Explore the vast range of titles available.

We live in a world defined by urbanization and digital ubiquity, where mobile broadband connections outnumber fixed ones, machines dominate a new \"Internet of things,\" and more people live in cities than in the countryside. In Smart Cities, urbanist and technology expert Anthony Townsend takes a broad historical look at the forces that have shaped the planning and design of cities and information technologies from the rise of the great industrial cities of the nineteenth century to the present. A century ago, the telegraph and the mechanical tabulator were used to tame cities of millions. Today, cellular networks and cloud computing tie together the complex choreography of mega-regions of tens of millions of people.

The dynamic COVID-19 pandemic has destabilized education and forced academic centers to explore non-traditional teaching modalities. A key challenge this creates is in reconciling the fact that hands-on time in lab settings has been shown to increase student understanding and peak their interests. Traditional visualization methods are already limited and topics such as 3D molecular structures remain difficult to understand. This is where advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), including remote meetings, Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Extended Reality (XR, so-called Metaverse) offer vast potential to revolutionize the education landscape. Specifically, how MR merges real and virtual life in a uniquely promising way and offers opportunities for entirely new educational applications. In this paper, we briefly overview and report our initial experience using MR to teach medical and pharmacy students. We also explore the future usefulness of MR in pharmacy education. MR mimics real-world experiences both in distance education and traditional laboratory classes. We also propose ICT-based systems designed to run on the Microsoft HoloLens2 MR goggles and can be successfully applied in medical and pharmacy coursework. The models were developed and implemented in Autodesk Maya and exported to Unity. Our findings demonstrate that MR-based solutions can be an excellent alternative to traditional classes, notably in medicine, anatomy, organic chemistry, and biochemistry (especially 3D molecular structures), in both remote and traditional in-person teaching modalities. MR therefore has the potential to become an integral part of medical education in both remote learning and in-person study.

Research background: The literature on the effects of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on performance is extensive and shows a significant positive effect. Likewise, the use of ICT to facilitate and report on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices implemented by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) contributes to improve business performance. Moreover, through innovative activities, firms also obtain competitive advantages that impact positively on their performance, even more so when they are impacted by CSR. For this reason, it is expected that the adoption of ICTs in companies through a CSR-oriented strategy will increase their impact on business performance.   Purpose of the article: This article tries to examine how ICT affects SMEs? performance through CSR and innovation. Methods: We tested our hypotheses using a sample of 2,825 Spanish SMEs and by applying a Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLS-PM) with a double confirmatory and predictive purpose: to identify the causal relationships between latent variables, and to evaluate the ability of the model to make predictions for individual cases. Findings & value added: The results show that CSR-oriented ICT impacts innovation by changing strategies and business model in companies. Moreover, the implementation of CSR practices gave them competitive advantages to increase their performance. We highlight how innovation gives companies greater capacity to respond to changes in their environment and how innovation positively impacts the link between CSR and performance. Finally, our research makes two significant contributions to the literature by incorporating two sequential mediating effects into the model. On the one hand, the indirect effect of ICT on innovation through CSR. On the other hand, the indirect effect of CSR on SME performance through innovation.

This extraordinary book explains the engine that has catapulted the Internet from backwater to ubiquity-and reveals that it is sputtering precisely because of its runaway success. With the unwitting help of its users, the generative Internet is on a path.

The widespread use of information and communication technologies (ICT) is evidenced by various devices, systems, and applications that enable organizations and individuals to interact with one another and the digital world. In this study, a comparative analysis framework was employed to evaluate different panel data techniques for the period 1990–2020. The aim is to ensure the robustness of the results and effectively assess ICT modeling in an economic context. The panel techniques found to be relevant and utilized in this study include pooled ordinary least squares (OLS), the fixed effects model (FEM), the random effects model (REM), two-stage least squares (2SLS), fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS), and robust least squares (ROBUSTLS). The sample comprises 12 trading partners in Pakistan, including both developed and developing economies. The results were consistent and robust across all the techniques employed. Based on these findings, various policy implications can be derived, such as the need for Pakistan to form strategic partnerships with both developed and developing nations to increase the trade component of ICT for rapid growth, because enhancing the ICT-based domestic industry will provide more employment and production opportunities.This study emphasizes the essential role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in fostering international trade, with a particular focus on Pakistan’s interactions with its trading partners. Using a comparative analysis of various panel data techniques over three decades, the research not only verifies the positive impact of ICT advancement on both exports and imports, but also recommends strategic collaborations with technologically advanced nations to enhance Pakistan’s trade dynamics. These findings are vital for policymakers, as they suggest that integrating ICT into trade policies can significantly promote economic growth, sustainability, and global competitiveness. By demonstrating the consistent and robust effect of ICT on trade volumes, this study underscores the importance of Pakistan investing in ICT infrastructure and innovation, promoting a digital economy that can lead to increased employment, production opportunities, and sustainable economic practices in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The higher educational institutions are introducing and implementing Learning Management Systems (LMS) for effective communications with students and for adoption of technology based learning processes. However, the success of LMS depends mostly on instructors’ adoption of LMS. This study is incorporating different important factors with TAM to study the impacts of these factors on instructors’ behavioural intention to use LMS. A sample of 247 instructors was used for model testing. PLS-SEM technique was used as a testing method. The PLS-SEM results show that Task Technology Fit (TTF), Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) have direct impacts on behavioural intention while TTF, Compatibility, Convenience, Self-Efficacy, Personal Innovativeness and Subjective Norm have significant impacts on PU and PEOU. Empirical findings of this research provide a better understanding for instructors’ adoption of LMS. In addition, the research highlights different aspects that lead towards successful adoption of LMS.

