bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Circular Economy in Infographics
Authors: Rădulescu Carmen Valentina , Bran Florina , Bodislav Dumitru Alexandru , Burlacu Sorin
Published: August 2022

The circular economy is currently being regarded as a solution to an environmental crisis that is as severe as the epidemic, but is less apparent to the general public. For anyone interested in learning more about the circular economy and its application areas, there is a wealth of knowledge available in both specialist and secondary information sources. The purpose of our investigation is to identify the most important characteristics of the circular economy as they are presented to the public in different parts of the globe. We decided on the infographic analysis as a solution for this. They communicate their message in a succinct manner, yet they have a significant influence on the audience. Do these communications have an impact on how people perceive the domain? This is the question that our investigation seeks to address. We conducted a study of the literature in order to provide clarity. This demonstrated to us the fundamental qualities of the circular economy, as well as the specificities of the application sector in question. In order to examine the literature, we make use of VOSviewer. This is a software program that allows you to create and examine bibliometric networks. Our research team has used it to create networks of cooccurrence pricing of relevant phrases that were pulled out of a corpus of scientific literature using the text extraction feature of the software. Our results enabled us to draw attention to the unique characteristics of the circular economy, as well as the message that each country and region of application sends to its target audience. The findings of research may also be utilized to develop compelling messages that can be delivered in various regions of the globe.
Circular economy indicators – multiple linear regression
Authors: Sterie Cristina Maria , Stoica Gabriela Dalila , Giucă Andreea Daniela , Potârniche Marilena E.
Published: August 2022

The aim of this work is to compare EU countries in their efforts to implement the circular economy model and to indicate the EU’s strategic objectives in this area, by analyzing circular economy indicators within the member states. To achieve this, a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the following indicators in THE EUROSTAT database has been carried out: total waste recycling rate, recycling rate of construction and demolition waste, recycling rate of electronic waste, and contribution of recyclable materials to the demand for raw materials in 2019 within the EU. A linear multiple regression was achieved through the SRSS program, which showed that the dependent variable of gross domestic product (GDP) is explained by 69%, and 68% respectively of the recycling rate of construction waste and the recycling rate of electronic waste. The analysis has shown significant correlation between the recycling rate of construction waste and the recycling rate of electronic waste.
Durability, circularity and sustainability in the food market – bibliometric analysis
Authors: Stoica Gabriela-Dalila , Stoian Mirela
Published: August 2022

The circular economy deviates from the classical, economic, traditional, linear model, based on large amounts of materials and energy, easily accessibles Circular economy concept has become increasingly popular, gaining popularity among both researchers and practitioners.

The transition to a circular economy is an opportunity to change the current economy and make it more sustainable, helping to achieve environmental and climate goals and principles and protecting existing resources. The aim of the paper is to highlight the importance of the concept of sustainability and circularity in the food market as well as to highlight the connection with other topics. To achieve this goal, a review of the literature was performed by querying Web of Science databases, while performing a bibliometric analysis. The results show a major interest for the sustainability and circularity concepts in the food market, due to the exponential growth of items in recent times. By searching the Web of Science database, 1793 scientific documents were found by the keyword “food sustainability”, 6354 documents containing the keyword “circularity” and over 33.3 thousand documents on the topic of “sustainability”. These keywords were found at least in the title, abstract, or keywords of the document.
Climate Change, Food Security and Agriculture, a term-based correlation analysis
Authors: Zăpucioiu Luiza-Florentina , Turcea Vlad-Constantin , Tarhini Mahmoud
Published: August 2022

This conference paper is an introductory study on the relationship and the nature of the linkage between climate change, agriculture and food security as seen across three different perspectives. The first perspective is the definition of food security and how it related to climate change and agricultural activities, the second perspective is the definition of agricultural activities and how are they linked with climate and food production/consumption and the third perspective of climate change and how it is contributing to the risk assessment studies conducted to evaluate and improve food security and enhance agricultural activity by utilizing sustainable methods and environmentally friendly practices.

