Outstanding Skills Research Articles

Pedagogics of Olonkho Spiritual Concept Sphere in Creation of the Culture

The article analyzes olonkho as fundamental source of wisdom and the teachings of the ancestors about the sensible life and humanism. In olonkho, we can see portrayals of high moral standards of sensible life, and traditional values, which were skillfully depicted using expressive means and stylistic devices of the Yakut language. Traditional values reflect the imaginative world view, a unique Yakut model of the world and life, which is specifically represented by an entire system of spiritual concepts of a philosophical understanding of the world creation and human life. Many scholars highlight the important role that Platon A. Sleptsov – Oyunsky played in maintaining and popularizing olonkho. In the troublesome years of new political and government relations being established, owing to his efforts and outstanding organizational skills, he collected a valuable scope of olonkho stories from the first-hand source – the olonkho storytellers. Being a repository of philosophical and religious worldviews as well as of pedagogical and educational principles, today, these creative writings are in the center of researchers’ attention. The study of pedagogics and the methods of studying olonkho in schools began in the 1970s. Presently, the search for educators and methodologists in Yakutia is based on the studies of the leading Russian researchers – N.A. Rubakin, M.M. Bakhtin, N.S. Berdyaev, D.S. Likhachov, B.S. Gershunsky, G.D. Gachev, T.D. Polozova, etc. All these scholars regard the perception of language arts as a personal and deep mental process. The following three concept sphere blocks were singled out: 1 – I am a small part of the Universe, 2 – I am a child of nature, 3 – I am an Aiyy person and the creator of life. In this system, the spiritual concept sphere can lead the people step-by-step to learning about the vitally important values and to a deep understanding of their personal “I” and their inner spiritual world. We have proved the didactic necessity to educate students about olonkho in accordance with this concept system.

ROMANS' ESTABLISHED SKILLS: MORTARS FROM D46b MAUSOLEUM, PORTA MEDIANA NECROPOLIS, CUMA (NAPLES)

Roman mortars from a mausoleum (named D46b) belonging to the archaeological site of Porta Mediana necropolis, in Cuma (Naples, Southern Italy) have been studied by means of petrographic, mineralogical and micro-chemical analyses. The aim of this research is to fill the knowledge gap regarding mortar-based materials used in Roman age within this wide archaeological site. Two typologies of mortars (bedding and coating) were collected from mausoleum's masonry. They were lime-based with addition of pozzolanic materials, according to Vitruvius' recipe. Raw materials, such as volcanic sand and limestones, mainly from local sources, were preferentially used as aggregate, both for great availability and good properties. As regard production techniques, the multi-layer feature of the coating mortars, once again shows the great knowledge of the building art. Each layer is the result of a precise choice, as shown by the differences both in texture and petrographic features. Data from detailed mortars characterization have infer the outstanding skill of Roman craftsmen, as already proved by extraordinary durability of buildings. The research was very useful not only to increase the knowledge of this ancient culture but also to planning conservative actions, that, through mortar reproduction or the research of suitable materials, can promote the safeguard of this invaluable heritage.

Rewriting Mazeppa: Meaning and communication in Liszt’s virtuoso and program music

Musical virtuosity is often studied with an emphasis on the outstanding skills of the performer and their sensory and emotional effects on the listener. However, Franz Liszt, one of the main virtuosos in music history, was convinced that what matters in virtuosity is its specific function within the semantic and communicative processing of music. This article proposes a theoretical framework to further investigate Liszt’s intuitions in light of contemporary research on musical meaning and communication. First, we analyze philological data concerning Liszt’s creative process in the Mazeppa works, a set of works including both his virtuoso and program music. Second, we compare our results with recent research on music semantics based on inferential processes about the composer/performer’s intentions (Antović, Stamenković, & Figar, 2016; Schlenker, 2017). We criticize the associationist hypothesis (the idea that the composer’s intention is that the listener infers an association between the music and a real or fictional state of the world) and we defend a causalist hypothesis (the idea that the composer’s intention is that the listener recognizes the music as being an intentional “rewriting” of the states of the world, mental or physical, that are the causes of the music itself). Third, we suggest that what distinguishes Liszt’s virtuoso and program music rewritings are the visual and gestural components of two listening experiences: the virtuoso music “rewrites” its episodic causes (memories, personal experiences) whereas the program music “rewrites” its genetic causes (the work’s creative path and intertextual relations).

