Exploring the Demand and Supply Conditions of E-Commerce and E-Banking Services in Saudi Arabian Conventional and Islamic Banks

The extensive use of technology by banks and financial institutions aims to respond to customers’ demands by providing efficient, speedy and convenient financial services. After developing the e-banking services, banks have also expanded their online services into e-commerce. Developments of e-banking services and e-commerce have been the case with the majority of banks including Islamic banks in the GCC region. The main aim of this research is to explore the demand and supply conditions of e-commerce through e-banking services in Saudi Arabian conventional and Islamic banks. In doing so, this research aims to assess the level of customer awareness of e-commerce and to explore customers’ motivation in Saudi Arabian conventional and Islamic banks. In addition, this research further explores and evaluates customers’ use of e-commerce and e-channels banking services, and the obstacles faced including security issues. In an attempt to locate the supply side related issues, the study aims also to explore perceptions of the IT managers in the six banks. In the study, data were collected through a survey questionnaire to measure the opinions and perceptions of bank customers, and interview surveys were utilised for assessing the supply conditions. To achieve the aims of this research, firstly, this research presents the initial findings with the objective of developing a better understanding of customers’ preferences based on their opinions and perceptions, expressed through a questionnaire survey with a sample of 198 Islamic and conventional bank customers representing six banks in the country; secondly, to further the analysis of this research, an empirical study is presented by using a series of semi-structured interviews with IT managers at three different levels of the sampled banks in Saudi Arabia. The findings over five empirical chapters demonstrate that the majority of the respondents from both the banks appear to understand and have awareness of the importance of e-commerce especially and e-banking services in particular. The findings also indicate that the majority of the respondents from both banks tend to be equally motivated to deal with e-commerce using banking facilities available for them. In search of motivational factors, this research found that the benefits and the 24/7 availability of e-commerce and e-banking services were the main factors motivating participants to deal with e-commerce and use e-banking services. The findings also indicate that the customers of Islamic banks have a better understanding of using e-commerce and e-banking services. Furthermore, the findings show that customers experienced personal, institutional and macro level obstacles to using e-commerce in both the bank types. Moreover, the customers of Islamic and conventional banks appear to understand the importance of security issues in e-commerce through e-banking services as well as banks. The findings also show that the government of Saudi Arabia has played a key role to improve the environment of e-banking services in Saudi banks. Finally, the interviewees’ analysis indicates the weaknesses in the telecommunication infrastructure. Based on the findings this study suggests that e-commerce through e-banking services can play an important role in expanding business opportunities in Saudi Arabia, while they facilitate individual engagement with commercial activities. Since the technology is expanding and advancing rapidly, and to address the future challenges in IT especially in the e-banking services, it is essential that the necessary infrastructure should be developed to take advantage of the opportunity

Single-carrier frequency-domain equalization with hybrid decision feedback equalizer for Hammerstein channels containing nonlinear transmit amplifier

We propose a nonlinear hybrid decision feedback equalizer (NHDFE) for single-carrier (SC) block transmission systems with nonlinear transmit high power amplifier (HPA), which significantly outperforms our previous nonlinear SC frequency-domain equalization (NFDE) design. To obtain the coefficients of the channel impulse response (CIR) as well as to estimate the nonlinear mapping and the inverse nonlinear mapping of the HPA, we adopt a complex-valued (CV) B-spline neural network approach. Specifically, we use a CV B-spline neural network to model the nonlinear HPA, and we develop an efficient alternating least squares scheme for estimating the parameters of the Hammerstein channel, including both the CIR coefficients and the parameters of the CV B-spline model. We also adopt another CV B-spline neural network to model the inversion of the nonlinear HPA, and the parameters of this inverting B-spline model can be estimated using the least squares algorithm based on the pseudo training data obtained as a natural byproduct of the Hammerstein channel identification. The effectiveness of our NHDFE design is demonstrated in a simulation study, which shows that the NHDFE achieves a signal-to-noise ratio gain of 4dB over the NFDE at the bit error rate level of 10−4

The WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body and its impact on Developing Countries: problems and possible solutions.

