ENERGY MANAGEMENT – PUBLIC POLICIES AND IMPLEMENTATION. THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONS, FROM OVERLAP TO SYNERGY

Energy management refers to all activities aimed to improve the effectiveness of the production, transport, distribution and use of energy. On the supply side of the chain, the number of actors is relatively limited, and either the competitive pressure or the regulation of natural monopolies leads to increased efficiency. On the demand, side the number of actors is enormous (all consumers, from large industries to households). Therefore, specific policies for improving energy efficiency have to be put în place. And those policies strongly interfere with environmental and social policies. The role of institutions and particularly of the public administration is very important and should lead by example. At the same time, given the potential overlaps, it is important to ensure that the public institutions involved have well defined functions and liaise with each other în a way to exploit synergies. Various ministries, agencies, local authorities, NGOs are involved and sometimes do what other public actors should do, and not enough of what they realy should do. Even în countries with over twenty years of experience în this field, there is a need to improve the performance of public administration, to reform the functions and ways of operation of the various institutions. The current paper will present approaches of public authorities to energy efficiency în various EU countries and identify key success factors for securing effective policy development and implementation.energy management, energy efficiency, public administration, institutional reform.

Internet of Things (IoT) as an Instrument to Improve Business and Marketing Strategies. A Literature Review

Creative destruction used by German sociologist Werner Sombart in 1913, and later known as Schumpeter’s gale, could be considered the first conceptual stage of what happens nowadays in all industries “forced” to use the digital environment. First three industrial revolutions experienced by the humanity happened in over three centuries with tangible results that improved immensely the day-to-day life of people. The fourth one happened in decades, and it was characterized by the use of information and communication technology in various industries. As the literature review has revealed, Internet of Things (IoT) is part of Industry 4.0., linking industries and consumers in a smarter way through sensors and other devices, collecting valuable data and helping companies. This article proposes a navigation throughout the literature to demonstrate that IoT is a new and modern solution that has a big potential for development to help businesses to take smarter and swifter decisions from data gathered indirectly from consumers. Given that the papers analyzed are quite recent, we would say that this topic of IoT is only lightly investigated, and it opens many subjects of discussions, not only on the business and marketing side, but also economically, socially, and of course, technically. Various questions have arisen during the research: Is there a limitation in using this instrument in business and marketing strategies? Either technical or legal? The ethics of this process is under question and both companies and governments dedicated a lot of time to understand the implications of IoT in the future

First episode of consciousness loss: setting new standards in acute care management

There is a high prevalence of patients addressed to the emergency department presenting a first episode of consciousness loss. The high prevalence of patients admitted to the emergency departments (ED) with a first episode of consciousness loss (ECL) is well established. Although there are studies assessing acute management in these patients, there is still need for more data on clinical and paraclinical characteristics which may prompt early etiological diagnosis, especially in countries where integrated medical procedures are lacking and access to specialized medical care is still limited. Sudden death syndrome, early cerebral morphological changes emerging in chronic epilepsy is the main motivation for an early diagnosis of epilepsy. The aim of our study was to evaluate demographic, clinical and paraclinical data in adult patients referred to our emergency hospital presenting a first episode of consciousness loss, in order to avoid misdiagnosis (with personal and social high impact) and unnecessary anti-epileptic treatment versus underestimation of epilepsy diagnosis. Conclusion: There is a clear need to improve multidisciplinary circuits in patients with a first episode of consciousness loss at a local level, in order to promote accurate and prompt diagnosis. We consider necessary to build a unitary online platform in order to establish an early and complete diagnosis

The impact of two anticoagulants on erythrocytes morphology in different vertebrate species

In this study, we aimed to highlight the influence of anticoagulants on erythrocyte morphometry in different vertebrate species. Anticoagulants are a category of substances that inhibit blood clotting through various mechanisms. Due to this property, they are used to collect blood samples for a wide range of laboratory tests. The literature mentions that the use of anticoagulants produces morphological changes of erythrocytes, thus influencing results. Blood samples were collected from three warm-blooded vertebrate species (horse, rabbit, and chicken) and one lower vertebrate species with nucleated erythrocytes (fish) in vacutainers with Heparin and EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid), in a normal concentration and a double concentration. At the time of harvesting, control smears were performed. In order to be able to compare the effects produced by anticoagulants on the morphology of erythrocytes, they were evaluated morphometrically at intervals of 3, 6, and 24 hrs. after harvest. The following features were evaluated using the Toup View software: length, width, surface and perimeter of erythrocytes for species with anucleated erythrocytes. The same characteristics were evaluated in the nucleus for species with nucleated erythrocytes. The data obtained were processed with statistical programs to highlight changes in erythrocyte morphology produced by anticoagulants

The Labyrinth Behind an Acute Respiratory Failure

Introduction: Acute hypoxemic respiratory failure may have different causes. Case presentation: We present the case of a 42-year-old woman, with history of recent thyroidectomy and a late history of sleeve gastrectomy, who presented for acute dyspnoea. The chest X-ray revealed hydropneumothorax, and, therefore, an intercostals chest tube drainage was inserted. The evolution was unfavourable, with further respiratory status deterioration. A computed tomography of the thorax and abdomen was performed, that revealed a dilated thoracic oesophagus and stenosis of the esophagogastric junction, with lack of substance in the oesophageal wall and extravasation of oesophageal content in the posterior mediastinum, due to an oesophageal pleural fi stula. An oesophageal stent was inserted under endoscopic guidance and the patient underwent minim-invasive surgical interventions for evacuation of the mediastinal and pleural collections, with a favourable evolution. Conclusions: Acute respiratory failure can be the face of multiple conditions, some of these can be life threatening and in need for rapid detection and treatment

THE ONLINE COMMUNICATION MIX FOR TOURISM DESTINATIONS STUDY CASE ON ROMANIAN TOURISM DESTINATIONS

The present research aims at contributing to the field of Online Communication for tourism destinations. It provides a study on online communication of Romanian main tourism destinations, focusing on DMOs’ websites completeness in terms of contents and on their capability to respond to users’ needs. The results of the current research show that the Romanian Destination Websites offer a poor online experience for users, in terms of content, functionalities and fail to fully satisfy the needs and wants of potential tourists. This study is important for establishing the strategies for developing the tourism destination management in Romania