Data protection: the challenges facing social networking

The popularity of social networking sites has increased dramatically over the past decade. A recent report indicated that thirty-eight percent of online users have a social networking profile. Many of these social networking site users (SNS users) post or provide personal information over the internet every day. According to the latest OfCom study, the average adult SNS user has profiles on 1.6 sites and most check their profiles at least once every other day. However, the recent rise in social networking activity has opened the door to the misuse and abuse of personal information through identity theft, cyber stalking, and undesirable screenings by prospective employers. Behavioral advertising programs have also misused personal information available on social networking sites. Society is now facing an important question: what level of privacy should be expected and required within the social networking environment

Centralized vs. decentralized computing : organizational considerations and management options

The long-standing debate over whether to centralize or decentralize computing is examined in terms of the fundamental organizational and economic factors at stake. The traditional debate is examined and found to focus predominantly on issues of efficiency vs. effectiveness, with solutions based on a rationalistic strategy of optimizing in this tradeoff. A more behavioralistic assessment suggests that the driving issues in the debate are the politics of organization and resources, centering on the issue of control. The economics of computing deployment decisions is presented as an important issue, but one that often serves as a field of argument that is based on more political concerns. The current situation facing managers of computing, given the advent of small and comparatively inexpensive computers, is examined in detail, and a set of management options for dealing with this persistent issue is presented

Elastic Business Process Management: State of the Art and Open Challenges for BPM in the Cloud

With the advent of cloud computing, organizations are nowadays able to react rapidly to changing demands for computational resources. Not only individual applications can be hosted on virtual cloud infrastructures, but also complete business processes. This allows the realization of so-called elastic processes, i.e., processes which are carried out using elastic cloud resources. Despite the manifold benefits of elastic processes, there is still a lack of solutions supporting them. In this paper, we identify the state of the art of elastic Business Process Management with a focus on infrastructural challenges. We conceptualize an architecture for an elastic Business Process Management System and discuss existing work on scheduling, resource allocation, monitoring, decentralized coordination, and state management for elastic processes. Furthermore, we present two representative elastic Business Process Management Systems which are intended to counter these challenges. Based on our findings, we identify open issues and outline possible research directions for the realization of elastic processes and elastic Business Process Management.Comment: Please cite as: S. Schulte, C. Janiesch, S. Venugopal, I. Weber, and P. Hoenisch (2015). Elastic Business Process Management: State of the Art and Open Challenges for BPM in the Cloud. Future Generation Computer Systems, Volume NN, Number N, NN-NN., http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2014.09.00

Practices of forest exploitation in priority investment projects: Benefits and implications

The paper discusses the topical issues of investment activities enhancement in the forest sector of the Russian economy by implementing the mechanism of priority investment projects in the field of forest exploitation - economic model of public-private partnership proposed by the forest owner (the State) for the private sector. The aim of the considered investment projects is the development of a timber-processing infrastructure, which is reliably provided with wood raw materials. It becomes possible to ensure certain preferences for businessmen that encourage them to invest money into the forest sector. Thus, the other objective is to develop recommendations for attracting investments into the forest sector of the Russian economy in the framework of priority investment projects. The paper analyzes a ten-year experience in the practice of applying priority investment projects in forest exploitation using an integrated approach to studying project management issues and method of comparison. The research identifies positive moments and a number of organizational and methodological shortcomings related to the development and implementation of investment projects in the forest sector of the Russian Federation. A number of areas contributing to the development of investment activities in forest exploitation is proposed. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd

Practices of forest exploitation in priority investment projects: Benefits and implications

The paper discusses the topical issues of investment activities enhancement in the forest sector of the Russian economy by implementing the mechanism of priority investment projects in the field of forest exploitation - economic model of public-private partnership proposed by the forest owner (the State) for the private sector. The aim of the considered investment projects is the development of a timber-processing infrastructure, which is reliably provided with wood raw materials. It becomes possible to ensure certain preferences for businessmen that encourage them to invest money into the forest sector. Thus, the other objective is to develop recommendations for attracting investments into the forest sector of the Russian economy in the framework of priority investment projects. The paper analyzes a ten-year experience in the practice of applying priority investment projects in forest exploitation using an integrated approach to studying project management issues and method of comparison. The research identifies positive moments and a number of organizational and methodological shortcomings related to the development and implementation of investment projects in the forest sector of the Russian Federation. A number of areas contributing to the development of investment activities in forest exploitation is proposed. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd

A European perspective on auditory processing disorder-current knowledge and future research focus

Current notions of \u201chearing impairment,\u201d as reflected in clinical audiological practice, do not acknowledge the needs of individuals who have normal hearing pure tone sensitivity but who experience auditory processing difficulties in everyday life that are indexed by reduced performance in other more sophisticated audiometric tests such as speech audiometry in noise or complex non-speech sound perception. This disorder, defined as \u201cAuditory Processing Disorder\u201d (APD) or \u201cCentral Auditory Processing Disorder\u201d is classified in the current tenth version of the International Classification of diseases as H93.25 and in the forthcoming beta eleventh version. APDs may have detrimental effects on the affected individual, with low esteem, anxiety, and depression, and symptoms may remain into adulthood. These disorders may interfere with learning per se and with communication, social, emotional, and academic-work aspects of life. The objective of the present paper is to define a baseline European APD consensus formulated by experienced clinicians and researchers in this specific field of human auditory science. A secondary aim is to identify issues that future research needs to address in order to further clarify the nature of APD and thus assist in optimumdiagnosis and evidence-based management. This European consensus presents the main symptoms, conditions, and specific medical history elements that should lead to auditory processing evaluation. Consensus on definition of the disorder, optimum diagnostic pathway, and appropriate management are highlighted alongside a perspective on future research focus