Critical issues associated with adoption and use of open source software in public sector: insights from Tanzania

Two Open Source Software (OSS) projects in Tanzania are discussed as exemplar efforts for the adaptation and use of OSS in public sector. The projects investigated in this Action Research Study were from the Health and Education Sectors. The two projects are of important in that, they use two different approaches of embracing OSS where the Health Sector project uses an approach of getting existing and working open source software framework and customizes it with the help of contributors from Open Source Community, while the Education Sector project developed software from scratch under the auspice of OSS development approach. A comparative analysis of the two projects with the terms of the Open Source Software definition indicates that the two developed software did not take into consideration of all OSS terms. The study concludes that the deviation from the terms of OSS definition reflect incompatibility between free software and open source software philosophies which results into difficulties to comply with one of them. As a result the focus is to achieve the freedom to use the software for any purpose and for any number of computers and the freedom to maintain the software without depending on the author of the software

Réouverture de la fenêtre. Pour une critique pluraliste

Cette réflexion sur le champ de mes propres recherches, présentée au Collège de France, revient sur la conception de la frontière comme un seuil ouvert, un lieu de passage et de transition : que ce soit au niveau des thématiques abordées, ou en ce qui concerne les approches théoriques du domaine littéraire, constamment croisées dans mes travaux en vue d’un décloisonnement critique et disciplinaire. Cette postface à mon ouvrage intitulé La Fenêtre. Sémiologie et histoire de la représentation littéraire, paru en 2014, sert non seulement à en redéfinir certains aspects théoriques – voire en réécrire des parties –, mais aussi à affirmer le besoin d’une critique pluraliste

De Zadig à Vautrin : sur le paradigme indiciaire chez Balzac

La question de l’héritage des Lumières dans l’œuvre de Balzac a suscité des positions contradictoires dans l’histoire de la critique balzacienne, qui semble de nos jours pencher vers l’hypothèse d’une rupture de continuité, c’est-à-dire d’une certaine autonomie du roman balzacien par rapport à un tel héritage et, plus généralement, au passé. Cet article se propose de nuancer cette vision par l’analyse de certaines formes de continuité, rapportées notamment aux principes de classifications qui fondent le réalisme. Sera enfin étudiée la pertinence d’un fil conducteur particulier, celui du paradigme indiciaire décrit par Carlo Ginzburg, dont la généalogie littéraire remonte, entre autres, à Zadig de Voltaire ; ce qui permettra d’avancer une hypothèse concernant les principes de classement propres au roman balzacien, qui relèvent d’une logique inductive, fondée moins sur l’analyse du type que sur celle de l’individu

Un détail indiciaire : la fenêtre d’Edgar Allan Poe

À la naissance du roman policier est une fenêtre. Ou plus exactement deux : dans le texte fondateur du genre, The Murders in the rue Morgue (Double assassinat dans la rue Morgue) d’Edgar Allan Poe, publié en 1841, la première fenêtre est celle du coeur de l’homme, ouvert à la perspicacité extraordinaire du détective Auguste Dupin, suivant l’aveu du narrateur cité en épigraphe ; la seconde fenêtre est celle qui permettra la résolution de l’énigme. Autant dire qu’aucun autre texte littéraire ne sonde aussi profondément l’aspect paradigmatique de la fenêtre comme moyen d’accès à la connaissance, dans la mesure où la nouvelle de Poe établit un lien étroit et inséparable entre les deux aspects qui fondent la démarche herméneutique : l’aspect analytique, la fenêtre étant le lieu privilégié, au sens propre comme au sens métaphorique, de l’observation ; et l’aspect pratique, la fenêtre constituant la clé du mystère que seul le détective saura trouver

Identific-arte. Educación rural y trabajo social con familias

Identific-arte es el nombre que hemos dado al programa que vincula a la Universidad pública con algunas poblaciones rurales de la Provincia de Córdoba; una propuesta de extensión asentada en el derecho de todo ciudadano a educarse, pero respetando y manteniendo sus identidades culturales. Esta experiencia nos permitió ingresar a la intimidad de esas comunidades y conocer su organización social, crisis y desafíos a contemplar para poder educar en un contexto rural. La educación pública debe ser siempre una estrategia de cuidado institucional para todo adolescente; cuando advertimos vacíos en esos cuidados, indagar y producir conocimiento nos lleva también a pensar en forma distinta de implementar estrategias. En este caso nuestra propuesta fue la educación popular y el trabajo social con familias y redes sociales. Esta ha sido una intervención compleja, expansiva, entramada y hablada en muchos lenguajes. La ofrecemos para oír resonar sus ecos en las conciencias de los lectores y como un aporte a futuras acciones colectivas de educación rural. IndentificArte sólo ha sido una versión de lo posible

Open Source Software in Health Information Systems: Opportunities and Challenges

The paper presents results of a study seeking to identify constraining and motivating factors associated with the adoption and use of Free Open Source Software to computerise health Information Systems in a developing country. The study approach is interpretive research to case study with a triangulation of several qualitative data collection methods such as interviews, group discussions and document analysis. The findings indicate that using open source software has advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are low entry cost to adopting software, possibilities of software localization, avoiding being hostage of proprietary software and foster knowledge acquisition among software developers. The disadvantages are the need for constant internet access, high switching costs, and lack of human resources especially IT professionals to maintain the software since users get more rights in using and maintaining the system. The study concludes that because of the dynamics in health information systems, open source is appropriate

EU Energy Regulations and National and Local Implementation

The present volume intends to examine the main energy policies (directives) and their implementation, especially in the field of energy efficiency and therefore the relative results at the EU, the first, and national and individual regions and provinces, the latter. It is a volume that is the result of over 4 years of research where we tried to analyze the PEARs (Energy and Environment Regional Plan of the Italian regions and provinces) approved after the "Burden Sharing" ministerial decree. Furthermore, we tried to analyze the state of the art about energy efficiency in the light of measures on tax deductions for real estate energy renovation. Finally, we tried to bring a series of proposals on energy efficiency. In particular, two financial instruments based on a guarantee fund and a vulnerable people support. Moreover some specific interventions for the semi-central urban areas, the large interventions for energy-intensive sectors, remote efficiency and abandoned (ghost) small villages. In the latter case, based on the main theories and experiences on smart communities. Finally, we tried to review the main measures and results achieved in EU and in Italy on energy efficiency

Medians of discrete sets according to a linear distance

l'URL de l'article publié est http://www.springerlink.com/link.asp?id=9rukhuabxp8abkweIn this paper, we present some results concerning the median points of a discrete set according to a distance defined by means of two directions p and q. We describe a local characterization of the median points and show how these points can be determined from the projections of the discrete set along directions p and q. We prove that the discrete sets having some connectivity properties have at most four median points according to a linear distance, and if there are four median points they form a parallelogram. Finally, we show that the 4-connected sets which are convex along the diagonal directions contain their median points along these directions

Approximate X-rays reconstruction of special lattice sets

Sometimes the inaccuracy of the measurements of the X-rays can give rise to an inconsistent reconstruction problem. In this paper we address the problem of reconstructing special lattice sets in Z2 from their approximate X-rays in a finite number of prescribed lattice directions. The class of "strongly Q-convex sets" is taken into consideration and a polynomial time algorithm for reconstructing members of that class with line sums having possibly some bounded differences with the given X-ray values is provided. In particular, when these differences are zero, the algorithm exactly reconstructs any set. As a result, this algorithm can also be used to reconstruct convex subsets of Z2 from their exact X-rays in a finite set of suitable prescribed lattice directions