Search results for: security analysis

Authors: Hashem Dehghanniri

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Crime scripting is a simple and effective crime modeling technique that aims to improve understanding of security analysts about security and crime incidents. Low-quality scripts provide a wrong, incomplete, or sophisticated understanding of the crime commission process, which oppose the purpose of their application, e.g., identifying effective and cost-efficient situational crime prevention (SCP) measures. One important and overlooked factor in generating quality scripts is the crime scripting method. This study investigates the problems within the existing crime scripting practices and proposes a crime scripting approach that contributes to generating quality crime scripts. It was validated by experienced crime scripters. This framework helps analysts develop better crime scripts and contributes to their effective application, e.g., SCP measures identification or policy-making.

Keywords: attack modelling, crime commission process, crime script, situational crime prevention

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: Vladimir A. Grachev

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Today, in the context of rapidly developing technosphere and hourly emerging new technologies, the industrial and environmental safety issue is ever more pressing. The article is devoted to the relationship of social, environmental, and industrial policies with industrial safety, occupational health and safety, environmental safety, and environmental protection. The author assesses the up-to-day situation through system analysis and on the basis of the existing practices. A complex system of the policies implementation without "gaps" and missing links ensures preservation of human lives, health and a favorable living environment. The author demonstrates that absence of an "environmental safety" high-priority link can lead to a significant loss of human lives and health and the global changes in the environment. The role of implementing the environmental policy of enterprises and organizations, and of economic sectors in the implementation of national environmental policy is shown. It was established that the system for implementing environmental policy should be based on a system analysis.

Keywords: environmental protection, environmental safety, industrial safety, occupational health and safety

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Authors: Jesica López, Deniz Koca, Asaf Tzachor

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In 2016 the historic peace accord between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had no strong mechanism for managing changes to land use and the environment. Since the end of a 60-year conflict in Colombia, large areas of forest in the Amazon region have been rapidly converted to agricultural uses, most recently by cattle ranching. This suggests that the peace agreement presents a threat to the conservation of the country's rainforest. We analyze the effects of cattle ranching as a driver and accelerator of deforestation from a systemic perspective, focusing on two key leverage points the legal and illegal activities involved in the cattle ranching practices. We map and understand the inherent dynamic complexity of deforestation, including factors such as land policy instruments, national strategy to tackle deforestation, land use nexus with Amazonian food systems, and loss of biodiversity. Our results show that deforestation inside Colombian Protected Areas (PAs) in the Amazon region and the surrounding buffer areas has accelerated with the onset of peace. By using a systems analysis approach, we contextualized the competition of land between cattle ranching and the need to protect tropical forests and their biodiversity loss. We elaborate on future recommendations for land use management decisions making suggest the inclusion of an Amazonian food system, interconnecting and visualizing the synergies between sustainable development goals, climate action (SDG 13) and life on land (SDG 15).

Keywords: tropical rainforest, deforestation, sustainable land use, food security, Colombian Amazon

Procedia PDF Downloads 81

Authors: Hashim Ali, Sheheryar Khan

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Security for applications is always been a keen issue of concern. In general, security is to allow access of grant to legal user or to deny non-authorized access to the system. Shoulder surfing is an observation technique to hack an account or to enter into a system. When a malicious observer is capturing or recording the fingers of a user while he is entering sensitive inputs (PIN, Passwords etc.) and may be able to observe user’s password credential. It is very rigorous for a novice user to prevent himself from shoulder surfing or unaided observer in a public place while accessing his account. In order to secure the user account, there are five factors of authentication; they are: “(i) something you have, (ii) something you are, (iii) something you know, (iv) somebody you know, (v) something you process”. A technique has been developed of fifth-factor authentication “something you process” to provide novel approach to the user. In this paper, we have applied position based operational code authentication in such a way to more easy and user friendly to the user.

Keywords: shoulder surfing, malicious observer, sensitive inputs, authentication

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Authors: Ossama Matrane

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Information System has become a strategic lever for enterprises. It contributes effectively to align business processes on strategies of enterprises. It is regarded as an increase in productivity and effectiveness. So, many organizations are currently involved in implementing sustainable Information System. And, a large number of studies have been conducted the last decade in order to define the success factors of information system. Thus, many studies on maturity model have been carried out. Some of this study is referred to the maturity model of Information System. In this article, we report on development of maturity models specifically designed for information system. This model is built based on three components derived from Maturity Model for Information Security Management, OPM3 for Project Management Maturity Model and processes of COBIT for IT governance. Thus, our proposed model defines three maturity stages for corporate a strong Information System to support objectives of organizations. It provides a very practical structure with which to assess and improve Information System Implementation.

