Dear visitors!

This week my blog might be temporarily unavailble. I am moving it from another hosting provider. I hope that I will fix it in a week time.

Thank you very much for your understanding.

Elena.

MSc thesis – Semantic Web Application for software
selection, Softologics at the University of Liverpool

Modern organisations are often dependent from well-organised IT resources including
software assets. However, in it is not transparent where from and how to get
up-to-date information on software products. For better understanding of
software selection issues, a mixed methodology research was applied, including
in-depth online questionnaire and literature survey. For addressing software
selection issues, a web prototype was created demonstrating a possible solution
for better information management and decision support.

Findings from literature research and an online questionnaire were contrasted and
triangulated. Majority of survey participants stated that their businesses
would benefit from decision support software. This was complemented by
literature sources providing an outlook into methods and existing solutions of
selection amongst alternatives and important software selection factors, which
were further discussed by survey participants. In accord to the previous
academic research analysed, majority of survey participants agreed that
complexity of factors such as fitness to business needs, functionality, and interoperability
plays an important role in software acquisition. They stated that while
Internet search engines are useful, their organizations would benefit from an
automated software selection decision support.

In order to be independent from third-party advice, businesses can research in
specialised web resources or use search engines for retrieving software
descriptions from the World Wide Web. Web is an immense source of information
including advertised there software products, however, its information is not
well-organised. Semantic Web technologies for information management,
aggregation and platform-independent storage can be used for storing and
manipulating software products information.

The aim of this thesis was to examine application of semantic web tools to the
software selection problem. The application of Semantic Web Technologies
including RDF for software descriptions storage and structured search using
SPARQL queries were investigated in the project. The implemented web
application shoed a possible solution to software selection decision support,
using semantic web tools. The prototype was assessed and its performance
results were discussed, which led to recommendations about improvement of
software acquisition process.

Employment Support for Graduated Students, FindTopJob at the Altai State University

The purpose of the FindTopJob project was to implement regional information system
for employment support and provision of information on available educational
services. The project was within ministry of education program framework, which
aim was to assist in employment of young professionals embarking on their
professional employment career.

The development system was a Web application accessible with help of Web browser
software. Its functionality includes employment positions’ and education
institutions’ advertising, job search, communication between employees and
potential employers. The interface of the system consists of interlinked and
dynamically created web pages and forms taking in user’s data.

Information provided by educational institutions, employers, employees and students, was
stored in a relation database. The application was written using PHP
programming language and MySQL for storing database records. HTML and CSS
formats were used for presenting web pages’ context and enable its uniform
design.

The project tasks included user requirements’ analysis, which was performed in
collaboration with computation centre of Altai State University and employed
docents, system decomposition into components and technical design, system
implementation, testing and deployment. The University’s students helped to
test its work.

The system was deployed at the Altai State University’s web portal, and then moved
to an Internet hosting provider. It sustained for about eight years of
uninterrupted work despite of hacker attacks. Currently, the FindTopJob
application is still online and supported by its author, however, requires further
modernisation and maintenance efforts.

MSc thesis – SYNNET project at the Tomsk
University of Control Systems and Radio electronics

Any system for transfer and processing of information contains a certain number of
devices, each of which carrying out a number of signal operations such as
filtering out signal noise, discrimination of signals originating from various
information input sources and signal amplification amongst others.

In analogue systems, these operations are carried out by means of electric
circuits, in particular by means of linear electric circuits with corresponding
frequency and time characteristics. When designing high-frequency
semi-conductor amplifiers with a feedback, special electric circuits which
bring attenuation on those frequencies, on which there is a surplus of
strengthening on a loop of feedback, are entered in a circuit of strengthening.
Such circuits are defines as correcting circuits, used for controlling the
characteristics of active and passive circuits. Correcting circuits are used in
design of radio-electronic devices, including measuring amplifiers, active
filters and proof-readers. A problem of synthesis of correcting circuits with
required set of properties is thus paramount.

