Stefan Johansson

Jan Gulliksen

Ann Lantz

Cognitive Accessibility for Mentally Disabled Persons

Keywords: Mental disability, mental problems, cognitive accessibility, digital society, inclusion

des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Introduction

The ambition to fully include persons with disabilities in the society is manifested in the UN-declaration of human rights and in international and national legislation. The ambition is to include persons with different kinds of disabilities in all aspects of life.

The example presented in this paper is located in Sweden, a country with high ambitions in this field.

In the study described in this paper we have explored the questions: Is the society digitally accessible for persons with mental disabilities? It is likely that the fast development of devices, services and techniques open up opportunities for a better life but it is also likely that different kind of obstacles may occur. So, is the digital society accessible for persons with mental disabilities provided they live in a highly developed welfare state? What are the digital needs of people with mental disabilities in the society? How do persons with mental disabilities cope with this situation? -What are the benefits and obstacles they face? Based on the answers to these questions we wanted to explore if there is a digital divide between citizens in general and citizens with mental disabilities. And if so; what is the nature of this divide?

Mental health problems

Mental health is defined by WHO as "a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community". Furthermore WHO defines a mental disorder in the following way: "Mental disorders comprise a broad range of problems, with different symptoms. However, they are generally characterized by some combination of abnormal thoughts, emotions, behavior and relationships with others" [START_REF] Who | Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020[END_REF]. Mental problems are by WHO pointed out as global problems [START_REF] Who | Mental Health Action Plan[END_REF]. The absence of mental health is described in different ways. In this text we use the terms mental problems or mental disability and by that we include any kind of mental problem that are disabling a person in the everyday life.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) publish statistics 1 on mental health in the United States saying that 26.2 % of the US population experience some form of mental disorder each year and 46.4 % will experience a mental problem in their lifetime. Of all US adults 4.1 % are estimated to have serious mental problems.

Persons with mental disabilities are often described as at risk from being excluded from the mainstream society. In the public debate this group is often described as "vulnerable" or "socio-economic weak". It is known that a long period of mental problems increase the risk of being unemployed and of dying earlier than the average population [START_REF] Oecd | Making Mental Health Count[END_REF][START_REF] Oecd | Factsheet Highlights from OECD ' s Mental Health and Work Review[END_REF].

The empirical study presented in this paper is based on cases from Sweden and we will therefore present some data concerning mental problems among Swedish citizens.

Background on the case of mental health problems in Sweden

As an example of a state with a highly developed society with a comprehensive public welfare, we have decided to look at the case of Sweden. According to the OECD 2 , the Swedish tax-to-GDP ratio was 44.3 % in 2012. The highest rate in the world is in Denmark, 48.0 and the U.S rate is 24.3 Sweden has a relatively large geographic area (449 964 km 2 ) with a relatively small population (9.7 million in 2014).

Sweden is a highly digitized country. A very large proportion of the population is using the Internet and has access to fast broadband 3 . Broadband coverage is high even in remote parts of the country 4 . Commercial and public services have quickly built up a digital presence. In most cases the digital presence is added to traditional channels for information and communication, but there are also examples where access to the net is the only, or a much cheaper, way to perform certain services.

A few examples:

 67 % of Swedes' income declarations 2014 are done digitally 5 Application for a place at upper secondary school must be done via the Internet6  62 % of Sweden's municipalities communicate with citizens through social media (2014)7  The majority of Swedish banks will no longer handle cash. They push for the clients to use cards 8In Sweden it is The National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) 9 or the Public Health Agency of Sweden (Folkhälsomyndigheten) 10 who publishes statistics on mental health. In surveys 20-40 % of the population state that they suffer from mental problems and 5-10 % is estimated having so severe problems that they need treatment but only 3-4 % is in an active treatment.

The Swedish government has assigned The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) 11 to monitor if any problems emerge, especially for persons with disabilities. As a part of this monitoring effort, we have been commissioned to carry out a study on "Electronic communication for persons with mental disabilities ".

PTS has also given us a mandate to carry out two literature studies "Accessibility to electronic communication for people with cognitive disabilities: a systematic search and review of empirical evidence" [START_REF] Borg | Accessibility to electronic communication for people with cognitive disabilities: a systematic search and review of empirical evidence[END_REF] and "Accessibility to electronic communication for people with cognitive disabilities: a review of grey literature" [START_REF] Lantz | Accessibility to electronic communication for people with cognitive disabilities: a review of grey literature[END_REF]. Both studies display great gaps of knowledge in this field.

Digital society

In this paper we use the term digital society to cover the broad and diverse use of technical devices, services and technologies that has changed the way we communicate and interact with both persons and systems. This development has come to in-clude both how we interact with friends and acquaintances as well as businesses and government agencies. This is an ongoing process and the changes have occurred over a short period of time. All societies are subject to these changes but differ in how far progress has gone. In a specific society it is likely that there are differences between how different citizens and groups of citizens embrace this development.

In this study we have explored how persons with mental disabilities in a highly developed society with a comprehensive public welfare cope with this situation. The overall question is if the society can be described as digitally accessible for persons with mental disabilities.

Method

The overall research approach follows the tradition of Action Research [START_REF] Lewin | Action research and minority problems[END_REF] More specifically the method is heavily influenced by the tradition of Participatory Design [8, 9.] or the more Scandinavian version of Cooperative Design [START_REF] Kyng | Design at work: Cooperative design of computer systems[END_REF][START_REF] Ehn | Work-oriented design of computer artifacts[END_REF] and we have therefore used an adapted form of Participatory Action Research [START_REF] Whyte | Participatory action research[END_REF]. We have in the past seen many problems to actually manage to work well with user participation [START_REF] Gulliksen | User centered design in practice-problems and possibilities[END_REF] and the traditional methods for user participation are not sufficient when users have mental problems. In this project we have explored and developed methods adapted to perform better for persons with mental problems. This work is presented in a paper called "User participation when users have mental and cognitive disabilities" (manuscript) [START_REF] Johansson | User participation when users have mental and cognitive disabilities (manuscript).Sweden[END_REF].

We have used a concept called study circles [15]. Study circles have a long tradition in the Nordic countries. A study circle is a group of adults that meet and discuss a specific topic. It is done by free will and in a democratic way. There is no teacher; instead a study circle has a leader who facilitates the discussions.

The concept of study circles has been further developed to so called research circles as a way for researchers and practitioners to work together to produce knowledge and gain deeper understanding [START_REF] Rönnerman | Research Circles[END_REF]. The practitioners formulate problems and try to resolve them. The basic idea is that researchers and practitioners meet and learn about each other's knowledge and experiences. In a structured process this will lead to actions, reflection and to new knowledge.