Keywords: information system, maturity models, information security management, OPM3, IT governance

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Authors: Maha Aladdin, Khaled Nagaty, Abeer Hamdy

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The rapid advancement cellular networks and wireless networks have laid a solid basis for the Internet of Things. IoT has evolved into a unique standard that allows diverse physical devices to collaborate with one another. A service provider gives a variety of services that may be accessed via smart apps anywhere, at any time, and from any location over the Internet. Because of the public environment of mobile communication and the Internet, these services are highly vulnerable to a several malicious attacks, such as unauthorized disclosure by hostile attackers. As a result, the best option for overcoming these vulnerabilities is a strong authentication method. In this paper, a lightweight authentication scheme that is based on numerical series cryptography is proposed for the IoT environments. It allows mutual authentication between IoT devices Parametric study and formal proofs are utilized to illustrate that the pro-posed approach is resistant to a variety of security threats.

Keywords: internet of things, authentication, cryptography, security protocol

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Authors: Giovana Nunes Inocêncio

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The professional and technological education (EPT) plays a pivotal role in equipping students for specialized careers, and it is imperative to establish a framework for efficient data exchange among educational institutions. The primary focus of this article is to address the pressing need for document interoperability within the context of EPT. The challenges, motivations, and benefits of implementing interoperability standards for digital educational documents are thoroughly explored. These documents include EPT completion certificates, academic records, and curricula. In conjunction with the prior abstract, it is evident that the intersection of IT governance and interoperability standards holds the key to transforming the landscape of technical education in Brazil. IT governance provides the strategic framework for effective data management, aligning with educational objectives, ensuring compliance, and managing risks. By adopting interoperability standards, the technical education sector in Brazil can facilitate data exchange, enhance data security, and promote international recognition of qualifications. The utilization of the XML (Extensible Markup Language) standard further strengthens the foundation for structured data exchange, fostering efficient communication, standardization of curricula, and enhancing educational materials. The IT governance, interoperability standards, and data management critical role in driving the quality, efficiency, and security of technical education. The adoption of these standards fosters transparency, stakeholder coordination, and regulatory compliance, ultimately empowering the technical education sector to meet the dynamic demands of the 21st century.

Keywords: interoperability, education, standards, governance

Procedia PDF Downloads 57

Authors: Mina Latif Ghaly Sawiras

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The difference between Islamic terrorism and human-rights has become a big question in the fight against Islamic terrorism globally. This is was raised on the fact that terrorism and human rights are interrelated to the extent that, when the former starts, the latter is violated. This direct linkage was recognized in the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action as adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna on 25 June 1993 which agreed that acts of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations are aimed at the destruction of human rights. Hence, Islamic-terrorism constitutes a violation on our most basic human rights. To this end, the first part of this paper will focus on the nexus between terrorism and human rights and endeavors to draw a co-relation between these two concepts. The second part thereafter will analyse the emerging concept of cyber-terrorism and how it takes place. Further, an analysis of cyber counter-terrorism balanced as against human rights will also be undertaken. This will be done through the analysis of the concept of ‘securitization’ of human rights as well as the need to create a balance between counterterrorism efforts as against the protection of human rights at all costs. The paper will then conclude with recommendations on how to balance counter-terrorism and human rights in the modern age.

Keywords: balance, counter-terrorism, cyber-terrorism, human rights, security, violation

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Authors: N. Nalini, Bhanu Prakash Gopularam

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The term data security refers to the degree of resistance or protection given to information from unintended or unauthorized access. The core principles of information security are the confidentiality, integrity and availability, also referred as CIA triad. Cloud computing services are classified as SaaS, IaaS and PaaS services. With cloud adoption the confidential enterprise data are moved from organization premises to untrusted public network and due to this the attack surface has increased manifold. Several cloud computing platforms like OpenStack, Eucalyptus, Amazon EC2 offer users to build and configure public, hybrid and private clouds. While the traditional encryption based on PKI infrastructure still works in cloud scenario, the management of public-private keys and trust certificates is difficult. The Identity based Public Key Cryptography (also referred as ID-PKC) overcomes this problem by using publicly identifiable information for generating the keys and works well with decentralized systems. The users can exchange information securely without having to manage any trust information. Another advantage is that access control (role based access control policy) information can be embedded into data unlike in PKI where it is handled by separate component or system. In OpenStack cloud platform the keystone service acts as identity service for authentication and authorization and has support for public key infrastructure for auto services. In this paper, we explain OpenStack security architecture and evaluate the PKI infrastructure piece for data confidentiality. We provide method to integrate ID-PKC schemes for securing data while in transit and stored and explain the key measures for safe guarding data against security attacks. The proposed approach uses JPBC crypto library for key-pair generation based on IEEE P1636.3 standard and secure communication to other cloud services.

