The fullpaper for Volume 2 is closed. However we are already receiving articles for Volume 3. Please email your good article to myjict@kuis.edu.my .
These are the list of abstracts received for MyJICT, Volume 2. The authors’ names are purposely not revealed to hide them from the reviewer. The journal office adopting the blind-review method in reviewing the articles.
The fullpapers received are in the process of reviewing. Thank you authors for your kind contributions.
30. Analysis of VoIP Softphone Performance between Wired and Wireless in Campus Network Environment
This study focuses on softphone evaluation performance for VoIP conversation via wired and wireless technology in campus environment. We have setup a real VoIP network environment in University of Kuala Lumpur (UniKL), Malaysia. Two softphones such as 3CX phone and Mizuphone will undergo evaluation process to define which softphone able to provide better VoIP quality. Implementation of VoIP in campus environment is not considered any QoS features. In our experiments, we use mean opinion score (MOS) to evaluate and measure the performance of VoIP in campus environment. MOS is a human perception based on qualitative technique. We select several students in UniKL to test VoIP performance. We have conducted several experiments such as: i) test the VoIP over medium transmission; and ii) select different codecs: GSM, G.726, iLBC and Speex. The result shows that 3CX phone able to provide a good quality of VoIP over wired and wireless transmission. In addition, using different codecs, it shows a good respondent result on quality of VoIP using 3CX phone. Therefore, we will use 3CX softphone as our medium communication via VoIP technology.
29. Analysis of Secure Real Time Transport Protocol on VoIP over Wireless LAN in Campus Environment
In this research, we propose to implement Secure Real Time Transport Protocol (SRTP) on VoIP services in campus environment. Today, the deployment of VoIP in campus environment over wireless local area network (WLAN) is not considered on security during communication between two parties. Therefore, this study is to analyzed SRTP performance on different VoIP codec selection over wired. We have implemented a real VoIP network in University of Kuala Lumpur (UniKL), Malaysia. We use softphone as our medium communication between two parties in campus environment. The results show that implementation of SRTP is able to improve the VoIP quality between one-to-one conversation and multi conference call (many-to-many). In our experiment, it shows that iLBC, SPEEX and GSM codec are able to improve significantly the multi conference (many-to-many) VoIP quality during conversation. In additional, implementation of SRTP on G.711 and G.726 codec will decrease the multi conference (many-to-many) VoIP quality.
28. Learning Materials in e-Learning Portal: Does Additional Notes and Teleconference Session Helpful?
This paper seeks to present the considerations, expectations and awareness of students in the School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia, concerning the e-Learning Portal and learning materials provided. The study involved a sample of 1084 distance education students based on gender, ethnic group, courses, marital status, place of internet access and frequency of use of e-Learning Portal. The data for this study was been analyzed using SPSS version 12.0 and the analysis showed that most of the students accessed the e-Learning Portal and additional notes provided. They also appreciated the power point presentations and teleconference sessions.
27. INVESTIGATING THE CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR ERP AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT INTEGRATION AMONG MALAYSIAN BUSINESS FIRMS
In order to compete in a global environment, Malaysian business firms need to improve their products and services through best business process practices. This paper aims to investigate the critical success factors to adopt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) with knowledge management (KM) strategies among Malaysian business firms. In order to achieve the research aim, four-hundred eighty eight ERP with KM using firms were surveyed using questionnaires form. A total of 151 firms responded to the survey by indicating that successful ERP implementation lie at firms’ capacity to train their staff on ERP software, meeting clear goals and objectives as well as top management support. This paper provide advice to management on how best to utilize their limited resources to choose those CSFs that are most likely to have an impact during the implementation of the ERP with KM strategies. These processes if deployed effectively, can lead toward successful ERP implementation and leveraging the knowledge kept in the organizations. This is one of the first papers that investigate the CSF for ERP with KM strategies for Malaysian business firms.
