Review on Network Function Virtualization in Information-Centric Networking

Network function virtualization (NFV / VNF) and information-centric networking (ICN) are two trending technologies that have attracted expert's attention. NFV is a technique in which network functions (NF) are decoupling from commodity hardware to run on to create virtual communication services. The virtualized class nodes can bring several advantages such as reduce Operating Expenses (OPEX) and Capital Expenses (CAPEX). On the other hand, ICN is a technique that breaks the host-centric paradigm and shifts the focus to 'named information' or content-centric. ICN provides highly efficient content retrieval network architecture where popular contents are cached to minimize duplicate transmissions and allow mobile users to access popular contents from caches of network gateways. This paper investigates the implementation of NFV in ICN. Besides, reviewing and discussing the weaknesses and strengths of each architecture in a critical analysis manner of both network architectures. Eventually, highlighted the current issues and future challenges of both architectures. © 2021 IEEE

E-government adoption: a systematic review in the context of developing nations

Objective of the Study: This paper reviews the studies of e-government adoption in developing nations to come up with the factors that influence e-government adoption.Methodology/Approach: Secondary data was collected from the findings of other researches. Systematically, two reputable databases; Scopus and IEEE Explore were searched to retrieve studies of e-government adoption in developing nations.Originality/Relevance: Adoption has a key role in the successful implementation of e-government initiatives in the context of developing nations. However, minimal research has been carried out to explore determinant factors of e-government services adoption among developing nations’ citizens.Main Results: The theories and models applied in previous researches were identified. Moreover, the frequency of factors investigated in these studies was identified. The results showed that there are many studies investigated trust as an important factor of e-government adoption in developing nations, while there are other critical challenges such as security and awareness got less attention.Theoretical/Methodological Contribution: This study results may open for future research based on the gap in theories applied and the factors investigated in the context of developing nations

Mediating Role of Trust Between Transformational Leadership, Knowledge Management, and Employee Innovation Among the Employees of Customs Department Dubai

Purpose:  The purpose of the study was to identify the mediating role of trust between transformational leadership, knowledge management and employee innovation among the employees of customs department Dubai United Arab Emirates. For meeting the objectives of the study and to test the framework of the study, the current study collected data from the employees of custom department of Dubai.     Theoretical framework: Employee innovation is considered as a key participant in organizational success. Leadership plays a significant role in developing employee innovation; however, it becomes successful only when the leader succeeds in developing trust among the employees.   Design/methodology/approach: The data has been collected from 371 employees and structural equation modelling has been applied to test the relationships and mediation analysis.   Findings: The findings revealed that both leadership and knowledge management have a significant impact over employee innovation. Likewise, trust significantly mediate the relationship between transformational leadership, knowledge management and employee innovation.   Research, Practical & Social implications:  The research opens the horizons for several other studies to explore other influencing variables for promoting employee innovation   Originality/value: Provide a more nuanced and integrated perspective on how leadership and knowledge management affect trust and, eventually, employee innovation by evaluating them together, even though our examination of existing studies reveals that they were evaluated independently so far

Models of adopting cloud computing in the e-government context: a review

Governments and public sector agencies are continuously looking for ways to improve their services. Therefore, there is a need for restructuring processes and effectively using technology to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the business operations. Cloud computing is one of recent technological trends that support these efforts. It is a new type of sourcing model in which computing services are provided as a utility over the Internet. This paper analyzes the benefits and challenges of cloud computing over e-government systems. It reviews the existing literature on the proposed models of cloud computing adoption in the context of e-government. Further, this paper critically analyzes and classifies these models to different categories

Examining relationship between service quality, user satisfaction, and performance impact in the context of smart government in UAE

Governments attempt to use all forms of information technologies including Internet and mobile computing to be able to transform relationships with citizens. However, there is a clear gap between the indicator of the impact of technology innovation output and government’s vision in UAE (United Arab Emirates). In this regard, investigating the relationship between service quality, user satisfaction, and performance impact may help the government to mark its current progress and milestone achievement. This research proposed a model based on Delone & McLean IS success model by considering the research context. The modeling of structural equations via PLS (Partial least squares) regression was applied to evaluate the model within the context of public sector in the UAE. The data was collected from a sample of 147 employees in public organizations using a questionnaire. Results demonstrated that the quality of service has a significant effect on user satisfaction. In addition, quality of service and user satisfaction positively influences the staff performance. The outcome of this research helps to enhance the understanding of the impact of smart government applications

E-government adoption: A systematic review in the context of developing nations

Objective of the Study: This paper reviews the studies of e-government adoption in developing nations to come up with the factors that influence e-government adoption. Methodology/Approach: Secondary data was collected from the findings of other researches. Systematically, two reputable databases; Scopus and IEEE Explore were searched to retrieve studies of e-government adoption in developing nations. Originality/Relevance: Adoption has a key role in the successful implementation of egovernment initiatives in the context of developing nations. However, minimal research has been carried out to explore determinant factors of e-government services adoption among developing nations' citizens. Main Results: The theories and models applied in previous researches were identified. Moreover, the frequency of factors investigated in these studies was identified. The results showed that there are many studies investigated trust as an important factor of egovernment adoption in developing nations, while there are other critical challenges such as security and awareness got less attention. Theoretical/Methodological Contribution: This study results may open for future research based on the gap in theories applied and the factors investigated in the context of developing nations

