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Immigrant minority (IM) languages have a significant presence in certain European regions. Nonetheless, these languages are not usually included in the school curriculum. This paper aims to analyse the studies published between 2010 and 2020 considering IM languages in multilingual European education contexts. The method included a search of academic papers published in the databases ERIC, Web of Science and Scopus, which yielded 42 studies. The studies were analysed by considering: (1) the demographic characteristics of the countries where the studies were conducted, (2) the sociolinguistic or psycholinguistic focus of the papers in relation to the European country, and (3) the characteristics of the bi-multilingual education programme including IM languages. The results indicate that: (1) the demographic characteristics of the country are not strictly related to the number of studies published, (2) most studies have a sociolinguistic approach even though many studies analyse both sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic factors, and (3) only seven multilingual education programmes including IM languages were described in these papers. We conclude that there is a lack of research focusing on IM languages in educational settings and discuss how addressing these gaps could create opportunities for building equitable multilingual communities in Europe.

The adoption of a system based on cycles has been one of the core action lines in the Bologna Process. It represents the base for promoting student mobility, employability, and international competitiveness. The implementation of the degree-cycle system -- conditioned by the achievement of other policy objectives (i.e. ECTS) -- started hot debates on multiple levels including on the relevance of different study stages, or the extent to which the curricular emphasis would differ between the two levels. After almost two decades since the reform has been introduced, rather than looking at the state of implementation, current research should focus on how the reform has been implemented and what are its effects. By using the Romanian case as an illustration of the situation in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), this paper aims to answer the following questions: to what extent have the intentions and expectations linked to the introduction of a tiered structure of degrees have been fulfilled and what are some the (unintended) effects of such reforms? Based on a series of interviews done in November 2017 with academic staff, student representatives and decision-makers from Romania, this paper presents an analysis of the deliberate intentions and expectations of the introduction of the degree structure. The conclusions show that issues related to (1) financing; (2) quality (3) access and participation; (4) content and curricula (5) career path and opportunities after graduation are the main implications of the implementation of the degree-cycle system.

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]

The competition of civilizations forced the European universities to adapt to the competition with the Chinese and American universities. European integration cannot advance without the collaboration between European universities. An answer to these challenges is the CIVICA project, the European University of Social Sciences, a consortium of the following universities: Bocconi University (Italy), Central European University (Hungary), European University Institute (European Intergovernmental Organization), Hertie School of Governance (Germany), The National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (Romania), Sciences Po (France) and the School of Economics in Stockholm (Sweden). This experiment aims to become one of the European pilot universities, in the first round of applications for Erasmus+ in February 2019. The experiment takes into consideration the most important resource of a country: the human resource. The network of universities that are part of the CIVICA consortium will group approximately 38,000 students, 7,000 teachers and 3,000 people from the administrative apparatus. The London School of Economics is part of the CIVICA consortium, as an associate partner. At the Bucharest conference, the public presentation of the consortium and its objectives, the rectors of the seven universities set out to educate the future generations of professionals in social sciences, in order to solve the most pressing problems of the world. Creating a European identity is essentially the long-term, fundamental objective of the CIVICA consortium. In the context of this conference, we interviewed a few representatives of CIVICA, and their answers will be analyzed in this paper's section dedicated to the results of the research.

In European post-socialistic countries or more commonly known as Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries, regardless of their differences and specifics, the common communist and post-communist legacies in the field of educational sciences are still recognisable. The aim of this article is to explore research activity in the educational sciences in 15 CEE countries: 11 EU member states and 4 from the former Yugoslav Republic in the period from 1996 to 2013. The purpose of this research is to recognise the specificity and dynamics of subject and content issues, and development of methodological approaches in the educational science research. The sample consists of abstracts of 2,395 papers by CEE authors published in 265 journals indexed in Scopus between 1996 and 2013. Content analysis was applied, where the abstracts were grouped into specifically created categories describing the content and methods of the paper and analysed on the basis of two criterion variables -- CEE and non-CEE or international journals. The ?[superscript 2] test showed that the field of educational sciences in 15 European post-socialist countries changed over time in terms of quantity, content and methods, becoming more expansive and diverse, which is recognisable in papers published both in international and in CEE journals.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of a variety of levels of education, namely, high school, vocational and university education, on the probability of being employed in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Design/methodology/approach: The data are from two waves of the Life-in-Transition Survey that covers 29 post-communist transitional countries. The number of binary logistic models is estimated to quantify the effects of different types of education on the likelihood of being employed, while controlling for different sets of covariates. Findings: The findings reveal that the effect of employment associated with university education is higher than that of vocational education, which in turn is higher than that of high school education. However, the differences between the effects of the various levels of education are not considerable. Any specific level of education is always associated with a higher effect in Eastern Europe as compared to the former Soviet Union. The effect of education is also found to be higher for females than for males. In the former Soviet Union, the positive effect of university and vocational education on employment is found to go down with age. Originality/value: This is the first study which compares effect of different types of education on probability of being employed on a diverse sample of 29 post-communist countries over the period of five years.