The system developed by a group of students and researches at the Tomsk University
of Control Systems and Radio electronics under supervision of Dr.L.I.Baback is
intended for the automated synthesis of correcting and compensation networks. A
software application SYNNET, developed in the dissertation project, was
intended to be a part of the developed system and realised two-terminal correcting
circuits’ design.

SYNNET’s algorithm was programmed using method proposed by A.S.Kaushansky in early 1970, which was not been realised in practise yet. Kaushansky algorithm solves Foster problem of finding circuits with minimal number of elements for the set of the
provided entrance function. It also reduces number of search variants and thus
overall time of computation by using principle of duality.

SYNNET was programmed using C++ Builder rapid application development environment. The user interface of SYNNET provides means of for working with rich text format files for calculation reports and tasks with Driving-Point Function (DPF). DPF
files are created by SYNNET provided with type of function, conductivity or
resistance, normalisation factors for numerator and denominator of the
function. After taking in user input entered into edit fields, SYNNET
calculates the two-terminal network, outputs its parameters and matching
design. Calculation results are stored in “Work” directory, and can be walked
through using SYNNET user interface. SYNNET provides also all required file,
printing, reporting and user guide functionality.

In accord to the recent report by GetJar, mobile market growth is expected to reach 50 billion in 2012 with annual growth rate of more than 90 percent. This reveals great opportunities for software developers and companies willing to participate in new technological boom. However marketing analysis is very promising, is the technology ripe enough for creating user-friendly applications effectively?

First of all, it is important to consider the huge variety of mobile devices and platforms. Each platform characteristics should be considered while selecting development tools and before starting development process. The selected development environment should help in developing required product features and be easy to learn. This might be quite a challenging process since many development tools are in their early age, and documentation is often incomplete. Besides when thinking about commercial projects, price and licensing are to be considered as well.

Smartphones

According to the statistics by Mobile Metrics majority of visitors use iPad, iPhone and Android devices for web browsing. Nielsen’s research indicates that in the end of this year usage of smartphones could be compared with usage of featured phones for the United States market.

It might be a difficult to define a clear separation between both types devices for users who does not use all capabilities provided. Smarthphones however promise good user experience and availability of various apps for gaming, information services, communication, social networking and entertainment.

Development Instruments

The most prominent operating systems for smarthphones include Android, RIM Blackberry and iOS. This is why I will write about development tools with focus on these operating systems.

While doing my research about development tools, I have realized that they could be grouped into several categories: desktop applications assisting in creating apps using general purpose programming languages, web tools assisting in creation of simple web applications, tools using JavaScript and HTML for building simple apps, and systems enabling development without or with minimum coding by user.

In the next post, I am going to write about my experience of installing and using some of these tools. Keep reading!

After reading Peter’s blog and his posts about online education, I cannot disagree about advantages of learning online. Online learning is very convenient since it is free from commuting to classes and easy to establish a flexible schedule for study. Besides, having quite advanced Internet technologies at hand and plenteous information resources, study online can be very productive for time-cautious students. In my opinion, online degree is indispensible for working professionals and allows them so needed flexibility; however, young people might enjoy great life experience when having good financial support and possibility to study on campus.

From my own experience of studying on campus at the Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics and online at the University of Liverpool, I believe that both ways of providing education courses can be similarly effective when students are genuinely interested in the study subject. I think that the most important purpose of any study process – is to gain knowledge and skills. When supervised with professional instructors and provided with all needed information, students can learn equally well.

Choosing between online or offline study process can be not so critical for an established professional with working experience since they know what knowledge they need for progressing in their career, however, will be young students happy with their choice after stepping outside of university walls into their adult life and right into the job market?

The exams are important, however, learning outcomes cannot be underestimated when thinking about students’ future career development. Thus, it is paramount to carefully consider provided study modules, will they benefit to a particular student’s needs? Sometimes young students might find it difficult to choose an educational course and find their career direction without professional assistance. It seems that face-to-face coaching in selecting right education path or friendly advice might be very much appreciated.

While studying on a campus in my twenties, I had a good possibility to learn from great tutors, professors and study with my class-mates face-to-face. They often provided great advices how to approach a certain task, which tools to use and where from more information can be taken. All this can be done also online by sharing links and using discussion boards. Nevertheless, so needed support and motivation from teachers and fellow classmates can be missed in an online study process.