The study has been undertaken to fulfill the research scope. Conclusions closed with listing the importance and the impacts of climatic changes, agricultural practices and resilient food security measurements
Sustainable societal development perspectives for rural Romania in light of Horizon 2020
Authors: Argatu Ruxandra , Răzvanţă Florina
Published: August 2022

Developmental gaps between urban and rural areas are a trademark of nowadays times, accelerated by economic models that ensure advancement chances mostly to urban hubs, rather than being focused on rural life. The Sustainable Development Goals issued by the United Nations and their desired implementation by 2030 is a first guarantee for an equitable and inclusive societal and economic framework. Currently, Romania lacks rural investments and a forward-looking attitude is much needed to reach the sustainability objectives. In addition, smart rural development, which fosters knowledge, innovation and R&D at village level is a viable tool in laying the groundwork for rural welfare, in response to issues such as migration from rural to urban, demographic ageing and poverty. Despite the multitude of programs tackling rural development at EU scale, Romania appears to perform poorly, even if its population is highly ruralized. In light of these matters, the paper conducts literature review analysis on smart rural development and sustainable development in Romania, to highlight the current performance of Romanian villages in this concern. Using literature and document analysis of Horizon 2020 programs on rural development conducted in the European Union, the aim is to identify the specific points to be addressed by decision makers in order for sustainable advancement of Romanian villages to be further enhanced.
Features of the higher education institutions’ community innovation labs
Authors: Păunescu Carmen , Mcdonnell-Naughton Mary
Published: August 2022

There has been an increasing demand from society towards higher education institutions (HEIs) to contribute to the development of local communities in which they are embedded through responsible (social) innovation actions. Redesigning thoughtfully the relationship between HEIs, the public sector, diverse private actors and NGOs is paramount. The goal is to create a connected governance structure that enables coherent innovation actions by diverse actors in accordance with co-creation principles and collective intelligence. A response to this call for action from academic stance are so called community innovation labs (CILs). This paper gives an overview of the CIL concept and framework and reports first experiences on running CIL projects. Drawing on the existing literature on community innovation labs as well as experiments and projects run by a business school CIL from Romania, the paper identifies the key elements of the management framework for running a CIL. The paper also makes recommendations regarding how such an experimental setting can be used in higher education business and management studies for generating solutions to sustainability problems.
Information security economics: cyber security threats
Authors: Hojda Mihaela Hortensia
Published: August 2022

This article takes into consideration cyber security economics to understand whether cyber security and economics is a partnership among equals or any of these two disciplines have the upper hand. Cyber security economics is more than just computer science, security studies and economics in a holistic way, it is a dynamic cross disciplinary matter involving psychology, forensic, sociology, etc. The argument is that there is no clear definition of cybersecurity, apart from a set of protocols that are highly technical, and when it comes to cyber security economics Gordon-Loeb model provides a good picture on the general image over the industry, yet, much more is ignored, as the costs of a cyber security attack to succeed is huge, save the hidden costs and other externalities. Apart from regulation establishing a common ground, information security economics is an under researched field of interest, especially as digital sovereignty act is about to be voted for, together with common rules Information security.
The importance and interdependence of key bioeconomy concepts: A bibliometric analysis
Authors: Grădinaru Giani Ionel , Matei Bogdan Florin
Published: August 2022

Environmental well-being has recently been put at risk due to unsustainable industrial practices. The relevant decision-makers have developed policies to support a greener approach in the economy. This paper aims to present a complete and comprehensive connection between the key concepts of the economy based on biological resources from both empirical and analytical perspectives by highlighting the structure, importance, and evolution. Through bibliometric research and network mapping analysis, we have revealed the most popular concept among researchers and countries, and the current trend for each term considered. Currently, there is no comparative study on the linkage between bioeconomy, circular economy, knowledgebased economy, bio-based economy, green economy, and bioeconomics, but only taken as separate concepts, thus being difficult to assess the significance and popularity of a term over another and to track the evolution over time. Our results are meant to cover the gap around the interconnected terms in bioeconomy and to enhance the current conceptual frameworks.
Social Impact Bonds as an instrument for controlling incarceration costs and supporting societal positive change
Authors: Petre Alexandru , Tomita Mihaela
Published: August 2022

