Search results for: library and information sciences
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 11986

Search results for: library and information sciences

11536 Assessing the Current State of Software Engineering and Information Technology in Ghana

Authors: David Yartel

Abstract:

Drawing on the current state of software engineering and information technology in Ghana, the study documents its significant contribution to the development of Ghanaian industries. The study focuses on the application of modern trends in technology and the barriers faced in the area of software engineering and information technology. A thorough analysis of a dozen of interviews with stakeholders in software engineering and information technology via interviews reveals how modern trends in software engineering pose challenges to the industry in Ghana. Results show that to meet the expectation of modern software engineering and information technology trends, stakeholders must have skilled professionals, adequate infrastructure, and enhanced support for technology startups. Again, individuals should be encouraged to pursue a career in software engineering and information technology, as it has the propensity to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of work-related activities. This study recommends that stakeholders in software engineering and technology industries should invest enough in training more professionals by collaborating with international institutions well-versed in the area by organizing frequent training and seminars. The government should also provide funding opportunities for small businesses in the technology sector to drive creativity and development in order to bring about growth and development.

Keywords: software engineering, information technology, Ghana, development

Procedia PDF Downloads 94
11535 Guidance for Strengthening Ethics of Entrepreneurs in Information and Communication Technology Professional

Authors: Routsukol Sunalai

Abstract:

The objectives of this paper were to study current problem of ethics of entrepreneurs in information and communication technology professional, and to build their awareness of ethics, which would be useful as guidance for strengthening professional ethics among them. The study employed quantitative research method in order to analyze relationships or differences found in each ethics factor and report in statistics. The sample of this paper was 300 information technology users of Rajabhat Universities in Bangkok. The findings revealed that the ethics factors which gained the highest and high level of opinion included possessing principles of righteousness, having trust in themselves and others, and respecting different opinions of others and accepting the fact that people of different opinions.

Keywords: communication, ethics, information, entrepreneurs

Procedia PDF Downloads 411
11534 Does Stock Markets Asymmetric Information Affect Foreign Capital Flows?

Authors: Farid Habibi Tanha, Mojtaba Jahanbazi, Morteza Foroutan, Rasidah Mohd Rashid

Abstract:

This paper depicts the effects of asymmetric information in determining capital inflows to be captured through stock market microstructure. The model can explain several stylized facts regarding the capital immobility. The first phase of the research involves in collecting and refining 150,000,000 daily data of 11 stock markets over a period of one decade in an effort to minimize the impact of survivorship bias. Three micro techniques were used to measure information asymmetries. The final phase analyzes the model through panel data approach. As a unique contribution, this research will provide valuable information regarding negative effects of information asymmetries in stock markets on attracting foreign investments. The results of this study can be directly considered by policy makers to monitor and control changes of capital flow in order to keep market conditions in a healthy manner, by preventing and managing possible shocks to avoid sudden reversals and market failures.

Keywords: asymmetric information, capital inflow, market microstructure, investment

Procedia PDF Downloads 321
11533 Gender Diversity on the Board and Asymmetry Information: An Empirical Analysis for Spanish Listed Firms

Authors: David Abad, M. Encarnación Lucas-Pérez, Antonio Minguez-Vera, José Yagüe

Abstract:

We examine explicitly the relation between the gender diversity on corporate boards and the levels of information asymmetry in the stock market. Based on prior evidence that suggests that the presence of women on director boards increases the quantity and quality of public disclosure by firms, we expect firms with higher gender diversity on their boards to show lower levels of information asymmetry in the market. Using a Spanish sample for the period 2004-2009, proxies for information asymmetry estimated from high-frequency data, and a system GMM methodology, we find that the gender diversity on boards is negative associated with the level of information asymmetry in the stock market. Our findings support legislative changes implemented to increase the presence of women on boards in several European countries by providing evidence that gender diverse boards have beneficial effects on stock markets.

