The aim of this article is to offer a view of the current status of women in medical physics and biomedical engineering, while focusing on solutions towards gender balance and providing examples of current activities carried out at national and international levels. The International Union of Physical and Engineering Scientists in Medicine is committed to advancing women in science and health and has several initiatives overseen by the Women in Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Task Group. Some of the main (...) strategies proposed by the Task Group to attain gender balance are: (a) identify and promote female role models that achieve successful work-life balance, (b) establish programs to develop female leaders, (c) create opportunities for females to increase the international visibility within the scientific community, and (d) establish archives and databases of women in STEM. (shrink)

There is an internal connection between ecclesiology, the teaching about the Church that we call academic ecclesiology, and mission, which is the inner heart of the Church and becomes visible through different practices. For the Orthodox Church involved in the ecumenical movement, there is a struggle to balance ecclesiology (theology) with ecumenical mission and dialogue (practice) in a divided Christian world. Nevertheless, the recent Synod of Crete (June 2016) addressed some important elements of this struggle. I have in mind, for (...) example, the act to accept the historical name of other non-Orthodox Christian Churches and Confessions that are not in communion with it. Also, this is the first Synod of the Orthodox Churches in modern times at which ecumenical dialogue, especially in the World Council of Churches, is officially affirmed. Because of mission dialogue has to continue, “if we wish never to ‘put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ’ (1 Cor 9:12).” The present paper highlights those statements of the Holy and Great Council which have direct relevance for discussing the relation of ecclesiology and mission. I assert that we should understand firstly the document Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the of the Christian World and only then reflect upon The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s World (MOCT). Furthermore, I will make some references to the other texts which were central for this conference: The Cape Town Commitment (CTC), Together Towards Life (TTL) and Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (EG). I conclude by exposing briefly my reflections after reading these mission documents and by formulating some agenda points for further work in theology of mission. (shrink)

Whitehead, in his famous book "Process and Reality", proposed a definition of point assuming the concepts of “region” and “connection relation” as primitive. Several years after and independently Grzegorczyk, in a brief but very interesting paper proposed another definition of point in a system in which the inclusion relation and the relation of being separated were assumed as primitive. In this paper we compare their definitions and we show that, under rather natural assumptions, they coincide.

Whitehead, in his famous book Process and Reality, proposed a definition of point assuming the concepts of "region" and "connection relation" as primitive. Several years after and independently Grzegorczyk, in a brief but very interesting paper, proposed another definition of point in a system in which the inclusion relation and the relation of being separated were assumed as primitive. In this paper we compare their definitions and we show that, under rather natural assumptions, they coincide.

Every year, the member Churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC) are called to actively participate in the meetings organized in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. From my perspective, these moments are an extraordinary opportunity to share in the richness of the Orthodox tradition, which means an act of confession and authentic witness. In the first part, I will present critically the canonical synthesis of the Orthodox, the concept of “Ecumenical Eucharist” and of Lima Liturgy, followed by (...) the recommendations of the Special Commission for Orthodox participation in the WCC regarding confessional and interconfessional common prayer. Then, this article will make a historical presentation of the week of prayer. It is very important to know how this initiative started and how it was accepted at the beginning and over the years. At least in Romania, where we have an Orthodox majority, this week has become a controversial issue produced by those who are against ecumenical dialogue. A special attention is for the actual practice approved by the Romanian Patriarchate. Finally, the article will present the statements of the new Orthodox documents and it will end with some conclusions about this moment of common Christian witness. (shrink)

Every year, the member Churches of theWorld Council of Churches (WCC) are called to actively participate in the meetings organized in theWeek of Prayer for Christian Unity. From my perspective, these moments are an extraordinary opportunity to share in the richness of the Orthodox tradition, which means an act of confession and authentic witness. In the first part, I will present critically the canonical synthesis of the Orthodox, the concept of “Ecumenical Eucharist” and of Lima Liturgy, followed by the recommendations (...) of the Special Commission for Orthodox participation in the WCC regarding confessional and interconfessional common prayer. Then, this article will make a historical presentation of the week of prayer. It is very important to know how this initiative started and how it was accepted at the beginning and over the years. At least in Romania, where we have an Orthodox majority, this week has become a controversial issue produced by those who are against ecumenical dialogue. A special attention is for the actual practice approved by the Romanian Patriarchate. Finally, the article will present the statements of the new Orthodox documents and it will end with some conclusions about this moment of common Christian witness. (shrink)