Keywords: data confidentiality, identity based cryptography, secure communication, open stack key stone, token scoping

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Authors: Figen Kadirgan, M. A. Neset Kadirgan, Gokcen A. Ciftcioglu

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Addressing food security and climate change challenges have to be done in an integrated manner. To increase food production and to reduce emissions intensity, thus contributing to mitigate climate change, food systems have to be more efficient in the use of resources. To ensure food security and adapt to climate change they have to become more resilient. The changes required in agricultural and food systems will require the creation of supporting institutions and enterprises to provide services and inputs to smallholders, fishermen and pastoralists, and transform and commercialize their production more efficiently. Thus there is continously growing need to switch to green economy where simultaneously causes reduction in carbon emissions and pollution, enhances energy and resource-use efficiency; and prevents the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Smart Agriculture takes into account the four dimensions of food security, availability, accessibility, utilization, and stability. It is well known that, the increase in world population will strengthen the population-food imbalance. The emphasis on reduction of food losses makes a point on production, on farmers, on increasing productivity and income ensuring food security. Where also small farmers enhance their income and stabilize their budget. The use of solar drying for agricultural, marine or meat products is very important for preservation. Traditional sun drying is a relatively slow process where poor food quality is seen due to an infestation of insects, enzymatic reactions, microorganism growth and micotoxin development. In contrast, solar drying has a sound solution to all these negative effects of natural drying and artificial mechanical drying. The technical directions in the development of solar drying systems for agricultural products are compact collector design with high efficiency and low cost. In this study, using solar selective surface produced in Selektif Teknoloji Co. Inc. Ltd., solar dryers with high efficiency will be developed and a feasibility study will be realized.

Keywords: energy, renewable energy, solar collector, solar drying

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Authors: Arun Das

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Indian agriculture is acclaimed from the dates of Indus civilization (2500 BC). Since this time until the day, there were tremendous expansion in terms of space and technology has taken place. Abrupt growth in technology took place past one and half century. Consequent to this development, the land which was brought under agriculture in the initial stages of introducing agriculture for the first time, that land is not possessing the same physical condition. Either it has lost the productive capacity or modified into semi agriculture land. On the grounds of its capacity and interwoven characteristics seven phases of agriculture scenario has been identified. Most of the land is on the march of desertification. Identifying the stages and the phase of the agriculture scenario is most relevant from the point of view of food security at regional, national and at global level. Secondly decisive measure can put back the degenerating environmental condition into arrest. GIS and Remote sensing applications have been used to identify the phases of agriculture.

Keywords: agriculture phases, desertification, deforestation, foods security, transmigration

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Authors: N. Meddeb, A. M. Makhlouf, M. A. Ben Ayed

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Due to the real-time requirement of message in Vehicular Ad hoc NETworks (VANET), it is necessary to authenticate vehicles to achieve security, efficiency, and conditional privacy-preserving. Privacy is of utmost relevance in VANETs. For this reason, we have proposed a new protocol called ‘Multilevel Authentication Protocol’ (MAP) that considers different vehicle categories. The proposed protocol is based on our Multilevel Authentication protocol for Vehicular networks (MAVnet). But the MAP leads to human safety, where the priority is given to the ambulance vehicles. For evaluation, we used the Java language to develop a demo application and deployed it on the Network Security Simulation (Nessi2). Compared with existing authentication protocols, MAP markedly enhance the communication overhead and decreases the delay of exchanging messages while preserving conditional privacy.

