Online Auction Research Articles

Development of an online auction management system: A case study of auction holdings limited

The tobacco industry is crucial to Malawi's economy, accounting for over 70% of the country's foreign exchange earnings and supporting the livelihoods of a significant portion of the population. Despite its vital role, the current auction management system used by Auction Holdings Limited (AHL) encounters several issues. These include labor-intensive manual processes, a lack of transaction transparency, and inefficiencies that result in delayed payments and disputes over lot allocations. This paper proposes developing an online tobacco auction management system to address these challenges. The new system aims to convert existing manual processes into automated workflows, minimizing human error and speeding up processing times. By utilizing digital technologies, the system will offer real-time updates on auction activities, enhancing transparency for all stakeholders, including farmers, buyers, and regulatory bodies. Additionally, it will streamline the lot allocation process and ensure prompt and secure payment transactions, thereby reducing disputes and improving participant satisfaction. This paper provides a thorough analysis of the proposed system's design and functionality, including user interface specifications, data management protocols, and security features. A feasibility study covering operational, economic, legal, and technical aspects confirms the system's viability. This paper also examines the system's potential impact on the tobacco industry, highlighting benefits like increased operational efficiency, enhanced stakeholder trust, and overall economic improvements.

Survey on the Current Advertising and Sales of Mucuna pruriens in Consumer-to-consumer Internet Trading in Japan

Mucuna pruriens (MP) is leguminous plant which contains 5% of L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (levodopa) in its seeds. It may have a potential to be used as an alternative therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD). Meanwhile, there is a concern in terms of public health that MP products can be overused by patients with PD. As an entry for patients with PD to acquire MP products in Japan, they are often purchased via internet auctions or free markets. MP products are not reagrded as 'pharmatheutical' by Japanese law as long as the specific legal requirements on advertisements are met, so that the MP products can be advertised or sold without any permission from the authorities. In this study, we aimed to conduct internet survey as to the complianse status of these legal requirements. Several major internet auction or free market websites in Japan were surveyed in May-June 2023 by the authors, and 1157 MP product pages were examined. We found approximately 30-40% of the MP products were suspected to have potential legal risks in terms of their advertisements in their website descriptions, such as claiming pharmatheutical efficacy or describing pharmatheutical-like dosages. In addition, approximately 30-40% of the MP products also did not refer to cautions not to take MP products excessively because of the levodopa ingredients. Current study suggested the need of careful description of the MP products in the auction or free market websites for the MP products exhibitors or sellers, in order to fullfill legal requirements as well as to prevent MP abuse.

Pantai Labu Fish Auction Place with an Ecological Architectural Approach

Geographically, Indonesia is the largest country in the archipelago. The length of Indonesia's main coastline is known to reach 81,000 km. Based on these results, a fishery management area is needed that is appropriate and as high as possible to ensure the management of fisheries that are rich in marine animals. Pantai Labu Fish Auction Place is a potential place for fisheries. The marine sector is quite large, including capture fisheries, power culture fisheries the processing and marketing of fishery products. As well as supported by Supervision and other activities. One of the Fish Landing Places in Deli Serdang Regency is Pantai Labu Fish Auction Place. Fishing in Pantai Labu is important because the livelihood of most Paluh Sibaji people is fishing. However, the situation at the fish auction may have improved, leaving many customers feeling unhappy. Not only buyers but fishermen, the main actors in this fish auction site, also need qualified facilities. The application of ecological architecture in the renewal of the Fish Auction Place is one way to be applied in the future. Ecological architecture is vital in designing this fish landing site because an environmental architecture uses natural elements closely related to this Fish Auction Place.

