Surpassing the Leaders - Laggards gap? Conditionality, Compliance and Europeanisation viewed from Romania and Bulgaria in the post-accession period

Abstract Surpassing the Leaders - Laggards gap? Conditionality, Compliance and Europeanisation viewed from Romania and Bulgaria in the post-accession period By Corina Andreea FOLESCU While EU accession has been generally regarded as a highly successful process of policy, and institutional model diffusion, after the 2007 enlargement wave anxiety regarding post-accession backsliding in the case of Romania and Bulgaria has raised the question of whether the impact of pre-accession conditionality is sustainable once membership is achieved. Against this background, the present thesis investigates the manner in which the two countries have abided by their obligations as EU members, while taking into consideration the particular effects generated by separate modes of governance and legal instruments. The thesis follows infringement cases initiated by the Commission against the two states, examines policy responses under the Europe 2020 Strategy, and explores the steps made by Romania and Bulgaria to fulfil the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism benchmarks. By researching compliance with hard law, as well as openness towards coordination mechanisms we are provided with a more comprehensive outlook over national engagement with both legally-binding commitments and voluntary action. Based on the obtained results, the thesis argues that lock-in effects with regards to institutional reforms conducted prior to the 2007 enlargement have anchored Romania in the face of political volatility. In the case of Bulgaria, the thesis contends that missed opportunities during the pre-accession phase have placed the country into an institutional stalemate. While backsliding has not been observed, little progress in reforming its judiciary has triggered successive appeals from the European Commission for concrete outcomes

Pricing strategies – aspects, types and characteristics

Companies that want to maximize their profits must decide on several elements that influence this aspect. An important role is pricing the product or service offered by the company. In determining the best price for the product, management must take into account several factors such as cost / unit, market characteristics where the product is intended to be placed, consumer needs. Those that make this type of decisions often use price strategies which help enter a particular market. Economists state that there are many types of strategies out of which I will present those strategies that are based on marginal cost, incremental costs, break even and mark-up.prices, strategies, price discrimination

NAVIGATING ETHICAL AND MORAL CHALLENGES LEADERS FACE IN STAKEHOLDER CAPITALISM

One can assume that the ethical business leader of the 21st century will need to become a leader of community in which they operate, answering to all stakeholders, guiding all stakeholders, mediating all stakeholders’ concerns. A virtuous position at first glance and one leader wants to aspire to in theory but frequently fail at in practice. The current paper strives to underline the need of ethical conduct at both leader and stakeholders’ level and proposes the introduction of a code of ethical principles to be followed and introduced by the leader and all stakeholders in an organization. Such a code should promote a set of well-established principles to be agreed and followed by the parties involved. A five criteria set is proposed for the development of further codes of conduct, that will lead to more appropriate judgements and findings

Intervention Models for The Pre-Integration of Children with ASD in Mainstream Education

The pathology of autism dates back to the 1900s, being framed within the broad sphere of neuropsychological conditions. So far, the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has passed through various pathologies, from socio-emotional disorders to schizophrenic disorders. The clear distinction between childhood autism and childhood schizophrenia was only made in the early 1980s. ASD is one of the most common invasive developmental disorders; defined as a neurological condition characterised by a distortion in the overall development of a person, it affects 1 in 150 children and 4 to 5 boys per girl. The autistic triad brings together qualitative anomalies in social interactions (in verbal and nonverbal communication), restricted interests and stereotypes. The 1980s and 1990s highlight the role of behavioural therapy and the use of highly controlled learning environments as a primary treatment for the forms of autism and related conditions. Promising studies on the role of oxytocin or certain amino acids involved in neurotransmission, especially in regulating stress and its emotional consequences, are currently in progress. Until now, the two therapies have remained primordial along with physical therapy and speech therapy. The purpose of this paper is to present some of the means that can contribute to the pre-integration of children in mainstream education, being also a starting point for future applied research. At the same time, the paper is helpful for the parents of children with ASD, who are given the opportunity to work themselves in the absence of a specialist or financial possibilities.</em

