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This paper discusses the results of a survey on university students' perceptions and attitudes towards the writing-up process of their final graduation paper. The google form questionnaire was addressed to all the BA and MA graduating philology students, covering four study programmes in English, in a university in western part of Romania. The findings indicate a possible re-thinking of the curricula aiming at the inclusion of mandatory courses in academic writing and research skills at the incipient phases of the study programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The survey of the structure of farms is carried out by all the member states of the European Union, with agricultural holding as the statistical unit of measure. Thus, all the member states of the European Union are based on the definition of agricultural exploitation where it is mentioned that "agricultural exploitation means a single unit, both from a technical and economic point of view, with a single management, which carries out its agricultural activities on the economic territory of the EU, either as a primary activity or as a secondary activity". The purpose of the paper is to highlight the evolution and importance of studying agriculture, more specifically agricultural holdings, by performing a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the specialized literature. Thus, to achieve the proposed goal, the web of science database was accessed in order to perform a bibliometric analysis. Thus, following the application of the bibliometric analysis, it can be argued that this sector has been given considerable interest, as evidenced by the high number of articles published recently, regarding the analysis of agricultural holdings. By querying the mentioned database, 26,804 scientific articles were found after the phrase "agricultural farms". Most such papers were published by authors from the US (28.4% of the total number of papers) and China (18.7% of the total number of papers) in the Journal of agricultural and food chemistry (1.52%) and Acta horticulture (1.39%). Because this topic of agricultural holdings is vast and many countries are involved in approaching it in different ways, further studies are recommended on analyzing the evolution and importance of agricultural holdings in different countries and identifying the discrepancies between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper consists in presenting the dynamic evolution of the Romanian beer sector at both national and European levels during the period 2018-2022. From an economic standpoint, the beer industry stands out as one of the biggest and most significant revenue contributors worldwide, with beer representing the most widely consumed alcoholic beverage globally. The need to carry out this paper emerges from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, following the effects it had on the active population and implicitly the changes in consumption behaviors. Moreover, considering recent times, the war in Ukraine is a factor that can seriously affect the imports and exports of surrounding countries of grain necessary for the production of beer, this aspect being really important in observing economical changes. This paper relies heavily on a thorough examination of the demand and supply dynamics within the Romanian beer sector, assisted by a comparative analysis of its standing among European beer trends. Notably, Romania holds a prominent position as one of the highest per capita beer consumers. The main hypothesis of this study consists in the fact that the demand and supply of beer did not increase during the pandemic, and that the expenses for this product suffered considerable increases. This is proven through a quantitative analysis in which indicators such as beer production and consumption, average expenses, imports and exports were analyzed. For this achievement, national, European and international databases were accessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the corporate governance status for the information technology (IT) companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange for 2022, the most recent year for which the companies' annual reports are available. The paper is part of the authors' research series which focuses on SMEs from the Romanian IT sector, as one of the most dynamic sectors with growth perspectives nationally. Corporate governance is essential for the business success and sustainability of any company. It provides a framework made of principles, processes and practices for a company to be directed and controlled. In general, it covers aspects of efficiency and accountability for the board of directors, shareholders, management, statutory committees and control systems. For listed companies, these aspects are complemented by regulatory compliance, disclosure and transparency, as well as stakeholders' engagement. The research is based on a content analysis supplied by Bucharest Stock Exchange, the reports of the IT listed companies and local and international financial institutions. The corporate governance status of the listed companies and the sector overall is determined by using the provisions of the Bucharest Stock Exchange Corporate Governance Codes for the main market and junior SMEs market (called AeRO) and analyzing, through a binary analysis, the annual comply or explain statements of the listed companies. Results show that IT listed companies on the Bucharest Stock Exchange comply with the majority of the provisions of the Corporate Governance Code, even though certain gaps need to be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economy of Romania is changing quickly, and small and medium-sized enterprises are at a stage where implementing artificial intelligence could make all the difference. Small and medium enterprises that do not have sufficient cash or specialised knowledge find this hard to apply, according to the literature. This paper tries to connect the dots by analyzing the relationship between small and medium enterprises and artificial intelligence in Romania through document analysis and a case study of Exonia, a group of Romanian companies that successfully implemented artificial intelligence in their businesses. The methodology also entails the analysis of graphs based on the digital economy and society index, exemplifying the latest information regarding the position of Romania in respect of small and medium-sized enterprises (and not only) that implemented artificial intelligence compared to the other countries in the European Union. Exonia's example shows how small and medium enterprises can make artificial intelligence an opportunity to obtain more efficient operations and happier customers. This paper was co-financed by The Bucharest University of Economic Studies during the PhD program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The migration of medical staff results in the diminution of human resources in the health sector, undermining the capacity of developing countries' health systems to provide medical services equitably. Various factors, such as economic, professional, political, social, or personal considerations, contribute to the decision of health workers to emigrate. This paper's primary objective is to analyze the prevailing trends in the migration flows and stocks of physicians and nurses, with a focus on identifying the principal pull factors of migration. The preferred destination countries for Romanian health professionals include the UK, Germany, France, and Italy. Notably, Germany stands out as a leader in health care professionals' migration flows, characterized by two distinct migration periods: the first featuring exceptionally high levels of physician migration and the second marked by increasing levels of nurses' migration. Through panel data regression analysis, we have established that the pull factors for physicians differ from those for nurses. For physicians, the presence of a Romanian community of health professionals in the destination countries is crucial, whereas