This is I think that why young students might benefit from traditional offline study experience. Young students certainly can be proactive and organize their learning on their own very well. But, some of young students would really benefit from real-life experience and learn not only their subjects, but also improve their interpersonal communication skills so needed in life. Besides, I think that many of us who studied on campus in young age would agree that campus life can be remarkable experience. Study offline is not only learning process, it is friendship and great time that no one forgets.

Nevertheless, studying on campus might not be feasible for students living in remote places or having some health issues. It might also be very expensive for young students without good income and financial support. This is why online learning is a good option in such cases.

Thus, the decision about embarking on an online learning should be taken by weighting all the pros and cons. Flexibility of study plans and possibility of combining with work would benefit adult learners. Young students however might find it difficult to find their way in life, motivate themselves to study independently and might benefit from academic coaching. Face-to-face communication is also quite important skill to develop. However, since the main purpose of any learning process is to gain knowledge, the two ways of education can equally provide all needed informational support for well-motivated students, having interest in their study subjects.

Today we celebrate 50 years since Yuri Gagarin was the first human to explore the space. In honor of this great achievement, the anniversary is celebrated around the World today. Space team from the International Space Station share their thoughts about this special event on this YouTube video!

World Wide Web was invented by Timothy Berners-Lee, who created a first web page and put it online in 1991. Since then, quite many different techniques and computer languages were used for creating web pages. Web sites became dynamic, more responsive to user actions and interactive. Use of animation and high-quality graphics helps in providing great user-experience and captivating audience. For example, please take a look at award winning and other very useful web sites.

For web developers, it might be virtually impossible to develop and maintain a very complete set of skills required to create modern interactive web sites. Variety of technologies, frameworks and development tools is overwhelming. The challenge is that these tools are constantly evolving and require understanding of HTTP and networking basics. Thus, it might be reasonable to keep up with the most popular web development instruments, which are likely to be employed in next few years. This would help to concentrate on developing and improving relevant skills.

In this post, the most demanded web development skills, used tools and techniques are briefly described. Their application field and related functionality are explained. To conclude, a short list on core technologies used today and likely to be used in years ahead is outlined.

Development Tools

In table below, several programming languages and tools used in web development are shown. The table summarizes how these instruments can be applied for a particular purpose. This table can be used for identifying which skills are required for building a particular web site or application. Examples of such web sites are linked to table cells (please write me a note is you have some web site in mind that I can refer it in the table). The next sections describe these tools in detail.

Skills Required Today

Static Web Pages

Static web pages are created before exposing information to user. They can include textual and graphic information; however, they lack interactivity such as exchanging information with server-side applications and collecting user input. For creating a static web pages web site, HTML computer language can be used.

For managing representation styles for fonts, images, tables and such, CSS can be created as an external file, or file included directly into a web page. Since one CSS style can be used for styling several and even hundreds of web pages, an external file can be preferred. Personally, I like to create CSS files programmatically that they are quite straightforward to change by changing several parameters such as main colors or font styles.

Web design

For creating graphic works, software applications such as Photoshop and Illustrator can be used. However, when simple textual presentation and static images are not enough, a web site can be equipped with state of the art user interface, interesting navigation and animation. Visual presentations created using Adobe Flash and ActionScript can help in creating a professional look.

Interactivity

For client-side scripting, languages such as VBScript, JScript or JavaScript () can be employed. JavaScript is quite easy to learn and integrate into HTML web pages. For instance, JavaScript code can be used to add form validation. When used with AJAX technique, JavaScript can be used for creating more responsive applications communicating with web server and communicating data without page reloads. AJAX is quite popular technique for creating responsive dynamic web sites.

Programming Languages

For creating dynamic web sites, programming languages such as PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby and Java can be used. PHP is an open-source programming language, which is quite popular and used for development of WordPress, PHPbb and OsCommerce systems, deployed on Linux platforms. Perl is well-suited for creating CGI applications and server administration scripts.

