Laura-Diana Radu

Multimedia for Learning in Economy and Cybernetics

The use of many multimedia channels in order to bring information to target groups is not something new. What is new is related to how these channels are exploited by mixing techniques and technologies. We realized an online questionnaire to identify the multimedia techniques/tools that have impact on user’s satisfaction. We used comparative statistical analyses (Levene’s test) to observe if there are any significant differences between multimedia users and non-multimedia users. We identified that the preferred techniques are: the presence of a narrator, the existence of some suggestive images, slides and demos. These are only some factors that we identified. We studied also the influence of features as: access to, scenario type, interactivity, flexibility, additional options and effects and time dependency. We determined that the existence of useful links is an important factor for overall satisfaction of the user with multimedia materials.

Green ICTs Potential in Emerging Economies

Abstract Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are rapidly growing and have major influence, directly or indirectly, in all fields of activity. Globally, there is a favorable attitude of their expansion, manifested by supporting innovation in ICTs, but also stimulating consumption, due to the favorable economic impact. They have clearly contributed to both economic evolutions of developed countries and to obtain significant performance, often unexpected, in emerging ones. In terms of the environment, ICTs are both friends and enemies. Concerns in this direction led national and international organizations to promote the concept of green ICTs. This aims to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of ICTs by minimizing or eliminating their negative effects on the environment. This paper studies the impact of ICTs in emerging economies and identifies financial and non-financial benefits of migrating to green ICTs, both in production and consumption stages.

An Ecological View on Software Reuse

The increase of consumption is an important motivation for the reuse of either physical or virtual products. As the software market has risen, software reuse has become a practice with favourable effects for software development companies and their clients. The most important benefits are increased productivity, reduced costs, better and easier maintenance, decreased development lead times and the improved quality of software products. Successful reuse depends on several technical and non-technical factors. The ecological impact of software is an important non-technical factor of software reuse that needs to be analysed in the context of the rapid evolution of optimization techniques. The main goal of this study is to identify ecological perspectives on software reuse. These will complete the framework of software reuse together with other technical factors, such as compatibility, and non-technical factors, such as economic and ethical implications.