Local Transactions Research Articles

Bank equity returns and oil prices: The story from U.S. regional banks during the “shale oil” revolution

Using monthly data from 1998 to 2020, we examine the relationship between equity returns and oil prices employing a multi-factor asset model to a sample of 124 U.S. regional banks classified by levels of oil exposure based on their headquarters’ location. We utilize the period when fundamental changes in innovation undertaken by the U.S. oil and gas industry (known as “shale”, “fracking” or “tight oil” formations) helped the U.S. to become today’s top world oil producer. We split our sample into pre (1998M1 to 2009 M12) and post (2010M1 to 2020M1) “U.S. shale oil revolution” periods. In the initial period, oil price changes have negative impact on equity returns of regional banks with no effects for the national bank sample. In the second period, we find very strong oil price effects on equity returns for the top 10 and top 5 regional bank subsamples, consistent with more local transactions to the energy sector. Quantity effects of changes in oil production are discussed, as well as several robustness checks for asymmetries, threshold values, and inclusion of dividends in total returns.

Protection against unfair competition in the Andean Community—an analysis of recent trends and developments

Abstract The general concepts of free trade and unfair competition are regulated by Andean Community decisions. National legislation provides more detailed regulations. Andean Community Decision 608 promotes and protects free competition across the region. The scope of application of this Decision is limited to practices that have origin and effects in one or more Andean Community countries. Local transactions within the country must observe internal legislation. While Andean law covers cross-border transactions, intra-country operations are governed by local bodies of law. There are yet not many decisions at the Andean level, but the local agencies in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru have issued several decisions that dig into the different elements of unfair acts. The following analysis provides an overview of protection against unfair competition in the region and sheds light on current developments.

Crafting Resilient Consensus Mechanisms for The Web3.0 Network Through Edge Intelligence

The era of independent, secure, and scalable networks and applications that Web3.0 promised has arrived. The resilience and reliability of the network are directly tied to the architecture of the consensus mechanisms used in this context. In the paper "Crafting resilient consensus mechanisms for the Web3.0 network through edge intelligence," the authors describe a novel approach to strengthening consensus protocols by leveraging edge computing and artificial intelligence. The primary purpose of this project is to improve Web 3.0 security by implementing consensus methods based on edge intelligence. The goal of this attempt is to reduce the inefficiencies, scalability challenges, and environmental concerns associated with more conventional approaches such as proof-of-work and proof-of-stake. The proposed method combines real-time network research with local transaction verification. This eventually leads to more scalable, secure, and effective consensus procedures, which increases the resilience and greatly decreases the cost of Web3.0 networks.The proposed method recognizes the inefficiencies, lack of scalability, and environmental unfriendliness of standard consensus procedures like the Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus processes. This approach makes use of edge intelligence in real time to assess the state of the network and make appropriate adjustments in response. What emerges is a consensus process that is greener, more scalable, and more successful overall. In addition, we provide the local transaction verification (LTV) technique, which allows edge nodes to validate transactions locally, therefore reducing latency and maximizing transaction efficiency. Our findings demonstrate how edge intelligence might improve Web3.0 consensus processes. Extensive simulations and tests show that the suggested approaches outperform conventional consensus mechanisms in terms of efficiency, security, and scalability. Cost reductions for Web3.0 network operators are also emphasized to emphasize the value of our strategy. Consensus procedures for Web3.0 networks that include edge intelligence provide a viable path toward attaining the required resilience, efficiency, and scalability. This study lays the way for a new age of distributed systems, guaranteeing the resiliency and flexibility essential to the success of Web3.0

An Optimized and Scalable Blockchain-Based Distributed Learning Platform for Consumer IoT

