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The rapid growth of network services and applications has led to an exponential increase in data flows on the internet. Given the dynamic nature of data traffic in the realm of internet content distribution, traditional TCP/IP network systems often struggle to guarantee reliable network resource utilization and management. The recent advancement of the Quick UDP Internet Connect (QUIC) protocol equips media transfer applications with essential features, including structured flowcontrolled streams, quick connection establishment, and seamless network path migration. These features are vital for ensuring the efficiency and reliability of network performance and resource utilization, especially when network hosts transmit data flows over end-to-end paths between two endpoints. QUIC greatly improves media transfer performance by reducing both connection setup time and transmission latency. However, it is still constrained by the limitations of single-path bandwidth capacity and its variability. To address this inherent limitation, recent research has delved into the concept of multipath QUIC, which utilizes multiple network paths to transmit data flows concurrently. The benefits of multipath QUIC are twofold: it boosts the overall bandwidth capacity and mitigates flow congestion issues that might plague individual paths. However, many previous studies have depended on basic scheduling policies, like round-robin or shortest-time-first, to distribute data transmission across multiple paths. These policies often overlook the subtle characteristics of network paths, leading to increased link congestion and transmission costs. In this paper, we introduce a novel multipath QUIC strategy aimed at minimizing flow completion time while taking into account both path delay and packet loss rate. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of our proposed method compared to standard QUIC, Lowest-RTT-First (LRF) QUIC, and Pluginized QUIC schemes. The relative performance underscores the efficacy of our design in achieving efficient and reliable data transfer in real-world scenarios using the Mininet simulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The main purpose of this research is to assess the feasibility of using VSAT satellites in the information services of university libraries.Method: The research method is a survey using the TOPSIS model, which indicates that the optimal method of providing the Internet is the method that has the greatest distance from negative factors and the least distance from positive factors. The opinions of user organizations, i.e. academic libraries and information centers, have been examined to clarify the necessity of using this method as well as its characteristics and advantages compared to other ways of providing the Internet.Findings: The findings show that VSAT satellite internet can have better conditions for providing services compared to other services such as ADSL, optical fiber, Wi-Fi and Wi-MAX. Also, their assessment determined that VSAT satellite internet is currently the best way to provide internet based on the criteria of service, support, cost, trust and quality, and ranks second in criteria such as security, confidentiality and service. In conclusion, the priority of solutions to provide library internet using TOPSIS analysis is: VSAT service; Optical fiber; ADSL service; Wi-Max services and wireless services.Conclusion: The results indicate that the VSAT satellite network, with advantages in the use of Internet services by libraries, plays an important role in improving the quality of these services.

The COVID‐19 (Coronoavirus Disease 2019) pandemic has had many disastrous effects on welfare globally, particularly in European countries. In recent research, a new debate has arisen as a result of the shift of day‐to‐day activities to virtual platforms, which has augmented concerns related to smart (data) access and smart (data) protection. This study examines the economic, social, and psychological indicators of welfare gain within the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic and examines their impact on smart access and smart protection using the data of Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and real‐time Google Trends from June to August 2020. The findings indicate a negative relationship between smart access and economic crisis caused by COVID‐19, while households with sufficient resources support smart protection. Psychological effects including nervousness and anxiety are highly related to smart access. Likewise, being helpful in a time of uncertainty, societal contact, and social measures (hygiene and face mask) significantly and positively impact smart protection. The findings suggest that countries should combine their welfare agencies with health and economic institutes, and initiate projects related to cybersecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. The article is devoted to the topic of effective use of visualization of digital educational content in the educational process, relevant in the conditions of the modern digital educational environment. The subject of the analysis is infographics as a method of visualizing digital educational content. The author aims to reveal the potential of using infographics in the educational process, working with digital content, as a way of accessible explanation of complex, voluminous information. Methodology. The basis of the research is formed by the methods of studying and analyzing publications, which consider aspects of this problem, summarizing their own experience in using infographics in the educational process, as well as systematizing the studied information. Results. The advantages of digital educational content visualization are described and the criteria for evaluating educational infographics are highlighted. Practical implications. The results obtained can be applied in higher and secondary school didactics.