26. The M-Learning Marketplace in Selangor International Islamic University College.
This paper aims to depict the potential m-learning marketplace in Selangor International Islamic University College. The background of the university and the development of m-learning technologies are elaborated. It also describes the research done and the possible path of m-learning development in the future. Lastly, the currently m-learning challenges faced by the university are discussed.
25. NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING: CHALLENGES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
The application of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies is already changing the organization and delivery of higher education. The pedagogical and socio-economic forces that driven the higher education to adopt and incorporate ICTs in teaching and learning include greater information access; greater communication; synchronous and asynchronous learning; increased cooperation and collaboration, cost-effectiveness and pedagogical improvement. However, ICTs have not permeated to a great extent in many higher education in most developing countries due to many socio-economic and technological circumstances.This paper discusses new learning and training technologies considering their pedagogical, cost and technical implications. It also discusses challenges for integrating these technologies in higher educations.
24. INVESTIGATING THE CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR ERP AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT INTEGRATION AMONG MALAYSIAN BUSINESS FIRMS
In order to compete in a global environment, Malaysian business firms need to improve their products and services through best business process practices. This paper aims to investigate the critical success factors to adopt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) with knowledge management (KM) strategies among Malaysian business firms. In order to achieve the research aim, four-hundred eighty eight ERP with KM using firms were surveyed using questionnaires form. A total of 151 firms responded to the survey by indicating that successful ERP implementation lie at firms’ capacity to train their staff on ERP software, meeting clear goals and objectives as well as top management support. This paper provide advice to management on how best to utilize their limited resources to choose those CSFs that are most likely to have an impact during the implementation of the ERP with KM strategies. These processes if deployed effectively, can lead toward successful ERP implementation and leveraging the knowledge kept in the organizations. This is one of the first papers that investigate the CSF for ERP with KM strategies for Malaysian business firms.
23. DESIGN AN ONLINE HANDWRITING RECOGNITION SYSTEM WITH SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINE LEARNING
Online Handwriting Recognition system (HWRS) is a system used for teaching a machine to recognize handwritten character. This paper highlights the development of online handwriting recognition system using Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0, Support Vector Machine (SVM) and, VBTablet 2.0 to recognize the input character by matching the prototypes. This may take place by writing directly onto a digitizing tablet by using a stylus which is connected to the Universal Serial Bus (USB) port of a computer. Owing to the fact that each individual has its own way of presenting his or her handwriting on paper, there is a certain level of complexity like the way of holding the stylus, the strokes used in the writing and the amount of time or pressure put on the paper that are involved in this recognition system. The general on-line recognition procedures are preprocessing, features extraction and post processing. Support Vector Machine (SVM) and a new extractor is proposed consisting of time and pressure data, which provides of several more meaningful features of the handwritten character. The system having the intelligence in recognizing natural handwriting is globally in demand.
22. A Link Usage Matrix for Shortest Path Routing
The Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a link-state routing protocol that support equal cost load-balancing process. The OSPF traffic allows a router to use multiple paths to a destination when forwarding packets and splits the load equally at nodes where a multiple outgoing links on the shortest paths to the same destination. This paper presents a link usage matrix for load balancing heuristics that reduce time executions in the optimization process due to optimize a cost function and network performance.
21. Security, Privacy and Trust Challenges in Federated Environment: Approach to Trusted Computing
Abstract-Federated environments interconnect organizations from all over the world using federation standards to collaborate services and resources. Interconnected organizations can be either identity provider, service provider or both. The cost-effectiveness of federated single-sign-on and seamless cross-domain business interaction attracted organizations to adopt and invest in systems built upon federated identity management. The main issues that arise in federated identity management are security, privacy and trust concerns which could be in the forms of identity, personal identification information, and trust management because user signs in by single user name and password that give him/ her access to multiple services or resources. In this context, security, privacy and trust models are important for security assurance of user credential, personal identity information (data privacy) and trustworthiness of platforms between user’s, services and identity providers. In this paper, we presented federated identity management issues, contradiction between security, privacy and trust, compression of trusted computing group architectures with federated identity management. We suggest a conceptual architecture for federated identity management on trusted computing technologies.
