Sellers in Online Auction Markets: Introducing a Feedback-Based Classification

Trading in the online consumer-to-consumer (C2C) auction market necessitates buyers and sellers to engage in transactions with anonymous counterparts. The sequence of paying first and then taking delivery introduces a great amount of risk for potential buyers. In order to assist buyers in dealing with this risk, online auction markets (OAMs) are employing reputation-scoring systems and traders can be classified in terms of their online reputation scores. A review of the literature suggests a conspicuous absence of the study on any standard classification of sellers in OAMs. Lack of such a classification hinders systematic research and theory development. Therefore, a classification of sellers, based on the total number of unique feedbacks (a surrogate measure for certainty regarding repetition of past behaviors), negative feedback rate (a surrogate measure for risk based on prior poor performance), and nature of negative feedbacks (a surrogate measure for the degree of risk), is proposed to advance our understanding of the online C2C auction markets. Toward demonstrating the classification’s systemic power, we present a propositional inventory developed from the classification and discuss how the classification accommodates current research and furthers theory building

Fabrication, Characterization And Application Of Polyhydroxybutyrate-Titanium Dioxide Nanocomposite Materials

A serious need for a robust, low-cost and eco-friendly method to treat dye pollutants released by textile industries motivated this research. The dye adsorption effect of biodegradable poly-3-hydroxybutyrate [P(3HB)] and the photocatalytic degradation ability of inert titanium dioxide (TiO2) was exploited to fabricate a multifunctional nanocomposite film via solvent casting and electrospinning. The environmental degradation of the choice material, cast P(3HB) was first tested and confirmed to be comparable to its co-polymers; poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-5 mol% 3-hydroxyvalerate) [P(3HB-co-5 mol% 3HV)] and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-5 mol% 3-hydroxyhexanoate) [P(3HB-co-5 mol% 3HHx)]. The weight loss was almost complete by 8 weeks in tropical mangrove sediment. The nanocomposite film was also degradable although to a lesser extent despite the microbial inactivation effect of TiO2. The optimum amount of P(3HB) and TiO2 loading in cast film was found to be 0.4 g and 40 wt% respectively. This film had an even distribution of TiO2 when mixed concurrently in chloroform followed by stirring for 24 h. It completely decolorized and detoxified real industrial Batik dye wastewater in 3 h and induced a chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction of 80%. The 0.4 g P(3HB)-40 wt% TiO2 film exhibited good stability with decolorization percentage of ≥80% even after the sixth repeated usage

The Potential Implications of Web-Based Marketing Communications for Consumers’ Implicit and Explicit Brand Attitudes: A Call for Research

Two developments in the last two decades frame the importance of Web-based marketing communications for firms. First is the phenomenal growth of the Internet as a viable commerce and communication option and second is the clear shift in attitude research toward recognizing the pervasive role of automatic processes in almost all the social psychological processes. Therefore, this article discusses the potential implications of Web-based marketing communications for consumers\u27 implicit and explicit attitudes. In doing so, first, this article reviews the emergence of research on implicit attitudes, distinguishes implicit attitudes from explicit attitudes, and discusses research on explicit and implicit attitudes relative to branding. Second, a brief discussion of marketing research on attitude is provided. Third, five empirically testable research propositions are developed and presented. Finally, given the potential implications for research and practice, the article concludes with a call for research

Network Agnostic MPC with Statistical Security

We initiate the study of the network agnostic MPC protocols with statistical security. Network agnostic protocols give the best possible security guarantees irrespective of the underlying network type. We consider the general-adversary model, where the adversary is characterized by an adversary structure which enumerates all possible candidate subsets of corrupt parties. The $\mathcal{Q}^{(k)}$ condition enforces that the union of no $k$ subsets from the adversary structure covers the party set. Given an unconditionally-secure PKI setup, known statistically-secure synchronous MPC protocols are secure against adversary structures satisfying the $\mathcal{Q}^{(2)}$ condition. Known statistically-secure asynchronous MPC protocols can tolerate $\mathcal{Q}^{(3)}$ adversary structures. Fix a set of $n$ parties $\mathcal{P} = \{P_1, ... ,P_n\}$ and adversary structures $\mathcal{Z}_s$ and $\mathcal{Z}_a$, satisfying the $\mathcal{Q}^{(2)}$ and $\mathcal{Q}^{(3)}$ conditions respectively, where $\mathcal{Z}_a \subset \mathcal{Z}_s$. Then, given an unconditionally-secure PKI, we ask whether it is possible to design a statistically-secure MPC protocol resilient against $\mathcal{Z}_s$ and $\mathcal{Z}_a$ in a synchronous and an asynchronous network respectively if the parties in $\mathcal{P}$ are unaware of the network type. We show that it is possible iff $\mathcal{Z}_s$ and $\mathcal{Z}_a$ satisfy the $\mathcal{Q}^{(2,1)}$ condition, meaning that the union of any two subsets from $\mathcal{Z}_s$ and any one subset from $\mathcal{Z}_a$ is a proper subset of $\mathcal{P}$. We design several important network agnostic building blocks with the $\mathcal{Q}^{(2,1)}$ condition, such as Byzantine broadcast, Byzantine agreement, information checking protocol, verifiable secret-sharing and secure multiplication protocol, whose complexity is polynomial in $n$ and $|\mathcal{Z}_s|$

Understanding IS Education Quality in Developing Countries: Role of Acculturation

Many developing countries (DCs) have limited IS human resources. Hence, their university-level IS classes are often taught by foreign faculty. Despite this arrangement, poor quality of IS education in DCs is a continuing problem. Research indicates cultural differences as an important reason for this problem. Foreign faculty imposing western-curriculum and teaching practices without adapting to the requirements of native students and native students inability/unwillingness to make the necessary adjustments leads to poor course quality. Therefore, we argue that cultural adaptation of foreign faculty and native students will improve IS course quality. Drawing from the acculturation literature that deals with cultural adaptations we develop a model of acculturation specific to teaching of IS courses by foreign faculty in DCs. In doing so, relevant factors from the IS education literature that influence faculty and students’ adaptation are synthesized. This paper extends acculturation theory and discusses relevant implications for IS education in DCs

Network Agnostic Perfectly Secure MPC Against General Adversaries

In this work, we study perfectly-secure multi-party computation (MPC) against general (non-threshold) adversaries. Known protocols are secure against ^{(3)} and ^{(4)} adversary structures in a synchronous and an asynchronous network respectively. We address the existence of a single protocol which remains secure against ^{(3)} and ^{(4)} adversary structures in a synchronous and in an asynchronous network respectively, where the parties are unaware of the network type. We design the first such protocol against general adversaries. Our result generalizes the result of Appan, Chandramouli and Choudhury (PODC 2022), which presents such a protocol against threshold adversaries