Informatica Economica Vol. 18 No. 4/2014

Issue Topic: Cloud Computing

Issue Editor: Marian STOICA, PhD

CONTENTS

Cloud Computing and Agile Organization Development
Bogdan GHILIC-MICU, Marian STOICA, Cristian Răzvan USCATU 5
In the 3rd millennium economy, defined by globalization and continuous reduction of natural resources, the economic organization becomes the main actor in the phenomenon of transfor-mation and adaptation to new conditions. Even more, the economic environment, which is closely related to the social environment, undergoes complex metamorphoses, especially in the management area. In this dynamic and complex social and environmental context, the econom-ic organization must possess the ability to adapt, becoming a flexible and agile answer to new market opportunities. Considering the spectacular evolution of information and communica-tions technology, one of the solutions to ensure organization agility is cloud computing. Just like the development of any science requires adaptation to theories and instruments specific to other fields, a cloud computing paradigm for the agile organization must appeal to models from management, cybernetics, mathematics, structuralism and information theory (or information systems theory).
Keywords: Cloud Computing, Agile Development, Enterprise Architecture, Project Manage-ment, Agile Methodologies, Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

An Insight on E-Learning and Cloud Computing Systems
Theodoros MITAKOS, Ioannis ALMALIOTIS, Ioannis DIAKAKIS, Anna DEMEROUTI 14
In this paper, there is a review of e-learning and its elements according to the international standards. The connection of learners, educational material and open source learning plat-forms is investigated. Trivial educational activities that can be implemented in a LMS are also presented. A special report on a computational model for e-learning, emphasizing on learning graphs and conditions passing from one node to another, is made. In this framework the bene-fits of cloud computing as a model for e-learning are presented.
Keywords: E-Learning, Cloud Computing, E-Services

An Overview of the Most Important Reference Architectures for Cloud Computing
Razvan ZOTA, Ionut Alexandru PETRE 26
In this paper we have presented the main characteristics of the most important reference archi-tectures designed for the cloud computing environment. Specifically, we have introduced the proposed architectures of the worldwide cloud computing companies like Cisco, IBM and VMware and we also had a look at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reference architecture which is the starting point for all proposed architectures in the field. As one would expect, the provider dependent reference architectures are written is such a way to suit the services and products of the company, while NIST’s architecture is a more general model with more comprehensive architectural details that we highlighted in this article. In the end of the article we draw out some conclusions regarding the existing reference architectures for cloud computing.
Keywords: Reference Architecture, Cloud Computing, Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

A Model for Comparing Free Cloud Platforms
Radu LIXANDROIU, Catalin MAICAN 40
VMware, VirtualBox, Virtual PC and other popular desktop virtualization applications are used only by a few users of IT techniques. This article attempts to make a comparison model for choosing the best cloud platform. Many virtualization applications such as VMware (VMware Player), Oracle VirtualBox and Microsoft Virtual PC are free for home users. The main goal of the virtualization software is that it allows users to run multiple operating systems simultane-ously on one virtual environment, using one computer desktop.
Keywords: Cloud Computing, Virtualization, Jaccard Index, Comparing Model

Mobile Cloud Computing for Telemedicine Solutions
Mihaela GHEORGHE 50
Mobile Cloud Computing is a significant technology which combines emerging domains such as mobile computing and cloud computing which has conducted to the development of one of the most IT industry challenging and innovative trend. This is still at the early stage of devel-opment but its main characteristics, advantages and range of services which are provided by an internet-based cluster system have a strong impact on the process of developing telemedi-cine solutions for overcoming the wide challenges the medical system is confronting with. Mo-bile Cloud integrates cloud computing into the mobile environment and has the advantage of overcoming obstacles related to performance (e.g. battery life, storage, and bandwidth), envi-ronment (e.g. heterogeneity, scalability, availability) and security (e.g. reliability and privacy) which are commonly present at mobile computing level. In this paper, I will present a compre-hensive overview on mobile cloud computing including definitions, services and the use of this technology for developing telemedicine application.
Keywords: Telemedicine, Healthcare, Mobile Cloud Computing, Cloud Computing, Service, Smartphone

