Science. Business. Society.
Vol. 1 (2016), Issue 2

Table of Contents

  • SCIENCE

    • TUNING PARAMETERS OF A MIXED INTEGER PROGRAMMING SOLVER IN THE CLOUD

      pg(s) 3-5

      We present a software system that tunes configuration parameters of an algorithm. Parameters are tuned to minimize the solving time for a set of problems. SCIP is a mixed integer programming solver developed at Zuse Institute Berlin. The solver has more than 1500 configuration parameters. Most of the parameters are related to the solution process, others apply to solver’s input/output. There are both discrete and continuous parameters. Our system modifies parameters one by one to find ones having the most impact on the solving time. Then combinations of the best parameter values are evaluated. This approach implies that a great amount of solver runs is needed: 1-2 values of every parameter multiplied by the number of parameters multiplied by the number of test problems. Thus we employ a public cloud to create a temporary computational cluster for faster processing. The paper presents an overview of the system, a method to measure algorithm’s performance in the cloud and numerical results of system’s use on several problem sets.

    • CLOUD SERVICES FOR AUTOMATION OF SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING COMPUTATIONS

      pg(s) 6-9

      The report discusses common problems associated with the automation of scientific and engineering computations, as well as promising approaches to solving these problems, based on cloud computing models. The use of service-oriented approach in scientific and engineering computing can improve the research productivity by enabling publication and reuse of computing applications, as well as creation of cloud services for automation of computation processes. An implementation of this approach is presented in the form of Everest cloud platform which supports publication, execution and composition of computing applications in a distributed environment.

    • DETERMINATION OF REPLICATION PARAMETERS IN THE PROJECT OF THE VOLUNTARY DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING NETMAX@HOME

      pg(s) 10-12

      The project of the voluntary distributed computing NetMax@home on the BOINC platform was developed. At a project definition phase to public access some features of functioning of the project were revealed. Determination of replication parameters and modification of the application allowed to achieve increase of efficiency of calculations in the project.

    • GAMIFICATION IN COMMUNITY-DRIVEN WEB APPLICATIONS

      pg(s) 13-14

      Community-driven web applications often do not supply enough user-generated content to kick-start their growth and expand their audience. A way to deal with this problem is to introduce an achievement system that gives users a reason to explore and interact with each other. The use of game design principles to motivate the participants in a community-driven web application has been proving successful. In this paper we take a look at one major example of gamification in a website for careers and job opportunities.

    • IMPROVING BUSINESS PERFORMANCE THROUGH MICROSERVICES

      pg(s) 15-18

      Microservices is an emerging software architectural style that is meant to deal with many of the limitations of contemporary monolith applications. In the recent years, this architectural style has become the preferred choice for building large and complex heterogeneous software systems. Many companies identify microservices as a means to build competitive advantage. Main reason for this is the flexibility that the microservice approach provides in terms of developing software intensive systems. Companies that incorporate microservices claim to be able to respond much faster to changing business environment. Microservices have both technical and cultural aspects. They provide a great flexibility in selecting the proper technologies. On the other hand, they result in a culture shift in each organization. Developers tend to become more productive and reduce the total number or defects. This paper makes an overview of the microservices architectural style for developing software intensive systems and analyzes the key aspects that result in improving the business performance. It discusses the main characteristics of microservices and provides guidelines on how to apply them in real business scenarios.

    • INTERACTION OF 3D MODELS FROM PROTEIN DATA BANK BASE WITH UCSF CHIMERA AND WORK IN BLENDER SOFTWARE

      pg(s) 19-20

      Protein Data Bank features affordable standardized high-quality 3D models of biological molecules. In certain cases it is necessary standardized 3D geometry models to be used for specific tasks, which are set requirements for the direct integration. This is required in cases of creation of simulations, animation of processes, interactive visualization or presentations. The implementation of such processes is complex and require precision and correct selection of the technological tools that promote the realization of the work.

  • BUSINESS

    • PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS AND THEIR IMPACT ON PRIVATE INVESTMENT (The case of Saranda)

      pg(s) 21-24

      Evaluation of public investment efficiency in macroeconomic terms has increased the attention of the researchers in recent years. In this paper we concentrating on the evaluation of public investment based on the impact they have on the economic indicators and specifically the growth of private investment. Public investment at national and local level have an important role in economic growth and particularly public infrastructure contributes in increasing private investment, in the developing economies. In this regard, in our paper we get in study investment in public infrastructure and their impact on the number of private businesses in the municipality of Saranda. In the first part of this paper is treated the theoretical aspect of public investment, identification of economic indicators and evaluation of public investment on the basis of these indicators. In the second part we have treated methodology for collecting and processing data. For the realization of our paper, we are based on a statistical study of secondary data and to process them is using linear regression model. Data analysis represents the third part of the study, namely the correlation analysis of independent variables and the construction and analysis of linear regression equation, which expresses the connection of independent variables with the dependent variable. The ratio of public investment in infrastructure to public investment total, represent independent variable with the more important that we have included in our study, interest rates and the index of economic freedom represents independent explanatory variables, while number of business entities represents the dependent variable.

