White pollution is a form of environmental pollution which has taken unprecedented dimensions in many cities of Europe over the last two decades. It is estimated that by 2020, European Union citizens will reduce the consumption of plastic shopping bags by 80% in ways that will be identified and implemented by each member state. Starting from these two main dimensions, necessity and opportunity, we have conducted a survey on the eco-responsible behavior of consumers in Bucharest. The main aims of the survey were to understand the buyers' behavior and profile and to find out what might lead buyers in Bucharest to increase their eco-responsibility towards the urban environment. For these purposes we used questionnaires, direct observation and interviews for data collection and the Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and SPSS for data analysis and subsequent correlations. The sample was representative for Bucharest, and the results are useful for revising urban environmental policies. Through this survey we have identified means of increasing the buyers' eco-responsibility and decreasing white pollution in Bucharest and in many other Romanian cities.
Research background: The outbreak of COVID-19 has disrupted and shaken all economic and financial sectors. In this scenario, crowdfunding has emerged as a new relevant financing mechanism alongside more traditional funding channels by attracting investors through an internet-based method of fundraising to support ventures. In recent years, many crowdfunding platforms, specialized in green projects rose, allowing start-ups to raise funds for their campaigns. The literature on the use of crowdfunding in the sustainable sector is quite limited. Purpose of the article: We use a hand-collected dataset of 350 equity crowdfunding campaigns, gathered from the Italian platforms over the period January 2016-June 2020, to analyze the impact of COVID-19 outbreak on the success of green equity crowdfunding projects. We also test the greater attractiveness of the projects sustainability-oriented than other types of campaigns and if growth in the number of “green” projects is linked to the increase of local environmental performance. Methods: We measure the probability of success of pitched projects, both in terms of the total amount raised and the number of investors. We run a negative-binomial-regression for the number of investors and a Tobit-regression for the amount of capital raised. Findings & Value added: Coherently with our hypotheses, we find that COVID-19 has reduced the probability of success and that campaigns with a sustainability orientation are more likely to reach the funding target because investors give more importance to a sustainable future. Finally, our search provides that the leading countries in environmental performance have a positive effect on the green crowdfunding projects, by aspiring to move toward a sustainable future.
Significant amount of the European Union (EU) budget has been allocated to different training programmes. In-order to plan future investments, current interventions financed by EU into national educational policies should be assessed. This research aims to perform a mid-term evaluation of the three-year (2015-2018) Erasmus+ project related to high school students' Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skill development in the selected schools of' Latvia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain. The research method included a review of evaluation methods applied by other researchers and the European Commission, as well as quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. Quantitative data research comprised a review of the project reports and a survey in the national languages completed by the students participating in the project and collected by their teachers. The Qualitative data research consisted of semi-structured interviews with the students, teachers, project managers and different project stakeholders.The research results demonstrated that the project activities had a high value for the project stakeholders. ICT skills development is relevant to all students, as they will help them in the future studies and work, including if a person will be employed by the ICT industry, as many countries have placed ICT as a national or regional priority. The project was evaluated as very effective, as it contributed to the improvement of different skill sets of the students, such as ICT competences, communications, English, teaching, presentation, cross-cultural understanding and others. The project is coherent with other ICT skills development activities in the project countries mentioned above and in some cases, with national initiatives to assess the inclusion of ICT skills training in school programs. EU value added was achieved by exchanging information about the different teaching methods in five countries and contributing to cross-cultural understanding.The evaluation results could be used for planning future Erasmus+ projects, coordinating and consolidating various stakeholders' activities to promote in the further ICT skills training for a wider group of students and to achieve even better coherence between different activities.
Purpose/objectives: Foods by their nature constitute very complex systems; many ingredients interact with each other and can influence the process optimization. In the food chain, a distinction must be made between processed and non-processed products. Often the products do not have a brand and then the responsibility for the quality of the product is not as clear as it is for branded products. For processed products (branded), the processing industries make use of a quality system, often considering the entire production chain, from raw materials to distribution and consumption. The authors of this paper aimed to analyze the quality management of wine in general and red wine in particular.Design/methodology: The authors designed an analysis based on a specific Quality Engineering methodology, namely "Quality Function Deployment" (QFD), which allows the translation of the beneficiary's wishes in technical and quality characteristics of the product, using the matrix diagram known in the literature as "House of Quality".Findings: The authors have adapted this specific tool of quality engineering to the issue of wine quality management, in order to individualize the criticalities and identify the correlations between them.Originality/value: Application of the "House of Quality" methodology of quality engineering in the food field.Possible practical implications: Using the QFD methodology in case of negative correlations, which requires finding another solution which meets the intended purpose without adversely affecting other solution found.
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