ON THE ROLE OF BENCHMARKING IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT

Increasing competition, demands for accountability, and higher volumes ofavailable information are changing the methods of how institutions of higher educationoperate in nowadays. For higher education to enact substantial and sustainable changesin efficiency and productivity a new way of thinking or paradigm that builds efficiencyand a desire for continual learning must be integrated into institutional structures. Toolsare also being developed that measure or benchmark the progress and success of theseefforts. Among the improvement strategies and techniques, benchmarking has emerged asa useful, easily understood, and effective tool for staying competitive. This is why thepresent article aims to emphasize the importance of benchmarking in the highereducation quality assessment.benchmarking, higher education, quality, management

USE OF PROTEIN HYDROLYSATES IN ORGANIC AGRICULTURE

It is known to be a real challenge to find sustainable alternatives for the use of mineral fertilizers, especially nitrogen-based ones. This is a legal requirement in organic farming. Organic sources have a low concentration of nitrogen but have the advantage that they come from a renewable source and are found along with other compounds that have positive effects on plant nutrition. Protein hydrolysates(PHs) can improve agricultural production in terms of quality and quantity by enhancing seed germination, root development and nutrient uptake and can reduce the amount of chemical fertilizers used. This paper presents data from the literature on the use of protein hydrolysates as a source of nitrogen for crop fertilization

Pasteurised eggs - a food safety solution against Salmonella backed by sensorial analysis of dishes traditionally containing raw or undercooked eggs

This study evaluates the potential of pasteurised eggs to be used as a replacement for raw eggs in recipes where eggs remain uncooked or undercooked. Sensory tests were performed by 178 untrained panellists (143 from Portugal and 35 from Romania) using a 9-point hedonic scale. The tested recipes were tiramisu, chocolate mousse, eggnog, hollandaise sauce, and condensed milk mousse (Baba de camelo). While in Portugal the colour and texture of the chocolate mousse prepared with pasteurised and unpasteurised eggs differed significantly, no significant differences in regards to the organoleptic attributes were recorded in Romania. Nonetheless, the results revealed comparable distribution scores regarding the overall acceptability for all the recipes indicating an agreement among panellists for both raw and pasteurised eggs dishes in both countries. The regression analysis showed that the main drivers of consumers’ acceptance of dishes made with pasteurised eggs are flavour and texture. This research demonstrates that five dishes prepared with liquid pasteurised eggs are accepted by consumers as they cannot clearly be distinguished from their counterparts prepared with raw eggs. As Salmonella-contaminated eggs are the most frequent cause of salmonellosis, pasteurised eggs can be used as a safer ingredient to substitute shell eggs in raw egg-based dishes without significant reduction of the sensory quality of the dish. Since liquid pasteurised eggs are already widely used, especially by industry and restaurants, we provide reasons supporting pasteurisation of eggs in shell as a more convenient solution for consumers. Pasteurised eggs, either liquid or in shell, constitute a way to reduce the burden of foodborne diseases by diminishing the number of cases of salmonellosis associated with cooking at home. Researchers and food safety authorities can use our results as a starting point for future studies or intervention strategies.CC BY-NC-NDinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fuel Pellets Phase Composition Evolution During Steam or Air Oxidation

In this paper the results of laboratory tests on oxidation behavior of non-irradiated UO Studies of the physico-chemical phenomena concerning severe accidents in nuclear power stations are very challanging since in this area is not possible to conduct experiments on a real-world scale and only laboratory tests can be used. This type of tests permits each phenomenon to be considered separately The oxidation reactions that may occur on the zircaloy claddings and on fuel pellets in case of a severe nuclear accident lead to a decrease in the fuel mechanical stability and to an encrease in fission products volatility Also, in order to define proper conditions for secure storage of spent fuel it is important to understand the oxidation behaviour of UO 2 fuel pellets at low temperatures The aim of this paper is to obtain experimental data neccessary to the modelling of fuel pellets behaviour in the case of a severe nuclear accident in CANDU reactors. The paper describes the oxidation tests of UO 2 fuel pellets in a SETSYS Evolution SETARAM Thermoanalyzer in air and steam atmosphere in the temperature range 400-1200 0 C. Experimental part Two sets of oxidation experiments of UO 2 pellets in 0% and 95% steam in air atmosphere were performed in a SETARAM SETSYS Evolution Thermoanalyser. The temperature range was 400÷1200 0 C. The time duration of experiments was 4 h , except the D6 experiment where the duration was 2.5 h. The oxidation tests conditions are presented in table 1. The gas flow rate used in tests was 50 mLmin -1 . The samples were non-irradiated UO 2 sintered fuel pellets, manufactured by pressing and then sintering the green pellets for 4h at 1700 0 C in a Degussa VSL 10/18 furnace using natural UO 2 powder. The diameter of pellets was approximately 3mm with 2÷2.5mm thickness, to fit to the100 μL thermo analyzer crucible. The mass of each fuel pellets was about 0.2g UO 2 . The samples were weighed and placed in an Al 2 O 3 crucible. Then the crucible was introduced in the Setsys Evolution Thermoanalyzer furnace. The samples were * email: [email protected] heated up to working temperature in an inert atmosphere (argon). During the tests various data (temperature, gas flow rate and atmosphere composition) were recorded continnously. The weight change of samples was measured and the TG curves were obtained. The humid atmosphere was created with the WETSYS controlled humidity generator. The samples were dimensionally, morphologically and cristallografically investigated after oxidation using the Horiba Particle Size Analyser, the TESCAN VEGA LMU scanning electron microscope and the X'Pert Pro MPD_PanAlytical diffractometer, respectively. Results and discussions To study the temperature effect on oxidation the samples were exposed in air-steam mixture with a steam content of 0% and 95% at temperature in the range 400÷1200 0 C

