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We investigate the power of voting among diverse, randomized software agents. With teams of computer Go agents in mind, we develop a novel theoretical model of two-stage noisy voting that builds on recent work in machine learning. This model allows us to reason about a collection of agents with different biases (determined by the first-stage noise models), which, furthermore, apply randomized algorithms to evaluate alternatives and produce votes (captured by the second-stage noise models). We analytically demonstrate that a uniform team, consisting of multiple instances of any single agent, must make a significant number of mistakes, whereas a diverse team converges to perfection as the number of agents grows. Our experiments, which pit teams of computer Go agents against strong agents, provide evidence for the effectiveness of voting when agents are diverse.

In this paper we provide an overview of new knowledge on oxygen depletion (hypoxia) and related phenomena in aquatic systems resulting from the EU-FP7 project HYPOX ("In situ monitoring of oxygen depletion in hypoxic ecosystems of coastal and open seas, and landlocked water bodies", http://www.hypox.net). In view of the anticipated oxygen loss in aquatic systems due to eutrophication and climate change, HYPOX was set up to improve capacities to monitor hypoxia as well as to understand its causes and consequences. Temporal dynamics and spatial patterns of hypoxia were analyzed in field studies in various aquatic environments, including the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, Scottish and Scandinavian fjords, Ionian Sea lagoons and embayments, and Swiss lakes. Examples of episodic and rapid (hours) occurrences of hypoxia, as well as seasonal changes in bottom-water oxygenation in stratified systems, are discussed. Geologically driven hypoxia caused by gas seepage is demonstrated. Using novel technologies, temporal and spatial patterns of water-column oxygenation, from basin-scale seasonal patterns to meter-scale sub-micromolar oxygen distributions, were resolved. Existing multidecadal monitoring data were used to demonstrate the imprint of climate change and eutrophication on long-term oxygen distributions. Organic and inorganic proxies were used to extend investigations on past oxygen conditions to centennial and even longer timescales that cannot be resolved by monitoring. The effects of hypoxia on faunal communities and biogeochemical processes were also addressed in the project. An investigation of benthic fauna is presented as an example of hypoxia-devastated benthic communities that slowly recover upon a reduction in eutrophication in a system where naturally occurring hypoxia overlaps with anthropogenic hypoxia. Biogeochemical investigations reveal that oxygen intrusions have a strong effect on the microbially mediated redox cycling of elements. Observations and modeling studies of the sediments demonstrate the effect of seasonally changing oxygen conditions on benthic mineralization pathways and fluxes. Data quality and access are crucial in hypoxia research. Technical issues are therefore also addressed, including the availability of suitable sensor technology to resolve the gradual changes in bottom-water oxygen in marine systems that can be expected as a result of climate change. Using cabled observatories as examples, we show how the benefit of continuous oxygen monitoring can be maximized by adopting proper quality control. Finally, we discuss strategies for state-of-the-art data archiving and dissemination in compliance with global standards, and how ocean observations can contribute to global earth observation attempts.

The EOLES (Electronics and Optics e-Learning for Embedded Systems) project is a 3-year joint project involving 15 institutions, four from Europe and eleven from the North African countries of Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, whose aim is to create a 3rd year Bachelor degree in Electronics and Optics for Embedded Systems. The project started in October 2012 and is scheduled to end in October 2015.

Over time many changes have taken place in the environment, technology, and dynamics of public administration. Currently, following the economic crisis, a number of reforms were introduced to reduce the size of government as well as downsize and privatize public enterprises which resulted in the layoff of a large number of public servants. In this sense, the government considers that building an effective, responsive and adapted administrative system can be realized through restructuring process, both in terms of organizational and functioning. On this premise, the paper discusses the restructuring process of public administration carried out in Romania, particularly the reducing of employees’ number from public administration, looking at the effects of that on functioning and effectiveness of public organizations. Therefore, the main goal of the analysis is to show if less public employees means better results. Taking into consideration the aim of the paper, the research methodology is based on a case study as research strategy, and uses the triangulation method to obtain confirmation of findings through convergence of different perspective. Regarding the qualitative research, the author use theoretical framework, legal analyses, systematic and analytical collecting data from official written sources, and macroeconomic indicators for quantitative aspects.

The European agricultural sector is, for the last decades, a subject to a quite extensive and important transformations imposed by the new paradigm`s changing of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), especially the influences of complex phenomena such as integration and globalization of markets under pressure impose by changes in the global economy. From this perspective, the agriculture is not only a traditional economic sector designed to ensure the food safety and food security, but also a complex one; the agriculture becoming multifunctional in rural communities and diversification of the pluriactivities. In this article are analyzed some of the major transformations of this sector, form the perspective of the European agricultural market and European agricultural model under the CAP`s influence.

