Information Technology and Telecommunications:Impacts on Strategic Alliance

Strategic alliance (SA) is an important way with which the enterprise can grow up. However, the development of information technology and telecommunications (IT&Ts) has vital impacts on the theory and practice of SA management. This paper analyzes these impacts from four respects: the management thinking, forming, inter organizational interaction, information exchange and knowledge transferring of SA. We point out the new characteristics of SA management in the information age and then put forward corresponding countermeasures on the basic of analyzing current alliance management theory and issue. Finally we discuss some issues that would be researched further in the future.

China's Post and Telecommunications Service

In 1994, the handling capacity and business volume of China’s posts and telecommunications fulfilled the target of the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1991-1995) a year ahead of schedule and that of quadrupling the business volume during the period of 1980-2000 six years in advance. 1. The comprehensive communications capacity further enhanced with the construction of the telecommunication mains transmission network mainly composed of optical fibre cables is now in place. Seven

Characterization of Small-Scale Farmers and Assessment of Their Access to Crop Production Information in Selected Counties of Kenya

Small-scale farming accounts for 78% of total agricultural production in Kenya and contributes to 23.5% of the country’s GDP. Their crop production activities are mostly rainfed subsistence with any surplus being sold to bring in some income. Timely decisions on farm practices such as farm preparation and planting are critical determinants of the seasonal outcomes. In Kenya, most small-scale farmers have no reliable source of information that would help them make timely and accurate decisions. County governments have extension officers who are mandated with giving farmers advisory services to farmers but they are not able to reach most farmers due to facilitation constraints. The mode and format of sharing information is also critical since it’s important to ensure that it’s timely, well-understood and usable. This study sought to assess access to geospatial derived and other crop production information by farmers in four selected counties of Kenya. Specific objectives were to determine the profile of small-scale farmers in terms of age, education and farm size;to determine the type of information that is made available to them by County and Sub-County extension officers including the format and mode of provision;and to determine if the information provided was useful in terms of accuracy, timeliness and adequacy. The results indicated that over 80% of the farmers were over 35 years of age and over 56% were male. Majority had attained primary education (34%) or secondary education (29%) and most farmers in all the counties grew maize (71%). Notably, fellow farmers were a source of information (71%) with the frequency of sharing information being mostly seasonal (37%) and when information was available (43%). Over 66% of interviewed farmers indicating that they faced challenges while using provided information. The results from the study are insightful and helpful in determining effective ways of providing farmers with useful information to ensure maximum benefits.

Information Security in the Cloud: Emerging Trends and Challenges

This article explores the evolution of cloud computing, its advantages over traditional on-premises infrastructure, and its impact on information security. The study presents a comprehensive literature review covering various cloud infrastructure offerings and security models. Additionally, it deeply analyzes real-life case studies illustrating successful cloud migrations and highlights common information security threats in current cloud computing. The article concludes by offering recommendations to businesses to protect themselves from cloud data breaches and providing insights into selecting a suitable cloud services provider from an information security perspective.

Bolzano Traffic: An Example of Open ITS Deployment for Advanced Traveller Information Services

This paper aims to present the experience gathered in the Italian alpine city of Bolzano within the project“Bolzano Traffic”whose goal is the introduction of an experimental open ITS platform for local service providers,fostering the diffusion of advanced traveller information services and the future deployment of cooperative mobility systems in the region.Several end-users applications targeted to the needs of different user groups have been developed in collaboration with local companies and research centers;a partnership with the EU Co-Cities project has been activated as well.The implemented services rely on real-time travel and traffic information collected by urban traffic monitoring systems or published by local stakeholders(e.g.public transportation operators).An active involvement of end-users,who have recently started testing these demo applications for free,is actually on-going.

Design of an Interconnection Architecture and Sizing of Two (2) EPC Core Networks: The Case of Orange-Guinea

With the arrival of the 4G and 5G,the telecommunications networks have experienced a large expansion of these networks.That enabled the integration of many services and adequate flow,thus enabling the operators to respond to the growing demand of users.This rapid evolution has given the operators to adapt,their methods to the new technologies that increase.This complexity becomes more important,when these networks include several technologies to access different from the heterogeneous network like in the 4G network.The dimensional new challenges tell the application and the considerable increase in demand for services and the compatibility with existing networks,the management of mobility intercellular of users and it offers a better quality of services.Thus,the proposed solution to meet these new requirements is the sizing of the EPC(Evolved Packet Core)core network to support the 5G access network.For the case of Orange Guinea,this involves setting up an architecture for interconnecting the core networks of Sonfonia and Camayenne.The objectives of our work are of two orders:(1)to propose these solutions and recommendations for the heart network EPC sizing and the deployment to be adopted;(2)supply and architectural interconnection in the heart network EPC and an existing heart network.In our work,the model of traffic in communication that we use to calculate the traffic generated with each technology has link in the network of the heart.