20. Next challenge: Values, Community Development and Superintelligence
Artificial Intelligence has the potential to empower humans through enhanced learning and performance. But if this potential is to be realized and accepted the social and ethical aspects as well as the technical must be addressed. Superintelligence will be smarter than the best human brains in practically every field, including scientific creativity, general wisdom and social skills. So we must consider it an important factor for making decisions in our social life and especially in community development. There are some writers who neglect the positive role of Superintelligence to this process because of powerful private sector interests, but I think we must be optimist and change our ideas about new generation of Robots. We can teach them the human values and create friendly artificial intelligence which will develop our community in next decades. The most important problem will be the quality of representing the human values like freedom, liberality, tolerance, faith, certainty, and etc in the form of semantics.
19. DESIGN AN ONLINE HANDWRITING RECOGNITION SYSTEM WITH SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINE LEARNING
Online Handwriting Recognition system (HWRS) is a system used for teaching a machine to recognize handwritten character. This paper highlights the development of online handwriting recognition system using Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0, Support Vector Machine (SVM) and, VBTablet 2.0 to recognize the input character by matching the prototypes. This may take place by writing directly onto a digitizing tablet by using a stylus which is connected to the Universal Serial Bus (USB) port of a computer. Owing to the fact that each individual has its own way of presenting his or her handwriting on paper, there is a certain level of complexity like the way of holding the stylus, the strokes used in the writing and the amount of time or pressure put on the paper that are involved in this recognition system. The general on-line recognition procedures are preprocessing, features extraction and post processing. Support Vector Machine (SVM) and a new extractor is proposed consisting of time and pressure data, which provides of several more meaningful features of the handwritten character. The system having the intelligence in recognizing natural handwriting is globally in demand.
18. Integrating Cas Modelling Techniques With Multimedia Elements Into Immunology Teaching
Multimedia information technology has proven to be useful in enhancing teaching capacity and improve teaching efficiency. Immunology is considered one of the toughest subjects to be taught because of its complex interaction at molecular level and require computer supported models. This research tries to implement the use of Computer Algebra System (CAS) which is famously known for its utilization and manipulation of mathematical equation in symbolic form. The objective of this research is to develop multimedia educational software which enhances immunology teaching, thus utilizing the use of CAS by producing modeling and simulations for complex network of gene regulation and metabolism. To achieve a clear view on the impact of current teaching techniques, a survey was conducted among students in higher learning institution. The result clearly shows that the current teaching technique is not feasible to current learning styles. It indicates the need to produce new teaching technique to assist and support learning. The development of this multimedia educational package integrated with new modeling and simulation techniques hopes to aid in teaching parts of immunology courses.