This study involves 35 research participants: 20 immigrant parents (primarily mothers from South America, North Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East) and 15 primary school children, aged 10-11. These children were born outside Italy and primary school was their first encounter with the Italian educational system. We observed their processes of integration through their stories and those of their parents. Our investigation aims to identify factors that support or inhibit their school integration. We adopt an ecological research paradigm, proposing a vision of knowledge as rooted in natural life contexts, focusing on subjectivity. Analysis of the data led to identification of core categories concerning these families' experiences and their children's encounters with Italian schools. This paper focuses on the children's perspectives of their experiences with school.

Purpose - This paper aims to investigate the development of accounting academia in an emerging country situated in Central and Eastern Europe. Design/methodology/approach - First, the authors analyze publications in the main three local Romanian journals dedicated to accounting, using content analysis and statistical tests in line with the issues analyzed for accounting publications in the international literature. Second, they mobilize personal experience of, and observations of local developments by, the authors. Findings - The authors find that the decision of establishing a national journal ranking system in Romania in 2005 had both positive and negative consequences. Romanian accounting academics were asked after 2005 to focus on a very short notice on writing research papers, following a long period of communism and about 15 years of post-communism during which they wrote textbooks and professional papers. Journal and university rankings therefore influenced the publication behavior of such researchers, leading to searches for efficiency, ease of publications, publications outside accounting as well as to a difficult publication of their research outcome by internationally relevant accounting journals. Research limitations/implications - Publications in the three Romanian accounting journals for one year were analyzed and the personal experience of the authors mobilized. However, following this study, university administrators and national regulators can better ascertain the effect of their actions, and use these findings to better plan their future actions. Originality/value - This paper contributes to accounting research literature by offering insights into the current state of accounting research and publication in an emerging economy (Romania), and by investigating the institutional factors that may be responsible for this state of affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the internationalization activities of Japanese MNCs in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) analyzing data on national level considering Japan's modes of market entry in the CEE region and some of the countries in it. Major trends and the development of Japanese internationalization in CEE are presented. Individual mini case studies contribute to the analysis using the experience of several major Japanese MNCs that have invested in the region. The goal of the paper is to uncover the specifics of the internationalization process of Japanese corporations in the CEE region. Main characteristics of the penetration of Japanese MNCs in CEE are unveiled and discussed in the concluding part of the paper. The management implications and conclusions from the study are discussed further in the final part of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The imperative conditions for sustainable development both in Europe and around the world, waste collection is a fundamental goal, one way to achieve this is to develop circular economies. In this context, the paper analyzes the evolutions of the recycling rate of packaging waste by type of packaging in Romania compared to the 27 states of the European Union, as well as to other states in Europe. The analysis revealed that, among the 30 states included in the analysis, Romania moved from 28th place in 2006 to 23rd place in 2018, but is still quite far from the European Union average. [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 objective of the paper was to study the effects of the Russian -Ukrainian conflict on Romanian inflation using the energy shock's pass-through effect to inflation in Europe after the invasion. A monthly time series dataset is used for econometric analysis, and the data was collected from EUROSTAT, IMF and BNR databases. Using a Cochrane-Orcutt AR (1) regression with iterated estimates that control for autocorrelated error terms, we measured how variations in the price of coal, gas, and oil affected the harmonized consumer price index (HCPI). Our results suggest that oil price increases will lead to an increase in HIPC in Romania. Gas prices had an inverse relationship with HIPC in the analyzed period. The data however did not suggest a relation between coal price and inflation, in the studied period. The energy shock that occurred in Europe accounted in higher prices for gasoline, heating, and electricity on the short run, but there is no evidence that this inflationary pressure will affect long run household inflation. [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]

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]

