Higher College of Technology

About: Higher College of Technology is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Computer science & Higher education. The organization has 369 authors who have published 379 publications receiving 729 citations.

Determinants of Trust, Security, Privacy and Risk Factors in Embracing Online Banking

Abstract: Online banking is nerve center of a nation which helps to achieve the objectives of a country. Banks provide E-banking services to the customer through telephone lines and computer channels. Banking activities have shifted to new paradigm with the demand in various services in the banking industry with the urge of globalization. The evolution of online banking activities in the industry has attained new heights with the competitive environment. It is the need of the hour that technology is fundamental requirement for everyone in financial sector. A survey has been conducted to find the determinants of trust, security, privacy and risk factors in adoption of online banking services around Muscat City. A pilot study was conducted to verify the reliability and validity of the questions included in the research instrument, to ensure the scale development of the questions and to ensure internal consistency. PLS-SEM v 3.0 has been used to evaluate the conceptual model and to test the speculated hypothesis on the determinants of trust, security, privacy and risk factors in adoption of online banking services. The study concluded that customer’s trust factors and risk factors while using online banking services have significant positive relationship in adoption of online banking services and at the same time privacy factors and security factors have insignificant relationship with weak and negative impact in adoption of online banking services.

Identifying and Isolating Zombie Attack in Cloud Computing

Abstract: The cloud computing architecture is a berth in which third party, virtual machine and cloud service providers are involved in data uploading and downloading. A major challenge in this architecture, however, is the security of the data as there exist various forms of attacks from malicious people and devices. Among these security attacks, the zombie attack is the most advance type of attack. The zombie attack reduces network performance in terms of delay and bandwidth consumption. With zombie attack, some malicious users may join the network which, in turn takes off the data of legitimate users and at the same time enable zombie nodes to communicate with a virtual machine on behalf of the legitimate user. In this paper, a technique based on strong authentication which, is able to detect malicious users from a network and isolates them from the cloud architecture is proposed.

Techno-economic feasibility study on the application of downdraft gasifier in small-scale red clay bricks industries

Abstract: Direct firing of biomass in conventional clay brick manufacturing process aggravates deforestation, climatic change, poor economic benefits to rural industries, and health issues to the public. To overcome such drawbacks, adaptation of eco-friendly energy sources, implementation of advanced technologies in energy conversion systems and systematic studies on economic benefits are mainly focused in recent times. The utilization of biomasses through various gasification technologies can improve the energy efficiency and economic advantages of brick production. To successfully introduce renewable energy systems and new technologies in rural areas, a number of research studies have experimented and also succeeded in predicting the technical feasibility and cost benefits. Likewise, this paper reports the techno-economic analysis of producer gas (PG) fired brick kilns using pertinent parameters of evaluation involved in the manufacturing of bricks. In this study, the common biomasses available in the region were effectively used to produce PG. Besides finding the technical aspects of bricks produced through this method, the parameters needed for economic study were found from a prototype experimental study. The economic parameters to use agriculture and forestry biomasses such as Coconut Shell (CS), Rice Husk (RH), Rubber Wood (RW) and Rubber seed kernel shell (RSKS) in conventional industries for a capacity of twenty to one hundred thousand bricks per batch were predicted. The studies revealed that the quality of bricks produced from the proposed method could meet ASTM standards. The savings in the running cost of the proposed system led to 4–8 years payback period. The maximum internal rate of return was found from the system which had RSKS as feedstock.