Migrating Existing PHP Web Applications to the Cloud
Ionut VODA 62
The purpose of this paper is to present a set of best practices for moving PHP web applications from a traditional hosting to a Cloud based one. PHP applications are widespread nowadays and they come in many shapes and sizes and that is why they require a special attention. The paper goes beyond just moving the code in the Cloud and setting up the run-time environment as some architectural changes must be done at application level most of the time. The decision of how and when to make these changes can make the difference between a successful migra-tion and a failed one. It will be presented how to decouple and scale an application, how to scale a database while following the high availability principles.
Keywords: PHP, Cloud Computing, Cloud Migration, Web Applications

Digital Democracy in Knowledge Society: A Proposed Architecture Based on Cloud and Complementary Technologies
Ovidiu TURCOANE 73
This paper introduces some technologies that are fit for an architecture of digital democracy or E-democracy. It aims at proposing an architectural style emerged from tested and validated approaches, without relying on some radical innovation. Firstly, we propose an input-system-output model of E-democracy and knowledge society. This model is subject to permanent optimization following a trial and error paradigm similar to the artificial intelligence method of backpropagation. Secondly, we describe and advocate for some technologies and methodologies such as Cloud, Service-Oriented Architecture, Agile Development, Web-Oriented Architecture, Semantic Web and Linked Data. Finally, we assemble all these technologies and methodologies in an architectural style that follows several key concepts such as flexibility and adapability, citizen-oriented software development or abstract notions like participation, deliberation and inclusion.
Keywords: E-democracy, Cloud Computing, Services-Oriented Architecture, Knowledge So-ciety, Agile Development, Semantic Web, Linked Data

Governmental Cloud - Part of Cloud Computing
Cristian IVANUS, Stefan IOVAN 91
Large IT (Information Technology) companies propose cloud government's (G-Cloud) development model through investment from the private sector, which will facilitate the access of users from public sector to the new generation IT services. Through the G-Cloud private operators that operate governmental cloud infrastructure by adding specific SaaS (Software as a Service) functionalities, proposed model by big companies, supports public institutions in optimizing costs and increased operational efficiency, bringing tangible benefits in relation with citizens and thus with the whole society. These optimizations are achieved by moving the initial investment to the private sector, through type subscription model cost by eliminating dependency on human factors (technical) and by providing a low cost [1]. This paper aims to bring to the attention of specialists, some aspects of Governmental Cloud from the European Union (EU) countries to be understood and implemented in Romania.
Keywords: Cloud Computing, Governmental Cloud, Big Data Analytics

Security of Heterogeneous Content in Cloud Based Library Information Systems Using an Ontology Based Approach
Mihai DOINEA, Paul POCATILU 101
As in any domain that involves the use of software, the library information systems take advantages of cloud computing. The paper highlights the main aspect of cloud based systems, describing some public solutions provided by the most important players on the market. Topics related to content security in cloud based services are tackled in order to emphasize the requirements that must be met by these types of systems. A cloud based implementation of an Information Library System is presented and some adjacent tools that are used together with it to provide digital content and metadata links are described. In a cloud based Information Library System security is approached by means of ontologies. Aspects such as content security in terms of digital rights are presented and a methodology for security optimization is proposed.
Keywords: Cloud Computing, Virtualization, Library Information System, Ontology 

Web Service for Calculating the Probability of Returning a Loan – Design, Implementation and Deployment
Julian VASILEV 111
The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of designing, creating, implementing and deploying a real web service. A basic theory approach is used to analyze the implementation of web services. An existing profit model is used. Its business logic is integrated within a web ser-vice. Another desktop application is created to demonstrate the use of the recently created web service. This study shows a methodology for fast development and deployment of web services. The methodology has wide practical implications – in credit institutions and banks when giving a loan. This study is the first of its kind to show the design, implementation and deployment of a web service for calculating the probability of returning a loan. The methodology may be used for the encapsulation of other business logic into web services.
Keywords: Web Services, Delphi XE, Web Service Development, Logistics Distribution Func-tion, Probit Model, Source Code

