Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai
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Antifungal activity of lactic acid bacteria against Aspergillus niger and Fusarium oxysporum
Full text linkMany fungi are viewed as contaminants in nearly all food products. This contamination can be affected by various pollutants, including natural toxins. Among these toxins are mycotoxins produced by mold pathogens that affect plants. Combating these pathogens is essential in the agri-food industry, and the development of innovative strategies like biopreservation presents a promising solution. This study aims to isolate lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from fermented cow’s milk and examine their antifungal properties against Aspergillus niger and Fusarium oxysporum. The LAB were identified through morphological, biochemical, and MALDI-Tof analyses. Five strains of LAB sourced from fermented cow’s milk were evaluated for their antifungal activity using both the streak method and the double-layer method. The LAB isolates displayed inhibitory effects against Aspergillus niger and Fusarium oxysporum, showing a significant reduction in mean fungal diameter in comparison to the control, with these isolates categorizing under the Lactobacillus genus. The Fusarium oxysporum strain exhibited greater sensitivity to LAB compared to the Aspergillus niger strain. No decrease in antifungal activity was noted after subjecting the inhibitory metabolites in LAB supernatants to temperature treatments (4℃, 45℃, 60℃, and 100℃). After treatment with the proteolytic enzyme (chymotrypsin), no alterations in inhibition zones were observed. Inhibition was noted at an acidic pH for all strains. Investigating the nature of the inhibitory metabolites of LAB through thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and following their characterization allowed us to conclude that the antifungal properties of this LAB are attributed to the production of lactic and acetic acids.
Article history: Received 15 January 2025; Revised 28 October 2025;Accepted 28 October 2025; Available online 20 December 202
LE ROUMAIN LANGUE D\u27HÉRITAGE : LE CAS DES ÉTUDIANTS FRANCOPHONES EN MÉDECINE. ORIENTATIONS ET APPROCHES
Full text linkRomanian as a Heritage Language: The Case of Francophone Medical Students. Directions and Approaches. This study offers a sociolinguistic analysis of oral proficiency in Romanian as a heritage language among second-generation francophone students coming back to study in Romania. Focused on a small group of students, within the framework of the student scientific circle Cultures and Heritage Languages, the study analyzed both prepared monologic discourse and spontaneous interactions to highlight phenomena such as linguistic interference, grammatical instability, and phonetic particularities, as well as, more schematically, their levels of plurilingual and mediation competence. The study is grounded in theoretical perspectives on plurilingualism in the context of international academic mobility, with an emphasis on how the heritage language is maintained, used, and valued in real educational and social settings. The results reveal variations in linguistic competence correlated with the degree of formal exposure to Romanian, the context of language use, the level of proficiency attained, and the family\u27s involvement in maintaining the heritage language. The findings point out a direct relationship between formal exposure, language acquisition, and proficiency level. The research supports theoretical trends in European heritage language studies while bringing into focus the characteristics of Romanian as a heritage language in the context of a temporary return to the language’s original linguistic environment.
REZUMAT. Limba română moștenită. Cazul studenților mediciniști francofoni. Direcții și abordări. Lucrarea analizează dintr-o perspectivă sociolingvistică competențele de exprimare orală în limba română moștenită în rândul studenților francofoni din a doua generație, care se întorc în România pentru studii. În cadrul cercului științific studențesc Culturi și limbi moștenite s-a realizat o analiză pe un grup restrâns de studenți, pe baza discursurilor monologale și a interacțiunilor spontane pentru a evidenția fenomenele de interferență, instabilitate gramaticală și particularități fonetice și, mai schematic, nivelul competenței plurilingve și de mediere. Studiul pornește de la premisele teoretice ale plurilingvismului în contextul mobilității academice internaționale, punând accent pe modul în care limba moștenită este întreținută, folosită și valorificată în contexte educaționale și sociale reale. Rezultatele indică variații în competența lingvistică, corelate cu gradul de expunere formală la limba română, mediul de utilizare a limbii, nivelul de competență atins și implicarea familială în conservarea limbii moștenite. Datele obținute evidențiază o relație directă între gradul de expunere formală la limba română, achiziția limbii și nivelul de competență atins. Cercetarea confirmă direcțiile teoretice din studiile europene privind limbile moștenite și subliniază specificitatea limbii române moștenite în contextul revenirii temporare în spațiul lingvistic de origine.
