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The paper aims to present the need and the importance of using efficiently the energy and finding new ways to improve the transport based on renewable energy. The paper is based on a large number of official information sources which are structured and presented in the author's opinion. The main results emphasize that the Danube region is a large river basin and ecological corridor requiring a regional approach to nature conservation, spatial planning and water management. The environmental impact of transport links, tourist constructions or new energy production facilities must also be considered. Transport policy has been given a new direction: achieving a 'sustainable through flexibility' system, which means organizing transport in such a way as to optimize energy consumption. The development of the national transmission system shall be carried out in accordance with the requirements of conservation and environmental protection and the rational use of energy. The protection of human life and the environment is a priority in all transport-related relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to identify the factors that are positively or negatively impacting students' well-being and their academic engagement. We used partial least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using the data collected through a questionnaire from four countries: Romania, Turkey, Slovakia, and Bulgaria. The model includes seven factors that influence the well-being of students and indirectly their academic engagement: stressors in the students' lives; professors' support; social support from family and friends; the students' perceived satisfaction in their lives; engaging in activities during their leisure time; self-exploration regarding their careers; and environmental exploration regarding their careers. The results show that all factors, except for stressors and environmental exploration regarding their careers, positively influence the students' well-being and thus their academic engagement. These findings are useful for university professors and managers in better organizing activities to increase academic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism, like other areas of the economy, is extremely sensitive to market trends. Being under the influence of various factors, the tourist phenomenon is influenced by them in a positive or negative sense. This paper analyzes the influence of the most recent crises - economic-financial, health or otherwise, on tourism activity in Romania and Bulgaria. This study is an analysis of the evolution of the tourism in Romania and Bulgaria in 2008-2020 under the impact of the economic and financial crisis of 2008-2010 and, respectively, the health crisis from which it started in 2020. More specifically, three relevant tourism indicators were analyzed, namely: tourist arrivals in accommodation units, the number of overnight stays registered in tourist accommodation units and the occupancy rate of bed-places and bedrooms in hotels and similar accommodation structures. The obtained results highlight the differences between the evolutionary trends of the tourism industry, in the selected period, within the two states. It also highlights the sensitivity of tourism as a phenomenon to destabilizing factors, and the impact of the destabilizing factors on tourism industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to determine whether the increase in the number of registered patents per million inhabitants, as a measure of market verification of the results of R&D activities, affects economic growth and the increase in the country's innovation index. The empirical research covered two countries - Romania and Bulgaria. Given that the main task of the research was to accurately measure the investigated phenomena and discover the connection between them, the analysis was based on a quantitative research design. The analysis used secondary data from the international databases of the World Bank and World Intellectual Property Organization, covering the period from 2008 to 2018. The results of the empirical research showed that no correlations were found, which means that in the cases of Romania and Bulgaria, there is no dependence between the increase in the number of registered patents per million inhabitants and the growth of the innovation index and GDP per capita. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper has comparatively analyzed the role of tourism in the economic growth of Bulgaria and Romania, using the specific system of indicators: GDP, employment, multiplicator effect, efficiency, investments, visitor exports, and competitiveness. The methodology was based on the formulas provided by literature at present and the data were collected from UNWTO Data Base. Bulgaria and Romania are important tourism destinations grace to their rich cultural and historical heritage, beautiful landscapes, landmarks, tourism forms, service quality and hospitality. Bulgaria has more visitors and receipts than Romania, but in absolute value, tourism has a higher contribution to GDP in Romania, while in relative value, 11.5% of GDP is produced by tourism and in Romania just 5.3%. Tourism supports employment 3.7 times better in Romania than in Bulgaria regarding the number of jobs. The multiplicator effect is almost similar in the both countries, proving that tourism growth stimulated the development of other economic sectors. Tourism increases labor productivity in the economy of the both countries, but 1.4 times more in Bulgaria. Visitor exports in Bulgaria are higher than in Romania, while investments in tourism are 4.5 higher in Romania than in Bulgaria. Tourism competitiveness is low in the