Internet Subscribers Research Articles

Pandemic in the Network Society: COVID-19 in EU and Latin America

The article presents the results of a comparative analysis of the factors related to the spread of the new coronavirus infection in Europe and Latin America. The choice of regions for comparison is due to a certain similarity of their peoples' cultures and religions, their linguistic commonality, the scale of infection of the population with the new coronavirus, clearly expressed specificity and different economic development levels. The criteria for the network society are: indicators of broadband Internet subscribers and Internet shopping, the proportion of households with Internet access and the Network Readiness Index (NRI). The article proves that the development of a modern network society can affect the spread of diseases in global pandemics. The author uses the example of the popularity of food delivery services in various countries to show that the features of the influence of elements of a networked society on the risks of COVID-19 infection are regional. The author provides arguments that ceteris paribus a high level of development of the network society is the most effective in terms of ensuring biological safety in countries with a higher standard of living, which retain their regional and cultural specifics and are distinguished by the presence of sufficiently strong local communities. The evolution of a network society opens up significant opportunities for developing countries, an improvement in the quality of life, and the emergence of new traditions. All this together changes the established social structures, groups, and local networks. The world is becoming more interconnected and interdependent. That requires collective efforts from the entire world community to equalize the living standards of the population in different countries of the world, which is necessary for minimizing risks during periods of global pandemics and possibly other biological crises.

Barriers to Online Learning in the Time of COVID-19: A National Survey of Medical Students in the Philippines.

IntroductionIn March 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic forced medical schools in the Philippines to stop face-to-face learning activities and abruptly shift to an online curriculum. This study aimed to identify barriers to online learning from the perspective of medical students in a developing country.MethodsThe authors sent out an electronic survey to medical students in the Philippines from 11 to 24 May 2020. Using a combination of multiple-choice, Likert scale, and open-ended questions, the following data were obtained: demographics, medical school information, access to technological resources, study habits, living conditions, self-assessment of capacity for and perceived barriers to online learning, and proposed interventions. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Responses were compared between student subgroups using nonparametric tests.ResultsAmong 3670 medical students, 93% owned a smartphone and 83% had a laptop or desktop computer. To access online resources, 79% had a postpaid internet subscription while 19% used prepaid mobile data. Under prevailing conditions, only 1505 students (41%) considered themselves physically and mentally capable of engaging in online learning. Barriers were classified under five categories: technological, individual, domestic, institutional, and community barriers.DiscussionMedical students in the Philippines confronted several interrelated barriers as they tried to adapt to online learning. Most frequently encountered were difficulty adjusting learning styles, having to perform responsibilities at home, and poor communication between educators and learners. By implementing student-centered interventions, medical schools and educators play a significant role in addressing these challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-021-01231-z.

Using a Mobile Health Intervention (DOT Selfie) With Transfer of Social Bundle Incentives to Increase Treatment Adherence in Tuberculosis Patients in Uganda: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