Cuvinte-cheie: bilingvism, limbă moștenită, competență lingvistică, interferență, sociolingvistică, româna ca limbă moștenită
Article history: Received 6 June 2025; Revised 25 October 2025; Accepted 30 October 2025; Available online 12 December 2025; Available print 30 December 2025
LITERATURE’S RESPONSE TO INFORMATION OVERLOAD IN DON DELILLO’S WHITE NOISE
Full text linkLiterature’s Response to Information Overload in Don DeLillo’s White Noise. The present article examines the novel White Noise through the intersecting theoretical frameworks of Paul Virilio’s dromology, and Jean Baudrillard’s simulacral theory, proposing that DeLillo constructs an epistemological model of modern life as mediated risk perception. Virilio’s theories on the acceleration of information flow frame the novel’s temporal anxiety, whilst Baudrillard’s notion of hyperreality explains the characters’ dependence on simulated knowledge. Together, these frameworks reveal how DeLillo’s fiction translates abstract theoretical notions into lived experience, positioning narrative as both a mirror and critique of late modern consciousness. This paper argues that in White Noise, DeLillo transforms narrative fragmentation and sensory saturation—both formal strategies and moral critiques of late-capitalist modernity—into a distinctive literary aesthetics of excess. By examining how his style enacts a crisis of perception, the study demonstrates the impossibility of coherence in a hypermediated age, drawing on theoretical frameworks from Virilio and Baudrillard to illuminate the sociocultural stakes of perceptual excess.
REZUMAT. Răspunsul literaturii la supraîncărcarea informațională în White Noise de Don Delillo. Prezentul articol examinează romanul White Noise prin intermediul cadrelor teoretice intersectate ale dromologiei lui Paul Virilio și ale teoriei simulacrului formulate de Jean Baudrillard, propunând că DeLillo construiește un model epistemologic al vieții moderne ca percepție mediatizată a riscului. Teoriile lui Virilio privind accelerarea fluxului informațional conturează anxietatea temporală a romanului, în timp ce noțiunea lui de hiperrealitate a lui Baudrillard explică dependența personajelor de cunoașterea simulată. Împreună, aceste cadre evidențiază modul în care ficțiunea lui DeLillo traduce noțiuni teoretice abstracte în experiență trăită, poziționând narațiunea ca oglindă și critică a conștiinței modernității târzii. Lucrarea susține că în White Noise DeLillo transformă fragmentarea narativă și saturația senzorială — atât strategii formale, cât și critici morale ale modernității târziu-capitaliste — într-o estetică literară distinctă a excesului. Prin examinarea modului în care stilul său înscenează o criză a percepției, studiul demonstrează imposibilitatea coerenței într-o epocă hiper-mediată, valorificând cadre teoretice din Virilio și Baudrillard pentru a ilumina mizele socioculturale ale excesului perceptiv.
Cuvinte-cheie: ficțiune postmodernă, consumism, cultură digitală, saturație mediatică
Article history: Received 27 July 2025; Revised 16 November 2025; Accepted 25 November 2025; Available online 12 December 2025; Available print 30 December 2025
 
OLDIES BUT GOLDIES: THE POTENTIAL OF CHARACTER N-GRAMS FOR ROMANIAN TEXTS
Full text linkThis study addresses the problem of authorship attribution for Romanian texts using the ROST corpus, a standard benchmark in the field. We systematically evaluate six machine learning techniques — Support Vector Machine (SVM), Logistic Regression (LR), k-Nearest Neighbors (k-NN), Decision Trees (DT), Random Forests (RF), and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), employing character n-gram features for classification. Among these, the ANN model achieved the highest performance, including perfect classification in four out of fifteen runs when using 5-gram features. These results demonstrate that lightweight, interpretable character n-gram approaches can deliver state-of-the-art accuracy for Romanian authorship attribution, rivaling more complex methods. Our findings highlight the potential of simple stylometric features in resource-constrained or under-studied language settings.
