Analysis of Mobile and Internet Network Coverage: Propagation of Electromagnetic Waves and Concept of Digital Divide in Burundi

Mobile and Internet network coverage plays an important role in digital transformation and the exploitation of new services. The evolution of mobile networks from the first generation (1G) to the 5th generation is still a long process. 2G networks have developed the messaging service, which complements the already operational voice service. 2G technology has rapidly progressed to the third generation (3G), incorporating multimedia data transmission techniques. It then progressed to fourth generation (4G) and LTE (Long Term Evolution), increasing the transmission speed to improve 3G. Currently, developed countries have already moved to 5G. In developing countries, including Burundi, a member of the East African Community (ECA) where more than 80% are connected to 2G technologies, 40% are connected to the 3G network and 25% to the 4G network and are not yet connected to the 5G network and then still a process. The objective of this article is to analyze the coverage of 2G, 3G and 4G networks in Burundi. This analysis will make it possible to identify possible deficits in order to reduce the digital divide between connected urban areas and remote rural areas. Furthermore, this analysis will draw the attention of decision-makers to the need to deploy networks and coverage to allow the population to access mobile and Internet services and thus enable the digitalization of the population. Finally, this article shows the level of coverage, the digital divide and an overview of the deployment of base stations (BTS) throughout the country to promote the transformation and digital inclusion of services.

Bridging Digital Divide for English Learners at Chinese Secondary Schools

This article reviews the concept of digital divide and particularly discusses the digital divide among K-12 students in rural and urban China,as well as the e-learning strategies initiated by the Chinese government that were designed to minimize this digital divide in China.This article concludes by explaining the issue of skills on effective e-learning and correspondingly making suggestions for English teachers in K-12 schools in China.

Digital Divide of Internet: Model Analysis and Policy Exploration-A Comparison among China, America and Russia

A new analytical model is proposed and constructedin this paper through studying the two-stage courseand the marginal replication cost of informationproducts. The economic nature of digital divide isuncovered and that is of the economic value and theallotment styles of information and knowledge. Basedon the proposed model and taken China, Americaand Russia as examples, the empirical analyses areflexibly made and policy explanations for bridgingthe divide are given.

Assessing the Digital Divide Status of the Jordanian Telecentre

This study investigates the status of digital divide amongst Jordanian Telecentres. The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of the perceived usefulness, the perceived ease-of-use and the facilitating conditions on the behavioral intention of employees. In addition, the study investigates the effect of the three mentioned factors on the user acceptance while the behavioral intention on the user acceptance is used as a mediating factor. The proposed research model was validated by distributing 150 survey questionnaires to the Telecentres in Jordan. Structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was used to analyze the results. One of the main limitations of this study is that the results cannot be universal since the study was limited to Jordan. Similar study needs to be conducted in different courtiers to either support or negate our results.

The Formation Logic of the Digital Divide and Feasible Ways to Cross It:An Access-Based Analysis

How enterprises overcome the digital divide in a digital economy is a topic related to efficiency and fairness.The formation of the digital divide has showcased a certain level of objectivity and is also influenced by the characteristics of enterprises themselves.Based on the model that expands the information and communication technology(ICT)access,concept,we explored the digital divide’s formation logic of the digital divide and feasible ways to cross it.Our findings shed light on its formation logic,which includes elements of the subjective will of enterprises to transform,the fear of transformation,the dependence on development paths,and the cost of using digital technology,all of which have contributed to disparities in enterprises’motivational access.In addition,differences in the construction of digital infrastructure,financial strengths,business models,and heterogeneity in cluster networks have led to differences in enterprises’material access.The absorptive capacity of enterprises has affected their skill access,while the management capability influences the application access of enterprises.We also found that crossing the digital divide requires the joint efforts of governments,markets,and enterprises in the four access dimensions.

