THE CONCEPT OF JUSTICE (‘DIKE’ AND ‘THEMIS’) AS IT IS REVEALED BY THE TEACHINGS OF NEAGOE BASARAB TO HIS SON THEODOSIE

This paper is an inquiry into the problems concerning the construction of the legal system: the theme represented by human quality called to building and completing the legal system. The human being is ontologically placed between Dike / Legal Justice and Themis / Transcendent Justice. The person called to judge is the link between two different ontological orders: the order of the Absolute, of Themis, and the order of the Relative, of Dike. This person is the one who guides Themis to perform Dike, in order to do Justice in coincidence with Legal Justice. The Teachings of Neagoe Basarab to his Son Theodosie was written at almost the same time as The Prince by Machiavelli. If we look at Machiavelli’s work and that of Neagoe Basarab, we are able to see two distinct ways to build and give legitimacy to the legal system. The Teachings do not approach a sophisticated architecture of the legal system, with hierarchies and complex abilities. The discourse about justice especially implies the moral valuation of the people summoned to judge and to do what is right. This work is about the foundation of the legal system regardless of its structure. And the foundation of the system is the person called to judge in such a way that Δίκη should coincide with Θέμις. From Machiavelli we have a different vision about Justice and the Legal system: he focuses on the system and not on the person who performs those functions within the system

Studying Consumers’ Ecological Consciousness – A Comparative Analysis of Romania, Malaysia and Pakistan

In the context of an increasing discourse on sustainability and environmental protection, the research on ecological consumer behavior becomes a necessity for companies. The extension in number of multinational companies determines an adaptation of their policies from one country to another. Based on a comparative approach of consumers in Romania, Malaysia and Pakistan, this paper analysis the dimensions of ecological consciousness, and highlights similarities and differences between the countries. In order to reach this objective, the research presents a structural equation model founded on primary data collected from an online survey. Religion and national culture are the main differences outlined by the analysis, in terms of ecological consciousness.ecology, ecological consciousness, consumers, consumer behavior

University Teachers’ Perceptions Towards Teaching Business Ethics

AbstractBusiness ethics are the moral principles that apply to all aspects of business environment at individual and organizational level. The emergence of large multinationals, with limited relationships and sensitivity to the community, enforced the need for formal business ethics. The study addresses basic controversies and perceptions regarding teaching of business ethics and the role of the educational system in teaching business ethics. The current study examines the perceptions among university teachers’ regarding the teaching of business ethics to business graduates. This is an exploratory study which is conducted in different business schools of Pakistan. The primary data regarding university teachers’ perception towards business ethics is collected through structured survey questionnaires. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is conducted to check the validity of data and the scale. The study found strong motivation among university teachers to incorporate business ethics in the curriculum of various business related subjects, in order to build strong ethical characters for our future business leaders and managers. The important findings of the study are also discussed in detail as well the applications and implications of the study

Cause-Related Marketing, Part of Corporate Social Responsibility and Its Influence upon Consumers' Attitude

Cause-related marketing as part of corporate social responsibility, becomes an increasingly used tool by companies operating in the market. Many studies have shown the benefits of cause related marketing campaigns, including attracting new customers, increasing sales of products or services, creating a favourable brand image and raising funds for a social cause. This article is structured in two parts. After analyzing the concept of cause-related marketing and main trends regarding research in this area, a case study on the influence of cause related marketing on consumer attitudes is presented, as reflected by the analysis of a questionnaire administered to youth

Biofilms Formed by Pathogens in Food and Food Processing Environments

This chapter presents the ability of some pathogenic (Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, Campylobacter jejuni, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and toxigenic bacteria (Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus) to form biofilms and contribute to the persistence of these microorganisms in the food industry. Particularities regarding attachment and composition of biofilms formed in food and food processing environments are presented and genes involved in biofilm production are mentioned. To give a perspective on how to fight against biofilms with new means, nonconventional methods based on bacteriocins, bacteriophages, disruptive enzymes, essential oils, nanoemulsions and nanoparticles, and use of alternative technologies (cold plasma, ultrasounds, light-assisted technologies, pulsed electric field, and high pressure processing) are shortly described

Resistance of Listeria monocytogenes to Stress Conditions Encountered in Food and Food Processing Environments

Listeria monocytogenes is a human food-borne facultative intracellular pathogen that is resistant to a wide range of stress conditions. As a consequence, L. monocytogenes is extremely difficult to control along the entire food chain from production to storage and consumption. Frequent and recent outbreaks of L. monocytogenes infections illustrate that current measures of decontamination and preservation are suboptimal to control L. monocytogenes in food. In order to develop efficient measures to prevent contamination during processing and control growth during storage of food it is crucial to understand the mechanisms utilized by L. monocytogenes to tolerate the stress conditions in food matrices and food processing environments. Food-related stress conditions encountered by L. monocytogenes along the food chain are acidity, oxidative and osmotic stress, low or high temperatures, presence of bacteriocins and other preserving additives, and stresses as a consequence of applying alternative decontamination and preservation technologies such high hydrostatic pressure, pulsed and continuous UV light, pulsed electric fields (PEF). This review is aimed at providing a summary of the current knowledge on the response of L. monocytogenes toward these stresses and the mechanisms of stress resistance employed by this important food-borne bacterium. Circumstances when L. monocytogenes cells become more sensitive or more resistant are mentioned and existence of a cross-resistance when multiple stresses are present is pointed out

