DEVELOPMENT WITH CHARACTERISTICS AND INNOVATION – CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE AT LBUS

The research is on how to manage language teaching and culture promotion effectively through building explicit characteristics and seeking for innovative development of the program for the purpose of mutual understanding and common prosperity, taking Confucius Institute of Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (LBUS) as an example. A brief introduction of the overall development of Chinese teaching program in the world and specifically in Romania will be conducted in the first part of the thesis. And then, characteristics of C.I. at LBUS in teaching and culture promotion will be discussed with detailed elaboration and progresses especially in the past five years. In the third part, some innovative ideas to accelerate the development of management will be proposed for more practical purpose. The conclusion provokes further research in managing language teaching and culture promotion overseas.

Imagining an Affirmational Republic

This article explores the idea of an affirmational republic which, both structurally and symbolically, affirms rather than rejects Australia’s British history and heritage while equally celebrating the nation’s Indigenous inheritance and multicultural achievements. Part II explores the history of republican advocacy to unpack the common, predominantly symbolic, justifications for republican reform. It then elucidates dual, separate but connected, purposes – one small and practical and one big and symbolic – to show that each purpose may entail a different solution. Part III discerns lessons from the failed 1999 referendum, to help guide what an affirmational republic could involve. The proposed approach is developed further in Part IV. Addressing the practical purpose, I suggest the title ‘Governor-General’ could be retained (instead of ‘President’) and provide arguments against direct election. Addressing the symbolic purpose, I suggest an inspiring national Declaration could be better achieved extra-constitutionally, as the Referendum Council recommended in 2017.

The idea of substantive arts

The Spanish philosopher Gustavo Bueno coined the expression “substantive arts” to refer to those arts that do not serve any immediate, mundane or practical purpose. In this paper, I briefly present this idea and put forward a definition of the substantive arts as an alternative to those used until now. Starting from the assumption that since the end of the 18th century there has been a set of arts that have their own substantivity, I expound on certain criteria widely used as distinctive features to define the substantive arts. I subsequently put forward an alternative intensional criterion to characterize the substantive arts. To end, I draw some corollaries following from the application of this criterion.

A novel method for developing post-quantum cryptoschemes and a practical signature algorithm

PurposeThe practical purpose of this research is to propose a candidate for post-quantum signature standard that is free of significant drawback of the finalists of the NIST world competition, which consists in the large size of the signature and the public key. The practical purpose is to propose a fundamentally new method for development of algebraic digital signature algorithms.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed method is distinguished by the use of two different finite commutative associative algebras as a single algebraic support of the digital signature scheme and setting two different verification equation for a single signature. A single public key is computed as the first and the second public keys, elements of which are computed exponentiating two different generators of cyclic groups in each of the algebras.FindingsAdditionally, a scalar multiplication by a private integer is performed as final step of calculation of every element of the public key. The same powers and the same scalar values are used to compute the first and the second public keys by the same mathematic formulas. Due to such design, the said generators are kept in secret, providing resistance to quantum attacks. Two new finite commutative associative algebras, multiplicative group of which possesses four-dimensional cyclicity, have been proposed as a suitable algebraic support.Originality/valueThe introduced method is novel and includes new techniques for designing algebraic signature schemes that resist quantum attacks. On its base, a new practical post-quantum signature scheme with relatively small size of signature and public key is developed.

A Comparative Analysis of Two Major Approaches for Mapping the Wildland-Urban Interface: A Case Study in California

The Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) is where human settlements border or intermingle with undeveloped land, often with multiple detrimental consequences. Therefore, mapping the WUI is required in order to identify areas-at-risk. There are two main WUI mapping methods, the point-based approach and the zonal approach. Both differ in data requirements and may produce considerably different maps, yet they were never compared before. My objective was to systematically compare the point-based and the zonal-based WUI maps of California, and to test the efficacy of a new database of building locations in the context of WUI mapping. I assessed the spatial accuracy of the building database, and then compared the spatial patterns of WUI maps by estimating the effect of multiple ancillary variables on the amount of agreement between maps. I found that the building database is highly accurate and is suitable for WUI mapping. The point-based approach estimated a consistently larger WUI area across California compared to the zonal approach. The spatial correspondence between maps was low-to-moderate, and was significantly affected by building numbers and by their spatial arrangement. The discrepancy between WUI maps suggests that they are not directly comparable within and across landscapes, and that each WUI map should serve a distinct practical purpose.

