Low-quality Products Research Articles

Deep Forest-Based E-Commerce Recommendation Attack Detection Model

With the advancement of Internet, recommendation systems have become an indispensable component for every e-commerce platform, playing an increasingly pivotal role in product recommendations. However, due to the recommendation mechanisms of these systems, numerous new attack patterns have emerged. A novel attack pattern targeting e-commerce recommendation systems, termed the “Ride Item’s Coattails” attack, fabricates false click information to deceitfully establish associations between popular products and low-quality products, intending to mislead the e-commerce platform’s recommendation system and promote the sales of substandard products. This article presents a recommendation system attack detection method based on the Deep Forest algorithm to address the challenges of these novel recommendation system attacks. Random forests are used for feature selection, aiming to filter crucial features and reduce feature redundancy. To tackle the issue of extreme class imbalance, a symmetric sampling technique based on k-means centroids is introduced. This approach addresses the incomplete noise filtering and sampling data comprehensiveness issues commonly found in undersampling algorithms. Considering the potential for even more imbalanced data in real-world scenarios, a combined strategy of undersampling and SMOTE resampling is used to handle imbalanced data. The proposed algorithm was trained on e-commerce “Ride Item’s Coattails” attack identification data from Alibaba Cloud’s Tianchi, which originates from genuine recommendation system attack data. The proposed method was compared with various deep learning and machine learning algorithms, such as DLMP and deep neural networks (DNN), for extensive validation. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed technique effectively meets the demands for attack detection.

Scaling strategy for cell and gene therapy bioreactors based on turbulent parameters.

So far, power input has been used as the main parameter for bioreactor scale-up/-down in upstream process development and manufacturing. The rationale is that maintaining a consistent power input per unit volume should result in comparable mixing times at different scales. However, shear generated from turbulent flow may compromise the integrity of non-robust cells such as those used during the production of cell and gene therapies, which may lead to low product quality and yield. Of particular interest is the Kolmogorov length parameter that characterizes the smallest turbulent eddies in a mixture. To understand its impact on scale-up/-down decisions, the distribution of Kolmogorov length along the trajectory flow of individual particles in bioreactors was estimated in silico with the help of computational fluid dynamics simulations. Specifically, in this study the scalability of iPSC-derived lymphocyte production and the impact of shear stress across various differentiation stages were investigated. The study used bioreactors of volumes from 0.1 to 10 L, which correspond to the scales most used for parameter optimization. Our findings, which align with in vitro runs, help determine optimal agitation speed and shear stress adjustments for process transfer between scales and bioreactor types, using vertically-oriented wheel and pitched-blade impellers. In addition, empirical models specific to the bioreactors used in this study were developed. The provided computational analysis in combination with experimental data supports selection of appropriate bioreactors and operating conditions for various cell and gene therapy process steps.

Championing and shaming in a credence good market: Which one to use?

AbstractWe analyze the performance of the championing and shaming inquiries by a Nongovernmental Organization in a signaling game played by a monopoly that sells a credence good to an uninformed consumer. Championing (shaming) means certifying (uncovering) a firm that sells a high (low) quality product. An inquiry alters the whole information structure of the signaling game. It provides redundant hard information in a separating equilibrium but it lowers the set of separating prices. We show that a high‐quality producer and the consumers welcome this inquiry in a pooling equilibrium as it enhances their expected payoffs. They prefer a championing over a shaming inquiry when the likelihood of a high‐quality producer is low. A championing inquiry may lower the consumer's expected payoff if it is run before the monopoly sets its price since the consumer may prefer paying a low pooling price for a credence good rather than a high price for a certified high‐quality good.

