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The present research was carried out in stands of Scots pine and black pine, pure or mixed with deciduous trees, installed on degraded lands from the Curvature Subcarpathian area, Romania, in a representative network of permanent research plots and followed the analysis of the structural diversity and stability indicators of these stands at different ages and in different conditions of degraded lands. The relationships between the quantitative variables with reference to the structure were established by analyzing the significance of the Pearson correlation coefficient (r) and also including datasets of slenderness indexes, which were classed into three domains of vulnerability to abiotic factors (like wind and snow). The compositional diversity of pine stands (pure or mixed with deciduous ones) is different in relation to age and is correlated with the structural diversity. The obtained correlation coefficients (r Pearson) express very strong and significant relationships between biometric parameters (h x Dbh, h x Lc%, Dc x Dbh, and Lc% x Dbh) of the structural diversity (r = 0.800–0.930), which is important for the analysis of the stability and vulnerability of pine forests. The strong correlation between the analyzed variables expresses a weak vulnerability to the action of harmful abiotic factors and the increase in the stability and resilience of the studied stands, especially of over 50 years old. In the old pine stands, the low-vulnerability domain (I < 0.80) is the best represented one, with an average of 64.01% from the total number of trees. At this age, trees with DBH > 22 cm fall into the low-vulnerability category. The explanation is that the stands were affected in their youth by the action of snow and wind, which, combined with the silvotechnical works performed, led to their compositional and structural diversification and increased stability. The young (<45 years) and pure-pine stands with higher consistency (>0.8) and even-aged structure are the most vulnerable to abiotic factors due to the fact that a large number of trees are passing gradually into the higher cenotic classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creșterea radială a arborilor variază de la un sezon de vegetație la altul, datorită variației factorilor de mediu de la un an la altul. Poluarea aerului poate modifica comportamentul normal al creșterii arborilor atât în ceea ce privește dinamica creșterii, cât și răspunsul la schimbările de mediu. Schimbările climatice și poluarea aerului sunt strâns corelate deși de cele mai multe ori impactul poluării asupra creșterii arborilor și relația dintre climat și creșterea radială a arborilor au fost analizate separat. Acest studiu prezintă rezultatele privind influența poluării industriale asupra relației dintre creșterea arborilor și factorii climatici. Au fost studiate două specii de arbori, molid (Picea abies L.) și brad (Abies alba L.), din zona Tarnița, județul Suceava, zonă intens poluată de activitatea minieră și prelucrarea metalelor neferoase. Suprafețele experimentale au fost amplasate la diferite distanțe față de sursa de poluare pentru a putea surprinde arbori afectați în diferite grade de poluarea industrială locală (intens poluat, moderat poluat și nepoluat). Analiza răspunsului arborilor la variația factorilor climatici a scos în evidență faptul că precipitațiile ridicate din anumite luni pot influența pozitiv creșterile arborilor din zonele poluate. Temperaturile ridicate din sezonul de vegetație pot influența negativ arborii de rășinoase, iar răspunsul este mai puternic în cazul arborilor din zonele afectate de poluare. Perioada în care arborii de rășinoase din zona Tarnița, au răspuns diferit în raport cu gradul de afectare al poluării se suprapune perfect cu perioada în care activitatea minieră din acea zonă se desfășura la un nivel foarte ridicat.

This study analyses the possibility of assessing standing-tree wood density by microdrilling during tending forestry work carried out on Norway spruce stands. The research material comes from 4 experimental plots and consists of 270 trees (78 trees = control variant, 85 trees = moderate variant, and 107 trees = strong variant). The research objectives were to: (1) highlight wood density particularities, (2) identify wood resistance to microdrilling particularities, and (3) assess standing-tree wood density by microdrilling. For the control variant, average density recorded values of 0.357 ± 0.021 and 0.386 ± 0.027 g·cm−3; in the moderate variant, values were between 0.359 ± 0.029 and 0.393 ± 0.027 g·cm−3; and the strong variant was characterized by the limits of 0.364 ± 0.020 and 0.397 ± 0.027 g·cm−3. Average microdrilling resistance values were between 16.6 ± 2.6 and 22.5 ± 3.0% for the control variant; the moderate variant was characterized by the limits of 18.3 ± 3.1 and 23.4 ± 3.3%; and the strong variant recorded value of 19.7 ± 2.6 and 20.5 ± 2.6 (1.5)%. The linear regression results showed that microdrilling resistance increased as wood density increased. Additionally, generalized linear models showed that, when using covariates of microdrill resistance and tree diameter at breast height, there was a significant influence on the dependent variable, wood density, for all considered work variants. These results suggest that it is possible to consistently estimate both quality and resistance in Norway spruce standing trees using microdrilling. Our findings suggest that wood density and microdrilling resistance are dependent on biometric and qualitative characteristics, as well as the amount of tending forestry work conducted on Norway spruce stands.

