Informatica Economica Vol. XII No. 3/2008

SUMMARY

Performance Evaluation of IP Based Multimedia Services in UMTS
Riri Fitri Sari, Prima Dewi Purnamasari, Fauzan Zaini, Amry Daulat Gultom 5

This paper presents our work in the performance evaluation of UMTS network based on simulation. Enhanced UMTS Radio Access Network Extensions for NS-2 (EURANE) developed by SEACORN has brought us to the higher phase of UMTS simulation in third generation wireless telecommunication system. Wireless 3G is designed to be able to deliver various kind of multimedia package through an IP network for the purpose of easier interconnection with fixed network with various existing multimedia services. Multimedia services with their bandwidth consumption characteristics are able to be sent through a UMTS network with the existence of High Speed Data Packet Access (HSPDA) in Release 5. Quality of Service (QoS) is a major concern in multimedia services. This paper shows the performance analysis of a number of multimedia services and their QoS using HSDPA in UMTS. The experiments were based on EURANE extension for NS-2. From the simulation conducted, we found that Unacknowledged Mode (UM) in Radio Link Control (RLC) will perform better for QoS class number 1 (VoIP) and 2 (Video Streaming), while Acknowledged Mode (AM) mode are more suitable for QoS class number 3 (web server)  and 4 (FTP).
Keywords: UMTS, 3G, HSDPA, Multimedia Services, QoS, EURANE, NS-2

EU Services Directive – Analysis of Requirements
Cosmin Rentea, Codrin Nisioiu, Jörn von Lucke, Cătălin Silvestru 12

The IT implementation of the EU’s Services Directive contributes to the goal of creating the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economic region in the world by the year 2009. This paper will present the concept of points of single contact, cover topics such as the vision for these points in relation to the EU Services Directive, an analysis of necessary requirements for an architectural framework that takes into consideration the specific e-Government background of Romania.
Keywords: EU Services Directive, Romanian e-Government, requirements, design, architecture, process, SOA.

Formalization of Indistinct Expert Representations about the Object of Research
Nicolae Pelin 17

It is offered additional possibilities on increase of expert’s estimations accuracy of by introduction in base model the factors considering a "pessimistic" or "optimistic" spirit of the expert and providing in next automated correction of the examination result.
Keywords: model, expert, optimistic, pessimistic, automated correction.

Methodological approaches based on business rules
Anca Ioana ANDREESCU, Adina UŢĂ 23

Business rules and business processes are essential artifacts in defining the requirements of a software system. Business processes capture business behavior, while rules connect processes and thus control processes and business behavior. Traditionally, rules are scattered inside application code. This approach makes it very difficult to change rules and shorten the life cycle of the software system. Because rules change more quickly than the application itself, it is desirable to externalize the rules and move them outside the application. This paper analyzes and evaluates three well-known business rules approaches. It also outlines some critical factors that have to be taken into account in the decision to introduce business rules facilities in a software system. Based on the concept of explicit manipulation of business rules in a software system, the need for a general approach based on business rules is discussed.
Keywords: methodology, business rules.

Optimization Alternatives of Information Systems for Risk Management
Iulia APOSTOL-MAURER 28

The focus of this article lies on synthesizing the requirements a risk management information system should meet in order to ensure an efficient risk management within a company, but also on presenting the architecture of the information system proposed by the author, from a structural point of view as well as from the background of the data integration alternatives.
Keywords: risk management, information systems for risk management

Operational and real-time Business Intelligence
Daniela Ioana SANDU 33

A key component of a company’s IT framework is a business intelligence (BI) system. BI enables business users to report on, analyze and optimize business operations to reduce costs and increase revenues. Organizations use BI for strategic and tactical decision making where the decision-making cycle may span a time period of several weeks (e.g., campaign management) or months (e.g., improving customer satisfaction).Competitive pressures coming from a very dynamic business environment are forcing companies to react faster to changing business conditions and customer requirements. As a result, there is now a need to use BI to help drive and optimize business operations on a daily basis, and, in some cases, even for intraday decision making. This type of BI is usually called operational business intelligence and real-time business intelligence.
Keywords:  Operational Business Intelligence, Real Time Business Intelligence, strategic, tactical, operational, real-time.

