Smart Technologies and Innovation for a Sustainable Future

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Frontmatter

2. A Case Study of Pakistani News Channels: Media Education and Journalists’ Training

   Asad Ullah Khalid

   Abstract

   Journalism has witnessed revolutionary transformation in Pakistan, since the turn of the millennium. The nation that was exposed to only one government controlled news channel and then suddenly was put in the whirlwind of unfiltered flashing news channels, as it stepped in the 21st century. With the launch of two private news channels, the practice of journalism appeared as a war for ratings rather than a medium of information. In the seventeen years of the millennium, multiple news channels have mushroomed in Pakistan but the quality of news still suffers. Freedom and neutrality of the media, particularly media outlets which broadcast national and international news, are critical to the growth of any society. This paper carries out an in-depth study to analyze the reasons for declining quality of news on Pakistani news media. The study begins with examining the relevance and suitability of educational background of the journalists. The journalists on screen and in the field do not go through the appropriate training required to be eligible for news media. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) is identified as one of the main factors for this drawback. PEMRA has been observed to be ineffective so far. This paper analyses the factors leading to its unfortunate performance. The inappropriate congeniality between media persons and political figures also raises debate that media gets under political influence. This paper analyses the links between the afore-mentioned factors in light of the crisis faced by private news media in Pakistan. It analyzes the quality of news churned by these media giants by conducting interviews of leading journalists and media persons.

3. A Cooperative Classification System for Credit Scoring

   Dalila Boughaci, Abdullah A. K. Alkhawaldeh

   Abstract

   Credit scoring (CS) is an important process in both banking and finance. CS is a score measure that helps lenders and creditors to see how good the borrower is. It indicates how likely the borrower is to pay back the owed debt, based on its past borrowing behavior. For instance, this score can be used to avoid risk and provide an objective analysis of the applicant’s creditworthiness which reduces credit risk. Also CS allows the automation of the lending process which leads to increase the speed and consistency of the borrower’s application. In this paper, we propose to use agents’ technology to develop a cooperative classification system for credit scoring. Empirical studies are conducted on five well-known financial datasets. We distribute the complex classification problem on a set of intelligent and cooperative agents where each agent evaluates a given machine learning algorithm on the considered dataset. The use of agents in the classification process provides a high degree of flexibility and allows for a faster time scale of data analysis.

4. A Critical Evaluation of the Effects of Advertisements Targeted to Children

   Tarik Emre Yildirim, Asli Milla

   Abstract

   Social media usage is growing immensely in the Arab world. In addition to this, digital advertising is becoming the new way of doing business in this region. There is little effective regulation or control over of digital marketing, children are often exposed to powerful and targeted online marketing via digital platforms that collect personal data. Children are exposed to millions of user-generated content (UGC) each and every day. Specialists have concluded, per previous research, that children until the age of sixteen spend the same amount of time in front of the television as the time spent at school if not more, making television parallel with school as a tool of persuasion, education and social development. Advertisement agencies create hashtag campaigns to engage the users whilst create user. According to a recent survey, nearly half of young Emiratis are addicted to the internet and spend nearly 10 h a day on social and another media. This research aims to analyse the effects of social media campaigns on children.

5. A Gulf College Case Study: Technology Enhanced Students’ Learning Geared with Mobile Devices

   Rowena Ocier Sibayan, Alrence S. Halibas, Kenneth Ocier Sibayan

   Abstract

   Over the decades, the world has become increasingly hyper-connected. The people and businesses can communicate with each other instantly where machines are equally interconnected. Through the help of the internet and its associated services, information is accessible and immediate for every-one. In education, the utilization of information and communication technologies helps improve teaching pedagogy and enhanced students’ learning. The use of technology affects the quality of education, and more specifically it can result in better student performance and enhance the student learning experience. Today, mobile devices are widely used for communication, education, entertainment, research collaboration and social interaction. Research issues and challenges related to technology-enhanced learning are discussed for classroom learning at a distance, digital libraries, online learning, and collections of various online information, and e-collaboration. Nowadays, the learning world has used mobile devices intensively for various day-to-day activities. However, some technology developers, teaching pedagogical experts and teachers are still tied to the old world of desktop computers for software and application development. The proposed research aims to investigate the various methodologies, framework and approaches adopted to demonstrate the role of technology in enhancing the students’ learning experience in which enhancement is conceived and the use of various technologies in empowering mobile devices as an innovative tool to an effective learning environment. The aim would be in developing a framework (like teachers) to tailor their learning materials and using different educational technologies in mobile devices to substantiate claims about technology enhanced learning. Qualitative and quantitative data analyses are used to examine the relationships explored between the aims of technology improved learning interventions. The evidence presented, and the ways in which enhancement is conceived and how large it has effects on the student’s learning and teacher pedagogical approaches are highlighted.