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss the limitation of participation of developing countries in the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB). Under the DSB, there are many cases that present the limiting of developing countries on some significant ways. This thesis discusses the most significant limiting factors reported and practiced by developing countries in the DSB. Developing countries have a lack of financial and legal resources and ability to impose the DSB rulings on procedural of the DSU. Also, there are a number of significant procedural reforms that the DSU dispute settlement system must consider. This thesis discusses these legal and financial obstacles for developing countries under the DSB. This thesis mentions the most significant potential solutions for tackling the constraints of developing country participation in WTO dispute settlement proceedings. Those solutions try to make the WTO system more workable for developing countries in settling disputes. In addition, it tries to demonstrate the significance of reforming the DSU. Also, it tries to improve developing country use of the WTO DSB. Therefore, it recommends that the proposals appearing in this thesis should be used in actual practice by establishing them in the DSB

Online news: a study of ‘credibility’ in the context of the Saudi news media

This thesis explores the ‘credibility’ of news in Saudi Arabia, comparing online media with official newspapers. The latter are heavily regulated offering limited viewpoints. But the Saudi government has been less able to regulate online. Against a historical background of news development in Saudi Arabia, the thesis explores the rise of online from discussion forums established in the 1990s to online newspapers and social media. Largely qualitative methods (interviews, focus groups) plus a quantitative survey, were adopted to collect two sets of data: from educated readers, and from journalists working for online publications. Additionally, material from two news case studies was gathered. Questions concerned: how online news was evaluated by users compared to more traditional reporting; how producers perceived the distinctiveness of online titles and the issues they faced. The data from the case studies – an ‘internal’ news story, Corona virus and an ‘external’ event, Egyptian elections – was subjected to ‘frame’ analysis, addressing the different news coverage of official print titles, online news and independent Twitter accounts. Focus was on whether online reporting offered more varied viewpoints and greater reader participation, and whether there was evidence for more management of news by the Saudi authorities in relation to the internal as compared to the external news event. The thesis argues that compared to official newspapers, online titles have largely gained greater credibility amongst educated Saudi users. They are regarded as offering different views, more ‘objective’ reporting and actively encourage reader comment. Findings indicate that online is less censored than official newspapers, but editors/journalists have learnt the skills of self-censorship to avoid blocking. Exchange of views on Twitter also demonstrate the possibility of distinctive voices and viewpoints being aired and argued over. In these ways, the relation between online news and readers/users begins to enable the formation of independent ‘public opinion’

A Historical Study of Saudi Theatre with Reference to the History of Theatre in the General Presidency for Youth Welfare

The subject of Saudi theatre has not been very well investigated by scholars and researchers, and many agree that there is a lack of resources concerning theatre in Saudi Arabia. Although there are a few studies about Saudi theatre, more studies in the history of Saudi theatre as well as in different aspects of theatre in Saudi Arabia are needed in order to help readers to further understand this subject. Unfortunately, the international community of theatre has not been able to access information about theatre in Saudi Arabia owing to the absence of studies of Saudi theatre in different languages, especially in English; this lack plays a key role in preventing readers from understanding Saudi theatre. This thesis attempts to play a role in bridging this gap in the area of Saudi theatre. It presents, therefore, a historical study of Saudi theatre from the establishment of Saudi Arabia as a country in 1932 to the period in which the General Presidency for Youth Welfare (GPYW) was established as the first organization that was responsible for supervising and producing theatre in Saudi Arabia, 1974-2004. In particular, the main aim of this research is to study and examine the history of theatre in GPYW from its establishment in 1974 up to 2004 when the Saudi government decided to transfer the responsibility of cultural activities from different institutions, including the GPYW, to the Ministry of Culture and Information. This will offer an important picture of the history of Saudi theatre which previously has not been addressed by scholars and researchers. The thesis is divided into six chapters. Owing to the fact that Saudi Arabia is a part of the Arabic world and has some similarities with the other Arabic countries in terms of language, religion, history, and culture, the first chapter will attempt to familiarize readers with the history of theatre in the Arabic world by providing historical background of the Arabic theatre. The second chapter will offer an outline of the historical, religious and social context of Saudi Arabia. The third chapter will present a detailed picture of the beginning of theatre in Saudi Arabia and the theatrical activities that took place in Saudi Arabia from its establishment until 1974, the year in which the GPYW was established. The fourth chapter will be devoted to exploring and understanding the main tendencies of theatre that emerged in Saudi theatre and dominated the history of theatre in this establishment from 1974 until 2004. In addition, a summary of a play of each tendency will be presented. It is essential for readers to be aware of the nature of these tendencies as they move to explore the history of theatre in the GPYW through the next chapters. The fifth and sixth chapters will concentrate on the history of theatre in the two main parts of the GPYW that produced regular theatre; the General Administration for Cultural Activities and the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts. Finally, the thesis will conclude by summarizing its main points and ideas and will provide some recommendations that should help the readers, future researchers, and Saudi practitioners to further improve and develop the subject of theatre in Saudi Arabia.Saudi Embass

