The importance of the Rhine-Main-Danube transport corridor : its impact on the Central and East European countries, with an emphasis on Romania

his dissertation tries to analyse the importance of a major waterway transport that is the Rhine-Main-Danube corridor, both for Romania and the Danube’s riparian countries. Made up through the connection of two major European rivers, the Danube and the Rhine, the corridor connects not only two seas - the North Sea and the Black Sea - but also the two halves of Europe, the West and the East. In the past, the Danube has connected the eastern Europe with some of the western countries - Germany and Austria - but the political and economical systems’ differences have prevented the development of closer connections across the -Iron Curtain. Now, with the curtain no more in place and with the corridor’s access to the Rhine and the port of Rotterdam, this water highway has a great future to becoming the main transport artery of Europe. The analysis has been concentrated more on legislative and technical aspects than economic ones. On one hand, the statistical system of the former communist countries is still under construction and economic data is generally difficult to access. On the other hand, due to the Yugoslavian conflict, the traffic along the Danube has come to a halt between 1990 and 1995. As is well known, the United Nation Organisation imposed an embargo against the former Yugoslavia, which in retaliation, blocked the Danube along its border. The dissertation is structured into two parts. The first one concerns the subject from the Romanian perspective, assessing its economic framework and the transport sector reforms. It also analyses the role of the main port, Constantza situated at one end of the corridor and the Rhine-Main-Danube waterway characteristics. We also considered important to have a look into the European harrnonising tendencies, concerning internal waterways, with an accent on the Danube. The second part analyses the corridor from a European perspective. That is why we went through the European inland waterway network and its classification and the development of the transport infrastructure in Europe. We also made a parallel between technical and navigational rules along Rhine and Danube as well as a legislative comparison between the Rhine-Main-Danube corridor’s main Conventions. It is a fact that European Union has back-up policy against the inland waterway transport. That is why we analysed the regional co-operation and overall integration in Europe, the role of Economic and Technical Research and the European Union\u27s Transport Policy. We also made a brief assessment of the various modes of transport along the corridor, such as the passengers, containers, and combined transport. The European transport policy is oriented not only toward efficiency but also toward environment conservation. This is why we collected data conceming levels of traffic on various modes of transport and their influence upon the environment. The conclusion is clear that the waterway transport is a clear winner in the environmental race. We may conclude that the transport corridor, even if not totally permissive, due to legislative and technical problems and differences, has an important role to play within the future transport network of Europe. Romania, with its southern border constituted by the Danube and with an increasing role among the Black Sea countries has the right position and capabilities, to becoming an important hub for the European - Asian trade

Общие черты медико-социальных аспектов самых распространенных паразитозов в Республике Молдова

Catedra Boli Infecţioase, Tropicale şi Parazitologie Medicală, USMF N. Testemiţanu, Catedra Economie, Management şi Psihopedagogie, USMF N. TestemiţanuSummary. Aim of this study was to evaluate medical and social aspects of manifestations of Toxocaras invasion and by another parasites in Republic of Moldova by identification of grade of spreading and estimation of impact on health related quality of life. Was observed that toxocariasis is the most frequent parasitic invasion in Republic of Moldova, and our country is among the first in the world on incidence and prevalence of Toxocaras invasion, were detected factors that contribute on installation of increased growth rate of Toxocara invasion. So, toxocariasis is important medical and social problem, which requiring efforts of all society for decreasing of morbidity with strategic and multidimensional involvement, with complex and long program.Резюме. Цель данной работы – это определение медико-социальных проявлений токсокароза и других паразитозов в Республике Молдова путем идентификации степени их распространения и влияния на состояние здоровья. Среди всех паразитозов токсокароз на сегодняшний день самая распространенная инвазия в республике, по степени распространенности наша страна занимает одно из первых мест в мире. Определены факторы роста инвазии, вариабельность течения инвазивного процесса. Таким образом, токсокароз – это острая медико-социальная проблема, а ее решение требует многосторонние действия всего общества

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRICE INDICES

The paper starts from the premise: why the statistical agencies do not select the quantitative vector of reference q out of the Lowe formula as being the monthly quantitative vector q0 that belongs to the transactions of the month 0

Studies regarding the technique used for applying fertirrigation on agricultural crops