Keywords: corporate board, female directors, gender diversity, information asymmetry, market microstructure

Procedia PDF Downloads 468
11532 Selection of Relevant Servers in Distributed Information Retrieval System

Authors: Benhamouda Sara, Guezouli Larbi

Abstract:

Nowadays, the dissemination of information touches the distributed world, where selecting the relevant servers to a user request is an important problem in distributed information retrieval. During the last decade, several research studies on this issue have been launched to find optimal solutions and many approaches of collection selection have been proposed. In this paper, we propose a new collection selection approach that takes into consideration the number of documents in a collection that contains terms of the query and the weights of those terms in these documents. We tested our method and our studies show that this technique can compete with other state-of-the-art algorithms that we choose to test the performance of our approach.

Keywords: distributed information retrieval, relevance, server selection, collection selection

Procedia PDF Downloads 312
11531 Features for Measuring Credibility on Facebook Information

Authors: Kanda Runapongsa Saikaew, Chaluemwut Noyunsan

Abstract:

Nowadays social media information, such as news, links, images, or VDOs, is shared extensively. However, the effectiveness of disseminating information through social media lacks in quality: less fact checking, more biases, and several rumors. Many researchers have investigated about credibility on Twitter, but there is no the research report about credibility information on Facebook. This paper proposes features for measuring credibility on Facebook information. We developed the system for credibility on Facebook. First, we have developed FB credibility evaluator for measuring credibility of each post by manual human’s labelling. We then collected the training data for creating a model using Support Vector Machine (SVM). Secondly, we developed a chrome extension of FB credibility for Facebook users to evaluate the credibility of each post. Based on the usage analysis of our FB credibility chrome extension, about 81% of users’ responses agree with suggested credibility automatically computed by the proposed system.

Keywords: facebook, social media, credibility measurement, internet

Procedia PDF Downloads 356
11530 Fair Value Implementation of Financial Asset: Evidence in Indonesia’s Banking Sector

Authors: Alhamdi Alfi Fajri

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to analyze and to give empirical proof about the effect of fair value implementation on financial asset against information asymmetry in Indonesia’s banking sector. This research tested the effect of fair value implementation on financial asset based on Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (PSAK) No. 55 and the fair value reliability measurement based on PSAK No. 60 against level of information asymmetry. The scope of research is Indonesia’s banking sector. The test’s result shows that the use of fair value based on PSAK No. 55 is significantly associated with information asymmetry. This positive relation is higher than the amortized cost implementation on financial asset. In addition, the fair value hierarchy based on PSAK No. 60 is significantly associated with information asymmetry. This research proves that the more reliable measurement of fair value on financial asset, the more observable fair value measurement and reduces level of information asymmetry.

Keywords: fair value, PSAK No. 55, PSAK No. 60, information asymmetry, bank

Procedia PDF Downloads 354
11529 The Impact of Board Director Characteristics on the Quality of Information Disclosure

Authors: Guo Jinhong

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to explore the association between board member functions and information disclosure levels. Based on the literature variables, such as the characteristics of the board of directors in the past, a single comprehensive indicator is established as a substitute variable for board functions, and the information disclosure evaluation results published by the Securities and Foundation are used to measure the information disclosure level of the company. This study focuses on companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange from 2006 to 2010 and uses descriptive statistical analysis, univariate analysis, correlation analysis and ordered normal probability (Ordered Probit) regression for empirical analysis. The empirical results show that there is a significant positive correlation between the function of board members and the level of information disclosure. This study also conducts a sensitivity test and draws similar conclusions, showing that boards with better board member functions have higher levels of information disclosure. In addition, this study also found that higher board independence, lower director shareholding pledge ratio, higher director shareholding ratio, and directors with rich professional knowledge and practical experience can help improve the level of information disclosure. The empirical results of this study provide strong support for the "relative regulations to improve the level of information disclosure" formulated by the competent authorities in recent years.

