Slow Access Research Articles

Application-Level Caching Approach Based on Enhanced Aging Factor and Pearson Correlation Coefficient

Relational database management systems (RDBMS) have long served as the fundamental infrastructure for web applications. Relatively slow access speeds characterize an RDBMS because its data is stored on a disk. This RDBMS weakness can be overcome using an in-memory database (IMDB). Each query result can be stored in the IMDB to accelerate future access. However, due to the limited capacity of the server cache in the IMDB, an appropriate data priority assessment mechanism needs to be developed. This paper presents a similar cache framework that considers four data vectors, namely the data size, timestamp, aging factor, and controller access statistics for each web page, which serve as the foundation elements for determining the replacement policy whenever there is a change in the content of the server cache. The proposed similarCache employs the Pearson correlation coefficient to quantify the similarity levels among the cached data in the server cache. The lowest Pearson correlation coefficients cached data are the first to be evicted from the memory. The proposed similarCache was empirically evaluated based on simulations conducted on four IRcache datasets. The simulation outcomes revealed that the data access patterns, and the configuration of the allocated memory cache significantly influenced the hit ratio performance. In particular, the simulations on the SV dataset with the most minor memory space configuration exhibited a 2.33% and 1% superiority over the SIZE and FIFO algorithms, respectively. Future tasks include building a cache that can adapt to data access patterns by determining the standard deviation. The proposed similarCache should raise the Pearson coefficient for often available data to the same level as most accessed data in exceptional cases.

Examining rehabilitation access disparities: an integrated analysis of electronic health record data and population characteristics through bivariate choropleth mapping.

Despite efforts to view electronic health records (EHR) data through an equity lens, crucial contextual information regarding patients' social environments remains limited. Integrating EHR data and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology can give deeper insights into the relationships between patients' social environments, health outcomes, and geographic factors. This study aims to identify regions with the fastest and slowest access to outpatient physical therapy services using bivariate choropleth maps to provide contextual insights that may contribute to health disparity in access. This was a retrospective cohort study of patients' access timelines for the first visit to outpatient physical therapy services (n = 10,363). The three timelines evaluated were (1) referral-to-scheduled appointment time, (2) scheduled appointment to first visit time, and (3) referral to first visit time. Hot and coldspot analyses (CI 95%) determined the fastest and slowest access times with patient-level characteristics and bivariate choropleth maps that were developed to visualize associations between access patterns and disadvantaged areas using Area Deprivation Index scores. Data were collected between January 1, 2016 and January 1, 2020. EHR data were geocoded via GIS technology to calculate geospatial statistics (Gi∗ statistic from ArcGIS Pro) in an urban area. Statistically significant differences were found for all three access timelines between coldspot (i.e., fast access group) and hotspot (i.e., slow access group) comparisons (p < .05). The hotspot regions had higher deprivation scores; higher proportions of residents who were older, privately insured, female, lived further from clinics; and a higher proportion of Black patients with orthopaedic diagnoses compared to the coldspot regions. Our study identified and described local areas with higher densities of patients that experienced longer access times to outpatient physical therapy services. Integration of EHR and GIS data is a more robust method to identify health disparities in access to care. With this approach, we can better understand the intricate interplay between social, economic, and environmental factors contributing to health disparities in access to care.

FreshGNN: Reducing Memory Access via Stable Historical Embeddings for Graph Neural Network Training

A key performance bottleneck when training graph neural network (GNN) models on large, real-world graphs is loading node features onto a GPU. Due to limited GPU memory, expensive data movement is necessary to facilitate the storage of these features on alternative devices with slower access (e.g. CPU memory). Moreover, the irregularity of graph structures contributes to poor data locality which further exacerbates the problem. Consequently, existing frameworks capable of efficiently training large GNN models usually incur a significant accuracy degradation because of the currently-available shortcuts involved. To address these limitations, we instead propose FreshGNN, a general-purpose GNN mini-batch training framework that leverages a historical cache for storing and reusing GNN node embeddings instead of re-computing them through fetching raw features at every iteration. Critical to its success, the corresponding cache policy is designed, using a combination of gradient-based and staleness criteria, to selectively screen those embeddings which are relatively stable and can be cached, from those that need to be re-computed to reduce estimation errors and subsequent downstream accuracy loss. When paired with complementary system enhancements to support this selective historical cache, FreshGNN is able to accelerate the training speed on large graph datasets such as ogbn-papers100M and MAG240M by 3.4× up to 20.5× and reduce the memory access by 59%, with less than 1% influence on test accuracy.

