ASPECTS OF SERVICE QUALITY AND ECOLABELLING OF ROMANIAN LODGING SERVICES

Tourism has a significant environmental, economic and socio-cultural impact, which makes it important for environmental initiatives.The Rio Earth Summit (1992) was a milestone for these initiatives, having introduced the concept of sustainable development, its major principles and recommendations of implementation. So, the ecological movement grew globally more and more by widely disseminated actions among various bodies as the governments, associations, businesses, academics, NGOs and communities.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\r\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\nIn European Union eco-labelling scheme, is "a voluntary initiative to promote products and services which have the potential to reduce negative environmental impacts, as compared to the other products and services in the same product or service group, thus contributing to the efficient use of resources and a high level of environmental protection. This shall be pursued through the provision of guidance and accurate, non-deceptive and scientifically based information to consumers on such products and services". In fact this is official approach known as EU-Ecolabel Scheme, launched in 2005.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\r\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\nIn general, the idea of sustainable development, and eco-attitude of many of the activities carried out in different economic sectors have been encouraged to be certified, and to adopt sustainable practices to improve their environmental practices, and to inform and educate their clients regarding their friendly-environmental policies. The tourism sector adopted all of these.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\r\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\nOne by one in hospitality industry have emerged new trends, new destinations. Some of these trends are as well connected to environmental policy, eco-initiatives that certify EMS (Environmental Management System) and to use of eco-label in hospitality industry.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\r\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\nFor years, the tourism sector in Romania was declared a strategic sector. Within this framework, we decided to examine this area, the specific topic of eco-labelling and quality of lodging services in Romania. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\r\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\nThis paper proposes a short examination by observation of studies dedicated to lodging eco-label services and their quality based on a comparative analysis between Romanian supply of tourism \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"green services\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" and international one.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\r\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\nThis study has as a result a synthetic perspective on eco-label services and some aspects on the state of art of this topic in Romanian and international context of lodging services.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\r\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\nenvironmental policy, environmental management system, tourism, lodging services, quality of services, eco-labelling, Romania

Quantifying the Effect of Sentiment on Information Diffusion in Social Media

Social media have become the main vehicle of information production and consumption online. Millions of users every day log on their Facebook or Twitter accounts to get updates and news, read about their topics of interest, and become exposed to new opportunities and interactions. Although recent studies suggest that the contents users produce will affect the emotions of their readers, we still lack a rigorous understanding of the role and effects of contents sentiment on the dynamics of information diffusion. This work aims at quantifying the effect of sentiment on information diffusion, to understand: (i) whether positive conversations spread faster and/or broader than negative ones (or vice-versa); (ii) what kind of emotions are more typical of popular conversations on social media; and, (iii) what type of sentiment is expressed in conversations characterized by different temporal dynamics. Our findings show that, at the level of contents, negative messages spread faster than positive ones, but positive ones reach larger audiences, suggesting that people are more inclined to share and favorite positive contents, the so-called positive bias. As for the entire conversations, we highlight how different temporal dynamics exhibit different sentiment patterns: for example, positive sentiment builds up for highly-anticipated events, while unexpected events are mainly characterized by negative sentiment. Our contribution is a milestone to understand how the emotions expressed in short texts affect their spreading in online social ecosystems, and may help to craft effective policies and strategies for content generation and diffusion.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

The Anatomy of a Scientific Rumor

The announcement of the discovery of a Higgs boson-like particle at CERN will be remembered as one of the milestones of the scientific endeavor of the 21st century. In this paper we present a study of information spreading processes on Twitter before, during and after the announcement of the discovery of a new particle with the features of the elusive Higgs boson on 4th July 2012. We report evidence for non-trivial spatio-temporal patterns in user activities at individual and global level, such as tweeting, re-tweeting and replying to existing tweets. We provide a possible explanation for the observed time-varying dynamics of user activities during the spreading of this scientific "rumor". We model the information spreading in the corresponding network of individuals who posted a tweet related to the Higgs boson discovery. Finally, we show that we are able to reproduce the global behavior of about 500,000 individuals with remarkable accuracy.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