For this study, we will present the most important ecumenical activities of Patriarch Justinian Marina. He was the third Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church between 1948 and 1977. During this period, he was very concerned to establish a relationship with the main ecumenical institutions. We will speak about his dialogue with one of the most important ecumenical group, namely the World Council of Churches, founded in 1948 in Geneva, Switzerland. Of course, the dialogue with the Church of England must (...) to be mentioned. His ecumenical activity was very important for the Orthodox Church, Patriarch Justinian being one of the most important Church leaders who tried and succeeded to be in contact with different religious leaders from Romania and abroad. We do not have to forget that during his time the communist regime ruled our country. In the first part, we will give different historical information about his ecumenical activity and in the second part we will explore his theological thinking about the ecumenical dialogue and movement. (shrink)

It is shown the complete equivalence between the theory of continuous (enumeration) fuzzy closure operators and the theory of (effective) fuzzy deduction systems in Hilbert style. Moreover, it is proven that any truth-functional semantics whose connectives are interpreted in [0,1] by continuous functions is axiomatizable by a fuzzy deduction system (but not by an effective fuzzy deduction system, in general).

This study investigated how gender shapes the relationships between classroom environment, achievement goals and maths performance. Seventh-grade students (N?=?498) from five urban secondary schools filled in achievement goal orientations and classroom environment scales at the beginning of the second semester. Maths performance was assessed as an average grade four months later. The results indicated gender differences in the perception of teacher and peers support, achievement goals and maths performance. The effects of goal orientations, teacher and peers support on achievement were (...) moderated by gender. Furthermore, the interaction between classroom environment and performance goals on maths grades varied with gender. In the boys? sample, performance-avoidance goals interacted with teacher support, while in the girls? sample, performance-approach goals interacted with peers support in predicting maths grades. The educational implications of these gender differences are discussed. (shrink)

In the last decade, the financial underground markets evolved in a surprisingly way, around the world. Eastern Europe is a significant region, where illegal activities associated with the shadow economy became a real problem that affects the governments stability, the economical, political and social status. Due to the influence of old regimes and the current tolerance of the Eastern European nations, this underground corridors emphasize the risk of interfering with the financing platforms of international terrorism or organized crime.

This paper is about a special version of PDL, proposed by Marcus Kracht, for reasoning about sibling ordered trees. It has four basic programs corresponding to the child, parent, left- and right-sibling relations in such trees. The original motivation for this language is rooted in the field of model-theoretic syntax. Motivated by recent developments in the area of semi-structured data, and, especially, in the field of query languages for XML (eXtensible Markup Language) documents, we revisit the language. This renewed interest (...) comes with a special focus on complexity and expressivity aspects of the language, aspects that have so far largely been ignored. We survey and derive complexity results, and spend most of the paper on the most important open question concerning the language: what is its expressive power? We approach this question from two angles: Which first-order properties can be expressed? And which second-order properties? While we are still some way from definitive answers to these questions, we discuss two first-order fragments of the PDL language for ordered trees, and show how the language can be used to express some typical (second-order) problems, like the boolean circuit and the frontier problem. (shrink)

Background:Nurses and nursing students appear vulnerable to moral distress when faced with ethical dilemmas or decision-making in clinical practice. As a result, they may experience professional dissatisfaction and their relationships with patients, families, and colleagues may be compromised. The impact of moral distress may manifest as anger, feelings of guilt and frustration, a desire to give up the profession, loss of self-esteem, depression, and anxiety.Objectives:The purpose of this review was to describe how dilemmas and environmental, relational, and organizational factors contribute (...) to moral distress in undergraduate student nurses during their clinical experience and professional education.Research design:The research design was a systematic literature review.Method:The search produced a total of 157 articles published between 2004 and 2014. These were screened with the assessment sheet designed by Hawker and colleagues. Four articles matched the search criteria (one quantitative study and three qualitative), and these were separately read and analyzed by the researchers. The process of review and analysis of the data was supervised by a colleague experienced in moral distress who provided an independent quality check.Ethical consideration:Since this was a systematic review, no ethical approval was required.Findings:From the analysis, it emerged that inequalities and healthcare disparities, the relationship with the mentor, and students’ individual characteristics can all impact negatively on the decisions taken and the nursing care provided, generating moral distress. All these factors condition both the clinical experience and learning process, in addition to the professional development and the possible care choices of future nurses.Conclusion:Few studies dealt with moral distress in the setting of nurse education, and there is a knowledge gap related to this phenomenon. The results of this review underline the need for further research regarding interventions that can minimize moral distress in undergraduate nursing students. (shrink)