The time spent on Facebook by university students is continuously increasing. This fact is raising many questions as regards the relation between the social networking websites and the university. The educators are challenged to understand the factors that are driving the adoption of social networking websites, the characteristics of the daily use as well as the positive and negative effects on the university work. The social influence has been recognized as one of the factors that are driving the adoption of information systems. On another hand, the excessive use may lead to addiction. The first objective of this research is to explore the correlation between the social influence and the Facebook dependence. A model with these latent variables has been specified and tested on two samples of university students, the first from Romania and the second from Lithuania. The second objective of the research is to comparatively discuss the measures in each country. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis has been carried on to test the configural and metric invariance. The comparison of means shows that university students reporting higher social influence have a higher risk of Facebook dependence. The comparative analysis revealed that for both variables, the mean values are higher for the Romanian sample

Prezentul articol reprezintă sinteza lucrării de cercetare elaborată în anul 2013, intitulată “Dezvoltarea regională şi planificarea teritorială în contextul noii politici de coeziune (2014-2020)”. Obiectivul general al lucrării de cercetare (asumat prin Fisa temei) a fost acela de a identifica direcţiile şi acţiunile cu privire la viitorul dezvoltării regionale în România şi din perspectiva Strategiei Europa 2020. De asemenea, lucrarea îşi propune o analiză economică şi socială la nivel regional, vizând, în special, evoluţia şi natura disparităţilor teritoriale în ceea ce priveşte nivelul de dezvoltare şi din perspectiva procesului de coeziune la nivel comunitar. Subiectul abordat în lucrare constituie punctul central al actualelor dezbateri şi analize privind modul în care România a reuşit să obţină din statutul de membru al UE avantaje maxime în condiţiile existente (criza economică şi financiară, dificultăţi în pregătirea şi accesarea fondurilor structurale etc.). Cu toate că, la integrarea sa în UE, România şi-a propus drept obiectiv strategic obţinerea coeziunii economice şi sociale cu structurile comunitare, asistăm în prezent la o serie de provocări majore, care au afectat realizarea acestui deziderat. Identificarea acestor provocări/probleme şi găsirea unor soluţii optime şi eficiente de gestionare a întregului proces de dezvoltare regională pot conduce la evitarea în viitor. Având în vedere cele prezentate mai sus, articolul analizează următoarele aspecte importante: 1.prezentarea celor mai importante modele de regionalizare existente în Uniunea europeană; 2. analiza modului în care se va desfăşura, din punct de vedere instituţional, financiar, conceptual etc., actuala politică de coeziune a Uniunii Europene (aflată în dezbatere), precum şi identificarea efectelor posibile ale Strategiei Europa 2020, la nivel regional şi naţional; 3.identificarea disparităţilor economice şi sociale la nivelul celor opt regiuni de dezvoltare (regiuni de planificare), utilizând coeficienţii de concentrare Gini.

The sustainable development of a region depends on the sustainability and measures taken by all the public and private organizations in the respective area. Museums stand out among these organizations due to the controversies arising in connection with the role they have to play in this process of sustainable development. This paper seeks to analyze whether and why museums should become sustainable and provide an overview on the Romanian museums’ sustainability. The qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews with five museum experts showed that the sustainable development of Romania through cultural tourism is threatened due to the fact that few museums take steps towards become sustainable. Among the factors that hinder the process of sustainable change in museums can be mentioned the following: the current legislation, the scarcity and poor training of the human resources, but also the some managers’ misconception on the notion of sustainable museum and their resistance to change.

Niphargus dancaui sp. nov., previously referred to as Niphargus cf. stygius, was sampled from various groundwater sites in and near the town of Mangalia (SE Romania) and described with Movile Cave (a sulfidic, chemoautotrophically based ecosystem) as type locality. A short comparison with Niphargus stygius specimens from Slovenia was made, together with a morphological analysis of interpopulational variability. Males of N. dancaui sp. nov. were relatively large (17 mm), with long antennae, pereiopods and uropod III. Females were slightly smaller, with shorter antennae, pereiopods and uropod III. Interpopulational variability was noticed in the chaetotaxy of the telson lobes and uropod III. N. dancaui sp. nov. is morphologically very close to N. lessiniensis and N. tridentinus, two species present in northern Italy, but distinct genetically from them based on 28S rRNA sequences. Instead, the closest relative of N. dancaui sp. nov. sequenced so far for this marker is N. montanarius, which inhabits a sulfidic cave system in central Italy. The work presented here contributes to our knowledge of groundwater crustacean biodiversity in general and of the systematics of the genus Niphargus in particular.