Mutations in the Foodstuff Quality Perception of the New Consumers in Romania

In the current context of the market, very complex and dynamic, we can observe the crystallization of a new generation of consumers, with a specific behavior and a particular manner of approaching the quality unlike the one of traditional consumer. The concept of quality, perceived by the traditional consumer in the classical, deterministic and objective sense, loses its facets nowadays and transcends into another dimension, in the vision of the new consumer, in which the perception of quality in a predominantly subjective manner, comes first. This paper presents the objectives of a research project that we intend to develop, in order to highlight the mutations that occurred in the foodstuff quality perception of the new consumers from Romania. We focused on foodstuff because it is a customary part of our daily lives, that shouldn’t be approached merely as a common factor for meeting physiological needs of macro and micro-nutrients, but from a holistic perspective in terms of its social and identity functions and the effects on individual health. Another important goal of the project is to improve the standard of education and culture in foodstuff consumption and to give to the new consumers from Romania the skills for an objective assessment of food quality. We believe that all these could lead to the conversion of the new consumers of foodstuff in ethical and responsible consumers.new consumer, quality perception, mutations, foodstuff, ethical consumerism

Water management development and agriculture in Syria

Irrigated agriculture has increased steadily in Syria over the last decades, almost doubling since 1985. This mounting pace has responded to the nation’s food security policy objectives to satisfy the food production needs of an increasing population that features one of the largest growth rates in the world, namely 3,50 percent in 1985 and still 3,39 percent in 2007. Total expenditures for irrigated agriculture accounted for almost 70 percent of all expenditures in agriculture. Sustainable irrigation water policies aimed at increasing the efficiency of water use in agriculture and at conserving water resources by reducing future consumption. The Euphrates River is 2.800 km long and its middle traverses a wide floodplain in Syria, where it is used extensively for irrigation, and the Euphrates Dam is 230 ft (70 m) high. The total estimated water use volume is about 15 billion m3. The Euphrates and Orontes basins account for about 50% and 20% of the water use respectively. About 701.634 ha has been irrigated by ground water in the year 1997. This area represents 60% of the total irrigated land in Syria It has been gradually increased from 30% during 1970 to 44% in 1980 and 49% in 1990. The Government projects extended on 349.820 hectare area, which includes large, medium and small scale farms. The small scale government project is under 2000 hectare, but large scale project over 20.000 hectare areas. The Syrian Government wants to ensure the food supply for sharply increasing population based on established governmental agricultural projects, as state-owned farms. Water balance for Syria indicates that most of the basins are in deficit. This will be exacerbated further especially in basins encompassing large urban areas and if the country’s population continues to grow at its current rate (about 3%) and water use efficiency is not increased effectively.Water utilisation, Water management, Modern irrigation technologies, Benefits of agricultural sector, Governmental supports, Total Renewable Water Resources (TRWR), Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty,

IFRS Based Zakat Reporting: Adoption Rational Western Method Into Institutional Accountability

This study aims to evaluate the characteristics of zakat institution and proposes the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) since it has developed and provides various product i.e zakat for productive purpose. This is important, considering that one of the measurement of accountability and transparency of an institution is providing brief financial report towards its beneficaries. Thereby, this study found that practically zakat institution is simillar to the SMEs, and there are 11 strandard of IFRS for SMEs that could be applicable to zakat institutionto achieve accountability and transparency. However, this study is preliminary study that proposes a conceptual frameworkwhich limited to the sharia compliance of IFRS that could be applicable to zakat Institution

Challenges for the Evaluation of the P.I.P.P.I. - Programme of Intervention for Prevention of Institutionalisation: between Partecipative and Experimental Pathways

