STATE AID AND PARTICIPATION TO INTERNATIONAL TRADE FLOWS. ROMANIA'S CASE

This article focuses on the Romanian state aid and participation to the international trade flows. The purpose of this research was to determine whether the state aid offered takes into account the evolution and the requirements of the new market conditions generated by the economic and financial crisis. Our main conclusion was that regarding Romania's participation to the international trade flows, as the state aid measures focused mainly on sectors with high social impact, trade came second on the government's concern.state aid, trade flows, subsidies

Landfills - territorial issues of cities from North-East Region, Romania

Landfilling prevails in waste management options in Romania like others new EU members, being contrary to the concept of waste hierarchy promoted in recent years by EC. Waste disposal is done usually in non-compliant landfills and Government established a program to close these sites. This paper aims to analyse the transition from traditional waste management systems to an integrated system at national, regional and local scale. Assessment of landfills location based on buffer analysis (using GIS techniques) is made according to the proximity of five critical factors (CF) such as: residential area, industry & commercial units, agricultural lands, rivers & lakes, forest and protected areas, all these factors being sensitive to pollution. Thus, most of these old sites are badly or improperly located related to surroundings and only few have an acceptable location in the study area! Therefore, the proposed method can be a necessary tool in EIA studies of these environmental threats at regional scale

Landfills as anthropogenic landforms in urban environment from Neamt county

Landfills are the most common and easiest methods to dispose the municipal waste in Romania and still prevails in current waste management options. This type of critical infrastructure was designed to dispose urban waste generated over years or even decades and ultimately led to create new landforms in urban landscape. On the other hand, these sites are major sources of complex pollution unfulfilling EU regulations, being scheduled to be closed. This paper aims to analyze landfills as anthropogenic landforms by applying GIS techniques emphasizing them in a geographical context and not only in situ. The location of these sites usually on alluvial plains of rivers leading to positive landforms that may change hydrogeomorphology dynamics or to be exposed to the floods. The other side, their location in hilly or mountainous regions increase vulnerability to other geomorphological process (gully erosion, landslide). Also, the extension of human settlements and land use is influenced by the presence of such a site either it is closed. The implications of these landforms are varied and must be linked to geographical realities from around. Thus, the mapping of these anthropogenic landforms contribute to a better understanding of the systemic interactions from local environment. This approach may be an important tool for EIA studies, in the process of rehabilitation, post-monitoring and reintegration of these landfills

Vulnerability of mountain rivers to waste dumping from Neamt County, Romania

Lack of waste management facilities from mountain region often lead to uncontrolled disposal of waste on river banks polluting the local environment and damaging the tourism potential. Geographical conditions influences the distribution of human settlements which are located along the rivers and its tributaries. This paper aims to estimate the amounts of household waste generated and uncollected disposed into mountain rivers, taking into account several factors such as:proximity of rivers to the human settlements, the morphology of villages, length of river that crosses the locality(built up areas), local population, the access to waste collection services and waste management infrastructure. Vulnerability of rivers to illegal dumping is performed using GIS techniques, highlighting the localities pressure on rivers in close proximity. For this purpose, it developed a calculation model for estimation the amounts of waste (kg) that are dumped on a river section (m) that crosses a locality (village) or it is in close proximity. This estimation is based on the “principle of proximity and minimum effort” it can be applied in any mountainous region that are lacking or partially access to waste collection services. It is an assessment tool of mountain rivers vulnerability to waste dumping,taking into account the geographical and demographic conditions of the study area. Also the current dysfunctions are analyzed based on field observations

Relationship Between Land Surface Temperature and Imperviousness Density in The Urban Area of Iasi.

This study aims to quantify the relationship between Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Imperviousness Density (IMD) in Iași. This was done through linear regression analysis which involves quantifying the relationship between one independent variable (explanatory, predictor) and one dependent variable (response). Thus, in our study, the dependent variable is represented by the LST product obtained through MODIS sensors in the period 2014-2018, while the independent variable is represented by IMD. The coefficient of determination (R2) obtained, higher than 0.5 for most of the year, indicates a statistically significant relationship between LST and IMD. The highest values of R2 are identified during the day spring and summer seasons. Thus, 70% and respectively 80% of the spatial variation of LST is explained by the distribution of IMD during these two seasons and the regression coefficients indicate, on the one hand, that the relationship between the two variables is a direct one (LST values increase at the same time with IMD values), and on the other hand, that the increase of LST corresponds to a gradient between 0.3-0.6 oC per 10% IMD. During the day, the lowest values of R2 appear in autumn and winter seasons, as a result of the local topography that facilitates the frequency of thermal inversions in this period of the year. On the other hand, during the night, R2 has values between 0.40 and 0.60, with the lowest values in the autumn season and the highest in the spring season, respectively