6. A Review Study on the Accuracy of Conversion Between IFPUG FPA and COSMIC Function Points

   Abedallah Zaid Abualkishik

   Abstract

   Functional size measurement methods are widely used by software project managers since it supports early estimation. Function Point Analysis (FPA) was the first method proposed for the purpose of capturing functional size, but unfortunately it is flawed in some ways. A second-generation method was COSMIC function points that offered a novel design. However, since then, the accuracy of convertibility between the two measures has become an issue. This study aims to determine how accurate are the conversion types featured in the literature employing the ordinary least squares regression model by examining the convertibility of Fetcke case study via the leave one out cross validation. The findings indicated that the most commonly-used conversion type did not provide the highest accuracy. Instead it was the transaction function-based type that achieved best results. Therefore, in order to obtain high accurate results, several conversion types must be tested.

7. Analyzing the Role of Human Computer Interaction Principles for E-Learning Solution Design

   Zahra Al Mahdi, Vikas Rao Naidu, Preethy Kurian

   Abstract

   Education technology is one of the key application areas of Multimedia. Interactive multimedia also called as Hypermedia plays a vital role in enhancing the teaching and learning experience in higher education sector. Various e-learning solutions are already available in the market and many of them are even available for free. These solutions may include, E-books, interactive lessons, video-based tutorials, interactive exercises for revision, educational games, mobile-based educational tools, and so on. The Higher education sector has students of varying age groups. Therefore, in order to make sure that appropriate e-learning solution is adapted with suitable interface design, it is important to keep all the principles of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) in consideration. This research paper analyzes the role of HCI in the design of e-learning solution. Authors have performed a thorough literature survey on various resources related to this topic. The result of this research will provide guidelines for better e-learning solution design, which could be considered appropriate for respective users.

8. Automatic Detection of Students Learning Style in Learning Management System

   T. Sheeba, Reshmy Krishnan

   Abstract

   Learning style is one of the major factors of student performance in any learning environment. Determining the learning style of students enhances the performance of learning process. This paper proposes an approach to classify students learning style automatically based on their learning behavior. One of the best widely used classifier algorithm is decision tree which is proposed in this paper. The main concern in decision tree classifier is the construction of significant rules which are required for accurately identifying learning styles. Lack of significant rules would result in misclassification of learning style. Hence, the main focus of this paper is to construct most significant rules which would strengthen the existing decision tree classifier to precisely and accurately detect the learning style of students. The student behavior is obtained from the web log files and then mapped with three learning dimensions of standard Felder Silverman learning style model. Subsequently, by employing significant rules in decision tree classifier, the student behavior has been automatically classified with high accuracy. This approach was experimented on 100 students for the online course created in Moodle Learning Management System. The evaluation result is obtained using inference engine with forward reasoning searches of the rules until the correct learning style is determined. The result is then analyzed with a confusion matrix of actual class and predicted class which shows that processing dimension shows variance whereas perception and input dimension were detected correctly with an average accuracy of 87%.

9. Big Data Security and Privacy Concerns: A Review

   Akbar Khanan, Salwani Abdullah, Abdul Hakim H. M. Mohamed, Amjad Mehmood, Khairul Akram Zainol Ariffin

   Abstract

   The past few decades have recorded increases in the development of new technologies. These technologies, such as the smart phone, computers, and social network sensors, have resulted in the production of a large amount unstructured data from different formats ranging from Tera Bytes (TB) to Peta Bytes (PB). This huge and differently formatted data is known as big data. Big data has a great potential for both the public and private sector. The utilisation of big data can have a positive impact. Different tools and techniques such as analytics and data mining are being used to make the data useful. However, big data is beset by security and privacy issues. Researcher from different domain are trying to overcome the issues in the big data, this paper will focus on the applications and major security, and privacy issues of big data.

