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China hat durch den Bau und die Militarisierung künstlicher Inseln im Südchinesischen Meer strittige Tatsachen geschaffen. Insbesondere von Seiten der USA wird dieses Verhalten als offensiv und regional-hegemonial charakterisiert, während China das eigene Verhalten anhand defensiver Zielsetzungen rechtfertigt. Basierend auf den theoretischen Prämissen des offensiven Realismus und vor dem Hintergrund der ressourcenbedingten, sicherheits- und geopolitischen Relevanz des Südchinesischen Meers analysiert diese Studie das Verhalten der Volksrepublik in der dortigen Weltregion in den Jahren 2014-2015. Das Ergebnis zeigt, dass China durch kalkuliert offensives Verhalten in der Lage ist, die eigene Position im Südchinesischen Meer relativ risikofrei zu stärken, ohne dabei in eine direkte militärische Konfrontation oder gar einen Krieg mit Anrainerstaaten oder den USA zu gelangen. China has created controversial facts by building and militarizing artificial islands in the South China Sea. Therefore, Chinese behavior in one of the world's most intense territorial disputes is characterized by the U.S. as offensive and regional hegemonic, whereas China justifies its behavior by referring to defensive objectives. Along with its behavior in the years 2014 to 2015, this paper analyses China's resource-related, security, and geopolitical interests in the South China Sea from the perspective of offensive realism. This paper shows how China can strengthen its position in the South China Sea relatively risk-free through calculated offensive behavior without getting into a direct military confrontation or even a war with neighboring states or the United States of America.

The paper analyses the role of control and monitoring of electro-energetic equipment in order to reduce operational costs, increase profits and reduce carbon emissions. The role of SCADA and EcoStruxure Power systems is presented and analysed taking into account the energy consumption and its savings. The paper presents practical and modern solutions to reduce energy consumption by up to 53%, mass by up to 47% and increase the life of the equipment by adjusting the electrical parameters. The Integrated Navigation System has allowed an automatic control and an efficient management. For ships, the implementation of an energy efficiency design index and new technologies was required for the GREEN SHIP project.

This paper brings in front of the interested researchers using one of the most known and used meshfree method, Element-Free Galerkin (EFG) method, in modelling of a technological process. It is about the deep drawing process of thin plates made of steel or aluminium. The paper gives information both for EFG method and for deep drawing process. The modelling as well the results are presented in a comparative way towards the using of Finite Element Method (FEM). The numerical analysis is based on the Ansys/Ls-Dyna program, in which EFG method is implemented. This numerical method is less known in our country and much less used, in spite of some advantages comparatively with the FEM. Of course, the EFG method is still under developing, but it can be successfully used in many problems. This paper is a proof in this sense and an urge to use the EFG method.

Military actions generally unfold rapidly in different operational environments for which the commanding officer has assess the bearing capacity of the prestressed concrete bridges existing in the country’s road network. The bearing capacity is the maximum weight of the predetermined constitution convoy, which may safely circulate on the bridge, in stable conditions, considering the physical condition of the bridge. The paper shows that the bearing capacity will be assessed only through a technical analysis performed by an authorized expert together with a military engineer specialized in genius. This experts report will compare the initial condition of the bridge to the present one. The initial condition is based on the research of the execution design; the year of elaboration; the standard loadings at the moment; proprieties of the used building materials; execution modality, possible alterations occurring during execution as to the initial project. These data, together with the road traffic census, can be obtained from the company administrating the road network where the bridge is located. The current state to be assessed through analysis, calculation and static loading tests, showing if the capacity of the bridge can to support the increase of traffic military vehicle loading and reduction of the bearing capacity due to fatigue phenomena in the reinforcement. The paper proposes that authorities draw up and approve a standard concerning the verification periodicity of the bearing capacity in the existing prestressed concrete bridges.