for nurses, the development level of the destination country holds top importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the current development status of the Romanian capital market and the opportunities it offers for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to finance their growth strategies through the stock exchange. It is well known that SMEs represent a growth engine for any economy in terms of contribution to GDP, employment rate, and tax contribution to the state budget. Their primary role of supplying goods and services dynamises the market landscape and creates the proper context for competition, innovation, and research and development. However, in this context, they are the most affected by the economic crisis, inflationary pressures, post-Covid uncertainties, and the war in Ukraine. Thus, their access to finance is now more important than ever. The paper's focus is on SMEs from the Romanian information technology (IT) sector and how their growth since listing could be a driver for other Romanian IT companies to list on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The stock exchanges offer SMEs medium and long-term financing opportunities, regardless of market conditions. Therefore, the more successful the SMEs business, the more significant their role as an economic growth engine is. The research is based on a quantitative approach-content analysis provided by Bucharest Stock Exchange and local and international financial institutions. The SMEs' performance profile is determined by using trading evaluation indicators for IT SMEs listed on the Exchange. Results show that, by listing, companies benefit from contextual market conditions, highlighting the recommendation for other companies from the IT sector to list their business on the stock exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research and Development investments are critical to fostering innovation, driving economic growth, and achieving sustainable development goals. Horizon 2020 is the largest European Union research and innovation program, which has funded numerous R&D projects across different countries. This paper presents a comparative study of R&D investments in Romania and the EU, based on insights from Horizon 2020 projects. Using a composite indicator approach, we assess Romania's performance in the R&D sector and compare it with other EU countries. The paper provides an overview of the number of projects and entities that participated in Horizon 2020, with a focus on the Romanian business sector. Our findings indicate that the success rate of Romanian projects is slightly higher than the EU average, and there is a significantly higher percentage of Romanian business sector entities that have participated in Horizon 2020 than in the EU. Moreover, some limitations of the Romanian R&D sector are highlighted, such as the low level of R&D expenditure, one of the lowest in the EU, and the low involvement of the business sector in funding R&D, despite being the primary sector under Horizon 2020. The comparative analysis sheds light on the opportunities and challenges for Romania in improving the performance of its R&D sector. By providing a comparative analysis of the performance of Romania and other EU countries in Horizon 2020 projects we can gain insights which can be useful for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners in developing and implementing policies and strategies to improve R&D investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to provide a new framework for assessing the innovation capacity and efficiency in Romanian small enterprises and start-ups. In this sense, a systematic literature review has been employed in order to obtain a clear understanding of the existing knowledge and to critically evaluate the existing solutions. In addition, considering the European Union objectives regarding innovation and sustainable development, this paper investigates the present situation of Romania by interpreting the official European Commission reports and current research papers. Considering the importance of regional innovation advancement and that of creating economic growth through competitiveness, this paper scrutinizes several concepts from the scientific literature, including regional innovation governance, entrepreneurship and innovation efficiency with the final purpose of developing a framework applicable for Romania. Taking into consideration the relatively low scores of Romanian regions regarding innovativeness and technological advancement, this paper attempts to provide a clearer understanding of the applicable factors that can be used for measuring innovation performance. The proposed framework focuses on the importance of entrepreneurship and the development of new business models in order to efficiently assess the innovative endeavors of enterprises. All things considered, this paper provides both theoretical and managerial contributions and possibility for further investigations addressed at specific Romanian regions and business sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(no more than 10 lines) These instructions give you guidelines for preparing papers for WATER 2010. Use this document as a template if you are using Microsoft Word 6.0 or later. Otherwise, use this document as an instruction set. The electronic file of your paper will be formatted further at WATER 2010. We accept papers in the following formats: .doc, .docx and .pdf. Do not delete the blank line immediately above the abstract; it sets the footnote at the bottom of this page. Do not insert page numbers. Define abbreviations and acronyms in the abstract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the world in which technology quickly integrates in our daily lives, businesses that incorporate digital innovation throughout their organizational culture, spanning from top-level executives to low-level employees are prone to emerge as industry frontrunners. Supported by Machine Learning, which stands out as a pivotal revolutionary tool, companies can enhance their productivity and operational efficiencies by incorporating remarkable automation capabilities, error reduction, superior predictive analysis, together with gaining valuable insights into future trends. The paper confers an overview of Machine Learning's capabilities, developed types, provided solutions and built architecture, through a conceptual structure. The paper elaborates these crucial concepts, offering a precise perspective on the topic and adopts a descriptive approach, elucidating the provided terminologies and ideas by referencing the related literature. The paper highlights in the initial part the outcomes resulting from the key advantages of Machine Learning and its impact on organizations, the path towards realizing substantial value through these digital advancements, emphasizing the priority organizations assign to cultivate their digital potential. The research performed in the second part of the paper aims at analyzing the progress of Romanian micro and small enterprises with implemented Machine Learning solutions, with detailed metrics and comprising k-means clustering, having the following objectives: automating repetitive tasks, improving planning and forecasting, increasing net profit, effortlessly discovering new patterns from large, diverse data models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the perception of various customers regarding the private labels of retail companies. Therefore, the scope of this paper is to illustrate and determine whether specific factors such as the opinion, satisfaction and enjoyment of such labels, influence each other and also the perception of the customer, regardless if the customer is aware or not about it. Since these factors also influence the purchasing decision of potential customers, it is interesting to find out the current state of those, and identify any potential for improvement. This paper uses a statistic linear model, that is based on the inference statistic as well as the descriptive statistics. Therefore, tests like the Lagrange multiplier test, known