Digital Divide in Relation to Differently Abled Community in Sri Lanka

The developments in the field of Information and Communication Technology （ICT） in the country has rapidly happen after year 2009 .Government has developed many programs and initiations to develop ICT in the country after three decades of war was ended up. As a result disabled community can make many opportunities to use the ICT and at the same time create a gap, which is commonly referred to as Disability Digital Divide. The purpose of this study was to examine empirically the current status of adoption of ICT and in turn the digital divide resulting from which in the disability community in Sri Lanka and the factors affecting this behavior. A questionnaire and Interviewed based survey （n = 107） was carried out to collect the data from the disabled people who used ICT in the Colombo, Gampaha, and Kaluthara district. An empirical model was developed to show the relationship between the level of adoption of 10 basic, intermediate, and advanced ICT facilities and a number of factors to reflect the WWW, Smart phones, and Computer usage aspects of disabled community. Based on the Innovatiotr---Diffusion Theory, the status of Digital Divide of a disabled community was specified by means of an Index. The results show that this community did not become innovators or early-adopters of ICT by adopting WWW or computer related technologies but was mostly confined to the smart phone related facilities. The results from this study highlight that the income of a disabled person, awareness about the information and technology, interest of new technology usage, social and cultural background of a person, use of English language in day-to-day life give a significant impact on the adoption oflCT by the disabled community.

Probing into Solutions to Digital Divide:China's Perspective

Since we have entered the informational epoch, the general application of information technology originates various kinds of effects that are divided into positive part and negative part, which the research of digital divide in the disabled group is raised under this background.In modern society, the disabled is an absolutely weak group which confronts the circumstance that is hard to adapt to when they face up with the impact in informational era for their physical or psychological disabilities. Strictly speaking, the issue of digital divide in the disabled group is part of the negative effect which is brought in by information technology. Meanwhile, it is a branch of digital divide issue. But the concern and solution for the digital divide issue embody a government's attitude and deed towards the new problem in the informational epoch, meanwhile they show esteem to the human rights and social equity in the new era.This article first describes and discusses the digital divide issue of the disabled group in China. Then, it focuses on the solutions or actions that Chinese local governments take towards the issue. Finally, it introduces Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act as a reference to China from the legislative perspective.

Innovation in the Public Sector in the Start-up Nation:Challenges of Technology,Bureaucracy,and Digital Divide

Innovation provides opportunities to all countries,as advancement in technology and globalization of economic markets encourage global competition and increase the role of governments in gaining a strategic competitive advantage while boosting economic growth and productivity.According to the OECD,innovation can make a difference in addressing developmental challenges and providing catalyst for countries to accelerate business processes and practices that improve public service efficiency.The public sector plays a significant role in modern economies and innovation is a necessary condition for improving government services to the public and creating a competitive economy.Israel is known as the“start-up nation”,but innovation policies and strategies relating to the public sector are less developed than those of business innovation due to lack of innovation culture,digital divide,and bureaucracy.The research examines innovation in the public sector in Israel compared to other OECD countries.It is argued that despite the enormous influence of high-tech and start-ups on the economy and gross of national product,the flourishing technology sector has not contributed to other sectors of the economy and the performance of the public service lags behind the private sector in terms of innovation and efficiency.The research concludes that implementing Israel’s success in business innovation into the public sector requires long-run strategic investments and public policies to increase the supply and quality of human capital and infrastructure.The goal should be to narrow digital divide with other developed countries and advance the technological capabilities and productivity of the public service.

Framing and Reframing the Digital Divide Policy in Taiwan： Consensus and Conflict

