THE IMPACT OF THE CORONAVIRUS EPIDEMIC ON HUMAN SOCIETY
From time to time, someone takes care to
remind us of the fragility of the human being
proven by all kinds of calamities that our
biological support hardly faces, confirming each
time the metaphorical statement of Blaise Pascal:
“the human being is a thinking cane”. There are
very low limits of human adaptability to the
environment, from a biological point of view. All
alone, confronted with the requirements of the
terrestrial environment, the human being
possessed the ability to develop reasonings,
actions or behaviours as reliable allies and this
both sheltered and helped him propel his species.
When the climate got cold, he took refuge in
underground caves, and he subsequently
discovered the protection of the furs of killed
animals.
NARRATIVE COMMUNICATION IN CAMEROON FILMS: A CASE STUDY OF NEBA LAWRENCE’S JUNGLE OF HEIRS
Abstract
This paper examines the use of narratives in Cameroon
films, using the case of Jungle of Heirs by Neba Lawrence.
The film here is seen as a communicative act in which the
filmmaker takes the position of the emitter and the audience
that of the receiver. The exposure of the narrative in
Cameroon films, the use of narrative elements and the
uniqueness of the narrative are explored through a
narratological and semiotics lens. From the analyses, it is
portrayed that Cameroon films are rich in narrative and
have a great respect for the elements that build up good
narratives. Costumes, sound, dialogues, mise-en-scène and
characterisation are proven to be the major communicative
elements that bring out the uniqueness of the narrative in
Cameroon films thereby enabling the meaning-making
process to be accessible to receivers.
Keywords: Film, narrative, semiotics, communication,
meaning-making.
VISUAL COMMUNICATION IN FILM: A CASE STUDY OF YADIA’S LA MARCHE (2018)
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to show how film, through
visual communication signs, transmits information to
viewers without taking into account the nationality or the
cultural affiliation. For the communication process to be
successful however, the viewer who stands at the receptive
pole must hold informed beliefs about the theme watched
on screen and the film medium and conventions. A visual
semiotics analysis of film as a communicative act is applied
in this study while also considering the complex interplay
of visual, auditory and verbal signs that combine to make
up a film. To illustrate the reflections, the arguments in the
paper use Yadia’s La Marche, a 2018 feature film, as
background data. It is revealed from the study that the
film, set and shot in Cameroon is part of Cameroon culture
and is filled with visual significations which are perceived
to be just as crucial to human understanding, if not more
so, as words.
Keywords: Visual communication, meaning-making, film,
semiotics.
POETRY AND PRAYER – COMMON ROOTS
Abstract
The process of modernisation and secularisation leads
the present society to the loss of the Christian identity and
to a departure from God. The individual finds himself in
a continuous search for solid bench-marks and for solutions
that would offer meaning to his existence, by being aware
of his identity. One can enter the sacred through poetry
and prayer, stemming from love. The poetry of religious
inspiration triggers a state of self-reconciliation, of harmony
with the world and of accepting your own destiny. The
presence of divinity in the creative act offers the poet the
chance to overcome his limits, to go beyond mysteries and
to become spiritually enriched. Through invocation, the
poet brings offerings to the deity, thus attaining some
higher knowledge followed by the illumination reflected
in poetry.
Keywords: adoration, communion, spiritual identity, love,
metamorphosis, prayer, sacred, suffering
TEACHING ENGLISH AT A CORPORATE LEVEL
Abstract
Teaching English at a corporate level raises a wide
range of challenges due to the fast-paced rhythm of change
in companies, market structure and dynamics. It differs in
many ways from lessons held in an academic environment
(schools or universities) due to a shifted authority/control
balance and to different expectations regarding speedy
outcomes. The business environment is much more agile
and flexible than in schools and whereas teachers and
professors have well-established curricula and a nationbased
program, trainers should design their own courses,
even if they are part of a larger team within a dedicated
company that delivers language courses to businesses.
Keywords: Business English, corporate training, language
courses, continuous learning, micro-learning.
NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES AND PUBLIC RELATIONS PRACTICE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CALABAR TEACHING HOSPITAL: ISSUES, PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS
Abstract
This paper examined the challenges of new media
technologies use in public relations practice in Nigeria. The
paper specifically examined the practice in the University
of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH). The study utilized
the survey methodology. The study also relied mostly on
library materials and related literature as the source of
data. Focus interviews were also held with public relations
practitioners within the UCTH. The study was guided by
the theory of technological determinism which is the belief
that technologies have an overwhelming power to drive
human actions which leads to social change. Findings
arising from the study suggest that there is a considerable
application of new media technologies in UCTH and that
blogs, social and other emerging media are enhancing
public relations practice in the hospital. Findings show that
practitioners continue to strongly agree that social media
are changing the way public relations is practiced.