also as the White test, the Durbin Watson test and the Jarque Bera test, were conducted to check the quality and the validity of the model. The results are interesting due to the fact that every time 2 factors were analysed, one test was failed. This does not necessarily mean that the model is unfounded or not valid. This signifies that there might be a better model that suits the behavior of the analysed factors and can possibly predict better their outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of legislation introduced in Romania through Law 1 of 2020 regarding occupational pensions, this paper presents an evaluation of occupational pension system for police and military personnel and takes into consideration privately administered funds that would complement the current system. The paper evaluates the impact of the complementary occupational pension system, focusing on its dual role as both a fiscal instrument for internal financing within Romania and a mechanism for enhancing social and economic security for retired police and military staff. The occupational pension system can diversify funding sources, potentially easing the national public debt burden, while offering a sustainable and adequate retirement income for service members. Furthermore, the analysis extends to the occupational pension system's efficacy in fostering workforce stability, particularly post-eligibility for military state pensions. The study addresses the system's potential influence on staff motivation and retention, underpinning its role in maintaining a robust and committed service workforce. This simulation-based study leverages international models and legislative frameworks to corroborate these benefits, providing a nuanced understanding of the occupational pension system's role in the broader context of public service pensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper starts from the premise that social space, the state space, is a socially productive territory characterized, among other things, by hierarchical social, economic and political relations. This hierarchical dimension of space comes to the fore when researching the urban marginalization of Roma people in Romania. The mechanisms of exclusion employed by the state against Roma groups are situated in a wide range of other policies, among which uneven territorial development ranks chief. As such, this paper seeks to analyse the junction between these processes. It asks the question: how did the process of urban planning reinforce the urban marginalization of Roma people during socialism in Baia Mare? In order to address this question, I mobilize the results of two years of archival research in the city of Baia Mare, coupled with the discursive analysis of this archival material. I perform a diachronic analysis of how Roma people were targeted by state practices of urban marginalization, such as stigmatization, criminalization and repression. I show how the policies of systematisation of Baia Mare shaped the territory of a particular neighbourhood – Hatvan, attempting to manage and control the Roma population there. Throughout the 1960s, Hatvan was considered a focal point for crime. This led to a large-scale plan to completely transform the area through evictions, demolitions and the displacement of Roma people. The result was a place that was seen as clean, ordered and lawful social space, which became what is currently known as the Vasile Alecsandri neighbourhood. However, this space continues to this day to be one of social marginalisation, economic deprivation and institutionalised racism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in administrative structures in post-communist countries after the change of the political system resulted in the division of tasks performed by public administration. Local self-governments were established and the tasks of meeting the needs of local communities, including the housing needs, became their responsibility. The aim of this research paper is to examine whether these tasks are actually being implemented and to analyze the measures taken by municipalities in this respect. Real estate management was analyzed in terms of selling residential premises by way of tender and without a tender procedure, as well as purchasing residential premises for the implementation of the municipal tasks. The research was carried out on the example of the Municipality of Krakow in the years 2015-2022. The results of the analyses were compared with the results of the research carried out in the Municipality of Oradea in Romania. The data collected in these two municipalities in two different countries revealed completely different approaches of the local authorities to the analyzed issue. In Krakow, the local authorities have developed a long-term programme for managing the municipal housing resources, which is consistently being implemented. The local authorities in Oradea do not take any action to increase the number of available residential premises, or even to renovate them. Instead, they expect action to be taken by the National Housing Agency or private companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mining industry is the branch that provides necessary mineral raw materials for a whole series of economic activities, with the main beneficiaries being the energy industry (through coal consumers), companies specialized in the processing of uranium concentrates, chemical industry, food industry, construction materials industry, non-ferrous metallurgical industry, etc. Thus, in accordance with the Romanian mining industry strategy 2017-2035, one of the objectives of the industrial policy in the mining field in Romania is the development and implementation of a database system for the mining sector. Specifically, the goal consists in a development of a tool for tracking and implementing the Mining Law, which allows the collection, storage, administration, modification and analysis of data regarding licenses and permits. At the same time, the development of a visualization and geographic information system (GIS) of mining exploration and exploitation perimeters, as support for the promotion of concessions for mineral resources, is being pursued. In this way, there is a tendency towards the automated and computerized management of the production processes. The development of such systems with practical applicability requires the design, development, and implementation of specific models and databases. The structure and quality of the designed data models directly influence the exploitability and analytical capability of the systems. This paper analyzes the possibilities of designing and implementing a database for the management of the surface mining activities. In the first part of the paper, the basic principles regarding the design and population of databases are presented, as well as their correlation with user requirements and exploitation needs. In the second part, a data model was proposed for the management of mining activities, in accordance with the main stages in the life cycle of a mining operation. In the end, several scenarios for the exploitation of GIS databases were presented, as well as their interconnection with data sources external to the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Romania, one of the countries with the largest Roma community in Europe, the gap between the majority population and the Roma minority continues to be wide. The paper explores whether there is a sustainability of traditional Roma occupations and crafts or whether we are witnessing a continuous occupational dynamic. The objective of the research is to identify the patterns of traditional and non-traditional economic activities practised in Roma communities in two cities: Timişoara and Cluj-Napoca. The research hypothesis investigates whether there is a wide range of economic activities in analyzed Roma communities, where traditional activities tend to have a negligible share and dynamics compared to non-traditional ones. Also, we analyze whether traditional activities remain relevant in Roma communities and whether