BackgroundThe World Health Organization’s End TB Strategy envisions a world free of tuberculosis (TB)—free of deaths, disease, and suffering due to TB—by 2035. Nonadherence reduces cure rates, prolongs infectiousness, and contributes to the emergence of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). Moreover, MDR-TB is a growing, complex, and costly problem that presents a major obstacle to TB control. Directly observed therapy (DOT) for treatment adherence monitoring is the recommended standard; however, it is challenging to implement at scale because it is labor-intensive. Mobile health interventions can facilitate remote adherence monitoring and minimize the costs and inconveniences associated with standard DOT.ObjectiveThe study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of using video directly observed therapy (VDOT) plus incentives to improve medication adherence in TB treatment versus usual-care DOT in an African context.MethodsThe DOT Selfie study is an open-label, randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 2 parallel groups, in which 144 adult patients with TB aged 18-65 years will be randomly assigned to receive the usual-care DOT monitoring or VDOT as the intervention. The intervention will consist of a smartphone app, a weekly internet subscription, translated text message reminders, and incentives for those who adhere. The participant will use a smartphone to record and send time-stamped encrypted videos showing their daily medication ingestion. This video component will directly substitute the need for daily face-to-face meetings between the health provider and patients. We hypothesize that the VDOT intervention will be more effective because it allows patients to swallow their pills anywhere, anytime. Moreover, patients will receive mobile-phone–based “social bundle” incentives to motivate adherence to continued daily submission of videos to the health system. The health providers will log into a secured computer system to verify treatment adherence, document missed doses, investigate the reasons for missed doses, and follow prespecified protocol measures to re-establish medication adherence. The primary endpoint is the adherence level as measured by the fraction of expected doses observed over the treatment period. The main secondary outcome will be time-to-treatment completion in both groups.ResultsThis study was funded in 2019. Enrollment began in July and is expected to be completed by November 2020. Data collection and follow-up are expected to be completed by June 2021. Results from the analyses based on the primary endpoint are expected to be submitted for publication by December 2021.ConclusionsThis random control trial will be among the first to evaluate the effectiveness of VDOT within an African setting. The results will provide robust scientific evidence on the implementation and adoption of mobile health (mHealth) tools, coupled with incentives to motivate TB medication adherence. If successful, VDOT will apply to other low-income settings and a range of chronic diseases with lifelong treatment, such as HIV/AIDs.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04134689; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04134689International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/18029

Adaptive Cell Zooming Strategy Toward Next-Generation Cellular Networks with Joint Transmission

The Internet subscribers are expected to increase up to 69.7% (6 billion) from 45.3% and 25 billion Internet-of-things connections by 2025. Thus, the ubiquitous availability of data-hungry smart multimedia devices urges research attention to reduce the energy consumption in the fifth-generation cloud radio access network to meet the future traffic demand of high data rates. We propose a new cell zooming paradigm based on joint transmission (JT) coordinated multipoint to optimize user connection by controlling the cell coverage in the downlink communications with a hybrid power supply. The endeavoring cell zooming technique adjusts the coverage area in a given cluster based on five different JT schemes, which will help in reducing the overall power consumption with minimum inter-cell interference. We provide heuristic solutions to assess wireless network performances in terms of aggregate throughput, energy efficiency index (EEI), and energy consumption gain under a different scale of network settings. The suggested algorithm allows efficient allocation of resource block and increases energy and spectral efficiency over the conventional location-centric cell zooming mechanism. Extensive system-level simulations show that the proposed framework reduces energy consumption yielding up to 17.5% and increases EEI by 14%. Subsequently, a thorough comparison among different JT-based load shifting schemes is pledged for further validation of varying system bandwidths.

Оцінка впливу соціально-культурної інфраструктури на зайнятість сільського населення України

This article generalizes the arguments and counterarguments within the terms of scientific discussion on promoting the employment of rural population and improving the quality of its life through the development of social infrastructure. The main purpose of the carried out research is to assess the impact of the level of development of the socio-cultural infrastructure on the number of employed population and define the prospects for increasing employment of peasants. A systematization of literary sources and approaches to solving the problem of ensuring employment of rural population showed that in the analysis of employment problems, the use of methods of economic and mathematical modeling is effective. The relevance of solving the problem of rural employment is that in rural areas it is sharper than in cities, and manifests itself in a higher level of unemployment. The study of the influence of factors of social infrastructure development on rural employment in the article is carried out in the following logical sequence: the available statistical database of indicators of social, educational, cultural, household infrastructure is analyzed; the most influential indicators of social sphere development are determined; an econometric model of influence of these factors on the volumes of employment is built. On the basis of the built model, measures for the development of rural social infrastructure are proposed. The methodical instrumentarium of the research are methods of economic and mathematical modeling. Ukraine was chosen as the object of the study in the context of 24 regions, as this made it possible to form a representative data array to build an adequate model. The article provides the results of modeling the interrelationship of employment with factor indicators, which showed that the most influential factors in the development of rural employment in the non-agrarian sphere are the number of schools, preschool and club establishments, trade organizations and Internet subscribers. The results of the carried out research can be useful for substantiating managerial decisions on ensuring the employment of rural population and improving the level and quality of its life.