both countries, but Bulgaria comes on a lower position than Romania in the international market. As a conclusion, both Bulgaria and Romania has to intensify the efforts to sustain tourism growth, its contribution to the development of the economy and become a more competitive sector. Bulgaria and Romania have to better evaluate all their resources, to diversify their offers, to improve service quality and increase tourism performance. Only in this way, a new tourism strategy could attract more visitors and increase the role of tourism in the economy and improve the image of each country in Europe and in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The F-POD, an echolocation-click logging device, is commonly used for passive acoustic monitoring of cetaceans. This paper presents the first assessment of the error-rate of fully automated analysis by this system, a description of the F-POD hardware, and a description of the KERNO-F v1.0 classifier which identifies click trains. Since 2020, twenty F-POD loggers have been used in the BlackCeTrends project by research teams from Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Türkiye, and Ukraine with the aim of investigating trends of relative abundance in populations of cetaceans of the Black Sea. Acoustic data from this project analysed here comprises 9 billion raw data clicks in total, of which 297 million were classified by KERNO-F as Narrow Band High Frequency (NBHF) clicks (harbour porpoise clicks) and 91 million as dolphin clicks. Such data volumes require a reliable automated system of analysis, which we describe. A total of 16,805 Detection Positive Minutes (DPM) were individually inspected and assessed by a visual check of click train characteristics in each DPM. To assess the overall error rate in each species group we investigated 2,000 DPM classified as having NBHF clicks and 2,000 DPM classified as having dolphin clicks. The fraction of NBHF DPM containing misclassified NBHF trains was less than 0.1% and for dolphins the corresponding error-rate was 0.97%. For both species groups (harbour porpoises and dolphins), these error-rates are acceptable for further study of cetaceans in the Black Sea using the automated classification without further editing of the data. The main sources of errors were 0.17% of boat sonar DPMs misclassified as harbour porpoises, and 0.14% of harbour porpoise DPMs misclassified as dolphins. The potential to estimate the rate at which these sources generate errors makes possible a new predictive approach to overall error estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses the country-specific pilot implementation of dual higher education programmes from the engineering domain in Bulgaria and Romania. The paper presents a summary of the findings from the evaluation of the pilot programmes. The data evaluated has been collected in each country by the means of a peer review in the implementing institutions with the participation of the three main stakeholder groups involved - students, academic staff and industrial mentors. Qualitative data collection tools and interpretative data evaluation methods have been applied in this research. The set of methods include table-based group exercises with each stakeholder group combining open-ended questions, semi-structured group discussions and observation. Inductive research approach has been applied in the evaluation of the collected data. Finally, the data interpretation serves to discuss the impact of the piloted dual education model in both countries and provides an outlook with regard to the cooperation in education and training at European level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Coronavirus pandemic marked the end of an era in the catching-up process of East-Central Europe. A thorough evaluation of the growth model of the last decade is therefore needed in order to draw lessons for future industrial policy. The aim of this article is to provide a comparative analysis of the Bulgarian, Hungarian and Romanian growth models based on the examination of leading sectors. The paper compares the five leading sectors of the three countries in the period 2011-2018. The five leading industries are defined in terms of their contribution to gross value-added growth. The paper also examines foreign dependence and labour productivity growth in the leading sectors, the latter also being key to analysing the possibility of a middleincome trap. The results show a different sectoral specialisation in the three countries. The foreign dominance is higher in Hungary and Romania. Moreover, Romania is the best performer in terms of labour productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigated the extent to which the accession to the EU has had an effect on increasing the variety of exports of agri-food categories for two Eastern European countries, namely Romania and Bulgaria. We also assessed the impact of changes in the variety of exports of agri-food categories on the dynamics of the volume of exports of agri-food products for these two countries and used the entropy to measure the variability of exports of agri-food products by categories. The results confirm the important role played by related variety in increasing a country's long-term exports of agri-food products and show that the high concentration of exports on a small number of categories of agri-food products that include mostly agricultural raw materials cannot ensure a sustainable increase in the export of agri-food products for Romania. In the case of Bulgaria, the related variety has a positive impact on ensuring a sustainable increase in agri-food exports. The accession to the EU was an important factor for the increase of the exported agri-food goods for Romania while