Technologies for the Reduction of Nitrogen Oxides Emissions

When it comes to gas turbines, their main problem concerning pollutant emissions is represented by nitric oxides. Among other emissions, sulphur oxides being much reduced due to the use of liquid distilled and gas fuels with a low content of sulphur. Using water or steam injection became the favourite method during the '80s and especially the '90s since "dry" methods and catalytic reduction were both at the beginning of the development phase. Catalytic convertors have been used since the '80s and they are still used although the costs of renewing the catalyst are very high. In the last twenty years a gradual decrease has been registered on the limits of nitric oxides from 75 ppm to 25 ppm, and now the target is oriented towards the 9 ppm level. The evolution of burning technologies of combustion makes it possible to control the level of production of nitric oxides even from the source without being necessary to use "humid" methods. This, of course, opened the market for gas turbines because they can function even in areas with limited quality water reserves, such as maritime platforms and in the desert. In this paper, we are going to show that, although water injection is still used, "dry" control technologies of burning became favourite methods for the majority of users on the industrial power generators market. The great dependency between the creation of nitric oxides and the temperature reveals the effect of direct water or steam injection on reducing nitric oxides. Recent research showed that a reduction up to 85% of nitric oxides may be obtained by using the water or steam injection all together with the improvement of aerodynamic character of the burning room

Why leadership fails? Few causes for why good leaders do bad things:

The six factors considered for achieving success in leadership are clarity, role modeling, achievability, commitment, transparency and openness. The article analyzes the factors that generate a failure of leadership, even for the so-called widely renewed good leaders, precisely the behavior causes and developments that lead to failure and not their acquiring process. The chosen target population is represented by the leaders ruling large organizations, which need an integrated vision to produce effective leadership. The perspective will have a theoretical basis but also an empirical one. The quantitative part relies on a survey conducted among leaders for three different industries (pharmaceutical, IT and telecom). They were asked questions regarding the causes, which produce leadership failure and finally produce misconduct and breaches of the compliance rules and regulations. In addition, the survey asked the participants to develop their proposals for preventing leadership failure. It was established the importance of the tone from the top, leading by example, a clear mechanism for checking the health of the organization from a leadership perspective. The article will also show that the way to prevent leadership failure and avoid behaviors that lead to misconduct is a permanent journey

El marco jurídico de la Unión Europea en materia de tiempo de trabajo: comparación entre las legislaciones española y rumana

Toda la información expuesta en el presente Trabajo de fin de Máster ha tenido como propósito esbozar el complejo marco jurídico europeo en materia de tiempo de trabajo y su aplicación en dos países integrantes: España y Rumanía. Para lograrlo, hemos analizado la Directiva 2003/88/CE, hemos estudiado la jurisprudencia comunitaria que trata este tema, y examinado la legislación nacional de esos dos Estados Miembros. De esta manera, se ha podido identificar en qué medida se ha alcanzado la armonización de normativa

Ethical aspects in managing patients diagnosed with digestive cancers; a review of literature

Numerous bioethical recommendations are now available in the complex process of communication with cancer patients. In this review, we have focused on the complex process of managing patients with different types of oncologic digestive diseases, immediately after the diagnosis is made. We have analyzed the literature data on the topic. MEDSCAPE and PubMed databases have been studied. Issues such as telling the truth to patients with digestive cancer, the physician\u27s responsibility in the psychological management of patients and their relatives, the nurses’ duties, the consented death, the practice of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) as well as the clinical research have been the main targets of our study

Metformin Modulates the Mechanisms of Ageing

Living in a time when population is continuously ageing, the challenge and demand for assessing the age-related pathways, potential diseases and longevity have become of major interest. The pharmaceutical industry possesses huge resources in this field, mainly due to the recent discoveries of novel mechanisms of action of old-established, classical drugs. Here we find metformin, a well-established antidiabetic medicine but with new potential benefits, as the most recent reports quote. We present the main pathways of the possible implications of metformin in the modulation of ageing processes, evolution and diseases, focussing on its ageing counteraction, based on the latest scientifically based biochemical reports