МАКРОСЕРЕДОВИЩЕ СУЧАСНОГО ІННОВАЦІЙНОГО ПІДПРИЄМНИЦТВА УКРАЇНИ

The article examines the state and trends of innovative entrepreneurship in Ukraine. The influence of factors of action on the entrepreneurship of individual-group environment, nanoenvironment, submicroenvironment, microenvironment, mesoenvironment, macroenvironment has been studied. The key indicators of innovation activity in the country and regions are analyzed, in particular the dynamics of information and communication technologies goods exports in total exports of Ukrainian goods, introduced innovative products, performed scientific and technical works and their share in gross domestic product, employees involved in research and development, and also the employed population in the field of education, information, telecommunications, professional, scientific and technical activities, sold innovative products in the amount of industrial, patent applications of residents, etc. The connection between the gross regional product per capita and the level of information and innovation support has been established. The current state of innovative entrepreneurship in Ukraine is characterized by significant innovation and information gaps between regions and industries due to socio-economic inequality, disproportionate economy, different levels of information support and other macro-environmental factors. As a result of the disproportion in the country’s economy, the number of active startups in Kyiv region and Kyiv city is 185, while in some regions there are none. In regions with a higher level of per capita gross regional product, there is a greater number of Internet subscribers, the concentration of the employed population in innovative activities such as education, information and telecommunications, professional, scientific and technical activities that require special knowledge and skills. It is proved that modern Ukrainian entrepreneurship operates in conditions of instability, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. Given the dynamism of innovation processes in the economy, the rapid changes in society and the significant interest and scientific achievements of scientists in the field of innovative entrepreneurship, we consider it necessary to continue to constantly assess its condition and develop operational, tactical and strategic decisions.

Information safety of Ukraine: Integral assessment and taxonomic analysis

The global process of society information has covered almost all countries of the world and is currently the core of scientific, technical and socio-economic development. The effectiveness of the power exercise in any state depends on its information support. Indeed, without information, successful political structure, the development of mass political consciousness as well as the interaction of the subject and the object of government are impossible. That is why this research aims to improve the methodics of evaluation of informational security through theoretical-methodological substantiation, forming and calculation of integral indexes of its competitiveness of a country. Global economic crisis had consequences for almost every country and cannot be ignored by any conditions, that is why the methodic of informational security calculations should be adapted to modern economic conditions. Cardinal changes in political, economic and social conditions in Ukraine causes inaccessibility of approaches to information security level calculations and particularly in the national security system. In modern scientific schools the questions of effective informational security have not been sufficiently studied. The aim of this article is to analyze active methods of state informational safety level calculations in order to adapt their indexes to actual global circumstances in Ukraine and in the world. Integral informational security have been composed of such components (indicators): income of the broadband Internet access market, dynamics of broadband Internet subscribers (connections), penetration rate of fixed broadband access (number of subscribers per 100 people), dynamics of Internet penetration (percentage of Internet users to the total population of the country), Network Readiness Index of the country, ICT Development Index of the state, Global Innovation Index, capital investments in intangible assets of Ukraine (that is, in software and databases). Every component of informational safety has factors of relevance and indispensability of reinforcement of national competitiveness on security foundations are substantiated. A taxonomic indicator is used to measure the level of informational safety. The paper proves that each of the components of the state informational security has almost equal input in forming its integral index.

The Covid-19 Pandemic and the Challenge of Teaching English Online in Higher Institutions of Learning in Cameroon

The resources of the internet have long served the English language teaching enterprise with varying levels of implementation and success. The Covid19-imposed lockdown in March, 2020 and the Prime Ministerial decision for higher institutions of learning in Cameroon to switch to online lectures fazed many staff, including those on the Use of English programmes in state universities. This study set out to describe Use of English teachers’ views about the place of the internet in English language instruction as well as their online teaching experiences during the Covid-19-imposed lockdown. A questionnaire survey was used to elicit data from thirty Use of English staff affiliated to the Universities of Buea and Bamenda. The findings highlight English language teachers’ firm belief in the potential of internet-based tools to facilitate not only English language learners’ display of 21st century learning skills but English language skills as well. However, not much success regarding the integration of the various internet-based tools was acknowledged. Limited Information and Communication Technology competence, lack of adequate training on how to teach online, poor internet connection, power failures, and high costs of internet subscription, were amongst the challenges enlisted by the subjects in this study. We recommend the effective integration of E-Learning as a post-pandemic pedagogy for Use of English staff in both universities under study.

Факторы цифрового разрыва российских регионов

Information and communication technologies come into all spheres of public life at different rates. This leads to the formation of digital gap between countries, regions in the same country and even social groups, and reduces the economic and social opportunities for those who lag behind. Using regional data from 2011-2018 on the coverage of the population with high-speed and reliable Internet access as an indicator of the digital divide, the influence of socio-economic and technological factors was studied. According to the results of regression model, the impact on the number of Internet subscribers in the region of urbanization and volume of costs for information and communication technologies has been confirmed. The influence of average per capita income and age structure of the population was not significant. It has been established that for inclusion in the model of the characteristics of the regional level of development of information and communication technologies, the most appropriate indicator is the volume of costs for paying for the services of third-party organizations and specialists in this area.

Ending youth unemployment in sub‐saharan Africa: Does ICT development have any role?

AbstractThis study investigates the role of information and communication technology (ICT) development towards ending youth unemployment in the 48 sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) countries from 1991 to 2018. Using a dynamic panel modelling technique, the study employed the instrumental variable (IV) regression, within the framework of the system generalized method of moment (GMM‐SYS) estimator. The results show that the low level of mobile phone subscriptions, broadband internet subscriptions, Wi‐Fi internet subscriptions and internet bandwidth exert a significant negative effect on youth unemployment. This means that ICT development reduces youth unemployment in SSA. Also, it was found that the number of households with access to computers has a negative but insignificant effect on youth unemployment; this shows the ineffective role of household computers in reducing youth unemployment in SSA. Based on these findings, we recommend among other things that, for government to optimize the expanding youth population, there is the need for further telecommunication reforms to reduce the cost of mobile phone technologies and improved ultra‐modern internet facilities in the region.

The Partisan Impact on Local Government Dissemination of COVID-19 Information: Assessing US County Government Websites

AbstractThis study explores the relationship between local government dissemination of COVID-19 information and partisanship. The unit of analysis is all official county government websites in the United States. In particular, we investigate if there is a correlation between the overall partisanship of a county and whether a county government's website (1) mentions COVID-19 and (2) provides safety instructions concerning COVID-19. We hypothesize that mass partisanship will impact the probability that a county government's website provides information related to the coronavirus. We find that a larger share of Democratic voters in a county is associated with an increase in the probability that a county government's website mentions COVID-19 and provides safety instructions for its residents. The results hold even after controlling for population density, internet subscriptions and COVID-19 cases and deaths. The finding indicates that citizens’ access to information, even on matters of public health, are partially a consequence of partisanship.

The Legal Adaptation of Internet Subscription Contracts

This research aims to clarify The Legal Adaptation of Internet Subscription Contracts that include a set of conditions prepared by the company providing Internet services and impose them on the subscriber without discussing them. Legislators and legal jurists have agreed to name the type of contract in which one party to the contract complies with the will and conditions of the other party without observing the counterparty’s desire to comply, with the Adhesion contract.In this research we reached that the internet subscription contract contains arbitrary conditions that relate to an exemption from liability or to reduce the company from its obligations or relate to increasing obligations and burdens on the subscribers or depriving them of some legal rights, and imposed by the strong party, the company is on the subscriber and he is the weak party through the company's use of its economic strength, In the presence of this condition, the company obtains a very large advantages, whether monetary or non-monetary advantages at the expense of the opposing party, which is the weak party, but the Internet subscription contract cannot be adapted to the Adhesion contract in the sense of what is mentioned in the Iraqi civil law, but it can be adapted as a contract with dilute Adhesion, because at the present time there are Several companies inthe field of telecommunications, so the company cannot impose many arbitrary conditions on the subscriber or exempt itself from liability, and that leads to the monopoly authority for one company, and also the subscriber has several options before him, so he can hold the contract with a company that provides internet service with better quality and easier conditions so that the rights and obligations are balanced in the contract.

The determining factors of financial inclusion in Turkey

Purpose- The purpose of this study is to investigate the impacts of GDP per capita, unemployment rate, cost of living index, gini coefficient, median age, urbanization rate, total length of railways and roads, number of road motor vehicles, number of mobile phone subscribers, number of broadband internet subscribers, literacy rate and mean years of schooling on financial inclusion in Turkey.. Methodology- The models were estimated using the Johansen Cointegration method, and the causality relationships between the variables were tested with the Granger and Toda-Yamamoto approaches. Findings- The Johansen approach findings reveal a significantly positive long–run co–movement between financial inclusion and GDP per capita, urbanization and a significantly negative long–run co–movement between unemployment, cost of living and financial inclusion. However, according to the results of the Granger method, there has been no causality relationship between the variables. The results of the Toda–Yamamoto causality test are consistent with the results of the Granger causality test, except fort the urbanization variable which has been found to have a short term casual effect on financial inclusion in the Toda–Yamamoto test. Conclusion- The significant relationship between the level of financial inclusion and the rate of urbanization in the short and long run reveals that the increase in the level of urbanization causes individuals to access financial institutions more easly and be able to use more financial products in Turkey.

COVID-19’s Impact on Genetics at One Medical Center in New York

COVID-19’s Impact on Genetics at One Medical Center in New York

Mobil Uygulama Seçiminde Etkili Olan Kriterlerin Belirlenmesi ve Örnek Uygulama

Today everyone has specially coded and designed software for mobile phones or tablets. The 2017 data from Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT) show that there are about 78 million mobile phone users and of these the number of internet subscribers is close to 70 million. TURKSTAT data show that the number of users and subscribers is increasing with each passing year and that the need for mobile applications will increase in importance. The mobile application initiative of each individual software developer and every sector increases the preference criteria of the users. It is predicted that mobile application software developers can know which criteria are important and how much weight they should give to mobile application preference. In this way they can provide continuity in the market. In this study, effective criteria in mobile application selection were investigated. Criteria which are effective in mobile application selection according to the literature review and expert opinions are language, price, performance, memory usage, user interpretation and speed. The criteria were evaluated by five officials and compared with AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) method to determine the significance of the criteria. Thereafter, five mobile application projects were determined and the alternatives were made by applying AHP, TOPSIS and PROMETHEE methods.

Essential Workflow and Performance Measures for Optimizing Acute Ischemic Stroke Treatment in India.

Essential Workflow and Performance Measures for Optimizing Acute Ischemic Stroke Treatment in India.

Will Community Health Centers Survive COVID‐19?

Will Community Health Centers Survive COVID‐19?

