Digital librarianship practice and open access technology use for sustainable development in Nigeria

Purpose The continuous advancement in technology has disrupted practices in many sectors, including education. Thus, this study aims to examine digital librarianship practice and open access technology use for sustainable development in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach The survey type of descriptive research design was adopted in this study while the population of the study comprised librarians in universities in Delta State. A total of 38 randomly selected librarians from four universities in Delta State were used for this study, and the data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics. Findings This study revealed that the level of digital librarianship practice in university libraries in Delta State for sustainable development is low; just as social media tools, open source integrated library systems and Google Cloud Platforms are the most commonly used open access technologies in the libraries. Furthermore, this study showed that perennial factors such as poor funding of education, inadequate quality educational infrastructure, mismanagement of education fund among others are hindrance to sustainable development in the country’s educational sector. Research limitations/implications This study is limited in its use of only one state (out of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja) in Nigeria for this research. Also, social desirability bias on the part of the respondents could have influenced the pattern in which the respondents reacted to items in section D. Practical implications This study has practical implications for the sensitization and training of librarians towards leveraging on the various open access technologies in delivering effective library and information services required in the Fourth Industrial revolution. Originality/value This study seeks to pioneer a new area of focus by examining digital librarianship practice and open access technology use as enablers of sustainable development.

Promoting Access to Health Technologies in the Post-pandemic Era: Gavi, Global Fund, Unitaid, and Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) Programs

Purpose: Global collaboration to accelerate development and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines was launched with the name of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A), and this initiative owes its expertise to the lessons learned of the global health organizations. To date, the comprehensive mechanisms and potential effects of the initiative remain largely unknown. Methods: This study reviewed the programs of Gavi, the Global Fund, Unitaid, and ACT-A, which mitigating barriers to greater use of health technology with an analytic framework. Results and conclusion: The study findings are as follows. First, programs to alleviate the absence of necessary technology include the International Finance Facility for Immunization and Covax Facility. Second, Pooled Procurement Mechanism and Accelerated Order Mechanism are examples of mitigating the inability to access technology. Third, programs to overcome reluctance to adopt accessible technology include health system strengthening efforts such as the capacity-building health workforces. Further actions of Korea are needed to collaborate with the initiatives to enhance health outcomes.

Partnership model for sericulture development to improve farmer’s welfare (a case study at bina mandiri farmer group at Sukabumi Regency)

One of the agro-industrial sectors that has the potential to improve the welfare of the community is sericulture. Sericulture is an activity in the silk agroindustry, ranging from mulberry cultivation, silkworm cultivation, yarn, and fabric production to marketing. However, 95% of domestic demand for silk yarn is still imported from China although the quality local silk yarn is not inferior to Chinese products. Problems hindering silk development in Indonesia include limited capital and access, technology, and markets. Also the lack of policy supports for the development of sericulture. This paper presents partnership patterns in sericulture development between related parties (government, entrepreneurs, and silk farmers). The research was conducted at the Bina Mandiri Farmers Group, Sukamaju Village, Kadudampit District, Sukabumi Regency. The research method used was descriptive qualitative. The results showed that the partnership pattern developed was the plasma nucleus pattern. The step of cooperation in forming a business partnership is one strategy to develop a business for farmers. It requires maximum support from entrepreneurs through training packages for farmers. Guidance is carried out through the transfer of technology for enhancement productivity to increase farmer’s competence. In addition, coaching is also carried out by developing sericulture agribusiness institutions through cooperatives to improve farmers’ welfare further.

PENGARUH STRATEGI PROMOSI INDIHOME TERHADAP MINAT KONSUMEN DI KOTA BIMA

The rapid development of network access technology and internet-based technology makes it possible for service operators to be able to provide various services, one of which is fiber optic network services. This study aims to determine and analyze the effect of Indihome's promotional strategy on consumer interest in Bima City. This type of research is associative by using quantitative data from primary data sources. The research instrument is a Likert scale questionnaire. The population used in this study is all Indihome WIFI users in Bima City, the number of which is not known with certainty. The sample in this study was 96 respondents using the Bernoulli formula. The sampling technique in this study is purposive sampling, which is a sampling technique with certain considerations, what the authors consider from the sample to be studied are the people of Bima City who already know about the existence of Indihome products offered by PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia, Tbk. The results showed that the Indihome promotion strategy had an effect on consumer interest in the City of Bima with a strong relationship level and the effect was 37.8%.

Can WiMAX IEEE802 Be Used to Resolve Last-Mile Connectivity Issues in Botswana?

Amongst the advantages of using Worldwide Interoperability Microwave Access (WiMAX) technology at the last-mile level as access technology include an extensive range of 50 km Line of Sight (LOS), 5 to 15 km Non-Line of Sight and few infrastructure installations compared to other wireless broadband access technologies. Despite positive investments in ICT fibre infrastructure by developing countries, including Botswana, servicing end-users is subjected to high prices and service disparities. The alternative, the Wi-Fi hotspot initiative by the Botswana government, falls short as a solution for last-mile connectivity and access. This study used OPNET simulation Modeller 14,5 to investigate whether Botswana’s national broadband project could adopt WiMAX IEEE 802.16e as an access technology. Therefore, using the simulation method, this paper evaluates the WiMAX IEEE 802.16e/m over three subscriber locations in Botswana. The results obtained indicate that the deployment of the WiMAX IEEE 802.16e standard can solve most of the deployment issues and access at the last-mile level. Although the findings suggest that WiMAX IEEE 802.16e is more suitable for high-density areas, it could also solve rural areas’ infrastructure development challenges and provide the required high-speed connectivity access. However, unlike the Wi-Fi initiative, which requires more infrastructure deployment and less on institutional and regulatory frameworks, the deployment of WiMAX IEEE802.16e requires institutional and regulatory standards.

Health and Artificial Intelligence in the context of COVID-19 and beyond

This article introduces the main relevant aspects of ehealth or “digital health.” In this regard, by way of an introduction, the concept of health is addressed. In the second section, the core of this article, different aspects regarding the relationship between health and technology (HealthTech) are highlighted. Next, the importance of technology in order to deliver a preventive and personalized medicine, tailor-made to each patient, is addressed. Then, in the fourth section, some discriminatory situations that may arise due to not being able to access technology are discussed. Finally, I make some remarks regarding the so-called “Internet of Bodies".