Issues Of Authority Research Articles

Blockchain in Luxury Resale: The Impact of Blockchain Technology Through Regulatory Focus and Uncertainty Reduction Theories

ABSTRACTThe exponential growth of the online luxury resale market has spurred a notable shift toward a circular economy, reflecting the increasing consumer preference for pre‐owned luxury items. Nevertheless, this growth presents challenges related to product authenticity and seller credibility. In response to these concerns, blockchain technology (BT) emerges as a promising solution, leveraging a decentralized ledger to enhance transparency and reduce information asymmetry. This allows for the traceability of pre‐owned luxury goods, addressing issues of provenance and authenticity in the online resale space. By incorporating regulatory focus theory into the uncertainty reduction theory, this study examines how approach and avoidance motivations impact evaluations of BT‐enabled platforms to effectively mitigate consumer uncertainties and influence trust. The collected data (N= 511) was analyzed through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS‐SEM; study 1), and a complementary qualitative study (study 2) was additionally conducted. Results reveal that distinct motivations coexist, each following separate pathways to build consumer trust. Findings indicate that an approach orientation mindset highly values the reliability of BT‐enabled information, while an avoidance orientation focuses on risk mitigation and expresses heightened uncertainty in online transactions. Consequently, BT is found to be instrumental in reducing consumer concerns about purchasing pre‐owned luxury products. The study contributes to the existing literature by shedding light on the psychological dynamics influencing consumer trust in BT‐enabled platforms, has implications for luxury retailers contemplating BT integration, and offers insights into consumer behavior that can inform strategies to enhance perceived trust in online luxury resale.

Generative artificial intelligence and collective remembering. The technological mediation of mnemotechnic values

This paper shows that generative artificial intelligence is changing how the past is revealed to humans and how humans remember the past by reshaping the ethics of collective remembering and forgetting. Artificial intelligence is changing the nature of collective memory in a process that turns history from an object of media representation into an object of algorithmic performativity. By relying on the framework of postphenomenology, the analysis shows that artificial intelligence makes humans engage with notions of togetherness and boundlessness, gradually substituting issues of authenticity and accuracy as main referential frames in historical knowledge production. Consequentially, artificial intelligence mediates a dialogic version of historical awareness, which makes the past responsive to the distributed actions of human and non-human assemblages. In this process, generative artificial intelligence redefines what it means to be responsible and accountable in preserving, transmitting and promoting historical legacy by putting to work new mnemotechnic values.

Cost-effectiveness and other considerations for different research techniques applied in ancient DNA analysis.

Ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis has developed rapidly since it first emerged in the 1980s, becoming an almost indispensable tool in anthropological and archaeological sciences. Earlier aDNA study was based on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, with which, unfortunately, modern DNA contamination and other authenticity issues were often incurred. These technical hurdles were soon overcome by application of advancements in the forms of the next generation sequencing (NGS) technique and others. However, since NGS requires money, time, and, in the case of large projects, manpower as well, genetic analysis of some ancient samples considered to be insignificant is commonly delayed or, in the worst cases, neglected entirely. We acknowledge that as a diagnostic tool in aDNA analysis, PCR is less accurate than NGS and more easily affected by modern DNA contamination; but it also has advantages, such as simplicity, time-saving, and greater ease of interpretation, among others. The role of PCR in aDNA analysis, then, should be reconsidered.

Smart ignorance: Instrumentalising useful unknowns to bureaucratise and rescale power in the city

Critical geography inextricably associates smart cities with modalities of entrepreneurial governance, the privatisation of government assets and functions, and an effectively diminished role of the state in urban governance. In this article, I argue that this is an incomplete examination of ‘actually existing smart cities’ as it overlooks the bureaucratisation of city government through rescaling, which occurs via the instrumentalisation of ambiguity and ignorance. Furthermore, the existing literature focuses on the rescaling of power in ‘spaces of exception’ or enclave developments, but does not adequately address what happens when these corporate parastatal entities land in ‘actually existing’ cities where urban spatialities and political geographies are alreacy established and do not need to be formulated afresh. I draw on rich qualitative research in one case study of an ‘actually existing’ smart city – Pune in western India – to explore how the implementation of a smart cities programme results in a bureaucratisation of city government through existing useful unknowns, and generates further ambiguity around issues of authority and power in city government. This article offers a significant conceptual contribution to the understudied political geographies of city government by moving beyond the examination of zones of exception and investigating the dynamics of integrating privatised governance mechanisms into a historical ‘actually existing smart city’ with a formalised city government dating back to the late 19th century.

