Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems Across the European Union, Iceland and Norway

Abstract Alternative dispute resolution schemes (ADR) have been developed differently across the EU. It is difficult to determine which of the countries have developed the most successful schemes. Therefore the aim of this article is to summarize different organizational aspects of ADR schemes across the EU, to determine similarities across different countries and to define them in specific systems. Defining these schemes in systems will not only help to evaluate and compare ADR schemes and their success between different countries but will help also professionals, governments and other stakeholders to develop more effective ADR schemes across the EU, Iceland and Norway.

Cloud Based Cross-system Integration for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

The usage of information technology (IT) is one of the major factors for ensuring the growth and competitiveness of enterprises, as well as it also benefits the effective knowledge management within the organisation.There are large-scale knowledge management systems (KMS) covering the full functionality for facilitating the effectiveness and productivity of employees. These systems are frequently integrated into other organisation's management systems. But the most of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) cannot afford to use these KMS, and also the full functionality of these KMS is not necessary for them. Thus, the solution is to combine the parts of cloud based knowledge manageme…

Public Libraries – Facilitators of Information Society and e- Inclusion in Latvia

Abstract The economic growth and national competitiveness is closely correlated with the development of information society. In the last few years the role of public libraries has significantly increased and libraries have greatly contributed to the improvement of information society in Latvia. The usage of library services had never been as high as they were in 2011 – 42% of the population were active library users and 90% of them used the Internet. Nowadays, the public library network in Latvia provides a powerful network of information, knowledge and community centres and they are highly demanded by society.

Literature Review On The German Labor Market

Multilingual information delivery based on a domain ontology

As internationalisation becomes more and more intensive, organizations need to work with information in different languages in their work. Interlingua content delivery in e-learning courses could be effective learning content adaption method for delivering information for much wider audience. This paper suggests high-level framework for multilingual learning content delivery. This approach is based on a domain ontology, which allows to annotate and retrieve learning resources in a language independent way. Such method can improve accessibility, sharing and reuse of multilingual learning content.

Electronic procurement system – instrument for implementing green public procurement: analysis of the Latvia’s expierence

Green public procurement (GPP) is a mean of saving up finances for public institutions, especially taking into consideration not only procurement price but also total expenses of the contract lifecycle. In Latvia the first Electronic Procurement System (EPS) was established in 2005 and was the first such procurement system in the Baltic States. Initially, it only acted as an e-Procurement system in which public institutions can purchase standard goods and services. This paper analyzes the success of the implementation methodology for evaluating e-Procurement in public procurement. The aim of the paper is to explore the proportion of applied GPP of total procurement in EPS in Latvia in the p…

Methodological perspective of evaluation of Green public procurement

Every year the European Union (EU) Member States collectively spend around 14% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on public procurement. In Latvia, public procurement accounts for 17% of GDP. The review of the new public procurement directives and their transposition process in Latvia plans to show new opportunities for green public procurement (GPP) application: the contracting authority will be able to reject, for example, an abnormally low bid, include environmental management system requirements in the selection criteria, use life cycle costing criteria, etc. GPP is the systematic integration of environmental criteria into all activities related to the procurement of goods or services, fro…

The Effectiveness of Compliance Management Systems – An Experimental Approach

Abstract This paper presents the results of an experimental approach to further strengthen activity in the area of Compliance Management Systems (CMS). It highlights the use of CMS in order to conduct business through persons which are ethically sensitized. Possible cause-effect relations are tested and evaluated. The paper highlights that not all applied measures do have a positive impact on decisions which have to be taken in ethical dilemma situations. The effectiveness of CMS depends on a careful selection of the right activities. Nevertheless elements could be identified which are likely to have a stronger impact on the decision making than others. These should be in the focus when des…

Meta model of e-learning materials development

The multitude of software tools is available for the creation of learning resources. However the majority of these tools provided by different software producers do not have a unified mechanism by means of which it would be possible to search and reuse the existing learning resources or their elements. To solve this problem the structures of descriptive data can be used. The aim of this paper is to describe a meta-model of e-learning objects and e-learning formats that could be used in the creation of e-learning materials compatible with various e-learning standards. The meta-data models that are used in widely-known learning resources’ repositories and their structure’s metadata standa…

E-Learning material presentation and visualization types and schemes

Multimedia and content visualisation provide ability to transform electronic materials into more dynamic format. This can provide positive aspect on learning, but also can overload the limited information processing capacity in human brains. Cognitive load in technology-enhanced learning is closely related to the learning styles of learners. This study examines interactions between learning styles of students and how these are related to student’s working memory and cognitive traits. To investigate the learning styles of learners the Felder- Soloman questionnaire was chosen. It allows analyse students’ learning styles with respect to the Felder-Silverman learning style model, which is t…

Context Aware Mobile Learning as a Factor for Economic Growth

Abstract Mobile technologies have become an integral tool for communication and information delivery. It transformed educational paradigms from traditional one-size-fits-all to personalized and context aware learning. Such education can support human resources development, resulting in improved outcomes. Quality of education and working skills are the important driving force for economic development. This paper deals with the role of mobile learning in education, which is unique in terms of flexibility of time and location, but it requires extra planning and analyses of appropriate technologies during learning design process. The contextual information can be static, but some parts are dyna…

Learning Content Development methodology for Mobile Devices

Abstract Mobile devices are becoming increasingly popular; basically mobile devices are reaching all levels of society. Thanks to the popularity of mobile devices, mobile learning has become great tool for delivering educational resources. The continuously increasing demand for mobile technology based learning materials, renders adoption of educational resources for these requirements. Technology by itself does not contribute much to education that is why the aim of this research is to present and evaluate methodology for visualisation and production of electronic materials in mobile environments. Methodology focuses on instructional design and mobile content design and the navigation contr…

The demand of Public Administration management’s staff competences in the future

The development of the competences of the staff of the Latvian Public Administration has been drawing more and more attention. The aim of the development of the human resources is a professional, motivated, advanced and honest staff of the Public Administration. It means that it is necessary to evaluate the competences of the staff in order to upgrade them and understand what is in demand nowadays. Improved personal and professional competences are regularly needed to improve the quality, efficiency, development of creative thinking, knowledge and adaptation to the trends and demands of the 21 st century. It is therefore important to understand whether employees are in line with a specialis…

Digital competence rating and economic development in the EU

Diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICT) in different areas has accelerated the growth of the global economy. It has large impact to the business by transforming processes, creating new services, industries. ICT development requires new technologies and new approaches to innovate and integrate. The European Commission stated: "The Internet and digital technologies are transforming the lives we lead, the way we work – as individuals, in business, and in our communities as they become more integrated across all sectors of our economy and society". The access to high-speed digital infrastructures, skills of the effective usage of highly developed digital technologies repre…