Life Cycle Assessment of ICT

This paper explores the contribution that information and communication technologies (ICTs) make to regional development. ICTs offer the potential to improve the quality of information flow within regional settings. This research investigates the impact that ICTs have at the regional level, and the role they play in developing local, regional and global networks. The ICT networks are themselves affected by local regional culture and this research examines the recursive relationship between the soft networks created by social capital and hard ICT based networks. The setting for this research is regional New Zealand. One urban and one rural region have been studied over the twenty year period, from 1985 to 2005. In the regional setting tacit or soft knowledge is built up through networks such as “Women in Dairying” and “Grey Power”. Social interaction and the exchange of information are easier and cheaper in the regional context. Within the regional setting these soft social networks interact with hard ICT based networks, and when brought together they can facilitate both national and international information flows. A historical approach has been used to plot the development of both soft and hard networks in the two contrasting regions. In terms of soft networks New Zealand became more culturally diverse and liberal especially in the urban areas. Social capital in terms of volunteering and membership of community groups was high throughout the period though its form changed. As the country worked on developing new global trading links with new partners in Asia, there was a parallel fast take up of new ICTs such as the Internet which offered the opportunity to overcome some of the barriers created by the geographic remoteness of New Zealand. The focus of this paper will be on the interplay between these soft social networks and the hard ICT based networks and the role they play in establishing national and global linkages.

Translation as a form of language mediation is called upon to convert the source text written in one natural language into the target text in another, to assimilate or disseminate information across language barriers. Prior to the ubiquitous availability of the Internet, translators worked without the benefit of fast and affordable online access to up-to-date information in a wide variety of languages or to fellow translators in different geographical locations to share knowledge. Translation texts were largely in printed form and their circulation was dependent on physical delivery systems. In response to the widespread use of information and communication technology (ICT) leading to the advent of the Internet, the concept of teletranslation was first proposed (O’Hagan, 1996) to demarcate an emerging translation paradigm based on electronic networks of global communication rather than one where physical transportation was the main means for moving texts. It represented the new modus operandi where translators, which may include machine translation (MT), and customers are electronically linked with online access to translation tools and to other translators for knowledge sharing. It presupposes the translation text to be in electronic form and thus able to be seamlessly transmitted, stored, and processed by electronic means. Today, teletranslation has been embodied in Web-based platforms on the Internet, allowing the translator not only to receive and transmit translation text, but also to procure translation jobs, conduct research as well as collaborate in teams. Furthermore, an increasing array of computer applications has made computeraided translation (CAT) commonplace (Quah, 2006) where technology is indispensable for the production of translation. On the basis of the infrastructure supported by ICT networks as well as the prevailing use of CAT, teletranslation continues to develop as the predominant paradigm in the translation industry. The term translation embraces different modes of language mediation. According to the strict use of the terminology, however, “translating” refers to the act of mediating communication in written form, which typically takes place asynchronously whereas “interpreting” facilitates oral communication in synchronous mode as in conference interpreting. So far, the impact of ICT has been far more prominent in translation than in interpretation where text-processing tools play a limited role in oral communication and face-to-face mode prevails with little dependence on electronic means, with a few exceptions of remote interpreting modes. These language mediation modes serve to facilitate a given communicative situation where the sender and the receiver of the message do not share a common language, therefore requiring the source language to be converted into the target language in a required form. The language mediator plays the unique role of simultaneously being the receiver of the source text and the sender of the target text where translating or interpreting forms an act of communication embedded in another act of communication (Hatim & Mason, 1997, pp. 1–2). This fundamental role played by the language mediator remains the same in teletranslation. This article provides the background to the emergence of teletranslation, its current status, and future prospects with reference to relevant research and developments in related fields.