10. China’s Relations with Arab Gulf States

    Golam Mostafa

    Abstract

    Arab Gulf states are important for China and play significant roles because of their geo-strategic location, huge reserve of oil and gas, fast and steady growth of economy with rapid expansion of market for consumer and merchandise goods which China has a plenty of them. The area was, however, out of the radar of Chinese attention until recently as Beijing was preoccupied with other parts of the world. The paper focuses on China’s multilevel interests in economic, trade and investments in strategic sectors as well as steady and guaranteed supply of oil and gas from the region. The findings of the paper are: Economic ties between China and GCC countries have increased significantly since the mid-1990s and are expected to grow rapidly in future; Oil and gas dominate China’s import items from the Gulf and Saudi Arabia has become the largest supplier and will remain so in near future; As China intends to increase its influence and play an increasingly important strategic roles in the region Beijing is focusing on getting involved in new and strategic sectors like, nuclear energy, aerospace, communication, infrastructure building and so on; China’s ultimate politico-military and security goals and objectives in the region are to be gradually involved in the multi-billion dollar military, security and strategic sectors of arms market not by challenging or going into direct conflict with the West, particularly to the US who are currently dominating the market, rather by using the trust and supports of the leaderships in the region.

11. Citizen-Centric Approach in Delivery of Smart Government Services

    Ayman Ahmad Obedait, Mohamed Youssef, Nikolina Ljepava

    Abstract

    Urban centers and cities across the world are increasing. As per Population Reference Bureau, 70% of world population will live in cities by 2050. This will lead to increasing pressure on city resources, congestion, water and sanitation problems and many other challenges. Governments across nations realize this and are working towards making cities Smarter and governance citizen centric which will help to improve the quality of life of city residents and deliver government services in the most efficient manner. This paper provides a detailed literature review of the existing research on Smart Cities and citizen centric governance. First the role ICT plays in governance is explained and the key trends in ICT which are affecting governance explored. Moreover, the definitions of Smart City are provided, along with an explanation of various dimensions in a Smart City and capabilities required to implement Smart City initiatives. The paper also provides an overview of the key benefits derived once a city transitions to a Smart City. Various challenges faced in delivering citizen centric governance has been reviewed and a case has been made on how Smart governance/e-governance can address these challenged. Additionally, the state of Smart City implementation in Dubai and UAE has been reviewed. The paper is concluded by providing an overview of the various ways in which customer centricity can be embedded into Governance through the application of technology.

12. Cloud Concept for Implementing Multimedia Based Learning in Higher Education

    Vikas Rao Naidu, Anjum Zameer Bhat, Baldev Singh

    Abstract

    Education technology is rapidly adapting various revolutionary approaches to providing an enhanced learning environment to the students. In many educational institutions, cloud-based services are being implemented to facilitate the enhanced e-learning solutions. Cloud implementation enables on-demand educational resources in various format, which includes, e-books, audio, video and other interactive materials to support enhanced learning. Cloud concept can transform the traditional way of teaching to engaging and interesting pieces of media to support teaching which is more accessible, even outside the classroom. This research paper highlights few similar approaches which are adapted to provide enhanced e-learning solutions by implementing some multimedia tools, for educational resources development. The study of the existing system will provide guidelines to incorporate changes, wherever required, to facilitate successful implementation of cloud-based services to support education technology.

13. Diplomacy in the Internet Age—Challenges and Opportunities for the UAE

    Melissa M. Cyrill, Aftab Kamal Pasha

    Abstract

    In the United Arab Emirates, internet-based tools have increasingly shaped recent political, social, economic, and public interactions. The number of users of social media platforms alone reflect a highly engaged online community in the country. The multi-functionality of internet-enabled platforms hosted on the Web 2.0, which include blogs, microblogging sites (Twitter), social networking sites (Facebook), video hosting sites (YouTube), and visual media sharing websites (Flickr, Snapchat, Instagram)—offer a range of options to the government and state agencies to promote certain narratives, gauge public opinion, receive real-time feedback, promote citizen engagement, and shape the interpretation of events, policies, and goals. At the same time, high levels of internet penetration expose Emiratis to local, regional, and international news and communication. With this background, the proposed paper examines how the internet has changed communication and, thereby, the contours of diplomacy, including the challenges and opportunities that countries like the UAE face in the internet age of information abundance and real-time sharing. Lastly, the paper briefly touches upon the regional security and geopolitical challenges faced by the UAE, namely, the threat perceived from Iran and Qatar, and the consequent bolstering of new partnerships.