Consumer Internet of Things (CIoT) manufacturers seek customer feedback to enhance their products and services, creating a smart ecosystem, like a smart home. Due to security and privacy concerns, blockchain-based federated learning (BCFL) ecosystems can let CIoT manufacturers update their machine learning (ML) models using end-user data. Federated learning (FL) uses privacy-preserving ML techniques to forecast customers’ needs and consumption habits, and blockchain replaces the centralized aggregator to safeguard the ecosystem. However, blockchain technology (BCT) struggles with scalability and quick ledger expansion. In BCFL, local model generation and secure aggregation are other issues. This research introduces a novel architecture, emphasizing gateway peer (GWP) in the blockchain network to address scalability, ledger optimization, and secure model transmission issues. In the architecture, we replace the centralized aggregator with the blockchain network, while GWP limits the number of local transactions to execute in BCN. Considering the security and privacy of FL processes, we incorporated differential privacy and advanced normalization techniques into ML processes. These approaches enhance the cybersecurity of end-users and promote the adoption of technological innovation standards by service providers. The proposed approach has undergone extensive testing using the well-respected Stanford (CARS) dataset. We experimentally demonstrate that the proposed architecture enhances network scalability and significantly optimizes the ledger. In addition, the normalization technique outperforms batch normalization when features are under DP protection.

The Major Causes of Local Currency Depreciation in Somalia

This study dwelled on the major causes of currency depreciation in Somalia. The main purpose of the study was to investigate in detail the major causes of local currency depreciation in Somalia. The study used qualitative research method using descriptive research design to investigate the major causes of local currency depreciation in Somalia. The study employed documentary review data collection tool and collected the secondary data through thorough review of the articles and books related to the major causes of local currency depreciation in Somalia. The key findings of the study on the major causes of local currency depreciation in Somalia encompass: existence of large quantities of Somali shillings in the market; the fall in the revenue collection by the government in the last two years weakens the country’s local currency and causes its depreciation; existing monetary problems that hinder the control of financial activities by business owners in Somalia by the central bank of Somalia and financial regulatory authority in Somalia; weak monetary control coupled with lack of effective monetary policy to regulate and control the amount of inflow and outflow of foreign currency by the financial authority in the government such as Central Bank of Somalia and ministry of finance of the Federal Republic of Somalia and lastly dollarization of the economy which has replaced local currency and depreciated it owing to the massive inflow of foreign currency inform of remittance without being monitor and controlled by the financial authority in the country. The study recommended that the Federal Government of Somalia should introduce new monetary policy to monitor, control and supervise financial activities in the country and the Federal Government of Somalia should implement financial reform that allow the use of local currency to carry out all local transactions in Somalia to enable the local currency to regain its value and reduce the increasing rate of local currency depreciation.

HiCoOB: Hierarchical Concurrent Optimistic Blockchain Consensus Protocol for Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading Systems

Hierarchical consensus protocols are one of the most promising approaches considered to improve the performance and scalability of blockchain-based peer-to-peer energy trading (P2P ET) systems. They allow a network to be divided into multiple clusters where each cluster can independently run its own local consensus on local transactions (i.e., transactions that belong to a single cluster) and also cooperate with other clusters for global transactions (i.e., transactions that affect more than one cluster). However, current solutions do not allow the parallel processing of local and global transactions, leading to low throughput and high latency. Moreover, they impose an additional burden on the leader node by assigning to it the responsibility for both local and global consensus. This paper proposes a hierarchical concurrent optimistic blockchain consensus protocol, called HiCoOB, which includes an optimistic local consensus and a deterministic global consensus that enables the concurrent execution of local and global transactions. Additionally, the local and the global consensus are coordinated by two distinct leaders, thereby reducing the overhead on the local leader node. HiCoOB also provides a synchronization method between local and global consensus to avoid the double spending of energy or money that arises from interdependent client transactions. Experimental results indicate that the proposed protocol achieves 87% higher throughput than the existing systems. Furthermore, it reduces the waiting time of the local transactions by a factor of 5x. Finally, HiCoOB has 10 times less overhead on the local leader node in terms of message exchange when compared to state-of-the-art systems.

Interoperability Benefits and Challenges in Smart City Services: Blockchain as a Solution

The widespread usage of smart devices with various city-centric services speeds up and improves civic life, in contrast to growing privacy and security concerns. Security issues are exacerbated when e-government service providers trade their services within a centralised framework. Due to security concerns, city-centric centralised services are being converted to blockchain-based systems, which is a very time-consuming and challenging process. The interoperability of these blockchain-based systems is also more challenging due to protocol variances, an excessive amount of local transactions that raise scalability and rapidly occupy memory. In this paper, we have proposed a framework for interoperability across various blockchain-based smart city services. It also summarises how independent service providers might continue self-service choices (i.e., local transactions) without overloading the blockchain network and other organisations. A simulated interoperability network is used to show the network’s effectiveness. The experimental outcomes show the scalability and memory optimization of the blockchain network.