This paper explores key policy issues of national information and communication technology development to identify the gap between the heterogeneity in issues pertaining to the ＂digital divide＂. How this issue is cast often as a problem to be solved in recent years. On the public policy front, a series of reports issued by Taiwan Residents policymakers were endeavored to address universal services and digital divide issues. Government also has taken various steps to mitigate the disparity in opportunities to access the Internet （e.g., ＂e-Taiwan＂ for broadband services, ＂M-Taiwan＂ for broadband infrastructure and heterogeneous network services, and ＂i-Taiwan＂ for ubiquitous networks and digital convergence by Taiwan＇s Cabinet）. However, when policymakers worked to craft solutions to the pressing societal concern, they found lots of policy agendas need to redefine to foster greater understanding and enlighten practice for policy going forward. An examination of conflicting narratives within policy has been conducted, which identified not only the earlier debates were framed, but also key agendas of the most studied and empirical data used among them. The article attempts to examine the topic from a longitudinal perspective by using sets of documents revealed a tendency over time to explore how particular the agendas and debates of ＂digital divide＂ were framed. The study traced back to policy debates from cultural, economic, educational, and political perspectives at various Internet diffusion stages. The results provide useful insights into the study and discussion on new convergence policy making implications.

Profiling the digital divide of the elderly based on Internet big data:evidence from China

The integrated development of population aging and digital information age has brought an insurmountable“digital divide”to the elderly.We propose a method to profile the digital divide of the elderly by text mining,Baidu index and principal component analysis.The top ten scenarios related to the digital divide of the elderly are extracted,which are mobile,payment,phone,QR code,technology,WeChat,Alipay,cash,insurance and medical.The attention distribution of different scenarios in major cities in China was investigated and classified.The results suggest that the health code,social media,and online insurance need higher policy attention to promote narrow digital divide measure.And an inconsistency between netizens'attention and news reports makes Internet search behaviors have the potential to be a real-time supplement to narrow the digital divide among the elderly.The problem states of different cities reflect spatial heterogeneity and temporal asynchrony.The proposed method timely tracks the scenarios of the elderly's digital divide,providing effective insights and references to policy making and services and products improvement,and also providing suggestions for optimizing the development of“Internet+”aging.

Bridging the Digital Divide

She never thought the countryside scene could be so interesting. ＂The ancient farmers＇ houses of these Zhuang minority groups have threefloors--the first is for raising animals like pigs and hens, the second is for people and the third is for storing grain and corn.

Does digitalization mitigate regional inequalities?Evidence from China

Regional inequality significantly influences sustainable development and human well-being.In China,there exists pronounced regional disparities in economic and digital advancements;however,scant research delves into the interplay between them.By analyzing the economic development and digitalization gaps at regional and city levels in China,extending the original Cobb-Douglas production function,this study aims to evaluate the impact of digitalization on China's regional inequality using seemingly unrelated regression.The results indicate a greater emphasis on digital inequality compared to economic disparity,with variable coefficients of 0.59 for GDP per capita and 0.92 for the digitalization index over the past four years.However,GDP per capita demonstrates higher spatial concentration than digitalization.Notably,both disparities have shown a gradual reduction in recent years.The southeastern region of the Hu Huanyong Line exhibits superior levels and rates of economic and digital advancement in contrast to the northwestern region.While digitalization propels economic growth,it yields a nuanced impact on achieving balanced regional development,encompassing both positive and negative facets.Our study highlights that the marginal utility of advancing digitalization is more pronounced in less developed regions,but only if the government invests in the digital infrastructure and education in these areas.This study's methodology can be utilized for subsequent research,and our findings hold the potential to the government's regional investment and policy-making.

A Study of Digital Disconnection Among Older Adults in the Internet Age

With internet and smartphone usage increasing every year,seniors are being exposed to digital media,either actively or passively.To better integrate into the information society for the elderly,efforts are also needed to clarify the causes of their digital disconnection and develop appropriate solutions.In this study,semi-structured interviews are utilized to investigate the self-adjustment and external intervention of the elderly in the age of digital media and to explore the ways,causes,and effects of digital disconnection of the elderly.The focus issue of this study is to clarify the subjective and objective factors of digital disconnection,especially cognitive problems,group influences,and technological access barriers in the elderly population concerning digital devices and the Internet.

