P ORTOLAN: a Model-Driven Cartography Framework

Processing large amounts of data to extract useful information is an essential task within companies. To help in this task, visualization techniques have been commonly used due to their capacity to present data in synthesized views, easier to understand and manage. However, achieving the right visualization display for a data set is a complex cartography process that involves several transformation steps to adapt the (domain) data to the (visualization) data format expected by visualization tools. To maximize the benefits of visualization we propose Portolan, a generic model-driven cartography framework that facilitates the discovery of the data to visualize, the specification of view definitions for that data and the transformations to bridge the gap with the visualization tools. Our approach has been implemented on top of the Eclipse EMF modeling framework and validated on three different use cases

The evaluation and the effectiveness of project management in transformational e-government projects

This paper forms part of an ongoing research of a PhD degree to describe, critically evaluate and examine the underlying barriers and challenges in large e-Government initiatives. The paper invites technology to be incorporated and inculcated into the art and science of project management, and be part of a passable solution as opposed to being distinct and separate from it. The tools used have to increase the novelty (art and science) of project management through human interaction, and empower the project manager and aiding his capacity in delivering the expected outcomes. Due to inadequate implementations of project management procedures and processes, many large information technology systems (ITS) projects failed. This becomes a characteristic and encompasses e-Government project initiatives, due to ambitious program changes, major innovations, large transformations, enterprise wide solutions, collaboration across organizations’ governments and private sectors, and the implementation of unprecedented (or ambitious) solutions. This research paper critically analyses and summarises a list of e-Government challenges and barriers arising from an e-Government survey administered on behalf of the World Information Technology and Services Association (WITSA) which represents the national technology associations in 70 countries. It compares these challenges to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), which is the North American standard in project management methodology. In addition, it highlights the weaknesses in PMBOK to address these challenges and offers a technology-enabled enhancement to the Project Initiation Phase, the area identified as being particularly weak and inadequate in addressing e-Government initiatives and requirements

Modeling the innovation resonance in industrialized regions

The main objective of this article is to provide a rationale for mathematical models describing the innovation resonance in industrialized regions. The article presents a thorough analysis of trends in the development of Russian industrialized regions, which is then used as the basis to advance and test several hypotheses, such as the hypothesis of uneven economic development in different types of industrialized regions (regions strengthening their industrial status, newly industrialized regions and deindustrialized regions), hypothesis of individual characteristics in the development of certain types of industrialized regions, hypothesis of the state acting as catalyst in innovation dynamics, hypothesis of innovation resonance existing in economic system. The authors propose the methodology of innovation resonance, describe the conditions required for the emergence of resonance in the economic system, and provide a rationale for the types of resonance response. The main methods used in this article are as follows: resonance control method, reproduction method, methods of economic and mathematical modeling. The authors propose a mathematical formalization for the mechanism of innovation resonance in the regional industrial system, including: a) A model for generating investment by industrial sectors and reproduction sectors; b) Dynamic multi-sector reproduction model; c) Adaptive management model for innovative self-development of the regional industrial system; g) A model for the sustainability of innovation dynamics and expanded reproduction. The authors study the innovation resonance in Russian industrialized regions. In the context of innovation resonance, the authors review the functional industrial policy of a typical industrialized region and resonance responses related to its implementation. The results of the study presented in the article can be used in substantiating the mechanisms of regional industrial policy, and to assess the regulatory impact of existing regulatory and legal acts.This article has been prepared with the financial support of the Grant of the Russian Foundation for Humanities № 13–32–01258 Assessing the Capacity for New Industrialization in Russian Regions

GENERAL ORIENTATIONS OF THE MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY

Romanian public administration and new public management are in need of a series of modernization actions resulted from theoretical progresses on European level whose application proved to have positive effects. Among these modernization actions a focus on the following aspects must be mentioned: Ensuring the proper and transparent information levels and feed-back elements and social responsibility; Encouraging a proactive and prospective professional development; Ensuring of a public administration management which should support: interdisciplinary approach, focus on the quality of the public service, supporting the public-private partnership. Dealing with such priorities can determine the beginning of the public administration’s consecration as a European public administration, based on knowledge, which will have a positive impact on the performance of a nationally representative sector.modernization of the public administration, decentralization, professionalism, social responsibility