Papers by Ilija Hristoski
Modeling and Performability Evaluation of e-Commerce Systems (extended abstract)
The newly emerging, so-called ‘digital economy’, is entirely based on the e-Commerce paradigm. As... more The newly emerging, so-called ‘digital economy’, is entirely based on the e-Commerce paradigm. Assuring the high quality of its Web services, especially regarding the performance, dependability, reliability, and availability of eCommerce systems, all unified under the notion of performability, has become an imperative of the contemporary way of doing business on the Internet, and also a fundamental factor for continuous achieving and retaining satisfaction of e-Customers. The complexity of this task is even bigger, knowing the fact that e-Commerce Web services rely on large-scale systems, consisting of thousands of computers, networks, software components, and users. Large systems are inherently complex, whilst the randomness and unpredictability in the way e-Customers demand those Web services initiate the problem of managing and planning the capacity of their hardware resources. In fact, the true challenge is to achieve an optimal balance among implementation investments and costs needed to continually upgrade and maintain a particular e-Commerce Web site, the performability of the underlying system, and achieved e-Customers’ satisfaction, regarding the delivered quality of Web services. During this research, a single fact becomes evident: besides the existence of a relatively big and ever-increasing number of e-Commerce systems worldwide, there is a considerably smaller number of research endeavors that are entirely and exclusively dedicated to modeling and evaluation of performability measures of such systems. In most cases, the existing research activities have been focused solely on the performance analysis of e-Commerce systems, while dependability measures, encompassing the reliability and availability measures have been taken into account either separately and narrowly, or they have not been mentioned at all. Inspired by previously pointed facts, this research promotes a rather new, holistic approach, concentrated on the development of predictive models usable for evaluating numerous performability measures of generic e-Commerce systems, utilizing the formalism, the syntax and the semantic expressing power of the classes of Deterministic and Stochastic Petri Nets (DSPNs) and Generalized Stochastic Petri Nets (GSPNs), in conjunction with corresponding simulation models, built up for solving the underlying stochastic Petri models. Such an approach has been entirely based on the analysis of the dynamic and stochastic behavior of e-Customers during their online shopping sessions. As a direct consequence of such hybrid approach, the realization of more systematic, more complex and more computationally efficient analyses have been made possible, covering all crucial aspects of the performability evaluation of present-day e-Commerce systems, in a unique and consistent way. The originally proposed methodology, along with the obtained results, as well as the conclusions that have been drawn from, set up new frontiers in the sphere of capacity planning, and also give a considerable contribution to the field of performability evaluation of e-Commerce systems. As being the first attempt of this kind, this approach opens many new possibilities and raises many new unanswered questions which impose the need for further and longterm exploration of not only e-Commerce systems and e-Customers’ online shopping behavior, but also the tools and techniques for addressing the wide spectrum of issues related to performability modeling and evaluation of systems an e-Commerce paradigm relies on.
A Tertiary Study on Microservices: Research Trends and Recommendations
Programming and computer software, Dec 1, 2023
Management & Marketing
The capital market plays a vital role in economic growth since it is an important source of finan... more The capital market plays a vital role in economic growth since it is an important source of financing the business sector’s investments. Hence, a developed capital market enables efficient financial resource allocation by channeling domestic savings to those that need capital, which in turn leads to increased investment directed towards innovation and supports sustainable growth. The main objective of this research is to examine the impact of macroeconomic determinants on the capital market development in the Republic of North Macedonia. The focus has been put on the investigation of two dependent variables, stock market turnover to GDP ratio and stock market turnover to market capitalization ratio (Turnover Ratio) as parameters resembling the liquidity (depth) of the capital market, and how they depend on the economic growth, macroeconomic stability, trade openness and gross investments to GDP ratio. The empirical study is based on a time-series data analysis based on relevant seco...
