Rocsana Bucea-Manea-Țoniș

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping neuromarketing by enabling the real-time analysis of neurometric, biometric, and psychometric data to optimize consumer engagement. This study investigates how AI-enhanced neuromarketing influences social media marketing strategies, using a structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach to assess relationships between neuromarketing knowledge, application, activities, and social media communication. Data were collected through a survey of 416 Romanian university students and professors with practical exposure to neuromarketing tools in educational environments. The results confirm that neuromarketing knowledge significantly improves practical application (β = 0.726, p < 0.001), which in turn enhances both marketing activities (β = 0.555, p < 0.001) and social media communication effectiveness (β = 0.633, p < 0.001). AI was found to amplify these effects through predictive analytics, real-time consumer data processing, and automated content optimization. Ethical considerations—such as privacy risks and algorithmic bias—are acknowledged, and the academic sample limits generalizability to commercial contexts. Future research should explore cross-industry applications, diverse cultural settings, and longitudinal impacts to strengthen external validity.

Women’s participation in leadership varies substantially across Eastern Europe despite sustained gains in education and labor-force engagement. It integrates psychological leadership theory with structural labor-market indicators to explain these disparities. Using a novel proxy framework for self-efficacy, leader–member exchange (LMX), and organizational behavior, we analyze panel data from Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria (2019-2023). Female representation in senior management and ministerial positions serves as a structural marker of societal self-efficacy. Differences in part-time employment and childcare-related employment penalties act as institutional constraints that shape LMX quality. Mismatches between women’s educational attainment and leadership representation capture organizational behavior at scale.Significant country effects, with Hungary and Romania systematically underperforming relative to Bulgaria across leadership indicators, despite high levels of women’s tertiary education. Sectoral disparities are pronounced, with parliamentary representation significantly exceeding ministerial representation, suggesting uneven gender openness across institutional domains. Parenthood-related employment gaps and part-time work patterns further amplify leadership divergence, underscoring persistent constraints on women’s organizational mobility.The findings indicate that structural labor-market frictions—not educational deficits—remain the dominant barriers to women’s leadership advancement. It contributes a theoretically grounded structural measurement model and offers evidence-based implications for gender-equitable policy design, organizational reform, and leadership across transitioning economies.

As global challenges such as climate change, social inequality, and public health crises intensify, the integration of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into diverse educational domains has become imperative. This literature review explores the intersection between sports education and ESD, highlighting the transformative potential of Physical Education and Sports (PES) as a platform for promoting sustainability competencies. Drawing on a systematic analysis of scholarly literature from 2010 to 2024, the study examines how pedagogical innovation, technological integration, and institutional frameworks contribute to the implementation of ESD in sports contexts. The findings demonstrate that sports education can effectively cultivate environmental awareness, social responsibility, and ethical behavior among students. Moreover, the use of emerging technologies—such as artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, and wearable devices—enhances experiential learning and supports sustainability goals. The review also emphasizes the importance of teacher training and institutional alignment with sustainability standards, certifications, guidelines, and indicators to ensure consistency, accountability, and long-term impact. This review concludes that sports education, when aligned with ESD principles and supported by appropriate pedagogical and institutional strategies, can serve as a dynamic and inclusive pathway toward sustainable development. It offers not only physical and cognitive benefits but also the social and environmental consciousness needed to prepare learners for a resilient and equitable future.

Purpose: this research aims to evaluate the main challenges and potential drawbacks of tech introduction in sports, which may have an influence on their measures and the utility of innovative technologies.Design/methodology/approach: Considering Ethics in Sports, Ethics Measures, and Tech Benefits, a quantitative descriptive statistical analysis was carried out.Findings: the main consequences of introducing technology into sport influence both the measures and the usefulness of innovative technologies.Research limitations/implications: The limitations of this study include the fact that the data was self-reported and that it was a cross-sectional design, which may cause a conscious or unconscious bias.Practical implications: Ethical aspects of the use of technology need to be considered, such as justice and equity.Social Implications: It is well known that some technologies and tools, such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality (AR), or virtual reality (VR), can improve performance in sports. However, not all athletes, coaches, or sports clubs have access to these types of resources, which raises an ethical question regarding parity or fairness in competitions.Originality/value: this research find challenges and potential drawbacks of introducing technology into sport influence both the measures and the usefulness of innovative technologies.

Virtual reality offers unique opportunities to personalize learning by adapting instructions to individual learning styles. This study explores the relationships between learning styles, cognitive load, and learning outcomes in a virtual reality environment designed for engineering education. Drawing on Kolb’s experiential learning theory, the research investigates how immersion and flow, in relation to learning styles, influence learning outcomes within the Submarine Simulator, an educational tool for underwater engineering. To enhance instructional design in virtual reality, this study proposes to aggregate existing and validated models, such as Kolb’s framework, to develop new models tailored specifically for learning environments in virtual reality. This research aims to highlight the interplay of these variables in a learning process focused on acquiring knowledge in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fields, specifically hydrodynamics, through designing and operating a simulated submarine model in virtual reality. A cohort of 26 students from MINES Paris—PSL participated in a three-phase testing process to evaluate the effectiveness of original virtual reality software designed to support learning in underwater engineering. The findings enhance our understanding of how learning styles influence learner engagement and performance and how virtual reality environments can be optimized through adaptive instructional design guided by these novel models tailored specifically for such immersive settings.

Digital technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), are reshaping the landscape of athletic training and performance assessment. Despite growing global interest, empirical research on AI adoption in sports remains limited in Central and Eastern Europe. This study investigates how Romanian sports professionals perceive and integrate AI-based applications and digital technologies into their training practices, and how these tools influence performance outcomes. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire distributed to 293 athletes, coaches, and sports academics. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), we found that perceived AI benefits significantly predict the use of AI applications (β = 0.211, p < 0.001), which in turn strongly predicts the adoption of digital sports technologies (β = 0.708, p < 0.001). The use of digital technologies was positively associated with higher self-reported performance outcomes (β = 0.268, p < 0.001). Group comparisons using ANOVA revealed significant differences in AI adoption by sport (football > basketball, p < 0.05) and education level (p = 0.007). These findings contribute to the literature on sports technology adoption by offering one of Eastern Europe’s first empirical, model-based studies. The study provides practical insights for coaches, policymakers, and sports technologists aiming to foster AI integration and digital innovation in high-performance athletic environments.

Virtual Reality (VR) offers unique opportunities to personalize learning by adapting instructions to individual learning styles. This study explores the relationships between learning styles, cognitive load, and learning outcomes in a VR environment designed for engineering education. Drawing on Kolb’s experiential learning theory, the research investigates how immersion and flow, in relation to learning styles, influence learning outcomes within the Submarine Simulator, a VR-based educational tool for underwater engineering. To enhance VR-based instructional design, this study proposes aggregating existing and validated models, such as Kolb’s framework, to develop new models tailored specifically for VR learning environments. The research aims to highlight the interplay of these variables in a learning process focused on acquiring knowledge in the STEM field, specifically hydrodynamics, through designing and operating a simulated submarine model in VR. A cohort of 26 students from MINES Paris - PSL participated in a three-phase testing process to evaluate the educational effectiveness of an original VR software designed to support learning in underwater engineering. The findings contribute to understanding how learning styles impact learner engagement and performance, and how VR environments can be optimized through adaptive instructional design informed by these novel VR-specific models.