Evaluation is constantly requested by governments and decision-makers, to prove that social policies and actions undertaken are effective in responding to problems. Also programmes contrasting child neglect are involved in such request to guarantee that children enjoy their childhood and ensure access to quality service. This paper focuses on an Italian evaluation experience of one such programme named the P.I.P.P.I. (Programme of Intervention for Prevention of Institutionalisation), the outcome of a collaboration between the University of Padua and the Italian Ministry of Welfare. The paper questions and challenges the experimental designs normally used for these evaluation purposes, highlighting how knowledge of effective treatments is far from the practices delivered. The study proposes an innovative evaluation path in which the participative evaluation, where the professionals build their own knowledge through an evaluation in the field, coexists with the choice of matching as a (quasi) experimental evaluation, responding to the Government\u2019s request for effective investments

Romania s European Monetary Integration - Actual Status, Costs and Benefits

For Romania, the EU accession and the European symbols – such as the EURO currency – represent both the integration into a strong and efficient economic system, but also the guarantee for real democratic values. Romania has expressed a real and strong attachment for the European Union, its symbols and values. The focus of this paper is directed towards the actual economic and monetary situation in Romania, on its way to the single European currency. Economic conditions have generally improved, but some problems still persist. Reality is now different considering the inflation growth and the important deviation from the target, and recently, the exchange rate fluctuation and the national currency devaluation. Romania has had a unfavourable history concerning inflation and even exchange rate matters. The situation is unfortunately not yet stabile, inflation is still an important issue, the exchange rate is still fluctuant, and the National Bank of Romania is still confronted with the situation of having to deal with monetary problems, but which in fact have an economic and productive explanation and cause. Finally benefits and costs of the EMU accession for Romania are sinthetized and explained according to the previous description of the economic and monetary situationRomania, inflation, monetary integration, EURO

Two Approaches to Imputation and Adjustment of Air Quality Data from a Composite Monitoring Network

An analysis of air quality data is provided for the municipal area of Taranto characterized by high environmental risks, due to the massive presence of industrial sites with elevated environmental impact activities. The present study is focused on particulate matter as measured by PM10 concentrations. Preliminary analysis involved addressing several data problems, mainly: (i) an imputation techniques were considered to cope with the large number of missing data, due to both different working periods for groups of monitoring stations and occasional malfunction of PM10 sensors; (ii) due to the use of different validation techniques for each of the three monitoring networks, a calibration procedure was devised to allow for data comparability. Missing data imputation and calibration were addressed by three alternative procedures sharing a leave-one-out type mechanism and based on {\it ad hoc} exploratory tools and on the recursive Bayesian estimation and prediction of spatial linear mixed effects models. The three procedures are introduced by motivating issues and compared in terms of performance

Two Approaches to Imputation and Adjustment of Air Quality Data from a Composite Monitoring Network

An analysis of air quality data is provided for the municipal area of Taranto characterized by high environmental risks, due to the massive presence of industrial sites with elevated environmental impact activities. The present study is focused on particulate matter as measured by PM10 concentrations. Preliminary analysis involved addressing several data problems, mainly: (i) an imputation techniques were considered to cope with the large number of missing data, due to both different working periods for groups of monitoring stations and occasional malfunction of PM10 sensors; (ii) due to the use of different validation techniques for each of the three monitoring networks, a calibration procedure was devised to allow for data comparability. Missing data imputation and calibration were addressed by three alternative procedures sharing a leave-one-out type mechanism and based on {\it ad hoc} exploratory tools and on the recursive Bayesian estimation and prediction of spatial linear mixed effects models. The three procedures are introduced by motivating issues and compared in terms of performance

A Simple and Flexible Alternative to the Stability and Growth Pact Deficit Ceilings. Is it at hand?

There have been widespread criticisms of EMU fiscal institutions. We consider a simple alternative to the deficit ceilings envisaged in the Stability and Growth Pact. We advocate the adoption of deficit targets. National governments should retain discretion in setting deviations from targets, but these deviations should then be reversed following a predetermined rule. This ensures fiscal discipline and leaves room for stabilisation policies. For the rule to be credible, only small changes are required to current EMU institutions. Our scheme performs well in comparison with existing reform proposals and is consistent with the golden rule of deficit financing.