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This paper aims to improve the mathematical justification of certain analog signal theory concepts and offer a rigorous framework for it.

The framework relies on functional analysis, namely theory of distributions and the concept of weak limit. Its notation is adjusted to resemble the notation usually used in engineering signal theory. It can be used to prove in a rigorous manner already established results in signal theory, but also to establish new ones.

Examples have shown the lack of rigour caused by using ordinary calculus in proving fundamental signal theoretic results. On that basis, concepts of limit, Fourier transform and derivative are revisited in the spirit of functional analysis. A new useful formula for weak limit computation is proved.

Functional analysis is efficiently used in signal theory in a manner approachable by engineers. An original and efficient formula for weak limit computation is presented and proved.

Determining minimum water flows that will continuously run through a natural channel downstream of a water intake (Q0) is a multidisciplinary problem. It is, however, not approached in a multidisciplinary way in most countries. This paper offers an overview of the main methods and proposes a practical and environmentally more acceptable way of determining the retained flow, namely the environmentally acceptable flow (EAF). It is proposed that until the conditions are created for use of more complex methods and/or biological response techniques, the EAF be defined by determining whether the retained flow is sufficient for sustaining and developing indigenous wildlife in the streams by ensuring of the essential living conditions for the bioindicator species. The proposed bioindicators are characteristic fish populations of a specific type of stream and stream reaches. Being the final link in the ecological food chain, fish species are reliable indicators of bioecological balance in a stream.

Many recent studies have highlighted the importance of quality of governance and institutions for economic performance. According to New Institutional Economics, the quality of governance and institutions is a fundamental precondition for sustained increases in prosperity, well-being, and territorial cohesion. The quality of governance influences people’s health, their access to basic services, social trust, and political legitimacy. Governance encompasses the traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised, and its performance can be measured. In this chapter we use the World Bank’s measure Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). The aim of the chapter is to highlight the variation of the quality of government between regions of Scandinavia and South East Europe and to analyse recent changes in South East Europe. Not surprisingly, Scandinavian regions outperform all other EU regions in quality of government, and the situation has been stable over time. In South East Europe, the situation has improved, although at a slow pace. Whereas the rule of law and government efficiency seem to be steadily increasing, the fight against corruption has been less successful.

The socialist approach to housing in Croatia was to give tenants strong, and to some extent rigid, rights. During this paradigm, market renting was also discouraged. The policy privileged tenants and gave them subsidized rent, but it also limited their spatial mobility if they did not want to lose that privileged status. After independence, two vital processes on the housing market were undertaken: the privatization of socially owned housing stock and denationalization. Consequently, the stock of apartments previously owned by the companies and the state was sold to the ‘tenancy right’ holders for just a small part of its market value, resulting in more than 80 per cent of apartment users becoming legal owners. That is a positive outcome from a social policy perspective, but it could endanger the mobility of the Croatian labour force. Price developments and turnover dynamics are still bounded by underdeveloped and outdated cadastre as well as strong regional differences.

This chapter presents findings from a study into reading interests and habits of prisoners in six Croatian penitentiaries, and their perception and use of prison libraries. The study was conducted with the help of self-administered print survey. A total of 30% of prison population (male and female) in selected prisons was included in the study and a total of 504 valid questionnaires were returned (response rate of 81.3%). Findings indicate that reading is the respondents’ most popular leisure activity and that they read more now than before coming to prison. Respondents read more fiction than non-fiction. Most frequently they read crime novels, thrillers, and historical novels. To a lesser degree, they read religious literature, biographies, spiritual novels, social problem novels, self-help, war novels, science fiction, erotic novels, romances, spy novels and horrors. Respondents would like to read daily newspapers and magazines, and books about sport, health, travel, computers, hobbies, cookbooks, etc. Respondents have wide reading interests (both in relation to fiction and non-fiction) but they do not have access to them in their prison library. Respondents reported that reading makes their life in prison easier and their time in prison passes faster with books. Only about a quarter of respondents are satisfied with their prison library collection. Almost a fifth of respondents does not visit the library at all because it does not have anything they would like to find there: newspapers, modern literature, non-fiction, reading material for visually impaired and computers.