One of the most debated issues, by researchers, policy makers and the general public, is related to the costs of incarceration and, specifically, to reducing the costs of incarceration. The rising costs of incarceration, limited successes in implementing alternatives to incarceration and mixed results of programs aimed at reducing recidivism have maintained this issue as a public policy priority and stimulated the governmental agencies to pilot novel approaches to mobilize resources in order to increase the efficiency of the penal system. After the financial crisis of 2008 efforts were made to identify solutions to fund public services in order to improve social outcomes. In 2010 a new project was piloted in the Peterborough Prison (United Kingdom), the first Social Impact Bond. This project sheds new light on reoffending, it moves the center of focus from a financial burden on the shoulders of the government to an investment opportunity for the private investors. The costs of reoffending represent an opportunity that could be valued through appropriate investments. The lessons learned from this initiative helped to identify best practices, contributed to a nationwide change in regards to the prison system and represented a starting point for numerous other Social Impact Bond programs worldwide.
An International Trade Disputes Analysis using Network Theory
Authors: Trucmel Irina-Maria , Vintila Alexandra , Capbun Andreea Gabriela , Roman Mihai Daniel
Published: August 2022

International trade is an important pillar of the modern economy. Beyond its benefits, the global market generates divergencies among trade partners that can be escalated into trade disputes. Notable interest has arisen in using network analysis to formally describe interactions with concepts derived from the graph theory. As we have noticed a less explored area on the graphical representation of trade dispute data, the purpose of this paper is to build, visualize, and analyze the trade disputes as a weighted network. We use data about trade disputes provided by the Word Trade Organization from 1995 to 31 January 2022 as this is a major regulatory body within the multilateral trading system. Our aim is to address the question on which countries are using the most the dispute settlement mechanism. Based on the association complainant – respondent, we map these interactions to obtain a weighted network that includes 75 countries, 247 unidirectional country pairs and 652 trade disputes. The results indicate the dominance of the United States as the main hub followed by the European Union and a core-periphery structure of the trade dispute network with less participation from smaller countries. Our study is a general assessment of trade disputes which contributes to identifying patterns on the positional changes of countries and their involvement as complainant and respondent respectively in international dispute settlement.
The impact of external shocks on economic growth: An empirical study based on the SVAR models
Authors: Cheptiş Alexandra
Published: August 2022

The paper contains a series of complex analyses on the study of typologies of economic crises and can bring a significant contribution to the literature in determining the effects of external factors on economic growth, taking into account the distinct characteristics of the periods of decline. The work includes Hodrick-Prescott filtering techniques for characterizing business cycles in three Central and Eastern European countries and the Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR) technique is used to analyze the impact of external shocks on economic growth over two distinct time-horizons. External shocks such as external debt, external interest rate, external output, producer price index and real interest rate were taken into account. For each economy analyzed, the impact of the two types of economic crisis was observed, namely financial crisis and health crisis, and two time-horizons were defined for each complete economic cycle. Over these two time-horizons, the impact of external shocks on economic growth has been assessed. There has been a general decrease in the effects of shocks in the second time-horizon, in which the most severe values of economic growth are associated with the health crisis, compared to the time-horizon associated with the financial crisis. It has also been observed that, in the case of both Hungary and Romania, the responses of economic growth to external shocks are faster compared to the Czech economy. Moreover, external production is the factor that explains most of the variance in the economic growth rate in the first time-horizon, while in the second, one of the most influential indicators is the external production price index, which has been severely affected by the slowdown in the global production process.
Career success through the past six decades: A bibliometric analysis
Authors: Jansen Adela , Dima Alina Mihaela , Biclesanu Isabelle , Point Sebastien
Published: August 2022

All companies strive for sustainable growth and performance, a complex task in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment, with evolving legislation transforming the roles and responsibilities of leaders, while being closely watched by investors. Besides the ongoing effect of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the 2020 multidimensional crisis challenged the worldwide status quo in many respects, accelerating the rhythm of change for business models and questioning the leadership competences, motivation, and practices, due to new ways of working, interaction, and collaboration, and different ways the teams are now led and are expecting to be led. The career success is a dynamic concept that evolved over the past decades, being studied through numerous lenses, such as its predictors and antecedents, personal anchors (values and beliefs) and personality traits, own preparation for the professional road (education and learning), drivers, demographics, life choices, and the career capital. This analysis follows the topic of career success over the last six decades, showing the citation evolution of papers on the subject, and identifying the most related articles, as well as the most related journals. The findings are based on a quantitative analysis of Scopus indexed documents, with a qualitative highlight on the most related articles and the most cited articles of the most influential authors.
A better, human-centered path forward
Authors: Lazar John , Robu Daniela , Suciu Marta-Christina , Bocăneală Ana-Maria , Stativă Gheorghe-Alexandru
Published: August 2022