Problems of Admissibility and Reliability of Metadata as Evidence

This paper examines the challenges surrounding the admissibility and reliability of metadata as evidence in civil proceedings. It explores the legal standards, authentication issues, and technical complexities involved in presenting metadata in court. The study analyzes key legal cases, technical methodologies, and emerging technologies that impact the use of metadata as evidence. It addresses concerns such as metadata alteration, spoliation, privacy issues, and cross-border challenges. The research highlights the importance of forensic soundness, expert testimony, and proper interpretation of metadata in legal contexts. Additionally, it discusses the application of traditional evidence rules to digital information and the evolving standards for burden of proof in electronic evidence. The paper concludes by considering future challenges posed by emerging technologies and the need for ongoing legal and technical education in this rapidly evolving field.

Authorship and Citizen Science: Seven Heuristic Rules

Citizen science (CS) is an umbrella term for research with a significant amount of contributions from volunteers. Those volunteers can occupy a hybrid role, being both ‘researcher’ and ‘subject’ at the same time. This has repercussions for questions about responsibility and credit, e.g. pertaining to the issue of authorship. In this paper, we first review some existing guidelines for authorship and their applicability to CS. Second, we assess the claim that the guidelines from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), known as ‘the Vancouver guidelines’, may lead to exclusion of deserving citizen scientists as authors. We maintain that the idea of including citizen scientists as authors is supported by at least two arguments: transparency and fairness. Third, we argue that it might be plausible to include groups as authors in CS. Fourth and finally, we offer a heuristic list of seven recommendations to be considered when deciding about whom to include as an author of a CS publication.

Rules and Rulers: Demanding, Commanding and Assuming Responsibility

Directive authorities such as police officers, judges and employers demand our obedience. Demands for obedience come in two forms. First authorities issue commands meant to bind us to obey. Second authorities frequently threaten to enforce their commands by coercion, to extract obedience by force. Liberals, anarchists and others have long regarded command and coercion as being especially problematic ways of getting someone to act, as raising a question about the legitimacy of such directive authorities but it remains unclear why being ordered about is any worse than being subject to social rules, rules that require us to behave in various ways. I argue that someone who demands your obedience seeks to assume responsibility for your compliance. That is why the claims of a ruler threaten our liberty as those of binding social rules do not.

The impact of generative AI on the scholarly communications of early career researchers: An international, multi‐disciplinary study

AbstractThe Harbingers study of early career researchers (ECRs), their work life and scholarly communications, began by studying generational—Millennial—change (c.2016), then moved to pandemic change (c.2020) and is now investigating another potential agent of change: artificial intelligence (2024–). We report here on a substantial scoping pilot study that looks at the impact of AI on the scholarly communications of international ECRs and, extends this to the arts and humanities. It aims to fill the knowledge gap concerning ECRs whose millennial mindset may render them especially open to change and, as the research workhorses they are, very much in the frontline. The data was collected via in‐depth interviews in China, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal, Spain and (selectively) the United Kingdom/United States. The data show ECRs to be thinking, probing and, in some cases, experimenting with AI. There was a general acceptance that AI will be responsible for the growth of low‐quality scientific papers, which could lead to a decline in the quality of research. Scholarly integrity and ethics were a big concern with issues of authenticity, plagiarism, copyright and poor citation practices raised. The most widespread belief was AI would prove to be a transformative force and would exacerbate existing scholarly disparities and inequalities.