IntroductionPalliative care is an emotionally and spiritually high-demanding setting of care. The literature reports on the main issues in order to implement self-care, but there are no models for the organization of the training course. We described the structure of training on self-care and its effects for a Hospital Palliative Care Unit.MethodWe used action-research training experience based mostly on qualitative data. Thematic analysis of data on open-ended questions, researcher’s field notes, oral and written feedback from the trainer and the participants (...) on training outcomes and satisfaction questionnaires were used.ResultsFour major themes emerged: “Professional role and personal feelings”; “Inside and outside the team”; “Do I listen to my emotions in the care relationship?”; “Death: theirs vs. mine.” According to participants’ point of view and researchers’ observations, the training course resulted in ameliorative adjustments of the program; improved skills in self-awareness of own’s emotions and sharing of perceived emotional burden; practicing “compassionate presence” with patients; shared language to address previously uncharted aspects of coping; allowing for continuity of the skills learned; translation of the language learned into daily clinical practices through specific facilitation; a structured staff’s support system for emotional experiences.DiscussionSelf-care is an important enabler for the care of others. The core of our intervention was to encourage a meta-perspective in which the trainees developed greater perspicacity pertaining to their professional role in the working alliance and also recognizing the contribution of their personal emotions to impasse experienced with patients. (shrink)

The ongoing Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is disrupting most specialized healthcare services worldwide, including those for high-risk newborns and their families. Due to the risk of contagion, critically ill infants, relatives and professionals attending neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) are undergoing a profound remodeling of the organization and quality of care. In particular, mitigation strategies adopted to combat the COVID-19 pandemic may hinder the implementation of family-centered care within the NICU. This may put newborns at risk for several adverse (...) effects, e.g., less weight gain, more nosocomial infections, increased length of NICU stay as well as long-term worse cognitive, emotional, and social development. This article aims to contribute to deepening the knowledge on the psychological impact of COVID-19 on parents and NICU staff members based on empirical data from the literature. We also provided evidence-based indications on how to safely empower families and support NICU staff facing such a threatening emergency, while preserving the crucial role of family-centered developmental care practices. (shrink)

A main identifying factor of professions is professionals' willingness to comply with ethical and professional standards, often defined in a code of ethics and conduct. In a period of intense nursing mobility, if the public are aware that health professionals have committed themselves to the drawing up of a code of ethics and conduct, they will have more trust in the health professional they choose, especially if this person comes from another European Member State. The Code of Ethics and Conduct (...) for European Nursing is a programmatic document for the nursing profession constructed by the FEPI (European Federation of Nursing Regulators) according to Directive 2005/36/EC On recognition of professional qualifications , and Directive 2006/123/EC On services in the internal market, set out by the European Commission. This article describes the construction of the Code and gives an overview of some specific areas of importance. The main text of the Code is reproduced in Appendix 1. (shrink)

Cartea de față este teza de doctorat în Teologie a autorului, alcătuită și susținută în cadrul Școlii Doctorale „Sf. Nicodim” a Universității din Craiova, în noiembrie 2021. Lucrarea se remarcă prin rigurozitatea și amploarea cercetării teologice despre o temă actuală în misiologie, anume relația dintre misiune și eclesiologie. În acest sens, opera și personalitatea Pr. Prof. Ion Bria sunt punctele de referință pentru susținerea dimensiunii misionare a Bisericii Ortodoxe. Amintim că Pr. Ion Bria ne-a fost un apropiat, mai ales în (...) perioada activității noastre ca profesor la Facultatea de Teologie din Sibiu (1999- 2001). În semn de apreciere, i-am semnat Prefața volumului Tratat de Teologie Dogmatică și Ecumenică, publicat la editura România Creștină, în anul 1999. Lucrarea părintelui Diac. Doru Marcu se situează la întâlnirea dintre Misiologie și Dogmatică. Totuși, analiza este una misiologică, având în vedere formarea profesional-teologică a autorului, licențiat în teologie, cu studii masterale la Facultatea de Teologie din București și cu studii misiologice în străinătate, la Facultatea de Teologie și Studii Religioase, Universitatea Catolică din Leuven, Belgia. Pregătirea temeinică a părintelui autor se observă din numeroasele studii și lucrări folosite în prezenta cercetare. Apreciem și informațiile inedite despre prestigioasa activitate a Pr. Ion Bria, în conformitate cu documentele de arhivă cercetate de autor în fondul dedicat teologului român în Arhivele Consiliului Mondial al Bisericilor din Geneva, Elveția. Pornind de la adevărul că misiunea este parte integrantă eclesiologiei, autorul demonstrează că, în viziunea Pr. Ion Bria, conceptul liturghie după Liturghie este definitoriu pentru a înțelege legătura dintre cele două dimensiuni. Punctul de vedere al autorului se situează în interiorul teologiei ortodoxe ce consideră că misiunea nu se poate realiza fără eclesiologie. Așadar, Biserica rămâne un organism viu și teandric propovăduind neîncetat mesajul evanghelic al Împărăției lui Dumnezeu. Conceptul liturghie după Liturghie propune o strânsă legătură între actul eclesial și actul misionar, care începe prin săvârșirea Sfintei Liturghii și se continuă ca o nouă liturghie a iubirii aproapelui, prin cuvânt și prin faptă. 8 În concluzie, lucrarea părintelui Marcu este un reper pentru teologia românească și nu numai. Mai mult, având în vedere că în acest an se împlinesc două decenii de la trecerea la cele veșnice a Pr. Ion Bria, cartea de față va reprezenta în mod sigur și un omagiu de cinstire a celui mai important misiolog român. (shrink)

