The Orthodox Preference for Democracy: An American Response to “The Church in the Public Square” (Section II), in For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church

In For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church, there is a clear preference for the “democratic genius of the modern age.” This preference for democracy is due, in part, to the long experience of the Orthodox Church with other governmental forms, especially autocratic and authoritarian states.

“Clinging Stubbornly to the Antithesis of Assumptions”: On the Difference Between Hegel’s and Spinoza’s Systems of Philosophy

This essay re-examines Hegel’s critique of Spinoza’s Ethics, focusing on the question of method. Are the axioms and definitions unmotivated presuppositions that make the attainment of absolute knowledge impossible in principle, as Hegel charges? This essay develops a new reading of the Ethics to defend it from this critique. I argue that Hegel reads Spinoza as if his system were constructed only according to the mathematical second kind of knowledge, ignoring Spinoza’s clear preference for knowledge of the third kind. The Ethics, I argue, is a book with several layers: it is at once a deductive mathematical system, and a handbook to aid the intuitive power of the active philosophical reader. The letter of each text may be identical, but they have little else in common – Pierre Menard’s rewriting of Don Quixote given systematic philosophical form.

National illegal wildlife trafficking of threatened species: a descriptive study in Manabí (Ecuador)

Illegal wildlife trafficking has negative effects on biodiversity conservation at both global and local scale. Therefore, the establishment of appropriate conservation measures requires local studies that quantify this problem. The objective of this work was to quantify and characterize the species of birds and mammals seized in the period 2016-2017, at the Valle Alto Wildlife Rescue Centre and Wildlife Refuge. The study showed that 212 specimens belonging to 41 different species were confiscated. More birds than mammals were confiscated, and a greater proportion of birds were included in a national and international threat category. A clear preference for primates, parrots and squirrels was found. Furthermore, the presence of species with a distribution range outside the study area revealed the existence of the transportation of species from other parts of the country. Although these data are only a sample of what is actually trafficked in the country, they provide an approach of the type of species that are illegally trafficked in this biodiversity hotspot.

Comparative study on design and functionality requirements for senior-friendly furniture for sitting

Furniture manufacturers’ response to the demographic challenge of aging nations is an important issue. The number of seniors is rising worldwide. The aging process often results in multiple health implications, including weaker mobility, decrease in muscle mass, and change in anthropometrical dimensions of the human body. Thus, the furniture offered should be adjusted to the needs of an increasing group of senior customers. To identify seniors’ preferences in relation to characteristics of sitting furniture, international surveys with 627 respondents aged 60+ years were conducted in Poland, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, and Lithuania. The implementation of this data in the design process may result in creation of the market offer meeting seniors’ needs. Design and functionality features were examined to provide guidance for senior-friendly development of furniture for sitting. Among the most important findings is the clear preference of having an armchair with the high backrest reaching above the head, a chair with armrests and an upholstered backrest and seat. Furthermore, respondents paid attention to the durability of furniture, stain resistance of upholstery, and adaptation of the furniture to the user’s dimensions, e.g., having influence on the height and depth of the seat before the purchase.

DATA MINING AND ITS IMPACT ON MARKETING COMMUNICATION – CASE: HEAT-TREATED BIRCH WOOD

The article presents the results of a marketing survey in the area of customer preferences in the case of different degrees of heat-treated solid wood and birch veneer. Part of the marketing survey was a questionnaire survey, where the respondents, as potential customers, expressed their preferences for individual samples which, at first glance, differed in colour due to the different degrees of heat treatment. The result of the research is a clear preference for the heat-treated samples compared to the reference sample without heat treatment. A more detailed secondary analysis of the data from the questionnaire survey was performed with regard to the gender, age and education of the respondents. Here, too, it is possible to conclude a clear preference for heat-treated samples for these groups of respondents. The article also analyses the possibilities of the marketing strategy with a focus on marketing communication, especially in relation to wood processors and producers.