Basic study setting

In the study over 100 persons (aged 15-75) with a mental disability participated. Activities have been implemented in major cities, smaller towns and rural areas. The participants have various diagnoses such as bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia, panic disorder or other mental disorders. They have had their problems for a long time. In addition to different kind of mental problems most of the participants can also describe a number of different types of cognitive difficulties. Participants are members in an organization for persons with mental problems, called RSMH.

The study went on between October 2013 and February 2014.

Groups of 8-12 persons where formed and each group met at least three times with at least one week in between each meeting. A meeting lasted for three hours. Every meeting was documented with text and important discussions and important findings were documented with illustrations, so called Mock-up Visualizations [START_REF] Johansson | User participation when users have mental and cognitive disabilities (manuscript).Sweden[END_REF].

In three cities we arranged half-day activities as a onetime occasion. The activity lasted for 4-5 hours. Having only one opportunity to discuss created a lot of frustration among participants. So in comparison; the three time approach was considered far better.

For most of the participants accessibility was equivalent with thresholds in the physical environment. So each set of meetings started with a short presentation on the topic "What is accessibility in the perspective of mental disabilities".

This was followed by a session where the participant could prioritize what to discuss during the rest of the meetings. The initial question was "What is it in your life that creates the biggest obstacles? Initially, there was no connection to the digital society. This connection was made later in the process. During 10-15 minutes the participants individually was asked to write down issues on post-it notes. Notes with similar issues were grouped together and in the next phase each participant was given 5 points. They were asked to use the points to prioritize what they wanted to discuss. They could go "all in" and place all five on one single item or they could spread them. By using this procedure silent participants can have as much influence on what to discuss as more talkative participants. In each group there were some participants who initially were silent and a few that remained silent almost to the end of the third session. The result was a prioritized list of topics. We went back to the list of topics during the whole process to check that prioritized issues were discussed but sometimes new topics emerged.

Initially the study circle leader has no influence at all on what to discuss. The researcher's role is to act as a the circle leader. Later in the process the researcher connects the discussion with questions about electronic communication, design and accessibility.

Analysis

During each session two assistants were present with the task of taking notes. The researcher and a coordinator from RSMH also took notes and all notes where consolidated into minutes. The minutes were distributed by mail or by post to all participants with a call for comments. Some discussions were visualized with so called MockUp Visualizations [START_REF] Johansson | User participation when users have mental and cognitive disabilities (manuscript).Sweden[END_REF]. The visualizations were made by the researcher.

Minutes, Post-it notes and other material produced during different sessions was organized into groups of related subjects; How I am treated, Economy, Health Care and Medication, Work, Information, Housing, Light and sound, Memory and Assistance. In next step the material was analyzed and organized into different subjects such as Mobile phone, Internet, Computer, Online services. Participants were included also in analyzing the collected material mainly by discussing the MockUp Visualizations.

One example of a MockUp is shown below: Fig. 1. This picture was produced to visualize that in every caring and supporting system, invented to help, there are counterforces that work in another direction. For example; a good system can be damaged by forcing the user to fill in too complex forms or use to complex web services. This picture has become a powerful tool to pinpoint counterproductive elements in systems, organizations and services.

Results

Mental disabilities often leads to a variety of cognitive difficulties [START_REF] Mcgurk | Cognitive training and supported employment for persons with severe mental illness: one-year results from a randomized controlled trial[END_REF]. When facing different kind of practical problems it is often fruitful to analyze them as cognitive accessibility problems.

Participants in this study describe problems with: execution abilities, memory, concentration and focus. They also describe how persistent mental problems gradually affect such as: self-confidence, self-esteem, trust and security.

The cognitive difficulties the participants describe can often be linked to ICF, International Classification on Functioning, Disability and Health12 in the following areas (numbers indicate the code of the ICF system):

 Sustaining attention, b1400  Shifting Attention, b1401  Short-term memory, b1440  Organization and planning, b1641  Time management, b1642  Problem-solving, b1646  Experience of Time, b1802  Undertaking a complex task, d2101  Completing multiple tasks, d2201  Handling stress, d2401

The picture emerging from the stories told by the participants is that they face a number of accessibility problems but it is also possible to see that digital devices and digital services can play very important roles in the everyday life for a mentally disabled person.

Mobile phonesa hub and a lifeline

Every participant in the study had a mobile phone. They described their mobile phone as a hub and a precious commodity. Many of the participants use the mobile phone just as a phone. They used it to talk and to send text messages. Some used it for surfing on the Internet and for e-mail but talking and texting is the most common use. For many the mobile phone works as a center for communication with friends, caregivers, authorities and colleagues (for the minority that had a work). The majority did not have a regular phone and many did not have a computer of their own. A reason for not surfing and using e-mail was that many had old mobile phones or new cheap models that could not be classified as smartphones. In comparison to Swedes in general persons with mental disabilities seems to have less access to smartphones. 65 % of the Swedes use a smart phone and when discussing this with the participants they described a situation where a majority of them can't afford buying a smartphone. Some of the older models could use e-mail but only a few of the participants knew how to configure this to work. Many of the participants are trying to use different features they have in their mobile phone. The most common seems to be some kind of notes. They also sometimes use the clock to get reminders of important things to do. Even if there is a calendar function and often other functions in the phone, there are few persons who use them. They seem to be too cognitively difficult to use and participants describe that it is a too big step to start using a feature even if you would benefit a lot from using it in the long run.

Only a small group of the participants have any experience of the more advanced features that can be found in smartphones. As a consequence they have not tested apps that could be used as cognitive support. Some participants have heard about apps for time managing, task planning, feedback and reminders on the market. They have also heard about apps for cognitive behavioral therapy and information management. Many participants call for opportunities to test and learn more.

Text messages as a personal archive

Many participants described that incoming text-messages works as an archive. It is much easier to search among those messages in a phone than trying to find a letter that was delivered by the postal service. Several participants described difficulties with postal messages. They often get lost and it happens that they do not open letters at all. Many described that they wanted more electronic communication with caregivers, government agencies and other important contacts. Over time many persons stored large number of messages in their phones and it becomes difficult to find in-formation and sometimes they have experienced insufficient room for storage. Participants lack simple ways to save and move text messages.

Important information gets lost

Almost all participants had experienced losing important information when changing mobile phone, upgrading their phone or upgrading or changing a subscription. Several participants describe this as a huge calamity. Stored contacts, stored SMSmessages and notes turned out to be the most troublesome information to loose. "You get those questions whether you want to save to SIM-card or the phone, but it always ends up with me losing important stuff. I do not know how to do", one person said.