Keywords: Vehicular Ad hoc NETworks (VANET), vehicle categories, safety, databases, privacy, authentication, throughput, delay

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Authors: Sameh Sarwat Melek Mikheal

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The relationship between development and human rights has long been the subject of academic debate. To understand the dynamics between these two concepts, various principles are adopted, from the right to development to development-based human rights. Despite the initiatives taken, the relationship between development and human rights remains unclear. However, the overlap between these two views and the idea that efforts should be made in the field of human rights have increased in recent years. It is then evaluated whether the right to sustainable development is acceptable or not. This article concludes that the principles of sustainable development are directly or indirectly recognized in various human rights instruments, and this is a good answer to the question posed above. This book therefore cites regional and international human rights agreements such as , as well as the jurisprudence and interpretative guidelines of human rights institutions, to prove this hypothesis.

Keywords: balance, counter-terrorism, cyber-terrorism, human rights, security, violation sustainable development, the right to development, the human rights-based approach to development, environmental rights, economic development, social sustainability human rights protection, human rights violations, workers’ rights, justice, security

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Authors: M. Boukhrouk, R. Ed-Dali

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Outbound tourism in Morocco, as in the majority of developing countries, reveals some of the aspects of inequality between the north and the south. Considered by some researchers as one of the facets of the development crisis, access to tourism and especially international tourism is a chance for a small minority with financial means, while the vast portions of the population dream rather of immigrating to a developed country for the sake of improving their standard of living. The right to travel is also limited by visa requirements, procedures in host countries, security and technical measures and creates discrimination in the practice of tourism. These conditions do not seem to be favorable to the democratization of the practice of international tourism for the populations of the southern countries. This paper is a contribution to the reading of the trends of outbound tourism in developing countries through the example of Morocco. It highlights the different aspects of Moroccan outbound tourism, destinations and the behavior of tourists through an analysis of the offer of a sample of 50 travel agencies. In the same vein, it offers a reading grid of the possibilities offered for the development of outbound tourism and the various existing obstacles to the democratization of international outbound tourism in the southern countries. This reading reveals the transformation in the behavior of Moroccan international tourists as well as the profound changes in Moroccan society, through a model of statistical analysis.

Keywords: demand, Hajj, Morocco, outbound tourism, tendency, Umrah

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Authors: Abdulameer K. Hussain

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When dealing with a cryptographic system we note that there are many activities performed by parties of this cryptographic system and the most prominent of these activities is the process of agreement between the parties involved in the cryptographic system on how to deal and perform the cryptographic system tasks to be more secure, more confident and reliable. The most common agreement among parties is a key agreement and other types of agreements. Despite the fact that there is an attempt from some quarters to find other effective agreement methods but these methods are limited to the traditional agreements. This paper presents different parameters to perform more effectively the task of the agreement, including the key alternative, the agreement on the encryption method used and the agreement to prevent the denial of the services. To manage and achieve these goals, this method proposes the existence of an control and monitoring entity to manage these agreements by collecting different statistical information of the opinions of the authorized parties in the cryptographic system. These statistics help this entity to take the proper decision about the agreement factors. This entity is called Agreement Manager (AM).

Keywords: agreement parameters, key agreement, key exchange, security management

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Authors: Reza Taherlouei Safa, Mohammad Aboonajmi

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Agriculture plays an essential role in providing food for the world's population. It also offers numerous benefits to countries, including non-food products, transportation, and environmental balance. Precision agriculture, which employs advanced tools to monitor variability and manage inputs, can help achieve these benefits. The increasing demand for food security puts pressure on decision-makers to ensure sufficient food production worldwide. To support sustainable agriculture, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be utilized to manage farms and increase yields. This paper aims to provide an understanding of UAV usage and its applications in agriculture. The objective is to review the various applications of UAVs in agriculture. Based on a comprehensive review of existing research, it was found that different sensors provide varying analyses for agriculture applications. Therefore, the purpose of the project must be determined before using UAV technology for better data quality and analysis. In conclusion, identifying a suitable sensor and UAV is crucial to gather accurate data and precise analysis when using UAVs in agriculture.

Keywords: drone, precision agriculture, farmer income, UAV

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Authors: Toru Shionoya, Yosuke Kurihara, Takashi Kaburagi, Kajiro Watanabe

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Mass-produced bidirectional microphones have attractive characteristics. They work as a microphone as well as a sensor with high gain over a wide frequency range; they are also highly reliable and economical. We present novel multiple functional uses of the microphones. A mathematical model for explaining the high-pass-filtering characteristics of bidirectional microphones was presented. Based on the model, the characteristics of the microphone were investigated, and a novel use for the microphone as a sensor with a wide frequency range was presented. In this study, applications for using the microphone as a security sensor and a human biosensor were introduced. The mathematical model was validated through experiments, and the feasibility of the abovementioned applications for security monitoring and the biosignal monitoring were examined through experiments.