Designing internships for development: A design-based research study with FanGate Solutions

This practice paper describes a collaboration between an event staffing company, FanGate Solutions, and a researcher to analyze and improve the company's internship program. The study was guided by the Design-Based Research method, which includes three stages used in iterative fashion to create a problem-focused intervention: analysis/exploration, design/construction, and evaluation/reflection. The process involved interviews and collaborative discussions between practitioner and researcher over the course of a year and three internship cycles leading to a new intervention developed and implemented to address authentic issues specific to FanGate's internship program.

Generative Artificial Intelligence and Authorship Gaps

Abstract The ever increasing use of generative artificial intelligence raises significant questions about authorship and related issues such as credit and accountability. In this paper, I consider whether works produced by means of users inputting natural language prompts into Generative Adversarial Networks are works of authorship. I argue that they are not. This is not due to concerns about randomness or machine-assistance compromising human labor or intellectual vision, but instead due to the syntactical and compositional limitations of existing AI systems in handling natural language prompts. This, I argue, gives rise to ‘authorship gaps’.

Ensuring the integrity assessment of IoT medical sensors using hesitant fuzzy sets

Objective: The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is transforming healthcare systems, but concerns about device integrity and sensitive data are growing. The study aims to develop a framework for evaluating and prioritizing integrity schemes in healthcare for IoT-based medical sensor devices, addressing the challenges of selecting the right authentication solution due to its complexity and intricacy. Methods: A unified health-hesitant fuzzy expert system for IoMT sensor integrity assessment in Saudi Arabia is described in this paper. Medical sensor integrity literature and professionals are contacted first. Delphi is used to gather attributes of integrity approaches while an Internet of Things medical sensor integrity specialist supervises the operation. After collecting characteristics, good assessment criteria are created and the hesitant fuzzy analytic network procedure is used to assess integrity. Results: Functional integrity and measurement accuracy are the biggest factors in IoMT sensor security and integrity, according to assessment. The framework achieves 93%, 94%, and 95% precision, accuracy, and recall compared to current approaches. The framework helps healthcare integrity security professionals and stakeholders assess and resolve IoT medical sensor authentication issues. Conclusion: This health-hesitant fuzzy expert system will let Saudi Arabian and international healthcare stakeholders safely deploy IoMT sensors in the changing healthcare landscape.

EFL Students’ Perception in Indonesia and Taiwan on Using Artificial Intelligence to Enhance Writing Skills

Technological advancements in education have introduced Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a transformative tool to enhance academic writing skills in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). This study explored EFL students’ perceptions in Indonesia and Taiwan regarding the role of AI in improving their writing abilities. Using qualitative research methods, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 20 second-year students specializing in English at an Islamic State University in Indonesia and a National University in Taiwan, who actively use AI tools in their writing processes. Analysis based on Creswell’s thematic framework revealed positive perceptions of AI, with benefits such as improved grammar, sentence structure, paraphrasing skills, vocabulary enrichment, and efficiency in topic generation. However, concerns also emerged about excessive reliance on AI, reduced creativity, and issues of plagiarism and authenticity. These findings highlighted the dual-edged nature of AI in academic writing, emphasizing the need for careful integration and risk mitigation to fully leverage AI’s educational benefits. This research enriched the discourse on technological advancements in EFL education and provides insights for curriculum developers, educators, and policymakers to optimize AI use in academic settings. The practical implications of these findings included strategies to enhance the effectiveness of AI in education and foster innovation in EFL teaching.

Perluasan dari Alat Bukti Tertulis dalam Perspektif Hukum Acara Perdata

The rapid development of information technology, such as emails, instant messaging, and digital documents in electronic transactions, is transforming traditional methods of evidence presentation in civil court contexts. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a study on the legality and relevance of electronic evidence within the framework of existing legislation, as well as how courts assess and accept such evidence. The research findings indicate that although electronic evidence in the form of electronic information and/or documents is recognized as valid legal evidence, challenges remain in its application, including issues of authenticity and the integrity of the submitted electronic data. Guidelines are needed to demonstrate the evidential strength of electronic evidence so that it can be accepted by the parties involved and provide clarity to judges in admitting electronic evidence as part of the evidentiary process. Furthermore, regulatory reforms are necessary to optimize the use of electronic evidence and ensure fairness in legal proceedings. These papers are expected to contribute to developing civil procedural law in the digital era.