Lecturing is a wide spread teaching approach used in many university settings. As a didactic technique aimed at transmitting information, lecturing is, by definition, a receptive-oriented method of presenting content and offering explanations. The effectiveness of lectures has often been subject to debate; however, when delivered properly, lectures can be effective. The issue discussed in the present paper is aligned with earlier concerns regarding ways of transforming lectures into more engaging and creative classes. In the current educational context, typified by a high degree of complexity, participative communication, and great dynamism, making lectures interactive and more energetic does, indeed, become a practical and a timely endeavour. The paper looks at ways of implementing effective interactive lecturing strategies, analyses the advantages of this approach and proposes practical activities to improve lectures in order to transform a traditionally passive learning experience in an enriching and stimulating educational environment for educators and students alike.

This paper presents the current state of risk management in the knowledge-based organisations and the importance of a preventive approach, with emphasis on the aerospace and defence industry, as well as gives detailed information on the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) method, in its current known state. In order to generate enhancements to the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) method, the strong and weak points are analysed and specific solutions are proposed for the weak points, such as occurrence scoring, with the goal of enhancing the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) method and, in general, of improving risk management in the knowledge-based organizations. In conclusion, the paper evaluates the improvements generated by the proposed solutions, compared to the current known method, in order to establish the value added by the enhancements.

The paper reveals the opportunities for the development and improvement of logistics in the Bulgarian Armed Forces in the context of NATO transformation. In the context of the Readiness Action Plan (RAP) at the Warsaw Summit in 2016, package capabilities were adopted to define the framework for Bulgaria’s commitments to provide logistic support to NATO forces. Using multinational logistics approaches is a key factor in the development of logistic capabilities. The paper discusses focusing on the organization of Host Nation Support in NATO operations and exercises, the use of new technologies and information systems, as well as innovation and integrated logistics support.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, understanding of transformation encompasses not only organizational and structural processes, but also processes related to the literacy of those who deal with transformation. The paper does not analyze the literal meaning of the concept of literacy as reading and writing abilities. Within the Armed Forces system, literacy can be considered from several aspects - doctrinal, managerial, methodological, psychological, pedagogical and technical. Since transformation is not an one-time act, but a permanent function of the National Security System, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of the continuity of the process of developing literacy of today’s leaders. The purpose of this paper is to present some of the arguments for the need of transformation of literacy (knowledge and skills) of the leaders of the transformation processes at the operational and tactical levels, so that they are able to skillfully apply the modern technological innovations in the preparation of the management bodies of the Armed Forces.

In this paper, the retina is discussed as part of the feature of extraction of retinal scans for use in security systems as a means of identification. The design system contains a method of image acquisition and processing of the image. A computer system is also incorporated for matching and verifying the image captured to an already present representation of unique features of the retina that are stored as templates for matching and identification. It should then either allow or deny the user depending on the results of the matching process. This paper shows the development of the step undertaken to process the image to the extraction of the features. The high resolution images are taken through a series of image enhancement process before feature extraction technics are applied and before templates are created for future referencing. The main limitation of this process is attributed to capturing the image from the retina. The image obtained may be of poor quality thus making the unique features of the retina unclear.

Despite the extraordinary development of mobile communications, HF radio links have several advantages that make them unique in some application areas. Knowledge of HF noise is critical for the setup of a point to point HF communication. The paper presents HF noise measurements performed using a broadband antenna and Software Defined Radio equipment for signal acquisition, followed by offline signal processing. The recording has been split into several sub-bands of small bandwidth and for each sub-band the mean power has been computed, to find the sub-band with the lowest power. It might be assumed that the frequency band having the lowest power contains only noise. An analysis of the influence of sub-band size on the noise level hasalso been made. Measurements cover a large part of HF band and a large time interval to observe the noise behaviour.The paper analyses the noise level over short and long time periods, and over a large frequency band, and reports also simultaneous noise measurements in two locations in the western part of Romania, a dense urban one and a small town one, to highlight the differences caused by man-made noise of industrial type.

When people from different countries, cultures and backgrounds meet, they have to cope with the positive and the negative aspects of the intercultural exchange. Barriers such as anxiety, language, stereotypes, prejudice, ethnocentrism, and assumption of similarity instead of difference are the most significant ones to consider. This paper aims to discuss the main difficulties that individuals of various cultures and heritages may face during the intercultural communication process. In particular, this paper takes a closer look at the cultural differences between China and the USA, and at some of the current communication difficulties that the two countries face, caused by lack of mutual understanding, ethnocentrism, stereotypes, prejudice, language, differences of nonverbal indices, political and economic causes.

