Identity and Access Management System: a Web-Based Approach for an Enterprise

Managing digital identities and access control for enterprise users and applications remains one of the greatest challenges facing computing today. An attempt to address this issue led to the proposed security paradigm called Identity and Access Management (IAM) service based on IAM standards. Current approaches such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), Central Authentication Service (CAS) and Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) lack comprehensive analysis from conception to physical implementation to incorporate these solutions thereby resulting in impractical and fractured solutions. In this paper, we have implemented Identity and Access Management System (IAMSys) using the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) which focuses on authentication, authorization, administration of identities and audit reporting. Its primary concern is verification of the identity of the entity and granting correct level of access for resources which are protected in either the cloud environment or on-premise systems. A phased approach methodology was used in the research where it requires any enterprise or organization willing to adopt this must carry out a careful planning and demonstrated a good understanding of the technologies involved. The results of the experimental evaluation indicated that the average rating score is 72.0 % for the participants involved in this study. This implies that the idea of IAMSys is a way to mitigating security challenges associated with authentication, authorization, data protection and accountability if properly deployed

Big Data, Internet Privacy and the Vulnerabilities of the African Regulatory Landscape

Social media generates massive amount of big data from users, the penetration of these platforms in Africa creates meaningful insights around customer needs and behaviour from the data. This helps to create new businesses that rebalance the technology and wealth gap in the continent. With every gigabytes of data generated brings about exploitation of customer data. Data Privacy becomes a focal point of concern. The global approaches to privacy for the users of social media platforms is still evolving but two jurisdictions have set a standard. The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Californian Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) have provisions that are built on sustaining consumer consent and enabling consumers to be forgotten or have their consented data deleted at their own request. More so the exponential growth of the internet in Africa highlights the explosion of big data and there is a need to study its regulatory approaches in relation to the global best practices symbolized by the GDPR and the CCPA. The Paper reviews the African regulatory landscape and its approach to Big Data and possible vulnerable angles that exposes data of Africans on these social media platforms. It is clear that in spite of a continental treaty and a reasonable number of African countries with Data Privacy laws, these laws are in most of the countries either not built on strong legal grounds or lack an independent enforcement mechanism. Therefore the African approach leaves a lot of open issues and there is a need for a continental consensus on the best approach that will push through national legislations crept on a unifying continental model. Keywords: Big Data, Privacy, Regulatory, Social Media, Data analytics, Guidelines, rights DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-17-14 Publication date:June 30th 202

Parametric mixture model of three components for modelling heterogeneos survival data

Previous studies showed that two components of survival mixture model performed better than pure classical parametric survival model. However there are crucial needs for three components of survival mixture model due to the behaviour of heterogeneous survival data which commonly comprises of more than two distributions. Therefore in this study two models of three components of survival mixture model were developed. Model 1 is three components of parametric survival mixture model of Gamma distributions and Model 2 is three components of parametric survival mixture model of Exponential, Gamma and Weibull distributions. Both models were estimated using the Expectation Maximization (EM) and validated via simulation and empirical studies. The simulation was repeated 300 times by incorporating three different sample sizes: 100, 200, 500; three different censoring percentages: 10%, 20%, 40%; and two different sets of mixing probabilities: ascending (10%, 40%, 50%) and descending (50%, 30%, 20%). Several sets of real data were used in the empirical study and models comparisons were implemented. Model 1 was compared with pure classical parametric survival model, two and four components parametric survival mixture models of Gamma distribution, respectively. Model 2 was compared with pure classical parametric survival models and three components parametric survival mixture models of the same distribution. Graphical presentations, log likelihood (LL), Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), Mean Square Error (MSE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) were used to evaluate the performance. Simulation findings revealed that both models performed well at large sample size, small percentage of censoring and ascending mixing probabilities. Both models also produced smaller errors compared to other type of survival models in the empirical study. These indicate that both of the developed models are more accurate and provide better option to analyse heterogeneous survival data

Discrete-Event Simulation Data Transformation: A Model-Driven Data Integration Approach

Achieving a smooth production system is a complex process that requires the use of commercial discrete event simulation (DES) tools to provide a high flexibility production process, for instance the use of simulation modelling to model a production system. These tools require high levels of cooperation to work together because they are not designed to be integrated and hardly share their data. This research aims to integrate DES tools applied by different manufacturing systems in order to enable them to share their data. This thesis presents data integration from a simulation model point of view because it views data integration between different DES tools models as key steps towards system integration. A new approach has been developed which is called a Model-Driven Data Integration Approach (MDDI), so named because the integration involves the combination of data from different DES tools model sources. The effectiveness of this data integration approach has been demonstrated in a case study undertaken for DES design of a phone production line in the manufacturing industry. However, the application of the MDDI is not limited to this case study: it can also be used for other system and applications. The MDDI approach was tested and evaluated on the basis of this case study. These test cases simulated how the data integration based on different DES tools’ models react to the process of data sharing as they occur in the manufacturing production line. The result is that the MDDI approach best maintains data consistency and integrity and can be adopted by different industries

