The Impact of Perceived Risk on Customers’ Intention to Use -- An Empirical Analysis of DiDi Car-Sharing Services

With the development of internet and modern technologies, sharing economy grows quickly and attracts more attention. Sharing platforms have more uncertainty and perceived risk, which influences the customers’ intention to use. In this paper, we take DiDi, a ridesharing platform in China as a case to study. We take the perspective of customers and investigate the implications of perceived risk and trust on customers’ intention to use. We conceptualized perceived risk as a multi dimension construct and differentiate trust on DiDi and trust on drivers. The study employs survey data (n = 365) and structural equation modeling (SEM). Our results provide empirical evidence for the relationship between perceived risk, trust and customers’ intention to use. This research has both significant theoretical and practical implications. It applies the theory of perceived risk and trust in Chinses situation. In practice, the ridesharing platform need to pay more attention to the security of customers, thus more speculation and control on drivers are expected

Factors influencing patient’s medical choice behavior on Internet Medical: The perspective of trust

Based on the source credibility model and trust transfer theory, this study examined the influence of physician’s personal attributes and word-of-mouth on patients’ medical choice in online healthcare communities, and explored trust transfer from online to offline channel as well as the moderating effect of disease risk on the influence of ability trust and honest trust. Using data from Good Doctor Online, the results revealed that ability trust, benevolence trust, honest trust, and transference trust based on word-of-mouth all had a positive impact on the patients’ medical choice despite slight differences between channels in terms of specific proxies and degree of influence. Disease risk moderated the relationship between ability trust and honest trust and patients’ medical choice. Trust transfer from online channel to offline channel had not been verified

SSL-Auth: An Authentication Framework by Fragile Watermarking for Pre-trained Encoders in Self-supervised Learning

Self-supervised learning (SSL), utilizing unlabeled datasets for training powerful encoders, has achieved significant success recently. These encoders serve as feature extractors for downstream tasks, requiring substantial resources. However, the challenge of protecting the intellectual property of encoder trainers and ensuring the trustworthiness of deployed encoders remains a significant gap in SSL. Moreover, recent researches highlight threats to pre-trained encoders, such as backdoor and adversarial attacks. To address these gaps, we propose SSL-Auth, the first authentication framework designed specifically for pre-trained encoders. In particular, SSL-Auth utilizes selected key samples as watermark information and trains a verification network to reconstruct the watermark information, thereby verifying the integrity of the encoder without compromising model performance. By comparing the reconstruction results of the key samples, malicious alterations can be detected, as modified encoders won't mimic the original reconstruction. Comprehensive evaluations on various encoders and diverse downstream tasks demonstrate the effectiveness and fragility of our proposed SSL-Auth.Comment: Submitted to AAAI2024. 9 pages, 7 figure

Quality-enhancement or Cost-reduction? The Influence of High-Performance Work Systems and Power Distance Orientation on Employee Human Resource Attributions

HR attributions relate to employees’ beliefs about why HR practices are implemented in their organization. Although research shows that HR attributions influence employees’ attitudes, behaviors and performance, there is little understanding of the antecedents of HR attributions. To examine the relationships between perceptions of high-performance work systems (HPWS) and power distance orientation (PDO) on the one hand and two types of HR attributions (quality-enhancement and cost-reduction) on the other, we conducted two studies. The results of Study 1 (an experimental study, N = 171 students) and Study 2 (a field study, N = 255 employees from China) showed that PDO weakened the relationships between HPWS perceptions and both types of HR attributions. Our studies fill an important theoretical gap regarding how employees’ cultural orientation changes the effect of HPWS perceptions on HR attributions

Hitting time for random walks on the Sierpinski network and the half Sierpinski network

We consider the unbiased random walk on the Sierpinski network (Sn◦N) and the half Sierpinski network (HSn◦N), where n is the generation. Different from the existing works on the Sierpinski gasket, Sn◦N is generated by the nested method and HSn◦N is half of Sn◦N based on the vertical cutting of the symmetry axis. We study the hitting time on Sn◦N and HSn◦N. According to the complete symmetry and structural properties of Sn◦N, we derive the exact expressions of the hitting time on the nth generation of Sn◦N and HSn◦N. The curves of the hitting time for the two networks are almost consistent when n is large enough. The result indicates that the diffusion efficiency of HSn◦N has not changed greatly compared with Sn◦N at a large scale

On IRS-assisted covert communication with a friendly UAV

Driven by the rapidly growing demand for information security, covert wireless communication has become an essential technology and attracted tremendous attention. However, traditional wireless covert communication is continuously exposing the inherent limitations, creating challenges around deployment in environments with a large number of obstacles, such as cities with high-rise buildings. In this paper, we propose an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS)-assisted covert communication system (CCS) for communicating with a friendly unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in which the UAV generates artificial noise (AN) to interfere with monitoring. Furthermore, we model the power of AN emitted by the UAV using an uncertainty model, through which the closed-form detection error probability (DEP) of the covert wireless communication for monitoring is derived. Under the derived DEP, we formulate the optimization problem to maximize the covert rate, then design an iterative algorithm to solve the optimization problem and obtain the optimal covert rate using Dinkelbach method. Simulation results show that the proposed system achieves the maximum covert rate when the phase of the IRS units and the trajectory and transmit power of the UAV are optimized jointly