Purpose The article proposes a taxonomy of knowledge-based and information and communication technology (ICT) networks based on a systematic literature review. The specific objectives focus on (1) presenting knowledge-based and ICT network models, indicating their theoretical context (trends); (2) identifying proposals for knowledge-based network models in the literature (based on SLR); (3) developing a taxonomy of knowledge-based network models; and (4) indicating the directions of their development. Design/methodology/approach The systematic literature review (SLR) methodology was used, which allows not only for a formalized and objectified synthesis of the existing scientific achievements or for the evaluation of previous research. In addition, the “snowball” method was used, and its application was supported by the use of the ResearchRabbit tool. In addition, the taxonomy method (typological analysis, typological approach) was used. Findings The results of SLR were presented: a list of selected types of knowledge-based and ICT networks along with a discussion of the results, and the author’s proposals for a taxonomy of knowledge-based and ICT networks were presented along with a synthetic description of the leading models. The directions of their development were also indicated. Practical implications (*if any, optional). The practical usefulness of the proposal contained in the study is related to the possibility of using the proposed concept to evaluate various types of network models, which will enable the formulation of diagnostic findings and conducting comparative and dynamic research in the field of analysis and evaluation of knowledge-based and ICT-based network models. Originality/value The added value of the article is related to the development of a proprietary taxonomy of knowledge- and ICT-based networks and, consequently, to the organization and systematization of models of these networks. This taxonomy is a valuable tool for organizing and categorizing information systematically. When it comes to knowledge and ICT-based networks, a taxonomy can help classify and understand the different types and components involved in starting point division into network models that were created as a result of the virtualization process and models that were created as a result of exchange processes and the flow of intangible assets. The added value is also related to the practical usefulness of the developed taxonomy.

In the past decades, serious natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, and storms have occurred frequently worldwide with catastrophic consequences. They also helped us understand that organising and maintaining effective communication during the disaster are vital for the execution of rescue operations. As communication resources are often entirely or partially damaged by disasters, the demand for information and communication technology (ICT) services explosively increases just after the events. These situations instigate serious network traffic congestions and physical damage of ICT equipments and emergency ICT networks if uprooted as a pre-disaster network system. This article proposes a network architecture design by integrating the existing network infrastructure with the reinforcement of layers based techniques and cloud processing concepts. This resilient network architecture allows the ICT services to be launched within a reasonable short period of time of development. Furthermore, communication in a disaster is sustained by implementing a three-tier fortification of the overall network architecture which would also minimize the physical and logical redundancy for resilient and flexible ICT resources. As cloud processing will work as a parallel reinforced infrastructure, the proposed approach and network design will give new hope for the developing countries to consider cloud computing services for effectiveness and better dependability on the architecture to save ICT and humanitarian network at the time of disaster.

The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the teaching and learning process has been the subject of extensive research in the past few decades. Many studies have discussed the benefits of ICT for teachers and learners. However, little is known about the main factors that influence teachers’ attitudes toward the use of ICT in their teaching practices. This study aimed to explore the attitudes of secondary school EFL teachers in the Western District of Chlef toward ICT use in Algeria. Additionally, the study attempted to investigate the relationship between teachers’ computer attitudes and five independent variables: personal characteristics, computer attributes, cultural perceptions, computer competence, and computer access. Mixed methods research was used to combine both quantitative and qualitative research methods. A questionnaire and semi-structured interview were used in order to collect the data. Both descriptive and inferential statistics as well as content analysis were conducted to analyse the data. The findings indicated that EFL teachers held positive attitudes toward ICT in education. There were statistically significant positive correlations between teachers’ attitudes toward ICT and the five aforementioned independent variables. It was also found that age and academic qualification had negatively correlated with attitudes. The results of this study give meaningful insights for educational practitioners and policy-makers in relation to the implementation of ICT for teaching and learning in the classroom. Finally, the study presented some implications for policy and practice and recommendations for further research that will enhance teachers’ use of ICT in their teaching practices.