in the case of Bulgaria, the accession to the EU did not mark a positive or negative shock on the volume of exports of agri-food products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the need for an analysis of the extent to which foreign direct investments (FDIs) affects real convergence expressed using the following selected macroeconomic indicators: Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, the unemployment rate (UR), labour productivity (LP) per person employed and the minimum wage (MW). The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on real convergence in Romania's and Bulgaria's economy during 2004-2014. The main results for both Romania and Bulgaria show that FDI can be considered important sources of growth for real convergence that have contributed to economic growth, increased labour productivity and increased the minimum wage except for the unemployment rate. The results confirmed our expectations because logically, foreign firms bring their own technology, appropriate for the work of the employees, in order for their employees to produce as much as possible and pay salaries relatively higher compared to companies with local capital, but they demand instead higher productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the current prospects of decoupling economic prosperity as far as possible from environmental degradation, there is a great emphasis on the transformation of national economies toward twin transitions (i.e., green, and digital changes). The backbone of this transition is innovation in the public and business sectors which leads to increased competitiveness of the countries’ economies and therefore supports the member states’ progress towards more sustainable growth models. The paper aims to analyse two countries of the EU (i.e., Romania and Bulgaria) and their progress concerning innovation factors and competitive drivers which are contributing to the twin transition. The research took advantage of two trustworthy assessment tools (i.e., European Innovation Scoreboard, and World Competitiveness Index), highlighting the structural vulnerabilities which frame their attempts toward a fair, green, and digital transition. Finally, the authors shared their views on the need to concrete measures in the areas of interlinked actions (i.e., economic, environmental, and social concerns) to overcome structural vulnerabilities and boost sustainable growth models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of tools and methods to improve the effectiveness of the information security management system by detecting and neutralizing cyber attacks, monitoring and blocking DDoS attacks, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), blocking TOR Exit Nodes, blocking Layer 7 Regular Expression attacks, web filtering, blocking malware attacks, ransomware, spammers and spam servers has become a sine-qua-non requirement in the management of information security incidents in order to minimize their impact on IT systems. The paper provides insight into the impact of integrating much-needed security requirements for information technology users in military systems. The collection of information was carried out on a statistical sample of 128 students from military academies in Romania, Bulgaria, Poland. The research methods are complemented by cross-sectional (questionnaire, survey, observation) and observational methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since European Union (EU) enlargement in 2003, labour migration from East to West and South to North has increased. It is to be expected that a share of these workers will want to retire in their host countries. According to the academic literature, EU legislation protects such mobility well by allowing the transfer of rights accrued in any EU country to another. However, such research has focused on legislation, not outcomes. We know little about how migration will affect the financial status of retired migrants in their host country and their ability to sustain a life there, should they stay after retirement. Using migration, wage and pension policy data (Eurostat, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), this paper projects the post-retirement incomes of a range of hypothetical EU migrants, selected in relation to the most common migratory flows since 2003. After having worked in their home countries (Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Italy) for at least ten years, these people move to richer countries (Italy, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom) and work there for at least 30 years. To determine whether they can remain settled after decades of labour force participation in the host country, the paper adds their pension entitlements from home and host countries and compares this income with the relative poverty line of the host countries. This shows that good portability of entitlements matters little when these are very low because of a large wage gap between home and host country. Thus, after at least 30 years of enjoying all citizenship rights as workers, most of these individuals are projected to receive incomes below the relative poverty line of their host countries and thus experience a sharp drop in this status. Their citizenship is diminished. The paper concludes by considering policies that could avoid such an outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fundamental objective of this paper was to determine the strategic objectives for sustainable tourism development in the countries of Black Sea Basin (Romania, Georgia, Bulgaria, Republic of Moldova), analyzing the perception of the tourists and residents. Another major objective was to identify the real involvement in tourism development of local and