14. Enterprise Product Management in the Digital World

    Zornitsa Nikolova, Roumiana Antonova

    Abstract

    In the digital era, businesses in any industry are being transformed fundamentally to stay competitive. Innovation is increasingly shaped by changes in technology, development methodologies, and the ways in which consumers make purchase decisions, demanding changes throughout the entire lifecycle of a digital product. The lifecycle of digital products becomes more and more complex with the need to embrace new business models for creative businesses, including the increasing role of business networks and collaboration to offer related products and services. Product management in the digital world is thus transformed to include data-driven decision making, collaborative ownership, incremental thinking, and continuous learning.

15. ERP Security, Audit and Process Improvement

    Roumiana Antonova, Georgi Georgiev

    Abstract

    The ERP systems have rapidly increasing role for the success of modern business. They are subject of rapid development process and rapidly spreading with increasing rate. In now days the typical ERP system has a much better functionalities than its predecessors and also relays on complex it infrastructure, frequently combining a wide set of IT technologies. Security of the ERP system is an important aspect of the entire system and must be properly maintained in order to achieve reliable and secure operation of the entire system. The security of an ERP system should not be regarded as a summary of the security of its components, but as a complex ecosystem comprised of multiple different layers, which also have a complex dependencies and relations between each other. There are also the processes of user identity and rights management that are a considered as an integral part of the overall security. Once configured, the security of the ERP systems could not be regarded as constant but evolves along with the challenges caused by increased numbers, severity and complexity of security threats present into the digital world. In order to mitigate the effects of such threats the security ecosystem of an ERP solution and its components should be a subject of regular audit and reviews to be able to be maintained at sufficient level.

16. Evaluating the Strength of Middle Eastern Monarchies and Republics

    Khulood Jamal

    Abstract

    In the wake of the Arab Spring, several states have faced turmoil, instability and a gradual overthrow of the regime. Interestingly, the states affected by the Arab Spring were largely republics including Syria, Tunis and Egypt. Both Egypt and Tunis witnessed an overthrow of the regime while the situation in Syria continues to deteriorate, as the Al-Assad regime shows no sign of willingness to give up power. Two monarchies, Jordan and Bahrain, faced demonstrations and protests but were able to withstand any regime change. Given the realities of the Arab Spring, scholars question the applicability of Samuel Huntington’s notion of the king’s dilemma and his skepticism about the future of monarchies. This paper seeks to prove that Middle Eastern monarchies are generally stronger than Middle Eastern republics because of institutional flexibility, the ability to exploit financial and political resources in order to encounter the challenges faced with rapid social change and geopolitical realities.

17. Exploring the Opportunities and Challenges of Open Source Software and Its Economic Impact on the Cybersecurity Market

    Ismail Alsharif, Adel Khelifi

    Abstract

    Organizations today face IT security challenges on many fronts. These include controlling user access to systems, resources, and data security issues that encompass secure storage, secure transmission, data authenticity and data integrity. These requirements are met by establishing the right policies, controls, and mechanisms that are put in place to effectively protect sensitive data. Therefore, this research aims to see if open source software has the potential to influence the cybersecurity market that is currently dominated by proprietary software. However, in order to accomplish such a task, certain conditions must be met. Such as understanding of the history behind open source software, the positive and negative influences it carries when dealing with this type of software. As well as compare and contrast current proprietary solutions with open source solutions, in order to grasp the potential economic impact of open source software leading onwards into the future. The ideal findings would be to outline the factors that are holding back open source software, and whether these factors are adjustable or correctable over time. Another aim is to highlight the potential financial benefit that comes from switching to or prioritizing OSS security solutions. As well as come up with any recommendations that would help aid businesses and organizations when it comes to obtaining suitable OSS security solutions.

18. Feasibility Analysis of Blockchain for Donation-Based Crowdfunding of Ethical Projects

    Nida Khan, Rachid Ouaich

    Abstract

    Donation is a necessary social tool that is plagued by many inherent shortcomings. A novel model in the form of a decentralized app was designed in the Ethereum blockchain to solve the challenges present and optimize the process of Zakaah donation. Load and stress tests on the prototype of the smart contract in the public testnet of Ethereum were analyzed to gauge the feasibility of mass usage. Similar tests were done in Hyperledger to conclude on the optimum blockchain platform for Zakaah. An anomaly was detected during the testing phase of the decentralized app in the public testnet of Ethereum and it was exploited to propose a novel strategy to enhance the throughput of Ethereum. The testing is a pioneer in evaluating the throughput and feasibility of a blockchain based financial product and provides a benchmark to validate the business and technical hypotheses of other similar financial products and services.