Empirical Examination Of Effects Of Web Assurance Seals On Perceived Level Of Assurance And Price Tolerance With A Focus Being Placed On CPA-Associated Seals

Since the emergence of electronic commerce (e-commerce), the trustworthiness of commercial web sites has been one of the most important, persistent, and interesting issues both in industry and academia. Not surprisingly, web assurance seals have attracted considerable attention among e-commerce vendors due to its potential role as a key factor in the formation of initial trust. However, recent evidence indicates that web assurance seals fail to enhance online purchasing behavior in spite of rosy promises from seal providers. This research examines the mechanism of perceived assurance level formulation through the use of web assurance seal, seeking possible answers to whether Certified Public Accountant (CPA)-associated seals have more effect on the perceived assurance levels than non-CPA-associated seals. As such, the success of web assurance seal is contingent on multiple factors including the attributes of the assurance seal providers, the perceived value of the seal, and the familiarity of the web assurance seal. Overall, this article contributes to both practice and research by shedding light on the largely ignored phenomenon, namely, of web assurance seal failure and by exploring fundamental factors affecting web assurance seal initiative’s success

Postponement for Designing Mass-Customized Supply Chains: Categorization and Framework for Strategic Decision Making

The concept of mass-customization has been suggested as the mandatory capability in the 21st century market place where customers individual need must be satisfied rather than the need of mass market. Postponement is a powerful methodology to achieve Cost-effective mass customization when applied in the scope of supply chain. There have been a number of literatures that employed postponement or reviewed postponement in a complex manner but not much on providing a simple framework practitioners can easily apply for establishing the level of implementing postponement to their supply chains. In this paper the classificationof the postponement in terms of level of implementation and the strategic decision framework for selecting the right postponement that considers realistic aspect of recent economy are presented

Effects Of Risks On Online Consumers Purchasing Behavior: Are They Risk-Averse Or Risk-Taking?

Since the beginning of e-commerce, trustworthiness of commercial web sites has been a constant issue, and, very likely, it will continue to be. When an online shopper cannot trust a web site where he or she intends to make a purchase, the online shopper would perceive a risk of transactional security and a risk of privacy of personal information. In regard to this perceived risk in online transactions, this study is set out to find the change in the level of perceived risk in Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-commerce and to test whether or not consumers trust a web-centric company at their first visit to the companys web site. Two major findings of this study are that about one third of those surveyed for the study feel an increased risk in B2C online transactions over the previous year, and that absolute majority of them have never or rarely shopped on a web site they are not familiar with. It is further found that even an attractive deal cannot affect the risk-averse behavior of online shopping. From the findings of the study, it is concluded that risk-averse online shopping behavior is a manifestation of increased perceived risk in B2C online transactions

Collapse transition of a square-lattice polymer with next nearest-neighbor interaction

We study the collapse transition of a polymer on a square lattice with both nearest-neighbor and next nearest-neighbor interactions, by calculating the exact partition function zeros up to chain length 36. The transition behavior is much more pronounced than that of the model with nearest-neighbor interactions only. The crossover exponent and the transition temperature are estimated from the scaling behavior of the first zeros with increasing chain length. The results suggest that the model is of the same universality class as the usual theta point described by the model with only nearest-neighbor interaction.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

Developing ontology revision framework: A case study on the use of the coherence theory for semantic shopping mall

Why is ontology revision important? Very often, ontology exists in a particular period of timeline is often designed based on the purpose of a domain of interest at that instance of time. However over time, ontology needs to be revised due to changes in content, environment, requirements, or even structural representation. As a result, revision and updating of necessary components in the pre-defined ontology is unavoidable. When this happens, it is important to ensure that revision is conducted in a consistent manner so that it does not result in unforseen redundancies and inconsistencies. Any revision performed must be accompanied by a rational change to be dealt with from the consistency perspective. This paper presents an ontology revision approach to achieve this aim based on the coherence theory model of belief revision theory. An application scenario of semantic shopping mall is used to demonstrate the approach

Coding scheme for 3D vertical flash memory

Recently introduced 3D vertical flash memory is expected to be a disruptive technology since it overcomes scaling challenges of conventional 2D planar flash memory by stacking up cells in the vertical direction. However, 3D vertical flash memory suffers from a new problem known as fast detrapping, which is a rapid charge loss problem. In this paper, we propose a scheme to compensate the effect of fast detrapping by intentional inter-cell interference (ICI). In order to properly control the intentional ICI, our scheme relies on a coding technique that incorporates the side information of fast detrapping during the encoding stage. This technique is closely connected to the well-known problem of coding in a memory with defective cells. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme can effectively address the problem of fast detrapping.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures. accepted to ICC 2015. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1410.177

Increased Risk of Ischemic Stroke during Sleep in Apneic Patients.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:The literature indicates that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) increases the risk of ischemic stroke. However, the causal relationship between OSA and ischemic stroke is not well established. This study examined whether preexisting OSA symptoms affect the onset of acute ischemic stroke. METHODS:We investigated consecutive patients who were admitted with acute ischemic stroke, using a standardized protocol including the Berlin Questionnaire on symptoms of OSA prior to stroke. The collected stroke data included the time of the stroke onset, risk factors, and etiologic subtypes. The association between preceding OSA symptoms and wake-up stroke (WUS) was assessed using multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS:We identified 260 subjects with acute ischemic strokes with a definite onset time, of which 25.8% were WUS. The presence of preexisting witnessed or self-recognized sleep apnea was the only risk factor for WUS (adjusted odds ratio=2.055, 95% confidence interval=1.035-4.083, p=0.040). CONCLUSIONS:Preexisting symptoms suggestive of OSA were associated with the occurrence of WUS. This suggests that OSA contributes to ischemic stroke not only as a predisposing risk factor but also as a triggering factor. Treating OSA might therefore be beneficial in preventing stroke, particularly that occurring during sleep