This paper describes and discusses the development and use of health technology assessment (HTA) in five Central and Eastern European countries (CEE): Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. It provides a general snapshot of HTA policies in the selected CEE countries to date by focusing on country case-studies based on document analysis and expert opinion. It offers an overview of similarities and differences between the individual CEE countries and discusses in detail the role of HTA by assessing its formalization and institutionalization, standardization of methodology, the use of HTA in practice and the degree of professionalization of HTA in the region. It finds that HTA has been to some extent implemented in all five countries studied, with methodologies in accordance with international standards, but that challenges remain when it comes to the role of HTA in health care decision-making as well as to human resource capacities of the countries. This paper suggests that coming years will show whether CEE countries develop adequate national analytical capacity to assess and appraise technologies in the context of local need and affordability, instead of using HTA as a mere administrative procedure to fulfill (inter)national requirements. Finally, suggestions are provided to strengthen HTA in CEE countries through cooperation, mutual learning, a common accreditation of HTA bodies and increased network building among CEE HTA experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the traits of the labour market in Romania, compared to the general tendencies in the EU. It adopts an institutionalist perspective, contrasting the impact of regulation with the structural problems of the Romanian labour market. By looking at such indicators as the level of public employment, self-employed persons, or percentage of manufacturing employment, this study delineas the managerial challenges embedded within the labour market in Romania, as characteristics of this country, as well as others in Eastern Europe. One of the main findings of this study is that many of the problems of the Romanian labour market remain hidden from general quantitative assessments, and policy-making needs to be informed by in-depth analysis of the underlying structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to encourage readers to think about a life after retirement, with an emphasis on the nature and activities of small agribusiness for actively retired people. The article can also provide a comparison between the activities of "re-converted" elderly farmers in different parts of Europe. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is an invited viewpoint piece and based upon the experience and opinions of an actively retired Romanian citizen, currently managing her small family farm. Findings - A complete change of work and living environment can be the much-needed step that many actively retired professionals need. Nevertheless, the success and happiness found following such a decision is also dependent on previous experiences and knowledge in the newly chosen field of activity, since these activities are not just a pastime, but can easily become the equivalent of a fulltime jobyor even more than this. Originality/value - The article provides not only a succinct overview of a small agribusiness run by an actively retired person, but also remarkable insight and understanding of the retirement for people from different cultures and professional backgrounds. It presents a different perspective of active retirement for elderly people in Eastern European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of graduates from universities or higher education institutions increased in the last 30 years in Europe, but not in the same pace as their absorption rates on the labor market in their fields of study. Understanding the paradigms in which higher institutions' work is important in relation to their structure, teaching staff, curriculum and opportunities for students. Our analysis focuses on the reasons why students choose a faculty of Geography and assesses their perception regarding the educational process and employability. The results emphasize as main motivation the passion for Geography, while the location in Bucharest plays an important role also. The results underlined that students felt that they should have been more involved in research activities or they should have been given the opportunity to work in part-time jobs during their studies. The findings of our paper correspond with the social and economic context as the youth who arrive in a big city, such as Bucharest, are more interested to find a job and produce an income, putting their studies on the second place. These aspects emphasize the need for creating a stronger connection between the higher education institution and the labour market actors and the need to adjust the curricula according to employers' requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the main findings regarding the role of women entrepreneurs in Europe specifically, and how the influence of alternative forms of finance and networking support helped their business development. The main results show that, even though women are considered one of the greatest powers of macro environment development, they are not aware of the possibilities of financing their business and they do not trust the women networks to have business with. -consider revising [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]

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]

Standard-based management is a research field that received a lot of attention in the latest years. Implementation of ISO standards of management systems brings multiple benefits to organizations that adopt a standard-based management. Increasing of the consistency of business operations, improvement of customer satisfaction, or increasing in the overall efficiency of an organization are only some of those benefits. The current paper examines the extent to which organizations in Romania and in Central and Eastern Europe value importance of certification to ISO management system standards. For this purpose it analyzes the data collected by the annual ISO survey 2015, for the last six years, to identify evolutions and changes in ISO certifications of organizations in different European countries. The paper results show encouraging perspectives regarding importance given by Romanian organizations to ISO management systems certification. [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]