Flat rate for mobile phone calls

Having a flat rate is one of the most important measures to achieve increased accessibility to the society for a mentally disabled person. A person in the study expressed it this way: "The biggest accessibility-thing that happened to us with mental disabilities is flat rates for mobile phones." As the mobile phone is central for persons with mental disabilities a low or predictable cost for subscriptions and calls is very important. When these costs vary it creates uncertainty and insecurity. Either "How high will the bill be?" or "How long can I talk before the prepaid card is empty?" A flat rate eliminates those concerns.

Flat rate for mobile surfing

It is a large group in this study who do not surf with their phone. Their mobile phone cannot handle it, or they have no subscription. Among the persons who surf via the mobile phone cost control is very important and they are looking for low cost or flat rate subscriptions. It is however very difficult to predict the actual cost of a subscription and comparing different subscriptions is considered very difficult.

Let's talk you through the night

An example where flat rate makes a truly vital difference is when persons with mental disabilities help each other through the night. Most suicide attempts are done during the night, especially when night turns to dawn. And almost everyone in the study could tell of friends committing suicide. Spontaneously organized groups are formed where persons with mental problems help each other and establish phone connections with a friend on the brink of committing suicide. It works like a relay and different persons take turns on speaking to the person at risk. As one participant said "Nowadays you don't need to think about the cost, thanks to flat rate. It was really frustrating when you ran out of money and you had to hook up leaving a desperate friend all alone in the middle of the night. Some friends did not make it".

Parallel mobile phone subscriptions

Several of the people we met during the study have experienced having parallel mobile phone subscriptions. Without really understanding, they have signed up for a new subscription that also means that they will continue to pay on an old one. It also happens that they pay for Internet surf although they use phones with no Internet capability.

This seems to be the result of aggressive marketing in combination with poor impulse control and difficulties in understanding information about subscriotions..

Postal address and letters is not the safest way to get in touch

Handling officers in the health and social care and other authorities usually just recognize your formally registered address as a contact point and they are forced to do so due to legislation. If the authority wants to provide you with information or a call for action from you they will send a letter to the address where you are registered. The participants describe several problems connected with addresses and letters.

The most common problem is that a person simply does not open letters; to open a letter is associated with great discomfort and anxiety. Other problems are that persons for various reasons choose not to live at the address they stated, are homeless or voluntarily or forcibly admitted to a mental health care institution.

Participants in the study told us that you very well know that you should do something about received letters, but the ability is simply not there. Rather the knowledge of what needs to be done builds more anxiety and worries.

When a person is institutionalized for care contact channels are broken

People with severe mental disabilities can be hospitalized for periods of time. This may be both through free will and through force. During this period the mobile phone often is the only channel for communication alongside with personal visits from friends or relatives. Several of the persons in the study testify that they or others have got into difficulties because letters sent to their home address is not re-distributed to the clinic and you have to organize that someone drops by your home and collect the mail. Psychiatric clinics do not seem to have clear procedures for how this issue should be dealt with. It is the clinic who decides whether you should be allowed to use a phone or not. Participants describe restrictions in phone usage is a common disciplinary tool. They regard it as a major assault being deprived of their phone and without it they have no channels of communication open.

Meetings with caregivers and other authorities

The study shows that there are significant problems related to meetings. Persons with mental disabilities may be called to a large number of meetings. In some cases, there are over 100 meetings a year. There are various actors who call for such meetings.

Often they represent different county and municipality organizations, but sometimes also a government agency. Also private actors invite to meetings. Many participants describe this as a major problem. You are supposed to manage all this by your own and remembering calls, remembering what is being discussed and remembering to carry out different tasks between meetings is described as troublesome.

One of the participants drew the picture below. It shows different organizations you may have contact with. Taking this one step further we discussed how many meetings it can be under a specific period of time. Schematically, it can be described as follows:

The consequence of missing a meeting

In many cases, if you miss an appointment, you will be billed with a penalty. The various organizations have rules for how a cancellation should be done. If a person is absent or cancels too late a cancellation fee will be charged. So do many psychiatric clinics in Sweden. The purpose of this is to discipline patients so that they do attend at meetings.

Several persons in the study have testified that invoices sent from the county council psychiatric clinics eventually lead to payment defaults. It seems to happen like this: Periodically you feel so bad that you simply cannot attend at meetings. Depression, anxiety, or other conditions make it impossible to take off for the meeting, and also impossible to cancel in time. The county council's computer system records this as a case for a cancellation fee and sends an invoice by letter. As mentioned earlier it is common that letter remains unopened and this will eventually end up with a payment default.

Participants point out that they find it difficult to understand why the clinic that is supposed to support them put them into trouble when acting precisely as expected from a person with a mental and cognitive disorder. The participants want both calls for meetings and documentation to be handled in digital channels. The also call for online connections between home and clinic.

Computers

According to the participants many persons with mental disabilities do not have access to a computer at home. But many also do not have a work so they do not get access to computers through their work either. If they do have access to computers, the computers are often old with poor performance and frequent malfunction and with software that are no longer supported or functioning well. Several of the participants in the study inform us that public authorities nowadays require modern computers and software to manage their services online. An actual recent example is the Swedish national agency for unemployed. Participants in our study have been told that they are expected to log in daily to report on their level of job-seeking activity. One participant in our study reported that she on a daily basis must log in and apply for jobs and report these activities in the system. At the same time as she was engaged by the same agency in work practices with a company. She informed the agency that she did not have access to a computer at home. She finds it problematic to do these tasks at her work practice, since she is anxious to show that she is able to follow the rules and do a good job. Consequently, they suggest her to come to the agency office to enter the information. But to do that, she would have to leave the work place during working time. She felt caught in a trap.

Computers at the local RSMH associations

As a member in RSMH you can often use computers and occasionally also get help with for example paying bills or sending e-mails at their local meeting places. These computers are often very old with frequent malfunction.

The recent development trend with simplification of computers and software has not yet reached the target audience for our study. Many of the participants report on loosing important information due to frequent computers breakdowns. Having important data "in the cloud" and thereby protect it from disappearing is not yet a common solution.

Accessing computers in public libraries

A smaller group of participants visit libraries where they can use public computers for free that often work well but have a variety of restrictions that can cause trouble.

Often there are time limits on how long a person can use a library computer. The rule exists to provide access to as many people as possible. But this creates stress.

The computers are often located in open areas where groups of people sit together and use them. There may be both advantages and disadvantages from this. For some users, it creates a sense of security, for others it is a concern. If you use the library's computer to pay bills, for example, you may not want to be completely open and transparent with this information. There may also be privacy issues relating to people "looking over ones shoulder".