Research on cloud computing and services framework of marine environmental information management

Based on the features of marine environmental data and processing requirements, a cloud computing archi- tecture of marine environment information is proposed, which provides a new cloud technology framework for the integration and sharing of marine environmental information resources. A physical layer, software platform layer and an application layer are illustrated systematically, at the same time, a corresponding solu- tions for many difficult technical problems such as parallel query processing of multi-dimensional, spatio- temporal information, data slice storage, software service flow customization, analysis, reorganization and so on. A prototype system is developed and many different data-size experiments and a comparative analy- sis are done based on it. The experiment results show that the cloud platform based on this framework can achieve high performance and scalability when dealing with large-scale marine data.

Tree-based ecosystem services supply and multifunctionality of church forests and their agricultural matrix near Lake Tana,Ethiopia

Ecosystem services(ES)are the connection between nature and society,and are essential for the well-being of local communities that depend on them.In Ethiopia,church forests and the surrounding agricultural matrix supply numerous ES.However,the ES delivered by both land use types have not yet been assessed simultaneously.Here we surveyed both church forests and their agricultural matrices,aiming to quantify,compare and unravel the drivers underlying tree-based ES supply,density and multifunctionality.We found that almost all church forests and half of the agricultural matrices provided high ES densities.ES multifunctionality was higher in the agricultural matrices,suggesting that people deliberately conserve or plant multifunctional tree species.Furthermore,the supply of all categories of ES was positively correlated with church forest age(p-value<0.001)in the agricultural matrix,while the extent of church forest was positively correlated with the density of all categories ecosystem services score in the church forests(p-value<0.001).Our results can be used to prioritize conservation efforts at sites that provide high levels of ES supply,ES density and ES multifunctionality,and to prioritize restoration efforts at sites with low levels thereof.

The Role of Library and Information Science Education in the Development of Community Health Information Services for People Living with HIV/AIDS: Perspectives of Directors and Managers of Public Libraries

This article identifies the role of library and information science (LIS) education in the development of community health information services for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Preliminary findings are presented from semi- structured qualitative interviews that were conducted with eleven directors and managers of local branches in the Knox County Public Library (KCPL) System that is located in the East Tennessee region in the United States. Select feedback reported by research participants is summarized in the article about strategies in LIS education that can help local public librarians and others in their efforts to become more responsive information providers to PLWHA. Research findings help better understand the issues and concerns regarding the development of digital and non-digital health information services for PLWHA in local public library institutions.

The Impact of Information Technology on Service Quality,Satisfaction,and Customer Relationship Management(Case Study:IT Organization Individuals)

Recent research and studies have shown that Information Technology(IT)has a significant impact on service quality,customer satisfaction,and customer relationship development.With the proliferation and penetration of technology in all aspects of life,organizations are responding to the implications and opportunities that IT creates in relation to customer services.The main objective of using information technology in organizations is to increase customer satisfaction,service quality,and customer relationship management,which the authors will focus on here.Enhancing service quality,improving customer satisfaction,and establishing close and sustainable customer relationships are key advantages of leveraging information technology in this field.This article examines the impact of information technology on service quality,customer satisfaction,and customer relationship development and provides strategies and models for organizations to improve customer satisfaction and establish closer connections with them through the use of information technology.Seventy individuals from the IT field were used to evaluate the proposed model.The proposed model was compared with three models:SEM,regression,and decision tree,and the results demonstrated better performance of this approach.

Socio-Cultural Barriers Influencing Utilization of Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Information and Services among Adolescents and Youth 10 - 24 Years in Pastoral Communities in Kenya

Background: As in other developing countries, sexual and reproductive ill-health continues to mostly affect adolescents and youths. Samburu and Turkana counties in Kenya have some of the highest levels of total fertility rates (TFR) at 6.3 and 6.9 respectively placing them well above the national TFR of 3.9. Establishing factors that influence utilization of SRH services among adolescent and youth aged 10 - 24 years is critical in developing an effective program. Method: We used primary data from qualitative and purposeful study design. Data collection used Focus group discussions (FGD), In-depth interviews (IDIs) and Key informant interviews (IDIs). The target groups were adolescents and youth aged 10 - 24 years, health care providers, community health volunteers (CHVs), chemist assistants, parents of adolescents and youth, teachers, spiritual leaders and traditional activists. Findings and Conclusion: Socio-cultural factors were found to influence utilization of SRH services and information. Early marriage, being youth, male only decisions on sexuality matters and fear of family contribute to unprotected sex while myths and misconceptions on contraceptives affected utilization. The findings revealed that youth needs to know sources, how contraceptives work and how to use them. The findings suggest capacity building of health care providers, CHVs, teachers, parents and community leaders on adolescence, sexuality needs of adolescents and disadvantages of female genital mutilation (FGM) including early marriage.

