SACM - Australia
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://drepo.sdl.edu.sa/handle/20.500.14154/9648
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Item Restricted Blockchain Technology Adoption in Saudi Arabia’s Higher Education Sector(University of Technology Sydney, 2023-08-08) Alalyan, Mohrah Saad; Hussain, Farookh; Q.Gill, AsifBlockchain technology is a decentralised, digital ledger that records transactions in a secure and transparent way using cryptography. It allows for a trustless system where no central authority is needed to validate transactions. Originally used as a cryptocurrency mechanism, blockchain has since found applications in many fields and industries, although its applications in education are still emerging. Guided by 1) the importance assigned to innovative technologies for higher education development in Saudi Arabia and 2) the lack of blockchain adoption knowledge in this field, this study aims to develop a framework for blockchain adoption in Saudi higher education institutions. Using the Design Science Approach as a basis, this study 1) designs an original framework based on theoretical and empirical literature on blockchain adoption; 2) presents the results of the framework analysis and refinement by industry experts; and 3) demonstrates the results of the framework evaluation based on a large-scale survey of higher education professionals. The Blockchain Adoption Framework for Saudi Higher Education Institutions developed in this study is, to the best knowledge of the researcher, the first of its kind. It includes five dimensions: Technology, Organisation, Environment, Quality and Barriers. The model demonstrates a high level of validity with 11 out of 16 factors demonstrating a statistically significant relationship to blockchain adoption. The framework can serve as a practical tool for institutional decision makers in developing a plan for blockchain adoption in colleges and universities in Saudi Arabia. The framework is supplemented with a questionnaire tool that helps identify adoption enablers and barriers specific to each institution. The framework can also be used as a foundation for further research on blockchain adoption both in the context of higher education and related industries. Despite its rigorous research approach, the study still had some limitations regarding geographic and industry context, data collection and sampling methods. Therefore, future studies are recommended to explore the framework's applicability to other sectors and national contexts as well as using different methodologies to test its validity.37 0Item Restricted Intelligent Blockchain for Managing Micro-credentials (IBMM)(University of Technology Sydney, 2023-04-10) Alsobhi, Hada; Hussain, FarookhRecently, blockchain technology or distributed ledger technology (DLT) has been used in a wide range of fields as a way to preserve records and information in a distributed and trusted manner. Blockchain technology has revolutionized higher education, particularly in the area of micro-credentials. The incorporation of micro-credentials in higher education has the potential to change traditional education and learning process. A number of micro-credentials can be accumulated for credit toward a specific academic degree. Validating micro-credentials is a time-consuming and cumbersome process, but blockchain technology enables students’ micro-credentials to be validated easily and quickly. The immutability, decentralization, security, and transparency of blockchain technology make it a suitable technology for addressing the significant challenges associated with micro-credential provenance and data sharing in a secure manner. Several existing micro-credential platforms that use blockchain technology to efficiently and securely manage students’ micro-credentials and academic accomplishments have been discussed in the literature. However, none of these existing platforms offer a comprehensive solution that can securely store, manage, and share micro-credentials with stakeholders in a privacy-preserving manner, nor are they able to provide personalized recommendations on students’ majors and action plans. In this thesis, we propose an intelligent blockchain for managing micro-credentials (IBMM) framework as a holistic platform for higher education students to manage their micro-credentials. A systematic literature review (SLR) was carried out to identify the shortcomings of the existing scientific studies in the micro-credential management area and to identify the research questions and solutions. By employing the SLR process, 15 relevant studies were identified and systematically reviewed which highlighted a number of research gaps. None of the existing studies propose a method that ensures the anonymity of students’ identities on the blockchain when exchanging micro-credentials. Moreover, no intelligent techniques are used to recommend suitable majors for students and assist them in selecting the best action plan. This thesis examines the use of privacy-preserving and AI methods to address these research gaps. Blockchain and AI techniques are integrated into the IBMM framework to undertake the following tasks: • verify and store micro-credentials on the blockchain ledger to ensure the immutability and security of data. • preserve the privacy of students’ identities while sharing their micro-credentials with HEIs. • recommend the most appropriate academic majors for students based on their micro-credentials. • choose the most optimal action plan for students from multiple options based on several criteria. In this thesis, research questions and objectives are identified, and an end-to-end solution is proposed to address the research issues.26 0Item Restricted IBBRB: Intelligent Blockchain-based Reputation Broker for Robot Selection(University of Technology Sydney, 2023-12) Alharbi, Wafa; Hussain, Farookh KhadeerRobot as a service (RAAS) is a cloud-based subscription service that enables robotic devices to be leased instead of purchased. RAAS has recently increased in popularity due to the numerous advantages that it offers to robotic service requesters such as flexibility and the lower cost of entry and maintenance compared to owning the equipment, and the ease of implementation. The concept of RAAS has contributed to the increased use of robots in different disciplines, such as industry, education, health and