Informatica Economica Vol. 17 No. 4/2013

Issue Topic: Distributed Computing

Issue Editor: Mihai DOINEA, PhD

CONTENTS

Tools for Empirical and Operational Analysis of Mobile Offloading in Loop-Based Applications
Alexandru-Corneliu OLTEANU, Nicolae ŢĂPUŞ 5
Offloading for mobile devices is an increasingly popular research topic, matching the popularity mobile devices have in the general population. Studying mobile offloading is challenging because of device and application heterogeneity. However, we believe that focusing on a specific type of application can bring advances in offloading for mobile devices, while still keeping a wide range of applicability. In this paper we focus on loop-based applications, in which most of the functionality is given by iterating an execution loop. We model the main loop of the application with a graph that consists of a cycle and propose an operational analysis to study offloading on this model. We also propose a testbed based on a real-world application to empirically evaluate offloading. We conduct performance evaluation using both tools and compare the analytical and empirical results.
Keywords: Mobile Computing, Offloading, Cloud Computing, Performance Evaluation

Exploring the Usage of Social Networking Websites: Perceptions and Opinions of Romanian University Students
Dragoş Daniel IORDACHE, Vincentas LAMANAUSKA 18
Social networking websites (SNWs) have become a popular virtual meeting place allowing users to voluntarily post personal information, send and receive message,  stay connected online with their offline friends and new online friends, or share photos, videos, bookmarks, blogs, private messages and join groups. People are spending ample amount of time on social networking websites such as You Tube, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Hi5 etc., and this high usage has also brought changes in the way people behave. These social networking websites present a variety of features for their users to facilitate socialization. This paper presents the results of a study aiming to identify the Romanian student opinions regarding SNWs. The main findings of this study are: the most frequently visited and most popular social networks among Romanian student are You Tube and Facebook; the majority of the respondents use social networking websites a few times a day; only a small part of the respondents know how social networking websites use published and other type of information; the usage of SNWs is related with the usage of computers and internet. Also the most important functions of SNWs for Romanian student are: communication (including communication in interest groups), learning and exchanging information, exchanging photo, video, friend search and texting.
Keywords: Social Networking Websites, Survey, University Students

Application of ARIMA(1,1,0) Model for Predicting Time Delay of Search Engine Crawlers
Jeeva JOSE, P. Sojan LAL 26
World Wide Web is growing at a tremendous rate in terms of the number of visitors and number of web pages. Search engine crawlers are highly automated programs that periodically visit the web and index web pages. The behavior of search engines could be used in analyzing server load, quality of search engines, dynamics of search engine crawlers, ethics of search engines etc. The more the number of visits of a crawler to a web site, the more it contributes to the workload. The time delay between two consecutive visits of a crawler determines the dynamicity of the crawlers. The ARIMA(1,1,0) Model in time series analysis works well with the forecasting of the time delay between the visits of search crawlers at web sites. We considered 5 search engine crawlers, all of which could be modeled using ARIMA(1,1,0).The results of this study is useful in analyzing the server load.
Keywords: ARIMA, Search Engine Crawler, Web logs, Time delay, Prediction

Contribution to Research on Securitization: Assessment of SCI and SSCI Articles from 1996 To 2012
King Jeng LU, Tainyi LUOR, Liang CHIUNG-JU, Hsi-peng LU 39
We conducted a study to gauge trends and contributions to the broad field of securitization. This article reviews 365 academic articles on securitization that were published in 47 Social Sciences Citation Index journals from 1996 to June 2012. We identified keywords and searched and determined related articles in the ISI Web of Science database. Our findings included the number of publications per year, categories of article types, main academic journals and authors, and most-cited articles. The citation counts for authors, journals, and articles were also analyzed. Results indicated that the number of articles related to the keyword “securitization” increased from 1996 to 2012, which suggests an upward trend in the influence of securitization. We also determined that “securitization” research fascinated numerous scholars during the 16-year period. In particular, researchers from the USA, Europe, Canada, and Asia contributed most to this field. This literature review provides evidence that the “securitization” concept has attracted academic researchers, which results in significant contributions to the field of entrepreneurial research. The findings in this study can help authors in future development of securitization.
Keywords: Securitization, Literature Review, Contribution to Research

Using Binary Code Instrumentation in Computer Security
Marius POPA, Sergiu CAPISIZU 47
The paper approaches the low-level details of the code generated by compilers whose format permits outside actions. Binary code modifications are manually done when the internal format is known and understood, or automatically by certain tools developed to process the binary code. The binary code instrumentation goals may be various from security increasing and bug fixing to development of malicious software. The paper highlights the binary code instrumentation techniques by code injection to increase the security and reliability of a software application. Also, the paper offers examples for binary code formats understanding and how the binary code injection may be applied.
Keywords: Binary Code, Code Instrumentation, Code Injection