It is frequently argued that the ‘digital divide’ is one of the most significant development issues facing impoverished regions of the world. Yet, even though the term is inherently spatial, there have been no sustained efforts to examine the geographic assumptions underlying discourses of the ‘digital divide.’ This article traces the history of the term, reviewing some of its tangible effects and placing a focus on the temporal and spatial assumptions underpinning ‘digital divide’ discourses. Alternative formulations of the ‘digital divide’ are offered which take into account the hybrid, scattered, ordered and individualized nature of cyberspaces.

This study examined determinants of attitudes towards and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in older adults, including variations in cultural context, socio-demographic factors (age, education, and gender) and the individual’s time perspective. Towards this end, 638 older adults in Italy (n = 262, M = 71.7 years) and Sweden (n = 376, M = 69.9 years) completed the Swedish Time Perspective Inventory (S-ZTPI), the Attitude toward Technologies Questionnaire (ATTQ), and questions regarding use of specific digital technologies (e.g. Internet, Skype, Facebook); data were collected in 2013–2014. The results showed more positive attitudes toward ICTs in Swedish compared with Italian elderly as well as more frequent use of technologies. Regardless of nationality, younger age and higher levels of educational attainment was positively associated with attitudes towards ICTs. Male gender was associated with higher ATTQ scores in the Italian, but not in the Swedish, sample. Time perspective accounted for significant variance beyond the foregoing variables. S-ZTPI Past Negative, Future Negative and Present Fatalistic in particular, were (negatively) related to ATTQ scores, with a similar pattern for ICT use. Future Positive and Present Hedonistic were positively associated with ATTQ scores, across the samples. In conclusion, between-person differences in time perspective organization are an important factor to account for variability in attitudes towards and use of ICTs in old age, and appears to exert an influence over and beyond other significant predictors, such as cultural context, age/cohort membership, and educational level.

A comparative analysis of the practice of implementing e-government in different countries gives an opportunity to identify the advantages and disadvantages of existing information systems, find ways to optimize and improve the efficiency of public administration. The purpose of this study was to identify the leading countries in e-Government development for comparison with Ukraine, and to apply their positive experience in implementing e-portals, creating the necessary regulatory framework, disseminating the Internet, and attracting citizens to participate in the processes of forming the information society. The article explores the dynamics of E-Government Development Index (EGDI) and E-Participation Index (EPI), analyzes the achievements of developed countries in e-government, and identifies leading countries such as the United Kingdom, France and Spain whose experience is useful for its application in Ukraine. The qualitative analysis of the achievements of different countries was based on the UN e-Government knowledgebase and the United Nations E-Government Survey from 2003 to 2018, information from e-Governance research articles, government website data, newsletters, and research findings. The study of e-government practice in leading countries and in Ukraine shows that the development of public information space has many similarities and the process of e-government formation in developing countries in many spheres follows the path of developed countries, preserving their own national features. The authors of the article have identified the main common components of this process, outlined aspects of improving the practice of e-government in the direction of building an effective system of public administration.

We estimated the world's technological capacity to store, communicate, and compute information, tracking 60 analog and digital technologies during the period from 1986 to 2007. In 2007, humankind was able to store 2.9 × 10²⁰ optimally compressed bytes, communicate almost 2 × 10²¹ bytes, and carry out 6.4 × 10²⁸ instructions per second on general-purpose computers. General-purpose computing capacity grew at an annual rate of 58%. The world's capacity for bidirectional telecommunication grew at 28% per year, closely followed by the increase in globally stored information (23%). Humankind's capacity for unidirectional information diffusion through broadcasting channels has experienced comparatively modest annual growth (6%). Telecommunication has been dominated by digital technologies since 1990 (99.9% in digital format in 2007), and the majority of our technological memory has been in digital format since the early 2000s (94% digital in 2007).