Managing Decentralization of the Romanian Educational System

The process of decentralization can greatly improve the efficiency, transparency, accountability and responsiveness in service delivery, compared to centralized systems. Decentralization of education systems demands harmonization of a complex set of functions for each level of education: primary, secondary, tertiary and informal. The question of to what level of government delegate decision-making for each level of education and what will be the division of powers, continues to fuel debate. The promotion of a decentralized system in terms of teacher professional development must be coupled with measures of accountability to individuals and organizations without sacrificing the central bodies involved in accreditation programs, monitoring and evaluation activities performed.decentralization; educational management; reform; European challenge.

Analysis of First Order Reversal Curves in the Thermal Hysteresis of Spin-crossover Nanoparticles within the Mechanoelastic Model

The recently obtained spin-crossover nanoparticles are possible candidates for applications in the recording media industry as materials for data storage, or as pressure and temperature sensors. For these applications the intermolecular interactions and interactions between spin-crossover nanoparticles are extremely important, as they may be essential factors in triggering the transition between the two stable phases: the high-spin and low-spin ones. In order to find correlations between the distributions in size and interactions and the transition temperatures distribution, we apply the FORC (First Order Reversal Curves) method, using simulations based on a mechanoelastic model applied to 2D triangular lattices composed of molecules linked by springs and embedded in a surfactant. We consider two Gaussian distributions: one of the size of the nanoparticles and one of the elastic interactions between edge spin-crossover molecules and the surfactant molecules. In order to disentangle the kinetic and non-kinetic parts of the FORC distributions, we compare the results obtained for different temperature sweeping rates. We also show that the presence of few larger particles in a distribution centered around much smaller particles dramatically increases the hysteresis width.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, 2014 59-th MMM conferenc

Wetting Properties at Nanometer Scale

The proposed chapter reviews a series of experimental techniques which enable the accurate quantitative study of wetting properties. The introductive part presents some of the many phenomena and processes influenced by wetting, underlining the importance of understanding the fundamental science involved. A few historical considerations about the quantitative study of wetting and related phenomena are given. Next, some of the “classical” techniques employed for studies at the macroscopic scale are presented. The importance of studies of such phenomena at micro- and nanometer level is underlined, as a consequence of the enormous influence that micro- and nanodevices play in our day to day activities, and examples of quantitative studies, involving various measurement techniques, are given from literature. A description of the basic phenomena related to polarization forces in Scanning Polarization Force Microscopy (SPFM) technique is given, followed by experimental details concerning the actual implementation of the technique. Examples of applications of SPFM are given from literature (from the spreading of liquid crystals on solid substrates to studies of corrosion at nanometer level). Particularly, it is emphasized how this versatile technique was successfully used for direct measurements of contact angles for liquid micro- and nano-droplets, enabling the calculation of the dependence of surface potential energy between the surfaces, the spreading coefficient and the disjoining pressure for micro- and nano-droplets

Algorithm and software for salary computation for SME

The paper presents an algorithm and software to calculate salary according with the latest changes in labor and financial legislation, for small and medium companies. The interface is easy to use and manipulate, the reports can be printed and the application can be easy developed and up-to-date.software, salary, database

High-Quality Carbon Nanomaterials Synthesized by Excimer Laser Ablation

Due to their special physical and chemical properties and potential applications from hydrogen storage to medical implantation, the carbon-based nanomaterials are in the frame of attention for many research groups all over the world. As synthesis techniques, we highlight arc discharge, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and laser ablation. Even an expensive technique, laser ablation is suitable for single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) synthesis, providing the highest yield of over 70%, while arc discharge yield is about 30% and CVD is about 42%. The most common investigation methods for carbon nanomaterials are micro-Raman spectroscopy, thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and morphological and topographic studies done by atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). We also emphasize in this work that by involving a home-designed reactor, we successfully synthesized SWCNTs, carbon nano-onions (CNOs) as well as graphene in the same reactor. Tuning the experimental parameters, we switch the end type of nanomaterials. We have done comprehensive studies regarding the carbon nanomaterials synthesis

Horizontal Monitoring in Austria: subjective representations by tax officials and company employees

The implementation of Horizontal Monitoring (HM) in Austria represents a shift in the prevailing command-and-control paradigm towards enhanced cooperation between taxpayers and tax authorities. In the present paper, we assess how HM is perceived by different stakeholder groups when it was introduced as a pilot project embedded in the "Fair Play Initiative" launched by the Austrian Ministry of Finance. We collected quantitative and qualitative data from tax auditors and staff of tax offices responsible for large-scale enterprises who were either directly involved or not involved in the HM pilot project, from employees of participating enterprises as well as from employees of enterprises which did not participate in the project. Results show that representations of HM were most positive among employees from HM companies and tax officials directly involved, whereas participants from the tax administration who did not take part in the project were skeptical at the beginning and remained skeptical over time. As shown in organizational change studies, the acceptance or resistance regarding the paradigm change represented by HM may originate from uncertainty and misperceptions of its goals and strategies and from speculations, particularly by poorly informed members