DO CORPORATE GOVERNANCE “ACTORS”’ FEATURES AFFECT BANKS’ VALUE? – EVIDENCE FROM ROMANIA

The purpose of our empirical study is to identify and discuss the influences of various features of corporate governance “actors” over strategies followed and performances reached in Romanian banking system. The features considered for analysis refers to provenience, size, independence and gender diversity of executive management and board of directors, as well as to provenience, structure, origin and concentration of shareholders. The research methodology used for achieving our goal is based on econometric analysis using various statistical tools, like correlations for identifying the relationships between independent and dependent variables, and regressions for developing the models revealing how corporate governance characteristics influence banks value and their business strategy. The results of the performed analysis reveal positive correlations between banks’ traditional strategies and performances, and foreign corporate governance (board of directors, executive management and shareholders), made majority by male members, where CEO duality avoidance is ensured, the board of directors is entirely independent and the majority of shareholders are coming from European Union members states. The only negative correlation appeared to be between shareholders structure and banks value, revealing that those banks that still have individuals within its ownership performed lower.corporate governance, banking, performance, Romania

The Hideouts of the Vaccination Process

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the degree of information and the population opinion regarding the vaccination process. The paper aims to evaluate both the reasons of decreasing the vaccination degree and the sources of wrong information on this topic to better identify between mistakes and correct knowledge.Vaccines are biological products prepared following specifical tehcniques to improve the body's immunity against particula, given conditions. The lives of millions of children from 188 countries who received different vaccines (diptero-tetanus-pertussis, measles, polio) were saved in the world along the time (WHO, 2017). In Romania, the antidifteric vaccination introduced in 1960 made disappear the disease in 1990. No case of diphtheria has been confirmed so far.Unfortunately, in 2016, the vaccine coverage has fallen below 90% (CNSCBT, 2017) because of either parents' refusal and the failure in attending a family doctor.Therefore, today, the society is facing a serious situation caused by: a) insufficient and erroneous information of parents expressing their opposition to vaccination and b) manipulation of organizations against vaccination

A story about how the novel ROSPIN Academy programme is bringing space education to the Romanian youth in the pandemic context

Continuous education is the foundation of a sustainable society and ecosystem, and this paper relates the story of one of the most ambitious educational programmes for University students from Romania. The country acceded to the European Space Agency’s Convention in 2011, but does not have a dedicated undergraduate programme for space education, although the local space industry is growing and is demanding more skilled professionals. In this context, the Romanian Space Initiative has been organizing the ROSPIN Academy educational programme since the spring of 2021. Currently, each Edition of the Academy has 3 Levels, coordinated with the least busy University periods: Level 1 is an introduction to the space sector (autumn 2021), Level 2 consists of a technical overview of the lifecycle of space missions (spring 2022), and Level 3 offers hands-on experience with industry (summer 2022). Although the curriculum’s core is spacecraft engineering, it aims to reflect the sector’s interdisciplinarity, so topics such as astronomy, space sustainability and policy are also covered. The Lessons are delivered in English by national and international speakers from industry and academia, ranging from young graduates to experienced professionals. Participants can interact directly with them, in a context that promotes the idea that space is not only for rocket scientists. The participants’ interpersonal skills are also trained through exercises and games about space topics, which require them to work together in teams. The accepted participants of the Academy are selected based on their motivation and thinking, relevant knowledge and compatibility with the Academy learning concept. Currently, more than 400 applicants have been accepted in the past or current Editions of ROSPIN Academy. Last but not least, the national outreach achieved through this programme is a key defining value. ROSPIN Academy is present at national level, across industries, and mixes undergraduates and graduates, with focus on the former. This is demonstrated by the evolution of the distribution of the accepted participants, in terms of city, year and field of studies. Due to the organisation’s efforts to promote the second Edition nationwide with the support of professors from the biggest STEM Universities, this distribution has clearly evolved. Edition 2 shows a more diversified pool of participants compared to Edition 1, which mostly had active participants with aerospace background from Bucharest. As a result, ROSPIN Academy is uniting the local space communities while educating the next generation of space engineers

CURRENT USE OF NANOPARTICLES IN ENDODONTICS: A SYTEMATIC REVIEW

Nowadays, technology evolves very fast and we are witnesses of major changes in dentistry. Nanotechnology improved many fields of dentistry, including endodontics. In this paper, we compared different irrigants and sealers which are currently used in endodontic treatments, their advantages and disadvantages and their limitations. In the context of emerging trends of nanotechnology in all fields of dentistry, we aimed to highlight the importance of developing new irrigants and sealers improved with nanoparticles, with superior properties compared to traditional ones. As resulted from our research, the most used irrigants in endodontics (NaOCl, EDTA, CHX) possess different kinds of advantages, but none is flawless, also having some limitations. Also, every current sealer available on the market has one or more disadvantages. For this reason, nanotechnology is very welcomed in this field and different kinds of nanoparticles were proposed for their particularities in order to improve the performances of endodontic materials. We present in this work a review of the literature regarding different types of nanoparticles, their effects on endodontic microbiota and also, their particularities