The main purpose of the paper is to highlight the increased recognition and growing importance of human-oriented leadership in a constantly changing world. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed many management shortcomings in developing current and future leaders. The difficulties creating new business models, adapting to new working environments, and fostering humane corporate cultures underscore the short- and long-term challenges. The literature review offers multiple perspectives on our humanity and its inherent challenges, measures of effective leadership, approaches to leadership development, and what seems to be emerging as a values-based, human-centered approach to what effective leadership looks like. The paper suggests a holistic interdisciplinary approach aiming to support partnership between the international business community and academic environment. The methods include: a literature review as background and context; a case study; a comparative analysis of best practices in four countries; and a statistical analysis of economic practices in Romania. The main results indicate: an increased acknowledgment of human-centered leadership practices as essential to effective leadership; the use of a 70-20-10 model of leadership development as a best practices approach; and the adverse effects of the pandemic on the Romanian economy. Our conclusions reaffirm: the power of the human-centered approach to how leaders have to perform; the need to rethink how leadership development should be done, and the ongoing challenge of choosing to invest in leadership as a sound business decision. Authors conclude that the changes in mindset, priorities, decisions, and practices will be challenging for leaders to make. Suggestions are offered about this new path.
New business models in the Circular Economy
Authors: Dragomir Voicu D. , Duţescu Adriana
Published: August 2022

Circular Economy is becoming an important part of the trend on global business development. Companies and public organizations are facing new challenges and strive to integrate fresh concepts and instruments within their value chains. Strategic environmental goals are based upon reused resources and reintegrated materials, reduced carbon emissions, renewable energy, innovation, and overall optimization of models and processes. Governmental agencies are also preoccupied to enact specific regulations, to favor the economic and social integration of the circular economy. The advantages of the 6 R’s integration (recycle, reuse, reduce, repair, remanufacture, redesign) for businesses are straightforward, from cost optimizations, price volatility control, to increased automation and innovation.

This paper is the first step of a more complex research endeavor, aiming to assess the feasibility of various fine tunings on specific business models that integrate circular economy principles. We have based our current assessment on six industries, with a major impact on the environment, and that can provide impacting solutions for environmental preservation. For each analyzed industry, a specific original diagram was provided, integrating the main industrial processes, outcomes, and reuse opportunities, derived from circularity principles. The literature review was intended to support each industry’s development pattern, highlighting different types of solutions for waste recycling, and business reorganization redesign.
How Traditional Financial Institutions have adapted to Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and FinTech?
Authors: Sharbek Nermin
Published: August 2022

This article analyzes the implications of the financial sector’s recent adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). It identifies the advantages of these technologies in terms of fraud protection, cost savings, and efficiency, while also highlighting worries about conventional financial institutions’, such as banks, insurance and reinsurance institutions, and inability to compete with Fintech firms. The report contributes to the conversation about the influence of modern technology by distilling and classifying the tools deployed in established conventional institutions that resulted in continual development and simplification of internal procedures as well as client service delivery. Given the increased competition in the financial industry, Fintech businesses are critical for conventional financial institutions to stay afloat in today’s changing world. The study is directed at researchers who are still in the early phases of investigating the artificial intelligence field in the financial sector. The study reviews prior research that documents the changes occurring inside financial institutions from a global perspective as a result of Fintech and the integration of new technologies. The goals of the paper are fulfilled by (1) furthering theoretical studies on the issue, (2) increasing awareness of the financial industry’s developments, and (3) gathering proof of the influence artificial intelligence and machine learning have had so far.
Artificial Intelligence solutions for Romanian accounting companies
Authors: Mihai Mirela Simina , Duţescu Adriana
Published: August 2022

The fast availability of data coupled with technology evolution, have brought Artificial Intelligence closer to commercial use. The relevance of AI solutions for business models worldwide was underlined by the significant investments made by internet giants such as Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook. In the highly data driven accounting and finance industry, AI represents a solution to drive better results. The level of AI applications implemented so far is not high. This study aims to highlight the drivers and inhibitors of AI adaptation in the finance and accounting industry based on interviews with experts in Artificial Intelligence in accounting and finance. First step for this study is represented by the process of understanding the current level of knowledge on the field by conducting a literature analysis. In order to structure the results a Technology - Organization - Environment framework was used. While applying Artificial Intelligence solutions the role models and process competencies are crucial. These will assure a success in the process of training algorithms to reach the quality level to operate, without any human intervention and moral concerns.
The influence of telework on organizational performance: Evidence from Romania
Authors: Andrei Georgian , Militaru Gheorghe
Published: August 2022