Possibilities of Simulation of a Technical Line which is subject to the Balancing Process
Cristina COCULESCU 37

Technical line balancing is a mean of economic efficiency increasing of some industrial activities. Essentially, to balance a technical line means to organize human operator's activity, to establish manufacturing flux, to project the line so to minimize equipments and operators' pause time, having a use of these as good as possible. In this work we'll describe an algorithm of simulation of a technical process, relied on random generation of the main characteristics of working phases, which will be considered in solving balancing problem of a technical line whereon an only model of a product is assembled, operating times are established and line operating rhythm is fixed.
Keywords: technical phase, workstation, operating time, technical line balancing, simulation.

Negotiation processes within inter-organizational alliances
Adina CRETAN 41

This paper describesthe negotiation component of E-Alliance, a software infrastructure defined for supporting negotiation activities in concurrent inter-organizational alliances. The E-Alliance’s main intent is to preserve the autonomy of organizations grouped in an alliance. The purpose of this work is to offer support for small and medium enterprises which cannot or do not want to fulfill a big contract alone. This approach is illustrated by a sample scenario where partners are printshops grouped into an alliance to better accomplish customers’ demands.<
Keywords: negotiation, middleware, virtual enterprises, multi-agent systems, interaction protocol

Working with Documents in Databases
Marian DÂRDALÃ, Cristian IONITA 47

Using on a larger and larger scale the electronic documents within organizations and public institutions requires their storage and unitary exploitation by the means of databases. The purpose of this article is to present the way of loading, exploitation and visualization of documents in a database, taking as example the SGBD MSSQL Server. On the other hand, the modules for loading the documents in the database and for their visualization will be presented through code sequences written in C#. The interoperability between averages will be carried out by the means of ADO.NET technology of database access.
Keywords: interoperability, documents, database, full text search.

The Functioning of the Fiscal and Social Security Systems in a Digital Economy
Andrei DUMITRESCU 52

The recent developments in the ICT sector have opened the way to transforming the industrial economy into a digital - based one. The present paper offers a perspective on the impact of the new informational technologies on the society in general and on the organization and functioning of the fiscal and social security systems in Romania in particular.
Keywords: Fiscal System, Digital Economy, New Economy, Tax payers, Fiscal institutions

Evaluation of the Project Management Competences Based on the Semantic Networks
Constanţa BODEA 57

The paper presents the testing and evaluation facilities of the SinPers system. The SinPers is a web based learning environment in project management, capable of building and conducting a complete and personalized training cycle, from the definition of the learning objectives to the assessment of the learning results for each learner. The testing and evaluation facilities of SinPers system are based on the ontological approach. The educational ontology is mapped on a semantic network. Further, the semantic network is projected into a concept space graph. The semantic computability of the concept space graph is used to design the tests. The paper focuses on the applicability of the system in the certification, for the knowledge assessment, related to each element of competence. The semantic computability is used for differentiating between different certification levels.
Keywords: testing, assessment, ontology, semantic networks, certification.

Deployment of Open Standards in the Public Administration
Dorin Irimescu 64

Open Source Software is receiving an increasing attention in the public administration. The aim of the paper is to discuss the deployment of open source software for office automation and to present a synthesis of the up to date status. It is intended to sensitize provosts and policy makers regarding the value and benefits of open standards in public administration. The article explains why anyone would choose an open standard format for office documents, instead of the obsolete binary formats. The responsibility of the public sector to protect the permanently, open and free access to public documents is emphasized. Switching the IT systems to open source and open standards can solve the problems with significant financial benefits. One available open source software solution in the field, the Open Office suite, is presented as a viable and free alternative to commercial products. The article reviews next the existent competing open standards – OpenDocument and OpenXML. Finally, the measures and efforts implied to make a non invasive migration to open technologies are presented.
Keywords: open source software, open standards, personal productivity, transition

Open Source Business Solutions
Ion Ivan, Radu Bucea-Manea-Ţoniş 70

This analyses the Open source movement. Open source development process and management is seen different from the classical point of view. This focuses on characteristics and software market tendencies for the main Open source initiatives. It also points out the labor market future evolution for the software developers.
Keywords: Open source, UNIX, eXtreme Programming, GNU, tokens, lexemes.