The Orthodox Churches are part of the ecumenical movement with the inner wish to clarify the theological elements which keep the whole Christianity divided. For this goal, every Church is represented somehow in discussions by her theologians who are training to carry a theological dispute at this level. The Romanian Orthodox Church was indirectly represented in the World Council of Church by professor Ion Bria (1929-2002), who had worked officially at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva for more than 20 years. (...) This theological research has the aim to speak to us about Bria’s personality and ecumenical activity. In order to accomplish this goal, I will expand my research in three chapters. In the first one, I will present his biographical life. Until this moment he remains the most important Romanian theologian involved in the ecumenical dialogue. The second chapter deals with the history of the modern ecumenical movement and also with Bria’s perspective on the dialogue between Orthodoxy and ecumenism, which are for him two correlative elements. Bria comes to confront the anti-ecumenical part within the Orthodox Church who does not accept the Christian dialogue being afraid of heresy. Bria explain how through dialogue, the line between Orthodoxy and the other Christians can be overrun. In the third chapter I explain the missionary concept ‘liturgy after the Liturgy’, both historically and theologically. Being aware that there are some uncertainties around this concept I decided to clarify it in a proper way. Bria is known as the promoter of this concept, so I will search to find out who is the originator of this expression as such. In the same chapter I will analyze the ecclesiological elements from Bria’s writings. The ecumenical dialogue is interpreted of being an ecclesiological problem par excellence so I will outline Bria’s position regarding the teaching of the Church. In conclusion I will present in a synthetic way the results of this study. (shrink)

IntroductionDignity therapy is brief psychotherapy targeting psychological and existential suffering among patients with a life-limiting illness. Studies have been conducted on the use of DT by healthcare professionals. In Italy, the current legislation defines that any form of psychotherapy may be performed exclusively by psychotherapists. Consequently, this intervention is unlikely to be used by other healthcare professionals. Herein, we will describe a training on DT not as a psychotherapy intervention but as a narrative intervention for non-psychotherapists health care professionals. Finally, (...) we will explore the potential enablers/barriers as experienced by palliative care physicians and nurses.MethodsThe study was conducted in the Psycho-Oncology Unit within the Cancer Research Hospital of Reggio Emilia. It consisted of an exploratory qualitative case study. Data were collected employing observations and interview data and thematically analyzed.ResultsThe training was attended by six physicians and ten nurses and took place during two-afternoon sessions for 10 h. Two participants put their training into practice and administered DT under the supervision of a psychotherapist. Data analysis highlighted five overarching themes relating to the training experience and direct use of DT, namely, time required, psychological skills, patient’s disease awareness, patient’s life history, and distinguishing DT from Advance Care Planning.ConclusionPalliative care professionals found DT to be a valuable non-pharmacological hospital-based intervention to address the person beyond the patient and his clinical conditions. In our experience, considering that in Italy, psychotherapy is an intervention that psychotherapists can only perform, it can help organize different training on DT for psychotherapists and other healthcare professionals. (shrink)

