Reflections on Jehovah’s Witnesses in Romania: A Thirty-Year Retrospective

This article provides testimony from and data about Jehovah’s Witnesses in Romania, who have suffered persecution both before and after the fall of Communism. In recent years the government has taken steps to officially recognize and protect Jehovah’s Witnesses

Electrecord, cultural policy and the phonographic industry in socialist romania (1965-1989)

This dissertation explores the relationship between music, cultural policy, and the phonographic industry in communist Romania between 1965 and 1989. The main object is the state-owned record company Electrecord, the only of its kind during the analyzed period. On the one hand, I aim to identify the production phases, from the initial selection of artists and repertoire to be released, to the distribution and selling of phonograms, and analyze which political decisions influenced this process and to what extent. On the other hand, I will consider which musical genres were encouraged or censored by the company and on what grounds. With its 88-year history, Electrecord became a crucial institution to understand the history of recorded music in Romania, playing a fundamental role in many critical moments of social, economic, and political transformation. The company's participation in the state's cultural politics also offers an interesting case study on the relationship between music and nation-building but also on the mediation between economic, political and cultural aspects in the phonogram production process

Mo thio and oxo-thio molecular complexes film as self-healing catalyst for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution on 2D materials

2D semiconducting nanosheets of Transition Metal Dichalcogenides are attractive materials for solar energy conversion because of their unique absorption properties. Here, we show that Mo thio- and oxo-thio-complexes anchored on 2D p-WSe2 nanosheets considerably boost water splitting under visible light irradiation with photocurrent density up to 2.0 mA cm−2 at -0.2 V/NHE. Besides developing high electro-catalytic activity, the Mo-complexes film is also shown to be capable of healing surface defects. We propose that the observed healing of surface defects arises from the strong adsorption on point defects of the 2D WSe2 substrate of Mo complexes such as (MoS4)2-, (MoOS3)2-, (Mo2S6O2)2- as supported by DFT calculations. In addition, the thio-, oxo-thio Mo complexes films are shown to enhance charge carrier separation and migration favouring the hydrogen evolution reaction, putting forward the use of thio-, oxo-thio-Mo complexes as a multicomponent passivation layer exhibiting multiple properties

Reward Management Practices-Evidence from Constanta County, Romania

Modern companies are aware of the importance of their human resources. The humanresources management field raised numerous research themes that have been debated in thespecialized literature. One of these themes concerns the relationship between the specific practicesregarding human resources field and the level of performance achieved by the organization and itsmembers. In this context, one important subject proved to be the reward practices used by the companiesin order to motivate and achieve a certain level of performance. The results of several specialized studies reflect a better image on this particular field within theRomanian companies. This paper intends to analyse specific issues based on an empirical study on the companieslocated in Constanta County. The use of modern reward practices such as supplementary variablepayment correlated with individual or group performances was targeted. The results indicate anarea with underdeveloped practices and challenges to be faced

The High Performance Work Practices and Labour Productivity in Romanian Companies

Human resources management practices represent an intensely debated field. One particularissue concerns the influence that some of these practices generate over the performance level of acompany. Specialists have identified the concept of high performance work practices and discussedthe relation existing with the labour productivity level registered by the companies. An image of this relation in the case of the Romanian companies is presented based on the dataoffered by the European Company Survey and other specialized studies concerning the humanresources management practiced in local companies. This paper intends to analyse the specific results of an empirical study on the companies locatedin Constanta County. The specific issues considered are the impact of recruitment policies, trainingprograms, and reward system on the employees' productivity. Further research could narrow the field of analysis by considering the data for a specificeconomic sector in order to obtain results that are more accurate

Sustainable AI & Agricultural Technologies

Climate change, increase in world population and the war in Ukraine have led nations to put a larger focus on food security, while simultaneously trying to halt declines in biodiversity and reduce risks to human health posed by chemically-reliant farming practices. Achieving these goals si- multaneously will require the adoption of novel approaches. One potential solution is accelerating the uptake of AI & Robotic Technologies in the agricultural sector. However, we currently do not have a scientific model for predicting the effects of adopting AI-based agri-tech in complex systems such as the food sector. Self-organising systems offer a holistic and intuitive perspective on complex ecosystems and their resilience to socio- economic pressures at various scales. We propose the application of evolutionary agent-based modelling to explore the emergence of strategies in the food sector considering various levels of abstraction

Sustainable AI & Agricultural Technologies

Workshop at ACSOS 2023: Climate change, increase in world population and the war in Ukraine have led nations to put a larger focus on food security, while simultaneously trying to halt declines in biodiversity and reduce risks to human health posed by chemically-reliant farming practices. Achieving these goals si- multaneously will require the adoption of novel approaches. One potential solution is accelerating the uptake of AI & Robotic Technologies in the agricultural sector. However, we currently do not have a scientific model for predicting the effects of adopting AI-based agri-tech in complex systems such as the food sector. Self-organising systems offer a holistic and intuitive perspective on complex ecosystems and their resilience to socio- economic pressures at various scales. We propose the application of evolutionary agent-based modelling to explore the emergence of strategies in the food sector considering various levels of abstraction.</p