A Longitudinal Model of Perspective Making and Perspective Taking Within Fluid Online Collectives

Although considerable research has investigated perspective making and perspective taking processes in existing communities of practice, little research has explored how these processes are manifest in fluid online collectives. Fluid collectives do not share common emotional bonds, shared languages, mental models, or clearly defined boundaries that are common in communities of practices and that aid in the perspective development process. This paper conducts a retrospective case study of a revelatory online collective – the autism article on Wikipedia – to explore how the collective develops a perspective over time with a fluid group of diverse participants surrounding a highly contentious issue. We find that the collective develops a perspective over time through three archetypical challenges – chaotic perspective taking, perspective shaping, and perspective defending. Using this data, we develop a longitudinal model of perspective development. The theoretical implications are discussed and a set of propositions are developed for testing in more generalized settings

When I*Teach means I*Learn: developing and implementing an innovative methodology for building ICT-enhanced skills

The paper presents research findings and pilot experiences related to the development and validation of an innovative methodology for building ICT-enhanced skills. The concept of ICT-enhanced skills and the essence of the methodology are explained. The process of methodology validation – via a pilot teacher training course – is presented by offering the reader a dual perspective: that of a teacher and that of a learner. The main insights and conclusions are illustrated by authentic teachers’ impressions

Benefits of Industry Involvement in Multidisciplinary Capstone Design Courses

Opportunities for industry involvement in capstone design courses go beyond industry sponsorship of capstone design projects. Representatives from industry can serve as guest lecturers, curriculum advisors, and design project sponsors and team mentors. Since 2000, industry participation has been a core part of the capstone design course at Marquette University. Practicing engineers provide a relevant, practical real-world perspective of their topic, reinforcing its importance to professional engineering practice. Students and faculty benefit from the up-to-date treatment of the topic provided by guest speakers from industry who have expertise in the topic and are willing to share their experiences with students. Students benefit from industry sponsorship of senior design projects through the opportunity to work on realworld problems of importance to industry, exposure to industry and company-specific project management and product development processes, and familiarity with economic, legal, and regulatory design constraints. This paper provides a brief description of the Multidisciplinary Capstone Design course at Marquette University, examples of industry involvement in the course, and the observed benefits of industry involvement to students, the university, and industry participants. It presents examples of current practices used at other schools as well as helpful recommendations for managing industry participation in capstone design courses

Liberated Voices an Online Course in Speaking Up

NPO Statement: The white church and its leaders have demonstrated postures of silence and privilege, which need to be lovingly disrupted to leverage and encourage the liberative witness at the heart of the biblical narrative. Key Insights: Faith leaders from the white church are hungry for resources that encourage them to participate in the struggles for social justice in this present era of ministry. Many desire to speak the truth with love but need encouragement and permission to leverage that witness they find in the scriptures. The liberation theology tradition offers excellent historical and present examples of God’s preferential option for the poor and the oppressed. Connecting this with practical examples of preaching and speaking, we can offer faith leaders a fresh, encouraging approach to proclaiming God’s good news. Ministry Context: I serve as Minister of Word and Sacrament at St. James Presbyterian Church in Bellingham, WA. We are a theologically progressive, social justice-oriented neighborhood church. This congregation serves as a backdrop to this project, as it is with these people that I have practically explored the concepts of bold preaching I hope to encourage others to employ. The project will be launched through The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology’s Center for Transforming Engagement. I am a staff member of this institution and an alum of their M.Div program, and I hope to contribute this course to their broad offerings. Description of the Project: I am designing and developing an online course of eight 25-minute lessons titled “Liberated Voices.” This course will be offered as asynchronous video content through The Center for Transforming Engagement in Fall 2023. The course includes assignments of an 8-10 page paper describing speaking up in the participant’s context, reflective journaling, and various readings from liberation theology, preaching, and engaging healthy discourse in the community