Social presence and dishonesty in retail

Self-service checkouts (SCOs) in retail can benefit consumers and retailers, providing control and autonomy to shoppers independent from staff, together with reduced queuing times. Recent research indicates that the absence of staff may provide the opportunity for consumers to behave dishonestly, consistent with a perceived lack of social presence. This study examined whether a social presence in the form of various instantiations of embodied, visual, humanlike SCO interface agents had an effect on opportunistic behaviour. Using a simulated SCO scenario, participants experienced various dilemmas in which they could financially benefit themselves undeservedly. We hypothesised that a humanlike social presence integrated within the checkout screen would receive more attention and result in fewer instances of dishonesty compared to a less humanlike agent. This was partially supported by the results. The findings contribute to the theoretical framework in social presence research. We concluded that companies adopting self-service technology may consider the implementation of social presence in technology applications to support ethical consumer behaviour, but that more research is required to explore the mixed findings in the current study.<br/

Honesty, social presence, and self-service in retail

Retail self-service checkouts (SCOs) can benefit consumers and retailers, providing control and autonomy to shoppers independent from staff. Recent research indicates that the lack of presence of staff may provide the opportunity for consumers to behave dishonestly. This study examined whether a social presence in the form of visual, humanlike SCO interface agents had an effect on dishonest user behaviour. Using a simulated SCO scenario, participants experienced various dilemmas in which they could financially benefit themselves undeservedly. We hypothesised that a humanlike social presence integrated within the checkout screen would receive more attention and result in fewer instances of dishonesty compared to a less humanlike agent. Our hypotheses were partially supported by the results. We conclude that companies adopting self-service technology may consider the implementation of social presence to support ethical consumer behaviour, but that more research is required to explore the mixed findings in the current study

A Case for P2P Delivery of Paid Content

P2P file sharing provides a powerful content distribution model by leveraging users' computing and bandwidth resources. However, companies have been reluctant to rely on P2P systems for paid content distribution due to their inability to limit the exploitation of these systems for free file sharing. We present TP2, a system that combines the more cost-effective and scalable distribution capabilities of P2P systems with a level of trust and control over content distribution similar to direct download content delivery networks. TP2 uses two key mechanisms that can be layered on top of existing P2P systems. First, it provides strong authentication to prevent free file sharing in the system. Second, it introduces a new notion of trusted auditors to detect and limit malicious attempts to gain information about participants in the system to facilitate additional out-of-band free file sharing. We analyze TP2 by modeling it as a novel game between malicious users who try to form free file sharing clusters and trusted auditors who curb the growth of such clusters. Our analysis shows that a small fraction of trusted auditors is sufficient to protect the P2P system against unauthorized file sharing. Using a simple economic model, we further show that TP2 provides a more cost-effective content distribution solution, resulting in higher profits for a content provider even in the presence of a large percentage of malicious users. Finally, we implemented TP2 on top of BitTorrent and use PlanetLab to show that our system can provide trusted P2P file sharing with negligible performance overhead

Paper Session III-C - History of the Space Based Laser (SBL) Concept Definition

The SBL system concept definition has gone through five phases. The Phase I study was from early 1982 to early 1984 , the Phase II study was from late 1984 to early 1986 , the Phase III study was from mid 1986 to early 1987 , the Phase IV concept study was from late 1987 to early 1989, and a Special Study was performed from mid 1989 to 1990. Phase I included using a single module deuterium fluoride laser. The missions in this phase included Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD), anti-aircraft , anti-satellite, as well as negating high value ground targets. This study also examined the Command, Communication, and Control (C ) . With the advent of the Strategic Defense Initiative, Phase II primarily concentrated on the boost and post boost portion of the BMD mission for the SBL. The hydrogen fluoride (HF) laser was chosen as the baseline with a single module vs phased array configuration as trades to be studied. Phase III switched its emphasis from a far term HF device to a nearer term HF laser. The contractors also defined and assessed growth options for the HF and other devices, such as the Free Electron Laser and the Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser, for increased performance. In Phase IV, the nearer term HF laser in a single module was chosen as the baseline for the SBL. The system was then optimized to perform the BMD mission against a formalized threat identified by SDI. The Special Study emphasized the survivability concerns for the platform and the merit of optimizing the SBL system through cost engineering. The following studies studies were assessing the impact including the midcourse mission of BMD as a potential role for the SBL

The Promise of an Energy Tracker Curriculum for Promoting Home-School Connections and Youth Agency in Climate Action

Formal classroom learning experiences that support sustainable behaviors outside the classroom necessarily must bridge students’ home and school lives, as knowledge and practice learned in the classroom is implemented outside of school. To this end, we study the impact of the Green Ninja Energy Tracker curriculum, which uses students’ home energy data in the classroom to promote engagement in climate change and conservation behaviors. Data is drawn from class observations, a focus group, and pre- and post- surveys of a pilot implementation of this curriculum in a diverse 12th-grade Earth Science classroom at an alternative school. We investigate what factors contributed to student engagement in learning about and participating in energy conservation behaviors. We found that students were engaged by the immediacy of tracking their energy use in near-real time, and were motivated by the economic benefits experienced as a direct result of changing their behaviors. In addition, students reported discussing and problem-solving energy use with their families, and surfaced considerations that informed which energy behaviors were implemented and why. Students also reported high levels of personal agency in taking action on climate change, but were pessimistic about the likelihood of society as a whole taking action. We suggest that this pilot demonstrates the potential power of connecting the varied places of students’ experience by bridging home and school lives through energy tracker software as a catalyst for developing scientific expertise and engagement, and supporting energy conservation behaviors

Nowhere to Run. Impact of Family Violence Incidents during COVID-19 Lockdown in Texas

The prevalence of family violence incidents experienced an exponential rise during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The pandemic ushered in a new threat to life which was complicated by the restriction on mobility. Given the stay-at-home order enacted by different States, victims of family violence were compelled to face their abusers with no escape route, particularly intimate partners. This work is an exploratory study that analyzed the trends of family violence cases in selected Texas counties pre covid-19 and during covid-19. The data revealed an increase in family violence incidents from 12 out of the 15 counties studied. This work offers practical strategies to help advance the response of criminal justice personnel to family violence cases