In this study, the authors carried out a detailed analysis of the technologies required for successful implementation of a sustainable renewable energy household power supply in Papua New Guinea or PNG (PNG is a Pacific Island nation, North of Australia) to free the country from fossil fuel dependency. The role of renewable energy sources in the recent PNG National Energy Policy covering 2018 to 2050 (unveiled at the 2018 March Energy Summit in Port Moresby by the PNG Minister of Energy) was also analysed. From the outcome of our recently concluded SERI 2018 Renewable Energy conference, we assembled into a single hypothetical ‘energy basket’ all the varied renewable ‘green’ energy sources within PNG (as estimated by our energy research groups). This paper estimates that there is sufficient renewable energy in PNG and advocates that these available green energy sources should be tapped, for they can go a long way in the quest for climate change mitigation. This research paper will articulate that shifting PNG’s and other Pacific Island nations’ energy reliance from fossil fuels and other non-renewable sources to renewable green and environmentally sustainable sources is not only achievable, but feasible within a reasonable time.

The individuals and especially the young ones live in a certain online information and communication bubble. The aim of this paper is to present certain aspects related to social media, to the addiction of social media developed by young individuals that are becoming the main online consumers in today’s economy and to identify if a certain social media addiction can affect the consumers, the products that they buy and the brands that they acquire or use. The paper underlines the concept of brand loyalty; its main characteristics and we point out certain advantages and disadvantages in relation to social media and the addiction for the online environment.

This paper presents some authors’ results regarding numerical modelling of the acoustic wave propagation, using the Ansys program. The acoustic wave propagation is studied under conditions of existence of acoustic absorbing panels. Different materials are taken into account (aluminium, foam, oak, polystyrene) for considered acoustic absorbing panels. Also, different dimensions and different cases for fixing the panels were considered. The acoustic wave propagation was studied in stationary conditions and in dynamic conditions at different values of sound frequencies. A comparative analysis is performed regarding the influence of different conditions upon acoustic wave propagation. Our studies presented in this paper are referring to the acoustic propagation in an open space, like on airports or around the acoustic sources placed in open space. The aim of this paper is to offer our experience in this field for a numerical analysis of the ways for sound level reduction. Also the facilities of the Ansys program for the solving of such problems are presented in a practical manner of use.

The repeated postponement of the deadlines set for Romania’s accession to the Eurozone as well as the challenges facing the nominal convergence criteria raised many questions among the European community regarding the competitiveness of the Romanian economy in relation to the economies of the European countries adopting the single currency. The present paper aims to present the current state of nominal convergence our country manages to achieve and to import compliance with these criteria by exemplifying the concept of optimal monetary areas. The adoption of the single currency must be achieved in the context of sustainable convergence that guarantees the minimization of costs caused by the renunciation of national monetary policy. To achieve this goal, the present paper presents the optimal context that Romania’s shift to the single currency should take into account in order to maximize its benefits from the beginning of this irreversible process.

This article provides a synthetic and easily understandable image of important financial characteristics of the Romanian public system to any person interested in the issue. It draws in general lines the etymology, legal and economic relevance of the budget, as well as the budget system structure and its development under the laws of public finances. It also presents the formation and use of budgetary flows, budgetary principles, consolidated general budget, economic and functional classification and surplus or deficit of budget. The current paper draws on the most known analysis indicators used in the literature. As a group, these analysis indicators convey the level (volume or size), the structure (the destination groups, subgroups, categories) and dynamics (the evolution in time) of budget and can be applied to both income and expenditure budgets. The paper’s objectives are to monitorize the evolution of the consolidated general budget and to analyse the employment deficit in the permissible limits (3%) in the reference period of the study (2012-2016)