Analisis Pasar Dan Pemasaran Produk Di CV. Kampoeng Roti Surabaya

The increase in the establishment of bakeries in various places is the result of increasing market demand. The development of the bread business in Indonesia continues to experience growth. Both small, medium and large businesses. Both in the form of industry and home businesses, whether from within the country or franchised from abroad. Likewise the supporting industries, such as machines, supporting materials and raw materials such as flour. The increasing number of bakeries mushrooming around Surabaya and East Java has changed people's mindset towards consuming bread every day which contains lots of nutrients and is good for health. Every company must try and be able to compete to survive and win the current competition. There are many ways that companies can do to increase consumer satisfaction and loyalty, for example by paying attention to price factors. Most consumers will tend to choose companies that offer relatively cheap product prices. Price is an important consideration for consumers when buying products from a company. Prices are not just the numbers printed on the price tag. Prices take many forms and perform many functions. Price is one element of the marketing mix that generates revenue, other elements generate costs. Price is perhaps the easiest element in a marketing program to adjust. Apart from price, product quality also greatly influences the success and progress of a business venture. Companies that are able to produce high quality products will be more profitable than producing low quality products. This means that consumers will be willing to buy a product at a reasonable or relatively affordable price with good product quality

This is what’s in store for you: How online social learning affects product positioning

Customers can share their opinions on the Internet, and this online sharing affects customers’ quality expectations, their purchasing decisions, and firms’ product positioning such as price and quality decisions. In this study, we examine product positioning in monopolistic, competitive, and collusive markets, where companies must address the social learning of customers. We apply a multi-agent model to simulate the learning process and the product positioning of companies as a gaming process via particle swarm optimization. We find that the optimal policies are highly dependent on market status and the level of customers’ ex-ante quality uncertainty. Specifically, in the absence of competition, social learning can help a monopolistic company gain higher profits by offering low quality products at a low (high) price in environments of low (high) uncertainty. However, duopoly competition leads to reduced prices and lower quality designs in general, except for a low degree of uncertainty. Social learning intensifies the competition between companies, and without it, competition is moderated through differentiated price and quality decisions. Under duopoly competition, a company with high uncertainty deviation benefits more from social learning by adopting a low-price-low-quality strategy, outperforming a competitor with low deviation. Finally, while collusion typically leads to higher prices and benefits for companies compared to duopoly competition, it may hurt the companies when the effects of social learning are small.

Do customers evaluate the competence of SME retailers and retail chains differently in the context of online product presentations?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which customers evaluate inferior product presentations on a local shopping platform based on the retailer (small and medium-sized enterprise [SME] vs retail chain).Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a between-subject online study (N = 728) with a 2 (SME vs retail chain) x 2 (high vs low-quality product presentation) between-subject experimental design. The authors conducted several analyses of variance to analyze the hypotheses and analyses of covariance for a mediating effect.FindingsThis study's results show that customers tend to overlook inaccuracies from a retail chain more often than they overlook inaccuracies from SME retailers. The authors show that the perceived competence of the retailer mediates the impact of the retailer's quality on customer purchasing intentions, not only for the presented product but also for the retailer itself.Practical implicationsBased on this study's results, the authors give implications for retailer cross-channel strategies and hint at the importance of emphasizing the retail size.Originality/valueThis paper provides important contributions to the literature on resource-advantage theory by explaining that consumers perceive quality differences within product presentations on online shopping platforms differently with regard to retail chains vs SME retailers. Moreover, the information processing theory helps to provide a theoretical foundation concerning differences in online store quality (via engineered low- vs high-quality product presentations in this study).

Strategic live streaming choices for vertically differentiated products

Live streaming as a new shopping channel can disclose revealing information on quality preference. With this channel, viewers can obtain additional product details along with entertainment utility from streamers' product showcasing. This paper examines live streaming strategies for vertically differentiated firms that sell products of high or low quality. We obtain the optimal pricing strategies for the high-quality, low-quality firms under a particular live streaming strategy (i.e., (N,N); (S,N); (N,S); (S,S)). We identify how the competing firms should set their live streaming strategies. As the entertainment value increases, firms with a competitive edge are more willing to adopt live streaming. If the “quality-adjusted cost” is lower than 12, then the high-quality firm is prone to adopt live streaming; otherwise, the low-quality firm is prone to adopt live streaming. The entertainment value greatly influences the adoption decision. When the streamer is more popular and charges a medium fixed cost, the competitive firm (i.e., small marginal cost, high quality) should adopt live streaming to expand its marketplace. The other firm should refuse live streaming and emphasize improving its product quality and competitiveness. Interestingly, live streaming is not always beneficial to firms when the competitive advantages dominate the impact of live streaming and the informative degree is improved little.