Employers and Tourism Students Perception of Employability in Cruise Industry

Despite challenges on the employability of tourism graduates, cruise industry emerged as potential labor market for aspiring tourism graduates in the field. This study aimed to understand the perception of employers and tourism students on employability and explore possible career opportunities. The mixed method research design was utilized such as survey and interview to gather data. The respondents were the 285 graduating tourism students in selected higher education institutions in Metro Manila and five recruitment officers of the three manning agencies, such as United Philippine Lines, Philippine Transmarine Carrier, and Magsaysay Shipping. The Phase I of the study focused on conducting the survey to know respondents perception on employment while Phase II concentrate on interview with the recruitment officers from the various manning agency to explore cruise tourism career opportunities. Results showed that tourism students perceived highly competent on cruise tourism jobs such as front office, food and beverages, housekeeping and cruise staffing expect for ship star reservation system and bar mixology. Also, they perceived high on graduate attributes such as customer expectation, innovative spirit, communication skills, organizational skills, self-management skills, self-awareness, self-reliant, leadership and assertiveness. Interestingly, employers perceived employability with outstanding skills on the front office, food and beverages, housekeeping and cruise staffing section.

Transforming Outstanding Potential in Outstanding Skills by Using Storytelling to Develop Intellectual Abilities of Gifted Students at Risk

Gifted children living in vulnerable environments could be at social and educative risk when they do not receive an appropriate instruction with respect to their outstanding potential, particularly in the early years of schooling. The current work considers this rationale to generate an early identification process and implementation of a program that could meet the specific requirements of children who can be targeted with outstanding potential. The purpose of this study was to transform outstanding potential to outstanding intellectual skills of targeted children using an emotional, cognitive and creative enrichment program designed for them based on storytelling activities. In this descriptive non-experimental mixed method design, 7 first and second graders students participate, 4 girls and 3 boys (M-age = 6.28). The study was organized in three steps: 1) characterization or the risk/resilience profile of children, using an exploratory and diagnostic assessment; 2) the design and implementation of a cognitive and creative enrichment program based on storytelling activities; and 3) the assessment of changes in intellectual abilities. Results were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The intellectual area showed statistically significant differences in scores for Total IQ, Verbal Comprehension Index and Working Memory Index of children from the initial assessment to the final one, indicating that their capacity to comprehend the active process of the interrelations within and beyond a text as well as to construct a mental representation of its context increased significantly after the program and this constituted an evidence of their intellectual abilities.

Lo studioso dei carmi dell’Anthologia latina attribuiti a Petronio.

Vincenzo Tandoi as student of the poems of the Anthologia Latina attributed to Petronius. The paper underlines the huge contribution given by Vincenzo Tandoi to the study and understanding of the poems attributed to Seneca and Petronius preserved in the Anthologia Latina. The paper is also a tribute to Tandoi’s outstanding skills as a scholar and a dedicated and generous teacher as well.

STRATEGIC CONDUCT AND PERFORMANCE PERSISTENCE OF MUTUAL FUNDS IN PAKISTAN

This research is an attempt to empirically analyse the strategic behaviour i.e. selectivity and timing skills of mutual fund managers and persistence in performance of mutual funds in Pakistan using data set of thirty-three open end equity based mutual funds from June 2008-2016. Strategic behaviour has been analysed through proposed methodology by Jensen Alpha, Treynor & Mazuy and Henriksson & Merton. Persistence in risk adjusted performance has been evaluated using Sharpe, Treynor and Sortino measures. Results indicate that only few mutual fund managers possess either significant selectivity or outstanding timing skills in Pakistan. This implies that most of the mutual fund managers are either speculative or inside traders. Persistence in performance of mutual funds is not strong enough because performance of fewer mutual funds exceeds the performance of capital market. Mutual funds that exhibit positive risk premium also exhibited underperformance after the adjustment of risk factor.

19th century Russian research about collective behavior

In the 19th century, collective behavior or crowd psychology was given a broad interest in psychiatric research. But until today the focus had always been on French, English or German publications neglecting the comprehensive Russian research that exists. That's why, the authors wish to elaborate 19th century Russian points of view on crowd psychology.Our research revealed that most of the Russian authors discussed imitation, suggestion, and hereditary predisposition - as did their colleagues in the West. Contrary to that, the 1881 monograph by Viktor Kandinsky could be regarded as an outstanding work because it presents an independent hypothesis on crowd psychology. Kandinsky postulated a gradual transition from normal to pathological based on neuro-anatomical und physiological presumptions. He postulated a causal chain which starts with exaltation followed by ecstasy, illusions, and at least hallucinations. He regarded exaltation to be a precondition in which a person accepts notions uncritically. Thus, in an exalted crowd one person that hallucinates may "infect" the others easily. People prone to mysticism, with a passion for mysterious things or on outstanding skills would be at a high risk of being infected. On the other hand, Kandinsky's hypothesis also implies that no one is exempt from such infection.

