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Purpose: Visually impaired people (VIP) find it challenging to understand and gain awareness of their surroundings. Most activities require the use of the auditory or tactile senses. As such, assistive systems which are capable of aiding visually impaired people to understand, navigate and form a mental representation of their environment are extensively being studied and developed. The aim of this paper is to provide insight regarding the characteristics, as well as the advantages and drawbacks of different types of sonification strategies in assistive systems, to assess their suitability for certain use-cases. Materials and methods: To this end, we reviewed a sizeable number of assistive solutions for VIP which provide a form of auditory feedback to the user, encountered in different scientific databases (Scopus, IEEE Xplore, ACM and Google Scholar) through direct searches and cross-referencing. Results: We classified these solutions based on the aural information they provide to the VIP – alerts, guidance and information about their environment, be it spatial or semantic. Our intention is not to provide an exhaustive review, but to select representative implementations from recent literature that highlight the particularities of each sonification approach. Conclusions: Thus, anyone who is intent on developing an assistive solution will be able to choose the desired sonification class, being aware of the advantages/disadvantages and at the same time having a fairly wide selection of articles from the representative class. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: The motivation behind this paper is to provide an overview of sonification strategies in the context of assistive systems for the visually impaired people. Whilst surveys and reviews which provide in-depth insights into assistive technologies and sonification exist, papers which provide a combined view of these topics are rather lacking. The analysis of the selected papers provides insight regarding the characteristics of different types of sonification strategies in assistive systems for visually impaired people and their suitability for certain use-cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to define political memes as belonging to the genre of political satire and part of Romanian political culture, to outline their characteristics and functionality, and to indicate that the phenomenon of political meme-sharing is a cultural phenomenon with growing significance based on the highly affective usage of memes that allow for the recontextualization of past political events in accordance with the new realities of the Romanian political and cultural space. Using the case study that is included, which takes into account how the awareness of the political context is the basis of the memes and the features of the memes themselves, the author shows that memes can be considered a type of informal, non-conventional form of political participation and considers this in relation to the political landscape of a post-communist country, thus determining that memes are a novel element that should be considered when dealing with civic culture at large, and digital civic culture specifically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Precision oncology approaches patients in a personalized manner based on their own tumor molecular profile, which can be investigated nowadays by NGS assay. Regardless of their incidence, in many cancers, including NSCLC, tissue harvesting for analysis purposes is an issue. Therefore, alternative methods for analyzing tumor-derived genetic material, such as liquid biopsy, hold great potential in overcoming this disadvantage and opening personalization perspectives for these patients. The main aim of the current study was to distinguish the potential differences between the molecular landscapes found in the tumor tissue and in plasma samples harvested from patients with NSCLC by NGS. As a result, we validated the potential use of the Ion Torrent™ platform and technology for NGS of cfNAs in NSCLC using Oncomine™ Pan-Cancer Cell-Free Assay as a valuable tool for prospective NSCLC monitoring and therapy modulation in a dual tissue/plasma analysis setup. Lung cancer ranks second worldwide after breast cancer and third in Europe after breast and colorectal cancers when both sexes and all ages are considered. In this context, the aim of this study was to emphasize the power of dual analysis of the molecular profile both in tumor tissue and plasma by NGS assay as a liquid biopsy approach with impact on prognosis and therapy modulation in NSCLC patients. NGS analysis was performed both from tissue biopsies and from cfNAs isolated from peripheral blood samples. Out of all 29 different mutations detectable by both NGS panels (plasma and tumor tissue), seven different variants (24.13%; EGFR L858R in two patients, KRAS G13D and Q61H and TP53 G244D, V197M, R213P, and R273H) were detected only in plasma and not in the tumor itself. These mutations were detected in seven different patients, two of them having known distant organ metastasis. Our data show that NGS analysis of cfDNA could identify actionable mutations in advanced NSCLC and, therefore, this analysis could be used to monitor the disease progression and the treatment response and even to modulate the therapy in real time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the recent years, online communication and collaboration applications have been extensively used in teaching, learning, and research. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the attitudes and perceptions of higher education students concerning these applications and their use in learning activities. The research was conducted on 748 Romanian students. The findings have revealed that social networks represent the main category of communication and collaboration applications used for learning purposes. Additionally, gender-induced differences have been found, as well as variances among undergraduates and graduates by several dimensions of the unified technology acceptance model, while students' learning engagement proved to mediate the relationship between personality traits, technology self-efficacy, and the use of collaboration tools. The paper also offers a comparative analysis between the students' and the academics' responses to the use of online communication and collaboration applications in the same cultural and organizational context. Practical implications are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper aims at providing an insight into the benefits that content and language integrated learning (CLIL) can bring to the teaching of business English in higher education, given the place of the English language in the European Union and the competitive advantages it offers on the international labour market. The first part of the paper puts emphasis on some historical facts related to CLIL, presents the EU position with respect to this teaching approach and introduces its characteristics. The second part shows how, in the absence of the dual-focus CLIL, this methodology can be adapted and successfully integrated in business English classes, by applying the four elements of the CLIL conceptual framework: content, communication, culture and cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper aims at providing an insight into the benefits that content and language integrated learning (CLIL) can