A vállalati informatika szerepe a versenyképesség alakításában a pénzügyi és gazdasági válság időszakában (Corporate IT in shaping the competitiveness of the Hungarian enterprises in the financial and economic crisis)

A cikk az informatika és a versenyképesség kapcsolatát vizsgálja. A Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem Versenyképesség Kutatási Programjának korábbi felmérései óta számos új technológia bukkant fel, illetve hazánkat is elérte a világméretű pénzügyi és gazdasági válság hatása. E kihívások tükrében érdemesnek tűnt újra megvizsgálni az információtechnológia (IT) szerepét a versenyképesség alakításában. / === / In this paper the relationship between information technology (IT) and competitiveness is tackled. Since the authors’ previous surveys within their Competitiveness Research Program several new technologies have emerged, and the influence of the word wide financial and economic crisis has reached Hungary as well. In the face of these challenges it is worth reexamining the role of IT in shaping the competitive position of companies. The structure of the paper is as follows. A brief theoretical introduction is provided before their research questionsare presented. After that, the paper contains an analysis on selected fields of the corporate IT function, namely IT infrastructure, IT applications, IT management and IT strategy. Based on this, conclusions are made both at the end of the main parts, and in the final section of the paper. As far as the final conclusions are concerned, the majority of respondents do not regard IT today as a source of sustainable or contestable competitive advantage, though the dominant opinion underlines that IT is a strategic necessity. Besides this, their research results suggest a kind of association between corporate performance and the maturity level of the IT function. However, even the best performing companies are not prepared yet to effectively respond to their own prediction that forecasts the strengthening role of IT as a competitive factor.

A nettó jelenérték maximalizálása erőforrás-korlátos projektekben - egy új harmóniakereső metaheurisztika (A harmony search metaheuristic for the resourceconstrained project scheduling problem with discounted cash flows)

Ebben a tanulmányban a szerző egy új harmóniakereső metaheurisztikát mutat be, amely a minimális időtartamú erőforrás-korlátos ütemezések halmazán a projekt nettó jelenértékét maximalizálja. Az optimális ütemezés elméletileg két egész értékű (nulla-egy típusú) programozási feladat megoldását jelenti, ahol az első lépésben meghatározzuk a minimális időtartamú erőforrás-korlátos ütemezések időtartamát, majd a második lépésben az optimális időtartamot feltételként kezelve megoldjuk a nettó jelenérték maximalizálási problémát minimális időtartamú erőforrás-korlátos ütemezések halmazán. A probléma NP-hard jellege miatt az egzakt megoldás elfogadható idő alatt csak kisméretű projektek esetében képzelhető el. A bemutatandó metaheurisztika a Csébfalvi (2007) által a minimális időtartamú erőforrás-korlátos ütemezések időtartamának meghatározására és a tevékenységek ennek megfelelő ütemezésére kifejlesztett harmóniakereső metaheurisztika továbbfejlesztése, amely az erőforrás-felhasználási konfliktusokat elsőbbségi kapcsolatok beépítésével oldja fel. Az ajánlott metaheurisztika hatékonyságának és életképességének szemléltetésére számítási eredményeket adunk a jól ismert és népszerű PSPLIB tesztkönyvtár J30 részhalmazán futtatva. Az egzakt megoldás generálásához egy korszerű MILP-szoftvert (CPLEX) alkalmaztunk. _______________ This paper presents a harmony search metaheuristic for the resource-constrained project scheduling problem with discounted cash flows. In the proposed approach, a resource-constrained project is characterized by its „best” schedule, where best means a makespan minimal resource constrained schedule for which the net present value (NPV) measure is maximal. Theoretically the optimal schedule searching process is formulated as a twophase mixed integer linear programming (MILP) problem, which can be solved for small-scale projects in reasonable time. The applied metaheuristic is based on the "conflict repairing" version of the "Sounds of Silence" harmony search metaheuristic developed by Csébfalvi (2007) for the resource-constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP). In order to illustrate the essence and viability of the proposed harmony search metaheuristic, we present computational results for a J30 subset from the well-known and popular PSPLIB. To generate the exact solutions a state-of-the-art MILP solver (CPLEX) was used.