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17. Pengaplikasian Teknologi Maklumat Dan Komunikasi (TMK) Dalam Kalangan Pensyarah
Kajian ini bertujuan mengenal pasti profil pengaplikasian TMK dalam kalangan pensyarah-pensyarah IPGM Kampus Bahasa Melayu (KBM). Di samping itu, kajian ini juga bertujuan mengenal pasti perbezaan pengaplikasian TMK mengikut gender dan bidang yang diajar oleh pensyarah. Soal selidik National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (2000) yang menggunakan skala likert 5 mata dan terdiri daripada 27 item digunakan bagi mengukur pengaplikasian TMK dalam aspek operasi dan konsep teknologi; perancangan dan reka bentuk persekitaran dan pengalaman pembelajaran; pengajaran, pembelajaran serta kurikulum; penaksiran dan penilaian dan juga produktiviti dan amalan profesional. Sampel kajian ini adalah seramai 96 orang yang dipilih secara rawak daripada 130 orang pensyarah IPGM Kampus Bahasa Melayu, Lembah Pantai, Kuala Lumpur. Nilai kebolehpercayaan alpha cronbach bagi instrumen ini adalah 0.93. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa profil pengaplikasian TMK dalam aspek produktiviti dan amalan profesional adalah yang paling tinggi (M= 4.58). Ini diikuti oleh aspek pengajaran, pembelajaran dan kurikulum (M=4.09); aspek penaksiran dan penilaian (M=4.06); aspek perancangan dan reka bentuk persekitaran dan pengalaman pembelajaran(M= 4.01) dan akhir yang paling rendah dalam aspek operasi dan konsep teknologi (M=3.76) . Hasil ujian-t menunjukkan keputusan perbezaan min adalah tidak signifikan, iaitu nilai t = -.481, p = 0.632. Keputusan ini menunjukkan bahawa tidak terdapat perbezaan min yang signifikan dari segi pengaplikasian TMK dalam kalangan pensyarah lelaki dan perempuan. Keputusan analisis varian (ANOVA) menunjukkan terdapat perbezaan min yang signifikan dari segi pengaplikasian TMK dalam kalangan pensyarah mengikut bidang yang diajar (F kira (4.62) > F kritikal, p = .001). Implikasinya dapatan ini membantu dalam pelaksanaan dan pendekatan yang diperlukan oleh pensyarah dalam memantapkan latihan keguruan di Institut Pendidikan Guru Malaysia.
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16. Persepsi Penggunaan Bahan Bantu Mengajar Berasaskan Teknologi Multimedia dalam Pengajaran Guru j-QAF
Abstrak:Kertas kerja ini membincangkan tahap penggunaan BBM berasaskan teknologi multimedia dalam pengajaran guru j-QAF. Tamadun manusia yang semakin berkembang mendorong penggunaan teknologi moden dalam sistem pendidikan yang menggerakkanusaha untuk meringkas dan mempermudahkan bahan bantu pengajaran bagi memahami pengajaran guru. Sehubungan dengan itu, penggunaan BBM berasaskan TMm dalam P&P dilihat amat efektif dan sesuai bagi semua mata pelajaran termasuk Pendidikan Islam. Penggunaan ini hendaklah dilaksanakan secara proaktif oleh guru untuk meningkat kemahiran dalam pengajaran dan kefahaman pelajar dalam pembelajaran. Guru juga harus kreatif dan inovatif untuk menjadikan sistem teknologi pengajaran menjadi lebih efektif, menarik dan menyeronokkan di mana dengan penggunaannya akan menambah kualiti penyampaian guru. Kertas kerja ini juga turut menjelaskan dapatan kajian berkaitan persepsi penggunaan BBM berasaskan TMm dalam pengajaran 270 orang guru j-QAF di Sarawak. Hasil kajian mendapati bahawa guru j-QAF mempunyai persepsi yang tinggi terhadap penggunaan BBM berasaskan TMm dalam pengajaran secara umum dengan nilai purata min 4.00. Manakala nilai-t bagi perbandingan presepsi berdasarkan jantina (1.339), lokasi sekolah (0.754) dan bidang pengkhususan (0.763) mendapati tidak terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan min persepsi penggunaan BBM berasaskan TM dalam pengajaran guru j-QAF.
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15. IMPLEMENTATION OF ONLINE MULTIMEDIA MALAY-ARABIC DICTIONARY
There are a lot of dictionaries available in the market. However, it’s hard to find a Malay-Arabic dictionary complete with pictures or videos to visualize what the words represent, and how they are pronounced via voice. A Malay-Arabic online multimedia dictionary (OMMAr) is proposed for beginners. The user is able to enter a Malay word and if the word matches any of the entry in the database system, the meaning in Arabic will be displayed with the picture or video and the sound for the word pronunciation. If there is no match, the system will propose any similar word. The system is also capable of the doing the same for Arabic words. This paper will present the design of OMMArwhich uses the UTF-8 character encoding to store the Arabic words. There is a special treatment to the web pages, the web server, and also the database. The web pages use UTF-8 HTML encoding while the web server needs a special function to translate the HTML code into UTF-8. To store the Arabic characters, the database’s collation also need to be set to UTF-8. Flash format is used for the videos and the sounds, while the images are in JPEG, GIF or PNG format. This paper is to report the design, implementation and testing of the systems user interface. The interfaces are tested against several popular web browsers.
