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In the last two decades the web expansion from web of things to web of thought presents a real provocation for governments across societies to achieve citizens' expectations. The transition from e-government to digital government from reactive to proactive service delivery mechanisms is one of the governments main challenges worldwide. The aim of this paper is to analyse the readiness of governments across Europe for the transition from the traditional e-government to digital government. In the paper the digital government is analyzed comparatively with the e-government and focusing on the main differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction provides some insights on this special issue of Mortality, entitled Dying and Death in Former Communist European Countries, setting the issue against the general background of death studies and, more specifically, of death studies in eastern European countries. Some relevant references to the Dying and Death in 18th-21st Century Europe International Conference, organised in Romania, at the '1 Decembrie 1918ʹ University of Alba Iulia, Romania, between 2007 and 2019, are also made. The rationale and also the limitations of this special issue are brought into attention. The papers that form this issue are briefly presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2015 refugee crisis has held the attention of Romanian news media, as one of the most challenging issues for the European Union in the last decade, even though Romania is not situated on the main routes on which refugees arrive. Our research focuses on the variation of issue-specific news frames in time, according to media type, and by the countries covered, also addressing the locally salient issue of religion. Articles from the websites of the top-ranked six Romanian news outlets were analyzed, including three quality papers and three tabloids (N=6,183), from 1 April 2015 to 30 September 2017. Using a computer-assisted, cluster-based frame analysis, we identify six primary, mutually exclusive and six secondary, nonexclusive frames: European crisis, context/victimization, relocation/distribution, international conflict, and social problem, national costs, religious issues, US immigration policy, humanitarian/international. The variations in their salience follow the general European tendency toward securitization. At the same time, the emphasis on the issue as a European crisis indicates a tendency characteristic of Central and Eastern European media coverage. Co-occurrence patterns of frames and specific countries also indicate that the salience of some globally recurrent frames varies by countries covered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper seeks to contribute to the better knowledge of the parental rocks of different soil types that are found in Romania, as well as their share in the country's territory. During its geological-geographical evolution, on Romania’s territory various geological (petrographic) formations have been formed, from crystalline rocks to loams, sands, fluvial and organic deposits. Because the types of rocks are numerous and their territorial distribution changes in narrower areas, the paper aims to group them according to their associating mode, genesis, as well as to their contribution to soil formation. The paper introduces a new map of solification rocks in Romania, scale 1:1.000.000, which aims not only to their theoretical classification, but also to determine the surfaces occupied by each category, and their distribution on the country's major relief units. In addition to the new map, achieved after the processing and updating of different cartographical materials using GIS techniques, information regarding the soil types formed on each category of parental rocks is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a short analysis of the ecclesiological and missiological context that led to the establishment of the Romanian Pentecostal Agency for Foreign Mission (APME). It states the main steps in the process of the development of the organization in its first decade of existence (2006–2016), during which it became one of the youngest and most dynamic missionary structures in Europe. It describes the process of the birth of APME and the important role the founding team played in the existence of the agency and in articulating the mission, vision, values, and work philosophy. The main section will present the components of APME's work strategy which led to implementing the vision and reaching the objectives: mobilizing the churches, recruiting, training, sending, supporting missionaries, and promoting the ministry. A short section will show the crucial importance of internal and foreign partnerships in the activity of APME. In the final part we will list the main lessons learned in the ten years of APME's existence that can be shared with other mission organizations, as well as the challenges that the organization faces over the next few years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aimed to analyze the development of organic agriculture in the world, the EU and Romania, based on the statistical data for the period 2006-2010 and the index, share and comparison methods. Organic agriculture covers 34.04 Million ha at world level, of which 26.99 % in Europe and 32.08 % in Oceania. The largest areas in organic agriculture are in Australia, Argentina, the