regional institutions, NGOs and enterprises from each state of the Black Sea Basin. The results presented in the paper are based on the answers of the five templates of questionnaires applied in Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia and Republic of Moldova and also on the research of the national legislation on tourism development in each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research focuses on the tourism planning specific to winter sports in Romania and Bulgaria, detailing the tourism specific to alpine skiing in Poiana Brașov, Predeal and Sinaia (Romania), Bansko, Borovets and Pamporovo (Bulgaria). in Europe, along with the large concentrations of mountain resorts in the Alps, Pyrenees and Scandinavia, tourist complexes are developing in the Carpathian Mountains and the Balkan-Rhodope-Rila Mountains. That is the reason this paper wanted to highlight the comparative evolution of ski tourism in two less famous tourist destinations, but at least as interesting, related to Romanian and Bulgarian ski resorts. Another important objective of the paper was to establish the correspondence between the theoretical models of ski resorts planning and the resorts in Romania and Bulgaria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of interest rates and inflation on GDP growth has been the subject of long debates and many research studies: from purely theoretical analysis of the channels through which this is accomplished, to empirical studies on a broad panel of countries. Because of these shared arguments about the impact of interest rates and inflation on GDP growth, as an area of investigation in this paper we took FYROM, Bulgaria and Romania. The paper examines existing theory to create an analytical framework for the impact of interest rate and inflation on GDP, and to quantitatively evaluate the importance of these variables for economic growth. A cointegration analysis with three variables (interest rate, inflation and GDP growth) and a Granger causality analysis are implemented to examine the relations between these variables. Unit root tests are applied to examine the relationships among the respective data series. The target period is from 2000 until present time, offering a relatively positive first period until the advent of the debt crisis by the end of the 2000s. The basic aim is to investigate the links between monetary and fiscal measures, especially for developing countries that are striving for economic growth without a strong home currency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both Romania and Bulgaria, the 2014-2020 period is probably a defining period in the country's development, particularly agriculture, taking into account the Commission's intention to abandon the granting of payments in agriculture, after 2020. So, time is critical and highly sensitive, being the last chance to reduce major differences compared to other countries, them benefited from such support on a much higher period than countries new entrants disfavored them up to a large extent thereon. It also represents a tremendous help of direct payments to farmers, contributing to their living standards and continuing their activities in agriculture. This paper seeks to highlight the need for support in agriculture so that by processing the statistical data it can be concluded that in both countries, even after the passing of seven years, regarding the first programming period, the situations are not solved completely, so these measures should be further enforced to help farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through its natural or cultivated insular population distribution, Ilex aquifolium L. is a paramount species which is exceptionally suitable for studying phenotypic variability and plasticity through the assessment of morphological, physiological, biochemical and genomic features with respect to acclimation and/or adaptation efficiency. The current study is focused on four insular populations of Ilex aquifolium from Eastern Europe (i.e., in Romania, Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria), and presents an initial evaluation of phenotypic variability in order to conclude our research on phylogenetic relationships and phytochemical profiles, including several descriptive and quantitative morphological traits. Taken together, the data from different methods in this paper indicate that the Bulgarian and Romanian populations can be distinguished from each other and from Serbian and Hungarian populations, while the latter show a higher level of resemblance with regards to their quantitative morphological traits. It is likely that these morphological traits are determined through some quantitative trait loci implicated in stress responses generated by light, temperature, soil water, soil fertility and salinity conditions that will need to be analysed in terms of their physiological, genomic and metabolomics traits in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose of the article: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether there is a relationship between the level of digitalisation and social stability (satisfaction) in EU countries through two main indices. There are many predominantly benefits associated with digitalisation, which can be at the macro, micro, and personal level of the individual. For example, economic growth, increasing productivity, well-being for people or better transparency. Methodology/methods: The DESI and WHI index data, as well as the GDP per capita, were analysed using statistical methods, specifically Pearson’s correlation coefficient and regression analysis. Scientific aim: The aim is to identify the relationship between the DESI and WHI and then determine the relationship