Analysis of Heavy Metals Concentration and Pollution Index on Water Quality in Labuan Beach Fishery Port Area, Banten

Labuan Coastal Fishing Port (PPP) is an area with great potential for development in the economic and tourism sectors. Apart from being the center of the fishing industry in Pandeglang Regency, PPP Labuan also has beach tourist attractions. Some activities could cause the entry of heavy metals into waters and affect water quality. These activities include ships refuelling, ships exhaust emissions, ships washing and paint spills, as well as beach tourism activities. The pollution index is used to determine the level of pollution in waters. This research aimed to analyze water quality and pollution indices based on the heavy metals content iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), and copper (Cu). Samples were taken from three observation stations, namely the beach tourist area (station 1), the fish auction site (station 2), and the pier (station 3). Analysis of the heavy metals Fe, Ni, Cu was carried out using the Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer method and the results were compared with Indonesian government reulation, PP No. 82/2001. Pollution index analysis wasusing the pollution index method. The heavy metals content of iron (Fe) ranged from 1.761 – 6.907 mg/L, nickel (Ni) ranged from 0.079 – 0.269 mg/L, and copper (Cu) is < 0.001 mg/L. Based on the pollution index (IP), station 1 was lightly polluted with an IP value of 3.75. At station 2 it was moderately polluted with an IP value of 5.91, and at station 3 it was lightly polluted with a value of 4.2.

Online reverse auctions research in marketing versus SCM: A review and future directions

An online reverse auction (ORA) is a dynamic procurement mechanism that allows suppliers to compete in real time via a platform to gain a buyer's business. The ORA is a technological tool introduced in the late 1990s, gaining proponents and detractors among practitioners and academics. Remarkably, while practitioner interest in ORAs has grown, related marketing and supply chain management (SCM) research has declined. This contradiction between theory and practice suggests the need to conduct a systematic review to provide readers with a state-of-the-art understanding of ORAs and recommend fruitful avenues for further research. We focus on the marketing literature and contrast the findings with SCM literature, in such an analysis practical relevance is stressed. Our study offers three main contributions: (1) integration of the cumulative marketing knowledge on ORAs in the 2002–2020 period, (2) development of a three-layer framework of the ORA domain (i.e., conceptualization, ORA as a process, and research setting), and (3) construction of a new research agenda to deal with scholarly challenges and emerging trends.

A Decentralized Auction Model for Sustainable Housing Rental Market

The Internet of Things has driven the transformation of the traditional offline rental model to online rental platforms such as Zillow, Zigbang, and Lianjia. These platforms provide abundant housing options, detailed information, convenient communication, and greater price transparency. However, existing online rental platforms are still centralized and rely on third-party intermediaries for settlement, which raises concerns about the integrity of real estate data, transaction security, and price transparency. To improve the real estate leasing business, we propose leveraging the decentralized nature of blockchain technology. By eliminating intermediaries, we can ensure customer privacy and reduce transaction costs. This strategy revolves around smart contracts as a core component, automatically matching landlords and tenants based on their offers, achieving transparency, and maintaining anonymity for both parties. We introduce a novel auction system that combines the features of interactive auctions and sealed-bid auctions, enabling landlords and tenants to engage in range bidding. In this study, we developed a detailed algorithm to define how smart contracts function during the auction process. Through a cost analysis, we demonstrate the economic feasibility and provide a secure, transparent, and reliable approach for online auctions.

배추의 가락시장 물류체계 선진화 과제와 발전 방안

Kimchi is the most traditional side dish, and a staple food for the average Korean table. Cabbage, the primary ingredient for Kimchi, is consequently the most widely consumed vegetable in Korea. It holds a pivitol role in the nation’s food culture and deeply influences the dietary habits of its citizens, both at home and when dining out. The distribution of cabbage in wholesale markets traditionally involved harvesting them from the fields, packaging them in bulk bags, loading them onto general cargo vehicles, and then transporting them to Garak Market. Once there, the cabbages often remained at auction sites for extended periods until they were sold. This led to various issues, such as diminished product value, increased market congestion, distribution delays, and escalating logistical costs. Furthermore, given that cabbages direct to Garak Market constitutes 24.2% of the nation’s total wholesale market volumes, there’s a pressing need to refine and modernize its logistical system. Considering these challenges, the government plans to initiate an online wholesale market for agricultural products by the end of 2023. This will also involve introducing an electronic delivery system intended to be rolled out gradually across all national public wholesale markets. However, for this endeavor to succeed, the preliminary steps of palletizing wholesale market products in essential.
 This research delves into the distribution and logistics of cabbage from its cultivation to the wholesale market. It pinpoints issues in the current logistics practices and evaluates the economic viability of pallet shipping and unloading. With a B/C Ratio of 1.31, the analysis confirms its economic feasibility. The study champions the advancement of palletization in wholesale markets, which is projected to enhance the logistical efficiency significantly, aligning with the government’s drive to digitalize and modernize the nation’s public wholesale markets.

Illicit Trade of Prescription Medications Through X (Formerly Twitter) in Japan: Cross-Sectional Study.

Nonmedical use of prescription drugs can cause overdose; this represents a serious public health crisis globally. In this digital era, social networking services serve as viable platforms for illegal acquisition of excessive amounts of medications, including prescription medications. In Japan, such illegal drug transactions have been conducted through popular flea market applications, social media, and auction websites, with most of the trades being over-the-counter (OTC) medications. Recently, an emerging unique black market, where individuals trade prescription medications-predominantly nervous system drugs-using a specific keyword ("Okusuri Mogu Mogu"), has emerged on X (formerly Twitter). Hence, these dynamic methods of illicit trading should routinely be monitored to encourage the appropriate use of medications. This study aimed to specify the characteristics of medications traded on X using the search term "Okusuri Mogu Mogu" and analyze individual behaviors associated with X posts, including the types of medications traded and hashtag usage. We conducted a cross-sectional study with publicly available posts on X between September 18 and October 1, 2022. Posts that included the term "Okusuri Mogu Mogu" during this period were scrutinized. Posts were categorized on the basis of their contents: buying, selling, self-administration, heads-up, and others. Among posts categorized as buying, selling, and self-administration, medication names were systematically enumerated and categorized using the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification. Additionally, hashtags in all the analyzed posts were counted and classified into 6 categories: medication name, mental disorder, self-harm, buying and selling, community formation, and others. Out of 961 identified posts, 549 were included for analysis. Of these posts, 119 (21.7%) referenced self-administration, and 237 (43.2%; buying: n=67, 12.2%; selling: n=170, 31.0%) referenced transactions. Among these 237 posts, 1041 medication names were mentioned, exhibiting a >5-fold increase from the study in March 2021. Categorization based on the ATC classification predominantly revealed nervous system drugs, representing 82.1% (n=855) of the mentioned medications, consistent with the previous survey. Of note, the diversity of medications has expanded to include medications that have not been approved by the Japanese government. Interestingly, OTC medications were frequently mentioned in self-administration posts (odds ratio 23.6, 95% CI 6.93-80.15). Analysis of hashtags (n=866) revealed efforts to foster community connections among users. This study highlighted the escalating complexity of trading of illegal prescription medication facilitated by X posts. Regulatory measures to enhance public awareness should be considered to prevent illegal transactions, which may ultimately lead to misuse or abuse such as overdose. Along with such pharmacovigilance measures, social approaches that could direct individuals to appropriate medical or psychiatric resources would also be beneficial as our hashtag analysis shed light on the formation of a cohesive or closed community among users.

Three Applications of the Anchoring Effect

Many heuristics in behavioural economics play important roles in decision-making. The anchoring effect is one of these heuristics which influence peoples decisions in different fields. Through qualitative analysis and case analysis, this paper aims to introduce the applications of the anchoring effect in various situations. And according to the influence of anchoring effect on decision making in online auctions, court, and Marketing, it analyses how the anchoring effect affects peoples decisions and also how to avoid the deviation caused by anchoring effect. The analysis proves that anchoring affects peoples decision-making in different situations to a certain extent, and makes biased decisions without people realizing it. he analysis also shows that biased decisions can be avoided in different ways. There are different ways in which people can gain more perspectives and information in their lives, while thinking about how to create excellent self-generated anchors to help escape the effects of anchoring.