Keywords: bidirectional microphone, low-frequency, mathematical model, frequency response

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Authors: Dawd Ahmed, Venkatesh Uddameri

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Agriculture in Ethiopia is the main economic sector influenced by agricultural drought. A simultaneous assessment of drought trends using multiple drought indicators is useful for drought planning and management. Intra-season and seasonal drought trends in Ethiopia were studied using a suite of drought indicators. Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), and Z-index for long-rainy, dry, and short-rainy seasons are used to identify drought-causing mechanisms. The Statistical software package R version 3.5.2 was used for data extraction and data analyses. Trend analysis indicated shifts in late-season long-rainy season precipitation into dry in the southwest and south-central portions of Ethiopia. Droughts during the dry season (October–January) were largely temperature controlled. Short-term temperature-controlled hydrologic processes exacerbated rainfall deficits during the short rainy season (February–May) and highlight the importance of temperature- and hydrology-induced soil dryness on the production of short-season crops such as tef. Droughts during the long-rainy season (June–September) were largely driven by precipitation declines arising from the narrowing of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). Increased dryness during long-rainy season had severe consequences on the production of corn and sorghum. PDSI was an aggressive indicator of seasonal droughts suggesting the low natural resilience to combat the effects of slow-acting, moisture-depleting hydrologic processes. The lack of irrigation systems in the nation limits the ability to combat droughts and improve agricultural resilience. There is an urgent need to monitor soil moisture (a key agro-hydrologic variable) to better quantify the impacts of meteorological droughts on agricultural systems in Ethiopia.

Keywords: autocorrelation, climate change, droughts, Ethiopia, food security, palmer z-index, PDSI, SPEI, SPI, trend analysis

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Authors: Felix O. Akinboyewa

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To say that Nigeria is faced with the problem of domestic terrorism is to say the obvious. The spate of political assassination during the fourth republic (1999-2010) is representative of what has become a growing trend. In this research, an attempt was made to examine the problems of political assassination within the context of significant categories of domestic-related terrorism in Nigeria Democracy. The central questions are: What exactly are the nature of political violence and terrorist act in the Nigeria nascent democracy? Was there any factor responsible for the politics of violence and terrorist act in the Nigeria democracy? What implications can the political violence and terrorist act have on democratic consolidation, national peace, and security? What solutions can be proffered to eradicate terrorist act and political violence in the Nigeria democracy? The study adopted a descriptive survey design which falls within the empirical research methodology. The sample size of the study consisted of 220 subjects randomly selected. The main instruments used were questionnaire and interview schedule. Data generated from the study were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentage and tables. The research findings showed that unemployed youths and the members of Nigeria Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) were the major actors in political violence in Nigeria. They have access to weapons and ammunitions which they use to terrorize the populace. The research showed that factors responsible for the political violence and terrorism in Nigeria are: poor electoral administration; election rigging; poor security system; religious and ethnic sentiment; problems of poverty and unemployment; over-exuberance and low level of education. The study also showed that electoral violence affects smooth running democracy in Nigeria. On the measures to be taken to eradicate political violence and terrorism in Nigeria, the research showed that provision of employment opportunities would go a long way to solving the problem. Civil society as an important institution can help to reduce incidence of political violence in Nigeria. Also, government has greater role to play. The study concludes that adherence to the proffered suggestions would reduce the level of political violence and terrorist act in Nigeria.

Keywords: consolidation, democracy, peace, security, terrorism, violence

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Authors: Shaya Alshahrani

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Perceived risks play a major role in consumer intentions, behaviors, attitudes, and decisions about online shopping in the KSA. This paper investigates the influence of six perceived risk dimensions on Saudi consumers: product risk, information risk, financial risk, privacy and security risk, delivery risk, and terms and conditions risk empirically. To ensure the success of this study, a random survey was distributed to reflect the consumers’ perceived risk and to enable the generalization of the results. Data were collected from 323 respondents in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA): 50 who had never shopped online and 273 who had done so. The results indicated that all six risks influenced the respondents’ perceptions of online shopping. The non-online shoppers perceived financial and delivery risks as the most significant barriers to online shopping. This was followed closely by performance, information, and privacy and security risks. Terms and conditions were perceived as less significant. The online consumers considered delivery and performance risks to be the most significant influences on internet shopping. This was followed closely by information and terms and conditions. Financial and privacy and security risks were perceived as less significant. This paper argues that introducing adequate legal solutions to addressing related problems arising from this study is an urgent need. This may enhance consumer trust in the KSA online market, increase consumers’ intentions regarding online shopping, and improve consumer protection.

