Ribana Linc’s research while affiliated with University of Oradea and other places

The present study analyzes the evolution of the divorces in Romania over the period 1992-2023, aiming to investigate the social, economic, and cultural factors that have shaped family behaviors and decisions regarding the dissolution of marriages. Using an approach based on official statistical data, the research explores significant differences between urban and rural areas, identifying divergent and convergent trends regarding divorce rates, influenced by modernization, urbanization, and economic crises. The study also examines the impact of economic migration and access to education on family behavior, highlighting how these elements have contributed to structural changes in marriages and divorces in different regions of the country. The analysis focuses on factors such as the age group of spouses, marriage duration, number of minor children, and the geographical structure of divorces, providing a deep understanding of the social dynamics and changes related to the stability of marital relationships. Another important aspect of the research is the evolution of the woman's role in marriage, influenced by increased economic independence and changes in the social perception of marriage. Additionally, regional disparities are discussed, varying depending on cultural traditions, urbanization level, and the economic development of counties, as well as common challenges faced by families in different areas of Romania. The study emphasizes the complexity of divorces, offering a comprehensive perspective on current and future trends, as well as the factors that influence marriage and divorce decisions, within a constantly changing social and economic context. The research conclusions will contribute to a deeper understanding of this dynamic phenomenon, as well as to the formulation of public policies better adapted to the contemporary realities of Romanian society.

The geothermal potential of the towns of Ștei and Beiuș and their evolutions as resort-towns feature a development evolution whose tourist potential rely on the recent geothermal waters’ capitalization as a spearhead for regional development. Both localities from western Romania were declared tourist resorts based on numerous favorable premises, among which the thermal waters for both curative and leisure purposes. The tourist evolution of the two resort towns occurred differently in terms of supply and demand and in terms of the thermal water consumption and applying Butler’s tourist life cycle concept both resorts are found at the development stage. An inventory of tourist attractions, both natural and man-made has been accomplished, as well as its tourist infrastructure such as operational leisure, catering and accommodation facilities for the supply side. This analysis covers a gap in the existent literature. To reveal the tourist consumption pattern in the two resort towns, secondary data referring to tourist arrivals has been analysed. All these surveyed elements allowed a comparative analysis of two engendered small towns on their rise to tourism development and a highlight of their tourist development stage through the geothermal water capitalization.

Water quality plays an important role for every sustainable social and economic system, as well as for maintaining human health. This study, carried out during 2022–2023, has as its main objective the physical–chemical and microbiological analysis of some underground water resources (two boreholes and a spring) with a natural mineral load from three areas in Bihor County (Romania), and the impact of their consumption on people’s health. Therefore, six microbiological parameters and 17 physical–chemical indicators in three localities (Tămășeu, Sîntimreu, Pădurea Neagră) were analyzed. The results of the microbiological analysis indicate a type of water that respects the limits imposed by the legislation on natural mineral waters and potability. The physical–chemical indicators show that the hydrochemical type of the studied waters is predominantly bicarbonate, in association with calcium, magnesium, and sodium cations. The residents’ perception on water quality and the effect on people’s health was assessed through a questionnaire (23 items) addressed to the population of the three villages and neighboring localities. The results showed that the mineral waters from Sîntimreu and Pădurea Neagră are used frequently. Many respondents consider the local mineral waters as without quality-related problems and with beneficial effects regarding acute or chronic gastrointestinal conditions, such as gastritis, gastric ulcers, flatulence, or liver diseases.

A nation's vitality, dynamism and economic strength will always be related to its demographic component, and a healthy and vigorous population will ensure its long-term future. However, the current realities demonstrate the existence of an obvious population decrement at the level of the entire country particularly triggered by the birth rate decrease and the high demographic aging to which other factors add ap specific to local communities, which in their turn determined a particular type of demographic behaviour. Therefore we aim to analyze those elements with a major population dynamics impact such as family stability and demographic potential that can generate a specific demographic behaviour, as a result of the major changes that have occurred in the last period of time. These elements are translated through several demographic indicators that characterize the family, such as the nuptiality index and the divorce index whose evolution was registered and analyzed for the period 1992-2021. Their evolution indicates the demographic potential of Romania, as well as of Bihor county.

Metropolitan areas provide many opportunities to spend quality outdoor leisure time as well as to discover many cultural attractions. Sprawl occurs in Romania quite rapidly, encouraged by the construction of ring roads around many cities and their expansion into metropolitan areas. The current paper aims to identify metropolitan tourism models based on which tourist flows can be sustainably reoriented within rural Oradea Metropolitan Area (OMA) given their the tourist potential level (i.e., very low, low, average, high). The tourist potential was scaled based on the Methodology for the Analysis of a Territory’s Tourist Potential, which stands as a law published in the Official Monitor of the 14th of June 2016. The study indicates that most tourist activity develops in the OMA southern part in Sânmartin commune, thus unsustainably capturing all tourist flows of the rural OMA. Natural and man-made tourist attractions’ territorial concentrations were emphasized in the communes from the south and northern OMA, but there are major territorial dysfunctions in terms of technical endowment and tourist infrastructure supply. The three emerged models refer to the medical–recreational and eco–residential wellness network, discovery eco-holiday, and co-visit and marginal community.