Python and Ruby are easy to learn programming language useful for rapid web development. Ruby on Rails is a great framework for fast prototyping and development. In my opinion, it is quite easy to create basic interfaces for interaction with database and implementing “Create Read Update Delete” (CRUD) web interface. However, Rails deployment requires a good understanding of server configuration and needed file access permissions.

Java programming language enables to write client-side and server-side applications such as Java applets and Java Server Pages. In sense of creating server-side content, it is similar to PHP. However, Java can be also used for creating portable desktop applications. Thus, Java applications can be deployed on Linux, Windows or other platforms running Java Runtime Environment.

Similarly to Java, C# and VB.Net (Microsoft) can be used for back-end development. Developers having knowledge of C and Visual Basic would find .NET tools quite easy to learn

Frameworks and CMS

It might take a time to master a programming language; however, good programming skills can be insufficient as seen from many web development job requirements. Knowledge of frameworks such as cakePHP (PHP), Rails (Ruby), Scriptaculous (JavaScript) and other is must have for web developers.

Moreover, understanding of architecture for CMS systems including WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, their customization and plugins creating is in demand. Development of useful plugins, often distributed for free, can also be used as a marketing instrument for spreading the World about a web design studio or professional.

Working with Databases

Programming a web site with dynamic content is likely to involve interaction with databases, storing, manipulating and retrieving of stored data. To free programmers from implementing low-level access to database records, SQL computer language can be applied for connecting to databases, selecting and updating particular records. For “Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP” (LAMP) platforms, MySQL language can be used.

Standards Compliance

Since there are many different platforms and devices enabling access to web sites and applications, web developers should consider how their applications would work in different clients web browsers. It might be necessary to ensure that web sites comply with standards and are presented well for at least by majority of users. If you are interested, please refer to regulations maintained by W3C, which also provide HTML, CSS and XML validation tools. Ensuring that web sites fit to standard requirements however requires extensive testing and thus is tedious and expensive process.

Skills required in the next 10 years?

According to Elance.com, PHP and WordPress programmers are in the highest high demand now, followed by article writing, graphic design, HTML, MySQL and CSS. JavaScript, AJAX and Java are on 11^th, 22th and 43th positions respectively, while ASP.NET and Rails stand on 53th and 87^th positions. Google trends show that average global search traffic for PHP is higher compared to .NET and Rails for the last 7 years.

In Great Britain, statistics for Web Development skills shows that JavaScript stays on the first position; however, PHP programming language still outperforms Java and Ruby.

It seems that PHP programmers are in demand today, however, will they hold their strong position in the future? According to Justin James (), PHP is likely to be demanded in the following years together with JavaScript, CSS and other skills such as web services. It is reasonable to assume that knowledge of web programming techniques, server administration and foundations of databases will be needed as well.

Since it might be difficult to predict which programming language will be the top language in future, I would suggest keeping an eye on overall technological advances. Knowing your capabilities and preferences would also help to determine in which direction to develop your skills. For instance, focusing on back-end development would suggest developing programming skills for working with databases and administrative tasks, while front-end development would require working with tools such as JavaScript and AJAX even though they might eventually develop into something new.

To summarize, programming languages including PHP, JAVA and ASP are in demand today. JavaScript and AJAX technology also important when building responsive front-end web applications, while Perl can be helpful for server administration tasks. Nevertheless, PHP or other languages such as Java can be in demand in following years, it is paramount to maintain other development skills and knowledge about technologies, platform and standards requirements, and frameworks.

I hold two engineering MSc degrees, the latest one is the first class degree in Information Systems Management.

I have work experience in IT consultancy and development.

I strive to do my job to perfection.

I can contribute to your business by solving problems creatively and using a systems approach.

I am a human being and love to work with people, learn from them and share my skills.

My interests include software applications development, semantic web, ERP systems, complicated algorithms, IT management, information systems.

I am a curious and fast learner.

I like bicycling, traveling, photography, drawing and piano playing.

I live in the Netherlands and have an excellent family relationship.

