Knowledge, Science, Intellectuals and Crises

Whether we surf the internet, watch the news on television, or listen to more or less academic lectures, we are familiar with a phrase that has become a public label associated with the Romanian society and, at least in recent years, equally to the international one. The world is in crisis and so is Romania. At least we are better from this perspective, as many of those who talk about Romania consider it to be in a deeper crisis, facing more problems and having fewer solutions. Overlooking the trivial remark according to which it is questionable whether a crisis constantly characterizing a society is a crisis indeed, in this article I propose an epistemological perspective on the problem of the crisis and an X-ray of the mechanisms of knowledge that regulate and manage it. This article deals with four main themes. Firstly, I will depict a typology of knowledge, distinguishing between three types: common knowledge, public knowledge, and scientific knowledge. I will detail the concept of public knowledge and show the special role played by public intellectuals and public communicators in this type of knowledge. The former are specialists who choose to transmit information from their specialty fields to the public space, while the latter are public experts who have notoriety without being specialists in the fields in which they communicate. They propose a knowledge to say “superficial”, but extremely important on a social level. I will insist on the role of this type of culture of superficiality, a major role in the functioning of societies. Also, in this part I will describe the ideological mechanism behind all these types of knowledge whose management is provided by the structures of power. The second theme is the role of knowledge communities and intellectuals as members of these communities in supporting and disseminating labels applicable to social change. Moreover, I will show that in the field of sociology there is even a clearly defined professional dimension in the area of social activism, that is, public sociology. In fact, any intellectual in the public space is a propagandist of some values, sometimes we are talking about the values generally accepted in society, but not always. The third theme is the role of the paradigm of negative labelling of change, a paradigm that underlies many knowledge communities in today’s world, a paradigm according to which social reality is evaluated and interpreted as a continuous suite of social problems. In other words, the world is represented as a universe of problems to be solved. This paradigm is based on the modern cultural model of the necessary positive evolution of history, according to which any stagnation or negative evolution is interpreted as a social problem. The fourth part of the article deals with crises and the mechanism by which they are generated by knowledge communities, as well as their main characteristics. Finally, I am trying to answer the question of why crises cannot be solved

Knowledge, Science, Intellectuals and Crises

Whether we surf the internet, watch the news on television, or listen to more or less academic lectures, we are familiar with a phrase that has become a public label associated with the Romanian society and, at least in recent years, equally to the international one. The world is in crisis and so is Romania. At least we are better from this perspective, as many of those who talk about Romania consider it to be in a deeper crisis, facing more problems and having fewer solutions. Overlooking the trivial remark according to which it is questionable whether a crisis constantly characterizing a society is a crisis indeed, in this article I propose an epistemological perspective on the problem of the crisis and an X-ray of the mechanisms of knowledge that regulate and manage it. This article deals with four main themes. Firstly, I will depict a typology of knowledge, distinguishing between three types: common knowledge, public knowledge, and scientific knowledge. I will detail the concept of public knowledge and show the special role played by public intellectuals and public communicators in this type of knowledge. The former are specialists who choose to transmit information from their specialty fields to the public space, while the latter are public experts who have notoriety without being specialists in the fields in which they communicate. They propose a knowledge to say “superficial”, but extremely important on a social level. I will insist on the role of this type of culture of superficiality, a major role in the functioning of societies. Also, in this part I will describe the ideological mechanism behind all these types of knowledge whose management is provided by the structures of power. The second theme is the role of knowledge communities and intellectuals as members of these communities in supporting and disseminating labels applicable to social change. Moreover, I will show that in the field of sociology there is even a clearly defined professional dimension in the area of social activism, that is, public sociology. In fact, any intellectual in the public space is a propagandist of some values, sometimes we are talking about the values generally accepted in society, but not always. The third theme is the role of the paradigm of negative labelling of change, a paradigm that underlies many knowledge communities in today’s world, a paradigm according to which social reality is evaluated and interpreted as a continuous suite of social problems. In other words, the world is represented as a universe of problems to be solved. This paradigm is based on the modern cultural model of the necessary positive evolution of history, according to which any stagnation or negative evolution is interpreted as a social problem. The fourth part of the article deals with crises and the mechanism by which they are generated by knowledge communities, as well as their main characteristics. Finally, I am trying to answer the question of why crises cannot be solved

Comparing disease control policies for interacting wild populations

We consider interacting population systems of predator-prey type, presenting four models of control strategies for epidemics among the prey. In particular to contain the transmissible disease, safety niches are considered, assuming they lessen the disease spread, but do not protect prey from predators. This represents a novelty with respect to standard ecosystems where the refuge prevents predators' attacks. The niche is assumed either to protect the healthy individuals, or to hinder the infected ones to get in contact with the susceptibles, or finally to reduce altogether contacts that might lead to new cases of the infection. In addition a standard culling procedure is also analysed. The effectiveness of the different strategies are compared. Probably the environments providing a place where disease carriers cannot come in contact with the healthy individuals, or where their contact rates are lowered, seem to preferable for disease containment