The impact of working capital management practice on firm profitability : an evidence from manufacturing firms listed in Istanbul stock exchange

06.03.2018 tarihli ve 30352 sayılı Resmi Gazetede yayımlanan “Yükseköğretim Kanunu İle Bazı Kanun Ve Kanun Hükmünde Kararnamelerde Değişiklik Yapılması Hakkında Kanun” ile 18.06.2018 tarihli “Lisansüstü Tezlerin Elektronik Ortamda Toplanması, Düzenlenmesi ve Erişime Açılmasına İlişkin Yönerge” gereğince tam metin erişime açılmıştır.Çeşitli finansal kararları alma sürecinde derin karışmalardan dolayı, çalışma sermaye bileşenleri imalat firmaları için çok önemlidir. Bu nedenle, bu çalışmanın temel amacı, İstanbul Menkul Kıymetler Borsası'nda işlem gösteren Türk kimya, petrol ve plastik imalat firmalarının beş yıl boyunca 2012'den – 2016'ya kadar çalışma sermayesi yönetimi uygulamasının firma karlılığı üzerindeki etkisini incelemektedir. Alacakların tahsil süresi (ATS), stok devir süresi (SDS), borçların devir süresi (BDS) ve nakit dönüş süresi (NDS) bağımsız değişkenler olarak kullanılan çalışma sermaye bileşenleridir. Hem aktif karlılığı (AK) hem de öz sermaye karlılığı (ÖSK), bağımlı değişkenler olarak kullanılan firma karlılığı değişkenleridir ve buna ilave olarak, cari oranı (CO), kaldıraç oranı (KO) ve satış büyümesi (SB) kontrol değişkenleri olarak kullanılmaktadır. Araştırmacı, bağımsız ve bağımlı değişkenleri arasındaki ilişkiyi ortaya çıkartmak ve daha sonra çalışmanın mümkün hedeflerine ulaşmak amacıyla tanımlayıcı istatistikler, korelasyon ve doğrusal regresyon analizi uygulanmıştır. Nihayet, Pearson korelasyon sonucu firma karlılığının ATS ve SDS değişkenleriyle pozitif ve negatif bir korelasyona sahip olduğunu bulunmuştur, ayrıca AK'nın sırasıyla BDS ve NDS değişkenleri ile sırasıyla negatif ve pozitif bir korelasyonu bulunurken, ÖSK'nın BDS ve NDS değişkenleri ile sırasıyla pozitif ve negatif korelasyon varmış. Ancak, doğrusal regresyon sonucu firma karlılığının ATS ve BDS değişkenleriyle pozitif ve SDS ve NDS değişkenleriyle negatif bir ilişkiye sahip olduğuna tanık olmuş. Souç itibarıyla, araştırmacı NDS ve BDS değişkenlerini kısaltmayı ve ayrıca stok eksikligi veya aşırılığı aşmak için satın alma, üretim ve pazarlama bölümleri arasında güçlü bir iletişim kurmayı önerir.Due to their deep involvement with various financial decisions, working capital components are very essential for manufacturing firms. Therefore, the principal aim of this study was definitely to inspect the influence of working capital management practice on the firm profitability of the Turkish chemical, petrol and plastic manufacturing firms listed on Istanbul Stock Exchange for a period of five years from 2012 to 2016. Accounts receivable period (ARP), inventory conversion period (ICP), accounts payable period (APP), and cash conversion cycle (CCC) are working capital components that employed as independent variables. Both return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) are firm profitability variables that hired as dependent variables and in addition to this, current ratio (CR), debt ratio (DR), and sales growth (SG) are exploited as control variables. The researcher is designed certainly to employ descriptive statistics, correlation and linear regression analysis as a statistical testing tool to uncover the association between independent and dependent variables and then reach the possible goals of the study. Finally, the Pearson correlation result exposed that firm profitability has a positive and negative correlation with ARP and ICP variables respectively, additionally, ROA has a negative and positive correlation with APP and CCC variables respectively while ROE has a positive and negative correlation with APP and CCC variables respectively. However, the linear regression result witnessed that firm profitability has a positive relationship with ARP and APP variables and a negative relationship with ICP and CCC variables. In the end, the researcher recommends to shorten CCC and APP variables and also build strong communication among purchasing, production, and marketing departments to overcome shortage or excess of inventory

The Determinants of Rural Households Food Security and Coping Strategies: The Case of Meta District, East Hararghe Zone of Oromia National Regional State of Ethiopia

