Finding the adequate location scenario after the merger of fire brigades thanks to Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis Methods

This paper addresses the issue of selecting a suitable location for a fire station in canton of Fribourg, as a result of a fire brigades’merger, by applying Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods. Solving the problem of determining fire station locations through various methods has been analyzed in-­‐depth by researchers. However, a different approach, based on application of methods like ELECTRE and PROMETHEE is advanced in this paper. The selection of the most suitable fire station site is obtained by applying the designated methods to five distinctive alternatives (called scenarios), taking into consideration the relatively limited information and specifics, and the extensive number of relevant criteria that summed up to seventy-­‐ eight. Taking the merger of the three local fire departments as an example, the proposed methods for selecting a suitable location for the fire station demonstrate and justify the reason behind this choice. Research shows that the applied methods have been proven to be useful and powerful tools that exhibited acceptable levels of consistency when selecting the best project. The main finding is that one scenario in particular proved to be strongly dominant over the others and most suitable in determining the fire station location

Buffer-aided 5G cooperative networks: Considering the source delay

© 2019 Association for Computing Machinery. Applying relays employed with data buffers drastically enhance the performance of cooperative networks. However, lengthening the packet delay is still a serious challenge for cooperative networks. This paper thoroughly studies a new factor affecting the packet delay which is the source delay. This factor plays a key role in calculating the total delay that messages encounter before reaching their destination. This delay is crucial especially in applications that require their messages to get transmitted as fast as possible. Markov chain is employed to model the system and analyze the source delay. Numerical simulations verify the analytical model, the results show that buffer-aided relays can beat non-buffer relays in terms of average packet delay, especially at low signal to noise ratio (SNR) range. This makes adding buffers to relays an attractive solution for the packet delay in 5G applications

Threats on the horizon: Understanding security threats in the era of cyber-physical systems

Disruptive innovations of the last few decades, such as smart cities and Industry 4.0, were made possible by higher integration of physical and digital elements. In today's pervasive cyber-physical systems, connecting more devices introduces new vulnerabilities and security threats. With increasing cybersecurity incidents, cybersecurity professionals are becoming incapable of addressing what has become the greatest threat climate than ever before. This research investigates the spectrum of risk of a cybersecurity incident taking place in the cyber-physical-enabled world using the VERIS Community Database. The findings were that the majority of known actors were from the US and Russia, most victims were from western states and geographic origin tended to reflect global affairs. The most commonly targeted asset was information, with the majority of attack modes relying on privilege abuse. The key feature observed was extensive internal security breaches, most often a result of human error. This tends to show that access in any form appears to be the source of vulnerability rather than incident specifics due to a fundamental trade-off between usability and security in the design of computer systems. This provides fundamental evidence of the need for a major reevaluation of the founding principles in cybersecurity

ADOPTING USER-CENTRED DEVELOPMENT FOR ARABIC E-COMMERCE WEBSITES

ABSTRAC

The impact of domestic savings gap on the current account balance in Jordan during the period (1995-2020)

The study aims to demonstrate the role of the domestic savings gap in the Current Account (CA) balance in Jordan, by analyzing the size and development of the domestic savings gap in Jordan. As well as analyzing the role of domestic savings in the CA, and balance in Jordan. Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Bound Testing methodology were used to measure the short and long-term impact of deficit determinants in the CA of the Jordanian balance of payments. Several results were found in the current study. First, a positive and significant effect of the public savings gap on the CA deficit in Jordan was found during the period 1995 to 2020. Second, a positive and significant effect of the private sector savings gap on the CA in Jordan during the study period. Finally, the government sector’s gap has a greater impact compared to the private sector's gap on the CA in Jordan. The study recommends the necessity of drawing up incentive policies for domestic savings and creating incentives and means that can help increase the mobilization and distribution of savings to finance productive investments to reduce the CA deficit in Jordan

The role of information technology in raising the efficiency of Amman stock exchange mediated by the behavior of the stock prices

The study aimed to explore the role of information technology in raising the efficiency of the Amman Stock Exchange, mediated by the behavior of the stock prices. The study chose a sample consisting of 24 companies that are listed on the Amman Stock Exchange. The study used the average of the abnormal return of the stocks gained by companies through information technology applications. The study carried out a multiple regression analysis to explore the degree to which the independent variable affected the dependent one. The study results found that the abnormal return of the stocks gained by companies through information technology applications is low. The study also found that there is a significant relationship between using IT applications and the efficiency of the Amman Stock Exchange, mediated by the behavior of the stock prices. Therefore, the study recommends expanding the scope of using IT in emerging stock markets, including the Amman Stock Exchange, with the aim of raising the operational efficiency of such markets

An Enhanced Threshold RSA-Based Aggregate Signature Scheme to Reduce Blockchain Size

The transformative potential of blockchain technology has resulted in its widespread adoption, bringing about numerous advantages such as enhanced data integrity, transparency, and decentralization. Blockchain has effectively proven its ability to establish trustworthy systems across a multitude of applications. As the number of transactions recorded into a blockchain grows, the blockchain's size expands significantly, posing challenges to the network, particularly in terms of storage capacity and processing power. To address this problem, we present a cryptosystem based on RSA to provide aggregate signatures in blockchains. The aggregate signature replaces all transaction signatures of a block. In this scheme, all participating blockchain nodes use the same modulus $N$ , each with its own private and public key pair generated from $N$. Regardless of the number of transactions, nodes, and signers, the aggregate signature size is always $O(k)$ , where $k$ is a security parameter. The miner that constructs a candidate block computes the aggregate signature $\sigma$ , replaces all transaction signatures by $\sigma$ , and transmits the block with only one aggregate signature. The proposed scheme incorporates a flexible and accountable subgroup aggregate signature mechanism, allowing any subset $t$ of $n$ total elements to sign data, where $t$ is the required number of signers. To verify that a set of elements signed the block, the verifier requires the aggregate signature, the aggregate public key, and the data hash. This approach requires minimal interaction between the signers, which results in reduced network traffic. Regardless of the network size, there are always $t + n$ exchanged messages. Experimental analysis shows the proposed aggregate signature scheme's effectiveness in increasing security robustness and reducing block size and overall network traffic

Finding the Adequate Location Scenario After the Merger of Fire Brigades Thanks to Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis Methods

This paper addresses the issue of selecting a suitable location for a fire station in canton of Fribourg, as a result of a fire brigades’ merger, by applying Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods. Solving the problem of determining fire station locations through various methods has been analyzed in-depth by researchers. However, a different approach, based on application of ELECTRE I and ELECTRE II methods is advanced in this paper. The selection of the most suitable fire station site is obtained by applying the designated methods to five distinctive alternatives (called scenarios), taking into consideration the relatively limited information and specifics, and the extensive number of relevant criteria that summed up to sixty-one. Taking the merger of the three local fire departments as an example, the proposed methods for selecting a suitable location for the fire station demonstrate and justify the reason behind this choice. Research shows that the applied methods have been proven to be useful and powerful tools that exhibited acceptable levels of consistency when selecting the best project. The main finding is that one scenario in particular proved to be preferred over the others and most suitable in determining the fire station location