On the Interaction of Gestural and Linguistic Perspective Taking

In this paper, we investigate the question of whether and how perspective taking at the linguistic level interacts with perspective taking at the level of co-speech gestures. In an experimental rating study, we compared test items clearly expressing the perspective of an individual participating in the event described by the sentence with test items which clearly express the speaker’s or narrator’s perspective. Each test item was videotaped in two different versions: In one version, the speaker performed a co-speech gesture in which she enacted the event described by the sentence from a participant’s point of view (i.e. with a character viewpoint gesture). In the other version, she performed a co-speech gesture depicting the event described by the sentence as if it was observed from a distance (i.e. with an observer viewpoint gesture). Both versions of each test item were shown to participants who then had to decide which of the two versions they find more natural. Based on the experimental results we argue that there is no general need for perspective taking on the linguistic level to be aligned with perspective taking on the gestural level. Rather, there is clear preference for the more informative gesture.

Stance complement clauses controlled by verbs in academic research papers

This paper explores stance complement clauses in the genre of academic discourse, analysing stance complement clauses controlled by verbs in economics research articles written in English by non-native writers. Following Biber’s taxonomy (2006) of common lexico-grammatical features used for stance analyses, the results of the study show that epistemic verbs of certainty and likelihood are an important means of communicating knowledge in this genre and thus, form an inseparable part of academic research writing. Moreover, the study seeks to analyse the contrast between stance to-infinitives and stance that-clauses in the studied corpus. While stance that-clauses relate mainly to the category of certainty; on the contrary, stance to-infinitive clauses are consciously or subconsciously chosen to lessen the risk of a face-threatening act and typically refer to writers’ sensory experience (e.g. verbs such as seem, appear, etc.). The findings suggest that research papers from the field of economics demonstrate a clear preference for factive verbs over non-factive verbs.

The Acceptability of Accountability

This paper reports on an experimental test of the acceptability of the Principle of Accountability. This is a principle of social justice, and states, “individuals should be rewarded for factors under their control […], but not for factors outside their control” (Cappelen and Tungodden (2009)). We specifically ask for acceptability of the principle underlying it, rather than for particular rewards in particular instances. We carry out the test with both an Internal and an External Dictator, conducting a laboratory experiment with a total of 240 subjects. We find that there is broad, but not overwhelming support for the Principle. When the Principle is internally inconsistent no clear preference emerges, which is not surprising.

Bringing back the debate on mediated and unmediated science communication: the public's perspective

When analysing the actors of the science communication ecosystem, scholarly research has focused on the perceptions and attitudes of scientists, science journalists, and science communicators. How the public envisages the roles of science producers and mediators is mostly uncharted territory. We address this gap, by examining the results of a public consultation in Portugal concerning science communication. We show that the public demonstrates a clear preference for science communication performed by scientists, over journalists, although credibility and trust depend on multiple factors. We also ascertain that professional science communicators are mostly invisible, though the public recognises the value of `translators'.

A cluster analysis of cyclists in Europe: common patterns, behaviours, and attitudes

This study uses cluster analysis on a sample of regular cyclists from six European countries (the U.K., the Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary, Italy, and Spain) to shed light on common cycling patterns, demographic characteristics, and attitudes. Participants completed an online survey on cycling behaviour, attitudes towards cycling, discomfort while cycling in mixed traffic, cycling environment and comparative cycling risk perception. A two-step cluster analysis was performed to identify segments of cyclists based on cycling patterns, and a multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to profile the segments. The two-step cluster analysis yielded three components. Leisure-time cyclists cycled almost exclusively for leisure/training, had a clear preference for car use relative to bicycle, and low riding frequency. Resolute Cyclists were characterised by a high variety of cycling trip purpose, a clear preference for bicycle use relative to the car, and high riding frequency. Convenience Cyclists were characterised by cycling for personal business or leisure/training but not for commuting, no evident preference for bicycle vs car, and medium riding frequency. The value of the present study is to highlight commonalities in patterns, characteristics, and attitudes of cyclists in Europe. Our study showed that cycling patterns and habits are linked to psychosocial variables such as attitudes and the cycling environment, explicitly highlighting the importance of discomfort in mixed traffic and the relationship with cycling culture.