The goal of this article is to examine the influence of telework on organizational performance. Telework is a work process that help employees do their job activities from distance or out of their work surroundings. The study’s research questions concentrated on analyzing the opinions of 30 respondents within a multinational e-commerce corporation concerning the relationship between telework and the organizational performance based on their company’s effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, and financial viability after the implementation of telework. The study disclosed that there is a relationship between the implementation of telework and the increase of organizational performance.
Travel trends during the COVID-19 pandemic: a view of online travel agencies
Authors: Vancia Alina Petronela Pricope , Băltescu Codruța Adina
Published: August 2022

It is widely recognized that the tourism and travel industry was among the most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even in this context, the tourism sector has proven its strength to recover and adapt to the new tourist perceptions and behaviours, which have led to changes in travel patterns, resulting new travel trends. There is concern in the scientific literature for the topic of travel trends in terms of identifying them and finding solutions for tourism recovery. The research methodology of this paper is based on content analysis and the main purpose is to answer the question, what are the travel trends during the COVID-19 pandemic? The results of the research are derived from the perspective of the world’s leading online travel agencies. In this study, several travel trends were identified during the COVID-19 pandemic, the main ones being domestic travel, tourists’ preference for bookings with flexible cancellation terms, buying holidays shortly before the departure date, choosing destinations and locations where safety and health measures are valued, opting for shorter trips and moving towards more sustainable tourism. The authors consider that the contribution of this study in the field of tourism is represented by the actuality of the topic analysed.
A parallel between organizational leadership and leadership in university teaching in times of COVID-19
Authors: Hotãran Ilinca , Bogdan Anca
Published: August 2022

We live in a dynamic and ever-changing world. It continues to be disrupted in multifaceted ways, facing multiple challenges. As organizations step up learning how to distribute budgets and reinforce the commitment to meet continuously changing business needs, there is also an increased emphasis on strengthening the learning skills inside universities, as the parallel between private sector and teaching universities is growing at a fast pace.

The COVID-19 health crisis has gone as far as shutting down countries, putting people in vulnerable positions. In this crisis, a leader, even if we speak from a private organizational level or an academic teaching institution, must stay focused on his purpose as it is not negotiable.

The research from this article gathers information from the literature review and from the author’s experience in the private and academic sector as well. The purpose of the article is to increase awareness on the needed leadership skills in this changing times and to emphasize the strong bound that needs to be created between organizations and leadership skills inside universities, for students, as they are the next managers and for universities’ managers as they need to align to the business environment in order to offer a better structure for the next generations. As talent mobility and upskilling are currently the main focus of organizations, with this paper we are looking at several aspects on how to build the most suitable profile for the next generation of leaders. Our paper is built more on qualitative research, where we explore in depth the attributes of leadership with the aim to highlight the best frame possible for business, in this changing time, when we are expecting to approve the work from home system at a greater level and we believe that online and remote meetings are likely to become the norm, as organizational and education sector has undergone a set of major changes.
EU-Russia energy relations: problems and perspectives
Authors: Cebotari Livia
Published: August 2022

This paper analyzes the EU-Russia energy relations in the period 2010-2022. Although in other sectors the European Union has a competitive advantage, in this area the vulnerability of the EU to Russia is fully felt. The gas crises (2006 and 2009) and the conflict in Ukraine (2014 and 2022) highlighted the European Union’s over-reliance on Russian energy resources. The escalation of the conflict in February 2022 has created a state of uncertainty about the evolution of the energy cooperation between the EU and Russia. The aim of this research is to identify and assess the impact of sanctions and counter-sanctions on trade in the energy sector between the EU and the Russian Federation, as well as the problems and prospects of EU-Russia energy relations. In order to achieve the proposed objectives, this paper is the result of a mixed research design, based on a quantitative and a qualitative component, respectively. The topicality of the debate on EU-Russia energy relations is reflected in the field of scientific investigation through a significant literature. Official documents of the European Commission and the European Parliament, academic articles and studies conducted by various prestigious think-tanks were analysed. Also, the research is based on data published by Eurostat and International Energy Agency.
The connection between quality strategies and sustainable growth in the automotive industry
Authors: Neacşu Nicoleta Andreea , Madar Anca
Published: August 2022