Forest soils belong to the major carbon sinks on Earth because of their high organic matter content. Forest soils from Europe store approximately 1.5 times more carbon than trees (EC/UN-ECE 2003). As dystric cambisol (2,292,385 ha) and eutric cambisol (869,909 ha) are the most widespread forest soils in Romania, we studied 5958 dystric cambisol pedogenetic horizons and 6784 eutric cambisol pedogenetic horizons. A series of correlations was made between soil organic matter and elevation, but also with tree age and stand production class. The differences between stratified soil organic matter in terms of slope aspect categories were tested, and multiple linear regression was used to determine the influences of some relief (elevation) and stand (age) characteristics on the soil organic matter content. Overall, the soil organic matter content increased with increasing elevation. Based on all 12,742 soil samples over a period of 33 years, the soil organic matter content is influenced by elevation and tree age, especially on shaded and partially shaded slope aspects.

The central part of the Romanian Plain, more precisely the region delimited by the rivers Prahova and Mostistea to the East and Olt to the West, is characterized from a climatic point of view by more significant precipitation amount than the areas of the West and East, being named by Bordei-Ion (1988) as an air masses convergence area of directions from NE and E with directions from W. This area, due to the higher amount of precipitation, is evidenced by the characteristics of the physico-geographic factors such as, the types of vegetation, the characteristics of the soil cover, the use of the land or the presence of the steppes and the forests. The present work was realized using ROCADA data base (Bîrsan et al., 2014), from which all days with atmospheric precipitation values greater than 10 mm between 1981-2013 were extracted. This data was analyzed from a synoptic point of view using the available synoptic maps in the archive of the GFS forecasting model (Global Forecast System) available on www.wetter3.de. Thus, of the 3552 days analyzed, most days were asociated with high atmospheric instability specific for cold air advections in the form of long-wave troughs with a total of 1433 (40.3%). This is followed by Mediterranean cyclones with a total number of 1008 days (28.2%) with different trajectories according to the classification of Bordei-Ion (1983), of which cyclones with a type I track in 148 days (4.1%), cyclones with a type II track that acted in 653 days (18.4%) and those with trajectory IV that acted in 208 days (5.7%). The third place in the hierarchy of pluviogenetic causes is represented by the cyclones of Atlantic origin, with a total number of 436 days (12.3%). Cyclones with retrogressive trajectory had a 50 day (1.4%) and cut-off-low altitude cyclones in 469 days (13.4%). And last, warm air advections in anticyclonal regime acted in a number of 156 days (4,4%).

Atmospheric pollutants over the last century have led to increased negative impacts on the environment, especially on forest ecosystems. In the Baia Mare region of Romania, the influence of pollution on the neighboring forests of the municipality has been reported since 1970, and its negative effects have been reported mainly in the form of reduced tree growth, which implies significant losses of wood biomass. The objective of this study is to analyze the temporal and spatial effect of industrial pollution on the auxological processes of beech trees in this region. Quantification of auxological changes was performed by analyzing the resilience, recovery and resistance indices. The most intense negative effect of local pollution with heavy metal dusts, sulfur and nitrogen oxides, and sulfuric acid vapors, on the auxological processes of beech trees was found in the period 1960–1990, with a maximum in the period 1970–1980, when the mining activity was at its highest intensity. Beech trees responded to the negative effect of pollution by significantly reducing their growth during the period affected by local pollution, and after 1990 they resumed their auxological activity close to normal. In addition, it was noted that the index that best captures the effect of pollution over time is the resilience index. Tree growth resilience, recovery, and resistance assessment and analysis significantly contributes to our understanding of trees response to environment pollution more broadly creating also the base for strategic planning initiatives with valuable insight into the efforts of making the forests more resilient and resistant.

This study analyses the influence of a planting scheme on physical properties of Norway spruce wood. The research material consisted of 326 Norway spruce trees (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst) selected from an experimental plot with four planting variants (2500, 3330, 5000, and 7510 trees·ha−1). The research aspects were: (1) wood density (measured by volumetric method and using microdrilling resistance as proxy), (2) microdrilling resistance, and (3) sound speed. There was a decrease in wood density values (from 0.3376 to 0.3367 g·cm−3) and in microdrilling resistance values (from 15.136% to 14.292%) as the number of trees·ha−1 used for plantation increased from 2500 to 5000. The planting variant with 7510 trees·ha−1 had the largest value (0.3445 g·cm−3 for wood density and 15.531% for microdrilling resistance). Sound speed decreased from 1032.8 to 989.8 m·s−1 as the number of trees·ha−1 increased from 2500 to 7510. These results show a relationship between DBH values and studied physical properties. This relationship is more evident for variants with low planting density (e.g., 2500, 3330 trees·ha−1) than that of dense planting variants (e.g., 7510 trees·ha−1). The explanation may be that the growth of trees in dense plantings is slower; in less dense planting variants, the increase in wood is greater, and as a result, wood volumetric density dependence on the DBH value is greater.

