First-year students undergo several transformations like the transition from high school to university schedules, teaching methods, and discipline specificities to social changes that come with meeting new colleagues or moving to other locations far from family and friends. The COVID-19 outbreak brought additional concerns and uncertainties once educational systems implemented distance learning schemes for public health management. Nevertheless, higher educational organizations preferred to implement hybrid approaches for student engagement motivation and high dropout rate avoidance. In Romania, such an educational system has been applied with caution. Since the pandemic needs to be understood as an opportunity for adaptation and education improvements, the purpose of the present paper is to uncover lessons learned and to develop a systematized model based on students’ perception regarding face-to-face, online and hybrid systems. For this reason, a grounded theory approach has been preferred. Thus, 149 Romanian students enrolled in the first year in engineering specialities with ages between 18–26 years both male (50.3%) and female (49.7%) have answered the research questions in an online environment due to pandemic restrictions. Based on the online asynchronous student interviews, 220 codes and a further 13 categories have been developed. After a pertinent analysis of the relationships between categories and relevant literature sorting, a theoretical model for the Romanian higher educational current pandemic situation has been proposed. The main face-to-face and online education characteristics are outlined, the hybrid approach becoming a bridge between the two systems. Management implications are outlined together with further research directions.

This work emphasizes some geometrical properties of the Maxwell--Bloch equations. Based on these properties the closed-form solutions of their equations are established. Thus, the Maxwell-Bloch equations are reduced to a nonlinear differential equation depending on an auxiliary unknown function. The approximate analytical solutions were built using the Optimal Homotopy Asymptotic Method (OHAM). A good agreement between the analytical and corresponding numerical results was found. The accuracy of the obtained results is validated through the representative figures. This procedure could be successfully applied for more dynamical systems with geometrical properties.

The concept of academic spin-off (AS) has witnessed an increase in attention due to its effectiveness in solving industry problems using core technology and knowledge from academia. Most studies based on US and western Europe experiences have presented the main key factors for academic spin-offs. The present study aims to address a literature gap regarding AS survival factor identification for central and eastern European countries, to relate resource groups with these key factors from a literature perspective, and to statistically investigate the long-term performance of academic spin-offs in Romania, an eastern European country that has only recently understood the opportunity academic spin-offs offer for national and regional development. Since EU programs are setting the scene for AS development, this research brings new insights for university strategic management to achieve sustainable regional growth by proposing a novelty spin-off key factor specific to central and eastern European countries: team competency in accessing government funds. Since these emerging economies face similar challenges regarding AS formation and development, statistical evidence from Romania is insightful and valuable. Data were collected on Romanian AS companies founded from 2006–2010, and eleven survival factors were investigated within a quantitative survey to understand which had a significant impact on AS performance. By using Pearson’s correlation matrix and a Cobb–Douglas nonlinear regression model, this study validated two research hypotheses that, in Romania, the quality of scientific support received from a university or research center during the development of a product and the competency of a team in accessing government funds were the most important factors having nonlinear influences on AS performance. Their positive and negative influences were furthermore discussed, and managerial implications were outlined.

This paper emphasizes some geometrical properties of the Maxwell–Bloch equations. Based on these properties, the closed-form solutions of their equations are established. Thus, the Maxwell–Bloch equations are reduced to a nonlinear differential equation depending on an auxiliary unknown function. The approximate analytical solutions were built using the optimal homotopy asymptotic method (OHAM). These represent the $\epsilon$-approximate OHAM solutions. A good agreement between the analytical and corresponding numerical results was found. The accuracy of the obtained results is validated through the representative figures. This procedure is suitable to be applied for dynamical systems with certain geometrical properties.

The article highlights a flexible and adaptable approach for the development of game like activities for higher education students from Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania. The approach embraces agile methodologies to guide the iterative development process of educational games and consists of several key elements. First, it underlines the importance of defining clear learning objectives and aligning them with the game’s design. Second, it encourages multidisciplinary collaboration between teachers and instructional designers to deliver relevant information to students, but also appropriate to their learning styles and needs. Regarding engineering problems and methods, students frequently encounter several difficulties. For this reason, the article attempts to provide an organized and engaging learning environment that encourages active participation and information retention. In industrial engineering, most of the students’ exposure is to theoretical materials; nevertheless, there are several ways to give them practical experience with the topics they are studying. Using a comprehensive review of the literature, the article explores the pedagogical benefits, challenges, and practices associated with the use of agile methodologies in education. Agile methods are very based on collaboration, teamwork, flexibility, and participation, and help create a more relaxed learning environment to support students' increasing need for control over their learning path. Throughout regular communication and feedback cycles, students can iterate on content and pedagogical approaches, resulting in activities and games that are more engaging and effective for learning. In the end, the paper presents the conclusions of the authors on the current advantages and limitations of using this approach based on agility and game-based learning in higher education.

Nowadays the need for renewable resources becomes more and more stringent. Biomass remains one of the most important sources of energy, being used directly or by chemical conversion processes in order to produce clean energy. Relative to this aspect, the present paper proposes the direct approach, by analyzing to biomass type materials (topinambur and Romanian hemp) in order to determine their physical and chemical characteristics and their potential use in combustion processes.