Keywords: function of board members, information disclosure, securities, foundation

Procedia PDF Downloads 97
11528 A Novel Image Steganography Scheme Based on Mandelbrot Fractal

Authors: Adnan H. M. Al-Helali, Hamza A. Ali

Abstract:

Growth of censorship and pervasive monitoring on the Internet, Steganography arises as a new means of achieving secret communication. Steganography is the art and science of embedding information within electronic media used by common applications and systems. Generally, hiding information of multimedia within images will change some of their properties that may introduce few degradation or unusual characteristics. This paper presents a new image steganography approach for hiding information of multimedia (images, text, and audio) using generated Mandelbrot Fractal image as a cover. The proposed technique has been extensively tested with different images. The results show that the method is a very secure means of hiding and retrieving steganographic information. Experimental results demonstrate that an effective improvement in the values of the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Mean Square Error (MSE), Normalized Cross Correlation (NCC) and Image Fidelity (IF) over the previous techniques.

Keywords: fractal image, information hiding, Mandelbrot et fractal, steganography

Procedia PDF Downloads 539
11527 Global Communication: Trends and Impact of Unbalanced Information in Nigerian Society

Authors: Uchenna Patricia Ekwugha, Cornelius Aghadiegwu Ukwueze

Abstract:

Global communication has changed life at the international scene affecting on the whole social, cultural and political life of individuals in a global community. It has brought about a changing trend in the field of communication and allowed people to learn, create and process information through mainline media and new media technologies. The paper debates that music is an integral form of global communication that cannot be overlooked because it is a beautiful and powerful tool in relating information to the people which they gladly imbibe. It is worrisome that through global communication there has been consistent clash of values on information’s disseminated to the global community of which the developing countries like Nigerians are the sufferers. Particularly involved in this vicious social dogma are the Nigerian youths, who learn defiant behaviour through global communication and lose touch of African cultural values.

Keywords: global communication, trends, impact, unbalanced information

Procedia PDF Downloads 508
11526 Health Information Seeking Estonians Aged ≥ 50 Years during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Authors: Marianne Paimre

Abstract:

The COVID-19 crisis has prompted older people to adopt new technologies to facilitate their daily life. This study explored the relationships between socioeconomic indicators, technology acceptance, online health information seeking (OHIS), and health behavior (HB), including readiness for COVID-19 vaccination among Estonian older adults. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 501 people aged ≥ 50 in 2020. Its findings indicate that the more recurrent the need for health information was (rho = .11, p<.05), and the more regularly one searched for it (rho = .14, p<.01), the more willing a person was to get vaccinated. Also, interest in digital applications corresponded to vaccination readiness (rho = .25, p<.001). However, this relationship did not emerge in the case of other health behaviors such as healthy diet and exercise. Differences in health information behavior (HIB) should be considered when developing effective means of health communication designed especially for crisis situations.

Keywords: older adults, technology acceptance, health information behavior, health behavior, COVID-19 pandemic

Procedia PDF Downloads 92
11525 Collect Meaningful Information about Stock Markets from the Web

Authors: Saleem Abuleil, Khalid S. Alsamara

Abstract:

Events represent a significant source of information on the web; they deliver information about events that occurred around the world in all kind of subjects and areas. These events can be collected and organized to provide valuable and useful information for decision makers, researchers, as well as any person seeking knowledge. In this paper, we discuss an ongoing research to target stock markets domain to observe and record changes (events) when they happen, collect them, understand the meaning of each one of them, and organize the information along with meaning in a well-structured format. By using Semantic Role Labeling (SRL) technique, we identified four factors for each event in this paper: verb of action and three roles associated with it, entity name, attribute, and attribute value. We have generated a set of rules and techniques to support our approach to analyze and understand the meaning of the events taking place in stock markets.

Keywords: natuaral language processing, Arabic language, event extraction and understanding, sematic role labeling, stock market

Procedia PDF Downloads 393
11524 Drug and Poison Information Centers: An Emergent Need of Health Care Professionals in Pakistan

Authors: Asif Khaliq, Sayeeda A. Sayed

Abstract:

The drug information centers provide drug related information to the requesters that include physicians, pharmacist, nurses and other allied health care professionals. The International Pharmacist Federation (FIP) describes basic functions of a drug and poison information centers as drug evaluation, therapeutic counseling, pharmaceutical advice, research, pharmaco-vigilence and toxicology. Continuous advancement in the field of medicine has expanded the medical literature, which has increased demand of a drug and poison information center for the guidance, support and facilitation of physicians. The objective of the study is to determine the need of drug and poison information centers in public and private hospitals of Karachi, Pakistan. A cross sectional study was conducted during July 2013 to April 2014 using a self-administered, multi-itemed questionnaire. Non Probability Convenient sampling was used to select the study participants. A total of 307 physicians from public and private hospitals of Karachi participated in the study. The need for 24/7 Drug and poison information center was highlighted by 92 % of physicians and 67% physicians suggested opening a drug information center at the hospital. It was reported that 70% physicians take at least 15 minutes for searching the information about the drug while managing a case. Regarding the poisoning case management, 52% physicians complaint about the unavailability of medicines in hospitals; and mentioned the importance of medicines for safe and timely management of patients. Although 73% physicians attended continued medical education (CME) sessions, 92 % physicians insisted on the need of 24/7 Drug and poison information center. The scarcity of organized channel for obtaining the information about drug and poisons is one of the most crucial problems for healthcare workers in Pakistan. The drug and poison information center is an advisory body that assists health care professional and patients in provision of appropriate drug and hazardous substance information. Drug and poison information center is one of the integral needs for running an effective health care system. Provision of a 24 /7 drug information centers with specialized staff offer multiple benefits to the hospitals while reducing treatment delays, addressing awareness gaps of all stakeholders and ensuring provision of quality health care.

Keywords: drug and poison information centers, Pakistan, physicians, public and private hospitals

Procedia PDF Downloads 327
11523 Structural Inequality and Precarious Workforce: The Role of Labor Laws in Destabilizing the Labor Force in Iran

Authors: Iman Shabanzadeh

Abstract:

Over the last three decades, the main demands of the Iranian workforce have been focused on three areas: "The right to a decent wage", "The right to organize" and "The right to job security". In order to investigate and analyze this situation, the present study focuses on the component of job security. The purpose of the study is to figure out what mechanisms in Iran's Labor Law have led to the destabilization and undermining of workers' job security. The research method is descriptive-analytical. To collect information, library and document sources in the field of laws related to labor rights in Iran and, semi-structured interviews with experts have been used. In the data analysis stage, the qualitative content analysis method was also used. The trend analysis of the statistics related to the labor force situation in Iran in the last three decades shows that the employment structure has been facing an increase in the active population, but in the last decade, a large part of this population has been mainly active in the service sector, and contract-free enterprises, so a smaller share of this employment has insurance coverage and a larger share has underemployment. In this regard, the results of this study show that four contexts have been proposed as the main legal and executive mechanisms of labor instability in Iran, which are: 1) temporaryization of the labor force by providing different interpretations of labor law, 2) adjustment labor in the public sector and the emergence of manpower contracting companies, 3) the cessation of labor law protection of workers in small workshops and 4) the existence of numerous restrictions on the effective organization of workers. The theoretical conclusion of this article is that the main root of the challenges of the labor society and the destabilized workforce in Iran is the existence of structural inequalities in the field of labor security, whose traces can be seen in the legal provisions and executive regulations of this field.

Keywords: inequality, precariat, temporaryization, labor force, labor law

Procedia PDF Downloads 61
11522 Book Recommendation Using Query Expansion and Information Retrieval Methods

Authors: Ritesh Kumar, Rajendra Pamula

Abstract:

In this paper, we present our contribution for book recommendation. In our experiment, we combine the results of Sequential Dependence Model (SDM) and exploitation of book information such as reviews, tags and ratings. This social information is assigned by users. For this, we used CLEF-2016 Social Book Search Track Suggestion task. Finally, our proposed method extensively evaluated on CLEF -2015 Social Book Search datasets, and has better performance (nDCG@10) compared to other state-of-the-art systems. Recently we got the good performance in CLEF-2016.