Advanced IoT Technology and Protocols: Review and Future Perspectives

The Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as a disruptive paradigm, altering how we interact with our surroundings and enabling a plethora of novel applications across multiple sectors. This literature review provides a complete overview of the Internet of Things, including applications, technology, protocols, modeling tools, and future directions. The assessment begins by looking at a wide range of IoT applications, such as smart cities, healthcare, industrial automation, smart homes, and more. It then looks into the underlying technologies that enable IoT deployments, including low-power wireless communication protocols, edge computing, and sensor networks. Protocols and routing methods designed expressly for IoT networks are also described, as well as simulation tools used to simulate and evaluate IoT systems. The discussion focuses on critical insights and consequences for the future of IoT, including challenges and potential in security, interoperability, edge intelligence, and sustainability. By tackling these obstacles and using emerging technologies, IoT can create disruptive change across businesses while also improving quality of life. This review seeks to give scholars, practitioners, and stakeholders a thorough grasp of IoT and its implications for the future

Finite-Time Consensus with a Time-Varying Reference State and Switching Topology

The finite-time consensus problem in the networks of multiple mobile agents is comprehensively investigated. In order to resolve this problem, a novel nonlinear information exchange protocol is proposed. The proposed protocol ensures that the states of the agents are converged to a weighted-average consensus in finite time if the communication topology is a weighted directed graph with a spanning tree and each strongly connected component is detail-balanced. Furthermore, the proposed protocol is also able to solve the finite-time consensus problem of networks with a switching topology. Finally, computer simulations are presented to demonstrate and validate the effectiveness of the theoretical analysis under the proposed protocol

On skill and chance in sport

This work studies outcome uncertainty and competitive balance from a broad perspective. It considers four sports with varying scoring rates, from soccer with typically three goals per match to netball with one hundred goals per match. Within a general modelling framework for a two-competitor contest, we argue that outcome uncertainty, the extent to which the outcome of a contest is unpredictable, depends on scoring rate, on strength variation and on score dependence. Score dependence is essentially the tendency for scores to alternate because possession alternates and possession is advantageous. We regard competitive balance as lack of variation in strength or skill, so that when strength variation is large competitive balance is low and vice versa. Thus, we argue that the outcome of a contest depends on skill, scoring rate, score dependence and chance. This description of outcome is useful because it informs policy-making in sport about the design of scoring systems and the control of competitive imbalance. Broadly, we find that: soccer is relatively competitively unbalanced but outcomes are uncertain because the scoring rate is low; the Australian football league is competitively balanced and so outcomes are uncertain in spite of the high scoring rate in this sport; international rugby matches are relatively neither competitive nor uncertain so that little is left to chance; and netball matches have uncertain outcomes because scores are positively dependent

Gain-scheduled sliding-mode-type iterative learning control design for mechanical systems

In this paper, a novel gain-scheduled sliding-mode-type (SM-type) iterative learning (IL) control approach is proposed for the high-precision trajectory tracking of mechanical systems subject to model uncertainties and disturbances. Based on the SM variable, the proposed controller is synthesized involving a feedback regulation item, a feedforward learning item, and a robust switching item. The feedback regulation item is adopted to regulate the position and velocity tracking errors, the feedforward learning item is applied to handle the model uncertainties and repetitive disturbance, and the robust switching item is introduced to compensate the nonrepetitive disturbance and linearization residual error. Moreover, the gain-scheduled mechanism is employed for both the feedback regulation item and feedforward learning item to enhance the convergence speed. Convergence analysis illustrates that the position and velocity tracking errors can eventually regulate to zero under the proposed controller. By combining the advantages of both SM control and IL control, the proposed controller has strong robustness against model uncertainties and disturbances. Lastly, simulations and comparisons are provided to evaluate the efficiency and excellent performance of the proposed control approach