Evaluasi Sistem Informasi Layanan Antrian Paspor Online Menggunakan Framework Information Technology Infrastructure Library V3

Palembang Class 1 Immigration Office is a service provider agency in the immigration sector that has the authority to arrange passports or Travel Letters of the Republic of Indonesia (SPRI). In meeting the needs of the community in passport processing, Palembang Class 1 Immigration Office has implemented an Online Passport Queuing Service System. Until now, the system still experiences problems such as errors in the system, exhausted quotas, inappropriate applicant NIK, slow access to the system, and system handling that always involves the Immigration Head Office. Therefore, an evaluation of the online passport queue service information system is needed which can be used as a benchmark for the sustainability of the system. The framework used is the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) V3 framework with the domain of Service Operation and Continual Service Improvement. This research was conducted by distributing questionnaires, interviews and observations to obtain maturity level scores. The results of the maturity level calculation in the Service Operation (SO) domain show that the average value of maturity level in the SO domain is 3.49 or is at level 3 (Define Process) and for the Continual Service Improvement (CSI) domain is 3.47 or is at level 3 (Define Process). From the evaluation results of the Online Passport Queuing Service System based on the maturity level calculation, several recommendations for the Service Operation (SO) and Continual Service Improvement (CSI) domains can be taken into consideration in improving service operations and improving the Online Passport Queuing Service System on an ongoing basis.

Optimization of the physical parameters of the organization of databases

The main task of the transport system is the most complete satisfaction of the needs of business entities and the population in transportation, reducing the time of delivery of goods and transportation of passengers on the basis of a qualitative increase in the capacity of the entire transport system. This problem is solved with the help of computer technology and new information technologies in transport management systems. The most demanded is the database technology implemented in modern automated transport management information systems.Given the exponential growth in the volume of databases used, strict time limits for real-time management decisions in transport management systems, the task of minimizing the time to execute information queries in the database is of particular relevance.The execution time of information requests is influenced by the methods of physical storage of databases. To solve the problem of minimizing the execution time of information requests, it is necessary to determine the physical parameters that affect the efficiency of database processing.An external memory simulation model is described for optimizing the physical parameters of database organization, based on the exchange procedures implemented in modern database management systems between external and operational memory upon information requests. As a key optimization parameter, a memory block reservation factor is substantiated, which allows minimizing the number of slow accesses to external memory.The rationality and adequacy of the proposed model in the process of research is confirmed by the results of simulation modeling.

CACHE DATA REPLACEMENT POLICY BASED ON RECENTLY USED ACCESS DATA AND EUCLIDEAN DISTANCE

Data access management in web-based applications that use relational databases must be well thought out because the data continues to grow every day. The Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) has a relatively slow access speed because the data is stored on disk. This causes problems with decreased database server performance and slow response times. One strategy to overcome this is to implement caching at the application level. This paper proposed SIMGD framework that models Application Level Caching (ALC) to speed up relational data access in web applications. The ALC strategy maps each controller and model that has access to the database into a node-data in the in-Memory Database (IMDB). Not all node-data can be included in IMDB due to limited capacity. Therefore, the SIMGD framework uses the Euclidean distance calculation method for each node-data with its top access data as a cache replacement policy. Node-data with Euclidean distance closer to their top access data have a high priority to be maintained in the caching server. Simulation results show at the 25KB cache configuration, the SIMGD framework excels in achieving hit ratios compared to the LRU algorithm of 6.46% and 6.01%, respectively.

USING MULTILEVEL HASH TABLES TO SPEED UP RENDERING

In this paper, we analyze realistic rendering methods in terms of their efficiency in calculating caustic and indirect illumination. As the basic approach to realistic rendering, we choose bidirectional progressive ray tracing with backward photon maps. The main factors that reduce the efficiency of this method are analyzed. It is shown that the main factor that affects its performance is slow access to photon map data. Different techniques for construction of spatial acceleration structures are considered, their advantages and disadvantages are investigated. As the main approaches, we select the regular spatial grid and binary kd tree. The spatial grid provides high-speed access to photon data at low adaptability of photon map partitioning. The kd tree is characterized by high spatial adaptability of photon map partitioning but slow access to photon data. We propose a combined solution that takes advantage of the adaptability of the kd tree and the fast data access of the spatial grid. For this purpose, the regular grid is superimposed on the kd tree constructed based on the principle of space partitioning of a photon region into geometrically identical halves. To reduce memory consumption, we propose, first, to use multilevel spatial grids superimposed on the selected nodes of the kd tree and, second, to store spatial grids in the form of hash tables in order to reduce the size of the acceleration structure. Thus, a spatial acceleration structure of a new type—a tree of hash tables—is proposed and implemented. For the spatial structure developed, we implement methods for finding the nearest photons the integration spheres of which cover the illumination point, as well as methods for finding the intersection between a ray segment and photon integration spheres. The proposed software solutions are implemented in the Lumicept software package; for some scenes, the proposed method is compared with the Lumicept method based on the binary tree. The comparison shows that our method can increase the overall speed of the rendering process by more than 40%.

Timely access to primary care in New Brunswick: Variability across health regions.

To examine the factors that influence variation in timely access to primary care across the different health regions in New Brunswick. Descriptive and comparative study of organizational practices in primary care practices based on speed of access. Data were collected from December 2019 to March 2020 using semistructured interviews conducted by telephone, in person, or online, according to participants' preferences. New Brunswick. Participants were primary care providers. Two types of regions were targeted: those with a higher proportion of citizens with timely access to primary care (regions with faster access) and those with less timely access (regions with slower access). A sample of 27 participants was used. Organizational practices (ie, new technologies, team-based health services, performance measurement, method of appointment booking, and physician remuneration model) according to prevalence of timely access. Participants in regions with faster access measured their performance more often (45.5% vs 12.5%, P=.046), did not use mixed compensation models (0.0% vs 31.3%, P<.001), and managed more patients (average of 2157 patients vs 950, P=.025), compared with participants from regions with slower access. This study found that performance measurements and other organizational practices are favourably linked to timely access to primary care.

The Effect of Ease of Use, Usefulness, Trust, and Security on Decisions Using M-Banking Bank Syariah Indonesia

This study aims to analyze the effect of ease of use, usefulness, trust, and security to decision using m-banking Bank Syariah Indonesia. This study used a questionnaire to collect data and reach 100 respondents. The respondent is a customer who uses m-banking Bank Syariah Indonesia. Sample determination uses simple random sampling method, and the analysis method using multiple linear regression analysis. The results of this study are usefulness, trust, and security variables influence the decision to use m-banking Bank Syariah Indonesia. In contrast, the ease of use does not affect the decision to use m-banking Bank Syariah Indonesia. These findings indicate that the m-banking system needs to be upgraded to minimize cases of transaction errors, bugs and slow access.

Analysis and Design of User Interface and User Experience of Regional Tax Enterprise Resources Planning System with Design Thinking Method

Regional Tax is one of the main sectors of independent income owned by each City or Regency to fund infrastructure development, education development, health services, and much more. The government agency that manages this regional tax is Badan Pendapatan Daerah, abbreviated as Bapenda. In particular, the West Bandung Bapenda has not implemented an online-based Regional Tax service system. This management system cannot be developed, and taxpayers have no independent account management. The appearance and user experience of the existing system has not matched the current design trends and the latest organizational structure. This greatly obstructs the services of Bapenda to taxpayers due to the lack of digital transparency. The system's flow is quite convoluted, thus affecting the quality and slow access to information. These limitations will be resolved through structured research using the Design Thinking and Usability Testing method for testing so that later it can be translated into an Enterprise Resources Planning system design with a good User Interface / User Experience. This method is structured following five phases: empathy, define, ideate, prototype, and test. The empathy phase aims to understand user problems, the define phase identifies and maps problems, the ideate phase aims to generate ideas, the prototype phase aims to implement the design based on the results of the previous steps, and the test phase aims to test the user. The final phase is the test phase and aims to test the user. The results obtained after applying this method follow user expectations.

Socialization Of Processing Of Fishery Products In Saoka Village Maladummes District Sorong City

Abstract – Maladummes district, Saoka village is a coastal area located in the city of Sorong. In the area, natural resources are quite abundant such as catches of fish, squid, shellfish and so on, but they are not utilized optimally because the catch is only sold in fresh form. Whereas in addition to being sold in fresh form, it can also be processed into products so that the selling value increases. This is due to the slow access to incoming information in the surrounding area, due to the low level of education of local residents. Apart from that, people are left behind in the development of technology and important information that has been and is being developed. Such as important information regarding simple appropriate technology that can be applied to produce fishery products, this is because there have never been socialization activities for processing fishery products and other foods. The purpose of this activity is that the people of Saoka village are able to know about the processing of fishery products, so that later the community will be able to apply it in daily life, or make it a business area on a household scale. The method of implementation is by means of lectures and discussions with participants on how to make fish balls, fish nuggets, fish floss, seaweed meatballs and seaweed syrup. The result of the activities that have been carried out is that the people of Saoka village, Maladum district mes, Sorong city, West Papua, responded very well and enthusiastically. This is indicated by the increase in the value of the pre-test and post-test regarding the processing procedures for fishery products. Increased knowledge of partner communities by 41%.&#x0D; Keywords — Socialization, Processing, Products, Fisheries, Saoka Village

Analisis Pemindahan Pusat Administrasi Pemerintahan Kabupaten Aceh Utara terhadap Pelayanan Publik

Based on the Regulation of Republic of Indonesia Government No. 18 of 2003 concerning the Transfer of the Capital of North Aceh Regency from Lhokseumawe to Lhoksukon, thus it need to be moved immediately. However, the transfer of the administrative center of North Aceh Regency from Lhokseumawe to Lhoksukon was not optimal and had a negative impact on the slow access to public services, negative development of economic growth, and hindered development of North Aceh Regency itself. This study aims to determine and explain the cause of the delay in moving the Administrative Center of North Aceh Regency from Lhokseumawe City to Lhoksukon City. Method in this research uses a qualitative study with descriptive approach. The data were obtained from the results of field research based on observations, interviews with relevant informants, documentation, and literature. The theory used in this research is the theory of public administration and public service. The results showed the delay in moving the Government Administrative Center of North Aceh Regency due to the absence of supporting tools for public services, limited budget allocations, and the political reasons for controlling the assets of North Aceh Regency in Lhokseumawe City. Then the process of implementing the transfer of the Regional Work Unit (RWU) to date from 26 RWU, only 6 RWU which have been moved to Lhoksukon, and this has resulted in the inefficiency of services provision. It is recommended that the North Aceh government in providing public services to the community must prioritize good public service standards in accordance with the principles of good and right public services. In providing services, the government as the service provider must prioritize the public interest and not make the excuse that there is no means of supporting public services as an obstacle to the ongoing process of public service. Then it is expected that regional governments increase budget allocations to meet the needs of moving the administrative center of North Aceh Regency. As well as immediately transferring assets so that Government Regulation No. 18 of 2003 can be fulfilled.

Metode PCQ dan Queue Tree untuk Implementasi Manajemen Bandwidth Berbasis Mikrotik

Bandwidth problems are the most frequently encountered problems in sharing information traffic or internet access on computer networks. The factor that causes slow internet access is the large number of devices connected to the internet that are not matched by the availability of sufficient bandwidth and the lack of available bandwidth. This can be accommodated with bandwidth management methods. Bandwidth management in Mikotik uses several bandwidth sharing methods such as PCQ (Per Connection Queue), Queue Tree, and HTB (Hierchichal Token Bucket). This research uses 2 (two) bandwidth management methods, namely PCQ and Queue Tree because these methods can divide bandwidth automatically according to the number of active users and are more effective in sharing bandwidth based on Mikrotik. PCQ is a method aimed at optimizing QoS for large-scale internet networks where all queues are the same for all sub-streams, while Queue Tree is a method designed to carry out more complex queuing tasks for network traffic. The purpose of this research is to optimize the limited internet bandwidth so that it can be accessed by all users in the Local Area Network and automate the queue of devices connected to the network according to user needs so as to produce a more stable computer network performance using the network development method, namely NDLC. The results of the tests were carried out 10 times using a bandwidth of 10 Mbps which resulted in an average jitter of 1.64 ms, ping 36.8 ms, 2 Mbps throughput, and 0.1% packet loss so that the QoS of internet access was categorized as satisfactory. It is hoped that from this research the company will be able to save on internet access expenses by maximizing a small bandwidth without having to increase the existing bandwidth.&#x0D;

Measuring Disruptions in Last-Mile Delivery Operations

The rapid growth of urbanisation and e-commerce has increased the number of home deliveries that need to be made in retail operations. Consequently, there is also an increase in unexpected incidents, such as adverse traffic, unavailability of parking space, and vehicle breakdowns. These disruptions result in delays, higher costs, and lower service levels in the last-mile delivery operation. Motivated by free, innovative, and efficient tools, such as the Google application programming interface (API) and Google OR, we built a model to measure the impact of disruptions in the last-mile delivery operation. Our model considers customers’ geographic information, speed estimation between nodes, routing optimisation, and disruption evaluation. Disruptions are considered here as external factors such as accidents and road works that imply the closure of or slow access to certain roads. Computational experiments, based on a set of real data from three different cities around the world, which contrast in size and characteristics (i.e., Boston, US; Bogotá, Colombia; and Pamplona, Spain), were conducted to validate our approach. The tests consider 50 different instances of up to 100 customers per city and analyse the impact of disruptions in terms of travelled time and distance. Our results provide managerial insights for key stakeholders (i.e., carriers, consumers, and government) to define policies and development plans that improve the resilience and capabilities of cities’ transportation systems.

Obstacles &amp; Solutions If A Legal Agency Administration System in Process of Restruction of A Limited Company

The purpose of this study is to explain how the obstacles and solutions if they occur in the legal entity administrative system in the Limited Liability Company approval process. This writing uses the juridical empirical research method by extracting information from interviews and data from literature studies. The data used in this study are secondary data which includes primary legal materials. Based on this research, it can be concluded that the Registration of Limited Liability Companies using the Legal Entity Administration System has obstacles and has disadvantages for its users, one of which is the website system itself, where the pages on the website are off or busy with the network, so the process will take a long time until hours due to slow access.

Viva ou deixe morrer

Este trabalho objetivou identificar as estratégias desenvolvidas por micro e pequenas empresas (MPE) do turismo ludovicense para enfrentar a crise provocada pela COVID-19. Adicionalmente, detectou-se impactos da pandemia sobre os negócios. Metodologicamente, desenvolveu-se uma pesquisa qualitativa, transversal, descritiva e exploratória com MPE de hospedagem, transporte, agenciamento, A&amp;B, consultoria, cerimonial e eventos. Os dados foram coletados, por meio de roteiro semiestruturado contendo as categorias: impactos e gerenciamento de crise. Utilizou-se a técnica de análise de conteúdo. Os resultados apontam impactos negativos, como “dificuldades financeiras”, e positivos, a exemplo das “oportunidades de qualificação profissional”. Empresas de A&amp;B obtiveram “melhorias no faturamento” graças ao delivery. As estratégias para enfrentamento versam sobre gestão de marketing, finanças, operacional e pessoas, e variam conforme segmentos e stakeholders envolvidos. No geral, as empresas não fazem planos contingenciais e agem de forma responsiva às crises. Destacou-se a atuação de instituições públicas e privadas no “apoio técnico e financeiro” aos negócios, embora a “lentidão no acesso aos subsídios financeiros” venha comprometendo o futuro das MPE. Para o pós-crise, os empreendimentos almejam estratégias que estejam em consonância ao “novo normal” e fortaleçam a percepção de segurança nos consumidores.

Strategic Decision Making in Fire Risk Management in Aftab Gorgan Commercial Complex using Artificial Intelligence Model

Introduction: Today, commercial complexes are among the most important shopping centers in cities that account for one of the most important urban development infrastructures. Evaluation and management of fire is essential to prevent accidents and disasters such as fires. Due to the increased population density and slow access to safe and secure outdoor space during the disaster, human casualties and financial losses have increased. The aim of this study was to make strategic decisions in fire risk management in Aftab Gorgan commercial complex using artificial intelligence model. Method: : In this study, all technical documentation, including technical-physical and urban properties as well as notification and extinguishing system of the commercial complex under study were investigated. Later, the important and influential components of the design were identified, paired, weighted, and compared using Delphi questionnaires. In the next stage, the SWOT matrix was applied and quadratic strategies were designed and modeled after designing a hierarchical tree to model and prioritize the strategies. Results: According to the outputs of the performed modeling using Matlab and Neuro-Solution 5 software, we found that in weighting and ranking of the eight designed strategies, only one strategy was ranked (and has equal priority) in both models and other scenarios were different. Therefore, integrating strategies for fire risk management was considered essential. Conclusion: The findings showed that the strategy of adopting the systematic and strategic-operational management approach of fire risk in Gorgan Aftab 3 Complex design were the most ideal possible strategies. This was due to the special attention paid to optimization of physical spaces and fire alarm systems as well as implementation of business classification and continuous excellence system of HSE-MS and crisis management.