I seek new challenges to apply my technical knowledge and human skills for working on IT projects. My ambition is to use Information Technology resources to their full potential while assisting in on-time project delivery.

Education

2008 to 2010: MSc (distinction, Student of the Year award) Information Systems Management, University of Liverpool, England

1994 to 1999: MSc System Engineer in Computer Aided Design, Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radio Electronics, Russia

Professional experience

2003 to 2004: Microsoft Business Solutions Consultant at Audit-Service
(Moscow), provided consulting services for business solution Axapta, including logistics, trade, supply chain management, production and product configuration modules. Performed business processes analysis and reengineering.

2002: Software Engineer at Splain Sever (Moscow), assisted in project
management and QA in software production.

1999 to 2002: Postgraduate position at Altai State University (Barnaul), developed web application for student employment support.

2000 to 2001: Engineer at Altai Telecom (Barnaul), organised and provided computer courses for employees, developed instructional material.

Web Projects

2004 to 2010: PHP development. Created conceptual design, developed and supported web applications, including www.findtopjob.com , www.softologics.com and www.statsrely.com .

Software Tools

Microsoft Project, Microsoft Business Solution Axapta, Microsoft Office Visio, Microsoft Power Point and other.

Computer Skills

Good: PHP, XML and Semantic Web, C++ (Borland C++ Builder), HTML+CSS, MySQL;
Basics: Pascal (Delphi), Java (Eclipse IDE), Javascript, Prolog

Affiliation: IEEE member

Training and Certificates

Microsoft Business Axapta 3.0, Logistics and Trade diplomas.
Advanced PHP Test

Languages

Russian – native (school and MSc degree attained);
English – fluent: speak/read/write (MSc degree in English);
Dutch – basic: speak and write, read: proficient;

Personal information and Recommendations

Is available upon request

E.A.Ilina (2002) ‘Defining main software quality factors for Employment Support Information System’, Data processing, Natural and Engineering Science #6, Moscow.

E.A.Ilina (2002) ’Developing a testing system for Employment Support Information System’, Natural and engineering science # 6, Moscow.

E.A.Ilina (2002) ‘An analysis of the work market and educational services’, Questions of the humanities, Moscow.

E.A.Ilina (2002) ‘Information System Life Cycle: selecting design and development tools’, Fifth Regional Mathematics Conference, Barnaul, Publisher: Altai State University.

E.A.Ilina (2002) ‘Design of the system ‘Regional agency of employment and education services’’, IX International Scientific-Practical Conference ‘New Information

Technologies in the University Education’, Section: Computer Networks, Telecommunication Systems and Instrumental Tools, Publisher: Altai State University, Barnaul (Read article , Conference )

E.A.Ilina(Grechanova) (2001) ‘Regional employment assistance and educational services, data modelling’, Proceedings of the international forum on problems of science, technics and education, Part 1, Under redaction of V.P.Savinih, V.V.Vishnevskogo, Academy of Earth Sciences, Moscow.

E.A.Grechanova (2001) Design of the system and analysis of the ‘Regional agency of employment and education services’’, Theoretical and Applied Questions of the Modern Information Technologies: Russian Scientific-Technical Conference, Ulan-Ude, ESSTU Publisher

A.V. Maximov, E.A. Grechanova (Ilina), N.A. Yurkin (2001) ‘Database structure of the project of the regional employment agency for student and graduate employment assistance for educational institutions’, Scientific journal of the theoretical and applied researches.  ‘The news of Altai State University’, Mathematics and Computer Science Print ISSN 1561-9443. On-line ISSN 1561-9451 ( Read article , Read an abstract in English)

E.A. Grechanova (2001) ‘Program module for synthesis of two-terminal electrical circuits with a minimal number of elements’, New Information Technologies: Proceedings of the Fourth Scientific-Practical Seminar, section: Design in the Technical Systems, Moscow State University of Electronics and Mathematics , ISBN 5-230-16310-0

E.A.Ilina (2003-2004) MBS Axapta Trade and Logistics, Production
and Master Planning presentations for potential clients in Moscow, Tver and
Nizny Novgorod, Russia