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14. Modeling Student Satisfaction towards Broadband Services in Malaysia Public Universities
Widespread use of ‘always on’, high speed Internet and data services brings substantial benefits for many services and industries, including the education sector. The purpose of this study was to examine the student satisfaction model towards broadband services in Malaysia public university by using the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM).Questionnaires consist of four parts were distributed to 400 students from six Malaysia public universities located in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur areas. This study revealed that level of satisfaction on broadband services among students in Malaysia public universities were moderate. Public universities students perceived that network performance and facilities gave significant impact on their satisfaction towards broadband services provided.
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13. Broadband Usage Pattern and Service Quality: Engineering Students Perspective
This study has two parts. The first part examined the broadband usage pattern and the second part measured the broadband service quality from the perspective of engineering students. Study was carried out by using a questionnaire survey to collect the relevant information from engineering students in 15 institutions of higher education in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. Usage pattern was divided into three categories which were usage frequency, usage duration and usage time. Researcher also examined the engineering students’ requirements, satisfaction and perceived service quality on broadband services in 4 areas namely quality of network, application of internet service, facilities and others. The collected data were analysed by using frequency, percentage, cross tab, mean analysis and perceived service quality ratio. Findings from this study reveal that there was no significant difference between male and female in terms of usage frequency, usage duration and usage time. However, study indicated that there was a significant difference between Malays and Non-Malays in terms of usage time and usage frequency. In terms of customer requirement, customer satisfaction and perceives quality ratio, result indicated that all factors were considered very important yet the respondents did not satisfy with the services provided. The perceived service quality ratio also indicated that the broadband service was rated as lower service quality. This finding shall provide the valuable inputs to the service providers and the university in improving its broadband services for the engineering students.
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12. Information Technology Outsourcing Policy Management: A Case Study of Malaysia
Information technology outsourcing practice is enshrined in numerous problems one of such problems is policy management. Due to economic benefits derived by government and organisations from ITO it is inevitable for any government or organisation to protect interest of the nation or organisation’s vision and mission respectively. Policy management guides business transactions between two or more interested parties and also the stakeholders, therefore it is imperative for the parties to operative successfully only in an environment where operational policies are realistic at the same time appealing. This research looks into the effect of Malaysian government policies on ITO practices and its impact of Malaysian ITO community, in term of level of awareness among the big and small-and-medium- scale-enterprise, this research also investigates the contribution of policy in building an effective ITO success model by using India ITO policy as benchmark. This research finds out that government policy alone cannot be effective if tangible incentives and amenities were not in-place. It also finds out that any negative ITO policies are detrimental to failures recorded in the implementation of ITO models. Interviews were conducted among some ITO suppliers in Malaysia and MDeC. Comparison between Malaysia and India is based on materials available on both countries (research materials, write-up and books).
11. Conceptualising the Co-creation of Value via Corporate Blogs: A Proposed Research Framework
The new Internet, dubbed as web 2.0, has been hailed as the next wave of technology, introducing a plethora of social media tools such as blogs, social networking, media-sharing, collaborative tagging and wikis. These web 2.0-driven technologies are significantly advancing the business world from the 20th century of one-to-many, top-down mass communications model towards a 21st century communications model that is more open, interactive, multidimensional and participatory. As a result, web 2.0 has carved out a more competitive environment, forcing businesses to perform at a faster, cheaper and smarter level to create new business opportunities. Focusing on an increasingly competitive web 2.0 tool – blogging, this paper introduces the concept of corporate blogs as a dialogical platform between company and customers. As companies are faced with a growingly demanding heterogeneous customer base, they are forced to take a step back and re-evaluate their existing online communication channels in order to foster more valuable online relationships with their customers. A way to achieve this is to utilise corporate blogs as a dialogical online platform for knowledge exchange between companies and customers. By positing blogs as engaging “experience environments”, we discuss how meaningful value can be co-created through the corporate blog via a conceptual framework as a call for further research. We anticipate that the insights garnered be helpful in paving way for some collective thinking on how corporate blogs may further benefit companies who are keen to use this tool as a business enhancement and branding concept.