Tablets

In the study, we intended to discuss the participant's experiences of using tablets. None of the participants in the study has had their own tablet. Some had occasionally tried one, but in general the experience of tablets among the participants was marginal. According to the national survey 13 "The Swedes and the Internet 2014", 45 % of the population sometimes uses a tablet and 25 % use a tablet on a daily basis.

4.7

The Internet and web accessibility Every person in the study uses Internet to some degree. Several persons could describe difficulties with the use of web pages. Most troublesome are pages with:  Unwanted movements or flickering  Cluttered design  Evil design (when design is used to persuade or trick you to do something)  Functions and services with login  Lack of logic and consequence in concept and design  Lack of trustworthiness The participants were not aware of the existence of a standard for web accessibility [START_REF]Information technology --W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines[END_REF]. They did not connect problems they experience using web pages with poor accessibility rather they regarded the difficulties as personal shortcomings. Many expressed a lack of confidence in their own abilities to understand and use resources on the web. In some cases the self-esteem was affected by repeated failures. It is common that persons with mental disabilities call for help from friends or relatives to carry out tasks online. Some described this as an invasion of privacy but they really could not see any alternative. One example is paying bills online, since online bank-ing is considered difficult. Other example where help often is needed is buying tickets or online shopping.

Public and commercial services online

The participants have little experience of using online services provided by municipalities, counties and state. An increasing amount of services has gone online the last years but they are not commonly used by the participants.

Many of the participants have bought tickets online and some have tested online shopping but when asked about preferences a majority says they rather would do this by interacting with a person rather than a machine. Some participants argue that many probably would change opinion if they were given the opportunity to learn more and to try and test devices and services.

Captcha, eID and other login methods

According to the participants in the study there is no really good way to "prove who you are" on the Internet. Most persons in the study did not use eID. Overall, there are severe problems with login procedures. Several participants seem to directly avoid any solutions that require login. Many of the participants in the study talked about the difficulties to manage passwords and other codes. Many also specifically mentioned CAPTCHA (acronym for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) as an obstacle that they cannot manage to pass. CAPTCHA was even described as "evil design" by one person.

Direct Debit (Autogiro)

Many of the participants in the study tell us that the direct debit is a very important function. It is an example of a function which compensates for periods of problems with undertaking complex tasks or problems with planning. Bills registered for direct debt is automatically paid every month. Persons, who have lived with their mental problems for a long time, often advice newcomers to arrange for direct debt as soon as possible. You can get that help from the society, but often first after that you got a payment default.

Fixed time slots, telephone queues and automatic responses

A majority of the participants are strongly opposed to what we might call modern PBX (Private Branch Exchange) technology. Several participants said that they hang up immediately if they hear an automated voice that begins urge to "press 1 if you ...". They are not even listening to the options. Systems with music played during periods of waiting are regarded as disturbing by many and totally inaccessible by some. For some, music, recurring information from an automated voice and waiting is so disturbing that they lose the reason why they initially called.

Another problem is fixed time slots for incoming calls. Some participants gave almost the same story: If you start every day with medication the medicine can as a side effect make it impossible for you to make telephone calls for a period of time. This means you cannot call someone in the morning and if someone only answers on fixed hours at that period you basically cannot phone them. Waiting in telephone queues is also described as very problematic.

Little use of assistive tools

In the study, there were several participants who probably would have found various IT-based assistive devices very useful. No one had access to any such tools. One of the participants had tried to get support for a memory supporting aid called Comai but it was rejected. The solution was considered too expensive for her needs. Previous studies have also shown that persons with mental disabilities find it very difficult to get assistive tools [START_REF] Adolfsson | Kognitiva hjälpmedel Nationell uppföljning av hjälpmedelsförsörjningen för personer med kognitiva funktionsnedsättningar" (Assistive aids for persons with cognitive disablities[END_REF].

Discussion

Since the dawn of the "information society" in the 1990s there has been an interest in exploring who is included and who is excluded from using the emerging new devices and the new services. The use of computers and the use of the Internet were of particular interest. It soon became clear that age, level of education, work presence, and level of income is key factors in this dynamic and rather complex context [START_REF] Van Dijk | The digital divide as a complex and dynamic phenomenon[END_REF]. Disability is another, sometimes forgotten, factor. Early studies on how persons with disabilities used the Internet or had access to computers revealed a "digital gap" [START_REF] Kaye | Computer and Internet Use Among People with Disabilities[END_REF][START_REF] Dobransky | The disability divide in Internet access and use. Information[END_REF]. An important question was if this gap would close or widen over time? Was it a question of late adopters who lagged behind but soon would keep up with the rest of the population or was it a question of a more permanent exclusion?

The early studies included persons with vision and hearing impairment, limitations in mobility and sometimes reading and writing difficulties. Gradually persons with dyslexia, attention disorders, autism spectrum disorders and learning difficulties have been included in digital accessibility research but it is still hard to find studies exploring how accessible the digital society is for those groups and it is still harder to find anything about persons with mental disabilities.

What we can see is that in any given point in time when someone ask the question "Is there a digital divide between people with disabilities and people without disabilities the answer is "yes". Key factors for this exclusion seems to be fewer opportunities to get in contact with new technology, lack of competence and low incomes. Often a person with a disability reports a significant desire to increase their use of, what for the time of the study is regarded as, modern technology [START_REF] Ennis | Can't surf, won't surf: The digital divide in mental health[END_REF]. This indicates that being outside the digital society is not a self-selected choice, rather a consequence of poor accessibility.

Our study shows a similar pattern. We have focused on persons with mental disabilities since little is known about how this group copes with today's digital society.

We started out by asking the questions: Is the society digitally accessible for persons with mental disabilities? How do persons with mental disabilities cope with this situation? What are the benefits and obstacles they face? Based on the answers to these questions we wanted to discuss if there is a digital divide between the citizens in general and the citizens with mental disabilities.

We have explored a broad range of devices, services and situations and the conclusion is that a digital divide clearly exists. The society is not digitally accessible for persons with mental disabilities. The participants in this study can describe numerous situations supporting this conclusion. Most of the problems the users face are of a cognitive nature. It is difficult to learn, understand, remember and recall how devices and interfaces work.

Having said that, they can also describe numbers of situations where modern technology work in their favor, especially the mobile phone and the decreasing costs for communication for both telephone calls and for using mobile Internet connections. For many participants their mobile phone is a highly valued property. The consequences of losing it or lose information stored in it can be disastrous.