Strategic Peer-to-peer Energy Trading Framework Considering Distribution Network Constraints

With the development of smart home energy management technology, prosumers are endowed with increased initiative in peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions, bringing new potential for cost savings. In this study, a novel strategic P2P energy trading framework is proposed considering the impact of network constraints on personal transaction strategies. Prosumers can estimate the allowed power injection before engaging in the P2P energy trading, which is solved in a distributed manner based on the sharing form alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) algorithm. To quantify the network usage cost for each prosumer and promote local transactions among prosumers at the same bus, a modified continuous double auction (CDA) matching algorithm is proposed including a transaction fee. An adaptive aggressiveness-based bidding strategy is generated considering the risk of uncertainty in real-time energy delivery amount under the limitations of the distribution network. The proposed strategic P2P energy trading framework is tested with the IEEE 37-bus distribution network and it is effective in creating profits for prosumers and supporting distribution network operations.

A motivational local trading framework with 2-round auctioning and settlement rules embedded in smart contracts for a small citizen energy community

We propose a motivational local trading framework with a 2-round auctioning system and a novel settlement approach to stimulate local transactions on the electricity surplus of a small community. Two auction price systems and several settlement mechanisms are formulated and compared to assess local trading profit and local market efficiency. We also implement a SC-based mechanism that embeds the auction results and rules to increase trust in the bidding and settlement processes. Our simulations use actual consumption and generation data from 11 houses with smart appliances and self-generation capabilities. We show that auctions, if used consistently, can help the development of a local trade by encouraging people to buy from their neighbors and invest in more generating facilities, knowing that there is a local market on which to rely. Compared to the hybrid - Pay-as-Bid (PaB) in the 1st round plus Uniform Price (UP) in the 2nd round - approach, the pure 2-round UP auction was shown to decrease trading with the retailer by 7.5%. The market indicators are quite similar for the two pricing methods, whereas the proposed settlement mechanism reduces the buyers' payments by 7% and increases sellers' encashments by around 8%.

Improved Particle Swarm Algorithm Using Rubik’s Cube Topology for Bilevel Building Energy Transaction

Abstract Following the rapid growth of distributed energy resources (e.g., renewables, battery), localized peer-to-peer energy transactions are receiving more attention for multiple benefits, such as reducing power loss and stabilizing the main power grid. To promote distributed renewables locally, the local trading price is usually set to be within the external energy purchasing and selling price range. Consequently, building prosumers are motivated to trade energy through a local transaction center. This local energy transaction is modeled in bilevel optimization game. A selfish upper level agent is assumed with the privilege to set the internal energy transaction price with an objective of maximizing its arbitrage profit. Meanwhile, the building prosumers at the lower level will response to this transaction price and make decisions on electricity transaction amount. Therefore, this non-cooperative leader-follower trading game is seeking for equilibrium solutions on the energy transaction amount and prices. In addition, a uniform local transaction price structure (purchase price equals selling price) is considered here. Aiming at reducing the computational burden from classical Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) transformation and protecting the private information of each stakeholder (e.g., building), swarm intelligence-based solution approach is employed for upper level agent to generate trading price and coordinate the transactive operations. On one hand, to decrease the chance of premature convergence in global-best topology, Rubik’s Cube topology is proposed in this study based on further improvement of a two-dimensional square lattice model (i.e., one local-best topology-Von Neumann topology). Rotating operation of the cube is introduced to dynamically changing the neighborhood and enhancing information flow at the later searching state. Several groups of experiments are designed to evaluate the performance of proposed Rubik’s Cube topology-based particle swarm algorithm. The results have validated the effectiveness of proposed topology and operators comparing with global-best version PSO and Von Neumann topology-based PSO and its scalability on larger scale applications.