The competition between tourist destinations and its influence upon the tourism development level of the county-seat cities of the North-East Development Region

oai:ojs.85.122.19.241:article/383The need to identify the tourism development level of a destination lies in the desire to become aware of its position in the evolutionary stage and to determine the aspects to be exploited in order to increase its performance. The model of the tourism area lifecycle developed by Butler supports this idea. However, there are difficulties in correctly assessing the stage of evolution in the comparative analysis of several destinations characterized by different economic development levels, despite the similar tourist potential. The paper aims to determine a method of assessing the current life cycle of the 6 analysed destinations on the basis of synthetic indicators, as well as assessing the extent to which the potential competition between the 6 destinations considered may be a factor of influence on the life cycle stage. The result of the study highlights the ability of competition to represent an impulsive advancement factor to a higher level of development. However, the level of competition between the 6 analyzed cities is not strong enough to influence the life cycle of the destinations under the conditions of an early stage of their tourist development. It has been distinguished three levels of competition between the 6 tourist destinations, which have proved to have a different impact on their position as a stage of the life cycle. Also, as a final result, the positioning of the 6 destinations in the corresponding stages of Butler's model is noted, having considered a series of  performance indicators as a reference point

A geometric analysis of the SIRS compartmental model with fast information and misinformation spreading

We propose an SIRS compartmental model with demography and fast information and misinformation spreading in the population. The analysis of the complete 6-dimensional system shows the existence of seven equilibrium points. Since under our assumptions the system evolves on two time scales, we completely characterize the possible asymptotic behaviours with techniques of Geometric Singular Perturbation Theory (GSPT). During our analysis of the fast dynamics, we identify three branches of the critical manifold, which exist under determined conditions. We perform a theoretical bifurcation analysis of the fast system to understand the relation between these three equilibria when varying specific parameters of the fast system. We then observed a delayed loss of stability on the various branches of the critical manifold, as the slow dynamics may cause the branches to lose their hyperbolicity. We emphasise how the inclusion of (mis)information spreading, even in low dimensional compartmental models, can radically alter the asymptotic behaviour of the epidemic. We conclude with numerical simulations of various remarkable scenarios.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

Pathophysiological mechanisms of kidney involvement in COVID-19

Introduction. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic infection caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Although the respiratory system is the major target, multiple organs, including the kidneys, can be affected. Kidney involvement is frequent, with clinical presentation ranging from abnormal proteinuria at hospital admission to progressive acute kidney injury (AKI). AKI is one of the most important complications in critically ill patients with COVID-19. The estimated incidence of acute kidney injury in patients with COVID-19 varies from 0.5% up to 45% depending on the severity of the disease. Mortality among hospitalised patients with acute kidney injury associated-COVID-19 is significantly higher than for those without kidney involvement. Aim of study. Acute kidney injury is considered a marker of disease severity and negative prognostic factor for survival. In this context, we explored the potential pathways and pathophysiology of COVID-19 associated with AKI. Methods and materials. The articles published during the years 2020-2022, were selected, using PubMed and Google Scholar database according to keywords: ,,COVID-19", „SARS-CoV-2”, „Acute kidney injury”, „Pathophysiology”. 308 publications were found. Research includes data from 28 publications, analysed according to selection criteria. Results. The etiology of renal impairment in patients with COVID-19 is multifactorial. Various mechanisms have been proposed for kidney injury in SARS-CoV-2 infection, both COVID-19-specific mechanisms, including direct invasion of the renal parenchyma with SARS-CoV-2 virus, the new coronavirus can exert direct cytopathic effects on kidney tissue and also non-specific mechanisms, such as: hemodynamic instability (hypovolemia or fluid overload), local and systemic immune and inflammatory responses, with macrophage activation and release of circulating proinflammatory cytokines (cytokine storm), hypoxia, sepsis, rhabdomyolysis, release of tissue factors and activation of coagulation pathways with the formation of microthrombi and alteration of the microcirculation. Other potential mechanisms are altered Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone regulation, organ interactions between lung, heart, and kidney and also therapeutic consequences (use of antibiotics and antiviral drugs with nephrotoxic potential, invasive mechanical ventilation). The most common histopathological findings are: acute tubular injury, thrombotic microangiopathy, endothelial injury and collapsing glomerulopathy. Conclusion. This review highlights the importance of understanding the potential mechanisms of renal involvement in SARS-CoV-2 infection, for the early detection of renal injury and the avoidance of factors that contribute to progression of kidney injury, including adequate hemodynamic support and avoidance of nephrotoxic drugs, which will improve vital prognosis of COVID-19

Modeling the interactions among phythopatogens and phyllosphere microorganisms for the biological disease control of Olea europaea L.

In this paper we formulate a model for assessing the interaction between the phytopathogen Spilocaea oleaginea and the phyllosphere microorganisms that are present in the olive tree leaves. The model describes the evolution in time of the foliage of the olive tree and the two different microorganisms, the phytopathogen fungi, that negatively affect the plant causing spots in the leaves, and the beneficial phyllosphere microorganisms, that help in keeping in check the invasion of the former. The system possesses five equilibria that are suitably analysed for feasibility and stability. The model shows interesting features: a bistable behavior, exhibited by three different pairs of equilibria. The separatrix surface of the basins of attraction of one such pair is computed. This allows the possible assessment of human intervention for control of the disease. Persistent oscillations via Hopf bifurcation are also discovered.EV and IMB have been partially supported by the projects “Metodi numerici in teoria delle popolazioni” and “Metodi numerici nelle scienze applicate” of the Dipartimento di Matematica “Giuseppe Peano” of the Università di Torino. IMB has been partially supported by ”Finanziamento GNCS Giovani Ricercatori 2016”.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio