The book Preteklost in prihodnost ('The past and the future') is the sixteenth volume in the GIS v Sloveniji (GIS in Slovenia) book series and commemorates its 30th anniversary. The goal of the volume is to present the wide variety of research findings on geographical information systems in Slovenia in recent years. Powerful geoinformatic tools and precise data facilitate research on processes and phenomena, and their modelling. The volume presents project outputs and research results in areas such as geology, geomorphology, hydrology, pedology, agriculture, natural disasters, environmental protection, geography, surveying, archaeology, transport, telecommunication infrastructure, tourism, cultural heritage, education, cartography, geographical names, remote sensing, and others. Readers discover new features regarding the applicability of geographical information systems and learn about interesting research findings in many areas.
Acts of fraud have become much more prevalent in the financial industry with the rise of technology and the continued economic growth in modern society. Fraudsters are evolving their approaches continuously to exploit the vulnerabilities of the current prevention measures in place, many of whom are targeting the financial sector. To overcome and investigate financial frauds, this paper presents STALITA, which is an innovative platform for the analysis of bank transactions. STALITA enables graph-based data analysis using a powerful Neo4j graph database and the Cypher query language. Additionally, a diversity of other supporting tools, such as support for heterogeneous data sources, force-based graph visualisation, pivot tables, and time charts, enable in-depth investigation of the available data. In the Results section, we present the usability of the platform through real-world case scenarios.
Learning and implementing algorithms is a fundamental but challenging aspect of Computer Science education. One of the key tools used in teaching algorithms is pseudocode, which serves as an abstract representation of the logic behind a given algorithm. This study explores the educational value of the FLoCIC (Few Lines of Code for Image Compression) algorithm, which is designed to teach lossless image compression through algorithmic implementation, particularly within the context of multimedia data. Image compression represents a typical multimedia task that combines algorithmic thinking with practical problem-solving. By analysing questionnaire responses (N = 121) from undergraduate and graduate students, this study identifies critical challenges in pseudocode-based learning, including understanding complex algorithmic components and debugging recursive functions. This paper highlights the influence of prior knowledge in areas such as data structures, compression, and algorithms in general on the success of students in completing the task, with graduate students demonstrating stronger results compared to undergraduates. The study analyses the role of external resources and online code repositories, further revealing their utility in supporting implementation efforts but highlighting the need for a fundamental understanding of the algorithm for successful implementation. The findings highlight the importance of promoting conceptual understanding and practical problem-solving skills to improve student learning in algorithmic tasks.