Distributed Retail Systems
Macroeconomic Determinants of Corporate Debt: Evidence From North Macedonia
The rapid development and adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs), especial... more The rapid development and adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs), especially the vast proliferation of Internet and Web 2.0 paradigm in the recent years, have profoundly transformed the traditional ways of doing businesses worldwide. Going virtual has offered the companies many new possibilities, but it has also revealed many potential obstacles that have imposed new business strategies. Beyond any doubt, creating satisfied e-Customers, who will generate more e-Customers, is the best business strategy of all for online companies. Satisfied e-Customers are the key premise to attracting new e-Customers and then retaining them on a long term, the two most important aspects of doing business online. In that context, the paper highlights some results of an online survey, conducted among college students in the Republic of Macedonia, regarding their perceived levels of satisfaction vis-à-vis their B2C e-Commerce purchasing experiences. The statistical analysis of the survey results is based on the appliance of elements of descriptive and inferential statistics, as well as linear correlation and factor analysis. As such, the aim of the paper is to provide a profound knowledge and understanding of how Macedonian college students evaluate their online shopping experiences.
Sinergija, May 14, 2019
Inženjerstvo softverskih zahteva je oblast softverskog inženjerstva koja veoma zavisi od ljudskog... more Inženjerstvo softverskih zahteva je oblast softverskog inženjerstva koja veoma zavisi od ljudskog faktora s obzirom da obuhvata znanja i veštine iz domena softverskog inženjerstva, domena problema u kojem će se softver koristiti, ali i iz domena organizacionih i društvenih nauka. Zbog toga je istraživanje ljudskog faktora veoma bitno za razumevanje industrijske prakse i identifikovanje pravaca njenog unapređenja. Dublje razumevanje uticaja ljudskog faktora na praksu inženjerstva softverskih zahteva podrazumeva upotrebu kvalitativnih metoda istraživanja. U ovom radu je prezentovana studija koja prikazuje preliminarni pregled literature koja primenom kvalitativnih metoda istraživanja proučava uticaj ljudskog faktora u oblasti inženjerstva softverskih zahteva. Studija prikazana u ovom radu predstavlja doprinos ovoj oblasti istraživanja kroz jasno definisan process preliminarnog pregleda odgovarajuće literature, a kao pilot studija predstavlja osnovu za planiranje detaljnog i sistematskog pregleda literature. Ključne reči-Inženjering softverskih zahteva; Ljudski faktor; Kvalitativna istraživanja; Pregled literature Abstract-Software requirements engineering is a field in software engineering that highly depends on human factor since it includes knowledge and skills from domain of software engineering and from the domain of problem where software will be used, but also from both organizational and social sciences aspects. Therefore, researching human factor is very important for understanding industrial practice and identifying improvement directions. Deeper understanding of human factor influence on software requirements engineering practice assumes the use of qualitative research methods. This paper presents a preliminary review of literature that investigates human factor in software requirements engineering by using qualitative research methods. The presented study contributes to the research field by presenting a clearly defined process of preliminary literature review, and as a pilot study, it will be used for planning detailed and systematic literature review.
Migracijske i Etniĉke Teme, 2014
The Republic of Macedonia has always been considered a highly intensive migration area, character... more The Republic of Macedonia has always been considered a highly intensive migration area, characterized by both exhaustive inner movements of its citizens, as well as continuous emigration processes towards other countries. This paper is focused on exploring and analyzing the volume, dynamics, trends, demographic characteristics, and the variability of migration flow modalities in the country during the first decade of the 21 st century, as well as their conjunction and effects on the socioeconomic factors. Having in mind the diversities of the migration flows within the country, the expected outcomes are projected towards discovering relevant information about their changes, their trends, and the interaction between the basic indicators being acquired by appliance of relevant statistical migration-related metrics and those portraying the statistical regions' development in the specified period of time.
