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Developing e-government under cyber threats and Russia’s war: Ukraine’s Diia platform
Get PDFDigital democracy used to be an aspiration of the ‘old’ internet culture. Some saw it as an entirely new system, much more participatory and grounded in libertarian values, while others expected an upgraded democracy and a digitalization of public services and government-citizens interactions. A few decades later, democracy has received a digital upgrade, but mostly for public services. One such remarkable achievement is Ukraine’s Diia platform, which launched in 2020 and gained significant public attention in 2023 amidst Russia’s full-scale war of aggression. Ukraine has been a target of Russia’s hybrid warfare since 2014, from covert military attacks, illegal annexations, disinformation campaigns, to cyberattacks. Despite this, Kyiv managed to promote and implement its e-government platform in the middle of Russia’s hybrid war and then full-blown war against the country. Estonia is another relevant example of e-government, having also boosted its efforts for e-government after Russian cyberattacks. This paper analyzes Ukraine’s Diia platform and examines the cybersecurity challenges that the country faces in maintaining e-government services online and secure against the multitude of cyber operations and malware targeting them, either from cybercriminals or state actors. This discussion will begin with a brief literature review focused on e-government and cybersecurity. Ukraine’s case will be taken into consideration alongside Estonia’s example, but the focus will remain on Diia and Ukraine’s cybersecurity policies and practices, including international partnerships. Moreover, the paper puts forward several recommendations derived from Ukraine’s experience, including strenghtening cybersecurity measures for all e-government developments, bolstering international partnerships, and implementing lessons learned from other countries. The findings offer insights for practitioners, policymakers, and scholars focus on digital governance, e-government, and cybersecurity
Dualitatea peisajului rutier
Get PDFArticolul realizează o scurtă analiză a zonei rutiere, definind acest termen prin intermediul noțiunii de limită care, privită din altă perspectivă, se poate transforma într-un prag - concept foarte important în înțelegerea relației dintre drum și localitățile din jurul său -, afirmându-se, astfel, caracterul dual al drumului și face o trecere în revistă a evoluției infrastructurii și dotărilor rutiere, de la traseele (comerciale) vechi la rețelele contemporane de drumuri de mare viteză, concentrându-se pe investigarea spațiilor de servicii, cu scopul de a arăta faptul că drumurile, prin dotările acestora (sau absența lor) pot acționa fie ca elemente ce separă diferite medii (urban – rural) și fragmentează peisajul, fie ca elemente ce facilitează legăturile, interacțiunea între urban – drumul - și rural – localitățile pe care le traversează – și dezvoltarea locală printr-o raportare echitabilă la context. De asemenea, este explorat potențialul conceptului japonez de stații rutiere de servicii – michinoeki -, ca model de transformare a actualelor (non)spații rutiere de servicii, din simple puncte de oprire temporară în centre multifuncționale - și chiar poli de dezvoltare - relevante la nivel local, capabile să influențeze pozitiv percepția, ambianța și relațiile dintre infrastructură, șofer și peisajul înconjurător – profunzimile teritoriului -, sprijinind economia locală și cultura regională – prin sinteza și integrarea specificului local - și subliniindu-se astfel importanța unei abordări integrate pentru revitalizarea și dezvoltarea sustenabilă a zonelor preponderent rurale. Studiul poate fi relevant pentru arhitecți, urbaniști și autorități, deoarece oferă o altfel de perspectivă asupra planificării și dezvoltării infrastructurii rutiere și propune, prin redefinirea spațiilor rutiere de servicii, o soluție practică, viabilă și aplicabilă la scară largă pentru a transforma drumurile – în special cele de mare viteză -, din bariere pasive în elemente permeabile care participă în mod real și activ la rezolvarea problemelor, dezvoltarea pe o multitudine de planuri și coeziunea socială a mediului rural traversat
The cyber crime ecosystem: Challenges and solutions for smart technology
Get PDFThe rising of smart technology increases the appearing of new vulnerabilities, consequently turning smart devices into a soft target by cybercriminals. While rapid proliferation has brought efficiency, smart technology has also introduced significant vulnerabilities to cybercrime. This paper will review the vulnerabilities and challenges of cybercrime within the ecosystem of smart technologies from two dimensions: analytical and user-related. The scope of this paper is to highlight main risks within smart technologies while pointing solutions for making such technologies secure and resilient, because the cybercrime groups take advantage of vulnerabilities of IoT devices. As solutions, states need a secure network infrastructure and data encryption, and a real-time threat monitoring system. The current paper fills in the gaps in previous foundational works on cybersecurity ecosystems and extends the ideas into the evolving landscape of smart technologies. A comprehensive understanding