Technological infrastructure is the set of physical resources, hardware, software, services and tools that allow an organization or company to operate and carry out its processes efficiently and effectively. The objective of this research work was to design a technological infrastructure for the strengthening of connectivity in the Puerto Cayo Malecon, through IRS (Intelligent Reflective Surface) technology, which can significantly improve the performance of wireless communication networks, by intelligently reconfiguring the wireless propagation environment with the use of low-cost massive passive reflective elements integrated in a flat surface. For this purpose, a quali-quantitative methodology was used, under a descriptive cross-sectional design. The main results show that the smart reflective surface is able to significantly improve the quality of the wireless signal around the surface and can be used to improve the coverage and capacity of wireless networks, especially in urban and high user density environments such as the Malecon. In conclusion, the implementation of IRS in Puerto Cayo could have several benefits in terms of wireless communications and energy efficiency. However, it should be kept in mind that the implementation of this technology can be costly and may require significant investment in infrastructure and equipment, so a careful evaluation of costs and benefits would be needed before making a decision on its implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The modern educational process must integrate new tools, to keep pace with technological advances. The current generation of students (Generation Z-“digital natives”) have specific demands regarding the learning process, because they are familiar from their early childhood with technology, being declared supporters of independent and active learning style, based on visual, tactile, and kinesthetic content as well as practical activities, and less on theoretical lectures. Significant changes are required in this context, and the academic curricula must be re-designed to keep its efficacy. Our paper aims to investigate the extent to which the preferences of medical students for the autonomous use of multimedia resources in the learning process are correlated with their opinions towards Internet and the intensity of using it in their daily activities. Methods: We investigated 551 medical students from 4 Romanian medical universities, 76.2% females, 63.7% in the 1st and 2nd years of study. Students were asked to express on Likert-scales their agreement with a list of statements about Internet services, as well as whether they like learning using multimedia tools and how intensively they use Internet services. Results: The students agree to a medium to large extent with the favorable statements about Internet services but are also aware of the negative influences that indiscriminate use of such technology can have. The intensity of Internet usage is high, although not exaggerated. The score of favorable opinions about Internet services is statistically significant correlated with the students’ agreement to use digital tools in learning; the students enjoy the online learning, as well as the PowerPoint presentations and the documentation online. Conclusions: Generally speaking, the students who enjoy using multimedia resources for learning are constant users of Internet services as well; they use Internet mainly for information, and in the second place for communication through instant messaging applications.

With the rapidly growing number of internet of things (IoT) devices connected to the internet, accessing the available internet services has become more significant to support the operation of these devices. However, according to the limited resources available on IoT devices, accessing these services can be exhaustive, which has encouraged the proposal of new light-weight protocols, e.g. the MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT) and the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP). Accordingly, a new system is proposed in this paper to proxy all internet services using their requirements and protocols to the IoT devices using these light-weight protocols. The proposed system has been able to significantly reduce the resources consumption on IoT devices, such as the energy, memory, time and network bandwidth. Accordingly, this system can significantly improve the efficiency of these devices, so that IoT devices can achieve more tasks using the same resources, or the same tasks using less resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extended AbstractAbstractThe purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between business ethics and corporate social responsibility; a case study of Internet companies in the west of Mazandaran province. The present research is applicable in terms of purpose and descriptive-survey in terms of nature and method of data collection; and is specifically based on structural equation modeling. The present research population is the customers of internet service companies in the west of Mazandaran province, estimated 100,000 people; 384 of which were considered as a sample, based on the target population and according to Morgan's table. The sampling method in this study is simple randomization., two questionnaires were used in the present study as the collection tools, including Carol's Social Responsibility Questionnaire (1979) and Petty Standard Work Ethics Questionnaire (1990). Findings showed that there is a relationship between business ethics and corporate social responsibility of a case study of Internet companies in the west of Mazandaran province. There is a relationship between attachment and interest in work and social responsibility in internet companies in the west of Mazandaran province. There is also a relationship between perseverance and seriousness in work and social responsibility in internet companies in the west of Mazandaran province. There is another relationship between healthy and humane relationships in the workplace and social responsibility in Internet companies in the west of Mazandaran province. Finally, there is a relationship between collective spirit and cooperation in work and social responsibility in internet companies in the west of Mazandaran province.IntroductionOne of the elements in an environment with moral decadence is social responsibility, which can be presumed economically, legally, morally or religiously. In fact, it shows the commitment of organizations to maximize benefits and minimize social costs. Managers who have a long-term vision are ready to undergo the expenditure for improvement of the welfare of society, solving social problems, environmental pollution, improvement of working conditions, respect of human rights, participation in public welfare affairs, etc., to benefit from social progress through social activities in the long run, and on the other hand, to gain credibility and reputation for themselves in society and among customers and stakeholders. Social responsibility activities as extra-organizational activities and social commitment can be easily observed and judged by outsiders, while business ethics reflects the implicit and internal beliefs of companies (Taghi Zadeh & Soltani, 2018). Social responsibility and business ethics are two interrelated concepts that must be considered simultaneously when examining the impact of ethical plans on company performance. Social responsibility is also referred to as organizational citizenship and sustainable business responsibility, and reflects the position of companies towards all corporate stakeholders including corporate shareholders, the environment, consumers, employees and the general public (Darini, 2020).According to the above, the main issue of the research is the relationship between business ethics and corporate social responsibility of the case study of Internet companies in the west of Mazandaran province.Theoretical frameworkJafari & Rezaei Fard (2021) examined the impact of business ethics and social responsibility on corporate branding. The results showed that ethics and social responsibility have direct and positive effects on the brand of companies. Corporate social responsibility is a pervasive category that includes ethics. Therefore, companies that seek to compete in global markets should, in addition to profitability, provide the ground for compliance with work ethic and fulfill their social responsibility to customers. Therefore, it is recommended to company managers; by compiling an ethical charter and continuous training of employees, provide the ground for the development of the brand in question and take steps to maintain the dignity and satisfaction of customers.Darini (2020) examined the role of business ethics in corporate social responsibility. The results showed that in the main hypothesis, business ethics has a positive effect on corporate social responsibility, the first sub-hypothesis of business ethics has a positive effect on the economic dimension of corporate social responsibility, the second sub-hypothesis of business ethics has a positive effect in the legal dimension of corporate social responsibility, the third sub-hypothesis of business ethics has a positive effect on the ethical dimension of corporate social responsibility, and the fourth sub-hypothesis; business ethics has a positive effect on the dimension of charitable activities of corporate social responsibility. In this study, all five hypotheses were confirmed.Ghayur et al (2019) in his article entitled the relationship between social responsibility, and moral reputation and brand equity; Analyzed the mediating role of trust. The obtained results indicate a positive relationship between social responsibility and moral reputation and brand equity. Based on the results, it can be said that customer trust as a mediating variable in relation to corporate social responsibility actions plays an increasing role on the moral reputation and brand equity; therefore, innovative measures of social responsibility should be done in a way that leads to build customer trust and enhance the ethical reputation and equity of the brand. O.C. Ferrell et al (2019) published a paper entitled Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility and Branding Approach. Findings from a 351-member panel of respondents provide new insights into customer expectations, understanding corporate social responsibility, and business ethics behavior. Based on the results, it can be said that although corporate social responsibility attitudes are important, but customers attach great importance to business ethics as a critical behavior in shaping their understanding of brand attitudes. Methodology The present research is an applicable research in terms of purpose and is a descriptive-survey research in terms of the method used. The present research population is the customers of internet service companies in the west of Mazandaran province. An estimated 100,000 people; According to the target population and according to Morgan's table, 384 people were considered as a sample. The sampling method in this randomization is simple. The sampling method in this study is simple randomization. Two questionnaire (Carol, 1979) and a questionnaire (Peti, 1990) were used to collect data related to the social responsibility variable.Discussion and ResultsIn order to test the research hypothesis, structural equation modeling method with the help of SPSS software was used; and inferential statistics was used to test the hypotheses. Then regression was used to test the hypotheses with pls software that is confirmatory and content factor analysis as well as the effect of factors, and the results showed that business ethics index has a coefficient of 0.784, in other words, there is a connection as much as 78.4% between business ethics and corporate social responsibility of the case study of internet companies in the west of Mazandaran province; this is related to the explanation of variance related to business ethics to variable changes in social responsibility. Attachment and interest in work has a coefficient of 0.754, in other words, there is a connection as much as 75.4% between the attachment and interest in work and the social responsibility of internet companies in the west of Mazandaran province. This is related to the explanation of variance related to attachment and interest in work to variable changes in social responsibility. The index of perseverance and seriousness in work has a coefficient of 0.750, in other words, there is a relationship as much as 75% between perseverance and seriousness in work and social responsibility in Internet companies in the west of Mazandaran province. This means that the explanation of variance related to perseverance and seriousness in work is related to variable changes in social responsibility. Healthy and human relations index has a coefficient of 0.763, in other words, there is a relationship as much as 76.3% between healthy and human relations and social responsibility in Internet companies in the west of Mazandaran province; this means that the explanation of variance related to health and human relationships is related to variable changes in social responsibility. Collective spirit and participation in work has a coefficient of 0.791, in other words, there is a relationship as much as 79.1% between collective spirit an participation in work and social responsibility in Internet companies in the west of Mazandaran province; this means that the explanation of variance related to collective spirit and participation in work is related to variable changes in social responsibility.ConclusionThe aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between business ethics and corporate social responsibility of a case study of Internet companies in the west of Mazandaran province. The results of this study are consistent with the results of O.C. Ferrell et al, (2019). In their article, entitled Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and the Brand Approach, they found that understanding the relative importance of business ethics and social responsibility is crucial in determining brand attitudes. (Akbari & Faham, 2016) (Kiyani, 2015) (Diyanati & Reza pour, 2015) Studies show that business ethics have an impact on corporate social responsibility. According to the present study, it is suggested that the managers of companies and organizations, by providing arrangements in the organization, hire people who are bound to the ethical principles approved by the organization and the company. Managers should take steps to promote employee ethics by holding classes and programs. The ethical charter of the organization should be explained clearly and explicitly to all employees. Managers should provide meetings for employees to comment on ethical issues By arranging meetings and programs, Managers of organizations should remind employees of the organization's their social responsibilities to society. By showing leadership, company managers create in employees the feeling that they can freely comment and be accountable in their work. Managers of companies selling online goods and services can use effective advertising such as the use of advertising billboards, media such as television and newspapers, advertising sites or through the distribution of brochures and catalogs, promote the level of consumer awareness as they advertise their brand and remind the people the company's social responsibly, and mention what they did.