Keywords: sequential dependence model, social information, social book search, query expansion

Procedia PDF Downloads 289
11521 A Machine Learning Approach for Detecting and Locating Hardware Trojans

Authors: Kaiwen Zheng, Wanting Zhou, Nan Tang, Lei Li, Yuanhang He

Abstract:

The integrated circuit industry has become a cornerstone of the information society, finding widespread application in areas such as industry, communication, medicine, and aerospace. However, with the increasing complexity of integrated circuits, Hardware Trojans (HTs) implanted by attackers have become a significant threat to their security. In this paper, we proposed a hardware trojan detection method for large-scale circuits. As HTs introduce physical characteristic changes such as structure, area, and power consumption as additional redundant circuits, we proposed a machine-learning-based hardware trojan detection method based on the physical characteristics of gate-level netlists. This method transforms the hardware trojan detection problem into a machine-learning binary classification problem based on physical characteristics, greatly improving detection speed. To address the problem of imbalanced data, where the number of pure circuit samples is far less than that of HTs circuit samples, we used the SMOTETomek algorithm to expand the dataset and further improve the performance of the classifier. We used three machine learning algorithms, K-Nearest Neighbors, Random Forest, and Support Vector Machine, to train and validate benchmark circuits on Trust-Hub, and all achieved good results. In our case studies based on AES encryption circuits provided by trust-hub, the test results showed the effectiveness of the proposed method. To further validate the method’s effectiveness for detecting variant HTs, we designed variant HTs using open-source HTs. The proposed method can guarantee robust detection accuracy in the millisecond level detection time for IC, and FPGA design flows and has good detection performance for library variant HTs.

Keywords: hardware trojans, physical properties, machine learning, hardware security

Procedia PDF Downloads 146
11520 Segmentation of Korean Words on Korean Road Signs

Authors: Lae-Jeong Park, Kyusoo Chung, Jungho Moon

Abstract:

This paper introduces an effective method of segmenting Korean text (place names in Korean) from a Korean road sign image. A Korean advanced directional road sign is composed of several types of visual information such as arrows, place names in Korean and English, and route numbers. Automatic classification of the visual information and extraction of Korean place names from the road sign images make it possible to avoid a lot of manual inputs to a database system for management of road signs nationwide. We propose a series of problem-specific heuristics that correctly segments Korean place names, which is the most crucial information, from the other information by leaving out non-text information effectively. The experimental results with a dataset of 368 road sign images show 96% of the detection rate per Korean place name and 84% per road sign image.

Keywords: segmentation, road signs, characters, classification

Procedia PDF Downloads 444
11519 A Novel Image Steganography Method Based on Mandelbrot Fractal

Authors: Adnan H. M. Al-Helali, Hamza A. Ali

Abstract:

The growth of censorship and pervasive monitoring on the Internet, Steganography arises as a new means of achieving secret communication. Steganography is the art and science of embedding information within electronic media used by common applications and systems. Generally, hiding information of multimedia within images will change some of their properties that may introduce few degradation or unusual characteristics. This paper presents a new image steganography approach for hiding information of multimedia (images, text, and audio) using generated Mandelbrot Fractal image as a cover. The proposed technique has been extensively tested with different images. The results show that the method is a very secure means of hiding and retrieving steganographic information. Experimental results demonstrate that an effective improvement in the values of the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Mean Square Error (MSE), Normalized Cross Correlation (NCC), and Image Fidelity (IF) over the pervious techniques.

Keywords: fractal image, information hiding, Mandelbrot set fractal, steganography

Procedia PDF Downloads 618
11518 The Factors that Effect to User Satisfaction of Information System in Bangkok Hospital

Authors: Somchai Buaroong

Abstract:

This research attempted to study information system success in dimensions of the user satisfaction level and to find the association between the independent factors of the user experiences, user knowledge, and user attitude. The study sample was selected using simple random sampling that comprised of 190 users who had used the Bangkok HIS. The data were reported from 165 questionnaires. The results found that the user satisfaction was at a moderate level, user satisfaction on the information quality and system quality was at a moderate level, while satisfaction on service quality was at a high level. The computer knowledge of the user was at a moderate level, and the user attitude was at a positive level. The participation of the user was at a low level and the participation in decision and in evaluation was at a low level; however participation in implementation and in benefit was at a moderate.