bring to the teaching of business English in higher education, given the place of the English language in the European Union and the competitive advantages it offers on the international labour market. The first part of the paper puts emphasis on some historical facts related to CLIL, presents the EU position with respect to this teaching approach and introduces its characteristics. The second part shows how, in the absence of the dual-focus CLIL, this methodology can be adapted and successfully integrated in business English classes, by applying the four elements of the CLIL conceptual framework: content, communication, culture and cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present paper is to offer an overview of the language policies proposed by the Council of Europe and the European Commission and implemented at European level over the last decades. In this context, reference is going to be made to the language competences that students are expected to have at the end of the cycles of education, with emphasis on higher education, as well as to teaching methods which have proven to be particularly efficient as regards languages for specific purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present paper is to offer an overview of the language policies proposed by the Council of Europe and the European Commission and implemented at European level over the last decades. In this context, reference is going to be made to the language competences that students are expected to have at the end of the cycles of education, with emphasis on higher education, as well as to teaching methods which have proven to be particularly efficient as regards languages for specific purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the dynamics of trade at EU level, using panel data for the 28 Member States (MS). The relationship between GDP, population level, imports and exports for the period 2010-2017 is analyzed. Afterwords we move to a particular case, namely the United Kingdom using data series for the period 2008 - 2017and the same variables as above. In this case, the relationship between GDP, exports and population level will be analyzed. In both cases, the data source is Eurostat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper focuses on teaching business English at university level, given the place of the English language in the European Union and the general objective to have a common European higher education area. The paper is divided into four parts: the first part presents some aspects related to foreign languages in Europe and the advantages they offer on an increasingly dynamic labour market, the second part gives an overview of business English in some Romanian and European universities offering programmes of study in economics, the third part makes reference to the competences that students in economics should develop during their undergraduate and graduate studies and to the challenges involved, while the last part presents some conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper aims at giving an overview of the particular features of teaching English to students in tourism, a field which has seen a considerable development over the recent period. The paper is divided into four parts: the first part offers an introduction to the importance of English in this field and an overall presentation of the target population; the second part focuses on the four categories of competences that teachers should develop during the foreign language class; the third part makes reference to the teaching materials to be used with a view to enhancing students' language proficiency; the last part presents some possible challenges language teachers and their students have to cope with to successfully accomplish the learning objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from the assumption that writing is an invaluable tool in business communication, the present paper aims at looking into ways of enhancing business writing skills in English for economics undergraduates. The paper is divided into three main parts: the first part introduces the challenges of teaching Business English; the second part focuses on additional challenges brought about by teaching writing in a foreign language, while the last part presents the characteristics of a writing course currently piloted on undergraduate students of the Faculty of Economic Sciences, Transilvania University of Brasov. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual and augmented reality technologies have known an impressive market evolution due to their potential to provide immersive experiences. However, they still have significant difficulties to enable fully fledged, consumer-ready applications that can handle complex tasks such as multi-user collaboration or time-persistent experiences. In this context, CultReal is a rapid creation and deployment platform for augmented reality (AR), aiming to revitalize cultural spaces. The platform's content management system stores a representation of the environment, together with a database of multimedia objects that can be associated with a location. The localization component fuses data from beacons and from video cameras, providing an accurate estimation of the position and orientation of the visitor's smartphone. A mobile application running the localization component displays the augmented content, which is seamlessly integrated with the real world. The paper focuses on the series of steps required to compute the position and orientation of the user's mobile device, providing a comprehensive evaluation with both virtual and real data. Pilot implementations of the system are also described in the paper, revealing the potential of the platform to enable rapid deployment in new cultural spaces. Offering these functionalities, CultReal will allow for the fast development of AR solutions in any location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the online learning of foreign languages at higher education level has represented a way to adapt to the restrictions imposed worldwide. The aim of the present article is to analyse university students' behaviours, emotions and perceptions associated to online foreign language learning during the pandemic and their correlates by using a mixed approach. The research used the Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) scale and tools developed by the authors, focusing on task value, self-perceived foreign language proficiency, stressors and responses in online foreign language learning during the pandemic. Some of the results, such as the negative association between anxiety and FLE, are consistent with those revealed in studies conducted in normal times. Other results are novel, such as the protective role of retrospective enjoyment in trying times or the higher level of enjoyment with lower-achieving students. Reference is made to students' preferences for certain online resources during the pandemic (e.g., preference for PowerPoint presentations) and to their opinions regarding the use of entirely or partially online foreign language teaching in the post-COVID period. The quantitative results are fostered by the respondents' voices in the qualitative research. The consequences of these results are discussed with respect to the teacher-student relationship in the online environment and to the implications for sustainable online foreign language learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]