Information and communication technology (ICT) use has been associated with well-being among older adults. This link is often attributed to the fact that ICT use facilitates connecting with others. The purpose of this study is to assess how contact frequency and social tie strength impact the relationship between ICT use and depressive symptoms among older adults. Using data from the Detroit-based Social Relations Study collected in 2015, we use Bayesian analyses to examine the extent to which contact frequency with social network members moderates and the strength of these social tie (strong, moderate, and weak) mediate the link between ICT use and depressive symptoms among adults age 60 + (n = 483). ICT use was found to be associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Furthermore, ICT use was associated with more moderate and weak ties which were, in turn, associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Finally, a moderating effect was also found as ICT use was associated with fewer depressive symptoms only among those with lower contact frequency. Our findings suggest that for older adults who communicate with others less frequently, ICT use can prove beneficial to mental health (i.e., fewer depressive symptoms). Furthermore ICT use may be especially meaningful to connect with weaker social ties. These findings may be due in part to ICTs capabilities which enable older adults to maintain connection to a diverse array of social ties and bridge social and physical distance.

This study uses data from two waves of the Encuesta Longitudinal de Empresas (ELE) to examine the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICT) use and product innovation in Chilean firms. Our findings sustain the hypothesis that ICT act as enablers of innovation. However, the impacts of ICT on product innovation depend on the type of application considered. In particular, we find positive and significant association between production-integrating ICT, i.e. administrative and industry-specific software, and product innovation, while this is not the case for market-oriented ICT such as e-commerce or client relationship manager software. Finally, the results show that not every ICT combination is beneficial for innovation: firms that show a basic use of ICT are not associated with a better likelihood of introducing innovation, while firms with an advanced use of ICT are those with the more likelihood of innovating.

본 연구에서는 국제 교육성취도 평가협회가 시행한 ICILS 2013의 교사 설문 자료를 활용하여 우리나라 중학교 과학 교사의 ICT 활용 실태를 다른 나라와 비교하였다. ICILS 2013은 중학교 2학년을 대상으로 하고 있으며, 18개 참여국 중 컴퓨터 정보 소양 점수가 높은 호주, 체코, 노르웨이, 폴란드와 우리나라 과학 교사들의 ICT 활용 실태를 비교하였다. 본 연구에서는 ICILS 2013의 교사 설문지 중에서 과학 교사의 ICT 활용 실태를 분석할 수 있는 9문항을 선택하였는데, 문항들은 교사의 컴퓨터 이용 실태, 수업에서 ICT 활용 현황, 학교의 ICT 활용 지원 환경의 범주로 나누어 분석되었다. 우리나라 중학교 과학 교사의 컴퓨터 사용 실태를 보면, 컴퓨터를 비교적 많이 사용하며 컴퓨터에 대한 자아효능감도 다른 나라에 비해 높은 편이었다. 그러나 일반적인 컴퓨터 활용은 잘한다고 응답한 비율이 높지만 교수학습과 관련된 컴퓨터 활용에서는 낮은 자신감을 나타내었다. 수업에서 활용에서도 비교적 다양한 응용프로그램을 사용하지만 프레젠테이션이나 그래픽 소프트웨어에 대한 활용의 비중이 높은 편이고 학습활동이나 교수활동에서도 교사주도의 정보 제공이나 과제 제시에 대한 활동의 비중은 높지만 협업이나 상호작용이 많은 활동에서는 낮은 응답을 나타내었다. 또한 우리나라 과학 교사들은 ICT 활용하는 것에 대해서 긍정적인 관점보다는 부정적인 관점을 많이 가지고 있었다. 학교에서 컴퓨터 관련 자원을 지원하는 정도는 지원이 부족하다고 응답하는 경우가 많았으며 조사 항목 대부분에서 호주나 체코에 비해 지원 정도가 낮다고 응답하였다. 또한 충분한 ICT 기기나 컴퓨터가 구식 모델이고 디지털 학습 자료가 부족하다고 응답하였다. 여기서 드러나 문제점을 개선하기 위해서는 ICT 교육 인프라에 대한 지속적인 지원과 더불어 학생활동 중심의 ICT 교수학습 방법에 대한 개발과 보급이 필요할 것으로 보인다. In this study, we compared the use of information and communications technology (ICT) by middle school teachers in Korea and other countries utilizing the teacher survey data of the IEA International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) 2013. The ICILS target population consisted of all students in the eighth grade. We compared Korea with Australia, the Czech Republic, Norway, and Poland, which are nations showing the highest achievements in computer and information literacy. We selected nine questions from the teacher questionnaire and divided them into the categories of computer use, use of ICT for teaching and learning, and the ICT support environment in school. In comparison to their counterparts in other countries, Korean middle school science teachers used computers frequently and also had high ICT self-efficacy. They were confident in their ability to use computers for general tasks, but not in their ability to use computers for teaching and learning. The Korean teachers also had a high percentage of utilization of presentation and graphics software. Also, the proportion of activities concerning the information provided and teacher-led tasks was high, but the proportion of activities for student collaboration or peer interaction was low. In Korea, middle school science teachers had more negative than positive views of using ICT in teaching and learning. The teachers thought that computer-related resource support and digital learning materials were insufficient and that the computer model was outdated in schools. Therefore, we propose to build an ICT infrastructure and to develop and disseminate ICT teaching and learning methods for student activities.

Critical infrastructures are interdependent systems that are continuously evolving. Their evolution is, oftentimes, in a way that tightens, or creates new, interdependences. As urban areas continue to develop, the philosophy of officials and policy makers to meet growth in the energy demand tends to prioritize sustainable planning by deferring infrastructural upgrades and relying instead on the smart operation. Relying on information and communication technology (ICT) network is a prerequisite to achieving smart operation. With the anticipated high penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs) and electric vehicles (EVs), increased reliance on real-time monitoring and control is a must for the power grid to handle such unprecedented levels of load/generation uncertainties. This paper sheds light on how the power grid, the ICT network, and the transportation network are interrelated and interdependent. This paper also presents a benchmark problem for this type of research and a case study. Initial results of the case study show that the impact of these rising interdependences may be significant and must be fully understood and taken into consideration.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the introduction and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the special disciplines of higher education, to teach teachers how to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning through information and communication technologies (ICT). This article discusses the issues of improving the knowledge and skills of students through the use of modern information and communication technologies in the preparation of designers, increasing students' interest in the educational process and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice in the future. The focus is on the need to develop appropriate strategies for a new educational role and, in addition, to enhance the role of learners in integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) into the educational process. The role and perspective of the teachers was very important, highlighting them as key players in the process. The data show that there is a belief that the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the educational process will help increase the effectiveness of education and facilitate the organization of the educational process. In particular, it shows that the contribution of information and communication technologies (ICT) to the improvement of the educational process in educational institutions, where information and communication technologies (ICT) is an innovative factor, is high. Achieving this high level means that the educational institution must not only modernize technological means, but also change the models of teaching.

Teaching and learning activities in Chilean classrooms: Is ICT making a difference?