Keywords: perceived risk, online contracts, Saudi Arabia, consumer protection

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Authors: Muhammad Tanveer Altaf, Mehmet Bedir, Waqas Liaqat, Gönül Cömertpay, Volkan Çatalkaya, Celaluddin Barutçular, Nergiz Çoban, Ibrahim Cerit, Muhammad Azhar Nadeem, Tolga Karaköy, Faheem Shehzad Baloch

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Food production needs to be almost double by 2050 in order to feed around 9 billion people around the Globe. Plant production mostly relies on fertilizers, which also have one of the main roles in environmental pollution. In addition to this, climatic conditions are unpredictable, and the earth is expected to face severe drought conditions in the future. Therefore, water and fertilizers, especially nitrogen are considered as main constraints for future food security. To face these challenges, developing integrative approaches for germplasm characterization and selecting the resilient genotypes performing under limiting conditions is very crucial for effective breeding to meet the food requirement under climatic change scenarios. This study is part of the European Research Area Network (ERANET) project for the characterization of the diversity panel of 172 sorghum accessions and six hybrids as control cultivars under limiting (+N/-H2O, -N/+H2O) and non-limiting conditions (+N+H2O). This study was planned to characterize the sorghum diversity in relation to resource Use Efficiency (RUE), with special attention on harnessing the interaction between genotype and environment (GxE) from a physiological and agronomic perspective. Experiments were conducted at Adana, a Mediterranean climate, with augmented design, and data on various agronomic and physiological parameters were recorded. Plentiful diversity was observed in the sorghum diversity panel and significant variations were seen among the limiting water and nitrogen conditions in comparison with the control experiment. Potential genotypes with the best performance are identified under limiting conditions. Whole genome resequencing was performed for whole germplasm under investigation for diversity analysis. GWAS analysis will be performed using genotypic and phenotypic data and linked markers will be identified. The results of this study will show the adaptation and improvement of sorghum under climate change conditions for future food security.

Keywords: germplasm, sorghum, drought, nitrogen, resources use efficiency, sequencing

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Authors: Pedram Behyar, Zahra Bayat

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The internet and web are changing ways of “far reaching scope and potential for transformation of the marketing functions”. The web is developing in a faster rate than any previous new communication medium. The website of destination has become a crucial branding channel, that is why all businesses are changing their way to communicate with their customers to encounter their needs and wants in better ways. Website provides numerous opportunities for businesses to strengthen their relationship with their customers. One of these opportunities is website component that enables internet users to make two-way communication with the businesses.

Keywords: marketing communication, brand image, usability, privacy and security, personalization and customization, responsiveness, customer online web experience

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Authors: Paulin Mbecke

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Research Issue: Under economic constraints, socio-economic conditions of households worsen discounting child’s wellbeing to the bottom of many governments and households’ priority lists. In such situation, many governments fail to rebalance priorities in providing services such as education, housing and social security which are the prerequisites for the wellbeing of children. Consequently, many households struggle to respond to basic needs especially those of children. Although economic conditions play a crucial role in creating prosperity or poverty in households and therefore the wellbeing or misery for children; they are not the sole cause. Research Insights: The review of the South African Index of Multiple Deprivation and the South African Child Gauge establish the extent to which economic conditions impact on the wellbeing or misery of children. The analysis of social, cultural, environmental and structural theories demonstrates that non-economic factors contribute equally to the wellbeing or misery of children, yet, they are disregarded. In addition, the assessment of a child abuse database proves a weak correlation between economic factors (prosperity or poverty) and child’s wellbeing or misery. Theoretical Implications: Through critical social research theory and modelling, the paper proposes a Theory-Based Model that combines different factors to facilitate the understanding of child’s wellbeing or misery. Policy Implications: The proposed model assists in broad policy and decision making and reviews processes in promoting child’s wellbeing and in preventing, intervening and managing child’s misery with regard to education, housing, and social security.