they represent a significant occupational resource in the case of external migration. The following statistical hypotheses are presented: there are significant differences between members of Roma communities in Timisoara and Cluj-Napoca. These are observed in the choice of practising non-traditional-traditional economic activities in the country. There are significant differences between members of Roma communities in Timisoara and Cluj-Napoca in the practice of traditional versus non-traditional occupations according to ethnic subgroup membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzed from a social, educational and psychological point of view, the phenomenon of bullying has become a global concern in all schools. Taking into account the harmful effects they have on all educational factors (children, parents and teachers), governments around the world to create some policies and dedicated to the prevention and reduction of bullying in the school environment. In recent years, there has been an increasing number of acts of violence and intimidation, both in schools and in the online environment, becoming a problem not only in high schools in Romania, but also in secondary and even primary schools. Thus, although the statistics are worrying, legislative changes in the field of bullying in the educational system in Romania are at the beginning of the road and aspects are generally aimed at prevention. The present paper proposes to bring to the fore the need to develop an integrated intervention strategy in cases of school bullying, by involving the decision-making factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly changed the Romanian banking sector, which was forced to adapt to digital technologies and to provide accessible banking services for all kinds of custsomers. The corporate social responsibility practices evolved during the pandemic, from general causes to more targeted initiatives, the Romanian banks offering innovative solutions to fight against the health crisis. The present paper provides a good insight in the corporate social responsibility practices before the pandemic and during the COVID-19 crisis, exploring the best practices of the most representative banks in terms of total assets. The investigation covers five years, from 2017 to 2021, and was based on a content analysis of the sustainability reports of the banks from the sample. The data was processed through the MAXQDA software, revealing a clear correspondence between the corporate social responsibility practices of the banks and the theoretical concept of sustainability: Profit – People – Planet. The qualitative analysis was completed by a quantitative investigation based on a questionnaire applied on a sample of 344 respondents. The comparative analysis outlines the moral implications of corporate social responsibility in the COVID-19 unique environment, considering the balance between the individual health of clients/employees and the profit dimension of corporate social responsibility. The paper focuses on the recovery stages of the banking sector after the critical point of restriction measures, emphasizing the clients' perceptions and attitudes towards digital banking, as a form of social care during pandemic. The banks responses to the COVID-19 pandemic were examined by using a sequential mixed-methods approach, suggesting an amplified economic dimension of corporate social responsibility during the COVID-19 pandemic through digital banking services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 crisis, along with the other associated complex crises, has amplified the gap that exists in terms of the number of women reaching leadership positions, despite the quality of their work and their important contributions in various fields. This paper aims to explore women's leadership qualities, and perceptions regarding leadership, based on quantitative data originating from four studies. Concerning the research methodology it includes qualitative research and a comparative analysis of global studies. The paper focuses on women, looking mostly for the proportion of women within organizations, and the main characteristics of women's leadership. The analysis then turns to Romania, where we have identified the proportion of women leaders. The main goal of the paper is to investigate the representation of women leaders in EU countries and in particular in Romania. The results of the study illustrate that favorable work conditions have a greater impact on women's aspirations to become leaders. Extrinsic structural inequalities, such as bias against women in certain professions, and gender, racial and other discrimination, are barriers to women's access and advancement in leadership positions in the workplace. Intrinsic individual characteristics of successful women leaders, namely conscientiousness, respect, confidence, acceptance, and resilience have facilitated their success in obtaining and maintaining leadership positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper analyses the opportunities for the possible implementation of the latest technological innovations in the Romanian manufacturing industry. The latest trends in technology can be summed up by the term "Industry 4.0", or the "Fourth Industrial Revolution", which brings unprecedented levels of automation, thanks to recent breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), robotics and much more. However, manufacturing sectors are not created equally and some are more susceptible to implementing new technologies than others. The industrial situation in Eastern and Central Europe is highly debated and complex. During the Cold War, most of the Warsaw Pact and COMECON countries were characterized, economically speaking, by rapid industrialization, be it heavy or light industry. This is also the case in Romania, as it saw an increase in industrial output during the communist era. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the collectivist ideology, some manufacturing sectors collapsed, while new ones appeared, the case of deindustrialization in Central and Eastern Europe still being under scrutiny, as the industrial output has been more stable than we tend to believe. However, a shift did occur, especially in Romania. Following the transition to a market economy, industrial output suffered a metamorphosis, exchanging some sectors (such as the textile one) for new ones (such as the automotive one, following an increase in foreign direct investments from the West). These shifts in the manufacturing sector have an advantage in the unfolding context, as the new industries (such as auto-manufacturing) are more inclined to adopt Industry 4.0. These factors, in combination with the recent trend of reshoring, are prone to positively influence the future economic environment of Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out to investigate the impact of the VUCA world (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) on the vulnerability and resilience of incoming migrants in Romania, as well as on their integration patterns. Vulnerability and resilience are conceptualized through the four elements of the VUCA world. Data was collected through 35 semi-structured, psycho-social interviews, and 4 focus groups carried out between January 2020 and November 2021 with young migrants (aged 18 to 29). Participants came from two ethnic backgrounds: young migrants of Arab and Moldovan origins. Results show that much of VUCA is generated by the lack of employment opportunities and by the bureaucratic public administration. At the same time, the challenges raised by the VUCA world for migrants can be reduced through the improvement of destination language skills and through the development of social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is motivated by the influences that the COVID-19 health crisis had on the economies of the world. The economic crisis that has evolved from the health crisis affected economic life at all levels (global, national, industry, and company levels), including the trading relationships between countries. