Determinants of Romanian International Migrants' Remittances

In the past few years, there has been a renewed interest in remittances of international migrants, as their strong recent increase shed more light on the effects at both micro and macro level. The remittances not only contribute to the well-being of the receiving households, but are also a large source of external financing, second only to FDI. The remittances are particularly important for Romania as in 2010 it was on the 5th place in the European top of emigration countries and on the 4th place as remittance recipient country. Therefore the determinants of remittance behavior need to be better understood. Following increasing interest and significant public debate on migration in Romania, our paper examines the significance of selected economic and demographic factors associated with the remittance behavior of Romanian international migrants, as characterized by the propensity to remit and the amount remitted. In particular we address the question of the role played by the geographic distance, as potentially affecting the immigrants’ ties with their homeland and consequently the remittance decisions. Our present work builds on a recent source of data on immigrant cohort resulting from an online survey conducted during August-December 2010. Respondents were asked questions on a variety of topics including income, employment, remittances, regions of origin and destination, graduated studies both in Romania and in emigration country, length of migration and intention to return to Romania. The final database consisted of 1514 Romanian immigrants from 55 destination countries. We developed several multivariate models to study the determinants of remittances by employing regression analysis. Among the main findings is that the geographic distance is not related to the remittances. Although contrasting with the existing literature, this result can be explained by factors such as modern instant communication and fast travel supporting very strong and resilient transnational links despite geographic distance.

Determinants of Romanian International Migrants' Remittances

In the past few years, there has been a renewed interest in remittances of international migrants, as their strong recent increase shed more light on the effects at both micro and macro level. The remittances not only contribute to the well-being of the receiving households, but are also a large source of external financing, second only to FDI. The remittances are particularly important for Romania as in 2010 it was on the 5th place in the European top of emigration countries and on the 4th place as remittance recipient country. Therefore the determinants of remittance behavior need to be better understood. Following increasing interest and significant public debate on migration in Romania, our paper examines the significance of selected economic and demographic factors associated with the remittance behavior of Romanian international migrants, as characterized by the propensity to remit and the amount remitted. In particular we address the question of the role played by the geographic distance, as potentially affecting the immigrants' ties with their homeland and consequently the remittance decisions. Our present work builds on a recent source of data on immigrant cohort resulting from an online survey conducted during August-December 2010. Respondents were asked questions on a variety of topics including income, employment, remittances, regions of origin and destination, graduated studies both in Romania and in emigration country, length of migration and intention to return to Romania. The final database consisted of 1514 Romanian immigrants from 55 destination countries. We developed several multivariate models to study the determinants of remittances by employing regression analysis. Among the main findings is that the geographic distance is not related to the remittances. Although contrasting with the existing literature, this result can be explained by factors such as modern instant communication and fast travel supporting very strong and resilient transnational links despite geographic distance

Labour Force Demand and Supply Developments of Romania’s Agriculture

As based on available data sets from the World Bank’s Yearbook(2008), a statistical analysis was made to highlight some characteristics of Romanian agriculture during 1961-2003. It is presented a series of models (Grabowski and Sivan (1986)) and econometric methods used to analyse supply and demand of the labour force in agriculture. This included an estimated regression model for analyzing the evolution of added value in agriculture during 1980-2003 according to a number of influencing factors.To characterize the concentration of agricultural production by development regions the Herfindahl Index was utilised

Characteristics of public service in Romania

The reform of government’s institutions must be a priority forthe Romanian State. This process cannot be achieved without a properdevelopment of public service. This paper outlines a number of features of the public service related to civil employee satisfaction, features of competitions to occupy and promote employment in the public service and the vertical and horizontal mobility of civil servants. For the purposes of calculating statistical indicators, data series have been utilised, obtained from the application of a statistical survey at the level of a sample from the public administration

Translation of the Fugl-Meyer assessment into Romanian: Transcultural and semantic-linguistic adaptations and clinical validation