Actuality of the conducted research is practically oriented character. Without the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the field of higher education, it is impossible to carry out qualitative training of specialists in engineering, the results of which are necessary for the implementation of a national strategy for modernizing the economy and forming a progressive state of European type. Formulation of the task - the specificity of the use of ICT in the system of higher education has not been studied sufficiently. ICT form a complex environment, which includes a lot of information objects and the links between them. It can be argued that the structural and functional analysis of the use of ICT in higher education is the basis of the theoretical justification in the formation of technical professionalism of future engineers. ICTs form a complex system, which includes not only technical and software-hardware capabilities, but also psycho-pedagogical, organizational, methodological. Without taking into account all of these components, as well as the needs of the subjects of the educational process, the use of ICT tools (especially centralized) may be accompanied by risks and negatively affect the quality of high education. An analysis of recent research and publications-is actively exploring the experience of using ICT in high school, it is possible to distinguish the work of foreign specialists D. Stevenson, G. Reinhold, E. Wenger, S. Papierta, I. Zakharova, E. Patarakina, A. Khutorskogo, E. Polat The founders of this scientific direction in our country were M. I. Zhaldak, Y. I.Mashbits. The recent significant increase in the number of studies, the subject of which was the use of information and communication technologies in the educational process. Tsitemi in Ukraine is dedicated to the study of such scholars as V. Yu. Bykov, Ya.V. Bulakhova, O.M. Bondarenko, V.F. Zabolotny, G.O. Kozlakova, O. Moiko, O. Naumenko, Yu.Burovitskaya, I. Stavyts'ka, O.P. Pinchuk, O.V. Shestopal and others. Selection of unexplored parts of the general problem. The use of information technologies in the educational process is the foundation of innovative development of the educational system. The rapid development of ICT provides not only significant pace of innovative progress, but also requires the definition (limitation) of information resources that guarantee the quality of learning, the choice of techniques that are in line with the general strategy for the formation of professional competences. Therefore, the problem of choosing an approach to the process of learning with the use of ICTs remains one of the main tasks of education. Research methods. In theory and practice, the study of the application of information and communication technologies (ICT) in high school uses empirical methods of collecting and analyzing information based on the results of the survey of 120 students. Presenting main material. The essence of professionalism of future specialists of the technical direction is revealed. The scientific point of view on the professionalism of the engineer is presented. The peculiarities of formation of the basis of technical professionalism of future engineers in the process of studying at a higher school are theoretically grounded. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the results of empirical researches of this problem is presented. The practical significance of the research topic is that the innovative approaches to the training of specialists in engineering specialties are differentiated, which differentiate in the educational concepts of teaching in higher educational institutions of European countries

High levels of Internet usage are prevalent among young people. Alongside this increased use, dangerous attitudes and practices among students have been observed. This study aimed to analyse the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) among high school students, their attitudes, and the relationship with gender. A sample of 869 participants aged 11 to 18 was selected, and we developed the Internet Use and Attitudes Scale for Virtual Social Networks (VSN). This scale comprises subscales assessing VSN dependence, parental control, enhancement of social relationships, and engagement in violent behaviour and consumption of inappropriate content. After validating this scale, we employed latent profile analysis to discern unique behavioural and attitudinal profiles among the students. The analysis yielded three distinct groups. The majority (66%) fell into the “Positive Attitude” group (52% female, 48% male). The “Negative Attitude” group represented 29% (49.5% female, 50.5% male), and the “Dangerous Attitude” group comprised 5% (28.3% female, 71.7% male). The “Dangerous Attitude” profile exhibited the highest levels of VSN dependency, violence, and inappropriate content consumption. Males were overrepresented in this category. These findings provide greater insight into problematic Internet use among students, revealing gender disparities. Males were more likely to engage in dangerous online activities like cyberbullying and accessing inappropriate content. Targeted interventions addressing negative attitudes and violent cyberbehaviours are needed, especially for male students. This research enriches our understanding of youth’s online habits, attitudes, and risks.

Information and Communication Technology, electricity consumption and economic growth in OECD countries: A panel data analysis

The study assessed the awareness and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) among small scale farmers in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria. Seventy-five (75) farmers were sampled and interviewed using the random sampling technique. The results showed that majority of the farmers (74.6%) were between (31-60) years of age. Most of the respondents (80%) were males and (80%) of them are educated. The result showed that all the respondents are aware of the use of Radio and Television as a means of communicating agricultural information. Based on usage of ICTs, Radio recorded the highest usage (40%) followed by mobile phone (33.3%), print Media (10.0%), Television (8.0%) and lastly computer/internet (5.3%). The result also indicated that lack of constant power supply (with mean score of (3.89). High cost of ICTs (with mean score of 3.72), complexity of ICTS (With mean score of 3.64), and lack of credit and loan to obtain ICTS (with mean score of 3.56) were the major constraints to ICTs utilization by small scale farmers in the study area. It was therefore recommended that extension agents should encourage farmers on the use of the various ICT devices. Government should provide infrastructures like electricity and internet services in the rural areas to enable farmers make use of some necessary ICT devices. Government should also partner with relevant non-governmental organizations in order to provide the ICTs devices at subsidized and affordable rate to farmers.