presents experimental research performed on fiber reinforced concrete slabs. For the preparation of the concrete elements, three different dosages of polypropylene fibers were used. The size of the specimens and the test methodology were established according to the SR EN 14488-5 - Testing sprayed concrete. Part 5: Determination of energy absorption capacity of fiber reinforced slab specimens. The slabs were tested in the Central Laboratory of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Cluj-Napoca, using a flexural frame and the Advantest 9 console, capable of applying load in displacement control. Using the area under the load-displacement diagram, the energy absorption capacity of the fiber reinforced slabs was determined, at the age of 28 days.

Sustainability requires fundamental adjustments not only in terms of policy objectives, but also in the ways policies are made and implemented, i.e. governance. Based on a transdisciplinary research project, this article presents how sustainability governance is understood and practiced in six Swiss cantons, and describes the challenges faced by cantonal sustainability offices. The central finding is that the cantons have developed different forms of sustainability governance, but face similar challenges. This leads to several follow-up questions about the potentials and limitations of different forms of sustainability governance in dealing with these challenges.

One of the main trends that characterize contemporary economic life, itself necessitated by competitive market mechanisms, but also the limited resources, is to cut costs. Given this reality, each trader must understand the complex process of reducing costs and enhancing competitiveness is the key, which depends on ensuring profitability development and marketing activities. The paper develops the concept of production process for pieces made on machine tools, explaining how it should be the identification and planning of production processes based on batch size pieces.

At the intersection of three areas of high economic interest, Romania is a vital connecting point between the countries of Eastern Europe, Central Europe and Central Asia through the unique coexistence of a number of elements favorable. In this case, the economy must be understood as a means of achieving a human social purpose, whose growth must be of sociocentric and not economocentric. Hence the need to approach growth processes economical on much larger positions in going beyond the narrow meaning of the growth triangle - resources - environment with a wider perimeter of square economy - technology - social - ecology.

To know and to understand the factors within a financial system that significantly influences the institutions behaviour and the market responses to the central bank actions is of great importance for the monetary authorities and for the achievement of their monetary policy objectives. In Romania, the National Bank must pay special attention to financial institutions given their significant role in the process of financial intermediation (bank-based system). This study aims to conduct an investigation of the main coordinates of the Romanian financial system that are relevant for the study of the monetary policy transmission mechanism. The study focuses on the following features of the Romanian financial system: financial deepening, the existence of a bank-based system, the concentration degree of the Romanian banking sector, the balance sheet structure of monetary financial institutions and the soundness of the banking system. The study also considers the effects of the recent financial market turmoil on the financial system. The span of the empirical study covers the period after 2000 but brings to the forefront the period before and after October 2008. We believe that this research provides useful information for a future analysis of the Romanian monetary policy transmission mechanism.

Inventiveness and creativity are essential features that made possible the distinction between man, throughout his evolution, and all the other creatures alive. The ability of attributing those features a productive utility continues to be of utmost importance in the social and economic structures of human societies. The survival, of each man, of each enterprise, organization and even of a nation definitely depends on the ability of maintaining permanent contact with the development and progress in all respects. Intellectual property is composed of legal rights which result from the activity of intellectual creation in the following fields: scientific, literary and artistic field. The impossibly of protection through more possession over the object of intellectual property represents the basis of the entire notion of normative regulations regarding this kind of property whose purpose is to defend creators and other goods makers and intellectual services by means of assignment, limited period, the right of usage of these works or services.

In this project we aimed at the remanufacturing process of a teaching robot with an articulated arm and five degrees of freedom. The ultimate goal of the project is to develop a functional didactic model, programmable and easy to use and understand by other students. In the pursuit of this goal, we will present to you here the first meetings with the industry representatives from Romania and suppliers for various components. The stated purposes of the project show the necessity of: planning a rigorous stage of disassembly and recovery of components, the experience gained outside the normal academic program, rigorous planning for risk, rigorous timetable planning.

Although it is a relative old concept, having ruts in the writings of the late „60s, globalization has become in current times a cliché, being used in many parts of the world and in many languages but not having a specific definition. Financial globalization is considered to be the core element of the process of globalization and consists in a complex integration of financial markets through exchange and financial flows. In this context, the economic agents are considered to be important players, given the fact that fortheir investments they appeal to financial recourses wherever they may be. However there investment behavior is greatly influenced by the state, through the fiscal policy, especially through a very important instrument at its disposal, the profit tax rate.The aim of this paper is to emphasize the evolution of the relationship between the profit tax and investments, in the case of Romania from 1990 until 2008, trying to show particular developments of each of this two variables studied and the relations between them, the amplitude of influence exercised by them. The paper also focuses upon a better understanding of how the variables analyzed influence the real economy in this globalized environment.

In an economy of increased globalization and trade, wine holds a privileged place. The wine cooperative system in vineyards in mountain regions, such as in Banyuls-sur-Mer, France and the Val di Cembra, Italy, offers a privileged context for studying the opportunities for individual action that affect precarious socio-economic balances. To understand, and sometimes predict, changes in the socio-economics and landscapes of a region due to cooperatives, we have used a multi-agent system (MAS) to model the behavior of the actors involved in wine production in a cooperative. This model analyses cooperative systems’ impact on socio-economic factors (income inequality and the rate of business failure) and landscapes (percentage of total land as vineyards, particularly in steep areas) of the regions considered. The findings show that cooperatives play a role of socio-economic and landscape stabilizer in these regions.

In an economy of increased globalization and trade, wine holds a privileged place. The wine cooperative system in vineyards in mountain regions, such as in Banyuls-sur-Mer, France and the Val di Cembra, Italy, offers a privileged context for studying the opportunities for individual action that affect precarious socio-economic balances. To understand, and sometimes predict, changes in the socio-economics and landscapes of a region due to cooperatives, we have used a multi-agent system (MAS) to model the behavior of the actors involved in wine production in a cooperative. This model analyses cooperative systems’ impact on socio-economic factors (income inequality and the rate of business failure) and landscapes (percentage of total land as vineyards, particularly in steep areas) of the regions considered. The findings show that cooperatives play a role of socio-economic and landscape stabilizer in these regions.

This paper explores, using an Agent-based model approach (ABM), the conditions for the emergence and the structuration of quality wine’s historical areas as described in the work of Roger Dion, particularly in his article entitled “Querelles des anciens et des modernes sur les facteurs de la qualité du vin” written in 1952 (Dion, 1952).

This multidisciplinary study of Swiss Emmental cheese relates values determined by chemical, biochemical, rheological, and bacteriological analyses to those obtained by sensoric analysis of taste as well as tactile and visual properties. To this effect, 50 four-months-old Emmental loaves of different qualities were chosen at their taxation and submitted to 165 analyses; six of these analyses were sensoric evaluations. The instrumental analyses included quantitative determination of water, fat, salt, volatile fatty acids, lactic acid (L and D), nitrogen fractions (TN, WSN, NPN), ammonia, free amino acids, biogenic amines, one peptide, and volatile components. The latter were analyzed with two different methods. Moreover, two microbiological analyses were carried out (non-lactic-acid bacteria and streptococci of group D), four rheological measurements (penetration depth, stress at 33% deformation, compression rate and stress at peak stress point) and determination of three colour components according to Hunter. The sensoric taste analysis permitted us to evaluate the flavour development, the typical character and the quality of the cheese. The tactile analysis enabled us to characterize the texture, structure, and consistency and the visual evaluation to examine the eyes of the cheese body. The first part of this paper divided into 3 parts deals with univariate analysis of distribution profiles of some characteristic measurable variables for Swiss Emmental cheese.