The NATO Centres of Excellence (COEs), entities involved in various fields of transformation in support of the Alliance, are subject of different levels of accreditation performed by NATO. An important aspect of such recognition comes with the NATO institutional accreditation for Quality Assurance (QA) in the case of the COEs involved in education and training delivery (alongside other NATO, National and Partner Education and Training Centres). The NATO QA seal is the trustworthy mark that a COE fulfils the expected quality requirements (based on a solid Quality Management System) in the educational process, and provides deliverables „fit for purpose” as solutions for the NATO education and training requirements. While the individual strategies of the COEs are pretty much different in this endeavour, we would outline the commonality of the standards they rely on. This paper focuses on institutional performance measurement as reference in the Quality Management System, trying to identify benchmarks for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) based on the current experience at the COEs level - extended to the wider NATO Transformation Network - and shared best practice. DISCLAIMER: This paper expresses the views, interpretations, and independent position of the authors. It should not be regarded as an official document, nor expressing formal opinions or policies, of NATO or the HUMINT Centre of Excellence (HCOE)

The paper deals with the optimal solution of the proposal of spare part stocks for the PANDUR armoured vehicle operated in the Army of the Czech Republic. The aim of the paper is to propose an optimal amount of spare part stocks according to their categorization from the viewpoint of the purpose of consumption, delivery time and expected operation. The solution is based on comparing the actual spare part consumption and the normative consumption. The actual consumption is considered for the entire time of use in the Army of the Czech Republic. For the purposes of the submitted article the brainstorming techniques and the integrated environment of the MATLAB program have been used in addition of basic methods

Romania's ageing population is a fact well established by specialists in statistical data analysis. The effects of this irreversible phenomenon, which is difficult to counteract in the current circumstances, are multiple - on the economy, generally, but especially on the service activities which are necessary for the target population - "old age" - in order to increase their quality of life. In this paper we proposed to analyze the level of ageing of the Romanian population, to identify the effects of this phenomenon on the economy and on the major economic sectors with emphasis on service activities. Tertiary sector activities are divided into two categories namely: those that can improve the quality of life of elders and services absolutely necessary for them - elderly care services, medical services, spa treatment services, social services etc.In order to achieve the objectives proposed in this paper, we used the analysis of the specialized literature on this subject up to this point and the descriptive statistics with which we interpreted the statistical data found in the official databases. The results of this study are to establish the existing relationship between the ageing process of the Romanian population and the response of the economy, and especially of the services to the needs of the elderly

This paper presents, in a synthetically way, the fundamentals of the element-free Galerkin (EFG) method - a meshfree method - under development but with many capabilities for solving complex problems in mechanical engineering, like impact problems etc. For interpolation, the EFG method uses moving least-squares (MLS) interpolants in curve and surface fitting. Unlike other interpolants, the MLS interpolants do not pass through the data because the Dirac function properties are not available. This aspect could be a disadvantage of the EFG method but next to it, there are many advantages. Upon these issues a discussion exists in this paper. Finally, some applications of the EFG method are presented referring to static and dynamic analysis of structures. The examples and conclusions can be useful for knowing and using of the EFG method

The paper proposes a design solution for a low cost device with feedback for upper extremity rehabilitation after a stroke event. Cerebral vascular accident (CVA) or stroke is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. CVA is the most important cause of long-term disability in Europe, and demographic changes have led to an increase in both incidence and prevalence of this. Most secondary stroke disability is recovered in a few months, but others may persist for life. The rehabilitation should be started as soon as there is a greater chance of recovery in this early stage. Disabilities get worse and remain permanent over time, which is why is recommended the establishment of a rehabilitation program as soon as possible. Today, the use of virtual reality environments allow patients to perform tasks that mimic real life in rehabilitation clinics, but it tends increasingly more in the future these tasks can be done at home, sending data and receiving feedback from doctors. The devices presented in this paper are not only mechanical devices that allow the movement on a certain direction with predetermined effort degree for the patient, possibly controlled by the force of the muscle activity (EMG), but are innovative devices with the possibility to record a full set of biomedical signals. The patient device can record one or more biomedical parameters such as electrocardiography (ECG), heart rate (HR), electromyography (EMG), non-invasive blood pressure (NIBP), oxygen concentration in the blood (SpO2), movement speed and acceleration, angle of motion of a body extremity, torsion, s.a. according to the physician’s prescription and the patient needs. This means that the patient device will be very flexible and can communicate with other medical devices for home use