Software Development: Agile vs. Traditional
Marian STOICA, Marinela MIRCEA, Bogdan GHILIC-MICU 64
Organizations face the need to adapt themselves to a complex business environment, in continuous change and transformation. Under these circumstances, organization agility is a key element in gaining strategic advantages and market success. Achieving and maintaining agility requires agile architectures, techniques, methods and tools, able to react in real time to change requirements. This paper proposes an incursion in the software development, from traditional to agile.
Keywords: Software Development, Traditional Models, Agile Models, Agile Architectures, Agile Techniques, Agile Instruments

Developing an M-Learning Application for iOS
Paul POCATILU 77
The mobile market development has a high impact on all domains including education. Smart mobile devices started to be affordable and the massive use on educational processes does not seem to be too far. Mobile learning applications are be targeted for all major mobile operating systems as native applications or Web-based. The objective of this paper is to present the implementation of the evaluation module for an m-learning application developed for iOS devices. The m-learning application is targeted to a higher education institution. The application uses Web services in order to obtain the content and to authenticate the users.
Keywords: Mobile Learning, Mobile Application Development, iOS, Model View Controller, Web Service, Assessment

Integrated Approach Model of Risk, Control and Auditing of Accounting Information Systems
Claudiu BRANDAS, Dan STIRBU, Otniel DIDRAGA 87
The use of IT in the financial and accounting processes is growing fast and this leads to an increase in the research and professional concerns about the risks, control and audit of Accounting Information Systems (AIS). In this context, the risk and control of AIS approach is a central component of processes for IT audit, financial audit and IT Governance. Recent studies in the literature on the concepts of risk, control and auditing of AIS outline two approaches: (1) a professional approach in which we can fit ISA, COBIT, IT Risk, COSO and SOX, and (2) a research oriented approach in which we emphasize research on continuous auditing and fraud using information technology. Starting from the limits of existing approaches, our study is aimed to developing and testing an Integrated Approach Model of Risk, Control and Auditing of AIS on three cycles of business processes: purchases cycle, sales cycle and cash cycle in order to improve the efficiency of IT Governance, as well as ensuring integrity, reality, accuracy and availability of financial statements.
Keywords: Risk, Control, Audit, IT Governance, Accounting Information Systems

The Architecture of Financial Risk Management Systems
Iosif ZIMAN 96
The architecture of systems dedicated to risk management is probably one of the more complex tasks to tackle in the world of finance. Financial risk has been at the center of attention since the explosive growth of financial markets and even more so after the 2008 financial crisis. At multiple levels, financial companies, financial regulatory bodies, governments and cross-national regulatory bodies, all have put the subject of financial risk in particular and the way it is calculated, managed, reported and monitored under intense scrutiny. As a result the technology underpinnings which support the implementation of financial risk systems has evolved considerably and has become one of the most complex areas involving systems and technology in the context of the financial industry. We present the main paradigms, requirements and design considerations when undertaking the implementation of risk system and give examples of user requirements, sample product coverage and performance parameters.
Keywords: Financial Risk Systems, Cross Asset, Distributed Global Implementation

Cloud Computing as Evolution of Distributed Computing – A Case Study for SlapOS Distributed Cloud Computing Platform
George SUCIU, Simona HALUNGA, Anca APOSTU, Alexandru VULPE, Gyorgy TODORAN 109
The cloud computing paradigm has been defined from several points of view, the main two directions being either as an evolution of the grid and distributed computing paradigm, or, on the contrary, as a disruptive revolution in the classical paradigms of operating systems, network layers and web applications. This paper presents a distributed cloud computing platform called SlapOS, which unifies technologies and communication protocols into a new technology model for offering any application as a service. Both cloud and distributed computing can be efficient methods for optimizing resources that are aggregated from a grid of standard PCs hosted in homes, offices and small data centers. The paper fills a gap in the existing distributed computing literature by providing a distributed cloud computing model which can be applied for deploying various applications.
Keywords: Cloud Computing, Distributed Computing, Grid Computing, SlapOS, Distributed Cloud Computing

Cyberspace and Critical Information Infrastructures
Dan COLESNIUC 123
Every economy of an advanced nation relies on information systems and interconnected networks, thus in order to ensure the prosperity of a nation, making cyberspace a secure place becomes as crucial as securing society. Cyber security means ensuring the safety of this cyberspace from threats which can take different forms, such as stealing secret information from national companies and government institutions, attacking infrastructure vital for the functioning of the nation or attacking the privacy of the single citizen. The critical information infrastructure (CII) represents the indispensable "nervous system", that allow modern societies to work and live. Besides, without it, there would be no distribution of energy, no services like banking or finance, no air traffic control and so on. But at the same time, in the development process of CII, security was never considered a top priority and for this reason they are subject to a high risk in relation to the organized crime.
Keywords: Information Systems, Cyberspace, Critical Information Infrastructure, Cyber Security, Risk Management, Strategy

The 13th International Conference on Informatics in Economy IE 2014 133

Publishing Guide for Authors 134

INFOREC Association 136