of the cyber-crime ecosystem is pieced together in the paper, using mixed-methods approach: a systematic review of existing literature and examples of how cybercriminals can target smart technologies. In this paper will be presented examples of the adaptation strategies of cybercriminals who, by exploiting gaps, have managed to develop elaborate attack vectors. Proposed solutions include creating a culture of cybersecurity awareness among citizens. Results provide a foundation for researchers who might want to extend the areas where the contexts of cybercrime and emergent technologies meet. The contribution in this paper is original, framing cybercrime within an interconnected and fast-evolving smart technology landscape. This study has underlined the requirement of realizing that such challenges need to be secure in the future of smart technology and its users worldwide
Ethical challenges on health management.The culture of quality
Get PDFThe article explores the ethical challenges in health management and their impact on the culture of quality within medical institutions. It emphasizes the need for ethical leadership in ensuring transparent decision-making and social accountability, particularly in the context of an increasingly complex healthcare system. The relationship between organizational culture and the quality of healthcare services is analyzed through the lens of ethical principles. The study highlights how ethical values and norms influence institutional performance and patient satisfaction, with relevant examples drawn from the public health sector. The research proposes a set of strategies for integrating ethics into health management, supporting the hypothesis that an ethical organizational culture reduces risks and enhances efficiency-findings derived from a questionnaire-based survey. The objectives of the study aim to outline a framework of best practices applicable to medical institutions
Cybersecurity in Albanian Accounting: Enhancing Data Integrity and Risk Management
Get PDFCybersecurity poses a growing challenge for modern organizations, including within the realm of accounting. This study explores the impact of cybersecurity on accounting practices and financial information management. Focusing on identifying potential risks and protective strategies, it analyzes methods to enhance the integrity and security of financial data amidst persistent cybersecurity threats. The findings underscore the critical need to align cybersecurity practices with accounting standards, addressing a gap identified in current literature
E-Government System in Albania: Insights from the Citizen Perspective
Get PDFExploring citizen impressions of digital platforms and electronic public services is essential as digital governance plays an important role in improving the delivery of public services. This study examines Albanian citizens\u27 perceptions of the e-Government platform, e-Albania, with the aim of understanding the key factors influencing its acceptance and future adoption intentions Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study investigates variables such as Perceived Usefulness, Ease of Use, Attitude, and Future Intention to Use. Literature review on digital governance highlights the significance of these factors in shaping citizen engagement with e-government services. Additionally, recent studies emphasize the growing importance of trust and risk factors as citizens depend more an more on online government services This research paper aim to identify how these factors influence citizens\u27 attitudes toward adopting and their future intentions to use e-Albania, and providing insights to improve user experience with this mandatory government platform.
To evaluate these insights, this study employed a structured survey administered to 100 participants in Albania. Results indicate that majority of participants rated the platform favorably; usefulness and ease to use. However, concerns regarding data security risk and overall trustworthiness had a significant impact on participants\u27 intentions for future use.These findings are valuable for practitioners, policymakers, and developers of e-Government platform in Albania. Addressing user concerns around transparency, user support, and streamlining access can improve the platform’s effectiveness and trustworthiness. This study provides realistic and valuable insights into the Albanian e-Government landscape, emphasizing the practical need to foster trust and streamline digital public service delivery for better citizen adoption
Inteligența artificială și educația
Get PDFO examinare a tendințelor tematice din licențele și disertațiile susținute recent la Școala Națională de Studii Politice și Administrative (SNSPA), Facultatea de Administrație Publică, evidențiază o evoluție notabilă: în intervalul ultimilor trei ani, s-a înregistrat o creștere a frecvenței cu care este abordată problematica inteligenței artificiale. Această tendință este predominantă în special în lucrările de absolvire care investighează domeniul guvernării electronice (ce pot fi studiate online accesând publicația Student Papers on Smart Cities and E-Governance (SPoSC&EGOV) Repository dar nu reprezintă nici pe departe un fenomen izolat, ci mai curând o reflectare a transformărilor profunde pe care tehnologia le induce în societate și, implicit, în mediul academic.
