Investigating Factors Affecting Electronic Word-Of-Mouth In The Open Market Context: A Mixed Methods Approach

Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) has been identified as one of key factors affecting online sales. There has been, however, lack of understanding about the factors leading to eWOM in the open market context. As many Internet vendors have adopted the open market business, it is essential to understand the factors leading to eWOM for the success of open market business. This study investigates factors affecting eWOM in the open market context based on a sequential combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. The exploratory findings in the qualitative study become the basis for the quantitative study, survey research. The findings from the mixed methods explain the significance of three new factors (information sharing desire, self-presentation desire, and open market reward) and two other factors (open market satisfaction and open market loyalty) affecting eWOM directly and indirectly. This study contributes to research by adding to the broader literature on eWOM. The findings also can inform open market providers on how to promote and manage eWOM for their online business success

Topological Structure of Dense Hadronic Matter

We present a summary of work done on dense hadronic matter, based on the Skyrme model, which provides a unified approach to high density, valid in the large $N_c$ limit. In our picture, dense hadronic matter is described by the {\em classical} soliton configuration with minimum energy for the given baryon number density. By incorporating the meson fluctuations on such ground state we obtain an effective Lagrangian for meson dynamics in a dense medium. Our starting point has been the Skyrme model defined in terms of pions, thereafter we have extended and improved the model by incorporating other degrees of freedom such as dilaton, kaons and vector mesons.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, Talk given at the KIAS-APCTP Symposium in Astro-Hadron Physics "Compact Stars: Quest for New States of Dense Matter", November 10-14, 2003, Seoul, Korea, published by World Scientific. Based on talk by B.-Y. Par

Skyrmions at finite density and temperature: The Chiral phase transition

The Skyrme model, an effective low energy theory rooted in large Nc QCD, has been applied to the study of dense matter. Matter is described by various crystal structures of skyrmions. When this system is heated, the dominating thermal degrees of freedom are the fluctuating pions. Taking these mechanisms jointly produces a description of the chiral phase transition leading to the conventional phase diagram with critical temperatures and densities in agreement with expected values

The pion velocity in dense skyrmion matter

We have developed a field theory formalism to calculate in-medium properties of hadrons within a unified approach that exploits a single Lagrangian to describe simultaneously both matter background and meson fluctuations. In this paper we discuss the consequences on physical observables of a possible phase transition of hadronic matter taking place in the chiral limit. We pay special attention to the pion velocity vπ, which controls, through a dispersion relation, the pion propagation in the hadronic medium. The vπ is defined in terms of parameters related to the matrix element in matter of the axial-vector current, namely, the in-medium pion decay constants, ft and fs. Both of the pion decay constants change dramatically with density and even vanish in the chiral limit when chiral symmetry is restored, but the pion velocity does not go to zero, decreasing at most 10% over the whole density range studied. A possible pseudogap structure is indicated

Universal convex covering problems under translation and discrete rotations

We consider the smallest-area universal covering of planar objects of perimeter 2 (or equivalently closed curves of length 2) allowing translation and discrete rotations. In particular, we show that the solution is an equilateral triangle of height 1 when translation and discrete rotation of $\pi$ are allowed. Our proof is purely geometric and elementary. We also give convex coverings of closed curves of length 2 under translation and discrete rotations of multiples of $\pi/2$ and $2\pi/3$. We show a minimality of the covering for discrete rotation of multiples of $\pi/2$, which is an equilateral triangle of height smaller than 1, and conjecture that the covering is the smallest-area convex covering. Finally, we give the smallest-area convex coverings of all unit segments under translation and discrete rotations $2\pi/k$ for all integers $k\ge 3$

Benign Aspirates on Follow-Up FNA May Be Enough in Patients with Initial Atypia of Undetermined Significance/Follicular Lesion of Undetermined Significance

Background. Management of thyroid nodules with benign aspirates following atypia of undetermined significance/follicular lesion of undetermined significance (AUS/FLUS) is not well established. We reviewed the risk of malignancy and the role of ultrasound (US) features among thyroid nodules with benign results following initial AUS/FLUS diagnoses. Methods. From December 2009 to February 2011, a total of 114 nodules in 114 patients diagnosed as benign on follow-up fine-needle aspiration (FNA) after AUS/FLUS results were included in our study. Eight among 114 nodules were confirmed pathologically and 106 were clinically observed by a follow-up FNA or US. Suspicious US features were defined as markedly hypoechogenicity, irregular or microlobulated margin, presence of microcalcifications, and taller than wide shape. Results. There were 110 (96.5%) benign nodules and 4 (3.5%) malignant nodules. Two (4.8%) among 42 nodules without suspicious US features and 2 (2.8%) out of 72 nodules with suspicious US features were confirmed as malignancy, but there were no significant associations between the malignancy rate and US features (P=0.625). Conclusion. Clinical follow-up instead of surgical excision or continuous repeat FNA may be enough for benign thyroid nodules after AUS/FLUS. The role of US features might be insignificant in the management of these nodules

A New ID-based Signature with Batch Verification

An identity (ID)-based signature scheme allows any pair of users to communicate securely and to verify each other\u27s signatures without exchanging public key certificates. We have several ID-based signatures based on the discrete logarithm problem. While they have an advantage that the system secret can be shared by several parties through threshold schemes, they have a critical disadvantage in efficiency. To enhance the efficiency of verification, we propose a new ID-based signature scheme that allows batch verification of multiple signatures. The verification cost of the proposed signature scheme for $k$ signatures is almost constant with minimal security loss and when a new signature by a different signer is added to the batch verification, the additional cost is almost a half of that of a single signature. We prove that the proposed signature scheme is secure against existential forgery under adaptively chosen message and ID attack in the random oracle model and show why other ID-based signature schemes are hard to achieve these properties