Efficiency of foliar fertilization on wheat production in conventional and conservation agriculture

The paper presents the leaves fertilization influence upon wheat yield in two experiments carried out in conventional agriculture and conservative systems. The experimental fields comprised 6 leaves fertilizers variants and a control and were laid out at SCDA Teleorman on a Haplic Phaeozem. Two treatments were applied with 1.25% leaves fertilizer on a N90P40K0 agrochemical background proceeded from a complex 20-20-0 fertilizer, in the autumn, before sowing, and 50 kg N/ha Nitrocalcar, applied in the spring. Leaves fertilization, applied in the conservative system experiment, didn’t bring forth a significant yield increase as compared to the control. Significant and distinctly significant increases of the wheat yield were obtained in the conventional agriculture system, from 5,795 kg/ha in the control up to 7,373 kg/ha in the Nutrifert S variant. The average conventional agriculture yield (6,978 kg/ha) was higher than the conservative agriculture one (5,457 kg/ha) by 27.8%

INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT FERTILIZERS ON NPK CONTENT IN SOIL, IN CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE SYSTEM

This paper presents the results obtained from an experiment carried out in conservation agriculture system. Six types of fertilizers, i.e. N, NP, NPK and potassium humate NPK that contain various forms of nitrogen were tested. The experiments placed on cambic phaeozem at SCDA Teleorman were conducted using soybeans as crops, and fertilizers dosages of 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg N/ha. The influence of fertilizers on the nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, content in the soil after the harvest was investigated. Soil samples were collected at a depth of 0-20 cm. The laboratory tests were performed on conditioned soil samples. The experimental data was statistically processed using analysis of variance.It was observed that the use of fertilizers increased of the nitrogen content from the soil from 0.157% for the unfertilized sample to 0.189% for the sample fertilized with NPK 15:15:15 at the application dosage of 100 kg N / ha (21.8%). The phosphorus content increased from 72 ppm P2O5 in the case of the unfertilized sample to 98 ppm P2O5 for the sample fertilized with NP 20: 20: 0 (200 kg / ha dosage)

AGROCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF A NEW RANGE OF FOLIAR FERTILIZERS

In the context of a competitive and sustainable agriculture, the development of novel fertilizers with foliar application is always a challenge for both producers and users. Worldwide, a major trend in the research, development and production of organic substances fertilizers with growth-stimulating role is noticed. Thus, these new fertilizers formulas can be used in both, conventional and organic farming (especially to protect crops from climatic stress factors and to prevent or correct nutritional deficiencies). The production of fertilizers that contain natural organic compounds embedded in NPK matrix structures has increased. As organic substances are used protein hydrolysates, amino acids and algae extracts.In this study, in order to obtain a new range of fertilizers we defined the composition of a NPK matrix with meso- and microelements (Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn, Mg, S, Co, Mo) that was subsequently embedded with protein hydrolysate of animal origin (composed of peptides, ureide and amino acids) respectively, protein hydrolysate of vegetal origin.The new developed fertilizers were characterized and tested in the National Network for Fertilizers Testing in order to be licensed for agriculture use. The experiments were carried out for two years on different crops by foliar application in comparison to a similar NPK matrix. The obtained results showed significant production yields (in comparison to the non-fertilized control) ranging from 20% to 40% (statistically insured), as well as changes in the photosynthesis and mineral nutrition processes

COMPETENCES AND JOB OPPORTUNITIES OF ORGANIC MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS DOMAIN DEVELOPED BY HERBAL.MEDNET PROJECT

Herbal.Mednet project aims to design an e-learning training program for advisors and trainers in the field of organic Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) in order to equip them with knowledge, competences and skills necessary for providing a support and technical and managerial assistance to producers, processors and traders of organic medicinal and aromatic plants domain. The results showed that more than 65% of the participants are quite familiar with using competences to describe a job profile, hence the overall feedback is of high importance.Almost of all users respond that competences are very useful in the thematic area of organic MAPs.The most of survey participants (over 65%) already are familiar and use the competence to describe job opportunities, and believe that it is a useful tool. From the results, it can be seen that the competence list that is been identified and is being used by the Herbal.Mednet consortium, reflects the needs in the organic MAPs job profiles

Root Associated Bacteria – Friends or Enemies? A Review

Plant roots, due to their exudates, represent important ecological niches for bacteria, which can influence the plant growth by their both beneficial and deleterious effects. The positive effects of bacteria interaction with the plants roots consist in facilitating the nutrient uptake (N, P), producing phytohormones, enhancing their resistance to biotic and abiotic factors such as pathogenic fungi and bacteria, extreme temperatures, heavy metals, salinity. Regarding the harmful effects of bacteria on plants growth, production of phytotoxins, competition for nutrients or inducing diseases or even plants death represents examples of mechanisms by which bacteria can affect in a negative manner the growth of the plants