Perfil da Liderança na Gestão de Projetos: Uma Pesquisa com Profissionais da Área

The present paper addresses the issues related to the project manager’s competencies, seeking the main references and, starting from this point, with the objective of tracing these managers profile, identify their main positive competences and pointing the ones to be developed. For this, a primary research questionnaire was built and applied, by the convenience criterion, to professionals of companies of diverse segments, who work with projects. To do so, according to the classification of Marconi and Lakatos (2010), a qualitative and descriptive research was conducted, and technical procedures were applied both to the bibliographic research as well as the survey questionnaire. The questionnaires were sent via Google’s on-line server (Google Forms), and spread through social and prefessionals networking medias. The questions sought to identify Project managers’ age, career positions, training within management area, addressing the skills and competencies identified in the perceptions of the team members. A total of 126 questionnaires were answered, of which 17 were discarded because they did not involve professionals who work with projects. The collected data provided a large amount of information, which enabled the identification of the leader’s profile, his / her outstanding skills, and the need for change, and skills to be developed. The competencies that stand out in these project managers are, according to the perception of their leaders: negotiation skills, decision making, leadership, communication and influence on others. Respondents pointed to motivation, conflict management, team building, leadership and communication as competencies that should be developed by project managers. The article presents, as a structure, an initial contextualization, followed by the methodolog and the literature review. The data was analyzed, with the identification of the most relevant competencies, with the evaluation from the members of the project teams, as well as the skills and abilities that require more training on the competences of the managers.

Impact of Core Competencies in Product Design Decision

A result of the growing challenges facing companies today and the sharp changes in the internal and external environment and the rapid developments that have resulted in companies seeking to attract those with outstanding skills and rare that have the core competencies to make them the point starting and an important source to achieve competitive advantages and to entrepreneurship in all its designs The research sought to highlight the impact of intrinsic capabilities as an independent variable in product design decision as an approved variable. The problem of field research is reflected in the limited exploitation and development of workers' skills and core competencies, which is reflected in the design of their products as well as their competitive role in the market. The research also aimed at clarifying the role of the core competencies possessed by the company in improving the design of its products to invest and develop them to provide products in a manner that distinguishes them from competitors by using the correct techniques for product design. The descriptive analytical approach was used and the questionnaire was used as a tool for collecting research data and information,. It was distributed to a sample of 98 managers and officials in the General Company for Hydraulic Industries (AL Hydraulic Plant,AL Plastic Factory) and using the statistical program (Spss.V.24) ) To process data in the applied side of the study: simple regression analysis to measure the effect of intrinsic determinants on product design decision, t-test, Guttman LA correlation coefficient to determine the persistence of the questionnaire, Spearman Relationship between variables. A number of conclusions were reached, the most important of which is the need for the company to consolidate and integrate all its workforce within the company to benefit from the diversity of knowledge and to ensure the exchange of information among them which positively reflect their business and achieve the company's objectives. The most important recommendations of the research are the need to adopt the company management of the strategies to be among the priorities in the protection of the environment in accordance with the standard ISO 14000 in the design of its products, and the need to know and rely on the specifications adopted by international companies and taking into account when adopting strategies to protect the environment .

The Female body and Maternity in Shakespeare’ Pericles and Hwang Seokyoung’s Shimchung

This paper aims to explore the female body and maternity in Shakespeare’ romance play, Pericles and Hwang Seokyoung’s novel, Shimchung. Pericles and Shimchung are similar in that female figures have sea experiences and their bodies are in danger under men’s power. The female body in each work is described as a product to make much money in male-centered ideology or a patriarchal society. In Pericles, although Marina separated from her father is sold to the brothel and is confronted with losing her virginity, she succeeds to keep her virginity and tries to educate men visiting the brothel with the outstanding wit and persuasive language skills. Eventually, her excellent capacities enable her to overcome her crisis. In Shimchung, Shimchung sold by money, apart from her family makes a miserable tour of the whole Eastern Asia including China, Taiwan, and Japan. Even though Shimchung faces the cruel reality of capitalism and loses her virginity under men’s power unlike Marina, she actively responds to her severe reality without only submission, trying not to lose the original independence for her spirit. Pericles and Shimchung also emphasize the importance and power of maternity. Maternal power in Marina plays a significant part in relieving Pericles’s suffering as well as rehabilitating his power and reuniting his wife and daughter. Shimchung begins to show her maternity in taking care of her colleague’s daughter, and her maternal instinct is expanded for the neglected. Marina and Shimchung create their own maternal value and demonstrate their capacities as the subject of each life in male-centered society. It is obvious that Shakespeare and Hwang Seokyoung describe Marina and Shimchung as not petious victims but strong-minded women to be try to overcome their perilous moments.