Time series clustering of mRNA and lncRNA expression during osteogenic differentiation of periodontal ligament stem cells

Background Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are regulatory molecules that participate in biological processes such as stem cell differentiation. Periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) exhibit great potential for the regeneration of periodontal tissue and the formation of new bone. However, although several lncRNAs have been found to be involved in the osteogenic differentiation of PDLSCs, the temporal transcriptomic landscapes of mRNAs and lncRNAs need to be mapped to obtain a complete picture of osteoblast differentiation. In this study, we aimed to characterize the time-course expression patterns of lncRNAs during the osteogenic differentiation of PDLSCs and to identify the lncRNAs that are related to osteoblastic differentiation. Methods We cultured PDLSCs in an osteogenic medium for 3, 7, or 14 days. We then used RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to analyze the expression of the coding and non-coding transcripts in the PDLSCs during osteogenic differentiation. We also utilized short time-series expression miner (STEM) to describe the temporal patterns of the mRNAs and lncRNAs. We then performed Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses to assess the biological relevance of genes in each profile, and used quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) to validate the differentially expressed mRNAs and lncRNAs that were associated with osteoblast differentiation. Lastly, we performed a knock down of two lncRNAs, MEG8, and MIR22HG, and evaluated the expression of osteogenic markers. Results When PDLSCs were differentiated to osteoblasts, mRNAs associated with bone remodeling, cell differentiation, and cell apoptosis were upregulated while genes associated with cell proliferation were downregulated. lncRNAs showed stage-specific expression, and more than 200 lncRNAs were differentially expressed between the undifferentiated and osteogenically differentiated PDLSCs. Using STEM, we identified 25 temporal gene expression profiles, among which 14 mRNA and eight lncRNA profiles were statistically significant. We found that genes in pattern 12 were associated with osteoblast differentiation. The expression patterns of osteogenic mRNAs (COL6A1, VCAN, RRBP1, and CREB3L1) and lncRNAs (MEG8 and MIR22HG) were consistent between the qRT-PCR and RNA-seq results. Moreover, the knockdown of MEG8 and MIR22HG significantly decreased the expression of osteogenic markers (runt-related transcription factor 2 and osteocalcin). Discussion During the osteogenic differentiation of PDLSCs, both mRNAs and lncRNAs showed stage-specific expression. lncRNAs MEG8 and MIR22HG showed a high correlation with osteoblastogenesis. Our results can be used to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the molecular events regulating osteoblast differentiation and the identification of functional lncRNAs in PDLSCs

The effects of a mixed approach toward management earnings forecasts: evidence from China

Chinese regulators mandate management earnings forecasts when managers’ earnings expectations meet bright-line thresholds and allow voluntary forecasts in other circumstances. We examine the effects of this mixed approach. We find that Chinese mandatory forecasts have significant information content. Moreover, we observe a learning effect: mandatory forecasts appear to stimulate voluntary forecasts in subsequent periods as managers become familiar with the forecasting and disclosing procedures through forced experience. We find one negative consequence of the mixed approach, however: managers appear to manipulate earnings to avoid the forecast threshold of large earnings decreases. Overall, we document the pros and cons of a mixed approach toward management earnings forecasts in a major emerging market

Collaborative HRM, climate for cooperation, and employee intra-organizational social ties in high-technology firms in China: A cross-level analysis

Individual social ties have been an important source of competitive advantages for hightech firms in the knowledge economy. However, the existing cross-level studies have mainly investigated the impact of HRM systems on traditional individual attitudinal or behavioral outcomes, and few studies have examined the effect of SHRM on individual social ties. Based on the data collected from 363 knowledge employees working in 64 high-tech firms in China, we examine the cross-level relationships among collaborative HRM practices, climate for cooperation and employee intra-organizational social ties. The hierarchical linear model results show that organizational-level collaborative HRM practices have significant positive effects on the number and strength of individual-level intra-organizational social ties, and the climate for cooperation mediates the positive cross-level relationship between collaborative HRM and individual intra-organizational social ties. This study makes three contributions to the literature. First, with a cross-level model, this study helps us better understand how collaborative HRM acts as an approach to manage individuals’ social capital formation. Second, this study makes contribution to the social network literature by showing how organizational contextual factors (HRM practices and organizational climate) affect employee individual social ties. Third, based on the AMO model, this paper developed a more clear construct and a three-dimension measurement of the collaborative HRM