Weak digital support in caregiving processes

When facing mental problems and the consequences thereof a person gets in contact with a number of actors; health and care services, social care services, enforcement and police authorities, special housing services etc. The communication between individuals and those actors do not make use of modern tools for communication. Information is delivered on paper by traditional postal service; the disabled person is often supposed to remember and accurately retell oral information given by one instance when visiting another, making the quality of information heavily depending on the disabled person's own capability to remember, recall and retell the information. A specific caregiver acts as they are the only one in contact with the person with a mental disability. They seem unaware of the problems the large amount of meetings creates. There is little coordination between different operators so a person can get calls for several meetings during a short period of time, even the same day. Better and coordinated booking systems, better communication and exchange of information would create major opportunities for improvement in this field.

It seems that many times the development of IT support for specific caregiving situations is optimized from the caregiver's perspective and from the singular situation it is supposed to support, not taking a holistic perspective from the person seeking treatment or support.

Low experience of using modern technology

A majority of the participants use old mobile phones and old computers. Besides the hassles that the use of older systems brings, it also means that most of the participants do not know the potential of modern technology. As an example, there is a variety of software and apps that could serve to support people with mental and cognitive disabilities, but these do not work on the older equipment that they are using.

Smartphones and tablets have a potential to improve the access to different kinds of services and to make it easier to communicate and to be integrated in the digital society. The participants in our study describe a wish to be more included in the society and an increased digital presence is considered important. They call for activities where they can learn more and try devices and applications that could help them in different aspects of life.

Future research

As the research needs in this field and the knowledge gap is so big we intend to pursue more research with this user category. In a project in cooperation with the social service in Stockholm, starting early 2015, we will explore and test how modern technology can be used to improve the communication between homeless persons with mental disabilities and the social care services. The knowledge on how persons with mental problems experience the web needs to be deepened but the results so far indicates that standards such as the web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) [START_REF] Rönnerman | Research Circles[END_REF] do not fully support the needs of persons with mental disabilities.

Conclusions

Increasing the cognitive accessibility for persons with mental disabilities is a very important challenge. When we survey the field we find very few published scientific studies to support the development of ICT for this group.

In short, we want to point out the following points as the most important discoveries we have made  The important role of the mobile phone  The importance of flat rates, both for phone and internet  The low use and experience of smartphones and tablets  The use of old, decommissioned, computers and old software  The low use of public and commercial services online  The reluctance to use login functions  The problems with protecting important information in mobile phones  The lack of connection between IT-systems used by caregivers and the personal devices used by persons with mental disabilities  The struggle to keep up with the introduction of new digital devices and digital services as they emerge  The great interest to acquire further training and competence to better cope with the digital society Working with users with mental and cognitive disabilities does not only give us insights into their lives and needs, but we also learn a lot about ourselves, our prejudice and lacking knowledge about this group and their needs. We strongly believe that research into cognitive and mental accessibility needs to expand, and the knowledge gained may not only be used to improve the design of ICT support for this group, but improve the accessibility and usability for all users. Some of our findings needs to be addressed to social science or other research fields. What can be done in the field of HCI then? At this stage we can see a number of interesting issues:  Making the complicated and complex more intuitive , easy and cost effective  Making the consequences of errors and mistakes less ominous  Design for trust, self-esteem and self confidence  Design login and identification techniques accepted by all users  Better communication between social-and health care systems/staffs and the personal devices used  Implementation of assistive technology features into standard devices and services

Fig. 2 .

 2 Fig. 2. The person with mental problems is represented by the box in the middle. The boxes that are connected to this person represent different types of societal actors. Every word around these squares represents an organization/person that the person has contacts with.

Fig. 3 .

 3 Fig. 3. Each dot represents a meeting. Different actors often do not coordinate their activities. It can easily be up to 100 meetings a year.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/Statistics/index.shtml

http://www.oecd.org/ctp/tax-policy/revenue-statistics-ratio-change-previous-year.htm

http://en.soi2014.se/

http://bredbandskartan.pts.se/

www.skatteverket.se

www.gyantagningen.se

www.skl.se

http://www.dn.se/ekonomi/kontanterna-forsvinner-fran-bankerna/

http://www.socialstyrelsen.se/psykiskhalsa

http://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/about-folkhalsomyndigheten-the-public-health-agencyof-sweden/

http://www.who.int/classifications/icf/en/

http://en.soi2014.se/

Acknowledgements

We want to thank all participants from RSMH and all central and local organizers of the meetings. We also want to thank The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) for funding this project. We are grateful for valuable comments provided by the reviewers.


Dr Daniela Antonescu

The analysis of regional disparities in Romania with Gini/Struck coefficients of concentration

Keywords: JEL classification: R1, R12, R15 regional disparities, concentration/diversification, regional analysis

A key objective of regional development policy is to reduce disparities between regions and to ensure a relatively balanced level of development. To achieve this goal there are necessary studies and social and economic analysis, based on certain techniques and methods of evaluation.

In scientific literature, there are plenty of models that can be applied to assess regional disparities.

One of the methods commonly used in practice is related to the calculation and analysis of the degree of concentration/diversification of activities within a region.

The increase or decrease of the degree of concentration of certain activities or areas of activity in a region provides information on: the level of overall economic development; economic development and growth rate; the specific of the region, the potential, local traditions, etc.

The expert analysis indicate that, in a high level of overall development or a sustained economic growth rate, there are favorable conditions for economic activities to locate in any region, so they are relatively uniformly distributed throughout the country.

Knowing the degree of concentration and also the influence factors is useful in making decisions and setting regional policy measures. This article proposes a synthetic analysis of the development level of regions in Romania with the concentration/diversification model (Gini/Struck coefficients), based on the existing key statistical indicators.

Introduction

Lately, an increased interest, in regional research area, presents the concentration analysis, with which it can be illustrated the intensity of certain phenomena on economic and social categories, the dominant areas, the territorial distribution of some phenomena, etc. In addition, the concentration analysis allows comparability of data between identical or different phenomena, starting from the same or different number of units, for the same year or different years, etc.

Given the above considerations, this article proposes an assessment of the degree of concentration/diversification in the developing regions of Romania, through a method commonly used by experts in the field: analysis of regional concentration/diversification degree. This method of analysis is also known by the name of Gini/Struck coefficients method [START_REF] Antonescu | Regional development in Romaniaconcept, mechanisms, institutions[END_REF] .

To achieve the analysis, there were used statistical indicators that exist at regional level, grouped by main areas, so that it can be covered the whole range of economic and social activities of scientific interest: demography (total population, urban, rural), workforce (employees), economic potential, health, telecommunications, urban infrastructure, investment, regional GDP.