The paper presents the results of an experimental investigation and statistical analysis of the data streams generated by popular Internet services. It is found that every investigated Internet service generates data streams of a specific type, possessing specific statistical characteristics. On this basis, it is possible to develop an analog of the classical metrology approach for the data streams generated by Internet services. Furthermore, i the problem of the data streams superposition "at the source" (i.e., on a user's computer or on a local network) is investigated. It is found that the data streams are additive, with sufficient accuracy for engineering applications (but not exactly additive). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on collection process and uses made of data from local user surveys of residents in rural areas of Washington to examine how the actual experience of users of high-speed broadband differs from publicly available coverage maps. It mentions current reporting requirements, providers indicated level of service in areas defined by census block. It also mentions provider-advertised speeds are aspirational and also reported at the census block level.

The article addresses to the issue of communicative competence formation of foreign students in the conditions of distance learning. The introduction of distance learning is emphasized to be one of the ways to modernize higher education. The concepts of "distance learning" and "competence" has been clarified. The problems which arose at the beginning of the widespread implementation of distance learning are noted. One of the adaptation advantages of distance learning is holding frequent large-scale online meetings. Articles of domestic and foreign scientists on distance education and communicative competence formation to foreign students are covered. It was found that the main factors influencing the communicative competence formation to students are professional orientation, humanistic style of communication and focus on the cultural aspect. The requirements for teacher's of higher educational institutions have been defined in order to form communicative competence in foreign students. The relevance of distance learning implementation in the educational process has been emphasizes. The scientist, who first started the research on distance learning, found out the differences between online and traditional learning. Emphasis is placed on synchronous and asynchronous modes of distance learning. The essence of complex learning has been also revealed. The advantages and disadvantages of distance learning are investigated. The process of organizing educational activities online is presented - which is a foreign language learning. Educational platforms for the distance learning organization are presented. The advantages of working on the platform "Moodle" and "Coursera" are revealed. Conclusions are made regarding the raised issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie ( KZfSS) is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Broadband connectivity and services commonly referred to as the Internet is the key enabling facility for the modern digital economy and the driver for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR or Industry 4.0). In Tanzania, there are over 49% Internet subscriptions for mobile broadband services using 3G UMTS and 4G standards infrastructure, which are predominantly available in urban areas. The non-urban areas remain mostly 2G coverage areas and lack mobile broadband connectivity and services. Transforming existing 2G mobile networks to broadband infrastructure can be achieved by swapping 2G sites with 3G or 4G sites or incrementally replacing 2G sites with 3G or 4G sites on demand. In this work, we investigated the performance of the UMTS family of standards to deliver broadband connectivity and services outside major towns and cities in three different radio operating environments, namely hilly, undulating and flat terrain landscapes. Results show that the achievable 3G data rate deteriorates depending on the type of operating environment as the internet user moves away from the base station. Therefore, mobile broadband deployment in non-urban areas is not simply replacement of 2G sites for 3G sites; it will require special deployment strategies to achieve a total broadband coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern satellite VSAT networks can be applied not only to provide satellite radio and television broadcasting, but also to other domains, such as a two-way Internet access. For this objective it has become necessary to develop appropriate standards and data transmission techniques. An unquestionable advantage of satellite systems is reception range, which translates into possibility of building networks in almost any place on Earth. Depending on the application, such networks can use many topologies. The aim of the article is to review distributed information in this area, as well as to determine the directions of development of the next generation VSAT networks. For this purpose, the literature review has been provided, with due regard to the IEEE Xplore digital library databases, and supported by practical examples.