Keywords: information system success, hospital information system, user attitude, user satisfaction

Procedia PDF Downloads 320
11517 Make Up Flash: Web Application for the Improvement of Physical Appearance in Images Based on Recognition Methods

Authors: Stefania Arguelles Reyes, Octavio José Salcedo Parra, Alberto Acosta López

Abstract:

This paper presents a web application for the improvement of images through recognition. The web application is based on the analysis of picture-based recognition methods that allow an improvement on the physical appearance of people posting in social networks. The basis relies on the study of tools that can correct or improve some features of the face, with the help of a wide collection of user images taken as reference to build a facial profile. Automatic facial profiling can be achieved with a deeper study of the Object Detection Library. It was possible to improve the initial images with the help of MATLAB and its filtering functions. The user can have a direct interaction with the program and manually adjust his preferences.

Keywords: Matlab, make up, recognition methods, web application

Procedia PDF Downloads 144
11516 A Framework of Product Information Service System Using Mobile Image Retrieval and Text Mining Techniques

Authors: Mei-Yi Wu, Shang-Ming Huang

Abstract:

The online shoppers nowadays often search the product information on the Internet using some keywords of products. To use this kind of information searching model, shoppers should have a preliminary understanding about their interesting products and choose the correct keywords. However, if the products are first contact (for example, the worn clothes or backpack of passengers which you do not have any idea about the brands), these products cannot be retrieved due to insufficient information. In this paper, we discuss and study the applications in E-commerce using image retrieval and text mining techniques. We design a reasonable E-commerce application system containing three layers in the architecture to provide users product information. The system can automatically search and retrieval similar images and corresponding web pages on Internet according to the target pictures which taken by users. Then text mining techniques are applied to extract important keywords from these retrieval web pages and search the prices on different online shopping stores with these keywords using a web crawler. Finally, the users can obtain the product information including photos and prices of their favorite products. The experiments shows the efficiency of proposed system.

Keywords: mobile image retrieval, text mining, product information service system, online marketing

Procedia PDF Downloads 359
11515 Foundation of the Information Model for Connected-Cars

Authors: Hae-Won Seo, Yong-Gu Lee

Abstract:

Recent progress in the next generation of automobile technology is geared towards incorporating information technology into cars. Collectively called smart cars are bringing intelligence to cars that provides comfort, convenience and safety. A branch of smart cars is connected-car system. The key concept in connected-cars is the sharing of driving information among cars through decentralized manner enabling collective intelligence. This paper proposes a foundation of the information model that is necessary to define the driving information for smart-cars. Road conditions are modeled through a unique data structure that unambiguously represent the time variant traffics in the streets. Additionally, the modeled data structure is exemplified in a navigational scenario and usage using UML. Optimal driving route searching is also discussed using the proposed data structure in a dynamically changing road conditions.

Keywords: connected-car, data modeling, route planning, navigation system

Procedia PDF Downloads 374
11514 Building Information Models Utilization for Design Improvement of Infrastructure

Authors: Keisuke Fujioka, Yuta Itoh, Masaru Minagawa, Shunji Kusayanagi

Abstract:

In this study, building information models of the underground temporary structures and adjacent embedded pipes were constructed to show the importance of the information on underground pipes adjacent to the structures to enhance the productivity of execution of construction. Next, the bar chart used in actual construction process were employed to make the Gantt chart, and the critical pass analysis was carried out to show that accurate information on the arrangement of underground existing pipes can be used for the enhancement of the productivity of the construction of underground structures. In the analyzed project, significant construction delay was not caused by unforeseeable existence of underground pipes by the management ability of the construction manager. However, in many cases of construction executions in the developing countries, the existence of unforeseeable embedded pipes often causes substantial delay of construction. Design change based on uncertainty on the position information of embedded pipe can be also important risk for contractors in domestic construction. So CPM analyses were performed by a project-management-software to the situation that influence of the tasks causing construction delay was assumed more significant. Through the analyses, the efficiency of information management on underground pipes and BIM analysis in the design stage for workability improvement was indirectly confirmed.