From Periphery to Center: The Emotional Sequence of Cognitive Revision in L2 Writing Assessment.

Peripheral self-proofreading activities, such as grammatical correction, spelling checks, and word modifications, have traditionally been viewed as essential components of writing feedback. However, central revision tasks-including cognitive processing, critical thinking, and emotional sequencing-have received insufficient attention. These central revision activities are crucial for assessing the emotional flow of writing. This study seeks to explore central revision processes to uncover authentic issues faced during writing tasks. We analyzed the revision processes of 113 college students, aged 19 to 22, using Inputlog Version 6 software to evaluate emotional sequences based on 4,629 revision traces. The study revealed that emotional sequences in central revision could be identified through four key indicators: language proficiency, discourse coherence, perceptual pathway, and perceptual processing. We also observed that nuanced emotional sequences were associated with higher writing proficiency. These findings have significant implications for enhancing central revision practices in second language (L2) writing, aiming to improve the efficiency of writing revisions. They also provide valuable guidance for both educators and students, highlighting the importance of emotional sequencing in the writing process.

Ethical dimensions of generative AI: a cross-domain analysis using machine learning structural topic modeling

Purpose The purpose of this study is to comprehensively examine the ethical implications surrounding generative artificial intelligence (AI). Design/methodology/approach Leveraging a novel methodological approach, the study curates a corpus of 364 documents from Scopus spanning 2022 to 2024. Using the term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) and structural topic modeling (STM), it quantitatively dissects the thematic essence of the ethical discourse in generative AI across diverse domains, including education, healthcare, businesses and scientific research. Findings The results reveal a diverse range of ethical concerns across various sectors impacted by generative AI. In academia, the primary focus is on issues of authenticity and intellectual property, highlighting the challenges of AI-generated content in maintaining academic integrity. In the healthcare sector, the emphasis shifts to the ethical implications of AI in medical decision-making and patient privacy, reflecting concerns about the reliability and security of AI-generated medical advice. The study also uncovers significant ethical discussions in educational and financial settings, demonstrating the broad impact of generative AI on societal and professional practices. Research limitations/implications This study provides a foundation for crafting targeted ethical guidelines and regulations for generative AI, informed by a systematic analysis using STM. It highlights the need for dynamic governance and continual monitoring of AI’s evolving ethical landscape, offering a model for future research and policymaking in diverse fields. Originality/value The study introduces a unique methodological combination of TF-IDF and STM to analyze a large academic corpus, offering new insights into the ethical implications of generative AI across multiple domains.

High-performance liquid chromatography coupled to Orbitrap mass spectrometry for screening of common new psychoactive substances and other drugs in biological samples.

The complexity of the drug market and the constant updating of drugs have been challenging issues for drug regulatory authorities. With the emergence of new psychoactive substances (NPS) and the nonmedical use of prescription drugs, forensic and toxicology laboratories have had to adopt new drug screening methods and advanced instrumentation. Using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with Orbitrap mass spectrometry, we developed a screening method for common NPS and other drugs. Two milliliters of mixed solvent of n-hexane and ethyl acetate (1:1, v:v) were added to 500 μL of blood or urine sample for liquid-liquid extraction, and methanol extraction was used for hair samples. The developed method was applied to 3897 samples (including 332 blood samples, 885 urine samples, and 2680 hair samples) taken from drug addicts in a province of China during 2019-2021. For urine and blood samples, the limits of detection (LODs) ranged from 1.68 pg/mL to 10.7 ng/mL. For hair samples, the LODs ranged from 3.30 × 10-5 to 4.21 × 10-3 ng/mg. The matrix effects of urine, blood, and hair samples were in the range of 47.6%-121%, 39.8%-139%, and 6.35%-118%, respectively. And the intra-day precision was 3.5%-6.0% and the inter-day precision was 4.18%-9.90%. Analysis of the actual samples showed an overall positive detection rate of 58.9%, with 5.32% of the samples indicating the use of multiple drugs.

Celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Lithuanian book

In 1947, Lithuania celebrated the 400th anniversary of the first Lithuanian book, M. Mažvydas's Cathechismus, published in 1547. During this celebration, scientific conferences and book exhibitions were organized, and several significant works devoted to the anniversary were published. Among these was one of the most artistic editions: "The First Lithuanian Book" (a photographic text of the Cathechismus and its transliteration in Latin letters, with articles by J. Kruopas and illuminations by M. Bulakas). In the collection of articles "Ancient Lithuanian Book," significant research in the history of the book and literature was presented, including K. Korsakas's "The First Lithuanian Book," V. Mykolaitis's "Artistic Elements in the Works of Mažvydas and His Contemporaries," P. Galaunė's "Artistic Design of Mažvydas's Book," and V. Abramavičius's "Printing-Offices of Ancient Lithuanian Books." These works addressed issues such as the conditions under which the first Lithuanian book was published, its significance, the date of its publication, its intended audience, authorship and collaboration issues, and analyses of the published texts from linguistic, literary, pedagogical, and ethnographic perspectives, as well as typographical particularities. Some material from the jubilee celebration, such as reports from conferences, was published in the "Directory of the Academy of Sciences of the Lithuanian SSR" (1948, vol. 2). Jubilee reports by V. Mykolaitis, "The First Lithuanian Book" (1948), and K. Korsakas, "Development of Lithuanian Book over 400 Years" (1948), were published separately. During the anniversary year, the first Lithuanian book and other works by M. Mažvydas were extensively investigated, defining their significance for linguistic science, cultural history, and the expansion of literature, and showing the historical development of Lithuanian book publishing.

The Socio-economic Transformation in Makassar Tribe Gift-giving Tradition: Reconstructing Social Welfare Strategy

The gift-giving tradition in Jeneponto, the land of the Makassar Tribe, has undergone significant transformation over time, reflecting changes in socio-economic ethics within societies. This study explores the evolution of this tradition and its profound impact on contemporary socio-economic values. It examines how gift-giving has transitioned from a simple act of goodwill and cultural exchange to a complex phenomenon influenced by consumerism, status, and economic disparities. Drawing from ethnographic research analysis, this research delves into the cultural and social significance of gift-giving in various contexts. It sheds light on how traditional values, such as reciprocity and generosity, have been reshaped by commercialization and global consumer culture. Furthermore, it investigates the consequences of these changes on individuals and communities. The study also discusses the ethical dilemmas arising from the commodification of gift-giving, including issues of authenticity, social inequality, and environmental sustainability. It highlights the need for a more conscious and responsible approach to gift-giving in the current situation.