Due to Covid-19 transmission, the educational facilities in Indonesia were closed and teachers had to work from home (WFH). It caused face-to-face learning turn into online learning and online training. This study aimed to identify costs incurred by Indonesian teachers for online training during the Covid-19 pandemic. Data collection was carried out by distributing online questionnaires in Google forms to all teachers participating in the online training. Incoming responses were analyzed using SPSS version 26. The results explained that by having self- isolation at home, teachers used their free time to attend online learning. However, they had to pay extra to buy good internet services to properly attend the training. Before the Covid-19 transmission period, the highest internet cost per month was IDR 0-100,000. While during the Covid-19 pandemic, the highest internet expense per month was IDR 100,000-200,000. It was described by the number of respondents who reached 306 respondents (33.85%).

In 2016-2018 poa! Internet, a private internet service provider, distributed free internet services across schools in Nairobi, Kenya. Using inverse probability weighting (IPW) method, the study finds that the intervention significantly increases students' internet use and training, receipt of information on educational content, and participation in information and communication technologies (ICTs) education programmes. However, the study does not find evidence that internet services increase school attendance. The results suggest that facilitating access to internet services in schools can significantly increase child computer and internet skills and training in developing countries, even if those investments have limited gains on school attendance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Library offers the resources and encourages the thinking process, creativity, inquisitiveness and makes the learning more fruitful. The function of library is to provide textbooks, references, periodicals, research conducted till date on various subjects to students, teachers and researchers. Library can use internet services as a helping hand to get / share information but it cannot replace the signification of newsgroups discussion form, sharing of books, which makes libraries exceptional also internet involves huge amount to require for purchasing instrument for accessing internet and it is unable to reach the masses. Internet is playing very important role in human life, anyone can access required information within second through internet, but it cannot become. Substitute of Libraries because internet information is not always authentic or reliable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the analysis of large-scale incidents in the field of cyber terrorism and the possible influence of the Russian government, it was concluded that cyber attacks represent threats to NATO member countries and were included in the list of security threats identified in the NATO`s New Strategic Concept of 2010. This conclusion makes terrorism a new dimension, a cybernetic one, as an adaption of terrorism to the new era and a new defence field to be taken in consideration – the cybernetic field. For these reasons, in 2016, NATO recognised the importance of introducing virtual space as an operational domain, which opened the gates to cyber security, and invited member countries to contribute to the development of cyber defence projects. The solution of the cyber attacks has created the conditions for normal functioning of any state critical infrastructure.

Copyright of Cuestiones Políticas is the property of Revista Cuestiones Politicas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The term “customer satisfaction” is a basic marketing expression constructed in the past three decades. In the past, it was an unpopular and unaccepted concept, as the aim of companies was to gain new customers rather than retain the existing ones. However, companies realized and understood the significance of customer satisfaction (especially service producing companies) and have adopted it as the highest priority of their operational goals in the present decade. This study aims to examine overall customer satisfaction with the internet service in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, factors affecting satisfaction and the relationship between satisfaction and demographics. Data were collected from 400 customers who were randomly selected. The results gained in this study revealed that 81.5% of respondents were satisfied. The combination of network quality, billing, speed, and customer support (internet services attributes) indicated a relationship with satisfaction, while age, education, gender, and employment variables indicated no relationship. Results show that the rate of satisfaction is high but the internet service companies can improve their services to reach the level of developed countries.