Fertirrigation, modern concept of agricultural technique, is the method by which fertilizing substances are distributed to plants simultaneously with irrigation water. The main advantages of this method arise from the following aspects: it replaces the traditional system of administering chemical fertilizers, which implies the existence of complex machine systems, significant consumption of energy and labour, low coefficient of uniformity of distribution, removal from the crop of plants trampled by the wheels of machinery involved in this technology; it facilitates fast access of fertilizing substances to the plant root system, in convenient time, better valorification of them; studies previously carried out have found that in a classic system of fertilization in normal years in terms of rainfall plants capitalize about 65% of nutrients applied as fertilizer, while in years with drought they can only capitalize 40%; they avoid the phenomenon of lingering of chemical fertilizers to the soil surface (implicitly, losses of active substance through evaporation), long direct contact of them with the leaf system of plants; it allows very accurate dosing of nutrient solution components, depending on the nutritional requirements of plants as determined by chemical analysis of soil; technical solution adopted to develop the equipment for injection of fertilizing substance in irrigation water, in shape of a double membrane displacement pump, ensures proportionality of the injected flow with the flow inside the irrigation installation; the driving fluid that actuates the shaft of the pump, mounted in parallel with the main circuit of the irrigation installation, is represented by water taken from the supply pipe of this pump; overpressure required for the injection of nutrient solution in the same pipe is achieved by adopting the principle of difference in surface between driving chamber and injection chamber; linking between the technical elements of irrigation and the technical elements of fertirrigation, allows that, at the end of watering, when reaching the depth of penetration of water into the area of predominant development of plant root system, to administer all of the necessary plant nutrient solution, as determined in correlation with the state of growing of the crop

Dental Caries, Oral Health Behavior, and Living Conditions in 6-8-Year-Old Romanian School Children.

Dental caries still have a high prevalence in Romania. The aim of this paper is to determine the prevalence of caries in children (aged 6 to 8 years) correlated with individual-level predictors and socio-economic variables. A stratified, randomized nationally representative sample was established, taking into consideration the total number of preschool children and based on administrative units and residence. Self-assessment was performed by means of the Oral Health Questionnaire for Children (WHO). Examinations were conducted by 10 standardized examiners, with International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) caries codes higher than 3 considered as dentinal caries, missing teeth as MT, and restorations as FT. DMFT and SiC indexes were calculated accordingly. The dataset for each outcome variable was analyzed by the Hurdle approach analyzed. The gender distribution was similar (47.22% male and 52.78% female), with 42.65% residing in rural areas. The mean DMFT value for the sample was 4.89 and SiC index 9.83. A negative association could be seen between DMFT and the father's level of education (β = -0.33, SE = 0.07, p < 0.01) as well as the mother's education (β = -0.25, SE = 0.07, p < 0.01). In conclusion, caries prevalence is very high in Romania as compared to the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation for this age group in correlation with socio-economic factors and oral health behavior

Archaeometrical Characterization of Romanian Late Bronze Age Ceramic Fragments

Knowledge of the past can provide information to protect the future and the potential of the technological development in the analytical sciences can be successfully applied for the study and conservation of cultural objects. In this context, in the present paper we propose an analytical methodology to characterize seven samples of ancient ceramic objects (dating to the Late Bronze Age). The samples were analyzed using optical microscopy, and all the samples presented a strong inhomogeneity on the surface, as suggested by the different colors of the ceramics. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) results reveal a relatively heterogenous composition of the samples, as well as strong differences between the different surfaces of each sample. By comparative analysis of the diffractograms recorded for both sides of the same samples were observed some differences, especially in terms of relative concentration of the component minerals, and, in lesser content, in terms of new phases present in the samples. Corroborated results obtained by XRF and X-ray diffraction (XRD) offered information regarding mineralogical composition of the samples: for some of them illite/muscovite and plagioclase phases are present in higher quantities or a lower quartz content. The presence of these components was confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. The thermal analysis completes the analytical investigation of the ceramic samples. The thermal behavior of the sample conducted to some explanation regarding the observed differences, due to the raw materials (that the major clay mineral in the samples is represented by illite) or to environmental factors during their burial in the soil

Implementation of the EU CCS Directive in Europe: results and development in 2013

Directive 2009/31/EC of the European Parliament on the geological storage of carbon dioxide, entered into force on June 25th 2009. By the end 2013 the CCS Directive has been fully transposed into national law to the satisfaction of the EC in 20 out of 28 EU Member States, while six EU countries (Austria, Cyprus, Hungary, Ireland, Sweden and Slovenia) had to complete transposing measures. In July 2014 the European Commission closed infringement procedures against Cyprus, Hungary and Ireland, which have notified the EC that they have taken measures to incorporate the CCS Directive into national law. Among other three countries Sweden has updated its legislation and published a new law in their country in March 2014, permitting CO2 storage offshore. The evaluation of the national laws in Poland, which were accepted at national level in November 2013, and Croatia, which entered the EU on 7 July 2013 and simultaneously transposed the CCS directive, is still ongoing in 2014. The first storage permit under the Directive (for the ROAD Project in the offshore Netherlands) has been approved by the EC. While CO2 storage is permitted in a number of European countries, temporary restrictions were applied in Czech Republic, Denmark and Poland. CO2 storage is prohibited except for research and development in Estonia, Finland, Luxembourg, two regions in Belgium and Slovenia due to their geological conditions, but also forbidden in Austraia, Ireland and Latvia. The size of exploration areas for CO2 storage sites is limited in Bulgaria and Hungary. In Germany, only limited CO2 storage will be permitted until 2018 (up to 4 Mt CO2 annually)

AND THE COMMITTEE ON GRADUATE STUDIES

i