A new strategy for the European periphery
The southern European periphery suffered a severe setback in its catching-up process versus Western Europe after the financial crisis with GDP dropping by 10% between 2008 and 2012 and unemployment rates increasing to 20% for Greece, Portugal and Spain. We analyse first the reason for this setback, and then the policy reaction of the national governments and the European partners. Policy reactions mainly focused on restoring price competitiveness. It has important blind spots as far as industrial restructuring, upgrading tourism, making use of globalisation and alternative energies, supporting business starts, connecting education, as well as innovation and firm creation are concerned. There is a lack of national ownership of the reforms on the one hand, and a neglect of the European community and the surplus countries on the other hand, that they could support the southern periphery by measures increasing welfare in the community as well as in the surplus countries. Surplus countries profit heavily by the bifurcation of interest rates for government bonds and by capital flows.
Does the Development of Information Systems Resources Lead to the Development of Information Security Resources? An Empirical Investigation
Information Systems (IS) are nowadays considered the most important leverage for organizations to operate and gain a competitive advantage. Investments in IS technology, in the recruitment of high qualified IT personnel and the establishment of internal and external robust IT related partnerships are considered determinant factors for business success and continuity. As organizations increasingly rely on IS resources, they face more advanced IS security challenges. This paper explores the relationship between the development of IS resources and security resources; are organizations willing to invest more in IS security resources as they invest more on IS resources? The authors conduct an empirical investigation in organizations located in five Mediterranean countries. The sample includes responses from 61 CEOs, information security managers and IS managers. The results reveal that IS resources positively affect the IS security resources. The human capital plays the most important role for the adoption of IS security.
Computer-Aided System of Virtual Testing of Gas Turbine Engines
The article describes the concept of a virtual lab that includes subsystem of gas turbine engine simulation, subsystem of experiment planning, subsystem of measurement errors simulation, subsystem of simulator identification and others. The basis for virtual lab development is the computer-aided system of thermogasdynamic research and analysis “ASTRA”. The features of gas turbine engine transient modes simulator are described. The principal difference between the simulators of transient and stationary modes of gas turbine engines is that the energy balance of the compressor and turbine becomes not applicable. The computer-aided system of virtual gas turbine engine testing was created using the developed transient modes simulator. This system solves the tasks of operational (throttling, speed, climatic, altitude) characteristics calculation, analysis of transient dynamics and selection of optimal control laws. Besides, the system of virtual gas turbine engine testing is a clear demonstration of gas turbine engine working process and the regularities of engine elements collaboration. The interface of the system of virtual gas turbine engine testing is described in the article and some screenshots of the interface elements are provided. The developed system of virtual gas turbine engine testing provides means for reducing the laboriousness of gas turbine engines testing. Besides, the implementation of this system in the learning process allows the diversification of lab works and therefore improve the quality of training.