Security is often used in most meaningful concepts of contemporary political vocabulary. Furthermore, it concerns interesting aspects of the survival of nations and states in the world. In the first decade of the 21st century, mankind got into a qualitatively new phase of its development, in which it should invariably use the "uncertainty" area. There are no doubts about the facts that environmental pollution can cause a variety of ecologically based diseases and this in turn leads to reduction in the average life expectancy. This paper analyzes the relations between climate changes today and their impact on the security area. Problems that have arisen worldwide and in the Republic of Bulgaria because of the climate change are pointed out. The paper discuses directions for improving the security environment in the context of climate changes

In the first part of the paper, using the numerical simulations with FEM and the results of some investigations made with different experimental techniques, a calculation methodology was developed for the study of the stress waves propagation in the short tronconical bars subjected at axial impact. Because a good agreement between data obtained from numerical analysis and experimental investigations was observed, the numerical model of calculus conceived for this study was considered validated. The calculus model established was used to investigate other aspects connected of stress wave propagation in the short tronconical bars. In the second part of the paper, using established calculus model and numerical analysis with Finite Element Method the influence of bar conicity on stress wave propagation and on stress distribution in different cross sections of the bar was analyzed

Unmanned aerial vehicles, drones and other similar equipment are having a boom nowadays. Moreover, the usage of those modern technologies is also significant within armies. Unmanned aerial vehicles are extensively use within most of the military activities all over the world mainly on the battalion level and above. This paper is focused to discuss the usage of this technology on tactical level, particularly by squad and squad size units. The paper deals mainly with influence of unmanned aerial vehicles on troops leading procedure. The main methods of this paper are outcomes from the realized experiment. It shows on examples specific impact on all steps of the troops leading procedure. The experiment revealed interesting data and some possible conclusion were made. The primarily target of this paper is experience military personnel dealing with this topic. The paper should open broad discussion focused on all steps of troops leading procedure and outline the possible way of troops leading procedure update. Unmanned aerial vehicles, drones and other modern technology providing almost online information to the squad leader could significantly influence all steps of the troop leading procedure, safe preparation time as well as lives of the troops.

The hereby paper briefly presents the specific objectives announced, the ways in which they have been carried out, the measures taken by the Divers Center, the divers’ awareness towards their duties, further measures to be taken, and finally the way all these are applied to divers’ everyday life. The paper concludes with interpretations, comments, final considerations on the research and development theme approached by the CPSA laboratory, along with future developments within the area of research

This paper presents some results of the author’s researching in connection with SPH (smoothed particle hydrodynamics) method and underwater explosion numerical modelling. All about cavitation fundamentals are considered known and about cavitation effects upon the structures. The authors, deeply preoccupied in using of SPH method, as well in modelling of the underwater explosion effects upon structures, had to take into consideration the bulk cavitation. A main issue in this study was the knowing of the bulk cavitation domain and its characteristic parameters. Such researching was possible to be successfully carried out, only by using of the SPH method. Finally, the paper presents the relations and the working way for knowing of the bulk cavitation domain and also a numerical model using SPH method is presented. The numerical example regarding shape and dimensions of the bulk cavitation is presented together putting in evidence of some parameters which can make damages upon a structure that is in the bulk cavitation area.

The paper deals with the way of central purchasing of office paper of various formats and with an assessment of opportunities to generalize processes for creation of acceptable solutions. The aim is to suggest and verify opportunity for generalized processes that can be utilised within the military conditions. Basic scientific methods and statistical analysis with implication of interval classification by Sturges rule were used within the research. The findings of the research are beneficial especially for generalizing purchasing processes of other materials. This process can be used for purchasing of furniture or spare parts and accessories for military vehicles.