Dedication: In memory of Todd Christian Feeley (1961–2015)

The “PLUTONS: Investigating the Relationship between Pluton Growth and Volcanism in the Central Andes” themed issue of Geosphere is dedicated to the memory of Todd Christian Feeley, our friend, colleague, and mentor. He distinguished his career with a long string of insightful papers that integrated the geology and petrology of volcanic rocks. His work was always soundly based in field geology, and his coworkers remember him for his outstanding skills in the field.

Preface: 10th International Symposium on Knappable Materials

The University of Barcelona hosted from 7 to 11 September 2015, the International Symposium on Knappable Materials at the Building of the Faculty of Geography and History in the Raval campus in the city centre. The pleasant atmosphere of research and exchange of knowledge and experience was due in large part to the hard work and outstanding management and organizational skills of the institutions and individuals involved.

CHRONOTOPISCHE STRUKTUREN DER DOPPELTEN WELT VON E.T.A. HOFFMANN

Hoffmann’s unique position in the Romantic period is based on various aspects in his poetry. Non other than Freud wrote about Hoffmann’s ability to create insecurity on the percipient’s part, especially intensified by depicting doppelganger – mysterious and real at the same time, as the whole world turns out to be. The article took up Bachtin’s idea of the so called chronotopos and scrutinizes Hoffmann’s texts with regard to this system of time and space. In Hoffmann’s narrative literature there is already the distinction between two worlds – the phantastic one of the protagonist on the one hand, the common world of the apparently levelheaded bourgeois on the other hand. They are not strictly separated as in former poetry of the romantic period, just symbolically marked on the crossover spots. Hoffmann’s outstanding skill lies in the connection of diverging elements, not only of the already mentioned two worlds but as well of time and space which might be felt and noticed in a different way both by the various characters and one single person as well. Also a cyclic development is often embedded in the poetic action reminding of mythical constellations and interpreted as a reconstruction of a mythical genealogy. The article aims to analyse tales and novellas regarding the unique sensation of time and space using Hoffmann’s “The Golden Pot”, “Princess Brambilla”, “A Report on the Latest Adventures of the Dog Berganza” or “A New Year’s Eve Adventure”. The author’s world seems a balance act and is marked with certain symbols and components, which prove that the real and the mythical world are not strictly separated.

Staphylococcus aureus: Immunopathogenesis and Human Immunity

SummaryConsidering a large number of pathogen factors that enable high virulence of a microorganism such as Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), it is essential to see them through the continuous adaptation to the newly acquired mechanisms of the host immune response and efforts to overcome these, allowing the bacteria a perfect ecological niche for growth, reproduction, and location of new hosts. Past efforts to create a vaccine that would provide effective protection against infections caused by S. aureus remained without success. The reasons for this stem from the outstanding adaptability skills of this microorganism to almost all environmental conditions, the existence of a numerous virulence factors whose mechanisms of action are not well known, as well as insufficient knowledge of the immune response to S. aureus infections. This review article deals with this issue from another perspective and emphasizes actual knowledge on virulence factors and immune response to S. aureus.

In Memoriam: Professor Laurentiu M. Popescu (1944–2015)

© 2015 Manole and Cretoiu. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. Laurentiu M. Popescu, a world renowned expert in the field of molecular medicine, Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest (Romania) and General Director of the National Institute of Pathology of Romania, passed away on August 3, 2015, at the age of 71. Born on April 15, 1944, in Campulung, Romania, he devoted 48 years to research and teaching activities starting soon after graduation (as valedictorian) of ‘Carol Davila’ University of Medicine and Pharmacy. Backed by a constant progression in his academic career he became the Rector, between 1992 and 2004, of the ‘Carol Davila’ University (the oldest, largest and most prestigious in Romania), considered an example of progress and innovation in the 150 years of history of the University. Professor Laurentiu Popescu was a very special and extraordinary scientist who gave a unique point of view to the international scientific community of medical and cellular sciences. He was awarded for his scientific achievements multiple prestigious prizes and was selected as member of many international scientific organizations. He was also the President of the Medical Science Section of the Romanian Academy of Sciences, President of the Romanian Academy of Medical Sciences, President of the Federation of the European Academies of Medicine, President of the International Society for Adaptive Medicine, and more. In 2000 he founded the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. As Editor-in-Chief, he grew this journal very rapidly, transforming it, from a non-indexed journal into a world-class scientific journal (2014 Impact Factor 4.014). While his academic career was pivoted around ‘Carol Davila’ University of Medicine and Pharmacy, a great part of the scientific achievements were centered on ‘Victor Babes’ National Institute of Pathology. Known as a visionary, he had a strong ability to inspire the people who worked with him. We will remember him for a myriad of virtues as wisdom, confidence, empathy and honesty, as well as outstanding motivation and communication skills. For us he has been a wonderful mentor, being extremely creative, and a really hard working person, endowed with great organizational skills. He was also a scientific advisor for numerous PhD and postdoctoral students sharing his outstanding experience and knowledge with all his disciples. Besides his impressive scientific knowledge he was also widely cultured, recognizing in one of his interviews “The idea to call the newly discovered cells telocytes came to me during a break at the Vienna State Opera”. Professor Laurentiu M. Popescu’s vast scientific activity could be approximatively split in two main periods. The major scientific results of the first period were crystallized around the ideas of caveolae involvement in calcium regulation in smooth muscle, or around the relation between cGMP and vasodilation. The most fruitful Open Access