E-közigazgatás Európában? Jelen és jövő (E-Government in Europe)

A jövő közigazgatásában az ügyfélbarát ügyfélszolgálat több olyan elektronikus csatornán is jelen lesz, amelyek csoportját jelenleg az on-line internetkapcsolat, a mobiltelefon és az interaktív digitális televízió, a jövőben az on-line interaktív multimédia képviseli. Az európai elektronikus közigazgatási fejlődési trend arra mutat, hogy a jövőben internet, mobilinternet és/vagy intelligens kábel tv technológiát alkalmazva, egy virtuálisan élő ügyintézővel beszélgetve juthat az ügyfél információhoz, foglalhat időpontot és indíthat érdemi ügyintézést. ________ In the course of future’s customer friendly public administration there will be some info-communication channels which are represented today by the on-line Internet accessibility, mobile telephones, and interactive digital television and the forthcoming interactive multimedia. The European trend of the development of public administration relies on Internet mobile Internet and/or intelligent cable television technology employing virtual adminsitrators as real time partner sin obtaining office information, booking appointments or launching adminsitration workflow.

A felsőoktatási képzések munkaerő-piaci szempontból (Higher education programs from point of view of labor market)

A munkaerő-piaci követelményeknek megfelelően kialakított képzések versenyképesebbek a társaiknál. A napjainkban is zajló magyar felsőoktatási reform központi elemét alkotja a képzések ennek megfelelően történő átalakítása. Mindez létjogosultságot ad egy olyan rendszernek, amely a Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem gazdaságinformatikus BSc-képzésének kompetenciaelemeit kívánja vizsgálni az állásajánlatokban megnyilvánuló munkaerő-piaci igények tükrében. Az ontológiaalapú módszertan egy egységes fogalmi kört biztosít a munkaerőpiac eltérő szemléletű oldalán kifejlesztett modellek egységesítésére és összehasonlítására. ____ Tendencies can be observed on international and domestic levels that call for restructuring of higher education according to the needs of labor market. This paper presents an information system that can investigate the compliance of education programs and current labor market needs. Competences serve as a basis for this compliance checking, which is built on ontologybased approach. Having examined the distribution of roles (developer, operator etc.) appeared in IT job offers in time and space, a prototype of this system will be showed, related to Business Informatics degree program at Corvinus University of Budapest.

Az agilis szemlélet első két évtizede (First two decades of agility)

Az agilitás az elmúlt húsz év egyik fontos fogalma, amelyet több területen (gyártás, szoftverfejlesztés és projektmenedzsment) is több-kevesebb eredménnyel alkalmaztak. A hazai akadémiai diskurzus eddig mostohagyermekként kezelte e témákat, holott az érintett szakmák gyakorlati művelői számos alkalommal foglalkoztak velük. A szerző rövid áttekintést ad e területek fontosabb gondolatairól, majd ezek közül néhányat a vezetés-szervezés általánosabb tárgyalásmódjával vizsgál. Az agilis szemlélet mögött rejlő alapgondolatok egy része nem nevezhető újnak. A cikk az agilitás témájának pozicionálásával zárul. _____ The agility of is an important concept of the last twenty years, which is applied with more or less results in several areas (manufacturing, software development and project management) as well. The author gives a brief overview of the main ideas from these areas, and examines some of these with general aspects of leadership and management. The article concludes with the theme of the positioning of agility.

Számítógép-használat otthon és a munkahelyen - a digitális kompetencia és a számítógépes munkakörnyezet ergonómiájának empirikus vizsgálata (Using of computers at home and on the workplace – an empirical study of the ergonomy of digital competency and the computerized working environment)

A számítógépes munkavégzés elterjedése számos szempontból és módszerrel vizsgálható. A szerző kutatásai során az ember-gép-környezet összhang megteremtésének igényéből kiindulva arra keresi a választ, hogy milyen tényezők befolyásolják a számítógéppel végzett tevékenységek megszervezésének és végrehajtásának hatékonyságát. Tanulmányában a kutatás indítófázisának főbb eredményeiről, a számítógép-használati szokásokról ad áttekintést, ami elengedhetetlen az irodai-adminisztratív jellegű tevékenységekhez kötődő kritikus tényezők feltárásához, továbbá a mérési és fejlesztési feladatok megalapozásához. A szűkebb értelemben vett ergonómiai szempontok mellett a digitális kompetenciák kérdéskörét vonta be a munkába, amit releváns kérdésnek tart a hatékonyság mérése szempontjából, mivel a számítógép megválasztása és a munkahely kialakítása nem értékelhető az emberi tényező alkalmassága és az elvégzendő feladat tartalma nélkül. __________ Office and administrative work, business corres-pondence, private contacts and learning are increasingly supported by computers. Moreover the technical possibilities of correspondence are wider than using a PC. It is accessible on the go by a cell phone. The author analysed the characteristics of the used devices, the working environment, satisfaction factors in connection with computer work and the digital competence by a survey. In his opinion development in an ergonomic approach is important not only to establish the technological novelties but to utilize the present possibilities of hardware and environment. The reason for this is that many people can not (or do not want) to follow the dynamic technological development of computers with buying the newest devices. The study compares the results of home and work characteristic of computer work. This research was carried out as part of the “TAMOP-4.2.1.B-10/2/ KONV-2010-0001” project with support by the European Union, co-financed by the European Social Fund.