Product line design and introduction strategies for crowdfunding in presence of social learning

Crowdfunding has emerged as a popular and efficient digital financing method. This paper investigates the product line design and introduction strategy of crowdfunding products in the presence of social learning when consumers are uncertain about their quality preferences and are allowed to return products. The results reveal that the consumer preference level and the preference level gap between high- and low-type consumers impact the optimal introduction strategy. Specifically, under the high-quality products’ first sequential introduction strategy, the optimal quality and pricing decision of low-quality products are similar to the results of classical product line design in that the gap between optimal prices for the product line increases with the consumers’ high- and low-quality preference levels and the proportion of high-quality preference consumers in the high-segment market. However, when introducing low-quality products first, the quality gap for the product line decreases in low-quality preference levels. Besides, the introduction strategy for menu crowdfunding products mainly depends on consumers’ quality preference levels and the gap between high- and low-quality preference levels. Finally, social learning can greatly alleviate consumers’ uncertainty about product preferences, reduce return rates, and bring greater profits to creators. It has a significant positive effect on creators than without social learning. The findings of this paper have essential implications for crowdfunding product design and introduction strategy in the presence of social learning and consumer uncertainty.

Is it wise to compete or to collaborate? Remanufacturing business models under collective extended producer responsibility legislation

Collective extended producer responsibility (CPR) legislation aims to accomplish manufacturers’ extended producer responsibility (EPR) through a common channel of product recovery activities. This work intends to study the impact of the CPR legislation system on competitive and collaborative business models of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and independent remanufacturers (IRs). Therein, we developed a two-period competitive and collaborative model considering an oligopoly market scenario for analysing optimal remanufacturing and pricing strategies of OEMs and IRs. Government subsidies promote the remanufacturing activities, and their effects are examined on optimal remanufacturing and pricing decisions for competitive and collaborative models under CPR legislation. The result highlights that competition with IRs under the CPR legislation system within oligopoly market scenarios is profitable for OEMs. Furthermore, the result indicates that a competitive business model increases consumer surplus, increasing used products collection and remanufacturing. The findings benefit OEMs of identical products from implementing a profitable business model under CPR legislation to restrict the availability of low-quality remanufactured products of IRs, thereby protecting the brand image and controlling the cannibalization effect on new products selling.

Fish quality monitoring for sustainable product safety

To provide consumers with high-quality and safe products, to prevent the entry of low-quality and dangerous food products into the consumer market, monitoring programs are provided. The results of monitoring samples of frozen fish of various families and species for the period 2020–2022 have been given. Labeling, organoleptic indicators of fish samples have been analyzed for compliance with the requirements of regulatory documents. The mass fraction of glaze, the mass fraction of phosphates in terms of P2O5, the content of histamine, toxic elements: lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic have been determined. Labeling deficiencies are revealed in 1.3 % of the samples. A small, inaccessible font (less than 9 points) makes it difficult for the consumer to obtain complete information about the product. An excess of the mass fraction of glaze on average 0.7–0.8 % in pike perch samples has been revealed. The actual values of the mass fraction of phosphates have not exceeded the maximum allowable limits. The lowest content of phosphates has been noted in samples of pike perch (from 2.3 to 2.0 g/kg), the highest in pink salmon (from 5.0 to 4.1 g/kg) and salmon (5.2–4.7 g/kg). The content of histamine in all samples has been within the normal range. The smallest amount of histamine has been found in samples of mackerel (from 18.0 to 11.0 mg/kg) and pollock (17.0–11.0 mg/kg), the largest in pink salmon (25.0–16.0 mg/kg) and herring (22.0–19.0 mg/kg). The concentration of heavy metals has not exceeded the maximum allowable values. The results obtained are of practical importance for manufacturers in the development of labeling that satisfies consumer demand for information about the product and for consumers in the formation of the diet.

