COVID-19 had a major impact on education, substantially stimulating the need for digital remote education. From paperback books to PDFs, from physical classes to e-conferencing, and from various traditional mechanisms of information transmission to systems that are driven by artificial intelligence and use adaptive learning approaches, all of these had to be adopted by both teachers and students. This paper analyzes the use of an adaptive learning system before and during the COVID-19 pandemic from a statistical point of view on a set of data gathered in Romania during a pilot project. The main data inputs are the number of students that enrolled for a certain course, the percentage of students that successfully completed it, and information about their age group, location and main area of interest. Our study finds that the use of artificial intelligence has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and, by analyzing the data obtained during the study, we managed to prove that artificial-intelligence-driven tools and systems have gained traction among all the parties involved in the educational process.

A smart city implies a consistent use of technology for the benefit of the community. As the city develops over time, components and subsystems such as smart grids, smart water management, smart traffic and transportation systems, smart waste management systems, smart security systems, or e-governance are added. These components ingest and generate a multitude of structured, semi-structured or unstructured data that may be processed using a variety of algorithms in batches, micro batches or in real-time. The ICT architecture must be able to handle the increased storage and processing needs. When vertical scaling is no longer a viable solution, Hadoop can offer efficient linear horizontal scaling, solving storage, processing, and data analyses problems in many ways. This enables architects and developers to choose a stack according to their needs and skill-levels. In this paper, we propose a Hadoop-based architectural stack that can provide the ICT backbone for efficiently managing a smart city. On the one hand, Hadoop, together with Spark and the plethora of NoSQL databases and accompanying Apache projects, is a mature ecosystem. This is one of the reasons why it is an attractive option for a Smart City architecture. On the other hand, it is also very dynamic; things can change very quickly, and many new frameworks, products and options continue to emerge as others decline. To construct an optimized, modern architecture, we discuss and compare various products and engines based on a process that takes into consideration how the products perform and scale, as well as the reusability of the code, innovations, features, and support and interest in online communities.

This article describes a process for introducing modern technological subjects into the academic curricula of non-technical universities. The process described may increase and contribute to social sustainability by enabling non-technical students’ access to the field of the Internet of Things and the broader Industry 4.0. The process has been defined and tested during a curricular reform project that took place in two large universities in Eastern Europe. In this article, the authors describe the results and impact, over multiple years, of a project financed by the European Union that aimed to introduce the following subjects into the academic curricula of business students: cloud computing, big data, mobile programming, and social networks and cybersecurity (CAMSS). The results are useful for those trying to implement similar curricular reforms, or to companies that need to manage talent pipelines.

This paper examines the impact of competitive capabilities on sustainable manufacturing practices in Romanian small and medium-sized enterprises from the textile industry. We developed an econometric model based on previous research conducted by prestigious specialists and validated on a survey data from 221 Romanian small and medium enterprises from the textile industry. Our article proposes a number of implications to encourage entrepreneurs and managers from textile industry to engage in pro-environmental behaviour.

Education is another field which generative artificial intelligence has made its way into, intervening in students’ learning processes. This article explores students’ perspectives on the use of generative AI tools, specifically ChatGPT-3.5 (free version) and ChatGPT-4 (with a subscription). The results of the survey revealed a correlation between the use of ChatGPT and the perception of grade improvement by students. In addition, this article proposes an architecture for an adaptive learning system based on generative artificial intelligence (AI). To develop the architectural proposal, we incorporated the results of the student survey along with insights gained from analyzing the architectures of other learning platforms. The proposed architecture is based on a study of adaptive learning platforms with classically virtual assistants. The main question from which the current research started was how artificial intelligence can be integrated into a learning system to improve student outcomes based on their experience with generative AI. This has been sectioned into two more specific questions: 1. How do students perceive the use of generative artificial intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT, in enhancing their learning journey? 2. Is it possible to integrate generative AI into a learning system used in education? Consequently, this article concludes with a proposed architecture for a learning platform incorporating generative artificial intelligence technologies. This article aims to present a way to understand how generative AI technologies support education and contribute to improving academic performance.

The impact that business analytics (BA) has on companies’ performance will cause, in the near future, a significant increase in the demand for specialists in the field. Universities will play an important role in covering the deficit of professionals already reported by companies, provided that their offer is tailored to real market demands and their students are prepared to acquire the appropriate knowledge and skills. This paper proposes a framework for assessing the maturity level of BA in economic university programmes, based on the knowledge and technical skills needed by BA professionals. This maturity framework is applied to Romanian economic study programs to assess their analytical level and to identify their possible development directions. The educational programmes offer is then confronted with the real demand on the Romanian labour market, highlighting the types of jobs needed in the BA field and the related requirements for each of the analytical levels of the proposed model.