agriculture. Robotic service requesters may face difficulties in searching for the most suitable robot for their required tasks based on their preferences. Robot selection has attracted the interest of many researchers and it has been widely discussed in the literature. Robot selection is based on ranking the available robotic alternatives after they have been assessed by robotic experts. The assessment process is based on customer requirements as well as the task’s functional and non-functional requirements. However, through a systematic literature review, it has been identified that selecting a robot based on its previous performance in similar tasks has not been discussed yet. Furthermore, all the proposed robot selection methods require robotic experts to determine the requirements and robotic alternatives. To address these issues, this research aims to propose and develop an intelligent blockchain-based reputation broker for robot selection termed IBBRB. IBBRB is an intelligent reputation system that allows robotic service requesters (customers) to rate the performance of robots after hiring them. To avoid data manipulation, which is a common issue with reputation systems, blockchain technology is used to store and secure all trust values in IBBRB. IBBRB is built to provide novel and intelligent mechanisms to: (i) standardise robotic knowledge across all robotic service requesters, suppliers and manufacturers by encapsulating all the robotic attributes and their relationships into an ontological manifestation called Robotic Attribute Ontology (RAO), and then to propose a blockchain-based method for RAO evolution using a crowdsourcing approach, (ii) develop a comprehensive method to carry out robotic reputation computations termed Reliable Reputation Computation Method for Robotics (RRCM). RRCM incorporates building: (a) a reputation model that produces reputation values for robots based on previous customers’ ratings, and (b) a prediction model that predicts reputation values for non-reviewed robots to bootstrap new robots and overcome the cold start issue, (iii) develop a method to infer reputation values for all non-reviewed contexts of multi-purpose robots based on their similarities to the reviewed contexts. Finally, this research uses software prototyping to validate the performance and accuracy of the aforementioned proposed methods.15 0Item Restricted An Organisational Perspective on the Factors Influencing the Adoption of Blockchain Technology(RMIT University, 2024-02-06) Alharthi, Shaker; Abareshi, Ahmed; Maleki Far, ShaghayeghIncreased levels of competition, customer expectations, and pressures from stakeholders to improve performance and transparency/full disclosure, have all forced organisations to implement new technologies. Blockchain technology is an example of a disruptive technology. It is in fact a distributed ledger system that enables the history of any product to be traced by all the stakeholders involved which can result in improving organisational efficiency. Despite its benefits for businesses such as improving trust and honesty or transparency and reducing costs and complexity, businesses do not all agree on the adoption of such a disruptive technology. The review of the literature reveals a scarcity of in-depth empirical research on the factors that guide the acceptance of blockchain technology. Thus, this study examines empirically the impact of different factors on blockchain adoption in medium-sized and large organisations in Australia, where blockchain offers an effective and efficient way to potentially transform the country’s business environment. Australia is one of the countries that have publicly stated a commitment to adopt blockchain technology, and the Australian federal government predicts that the technology will generate an annual business value of approximately US$175 billion and US$ 3 trillion by 2025 and 2030, respectively. The current study addresses this gap in our knowledge using a quantitative research approach. Based on the recent literature on blockchain, absorptive capacity theory and the Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework, a new theoretical framework is proposed to further investigate the influence of various factors on blockchain adoption. The data is collected through a survey of 224 IT managers from medium-sized and large organisations in Australia, and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) serves to examine the hypothesised relationships. Based on the findings of this thesis, perceived security, perceived cost, senior or executive management support, competitive pressure and regulatory support significantly shape organisational adoption of blockchain in Australia. Senior managerial support is found to have a significant mediating role between external factors and the acceptance of blockchain. Further discussions are provided on how the findings of this research will help government and business managers determine the factors that need to be considered prior to implementing blockchain technology. This study contributes to theory by proposing and validating a theoretical model-based framework. The TOE model, which explains the organisational perspective on technology adoption, forms the basis of the model that is then expanded by adding absorptive capacity and the mediating effect of top management support. This expanded model has been shown to provide a more thorough explanation than the original TOE framework. A measuring scale that future research can use in investigating blockchain adoption has also been devised and validated. The research also makes practical contributions since the revised framework provides a reference for managers wishing to obtain deeper insights into the crucial factors that affect blockchain adoption in Australia. Furthermore, the findings are important for the federal government to develop relevant policies to remove any uncertainties hindering blockchain adoption; for example, regulation, skill-building, investment, international competitiveness and collaboration. As blockchain is still in the early stage of adoption in Australia, this research provides more information to firms, in order to plan for the acquisition of blockchain technology and make their business models more compatible with it.61 0Item Restricted Intelligent Blockchain Group-based Methodology for Renewable Energy Trading for Local