2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. 68T50.1998 CR Categories and Descriptors. I.2.7 [Artificial Intelligence]: Natural Language Processing – Text Analysis; I.2.6 [Artificial Intelligence]: Learning – Induction
INTEGRATING MUSIC ITEMS IN GIFTED SCREENING TEST: VALIDATION STRATEGIES IN MALAYSIA
Full text linkThis study investigates the integration of music-related components into a gifted screening test to enhance the identification of artistic and music giftedness. Focusing on Malaysia’s educational context, the research develops and evaluates music items embedded in a standardized test, targeting students’ cognitive and creative abilities. A mixed-method design was employed, incorporating quantitative data from 414 students and qualitative insights from expert interviews and observations. Rasch model analysis revealed that the music items, particularly melody awareness and music interval recognition, effectively differentiated students based on ability. The study concludes that integrating music into gifted screening tests provides a more inclusive approach, recognizing diverse talents, and supporting a holistic evaluation of giftedness beyond conventional academic metrics
HISTORICAL DUALITIES IN THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF MUSIC MANAGEMENT HISTORY
Full text linkThe topic of the oscillation between elite and community, education and entertainment, tradition and innovation has always been regarded as a point of tension in constructing managerial strategies in artistic contexts. Our analysis pursues the historical evolution of music administration, from the ancient rudimentary forms to the aristocratic patronage and the emergence of the entrepreneur-artist, in order to highlight the ways in which managerial practices have maintained a close relationship with the social, economic, and cultural dynamics of the various historical periods. We have undertaken to offer a theoretical framework in order to understand the phenomenon of the dichotomy between “high niche art” and “commercial mass art”, as well as to find arguments validated by history for the construction of contemporary management strategies. The study relies on historical analyses completed by the documentary interpretation of a range of important artistic events and phenomena from various periods. It is a diachronic type of research, which we have structured according to successive stages, in order to capture the manner in which this “managerial duality” has developed and to understand its impact on the organization of the artistic phenomenon throughout history
The Role of Pet Attachment, Emotion Regulation and Perceived Parental Practices in Adults’ Psychological Well-Being. A Pilot Study
Full text linkPsychological well-being is widely regarded as a robust indicator and precursor of mental health. It is shaped by personal (e.g., emotion regulation strategies) and interpersonal factors, as well as life experiences encountered during development (e.g., used parental practices, emotional climate in the family, quality of social ties, etc.). Supportive parenting in childhood promotes better life-long mental health, whereas controlling or neglectful parenting practices increase vulnerability. Adequate attachment to pets may buffer unmet needs of belonging and foster resilience. The major objective of the present pilot study was to investigate the relationship and explicative power in adult psychological well-being of remembered early parental practices, pet-related variables (childhood desire for pet, current pet ownership) and adult psychological mechanisms, such as cognitive emotion regulation strategies and current attachment to pets. A total of 196 female participants were included in the study and were assessed along the following dimensions: psychological well-being, remembered parental practices, cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CERQ), current pet attachment, childhood desire to have pets, current pet ownership. We conducted three 2x2x2 ANCOVAs examining the dichotomized version (low vs. high) of each of the three remembered parental practices (warmth, rejection, overprotection), childhood desire to have pets (desired and owned vs. desired and not owned), and current pet ownership (yes-no), with emotion regulation strategies and current pet attachment entered as covariates, on psychological well-being. Across the tested models, adaptive and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies emerged as the most powerful predictors of adult psychological well-being. We also found that pets may function as significant emotional resources, especially for those participants who remember to have experienced high levels of parental rejection in childhood. The results of this study may have valorous theoretical and practical implications by shedding further light on the relative importance of distal (remembered parental practices) and proximal factors (emotion regulation strategies, current pet ownership) in predicting psychological well-being
eLearning Platforms Adoption and Use in Universities: a SEM Approach
Full text linkELearning platforms adoption and use by university students has become prevalent worldwide, developing nations still lag behind. This study aims to establish critical paths amongst determinants of “behavioural Intention” and “use behaviour” in eLearning platforms adoption and use by university students. The PLS-SEM method was used to evaluate the modified unified theory of acceptance and use of technology path model. A sample of 520 university students from Zimbabwe was used to collect data using an online survey created on Google Forms. The findings show that “Habit” had the most influence (0.804) on “Behavioural Intention,” followed by “Performance Expectancy” (0.319) and “Effort Expectancy” (0.270). Behavioural Intention had a significant influence (0.831) on “Use Behaviour.” The path model explains 88.8% of “Behavioural Intention,” and 76.1% of “Use Behaviour” variances. This study, though limited, is significant to students in higher education, policy makers and researchers given the importance of technology in the education sector
HOSPITAL PASTORAL CARE AS THE REALIZATION OF THE CHURCH’S MISSIONARY IDENTITY IN LIGHT OF THE ECCLESIOLOGY OF THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL
Full text linkThis article examines hospital pastoral care as a practical expression of the missionary identity of the Catholic Church in the light of the ecclesiological paradigm shift that emerged with Vatican II. Based on the documents of the Council, this work shows how the missiology, ecclesiology, lay participation, and ecumenical perspective promoted by Vatican II have contributed to a new conception of contemporary hospital pastoral care. I explore the way the new ecclesiological paradigm reflected in the conciliar documents and its reception in Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium have shaped the understanding and practice of hospital pastoral care as part of the mission of the Catholic Church.
Article history: Received 10.04.2025; Revised 29.08.2025; Accepted 10.09.2025.Available online: 22.12.2025; Available print: 30.01.2026
The Perceptions of Science by Calvinists, Lutherans, Unitarians and Religious Dissents in East-Central Europe from Seventeenth Century Till Today
No full textThe outcome of this special issue which was made possible by a generous support by John Templeton Grant administered through Oxford University enabled the Principal Investigator, Prof. Dr. Ábrahám Kovács to launch a project in Science and Faith in East-Central Europe in 2023. The research focused on how the relationship between science and Christian faith of Calvinists, Lutherans, Unitarians and Religious Dissenters has been perceived and conceptualised in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Therefore, the project sought to investigate how Protestants from various Christian standpoints, theological and philosophical convictions related to science in East-Central European region from the 17th century till today