Attitude of Romanian Consumers Related to Products’ Ecological Labelling

The consumers play an important role in the protection of environment by their choices when they purchase products. Consequently, with a view to manufacture products with minimum impact on environment as well as to influence the conduct of consumers and improve the ecological performance of products and services, the ISO 14000 standards were elaborated for ecological labelling and analysis of life cycle of products and national and regional systems of ecological labelling of products were introduced. Also, in order to support a healthy and non-polluting environment, the European Commission adopted, pursuant to some specialised studies, a legislation related to the assignment of the condition of ecological product to different categories of products and services, having as purpose the environment protection and ensuring a durable consumption. At the same time, in order to improve the range of instruments of environment protection, financial and technical instruments were introduced as well The European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme – EMAS, but also the European ecological label Eco-label. The European ecological label is useful in order to supply to the consumers essential information that may allow them to make choices knowingly, acting as well as a passport that authorises the free circulation of products on the European territory. All the European Union’s states adopted the communitarian ecological label. Consequently, the integration of Romanian in the European Union imposed a range of measures related to the procedure of granting the ecological label. In Romania, there is a specific legislative frame concerning the determination of the procedure of granting the ecological label and of their conditions of use. Each group of products to which a label is assigned is governed by a specific legislation that sets forth the granting criteria. The main objectives of article concern the featuring of some fundamental elements related to eco-labelling by emphasizing the main theoretical-methodological and conceptual delimitations, the presentation of this phenomenon on international, European and national level, ending in an analysis related to the attitude of Romanian consumers towards the ecological labelling of products.eco-labelling, the European ecological label, eco-labelling in Romania, consumers

Consumer responsibility in the context of transition to green economy in Romania

This paper presents a quantitative research with two main directions: (1) to determine the strength of a possible association between the consumers’ expectations from the companies and their willingness to be actively involved in the transition to green economy and (2) to establish the degree to which the level of education influences the expectations of the consumer regarding green technologies when deciding to buy from a company. It was confirmed that although there is a significant level of awareness regarding the impact of companies on the environment, it is not transposed proportionally in the awareness of the consumers of their own responsibility in the transition process towards a green economy. Given the obtained results, the Romanian consumer, although aware of the importance of protecting the environment, is not convinced of his own responsibility in this process, being rather inclined to believe that it is rather an obligation of companies to ensure a transition towards a green economy than their own

BIOCHEMICAL AND HISTOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF DELTAMETHRIN EXPOSURE ON THE GILLS OF CARASSIUS AURATUS GIBELIO (Pisces Cyprinidae)

This study investigated the alterations in the activities of several antioxidant enzymesin the gills of the freshwater fish Carassius auratus gibelio exposed to deltamethrin.To get this goal, groups of 10 individuals were exposed for one, two, three, sevenand fourteen days to sublethal concentration of deltamethrin (2 g/L). Anothergroup was used as control. The activities of catalase, gluthatione peroxidase andgluthatione reductase were significantly decreased, while the glutathione-Stransferasewas up-regulated. All fish, exposed to 2glL deltamethrin revealed gillsmorphological alterations after 48h of exposure which were accentuated after 14days. In the gills hyperemia, fusion of secondary lamellae, epithelial layer ruptureand chloride cells proliferation were observed. These results suggest that animmediate adaptive response to the oxidative stress appeared, demonstratingalterations in the antoxidant defense mechanism in the gills of deltamethrinintoxicated fish

Motivation for lifelong learning in specific contexts

Although in Europe employment inclusion is an important objective there is no common standardised scheme. The focus is modern rehabilitation, a range of services and processes designed to enable all disabled people to live their lives as fully as possible. For organizations, SMEs and professionals the project provides an opportunity to introduce/train innovative employment inclusion and rehabilitation approaches for people with disabilities

The EntreComp certificate project – a bridge between school education and the world of work

The article is based on the EntreComp Certificate project (Erasmus+ Programme - 2019-UK01-KA201-062076) as it is being developed within a partnership of educational (universities and schools) and IT institutions and organizations from the United Kingdom, Romania, France, Italy and Cyprus. The EntreComp Certificate project focuses on the importance of entrepreneurship in social and economic development and individual growth nowadays. The project relies on the EntreComp Framework established by the European Union; it aims to enhance Europe’s entrepreneurial potential by supporting individuals to acquire and develop the skills and the key competencies detailed in the EntreComp Framework. The article presents the project’s objectives, methodology and main outputs. The study gives insights into how the partnership adapted the EntreComp Framework to meet teachers’ needs and enable them to use the EntreComp Framework in their school contexts. To this end, an e-learning platform was created. Its suggested activities and guidance curriculum are meant to enable educators to develop and then assess the fifteen competences of the EntreComp Framework that their students acquired in their activities at Intermediate and Advanced Levels

Anticorrosion coated stainless steel as durable support for C-N-TiO2 photo catalyst layer