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become more accessible, more powerful and ... more Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become more accessible, more powerful and more widespread. Yet, the use of ICTs is not an end in itself. The impact that such technologies have on the economy and society is what ultimately matters. Understanding the economics of ICTs requires a deep and thorough knowledge of how the new technology generates the economic impacts. The ICT revolution holds the transformative potentials, offering many promises and benefits, even while posing severe risks and challenges. Therefore, it is of great importance and still a challenge to measure the capacity of countries to leverage ICTs for increased competitiveness and wellbeing. Aimed at reaching such a complex task, this paper employs the extensive data compendium of the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) 2015 and a set of supplemental data analysis tools (descriptive statistics, five-number summary statistics and a Box & Whisker plot, Euclidean and statistical distances, hierarchical cluster analysis and a corresponding dendrogram) to estimate both the performance of Macedonia in the NRI and the country's relative position visà-vis the EU member states. Looking at the trends since 2012 reveals that Macedonia is one of the ten most improved countries in their overall NRI performance. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that the country is lagging behind the European average in most indicators. The EU member states with the shortest statistical distance from Macedonia are Croatia, Cyprus, Romania, Hungary and Slovenia. Quite the reverse, the Nordics (Finland, Sweden and Denmark) and Western Europe (Luxemburg, Netherlands and UK) are the most 'distant' countries from Macedonia. These latter findings confirm the results obtained by the five-number summary statistics and the hierarchical cluster analysis.
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, Sep 1, 2014
Assuring high quality of web services, especially regarding service reliability, performance and ... more Assuring high quality of web services, especially regarding service reliability, performance and availability of e-commerce systems (unified under the term performability), has turned into an imperative of the contemporary way of doing business on the Internet. Recognizing the fact that customers' online shopping behavior is largely affecting the conduct of e-commerce systems, the paper promotes a customer-centric, holistic approach: customers are identified as the most essential "subsystem" with a number of important, but less well-understood behavioral factors. The proposed taxonomy of customers and the specification of operational profiles is a basis to building predictive models, usable for evaluating a range of performability measures. The hierarchical composition of sub-models utilizes the semantic power of deterministic and stochastic Petri nets, in conjunction with discreteevent simulation. A handful of variables are identified in order to turn performability measures into business-oriented performance metrics, as a cornerstone for conducting relevant server sizing activities.
An Overview of Maintenance Strategies Using Petri Net Models
Petri Net-Based Model of Master/Slave Dataset Replication in Big Data
Springer eBooks, 2022
Causality of Factors Reducing Competitiveness of e-Commerce Firms
Factors Affecting the Competitiveness of e-Commerce Firms: A Critical Appraisal
As the e-Commerce paradigm becomes a mainstream, there could be a number of additional companies ... more As the e-Commerce paradigm becomes a mainstream, there could be a number of additional companies getting ready to increase their online presence and make the most of this advantage over their traditional, ‘brick-and-mortar’ counterparts. However, nearly two decades after the explosion of e-Commerce ‘bubble’, claims have often been made that the mere online presence does not represent a decisive competitive advantage. Put differently, it is quite common to have not just two existing virtual stores, but a myriad of those offering the same gamut of products worldwide at the same time. Under these circumstances, without any prejudice, several questions naturally arise: What is it about a certain online company that makes it different to the rest of the business world?; Why anybody would want to buy something from that particular company and decide not to choose the others?; What makes some Internet firms so much popular and more attractive than others?; How leading online companies achieve a sustainable competitive advantage and manage to avoid the pitfalls?. Indeed, the complex and multidimensional construct of competitiveness is the ultimate answer to all these questions. Given the importance of this issue, this paper aims to provide a critical review of the literature on factors affecting the competitiveness of e-Commerce firms. The essential part is therefore devoted to developing and proposing a comprehensive framework for those dimensions that are crucial to the success of e-Commerce firms. Our framework also provides a solid base of evidence that might support academics conducting case studies, comparative overviews and further research on this and similar topics.
The processes of human migrations have been present for ages, since the very beginnings of human ... more The processes of human migrations have been present for ages, since the very beginnings of human history on the planet Earth. Nowadays, these are amplified to a large scale due to the modern means of communication, transportation, information and knowledge exchange, as well as the complex processes of globalization. Knowing the social, demographic, ethnical and educational structure of the migrants, as well as their geographical trajectory and temporal dynamics of their spatial moving across territories, countries and continents, is of a crucial meaning for both national governments and international policies. There is an emphasized need for identifying, acquiring, organizing, storing, retrieving and analyzing data related to human migration processes. The relational databases provide an ultimate solution, whilst the E-R diagram represents a common graphical tool for conceptual data modelling and relational database design. Within the paper we develop and propose a logical data model of the modern human migration.