between these indices and the GDP per capita. Findings: According to the basic statistic results, the highest value of the DESI and WHI indicator was obtained in Finland. Luxembourg had the highest reported GDP per capita. The lowest results were achieved in Romania (DESI) and Bulgaria (WHI and GDPC). A strong positive relationship was found across all relationships analysed (DESI-WHI, DESI-GDPC and WHI-GDPC). In the case of DESI and WHI, the model captures 64.9% of the data; in the case of DESI and GDPC, 46.7%, and in the case of WHI and GDPC, the model reflects 58.9% of the data. For all combinations, a regression function was determined to be linear and increasing. Thus, it means that for all combinations, if one variable increases, the other variable will also increase at the same time. The economic growth, as measured by the GDP per capita, can be well explained by (is influenced by) the DESI index and is also positively influenced by the WHI. Conclusions: The survey shows that digitalisation needs to be given enough attention because this factor is closely linked to social progress and not only that; the pandemic has clearly shown us that digital services are our future in many areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the COVID-19 outbreak the world was faced with undeniable evidence of the impact that human activity has on Earth. Only a few months of quarantine were enough for the air in traditionally polluted cities to get cleaner. Inevitably it changes the perception of sustainable human behaviour. Although the main study in this paper was conducted before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, its main purpose is directly related to this process of awareness wakening accelerated by social isolation. The importance of the role played by individuals for the protection of the environment and for sustainable development is obvious with regard to the results achieved by simply restricting consumption. And while currently no one can say whether and to what extent these trends will be kept in the long-term, it is important to study the ways in which individuals perceive this role, because it shapes their conscious behaviour and actions. The purpose of this paper is to examine the areas of activism and sustainable behaviour of individuals, determined by the motives of this behaviour. In order to achieve this main goal, there were conducted in-depth interviews with respondents from Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania. The respondents from the three countries included in the study cover six main profiles of consumers with sustainable behaviour. A debate on the ego- and eco-centricity of the motives for sustainable action is presented. The results from the analysis of the collected qualitative data show that recycling is defined as the most important marker of the contribution of individuals to achieving sustainability, as opposed to the consumption of organic and eco-products, the reuse of goods and the reduction of energy consumption by households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The African swine fever (ASF) represents one of the most dangerous infectious diseases of swines, with often acute manifestations and high morbidity. It is widely known that the disease has become common among domestic pigs and also that there are no effective vaccines or treatments to fight the virus. Despite the fact that this issue benefits from an increased interest in the established international literature, as well as at the level of the European Union legislation, in Romania there is a reduced degree of academic, as well as legislative attention in this regard. Especially in the context of the outbreaks in Romania and in Bulgaria in the current year, there is a need for increased awareness at both levels, which should be reflected in new, substantive legislative measures to keep the phenomenon under control. The paper considers a comparative analysis between the EU legislation on the ASFV and that of Romania, in order to outline both the areas of improvement of the Romanian legislation and the influences on the rural economy. The present undertaking concludes with a series of personal reflections in this regard, pointing to future prospects for public policies in order to limit the spread of African swine fever virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational accreditation guarantees the quality of the educational processes, products and services. Both the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency (NEAA) in Bulgaria and Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ARACIS) in Romania are members of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education ENQA). They follow strict professional standards, methodologies, procedures, and criteria. It is common that the quality management systems in universities are based on ISO 9001. The specific standard for educational organizations such as universities and research institutes ISO 21001 is far less popular than ISO 9001. The purpose of this paper is to highlight opportunities for improvement of the internal quality management systems of educational organizations based on international standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a comparative analysis of the youth unemployment situation in Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania, relatively similar to economic development and with different EU member state status. It analyses distinctions in the corresponding rates on a national level and makes an attempt to summarise skills required in these labour markets which young people need to improve. Methodology: The article is a continuation of previous studies of the authors based on youth unemployment in Bulgaria and, in