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Food loss and waste (FLW) is a primary focus topic related to all human activity. This phenomenon has a great deal of importance due to its effect on the economic and social aspects of human systems. The most integrated approach to food waste analysis is based on the study of FLW alongside the agrifood chain, which has also been performed in previous studies by the authors. This paper presents a modality of determination of food loss and waste effects with an emphasis on consumer segments in agrifood chains in the form of a predictive model based on statistical data collected based on specific methods in Romania. The determination is made comparatively, using two predictive machine learning-based methods and separate instruments (software), in order to establish the best model that fits the collected data structure. In this matter, a Decision Tree Approach (DTA) and a Neural Network Approach (NNA) will be developed, and common methodologies of the approaches will be applied. The results will determine predictive outcomes for a specific food waste (FW) agent (e.g., consumer) based on pattern recognition of the collected data. The results showed relatively high-accuracy predictions, especially for the NN approach, with lower performances using the DTA. The effects of the application of this predictive model will be expected to improve the food loss prevention measures within economic contexts when applied to real-life scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing food loss and waste on each level of agrifood chain is a responsible action, thus each stakeholder on the agrifood chain must create actions that are related to food waste prevention. In this matter, this paper presents an analysis of a statistical study run on a sample of respondents related to food loss and waste on a consumer level of agrifood chain. The study takes into account both quantity and quality parameters and serves as a provider of training data for a model which will be developed based on prediction. Another important aspect of the paper is related to the determination of food loss and waste economical Another crucial aspect discussed in the paper concerns identifying economic behavioural patterns associated with food loss and waste throughout various levels of the agrifood chain. This data will be instrumental in training models for those respective levels. The study emphasizes the significance of raising awareness and taking action to minimize food waste across all phases of the agricultural and food distribution process. It also emphasizes the necessity of developing models and strategies to effectively approach this challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food loss ans waste, referred next as FLW, has a great extent on the economic and behavioural patterns of consumption. In this paper, we aim to present statistical univariate and multivariate analyses based on a statistical study run during a period of several months in the Romanian territory. In this matter, the main purpose of the analysis developed in this paper is to determine several patterns of FLW phenomenon. This is made based on a methodology which comprises two main sections: the univariate analysis, consisting in statistical determinations of indicators and direct observation, and the multivariate analysis, related to the clustering analysis. The clustering analysis is based on the usage of hierarchical method, which has as final result the determination of clusters describing patterns of consumption related to food loss and waste. After the analysis was run, five main clusters related to food waste behaviour patterns were determined, with slight differences between food consumption habits, but with various combinations between the parameters taken into consideration. The obtained clusters offer important information for policymakers and stakeholders aiming to customize interventions and programs to target specific demographic groups or segments of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The investigation of the causes and consequences of food loss and waste has been extensively explored in the literature, given its significant impact on both the local community and the national economy. This paper suggests various comprehensive approaches concerning food loss and waste (FLW) in Romania, considering the broader European context of the FLW phenomenon based on a bibliographic study, a statistical approach of the causes dynamics analysis and a system-based approach leading to an integrated view of the phenomenon. In order to accomplish this purpose, we have used statistical material originated from national and European statistical institutions and we have processed it using direct observation and interpolation. Our objective was to identify various factors contributing to food loss and waste throughout the agrifood chain and analyse their impact on the FLW phenomenon. The findings revealed that the primary factors contributing to food waste are associated with economic aspects. This study serves as a foundational step for subsequent research endeavours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The food waste is one of the consumer economic behaviors that have a development with a great difficulty in explanation. As an economic phenomenon, it has several effects with a huge impact related to resources and optimization within the economic systems. In this paper, we propose to develop a research study which aims to identify a series of causes to food waste and to determine the quantitative impact of these causes on the phenomenon. The study is made based on the statistical data observed in a certain period and the previous research studies presented in the literature. The final part of the research is based on the determination of the influence of the identified causes on this specific consumer behavior using specific statistical methods, such as correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food waste is one of the most unusual behaviours related to economic systems located on the agrifood chain. In this matter, the study of the food waste and the mechanisms that lead to its development are complex and rooted within several components of the human behaviour and economic system dynamic. In this paper, we propose the development of a model which presents the dynamics of the phenomenon based on several cause-effect relationships between aspects of human behaviour and economic aspects. The model is built using a Systems Dynamic (SD) approach, based on the identification of connections between identified causes and effects and the determination of the ontologic and mathematical nature of the connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The determination of the influences of the management on the economic performance of an agricultural holding can be an important process for the farm manager, as a source of information which can consist in a valuable component needed in the decisional process. In this matter, the analysis is useful during a specific period of time, which also comprises future predictions. In this paper, we will present a study of the connection between the farm management approach, represented by several characteristics of the farm and the farmer, and the farm economic performance, represented by the financial result of the farm activity. This study is presented as a comparative analysis of two methods that establish the existence and intensity of the mentioned connection, the first one being based on statistical methods and instruments and the second one being based on machine-learning based tools, specifically supervised learning. This study aims to find alternative means of studying causal implications of the management type on the economic activity within a farm, based on digital-based tools. The obtained results for the mentioned research showed that the methods based on supervised learning can be an important tool of analysis, being complementary with the traditional statistical methods regarding the analysis of the microeconomic agricultural environment and performance, providing supplementary key data regarding the economic indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many factors influence the performance of the agricultural activity within a farm. From this multitude of factors, one of the most important and taken into consideration are the climatic condition and the fertilization plan projected and implemented by the managerial team of the farm. In this matter, this paper presents the experimental results of these factors on the performance of the agricultural