ERP-rendszerek a számítási felhőben (cloud computing) - A felhőtechnikával összefüggő új ERP-kiválasztási kritériumok elemzése (ERP systems within cloud – Criteria for selection of ERP systems in a cloud environment)

Néhány éve vonult be a köztudatba a cloud computing fogalom, mely ma már a szakirodalomban és az informatikai alkalmazásokban is egyre nagyobb teret foglal el. Ez az új IT-technológia a számítási felhő számítástechnikai szolgáltatásaihoz kapcsolódó ERP-rendszerek szabványosítását, elterjedését eredményezi. A szerzők cikkükben áttekintést adnak a cloud computing mai helyzetéről és a számítási felhőben működő adatfeldolgozó rendszerekkel (kiemelten ERP) kapcsolatos felhasználói elvárásokról, illetve kezdeti, németországi alkalmazási tapasztalatokról. Külön tárgyalják az ERP-rendszerek új kiválasztási céljait és kritériumait, melyek a felhőkörnyezet speciális lehetőségei miatt alakultak ki. _____ The concept of ‘Cloud’ as an IT notion emerged in the past years and proliferated within the business and IT professional community. The concept of cloud gained awareness both in the professional and scientific literature and in the practice of IT/IS world. The cloud has a profound impact on the Business Information Systems, especially on ERP systems. Indirectly, the cloud leads to a massive standardization on ERP systems and their services. In this paper, the authors provide a literature overview about the current situation of Cloud Computing and the requirements established by end-users against the other data processing facilities and systems, outstandingly the ERP systems. The majority of investigated cases are based on samples from Germany. Furthermore, the initial experiences of application are discussed. Separately, the recent selection objectives and criteria for ERP systems are investigated that came into existence because the appearance of Cloud in the IT environment.

Civil service reform trends in public personnel management: Experiences from the Commonwealth of the Bahamas

This study has explored the potential for implementing a merit-based public personnel system in The Bahamas, a former British colony in The Commonwealth Caribbean. Specifically, the study evaluated the use of merit-based public personnel management practices in areas of recruitment, selection, promotion, training and employee development and performance evaluation. Driving forces and barriers which impact merit system successes and failures as well as strategies for institutionalizing merit system practices are identified. Finally the study attempted to apply the developmental model created by Klingner (1996) to describe the stage of public personnel management in The Bahamas. The data for the study was collected through in-depth interviews with expert observers. ^

A semantic paradigm for intelligent data access

An implementation of Sem-ODB—a database management system based on the Semantic Binary Model is presented. A metaschema of Sem-ODB database as well as the top-level architecture of the database engine is defined. A new benchmarking technique is proposed which allows databases built on different database models to compete fairly. This technique is applied to show that Sem-ODB has excellent efficiency comparing to a relational database on a certain class of database applications. A new semantic benchmark is designed which allows evaluation of the performance of the features characteristic of semantic database applications. An application used in the benchmark represents a class of problems requiring databases with sparse data, complex inheritances and many-to-many relations. Such databases can be naturally accommodated by semantic model. A fixed predefined implementation is not enforced allowing the database designer to choose the most efficient structures available in the DBMS tested. The results of the benchmark are analyzed. ^ A new high-level querying model for semantic databases is defined. It is proven adequate to serve as an efficient native semantic database interface, and has several advantages over the existing interfaces. It is optimizable and parallelizable, supports the definition of semantic userviews and the interoperability of semantic databases with other data sources such as World Wide Web, relational, and object-oriented databases. The query is structured as a semantic database schema graph with interlinking conditionals. The query result is a mini-database, accessible in the same way as the original database. The paradigm supports and utilizes the rich semantics and inherent ergonomics of semantic databases. ^ The analysis and high-level design of a system that exploits the superiority of the Semantic Database Model to other data models in expressive power and ease of use to allow uniform access to heterogeneous data sources such as semantic databases, relational databases, web sites, ASCII files, and others via a common query interface is presented. The Sem-ODB engine is used to control all the data sources combined under a unified semantic schema. A particular application of the system to provide an ODBC interface to the WWW as a data source is discussed. ^

