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Ai technologies in the civil court administration
No full textThe article examines the new artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that are entering the civil courts and other administrations and that may have a profound impact on civil procedure. A comparative legal overview is given of tools developed on the basis of machine learning and already used by judicial administrations in third countries. A forecast of future risks is given and some concerns related to the implementation of artificial intelligence in courts; including in Bulgaria; are outlined. An issue is raised that has not yet been widely discussed by lawyers around the world – the symbiosis between the judiciary and artificial intelligence
Online Teaching and Learning: New Dimensions
No full textThe article focuses on the variables of foreign language teaching and learning online vis-à-vis traditional classroom methods. Aspects to be discussed range from the subjective factors for both students and tutors that can be motivating (mobile access, swift feedback, automated marking, individual tasks, etc.) or demotivating (technical glitches, lack of technical support, extra work for lecturers, etc.), to objective factors that facilitate online learning in general (increase in student attendance, fast internet, the ‘digital natives’ generation, among others). Some synchronous, asynchronous and hybrid language learning online platforms will be highlighted with an emphasis on the different possibilities that they present and the weighing of their advantages and drawbacks. This essay will also touch upon the emergence of online education, examining its key drivers, advantages, challenges, and the implications for the future of learning
Conceptualizing visual metaphors in high tech products advertising: Results and conclusions from an empirical research
Full text linkThe use of visual metaphors is a popular method of advertising nowadays. This paper briefly reviews the theoretical framework of metaphorical expression in advertising, and particularly the use of visual metaphors. It then continues with presenting results and findings from an empirical study on the use of visual metaphors in the ads of high-tech products. Given the nature of metaphors, the analysis is based on both qualitative and quantitative readings of the data, in order to reach more insightful conclusions. Based on the research findings and following the theoretical introduction, the paper concludes with implications and guidelines for the marketing utility of exploring the meaning and other features of visual metaphors
Conceptualizing digital reality through metaphors in public service announcements: A semiotic perspective
Full text linkThis article discusses the conceptualization of digital reality through metaphors in public service announcements (PSAs), employing a semiotic perspective. PSA is viewed as a complex sign in the space of culture generated by social institutions to be shared with the general public and to raise awareness about important issues of society. The discussion is based on three basic claims: firstly, as digital reality increasingly spreads throughout modern life, digital technology shapes how we understand and experience the world and profoundly alters meanings and cognitive structures; secondly, the creation and reconfiguration of meanings and cognitive structures caused by digital artifacts occurs through metaphorization processes resulting in the creation of digital metaphors; thirdly, digital metaphors are the driving force behind creation and a way of producing original PSAs and display commitment to innovation reflected in the selection of signs. The article proposes a theoretical framework that integrates the concepts of “digital metaphor” and “representation” in Peircean view, thus creating a semiotic perspective of interpreting the “discoverability” i.e. public perception and comprehension of PSAs. Special attention is paid to the multimodal nature of the complex cultural signs under study and the representative characters of different representamens. The analysis of some PSAs containing digital metaphors is provided to substantiate the potential of the suggested theoretical framework. The article draws inspiration from works by Charles S. Peirce (1903), Umberto Eco (2014), Ibrus Indrek and Peeter Torop (2015), Kristian Bankov (2022), Eric Chown and Fernando Nascimento (2023), and others
Regulatory Basis for Counteracting Corruption and Confiscation of Illegally Acquired Property
No full textThe article examines the emergence and development of the Bulgarian legislation governing the fight against corruption and the legal institute for confiscation of illegally acquired property in favor of the state. The subject of analysis are the strategic goals of the current legislation, the establishment of illegally acquired property, the concepts and measures for countering corruption
Figures of Negativity in Julia Kristeva from “Poetry and Negativity” to Black Sun