output on a specific geographic area in Boureni-Bailesti area in Southern Romania. The experiment has researched the influence of the climatic condition and the fertilizers on the level and the quality of the yields. In this manner, the grain yields have ranged between 8,040 and 10,260 kg/ha, the grain output for 1 kg of fertilizer being between 10.7 and 16.8 kg and the protein content in function of the fertilization was 12.4-12.7%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Romania, in 2020-2022, a series of events took place which led to the need to rethink and adapt the management of agricultural farms to the new conditions. It is about the health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which overlapped with one of the driest agricultural years (2019-2020), but also about the energy crisis, that for agriculture meant the unprecedented price increase for inputs and technologies. Under these conditions, the cost of food has increased from the very first stage of the production process, namely obtaining the raw material. Analyzing the data provided by the Romanian Commodities Exchange, the upward trend in prices starting with January 2020 and lasted until February 2022 can be observed. For the main crops in Romania, namely wheat, corn and sunflower, trading prices increased with 26-73%. At the same time, there are significant increases in inputs, which in turn are caused by higher prices in the energy sector – 443% for natural gas and 194% for electricity. Petroleum products were no exception, with a doubling of the price between the beginning of 2020 and February 2022. All these have led farmers to look for new solutions in order to ensure, at least partially, the necessary fertilizers from natural sources, through crops that are able to bring nitrogen into the soil. Reducing costs per hectare by introducing legumes (especially soy) into crop rotation and merging technological works are only the first proposed solutions, and in the coming years more innovations will be implemented in agricultural management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital transformations that were present in the society have also extended to the education domain, both methodological and structural changes that were followed by several effects in the training market. Economically, the training market consists in the demand and offer of training courses, which have been modified in the aspects of topic and relation with the needs of the potential users. This paper aims to extend a study regarding the effects of the leadership type of the manager of the courses offering institution on the structure of courses with several effects of the digital transformation in the last period. In previous researches, the authors have determined several implications of the leadership type on the courses offer using a methodology based on literature review, a point of reference for the present paper. The study was structured on three main aspects: the determination of the offer structure by topic by determining the clusters of courses based on leader personality traits, the determination of the connection between the leadership style with the offer structure and the main transformation of the courses in the offer based on face-to-face and online learning forms by direct observation and analysis. The research was made on a cluster of seven teacher training houses in Romania in the school year 2021-2022. The results showed that the influence of the leadership style on the courses offer is a defined one and the last period has brought a normal change in the offer structure based on the online form of organisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Training market has a huge impact on the Romanian educational system. Due to this impact, the training courses must have a high quality as the competencies that are gained after participating at these courses are used in the educational process. The Romanian training market has a simple structure, with several types of providers offering training courses to people coming from various professional categories. Based on the intervention of the authority in the training process, we can differentiate between state providers, such as Teaching Staff Resource Centres (TSRC - Casa Corpului Didactic, CCD, in Romanian), private providers that depend on the central authorities and own private providers. Teacher training is mainly made by the Teaching Staff Resource Centres and private providers that run courses with the approval of the Education and Research Ministry. Due to the importance of the quality of this process, we are presenting in this paper several pre-requisites for a research whose aim is to show the correlation between the leadership style of the TSRC managers and the training offer of their TSRC, with an example on the agricultural educational environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The educational system in Romania in general and, particularly, the university environment has a large potential for developing new learning methods and techniques, especially in the area of simulated disciplines. One of the most useful skills that can be gained using specific tech-based environments is the establishment of an enterprise or, in short, the entrepreneurship, because it is part of the essential skills considered to be primary, according to the national education competences framework. The existing literature is concise regarding the development of methods of modelling business structures and processes, but the immersion in the education is standing at its early stages, related to the relatively low number of novel implementations in education and the potential. If in previous papers we have studied the structure of the intra- and inter-business relationships using system dynamics, this paper is intended to describe a future direction of development based on the study of business processes and their dynamic within the enterprise using specific tools described in the literature, as Unified Model Language (UML) and Business Process Model (BPM) for developing the theoretical model. The result of the study is intended to materialize in a piece of software that will be projected using software engineering based on UML methods and built on the principles of gamification in education. The software will serve as a virtual simulation environment which leads to the understanding of the principles of conducting a business for the formal part of university education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We live in a world powered by information. This truth gives us the potential to master as much information as we can in order to make our activity more efficient. The development of technology gives us both the means and the capabilities to gather and analyze this large amount of information so that we can use more efficiently the limited resources that we dispose of. Basically, this paper presents a modality of modelling smart university and smart enterprise environments based on the principles of System Dynamics, the model of economic map presented in previous papers and the concept of smartness within an environment. In these terms, smart is referred to the usage of new methodologies and technologies in order to optimize the activity in a controlled economy-based or educational environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimization in agriculture can have various forms, depending on its various processes or the market evolution. It can be financial or product-based and can lead to minimization, if related to costs, or maximization, related to profit. In this paper we will present a method of determining an optimal repartition of an agricultural surface for a number of cultures based on a genetic algorithm in order for the profit to be maxim. The model takes into consideration several requirements related to cultures selling price, obtained production, direct costs and costs related to human workforce. The genetic algorithm uses basic structures (chromosomes, genes) and operations (mutation, crossover) to generate a repartition. In this case, the chromosomes are defined as the surface itself, a gene within a chromosome being the surface for a specific culture. The length of the chromosome is equal to the number of cultures desired to be cultivated. The operations are basic and will be described in the paper. The fitness function is defined as the difference between the incomes and the costs, thus the profit. The results will be then compared to the results obtained by the traditional method that uses linear programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]