The Disciplinary Liability of Teaching Staff from Romanian Universities in the New Regulation of the Legislation on Higher Education from 2023

The taking over the principles and procedure from the previous legislation (Law of National Education no. 1/2011), the legislator brings in 2023, through the new Law no. 199, changes to the regime of disciplinary liability of teaching staff. The clear distinction between the legal regime and the administrative act of the decision of the University Ethics Commission regulated in Law no. 199/2023 removes the sanction for the violation of ethical norms from the scope of disciplinary liability, as was considered by the majority of national jurisprudence under the old regulation. Our comparative analysis aims to highlight the new regulations, although some inadvertent still persist

Specificity of the Patrimonial Liability in Labor Law, as a Form of the Civil Legal Liability

Increasingly common in labor law disputes, the petitions regarding the award of non-material damages applicant are subject to judicial review they are working to ensure full compensation in case of illegal conduct also in labor law. Despite the fact that the labor law does not protect and does not have as its object the non-patrimonial aspects of the parties, as repercussions on the injured person, the full reparation is ensured by repairing the moral suffering that is generated by the illegality, including with regard to the employment relationship. All the more we could say that the repair can also have a moral side in the conditions in which the parts of the employment relationship, especially the employee, invests his knowledge, time and skills, elements related to his personality and attitude. The analysis proposed by that article seeks precisely to justify non-material damages, on the principles of tortious liability, in the context of contractual liability such as that in employment relationships, including the fact that it is possible to engage the employee's moral responsibility towards an individual employer

Admissibility of the Tortious Liability Action regarding the Employment Relationship

Tort liability is one of the important legal institutions in civil law seeking compensation for damage, and in certain circumstances, we also find it in employment relationships as a form distinct from patrimonial liability, the objective of which is also compensation for damage. Given the onerous nature of the employment relationship, in the cases that we will analyze about the admissibility of tort liability, we start from the same rights and obligations of the parties in the sense that the damage caused by the employee or the employer is due a failure in fulfilling the obligations in the employment relationship. Although the patrimonial liability as regulated by Art. 254 of the Labor Code is a special responsibility of the employment relationship, the text of the law does not qualify this type of liability as exclusive in the case of the employment relationship, which is why the case-laws identify situations where tort liability is also generated in the context of such employment relationships

Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue from water using UV irradiation

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of various parameters on the photocatalytic activity of a copper doped zeolite in the degradation of cationic dye Methylene Blue (MB) from aqueous solution under UV irradiation. The experimental studies revealed that the removal efficiency expressed in terms of discoloration and aromatic ring- opening depended strongly of the initial pH, initial concentrations of the dye solution and catalyst doses. Some mechanistic aspects have been investigated in relation with Zeta potential measurements correlated with adsorption and heterogeneous photocatalysis principles at various pH values

Changes in the Romanian Carpathian tourism after the communism collapse and the domestic tourists' satisfaction

In the context of Romania's transition to the market economy after the communism collapse, and the accession in EU, the study aims to analyse characteristics of tourism changes in the Carpathian destinations by correlation with the domestic visitors' satisfaction for tourist services and new forms of tourism by empirical field observations, and statistical analysis used to test the level of satisfaction for Carpathian tourism. The results show an increase of tourist demand for the Carpathian destinations in the framework of tourist establishments' structure changes, the spreading of agri-tourism, a need for improvement of accommodation services quality according to the visitors' profile. Tourism development, revealed by visitors' flows, has some similarities with the perception of tourists. The tourists' views can, with several limits, be considered as a barometer in tourism research and a useful instrument in building tourism offers

Ecological Reconstruction of the Plain Areas Prone to Climate Aridity through Forest Protection Belts. Case Study: Dăbuleni Town, Oltenia Plain, Romania

AbstractThe paper aims to make an overall assessment of drought related problems, and to shed some light on land degradation and aridity in Romania, with particular emphasis on Dăbuleni Town belonging to the Dolj County. The main research methods employed for this study were observation, survey and cartographic method, which made use of GIS techniques. A map with the current spatial distribution of the forest belt fragments overlapping the initial vegetation was accomplished. The investigation has found that these patches cover small areas lying in the immediate vicinity of the Dăbuleni town. We suggest that in order to mitigate the impact of climatic modifications and to prevent land degradation the reconstruction of forest protection belts created between 1970 and 1980 is a must, in as much as in their present condition they can no longer protect the hydrotechnical improvements and the lands. However, project implementation is hindered by the lack of cadastre and funds. At the same time, the population and the landowners in the area need to be explained the importance of forest protection belts for the improvement of environment and living conditions, for the gradual diminishing of drought effects and for the enhancement of agricultural production. Another problem that must necessarily be settled is the development of a methodology for granting compensations to those landowners who agree to change the use of their agricultural lands so as to allow the creation of forest protection belts

