Modelling e-participation implementation:A network-based approach for online and offline participation

E-participation consists of several phases such as planning, implementation and evaluation. However, when representing this process, the implementation phase tends to be considered as a single block (the so-called "black-box"). This becomes a problem when the implementation combines offline and online methods, as it requires a detailed characterization and representation of all elements involved. In this paper we tackle this issue by proposing a network-based model to describe these methods. This choice is motivated by the fact that network models allow to better describe the distributed nature of these activities. To build this model we make use of the theory in Social Networks Analysis (SNA) to represent the main interactions between all actors involved. To asses the reliability and added value of the presented model, this approach is applied to four different use cases that showcase various combinations of online and offline participation methods. The results of these use cases show the great potential of the network-based model as a tool for designing, comparing and evaluating different types of implementations. Namely, the visualization of the model allows to asses the level of participation, the role of the different actors and how different instruments are combined

Modelling e-participation implementation:A network-based approach for online and offline participation

E-participation consists of several phases such as planning, implementation and evaluation. However, when representing this process, the implementation phase tends to be considered as a single block (the so-called "black-box"). This becomes a problem when the implementation combines offline and online methods, as it requires a detailed characterization and representation of all elements involved. In this paper we tackle this issue by proposing a network-based model to describe these methods. This choice is motivated by the fact that network models allow to better describe the distributed nature of these activities. To build this model we make use of the theory in Social Networks Analysis (SNA) to represent the main interactions between all actors involved. To asses the reliability and added value of the presented model, this approach is applied to four different use cases that showcase various combinations of online and offline participation methods. The results of these use cases show the great potential of the network-based model as a tool for designing, comparing and evaluating different types of implementations. Namely, the visualization of the model allows to asses the level of participation, the role of the different actors and how different instruments are combined

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Adoption of electronic commerce as a resilience strategy for women's entrepreneurship in the Democratic Republic of Congo

peer reviewedPurpose-The present article aims to determine the factors that explain the intention to adopt electronic commerce among women traders in a developing country like Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during a health crisis period. Design/methodology/approach-This study was conducted in the DRC, in Bukavu Town. A convenience sample of 282 respondents consisting of solely women entrepreneurs (importing traders) in Bukavu Town was selected and the structural equation model was used to test the research hypotheses resulted from Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour. Findings-The finding results showed that only the factors attitude towards electronic commerce adoption and subjective norms which predict women traders' intention to adopt electronic commerce. The analysis shows that about 38.9% of the variation in the dependent variable is explained by the above variables. Originality/value-Few studies have presented technology and electronic commerce adoption as resilience of women entrepreneurs in a time of crisis, despite the abundance of the review literature on adoption. This study provides a new approach to assist women entrepreneurs as well as researchers in understanding the drivers of electronic commerce adoption factors in the DRC

Electrodynamics in complex systems: Application to near-field probing of optical microresonators

This paper discusses recent theoretical efforts to develop a general and flexible method for the calculation of the field distributions around and inside complex optical systems involving both dielectric and metallic materials. Starting from the usual light-matter coupling Hamiltonian, we derive a self-consistent equation for the optical field in arbitrary optical systems composed of N different subdomains. We show that an appropriate solving procedure based on the real-space discretization of each subdomain raises the present approach to the rank of an accurate predictive numerical scheme. In order to illustrate its applicability, we use this formalism to address challenging problems related to nonradiative energy transfers in near-field optics. In particular, we investigate in detail the detuning of a microresonator probed by a near-field optical probe.</p