Developing new connectivity architectures for local sensing and control IoT systems

While improvement can be done in every component of the Internet of Things (IoT) as an evolving technology, this work focuses on connectivity. Currently, the main in-building connectivity technology for IoT enterprise deployments is the low rate wireless personal area network (LR-WPAN). However, despite the low power and complexity, the two main issues of the LR-WPAN are very slow data access and short coverage range. To address these issues, 802.11ax can be a promising alternative due to its new IoT-oriented features that explicitly target the resource-constraint requirements. This work proposes and implements two IoT connectivity architectures to deploy the 11ax protocol stack in the sensor motes for sensing the environment and also in the backhaul link to collect and relay the sensed data to the remote processing server. The LR-WPAN is also implemented to be utilized as the baseline and reference point for comparison purposes. Furthermore, a decision model with two integrated modules is proposed to measure and evaluate the performance of the proposed architectures on the basis of the IoT requirement factors that directly contribute to IoT efficiency. The model includes an extensive set of IoT use cases to demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed architectures and determine their contribution to performance enhancement of the IoT systems.

Is there any health and geographical disparity in indigenous and non-indigenous women of Western Australia (WA)? A retrospective review with respect to de novo metastasis.

115 Background: Indigenous women with breast cancer have substantially higher mortality then non-Indigenous women. They are more likely to live in more remote communities with potential delays to presentation, investigation and diagnosis as well as slower access to cancer treatment facilities, potentially impacting survival. Here we explore by evaluating the diagnosis of de-novo metastasis and any association of remoteness, highlighting the geographic and possibly early access to treatment. Methods: A cohort of patients was retrospectively selected comprising age- and remoteness matched Indigenous and non-Indigenous women in a 1:1 ratio from the Western Australian Cancer Registry. Further data were collected from medical records and results systems. Remoteness was defined by the ARIA system. In addition, the distance from the nearest treatment center was calculated. The survival analysis was performed by Indigenous status and remoteness. Results: The final cohort comprised 250 Indigenous and 261 non–Indigenous women. Of the total, 7.6% (19/250) and 7.7% (20/261) were identified to have de-novo metastasis. At 10 years of follow up, most de-novo metastatic patients in both groups were from remote communities, distributed as 10.1, 9.1, 7.8, 8.7 and 5.0 % in metropolitan, inner regional, outer regional, remote and very remote areas respectively. In Indigenous group with de-novo metastasis the average distance of patient from treatment center was 1720km for vs 1018 km in Non-Indigenous patient with a p-value of 0.03. In non-metastasis cohort, Indigenous patient has 1065 km v 1241 km in non-indigenous group. Considering outcomes for those developing metastatic disease, median survivals after metastatic diagnosis were shorter for Indigenous patients, 21 v 33 months, p = 0.03. Conclusions: Indigenous women in WA with metastatic breast cancer have inferior survival outcomes from diagnosis of metastases relative to non-Indigenous peers. Most de-novo metastatic patients were from remote locations in both cohorts but no relation between remoteness and de-novo metastasis, identified to be impacting survival. Future studies are needed to better elucidate if any geographical, health care disparities and improve on treatment related outcomes. It is suggested to derive targeted policies to improve survival outcome of all Indigenous cancer patients, particularly those residing in remote areas.

Access and Use of Information by Rural Communities in Arid and Semi-arid Lands (ASALs) of Kenya: the Case of Maarifa Centres

Telecentres are community knowledge centres that offer shared access to information and Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) for the benefit of community development in alleviation of poverty. This article presents a case study that explored the extent to which rural communities in ASALs region of Kenya access and use information from the Maarifa centres (MC). The objective was to examine access and use pattern of information by ASAL communities benefiting from the MC. Using a multiple case study, 80 respondents drawn from five Maarifa centres were interviewed. The respondents were users of the respective Maarifa centres. The Maarifa centres selected were namely; Nguruman MC in Magadi, Mutomo MC in Kitui, Isinya MC in Kajiado, Ng’arua MC in Laikipia and Sipili MC in Baringo. Further, five focus group discussions were conducted with the respondents. Key informants interviewed included, Director of Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN); Programme Coordinators of Maarifa centres; Officers of the Communication Authority of Kenya and the ICT board of Kenya. Major findings indicate that rural communities appreciate Maarifa centres as a source of information. The respondents valued Maarifa centres as intermediaries for accessing information for socio-economic development. The biggest achievement is the use of Sokopepe, an online knowledge management platform which can be accessed through computers or the mobile phone. The challenges that hinder effective access and use of information are mainly infrastructural which slow down information uptake and internet access. The study revealed that Maarifa centres have addressed most of the community’s information needs of government information through access to e-government services; e-commerce, agricultural development and knowledge creation, resulting in improved livelihoods. Provision of these services was possible through collaboration of the government ministries and agencies, development partners, funding agencies and community participation. Keywords: Telecentres, Information access, Knowledge management, ASALs DOI: 10.7176/IKM/10-5-04 Publication date: August 31 st 2020