Implementing Monitoring Systems in Mobile Applications – a Case Study
Octavian DOSPINESCU, Roxana-Marina STRAINU 120
During the last years, the evolution of mobile applications allowed the developers to become more and more creative. In this way, we can imagine many applications models with a real impact in the real life. In this article we are trying to present a case study for a monitoring sys-tem using the Android platform and the benefits of computer networks. We use the power of mobile sockets and mobile threads, integrating them in a complex architecture in order to ob-tain a real monitoring system. As an immediate application, we propose a baby monitoring sys-tems so that the children could be remotely supervised by their parents. The case study is based on an Android mobile client-server architecture and also uses the capabilities offered by the phone’s speaker and microphone. We intend to have a robust application and that’s why we in-itially preferred Network Service Discovery and Android P2P, but these functionalities are im-plemented starting with Android 4.1. So, we emulated all these functionalities by using a model based on sockets and server sockets.
Keywords: Mobile Monitoring Systems, Android Implementation, Mobile Sockets, Mobile Ar-chitectures

Indicators for Determining Collaborative Security Level in Organizational Environments
Cătălin SBORA 131
This paper presents the concept of security management through collaboration highlighting the limitations for conventional security management systems and the challenges in maintaining an acceptable level of security in organizational environments. There are presented four different aspects regarding information security, aspects that involve malware threats, perimeter protection, exploiting vulnerabilities and detection of vulnerabilities. Analyzing a set of experiments regarding malware protection the paper concludes the need to improve existing protection systems by standardization and collaboration. A set of indicators for measuring the level of security by considering each of four aspects, is presented and analyzed, highlighting the benefits obtained by using collaboration in the process of managing information security. A qualitative indicator is built based on the four aspects of security presented in the paper.
Keywords: Collaborative Security Management, Organizational Environment, Security System, Malware Threats, Security Indicator, Perimeter Protection, Intrusion Prevention

An Efficient Speedup Strategy for Constant Sum Game Computations
Alexandru-Ioan STAN 144
Large classes of game theoretic problems seem to defy attempts of finding polynomial-time al-gorithms while analyzing large amounts of data. This premise leads naturally to the possibility of using efficient parallel computing implementations when seeking exact solutions to some of these problems. Although alpha beta algorithms for more than one-player game-tree searches show moderate parallel performance, this paper sets forth an alpha beta strategy enhanced with transposition tables in order to offer satisfactory speedups on high performance servers. When the access to the transposition tables is done in low constant delay time, the achieved speedups should approach the theoretical upper bounds of the code parallelism. We tested the strategy on a well-known combinatorial game.
Keywords: Constant Sum Games, Game Computation Parallelization Strategies

Using Grey Production Functions in the Macroeconomic Modelling: An Empirical Application for Romania
Ana Michaela ANDREI, Irina GEORGESCU 154
The work is a development of our earlier studies containing empirical application of models with representative agent. The extensions developed in this paper consist of the following: the introduction of the labor market via the use of labor as the second production factor, the use of the GM(1,1) algorithm in order to adjust the capital and labor data series and to compute grey Cobb-Douglas production function, and finally the comparison of the results obtained applying the model to the actual data and the grey data. The grey production function is estimated using GM(1,1) adjusted statistical series of the GDP, capital stock and labor data. For the two vari-ants we computed the predictions of the indicators: real GDP, consumption, government ex-penditures, trade balance, and burden of debt.
Keywords: Representative Agent Model, Production Function, Current Account, Trade Bal-ance, Grey Systems

Call for papers: The 14th International Conference on Informatics in Economy, IE 2015 165

Call for papers: The 8th International Conference on Security for Information Technology and Communications, SECITC 2015 166

Publishing Guide for Authors 167

INFOREC Association 169