Increasingly sophisticated consumer requirements, as well as the constraints imposed by environmental policies around the world, are driving car manufacturers to find new ways and adopt various strategies to compete and attract consumers. The car market has grown steadily in recent decades, except in 2020 when it saw dramatic declines. The need for motor vehicles is undeniable in the economy, bringing many benefits (transport of goods and people, jobs, education), but their manufacture, marketing and use also brings a number of environmental problems (pollution, excessive consumption of water and energy, traffic congestion, increasing the number of serious accidents and at the same time increasing the costs of caring for people with temporary incapacity for work). To improve this, manufacturers in the automotive industry need to implement new strategies to help them meet the demands of society and the needs of consumers, but also to meet competition. Although the literature provides information on strategies and measures that have been taken in the automotive industry to improve the quality of products and processes, the authors have not found any studies on the quality strategies implemented. In order to highlight these strategies and how consumers perceive their implementation, the authors conducted an exploratory research and a quantitative marketing research. The results of the research showed that Romanians want to help a sustainable development, but when they choose a car they are guided by the reputation of the brand and price, not by the degree of pollution of the car or the type of engine.
The transition to a “Green Economy” – a challenge and a solution for the economy
Authors: Manea Gheorghe-Cosmin , Cozea Andreea
Published: August 2022

In the context of the multiple economic crises, the degradation of the quality of life in correlation with the environment are intensely debated topics in the current international policy. Thus, the concept of “Green Economy” was developed as an answer and as a solution to these pressing problems. The development of this concept has taken into account an economic revolution by integrating the environmental factors that will have to be taken into account in any political decision, in a joint international effort. By implementing this concept, the previous term “sustainable economy” will be developed through economic policies that make the economy more efficient, taking full account of climate change, the health and wellbeing of the population in the medium and long term.

This study follows an overview of the concept of “Green Economy” and how it could be integrated into the Romanian context.
Brands that put the planet first: an analysis on how to be considered the most environmentally sustainable business in Europe
Authors: Nacu Teodora
Published: August 2022

Even if it seems that some goods (e.g. oil and gas) are infinite, they are not, and their usage can irreversibly damage our planet. Exploiting the planet’s resources means fighting against global warming and carbon emissions. Therefore, we are constrained to find better, more sustainable ways of life through eco-friendly brands and companies. Environmentally sustainable businesses are gaining a powerful reputation for their commitment to the environment and their ability to inspire sustainable practices.

Companies are discovering sustainable strategies that give them the power to grow and the opportunities to scale marketplaces.

Becoming an eco-friendly company means reducing the pressure of law, diminishing costs of utilities (energy or workspaces), and cultivating a credible business image. 90% of CEOs believe that sustainability is essential for businesses’ market growth. Moreover, a company’s longevity highly depends on how employees engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies and actions. Today, companies must adopt sustainable views and evaluate products or services. Hence, also publications and sustainability reports are crucial to ensure end-to-end transparency. A sustainable company requires attention, awareness, debate, and research in the environmental, economic, and social fields. Moreover, sustainable businesses are related to ethics and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) issues by maintaining and reinforcing a positive image, credibility, and reputation within the environment. The main contribution of this paper lies in the study of literature reviews of peer-reviewed scientific journals, in the analysis of the available data, and in the formulation of a framework designed for bringing a structured view for sustainable companies.
Radioactive waste management: Societal challenges in the era of green nuclear energy
Authors: Puşcaşu Greta-Marilena
Published: August 2022

Recently, there have been international debates over the idea of labeling nuclear power plants as a green investment. To be considered sustainable, to get a green investment label and to contribute to green growth, nuclear energy should be based on clear plans regarding safe disposal of radioactive waste. Final disposal of radioactive waste is witness to many disputes, one of the most important being that of public acceptance.

Society represents a critical and a decisive stage in the process of radioactive waste management. Management and disposal process of radioactive waste requires community confidence and acceptance. The socio-political context must be addressed continuously through stakeholder commitment and public concerns. The final stage of radioactive waste management is especially characterized by population involvement, stakeholder availability, and mutual dialog.

