Theses for Computer Science

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Browsing Theses for Computer Science by Subject "blockchain"

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    Customs Trade Facilitation and Compliance for Ecommerce using Blockchain and Data Mining
    (The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2021-07) Alqaryouti, Omar
    Electronic commerce (ecommerce) has penetrated every society, organization, business and household and changed consumers’ habits. It enabled businesses in some nations to trade beyond local borders and reach global proportions. This led to the explosive growth in demands for ecommerce platforms over the last few years and the increased popularity in cross-border trade interactions. The popularity became more evident in times of crisis such as COVID-19 for critical food and medical supplies and products. However, it was disrupted in other markets due to societies going on lockdown, which were further accentuated by borders being shut down. Ecommerce cross-border trade is impacted by regulations of each country. The challenges facing global trade and Customs administrations in particular cover many dimensions. Customs being tasked with protecting society and the smooth trade flow can no longer rely on traditional practices. A coordinated and consorted effort is required to disrupt illegitimate activities and support the mission of Customs. This work first aims to determine factors that drive the adoption of Blockchain technology. Blockchain is characterized for providing visibility, integrity, provenance and immutability across participants through the shared ledger capabilities. Therefore, blockchain technology is used in this study to build a framework to enhance trade facilitation and increase compliance while eliminating risks. This framework will provide advance access to information from various sources and will enable real-time discovery of risks. Accordingly, two off-chain clustering algorithms are proposed to determine value manipulation in ecommerce transactions and increase the efficiency of Customs Audit process. The Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) methodology is adopted to build the framework. An integrated web application is developed to mock up the end-to-end process in ecommerce. Additionally, the Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM) methodology is employed for modelling the two proposed clustering algorithms to identify transactional risks. The usability of the proposed framework is evaluated using the System Usability Scale (SUS) resulting in overall high acceptability levels across all users. Furthermore, accuracy measures are used to evaluate performance of the proposed clustering algorithms, reaching 86% for valuation assessment and 87% for risk identification in customs audit. The proposed framework will revolutionize the way trade supply chain is handled. It will create a shift from reactive limited visibility to proactive full visibility mode and properly manage various scenarios such as the current health hurdles and any future challenges lurching around.
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    A Framework to Implement Advanced Technologies in Higher Education Institutions: A Blockchain-Based Solution Case Study
    (The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2022-11) AL MANSOORI, SUAAD
    The main drive behind this research is a statement made by Haugsbakken and Langseth (2019) that higher education institutions (HEIs) have a history of being slow and ineffective in adopting new technologies. The United Arab Emirates has encouraged HEIs to adopt new technologies to reinforce services. One of the main operations in HEIs is managing students’ credentials which requires HEIs to implement smart solutions rather than following traditional practices such as filling paper-based forms and getting approvals via emails. However, smart solutions, technologies, and advanced systems are associated with several challenges that might drive decision-makers away from replacing the traditional practices with new advances solutions in HEIs. This research proposes a general implementation framework that can guide decision-makers in HEI when implementing new solutions and technologies. The research also takes Blockchain Technology as a case study to customize the proposed framework and use it to implement Blockchain-based solutions. The researcher has conducted several qualitative and quantitative methods. First, highlighting challenges of implementing new solutions that were discussed in literature; with the focus on Blockchain as one of the most promising technologies. Second, building an online survey questionnaire in which HEIs stakeholders participated in to rank the challenges and provide further insights. Third, studying the case of a private university in The United Arab Emirates to highlight the issues of the current traditional credentials management practices and use the new proposed framework to implement a new Blockchain-based system in the same university. For the validation, the research was presented and published at two international conferences. It was also validated with the experts’ feedback and a live demo. This research does not focus on the technical aspects of Blockchain technology or any other technology but serves as a guideline to motivate decision-makers and stakeholders in HEIs to adopt new technologies.