Interpreting the results of this analysis took into account the fact that a higher value of the concentration/diversification coefficients involves an increase in disparities at territorial level, while a lower value may reflect a balanced distribution of some general or specific activities/phenomena. Also, the interpretation of results was envisaged that the Region 8 Bucharest-Ilfov is a major urban area, which may significantly affect the obtained results.

2.

Theoretical and methodological issues concerning the analysis of concentration/diversification at regional level The methodology proposed in this article is based on the analysis of regional disparities performed on the coefficients of concentration/diversification (also known as indices of geographic distribution).

The interpretation of concentration coefficients shows, in the situation when they are close to zero level, the state of "equity", balance or proportion between the different analyzed elements. [START_REF] Nicolae | Basis of regional and urban economy[END_REF] (Figure 1).

Measuring the concentration degree of an activity in a region is achieved using the Lorentz curve and the Gini/Struck coefficient

The concentration curve (Lorentz-Gini) is a graphical representation of a q variable according to p, the values of the two variables being defined by the following relations:

p i = N i /Σn i (1)
q i = L i / Σx i n i (2)
where: pi represents the relative flocks cumulated till the i level of the clustering feature and qi represents the global values cumulated till the i level.

1

The Gini coefficient is the measure of statistical dispersion used, in particular, to represent the distribution of income and wealth disparities. Gini's coefficient was invented by the Italian statistician Corrado Gini and published in 1912 in his book entitled "Variability and mutability".

2

There are also other indicators related to this coefficient, which may provide an insight into the level of concentration/diversification of a regional series, as follows:

The Onicescu informational energy -calculated as a sum of the squares of weights of all parts of a collectivity; it has the disadvantage of variability of the minimum possible value, depending on the number of categories/groups and the corrected informational energy, which eliminates the inconvenience of the indicator;

The index of qualitative variation, its value ranging between 0-1; the more it approaches to 0, the more it increases the degree of uniformity (reduced variation);

The degree of polarization -polarization is a process that can run in parallel with the convergence, towards the emergence of homogeneous subgroups from the perspective of the regions which form the subgroup, but differences between subgroups become, over the time, more and more larger; this concept is also called "development in two speeds": (1) polarization of society and (2) the state of inequity.

The Lorentz curve gives the intensity image of the analyzed process or phenomenon, and also the ability to quantify its level of concentration. Thus, as the concentration curve deviates more from the square's diagonal, the disparities are larger and the concentration is stronger.

The Gini concentration coefficient is defined as ratio between the concentration surface and the square's area, but the square's area being equal to 1 or 100%, the index value is dimensionless, that is independent of the measure units of the studied variable. For normalization is also used the corrected GC (CGC), by the next formula: CGC takes values in the interval [0; 1]; for a better use of the CGC interval, it amounts to square.

The Struck concentration coefficient represents the corrected form of the Gini coefficient; the values may be in the interval [0; 1]; the minimum possible value (zero) is independent of the number of considered categories, which allows comparison with other structures. Struck concentration coefficient is calculated as:

   n i i p CG 1 2 n n CG CGC 1 1 / 1    1 2    n g n i

Cs

The analysis of indicators on the concentration/diversification can indicate us how far we place in comparison with the state of uniform and balanced distribution of economic results registered at the regional level.

Next, to identify the regional disparities in Romania, in 2008 and compared with 2000, we will use the Gini/Struck concentration/diversification coefficients method.

3.

The assessment of regional disparities

In 2008, at regional level, the concentration analysis was based on the two coefficients presented above (Gini/Struck), taking into account 10 groups of indicators.

If the value of the coefficients exceeded 0.3, there is a relative concentration that can be mentioned and taken into account, and if the value was close to 0.5, then we can speak of a high concentration.

The calculations were made at regional level, taking into account the inherent limitations related to available statistical databases.

Population at regional level

Regional concentration analysis was based on the following statistical indicators: total population, population in urban and rural areas.

The analysis of existing data shows that, in 2008, nationally, was a predominantly urban population (55.04%), while at regional level, five of the eight regions hold a majority urban population (South-East, West, North-West, Centre and Bucharest). Concerning the concentration of total population and in urban and rural areas, the coefficients value is below 0.15, which means that, in the year 2008 (July 1), there was no significant concentration of the total population in the eight development regions. Also, the urban population does not have an important concentration at regional level (Gini coefficient is below 0.1).

Regional allocation of the population is relatively balanced, the exception being given by the allocation of rural population at regional level, where, because the Bucharest-Ilfov region is highly urbanized, there is a greater concentration of rural population in the other regions (the Gini coefficient is 0.244) (Figure 3).

Compared with the year 2000 [START_REF] Paelinck | Spatial Econometrics[END_REF] , it is found that there was no increase in the concentration of total population, but there was a slight increase in the concentration of rural population (the Gini coefficient was 0.233 in 2000, while in 2008 it came to 0.244).

Workforce

The analysis of the concentration of workforce was based on the following indicators: employment in major economic sectors, number of employees and the number of unemployed.

The level of Gini/Struck coefficients reveals that there is a low concentration of the employed population in the eight development regions, the value of Gini coefficient being around 0.114 and the value of Struck coefficient being only 0.083. Compared with 2000, there is an increase in the degree of concentration of employed population (the Gini coefficient was 0.095 and Struck coefficient was 0.069).

There is a relative concentration of employed population in agriculture and forestry, the Gini coefficient being over 0.3 (the Gini coefficient is 0.341 and the Struck coefficient is 0.259), largely due to the importance of Bucharest-Ilfov urban region.

Although there is no strong phenomenon of the concentration of employed population in services (the Gini coefficient is 0.138 and the Struck coefficient is 0.101), there is a relatively high concentration in the two major categories of services: commercial (Gini coefficient is 0.343) and social (Gini coefficient is 0.335) (Figure 4).

Compared with 2000, there was a significant increase in the concentration of employed population in the service sector (in 2000, the Gini coefficient was 0.128 in commercial services and 0.008 in social services). At the same time, we can not say that there is a strong concentration of the number of employees at regional level, their distribution being relatively balanced in the territory (the Gini coefficient is 0.133). Regarding unemployment, it approaches the value of employees, not being recorded a high concentration (Figure 5). There are no significant changes in the Gini/Struck coefficients values compared with 2000.

Economic potential

To assess the concentration of economic potential at regional level there have been used the following indicators: the number of active firms at regional level, grouped by categories of size and the number of employees.

According to the figures recorded by the Gini/Struck coefficients, there are, at regional level, the following situations (Figure 6):



The economic and financial results

The analysis of economic results has been achieved in terms of total turnover, the turnover assigned to manufacturing industry and also to the one obtained by the business services sector.