Brief online acceptance and commitment therapy for adults with type 1 diabetes: a pilot study

Recognizing the pivotal role of psychosocial factors in triggering and maintaining Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM), the integration of psychoeducational and psychotherapeutic interventions is associated with comprehensive management of the disease. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a four-week online individual Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) intervention in mitigating diabetes-associated stress, fostering diabetes acceptance, enhancing the patient-doctor relationship, and promoting psychological flexibility in adults diagnosed with T1DM. Employing a single-arm trial design with mixed methodology, thirteen participants (Mage = 39.04, SDage =13.74) engaged in the intervention and completed self-report measures before and after the intervention. Quantitative analysis with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test indicated a statistically significant difference in diabetes-associated stress, diabetes acceptance, and psychological flexibility pre- and post-intervention. Notably, stress levels and psychological inflexibility diminished, while psychological flexibility and diabetes acceptance improved. However, the patient-doctor relationship did not exhibit a significant change. Furthermore, narrative feedback obtained from participants reflected overall satisfaction with the intervention. These preliminary findings contribute to the expanding body of literature supporting the affirmative influence of ACT interventions on individuals with T1DM

Cold atoms in space: community workshop summary and proposed road-map

We summarise the discussions at a virtual Community Workshop on Cold Atoms in Space concerning the status of cold atom technologies, the prospective scientific and societal opportunities offered by their deployment in space, and the developments needed before cold atoms could be operated in space. The cold atom technologies discussed include atomic clocks, quantum gravimeters and accelerometers, and atom interferometers. Prospective applications include metrology, geodesy and measurement of terrestrial mass change due to, e.g., climate change, and fundamental science experiments such as tests of the equivalence principle, searches for dark matter, measurements of gravitational waves and tests of quantum mechanics. We review the current status of cold atom technologies and outline the requirements for their space qualification, including the development paths and the corresponding technical milestones, and identifying possible pathfinder missions to pave the way for missions to exploit the full potential of cold atoms in space. Finally, we present a first draft of a possible road-map for achieving these goals, that we propose for discussion by the interested cold atom, Earth Observation, fundamental physics and other prospective scientific user communities, together with the European Space Agency (ESA) and national space and research funding agencies.publishedVersio

Cold atoms in space: community workshop summary and proposed road-map

We summarise the discussions at a virtual Community Workshop on Cold Atoms in Space concerning the status of cold atom technologies, the prospective scientific and societal opportunities offered by their deployment in space, and the developments needed before cold atoms could be operated in space. The cold atom technologies discussed include atomic clocks, quantum gravimeters and accelerometers, and atom interferometers. Prospective applications include metrology, geodesy and measurement of terrestrial mass change due to, e.g., climate change, and fundamental science experiments such as tests of the equivalence principle, searches for dark matter, measurements of gravitational waves and tests of quantum mechanics. We review the current status of cold atom technologies and outline the requirements for their space qualification, including the development paths and the corresponding technical milestones, and identifying possible pathfinder missions to pave the way for missions to exploit the full potential of cold atoms in space. Finally, we present a first draft of a possible road-map for achieving these goals, that we propose for discussion by the interested cold atom, Earth Observation, fundamental physics and other prospective scientific user communities, together with the European Space Agency (ESA) and national space and research funding agencies

Cold atoms in space: community workshop summary and proposed road-map

We summarise the discussions at a virtual Community Workshop on Cold Atoms in Space concerning the status of cold atom technologies, the prospective scientific and societal opportunities offered by their deployment in space, and the developments needed before cold atoms could be operated in space. The cold atom technologies discussed include atomic clocks, quantum gravimeters and accelerometers, and atom interferometers. Prospective applications include metrology, geodesy and measurement of terrestrial mass change due to, e.g., climate change, and fundamental science experiments such as tests of the equivalence principle, searches for dark matter, measurements of gravitational waves and tests of quantum mechanics. We review the current status of cold atom technologies and outline the requirements for their space qualification, including the development paths and the corresponding technical milestones, and identifying possible pathfinder missions to pave the way for missions to exploit the full potential of cold atoms in space. Finally, we present a first draft of a possible road-map for achieving these goals, that we propose for discussion by the interested cold atom, Earth Observation, fundamental physics and other prospective scientific user communities, together with the European Space Agency (ESA) and national space and research funding agencies