Decentralized blockchain-based peer-to-peer energy-backed token trading for active prosumers

This paper designs and models a fully decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) energy token market for small-scale prosumers using blockchain technology in a smart grid environment in the presence of the demand response (DR) program and demurrage mechanism. As the market players, prosumers in the local distribution network are considered in two groups, producers (sellers) and consumers (buyers). Using smart contracts, all sellers and buyers in the proposed market can engage in bilateral energy token transactions (P2P) with each other under an agreed price and with the retail market at a certain price. Furthermore, the local consumers can participate in price-based DR programs and shift their consuming load to the periods with high local generation. Demurrage mechanism is applied to avoid energy token accumulation and enhance attraction for local transactions. With demurrage in place, the redemption value of energy-backed tokens reduces with time. A fully decentralized approach called the primal-dual sub-gradient method is developed to clear this fully decentralized energy market in the presence of DR programs and demurrage. The proposed market-clearing scheme guarantees the global and feasible solution without requiring the players' private information. Numerical studies demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed energy token market and the decentralized approach for its clearing.

Local Electricity Markets for Electric Vehicles: An Application Study Using a Decentralized Iterative Approach

Local electricity markets are emerging solutions to enable local energy trade for the end users and provide grid support services when required. Various models of local electricity markets (LEMs) have been proposed in the literature. The peer-to-peer market model appears as a promising structure among the proposed models. The peer-to-peer market structure enables electricity transactions between the players in a local energy system at a lower cost. It promotes the production from the small low–carbon generation technologies. Energy communities can be the ideal place to implement local electricity markets as they are designed to allow for larger growth of renewable energy and electric vehicles, while benefiting from local transactions. In this context, a LEM model is proposed considering an energy community with high penetration of electric vehicles in which prosumer-to-vehicle (P2V) transactions are possible. Each member of the energy community can buy electricity from the retailer or other members and sell electricity. The problem is modeled as a mixed-integer linear programing (MILP) formulation and solved within a decentralized and iterative process. The decentralized implementation provides acceptable solutions with a reasonable execution time, while the centralized implementation usually gives an optimal solution at the expense of reduced scalability. Preliminary results indicate that there are advantages for EVs as participants of the LEM, and the proposed implementation ensures an optimal solution in an acceptable execution time. Moreover, P2V transactions benefit the local distribution grid and the energy community.

Governance Structure of Rural Homestead Transfer in China: Government and/or Market?

Rapid urbanization in China has triggered the mass migration of rural populations to cities. These policies have resulted in a shortage of construction land for the urban population and in an inefficient use of rural homestead, causing a tremendous waste of rural land resources. Rural homestead transfer has been identified as a tool to solve this problem: the saved construction land can be reclaimed to cultivated land, and the construction rights are transferred to urban areas, where they can be used to build new households for the demanding population. We consider that transaction costs analysis can help understand the governance structures of the homestead processes, and provide avenues for further research and policy recommendations. Our article draws on the practices and experiences gained in three areas in rural China (Jinzhai, Yiwu, and Jiangning in the Anhui, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu Provinces, China). Based on the empirical cases and information produced from the villages and households survey, we developed an analytical framework of transaction cost. Results suggest that Yiwu has lower assets specificity, lower uncertainty, and transaction frequency, hence the market driven model played a major role. In Jinzhai, which presents higher assets specificity, higher uncertainty, and transaction frequency, the government-oriented model also played a major role. In Jiangning, where most transaction attributes are situated in the middle, the mixed-oriented model acted as a main role in the local area. Our conclusion shows that various governance structures are appropriate for different areas of rural China, which is significantly related to the local transaction attributes. We suggest promoting the governance structure which corresponds to the local resource endowment, human and residential condition, the cultural atmosphere, and also the institutional (official) atmosphere. Matched with the government or/and market governance structure, it may develop the resource allocation efficiency and improve economic performance.

An iterative uniform-price auction mechanism for peer-to-peer energy trading in a community microgrid

With the rapid deployment of distributed photovoltaic (PV) systems in residential buildings, peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading in a community microgrid is highly desired since it enables flexible and economical energy transactions among neighboring prosumers. An efficient trading mechanism is pivotal for the successful and sustainable implementation of P2P energy trading in a community microgrid. This paper proposes a novel iterative uniform-price auction (IUPA) mechanism. Depending on the comparison between the aggregated energy supply and demand, the P2P market is divided into the seller’s market and the buyer’s market. The proposed auction mechanism is respectively implemented in the two types of markets in order to determine a uniform trading price and an efficient energy allocation. To maximize economic benefits, competitive prosumers iteratively adjust their bids based on their own private information and the issued market information until reaching a state of Nash equilibrium. This differs from the continuous double auction (CDA) in terms of bidding formats and prosumers’ trading strategies. Besides, the auction market self-adaption algorithm (AMSA) is designed for efficiently finding the equilibrium of the IUPA. Numerical studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism in terms of finding fairer trading prices, saving total costs of the community, and promoting local transactions of excess PV energy.