As shown in Figure 7, there is a significant concentration of the total turnover (the Gini coefficient is 0.360 and the Struck coefficient is 0.275). The greatest concentration is recorded in the turnover of commercial/business services, which has a Gini coefficient of about 0.428. The concentration is especially visible in the Bucharest-Ilfov region, which owns 41% of the total turnover of the business sector.

Compared with 2000, it is recorded an increase of the concentration of total turnover, from 0.28 to 0.36 (an increase of about 30%) in 2008. At the same time, the concentration of turnover in commercial services recorded a much smaller increase (from 0.41, in 2000, to 0.428, in 2008).

Health infrastructure

The analysis of the concentration in this sector was made using the following specific indicators: the number of doctors in the region, the number of existing beds and the number of average staff that works in the sector.

As shown in Figure 8, there is no significant regional concentration (the values of the two coefficients are below 0.3).

Compared with 2000, there is a relatively small increase of the concentration of health infrastructure at regional level, especially regarding the number of beds (from 0.08 to 0.1) and the number of doctors (from 0.10 to 0.18). This increase may be due to the concentration of this sector in large urban centers and in the Bucharest-Ilfov region (which holds about 23% of the total number of doctors in Romania and 16% of the number of beds).

Urban infrastructure

Given the importance and complexity of this area, but also the existence of an increased volume of specific data, for the calculation of the degree of concentration/diversification of the sector on development regions there were used several key indicators:

 The simple length of gas distribution pipelines;

 The localities where thermal energy is distributed;

 Railway lines;

 The length of public roads.

As shown in Figure 9, the regional infrastructure has a relatively high concentration, with Gini coefficients values over 0.22 for the indicators simple length of gas distribution pipelines and localities where thermal energy is distributed, especially in the Center region (it holds about 0.25% of the total length of pipelines) and the South region (with 19% of total localities in which heat is distributed).

Slightly lower values are recorded at the other two indicators (railway lines and public roads), the Gini coefficient value being under 0.20. In this case, the regions that have high weights are: the West region, which owns 18% of the total railway lines, and the North-East region, which owns 17% of the total urban public roads Compared with 2000, there is an increase in the concentration of all examined indicators.

The investments

The analysis of regional concentration of investments was achieved with the help of the indicator: gross investments of active local units.

Thus, as shown in Figure 10, both Gini and Struck coefficient indicates that, at regional level, there is a significant concentration of gross investments, implying that, some regions (especially the Bucharest-Ilfov region) have achieved or have attracted a bigger number of investors. We can talk about an important concentration of investments at regional level, the values of the two coefficients being over 0.3 (the Gini coefficient is 0.396).

Compared with 2000, this concentration is increasing visibly and some regions are more attractive in terms of local investors (the Gini coefficient increased from 0.3 to about 0.4 in the period under review). As concerns the concentration of active companies in economic sectors, we may also find that, some regions are more attractive than others and the concentration is stronger.

Thus, in 2008, there was still a greater concentration in the real estate transactions field (the Gini coefficient was 0.403). At a big distance, there were other areas with a relative concentration: education (the Gini coefficient was 0.255), health (the Gini coefficient was 0.219), construction (the Gini coefficient was 0.194). The lowest regional concentration is represented by the hotels and restaurants sector (the Gini coefficient was 0.102), whose relatively uniform distribution at regional level could lead to a relatively balanced and sustainable development (Figure 11).

Education and research

As a result of the fact that the Bucharest-Ilfov region holds approximately 0.45% of total higher education institutions and 47% of researchers, the values of Gini/Struck coefficients being higher than those registered by other indicators examined so far.

Thus, in 2008, in this area, most indicators that have been analyzed have recorded significant concentrations at regional level, exception being the indicator number of universities/faculties, whose coefficient was below 0.3 (Gini coefficient was 0.260).

The most important concentration was recorded by the indicator number of researchers, whose Gini coefficient reached the value of 0.494, followed closely by the indicators: number of students (Gini coefficient was 0.471) and total research expenditures (Gini coefficient was 0.464) (Figure 12).

Local budget

At regional level, there is no significant concentration of the revenues and expenditures of local budgets. The value of Gini coefficient is below 0.12, which means a relatively balanced distribution at development regions level (Figure 13). Also, the Struck coefficient is approximately 0.085. There is a slight concentration of local expenditures (0.117), compared with the recorded revenues (0.116).

Regional concentration of GDP

The evolution of total GDP indicator concentration was calculated for the period 1995-2007.

In 1995, regional GDP concentration was very low, the Gini coefficient being 0.066. The difference between the highest and lowest value of the regional GDP was between the South and South-West region, including West (22%).

In 2000, there is a first clear trend of increasing concentration, the Gini coefficient reaching 0.142.

Calculated for 2007 [START_REF] Pecican | Econometria pentru economişti[END_REF] , the Gini coefficient recorded a value of 0.172, which means a relatively low concentration of total regional GDP (Figure 14).

Regional concentration of EU financed projects

At the end of the analysis regarding the degree of concentration of some indicators relevant to the general level of regional development, it was also made a brief assessment on how it was carried on the implementation of Regional Operational Programme 2007-2013 until the year 2008 (December 31) [START_REF] Gh | O metodă statistică nouă de analiză a concentrării sau diversificării pieţelor[END_REF] .

According to this programming document, the allocation of funds to regions was made in order to achieve the established strategic goal: the balanced development of all regions in Romania, giving priority to the regions and areas less developed to prevent increasing social and economic disparities between regions.

Programming the allocation of funds by regions was done differently, in inverse proportion to their level of development [START_REF] Quah | Twin peaks: Growth and convergence in models of distribution dynamics[END_REF] . Thus, regions with a low GDP per capita will receive a higher share of total program funds, while the share of financial allocations will be smaller for regions with a higher GDP per capita [START_REF] Waterson | Economic Theory of the Industry[END_REF] .

5

The From the analysis of Gini coefficients can be seen that, at regional level, there is a significant concentration of contracted projects value (the Gini coefficient is 0.305) and a relative concentration of submitted projects value (the Gini coefficient is 0.250) (Figure 17). First place in the submitted projects is held by the North-East region, with 23.2%, followed by the South-West region (18%) and South-East (14%). The last place was held by Bucharest-Ilfov region, with only 0.01% of the submitted projects value.

In terms of total value of contracted projects, the first place is held by the South-West region, with 26% of total contraction, followed by North-West (17%) and Center (16% of total contracted value) (Figure 18).