Diversity and habitat characteristics of gastropods and bivalves associated with mangroves on the east coast of Aceh Province, Indonesia

Abstract. Mawardi AL, Khalil M, Sarjani TM, Armanda F. 2023. Diversity and habitat characteristics of gastropods and bivalves associated with mangroves on the east coast of Aceh Province, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 24: 5146-5154. Mangrove areas are vital for various gastropod and bivalve species as breeding, nursery, and stable nutrient supply grounds. This study aims to understand the habitat characteristics and diversity index of gastropods and bivalves and identify the associated species with mangrove vegetation along the east coast of Aceh Province, Indonesia. This research utilized a survey method with gastropod and bivalve sampling conducted using purposive sampling. Sampling was carried out at 6 research locations with varying environmental conditions. Gastropods and bivalves were collected from each research location using 1 m x 1 m plots. All collected gastropod and bivalve samples were preserved in a 4% formalin solution and later identified at the Biology Laboratory of Samudra University. A total of 5,293 individuals of gastropods and bivalves were found in the research locations, comprising 48 species and 21 families. The diversity index of gastropods and bivalves across all research locations showed a moderate criterion, indicating slight pollution on the east coast of Aceh Province. The highest diversity was observed at location 5, far from settlements and active fishing vessel activities. On the other hand, the lowest diversity was found at location 2, an area with active fishing vessel transportation to and from the fish auction site (TPI).

Improving Sales in Online Auctions: The Impact of Emphasizing Corporate Social Responsibility in Item Descriptions

ABSTRACT This study explores how emphasizing corporate social responsibility (CSR) in item descriptions relates to purchasing decisions for consumers buying goods through online auctions. We leverage herd mentality theory, the heuristic–systematic model (HSM), and signaling theory to develop a framework of how online auctions may be impacted by item descriptions touting CSR. We then utilize text analysis to examine 23,932 auctions and analyze how emphasizing CSR in item descriptions influenced actual purchase opportunities. In this study, we find that including more CSR terminology in an item description increases sales both directly and indirectly, via an increase in the number of bids. These findings can be leveraged by sellers to better promote their products, by using terminology that targets the desire of bidders to experience positive psychosocial and values-affirming sentiments when making purchases.

Identification Of Behavioral Signature: Benford’s Law In Online Auctions

For a forensic implication of online auction market earnings, we study networked overlapping online auctions and underlying agent strategy. Bidder type identification provides efficient prior information for price formation process. Especially early-stage recognition of specific bidder types enables faster ex-ante revenue estimation. Characterizing behavioral pattern of bidding strategies, we identify unique digital signatures of heterogeneous bidder types. Given that the bidder types impose direct impact on the revenue, we further extend the conceptual domain to the potential bidding fraud which undermines overall revenue structure. We highlight the method of agent signature identification through Benford’s law and power law. In our findings, there exists a bidder class which confirms the distributional pattern of Benford’s law and their revenue impact is significant. Explicit characterization is conducted based on the power law. Participating agent strategy reflects their agent cost, surplus as well as market earnings.

Second‐chance offers and buyer reputation systems: theory and evidence on auctions with default

AbstractWinners in online auctions frequently fail to complete purchases. Major auction platforms therefore allow “second‐chance” offers (the runner‐up bidder pays his own bid price) and let sellers leave negative feedback on buyers who default. We show theoretically that (i) all else equal, the availability of second‐chance offers reduces bids; (ii) sellers have no incentive to exclude bidders, even if they are nearly certain to default; (iii) buyer reputation systems reward bidders known to default with a positive probability. Our experiments show that the economic forces identified in the theoretical model are important enough to have predictive power for bidder behavior.