Although the relevance of new media technologies to PR
practice are well documented, several challenges like cyber
crisis, corruption, and the lack of expertise continue to
plaque the profession. Based on this, the researcher made
some recommendations including the need for UCTH to
frequently train their staff so as to keep them abreast with
the changing trends in communication due to the
transformation brought about by the new media
technologies.
Keywords: New media, Internet, public relations, cyber
crisis, blogs.
THE QUESTIONING DIMENSION OF COMMUNICATION
Abstract
The human being is a questioning being. The human
person’s nature is to raise questions. The human person as
such cannot live and cannot be without raising questions.
In my culture generally people raise questions about the
mystery of life; the mystery of birth, the mystery of
pregnancy, the mystery of life, the mystery of death, the
mystery of the graveyard, the mystery of life after the
tomb, the mystery of the lives of animals – how they
survive, how animals live, where animals survive, where
they live and how they feed themselves and what keeps
them in sustenance. People question about their tomorrow,
about their career, about their hopes, about their
expectations, about their failures, about their successes,
about who they are and what they would like to be and
become.
Keywords: communication, theology, salvific history,
eucharist.
ADVERTISING IN A MODERN FORMAT: EXIGENCIES AND EXCESSES
Abstract
The advertising activity has become an indispensable
factor for the efficient performance of the process of
communicative-cultural interaction in the contemporary
society. The essential function of the advertising content is
to promote a certain product by informing about its
qualities. At the same time, this information activity is
oriented towards belief, for this purpose being applied a
series of strategies, meant to trigger the buying process:
gender stereotypes, sexuality elements, elements of
violence, shock technique, humour technique etc. Of
course, such advertising structures incite and draw
attention to them, because they give the public an original,
exciting and surprising status. However, the excessive
juggling with such techniques represents rather an index
of the advertisers’ unprofessionalism, with arrears in the
field of advertising ethics.
Keywords: advertising, function, strategies, gender
stereotypes, sexuality elements, violence, humour.
THE INFORMATION SECURITY OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA IN THE CURRENT GEOPOLITICAL PROCESSES
Abstract
This article presents a review of the most important
aspects of information security in the Republic of Moldova
since the country managed to gain its independence. The
analysed issues are related to this topic in the resizing
context of the regional and global power relations and the
contribution of the media information factor in ensuring
national security. Along with the debate on what is
required by the global information society and the
information confrontations that take place in the regional
geopolitical space, the key questions regarding information
security are extensively analysed. In the end, the author
offers some recommendations related to information
security in the media, taking into account the Republic of
Moldova’s 2019-2024 Information security strategy.
Keywords: information security, media, geopolitics,
globalization, national security, information space.
CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING TRANSHUMANISM AND POSTHUMANISM IN THE MILITARY ACTION
Abstract
Concerns over enhancing the powers of the fighter are
lost in the dark of times. The proof is represented by the
legends, fairy tales or stories that we find in most peoples.
Today we witness some scientific and technological
developments which prove that the things that we once
regarded as fiction have now become reality. Beyond its
self-improvement will through science and technology,
transhumanism speaks not only about the possibility of
creating the “improved individual”, but also about the
creation of a new species entitled homo ciberneticus. Either
we want it or not, this aspect would significantly influence
the military confrontation and it could lead to the
disappearance of the homo sapiens species, in posthumanism.
Keywords: transhumanism, posthumanism, military.
POSTHUMANISM – FOR AND AGAINST
Abstract
The inventions and innovations which define the
human being appeared mostly in the last century and a
half. The speed of the discoveries is so high and the jumps
are so amazing that researchers are more and more
convinced that the human being that we know as the
second most important creature after God will gradually
loose his central position and descend more and more into
the environment where he naturally comes from. Raising
artificial intelligence above one’s own ability to think
would be the cause of this repositioning. Simultaneously
with the loss of importance in relation to computing
machines, at the beginning of 2020 the human being
admitted defeat (at least temporarily) in front of a common
virus. COVID 19 is another type of challenge that homo
sapiens must face.Romanians were never left out of the
efforts that the inquisitive mind made in search of solutions
for the betterment of the human being. This article presents
the way in which the author perceived this change of
paradigm.
Keywords: posthumanism, transhumanism, communication,
journalism, computers, technology, flight, robot.