USA, Brazil, Spain, China and Italy. At world level, there are 1.6 million organic producers, over 63 % operating in Africa and Asia, especially in India, Uganda and Mexico. In 2010, organic food sales accounted for Euro 44.5 Billions of which 50 % in Europe. In the same year, the organic agriculture area increased by 20 % in the EU-27 and reached 9.01 million ha and continues to grow, representing 5.10 % of agricultural land. The larges areas in organic agriculture are in Spain, Italy, Germany and France. In the EU-27 there are 219,290 organic producers of which 40 % in Italy, Spain, Germany and Austria. In 2010, Romania's area in organic agriculture was 300,205 ha, 2 times higher than in 2006. A number of 10,253 organic operators were registered in 2010, representing 4.67 %, of the EU number. The main organic products are cereals, vegetables, wine, honey, dairy products, representing a chance for Romania's export on the EU market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the subcrustal earthquakes located at the sharp bend of the Southeast Carpathians, Vrancea zone in Romania has a high potential seismic hazard in Europe. Among several seismic precursors, radon anomalies in air, ground, and groundwater in the epicentral areas can be associated with the strain stress changes that occurred before and after earthquakes. In order to support this theoretical view, the main aim of this paper was to investigate temporal variations of radon concentration levels in air near the ground and in ground air by the use of solid state nuclear track detectors CR-39 and LR-115 in relation with some seismic events at two seismic stations Vrancioaia and Plostina, located in Vrancea active region. This paper reports essentially the observation of radon concentration levels in the air near the ground at 1 m height for the earthquakes that occurred during the period of November 2010-October 2011 and moment magnitudes M in the range of $$ 2.0 \le M_{\text{w}} \le 4.9 $$. The average radon concentration in air above the ground measured with CR-39 detectors recorded for 1 year period in Vrancea area was 1,094.58 ± 150.3 Bq/m and 10 days fluctuations were placed in the range of 129 ± 40 Bq/m and 5,888 ± 700 Bq/m. Also have been reported measurements of in soil radon concentrations in drill holes at 0.5 m depths during period of March 1977-October 1980, just after 4 March 1977, M 7.4 Vrancea earthquake. The knowledge of air-ground-gas Rn anomalies is very important for earthquake pre-signals assessment as well as for precisely location of geologic active faults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with re-imaginings of 'Europe' following the accession to the European Union (EU) of former 'Eastern European' countries. In particular it explores media representations of post-EU accession migration from Romania to the United Kingdom in the UK and Romanian newspaper press. Todorova's (1997) notion of Balkanism is deployed as a theoretical construct to facilitate the analysis of these representations as first, the continuation of long-standing and deeply embedded imaginings of the 'East' of Europe and, second, as a means of contesting these discourses. The paper explores the way in which the UK press construct Balkanist discourses about Romania and Romanian migrants, and then analyses how the Romanian press has contested such discourses. The paper argues that the idea of the 'East' remains important in constructing notions of 'Europe' within popular media geographies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays we are witnessing a transition period, a post new regionalism period in which both states and regions are trying to find the most sustainable methods in order to ensure the life quality of their citizens. This post new regionalism was generated by the economic and financial crisis that affected Europe, in which states found not only national responses, but also local, and regional ones. The present paper's aim is to develop a glibly analysis over the issue of regionalization in Romania, especially in the frontier regions, as this subject has created national debates over the number, the extension and the criteria that is being used for the development ot these restions, stiven the fact that Romania was already administratively divided in counties in which emerged cultural and, historical distinctiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper highlights Romania's geostrategic potential and advantages as transit state of the future "Nabucco" transport route of natural gas from the Caspian Basin and Central Asia to the Central and East-European countries still heavily dependent on Russian hydrocarbon supply. Apart from the geostrategic advantages conferred by its geographical position, Romania is the only state in Central and South-Eastern Europe that can meet its own oil-and-gas demand and besides can also export this resource. The country also has the biggest Black Sea harbour which is ever more important economically and geostrategically after becoming port of the new Euro-Asian hydrocarbon transport axes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a number of seventeen alien plant species are presented, one of them being now for the first time reported in Romania (Sedum sarmentosum Bunge). Some species are mentioned for the first time in the flora of Moldavia (Aster novae-angliae L., Cenchrus incertus M. A. Curtis, Chenopodium pumilio R. Br., Fraxinus americana L., Lindernia dubia (L.) Pennell, Petunia × atkinsiana D. Don, Solidago gigantea Aiton, Tagetes erecta L.) or Transylvania (Kochia sieversiana (Pallas) C. A. Mey.), and some are reported from new localities (seven species). For each species, there are presented general data on the geographical origin, its distribution in Europe and worldwide, as well as its invasion history and current distribution in Romania. Some of these species manifest a remarkable spreading tendency, expanding their invasion area in Romania. Voucher specimens were deposited in the Herbarium of University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Iaşi (IASI). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the situation of the Romanian furniture industry in the context of EU integration with a special emphasis on exports. First, the evolution of Romanian furniture exports is analyzed using revealed comparative advantage as a measure of performance. Then, the impact of EU integration on the furniture-producing and exporting companies is assessed in terms of costs and benefits. Finally, some policy recommendations are issued for Romanian firms in the furniture industry based on their present situation and on the challenges imposed by the Single Market of the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stroke mortality is extremely high in Central-Eastern European countries. The high rate of risk factors and differences in health care services might be among the factors resulting in high stroke morbidity and mortality in this region. As only few prospectively collected information are available from this region, we decided to evaluate some characteristics of stroke services in neurological departments of a Romanian, a Ukrainian and a Hungarian city in the framework of the Mureş–Uzhgorod–Debrecen comparative epidemiological study. We registered demographic data, the absence or presence of the most important risk factors, and clinical signs on admission and at discharge. We recorded the application of various diagnostic methods, stroke treatment and recommendations for secondary prevention. Follow-up is planned after 30 days and after 1 year. The paper summarizes the methodology of this prospective epidemiological study of stroke patients hospitalized in neurological departments in Târgu Mureş, Uzhgorod and Debrecen, three Central-Eastern European cities in Romania, Ukraine and Hungary, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an introduction to the special thematic section on political mobilization in East Central Europe. Based on a brief presentation of the main arguments of the individual articles, the authors discuss the recent political volatility in East Central Europe. They highlight the tension between fierce political rhetoric and populist policies on the one hand, and low levels of voter turnout and overall political participation in the region on the other. The authors argue that recent cases of successful as well as unsuccessful political mobilization in East Central Europe point to structural re-alignments in the region’s political landscape. In particular, the parties that are successful are those that manage to communicate their visions in new ways and whose messages resonate with nested attitudes and preferences of the electorate. These parties typically rally against the so-called establishment and claim for themselves an anti-hegemonic agenda. The introductory essay also asserts that these developments in East Central Europe deserve attention for their potential Europe-wide repercussions – especially the idea of “illiberal democracy,” which combines populist mobilization and autocratic demobilization and finds adherents also in more established European democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Today, alcohol addiction has the largest expansion in all population groups, as recognized by the experts in various fields as a true "pandemic toxic". Alcohol and drugs are the main causes for the increase of the crime rate. Statistics show that alcohol consumption is correlated with 50% of suicide cases, 80% of crimes, 30% of serious traffic accidents and 15% of drowning cases. The paper aims at providing an insight into the level and trend of alcohol consumption in Europe and Romania based on the statistics of the last decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, alcohol addiction has the largest expansion in all population groups, as recognized by the experts in various fields as a true "pandemic toxic". Alcohol and drugs are the main causes for the increase of the crime rate. Statistics show that alcohol consumption is correlated with 50% of suicide cases, 80% of crimes, 30% of serious traffic accidents and 15% of drowning cases. The paper aims at providing an insight into the level and trend of alcohol consumption in Europe and Romania based on the statistics of the last decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blue Flag is a high standard symbol of environmental protection and it is awarded to the beaches and agreement ports by the Foundation of Education for the Environment. The beaches having been awarded this distinction warrant particular protection for their visitors, which is a particular point of tourism attractiveness: the result, they are preferred by tourists and, therefore, by tour operators selling tourism packages for the littoral. In 2009, Romanian beaches were not awarded any Blue Flags. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]