Does ideology matter for surveillance concerns?

The analysis of survey data pooled from the Pew Research Center’s Privacy Panels revealed that ideological proximity influences individual concerns about government surveillance. Two dimensions of ideology—allowance for government interference in the personal sphere and in the economic sphere—manifest themselves as four types: libertarians (less allowance for interference in both spheres), liberals (less allowance in the personal sphere but more allowance in the economic sphere), conservatives (more allowance in the personal sphere but less allowance in the economic sphere), and communitarians (more allowance in both spheres). Whereas libertarians and liberals have more concerns about government surveillance, conservatives and communitarians have fewer concerns. Given the salient differences between the libertarian-liberal ideology and conservative-communitarian ideology, findings of this study revealed that government interference in the personal sphere matters more for surveillance concerns than government interference in the economic sphere. Actual control for privacy protection, information sensitivity, and perceived transparency predict significantly the level of surveillance concerns.     

SHORT COMMUNICATION: Does climate change affect the design of stand‐alone PV systems?

This paper investigates the effect of using sequences of past daily solar radiation data on PV system sizing for the case of Efford (UK). For a given system configuration that never sheds load, the lowest SOC reached by the battery is found by an energy balance model, and the energy deficit calculated for a given climatic cycle. Although the average irradiation changes little during the years 1958–1994, there is a substantial increase in the storage requirement, which seems to be related with an increase in the persistence of low solar radiation values. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Employment class arbitration: An oxymoron? Or a matter of contract?

To what extent will courts send employment arbitration cases for class or collective actions? According to Jay W. Waks and William Poorten, of New York, waiving class action arbitrations doesn't impair claimants' substantive rights, and contractual silence means no class actions. The authors analyze the latest case law supporting their positions.     

Do social media matter? The effects of information seeking on COVID-19 psychological and behavioral processes

With the evolution of media technologies, social media have developed as a means to purposive and incidental use and subsequent benefits and detriments. This study investigates how individuals’ use of information via social media helps them achieve psychological and behavioral advances in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study’s novelty lies in its positioning of social media information seeking (SMIS) as a precursor to the staged behavioral processes of the Theory of Planned Behavior. This novel extension entails the testing of a conceptual model of the influence of SMIS on three psychological factors (i.e., attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control), which, in turn, predict behavioral intention. It implements cross-sectional data from a survey of adults in New York City in 2020 (N = 1,021). The structural equation models were well-fitting and generally validated by the data, including the posited two steps from SMIS to psychological factors to behavioral intention. Structural equation modeling underscores the role of SMIS as a core driver of wearing a facemask, with positive effects on attitudes and perceived behavioral control and subsequent mediated positive effects on behavioral intention. In terms of sheltering in place, there was evidence of positive effects of SMIS on perceived behavioral control and, in turn, from the three psychological factors to behavioral intention, but the mediation role of the psychological factors was weaker in this model. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Does ICT diffusion matter for corruption? An Economic Development Perspective

This study assess the impact of ICT diffusion on corruption by using instrumental variables method on a panel data set of 175 countries over the period 1996–2014. We check for the stability of the ICT-corruption nexus for different levels of economic development. Our results show that ICT diffusion clearly acts as an effective tool to control corruption. The study also reports that as the countries develop economically they improve their corruption level. Moreover, as per the per capita GDP, estimation outcomes suggest that both trade openness and better institutions are associated with lower corruption levels. However, results show robust support to suggest that as the general price level increases, bribery increases. This effect is more pronounced for the developing countries than for developed ones, which may witness higher inflation rates and therefore a higher cost of living. Drawn on our results, our study addresses important insights and policy implications mainly for developing countries.     

Conception approach of access control in heterogeneous information systems using UML

The development of the information systems should answer more and more to the problems of federated data sources and the problems with the heterogeneous distributed information systems. The assurance of data access security realized in the cooperative information systems with loose connection among local data sources is hard to achieve mainly for two reasons: the local data sources are heterogeneous (i.e. data, models, access security models, semantics, etc.) and the local autonomy of systems does not allow to create a global integrated security schema. The paper proposes to use one common set of access control concepts to support the access control management in security of heterogeneous information systems. The UML (Unified Modeling Language) concepts can be used to define and implement the most popular access control models, such as DAC, MAC or RBAC. Next, the concepts derived from different models can be joined to use one common approach comprehensible for each administrator of each cooperative information system in the federation.     

Compulsive smartphone usage and users' ill-being among young Indians: Does personality matter?

Personality characteristics are found to have significant influence on the extent of smartphone usage among the Indian youth. Compulsive usage of smartphones, however, affects the users’ emotional and physical health. The objective of this study is to examine how personality characteristics are related to compulsive smartphone usage and if compulsive smartphone usage impacts users’ ill being. Personality characteristics such as extraversion and conscientiousness are found to be leading to the compulsive smartphone usage, whereas neuroticism, openness to new experience, and agreeableness are found to be negatively influencing compulsive smartphone usage. Extraversion is found to have maximum influence on an individual’s compulsive tendency to use smartphone, followed by conscientiousness. The findings of this study also made the authors believe that compulsive smartphone usage, affects both emotional (affecting inter-personal and family relationships) and physical (lack of quality sleep and physical discomfort) health of the smartphone users. Emotional health, however, is found to be more affected by compulsive smartphone usage compared to physical health. Given these findings, it is desirable that youths in Indian should be appropriately guided to use smartphones judiciously so that they do not end up being the victims of compulsive usage and subsequently addiction.     

