Innovative framework for e-government adoption in Saudi Arabia: a study from the business sector perspective

E-Government increases transparency and im- proves communication between the government and the users. Providing e-Government services to business sector is a fun- damental mission of governmental agencies in Saudi Arabia. However, the adoption of e-Government systems is less than satisfactory in many countries, particularly in developing coun- tries. This is a significant factor that can lead to e-Government failure and, therefore, to the waste of budget and effort. One pertinent, unanswered question is what are the key factors that influence the adoption and utilisation level of users from business sector. Unlike much research in the literature that has utilised common technology acceptance models and theories to analyse the adoption of e-Government, which may not be sufficient for such analysis, this study proposes a conceptual framework following a holistic approach to analyse key factors that influence the adoption and utilisation of e-Government in Saudi Arabia. The developed framework, E-Government Adoption and Utilisation Model (EGAUM), was developed based on critical evaluation of several common models and theories related to technology acceptance and use including Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), in conjunction with analysis of e-Government adoption literature. The study involved 48 participating business entities from two major cities in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh and Jeddah. The descriptive and statistical analyses are presented in this paper and the results indicated that all the proposed factors have degree of influence on the adoption and utilisation level. Perceived Benefits, Awareness, Previous Experience, and Regulations & Policies were found to be the significant factors that are most likely to influence the adoption and usage level of users from business sector. Keywords: E-Government; E-Services; Saudi Arabia; Technology Adoption; Influential Factors; Users’ Intention; Business Sector Perspectiv

An artificial life approach to studying niche differentiation in soundscape ecology

Artificial life simulations are an important tool in the study of ecological phenomena that can be difficult to examine directly in natural environments. Recent work has established the soundscape as an ecologically important resource and it has been proposed that the differentiation of animal vocalizations within a soundscape is driven by the imperative of intraspecies communication. The experiments in this paper test that hypothesis in a simulated soundscape in order to verify the feasibility of intraspecies communication as a driver of acoustic niche differentiation. The impact of intraspecies communication is found to be a significant factor in the division of a soundscape's frequency spectrum when compared to simulations where the need to identify signals from conspecifics does not drive the evolution of signalling. The method of simulating the effects of interspecies interactions on the soundscape is positioned as a tool for developing artificial life agents that can inhabit and interact with physical ecosystems and soundscapes.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, The 2019 Conference on Artificial Lif

Issues and challenges: cloud computing e-Government in developing countries

Cloud computing has become essential for IT resources that can be delivered as a service over the Internet. Many e-government services that are used worldwide provide communities with relatively complex applications and services. Governments are still facing many challenges in their implementation of e-government services in general, including Saudi Arabia, such as poor IT infrastructure, lack of finance, and insufficient data security. This research paper investigates the challenges of e-government cloud service models in developing countries. This paper finds that governments in developing countries are influenced by how the top management deals with the attention to the adoption of cloud computing. Further, organisational readiness levels of technologies, such as IT infrastructure, internet availability and social trust of the adoption of new technology as cloud computing, still present limitations for e-government cloud services adoption. Based on the findings of the critical review, this paper identifies the issues and challenges affecting the adoption of cloud computing in e- government such as IT infrastructure, internet availability, and trust adopted new technologies thereby highlighting benefits of cloud computing-based e-government services. Furthermore, we propose recommendations for developing IT systems focused on trust when adopting cloud computing in e-government services (CCEGov)

Book review: Democratic trajectories in Africa: unravelling the impact of foreign aid, edited by Danielle Resnick and Nicolas van de Walle

"Democratic Trajectories in Africa: Unravelling the Impact of Foreign Aid." Edited by Danielle Resnick and Nicolas van de Walle. Oxford University Press. October 2013. --- Despite impressive economic growth rates over the last decade, foreign aid still plays a significant role in Africa’s political economies. This book asks when, why, and how foreign aid has facilitated, or hindered, democratization in sub-Saharan Africa. The authors use a combination of cross-country quantitative analyses and in-depth case studies of Benin, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia based on recent interviews with donors, government officials, and civil society organizations. Researchers interested in the effects of foreign aid to the establishment and orchestration of democratic institutions will find this book useful in their studies, writes Jonathan R. Beloff

Ambient health monitoring: the smartphone as a body sensor network component

Inertial measurement units used in commercial body sensor networks (e.g. animation suits) are inefficient, difficult to use and expensive when adapted for movement science applications concerning medical and sports science. However, due to advances in micro-electro mechanical sensors, these inertial sensors have become ubiquitous in mobile computing technologies such as smartphones. Smartphones generally use inertial sensors to enhance the interface usability. This paper investigates the use of a smartphone’s inertial sensing capability as a component in body sensor networks. It discusses several topics centered on inertial sensing: body sensor networks, smartphone networks and a prototype framework for integrating these and other heterogeneous devices. The proposed solution is a smartphone application that gathers, processes and filters sensor data for the purpose of tracking physical activity. All networking functionality is achieved by Skeletrix, a framework for gathering and organizing motion data in online repositories that are conveniently accessible to researchers, healthcare professionals and medical care workers