În curând

The research aims to evaluate the impact of local industrial pollution on radial growth in affected Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) stands in the Tarnița study area in Suceava. For northeastern Romania, the Tarnița mining operation constituted a hotspot of industrial pollution. The primary processing of non-ferrous ores containing heavy metals in the form of complex sulfides was the main cause of pollution in the Tarnița region from 1968 to 1990. Air pollution of Tarnița induced substantial tree growth reduction from 1978 to 1990, causing a decline in tree health and vitality. Growth decline in stands located over 6 km from the pollution source was weaker or absent. Spruce trees were much less affected by the phenomenon of local pollution than fir trees. We analyzed the dynamics of resilience indices and average radial growth indices and found that the period in which the trees suffered the most from local pollution was between 1978 and 1984. Growth recovery of the intensively polluted stand was observed after the 1990s when the environmental condition improved because of a significant reduction in air pollution.

The aim of this study is to assess the distribution of dust over the Mediterranean region, with a special focus on the territory of Romania. Two parameters are analyzed—Dust Load (DL) and Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), the data is obtained from the dust forecast model BSC-DREAM8b v2.0, for the period between December 2015 and February 2019. The main geographical features of dust occurrence in the Mediterranean region are presented at the monthly and annual scale. The results show that, for Romania, the dust load is high from February to June, when it reaches its annual maximum. The atmospheric circulation inducing intense dust events over Romania have also been assessed using an objective classification method. A key element for the dust transport from the Sahara toward South-Eastern Europe is represented by the development of a deep cyclone South of Italy, following thereafter a North-East path towards the Balkan peninsula. The results at the regional scale are analyzed in connection with the aerosol optical properties at the local scale (e.g., aerosol optical depth at 440 nm, Absorption Ångström Exponent and Scattering Ångström Exponent at 440 nm and 675 nm, respectively) retrieved from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET-NASA) for Romania, using data from ACTRIS-RO monitoring sites from Iași, Cluj–Napoca, and Bucharest. The differences between the forecast model and the observational data are also explored. Our results also show that the contribution of the natural mineral dust to air pollution in Romania is small, representing not more than 10% of all kinds of aerosols detected over the observation points from the ACTRIS-RO network.

This Article "Legal structure of agricultural holdings romanian in the context of the common agricultural policy 2014-2020” falls within the field of agricultural research oriented structures, aiming to achieve a documentation of previous research, describe the existing situation and formulating its explanations.

