Achievements and Problems in the In-service Teacher Education in Inquiry Based Style

Report published in the Proceedings of the National Conference on "Education and Research in the Information Society", Plovdiv, May, 2015

Interoperability of Cross-Border European Egovernment Services: Some Design Issues

The authors analyse some of the research outcomes achieved during the implementation of the EC GUIDE research project “Creating an European Identity Management Architecture for eGovernment”, as well as their personal experience. The project goals and achievements are however considered in a broader context. The key role of Identity in the Information Society was emphasised, that the research and development in this field is in its initial phase. The scope of research related to Identity, including the one related to Identity Management and Interoperability of Identity Management Systems, is expected to be further extended. The authors analyse the abovementioned issues in the context established by the EC European Interoperability Framework (EIF) as a reference document on interoperability for the Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment Services to Public Administrations, Business and Citizens (IDABC) Work Programme. This programme aims at supporting the pan-European delivery of electronic government services.

Curriculum vita of Prof. Vasil Atanasov Popov

Our primary goal in this preamble is to highlight the best of Vasil Popov’s mathematical achievements and ideas. V. Popov showed his extraordinary talent for mathematics in his early papers in the (typically Bulgarian) area of approximation in the Hausdorff metric. His results in this area are very well presented in the monograph of his advisor Bl. Sendov, “Hausdorff Approximation”.

A WEB-System for Computer Experiments in the Field of Program Transformations

The paper presents basic notions and scientific achievements in the field of program transformations, describes usage of these achievements both in the professional activity (when developing optimizing and unparallelizing compilers) and in the higher education. It also analyzes main problems in this area. The concept of control of program transformation information is introduced in the form of specialized knowledge bank on computer program transformations to support the scientific research, education and professional activity in the field. The tasks that are solved by the knowledge bank are formulated. The paper is intended for experts in the artificial intelligence, optimizing compilation, postgraduates and senior students of corresponding specialties; it may be also interesting for university lecturers and instructors.

In memoriam: Dimitar Shishkov

Bulgarian and world computer science lost a prominent colleague: Dimitar Petrov Shishkov 22th January 1939, Varna – 8th March 2004, Sofia D. Shishkov graduated mathematics at Sofia University in 1962. In the last year of his studies he started a specialization as a programmer at the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research – Dubna which lasted three years. Then he worked at the Institute of Mathematics for two years. In 1966 D. Shishkov together with a group of experts transferred to the newly created Central Laboratory for Information Technologies. In 1976 he defended his PhD dissertation. He has been an associate professor in computer science at Sofia University since 1985 and a professor in computer science since 2000. His scientific interests and results were in the fields of computer architectures, computational linguistics, artificial intelligence, numerical methods, data structures, etc. He was remarkable with his teaching activities. D. Shishkov was the creator of high-quality software for the first Bulgarian electronic calculator “ELKA” – one of the first calculators in the world as well as for the series of next calculators and for specialized minicomputers. He was the initiator of the international project “Computerization of the natural languages”. He was a member of a range of international scientific organizations. Among his numerous activities was the organization of the I-st Programming competition in 1979. D. Shishkov was the initiator of sport dancing in Bulgaria (1967) and founder of the first sport-dancing high school education in the world. D. Shishkov was a highly accomplished person with a diversity of interests, with a developed social responsibility and accuracy in his work. In 1996 D. Shishkov was awarded with the International Prize ITHEA for outstanding achievements in the field of Information Theories and Applications. We are grateful to D. Shishkov for the chance to work together with him for establishment and development of IJ ITA.

Approaches to Building Websites for Training People with Special Education Needs

This work discusses several approaches to building websites for training and facilitating people with special education needs (SEN), implemented over the last four years with the authors’ involvement. Achievements are credited and avenues for improvement are suggested, as emphasis is given to technologies and resources of key importance in providing the required level of accessibility. Two instances of learning management systems are considered as tools for developing websites dedicated to training and working with people with SEN. A summary of the recommendations and requirements of developers of such sites is made in view of improving the degree of accessibility.

Обектен подход към извънкласната работа по информатика за начинаещи ученици

Neli Maneva, Plamenka Hristova - The paper is devoted to a new approach to the extracurricular activities in Informatics for beginners, 3–5 grade pupils. Only the first step of our approach are described in detail, namely the modeling of the identified so far objects with prime and secondary importance. Some examples of objects are presented through their main characteristics revealing their peculiarities and the level of significance for the achievements of the stated goals for an efficient performance of the activities under consideration.

Web 2.0 and the Global Transformation of Education

Румен В. Николов - Статията анализира необходимостта от институционални промени в училищата и университетите с цел да се адаптират към съвременните изисквания на обществото на знанието. Паралелно се анализират феноменът на електронното обучение, глобалната образователна реформа и необходимостта от разработването и прилагането на нови педагогически модели. В статията е поставен акцент върху Уеб 2.0 технологиите и електронните инфраструктури, както и върху тяхното влияние върху образованието и научните изледвания в училищата и университетите. Професионална квалификация на учителите, която да е проектирана така, че да отговаря на новите предизвикателства, се разглежда като ключов фактор за успешното навлизане на новите технологии в училище. Важно е да се отбележи необходимостта от разработка на стратегия за обучение на учителите през целия живот, която да отчита съвременните научни постижения в технологично- обогатеното обучение и новите теории за ученето. Препоръчва се изграждането на социални умения и компетенции, които са подходящи за работа в една Уеб 2.0 базирана учебна среда и с глобалния социален софтуер, да се включи в учебните планове и програми както на учениците, така и в курсовете за подготовка на учители.

An Overview of Modelling Bulgarian Wildland Fire Behaviour by Application of a Mathematical Game Method and WRF-Fire Models

This paper presents the main achievements of the author’s PhD dissertation. The work is dedicated to mathematical and semi-empirical approaches applied to the case of Bulgarian wildland fires. After the introductory explanations, short information from every chapter is extracted to cover the main parts of the obtained results. The methods used are described in brief and main outcomes are listed. ACM Computing Classification System (1998): D.1.3, D.2.0, K.5.1.

European Digital Mathematics Library

The aim of this paper is to survey the European Digital Mathematics Library project goals and achievements as well as an outlook for sustainable development. “Making mathematics literature published in Europe available online” www.eudml.org

On Some of Professor Peter Rusev's Contributions

MSC 2010: 33-00, 33C45, 33C52, 30C15, 30D20, 32A17, 32H02, 44A05