The Design and Operation of Rules of Origin in Greater Arab Free Trade Area: Challenges of Implementation and Reform

International audienceRules of origin (ROO) are pivotal element of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA). ROO are basically established to ensure that only eligible products receive preferential tariff treatment. Taking into consideration the profound implications of ROO for enhancing trade flows and facilitating the success of regional integration, this article sheds light on the way that ROO in GAFTA are designed and implemented. Moreover, the article examines the extent to which ROO still represents an obstacle to the full implementation of GAFTA. In addition, the article provides ways to overcome the most important shortcomings of ROO text in the agreement and ultimately offering possible solutions to those issues

Blockchain based voting system for Jordan parliament elections

Covid-19 pandemic has stressed more than any-time before the necessity for conducting election processes in an electronic manner, where voters can cast their votes remotely with complete security, privacy, and trust. The different voting schema in different countries makes it very difficult to utilize a one fits all system. This paper presents a blockchain based voting system (BBVS) applied to the Parliamentary elections system in the country of Jordan. The proposed system is a private and centralized blockchain implemented in a simulated environment. The proposed BBVS system implements a hierarchical voting process, where a voter casts votes at two levels, one for a group, and the second for distinct members within the group. This paper provides a novel blockchain based e-Voting system, which proves to be transparent and yet secure. This paper utilizes synthetic voter benchmarks to measure the performance, accuracy and integrity of the election process. This research introduced and implemented new algorithms and methods to maintain acceptable performance both at the time of creating the blockchain(s) for voters and candidates as well as at the time of casting votes by voters

A Software Evolution Process Model: Analysis of Software Failure Causes

This paper presents a study on the degree of impact of several components on the evolvability of software systems. In particular, it focuses on failure rates, testing, and other factors which force the evolution of a software system. Also, it studies the evolution of software systems in the presence of various failure scenarios. Unlike previous studies based on the system dynamic (SD) model, this study is modeled on the basis of actor-network theory (ANT) of software evolution, using the system dynamic environment. The main index used in this study is the destabilization period after the recovery from any failure scenario. The results show that more testing and quick recovery after failure are keys to a fast system return to stability

A Software Evolution Process Model: Analysis of Software Failure Causes

This paper presents a study on the degree of impact of several components on the evolvability of software systems. In particular, it focuses on failure rates, testing, and other factors which force the evolution of a software system. Also, it studies the evolution of software systems in the presence of various failure scenarios. Unlike previous studies based on the system dynamic (SD) model, this study is modeled on the basis of actor-network theory (ANT) of software evolution, using the system dynamic environment. The main index used in this study is the destabilization period after the recovery from any failure scenario. The results show that more testing and quick recovery after failure are keys to a fast system return to stability

Auto Signature Verification Using Line Projection Features Combined With Different Classifiers and Selection Methods

: Signature verification plays a role in the commercial, legal and financial fields. The signature continues to be one of the most preferred types of authentication for many documents such as checks, credit card transaction receipts, and other legal documents. In this study, we propose a system for validating handwritten bank check signatures to determine whether the signature is original or forged. The proposed system includes several steps including improving the signature image quality, noise reduction, feature extraction, and analysis. The extracted features depend on the signature line and projection features. To verify signatures, different classification methods are used. The system is then trained with a set of signatures to demonstrate the validity of the proposed signature verification system. The experimental results show that the best accuracy of 100% was obtained by combining several classification methods

The Design and Operation of Rules of Origin in Greater Arab Free Trade Area: Challenges of Implementation and Reform

Rules of origin (ROO) are pivotal element of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA). ROO are basically established to ensure that only eligible products receive preferential tariff treatment. Taking into consideration the profound implications of ROO for enhancing trade flows and facilitating the success of regional integration, this article sheds light on the way that ROO in GAFTA are designed and implemented. Moreover, the article examines the extent to which ROO still represents an obstacle to the full implementation of GAFTA. In addition, the article provides ways to overcome the most important shortcomings of ROO text in the agreement and ultimately offering possible solutions to those issues

Quasi Real-Time Intermodulation Interference Method: Analysis and Performance

Establishing interference-free wireless networks has become essential requirement with theadvent of 5G networks as wireless carriers becoming eager to start transmitting high volume of voice anddata to meet enterprise demands and consumers for dispersed information. Indeed, reduction of interferencelevel now emerges as one of the most viable solutions for the service provider networks, as 5G networksuse is increasingly on the rise. Therefore, a comprehensive interference solution is needed to enable serviceproviders (e.g., cellular, PCS, Wi-Fi and Broadband, and LTE wireless LAN/WAN services) to identify andresolve network interference quickly and reliably. However, currently existing methods and tools, used toconduct interference detection and analysis lack the necessary performance required in the RF engineeringand spectrum optimization fields, and hence, fast, and reliable networks. This paper presents a new highperformancemethod for detecting and mitigating intermodulation interference in various wireless networks.Clearly, reducing the level of interference in wireless communication contributes directly to having animproved and reliable signal to noise ratio (C/I). We will discuss the complexity of the intermodulationinterference problem. We will further compare the performance of the new approach with different existinginterference detection methods. We will show that the presented method intermodulation complexity isreduced to a near linear one, compared to the current non-linear methods

E-learning adoption during COVID-19 crisis and its effect on achieving students’ performance: Evidence from business collages – Jordanian universities

This study aimed to know the effect of E-Learning with all its components on students’ performance at Business Colleges-Jordanian Universities during at COVID-19 crisis. To achieve study goals, a questionnaire was distributed to the students at Jordanian Universities, (870) valid questionnaires were recovered. The study found that: The level of E-Learning and its components at Jordanian Universities were at middle rates, students’ performance also comes at a moderate level. E-Learning and its components (Technological facilities readiness, Electronic applications readiness, Databases & E-resources readiness, People readiness, E-Learning management system readiness, Evaluation system readiness, teaching methods diversity, Educational curricula and electronic content readiness) have a significant effect on students’ performance at Jordanian Universities at significance (α ≤ 0.05). Whereas sub components of (E-Learning organizational environment readiness and legislations and regulations readiness) have no effect separately on students’ performance. The study recommended Jordanian Universities to improve E-Learning in all its components in the Universities, reinforce using E-Learning in education, and exploit the benefits of E-Learning to improve students’ performance because it is the main alternative to face emerging crises like CoronavirusPeer Reviewe

Demand Based Cost Optimization of Electric Bills for Household Users

Abstract- Internet of Things (IoT) is increasingly becoming the vehicle to automate, optimize and enhance the performance of systems in the energy, environment, and health sectors. In this paper, we use Wi-Fi wrapped sensors to provide online and in realtime the current energy consumptions at a device level, in a manner to allow for automatic control of peak energy consumption at a household, factory level, and eventually at a region level, where a region can be defined as an area supported by a distinct energy source. This allows to decrease the bill by avoiding heavily and controllable loads during high tariff slice and/or peak period per household and to optimize the energy production and distribution in a given region. The proposed model relies on adaptive learning techniques to help adjust the current load, while taking into consideration the actual and real need of the consumer. The experiments used in this study makes use of current and voltage sensors, Arduino platform, and simulation system. The main performance indexes used are the control of a peak consumption level, and the minimum time needed to adjust the distribution of load in the system. The system was able to keep the maximum load at a maximum of 10 kW in less than 10 seconds of response time. The level and response time are controllable parameters