Keywords: children, child’s misery, child’s wellbeing, household’s despair, household’s prosperity

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Authors: Linh Tong

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This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of key education reforms in Vietnam from 1945 to 2017, which reflects an evolution of socio-political needs of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam throughout this period. It explores the contextual conditions, motivations and ambitions influencing the formation of the education reforms in Vietnam. It also looks, from an applied practical perspective, at the influence of politics on education policy-making. The research methodology includes a content analysis of curriculum designs proposed by the Ministry of Education and Training, relevant resolutions and executive orders passed by the National Assembly and the Prime Minister, as well as interviews with experts and key stakeholders. The results point to a particular configuration of factors which have been inspiring the shape and substance of these reforms and which have most certainly influenced their implementation. This configuration evolves from the immediate needs to erase illiteracy and cultivate socialist economic model at the beginning of Vietnam’s independence in 1945-1975, to a renewed urge to adopt market-oriented economy in 1986 and cautiously communicate with the outside world until 2000s, and to currently a demonstrated desire to fully integrate into the global economy and tackle with rising concerns about national security (the South China Sea Dispute), environmental sustainability, construction of a knowledge economy, and a rule-of-law society. Overall, the paper attempts to map Vietnam’s socio-political needs with the changing sets of goals and expected outcomes in teaching and learning methodologies and practices as introduced in Vietnamese key education reforms.

Keywords: curriculum development, knowledge society, national security, politics of education policy-making, Vietnam's education reforms

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Authors: Marko Niinimaki

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Cryptocurrencies are getting increasingly popular, but very few of them can be conveniently used in daily mobile phone purchases. To solve this problem, we demonstrate how to build a functional prototype of a mobile cryptocurrency-based e-commerce application the communicates with Near-Field Communication (NFC) tags. Using the system, users are able to purchase physical items with an NFC tag that contains an e-commerce URL. The payment is done simply by touching the tag with a mobile device and accepting the payment. Our method is constructive: we describe the design and technologies used in the implementation and evaluate the security and performance of the solution. Our main finding is that the analysis and measurements show that our solution is feasible for e-commerce.

Keywords: cryptocurrency, e-commerce, NFC, mobile devices

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Authors: Tarun Chand, Michael Jurczyk

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With the increasing need and popularity of IoT devices and how integrated they are becoming in our daily lives and industries, these devices make for a very lucrative target for malicious actors. And since these devices have such limited resources, the implementation of robust security features is a tradeoff to be made for the actual functionality the device was intended for. This makes them an easy target with high returns. Several frameworks for the secure firmware update of these devices have been recently proposed in the literature. They focus on methods such as blockchains and distributed file systems to secure firmware updates, but do not go into the details of the actual implementation of these frameworks and the lower-level interactions among these methods used. This work integrates some of these security measures into one overall framework and details the actual lower-level implementation of this framework in a virtual dockerized testbed running on AWS.

Keywords: blockchain, Ethereum, Geth, IPFS, secure IoT-firmware update, virtual testbed development

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Authors: Bethany Leake, Samantha Caton, Paul Norman, Jill Edmondson

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With the majority of the UK population residing in urban areas and with the pressures both environmentally and socially on rural agriculture, the role of urban food production, particularly urban horticulture (UH), is increasingly important in the future of UK food security. UH has the potential to provide an important contribution to urban diets and to provide additional benefits to human health and well-being. While allotments are the traditional focus of UH and play an important role, as access to this type of land is limited and unequal across cities, other forms of UH space, such as domestic growing, will need to be utilized to provide a significant contribution to urban diets. It is theorized that this smaller scale of growing may also be a more accessible way of engaging novice growers in UH. A collaborative research project, Urban Harvest, was designed between the University of Sheffield and Sheffield-based food organizations, which aimed to engage inexperienced gardeners in UH by providing them with home food-growing kits (Grow-Kits). Grow-Kits were provided to 189 participants across Sheffield in 2022, 48% of whom had never grown food before. Data collected through surveys and interviews will help us to evaluate the effect of small-scale food growing on health and wellbeing and the potential of this type of scheme to encourage future UH engagement. This data and increasing evidence on the co-benefits of UH have important implications not only for local food security but also for urban health inequalities and the potential use of this activity for preventative healthcare.