The article deals with the minimum standards regarding the material conditions of detention contained in the Recommendation of the European Commission C(2022) 8987, from the perspective of their relationship with the standards in terms of detention conditions elaborated by other European bodies and the level of harmonization of the Romanian executional-criminal legal norms with the recommendations of the Commission. The article seeks to outline the place and role of the standards of the Commission in the panoply of the European instruments in the matter and the level of harmonization with these of the Romanian law on the execution of criminal penalties. The results show that the Recommendation of the Commission structures specific standards at the level of the European Union, in accordance with the international standards in the field, including with the standards of the Council of Europe, and the Law No 254/2013 on the execution of custodial sentences and of measures involving deprivation of liberty ordered by the judicial bodies during criminal trial is largely in line with the Recommendation of the Commission, although it could bear certain improvements. The implications of the study consist in a better understanding of the issue and in pointing out some aspects in relation to which the Romanian regulation can be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research carried out aimed at capturing the structural and qualitative changes, the overall evolution of forest ecosystems on degraded lands and highlighting the types of effective cultures on different categories of degraded land. The researches were carried out in the period 2017-2018 in research plots located in perimeters for the improvement of degraded lands, in representative situations. In the paper are presented synthetically the data regarding on the characteristics of forestry cultures in the forest-steppe site, realized in different compositions on lands with various forms of degradation. On very strongly eroded and ravenous lands, the forestry cultures made with black pine in intimate mixture with xerophytic species and shrubs, gave good results. On moderately to heavily eroded lands, mixed cultures with oak and different species, gave good results, in association them in biogroups or grouping at least 2 rows of oak interleaved with accessory species and shrubs. The obtained results offer particularly valuable information for the scientific substantiation of future afforestation compositions and of the silvotechnical works for the installation and tending of forestry cultures on degraded lands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the issue of inappropriate conditions of detention in the Romanian penitentiary system and the available internal means of appeal. The objectives of the article consist in determining the content of the notion of conditions of detention, the deficiencies of which led to the violation of Article 3 of the ECHR/Convention, the analysis of the applicable internal remedies and of the relation between these from the perspective of obtaining monetary compensation for inappropriate conditions of detention, and the establishing of the effects of the state of necessity on the State's obligation to ensure appropriate conditions of detention. The results of the research show that the notion of inappropriate conditions of detention includes both the inadequate medical care and the inadequate material conditions of detention, which include overcrowding, as well as other conditions that, while they are not inhuman and degrading treatments themselves, may contribute to the violation of the standards by causing further suffering, the authorities having to ensure the compliance with the conditions of detention including during the state of emergency. The legislation has provided a specific compensatory measure, known to the public opinion as „compensatory review", which granted days considered as additionally executed from the sentence, for the period spent in inappropriate conditions of detention, a measure that does not apply for the periods of punishment executed before 24 July 2012, nor after the entry into force of the Law No 240/2019. Although the legislation provides two internal means of appeal, one preventive and specific and the other one compensatory and non-specific, consisting in the action in tort civil liability, not using the preventive means of appeal does not prevent the exercise of the compensatory means of appeal. Likewise, the benefit of the compensatory days, obtained as an effect of the „compensatory review", excludes the obtaining of monetary compensations for inappropriate conditions of detention, related to the same period. The implications consist in clarifying the discussed issue, by facilitating a unitary practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stage from 1969 to the present marks a period of major legislative transformations, with reforms evident, especially after the ratification of the Convention in 1994 and under the direct influence of the standards imposed by the Council of Europe system, domestic criminal law, now being in line with the accessibility requirement and offering specific remedies to detainees, for the protection of their rights, and the civil law, also reformed, offers the premises for the consecration of a real internal compensatory remedy, of common law. From the point of view of compliance with ECHR standards, we must admit that, at least for the time being, the instruments available in domestic law, both at the level of the preventive remedy and the compensatory remedy, are not fully effective remedies for the Court. The action for tortious civil liability is the longest-lived legal instrument in domestic law, which has the vocation of becoming an effective internal compensatory appeal, in the true sense of the word, if the domestic jurisprudence values it in this respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of the capacity of exercise of the minor patient, deprived of liberty, has relevance for all types of penitentiary police units, which can keep minors in their custody, but also for the public health network, because all these institutions can face the problem of obtaining the consent for the execution of a medical intervention on the minor deprived of liberty. The minor patient in the custody of the penitentiary police enjoys the same autonomy, in relation to the expression of informed consent, as the free minor patient, according to the principle of equivalence, his right to health care being guaranteed, without any discrimination in relation to his legal situation. In reference to the problems regarding the capacity of exercise of the minor deprived of liberty, required for the consent to the medical act, there are applicable both legal norms of civil law, as well as norms of medical law and criminal executional law. In the penitentiary police units there can be found minors deprived of the capacity of exercise, respectively those up to one year old, cared for by their mothers in detention, minors with restricted capacity of exercise, who have already turned 14 and can be held liable under the criminal law, as well as minors who are 16 years old and who, according to the medical law, have the capacity to consent themselves for the diagnosis and treatment of sexual and reproductive problems, respectively minors who are 16 years old and have acquired full capacity of exercise as a result of marriage, or to whom it has been recognized, by the guardianship court, the full anticipated capacity of exercise. In order to avoid some possible obstacles, in order to provide prompt medical care for the minors deprived of liberty, which may be related to certain circumstances influenced by certain socio-economic characteristics of the backgrounds of the imprisoned population, it would be useful to supplement the executional-criminal law, within the meaning of the express regulation of the situations in which, in order to carry out the medical intervention on the minor deprived of liberty, he may express his consent by himself, as well as of the situations in which the minor, with limited capacity of exercise, may be subjected to medical intervention, with the consent of only one parent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the refusal of the convicted person to be subject to the medical examination upon the arrival to the penitentiary, from the perspective of the Romanian legislation, in correlation with the international instruments regarding the rights of detainees, and legislative solutions adopted by other European states, arguing some proposals de lege ferenda meant to facilitate the fulfilment of the positive obligation of the state to prevent the spread of contagious diseases in the penitentiary environment. The objectives of the article are to determine whether the detainee has the right to refuse the medical examination, whether the Romanian legislation complies with the requirements of the international instruments regarding the protection of the rights of the detainees, respectively whether they have similarities with the legislations of other European states; at the same time, the aim is to identify some rules applicable to the penitentiary system, derived from the case law developed by the ECtHR/Court and from international documents, in relation to the right to health and the relationship between the autonomy of the detainees as persons and the prison environment. The results of the analysis of the legislation, the case law, the international documents show that the convicted person may refuse the medical examination, this legislative approach not being in contradiction with the norms accepted at international level and being shared also by other European states; at the same time, certain standardized norms regarding the right to health in the penitentiary can be outlined from the case law influenced by the recommendations in the international documents and by the CPT reports. The implications consist in clarifying the problems discussed, facilitating a unitary practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]