Vineyards’ restructuring and conversion through national support programmes - the case of Romania

Wine industry is considered to be a traditional industry, where the potential for growth is still important for the existing wine producers and new entrants, based on strategies for increasing international awareness, technological innovation and financing program. The paper aims to explore the evolution of the determinants of wine and vineyards industry from a macroeconomic perspective, in order to assess the efficiency of the National Support Programmes, financed by the European Union. The exploration intends to cover the tendency of the following indicators: areas under vines, areas under vines for wines, wine producers, wine consumers, wine imports and wine exports, in order to explore new opportunities for growth and develop future orientation. Moreover, the analysis intends to address the importance of National Support Programmes 2009-2013; 2014-2018; 2019-2023, whose evolution is currently considered a key research question in the field. Romania is an important European country from the point of view of wine industry, the various wines it produces are known for their quality. With an area of around 180.000 ha cultivated with vines which, in 2016, represented 1,42% of its agricultural area and 2,28% of arable area, Romania ranks the 5th position in the European Union, after Spain, Italy, France and Portugal. However, the countries that took advantage of the financial funds allocated to the National Support Programmes, were: Italy, Spain and France, which together spent more than 70% of the total amount for each of these programmes

EFFICIENCY OF CHITOSANS FOR THE TREATMENT OF PAPERMAKING PROCESS WATER BY DISSOLVED AIR FLOTATION

ABSTRACT Interest has grown in bio-polymers as being environmental friendly alternatives to synthetic additives. In this work, two native chitosans with different molecular weights have been evaluated on a laboratory scale for their effectiveness for the removal of contaminants from papermaking process waters by dissolved air flotation (DAF). The use of chitosan quaternary derivatives and the use of the native chitosans in combination with anionic bentonite microparticles have also been tested. Results demonstrate a high efficiency of the native chitosan products at intermediate dosages and furthermore, their efficiency is enhanced by the combined addition of bentonite. For an equivalent removal of contaminants, the required dosage of chitosan is about half that the dosage required in absence of bentonite. Quaternary derivatives have not improved the efficiency of the native chitosan in this case. The optimum treatment would be 50 mg/L of native chitosan and 100 mg/L of bentonite where this treatment is capable of the removal of 83-89% turbidity (residual turbidity 210-320 NTU), 68-71% dissolved turbidity (residual dissolved turbidity of 22-24 NTU), 18-22% total solids (residual total solids of 2750-2900 mg/L) and 19-23% COD (1440-1525 mg/L). The low molecular weight native chitosan is more efficient than the medium molecular weight chitosan in all cases. The Focused Beam Reflectance Measurement (FBRM) is used to assess the aggregation process and to predict the separation efficiency of DAF units either with single or dual systems. The efficiency predicted through the FBRM technique is very similar to that obtained later in the DAF tests

A review on development and application of plant-based bioflocculants and grafted bioflocculants

Flocculation is extensively employed for clarification through sedimentation. Application of eco-friendly plant-based bioflocculants in wastewater treatment has attracted significant attention lately with high removal capability in terms of solids, turbidity, color, and dye. However, moderate flocculating property and short shelf life restrict their development. To enhance the flocculating ability, natural polysaccharides derived from plants are chemically modified by inclusion of synthetic, nonbiodegradable monomers (e.g., acrylamide) onto their backbone to produce grafted bioflocculants. This review is aimed to provide an overview of the development and flocculating efficiencies of plant-based bioflocculants and grafted bioflocculants for the first time. Furthermore, the processing methods, flocculation mechanism, and the current challenges are discussed. All the reported studies about plant-derived bioflocculants are conducted under lab-scale conditions in wastewater treatment. Hence, the possibility to apply natural bioflocculants in food and beverage, mineral, paper and pulp, and oleo-chemical and biodiesel industries is discussed and evaluated

THE CONTROL OVER LOCAL PUBLIC FINANCES IN ROMANIA AND IN OTHER RELEVANT COUNTRIES OF EU

Local public finances are an essential component of public finances together with the public finances of the central state administration. Because, besides the right of local representative bodies to decide on issues of local interest, local autonomy implies the right of communities to constitute and manage their own budgets in order to create an accurate and integrated image of the functionality of various systems of territorial administrative organization, we considered opportune an analysis on the way the control over finances of the administrative territorial units is realized. Therefore the purpose of this article is to compare the control of local public finances in Romania and other relevant countries of Europe

Difficulties of the supporting pensioners by current employees – alternative to pension systems at international level. Empirical analysis in Romania