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the influence of the COVID-19 health crisis on the bilateral trading relationships between Romania and its main trading partners in terms of both exports and imports, for the year 2020. The research method used is multiple regression with exports and imports as dependent variables and the COVID-19 burden (solely the number of COVID-19 cases, solely the number of COVID-19 deaths and both taken together) and GDP in both Romania and the trading partners, as independent variables. The data has been collected from international organizations' statistical databases. The findings of the paper illustrate that both the GDP of Romania and the COVID-19 burden in both Romania and the partner countries influenced the bilateral trading relationships of Romania with its main trading partners in 2020. Romanian imports were more affected than exports by the COVID-19 burden both from Romania and from the trading partners. The number of deaths due to COVID-19 had a higher influence on trade than the number of COVID-19 cases. Based on this country case study, we can assert that global sanitary crises do have an influence on the international trade relationships of countries. Consequently, specific measures need to be taken by policymakers in order to first ensure economic recovery and second to support and maintain international trade flows during times of strong health crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Green Deal sets out a detailed vision for Europe to become a climate-neutral continent by 2050 by providing clean, secure, and affordable energy. Thus, with the aim of providing a market-oriented perspective on the economic potential of biomass-related activities, several data were analyzed in this research paper. The positive impact of the green transition is necessary to be studied both at macroeconomic and microeconomic levels. In this context, the research question addressed was: What is the impact of the green transition on farms' performance and national economy? A descriptive statistical analysis was carried out in order to prove the importance of specific crops, taking into consideration the movements in the energy market and the farmer's constraints in the era of the European Green Deal. The main objective of this research was to determine if biomass is one of the optimal solutions able to gather all these European desiderates. This conference paper identifies the best scenario for an agricultural farm using diversification activities and the macroeconomic impact of the biomass crops. Currently, the European context is the most favorable for resorting to biomass crops, especially if considering the recent global energy market dynamics. Additionally, there is a need for activities diversification at the farm level in order for them to become greener and to boost their socio-economic and environmental performance. Results confirm that there is considerable economic potential for biomass production in Romania. The added value of the paper is provided by both microeconomic and macroeconomic approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamics of the business environment indicate that companies should become more flexible and value oriented. The competition within the IT sector leads to increased uncertainty for the players and a higher focus on the strategic direction of the company. Hence, many studies point out the significance of strategic agility as a tool of increasing company performance and achieving improved results. The paper highlights how the performance of IT companies is impacted by various factors. The main driver for company performance is strategic agility mixed with absorptive capacity. For a better understanding, the paper will analyze knowledge acquisition, knowledge assimilation, transformation and knowledge exploitation. These four dimensions represent the layers of absorptive capacity. Using as framework a survey developed based on the literature, there will be performed an analysis of the input received. The responses have been captured from stakeholders of the IT industry, who are employees of IT organizations with operations in Romania. For an enhanced output, there will be applied a regression analysis. This will contribute to the identification of factors determining company performance in the IT industry. The results of the regression analysis will demonstrate that strategic agility, knowledge acquisition and transformation have the highest impact on company performance. As only three out of the five tested dimensions are validated, further research can be grounded on understanding why knowledge assimilation and knowledge exploitation have not been confirmed as factors impacting company performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early socialism from the second half of 19th century Romania is experiencing a systematic comeback among historians and social scientists. The works of Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea, the founding father of Romanian Marxism, occupy a central place in this newfound attention towards the origins and struggles of socialism in Romania. This paper addresses Gherea's interpretation of anarchism on par with his doctrine of 'legal socialism'. Its purpose is to prove how anarchism acts as a more than tactical catalyzer for legal socialism, placing the latter not necessarily on a new ideological perspective, but further on the terrain of Romanian political status-quo of late 19th and early 20th century Romania. Although more principled than tactical, Gherea's repudiation of anarchism in progressively unsubstantial Marxist terms has also led to tactical shortcomings. This was the case of the first Romanian socialist party, which was dissolved and absorbed after only six years of existence within the ascending liberal party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural intelligence (CQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ) represent key competencies of multicultural leadership in the new normal global business environment. This paper aims to present a comparative quantitative study concerning emotional and cultural intelligences in USA and Romania, backed by a brief geo-linked bibliometric literature review. The bibliometric analysis is performed with VOSviewer for the works focusing on these two variables published in USA and, respectively, in Romania. Inspired by the findings of this comparative analysis, it is performed a quantitative research based on 604 questionnaires distributed to managers in USA and in Romania, and on statistical processing using SPSS software. The statistical results show that both CQ and EQ constitute significant vectors in developing multicultural leadership and organizational performance in a multicultural business environment for both USA and Romania. The comparative study reveals a higher level of CQ and EQ in the Romanian business environment than in USA. The difference could be explained by the focus on rationality and profit maximization in the American business education. The contribution of the paper comes from these findings and they can help researchers and practitioners to stimulate their efforts in improving CQ and EQ competences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores relationships between vaccination coverage and indicators at the level oflocal administrative units for the case of rural localities of Romania. Positive correlations have been identified in relation to fiscal capacity, coverage of the population with general practitioners, COVID‐19 incidence rate and absence of a marginalized community within the locality. Regional differences are again highlighted in the analysis. This means that there is at least partially an overlap of the disadvantaged rural areas with the ones registering low vaccination uptakes against COVID‐19. Further on, it means that these territorial areas accumulate a series of structural disadvantages that can prove to increase the discrepancies between them and other rural or large urban areas. The paper contributes to enlarging the perspective on vaccination coverage by