The development of durable photocatalytic supports resistant in harsh environment has become challenging in advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) focusing on water and wastewater remediation. In this study, stainless steel (SS), SS/Ti (N,O) and SS/Cr-N/Cr (N,O) anticorrosion layers on SS meshes were dip-coated with sol gel synthesised C-N-TiO2 photo catalysts pyrolysed at 350◦C for 105 min, using a heating rate of 50◦C/min under N2 gas. The supported C-N-TiO2 films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. The results showed that C-N-TiO2 was successfully deposited on anticorrosion coated SS supports and had different morphologies. The amorphous C and TiO2 were predominant in C-N-TiO2 over anatase and rutile phases on the surface of Scandent corrosion supports. TheC-N-TiO2 coated films showed enhanced photocatalytic activity for the discoloration of O.II dye under both solar and UV radiations. The fabricated C-N-TiO2 films showed significant antibacterial activities in the dark as well as in visible light. Herein, we demonstrate that SS/Ti(N,O) and SS/Cr-N/Cr(N,O) anticorrosion coatings are adequate photocatalytic and corrosion resistant supports. The C-N-TiO2 photo catalytic coatings can be used for water and wastewater decontamination of pollutants and microbes

Migrants’ integration processes in EU – first steps in their new home countries (case study: Integra project)

Integra is a partnership project which aims work together with social partners such as migrant communities and financial institutions from a range of different European countries to create a Europe wide network of relevant institutions in order to reach migrants in partner countries to improve their integration into local society by providing them with opportunities to gain language skills on basic financial matters. The first steps for their language integration into the new society is made through an non formal approach, based on open interaction, simulation scenarios, improvisation and creative use of the learning materials, permanent exchange of questions and answers, reflection time and feedback opportunities

The Xeno-tolerance project- a useful tool in doing quality research

The article presents some ideas promoted by the European project Xeno-tolerance 2015-1-FR01-KA202-015143 as they were implemented by EuroEd Foundation Iasi. The paper narrows down the project’s ambitious goal (prevention and fight against radicalisation) to one aspect where any student may be vulnerable: the authenticity and credibility of internet resources and databases. The experiment carried out on students (studying medicine and oenology) familiarised them with the criteria they could apply in assessing the credibility of websites they often use when doing research on the internet. It also helped them distinguish between facts and opinions. This ability enhanced their chances to distinguish opinion from informationwhich sometimes aims at manipulating readers’ opinions. The activities suggested enabled students not only to enrich their vocabulary and practise language structures in the target language but also to diagnose the social realities of the environment, detect unauthentic sources, evaluate and select the most adequate resources, including social media

Corrosion improvement of 304l stainless steel by zrsin and zrsi(N,o) mono-and double-layers prepared by reactive cathodic arc evaporation

Zr-based nitrides and oxynitrides were deposited by reactive cathodic arc evaporation in monolayer and double-layer structures with the aim of increasing the corrosion protection of 304L stainless steel (SS) in a biomedical aggressive environment. All coatings had a total thickness of 1.2 m. Compared to the bare substrate, the surface roughness of the coated samples was higher, the presence of microdroplets being revealed by scanning electron micrography (SEM). The X-ray diffraction investigation of the ZrN phases revealed that the peaks shifted towards lower Bragg angles and the lattice constants increased as a result of Si and O2 inclusion in ZrN lattice, and of the ion bombardment characteristic of the cathodic arc method, augmented by the applied bias substrate. SS/ZrSiN/ZrSi(N,O) showed the best corrosion performance in an acidic environment (0.9% NaCl and 6% H2O2; pH = 4), which was ascribed to the blocking effect of the interfaces, which acted as a corrosion barrier for the electrolyte ingress. Moreover, the aforementioned bilayer had the highest amount of Si and O in the composition of the top layer, forming a stable passive layer with beneficial effects on corrosion protection

The influence of toxic metals As, Cd, Ni, and Pb on nutrients accumulation in Mentha piperita

Medicinal plants are, for a considerable part of the population, an important source of treatment for certain diseases. They contain essential nutrients for the human body such as magnesium, iron and zinc. The present study shows the influence of the addition of As, Cd, Ni, Pb on mineral nutrients in different organs of Mentha piperita. The experiments were carried out in the laboratory for a period of three months (May-July). Mentha piperita plants were AsCd and AsCdNiPb exposed up to final concentrations corresponding to the soil intervention threshold according to Romanian Order no.756/1997 (25 mg/kg As, 5 mg/kg Cd, 150 mg/kg Ni and 100 mg/ kg Pb). Simultaneously with these experiments, a control experiment (M) was performed. To evaluate the effect of the addition of AsCd and AsCdNiPb on the accumulation and transfer of Ca, Cr, Cu, Mn, Mo, Fe and Zn, the transfer coefficient (TC), the translocation factor (TF), and the enrichment factor (EF) were calculated. A higher concentration of Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, and Zn was observed especially in the mint root in the experiments in which AsCdNiPb was added compared to those in which only AsCd was added. The AsCdNiPb addition did not influence the translocation of micro and macronutrients from the root to the aerial (edible) parts of the plant. In the case of the AsCd, addition, the translocation of zinc from the root to the aerial parts (leaves and stem) of the plant was increased