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Cities and urban consumption in transition towards sustainability
Get PDFSustainable urban development is advancing through cities that aim at encouraging sustainable consumption behaviours. Cities are in transition to achieving urban sustainability, meeting the needs of communities without compromising the wealth of future generations. Cities are playing a leading role in advancing towards sustainable urban consumption, and enabling citizens as responsible consumers and agents of social change. Driving responsible urban consumption provides benefits to urban communities by ensuring a better quality of life of people within urban spaces and natural environments. The future of urban development relies on promoting styles and behaviours of responsible consumption and making healthy and environment-friendly urban spaces
Is a smart sustainable city a marketing-oriented city?
Get PDFMore recently, the instrumentalist approach to the the smart city concept, which emphasises different ICT solutions, is being replaced by a functionalist approach which focuses on the purpose of the smart city. If this purpose is identified with adapting to the needs of current and future generations of citizens, a strong convergence between the concepts of the smart sustainable city and the marketing-oriented city can be predicted in the near future. In my paper I have try to detect the first signs of this convergence process in the Hungarian discourse on the development of smart sustainable cities. Therefore, I empirically analyse the sustainable urban development strategies of the most important Hungarian cities prepared between 2021 and 2024, which are key for the use of EU funds for sustainable urban development. The analysis focuses primarily on the different approaches to the concept of city marketing and the peculiarities of their use, using the methodological tool of content analysis. The results are rather mixed: although the cities analysed almost without exception try to integrate marketing (especially sales communication) into the practice of smart sustainable urban development, the majority of these documents are still not sufficiently customer-oriented. Moreover, the lack of an integrated marketing approach is also a very typical problem, mainly due to the dominance of sectoral marketing limited to tourism or economic development and/or the absence of a management approach. However, in the absence of a correct and complete use of the city marketing concept, there is little chance of really good practices of smart sustainable urban development being established in the near future. The main aim of this paper is to draw the attention of urban policy practitioners and academics to this danger.
Managementul documentelor electronice: Analiza nivelului de adoptare a solutiei Filedoc în institutiile publice din România
Get PDFConceptele de baza a prezentei lucrari graviteaza in jurul dimensiunilor teoretice a integrarii tehnologiei informatiei, restructurarea organizationala a institutiilor publice in contextul guvernarii digitale si nivelul gestionarii documentelor electronice ca indicator al eficientei serviciilor publice din Romania. Conditile moderne de lucru si posibilitatile inovarilor tehnologice pot avea un impact major asupra necesitatii gestionarii digitale a unui numar tot mai mare de informatii. In contextul in care trecerea la societatea digitala reprezinta o tendinta actuala a politicilor de e-guvernare, integrarea noilor resurse informationale capata o importanta strategica in activitatea sectorului public. Procesele interne aferente sarcinilor administrative care gestioneaza documentele de comunicare cu cetatenii au fost si sunt in continuare asociate cu birocratia excesiva. Mentinerea procedurilor birocratice este adeseori asociata cu pastrarea unor cantitati excesive de documente, tendintele de suprapunere a sarcinilor intre departamente, lipsa de transparenta in ceea ce priveste procesele administrative, rigiditatea si rezistenta aparatului administrativ la schimbare. Cercetarea urmareste identificarea inovarilor digitale aferente sistemelor informationale, necesitatea integrarii cu sistemele de planificare a resurselor organizationale si adoptarea solutiilor si practicilor de gestionare a documentelor electronice in scopul apropiarii administratiei de cetatean. Studiul abordeaza cercetari stiintifice din practica internationala privind impactul solutiilor de document management asupra nivelului de performanta din perspectiva utilizatorilor. Scopul principal al acestui studiu de cercetare este de a intelege nivelul de adoptare a aplicatiei Filedoc din perspectiva functionarilor publici. Concluziile formulate pe marginea rezultatelor obtinute in partea aplicativa vor putea servi drept punct de referinta in dezvoltarea viitoarelor strategii publice, avand ca obiectiv cresterea increderii cetatenilor prin furnizarea de servicii mai rapide, mai accesibile si mai transparente