adding both conceptual and practical insights. From the point ofview of practitioners, the results of the study can be used to tailor intervention in communities with similar characteristics, to underscore public health inequalities across territories. Points for practitioners are relevant for a wide range of stakeholders from public health, public management, and social protection fields, placed in both local and central level decision‐making positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to discuss the ability in assessing successful investment when done by actors outside of the business arena such as government bodies or international economic cooperation agencies. More specifically, the paper aims to analyze how non-reimbursable European funding for enterprises can affect the financial results, comparing companies that have received funding through the Start-up Nation project with companies that have not received it. In order to determine if companies receiving aid or not receiving aid can be argued to be performing better economically, I have studied data from the Start-up Nation Romania project, which provide the possibility of a concrete comparison by identifying the companies participating in the project, and analyzing which group performed better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper completes the empirical literature on the European Union (EU) climate and energy policy design and evaluation, namely the implementation part related to the development, assessment and approval of the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) of the Member States (MS) for the period 2021-2030. These strategic documents are foreseen by the Governance Regulation no. EU 2018/1999 as the main tools used to implement the climate and energy policies and targets by 2030. This paper is organized as follows: the abstract gives an overview of the paper and its main conclusions. Section 1 depict the introduction and background about the whole process around NECPs and the main provisions related under the Governance Regulation. Section 2 reviews literature from the perspective of the EU negotiations on 2030&2050 energy and climate targets, legal aspects of climate and energy governance and the process of NECPs development and approval. It also includes a short presentation of the data used for the analysis, including their sources. Section 3 gives an insight about the approval of Romania's NECPs by the European Commission. At the same time, this section briefly comments on proposals made by the national authorities and the recommendations using as starting point Romania's position in 2014 during the 2030 climate and energy negotiations while taking into account the dynamic of the geopolitical situation to date. Section 4 concludes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the authors seek to analyze if the relationship between final consumption and foreign trade indicators, at a macroeconomic level, manifests as a Granger causality. The graphical representation of the datasets reveals that the evolutions follow a similar pattern (with the exception of the net export). The indicators on both sides of the causality have been widely approached by researchers, as they contribute to the formation of the Gross Domestic Product. The research methodology follows the Toda-Yamamoto procedure for measurement of Granger causality, as the variables were expected to be (and were found to be in the initial step of the data analysis) non-stationary, and the results on the processing in levels can provide more accurate information. The research hypotheses were designed in order to detail the main topic of the paper on foreign trade indicators. None of the hypotheses has been validated, and the authors consider, in the future, the application of other methods to assess the quantitative side of the links between foreign trade and final consumption. The authors consider that a significant contribution brought by this study is the type of data analysis method applied and the approach towards the two macroeconomic components of the economy, for the cases of Romania and the entire European Union, of which Romania is a member. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to open the issue of multiple shrinkage trajectories in a context of extended urbanisation (Keil 2018) by delineating the different trajectories of Romanian cities. We employed principal component analysis to allow for a multi-criterial classification of Romanian cities based on k-means cluster analysis. Beyond the dominant representation of shrinkage as a process that is mainly correlated with population loss and economic decline, this paper calls for bridging together distinct dimensions which have been either under-studied, such as the aspect of human development, or studied separately across the existing literature, such as governance of shrinkage and economic growth. Therefore, the typology developed here accounts for understanding the process of shrinkage as a complex process, having multiple causes, which determine peculiar trajectories. The outcome confirms the existence of distinct and highly localised shrinkage identities (Martinez-Fernandez, Audirac, et al. 2012). We show that regrowth is not strictly related to the urban core, but it has more to do with a process of complexification of the landscape and social relations existing at the periphery of the city. Shrinking core cities coexists with growing peri-urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2023, during the annual United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP28), Romania joined the Net Zero Nuclear Initiative and the Ministerial Declaration for the tripling of nuclear capacity by 2050, which recognizes the key role of nuclear energy in achieving net zero goals worldwide. In this context, wanted to implement national projects and strategies to achieve the global goal of tripling nuclear power generation capacity by 2050 (taking 2030 as a reference) and to act to ensure that nuclear power plants are operated in security conditions. This paper examines the potential of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) in Romania's energy landscape, considering the country's recent commitment to the Net Zero Nuclear Initiative and the goal of tripling nuclear capacity by 2050. The focus is on integrating new nuclear technologies, particularly SMRs, and modernizing existing facilities like the Cernavodă Power Plant. The study also explores the economic benefits, public perception challenges, and the role of European and American expertise in advancing SMR technology. For the first time, using specialized literature and data from public sources, the study aims to analyze the prospects for SMR projects developed in Romania to overcome two essential perspectives: capital costs and public perception in many communities where concerns related to nuclear safety, radioactive waste management, and potential risks associated with nuclear technologies exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The year 2020 began with a health crisis, asserted in the same year, as the coronavirus pandemic. In this sense, world governments have taken measures to protect their national economies, measures such as limiting exports or social distancing. In 2022, the economy showed signs of recovery, when in February, war broke out between Ukraine and Russia. Thus, the two events negatively impacted world trade. In this paper, the aim is to point out the impact of the health, economic and war crisis on Romania-Brazil commercial relations, in the period 2019–2023, on Brazilian investments in Romania and on Romanian investments in Brazil. Romania is part of the European Union, being also a military, humanitarian and economic support for Ukrainians. Otherwise, Brazil is part of a totally different political structure, being a partner and ally of Russia. A descriptive research will be carried out on Romania-Brazil trade, in the period 2019–2023, based on the information on the Comexstat platform. In order to identify Brazilian investments in Romania, the research will be carried