Confession as Encounter with Early Modernity

Chapter 1 examines confession in seventeenth-century Muscovy and Ukraine as part of the European ‘disciplinary revolution’. In their use of confession as a way of meeting challenges to religious and political harmony, seventeenth-century Russia and Ukraine resembled the broad European tendency to religious unification, social discipline, and control. First separately, and then together, Muscovite and Ukrainian clerics in the seventeenth century began to emphasize the sacraments in ways similar to that pursued in the Roman Catholic world. Their emphasis on confession created a new religious culture that brought Orthodox East Slavs into the religious and disciplinary framework of modern Europe. The Old Believer schism in the middle of the century gave confession a practical purpose: it was the most effective way of establishing who was Orthodox, and therefore broadly reliable, and who was schismatic, and therefore dangerous.

Landrat Books: Characterising a Source and Its Potential

This article considers Landrat books compiled between 1715 and 1720, which contain the results of the last census of homesteads carried out by the Russian state. Even though a comprehensive study of the Landrat books has not been conducted, scepticism prevails when it comes to the reliability of their results. The author argues that there are no grounds for such scholarly scepticism. The materials of the Landrat census have great potential. The reason for distrust of the Landrat data is that they are often compared with the 1710 census, which was badly conducted. Historians also often point out that the transition to the poll tax was caused by the authorities’ lack of confidence in the work of the Landrats. However, this was not the case. This transition was due to the fact that the 1715–1720 census made it clear to the government that it had to change the principle and methods of tax collection (to increase taxes). The article focuses on the potential of the Landrat books as a valuable historical source. Particular attention is paid to social and economic information. The author refers to the Landrat book of Tula. As a result, the article concludes that, regardless of the extent to which the Landrat books may be considered complete and accurate, they reflect real socio-economic processes taking place in Russia under Peter the Great. The practical purpose of the Landrat books is very significant; although these documents were not dedicated specifically to the service population, they inevitably tell the story of this large social group; also, they contain a lot of data on the history of the Russian nobility. As a result, the Landrat censuses, together with “fairytales,” register extracts, and other documents of this kind, can help recreate the overall picture of important changes in the lives of the provincial service elite in the time of Peter the Great.

Determinants of the family physical fitness youth with selected disabilities

The subject of this thesis was the physical fitness of youth with mild intellectual disability, and youth with hearing impairment. The aim of the research was to determine the family factors that affect the results of physical fitness. In the research work, particular attention was paid to: family factors, family structure, educational methods, application of rewards and punishments, parenting style, and socioeconomic status of the family. The practical purpose of this research was to develop practical guidelines for parents to stimulate their children to a higher level of physical fitness development.

Foundations I

The chapter studies the so-called doctrines of universal faith, developed in chapter XIV of the Tractatus theologico-politicus. The theoretical truth or falsity of such doctrines is irrelevant to their purpose. They only serve to structure the collective religious imagination of common people according to a certain practical standard which consists in the exercise of justice and charity alone. It is, however, still necessary that those who profess doctrines of faith should believe them to be true in order for them to fulfill their practical purpose. This insight prompts Spinoza to break with the model of doctrinal minimalism otherwise favored by tolerationist thinkers in his intellectual context. Contrary to them, he maintains that the so-called adiaphora play a significant role in ensuring that people embrace true religion. The argument is at the heart of Spinoza’s cautious and in some respects conflicted defense of religious pluralism.