Background. The issue of Internet addiction is being actively discussed in foreign and Russian psychology in two recent decades. However, experts have not developed a common opinion on the concept of ‘Internet addiction’. Therefore different terms are used to refer to disharmonious relationships in the ‘man-Internet’ system: ‘problematic Internet use’, «’excessive Internet use’, ‘compulsive Internet use’, etc. Psychologists show more agreement in the description of symptoms of Internet addiction. Generalization of these features makes it possible to develop tools for psychological assessment of Internet addiction. Objective is to identify the components of problematic Internet use in adolescence using the questionnaire developed by the authors of this paper, and to describe the relationship of the components of problematic Internet use with using various Internet services. Design. Based on the analysis of the psychological literature, the symptoms of problematic Internet use were identified. The selected symptoms constituted the content of the questionnaire. Correlation and factor analysis revealed components of problematic Internet use. Relationships between problematic Internet use and using different Internet services were studied. The sample of the study consisted of 150 people aged 16 to 23 years: 64 high school students and 86 university undergraduates. The data was collected throughout the period from October, 2017 to November, 2017. Results. The study of symptoms and manifestations of problematic Internet use in high school students and university students allowed to develop a scale of problematic Internet use bringing together five components (super-value of Internet activity, frustration of vital needs, anticipation of accessing the Internet, reducing monitoring time and reducing the significance of events outside the network). The features of using Internet services depending on gender and age are described. Correlations of problematic Internet use with types of activity in a network are established. The most closely components of problematic Internet use are connected with use of communicative (social) services. Conclusion. The study of problematic Internet use and its components allows us to offer a five-component model of problematic Internet use and describe the relationship of problematic Internet use with Internet services and applications using.

The paper presents the results of an experimental investigation and statistical analysis of the data streams generated by popular Internet services. It is found that every investigated Internet service generates data streams of a specific type, possessing specific statistical characteristics. On this basis, it is possible to develop an analog of the classical metrology approach for the data streams generated by Internet services. Furthermore, i the problem of the data streams superposition “at the source” (i.e., on a user’s computer or on a local network) is investigated. It is found that the data streams are additive, with sufficient accuracy for engineering applications (but not exactly additive).

In August 2017, 27 residents from four Nicaraguan and four Guatemalan communities met in Managua, Nicaragua, to discuss their experiences hosting International Service Learning (ISL) groups from the Global North. Despite having many positive recollections, these host community representatives identified a number of issues of concern. This article describes the background to this encuentro (gathering), the issues raised, and the solutions identified in order to encourage Global South host organizations to become better able to articulate their expectations of their Northern visitors and to insist that Northern-sending agencies become more responsive to the expectations of their Southern hosts. Keywords: North-South partnerships, Southern epistemologies, international service learning, short-term study abroad, experiential education En ao?t 2017, 27 r?sidents de quatre communaut?s nicaraguayennes et quatre communaut?s guat?malt?ques se sont r?unis ? Managua, au Nicaragua, pour discuter de leurs exp?riences en tant qu'organisateurs de groupes d'apprentissage par le service international (International Service Learning, ISL) du nord global. En d?pit de nombreux souvenirs positifs, ces repr?sentants de la communaut? d'accueil ont identifi? un certain nombre de probl?mes. Ce document d?crit le contexte de cet encuentro (rassemblement), les probl?mes soulev?s et les solutions identifi?es afin d'encourager les organisations h?tes du Global South ? mieux exprimer leurs attentes vis-?-vis de leurs visiteurs du nord et ? insister pour que les agences d'envoi du nord deviennent plus r?actives aux attentes de leurs h?tes du sud. Mots-cl?s : partenariat Nord-Sud, ?pist?mologies du Sud, apprentissage par le service international, ?tudes ? l'?tranger ? court dur?e, ?ducation exp?rientielle, Background The past few decades have shown a dramatic increase in the number of students (secondary and post-secondary) from the 'Global North' travelling to the South to engage in International [...]