Vulnerability of mountain rivers to waste dumping from Neamț County, Romania

Lack of waste management facilities from mountain region often lead to uncontrolled disposal of waste on river banks polluting the local environment and damaging the tourism potential. Geographical conditions influences the distribution of human settlements which are located along the rivers and its tributaries. This paper aims to estimate the amounts of household waste generated and uncollected disposed into mountain rivers, taking into account several factors such as:proximity of rivers to the human settlements,the morphology of villages, length of river that crosses the locality(built up areas), local population, the access to waste collection services and waste management infrastructure. Vulnerability of rivers to illegal dumping is performed using GIS techniques, highlighting the localities pressure on rivers in close proximity. For this purpose, it developed a calculation model for estimation the amounts of waste (kg) that are dumped on a river section (m) that crosses a locality (village) or it is in close proximity. This estimation is based on the “principle of proximity and minimum effort” it can be applied in any mountainous region that are lacking or partially access to waste collection services. It is an assessment tool of mountain rivers vulnerability to waste dumping, taking into account the geographical and demographic conditions of the study area. Also the current dysfunctions are analyzed based on field observations

Landfills as anthropogenic landforms in urban environment from Neamţ county.

Landfills are the most common and easiest methods to dispose the municipal waste in Romania and still prevails in current waste management options. This type of critical infrastructure was designed to dispose urban waste generated over years or even decades and ultimately led to create new landforms in urban landscape. On the other hand, these sites are major sources of complex pollution unfulfilling EU regulations, being scheduled to be closed. This paper aims to analyze landfills as anthropogenic landforms by applying GIS techniques emphasizing them in a geographical context and not only in situ. The location of these sites usually on alluvial plains of rivers leading to positive landforms that may change hydrogeomorphology dynamics or to be exposed to the floods. The other side, their location in hilly or mountainous regions increase vulnerability to other geomorphological process (gully erosion, landslide). Also, the extension of human settlements and land use is influenced by the presence of such a site either it is closed. The implications of these landforms are varied and must be linked to geographical realities from around. Thus, the mapping of these anthropogenic landforms contribute to a better understanding of the systemic interactions from local environment. This approach may be an important tool for EIA studies, in the process of rehabilitation, post-monitoring and reintegration of these landfills

The Influence of Urban Climate on Bioclimatic Conditions in the City of Iași, Romania

This study was carried out in order to outline the human bioclimatic stress/comfort conditions within the area of Iași city, Romania. The meteorological data were obtained over a 7-year period (December 2012–November 2019) from an observation network relying on 8 fixed observation points located in selected spots, relevant for the urban climate conditions in the region. The results demonstrate firstly that throughout the entire analyzed period, using the thermo-hygrometric index (THI), “very cold” conditions characterize 4% of the entire year in the inner parts of the city and 6% in the rural area, while the “hot” THI conditions vary from 18% in the middle of the urban heat island to 15% in the rural area. Overall, the rural areas are generally more comfortable than the inner city, especially during summer, when the urban heat island (UHI) core is starting to develop from the evening and persists during the night. On the contrary, the UHI renders the inner city more comfortable than the rural surroundings from October to April. Similar bioclimatic conditions are also presented in detail for the summer by the relative strain index (RSI), which exceeds the stress threshold value mostly during heat waves, when a significant contrast between urban and rural areas is felt. In brief, it has been determined that the most suitable area for human comfort in Iași city is inside the urban area during the winter and in the rural areas during the summer

Three Years of Observations on Global Solar Radiation at Mădârjac Weather Station (270 m) - Central Moldavian Plateau

This study is based on 3 years of hourly observations of global solar radiation (2014-2016), at a new weather station installed in the region of Central Moldavian Plateau, at Mădârjac (47.05°N, 27.25°E, 270 m). The main characteristics of annual, monthly and daily regime of global radiation were emphasized using for comparison similar data from Iașioficial weather station. Smaller annual amount of global solar radiation than those observed in previous studies were observed, reaching 4734 MJ/m2 in Iași and 4454 MJ/m2 in Mădârjac. An altidudinal gradient of global solar radiation close to 140 MJ/m2 was identified for the hilly region of Moldova. Despite the overall higher values in Iași, 30% of days indicates higher values of this parameter at Mădârjac weather station. These results can be used for the evaluation of the photo-voltaic potential in the region, but also to understand the altitudinal differences of solar radiation in the hilly region in Moldavia, since the only long-range actinometric stations from this part of Romania, Iași and Galați, are located at low altitudes