The Acceptance and Practice of Citizen Journalism in The North Eastern Part of Nigeria

This study aimed at increasing our understanding of citizen journalism practice, with a focus on rural dwellers which has been less well studied. This study, which is anchored on democratic participant media theory took place at Ardo Kola, Taraba State in the north-eastern region of Nigeria. The data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews, among 40 rural dwellers. The findings confirmed acceptance and knowledge of citizen journalism among the rural dwellers, but its adoption and practice are still very minimal due to poverty, power failure, their attitude, religious upbringing, customs, high level of illiteracy, high internet subscription and slow speed. It was suggested that government should make efforts to set up good schools, create more job opportunities, sponsor the skill work of those who did not attend formal education, and improve power supply in the rural communities. Interestingly, it was found among many other things that citizen journalism provides an avenue for community dwellers to gather and disseminate messages with immediacy, assists in the checkmating of the excesses of government officials, and promotes a healthy lifestyle in community settings. Therefore, it is relevant to encourage citizen journalism practice in rural areas, and further studies could explore beyond the use of a single community, more issues confronting rural dwellers as regards the adoption and practice of citizen journalism in developing countries.

Methodological Approaches to Assessing the Impact of Information Technologies on Economic Growth in the Regions of Russia

In this work, the authors propose a methodological approach to study the impact of using NBICtechnologies on the economic growth of the regions of the Russian Federation. The authors show that among NBIC-technologies they are ICT that have the greatest impact on economic growth. The assessment tools are integrated empirical analysis methods. At the first stage, a cluster analysis was carried out using the k-means method according to the per-capita GRP, the level of population income and the level of ICT use, under which three groups of Russian regions were distinguished, characterized by low, medium and high dynamics of economic growth. At the second stage, a canonical correlation analysis was carried out and analytical expressions of the interconnections of economic growth indicators and a set of indicators characterizing the development and use of ICT in the regions of the Russian Federation were obtained. The study proves the relationship between ICT and economic growth in the regions of the Russian Federation. The greatest influence is exerted by indicators such as the number of mobile cell phones and broadband Internet subscribers. The canonical correlation analysis for the selected groups of regions did not give positive results, the results for the first cluster, which is characterized by low dynamics of economic growth, turned out to be statistically significant. Most likely, this is due to the fact that in this group using ICT gives the greatest effect. However, the substantiation of this hypothesis requires the expansion of the statistical base of the study, both in time and in terms of expanding the composition of indicators that reflect not only economic, but also social aspects of the processes under study.

Cyber-Victimology as a New Reality of the Technotronic Society (Gender Research)

The article studies some issues of cyber-victimology development. This is a doctrine of the crime victim committed with the help of computer technology. The purpose of the study is to identify the real situation of еру cases regarding the victimization of different sexes on the Internet (in the regional aspect). For this purpose, a poll of 584 students of all major universities of Irkutsk Oblast was conduсted. The respondents were asked to assess the dangers of using the Internet and indicate instances of individual victimization in this environment. To obtain information on gender differences of cyber-victimization, the respondents were divided in term of genders (221 men and 363 women). The study showed that, like in ordinary life, in the virtual space, men more often demonstrate risky behavior, neglect of safety rules and frivolous attitude to possible threats. Victims on the Internet are often those who have already been a victim in real life. At the same time, women are more often exposed to victimization effects (there are almost four ypes of discriminatory acts per one female user, while there are three acts per a man on the average). Types of victimization effects are also gender-specific. The largest discrepancy in the structure of victimization was recorded for hacking into an account on social networks (6 % for men against 49 % for women); installation of malicious programs on the computer (14 % against 8 %); insults (20 % against 10 %) and indecent proposals (10 % against 25 %), as well as embezzlement of confidential information (3 % against 1 %). Thus, men are more likely to become victims of the theft of passport data (payment cards), are subjected to attacks by extortionists, verbal aggression, or suffer from dishonest sellers of goods. Women with a higher frequency become victims of hacking into accounts in social networks and sexually colored cyber-stalking. Significant damage, despite a small number of such cases, was almost twice as often caused to men. The results of the study indicate that more than 90 % of the surveyed age group were victims of cybercrimes, as a rule, of several ones. According to the respondents reports, about 15 various forms of victimization effects on the Internet were identified. Among them there is hacking of a mailbox or an account, dissemination of false information on behalf of the users name, indecent offers, sexual harassment, registration of paid Internet subscriptions, false repayment of the fine, and so on.