EDITORIAL. URBAN ISSUES IN ASIA

In the last decade we have assisted at a spectacular transformation of the human settlements, as more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. This transformation acquired significant magnitude in Asia. In 1950, Asia had only one city with a population of more than 10 millions people; by 2015, it is projected to have 23 cities (Asian Development Bank. 2008). In a region where a population of one million constitutes a small settlement, urbanization creates many challenges, especially about how·to feed, shelter, and generate employment in a sustainable way. Urbanization in Asia involves around 44 million people being added to the population of cities every year, equivalent to 120,000 people each day. The huge increase in urban populations require the construction of more than 20,000 new dwellings, 250 kilometers of new roads, and additional infrastructure to supply more than six megaliters of potable water (Asian Development Bank. 2008).editorial, urban issues, Asia, TERUM

BOOK REVIEW ON ELEMENTS OF URBANISM; AUTHOR: ALPOPI CRISTINA

In september 2008 has been published at Universitaria Publishing House of Bucharest, Romania, the book "Elements of Urbanism", written by Cristina Alpopi. Cristina Alpopi, Associate Professor at Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, is a dedicated researcher and a prolific author of articles and papers in the field of Urbanism. The book contains 8 chapters very rich in concepts, theories, ideas, representing a contribution to the development of the literature in the field of urbanism.

An Assessment of the Quality of the Romanian Urban Web Sites

The local authorities are giving increasing prominence to provision of information online through websites. Seen in a wider perspective, the urban web sites play a key role in allowing every citizen to achieve their full potential and to participate fully in society. Conversely, citizens' awareness and expectations of Internet based online public services have also increased. Although the numbers of the different urban web portals have increased rapidly in the last years, the success of these sites will largely depend on their accessibility and quality. The purpose of this report is to present the results from a comprehensive assessment of the urban web sites across Romania. An instrument has been developed for evaluating the quality of the websites. It is based upon approaches to evaluation that have been documented in the published literature, interviews of people responsible for websites, and testing of websites at different levels of local government. Results show that not only are there wide variations in the spectrum of information and services provided by these urban web sites, but that significant work still needs to be undertaken in order to make these sites examples of "best practice" e-Government services. The overall picture shows that there is still much work to be done, but the study identifies key areas of concern which, if dealt with, would lead to the situation improving significantly.urban web sites, e-government, quality

BOOK REVIEW: THE GREEK PRESENCE IN MEHEDINTI. AUTHORS: PAULA SCALCAU AND TUDOR RATOI

A new monograph regarding the role of the Greek element in the Romanian society has been recently published by the Greek Union of Romania. Its authors are two well-known historians from Turnu Severin: Paula Scalcau and Tudor Ratoi. The 328 pages study traces the Greek presence in the Mehedinti area, from the first Rhodos amphorae and Macedonian coins discovered in this region and the first Greeks who followed emperor Traian in Dacia to the Greek Community which exists today.Greeks, Romania, Mehedinti

EVALUATION OF TRUST IN GOVERNMENT: THE CASE OF ROMANIA

The goal of the present study was to develop the profile of the social, economic, and political factors affecting trust in government. To accomplish with this goal a survey was conducted. A questionnaire was designed to gather the necessary information. The questionnaire was composed of 7 questions, unambiguous and easy to complete. The analysis revealed that the citizen’s trust in the Romanian government is very low.trust, government, survey

MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC PASSENGER TRANSPORT SERVICES DURING ECONOMIC CRISIS

Urban transport and especially its core component, local public transport of passengers, is one of the most important functions of a city, because through it is ensured the unity and coherence of all its activities. In this context, the article presents the main characteristics of urban transportation in Romania.public transport, passenger transport, cities, Romania.

THE FORMING SYSTEM IN ROMANIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

In the context of the Romanian public administration reform, the continuous formation of human resources becomes a solid background. In order to implement all continuous forming programs and realizing the public administration reform objectives there is needed the establishment of the priority problems and the time horizon they must be approached in. All these aspects are mentioned, detailed in the following article.Forming system, public administration, human resource management

URBAN AIR QUALITY. A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MAJOR EUROPEAN CAPITALS

In this article, the authors made a comparative analysis of air quality in several European capitals, with the goal to identify the place occupied by Bucharest among the most polluted cities in the European Union. For this analysis we used data reported by various member states, as well as data provided by the Romanian National Network of Air Quality. The comparative analysis presents the last years evolution for the concentration of the most important substances involved in the atmospheric pollution process, emphasizing the place occupied by Bucharest city according to the quality index value of the cities.air quality, European capitals, comparative analysis, pollution, urban environment.

Information management in healthcare organizations

The health care industry is currently experiencing numerous fundamental changes. Healthcare organizations (HCOs) are increasingly challenged to look at their operations and find new opportunities to reorganize their processes, in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their services, reduce costs, be more competitive, and also provide high quality and more personalized patient care. This new business strategy requires HCOs to implement new Information and Communication Technologies, such as Internet applications, enterprise information systems, and mobile technologies, in order to achieve their desired business changes and results, mainly through better information management methods and techniques. Based on these perspectives, this article aims to initially define and discuss the key challenges and opportunities for promoting high quality and cost effective care in HCOs. It describes the fundamental and important aspects of information management, as well as the technology drivers that aim to improve the generation and flow of health information within HCOs.information technologies, management, healthcare organizations