Development of a monitoring system for technological equipment of a meat processing plant

Relevance. In the production of meat products and semi-finished products, equipment from the 1990s is often used. Such equipment is not equipped with modern means of transmitting diagnostic data and information about the current status via wireless communication, and requires periodic monitoring during the work shift. Lack of timely diagnostic data can lead to equipment failures and unexpected downtime. At the same time, the development of technical means of communication makes it possible to connect industrial equipment to the Internet and remotely receive data on the current state of the equipment online.Methods. The objects of the study were the MULTIVAC R5200 vacuum thermoforming packaging machine and thermal chambers with installed controllers Aditec MIC 2410, Aditec TP 1000, MIKSTER MCC 2100. Methods of object-oriented programming in Python 3.4.4 were used for the monitoring system under study. For network interaction of technological equipment with cloud services, the MQTT-v3.1.1 data transfer protocol was used.Results. The use of a monitoring system based on the industrial Internet of Things platform made it possible: when packing boiled and smoked sausages, to reduce the maintenance time of the packaging machine and the consumption of spare parts, to reduce the production of low-quality products; when carrying out technological processes in thermal chambers, to completely eliminate spoilage of semi-finished products, to improve the quality of the finished product. In the future, the spread of such technology to the equipment of the entire enterprise will make it possible to solve the problems of collecting a large amount of data on the current state of the equipment, conducting analysis and making managerial decisions.

Leveraging Social Media to Buy Fake Reviews

We study the market for fake product reviews on Amazon.com. Reviews are purchased in large private groups on Facebook and other sites. We hand collect data on these markets and then collect a panel of data on these products' ratings and reviews on Amazon, as well as their sales rank, advertising, and pricing policies. We find that a wide array of products purchase fake reviews, including products with many reviews and high average ratings. Buying fake reviews on Facebook is associated with a significant but short-term increase in average rating and number of reviews. We exploit a sharp but temporary policy shift by Amazon to show that rating manipulation has a large causal effect on sales. Finally, we examine whether rating manipulation harms consumers or whether it is mainly used by high-quality in a manner like advertising or by new products trying to solve the cold-start problem. We find that after firms stop buying fake reviews, their average ratings fall and the share of one-star reviews increases significantly, particularly for young products, indicating rating manipulation is mostly used by low-quality products.

South-South vs North-South value chain integration and value addition in Sub-Saharan Africa

China is now Africa's largest trading partner, having surpassed the United States (US) in 2008. This is a vital development because trade facilitates capital injection as well as knowledge and technology spillovers in developing economies like Africa. However, the China-Africa trade has been extensively criticized, with China alleged of exploiting Africa's natural resources while dumping low-quality products on the continent. The dumping narrative is worth investigating given that the trade balance has favoured China since 2012, and the mix of China's exports to Africa remains contentious. This study argues that, if the narrative is exaggerated, Africa’s backward value chain integration with China must contribute decisively to manufacturing output, industrial jobs, and/or total factor productivity (TFP), signifying a fair representation of intermediate inputs in China's exports to Africa, which the continent assembles for its export markets. The investigation is conducted in comparison to the US, as Africa’s traditional trading partner, based on evidence from 23 Sub-Saharan African countries over the period 2005–2018. Our two-step system GMM estimates indicate that the dumping narrative cannot be ruled out, and thus African governments must take appropriate action to stop the practice. Backward value chain integration with the US, on the other hand, boosts manufacturing output, indicating that the US has fared relatively well in maintaining its shares of foreign value added (FVA) in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Some results of the technical survey and approaches to strengthening of the monolithic reinforced concrete structures of the sports complex “Climbing Center”

The construction of sports facilities using cast-in-place reinforced concrete has recently acquired a steady trend towards its development. This was largely facilitated by the development of the regulatory framework for design, as well as modern construction technologies. At the same time, the practice of implementing monolithic structures shows that there is often a low-quality production of construction works. The main defects and deviations made in reinforced concrete structures are shown on the example of the Climbing Center building under construction.One of the main defects was the recorded damage to the corbels of the main pylons of the structure, on which the large-span trusses rest. The survey showed that the result was an unacceptable technical condition of these elements. In order to bring the structures to the standard level of technical condition, a design for strengthening the support nodes of the trusses was developed and implemented, which is presented in the text of the article.