A behavioral interpretation of Liv?ic systems

In the behavioral approach to (discrete-time) multidimensional linear systems, one views solution trajectories simply as the set of all solutions of a homogeneous linear system of difference equations. In this setting the Oberst transfer matrix is identified as the unique rational matrix function H satisfying Q = PH where R =? [?Q P] is a partitioning of the kernel representation R for the behavior such that P has full column rank equal to the rank of R. This Oberst transfer matrix can be seen as a more fundamental and unifying formalism capturing the transfer functions associated with the older Givone-Roesser and Fornasini-Marchesini input/state/output approaches to multidimensional linear systems. A quite different type of input/state/output linear system having original motivation from operator theory is the Liv?ic linear system, where the state-evolution equations are overdetermined and lead to compatibility constraints on the input and output signals; the result is that the admissible input signals are not free but form their own nontrivial behavior. The main point of the present work is to identify how Liv?ic systems fit into the behavioral framework. In particular, we extend the Oberst transfer matrix to the setting of autonomous behaviors lacking any free variables (in which case the standard Oberst transfer matrix is trivial with no columns) by letting the reduced ring (the quotient of the polynomial ring by the behavior-annihilator ideal) act on the behavior. We then make explicit identifications between the Oberst transfer matrix over the reduced ring and the Liv?ic Joint Characteristic Function.     

Pricing under information asymmetry for?a?large population of?users

In this paper, we study optimal nonlinear pricing policy design for a monopolistic network service provider in the face of a large population of users of different types described by a given probability distribution. In an earlier work (Shen and Ba?ar in IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun. 25(6):1216?C1223, 2007), we had considered games with symmetric information, in the sense that either users?? true types are public information available to all parties, or each user??s true type is private information known only to that user. In this paper, we study the intermediate case with information asymmetry; that is, users?? true types are shared information among the users themselves, but are not disclosed to the service provider. The problem can be formulated as an incentive-design problem, for which an ??-team optimal incentive (pricing) policy has been obtained, which almost achieves Pareto optimality for the service provider. A comparative study between games with information symmetry and asymmetry are conducted as well to evaluate the service provider??s game preferences.     

When will government information be attractive? The effect of information features on the diffusion of government microblogs

Social media speeds up government information transmission between government agencies and citizens. Drawing on Elaboration Likelihood Model and Cognitive Fit Theory, we use cSEM package of R to examine how central information structure, peripheral information structure and information style influence the diffusion of government microblogs. We also explore how information topic moderates the main effects above. Analyzing data (n = 15,151) collected from six local government microblog accounts in China, we find that central information structure, peripheral information structure and information style indeed influences the diffusion of government microblogs. More importantly, our results show that government information topic (people’s livelihood - vs non-livelihood) plays a significant moderating role in the diffusion of government microblogs. The findings contribute significant and intriguing insights to the research and practice in government information dissemination.     

Does the digital divide matter? Factors and conditions that promote ICT literacy

Individuals’ computer skills have long been noteworthy for both education and the labor market. Although the support provided through curricula in schools develops these skills to a certain extent, digital divide still exists for individuals with different socio-demographic characteristics. The concept of digital divide, used to define individuals who do not have equal access to digital technologies, has started to be seen as a determining factor for digital competencies with its expanding scope. The current study aims to take a perspective to investigate the effect of socio-demographic variables, which may cause digital divide, on students' ICT literacy. With this study, it is sought to explain the effect of current inequalities regarding digital access on students' ICT skills. To this end, the socio-demographic characteristics of the students in the sample of Korea and Chile from the participating countries of the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) were examined in the context of ICT literacy. The characteristics of the models created were compared for both countries. While parents’ level of education variable stands out for the Chilean model, the internet connection variable is remarkable for the Korean model. It is anticipated that the findings of the research will contribute to understanding the dynamics of the digital divide and its possible consequences, and can be a source for preventive policy steps to be developed.     

Does internet security matter for foreign direct investment? A spatial econometric analysis

This paper examines the impact of the Internet security environment on Chinese outward foreign direct investment (FDI) using a merged cross-country data set over 2010–2017 with a dynamic spatial model. The results show that Internet security is a crucial determinant for Chinese firms to make location decisions overseas. Particularly, a secure Internet significantly promotes Chinese outward FDI to a host country. In contrast, Internet security in surrounding countries yields negative spatial location spillovers that hinder Chinese firms from investing in the host country. This phenomenon can be regarded as a national competition for Internet security to attract FDI. Mechanism tests show that Internet security promotes FDI in host countries through four channels: operating cost reductions, transaction cost-cutting, information asymmetry decreases, and confidentiality protection. Further heterogeneous analyses show that the impact of Internet security is more significant as time passes and the host country becomes an Internet society. In contrast, specific international cooperation frameworks led by China weaken the location effect of Internet security for Chinese outward FDI. These results are robust after controlling for potential endogeneity and to different specifications. Therefore, the host authorities should endeavor to create a high-quality Internet security environment to attract FDI.     