10. Do We Need a New Ethical Approach to Fill Policy Vacuums in Computer Software Property Rights?
Computer software is unique as a technology and creates complex moral problems. Although these moral problems are not new in character they are new in traditional practice. Computer technology raises several new questions in old ethical issues, such as privacy, confidentiality, property rights, harm, risk, and so forth. Specially, software ownership right is a new idea in traditional ethics. Present legal framework (e.g. copy right, patent and trade secrecy) and philosophical ownership theories (labour theory and utilitarian theory) are not sufficient to protect ownership rights. There is also a disagreement whether software should be owned or free. Traditional insufficient legal framework, inadequate ethical approach, lack of appropriate philosophical ownership theory creates policy vacuums in computer software property rights. These policy vacuums lift up the question: do we need a new ethical approach? I will apply Moor and Johnson’s policy vacuums thesis to the computer software property rights and argue that present ethical approach is inadequate because it is fundamentally based on utilitarian principle, and cost-benefit analysis. Moreover, this paper will critically examine some sub questions like: is software ownership right unique? Why is the present policy inadequate? Should software be owned or free?
9. Influence of human resource practices on the recruitment and retention of skilled employees in Malaysia
The research aims to determine the influence of human resource practices on the recruitment and retention of skilled employees in Malaysia, particularly in the information, communications and technologies (ICT) service industry. It is a qualitative study, targeting both local ICT companies and multinationals in Malaysia. At the moment, I am analysing my data and developing main themes for my research, based on which I would purpose theory development. The study aims to demonstrate the appropriateness of findings derived from western and different industries in terms of their applicability in the Malaysian context. In addition, the study aims to propose a model suitable for use by human resource practitioners in determining what practices ICT companies should adopt to recruit and retain their skilled employees. This study hopes to illuminate the current employment relationships in the ICT companies in Malaysia, which would be useful for the human resource practitioners in developing and implementing their retention policies and practices.
8. REVIEW OF ICT MANAGEMENT CRITERIONS FOR MANAGING LEARNING ORGANIZATION: EXPERIENCE ON ACADEMIC STAFF ADVANCEMENT PROGRAMME
The definitive aim of academic staff development programme is to support the higher educational institutions in achieving excellence in research, teaching and other academic activities, in an appropriate and cost-effective way. The real challenge here is referring to the strategic planning of the institutions to properly structured the academic staff advancement programme starting from the planning, implementing, monitoring, controlling and reporting for the purpose of budget allocation, staffing, training, determination of critical fields or disciplines, performance appraisal on staffs involved in the programme and the quality of managing the whole processes inclusive the interfaces. The establishment of systematic ICT management is not solely referring to the creation of electronic records or purchase of software, but it is more of the approach to handle the programme by looking at methods for information support to its workflow process, techniques to improve the information quality aspects and provisions. The interesting point revealed from the current study is that the scope covered by the processes and activities is confined within the description requires the combination of these types of development to emphasize the development of capabilities and working practices. Therefore, this study would be occasionally contributing towards developing individuals’ career aspirations, goals of the work area, direction of the institutions and available resources in Malaysian higher educational institutions.