‘When it comes to the true crime community, Taylor is a legend’: Social and symbolic capital among murderabilia fans

This article explores and clarifies the usage of social and symbolic capital as applied to fan studies. It illustrates the author's definitions with a case study from the neglected arena of dark fandom. I argue that ‘social capital’ should be used to refer to the network of friends and associates agents possess within a subculture, whether dyadic, triadic or multidirectional, but that to qualify as social capital, there must be mutual recognition of the tie. I illustrate this argument through a case study of the online presence and persona of Taylor James, the owner and proprietor of leading murderabilia auction site CultCollectibles.org. ‘Murderabilia’ refers to items formerly possessed by or associated with celebrity criminals, particularly serial killers. I further establish that contra Thornton, we do not observe mainstream condemnation generating subcultural capital within this sphere, but rather, mainstream media attention can be negotiated by appeals to traditional forms of expertise.

Impacts of a mandatory shift to decentralized online auctions on revenue from public land leases in Ukraine

We analyze the impact of a 2021 reform in Ukraine that—after earlier digitization efforts did not produce desired results—mandated use of transparent online auctions by local governments rather than a central agency to lease rights to public agricultural land. The shift to a collusion-proof electronic auction system increased lease revenue by 175% for our preferred specification. Had all public land that Ukraine transferred since 2015 been auctioned using post-reform mechanisms, local governments would receive incremental lease revenue of US$500 million per year for the duration of the lease. Where public land is important, reforms to ensure rights to such land are allocated transparently, competitively and in a decentralized way could improve social, economic, and environmental outcomes.

Project of the information system of sales on the charity auction platform

This paper describes the requirements for the project of an information sales system on the platform of charitable online auctions, which offers a fundamentally new way to sell valuable property, such as real estate or transport. The designed information system is a non-standard solution for the implementation of auction sales, since in economically unstable times it is intended to become an alternative way for sellers to expose their property as a lot; to play a lot between the participants of the auction and give a chance to low-income segments of the population to become owners of valuable property for a relatively small amount of the bid in the auction; pay part of the collected amount in favor of charitable foundations for which users will vote when participating in the auction; enrich the state budget by paying taxes on the purchase and sale procedure. The expediency of creating such an information system was assessed on the basis of comparing it with the existing prototypes. To substantiate the relevance of the project, a system of experimental evaluation of the characteristics of the designed system and its analogues has been developed according to a number of criteria. A number of advantages and critical differences of the system project have been identified. On the basis of the project management method S.M.A.R.T. the goals of creating an information system are formulated and a list of tasks to achieve them is determined. Structural, functional, informational, business and client requirements for the project are outlined. The main means of developing an IT project in TypeScript on the Node.js and Angular platforms are indicated. Integration of the information system with the Fondy payment system to save proceeds from the auction is proposed. The risks of project implementation are identified and ways to minimize their impact are outlined.

An Efficient Online Auction for Placing and Pricing Cloud Container Clusters

Containers are more lightweight and agile, which are merging as an alternative to virtual machines to provide efficient cloud computing services. For cloud service providers, there are two main challenges for provisioning container clusters: i) Design an optimal placement scheme while considering the communication between containers; ii) Flexible pricing mechanism, which not only meets the market demand but also maximizes the social welfare or provider's profit. To solve the above challenges, this paper proposes an efficient auction that achieves truthfulness and computational efficiency, targeting social welfare and provider's profit maximization. We first model the problem into a non-conventional integer linear program (ILP), considering both inter-container traffic flow and resources consumed in containers. We then introduce auxiliary variables and reformulate them to a classical packing-type ILP. Second, we apply the primal-dual technique to design an effective online auction algorithm, based on the number of consumed resources to ensure the flexible supply of resources while obtaining maximum social welfare. Third, we use a randomized reduction algorithm to convert the optimization objective to the provider's profit maximization. We prove that the competitive ratio of the two auctions are <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\ln \lambda$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$O(\ln \lambda +\log _{2}\kappa)$</tex-math></inline-formula> , and verify that our auctions perform well in various settings through simulations.