Approximation algorithms for maximizing the information – theoretic sum capacity of reverse link CDMA systems

Since the introduction of multimedia services to CDMA systems, many researchers have been working on the maximization of the aggregate capacity of the reverse link. This problem looks for the optimal set of transmission powers of the stations subject to a set of constraints. One of the research directions in this field is to devise a practically realistic set of constraints and then to propose an algorithm for solving the resulting problem. Through a unified approach, introduced recently by the authors, a more general investigation of the problem, equipped with a wide range of constraints, is possible. Here, we go further and propose an approximation to reshape the objective function into a more conveniently workable one. Then, we analyze the three available formulations of the problem and show that integrating this approximation into the available algorithms has the benefit of reducing the computational cost. The paper includes the mathematics involved in the approximation and its integration into the algorithms. Also, we analyze examples to demonstrate the achievements of the proposed method.     

How do technologies relate to the repertoire of information sources?

This study applies “channel repertoire” to information sources. Interviews were conducted with 251 residents of Pullman, Washington, and Moscow, Idaho, in which respondents were asked to assess how interested they were in two topics (sports and what's going on in the community) along with how useful traditional media sources (tv, radio, etc.) and technologies (VCR, PC, etc.) were for information about each source. Based on a regression that controlled for demographics, separate repertoires were found for each topic. Sports had only a traditional media repertoire that consisted of tv and newspapers while what's going on in the community had a combined traditional and technology repertoire of newspapers, radios, personal computers, and cellular telephones.     

Broadband penetration and economic growth: Do policies matter?

Although a significant body of literature has examined the interlinkage between broadband penetration and economic growth, the linkage between broadband policies and broadband penetration has been less studied in the literature. In addition, the role of 3G/4G services has also received limited attention. To address this issue, we combine the staggered timing of the implementation of broadband and 3G/4G services across countries and examine its impact on broadband penetration. Relatedly, we also examine the impact of broadband penetration on economic growth and the possible growth drivers. We find that while broadband policies improve fixed broadband penetration, 3G/4G services improve mobile broadband penetration; the magnitude of the latter being nearly three-times that of the former. Besides, we also uncover a positive effect of broadband penetration on economic growth, primarily working through a reduction in broadband prices and well as greater innovation and entrepreneurial activity.     

Analysis of user-driven peer selection in peer-to-peer backup and?storage systems

In this paper we present a model of peer-to-peer backup and storage systems in which users have the ability to selfishly select remote peers they want to exchange data with. In our work, peer characteristics (e.g., on-line availability, dedicated bandwidth) play an important role and are reflected in the model through a single parameter, termed profile. We show that selecting remote peers selfishly, based on their profiles, creates incentives for users to improve their contribution to the system. Our work is based on an extension to well known results in Matching Theory, which allows us to formulate the Stable Exchange Game, in which we shift the algorithmic nature of matching problems to a game theoretic framework. We propose a polynomial-time algorithm to compute welfare-maximizing stable exchanges between peers and show, using an evolutionary game theoretic framework, that even semi-random peer selection strategies, that are easily implementable in practice, can be effective in providing incentives to users in order to improve their profiles.     

Does social capital matter to the Millennials? Social capital and user engagements in online video platforms

User engagements in video platforms are considered critical for not only businesses in measuring attention, but also for understanding social, cultural dynamics of a form of information platform that has increasingly become influential. For instance, different generations may perceive and engage in online video platforms differently. This study investigates various factors influencing online video platform user engagements in the forms of showing empathy (e.g., “like”), commenting, and sharing. In addition to traditional motivational factors informed by the uses and gratification theory, the study explores how perception of video platforms as social platforms play a mediating role and whether such effects are moderated by generation. A moderated mediation model positing mediating role of social capital and moderating role of generational difference tested against the three types of engagement. Results indicate intriguing generational effect between the Generation X and the Millennials on social capital’s role in online video platform engagement.     

Does information and communication technology and financial development lead to environmental sustainability in India? An empirical insight

This paper examines the relationship between CO₂ emissions, electricity consumption, financial development, Economic growth, Informational Communication Technology (ICT) from 1990 to 2018 in India. We have applied the structural break co-integration approach like Gregory Hansen approach to check long-term relations between the variables. ARDL bounds testing approach is used to know the long run and short-run elasticity. We find that electricity consumption is positively contributing CO₂ emissions or reducing environmental sustainability in India. However, ICT has negative and significantly improving environmental sustainability or reducing emissions when measured in both ICT internet connection (ICT_INT) and ICT mobile Phones (ICT_MOB). Similarly, financial development and CO₂ emissions are negatively related. The result indicates the existence of Environmental Kuznets Curve in India's case. Overall, environmental sustainability achieved in ICT and financial development sectors. Therefore govt. needs to focus more on the stringent policy in electricity production by investing more in the renewable energy sector to curb environmental degradation.