How to Sell a Book? Insights from Romania

Many other famous intellectuals, artists and writers stress various positive aspects of reading. Scientific research in medicine and psychology also prove the positive outcomes of reading. Therefore, it is not a surprise that books are highly valued by societies. Nevertheless, book reading seems to be a rarity in some societies. Although reading is beneficial, the book market is not flourishing in many countries, including Romania. The present paper sets a framework for developing marketing strategies that could be used by Romanian publishers to attract more readers. The methodology comprises two parts. A first section is dedicated to the Romanian book market. Investigating its specificity helps us pinpoint the references for successful marketing strategies. The second part is based on the analysis of the scarce literature on marketing in the book industry in order to identify key aspects and vulnerabilities of marketing strategy in this sector

Theoretical studies of 31P NMR spectral properties of phosphanes and related compounds in solution

Selected theoretical methods, basis sets and solvation models have been tested in their ability to predict 31P NMR chemical shifts of large phosphorous-containing molecular systems in solution. The most efficient strategy was found to involve NMR shift calculations at the GIAO-MPW1K/6-311++G(2d,2p)//MPW1K/6-31G(d) level in combination with a dual solvation model including the explicit consideration of single solvent molecules and a continuum (PCM) solvation model. For larger systems it has also been established that reliable 31P shift predictions require Boltzmann averaging over all accessible conformations in solution

Innovation in the Book Market Retail. Preferences Among Romanian Readers

Today’s dynamic business environment forces companies to differentiate more than ever and focus on gaining long-term competitive advantages through innovation. The book market faces new challenges, mainly related to the shifting behaviour of readers. Innovation might be perceived as a path towards differentiation, attaining competitive advantage, and market success. Understanding the preferences of the readers and knowing the retail innovation trends could help all the decision-making actors of the book market adapt better to the dynamics of contemporary society and the business environment. The present paper aims at identifying the preferences of Romanian readers regarding the innovations employed in the book market retail.  To gather the data, we applied an online questionnaire to a sample of 486 respondents from Romania. The main conclusion of the study underlines that the consumers are not necessarily sensitive to technological innovation or an innovative format of the stores but are highly sensitive to the atmosphere in the bookstores and to the special offers of the bookstores

Actors of Creativity and Entrepreneurship in Romania

The new trends in the cultural and creative industries (CCI) that were theorized in the second half of the 20th century, simultaneously with the rapid development of technology, have created in post-communist Romania the premises of developing a new model of creative entrepreneurship. Nevertheless, the digitization of society and general strategic projects are not enough to create a catalyst for the explosion of entrepreneurial creativity. The unstable political climate and the lack of predictability have prompted the insecurity of the new business of "anonymous" creators - those who are not seen, those who are at the heart of cultural and creative industries - small and medium enterprises (SME), licensing individuals (PFA), family associations (AF). The Western models long described in the motivational literature published in Romania, as well as some notorious Romanian examples intensely publicized as the Romanian counterpart of Western companies, do not help and do not solve the generation of daily solutions or, more than that, Strategic Creative Solutions for grassroots companies. The present paper tries to define the terms necessary for the creative area and to analyze the situation today in Romania, presenting shortly, for comparison, the Western models, the Romanian models of notoriety, but also four examples of “anonymous” actors in the creative industries area: a floral workshop paper, an IT service company, a graphic design agency and a printing house. The conclusions of this punctual analysis are of an empirical nature, but they provide a picture of the fragility of the business environment in the area of cultural and creative industries, amid a timid and fragile but steady market growth

Bis(1H-pyrazole-κN 2)bis­(2,4,6-tri­isopropyl­benzoato-κO)cobalt(II)

The title compound, [Co(C16H23O2)2(C3H4N2)2] or (C3H4N2)2Co(O2CC6H2 iPr3-2,4,6), is a rare example of a tetra­coordinate cobalt(II) carboxyl­ate stabilized by ancillary N-heterocyclic ligands. The Co(II) ion resides on a crystallographic twofold axis so that the asymmetric unit comprises one half-mol­ecule. Due to the steric bulk of the 2,4,6-triisopropyl­phenyl substituents, the carboxyl­ate ligands are both coordinated in a monodentate fashion despite the low coordination number. The coordination geometry around the central Co(II) ion is distorted tetra­hedral with angles at Co ranging from 92.27 (18)° to 121.08 (14)°

Bis({tris[2-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-oxido­benzylideneamino)ethyl]amine}cerium(III)) diethyl ether solvate

The title compound, 2[Ce(C51H75N4O3)]·C4H10O, was obtained in high yield (92%) by reduction of (TRENDSAL)CeIVCl [TRENDSAL is N,N′,N′′-tris­(3,5-di-tert-butyl­salicyl­ide­natoamino)­triethyl­amine] with potassium in THF. The bulky tripodal TRENDSAL ligand effectively encapsulates the central CeIII cation with a Ce—N(imine) distance of 2.860 (2) Å and an average C—N(amine) distance of 2.619 Å within a distorted monocapped octahedral coordination

Aryltellurium(II) Iodide Complexes of Monodentate und Bidentate Organophosphane Selenides