Communities(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-08-17) Alhazmi, Rania; Hussain, FarookhA new marketplace for the distribution of renewable energy resources (RES) was created to support the integration of RES into energy systems. This market is called the local energy market (LEM) and it helps consumers and prosumers, who generate and consume energy, exchange RES, and balance their generation and consumption locally. Nevertheless, the long-term sustainability of the LEM requires secure, innovative, and decentralised information technology such as blockchain. Although various blockchain energy trading platforms are available, none of them examines how to empower small- scale prosumers and minimise the gap between them and the big players in the market (e.g., power companies, and energy retailers) by adopting sustainable group methods. None of the research discusses how to help a consumer trade energy by recommending the best offer based on his energy needs and preferences. These issues motivate us to conduct this research to develop an innovative methodology for community group renewable energy trading. We use blockchain to secure the trading marketplace and adapt AI approaches to intelligently support continuous group trading and to intelligently support trading decision-making for consumers. In this study, we develop a proof of concept prototype, which is called the Intelligent Blockchain Group Energy Trading platform, to evaluate our proposed research methodology. The main contribution of this research is to introduce a sustainable, decentralised, and intelligent group-based renewable energy marketplace framework for local communities. The prototype was created using React.js and the Hardhat Ethereum blockchain network. The IBGT platform has three major frameworks: the intelligent renewable energy selling group (RESG) framework, the intelligent reputation-based prosumer xiii ABSTRACT assessment framework, and the intelligent renewable energy surplus selection and trading framework. The intelligent RESG framework comprises three systems: an intelligent reputation-based RESG formation system, an intelligent reputation-based RESG membership system, and an intelligent RESG selling offer management system. These systems collaborate to manage and maintain the life cycle of selling group formation. To ensure the market viability of a selling group, we propose the intelligent reputation-based prosumer assessment framework. This framework examines prosumers based on predetermined assessment criteria. Lastly, the intelligent renewable energy surplus selection and trading framework provides a customer with a data-driven intelligent decision support system to assist in the matching phase and the trading process. This study's findings provide vital insight into the significance of reputation value in the energy trading market and the implications of our proposed intelligent blockchain group-based architecture. Based on the results, it is clear that reputation value and blockchain technology can facilitate better energy trading amongst prosumers, leading to more monetary gain and higher overall energy market efficiency. This substantially impacts the development of renewable energy trading systems. It presents a strong case for implementing our proposed formation, assessment, and trading techniques in future energy trading platforms.22 0Item Restricted PharmaBlock - A Reliable and Intelligent Platform for Pharmaceutical Data Analytics(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-08-17) Mirdad, Abeer Rashad; Hussain, Farookh KhadderRecently, blockchain technology was introduced to the public to provide a secure environment that is an immutable, consensus-based and transparent system in the finance technology world. However, blockchain is also being applied to other fields where trust and transparency are needed. The need for the reliable sharing of pharmaceutical information between various stakeholders is essential. The usage of blockchain technology adds traceability and visibility to supply chains such as pharmaceutical supply chains and provides all information from end to end. Currently, data is either stored and managed by large manufacturers and pharmacy retailers using their own centralized system. Several existing approaches and methods that allow pharmaceutical information to be stored and shared between the healthcare provider and other stakeholders in a centralized manner have been discussed in the literature. These methods are not very useful in terms of data utility. Blockchain technology offers a distributed framework that can positively affect the process of assembling and sharing pharmaceutical information between the relevant stakeholders, such as the U.S Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), manufacturers, distributors, pharmacy retailers and researchers. In this research, we propose the PharmaBlock blockchain framework as the base of the data flow of pharmaceutical supply chain information to create transparent drug transaction data. To identify the shortcomings of the existing approaches in the area of the pharmaceutical supply chain, we conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) to deeply understand the problems and the solutions that are being used to overcome such challenges. By applying the SLR approach, 16 relevant studies were identified and systematically reviewed in this thesis. In the current literature, there is no model that uses artificial intelligence techniques to store pharmaceutical supply chain information on-the-fly to make decisions and control entities end-to-end. In this research, we investigate the use of AI methods to address the aforementioned research issues and make decisions intelligently. The intelligence built into PharmaBlock provides automated and reliable mechanisms to perform the following: • classify the stored data to allocate and give different accessibility levels for data • alert pharmacies to accelerate the process of selling nearly expired drugs • determine an optimal selling price for a drug in a decentralized marketplace • determine future drugs demand to reduce wastage. The thesis concludes with possible solutions to the identified research questions and the time frames for addressing these issues.27 0Item Restricted Intelligent Approaches for Robust Blockchain-based Identity Management(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-02-01) Alharbi, Mekhled; Hussain, FarookhSmart