out conformable of the information provided by the National Trade Registry Office, and the research on Romanian investments in Brazil will be carried out conformable of the information provided by Banco Central do Brasil. The year 2023 represents the best economic year for trade between Romania and Brazil from the period 2019–2023, as commercial exchanges increased by 16% in 2023, compared to 2019. Regarding Brazilian investments in Romania, they are increasing, but Romanian investments in Brazil are decreasing. This work is innovative, because it sheds light on the commercial relationship between two countries with a similar culture, during a period of crisis, countries that are located in two different political and ideological blocs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The culture of Romanian garlic has a high potential from an economic point of view, being in great demand on the market, Romanians preferring its taste and aroma. However,..garlic cultivation does not have an easy technology and the Romanian seed is hard to find, so many of the producers are discouraged and prefer to cultivate other, safer crops. Massive imports of garlic led to measures from the state. Underscoring the importance of garlic cultivation for the Romanian economy, the state met agricultural producers with a "de minimis" support to support garlic production. The present paper, in order to contribute to making the necessary decisions for the future production cycle as well as to support farmers who want to cultivate this crop, analyzes the economic efficiency with the help of profitability indicators (profit, profitability rates, breackeven point, etc.), for two possible situations: with financial support granted through the Garlic Production Support Program and without taking into account this "de minimis" support. In this context, it is aimed to evaluate the economic viability in terms of the use of the production framework technology of garlic culture and the rational use of both the raw materials used and the human and financial resources to produce garlic of high quality but at low costs. Agricultural activities are always determined by the profitability of the crop. The findings of the study can have a positive impact on farmers, allowing them to adjust their material resources and current farm capacities for higher productivity, while highlighting the importance of implementing the garlic crop support program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Romania's flourishing solar energy sector necessitates responsible management of photovoltaic (PV) panel waste. The research examines at the current level of PV panel recycling and anticipates future production of waste. By examining data on solar production capacity and panel characteristics, the study forecasts a significant rise in PV waste. Supportive legislation and rising environmental consciousness have contributed to increased PV installations, but regulating the waste produced is essential. The analysis predicts a jump in trash volume, reaching at least 32,892 tons by 2033, a stunning 2336% increase over 2024–2032. This represents an exceptional chance for Romania to become a European leader in PV panel recycling. Romania could establish an innovative industry, acquire recycled materials for new panels, and encourage a circular solar energy economy if it optimizes its waste management. Together with EU policies to promote the use of recycled materials in the production process of new panels, a national PV waste management strategy needs to be developed, with collaboration between government, industry and environmental organizations. This paper provides significant insights for participants in Romania's solar energy market. By identifying the challenges as well as opportunities relating to PV waste management, interested parties could collaborate proactively to build an economically viable future for solar energy in Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2023, the Romanian Government decided on the reduction and alignment of tax incentives for employees in the IT, construction, agriculture and food industry sectors. This paper aims to analyze the impact on these activity fields, with a focus on the IT sector. For this purpose, indicators such as number of employees, percentage in the total GDP and labor productivity were considered relevant and the data was processed using the regression analysis. Thus, the implementation of fiscal facilities had an overall positive impact on all industries in terms of employment, but not necessarily as a percentage of GDP. A strong, direct link between the increase in the mean salary in the IT industry and number of employees, labor productivity and percentage of GDP was determined, with a coefficient of multiple determination of over 90% for all three regression analyses. The elimination of benefits for the employees working in IT might have a negative impact on the sector which has become a main strategic resource for Romania, mainly because the possibility of working remotely can make companies easily relocate their IT departments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines Maramureș County's labour regime and describes its transformation from a heavily unionized formation under socialism to today's deregulated, transnational condition. The region's former mining cluster and current furniture production hub are posited as sectoral focal points. Union militantism prevented the mining sector's accelerated decline in the 1990s, but liberalisation and conformity with the European Union's regulatory frameworks gradually eroded labour rights and shifted the region's economic profile to export-oriented sectors. Among these, domestic and foreign furniture manufacturers emerged as dominant economic actors in the early 2000s. While the county is well-known for its wood processing, the companies in question tap into IKEA's global production network and employ low-cost, flexible labour in just-in-time supply schedules. Recent developments include the use of immigrant agency workers as a solution to the county's skilled and unskilled labour shortage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the labour force composition of two adjacent counties in north-west Romania: Maramureș and Sălaj. Regionally, employers stress the lack of available labour force and resort to commuter networks from nearby rural areas and immigrant labour. Why labour shortage? It is argued that Romania's FDI-reliant export-led growth model factors in. Namely, the growth model's reliance on low-cost labour that reduces employment incentives to a minimum (often minimum wage) and employment in repetitive labour-intensive activities make the prospect less attractive. If technological upgrading – requiring skilled employees – is absent, regional labour availability tends to be an issue. Alternative subsistence methods are favoured: seasonal transnational migration, household agricultural subsistence and remittances from relatives. Tying livelihood to families and households, these methods pool resources to replace (even if in part) wage labour under global market-dependency conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tens of thousands of labourers work in the factories in and around Baia Mare, a city that is being reindustrialized after an initial industrialization under state socialism. In 2021, most workers were being paid about 280 euro a month, as companies were aiming to achieve the lowest possible production costs while remaining within the European Union. Workers and their families, unable to make do on their low wages alone, constantly scramble for means to supplement their income. Many work overtime systematically; some choose to migrate for work abroad for a few months every year; yet others quit their factory jobs for more lucrative opportunities during the summers, only to return to the factories in the autumn. In this paper, I look at the industrial history of Baia Mare and the work lives of labourers to understand how the workers in the region were impacted by the politics of dispossession. I use two