Transaction-Tracing Based Loss Allocation in Distribution Networks Under TE System

With distributed energy resources momentum undoubtedly underway at the distribution level, there is a call for new flexible coordination mechanisms that permit the prosumers to engage in the local transactions. The transactive energy system is posited to afford such energy marketplace in the retail zone that facilitates the energy transactions between local entities through peer-to-peer contracts. Under such agreement, prosumer can sell its excess power to consumers by participating in energy trading. However, significant losses will incur in the distribution network due to energy transport between the buyers and sellers. This calls for an efficient and fair loss allocation framework. Moreover, the adopted allocation mechanism must consider the unbalanced nature of power flow allied to the distribution system for effective recovery. With this view, this article presents a transaction-tracing based loss allocation scheme for assigning the network losses incurred due to the transactions occurring between peers in a dynamic environment. The transaction paths of a 3Phase-4Wire system are derived using a graph-based method. The analysis is executed on a 33-bus distribution network and the results are compared with the branch current decomposition method to confirm the impartiality of the proposed approach. The result shows that the devised method performs well under different loadings and allocates the losses fairly between the network participants during all transactions.

There's no need to be a pioneer in emerging private equity markets

There is currently considerable enthusiasm for emerging private equity markets, where investors believe they have access to “untapped deal flow”. Early entry may allow them to capitalize on exceptional growth opportunities; however, the pioneering investors enter immature capital markets and have no local transaction experience. This may outweigh the potential benefits of low deal-flow competition and expected growth. We address this potential drawback by analyzing a unique, hand-collected dataset of emerging private equity market transactions. We refer to 1157 deals in 86 host countries between 1973 and 2009, and find that early transactions underperform later deals. The evidence presented is robust and consistent with the improvement in the deal-making environment over time and the benefits of learning how to conduct emerging market private equity deals. The learning benefits are stronger if investors are located in the same country as the investee firm.

Tribes, Nations, States: Our Three Commerce Powers

This Article argues that one aspect of the power to regulate “Commerce with foreign Nations … and with the Indian Tribes” is broader than the power over “Commerce … among the several States.” If “Tribes” and “Nations” consist of people, but “States” of territory, then “Commerce … among the several States” must cross state lines, even though small, local transactions between Americans and non-citizens are commerce “with foreign Nations” or “with the Indian tribes.” Why think that? There is considerable evidence that the tribal commerce power replaces “trade … with the Indians” in the Articles of Confederation, but early direct definitions of the other two commerce powers are surprisingly rare. Antifederalists complained at length that the power to tax for the general welfare would make the federal government all-powerful, but not so about the commerce power which largely did the job after 1937. In January 1788, Federal Farmer 11 described the foreign commerce power as “trade and commerce between our citizens and foreigners.” Elbridge Gerry restated it in 1790 as “trade with foreigners.” Jefferson and Randolph’s 1791 bank objections defined foreign and tribal commerce as commerce with non-citizens. Martens’s 1788 international-law treatise explained “commerce … with foreign nations” as including “power over the foreigners living in its territories.” The 20-year slave-trade protection presupposes broad foreign commerce power, but narrow interstate commerce power: Congress may control “migration,” but not domestic slavery or other labor conditions. The earliest attacks on federal power over non-citizens’ commerce discussing the 1794 Jay Treaty and 1798 Alien Act were internally inconsistent. Despite lots of its own inconsistency, the Supreme Court adopted this view in 1866 in United States v. Holliday. Why care? Broad foreign and tribal commerce powers undermine the late-nineteenth-century motivation for unenumerated “plenary” powers over foreign affairs or tribes; a limited interstate commerce power allows “powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution” to refer to something. The tribal commerce power likewise supports the Indian Child Welfare Act’s regulation of the transfers of tribal-member custody. Congress’s 1870 protection of non-citizens’ occupational and contracting rights and 1986 prohibition on employment discrimination rest on its foreign commerce power, not the Fourteenth Amendment; Congress may regulate non-citizens’ labor conditions, but not labor conditions generally. Antidiscrimination law can then refocus on equal citizenship — the Privileges or Immunities Clause for states and fiduciary principles for the federal government — instead of historically-less-plausible rights for all humanity. Cases like Graham v. Richardson would turn on pre-emption, and three gaps in antidiscrimination law — federal citizenship classifications in Mathews v. Diaz, governmental functions in Ambach v. Norwick, and tribal classifications in Morton v. Mancari — receive possible justification.

