The Behaviour of Romanian Tourists Regarding The Attendance at Festivals

AbstractDespite the importance of the festivals for the culture and the economy of nations, little research has been conducted in order to understand the behaviour of the Romanian tourists regarding the festivalattendance and the intention to travel in order to participate in festivals. The originality of this study is highlighted by the analysis of the behaviour of Romanian tourists regarding the attendance at festivals, from the point of view of studying festival tourism as a form of cultural tourism. The article is based on the findings of an exploratory survey–based research carried out in February – May 2014.The purpose of this paper is to analyse the behaviour of the Romanian tourist regarding the participation in festivals, both in his town and also when he is travelling. Our objectives are to: find if Romanian people in general, and Romanian tourists, in particular, are interested in traveling with the purpose of attending a festival, identify the main motivations for attending a festival, the types of festivals that are preferred and the tourists ‘perception on Bucharest as potential international festival destination.The paper concludes that Romanian tourists tend to participate in one festival per year in average in their country and less than one festival per year in another countries, that music festival is the most appreciated type of festival and also we discovered that the most important motives for attending festivals in tourists’ perception are psychological, cultural and emotional

Romanian Attitudes and Perceptions towards the 16+1 Cooperation Platform

The aim of this paper is to analyze Romanian citizens’ attitudes and perceptions towards the 16+1 framework, their determinants and effects. The influencing factors are correlated with the general perception of China and its image, while the effects are seen from the perspectives of the engagement and level of participation in joint initiatives. Recent literature underscores that although this platform offers a range of opportunities in each of the nine pillars of sectoral cooperation, Romania has adopted a passive attitude as regards large-scale projects developed with Chinese partners. Beyond EU specific technical barriers to such projects, the Romanian attitudes towards the 16+1 strongly affected cooperation intensity with China. Positions towards this initiative (opinions from general public, elites, politicians and experts) are identified through three main channels: mass media research, individual interviews and focus groups. The quantitative analysis, combined with qualitative research, emphasizes that in spite of the recognition by some groups of the potential benefits offered by the cooperation in the 16+1 format, reluctance remains. This is not due to China’s assets-liabilities balance or the lack of capacity to understand China, but on both insufficient information on 16+1 and political inertia

Robust model predictive control for a class of disturbed systems

This paper proposes a robust model predictive control method for a class of linear discrete time, uncertain and disturbed systems. A relationship between the system disturbance, the states and control input exists, which is used to remove, through several manipulations, the disturbance from the control optimization problem. Moreover, in comparison with other several previous studies, the disturbance does not act directly on the system, a system disturbance matrix being introduced. In principle, the main objective is to find a control law by solving a min-max problem in which a robust performance objective is to be minimized. Instead, an equivalent optimization problem is solved and an upper bound is found for the robust performance objective using a Lyapunov function. With the upper bound, the equivalent control optimization problem is formulated. The solutions of the equivalent optimization problem are used to construct the control law. A Matlab simulation, using Yalmip toolbox, indicates that the states are stabilized to zero and the control input tends to zero

Considerations on the selection and prioritization of information security solutions

This paper provides a set of guidelines that can be used for prescribing a methodology or a detailed process for selecting and prioritizing security projects or solutions. It is based on the idea that costs of security solutions should be justified by their contribution to ensuring adequate protection of information resources in the organization which implements them. The article reviews general issues of security risks and costs, arguing the need for explicit consideration of information resources security requirements in order to validate decisions concerning security projects implementation. In such an approach, security requirements of information resources are used as a reference system to quantify the benefits and limitations of security solutions defined as alternative or complementary responses to certain security risks as their implementation faces budget constraints

Impact of climate changes on food safety related issues in the case of Romania

Climate change and economic development have both an increasing impact on human health and on the quality of life. The reverse assumption is also true, since, for improving economic and social development and well-being, the human activity is affecting the environment. This paper presents some of the alarm signals of various international institutions and entities regarding several challenges the current modern society is facing: climate change, disruptive weather events, food safety implications, health related issues, economic losses. Based on previous studies which demonstrated a direct connection between climate changes and weather conditions and the outbreak of infectious diseases and threats for the food safety chain, the main research objective is to determine whether this hypothesis is also valid in the case of Romania. Thus, the conducted analysis takes into consideration variations of temperature and precipitation in relation to new cases of food-borne diseases in order to determine if this connection is statistically significant as it was in other regions of Europe and of the world previously examined by scholars

Estimation of Equivalent Thermal Conductivity Value Using Correlation Relationships with Other Oil Reservoir Properties

In the exploitation of oil and gas reservoirs, thermal conductivity is the property of greatest importance in the application of secondary and tertiary oil fluid recovery techniques. This is why this property has been analyzed by estimating its value using several calculation models. But each model for calculating the value of this property is burdened by the fact that in the reservoir, the rocks are not like the chosen models (being made up of geological conglomerates with various inclusions). This paper presents a technique for estimating thermal conductivity (by energy transfer between overlying strata) and determining its value by a new calculation model. The paper also determined the thermal conductivity values for several rocks constituting some Romanian reservoirs, the aim of this material being to analyze the thermal behavior of rocks in condensed gas-rich areas

The Healthcare Public System – Does Standardization Withhold the Bucket from Leaking?

The public healthcare system is heavily influenced by the 3C trilemma - cost - coverage - choice. The paper’s argument tackles the fact that should the public decision on improving capacity be leaning towards universal coverage in would result in efficiency losses and, in an attempt to control the costs it would limit patients’ choice. Should priority be given to performance or value? The present paper deals with the compromise between the equity and efficiency, a leaky bucket that becomes more visible in the struggle to build capacity and intervene in the market by setting standards. Setting healthcare standards is a global concern, the 3rd Sustainable Development Goal is a clear proof of that the aim to emphasise and better analyse two of the most influential variables: efficiency and equity. All in all, what we argue is that the current leaky bucket is a trade-off between choice, coverage, and cost. For a complex public service like healthcare, targeting a full coverage and multiple choice would incur huge costs and, cutting costs considerably restricts both the choice and coverage. The cost is influenced by the production capacity use when the activity has large fixed costs

WHAT DOES THE TEACHER LOOK LIKE NOWADAYS?

The present study discusses the relevance of interpersonal and intrapersonal attributes of teachers for the efficacy of teaching in the context of responding to the challenge of educating students for a society facing ongoing changes at an extreme pace. It offers a qualitative analyses of data obtained from 18 participants' reflective essays drafted at the beginning and the end of their ITE courses. Data was coded and analysed by four independent researchers. The results showed a clear reference to certain personal qualities of teachers. The categories identified are discussed in relation to previous studies on emotional intelligence and empathy, reflexivity and positive expectations in class