THE DILEMMA OF COMMUNICATION – PROFESSIONAL VERSUS INDIVIDUAL OF NATIONAL CITADEL
Abstract
Mankind tends to change its existential paradigm. The
individual is consumed with the struggle for wellbeing
and access to the latest technologies. Transhumanists
speak about a new individual, a combination between
human and technologic. The new generation tends to
firstly synchronize with technique and then with fellow
creatures. Education, as a process, focuses on skills and less
on abilities. Youngsters are tempted to firstly satisfy their
basic needs, comfort and safety, and later or never the
needs for self-development. An education to make the
individual wiser, to get him closer to the others and make
him more responsible in giving back to the society what it
has given him is definitely required.
Keywords: technology, immigration, education, values,
national identity.
EUROPE – 30 YEARS FOLLOWING THE COMMUNIST ERA: QUO VADIS?
Abstract
This article refers to some of the most important
moments that characterize the changes which took place
in the last three decades in Central and Southeast Europe,
based especially on my memories from the times I worked
as counsellor to the first and last president of the Soviet
Union, Mikhail Gorbachev (1987-1991), counsellor of the
first president of the independent Republic of Moldova,
Mircea Snegur (1992-1994), member of the government of
the Republic of Moldova, Minister of Privatization and
State Property Administration (1994-1997), Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs and later Ambassador of
Moldova to the United States of America (1998-2002), and
finally professor at Virginia State University, USA, starting
from 2004 and up to the present. The article focuses on
some significant issues that plagued and still continue to
plague our society.
Keywords: Europe, communist era, change, society.
HIGHLIGHTS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN RELATION TO THE TRADITIONALISM OF STATE-OWNED COMPANIES
Abstract
The transition to a social market economy and the
European Union integration are factors which generated
competitiveness, mobility and entrepreneurship. But the
economic changes and the elimination of the borders of the
labour market were strongly perceived by the companies
with state capital, entities characterized by traditionalism
and centralism. If statistically more than 50% of the
Romanian entrepreneurs claim the lack of qualified
employees, within the state-owned companies the
resentment is exacerbated especially on the background of
the top management’s reluctance to the contemporary
tendencies of the human resources management and its
focus on identifying, empowering and maintaining talents.
From the administrative, technical or highly specialized
personnel, in the national labour market, there is an
increased interest for those potential employees who show
useful talents to the production process or the services
provided, a tendency generating financial or subjective
benefits. Importing the experience of the private companies
in the aspect of the measures necessary to attract the
specialists, we observe that the general directions concern
the support of the employees necessary for the development
of the technical inclinations and the digital skills, the
recruitment of specialists in the field of talent management
and the creation of a collaboration bridge with start-ups in
the fields of resort. The metamorphosis of the activities and
their continuous entry into a true era of digitalization of
the economy, means that top management of state-owned
companies is aware of the pressure on the labour market
to identify people with special and suitable skills for
certain trades or with a potential training. The transition
to the market economy seems to be characterized by
investments in people, in their education and training.
Keywords: Talent management, public organisations’
sector, strategies.
THE CHALLENGES OF TRANSHUMANISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS REFLECTED IN THE CURRENT ROMANIAN CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS
Abstract
Mankind is already in the transhuman period as the
discoveries from the medical field of the last decades have
significantly changed the human body. Starting from the
definition of transhumanism, this article has identified the
interferences areas between the transhumanist ideas and
the protection of the human rights, which are reflected in
the present-day Constitution of Romania. We identified
various such interferences and we also introduced some
new ideas. At the end of the article we also offer a solution
to the challenges of transhumanism which is worth taking
into account when it comes to the adaption to the new
world which lies in front of us.
Keywords: challenges, transhumanism, human rights,
constitution.
THE IMPACT OF EMPLOYER BRANDING IN RECRUITING AND RETAINING HUMAN RESOURCES
Abstract
The employer branding concept mainly refers to
attracting and retaining valuable employees and this is
done for the profitability of the company by knowing the
requirements, expectations and behaviours of the clients.
The profitability mission of the company as well as that of
the efficiency of human resources in the background of
strengthening the corporate culture generated various
priorities related to improving the human capital, the real
participation of the employees in the life of the organization
and the knowing and understanding of the market, taking
into account the mission of the firm. Nowadays, we ask
ourselves what can we add to Simon Barrow’s idea - who
states the formula of finding the employee in the marketing
brand, or to Donald Decamp, whose opinion is that
employer branding exceeds the reputation of the company.
We wonder which of these ideas is current and we offer
an answer by reviewing the specialised literature and by
analysing the practice of the companies related to this
topic.
Keywords: employer branding, human resources,
profitability of the organisation, marketing strategies, efficient
recruitment, employee stability, human capital.
APOLLONIA UNIVERSITY OF IAŞI in collaboration with Academy of Romanian Scientists
Proceedings of International Congress
“By promoting excellence we prepare the future”