Analysis of temporal gene regulation of Listeria monocytogenes revealed distinct regulatory response modes after exposure to high pressure processing

Background The pathogen Listeria (L.) monocytogenes is known to survive heat, cold, high pressure, and other extreme conditions. Although the response of this pathogen to pH, osmotic, temperature, and oxidative stress has been studied extensively, its reaction to the stress produced by high pressure processing HPP (which is a preservation method in the food industry), and the activated gene regulatory network (GRN) in response to this stress is still largely unknown. Results We used RNA sequencing transcriptome data of L. monocytogenes (ScottA) treated at 400 MPa and 8(circle)C, for 8 min and combined it with current information in the literature to create a transcriptional regulation database, depicting the relationship between transcription factors (TFs) and their target genes (TGs) in L. monocytogenes. We then applied network component analysis (NCA), a matrix decomposition method, to reconstruct the activities of the TFs over time. According to our findings, L. monocytogenes responded to the stress applied during HPP by three statistically different gene regulation modes: survival mode during the first 10 min post-treatment, repair mode during 1 h post-treatment, and re-growth mode beyond 6 h after HPP. We identified the TFs and their TGs that were responsible for each of the modes. We developed a plausible model that could explain the regulatory mechanism that L. monocytogenes activated through the well-studied CIRCE operon via the regulator HrcA during the survival mode. Conclusions Our findings suggest that the timely activation of TFs associated with an immediate stress response, followed by the expression of genes for repair purposes, and then re-growth and metabolism, could be a strategy of L. monocytogenes to survive and recover extreme HPP conditions. We believe that our results give a better understanding of L. monocytogenes behavior after exposure to high pressure that may lead to the design of a specific knock-out process to target the genes or mechanisms. The results can help the food industry select appropriate HPP conditions to prevent L. monocytogenes recovery during food storage.Peer reviewe

The complete genome sequence of Listeria monocytogenes strain S2542 and expression of selected genes under high-pressure processing

Objectives The study aims to generate the whole genome sequence of L. monocytogenes strain S2542 and to compare it to the genomes of strains RO15 and ScottA. In addition, we aimed to compare gene expression profiles of L. monocytogenes strains S2542, ScottA and RO15 after high-pressure processing (HPP) using ddPCR. Results The whole genome sequence of L. monocytogenes S2542 indicates that this strain belongs to serotype 4b, in contrast to the previously reported serotype 1/2a. Strain S2542 appears to be more susceptible to the treatment at 400 MPa compared to RO15 and ScottA strains. In contrast to RO15 and ScottA strains, viable cell counts of strain S2542 were below the limit of detection after HPP (400 MPa/8 min) when stored at 8 degrees C for 24 and 48 h. The transcriptional response of all three strains to HPP was not significantly different.Peer reviewe

High-pressure processing-induced transcriptome response during recovery of Listeria monocytogenes

Background High-pressure processing (HPP) is a commonly used technique in the food industry to inactivate pathogens, including L. monocytogenes. It has been shown that L. monocytogenes is able to recover from HPP injuries and can start to grow again during long-term cold storage. To date, the gene expression profiling of L. monocytogenes during HPP damage recovery at cooling temperature has not been studied. In order identify key genes that play a role in recovery of the damage caused by HPP treatment, we performed RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) for two L. monocytogenes strains (barotolerant RO15 and barosensitive ScottA) at nine selected time points (up to 48 h) after treatment with two pressure levels (200 and 400 MPa). Results The results showed that a general stress response was activated by SigB after HPP treatment. In addition, the phosphotransferase system (PTS; mostly fructose-, mannose-, galactitol-, cellobiose-, and ascorbate-specific PTS systems), protein folding, and cobalamin biosynthesis were the most upregulated genes during HPP damage recovery. We observed that cell-division-related genes (divIC, dicIVA, ftsE, and ftsX) were downregulated. By contrast, peptidoglycan-synthesis genes (murG, murC, and pbp2A) were upregulated. This indicates that cell-wall repair occurs as a part of HPP damage recovery. We also observed that prophage genes, including anti-CRISPR genes, were induced by HPP. Interestingly, a large amount of RNA-seq data (up to 85%) was mapped to Rli47, which is a non-coding RNA that is upregulated after HPP. Thus, we predicted that Rli47 plays a role in HPP damage recovery in L. monocytogenes. Moreover, gene-deletion experiments showed that amongst peptidoglycan biosynthesis genes, pbp2A mutants are more sensitive to HPP. Conclusions We identified several genes and mechanisms that may play a role in recovery from HPP damage of L. monocytogenes. Our study contributes to new information on pathogen inactivation by HPP.Peer reviewe

Studying Consumers' Ecological Consciousness – A Comparative Analysis of Romania, Malaysia and Pakistan

In the context of an increasing discourse on sustainability and environmental protection, the research on ecological consumer behavior becomes a necessity for companies. The extension in number of multinational companies determines an adaptation of their policies from one country to another. Based on a comparative approach of consumers in Romania, Malaysia and Pakistan, this paper analysis the dimensions of ecological consciousness, and highlights similarities and differences between the countries. In order to reach this objective, the research presents a structural equation model founded on primary data collected from an online survey. Religion and national culture are the main differences outlined by the analysis, in terms of ecological consciousness