A conceptual model for semantically-based e-government portals

Issues of semantic interoperability and service integration for e-government portals are the domain of interest of the present paper. We propose a Conceptual Model for One-Stop e-Government Portals based on the Semantic Web Service technology. We describe our research into building the three basic ontologies and their integration with standard ontologies. The result is a project-independent reusable model. At the same time, we outline a simple methodology for applying the proposed conceptual model into a specific scenario

A Federal Ombudsman

This thesis has been written on commission by Laboratoriemedicin VLL, which is a part of region’s hospital. The organization did not work as efficiently as it could, and senior managers have encountered various problems. We have been asked to estimate the situation, analyze it, and come up with solutions which could increase efficiency and productivity; in other words, increase organizational performance. After preliminary interview with the senior manager, we have identified our areas of the interest: organizational structure, leadership, and communication.   This preliminary interview made us very interested at the situation at Laboratoriemedicin, and helped us to formulate our research question: “How do organizational structure, leadership, and communication affect productivity and efficiency of the public health-care organization?” Moreover, it made our research have two purposes, one of academic character, and one of practical character. The academic purpose is in investigating relationship between organizational structure, leadership, and communication and organizational performance, i.e. efficiency and productivity. The practical purpose is in giving analysis-based recommendations about possible ways to increase productivity and efficiency to Laboratoriemedicin VLL.   In order to find out the answer to the research question and to fulfill both purposes of the research, we have conducted a qualitative research. This has been done by interviewing ten people working at Laboratoriemedicin. We have tried to talk to representatives of different layers of the organization to make our research more diversificated and complete. These semi-structured interviews resulted in qualitative data, which had been processed and analyzed using coding technique.   The findings of our research revealed that structure, leadership, and communication affect efficiency and productivity. Structure defines how productive the operational processes are; leadership affects the whole personnel and the way they strive for achieving their goal; communication affects how fast things are getting done and how happy and willing personnel are. Additionally, we have spotted two areas affecting the relationship between structure, communication, leadership, and organizational performance: development issues and personal issues. Moreover, we have found that leadership and organization are the most problematic spots in Laboratoriemedicin. After careful analysis of the situation we have come up with the list of suggestions that can help the organization to achieve increased efficiency and productivity.

A Federal Ombudsman

With the profusion of specialized agencies and services, there is need for an information, referral, and complaint service that can provide a citizen with a needed service or refer him without delay to an agency that can handle his problem effectively. Ideally, a local office in each community, easily accessible by mail, telephone or in person, should provide information concerning governmental and other services; refer citizens to appropriate agencies for help and action; assist citizens in formulating complaints against local, state or federal agencies; forward the complaint to an appropriate complaint-handling institution; and monitor the action taken on any referral or complaint

From Sensor to Observation Web with Environmental Enablers in the Future Internet

This paper outlines the grand challenges in global sustainability research and the objectives of the FP7 Future Internet PPP program within the Digital Agenda for Europe. Large user communities are generating significant amounts of valuable environmental observations at local and regional scales using the devices and services of the Future Internet. These communities’ environmental observations represent a wealth of information which is currently hardly used or used only in isolation and therefore in need of integration with other information sources. Indeed, this very integration will lead to a paradigm shift from a mere Sensor Web to an Observation Web with semantically enriched content emanating from sensors, environmental simulations and citizens. The paper also describes the research challenges to realize the Observation Web and the associated environmental enablers for the Future Internet. Such an environmental enabler could for instance be an electronic sensing device, a web-service application, or even a social networking group affording or facilitating the capability of the Future Internet applications to consume, produce, and use environmental observations in cross-domain applications. The term ?envirofied? Future Internet is coined to describe this overall target that forms a cornerstone of work in the Environmental Usage Area within the Future Internet PPP program. Relevant trends described in the paper are the usage of ubiquitous sensors (anywhere), the provision and generation of information by citizens, and the convergence of real and virtual realities to convey understanding of environmental observations. The paper addresses the technical challenges in the Environmental Usage Area and the need for designing multi-style service oriented architecture. Key topics are the mapping of requirements to capabilities, providing scalability and robustness with implementing context aware information retrieval. Another essential research topic is handling data fusion and model based computation, and the related propagation of information uncertainty. Approaches to security, standardization and harmonization, all essential for sustainable solutions, are summarized from the perspective of the Environmental Usage Area. The paper concludes with an overview of emerging, high impact applications in the environmental areas concerning land ecosystems (biodiversity), air quality (atmospheric conditions) and water ecosystems (marine asset management)

Quantum surveillance and 'shared secrets'. A biometric step too far? CEPS Liberty and Security in Europe, July 2010

It is no longer sensible to regard biometrics as having neutral socio-economic, legal and political impacts. Newer generation biometrics are fluid and include behavioural and emotional data that can be combined with other data. Therefore, a range of issues needs to be reviewed in light of the increasing privatisation of ‘security’ that escapes effective, democratic parliamentary and regulatory control and oversight at national, international and EU levels, argues Juliet Lodge, Professor and co-Director of the Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence at the University of Leeds, U

E-public services: the case of e-taxation in Slovenia

The paper discuses e-taxation, one of the services offered by many governments in the world today. It argues that although this service can be developed well, according to the many benchmarking models in the world and become very familiar to members of the public , it can also be used poorly. The empirical results in the paper prove this. The case of Slovenia is presented, with a placement of Slovenia on the European map of e-government and a thorough description of the different electronic taxation services available to Slovenian citizens. Slovenia ranks above the EU average in online availability and in sophistication. The supply side of e-taxation services is then compared to the demand side and the results of different research studies and questionnaires are discussed and compared. Since e-taxation services, especially concerned with personal income tax, are still to be used more widely by Slovenian citizens, different existing approaches that have tried to correct the situation are analysed and new possibilities are suggested.e-government, e-taxation, citizens’ satisfaction, Slovenia

Slovak Health-care Reform: Greater Privatization

The paper summarizes recent health-care reform in Slovakia and the reform's general rationale, provides a brief theoretical background, and describes the reform measures both adopted and proposed. The authors assess the early experience and the impact of the undertaken reform. The main feature of Slovak health-care reform has been the commercialization of the sector. While much of the reform is still in process, and is thus hard to quantify (for instance, direct expenditures by patients are increasing, while the revenues of certain interest groups are declining), many early steps have produced concrete improvements important toward securing social legitimacy.public expenditure; health care; reform

Social Media for Cities, Counties and Communities

Social media (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube) and other tools and services with user- generated content have made a staggering amount of information (and misinformation) available. Some government officials seek to leverage these resources to improve services and communication with citizens, especially during crises and emergencies. Yet, the sheer volume of social data streams generates substantial noise that must be filtered. Potential exists to rapidly identify issues of concern for emergency management by detecting meaningful patterns or trends in the stream of messages and information flow. Similarly, monitoring these patterns and themes over time could provide officials with insights into the perceptions and mood of the community that cannot be collected through traditional methods (e.g., phone or mail surveys) due to their substantive costs, especially in light of reduced and shrinking budgets of governments at all levels. We conducted a pilot study in 2010 with government officials in Arlington, Virginia (and to a lesser extent representatives of groups from Alexandria and Fairfax, Virginia) with a view to contributing to a general understanding of the use of social media by government officials as well as community organizations, businesses and the public. We were especially interested in gaining greater insight into social media use in crisis situations (whether severe or fairly routine crises, such as traffic or weather disruptions)

Spartan Daily, April 17, 2007

Volume 128, Issue 42https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/10356/thumbnail.jp