Are there researcher allegiance effects in diagnostic validation studies of the PHQ-9? : A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether an authorship effect is found that leads to better performance in studies conducted by the original developers of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) (allegiant studies). DESIGN: Systematic review with random effects bivariate diagnostic meta-analysis. Search strategies included electronic databases, examination of reference lists and forward citation searches. INCLUSION CRITERIA: Included studies provided sufficient data to calculate the diagnostic accuracy of the PHQ-9 against a gold standard diagnosis of major depression using the algorithm or the summed item scoring method at cut-off point 10. DATA EXTRACTION: Descriptive information, methodological quality criteria and 2×2 contingency tables. RESULTS: Seven allegiant and 20 independent studies reported the diagnostic performance of the PHQ-9 using the algorithm scoring method. Pooled diagnostic OR (DOR) for the allegiant group was 64.40, and 15.05 for non-allegiant studies group. The allegiance status was a significant predictor of DOR variation (p<0.0001).Five allegiant studies and 26 non-allegiant studies reported the performance of the PHQ-9 at recommended cut-off point of 10. Pooled DOR for the allegiant group was 49.31, and 24.96 for the non-allegiant studies. The allegiance status was a significant predictor of DOR variation (p=0.015).Some potential alternative explanations for the observed authorship effect including differences in study characteristics and quality were found, although it is not clear how some of them account for the observed differences. CONCLUSIONS: Allegiant studies reported better performance of the PHQ-9. Allegiance status was predictive of variation in the DOR. Based on the observed differences between independent and non-independent studies, we were unable to conclude or exclude that allegiance effects are present in studies examining the diagnostic performance of the PHQ-9. This study highlights the need for future meta-analyses of diagnostic validation studies of psychological measures to evaluate the impact of researcher allegiance in the primary studies

Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic application of copper-modified zeolite

The copper-modified zeolite (Z-Cu) prepared by an ion-exchange process was characterized by X-ray diffraction, DRS spectroscopy, SEM microscopy and EDX analysis. The XRD analysis indicated the reduction of the peak intensity corresponding to Na+ presence as a consequence of ion exchange process between Na+ and Cu2+. The presence of copper into Z-Cu was confirmed by EDX analysis. The DRS spectra showed that Z-Cu exhibited an intense absorption maximum at ~280 nm, which can be associated with the presence of Cu 2+ ions within the zeolite. The photocatalytic activity of Z-Cu was proved through comparative studies of photolysis, photocatalysis on Z-Na and photocatalysis on Z-Cu

Arguments for Integrative Management of Protected Areas in the Cities – Case Study in Bucharest City

AbstractProtected areas should be considered as a complementary form of anthropogenic environmental intervention geared towards restoring its balance by removing the causes of its visible degradation. Taking into consideration the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems, the aim of the study is to argue the importance of integrative management of urban protected areas, based on a case study with respect to the Romanian capital (Văcăreşti wetland, in the built-up area of Bucharest city). The study objects are: addressing the conceptual issues of protected areas and in particular in urban areas; analyzing the geographical evolution of the study area (since 1700), as a determinant of the present situation; highlighting the relationships among biodiversity, ecosystem services, public use and social perception, as strong arguments in favor of the integrative management of the investigated territory. The research methodology was focused on reviewing national and international literature regarding protected areas (especially urban ones); a diachronic analysis of the study area identifying the evolution of human-environment relationships over historical times; applying the survey method in order to analyze the target group perceptions on the constraints and opportunities stemming from the urban protected area status of theVăcăreşti wetland. The main techniques employed for our scientific approach were the following: using GIS applications for diachronic and synchronic analysis; processing the semi-structured interviews in QSR NVivo 11 software; monitoring newspapers, TV channels, social networks and discussion forums. This analyses offered us opportunity to set up the main arguments for integrative management of the study area, under the circumstances of contradictions between the valuable natural and semi-natural potential and current anthropogenic and heterogeneous exploitation, leaded by the group interests