The objective of this study is based on finding the relationship between the location of a radioactive waste disposal facility (RWDF) and the perception of the population regarding various aspects related to nuclear energy and radioactive waste. A series of questions in the form of a questionnaire were used for data collection. A total of 200 valid questionnaires were used for this analysis. The study was focused on the Romanian population following a homogenous distribution throughout the country. Therefore, to better understand the issue, the paper investigates the correlation between the location of a radioactive waste disposal facility and a variety of factors, such as: attitude, perceived benefits, perceived risks, overall knowledge and perceived costs. Spearman rank correlation was used for data analysis. Bringing together theoretical information about nuclear energy and radioactive waste and the empirical data collected at the national level, this research study showed that the acceptance of a radioactive waste disposal facility is much stronger if the population is in favor of nuclear energy. As well, perceived risks create major concerns throughout the population and influence the location of a radioactive waste disposal facility. Cost aspects are controversial and create disagreements in relation with radioactive waste management options.

That being said, this study brings value to the nuclear field by emphasizing the important societal factors which influence the location of a radioactive waste disposal facility in the green energy era.
DR and Aggregators status in CSE Europe
Authors: Puskás-Tompos András
Published: August 2022

Global warming is one of the biggest challenges of our times. This phenomenon is largely due to the emissions coming from the burning of polluting fossil fuels in the process of electricity generation. In 2019 generation of electricity and heat, together with transportation accounted for more than two thirds of total emissions from fuel combustion. In addition, these sectors were mainly responsible for most of the global growth since 2010. According to the EU’s green vision, Member States have to decrease their CO2 emissions by 55% until 2030, compared to levels from 1990 and by 2050 they have to become carbon neutral. In recent years we could observe positive trends in the increase of green energy generation. The only issue is that by phasing out dispatchable polluting generation and adding non-dispatchable generation units to the electricity grids more demand flexibility is needed. Low-cost solutions to generate the mandatory flexibility necessary for system stability and reliability are Demand Response (DR) programs. The implementation of DR programs usually is made via a new market participant and new service provider entitled aggregators. Aggregators’ main role is to manage directly or indirectly end consumers’ electricity consumption flexibility. Electricity consumers can obtain incentives or can pay less for their electricity bills if they agree to shift or curtail their electricity consumption. In order to promote DR programs, as well as to increase the contribution of aggregators, the EU supports these programs through Directives. Energy Efficiency Directive 2012/27/EU encourages implementation of DR in energy markets, while Directive (EU) 2019/944 defines the independent aggregator. Further, to support these programs, a large-scale smart metre rollout is going on in EU countries. The objective of current research is to analyse the implementation level of DR in Central and South East (CSE) Europe, as well as to provide a comparative analysis in regards of smart metres rollout in developed countries versus those under development. In order to test the hypothesis, during the research the author used qualitative analysis methods such as comparative studies, desk research and case studies. The novelty of this research consists in the presentation of DR programs and aggregators development together with current state in CSE Europe.
Process Optimization Models Using Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation of The Insurance Industry
Authors: Radu Nicoleta , Alexandru Felicia
Published: August 2022

In recent years, there have been fundamental changes worldwide in the field of the business models, in the way these create value and compete, and in the field of services supplied to customers, which have been driven by the way technology is used to interact with them all. All these changes must be supported by the appropriate strategy, a scalable infrastructure and modern technology capable of delivering: target achievement, resilience, scalability, security, information privacy and technological innovation. The insurance industry pioneer’s adaptability to new technologies, considering its clear benefits in terms of improving customer service, mitigating risk and last but not least, increasing the profitability of the business itself. This study aims to analyze how the company which manages the mandatory home insurance system in Romania, Romanian Insurance Pool Against Natural Disaster – PAID S.A has been integrated in this process of digital transformation and to present the circumstances in which the solutions were developed and implemented as well as the effects generated by them.
Virtual Versus Face-to-Face meetings: A study Regarding the Perceptions of the Romanian Managers during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Pînzaru Florina , Stoica Valentin
Published: August 2022

