Do private inspection programs affect trade facilitation ?

Private inspection of international shipments has been used over the last half-century for a variety of purposes. These include prevention of capital flight and improvement of import duty collection, among others. The existing literature has failed to find much impact of these inspection programs on collected tariff revenue or corruption at the border. This paper explores the"facilitation"effect of private inspection programs on trade. The results indicate that private inspection has a positive and significant trade-facilitation effect. These programs raise import volumes for countries using them by approximately 2 to 10 percent. The findings here also suggest that the benefit of private inspection of imports may be associated with reforms and best practices applied by private inspection firms. Private firms'inspection of cargo may promote faster clearance times and process reliability, rather than improved tax collection.E-Business,Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Trade Law,Free Trade,Economic Theory&Research

THE EFFECT OF SOME FACTORS ON THE MILK MAIN COMPONENTS

The paper emphasizes the results of the research performed on 317 Baltata românească cows, from six private exploitations located in the central part of the country. The main qualitative and quantitative traits of the milk production, season and familial structures (half sisters by father) effect were recorded in dynamics by four lactations on the above mentioned effective. The research concerning the evolution of some traits of the quantitative and qualitative milk production in dynamics by lactation, reveals many aspects, which in all cases equally reflects both the genetic potential of the biological material that can be expressed and putting into practice of the rearing and exploitation technologies. Concerning the quantitative milk production, by normal and total lactation an almost plane curve is described (table 1, figure 1). This aspect was also reported for the collecting areas and farms (tables 2 and 3). Concerning the season effect, it is observed function of the adopted technology of exploitation that for effectives is significantly observed only in summer (table 4). In last part of the paper, the main traits of the milk production in 16 familial structures of primiparous half sisters by father, classified function of the quantity of fat and protein accumulation by normal lactation are emphasized (table 5.1- 5.2.). The obtained results are concluding

Air Pollution Management: A Multivariate Analysis of Citizens' Perspectives and Their Willingness to Use Greener Forms of Transportation

The present research aims to understand how air pollution can be managed by public authorities, both central and local, starting from citizens’ perspectives on the issue. Air quality is a real problem, affecting people at multiple levels. Thus, we introduced the following variables to better understand the problem and to be able to formulate theoretical and practical implications for public management: the involvement of authorities in reducing air pollution; the involvement of citizens in reducing air pollution; financial incentives for citizens and companies for adopting behaviors that reduce air pollution; green investments in the city; the impact of air pollution on the community; and the need for independent bodies to monitor air pollution. The research methodology used is partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and the required data were gathered from issuing a survey to citizens from the most important cities in Romania where pollution poses important challenges for the community and for the authorities. The results are useful to public managers in local and central institutions for creating better strategies meant to reduce air pollution, increase air quality, and improve the quality of the citizens’ lives

A Behavioral Approach to the Tourism Consumer Decisions of Generation Z

The main objective of our research is to identify the impact of recycling and waste reduction behavior on the sustainable tourism decisions of Romanian youngsters (18-25 years old). We used the PLS-SEM method and introduced four variables in the model: sustainable tourism decisions, the interest in recycling, the interest in waste reduction, and the interest in natural and less polluted touristic destinations. The main results emphasize the direct influence of recycling and waste reduction behaviors on the decisions made by Generation Z regarding sustainable tourism and on their preference for destinations that are better preserved and less touched by human intervention. The novelty of our research consists of the fact that we introduced variables such as waste reduction from the perspective of tourists because most studies address it as a management approach of the companies in the tourism sector. The findings are useful for managers in the tourism sector to create better strategies for attracting the younger generation who are preoccupied by environmental issues and sustainability in general

Rating Tourists' Interest in Tourism-Tailored Climate and Environmental Products

The scientific literature comprises a relatively large palette of studies focusing on tourist preferences regarding the weather and climate at the destination. However, the findings do not allow for establishing a hierarchy of climate and environmental features of interest for tourism based on destination type (urban/rural/mountain/seaside), but mainly to list them. We aim to identify some characteristics of a potential climate service targeting tourists by addressing in particular three aspects: 1. which are the weather, climate and/or environmental features most commonly marked as of interest in the general case of 'any destination type' and for the particular case of rural destinations; 2. which are the delivery and presentation forms of greatest interest; 3. how willing would be the tourists to pay for such a service. To this end, we used a questionnaire with five closed questions regarding these aspects, disseminated in Romania and Italy. The results confirm some expectations based on scientific literature and highlight the user interest in information encompassing several climates and/or environmental aspects, preferably in one single product. The results may be valuable for developing and providing effective tourism-oriented climate and environmental products and contribute to a better user uptake of such products and services

A Community-Based Sensor Network for Monitoring the Air Quality in Urban Romania

Air quality, especially particulate matter pollution levels in urban areas, is an essential academic and social topic due to its association with health issues and climate change. In Romania, increasing awareness of urban communities and the availability of low-cost sensors has led to the development of an independent monitoring network currently distributed in over 194 cities and towns. The uRADMonitor((R)) network consists of 630 sensors measuring PM10 and PM2.5 concentration levels. The spatial distribution of the sensors complements the national air quality network with sensors in residential areas, intense traffic zones, and industrial areas. The data are available through a user-friendly web-based platform from uRADMonitor((R)). Based on data collected in 2021, we present an analysis of PM10 pollution levels in Romania's five most populated urban areas by employing five annual statistical indicators recommended by the European Environmental Agency. For the case of Timis,oara, we also compare the data measured by independent sensors with those from the national monitoring network. The results highlight the usefulness of our community-based network as it complements the national one

TEMPERATURE-BASED CLIMATE INDICATORS RELEVANT FOR AGRICULTURE SECTOR IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGES IN OLTENIA

We present an analysis of changes of several thermal-based climate indicators relevant for agriculture in the context of climate changes for the near-future (2021-2040), aiming to highlight the extremes of these changes. To this end, we use bias-corrected results of climate projections performed with 5 regional climate models in the context of RCP45 and RCP85 scenarios at European scale, available from Joint Research Centre (https://data.jrc.ec.europa.eu/dataset/jrc-liscoast-10011). We firstly identify the models` simulations which lead to the lowest increase in the mean air temperature at national scale in the context of RCP45 scenario and respectively to the highest increase, in the RCP85 scenario.  We further use these instances to estimate the changes in 5 temperature-based indicators which are relevant for the agriculture sector. The indices characterize the bounding seasons (i.e. heating degree days) or are more specifically oriented for the growing season (i.e. Growing degree days; Winkler index).The target area is Oltenia, a region situated in the SW of the country and an important agricultural basin, which is analyzed in the context of changes over the entire territory. The results may provide additional elements for further studies focusing on the impact of climate change and adaptation solutions in this region

Holiday Climate Index: Urban—Application for Urban and Rural Areas in Romania

Nature, landscape, relaxation, and outdoor activities are important motivations when choosing rural destinations for vacations. Therefore, when selecting a rural area as a vacation destination, we assume that climate features are important. We investigated the appropriateness of the holiday climate index: urban (HCI:urban) in quantitatively describing the relationship between climate and tourism fluxes in such destinations. We employed data from 94 urban and rural tourist destinations in Romania and correlated the monthly mean HCI:urban values with sectoral data (overnight tourists) for 2010–2018. The results show that weather and climate influenced tourism fluxes similarly in rural and urban destinations, supporting the hypothesis that HCI:urban may be used for rural areas as well. The information derived from HCI:urban may be useful for tourists when planning their vacations as well as for tourism investors in managing their businesses and reducing the weather and climate-related seasonality in tourism fluxes