particular, the barriers before young people to enter the labour market successfully. The research focuses on trends of the levels of unemployment of young people during recent years using publicly available data from Eurostat as well as the skill mismatches which challenge youths to be more successful when starting their careers. The study gathers information from relevant scientific publications as well as from various reports, dedicated to this topic. Findings: The article distinguishes between the different trends in youth unemployment, looking for specific reasons. It also suggests common barriers for young people to enter the labour market in the countries under review. Practical implications: A clear view on the movement in unemployment rates amongst young people in neighbouring countries and the main barriers for them to start successful careers could be prerequisite for the countries commented to improve their policies towards management of this issue. Moreover, they could combine their efforts and create a synergetic effect trying to tackle the problem regionally. Originality/value: The paper aims to outline common challenges of a few neighbouring countries in the Balkans and, as a result, formulates trends typical for those countries which could be applicable to the bigger part of the region. The study incorporates two points of view -- from a national and individual perspective to analyse labour markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Respiratory allergies mostly allergic rhinitis and asthma represent an important and increasing public health problem and one of the priorities for the European health systems. There is an increasing public concern regarding the persistence and severity of allergic diseases and many difficulties of health systems in providing prompt specialized medical assistance. Our study aims to highlight the main results of the Alliance 4Life project focused on the evaluation of the burden and management of respiratory allergies in primary care from Romania and comparative health-related data from four Central and Eastern European countries., Method: We developed a questionnaire focused on patients with allergic rhinitis and asthma directly addressed to general practitioner (GP) specialists from Romania who attended the annual national conference in Bucharest., Results: The main results showed that patients with respiratory allergies are frequently encountered in primary care practice, only a few patients are evaluated by allergists and there is a clear need for education in this field., Conclusions: This preliminary study confirms that respiratory allergies represent a considerable burden in primary care and the questionnaire may be a useful tool in further studies considering the experience of other healthcare systems. More advanced studies integrating epidemiology with data on air pollution and environmental conditions should be envisaged., (© 2024 Polliana Mihaela Leru et al., published by Sciendo.)

Purpose: This paper aims to assess the impact of entrepreneurial determinants on the sustainable development of enterprises in emerging EU economies from 2008 to 2020. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is empirical, and it consists of conceptual background, research methodology, research results, discussions, and conclusions. The survey covers the enterprise sector in Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Romania, and Hungary (emerging and developing economies in the EU). I used the correlations coefficients and the Ordinary Least Square Method to verify the strength and direction of influence of entrepreneurial determinants on the sustainable development of enterprises. Findings: In the analyzed countries, there is a diversified influence of individual entrepreneurial determinants on the sustainable development of enterprises, both in terms of direction and strength of influence. Research limitations/implications: The paper has serious limitations in selecting and integrating indicators for the research. Further research requires considering a larger group of determinants, not only strictly entrepreneurial factors. Practical implications: The analysis results indicate that entrepreneurial factors influence the sustainable development of the enterprise sector; therefore, the authorities should coordinate activities and initiatives related to sustainable development and entrepreneurship. Creating financial and non-financial incentives is necessary to run a sustainable business. Social implications: Sustainable development is crucial for the conditions and quality of life. Separating entrepreneurial factors and creating effective institutional support for business initiatives is crucial for sustainable development. Originality/value: A novelty in the paper is an attempt to isolate entrepreneurial determinants of the sustainable development of enterprises. The article is intended for a wide audience, theoreticians and practitioners interested in sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has led to growing dependence on synchronous and asynchronous learning methods. New technologies and software offer both positive and negative implications of knowledge. Some researchers argue that students do not achieve higher level learning in synchronous courses. We have to learn in how to use this technology for effective learning. Universities and academies are now experiencing the influence of synchronous and asynchronous learning methods. Online learning experiences after two years of covid give chance to summarize. This case study explored asynchronous methods derived from experiences in higher education institutions from Bulgaria, Greece, Poland and Romania. In present article presents an analysis of asynchronous