The new coronavirus disease was first observed in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. A couple of months later it was recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as SARS CoV-2 and nominally named COVID-19 (European Council, 2021). In just a few months, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced individuals all over the world to adapt their behavior, both personally and professionally, social distance becoming a necessity by reducing the spread of the virus (Tang, et al., 2020). These restrictions have resulted in a dramatic increase in the use of technology for remote meetings, including video conferencing tools. And although this process was happening in a mostly unfamiliar environment, due to its necessity and one’s incapacity of replacing face-to-face interactions with anything else it has become a day-to-day activity in a matter of weeks. Although there are some particularities as a result of cultural diversity, in Romania the adoption of such tools was in line with what was happening all over the world, although because of the decreased level of digitalization in public administration it was more difficult for some part of the society to adapt. The present study has the objective to reveal what Romanian managers think about virtual conferences versus face-to-face conferences, taking into consideration the period before the COVID-19 pandemic (until March 2020), but also the pandemic period (from March 2020 until January 2022). Data has been collected using in depth interviews with Romanian managers who worked before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results show that there was a change in one’s behavior when having to use only virtual conferences tools, becoming more aware of their time and in general making the most out of it by having a clear agenda for almost all types of virtual meetings. A hybrid solution is seen by most of the managers as being optimal by reducing time lost between face-to-face meetings, but the results also indicate that a full replacement of face-to-face meetings with virtual meetings is not a solution as direct interaction between individuals cannot be replaced with the use of virtual tools.
USA-China rivalry in the age of de-globalization. An assessment of the security concerns posed by the delisting of Chinese companies on the US Stock Exchange
Authors: Bran Alexandra-Carmen
Published: August 2022

The globalization era that stemmed from the Cold War period is reaching a fork in the road and the argument is made for the slowing of this process and the shift towards de-globalization. Economic globalization blurred the national lines and brought about the multinational companies, which in turn brought technological advance and innovation. This advance in technology made the world much smaller and globalization very appealing. This system worked until a point where everyone was a beneficiary and world economies have seen the sharpest growth rate in history. However, when the first economic crisis arose in 2008, the USA was not the only loser, but everyone in this transnational economic environment felt the repercussions. At the first sign of capitalist weakness, globalization got blamed by governments around the world and the trust factor was diminished. This planted the seeds of de-globalization and the subject picked upon in this paper is the tug of war between the two super-powers: the USA and China. Who is the winner of this de-globalization era and more importantly, who stands to lose the most? This question will be thoroughly discussed from a historic and macro perspective as well as through a specific case study related to the de-listing of Chinese companies on the US Stock Exchange. This paper will bring forth arguments that both superpowers are winners and losers, with China being a step further by still looking attractive for global investors. Institutions and retail investors are seen as the biggest losers of this new form of rivalry. By employing a quantitative approach this paper will bring a fresh perspective on the effects of de-globalization through the Wall Street lens.
Digital brand in the field of travel agencies
Authors: Bălăşescu Simona , Bălăşescu Marius
Published: August 2022

The Internet has brought along many important changes in recent years, both in terms of the manufacturing and marketing of products or services, and in terms of human relations that have undergone significant changes, due to the ease with which the travel agencies today access unlimited audiences. With the evolution of mankind and the introduction of technology in most fields of activity, the lifestyle of people has changed, so they choose more and more often to buy vacations online.

The aim of this paper is to analyse how the brand, from a customer-based perspective, is a key resource for the company when the consumer automatically associates a product with the image of a particular brand. In this sense, we conducted quantitative marketing research that has as main objectives: measuring the importance of the digital brand for deciding to purchase tourism products: measuring the frequency of using the Interne in purchasing a tourism service; the impact of brand elements on Romanian consumers.

This paper is very topical, in the context in which many activities in different fields have focused on the online environment. The research results can raise the interest of both individuals and travel agencies that want the development of their brand in the digital environment.
Social appreciation of the interaction with an anthropomorphic robot
Authors: Niculescu Miruna , Pelau Corina , Pop Stefana
Published: August 2022

Artificial intelligence is one of the main topics characterizing the 21st century. The quick development of these new intelligent systems brings challenges into the daily life of consumers and companies. Even though artificial intelligence contributes to an increased quality of life, by simplifying the life of its users and the processes of companies, in the same time it can affect the cognitive abilities of humans. By taking over different tasks and having access to information, the AI will influence human decision-making and the human will be somehow dependent on the actions and decisions of the AI. In this paper we focus on the impact of the social appreciation on the consumers’ perception regarding anthropomorphic AI. We have investigated the extent to which anthropomorphic AI devices impact human capabilities and the social appreciation of owning an AI. The results show that AI with human-like physical appearance are perceived with higher anthropomorphic characteristics, but the physical appearance of the AI does not affect the social appreciation and the human capabilities of the owner. The average values of the items, measuring the direct perception show that consumers rather believe that AI does not affect their human abilities and owning a robot is not strongly influenced by the social reference group. This result has to be further investigated in a third person perspective and in a different social context.