Genius and nonlinear dynamics

Genius is defined as a person of outstanding mental skills. These skills result from genius’ brain structure and physiology that are determined by genetics. It seems that environment and education may only inhibit development of a genius. Based on a simple model of brain phase space we formulate two hypotheses about dynamics of mental processes in genius’ brain and the difference between genius thinking and a mental illness or insanity.

Prevalence of clinically and empirically defined talents and strengths in autism.

Outstanding skills, including special isolated skills (SIS) and perceptual peaks (PP) are frequent features of autism. However, their reported prevalence varies between studies and their co-occurrence is unknown. We determined the prevalence of SIS in a large group of 254 autistic individuals and searched for PP in 46 of these autistic individuals and 46 intelligence and age-matched typically developing controls. The prevalence of SIS among autistic individuals was 62.5 % and that of PP was 58 % (13 % in controls). The prevalence of SIS increased with intelligence and age. The existence of an SIS in a particular modality was not associated with the presence of a PP in the same modality. This suggests that talents involve an experience-dependent component in addition to genetically defined alterations of perceptual encoding.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10803-014-2296-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Identification and characterization of endophytic bacteria from corn (Zea mays L.) roots with biotechnological potential in agriculture.

Six endophytic bacteria of corn roots were identified as Bacillus sp. and as Enterobacter sp, by sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Four of the strains, CNPSo 2476, CNPSo 2477, CNPSo 2478 and CNPSo 2480 were positive for the nitrogen fixation ability evaluated through the acetylene reduction assay and amplification of nifH gene. Two Bacillus strains (CNPSo 2477 and CNPSo 2478) showed outstanding skills for the production of IAA, siderophores and lytic enzymes, but were not good candidates as growth promoters, because they reduced seed germination. However, the same strains were antagonists against the pathogenic fungi Fusarium verticillioides, Colletotrichum graminicola, Bipolaris maydis and Cercospora zea-maydis. As an indication of favorable bacterial action, Enterobacter sp. CNPSo 2480 and Bacillus sp. CNPSo 2481 increased the root volume by 44% and 39%, respectively, and the seed germination by 47% and 56%, respectively. Therefore, these two strains are good candidates for future testing as biological inoculants for corn.

Getting to grips with global supply chain management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to outline the reasons for the ongoing talent shortage in supply chain management (SCM) and to consider ways in which partnering with human resource development (HRD) professionals can reduce the associated risk to revenue growth. Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual paper that considers ways in which human resource and organizational development expertise can be deployed to provide supply chain managers with a balance between “hard” analytical competences and “soft” people skills. Findings – More firms than ever before are facing globalization and market turbulence – and focusing on SCM as a result. Companies can spend as much as three-quarters of their revenue on supply chain activities, so SCM is a key determinant of financial performance. The ability to work effectively with partners to increase efficiency, drive down costs and deliver value to the final customer is crucial to success. But there is a problem – not enough supply chain managers who understand the business context and have the full range of necessary skills. Research limitations/implications – Points out that it isn’t known how highly effective supply chain managers acquire their outstanding cross-functional communication, influencing and change implementation skills. Calls for further research on the impact of HRD interventions on supply chain managers’ effectiveness. Advocates comparing effective and ineffective HRD interventions in SCM practice and evaluation of the quality (rather than the quantity) of training available to supply chain professionals. Practical implications – Shows how focusing training investment on the broad range of skills needed by SCM professionals can contribute to organizational effectiveness. Social implications – Highlights the importance of team leadership, influencing and higher-order problem-solving skills to the management of complex supply chain processes and organizational change. Originality/value – Draws attention to current gaps in SCM training and skills development and proposes ways to improve the return on investment in training.