PurposeThe Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) scale, which is widely used and highly recommended, is an appropriate tool for evaluating poststroke sensorimotor and other possible somatic deficits. It is also well-suited for capturing a dynamic rehabilitation process. The aim of this study was to first translate the entire sensorimotor FMA scale into Romanian using the transcultural and semantic-linguistic adaptations of its official afferent protocols and to then validate it using the preliminary clinical evaluation of inter- and intra-rater reliability and relevant concurrent validity.MethodsThrough three main steps, we completed a standardized procedure for translating FMA's official afferent evaluation protocols into Romanian and their transcultural and semantic-linguistic adaptation for both the upper and lower extremities. For relevant clinical validation, we evaluated 10 patients after a stroke two times: on days 1 and 2. All patients were evaluated simultaneously by two kinesi-physiotherapists (generically referred to as KFT1 and KFT2) over the course of 2 consecutive days, taking turns in the roles of an examiner and observer, and vice versa (inter-rater). Two scores were therefore obtained and compared for the same patient, i.e., being afferent to an inter-rater assay by comparing the assessment outcomes obtained by the two kinesi-physiotherapists, in between, and respectively, to the intra-rater assay: based on the evaluations of the same kinesi-physiotherapist, in two consecutive days, using a rank-based method (Svensson) for statistical analysis. We also compared our final Romanian version of FMA's official protocols for concurrent validity (Spearman's rank correlation statistical method) to both of the widely available assessment instruments: the Barthel Index (BI) and the modified Rankin scale (mRS).ResultsSvensson's method confirmed overall good inter- and intra-rater results for the main parts of the final Romanian version of FMA's evaluation protocols, regarding the percentage of agreement (≥80% on average) and for disagreement: relative position [RP; values outside the interval of (−0.1, 0.1) in only two measurements out of the 56 comparisons we did], relative concentration [RC; values outside the interval of (−0.1, 0.1) in only nine measurements out of the same 56 comparisons done], and relative rank variation [RV; all values within an interval of (0, 0.1) in only five measurements out of the 56 comparisons done]. High correlation values were obtained between the final Romanian version of FMA's evaluation protocols and the BI (ρ = 0.9167; p = 0.0002) for FMA–upper extremity (FMA-UE) total A-D (motor function) with ρ = 0.6319 and for FMA-lower extremity (FMA-LE) total E-F (motor function) with p = 0.0499, and close to the limit, with the mRS (ρ = −0.5937; p = 0.0704) for FMA-UE total A-D (motor function) and (ρ = −0.6615; p = 0.0372) for FMA-LE total E-F (motor function).ConclusionsThe final Romanian version of FMA's official evaluation protocols showed good preliminary reliability and validity, which could be thus recommended for use and expected to help improve the standardization of this assessment scale for patients after a stroke in Romania. Furthermore, this endeavor could be added to similar international translation and cross-cultural adaptations, thereby facilitating a more appropriate comparison of the evaluation and outcomes in the management of stroke worldwide

Assessing the transit capacity of port shunting yards through discrete simulation

The port shunting yards are developed inside the area of the ports. The main activities are to receive the freight trains from the hinterland, to shunt the freight wagons according to their final destinations from the area of the port, to receive the wagons from maritime terminals, to accumulate wagons according to their destination, and to depart the freight train to the hinterland. So, it is important for port administration to have good methods to evaluate the transit capacity of port shunting yards. A feasible method is to use the discrete simulation model. In our paper, we develop one of this taking into consideration the input flow characteristics of freight trains from land network, the input flow characteristics of freight wagons from maritime terminals, the number of tracks in a port railway station, the technology used for separation of freight wagons on destinations (inside the port or from hinterland), and the duration of technological processes. From the results, we extract the values of trains and wagon sets that transit through the main areas of the railway station (Receiving Tracks, Hump(s) and Departure Tracks)

Serum Neurofilaments and OCT Metrics Predict EDSS-Plus Score Progression in Early Relapse-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis

(1) Background: Early disability accrual in RRMS patients is frequent and is associated with worse long-term prognosis. Correctly identifying the patients that present a high risk of early disability progression is of utmost importance, and may be aided by the use of predictive biomarkers. (2) Methods: We performed a prospective cohort study that included newly diagnosed RRMS patients, with a minimum follow-up period of one year. Biomarker samples were collected at baseline, 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Disability progression was measured using the EDSS-plus score. (3) Results: A logistic regression model based on baseline and 6-month follow-up sNfL z-scores, RNFL and GCL-IPL thickness and BREMSO score was statistically significant, with χ2(4) = 19.542, p < 0.0001, R2 = 0.791. The model correctly classified 89.1% of cases, with a sensitivity of 80%, a specificity of 93.5%, a positive predictive value of 85.7% and a negative predictive value of 90.62%. (4) Conclusions: Serum biomarkers (adjusted sNfL z-scores at baseline and 6 months) combined with OCT metrics (RNFL and GCL-IPL layer thickness) and the clinical score BREMSO can accurately predict early disability progression using the EDSS-plus score for newly diagnosed RRMS patients