Africa is making slow progress in achieving international hunger targets. About 795 million people were chronically malnutrition in worldwide of which 780 million were in developing countries especially in SSA. Recent revised humanitarian requirements documents estimate that 9.7 million people in Ethiopia were in need of emergency food assistance and 420,000 children were requiring treatment for severe acute malnutrition in 2016. So, understanding the major determinants of food security is primary importance in choosing appropriate interventions for addressing the problem of food insecurity. Data on demographic and socio-economic characteristics and institutional aspects were collected from 149 households through interview schedule, key informant interviews and focus group discussion. Descriptive statistics, inferential statistics and Logit model were used for data analysis. The survey results indicate that 53.02% of the respondents were food secure, while 46.98% were food insecure. Results also indicate that there was a significant mean difference at different level of significance between the food secure and food insecure households in terms of age, sex, family size, dependency ratio, educational levels, size of cultivated land, livestock ownership excluding oxen own, off/non-farm income, cash crop produces, fertilizer user, contact with development agents, improve seeds user, distance to the nearest market and access to credit. Among 16 explanatory variables included in the logit model, 8 of them were found to be significant at different probability level, including sex, size of cultivated land and livestock ownership excluding oxen were positive effect on food security whereas, age, family size, dependent ratio, access to the nearest market and access to credit had negative effect on food security. The major portion of this study was about the determinants of rural households’ food security, it has been realized that the determinants of rural households’ food security were broad, interrelated and varies. These can be addressed by a wide comprehensive intervention from different angles of social aspects. Keywords: Food security, determinants, rural households, coping strategies, Meta, logistic regression, Ethiopia. DOI: 10.7176/IAGS/89-01 Publication date: January 31st 202

Globalization of Patent Laws through Trade Agreements, and Pressures on Ethiopia’s Patent Regime: The Passenger behind the Wheel

Given that patent law emerged in domestic systems, there was an obvious diversity of patent regimes. With the advent of cross-border movement of resources, including inventions, there was a need for a harmonized patent regime. The issue went to another level with the entry into force of the WTO/TRIPS Agreement, which requires WTO members to enact new patent laws or amend existing ones to make them TRIPS compliant. The Ethiopian Patent Law, which was enacted in 1995, is strangely TRIPS compliant, tempting many to think that it had Ethiopia’s forthcoming accession in mind. However, with Ethiopia yet to complete the accession process, there are further pressures from industrialized countries to ensure that stringent patent rules are complied with in developing countries. This article examines TRIPS, the Cotonou Agreement and AGOA as effective instruments of ensuring compliance. It is argued that the Ethiopian patent system will continue to observe TRIPS and other standards as dictated by the Global North.Key termsGlobalization · Harmonization · IP · Patent · TRIPS Agreement · BTA · GSP · Cotonou Agreement · AGO

Integrating Antenatal and Postnatal Pregnancy Services to Hospital Management System

Antenatal and postnatal processes and services is a component of Hospital Management Systems that has been given very little attention. Most healthcare institution carries out the antenatal and postnatal processes manually and keeps records of the whole processes on paper. In most cases in most hospital, records kept on paper and files get missing or misplaced leading to the loss of important records of clients which would have been very helpful for future pregnancies and clinical diagnosis. Report generation and statistical figures are difficult to generate with the manual based system. Data errors, security, and privacy are another problems associated with the manual system. In this paper, the antenatal and postnatal services were incorporated into the Hospital Management System of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto with a view to reducing the issues and inconsistencies encountered with the manual procedure. Dreamweaver, PHP, CSS, JavaScript, Ajax, HTML and MySQL are the technological tools used to automate the incorporated antenatal and postnatal services in the system. The usefulness of the proposed system was evaluated using the System Usability Scale (SUS) questionnaire and some clinical users. The experimental evaluation shows that the developed system is beneficial to the clinic and the general public based on the result obtained in this study. The results also demonstrated that the developed system can fit into the antenatal and postnatal routine of many hospitals with little or no modification

A simulation study of a parametric mixture model of three different distributions to analyze heterogeneous survival data

In this paper a simulation study of a parametric mixture model of three different distributions is considered to model heterogeneous survival data.Some properties of the proposed parametric mixture of Exponential, Gamma and Weibull are investigated.The Expectation Maximization Algorithm (EM) is implemented to estimate the maximum likelihood estimators of three different postulated parametric mixture model parameters.The simulations are performed by simulating data sampled from a population of three component parametric mixture of three different distributions, and the simulations are repeated 10, 30, 50, 100 and 500 times to investigate the consistency and stability of the EM scheme.The EM Algorithm scheme developed is able to estimate the parameters of the mixture which are very close to the parameters of the postulated model.The repetitions of the simulation give parameters closer and closer to the postulated models, as the number of repetitions increases, with relatively small standard errors