This paper highlights the importance of integrating culture in the teaching of foreign languages to military students. The first section of the paper offers some basic definitions of culture and key terms associated with it. The next part of the paper brings into discussion the relationship between culture and language acquisition. There is an intimate connection between language and culture; not only language is comprised in the definition of culture, but it also reflects culture, thus we cannot separate language teaching from culture. The final part of the paper focuses on the military students as future leaders that need to develop cross-cultural communication skills and be aware of the cultural differences in order to avoid potential failures during communication with soldiers from foreign militaries in theatres of operation or on other international missions that they are assigned.

The guideline explains how to prepare your paper in printer-ready format for the 23rd International Scientific Conference “Knowledge Based Organization” (KBO), so that its appearance is clear and consistent with the other papers in the proceedings. It includes guidance on layout, illustrations, text style and references, presented exactly as your paper should appear. It is highly advised to use KBO template and strictly follow the instructions to prepare your paper in Microsoft Word format (.DOC). The abstract portion is a narrative presentation without references. The abstract should give a concise and informative description of the paper, in 200 words, written to interest the reader as well as for information retrieval.

Over the last years, universities have diversified their educational offer, understanding and emphasizing the role of foreign languages in enhancing both personal and professional growth. Study programmes at undergraduate level have a mandatory foreign language component and there is a tendency to provide master’s programmes in foreign languages especially in the field of law, business, political sciences, international relations, etc. In this framework, the paper attempts to identify and present the steps to be taken in designing a legal English course for students who complete their Master of Laws (LLM) degree in Human Rights. The focus is on the development of such a course as an essential element of a syllabus. The paper discusses the subject content of the course, i.e. the areas within each topic meant to improve and expand the students’ specialist vocabulary which will further enable them to operate effectively in the field of human rights, the language content and the language skills which must be practised, while also analyzing subject-based materials and language materials.

In this paper I present the general background picture of the development of Gruppe (group) 6 E from German Secret Service. As a result, for the personal interest of Ernst Kaltenbrunner in the work of the Gruppe, 6E developed a working basis which differs from the normal functioning of the other Laendergruppen (groups of countries), a tendency which became more marked after the transfer of the central office from Berlin to Vienna in 1943. A liaison officer only remained in Berlin. This paper presents the final structure of the Gruppe and the leading personnel, and it is under this final organization that the work of the Gruppe in the Balkan States. The Gruppe maintained liaison officers with the Herman Neubacher and Altenberg Dienststellen (Altenberg offices), these liaison officers being directly subordinated to the Gruppenleiter (Group leader). In common with the outside offices, with which he kept in personal contact, and an Auswerter (analyst) responsible for the evaluation and dissemination of information. The Referate (Abstrat) conducted their operation through the Hauptbeauftragte (Chief Comissioner) working in the various countries under suitable cover.

The paper deals with the proposed method of creating the reserves of land military equipment in the Army of the Czech Republic. The aim is to propose the classification of spare parts categories and their consumption quantities in a calendar year. The reserves optimization criteria and the Pareto ABC analysis have been employed, besides basic methods, in the submitted paper. The proposal is based on the purpose and delivery time of spare parts. The cost indicator is related to the operation of land military equipment within its life cycle, including the supply of spare parts. Under the above mentioned conditions the method was determined to create the reserves of spare parts for land military equipment necessary to ensure the ACR operability in peacetime.

The paper is approaching a sensitive topic which the whole society is facing, namely the security at a macro and micro-economic level. In this context, increasing the level of terrorism at all levels requires important measures to prevent the acts of terrorism and of providing a security that allows the development of all entities in the society. University offsets represent areas of agglomeration of young students living together, susceptible to challenging actions and to acts of terrorism that may occur at any time. The paper approaches a systemic and systematic thinking of untried actions to be taken for these structures, components of the university.

The paper shows how statistical tools can be used for modeling testing and validating. In this sense, the paper presents an example of how to use SPSS for validating a cluster conceptual model for scientific research in the field of defense. The steps taken and the results obtained are presented in detail by correlating the most important characteristics of foreign and domestic clusters in the field of defense and in related domains, with a high potential of applicability in this area. The illustrated correlations fully support the lessons learned from the application of this method.