Enhancing the Knowledge of Cervical Cancer Screening among Female Nursing Students: An Interventional Educational Program

Background: Cervical cancer is a growing health risk facing women worldwide with the human papillomavirus (HPV) as the primary underlying cause. Pap smear is a simple screening test that can detect early changes in cervical cells, which might develop into cancer cells. Raising awareness of cervical cancer prevention has a significant impact on decreasing the burden of the disease. The aim of the study is to assess female nursing students' knowledge on early detection and screening of cervical cancer, and to determine the effectiveness of an educational program. Methods: A quasi-experimental research design (one group for pre- and post-tests) was utilized with a convenience sample of 130 female nursing students in one of the nursing colleges in Saudi Arabia. The study’s educational intervention included information about anatomy of genital tract and the importance of regular check-ups. The pre- and post-tests were applied to identify changes after intervention measures. Results: The mean age of the participants were 21.32 years (SD: 1.34). The findings revealed a significant improvement of post-test students’ knowledge in all items related to risk factors, signs and symptoms, occurrence, identification of HPV as causative agent, vaccination against HPV, and finally Pap smear for early detection and screening of cervical cancer. Conclusion: The study results support implementing educational intervention to improve nursing students' knowledge and awareness about cervical cancer prevention. Furthermore, it is imperative that cervical cancer awareness education modules should be developed and integrated within the nursing curriculum. Further studies with large sample size are recommended to increase generalization of the results.  Key words: cervical cancer, education program, primary prevention, nursing students, Saudi Arabi

The effect of cloud computing adoption on the sustainability of e-government services: A review

The environment in which public organizations exist changed.Trends such as demographic change, environmental pressures and technological innovation have created significant challenges to how public organizations do their business. Accordingly, public organizations need to have innovative strategies to tackle today’s business environment by adopting sustainable business practices. Sustainability governance needs scalable and interoperable technology platform to support analyzing, integration, sharing and monitoring different types of data and sustainability measurements. Cloud computing is the potential candidate platform to support sustainability governance. It gives agility to business and provides a platform for sustainable business with improved services, better environment and resource management. This research revisits the related concepts, and provides an analysis of the previous researches to identify the gap of incorporating cloud computing as a platform of developing sustainable e-services. Results show that research on the role of cloud computing in ensuring provision of sustainable e-government services still scarce.There is a lack of research addresses the challenges in government projects and developing more sustainable e-government services by selecting and applying the appropriate cloud model

Boosted PTS Method with Mu-Law Companding Techniques for PAPR Reduction in OFDM Systems

This paper proposes an enhanced PAPR reduction technique which combines an enhanced PTS method with Mu-Law companding. The enhanced PTS method improves performances in both the partitioning and phase rotation steps. Enhancement in partitioning is achieved through a judicious incorporation of AP-PTS scheme into the IP-PTS. As for phase rotation, an optimal set of rotation vectors is derived based on the correlation properties of candidate signals. The PAPR reduction of this enhanced PTS method is further improved by annexing Mu-Law companding at the end of the enhanced PTS. This application of Mu-Law characteristic in the time domain of OFDM signal significantly improves the PAPR reduction capability of the approach. Simulation results show that the PAPR performance of the enhanced PTS method with Mu-Law companding technique on various scenarios with different modulation schemes is better than that of the PRP-PTS. This approach can be considered as a very attractive candidate for achieving a significant reduction of PAPR, while maintaining a low computational complexity

Exploring the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on university students’ learning life: An integrated conceptual motivational model for sustainable and healthy online learning

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many organizations around the world to make full use of a variety of emerging online communication platform technologies. Universities are among the organizations that have asked students, tutors, and lecturers to use a number of different online communication platforms to ensure the education process remains uninterrupted. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has generated considerable challenges for the global higher education community while using such emerging technologies. This research has two main goals. First, this paper will begin by investigating whether the online learning platforms used by university students during the COVID-19 period have presented any challenges to their learning. Second, the paper will then go on to address proposed solutions by developing a conceptual model to reduce the impact of such challenges. This research uses an exploratory qualitative research approach, supported by literature content analysis techniques. The data set for this study was collected during the first peak of the pandemic period in Malaysia, between the 16th of May 2020 and the 5th of June 2020. We used SPSS to conduct a descriptive analysis and NVivo12 to analyse data collected from 486 students from different universities in Malaysia. These students disclosed various obstacles they encountered when they used IT platform applications for online learning. These obstacles include (a) work and information overload received from instructors, (b) inadaptability and unfamiliarity of the new online learning environment, and (c) personal health challenges related to stress and anxiety. Based on previous relevant research, this study introduced a set of motivational factors and developed a conceptual motivational model for sustainable and healthy online learning