7. ANALYZING MAJOR FACTORS AFFECTING THE UTILIZATION OF ADVANCED INTELLIGENCE APPLICATIONS AMONG FINANCIAL EXECUTIVES
This study assesses on respond to the information systems (IS) facilities-utilization gap among the Malaysian business executives in financial institutions that seem to empower the Malaysian business capability through advanced intelligence applications. The emergent themes suggests that Malaysian business executives in financial institutions have delimited business settings greatly as they are well equipped with the right knowledge, advanced networks and technologies. However, it needs to be noted the utilization level of advanced intelligence applications is quite low, i.e. only 35 percent of their total working time. This means that the advanced technologies on hands were not being fully utilized by the business workforce. The major findings show that there are three significant factors were found to have positive correlation with the utilization of business intelligence applications, namely hardware evaluation, software evaluation and IS services evaluation.
6. SOME MOTIVATIONAL INDICATORS OF NIGERIAN FINAL YEAR STUDENTS’ COMPUTER COMPETENCE
The manner and the level at which Nigerian final year students’ computer competences are predicted by some motivational indicators such as gender, self-concept and frequency of computer use are investigated in this study. Two hundred and twenty seven (227) final year students (117males, 110 females) of the Faculties of Science,Management Science and education, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria served as the sample for this study. The sample age range was between 17 and 30 years with a mean age of 23.5. The instruments used for the data collection were Computer Use Scale (CUS), Self-Concept Scale (SCS) and Computer Competence Scale (CCS). Simple percentages, standard deviation, Analysis of Variance and Multiple regression statistics were used to investigate the predictive capacity of the independent variables on the dependent. The findings revealed that a combination of the three independent variables (gender, computer use and self-concept) were significantly effective in predicting undergraduates’ computer competence. Meanwhile, each of the variables contributed to the prediction of the dependent variable, while gender had the least predictive power of the criterion variable. It was therefore recommended that students need to have a positive self-concept about themselves rather than being naïve, skeptical and pessimistic in their ability to manipulate the computers effectively; hence counseling services and motivational talks should be provided in order to improve students’ level of self-concept. Students need to be more computers-friendly and regularly interact with computers for personal, entertainment and academic purposes.
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5. Farmers’ Network: How ICT can be used by Tobacco Farmers in Bachok, Kelantan, to Find Alternative Crops and Take Control of Their Business and Finances.
Tobacco has been grown for many years now in Kelantan and Terengganu. In Kelantan, it is mostly planted in the district of Bachok, which has the soil and climate suited to tobacco planting. Tobacco has proven to be a cash crop for the farmers of this area, contributing a large portion of their earnings. However, tobacco farmers in Bachok have recently been advised by the state authorities to phase out their tobacco planting and to find alternative crops to replace tobacco, due to the problems that will be faced when AFTA takes effect. The problem here is twofold: firstly farmers need to find a crop that can yield an income to match that of a tobacco harvest, and secondly, the infrastructure that already exists supports the planting of tobacco. It has been difficult to keep farmers informed about developments as there is poor networking. To survive globalization and the advent of AFTA, it is suggested that farmers form a Farmers’ Network using ICT as their tool, and to look into organic farming as a possible alternative to tobacco. This can also help to empower the farmers so that they will have greater control over their business and finances.
4. E-business for Women Entrepreneurs in Kelantan: how rural businesswomen in the state of Kelantan, specialising in fashion and accessories, can earn a livelihood by beginning an online business.
Kelantan is a rural, agricultural state with a modest standard of living. Many business owners operate small enterprises, which then earn them a small living. Being wives and mothers, many female entrepreneurs of Kelantan have difficulties in balancing their businesses with their family obligations. A good option is to start an online business, or e-business, which has been the route taken by some of the younger generation of businesswomen. But to begin an e-business, an entrepreneur needs to have more than just a computer and internet access – she also needs to do research and learn about what she is getting into. As many rural businesswomen are not college-educated and some have only the most basic educational background, a businesswoman may face difficulties starting an e-business. This study puts forward suggestions that help is given by agencies, both government and non-government, that specialise in the field, so the entrepreneur will know how to operate an e-business and how to possibly expand the business in future.