Keywords: urban horticulture, health and wellbeing, food security, nutrition

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Authors: Rasha Waheeb, Bjorn Andersen, Rafa Shakir

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Purpose The purpose of this study is to avoid delays that occur in emergency reconstruction projects especially in post disaster circumstances whether if they were natural or manmade due to their particular national and humanitarian importance. We presented a theoretical and practical concepts for projects management in the field of construction industry that deal with a range of global and local trails. This study aimed to identify the factors of effective delay in construction projects in Iraq that affect the time and the specific quality cost, and find the best solutions to address delays and solve the problem by setting parameters to restore balance in this study. 30 projects were selected in different areas of construction were selected as a sample for this study. Design/methodology/approach This study discusses the reconstruction strategies and delay in time and cost caused by different delay factors in some selected projects in Iraq (Baghdad as a case study).A case study approach was adopted, with thirty construction projects selected from the Baghdad region, of different types and sizes. Project participants from the case projects provided data about the projects through a data collection instrument distributed through a survey. Mixed approach and methods were applied in this study. Mathematical data analysis was used to construct models to predict delay in time and cost of projects before they started. The artificial neural networks analysis was selected as a mathematical approach. These models were mainly to help decision makers in construction project to find solutions to these delays before they cause any inefficiency in the project being implemented and to strike the obstacles thoroughly to develop this industry in Iraq. This approach was practiced using the data collected through survey and questionnaire data collection as information form. Findings The most important delay factors identified leading to schedule overruns were contractor failure, redesigning of designs/plans and change orders, security issues, selection of low-price bids, weather factors, and owner failures. Some of these are quite in line with findings from similar studies in other countries/regions, but some are unique to the Iraqi project sample, such as security issues and low-price bid selection. Originality/value we selected ANN’s analysis first because ANN’s was rarely used in project management , and never been used in Iraq to finding solutions for problems in construction industry. Also, this methodology can be used in complicated problems when there is no interpretation or solution for a problem. In some cases statistical analysis was conducted and in some cases the problem is not following a linear equation or there was a weak correlation, thus we suggested using the ANN’s because it is used for nonlinear problems to find the relationship between input and output data and that was really supportive.

Keywords: construction projects, delay factors, emergency reconstruction, innovation ANN, post disasters, project management

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Authors: P. Tsarouhas, Ch. Achillas, D. Aidonis, D. Folinas, V. Maslis, N. Moussiopoulos

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Agricultural production is a sector with high socioeconomic significance and key implications on employment and nutritional security. However, the impacts of agrifood production and consumption patterns on the environment are considerable, mainly due to the demand of large inputs of resources. This paper presents a case study of olive oil production in Greece, an important agri-product especially for countries in the Mediterranean basin. Life Cycle Analysis has been used to quantify the environmental performance of olive oil production. All key parameters that are associated with the life cycle of olive oil production are studied and environmental “hotspots” are diagnosed.

Keywords: LCA, olive oil production, environmental impact, case study, Greece

Procedia PDF Downloads 418

Authors: John Hardy

Abstract:

The early twenty-first century national security environment has been characterized by political coercion. Despite an abundance of political commentary on the various forms of non-state coercion leveraged against the state, there is a lack of literature which distinguishes between the mechanisms and the mediums of coercion. Frequently non-state movements seeking to coerce the state are labelled by their tactics, not their strategies. Terrorists, insurgencies and social movements are largely defined by the ways in which they seek to influence the state, rather than by their political aims. This study examines the strategies of coercion used by non-state actors against states. This approach includes terrorist groups, insurgencies, and social movements who seek to coerce state politics. Not all non-state actors seek political coercion, so not all examples of different group types are considered. This approach also excludes political coercion by states, focusing on the non-state actor as the primary unit of analysis. The study applies a general theory of political coercion, which is defined as attempts to change the policies or action of a polity against its will, to the strategies employed by terrorist groups, insurgencies, and social movements. This distinguishes non-state actors’ strategic objectives from their actions and motives, which are variables that are often used to differentiate between types of non-state actors and the labels commonly used to describe them. It also allows for a comparative analysis of theoretical perspectives from the disciplines of terrorism, insurgency and counterinsurgency, and social movements. The study finds that there is a significant degree of overlap in the way that different disciplines conceptualize the mechanism of political coercion by non-state actors. Studies of terrorism and counterterrorism focus more on the notions of cost tolerance and collective punishment, while studies of insurgency focus on a contest of legitimacy between actors, and social movement theory tend to link political objectives, social capital, and a mechanism of influence to leverage against the state. Each discipline has a particular vernacular for the mechanism of coercion, which is often linked to the means of coercion, but they converge on three core theoretical components of compelling a polity to change its policies or actions: exceeding resistance to change, using political or violent punishments, and withholding legitimacy or consent from a government.

Keywords: counter terrorism, homeland security, insurgency, political coercion, social movement theory, terrorism

Procedia PDF Downloads 162