Background:Prisons are contexts where nurses are required to have specific skills to ensure that, in a setting designed for the expiation of crime, prisoners receive the same type of care as anyone else. But this is not always the case, giving rise to ethical issues.Research questions:‘How do correctional nurses describe their working experience in prisons? What issues emerged?’Methodology:This is a qualitative descriptive study. Following purposive sampling, we conducted five focus groups. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.Participants and research (...) context:Our sample included 31 correctional nurses in seven prisons in Northern Italy.Ethical considerations:The scientific merit of this study was recognized by the Academic Board of the University of Genoa. Approval to conduct the study was obtained from the Liguria Regional Government that funded this study and from the Local Health Authority that was the prison nurses’ employer. Formal consent was obtained from all the nurses who volunteered to participate in this study.Findings:Five themes emerged from the focus groups: prisoners’ healthcare needs, negotiation between custody and care, satisfaction of working in prisons, obstacles to quality care and safety. ‘Manipulation’ was a transversal theme that emerged from all the focus groups.Discussion:The problems generated by the clash between prison security and nursing care priorities did not enable nurses to practice autonomously and provide the best possible to care prisoners, giving rise to ethical issues and moral distress. This in turn causes high nursing turnover rates that negatively impact continuum of care.Conclusion:In Italy, correctional nurses urgently require specific education interventions with the participation of all those who work in prisons. Interventions based on the post-modern concept of restorative nursing could offer prison nurses the opportunity to both resolve ethical issues and reduce moral distress. (shrink)

La base conceptual de lo que sería más tarde desarrollado por las vanguardias artísticas fue colonizada por alemanes de pensamiento romántico e idealista, cuya dimensión utópica puede ser fácilmente reconocida en el «antiguo programa del idealismo alemán» (1796), un texto que consagró un pensamiento idealista, que clamó por una nueva racionalidad o una mitología de la razón de Hegel, la intuición intelectual de Schelling y la Humanidad de Schiller. Aunque este proyecto de emancipación desarrollado más tarde por la vanguardia ha (...) perdido su credibilidad para nosotros, todavía tenemos que investigar en qué medida el arte de hoy puede mantener una función social. Este artículo señala algunos conceptos idealistas a la luz de una filosofía del arte, y fue creado siguiendo las líneas esbozadas en la Crítica del juicio de Kant, que han contribuido a la historia de la «avanzada» del arte. (shrink)

This paper proposes an empirical assessment of the main factors behind the decision of a corporate sponsor to launch a socially responsible fund. Our analysis is performed on a database that encompasses 414 SR fund creations by 46 corporate sponsors between 1990 and 2012. We provide evidence that economic and human resources slack, leverage, low media coverage and high extra-financial performance of the corporate sponsor contribute to an increase of the probability to propose SR funds. These results lead us to (...) argue that the introduction of such funds goes beyond the economic objective of enlarging the market share of the corporate sponsor. It may thus be seen as a particular strategy in terms of communication and signaling, due to the specific characteristics of SR funds. (shrink)

The ecumenical dialogue involves many ideas and attitudes. Within these theological discussions, Saint Cyprian of Carthage occupies his place. Most important, his vision about the Church has marked the entire Christianity. Because of this reason and for many others, this study attempts to explore his theological ideas regarding the limits of the Church, the validity of the Baptism outside the Church defined by her canonical limits. In order to accomplish this, we will have three important sections, as follows: 1. a (...) short biographical life; 2. the ecclesiological ideas of St Cyprian expressed in two important disputes of his time, namely the problem of the fallen and the Baptism professed outside the Church; 3. the limits of the Church in the thought of St Cyprian and the theological critics which we can share about this subject. Of course, our study will have some important conclusions. (shrink)

L'articolo cerca di rispondere a questo interrogativo: quali sono le conseguenze del processo di individualizzazione sui legami sociali e sulla solidarietÀ? Esso porta, come alcuni autori hanno recentemente sostenuto, alla disgregazione sociale, alla ‘fine della societÀ', o possono essere rintracciate nuove forme di ricomposizione sociale? Il soggetto ‘individualizzato' č quindi un soggetto liberato e isolato nello stesso tempo, che č divenuto il perno dei destini del mondo? L'articolo sostiene una tesi diversa. Esso mette in luce alcuni caratteri della trasformazione attuale (...) che delineano varie forme di individualismo: individualismi sociali e asociali. Si cerca di mostrare che nuove forme di regolazione sociale stanno emergendo ovunque nel mondo globale. (shrink)