Self-surveillance in French Colonial West Africa： French Intelligence Services and the Hamallist Information Network （1910-1943）

In this article, with the use of the Agency mode, I try to shed light on the resilient capacity of African societies to the foreign inroad in the 20th century. In 1910-1940, the success of Hamallist Information Networks to beat the French imperial machinery in the Nioro of the Sahara located in the French Sudan （known as Mali nowadays）, leads to reconsidering the power relationship organizing the authority and the challenge to establish the authority relation during colonial period. That calls into question the idea of a sole and unique domination by French imperialism during colonization and at the same time, it indicates that indigenous people were very active in the historical processes, which determined their existence.

Camera and Voice Control Based Location Services and Information Security on Android

Increasing popularity of Android is making its security issue more crucial nowadays. This paper focuses on one-stop solution to secure Android device against information security and theft. Proposed application protects Android device against theft and helps to control Android device by SMS or using internet connection. By this application once the user has configured the account for anti theft, user can remotely track, sound a loud siren, lock, secretly capture photo of an intruder who tries to break in, get randomly recorded voice of intruder, get thief identity using device web history and can able to wipe all your private data. This data and tracking information will be stored in one central web server database and one can access it anytime through login.

A New Start for the Library and Information Services at CAS

The new modern library of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), situated in the central area of Science Town in Zhongguancun, Beijing, has just been put into operation. As the largest specialized library in China, the library has become one of paradises for China' s avid readers,offering a central repository and global gateway for the collection and dissemination of scientific and technical information.……

Sports Education Library Information Services

Library website,is the first window for readers to understand library information services.Sports Education academy library fully take advantage of homepage,combine open access resource searched with the library collections,after targeted collection,selection,sorting,processing,clustering or reorganization,establish a navigation system of open access resource of physical Sports Education.

Toward Cloud Computing QoS Architecture:Analysis of Cloud Systems and Cloud Services

Cloud can be defined as a new computing paradigm that provides scalable, on-demand, and virtualized resources for users. In this style of computing, users can access a shared pool of computing resources which are provisioned with minimal management efforts of users. Yet there are some obstacles and concerns about the use of clouds. Guaranteeing quality of service QoS by service providers can be regarded as one of the main concerns for companies tending to use it. Service provisioning in clouds is based on service level agreements representing a contract negotiated between users and providers. According to this contract, if a provider cannot satisfy its agreed application requirements, it should pay penalties as compensation. In this paper, we intend to carry out a comprehensive survey on the models proposed in literature with respect to the implementation principles to address the QoS guarantee issue. © 2014 Chinese Association of Automation.

A New Theoretical Model for Pricing Telecommunications Services

The main methods of pricing telecommunications services can be summarized in two kinds: one is based on average cost, the other, on marginal cost. In order to combine the advantages of these two methods and overcome their disadvantages, this paper proposes a new theoretical model for pricing telecommunications services, the so-called comprehensive evaluation model, to evaluate the pricing methods.

Study on Information Exchange Platform for Port Logistics Based on Web Services

Information exchange platform(IEP)for port logistics is used to realize data transmission among different sys- tems and districts by Internet.This paper presents the web services technology used in transferring information for port logistics. The system architecture based on J2EE and B/S mode frame has been constructed to subscribe the distributed information.To en- sure platform independent,extensible markup language(XML)integration technology was also used in the system design.

Chaining Distributed Geographic Information Web Services Based on Ontology

To solve the problem of chaining distributed geographic information Web services （GI Web services）, this paper provides an ontology-based method. With this method, semantic service description can be achieved by semantic annotation of the elements in a Web service description language（WSDL） document with concepts of geographic ontology, and then a common under-standing about service semantics between customers and providers of Web services is built. Based on the decomposition and formalization of customer requirements, the discovery, composition and execution of GI Web services are explained in detail, and then a chaining of GI Web services is built and used to achieve the customer＇s requirement. Finally, an example based on Web ontology language for service （OWL-S） is provided for testing the feasibility of this method.