Full text linkThis paper traces the role negativity played in Kristeva’s writings from the 1960s to the 1980s, i.e. from early texts such as “Poetry and Negativity” through Revolution in Poetic Language and Polylogue to Powers of Horror and Black Sun. On the one hand, negativity allows for a reconstruction of Kristeva’s conceptual development from the early “structuralist” work to her psychoanalytic turn. The paper demonstrates in what way the theorization of negativity opened the way for a new form of engagement with psychoanalysis. On the other hand, negativity helps to recontextualize Kristeva’s conceptions within the broader horizon of her contemporary theoretical scene. Negativity helps to delineate her unique position in the latter vis-à-vis thinkers such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacque Derrida, Jean-François Lyotard, Jean-Luc Nancy, etc., and simultaneously vis-à-vis the psychoanalytical work of Jacques Lacan, André Green, and others. The paper also contains a philosophical stake. By rereading and reevaluating Kristeva’s take on negativity it shows in what sense Kristeva’s work poses an ontological question about negativity that is at the same time a question about the possible redefinition of matter
The Element "Use of Narcotic or Analogue Drugs" under Art. 343b (3) Criminal Code of the Republic of Bulgaria
No full textThe study focuses on the theoretical and practical problems that arise from the formulation "after use of narcotic or analogue drugs" as a main objective characteristic of the crime under Article 343b(3) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Bulgaria. It is argued that the driving of a motor vehicle in the formal presence of this characteristic does not always constitute an act of a high degree of public danger. That argument is because public danger is created by the driving of a motor vehicle by a driver who is unable to carry out that activity properly and safely because of the use of narcotic or analogue drugs. In that connection, the content of the concepts of "after the use" of narcotic or analogue drugs and "under the influence" of such substances is examined, a distinction being drawn between them on the basis of the science of "toxicology" as a source of the special knowledge required. A number of hypotheses are reviewed. It is argued that under those hypotheses the application of Article 9(2) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Bulgaria on the insignificance or the obvious insignificance of driving a motor vehicle after the use of narcotic drugs or their analogues may be considered
Metaphors of subversion in surveillance art photography
Full text linkThe study addresses the way in which visual and discourse metaphors embody subversion in contemporary forms of documentary photography which investigate and illustrate the issue of surveillance. Surveillance art is part of a new configuration of the vigilance phenomena entailed by massive digitalization, in which the classic roles of the observer and the observed have been replaced by complex participatory dynamics.
Combining social and cognitive semiotic approaches from a theoretical point of view, the analysis dwells on a corpus formed of imagery by Hasan Elahi, Tomas van Houtryve, Mishka Henner. The purpose is to detect and discuss a typology of visual metaphors, as well as metaphorizations of situations in curatorial and other discursive practices which accompany the photographic projects.
Grammar of Visual Design by Kress and van Leeuwen will serve as the main theoretical starting point in defining and explaining a series of internal structures and visual mechanisms which produce a diverse array of subversive effects. The study further aims to discuss metaphors related to discourse practices, since all the art projects belonging to the aesthetics of surveillance are accompanied by an ample series of textual instances. There is also the hybrid manifestation, in which we can speak of interplay between images and texts. The aim is to create counter narrative effects, a phenomenon which can be considered a form of artistic hacktivism.
Finally, we will argue that the resemantization of images and the perceptive implications related to this process are part of a deep social and psychological phenomenon. They represent a powerful indicator of the radical changes in the way in which we define the private and public sphere through the digital lens
Language Brokering in Healthcare Settings in Spain: An Insight Based on Testimonies
No full textThere were 6,491,502 foreign residents living in Spain in January 2024, a number that indicates a significant increase since the beginning of the 21st century. Among this foreign population, the largest communities are Moroccans, Romanians and British, whose mother tongue is not Spanish. According to the results from several studies conducted over the last decades, when these allophone residents use the Spanish healthcare services, they frequently ask their children to help them communicate with healthcare providers through linguistic and cultural mediation, even when professional interpreting or mediation services are available. How did these children feel while mediating for their parents in this context? Did they have any negative experiences? We intend to provide answers to these questions through semi-structured individual interviews with adults who had mediated for their parents in healthcare settings in Spain when they were children or young adults. These answers contribute to a clear understanding of the consequences of language brokering, thus promoting the use of professional interpreting and mediation services in these settings