The paper clarifies the place and role of a commander as a manager in the process of command and control. It explained the concept of the competences model that the commander should possess. The authors define the basic requirements for the capabilities of all military professionals. The paper focused on the commander manager s ability to actively and creatively adapt to changing environment as well as on the ability to regulate negative psychological impacts. Emphasis is placed also on the ability to make decisions in uncertainty and on the ability to regulate commander’s internal and external activity due to the current situation.

Concept of the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) analyses and describes processes of major changes in military-strategic dimension, which provide possibilities especially for states to enhance their military power and establish superiority over their opponents. Contemporary, development of new (weapon) technologies (e.g. precision-guided munitions, unmanned aerial vehicles) and doctrines (e.g. network centric warfare, system-of-systems) represents such opportunity. Outer space in this context represents relatively new dimension of warfare with increasing importance for strategical thinking of all main state actors (e.g. China, Russia, and the U.S.). This paper deals with relation between RMA and outer space. The aim of this paper is to analyses how outer space and space technologies influence contemporary/future RMA and vice versa.

Education has to constantly adapt and renew itself in order to be compatible with the technology-dominated world we live in. There has been heated debate over the introduction of information and communication technology (ICT) in the educational process. The ICT, especially in foreign language teaching, has become the researchers’ focus of attention in the last two decades. Today’s armed forces require highly-skilled military personnel to be digitally literate and to have well-developed cultural awareness, intercultural communication ability and critical thinking competence. In this context, foreign language classes in the military higher education system should become an environment in which language, culture and civilisation encounters may be facilitated and enhanced by ICT, promoting the acquisition of knowledge and skills demanded by the exercise of roles that the armed forces have in the international theatres of operations. This paper aims at examining the necessity of introducing ICT in foreign language teaching, pointing to the numerous advantages of using these new technologies. The paper also discusses the new role and skills of the teacher in the context of exploiting the various resources provided by the ICT. In addition, we mention some of the modalities in which ICT can be put to good use in developing the cadets’ foreign language skills.

The fixed point theory is essential to various theoretical and applied fields, such as variational and linear inequalities, the approximation theory, nonlinear analysis, integral and differential equations and inclusions, the dynamic systems theory, mathematics of fractals, mathematical economics (game theory, equilibrium problems, and optimisation problems) and mathematical modelling. This paper presents a few benchmarks regarding the applications of the fixed point theory. This paper also debates if the results of the fixed point theory can be applied to the mathematical modelling of quality.

The modern battle field is characterized by an increasing number of indispensable information in decision making process, and as a consequence the increasing importance of software components in weapons systems. Under current conditions the commander can not only rely on experience and intuition, so it needs an information-based analytical thinking and reasoning. In this context, the operational research, with its methods and models, represents the scientific basis on which a rational and optimal decision is supported, by involving a minimal risk. This paper presents the optimization of military action, showing how to solve a practical problem using the transportation problem. The paper combines mathematical methods for solving the problem of transport with the requirements imposed by the tactical situations parameters encountered in the course of military operations by exemplifying a complex military operation.

Multinational Brigade Operations involving NATO and its European Partners are the norm in the post-Cold War Era. Commonplace today are Multinational Brigades, composed of staffs and subordinate units representing almost every NATO Country and Partner, participating in training exercises or actual operations in both the European and Southwest Asian Theatres. Leadership challenges are prevalent for the Multinational Brigade Commander and his staff, especially those challenges they face in achieving an effective level of brigade interoperability in order to conduct successful operations in NATO’s present and future operating environments. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine the major interoperability obstacles a multinational brigade commander and his staff are likely to encounter during the planning and execution of brigade operations; and, to recommend actions and measures a multinational brigade commander and his staff can implement to facilitate interoperability in a multinational brigade operating environment. Several key interoperability topics considered integral to effective multinational brigade operations will be examined and analysed to include understanding partner unit capabilities and limitations facilitated by an integration plan, appropriate command and support relationships, compatible communications, synchronized intelligence and information collection, establishing effective liaison, and fratricide prevention. The paper conclusion will urge for a NATO land brigade doctrine considering doctrine’s critical importance to effective brigade command and control interoperability and the expected missions a land brigade will encounter in future NATO operating environments as part of the NATO Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF).