3. Survey of the State of the Art in Biometric Authentication
This survey paper aims to review the state of the art in the area of multimodal biometric authentication. The progress of the field in areas such as novel biometric modalities, multimodal biometric, fusion and quality measures of biometric systems will be presented as a primer for the interested reader . This paper aims to report on the state of the art, trends as well as potential research areas for aspiring biometric researchers. Useful resources such as toolkits, free databases and datasets and landmark papers will be reported as well to aid new researchers.
2. A STUDY OF FACTORS AFFECTING THE SUCCESS OF ORGANISATIONS OPERATING UNDER E-COMMERCE ENVIRONMENT: A STRATEGIC PLANNING PERSPECTIVE
The struggles encountered by digital market places during the last two years might lead many enterprises to make a desperately bad business decision. In other words, they failed to give a good thought on planning the deployment of e-commerce strategically before implementation takes off from the ground. The outcome was success factor is low and not commensurate with the effort and investment put in by the company. There was a view summed up by Porter who, writing in the Harvard Business Review 2005, said that “the greatest threat to an established company lies in either failing to deploy the Internet or failing to deploy it strategically”. In other words, despite those setbacks, the digital market place will become an intrinsic part of the way organizations conduct business.
The major research goal of the dissertation was to identify the important factors that significantly influencing the success factor of e-commerce deployment in organisations. Questionnaires were sent to a total of 320 firms with e-commerce deployment located in Kinta Valley, Klang Valley, Johor Bahru and Penang. These four locations were selected in view of their advancement and development of e-commerce implementation as compared with other locations in the country. Statistical techniques such as Chi-square, Correlation Coefficient and t-test were employed to test the data collected in line with the hypotheses of the study.
The results of finding and issues emerged from quantitative study were cascaded down to the second level of the research work known as qualitative study. Those strategic planning issues and implications were verified and discussed through interviewing and observation as real-life e-commerce processes and mechanics are relatively complicated which required face-to-face interaction to elicit and observe for gathering primary and detailed information at source. Finally, policy making in the formulation of strategic planning for the purpose of enhancing the success factor of organisations operating under e-commerce environment could be delineated, the study achieved the goal.
Based on the literature review relative to e-commerce success, the research model postulated that strategic planning and EC infrastructure for websites and other factors such as the size and complexity of websites influence the success of e-commerce. In order to have focus in the study and be relevant to the management context, only strategic planning perspective is considered in this endeavour. The results of the research confirmed there was a close relationship between strategic planning and the success of organisations operating under e-commerce environment. The findings were in conformance with the strategic planning in e-commerce deployment literature that perceived the five main factors (critical success factors, e-commerce strategies, leadership, Strategic Alignment and business process re-engineering) influencing the success factor to a certain extent.
The benefits derived from this study include the development of an enhanced understanding of the relationship between strategic planning and e-commerce success factor. It is believed we will gain increased insight into these critical success factors to allow the IT executive and corporate senior executive to make strategic e-commerce choices. In view of several limitations of this study, it is recommended that future research is mainly directed to refining the theoretical framework and survey instrument.
1. INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY: A TOOL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE NIGER DELTA REGION OF NIGERIA.
The Niger Delta is made of nines states and covers areas along Atlantic Coast of southern Nigeria where River Niger divides into numerous tributaries; it is the second largest in the world. The region has emerged as one of the most ecologically sensitive region in Nigeria. Resources (oil and gas) from the region are the main source of revenue for the Nigerian state. Meanwhile, average lifestyle in this region is below poverty level. For an improved lifestyle, some economic indices have to be reviewed and allowed to remain at a particular trend. This can be developed and sustained by the adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) disseminates the right information at the right time. The barrier of information dissemination and the difficulties of reaching the target audiences can be conquer by introducing ICT into all areas of the economy. This article therefore discusses how ICT can help to salvage this deplorable condition of this region, its people and the environment to meets the need of the present without compromising the ability of future generation’s needs met.
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