Graphical User Interface for Biodiversity Digital Twins: Data Challenges

Digital Twins are a new concept in the field of biodiversity (de Koning et al. 2023), one aspect is the user interface for interacting with digital twins. In the BioDT (Biodiversity Digital Twin) (BioDT 2022) project we are creating a graphical web interface (Martinovič et al. 2024) using the R Shiny framework, which allows small-scale data analysis to be done directly on the server running the web interface, while making it possible to offload a large-scale analysis to a supercomputer such as LUMI (Large Unified Modern Infrastructure). Additionally, we foresee that multiple prototype Digital Twins (pDTs) will be available as part of one web application. This brings multiple challenges in optimization of data flows for the computation and interaction with users, especially since data used by the pDTs, developed in the BioDT, are usually stored across multiple data sources. In the BioDT web application, we want to enable users to access different pDTs concerned with questions such as ecosystem services, biodiversity dynamics, DNA-related biodiversity tasks, pollinators, invasive species, disease outbreaks, and more. While some of these pDTs compute results at a remote server and provide only the newest results to the application, others aim to allow users to execute their own pDT runs with their own data and settings. This leads to many different user scenarios and impacts authentication and authorization flows, as well as data flows. In addition to this, we want to make the whole system comply with the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles as much as possible. For this, we need to support traceability of data, models, and pDT executions. This means that we advocate for data to be hosted at data providers with APIs for machine-to-machine interaction and extensive metadata support; models to be as open as possible and versioned; and to have a workflow execution orchestrator that can keep track of the models' execution and their related inputs and outputs. In terms of data, we are using research infrastructures (RIs) such as GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility) and eLTER (Integrated European Long-Term Ecosystem, critical zone and socio-ecological Research) for the input data streams and when it is not possible to use established RIs, we are using self-hosted services. This work is still in progress and some of the self-hosted datasets are still being used, but in the future, we are looking into the possibility of having a dynamic system that will support data formats that cannot be currently stored at the established RIs. Our colleagues at BioDT consortium are preparing a special data server (El-Gabbas et al. 2023) that can handle complex data processing and serve data through an API without the need to download data for multiple commonly used formats. Some of the BioDT pDTs leverage the computational strength of High-Performance Computing (HPC) clusters and in such cases, classical cloud workflow orchestrators are not an option due to the specific security policies of such centers. To solve this, we turned to the LEXIS Platform, which can execute predefined workflows on a combination of cloud and HPC resources, and track the executions and related execution metadata. We are looking into exporting the descriptions of the workflow executions to Research Object Crates (RO-Crates) and then uploading this information to a remote server, where users could check their execution settings later. A current main development focus is the question of how to tackle the challenge of multiple authentication systems. This is specifically of concern in the case of sensitive data, which need to remain secure and available only to selected people. Due to interactions with several systems, we are encountering authentication issues of multiple different identities that should be recognized as one. The simplest solution here is to use one platform for data storage, workflow execution and web application. However, in the future we hope to find a more general solution that would not require data transfer to a single platform, since this could lower the usage of the BioDT platform due to legal restriction on some data. Another challenge in optimization of the dataflows is to avoid downloading the same data repeatedly and to be able to provide users with relevant data in the web application as fast as possible, since long waiting time would result in people not using the web application. For these issues, we are considering a smart-caching mechanism, however such functionality is not yet defined.

Generative artificial intelligence and academic writing: an analysis of the perceptions of researchers in training

ObjetivoO objetivo deste artigo é analisar a relação entre a redação acadêmica e a inteligência artificial generativa.Projeto/metodologia/abordagemEste artigo é caracterizado como exploratório e descritivo, com uma abordagem qualitativa. Foram usadas duas abordagens: a primeira, uma revisão narrativa da literatura com uma busca sistemática, a partir da qual foi realizada uma etapa de coleta de dados usando entrevistas assíncronas por meio de um questionário on-line.ResultadosOs resultados indicam que a IA generativa deve ser vista como uma ferramenta complementar para a redação acadêmica criativa e crítica. Os dados coletados também destacaram questões relacionadas à desonestidade acadêmica e ao novo tipo de plágio - o plágio possibilitado pelas tecnologias, bem como questões de autoria e legitimidade do trabalho realizado com a Inteligência Artificial, a perda do pensamento reflexivo e crítico e da criatividade.OriginalidadeA necessidade de a academia antecipar o uso da IA na redação acadêmica e incorporar seus benefícios nesse processo, considerando principalmente pesquisadores em formação.Limitações/implicações da pesquisaO aumento considerável de recursos usando IA em todas as dimensões da vida humana.Implicações práticasO impacto que o uso de IAs generativas pode ter sobre a criação de conhecimento e a disseminação de pesquisas científicas.Implicações sociaisO impacto que o uso de IAs geradoras pode ter na criação de conhecimento e na disseminação de pesquisas científicas.