Partnership and Territorial Networks for Regional Policy. Romania's Experience in European Context
Luiza Nicoleta RADU, Daniela-Luminita CONSTANTIN 74

Partnership is a basic principle which must be observed when institutional networks for regional policy are created. If partnership works properly, the regional institutional networks will have a high chance to be viable and to offer a strong support to regional policy. This paper proposes an evaluation of the preparations for implementing Romania's Operational Programme, as a fundamental tool of regional policy. It aims to demonstrate the importance of partnership between the actors involved for the success of these preparations.
Keywords: regional networks, European context, organizations
.

Multi Channel Architecture Model Based on Service Oriented Integration
Ion LUNGU, Davian POPESCU, Anda VELICANU 82

The volume of data and numerous applications developed within a company can often generate a redundancy difficult to control. In the same time, the homogeneous or heterogeneous management systems of the companies become overcharged for obtaining useful information from databases. For this reason, the organizations develop specialized systems for the integration of existing applications and data. To achieve these systems, there are used a number of technologies, methods and architectures such as SOA architecture. In this article, are presented the components of SOA architecture, its advantages and a solution for integrating applications at the Presentation Tier.
Keywords: application integration, SOA architecture, integration model, architectural levels, information systems.

Software Project Duration Estimation Using Metrix Model
Marius VETRICI 87

This paper analyzes the existing types of duration estimation models for software projects and advances a new, user-friendly model for project duration estimation. The Metrix model is a stochastic model for software project duration estimation using Monte Carlo simu-lation over an activity graph. The first advantage of using the Metrix model is that it produces a probability distribution of the software project duration and not a single estimate for duration. Further to this approach, we diminish the project uncertainty by giving the manager better control over the project duration and the associated probability of a certain duration outcome. The second advantage of the Metrix model is that for Monte Carlo simulation it relies upon the historic duration estimation of the team members and not on probability distribution functions which are rather difficult to come with.
JEL classification: L86 computer software, O22 project analysis.
Keywords: Software project duration estimation, Monte Carlo simulation, Metrix model.

A Study Looking the Electronic Funds Transfer
Codruţa POENAR 92

The aim of this paper is to present the characteristics of the most important electronic funds transfer in the world, both interperson and interbank. We identified the following informations: location, type, owner, operator, number of transactions, transsactions value, clients, financial scheme and the message format.
Keywords: electronic funds transfer, ACH, SWIFT, CHIPS, TARGET.

Collaborative Learning Framework in Business Management Systems
Lucia RUSU, Loredana MUREŞAN, Raluca ARBA, Vladimir GRIGORE 97

This paper presents a solution based on collaboration with experts and practitioner from university and ERP companies involved in process learning by training and learning by working. The solution uses CPI test to establish proper team for framework modules: Real-Time Chat Room, Discussion Forum, E-mail Support and Learning through Training. We define novice, practitioner and expert competence level based on CORONET train methodology. ERP companies have own roles for mentoring services to knowledge workers and evaluate the performance of learning process with teachers’ cooperation in learning by teaching and learning by working module.
Keywords: Web-Based Collaborative Learning, ERP Systems, User Model, Psychological Scale.