During the communist era, numerous social and political constraints limited civic engagement in communities throughout Central and Eastern Europe. This paper explores whether such constraints have left lasting marks, and whether such lingering effects potentially slow the process of democratization. Three specific questions were explored: (1) whether civic engagement in a post-communist state differs from that in an established Western democracy; (2) whether the quality of social perception suffers when civic engagement is constrained; and (3) whether a link exists between civic engagement and tangible forms of political judgment. Data were analyzed from surveys conducted in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 1994 and in South Bend, Indiana, in 1984. Compared with South Bend residents, the people of Cluj-Napoca discuss politics less, engage in interactive forms of political participation at lower rates, know less about their neighbors, and fail to link the interests of people in the community to broader political judgments. Given the centrality of civic engagement to democratic legitimacy, these findings justify concern regarding the prospects for full democratization in Central and Eastern European contexts in which social interaction does not yet flourish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism destinations associated with the place myth phenomena often experience increased visitation and marketing opportunities. Considering the popularity of the Dracula myth worldwide, Romania has a great opportunity to improve its image as a unique destination on the international tourism market. Thus, the present study aims to analyze the exploitation of the Dracula myth in the Romanian tourism context, as well as the managerial and marketing implications of such an approach. It begins with an overview of the imaginary and historical links between Romania and the Dracula myth. Further on, it reviews the national initiatives to develop Dracula tourism, from both private and governmental perspectives. The paper concludes by highlighting the opportunities of developing Dracula tourism in Romania and embracing the Dracula myth as a unique competitive advantage of the country as a tourism destination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper represents a synthetic exposure in critical note of some aspects of fiscal policy after the economic crisis in Romania. The paper aimed to analyze several topics related to taxation that are found in current debates in Romania, in the context of the need to establish a coherent legal framework compatible with sustainable economic growth. I considered pointing the moral aspects related to taxation, analysis of the tax-expenditure tandem and criticize the prevalence of the Keynesian approach to fiscal policy in Romania. From the research method point of view, the approach is a qualitative one, in a praxeological note based on economic argumentation. This paper is not intended to provide advice on fiscal policy, but to expose the necessary ideas for understanding its implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe has changed, the world has changed. The 21st century brings new challenges and new opportunities. The interaction of economies and peoples worldwide, whether by communication, trade, migration, shared security, concerns or cultural exchange, is in constant evolution. In such a globalised world, Europe needs to be competitive to secure economic growth and more and better jobs, in order to achieve an overall sustainable development. Climate change calls for a response that must be both global and local. Demographic change has shifted some of the old certainties about the patterns of how society works. New security threats call for new strategies and policies. In all these areas, Europe needs to be equipped for change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet and E-commerce have witnessed a continuous development in recent decades, the share of individuals who use this method to purchase goods and services in some countries in Europe reaching values exceeding 60 percent of the total population (Norway 71%, United Kingdom 67 %, the Netherlands and Sweden 66%). Moreover, in some age groups this percentage, exceeding 80 percent. Unfortunately, in terms of Internet use by individuals in Romania for making internet purchases barely exceeds 5 percent. From this viewpoint we are detached in last place in the EU. Based on an analysis of the evolution of the percentage of individuals from EU countries who make Internet purchases, this paper presents situation in Romania, compared to 10 European countries, of percentage of Internet purchases by individuals in the last three month and in the last year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When it comes to its results, the 2007-2013 cohesion policy has already faced a serious criticism: the experts consider that the actual functioning of this policy takes up a lot of resources whereas a good set of other policies could produce the conditions for healthier growth. Possible improvements are discussed in relation to the increase in competitiveness, with the industrial structure, human resources, accessibility, innovation, environmental quality as the main drivers. They are expressed by the "Europe 2020" agenda, which envisages as thematic priorities the smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, connected to the headline targets translated into the national ones. However, voices especially from the lagging behind countries express worries about the chances offered to these countries by the new cohesion policy architecture to support their current priorities, predicted to manifest after 2013 as well. One of the possible responses consists in the contribution of various national and sub-national economic policies to economic, social and territorial cohesion combined with the assessment of the relative importance of the EU cohesion policy in the design and implementation of national economic policies meant to promote cohesion (e.g. EPRC, 2010). Based on these overall considerations, this paper proposes a discussion on the challenges to the Romania's regional policy in the next programme period, aiming at revealing how the new objectives can be reached given the existing economic and institutional framework on the one hand and the drawbacks of the previous financial exercise on the other hand: in other words, it examines whether the facts of the past and present can serve as useful lessons about "do's" and "don'ts" in the 2014-2020 period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European farmlands are vital arenas for socio-ecological sustainability because of their significant land coverage and potential for integrating food production with biodiversity conservation. The knowledge produced by scientific research is a critical ingredient in developing and implementing socio-economically and ecologically sustainable management strategies for farming landscapes. The grasslands of Europe have been managed for millennia. They have exceptional socio-cultural and economic value and are among the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world. The quality of scientific knowledge on them and its potential to address grasslands as complex socio-ecological systems is strongly dependent not only on the creativity and scientific ambition of the researcher, but also on the