The current problems of the labor market, evidenced by decrease the number of contributors in relation to the number of pensioners, is manifested throughout the world and it is increasing from year to year. The origin of this imbalance is increasing the aging phenomenon that occurs at the international level, correlated with declining of the birth rates. Direct effects of aging population are a decrease in the amount of social security contributions for pension payments, as a result of reducing the number of taxpayers, and the increase in pension expenditure, as a result of increasing the number of beneficiaries. An alternative to these problems of public pensions is the orientation of the population towards private pensions, in the same time with increasing their confidence in such solutions. This requires an effective management of private pension fund assets, by using the adequate strategies to perform investment assets. Thus, in this paper, we realize a statistical study about the influence of the main factors on the size of private pension fund assets in Romania. The research methodology is to test the influence of selected factors, as independent variables, to the net assets of the two components of private pensions in Romania: privately managed pension funds and facultative pension funds. At European Union level, is seeking to implement a variety of strategies to increase the share of pensioners line to remain in the workforce, thus extending their working life

CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF HYDROXYMETYLATION REACTION OF ALKALI LIGNIN

The hydroxymethylation of alkali lignin with formaldehyde in alkaline solution was studied. The influence of reaction conditions of the hydroxymethylation of alkali lignin was followed by modifying the temperature, time, and the ratios of NaOH to lignin and CH2O to lignin. Three different types of alkali lignin were utilized. The reaction was followed by total consumption of formaldehyde, and the resulting products were characterized through FTIR-spectra, thermogravimetry analysis, ash and moisture contents, as well as by the amounts of OH groups

Advanced Functional Materials Based on Nanocellulose for Pharmaceutical/Medical Applications

Nanocelluloses (NCs), with their remarkable characteristics, have proven to be one of the most promising “green” materials of our times and have received special attention from researchers in nanomaterials. A diversity of new functional materials with a wide range of biomedical applications has been designed based on the most desirable properties of NCs, such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, and their special physicochemical properties. In this context and under the pressure of rapid development of this field, it is imperative to synthesize the successes and the new requirements in a comprehensive review. The first part of this work provides a brief review of the characteristics of the NCs (cellulose nanocrystals—CNC, cellulose nanofibrils—CNF, and bacterial nanocellulose—BNC), as well as of the main functional materials based on NCs (hydrogels, nanogels, and nanocomposites). The second part presents an extensive review of research over the past five years on promising pharmaceutical and medical applications of nanocellulose-based materials, which have been discussed in three important areas: drug-delivery systems, materials for wound-healing applications, as well as tissue engineering. Finally, an in-depth assessment of the in vitro and in vivo cytotoxicity of NCs-based materials, as well as the challenges related to their biodegradability, is performed

Natural Polymers in Heart Valve Tissue Engineering: Strategies, Advances and Challenges

In the history of biomedicine and biomedical devices, heart valve manufacturing techniques have undergone a spectacular evolution. However, important limitations in the development and use of these devices are known and heart valve tissue engineering has proven to be the solution to the problems faced by mechanical and prosthetic valves. The new generation of heart valves developed by tissue engineering has the ability to repair, reshape and regenerate cardiac tissue. Achieving a sustainable and functional tissue-engineered heart valve (TEHV) requires deep understanding of the complex interactions that occur among valve cells, the extracellular matrix (ECM) and the mechanical environment. Starting from this idea, the review presents a comprehensive overview related not only to the structural components of the heart valve, such as cells sources, potential materials and scaffolds fabrication, but also to the advances in the development of heart valve replacements. The focus of the review is on the recent achievements concerning the utilization of natural polymers (polysaccharides and proteins) in TEHV; thus, their extensive presentation is provided. In addition, the technological progresses in heart valve tissue engineering (HVTE) are shown, with several inherent challenges and limitations. The available strategies to design, validate and remodel heart valves are discussed in depth by a comparative analysis of in vitro, in vivo (pre-clinical models) and in situ (clinical translation) tissue engineering studies

Chitosan Derivatives as Bio-based Materials for Paper Heritage Conservation

Three water-soluble chitosan derivatives (ChDs)- carboxymethyl- chitosan (CCh), alkyl-chitosan (ACh), and quaternary-chitosan (QCh)- were evaluated as new materials for paper conservation. Several series of samples were prepared by coating different paper types with ChDs or methylcellulose (MC). The ChDs’ effectiveness were analyzed by their effects on the strength (tensile energy absorption (TEA), double folds) and water barriers (Cobb60, contact angle (CA)). The coatings on laboratory paper showed strength improvements for the CCh/QCh coatings that were consistent with an increase in the coating weight (CW). The ACh had little effect on the strength, but developed an effective barrier to water. The coatings on printing paper were performed at a constant CW by applying two layers of the same ChD or MC, and by combining CCh or QCh in the first layer with ACh in the second layer. Homogenous coatings based on the CCh or QCh resulted in high strength improvements, comparable to MC, but only ACh coatings developed an effective barrier to water. Combinations of the CCh or QCh with ACh provided the best relationship between the strength and barrier properties and proved their effectiveness as strengthening/protective materials in the treatment of natural aged paper