Keywords: building-information modelling, construction information modelling, design improvement, infrastructure

Procedia PDF Downloads 308
11513 Causal Relationship between Corporate Governance and Financial Information Transparency: A Simultaneous Equations Approach

Authors: Maali Kachouri, Anis Jarboui

Abstract:

We focus on the causal relationship between governance and information transparency as well as interrelation among the various governance mechanisms. This paper employs a simultaneous equations approach to show this relationship in the Tunisian context. Based on an 8-year dataset, our sample covers 28 listed companies over 2006-2013. Our findings suggest that internal and external governance mechanisms are interdependent. Moreover, in order to analyze the causal effect between information transparency and governance mechanisms, we found evidence that information transparency tends to increase good corporate governance practices.

Keywords: simultaneous equations approach, transparency, causal relationship, corporate governance

Procedia PDF Downloads 353
11512 Gendered Effects on Productivity Gap Due to Information Asymmetry

Authors: Shruti Sengupta

Abstract:

According to the nationally representative data, about 73% of India's rural workforce is engaged in agriculture. While women make significant contributions to total agriculture production, they contribute to about one-third in India. In terms of gender composition, about 80% of the female and 69% of the male workforce is engaged in agriculture in rural India. Still, it is common to find gender differences in plot management within the household. In the last two and half years, India's agri-food system has undergone several changes due to this pandemic, both the demand and supply side, making agriculture more information and knowledge-intensive. Therefore, this paper investigates, using a nationally representative sample, how information asymmetry affects the net returns per hectare of land between female and male farm managers. Empirical results show that information intensity has a significant positive effect on net farm returns per hectare. Results suggest that if females have the same access to technical information as their male counterparts, their farm income can go up by .96 pp compared to male-headed farms. Results also indicate that literate females have higher farm incomes than non-literate females. The study contributes to the literature by employing gender differentials in farm income due to the information gap.

Keywords: agriculture, gender, information asymmetry, farm income, social bias

Procedia PDF Downloads 142
11511 Everyday Life Information Seeking among Female Students: A Survey of University and Private Hostels at Lahore

Authors: Sadaf Rafiq, Muhammad Waqas, Shakeel Ahmad Khan, Nisar Ahmad

Abstract:

Everyday life information seeking (ELIS) is considered as the mastery of life. It plays an important role in daily problem solving activities. Female students living in university hostels need variety of information to fulfil their everyday information needs. To find accurate and timely information is really challenging for females students who move from rural areas for educational purposes. These challenges involve culture differences, stress, financial issues, homesickness, diet needs and change in sleeping and eating habits. These complications create numerous problems for female students to adjust themselves in new and unfamiliar environment. Although the Internet has increased the ease of seeking everyday life information to survive successfully but there is still uncertainty to fully rely on the quality of information available on the web. Pakistan is an underdeveloped country where limited budget is allocated for educational institutions to enable them in developing well established hostels for their students. Female students who pursue for higher education has to stay at hostels for years to obtain education goals. It really becomes very difficult for them to spend life in hostels if they are not properly facilitated with relevant information sources to acquire everyday life information. The proposed study attempts to investigate the everyday life information seeking behavior of female students who are living in university and private hostels of Lahore. It investigates the various sources of information used by female students. It also identifies the problems faced by the female students in accessing everyday life information. The results of this study will be helpful for university management to understand their information need and provide required information sources which are essential for them to spend a comfortable, successful and peaceful life in hostels and achieve their educational goals. To achieve the objectives of the study, we will use quantitative research approach by using questionnaire as a data collection tool. The population of this study will be the university students living in public and private hostels of Lahore, Pakistan. This study will increase the understanding of everyday life information seeking behavior of female students living in hostels. Results of the study will be helpful for hostel administrations to better understand the students’ everyday life information needs and provide high quality of information services and living environment.