network around the researcher (including both academic and non-academic sectors). The goal of this study is to map the research network around Romania’s grasslands using bibliometrics analysis, a well-developed scientific domain that utilizes network theory to analyze relationships between affiliations networks, co-authorship networks, and co-word analysis. The number of studies targeting grasslands in Romania is increasing, owing mostly to international involvement. However, management of the grasslands is still deficient and the contribution of science to the process is virtually absent. The current research is mainly related to the biological and ecological characteristics of grasslands, with topics related to their management notably absent from internationally visible research, especially in the context of EU Common Agricultural Policies. To increase scientific inquiry and better inform the EU and local policies on grasslands management, Romanian researchers should capitalize on international collaborations and local academic leaders. Our findings can be used to identify research gaps and to improve collaboration and knowledge exchange between practitioners, researchers, policy makers, and stakeholders. [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 1996, a Canadian company started geological explorations in the Rosia Montana area in the Romanian Carpathians. Two years later it formed a joint-venture with a Romanian state company to exploit what is believed to be Europe's largest gold reserves. However, as of June 2011 extraction has not started yet and it may never start due to the opposition of numerous NGO's that have pointed out the environmental, social and economic unsustainability of this mining project. This situation is highly unusual for a country that is hungry for foreign investment especially since up until very recently the state had supported any project promising to revitalize its mining sector. This paper will investigate the changes in the discourses surrounding this mining project taking into consideration the effects of globalization and the effects of Romania's EU membership after 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The passive house (PH) concept has been developed in Germany since 1991. In the following years, the concept spread out successfully in other Western and Central European countries with similar climate. Do the design solutions developed in Germany ensure the fulfillment of PH standard requirements when implemented in areas with different climates, such as South-Eastern Europe? This paper provides a preliminary answer. First, general climate conditions are compared for 22 towns in Germany and Romania, respectively. The main conclusion is that climate data cannot provide enough information to decide whether the existing German PH design solutions will perform similarly well in Romania. Further analysis is done to estimate the energetic performance of a prototype passive building when located in any of the 22 towns of Germany and Romania. The energetic performance is computed by using the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) software developed by the Passive House Institute of Darmstadt. The prototype passive building is AMVIC PH built in 2009 in Bragadiru (near Bucharest, Romania). It appears that the empirical design solutions developed in Germany may be relaxed (for example, the thermal insulation of the envelope may be reduced) when implemented for latitudes lower than 45° North. This is mainly due to the more abundant solar radiation in winter at these latitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Norway spruce stands of Europe have been exposed to the undesired effects of snow and wind since a long time ago. Under such circumstances their resistance to the two factors has become a major preoccupation to foresters everywhere in Europe, two main solutions (i) wide spacing and (ii) high intensity silvicultural interventions - especially cleaning-respacing - performed soon after the first canopy closure being envisaged. Taking into account these solutions as well as the high initial stocking of pure Norway spruce plantations in Romania (usually 5,000 plants per ha), the paper outlines the major outputs of a research project started back in 2004 and dealing with the effects of various intensity cleaning-respacing interventions on the stability of young cultures as follows: the best results in terms of increment of mean dbh were achieved in the plot with the lowest initial stand density; there is a significant positive correlation between the initial dbh and dbh increment; a significant positive correlation was also found between the dbh and mean crown diameter; the mean height increment was much less influenced by stand density than the mean dbh increment; the early started and high intensity cleaningrespacing had a positive effect on Norway spruce stand stability, the present level of slenderness index reflecting its high or medium resistance to possible snow damages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - In its modernization and European integration effort, from 1859 to the present, Romania went through a series of transitional periods. The purpose of this paper is to explore the issues involved in Romania fighting to regain its identity or in forging a new one. Design/methodology/approach - The paper presents a cogent but thorough history and examines the relationship of Romania moving into the future. Findings - Europe itself struggles. Identity does not mean "a difference which separates." The challenge in Europe now is to find and foster "the difference which unifies." Europe seems to be an "island of necessary stability" for Romania. Europe of the future can be an area of balance and Romania can become a region of balance within the new European Union. Originality/value - The paper presents an overview of Romania and the Western World from the 1800s. [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]

Observations have suggested that results of initial elections were the single most important factor in determining central and eastern European progress after the U.S.S.R. breakup in 1991. Romania thus presents a unique case in studies of this region. Initially it elected a government that shunned the ''shock therapy'' required to get a new economy started, but in 1996 elected a reform slate of officials. Thus, it has started the recovery process that more perceptive countries started five years earlier. These post-election developments in Romania are clearly of interest because of the model it presents for other countries in which the electorate may be considering similar changes. This paper reports on the situation in Romania as it related to the evolving economy there in the spring of 1999, three years after the critical election. It is adjudged that conditions imposed as part of the contemporaneous World Bank agreement were of course steps in the right direction. Nevertheless, progress toward a viable economy would require further progress in establishing a rule of law and in developing a much larger small business sector, which are recommended for any subsequent country making a similar transition. Forecasts by the prime minister suggested Romania would enter the EU after 2010. It is suggested that it would take at least that long before Romania's economy approached EU level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]