Internet is available in the Pondicherry University campus. The present study is aimed at studying Internet usage among research scholars of Pondicherry University (PU). It is intended to assess Internet awareness of research scholars, the types of Internet users, purpose and frequency of using the Internet, problems in accessing the Internet, search methods used in accessing them, satisfaction with Internet usage, adequacy of Internet, and user training provided by the university library in accessing the Internet. The survey method is adopted in the present study. A sample of 100 research scholars of Pondicherry University were selected by the simple random method, out of 800 full-time research scholars. A well-structured questionnaire was designed, keeping in mind the objectives of the study. Data was collected from the research scholars using the questionnaire tool. The findings of the study reveal that a majority of research scholars (91%) use the Internet from their respective departments. A majority of them (41%) replied that the use of the Internet improves/refines the quality of their research by 50% to 75%. A majority of research scholars (62%) use the Internet for less than one hour daily for social networking purposes. Most of the research scholars (67%) replied that they never prefer the SGML format to read the information on the Internet. A majority (60%) use the PDF format. A majority (73%) use e-books on the Internet. Most of the research scholars (75%) use Google. A majority (74%) are aware of e-mail services. A majority (85%) face the problem of low speed Internet. A high percentage of research scholars (36%) create new entries. A major problem faced by the research scholars was 'slow Internet connectivity' (70%). The majority of them (70%) replied that Pondicherry University. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing popularity of mobile devices and internet services, resizing of compressed images is in high demand. In this study, a compressed domain content-aware image resizing (CAIR) system is proposed. It takes a pair of meshes obtained by using saliency histogram equalisation and seam carving to convert the discrete cosine transform (DCT) blocks of the original image into the DCT blocks of the resized one without the burden of decompression and compression computations. Experimental results show that the proposed system is preferable to other existing CAIR algorithms, especially in terms of running time due mainly to the simplicity of histogram manipulation and dynamic programming.

With the increasing popularity of mobile devices and internet services, resizing of compressed images is in high demand. In this study, a compressed domain content-aware image resizing (CAIR) system is proposed. It takes a pair of meshes obtained by using saliency histogram equalisation and seam carving to convert the discrete cosine transform (DCT) blocks of the original image into the DCT blocks of the resized one without the burden of decompression and compression computations. Experimental results show that the proposed system is preferable to other existing CAIR algorithms, especially in terms of running time due mainly to the simplicity of histogram manipulation and dynamic programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smartphones and applications plays a significant role in learning and management systems. Mobile application system was usually demanded, especially college students are always looking for things that benefit them at a university, even though the current applications were efficient enough to achieve a high level of supporting students learning needs. In this research, there is a requirement to implement a new application system for student education service with an easy way of managing data for educational purposes to reduce and save the time for search of traditional methods. This research method is based on surveying with the students of Al Buraimi University College (BUC). The findings of this survey reveal a positive result when they used the new proposed model, thus the goal was achieved and as a result of this research a new mobile application was developed which replaces several applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the analysis of large-scale incidents in the field of cyber terrorism and the possible influence of the Russian government, it was concluded that cyber attacks represent threats to NATO member countries and were included in the list of security threats identified in the NATO's New Strategic Concept of 2010. This conclusion makes terrorism a new dimension, a cybernetic one, as an adaption of terrorism to the new era and a new defence field to be taken in consideration - the cybernetic field. For these reasons, in 2016, NATO recognised the importance of introducing virtual space as an operational domain, which opened the gates to cyber security, and invited member countries to contribute to the development of cyber defence projects. The solution of the cyber attacks has created the conditions for normal functioning of any state critical infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article conducted a 'merger screening' of the potential impact of the merger between AIS and 3BB, which were the second and third largest internet service providers among the four major operators prior to the merger in 2022. National survey data across country in 2022 and discrete choice model was used for the analysis. Surprisingly, finding showed that AIS and 3BB were not the closest competitors, but instead True, the provider with the largest market share, was their closest competitor. Based on the pre-merger analysis, it was predicted that service prices were likely to increase, and this merger is comprised a relevant market. To accurately define the market (market definition), other operators' services should not be considered as well. Considering the rising magnitude in service prices, it is estimated that, on average, prices will increase by 7.51%–31.51% compared to the current rates in 2022. Moreover, the study revealed that the merger would lead to an average increase in cost efficiency of 15.01% of the current marginal cost, which would allow the post-merger service prices to remain unchanged if the cost savings are passed on to consumers. A key policy recommendation was for regulatory agencies to conduct further analysis of competition, including evaluating entry barriers, the response of non-merging competitors, and competition without regulated pricing. Additionally, the study examines the potential future impacts on social welfare. • This study conducted a 'merger screening' of the potential impact of the merger between AIS and 3BB, which were the second and third largest internet service providers among the four major operators prior to the merger in 2022. Surprisingly, the study found that AIS and 3BB were not the closest competitors, but instead True, the provider with the largest market share, was their closest competitor. Based on the pre-merger analysis, it was predicted that service prices were likely to increase, and this merger was anticipated to be a merger to monopoly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]