Dynamic data retrieval on the World Wide Web

Methods for accessing data on the Web have been the focus of active research over the past few years. In this thesis we propose a method for representing Web sites as data sources. We designed a Data Extractor data retrieval solution that allows us to define queries to Web sites and process resulting data sets. Data Extractor is being integrated into the MSemODB heterogeneous database management system. With its help database queries can be distributed over both local and Web data sources within MSemODB framework. ^ Data Extractor treats Web sites as data sources, controlling query execution and data retrieval. It works as an intermediary between the applications and the sites. Data Extractor utilizes a twofold “custom wrapper” approach for information retrieval. Wrappers for the majority of sites are easily built using a powerful and expressive scripting language, while complex cases are processed using Java-based wrappers that utilize specially designed library of data retrieval, parsing and Web access routines. In addition to wrapper development we thoroughly investigate issues associated with Web site selection, analysis and processing. ^ Data Extractor is designed to act as a data retrieval server, as well as an embedded data retrieval solution. We also use it to create mobile agents that are shipped over the Internet to the client's computer to perform data retrieval on behalf of the user. This approach allows Data Extractor to distribute and scale well. ^ This study confirms feasibility of building custom wrappers for Web sites. This approach provides accuracy of data retrieval, and power and flexibility in handling of complex cases. ^

Signal processing of physiological signals for automated assessment of stress in computer users

The need to provide computers with the ability to distinguish the affective state of their users is a major requirement for the practical implementation of affective computing concepts. This dissertation proposes the application of signal processing methods on physiological signals to extract from them features that can be processed by learning pattern recognition systems to provide cues about a person's affective state. In particular, combining physiological information sensed from a user's left hand in a non-invasive way with the pupil diameter information from an eye-tracking system may provide a computer with an awareness of its user's affective responses in the course of human-computer interactions. In this study an integrated hardware-software setup was developed to achieve automatic assessment of the affective status of a computer user. A computer-based "Paced Stroop Test" was designed as a stimulus to elicit emotional stress in the subject during the experiment. Four signals: the Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), the Blood Volume Pulse (BVP), the Skin Temperature (ST) and the Pupil Diameter (PD), were monitored and analyzed to differentiate affective states in the user. Several signal processing techniques were applied on the collected signals to extract their most relevant features. These features were analyzed with learning classification systems, to accomplish the affective state identification. Three learning algorithms: Naïve Bayes, Decision Tree and Support Vector Machine were applied to this identification process and their levels of classification accuracy were compared. The results achieved indicate that the physiological signals monitored do, in fact, have a strong correlation with the changes in the emotional states of the experimental subjects. These results also revealed that the inclusion of pupil diameter information significantly improved the performance of the emotion recognition system. ^

Adding concurrent data transfer to transport layer

In recent years, the internet has grown exponentially, and become more complex. This increased complexity potentially introduces more network-level instability. But for any end-to-end internet connection, maintaining the connection's throughput and reliability at a certain level is very important. This is because it can directly affect the connection's normal operation. Therefore, a challenging research task is to improve a network's connection performance by optimizing its throughput and reliability. This dissertation proposed an efficient and reliable transport layer protocol (called concurrent TCP (cTCP)), an extension of the current TCP protocol, to optimize end-to-end connection throughput and enhance end-to-end connection fault tolerance. The proposed cTCP protocol could aggregate multiple paths' bandwidth by supporting concurrent data transfer (CDT) on a single connection. Here concurrent data transfer was defined as the concurrent transfer of data from local hosts to foreign hosts via two or more end-to-end paths. An RTT-Based CDT mechanism, which was based on a path's RTT (Round Trip Time) to optimize CDT performance, was developed for the proposed cTCP protocol. This mechanism primarily included an RTT-Based load distribution and path management scheme, which was used to optimize connections' throughput and reliability. A congestion control and retransmission policy based on RTT was also provided. According to experiment results, under different network conditions, our RTT-Based CDT mechanism could acquire good CDT performance. Finally a CWND-Based CDT mechanism, which was based on a path's CWND (Congestion Window), to optimize CDT performance was introduced. This mechanism primarily included: a CWND-Based load allocation scheme, which assigned corresponding data to paths based on their CWND to achieve aggregate bandwidth; a CWND-Based path management, which was used to optimize connections' fault tolerance; and a congestion control and retransmission management policy, which was similar to regular TCP in its separate path handling. According to corresponding experiment results, this mechanism could acquire near-optimal CDT performance under different network conditions.