learning methods used in the project "Implementation of Digitalization in Defence Higher Education-DDHE". The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that asynchronous online learning used in DDHE can create a rich cognitive presence capable of supporting learning in military higher education institutions. Asynchronous online learning in DDHE is not just another educational technology to be used as a simple enhancement but introducing the teacher to a higher level of cognitive didactics. DDHE is forcing educators to reflect on the teaching and learning process and what constitutes effective learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accession to the European Union for Central and Eastern Europe countries involved their requirement to start the process of the European Monetary Union integration. The desire to enjoy the benefits of EU membership has made both the 10 countries that joined EU in 2004 and Romania and Bulgaria which became EU member in 2007 to engage on the path to join the European single currency endeavoring to meet not only the nominal convergence criteria but also real convergence. This paper makes an analysis of the Romania's capacity to achieve the nominal convergence criteria in the current context. The change of the financial and economic conditions due to the crisis that spread worldwide during 2007 - 2008 changed the issue from "Romania can fulfill the nominal convergence criteria?" in "Is it advisable for Romania to adopt the Euro, given the uncertainty clouds over the currency's future?" The analysis is made by considering the comparative situation of other countries that are in the process of joining the single currency. The objective of the research undertaken in this paper is to investigate Romania's capacity to approach the nominal convergence criteria and so realistic goal of joining the Euro it is. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reallocation of production factors between different sectors of an economy reflects the process of structural transformation as a result of changes in the various supply and demand side factors. The effects of the reallocation can be seen at the level of production and gross value added of the sectors and sub-sectors of an economy. In this context, the present paper analyzes the structural transformation of the Romanian economy looking at the dynamics of gross value added in different sectors and comparing it to the other EU economies for the period 1995-2017. The results suggest that Romania is an outlier, namely the structural differences between Romania and the other EU states are the highest, comparable only with Bulgaria. The analysis also reveals that, in the specified period of analysis 1995-2017, the European economies became more homogenous from the perspective of their GDP per capita but, at the same time, the structural homogeneity of these economies has reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undoubtedly, business world and global economy has transformed dramatically in the last two decades in direction of orientating their activity towards sustainable business and positive social impact of operations. On the other hand the education system has stayed behind these significant changes. Fortunately more universities, business and management schools have realized their role in the preparation of a new business leader's generation as a key player for the sustainable development and have started transforming their educational programs. As a result of international cooperation among universities in South-East Europe an international study regarding relevant learning needs with respect to Social Responsibility and to Responsible Educational Management has been conducted. Participants in the study were students from Bulgaria, Slovakia and Romania. The survey have been conducted in two phases, the first results were collected during March, the second during May 2017. The questionnaires have been completed and submitted on-line by the students during March and May. This paper aims to fill the void in Responsible Management Education though presenting students perception of their learning needs in regard of social education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of the tax authorities is to collect sufficient revenue to cover expenditure and to ensure that all taxpayers contribute to the government's funds in accordance with the provisions of the Tax Code. The aim of this paper is oriented towards a comprehensive and comparative assessment of the tax administration in Romania and that of Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary, as well as the positioning of Romania within the European Union in terms of the effects of tax policies. The present analysis is largely based on statistical data made public by eurostate.com. Regarding our country, in the medium and long term, a greater fiscal/budgetary adjustment is needed to ensure fiscal/budgetary sustainability and to face new challenges. It is clear that a large share of this large adjustment must come through measures that generate tax and budget revenue growth, with budget expenditure on an upward trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents aspects of food loss concept in Romania and its neighboring countries, respectively Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Ukraine. Food waste and food loss are worldwide phenomenon. Minimizing food losses and waste plays an important role in a world where the number of people suffering from lack of food has been steadily increasing since 2014 and where daily enormous quantities of food that is consumable are lost and wasted day-today. Food waste and loss are detrimental to the sustainability of our food systems. When food happens