Vatcharaporn Esichaikul

Factors influencing e‐government adoption in Pakistan

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify critical factors that enable citizens to adopt e‐Government services in a society which is at a rudimentary stage of e‐Government adoption. To achieve the objective of the research study, an integrated conceptual model has been proposed and validated which is based on sound theoretical conditions, keeping in view the local context of Pakistani society.Design/methodology/approach – An integrated conceptual model is proposed highlighting a comprehensive set of potential factors influencing the adoption of e‐Government services. The conceptual model was developed using related literature review and also by conducting expert reviews with government officials, academic researchers and software engineers in Pakistan.Findings – From expert reviews, the results indicate that awareness, trust in the internet and trust in the government are the significant variables specific to the context of Pakistani society. The results of this study prove that awareness is a si...

Fuzzy-C-Mean determines the principle component pairs to estimate the degree of emotion from facial expressions

Although many systems exist for automatic classification of faces according to their emotional expression, these systems do not explicitly estimate the strength of given expressions. This paper describes and empirically evaluates an algorithm capable of estimating the degree to which a face expresses a given emotion. The system first aligns and normalizes an input face image, then applies a filter bank of Gabor wavelets and reduces the datas dimensionality via principal components analysis. Finally, an unsupervised Fuzzy-C-Mean clustering algorithm is employed recursively on the same set of data to find the best pair of principle components from the amount of alignment of the cluster centers on a straight line. The cluster memberships are then mapped to degrees of a facial expression (i.e. less Happy, moderately happy, and very happy). In a test on 54 previously unseen happy faces., we find an orderly mapping of faces to clusters as the subjects face moves from a neutral to very happy emotional display. Similar results are observed on 78 previously unseen surprised faces.

Web Personalization Techniques for E-commerce

With the advent of the Internet, there is a dramatic growth of data available on the World Wide Web. To reduce information overload and create customer loyalty, E-commerce businesses use Web Personalization, a significant tool that provides them with important competitive advantages. Despite the growing interest in personalized systems, it is difficult to implement such a system. This is because many business-critical issues must be considered before the appropriate personalization techniques can be identified. In this study, online businesses are classified into a number of categories. After that, personalization techniques that are used nowadays in E-commerce businesses are described. Finally, guidelines for selecting suitable personalization techniques for applications in each E-commerce business domain are proposed. The results of the study suggest that both customer-driven and business-driven personalization systems should be promoted on the site in order to increase customer satisfaction.

E-government services evaluation from citizen satisfaction perspective: A case of Afghanistan

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze and evaluate the current status of e-government services in Afghanistan. To identify the evaluation criteria based on citizen satisfaction from e-government services, the proposed government-to-citizen (G2C) evaluation model is considered in the context of Afghanistan. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual G2C evaluation model and e-government evaluation model are proposed. The criteria used for the G2C evaluation model is based on the demand and supply side, which have an immense effect on citizen satisfaction. The mixed research method (quantitative and qualitative) is used, and quantitative data analysis results are supported through qualitative data analysis. Findings The findings reveal that citizen satisfaction from e-government services in Afghanistan are affected by services availability on multiple channels, citizen-centric features, paralingual support, process performance, skills divide, awareness, information security and transaction security. Research limitations/implications Yet to be addressed, three criteria deemed as significant factors are recommended to be included in the model, namely, government readiness, system quality (usability, service quality and information quality) for supply side and social divide for demand side. These three criteria can help in proposing a successful G2C evaluation model. Additionally, the quantitative data used in this study were collected through paper-based questionnaires. Data collection through Internet can help to get responses from various parts of the country for future evaluation of G2C services. Practical implications The key findings of this study are vitally important for e-government strategies and policy makers to design and disseminate appropriate e-government services to Afghan citizens. The proposed evaluation model can also be used as a guideline for e-government development in Afghanistan. Originality/value A conceptual model for e-government services evaluation approach is proposed based on literature review. The proposed G2C evaluation model identifies and validates key factors and criteria in the context of Afghanistan.

A survey of e-banking performance in Thailand

The internet is a rather new channel for Thai people to conduct banking activities. An existing model was used to evaluate the performance of internet banking in Thailand. This study reveals that a perception of insufficient security is the main factor that discourages people from using internet banking. Favourable conditions for adoption are ease of use and ease of learning, perceived usefulness and trustworthiness of the banks and of the security measures. However, customer service is considered not good enough and the information provided does not fit the majoritys needs. Based on the findings, recommendations were made to banks.

Using relative movement to support ANN-based stock forecasting in Thai stock market

Over the years, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have become a popular and seemingly accurate model to forecast stock prices. This paper proposes data preprocessing using relative movement to improve performance of ANN-based stock forecasting. Both fundamental and technical indicators are chosen as inputs to the system. The evaluation metrics include hit ratio and total return. The k-fold cross validation is utilised on a dataset of stocks in the banking sector in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). The experiments show that the proposed model outperforms a traditional model, a random walk model, and a buy & hold strategy for both hit ratio and total return.

Adoption of e-Government Services in Pakistan: A Comparative Study Between Online and Offline Users

ABSTRACT An empirical study was conducted to investigate the critical factors influencing the citizens’ intention to adopt e-government services at different levels of service maturity, i.e., information and transaction levels. An integrated conceptual model is proposed and validated. Data were collected using the quota sampling method from two user groups, i.e., online and offline. The empirical evidence, discussion, and recommendations provide guidelines to the Pakistani government to follow in order to increase citizens’ potential to utilize e-government services.

Catering for Different Learning Styles in e-Learning

For online learning to be effective, it should be adapted to the personal learning style. Kolb’s learning style inventory (LSI) is a methodology to assess such individual learning styles. The quantitative findings of this study demonstrate that differences between the four learning types exist, namely, in preferred type of discussion board posting, communication tool, and problem-solving approach. Accommodators and Divergers contribute to an online discussion by challenging point of views, whereas Assimilators and Convergers like to put content into a model/framework. Accommodators like to communicate with their peers via email and Assimilators via general discussion board. Divergers prefer email exchange with the tutor if faced with a problem. These findings have implications for delivery of online learning material. No single e-learning approach will be suitable for all learning styles.

The Development of Electronic Government: A Case Study of Thailand

This paper examines the development of electronic government (e-government) in Thailand. The development of information technology (IT) projects in Thai public agencies was initiated in the early 1990s, albeit without developing a national IT master plan or establishing a national IT agency. However, when many problems arose in the use of IT in public agencies, the Thai government formulated in 1996 the first national IT master plan to cope with e-governance problems. This case study illustrates the Thai e-government’s development experiences and examines e-government strategic approaches. The lessons may be relevant to and may be a learning experience for countries at similar stages of development.

Selecting an EDI Third-Party Network

Abstract Third-party networks or value added networks (VANs) are in competition with each other, so they have an incentive to offer good services at competitive prices to business customers. All VANs are not the same. in this volatile market, selecting an EDI third-party network should be a carefully considered process to ensure that users can take full advantage of offered services. This article presents a framework for the selection of an EDI third-party network.