In dieser Arbeit wurden, insbesondere unter Zuhilfenahme der Röntgenstrukturanalyse und der NMR-Spektroskopie, Untersuchungen zur Umsetzung von tert-Butyldiisopropyl- phosphanselenid und Brom, zum Verhalten von sterisch anspruchsvoll substituierten Trialkylphosphanseleniden gegenüber Aryltelluriodiden, sowie zur Reaktion von zweizähnigen Phosphanseleniden mit Halogenen und Aryltelluriodiden vorgestellt. Arentellurenyliodide RTeI verhalten sich gegenüber Phosphanseleniden als Iod-ähnliche Elektrophile: es werden koordinative Selen-Tellur Bindungen ausgebildet, wobei Tellur in T-förmiger Umgebung mit ungefähr linearer Se-Te-I-Einheit vorliegt (3-Zentren-4-Elektronen-System). In Lösung laufen rasche Austauschreaktionen ab (Se-, Te-NMR). Ungewöhnlich ist die Art der Kation-Anion-Wechselwirkung im 1:2-Produkt Di-tert-butylisopropylphosphanselenid-bis(p-tolyltelluriodid) (Te-Te: n-stern) Wechselwirkungen) und im Bis[(iodotelluroseleno)triisopropylphosphonium)]-hexaiodotellurat (Te-I: n-stern Wechselwirkungen). Ausgehend von Diphosphandiseleniden (DPPMSe2, DPPESe2), lassen sich bifunktionelle Komplexe erhalten. Daneben entstehen überraschenderweise auch geringe Mengen von TeI2-Komplexen. DPPMSe2 bildet mit TeI2 einen 6-Ring-Chelat (cis-TeI2). DPPESe2 hingegen entstehen unendliche Ketten, in denen quadratisch-planares Tellur in trans-Anordnung durch je zwei Iodatome und zwei Selenatome koordiniert ist.In this work, in particular with help of the X-ray structure analysis and NMR spectroscopy, the investigations of reactions involving tert-butyldiisopropyl-phosphane selenide and bromine, the behavior of the bulky trialkylphosphane selenides toward aryltellurium iodides, as well as the reaction of bidentate phosphane selenides with halogens and aryltellurium iodides were presented. Because of its similar electrophilic character, iodine was replaced by aryltellurium iodides RTeI to react with phosphane selenides resulting in the formation of coordinative-selenium-tellurium bonds, with tellurium adopting T-shaped environments with approximately linear Se-Te-I-units which can be represented as a 3-centers-4-electrons system. In solution, however, an equilibrium due to rapid exchange reactions between the reactants and products were established by Se-, Te-NMR. Unusual cation-anion interactions (Te-Te: n-(star) and Te-I: n-(star)) were observed in the two isolated products di-tert-butylisopropylphosphane-selenide-bis-(p-tolyltellurium-iodide) and bis[(iodotelluroseleno)triisopropylphosphonium)]- hexaiodotellurate, respectively. Starting from diphosphine diselenides (DPPMSe2, DPPESe2), bifunctional complexes with arenetellurenyl iodides were obtained. Surprisingly, small amounts of TeI2 complexes were also formed. DPPMSe2 established with TeI2 a 6-ring-chelate (cis-TeI2) whereas DPPESe2 generated networks of endless chains. Within these chains square-planar tellurium was coordinated in trans-arrangement by two iodine atoms and two selenium atoms

Tris(N,N′-diisopropyl­benzamidinato)cerium(III)

The title compound, [Ce(C13H19N2)3], was obtained in moderate yield (67%) by treatment of anhydrous cerium trichloride with three equivalents of Li[PhC(NiPr)2] in tetra­hydro­furan. It is the first homoleptic lanthanide complex of this amidinate ligand. The central CeIII ion is coordinated by three chelating benzamidinate anions in a distorted octa­hedral fashion, with Ce—N distances in the narrow range 2.482 (2)–2.492 (2) Å. The dihedral angles between the phenyl rings and the chelating N—C—N units are in the range 73.3–87.9°, thus preventing conjugation between the two π-systems. The mol­ecule is located on a twofold rotation axis, and one of the phenyl rings is equally disordered over two alternative symmetry-equivalent positions around this axis

Pleiotropic effects of niacin: Current possibilities for its clinical use

Niacin was the first hypolipidemic drug to significantly reduce both major cardiovascular events and mortality in patients with cardiovascular disease. Niacin favorably influences all lipoprotein classes, including lipoproteina,and belongs to the most potent hypolipidemic drugs for increasing HDL-C. Moreover, niacin causes favorable changes to the qualitative composition of lipoprotein HDL. In addition to its pronounced hypolipidemic action, niacin exerts many other, non-hypolipidemic effects (e.g., antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, antithrombotic), which favorably influence the development and progression of atherosclerosis. These effects are dependent on activation of the specific receptor HCA2. Recent results published by the two large clinical studies, AIM-HIGH and HPS2-THRIVE, have led to the impugnation of niacin’s role in future clinical practice. However, due to several methodological flaws in the AIM-HIGH and HPS2-THRIVE studies, the pleiotropic effects of niacin now deserve thorough evaluation. This review summarizes the present and possible future use of niacin in clinical practice in light of its newly recognized pleiotropic effects