Metropolitan regions/areas are NUTS 3 regions or a combination of NUTS 3 regions which represent all agglomerations of at least 250,000 inhabitants (Eurostat, 2021). Oradea Metropolitan Area (NUTS3ID RO111) was established in 9th of May 2005 and has a total number of 251.570 inhabitants. The purpose of the association is to stimulate and support the growth and prosperity of the area, focused on the continuous increase of the quality of life. Besides the economic boost, OMA emerged from the need for space and leisure expressed by the core urbanites and although the periurban area is teeming with valuable cultural resources, the latter being the focus of the current study, they are little known by many of the Oradea residents. In this purpose the cultural attractions of the rural OMA were inventoried, analysed and stored in an online openaccess database so that tourists can enjoy them and entrepreneurs in tourism can use them as focal points for further tourist infrastructure development. The analysis highlighted the OMA periurban area with the highest cultural attractions’ potential based on the National Methodology regarding the evaluation of the tourist potential in the basic administrative-territorial units.

The current study is meant to be a contribution to the promotion and development of an important geographical area for the municipality of Oradea, namely the rural proximity area that is part of the Oradea Metropolitan Area (OMA). The magnitude of the tourism phenomenon, as a sustainable resource could contribute to a functional reconsideration of this space that can bring about an overall territorial development, based on economic competitiveness, sustainable development, social cohesion or the development of new technologies. In this sense, it is not possible to conceive the development of an area from a tourist viewpoint without the existence of a suitable infrastructure (tourist, technical, transport), because it can influence, depending on the endowment degree and updated technology, the volume and structure of the tourist traffic. Thus, the main infrastructure components were identified, quantified and analyzed, each TAU being granted a certain score according to the evaluation methodology, based on which a certain hierarchy and highlighting of the main dysfunctions could be achieved. In conclusion, it was found that the existing tourist and technical infrastructure is satisfactory, but disproportionately distributed, a situation somewhat accountable due of the existence of the two spas, Băile Felix and Băile 1 Mai.

Starting from one of the main objectives of constitution of Oradea Metropolitan Area (O.M.A.) namely to ensure the continuous increase of live quality, the aim of the study is the highlight and analysis of high value natural resources, natural reserves and Natura 2000 sites and also to ensure the quality of environmental factors for the touristic use. The importance of protection and conservation of some natural elements also results from the fact that the surface of natural reserves within O.M.A. increases from 6.25% of overall surface of natural reserves of Bihor county, prior the integration in the E.U., to 24.3% after the European integration, after the implementation of Natura 2000 ecological network. One can identify nine Natura 2000 sites within O.M.A., which includes two SPA and seven SCI sites. The analysis of the environmental factors (air, surface and underground waters) shows that the physical and chemical parameters are within the legal range without threatening the communities and the natural resources with touristic potential.

A subunit of the Romanian Western Carpathians, Poiana Ruscăi Mountains are considered a complex with a medium concentration of tourist, natural and anthropogenic resources "National Territorial Plan, Section VI - Areas with tourism resources", but on this background, some outstanding tourism resources stand out, that is the two monuments from the early twentieth century dedicated to tourism, one from 1914 in Timiş County (common Nădrag), the other from 1936 in Caraş-Severin (commune Rusca Montană). This year marks the 105 th anniversary of the edification of the Nădrag monument.

The current study focuses on the demographic profile research of Nature 2000 sites belonging to 28 administrative entities located in Bihor County, in northwestern Romania. For the purposes of this study, out of the 74 local administrative units (LAUs) holding protected areas of the type Nature 2000 while only sites that cover over 40% of the administrative entities’ area were taken into account. Starting from the interrelation of the contact between human communities and local ecosystems, the research sought to determine the interdependence level between the local residents’ lifestyle and the biodiversity-related maintenance/preservation of these protected areas. Based on the referenced statistics, more demographic indicators were calculated (population decrement, population density, structure by age, dependency index, active population and structure by industry) and basic indicators of pressure on the environment (naturality index, human pressure through land use and forest area per capita). Each of these factors are meant to reveal how man cohabitates with nature in a balanced or disrupted manner according to the study results. Thus, considering the 28 LAUs from case to case, areas where environmental health tends to insecurity were identified, but there are cases in which it is satisfactory thanks to the existence of massive woodlands over wide areas, while also being due to a considerable demographic decrement.