This volume addresses the relationship of citizenship and public management in Europe. After 15 years of state reform, it is time for an overall discussion of the theoretical and empirical impact and limits of New Public Management, as one of the latest reorientations in public administration, on the practice of citizenship. It points out the tension between a focus on improvement of state bureaucracies, on the one hand, and the involvement of citizens in the co-production of policies on the other. It also points to a fundamental change that is taking place: the imortance of state apparatuses...

This text provides an innovative international forum for the researchers, developers and practitioners who are actively expanding the role of electronic technologies in healthcare. Leading-edge developments and state-of-the-art clinical expertise are brought together for the purpose of exploring ways to improve medical care; mental health implications of new electronic technologies are also discussed. A special focus is placed on virtual reality as a means of bringing patient and practitioner closer together in the pursuit of healing.

During the 45 years of communist regimes in Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, agriculture was centrally directed without regard of quality factors and market need, and was heavily subsidised. Democratisation of the countries and adoption of market driven economics, including agriculture, created conditions that require thinking and approaches to find market areas that will fill the needs of each country, and provide produce that is not redundant for the Common Market. The aim of this text is to facilitate solving common agricultural problems using the tools of biotechnology.

Aiming to improve quality in health care and diagnoses, this work discusses information processing in medicine and presents a new approach. By object-oriented analysis, modelling and design, it enables an evolutionary development according to the needs of the medical environment.

Deals with the computer analysis of heart rate and blood pressure signals from research and clinical points of view. A state-of-the-art survey is followed by an identification of the future trends in the area.

This book will present the results of the EpiAim study, exploring and describing the current situation and trends in the use of Health Informatics and Telematics in Africa an Latin America, two regions that despite their peculiarities and complexity, are witnessing a sustained interest in these new technologies. In fact, rapid changes currently taking place are "putting these countries on the map" of the global information society. The book should help to achieve a better understanding of the opportunities in health informatics for the advancement of technical co-operation between Europe and...