to be lost and wasted, all the resources used for creating it, including water, land, energy, work, and capital, are also lost. The main important thing to underline is that in the analyzed countries, there are different categories of food that produce most of the food loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Schengen project is one of Europe’s most important accomplishments as it facilitates the free movement of goods and people. Currently, Romania and Bulgaria are on the verge of obtaining their Schengen membership and, to our knowledge, not enough emphasis has been placed on the emigration and labour market implications for aspiring candidates. This research aims to empirically evaluate the liaison between Schengen Area and labour migration. In order to achieve this objective, we construct a difference-in-differences research design using data from the European Labour Force Survey. The treatment is represented by the Schengen enlargement of 2007 with Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia constructing the treatment group and Romania and Bulgaria the control group. The main results show that Schengen Membership led to increased probabilities of working abroad one year after treatment occurred, as well as three years after treatment occurred. Also, we are able to identify the demographic category most likely to emigrate as young males in search for seasonal full-time jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper tries to present the origin and development of the Dobrujan question within the framework of the Bulgarian-Romanian relations. The text deals with the historical development of this question during the period after the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) until World War II. Attention is also paid to the international context of the Dobrujan issue. In conclusion the focus is on the Treaty of Craiova and its importance for the Bulgarian and Romanian signatories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the use of subjunctive conjunctions (ščo da, šo da, so da, štoto da, ka da, koto da, oti da) in different Bulgarian dialects in Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania in the last two centuries and shows that such uses correspond to the Russian subjunctive conjunctions čtoby, daby, and kaby (used in Ukrainian and Belarussian too). Besides, the authors prove that the phenomenon is not an innovation in South-West Bulgarian dialects due to Albanian influence (as some Russian scholars think) and it is wide-spread over the Bulgarian language territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel approach to evaluate European countries on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by means of Hierarchical Stochastic Multicriteria Acceptability Analysis (HSMAA). HSMAA produces rankings with Monte Carlo generation of weights, overcoming the need to choose one specific set of weights. The main contribution of this paper lies in the possibility of quantifying the probability by which each country receives a given ranking. Furthermore, HSMAA allows to take into account the hierarchical nature of SDG measurement given that each of the 17 Goals also consists of several indicators. Our results show that Denmark outperforms other European countries, while lower levels of performance are observed in Romania and Bulgaria. In between bottom and top performers, we also find that many countries' rankings vary widely by the chosen set of weights, exemplifying the need to rank countries based on multiple weightings and to quantify the probabilities of each ranking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today’s single market, standardization helps integrate market requirements and reduce costs, and standards ensure compatibility, quality, safety and efficiency. The impact of standards is highly dependent on the level of knowledge among the workforce. Knowledge, skills, attitudes and experience in standardization add value to professions and roles in many fields. The rising awareness and spread knowledge about standardization are globally-recognised as a powerful tool to assure public safety having a proficient workforce, bring new technologies to market and drive future businesses. The paper presents the main results of research aiming to identify what is the expectations and requirements of the lecturers and students of five EU countries, namely Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Latvia, and Romania, for a standardization course. What are opinions, and attitudes of the faculty staff as well as the students regarding the standards focused education? How the integration of the standards’ focused training into HE could be facilitated and improved? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Romania is, along with Bulgaria and Turkey, one of the largest consumers of bread in Europe. Gluten intolerance, the incidence of type 2 diabetes and the low consumption of dietary fiber with all its implications raise, in these conditions, the problem of improving the sanogenic characteristics of bakery products in Romania. The paper presents a study on the supply of bakery products on the Romanian market in the last decade evolution of annual consumption of bakery products taking into account consumer preferences, social origin, age, selection criteria, sources of supply, frequency of consumption and value assigned. The results show a surprising awareness of the benefits of bakery products rich in fiber and minerals from the young generation. The conclusions drawn from this study are useful for designing a new type of functional bakery products taking into account the profile of the consumer (target group) to whom it is addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]