Selective chromium and copper recovery from wastewater using flow-electrode capacitance deionization: In-situ reduction mechanism regulating metal charging characteristics

Recovering valuable metal resources from industrial wastewater has environmental and economic significance. Flow-electrode capacitive deionization (FCDI) has been successfully used to remove salt and heavy metals. However, the use of this technology in heavy metal treatment has several limitations, including low selectivity, poor long-term stability, and production of low-quality metal products. In this study, a new strategy for recovering chromium (Cr) from wastewater was proposed using an in-situ reduction method. A liquid membrane chamber (LMC) was introduced into a classic three-chamber FCDI and an extraction solution containing Na2SO3 and NaCl was used to capture Cr in wastewater. During FCDI operation, the CrO42− ions entered the LMC were immediately reduced to Cr3+ and retained in the extraction solution. Completing anions (i.e., Cl−) in the extraction solution maintained the concentration of SO32− ions, and thereby reducing the consumption of reagents. The improved FCDI system exhibited satisfactory separation performance and high stability during semi-continuous operation. Freshwater, Cr, and copper were obtained in the separation chamber, LMC, and flow electrode chamber, respectively. The facile approach may open the doors for the separation and recovery of metal resources from water/wastewater with high scalability and universality.

Circular supply chain governance for sustainable fresh agricultural products: Minimizing food loss and utilizing agricultural waste

Food loss and agricultural waste continue to pose challenges to sustainable agricultural development. The circular economy approach is believed to address these challenges. However, the implementation of this approach requires the participation of all supply chain actors, which must be coordinated through governance. This paper aims to comprehend how supply chain governance supports the implementation of the circular economy in order to minimize food loss and maximize agricultural waste utilization. This study employs a mixed-methods analysis using a quantitative survey and qualitative focus group discussion data. Vegetable and dairy supply chains in West Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, are the cases of this study. The results indicate that 35 % of food is lost along the vegetable supply chain that prioritizes traditional markets. In contrast, food loss for vegetable supply chains that prioritize modern markets is only 15 %. For dairy supply chains facilitated by cooperatives, the rate of food loss amounts to 7 %. The Study found that supply chain governance, encompassing coordinated production plans, selling systems, price mechanisms, packaging systems, and the management of low-quality products, all contribute to reducing food loss under the circular economy principles. In terms of agricultural waste, most vegetable and dairy farmers (80 % and 75 % of respondents respectively) do not manage their agricultural waste properly. For this, connecting supply and demand for agricultural waste and enhancing knowledge among farmers are essential. This paper concludes that coordination and information sharing within and between supply chain actors are required to address food loss and agricultural waste problems.

REVIEW ON CURRENT STATUS OF AVOCADO PRODUCTION IN ETHIOPIA

The study discusses the global significance of avocado as a nutritious fruit and economically important crop. It focuses on the increasing demand for avocados and the potential for their cultivation in Ethiopias diverse agro-ecological zones. The review article examines a wide range of peer-reviewed studies, reports, and literature up to September 2022, using various sources including electronic databases and academic repositories. Grey literature and agricultural organization reports were also considered. The review findings show that avocado production in Ethiopia has been rapidly growing. In 2021, the country produced 245,336 metric tons of avocados across 30,585.70 hectares, with a yield of 80.2 quintals per hectare. Ethiopia exported 604.5 quintals of avocados in the same year. The favourable agro-ecological diversity of Ethiopia, spanning from lowlands to highlands, supports avocado cultivation. However, the industry is still young and faces challenges such as limited access to quality seeds, insufficient irrigation systems, and transportation issues. The post-harvest phase, processing, and marketing of avocados also present difficulties, leading to lower product quality and constrained market reach. The review covers global and local avocado production trends, avocado production and management practices, constraint of avocado production and future direction have been discussed. KEYWORDS: Avocado Production, Production Constraints, Post-harvest losses