contracts, which are maintained on blockchain, are self-executing protocols designed to monitor and confirm the fulfilment of a contract’s terms. The trustworthiness of these contracts is guaranteed by these protocols, which also excludes any intermediaries from the transactions. Blockchain is a modern technology with rapidly expanding significance that is used in many applications, such as financial transactions, smart cities, and share trading. Currently, users’ identities are stored and managed by service providers using their centralized system. Identity information management is usually undertaken by the providers which raises concerns about user privacy and trustworthiness. Blockchain technology has the potential to enhance the identity management domain by eliminating the need for a trusted intermediary. However, the advent of blockchain technology has led to new identity management concepts to tackle trustworthiness and privacy challenges, granting users control over their information. Blockchain is suitable for situations requiring both trust and transparency due to its inherent characteristics. Therefore, there is a critical need to develop intelligent approaches to manage user identity information in a reliable manner. Thus, we tackle this issue by providing a solution that combines the mechanism of identity management with smart contracts based on blockchain and the use of artificial intelligence. We performed a systematic literature review to deepen our understanding of the issues and solutions employed in addressing these challenges to identify the drawbacks of the existing methods in the field of identity management. In the existing literature, no solution has been proposed to manage user identities in a way that guarantees data privacy and trustworthiness through the use of blockchain-based smart contracts and artificial intelligence techniques. The use of blockchain based on smart contracts has the potential to play a significant part in identity management by improving transparency and privacy. In this thesis, we develop intelligent approaches to solve the aforementioned research issue. We integrate blockchain-based smart contracts with identity management to detect duplicate user identities while maintaining the privacy of the data of these identities, thus multiple machine learning approaches are proposed to detect duplicate users’ identities on top of blockchain. We also develop an early warning system to generate alerts for users whose identities are nearing expiration. Furthermore, we propose an algorithm to intelligently compute the trustworthiness score of a user’s identity based on the identity documents provided by the user, which are stored safely, hence boosting confidence in the users’ trustworthiness score. Finally, a software prototype is selected to validate the performance of the methods proposed in this thesis.36 0Item Restricted Comprehensive Framework for Blockchain Technology Adoption in Saudi Public Hospitals(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-06-21) Khwaji, Adel Abdulrahman; Hussain, Farookh KhadeerBackground: Blockchain has great potential and promise in the healthcare sector, even though it has not yet seen widespread adoption. Blockchain is able to address most concerns in healthcare such as security, privacy, interoperability, data sharing and counterfeit medicines. As part of the Saudi Vision 2030, the Ministry of Health established strategic goals aimed at enhancing healthcare services and transforming the healthcare system. The main challenge with blockchain adoption is to ensure that users will accept this new technology. Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study is to empirically examine the determinants that affect blockchain adoption in public hospitals in Saudi Arabia. It is apparent that there is scant research examining issues related to the adoption of blockchain in developing countries and Saudi Arabia in particular. It is essential to identify and understand the determinants of intentions to use blockchain technology to identify key areas for interventions aimed at enhancing future use. In this thesis, the perspectives of IT employees are taken into consideration. A conceptual framework for the successful adoption of blockchain technology is subsequently proposed based on the technological, organisational and environmental (TOE) framework. This research also investigates IT employees’ preferences towards moving healthcare information system (HIS) applications to blockchain technology and proposes a set of guidelines to encourage public hospitals to adopt blockchain technology. Methods: Quantitative research data were collected via a cross-sectional questionnaire survey from IT employees who work in Saudi hospitals and 363 responses were considered valid. The data were analysed using SPSS and AMOS software. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to test reliability and validity. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was carried out to test the proposed hypotheses and to identify the determinants that derive the technological, organisational, environmental and human dimensions which influence blockchain adoption in the Saudi hospitals. Results: A descriptive analysis revealed that about 70 percent of the participants had little knowledge of blockchain technology. 81% of the variance in Behavioral intentions was explained by the adapted research framework (R2 = 0.81). The results of the path analysis showed that all the determinants had a significant influence at the level of 0.05 (p < 0.05). Standardised path coefficients showed that government support (beta = 0.28, p < 0.001) had the greatest significantly positive effect on IT employees' Behavioral intention to adopt blockchain. Conclusion: This study provides theoretical empirical evidence based on the TOE framework regarding Saudi healthcare IT employees' attitudes towards blockchain technology. It also presents evidence of the empirical validity of a new extension to the TOE framework by adding two context-specific determinants, namely decision-maker innovativeness and technical competence with their respective measurement scales. The practical implications of the research are offered to governments, hospitals and decision makers so they can achieve a high level of acceptance and usage of blockchain technology27 0