Human civilization always used to settle near water sources, such as rivers, lakes and seas. But,... more Human civilization always used to settle near water sources, such as rivers, lakes and seas. But, beside the vast benefits that these regions offer, they sometimes present a huge threat of flooding the inhabited areas, when even the human life could be endangered. Thus, a systems that would offer an early information about the flood state of an endangered region is crucial for all the inhabitants, so they can base their quick actions on real and accurate data and not only on certain speculations. This paper presents a low cost solution that offers precise information about a flooded (or high risk) region using current web technologies. The system presents mapped data visualizations that show the position, the water level and the time of the last condition of multiple marked map points representing the flood sensors placement.
The Web 2.0 paradigm has radically changed the way businesses are run all around the world. Moreo... more The Web 2.0 paradigm has radically changed the way businesses are run all around the world. Moreover, e-Commerce has overcome in daily shopping activities. For management teams, the assessment, evaluation, and forecasting of online incomes and other business-oriented performance measures have become 'a holy grail', the ultimate question imposing their current and future e-Commerce projects. Within the paper, we describe the development of a Web-based simulation model, suitable for their estimation, taking into account multiple operation profiles and scenarios. Specifically, we put focus on introducing specific classes of e-Customers, as well as the workload characterization of an arbitrary e-Commerce website. On the other hand, we employ and embed the principles of the system thinking approach and the system dynamics into the proposed solution. As a result, a complete simulation model has been developed, available online. The model, which includes numerous adjustable input variables, can be successfully utilized in making 'what-if'-like insights into a plethora of business-oriented performance metrics for an arbitrary e-Commerce website. This project is, also, a great example of the power delivered by InsightMaker®, free-ofcharge Web-based software, suitable for a collaborative online development of models following the systems thinking paradigm.
arXiv (Cornell University), Sep 14, 2013
"…as the economists are willing to point out, the most important is what happens "at the margins"... more "…as the economists are willing to point out, the most important is what happens "at the margins"-but the marginal technologies-ICT in particular-have an immense central and accelerating role in impelling the development processes" Klaus Schwab, WEF ABSTRACT: The ongoing process of liberalization, as well as the intensive technological breakthrough have a great impact either on the macroeconomic policy creators, or the dissimilarity of conventional approach to found a strategy of a certain company. Bearing in mind the very notation, core characteristics of the concept of competitiveness are needed to be explored, but also the necessity to establish a national competitiveness strategy. However, the main attention should be paid on the technological changes that affect the economic growth, but the life standard increase, as well. Nevertheless, developing and transitional economies are being down-sided with respect to the technological and innovative capability that measurably implies the necessity to redefine the conception of competitiveness. Taking into account the above clarifications, the paper will set a comparative analysis of the key factors that pressure the competitiveness of Balkans region countries, mainly by the composition of the Growth Competitiveness Index. In addition, the major accent will be put on the composite Technology index and its impact on the mainstream of the respective total index. Finally, the paper will examine the possible change of Growth Competitiveness Index ranking of the Macedonian economy, principally by the variation of the Technology index rank.
arXiv (Cornell University), Sep 14, 2013
Contemporary ways of doing business are heavily dependent on the e-Commerce/ e-Business paradigm.... more Contemporary ways of doing business are heavily dependent on the e-Commerce/ e-Business paradigm. The highest priority of an e-Commerce Web site's management is to assure pertinent Quality-of-Service (QoS) levels of their Web services continually, in order to keep the potential e-Customers satisfied. Otherwise, it faces an immense possibility of losing both e-Customers and revenues, along with a big possibility of gaining bad reputation due to either poor performance or unavailability of the e-Commerce Web site. In order to avoid numerous unpleasant consequences, by designing and implementing e-Commerce Web sites that will always meet e-Customer's high expectations, a relevant performance models have to be utilized to obtain appropriate performance metrics. A continuous assessment of current performances and especially predicting future needs are the subjects of capacity planning methodologies. Within this paper, such a predictive model has been described and evaluated by using discrete-event simulation of both the client-side and server-side processes involved. In addition, the paper discusses the performance metrics obtained as a function of the intensity and quality of the workload parameters.
Farm Management Software for Increased Productivity and Competitiveness
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Papers by Ilija Hristoski