This paper analyzes the importance of entrepreneurship in education. Originally, the entrepreneurship model is an economic model. But, nowadays, as educational domain became more attractive for entrepreneurs and technological changes created new opportunities for autonomy, de-centralization, and customization in educational systems, entrepreneurship is a reality in education too. The new forms of education, such as virtual schools or online courses stimulated entrepreneurs to invest in education in the same mode as they would initiate businesses in domains more market oriented. They take risks to invest in education and are known as ‘edupreneurs’. In the first part of the paper is discussing the role of entrepreneurship in education emphasizing the idea that education is a domain in that innovation is promoting and producing all the time and, due this, a domain of entrepreneurship. In the second part of the paper the new concepts of edupreneurship and edupreneur are used to express the essence of entrepreneurial initiative in education and to emphasize significant issues of educational entrepreneurship. In the last part various forms of edupreneurial initiative are presented. The conclusion of the paper is that edupreneurial initiatives may represent viable solutions for the problems that schools and school managers are facing nowadays.

This paper presents ways of improving the planning of the supply of clothing, footwear and equipment in the following areas: priority purchase, terms of planning, output planning, planning of stocks and others. The main objective is to establish a methodology for planning the supply of clothing, footwear and equipment. All areas for improvement are consistent and identified in a resource-limited environment and dictated by the ability of the planning system to supply the Bulgarian Army. The paper also presents the option to use the АВС analysis to structure the planned activities of individual groups of property.

In case of CBRN incidents, the individual decontamination is an extremely urgent measure, for the rescue of personnel from all categories of military forces or from specialized intervention teams, as well as the civilian population unprotected or with minimal protection. Any delay has a significant impact on the fulfillment of combat missions, volume of losses and success of recovery. In this context, it must be considered the possibility that your own troops operate in areas with CBRN risk. The activities with top priority are those relating to the individual protection and immediate decontamination of the personnel, within a very short time, guaranteeing the chances of survival. The paper presents the research results of a multidisciplinary team in the decontamination of chemical, biological and radiological domain for achieving a new individual kit for immediate decontamination, according with the NATO required standards. In the paper the performance and technical-tactical features of the product are iterated, as well as the aspects related to the testing and evaluation of the product development.

In this paper there are presented the main modules of some applications that represent the future of IT for start-up businesses, depending on what is essential, compulsory and important for this type of businesses. IT applications modules, described in the following paper, definitely belong to the IT department of any new business. The basic applications that any company obligatory needs are: office software, financial-accounting applications, online banking and so on. Only in exceptional cases, the giving up of certain modules, which are specific to “must have” applications, should be taken into account, such as certain marketing activities on the internet. In this paper the word, “start-up” does not refer to “start-ups” in IT. This paper is about those people who want to start a business, those who are at the beginning and have nothing to do with the IT sphere.

This paper addresses the phenomenon of immigrant integration within a community in terms of what is currently called cultural integration, with landmarks such as government policies in the European community and the ways to implement in practice. This theme is approached from two angles: the way in which organizations can provide services that are more accessible to immigrants- and which help increase their sense of belonging and civic participation - which means employment of migrants to participate actively in society. The first angle of approach relates to the ways in which different institutions and organizations involved in the integration of immigrants (by providing social services to them) can develop the latter’s intercultural skills. The second angle of approach concerns the ways in which immigrants and non-immigrants can be mobilized around different facets of active citizenship or around religious dialogue. Realizing a synergy of the two angles of approach in terms of cultural integration of immigrants, an important aspect of this paper is to argue the issue of interpretation of the role of the media in this context.

This paper proposes a new technological solution for the sea observation using an Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) or Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUV). The term USV refers to any vehicle that operates on the surface of the water without a crew. USVs have the potential, and in some cases the demonstrated ability, to reduce risk to manned forces, provide the necessary force multiplication to accomplish military missions, perform tasks which manned vehicles cannot, and do so in a way that is affordable for the navy. In this paper we examine the use of unmanned vehicles (USV and UUV) which can replace the manned sea patrol system with additional sensors and high performance communication systems in future.