ANALYSIS OF PRODUCT QUALITY AND PRODUCT INNOVATION ON CONSUMER LOYALTY OF CONVECTION COMPANIES

In today's competitive marketplace, businesses face the ongoing challenge of fostering consumer loyalty to sustain their market presence and growth. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of Product Quality and Product Innovation on Consumer Loyalty of Fizzul Putra Mandiri Convection in Jombang Regency. The study population consists of consumers from Fizzul Putra Mandiri Convection in Jombang Regency, specifically regular customers. This research employs a quantitative approach, with a fixed sample size of 85 regular consumers. Drawing from information provided by Fizzul Putra Mandiri Convection, the sampling method utilizes the saturated sample technique, encompassing the entire population as respondents. Data were collected through a questionnaire and processed using the Structural Equation Model (SEM) with SmartPLS 3 software. The results revealed that product quality had an insignificantly positive effect on consumer loyalty. This suggests that higher product quality is associated with increased consumer loyalty, though the effect is not statistically significant. In other words, a minor increase in product quality leads to a slight rise in consumer loyalty, and a slight decrease in product quality results in a slight decrease in consumer loyalty. Conversely, product innovation significantly and positively influences consumer loyalty, indicating that higher levels of product innovation led to higher consumer loyalty, while lower levels of product innovation result in lower consumer loyalty. Additionally, the study demonstrates a positive and significant correlation between product quality and product innovation. This suggests that higher product quality is linked to greater product innovation, whereas lower product quality is associated with reduced product innovation.

Problems Emerging in Transition to Digital Economy and Suggestions for Solutions

In this study, it is aimed to address the problems that arise with the development of the digital economy thanks to the digital transformation experienced with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), and to explain what needs to be done by suggesting solutions in order to support the digital economy with a sustainable development model. Since 1996, when the concept of digital economy was first introduced in the literature, the concept of digital economy has been used as a keyword in studies (more than 130) published in the database (ScienceDirect, Wiley, Taylor&Francis, Springer, SSRN, DergiPark) and in many scientific papers. Due to the Covid-19 epidemic, which emerged in 2019 and was effective on a global scale, the fact that individuals meet their basic needs and many needs through digital platforms has led to the acceleration of digital transformation and entrepreneurship, the development of new production models, and the diversification of digital marketing and digital economy tools. With the acceleration of the digital transformation process, positive developments have been experienced in the context of the digital economy. However, this situation has brought along some problems such as unemployment concerns, digital security problems, tax, audit and financial reporting problems, problems in the supply of qualified personnel, difficulties in protecting intellectual property rights, and selling low quality or counterfeit products. In addition to the benefits provided by the digital economy that develops with digital entrepreneurship, it makes the work unique by addressing the problems that will arise in social and economic terms and offering solutions for them.

Artificial tears: Promising treatment or silent threat to public health?

Dry Eye Disease (DED) is a multifactorial chronic inflammatory condition of the corneal surface, attributed to insufficient or low-quality production of tears, accounting for 5-50% of the cases globally. Artificial tears are the first line of treatment as they reduce ocular surface tension, and improve film stability and optical quality. EzriCare Artificial Tears are preservative-free, multi-dose, readily accessible eye drops containing carboxymethylcellulose sodium solution (10 mg in 1 ml) aiming for relief against DED. This article discusses the public health challenges faced by the use of EzriCare Artificial Tears and emphasizes the need for alternative therapies for the effective management of DED. We searched for articles documenting the incidence of the current multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa strain outbreak caused by the use of preservative-free artificial tears and the challenges faced through the use of artificial tears on PubMed, and Google Scholar. EzriCare and other preservative-free artificial tears have been reported to pose a serious public health risk as they have been found to be the commonly used product among the people infected with the current multi-state outbreak of the multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa strain. The current multi-state outbreak of the multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa strain has raised concerns about the safe use of other artificial products. It is high time that further trials should be conducted on other alternative strategies and evaluate the safety and efficacy of nanotechnology in the treatment of dry eye disease.