Figure 18: Comparative analysissubmitted projects, contracted projects and regional GDP (2007-2013) 3. Also, there were high levels of Gini coefficients for the submission and contracting of projects financed by the Structural Funds, which shows a greater concentration, at regional level, of the capacity to absorb funds;

4. The analysis of the evolution of Gini/Struck coefficients shows a clear trend of increasing the concentration of regional disparities in Romania, after the year 2000.

As regards the Structural Funds absorption indicators, it appears that there is a higher concentration compared with other analyzed indicators (population, number of employees, employment). The degree of deposition and contracting of projects, financed from the Structural Funds, is determined, on the one hand, by the capacity of a region to propose viable projects, and on the other hand, by the local power to cofinance. Although the proposed financial allocation in the Regional Operational Programme, for the current programming period, took into account the regional development level, it appears that, the poorer regions (example: North-East), although they had done and made a large number of projects, they have not yet been contracted. The most contracted projects, under implementation, have been deposited in the South-West, North-West and Centre.

The explanation of this phenomenon results from the following aspects:

The access to finance: "freezing" the banking sector, with direct effects on the access to credits, which seriously affects the capacity to co-finance of the recipients of ROP (both local authorities and the sector);

The availability of public resources: deteriorating the situation of public finances, that leads to a higher public deficit, which is a pressure factor on the capacity of the Ministry of Finance to ensure co-financing;

Maintaining the relevance of some targets, which not fit anymore to the current context: create jobs -15000 new jobs; Other macroeconomic factors: the decrease of foreign investments, elimination of a large number of companies, etc.

Finally, one can say that the regional disparities level, in terms of economic and social development, is in a process of growth across all country, without being able to identify one or another model of development. Also, it is clear that the Bucharest-Ilfov region, the most developed region of the country, determines an increase in the concentration of certain areas. In parallel, we can observe a slight increase, which is concentrated in the regions from the west of the country (North-West, Centre and West) and less in the eastern regions (North-East, South-East, South and South-West), although the real growth could be better assessed at the sub-regional level [START_REF]Dicţionar de statistică generală[END_REF] , where are very obvious the signs of economic decoupling of some marginal areas located on the periphery or face specific development problems.

Figure 1 :

 1 Figure 1: Lorentz-Gini concentration curve

Figure 2 :

 2 Figure 2: Structure of total population in urban/rural and developing regions, 2008

Figure 3 :Regional

 3 Figure 3: Regional concentration of population, year 2008 Regional concentration of population, 1 iulie 2008

Figure 4 :Concentration

 4 Figure 4: Regional concentration of workforce, 2008

Figure 5 :

 5 Figure 5: Regional concentration of the number of employees and unemployed, 2008

Figure 6 :Concentration

 6 Figure 6: The regional concentration of economic potential, 2008 Concentration of economic potential, 2008

Figure 7 :

 7 Figure 7: Regional concentration of economic and financial results, 2008

Figure 8 :Regional

 8 Figure 8: Regional concentration of health facilities, 2008

Figure 9 :Regional

 9 Figure 9: Regional concentration of urban infrastructure, 2008 Regional concentration of infrastructure, 2008

Figure 10 :Regional

 10 Figure 10: Regional concentration of investments, 2008

Figure 11 :

 11 Figure 11: Regional concentration of active companies in economic sectors and regions, 2008

Figure 12 :Regional

 12 Figure 12: Regional concentration in education and research field, 2008

Figure 13 :Regional

 13 Figure 13: Regional concentration of local budgets, 2008

4

  Although there are national GDP data for 2008, at regional level, this indicator stops in 2007 (According to the Romanian Statistical Yearbook 2009, NSI, Bucharest).

Figure 14 :Concentration

 14 Figure 14: Concentration of regional GDP, 1995-2007 Concentration of PIB Regional evolution

  status of implementation of ROP 2007-2013 at 31 December 2008 was as follows: about 1337 projects were submitted, relating to 11 major intervention areas (ROP 14 areas in total), totaling 3.46 billion Euros; ERDF funding was 2.1 billion Euros. There have been contracted 40 projects (representing 3% of submitted projects) totaling 352 million Euros (10.1% of the total sum of submitted projects), of which ERDF funding was 251.7 million Euros. In 2008, payments were not made.

Figure 16 :

 16 Figure 16: Financial allocation by development regions of the Regional Operational Programme (2007-2013)

Figure 17 :

 17 Figure17: Comparative analysissubmitted projects, contracted projects and regionalGDP (2007-2013)

Content 1 . 4 3. 1 . 5 3. 3 . 7 3. 4 . 7 3. 5 .

 141537475 Introduction ............................................................................... 1 2. Theoretical and methodological issues concerning the analysis of concentration/diversification at regional level ........................................... 2 3. The assessment of regional disparities ................................................ Population at regional level .................................................................. 4 3.2. Workforce ....................................................................................... Economic potential ............................................................................ The economic and financial results .......................................................... Health infrastructure........................................................................... 8 3.6. Urban infrastructure........................................................................... 9 3.7. The investments ............................................................................... 10 3.8. Education and research ....................................................................... 11 3.9 Local budget ..................................................................................... 12 3.10. Regional concentration of GDP ............................................................. 12 4. Regional concentration of EU financed projects .................................... 13 5. Conclusions ............................................................................... 15 References ..................................................................................... 18

Concentration of employment and unemployment at regional level, 2008

	Unemploy ment
	Employ ees
	0	0,02	0,04	0,06	0,08	0,1	0,12	0,14	0,16	0,18
				Coeficientul Gini	Coeficientul Struck
	Source: Data processing Romanian Statistical Yearbook 2009, NSI, Bucharest

  Relatively low concentration of the total number of firms (the Gini coefficient is 0.189 and the Struck coefficient is 0.139);

	 Relatively low concentration of small firms (0-9 employees) and large
	companies (over 250 employees); the calculated coefficients record values
	below 0.20;
	 Relatively high concentration of companies with 50-249 employees (the Gini
	coefficient is 0.346);
	 Strong concentration of firms with 10-49 employees (the Gini coefficient is
	0.49);

 Compared with 2000, the values of the two coefficients have recorded significant increases; in 2000 all the values were below 0.15.

See: Daniela Antonescu -"Regional Development in Romania -concept, mechanisms, institutions", Oscar Print Publishing, 2004.

Measured by the GDP per capita, adjusted by a coefficient of population density.

The financial allocations to regions lies between the minimum of

8.86% in Bucharest-Ilfov region and 16.32% in the North-East region, evaluated as the poorest region in the EU.

To better highlight the current regional situation, we propose, in a future article, a further analysis of development disparities within regions.