    • PROBLEM ANALYSIS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM CONSTRUCTION AT IRON AND STEEL ENTERPRISES OF UKRAINE

      pg(s) 25-28

      The problem of construction of project management information system (PMIS) is analyzed. The factors under investigation define the problem: the presence of ERP-systems (ERP) in metallurgy industry, the ERP inefficiency for the PMIS construction due to the drawbacks of the functional and historical divergences between the kind of management activity and project management software (PM software); the necessity for the PM software application for the PMIS construction and integration of the PMIS and ERP into unified informational system (IS) for management of all kinds of enterprise activities. To solve this problem information is systematized; variants of integration of PM software with ERP applied in metallurgy industry are classified and proposed.

    • INNOVATIVE POTENTIAL OF ENTERPRISES IN UKRAINE IN CONDITIONS OF THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

      pg(s) 29-32

      In the article the approaches to the interpretation of the concept of "innovation potential", summarizes the components of the innovation potential of the knowledge economy. Attention is paid to tactical and strategic aspects of the study of innovative development and implementation of innovative enterprises in Ukraine. Analyzed key characteristics of the innovative development of its willingness to build a society basd on knowledge. Highlight factors that influence the formation of knowledge economy.

    • CAPITAL MANAGEMENT IN FINANCIAL INSTITUTION ACTIVITY IN POLISH BANKING SECTOR

      pg(s) 33-36

      In this article the basic types of capital characteristic for modern financial institutions were presented. Based on the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, the stability of funding sources in a group of commercial, cooperative banks and credit institutions setting up the Polish banking system in the years 2009-2014 was estimated. The conducted study showed that the main funding sources of commercial banks activity, cooperative banks in particular, are deposits of non-financial sector. The emission of debt commitments represents a very small share in total assets. In addition, the internal analysis of the structure of deposits of non-financial sector structure showed that the dominant source of capital are cash flows from the household sector. It should also emphasize that despite the reduction in central bank interest rates, the dynamics of increase in fundraising, is keeping an upward trend, which greatly reduces the instability of funding sources.

    • CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY DETERMINANTS IN FMCG ON-LINE RETAIL STORES

      pg(s) 37-39

      Globalization and free movement of goods have significantly limited price competition among FMCG on-line retailers. A relationship with a customer becomes more dependent on non-price factors such as: usability of e-commerce systems and trust in a company. One of the goals of the research described in the article was to determine the influence on customer’s satisfaction and loyalty by such factors as: customer value, web-usability and trust. The article presents the outcome of the research conducted in Poland on the customers of Polish FMCG on-line retailers.

  • SOCIETY

    • SCIENTIFIC PROBLEMS OF FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SOCIETY IN UKRAINE

      pg(s) 40-43

      Author provides the definition of information society as a society in which economic development, social change, quality of life and social order depend on the knowledge and methods of information operation, and its expression can be characterized by certain criteria. The characteristics of scientific concepts of information society and economy development in institutional theory are considered. The scientific approaches to determining the nature of the information society, its processes and driving mechanisms are analyzed. The author pays special attention on informatization of Ukrainian society, defines a number of negative factors that operate today. It is concluded that Ukraine has become more sensitive to crises and instability. The measures to create organizational and legal mechanism for effective functioning and further development of the information society are determined.

    • NOISE POLLUTION MODELLING AND VISUALISATION – THE CASE STUDY FOR THE CITY OF SKOPJE

      pg(s) 48-50

      Noise pollution modelling can be used to provide information about growing noise pollution from the urban traffic. Various methods have been developed that aim at minimizing the noise pollution and improving the environment. Geographic Information System (GIS) can be adapted to gather, analyse and present noise information. The results in this paper demonstrated that most of regions surrounding the main streets are suffering from the noise pollution. As a main contribution of this paper, the first this-kind of study for the city of Skopje, practicing GIS capabilities for presenting noise information, we have produced a general picture of the traffic-induced noise pollution on annual level. The assessment showed that the used method in visualization can provide reliable information about noise pollution in any city or urban region. In this paper, we were focused, as a case study, for the city of Skopje.