complementary lenses: on the one hand, I understand their position at the junction of global, national, and local forces; on the other hand, I underline the ways in which this specific case speaks to the workings of global capital, not as an exception, but as one of many interconnected stories of human experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the problem of establishing the communication budget in one of the most active sectors regarding marketing communication, the banking one. Firstly, we highlight the particularities of communication in the banking sector, based on the results presented in the specialized literature. The functions of marketing communication and the communication process are applied to the specifics of banking institutions and the main communication models that banks can use are indicated, depending on the objectives pursued. Also, the main means of banking communication and how they can be associated with marketing objectives are synthesized. Based on diversification of the means of communication, we emphasized the attention that banks must pay to integrated marketing communication, a concept whose application contributes to the efficiency of communication at the level of each targeted category. In the second part, we addressed the methods that banking institutions can apply to size their communication budget and how the efficiency of its allocation can be evaluated. The data presented are based on the documentary study and the realization of a case study applied to the banking field in Romania. Although the results show that the banking sector in Romania is one of the sectors with the highest advertising expenses, the trends evidenced in terms of banking communication at a global level cannot be ignored, so Romanian banks will have to adapt their communication strategy and, along with this, how the communication budget is allocated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Book publishing companies navigate the interplay between localization and globalization seamlessly, yet the cadence at which global dynamics infiltrate local markets unfolds at different rhythms. Using publicly available data about the performance of Romanian book publishers, this paper explores the local market and its dynamics from 2018 to 2021. The results indicate "an inactivity trend" among enterprises: more than 40% of companies could not generate a net profit, and more than 50% had no employees. The prevalence of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) over big companies is an intrinsic characteristic of the Romanian market. Although compared to bigger companies, SMEs manage to translate sales into profitability, over 70% of small and medium-sized companies have a turnover below 60,000 Euros. The paper concludes by highlighting growth opportunities, such as tapping into the Romanian diaspora and exploring the correlation between book sales, university locations, and the role of academic institutions in shaping reading habits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the need of research on online education in the Romanian context and presents a student survey on students' opinion on teaching and learning using online activities. The results of the survey are the starting point of an extensive investigation of the effects of online education in the post- pandemic context. The case study I have in view will rely on a classroom quasi-experiment and on a self-reflective teacher diary study. The case study will be conducted in a prestigious secondary school in Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In over 60% of patients with prediabetes, the evolution to diabetes can be stopped by changing lifestyle. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus was 11.6% and of prediabetes was 16.5% in the Romanian population aged 20-79 years. The deficiencies are not only at the health system level, but also in the application of prediabetes criteria existing in accredited guidelines. Although these guidelines imposed by the international diabetes federation are constantly updated, many doctors do not apply the recommended steps for diagnosis and treatment. We review, in the first part of the paper, several studies in predicting diabetes, which used different algorithms and techniques. In this second part of the paper, we propose a machine learning approach for prediabetes prediction, which uses kNN (k-Nearest Neighbors), DT (decision tree), SVM (Support Vectors Machines) and Logistic Regression (LR) algorithms. We used a dataset with 125 persons (men and women), with the following features: gender (S), serum glucose (G), serum triglycerides (TG), serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), waist circumference (WC) and systolic blood pressure (SBP). We used standardized medical criterion named Adult Treatment Panel III Guidelines (ATP III), which specifies that prediabetes diagnosis can be established if at least three of five parameters are outside the scale of their normal values. We obtained, for both algorithms, encouraging results in evaluating the models (in terms of confusion matrix, f1_score, accuracy_score). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the links between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the transformative aspects of establishing an encompassing agri-food trade policy in the European Union (EU). Starting with a review of the Sustainable Development Goals, this article focuses on the goal of sustainable agriculture and food security. The paper then investigates the transformative aspects of building a fair agri-food trade policy, including the significance of international trade agreements and the need for effective monitoring and enforcement. Research also includes a quantitative analysis of the scientific community's interest in the EU's effectiveness in implementing its agri-food trade policy, with a focus on the policy's impact on global food security. The findings indicate that the EU is making progress toward achieving its objective of boosting global food security, but significant impediments remain to be surmounted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of 2020, a virus originating from Wuhan, China, spread throughout the world, which in March of the same year was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. According to scientific studies and specialized publications, the pandemic had positive effects on the pharmaceutical industry and e-commerce, which accelerated the digitization process. The negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic consisted in the reduction of companies' revenues, the reduction of the number of customers, the reduction of investments and the temporary suspension of production. The research of this paper is descriptive, based on statistics and data from the official reports of the National Trade Register Office. The methods used are observation, analysis, data processing and synthesis. The aim is to identify the number of new investment sectors, newly established enterprises, companies that suspended their activity and those that entered insolvency in the period 2020 and 2021, compared to 2019. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on entrepreneurship in Romania was not devastating, the entrepreneurs keeping their confidence in the stability of the market. Thus, in 2020, the company establishment rate was affected, because new entrepreneurs no longer had the courage to invest their money, but the companies already present on the market were not strongly impacted. The year 2021 is the surprise year, being the most favorable for entrepreneurship in the period 2019-2021. The most companies were established, and the rate of suspension and insolvency was the lowest. The contribution in this paper consists in the fact that it is demonstrated that the pandemic did not destroy the entrepreneurial activity in Romania. On the contrary, there was a sector, Information and communications, which experienced rapid development, thus developing the concept of "knowledge economy" in this country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]