Constrained Generation Bids in Local Electricity Markets: A Semantic Approach

The worldwide investment in renewable energy sources is leading to the formation of local energy communities in which users can trade electric energy locally. Regulations and the required enablers for effective transactions in this new context are currently being designed. Hence, the development of software tools to support local transactions is still at an early stage and faces the challenge of constant updates to the data models and business rules. The present paper proposes a novel approach for the development of software tools to solve auction-based local electricity markets, considering the special needs of local energy communities. The proposed approach considers constrained bids that can increase the effectiveness of distributed generation use. The proposed method takes advantage of semantic web technologies, in order to provide models with the required dynamism to overcome the issues related to the constant changes in data and business models. Using such techniques allows the system to be agnostic to the data model and business rules. The proposed solution includes the proposed constraints, application ontology, and semantic rule templates. The paper includes a case study based on real data that illustrates the advantages of using the proposed solution in a community with 27 consumers.

THE IMPACTS OF APPLYING NATIONAL PAYMENT GATEWAY IN THE INDONESIAN PAYMENT SYSTEM AS THE ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY IMPLEMENTATION

<p><em>The National Payment Gateway (NPG) is developed to make the payment infrastructure more efficient, reliable, and secure for both local and international transactions. This is in line with the state's efforts to implement the constitutional rights of citizens contained in Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution. State efforts in the NPG urged to be done to support the fulfillment of the constitutional rights of citizens in the economic field.</em> <em>Therefore, this study aims to determine the impact of applying NPG in the Indonesian payment system as a form of fulfilling the constitutional rights. This study uses a type of legal normative research in the form of legal behavior products. The results show that the application of NPG could be the basis for processing mass payment transactions through the integration of all payment channels and domestic processing which has not been carried out efficiently. Therefore, the NPG rules and mechanisms are determined for all domestic payment transactions and instruments from domestic issuers, with all the processes carried out locally. This was conducted to broaden people's acceptance of non-cash transactions and a way of making it become an integral part of Bank Indonesia's efforts in facilitating non-cash movements within the country.</em> <em>NPG is also part of the fulfillment of the constitutional rights of the community, in which the community is given the ease and efficiency in making transactions as a form of economic democracy with the principle of togetherness, equitable efficiency, sustainability, by maintaining a balance of progress and national economic unity.</em></p>

Building social networking services systems using the relational shared-nothing parallel DBMS

We propose methods to enable the relational model to meet scalability and functionality needs of a large-scale social networking services (SNS) system. NewSQL has emerged recently indicating that shared-nothing parallel relational DBMSs can be used to guarantee the ACID properties of transactions while keeping the high scalability of NoSQL. Leading commercial SNS systems, however, rely on a graph – not relational – data model with key–value storage and, for certain operations, suffer overhead of unnecessarily accessing multiple system nodes. Exploiting higher semantics with the relational data model could be the remedy. The solution we offer aims to perform a transaction as a set of independent local transactions whenever possible based on the conceptual semantics of the SNS database schema. First, it hierarchically clusters entities that are sitting on a path of frequently navigated one-to-many relationships, thereby avoiding inter-node joins. Second, when a multi-node delete transaction is performed over many-to-many relationships, it defers deletion of related references until they are accessed later, thereby amortizing the cost of multi-node updates. These solutions have been implemented in Odysseus/SNS — an SNS system using a shared nothing parallel DBMS. Performance evaluation using synthetic workload that reflects the real SNS workload demonstrates significant improvement in processing time. We also note that our work is the first to present the entity-relationship schema and its relational representation of the SNS database.