Design of Digital Hybrid Chaotic Sequence Generator

The feasibility of the hybrid chaotic sequences as the spreading codes in code divided multiple access(CDMA) system is analyzed. The design and realization of the digital hybrid chaotic sequence generator by very high speed integrated circuit hardware description language(VHDL) are described. A valid hazard canceledl method is presented. Computer simulations show that the stable digital sequence waveforms can be produced. The correlations of the digital hybrid chaotic sequences are compared with those of m-sequences. The results show that the correlations of the digital hybrid chaotic sequences are almost as good as those of m-sequences. The works in this paper explored a road for the practical applications of chaos.

Effect of Digital Economy Development on Rural-Urban Income Disparity: Evidence from China

Promoting income equality between urban and rural residents is one of the main goals of China’s social progress and economic development.It is also a necessary means to achieve“common prosperity.”Digital economy can effectively promote economic development,the adjustment of industry structure and industry upgrading,as well as increase the disposable income of urban and rural residents,which is theoretically beneficial to rural-urban income disparity.An empirical analysis is conducted based on the data of 30 provinces,municipalities,and autonomous regions in China from 2013 to 2020.The findings demonstrate that the growth of digital economy helps lessen rural-urban income disparity and has a significant effect in East China and North China.

Roots of Tomorrow's Digital Divide:Documenting Computer Use and Internet Access in China's Elementary Schools Today

This paper explores China＇s digital divide, with a focus on differences in access to computers, learning software, and the Internet at school and at home among different groups of elementary school children in China. The digital divide is examined in four different dimensions： （i） between students in urban public schools and students in rural public schools; （ii） between students in rural public schools and students in private migrant schools; （iii） between migrant students in urban public schools and migrant students in private migrant schools; and （iv） between students in Han-dominated rural areas and students in areas inhabited by ethnic minorities. Using data from a set of large-scale surveys in schools in different parts of the country, we find a wide gap between computer and Internet access of students in rural areas and those in urban public schools. The gap widens further when comparing urban students to students from minority areas. The divide is also large between urban and rural schools when examining the quality of computer instruction and access to learning software. Migration does not appear to eliminate the digital divide, unless migrant families are able to enroll their children in urban public schools. The digital divide in elementary schools may have implications for future employment, education and income inequality in China.

From the Digital Divide to the Connectivity Dividend Difference: A Connectivity Capital Perspective

The access divide was once the basic form of the digital divide.The development of Internet infrastructure has narrowed the access divide and increased application coverage,but it has also touched off a connectivity dividend difference.Taking the online market as an example,we examine the sources of the dividend difference and the factors influencing it with in a connectivity framework.We found that the narrowing of the access divide has resulted in enhanced connectivity and platform development,giving people the chance to benefit from transforming the various assets in which they have previously invested into differentiated compound connectivity capital.In the course,the scale and rate of the conversion are affected by two multiplier effects and especially by online platforms.The process is ultimately expressed in the dividend difference.

Frugal innovation and the digital divide:Developing an extended model of the diffusion of innovations

Based on diffusion of innovation(DOI)theory and economic consumption analysis as well as the concept of frugal innovation,this study develops an extended DOI model that theorizes the characteristics of the diffusion of frugal information communication technologies(ICTs)and their impacts on the Internet diffusion.This model posits that frugal digital ICTs diffuse more rapidly in developing countries than in developed countries and significantly bridge the digital divide between them.The diffusion of frugal smartphones is investigated as a case of the diffusion of frugal digital ICTs,which provides empirical evidence for the theoretical model presented herein.

Value of social capital in bridging accidental digital divide among rural residents:A field report on Jinghai county of Tianjin

The paper reports research findings from a field study on accidental ICT help-seeking behaviors in Huifeng West Village and Tuhe Village of Jinghai County,Tianjin.By employing field observation and in-depth interviews,the relations between local residents’ access to and usage of ICT and their social capital are described:seniors tend to rely on bonding social capital when confronting with difficulties in using mobile devices and computers;the middle-aged always make use of bridging and bonding social capital to shoot ICT troubles and prefer to bridging;children and young adults generally ask for help from friends,or after-sales services in their bridging social capital.