A New Life for SQL SELECT Statement
Bogdan SAHLEAN, Niculae DAVIDESCU 104

An important percent from information systems use databases and in the majority of cases for developing such systems are used object oriented programming languages. From this point of view a key aspect is represented by the database querying features. The authors has observed a major gap between querying features of persistence mechanisms and the requirements for developing true object oriented software applications. Consequently, authors propose a new syntax for SQL SELECT statement, syntax that will allow to client applications to retrieve objects graphs.
Keywords: object-oriented database, query, objects graph, SQL, syntax.

Java facilities in processing XML files – JAXB and generating PDF reports
Dănuţ-Octavian SIMION 109

The paper presents the Java programming language facilities in working with XML files using JAXB (The Java Architecture for XML Binding) technology and generating PDF reports from XML files using Java objects. The XML file can be an existing one and could contain the data about an entity (Clients for example) or it might be the result of a SELECT-SQL statement. JAXB generates JAVA classes through xs rules and a Marshalling, Unmarshalling compiler. The PDF file is build from a XML file and uses XSL-FO formatting file and a Java ResultSet object.
Keywords: Xml file, JAXB, Java classes, Java ResultSet object, Marshalling, Unmarshalling, XSL-FO formatting file.

The Cyclic Odd-Even Reduction Method Applied in Mathematical Finance
Ion SMEUREANU, Dumitru FANACHE 115

In this paper is presented a possibility to reduce execution time involved in evaluating a financial option by means finite difference scheme, using a cyclic odd-even reduction technique on a coarse-grained parallel model.
Keywords: coarse grained multicomputer, parallel algorithm, tridiagonal linear system, band matrices, odd-even cyclic reduction algorithm.

Econometric Methods Used to Study the Informal Economy and Regional Development
Tudorel ANDREI, Stelian STANCU 120

The study proposes to present some research directions in the field of informal economy and regional development found in economic literature. Are presented some results at the level of Romania and Hungary`s economy. At the Romanian economy level are submited results about the allocation of funds at local level on poltical criteria and the dynamics of some industry lines in territorial profile.
Keywords: informal economy, regional development, political criteria.

Wireless Intrusion Prevention Systems
Jack TIMOFTE 129

The wireless networks have changed the way organizations work and offered a new range of possibilities, but at the same time they introduced new security threats. While an attacker needs physical access to a wired network in order to launch an attack, a wireless network allows anyone within its range to passively monitor the traffic or even start an attack. One of the countermeasures can be the use of Wireless Intrusion Prevention Systems.
Keywords: Network security, IDS, IPS, wireless intrusion detection, wireless intrusion prevention.

The Hachemeister Regression Model
Carmen Lenuţa TRICĂ 133

In this article we will obtain, just like in the case of classical credibility model, a credibility solution in the form of a linear combination of the individual estimate (based on the data of a particular state) and the collective estimate (based on aggregate USA data).
Mathematics Subject Classification: 62P05.
Keywords: linearized regression credibility premium, the structural parameters, unbiased estimators.

A Few Implementation Solutions for Business Intelligence
Manole VELICANU, Gheorghe MATEI 138

To succeed in the context of a global and dynamic economic environment, the companies must use all the information they have, as efficiently as possible, in order to gain competitive advantages and to consolidate their position on the market. They have to respond quickly to the changes in the business environment and to adapt themselves to the market’s requirements. To achieve these goals, the companies must use modern informatics technologies for data acquiring, storing, accessing and analyzing. These technologies are to be integrated into innovative solutions, such as Business Intelligence systems, which can help managers to better control the business practices and processes, to improve the company’s performance and to conserve it’s competitive advantages.
Keywords: Business Intelligence, competitive advantage, OLAP, data mining, key performance indicators.

Testing Java ME Applications
Paul POCATILU 147

Today, mobile applications have a wide use and their development is growing fast. Testing mobile applications is an important aspect of their development, keeping in mind the importance of these applications and their specific characteristics. In this paper are shown the main aspects of testing the mobile applications, focusing on unit testing of Java ME applications.
Keywords: mobile applications, mobile devices, software testing, WAP, Java ME, JUnit

Inforec Association 151