Keywords: everyday, information seeking, hostel, female

Procedia PDF Downloads 151
11510 The Design of an Afghan Refugee Camp in Kerman City through Ecotech Architecture

Authors: Kourosh Ghaffari, Baghaei Azhang

Abstract:

This study aims to address two main questions whether a camp designed for refugees will affect their quality of life and how to effectively incorporate ecotech architecture into the architectural design of a refugee camp. The current study planned to ensure that the final design reflects the principles of ecotech architecture in most refugee camps. The design process has taken into account various factors, including flexibility, diversity in the camp space according to the ecotech approach, expandability in the building, spatial hierarchy in the design of camp spaces, and the assignment of territories and space sanctuaries to refugees. It should be noted that this study is not a research-oriented type of study and is only limited to collecting information and making hypotheses and questions related to the plan. The researchers attempted to provide a general summary of similar domestic and foreign examples and examine them in similar conditions using the ecotech architecture. The research method utilized in this study was qualitative. Afterwards, the climate studies of the target area, citing and paying attention to the criteria and points extracted from the theoretical framework, reaching the desired conclusion and examining similar examples were followed. Additionally, placement on the site, compliance with relevant standards and regulations, attention to the content and physical program, and addressing the idea and its evolution in all the details of the plan were presented. The data collection procedure included observation and library studies, and the design method was to determine and recognize the subject and examine similar samples. In conclusion, the principles of theoretical foundations, the design protocols in ecotech architecture and the scope of the study are dealt. Furthermore, the site analysis, the design process and the final plan are presented.

Keywords: ecotech architecture, livable city, shelter, refugee camp

Procedia PDF Downloads 78
11509 Comparison of Crossover Types to Obtain Optimal Queries Using Adaptive Genetic Algorithm

Authors: Wafa’ Alma'Aitah, Khaled Almakadmeh

Abstract:

this study presents an information retrieval system of using genetic algorithm to increase information retrieval efficiency. Using vector space model, information retrieval is based on the similarity measurement between query and documents. Documents with high similarity to query are judge more relevant to the query and should be retrieved first. Using genetic algorithms, each query is represented by a chromosome; these chromosomes are fed into genetic operator process: selection, crossover, and mutation until an optimized query chromosome is obtained for document retrieval. Results show that information retrieval with adaptive crossover probability and single point type crossover and roulette wheel as selection type give the highest recall. The proposed approach is verified using (242) proceedings abstracts collected from the Saudi Arabian national conference.

Keywords: genetic algorithm, information retrieval, optimal queries, crossover

Procedia PDF Downloads 292
11508 Gendered Effects on Productivity Gap Due to Information Asymmetry in India

Authors: Shruti Sengupta

Abstract:

According to the nationally representative data, about 73% of India's rural workforce is engaged in agriculture. While women make significant contributions to total agriculture production, they contribute to about one-third in India. In terms of gender composition, about 80% of the female and 69% of the male workforce is engaged in agriculture in rural India. Still, it is common to find gender differences in plot management within the household. In the last two and half years, India's agri-food system has undergone several changes due to this pandemic, both the demand and supply side, making agriculture more information and knowledge-intensive. Therefore, this paper investigates, using a nationally representative sample, how information asymmetry affects the net returns per hectare of land between female and male farm managers. Empirical results show that information intensity has a significant positive effect on net farm returns per hectare. Results suggest that if females have the same access to technical information as their male counterparts, their farm income can go up by .96 pp compared to male-headed farms. Results also indicate that literate females have higher farm incomes than non-literate females. The study contributes to the literature by employing gender differentials in farm income due to the information gap.

Keywords: agriculture, gender, information asymmetry, farm income, social bias

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11507 Distance Education Technologies for Empowerment and Equity in an Information Technology Environment

Authors: Leila Goosen, Toppie N. Mukasa-Lwanga

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper relates to exploring academics’ use of distance education technologies for empowerment and equity in an Information Technology environment. Literature was studied on academics’ technology use towards effective teaching and meaningful learning in a distance education Information Technology environment. Main arguments presented center on formulating and situating significant concepts within an appropriate theoretical and conceptual framework, including those related to distance education, throughput and other measures of academic efficiency. The research design, sampling, data collection instrument and the validity and reliability thereof, as well as the data analysis method used is described. The paper discusses results related to academics’ use of technology towards effective teaching and meaningful learning in a distance education Information Technology environment. Conclusions are finally presented on the way in which this paper makes a significant and original contribution regarding academics’ use of technology towards effective teaching and meaningful learning in a distance education Information Technology environment.

Keywords: distance, education, technologies, Information Technology Environment

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