Trust based security mechanisms for wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks are emerging as effective tools in the gathering and dissemination of data. They can be applied in many fields including health, environmental monitoring, home automation and the military. Like all other computing systems it is necessary to include security features, so that security sensitive data traversing the network is protected. However, traditional security techniques cannot be applied to wireless sensor networks. This is due to the constraints of battery power, memory, and the computational capacities of the miniature wireless sensor nodes. Therefore, to address this need, it becomes necessary to develop new lightweight security protocols. This dissertation focuses on designing a suite of lightweight trust-based security mechanisms and a cooperation enforcement protocol for wireless sensor networks. This dissertation presents a trust-based cluster head election mechanism used to elect new cluster heads. This solution prevents a major security breach against the routing protocol, namely, the election of malicious or compromised cluster heads. This dissertation also describes a location-aware, trust-based, compromise node detection, and isolation mechanism. Both of these mechanisms rely on the ability of a node to monitor its neighbors. Using neighbor monitoring techniques, the nodes are able to determine their neighbors’ reputation and trust level through probabilistic modeling. The mechanisms were designed to mitigate internal attacks within wireless sensor networks. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated through extensive simulations. The dissertation also addresses non-cooperation problems in multi-user wireless sensor networks. A scalable lightweight enforcement algorithm using evolutionary game theory is also designed. The effectiveness of this cooperation enforcement algorithm is validated through mathematical analysis and simulation. This research has advanced the knowledge of wireless sensor network security and cooperation by developing new techniques based on mathematical models. By doing this, we have enabled others to build on our work towards the creation of highly trusted wireless sensor networks. This would facilitate its full utilization in many fields ranging from civilian to military applications.

Social network structure as a critical success condition for open source software project communities

In recent years, a surprising new phenomenon has emerged in which globally-distributed online communities collaborate to create useful and sophisticated computer software. These open source software groups are comprised of generally unaffiliated individuals and organizations who work in a seemingly chaotic fashion and who participate on a voluntary basis without direct financial incentive. ^ The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between the social network structure of these intriguing groups and their level of output and activity, where social network structure is defined as (1) closure or connectedness within the group, (2) bridging ties which extend outside of the group, and (3) leader centrality within the group. Based on well-tested theories of social capital and centrality in teams, propositions were formulated which suggest that social network structures associated with successful open source software project communities will exhibit high levels of bridging and moderate levels of closure and leader centrality. ^ The research setting was the SourceForge hosting organization and a study population of 143 project communities was identified. Independent variables included measures of closure and leader centrality defined over conversational ties, along with measures of bridging defined over membership ties. Dependent variables included source code commits and software releases for community output, and software downloads and project site page views for community activity. A cross-sectional study design was used and archival data were extracted and aggregated for the two-year period following the first release of project software. The resulting compiled variables were analyzed using multiple linear and quadratic regressions, controlling for group size and conversational volume. ^ Contrary to theory-based expectations, the surprising results showed that successful project groups exhibited low levels of closure and that the levels of bridging and leader centrality were not important factors of success. These findings suggest that the creation and use of open source software may represent a fundamentally new socio-technical development process which disrupts the team paradigm and which triggers the need for building new theories of collaborative development. These new theories could point towards the broader application of open source methods for the creation of knowledge-based products other than software. ^

An approach for design and analysis of User-centric Communication Middleware

Today, the development of domain-specific communication applications is both time-consuming and error-prone because the low-level communication services provided by the existing systems and networks are primitive and often heterogeneous. Multimedia communication applications are typically built on top of low-level network abstractions such as TCP/UDP socket, SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol) APIs. The User-centric Communication Middleware (UCM) is proposed to encapsulate the networking complexity and heterogeneity of basic multimedia and multi-party communication for upper-layer communication applications. And UCM provides a unified user-centric communication service to diverse communication applications ranging from a simple phone call and video conferencing to specialized communication applications like disaster management and telemedicine. It makes it easier to the development of domain-specific communication applications. The UCM abstraction and API is proposed to achieve these goals. The dissertation also tries to integrate the formal method into UCM development process. The formal model is created for UCM using SAM methodology. Some design errors are found during model creation because the formal method forces to give the precise description of UCM. By using the SAM tool, formal UCM model is translated to Promela formula model. In the dissertation, some system properties are defined as temporal logic formulas. These temporal logic formulas are manually translated to promela formulas which are individually integrated with promela formula model of UCM and verified using SPIN tool. Formal analysis used here helps verify the system properties (for example multiparty multimedia protocol) and dig out the bugs of systems.