Abundance of Microplastics and Hazard to the Environment in Estuary Water in Pemalang, Central Java, Indonesia

Microplastics are plastic particles measuring ±5 mm. The accumulation of microplastics will be a hazard and threat to the environment because of its persistent nature and difficult to degrade. Human activities and pollutant sources greatly affect the function of microplastics. This study aims to determine the types and types of microplastics in the waters at 5 locations of the Pemalang River estuary. Water sampling represents different activities, namely ponds, tourist attractions, mangrove areas, fish auction sites and river estuaries. The total result found was 19.10 x 102 particles/m3. The types of microplastics found were fibres, fragments and films. The highest abundance of microplastics was found on Widuri Beach with a total of 5.45 x 102 particles/m3. The most common type of microplastic found in Pemalang waters is film. This is presumably because Widuri beach is a beach that is dense with tourist visits. Meanwhile, the types of microplastics in mangrove areas, ship port, fish market and fishponds have a range of values that are not much different, namely 2.33 − 4.53 x 102 particles/m3. This is presumably because waste is more easily trapped in the mangrove roots and accumulates more.

Захист комп’ютерного програмного забезпечення в системі авторського права

Software development in recent decades has demonstrated a pace of change not seen since the Industrial Revolution. Software affects almost every aspect of human life in all parts of the world. From an intellectual property rights perspective, discourse and debate focus not only on how software should be protected, but also on a host of issues that reflect the many aspects that software plays in the digital distribution of creative content. A further issue concerning the concept of “computer program” is whether the images generated on screens as a result of the operation of a program (for example, in the case of video games) may or should be regarded as parts of a “computer program”. It is possible to find certain views according to which an affirmative answer should be given to this question, and such views have been accepted exceptionally even at the level of national legislation, but the dominant opinion, as well as the dominant position under national laws, is that the images generated by a computer program in the form of screen display go beyond the concept of computer programs proper. The concept of “computer program” under Article 4 of the WCT also does not extend to the images generated by computer programs on screens. Until recently, unauthorized copying of software required the physical exchange of floppy disks, CDs, or other hard media. But software piracy has become much easier with the spread of the Internet, becoming faster and cheaper. The Internet allows products to move from computer to computer without transactions on hard media and with little risk of detection. Some piracy schemes may even involve computers without the owner's knowledge. Piracy that once required understanding complex computer codes can now be done with the click of a mouse on peer-to-peer networks, through mail-order and auction sites, newsgroups, or even as simple email attachments. Strong action at the local, national and international levels is needed to counter these dangerous trends.

Analisis Efektivitas Pengawasan Pengelolaan Tempat Pelelangan Ikan (TPI) Arumbai Oleh Dinas Perikanan Kota Ambon

This research is a descriptive qualitative research. It aims to analyze the effectiveness of supervision of the management of the Arumbai Fish Landing Place by the Ambon City Fisheries Service.This research was conducted at Arumbai Fish Auction Place. Primary data collection is conducted through interviews with a number of informants who are considered to have insight and knowledge, which is complete regarding data and information related to the problems encountered in the study so as to be able to provide precise and accurate information during the research process.The results showed that the effectiveness of supervision of the management of the Arumbai Fish Auction Place has not been running optimally and needs to be improved to support the effectiveness of the Fish Auction Place so that it can run in accordance with its functions and objectives. This can be seen from the indicators of the supervision process based on the place of implementation. These indicators are then influenced by supporting factors and inhibiting factors that affect the effectiveness of supervision of the management of the Arumbai Fish Auction Site by the Ambon City Fisheries Service.