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The auditing industry will be strongly affected by emerging technology, as many of the auditing processes can be carried out automatically. Responding to this challenge, students in auditing majors must be trained in applying information technology to their work. In this teaching case, students will learn to analyze a large dataset of simulated SMEs survey to identify the tax risk of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and to use technology (i.e CAATs, Computer Assisted Audit Techniques) to figure out the issues. Learning through a specific situation helps students to not only understand the process of applying technology to auditing, but also to develop analytical skills to assess what technology can and can-not do. These essential skills are needed for long-term career growth. &nbsp

Risk is inherent at all levels of hospital management such as determining healthcare service priorities, purchasing new medical equipment, patient safety, clinical governance, etc. The effectiveness of an audit process in reducing risk is a critical success factor in hospital management. Since hospital data is becoming increasingly larger, the data may be too large for auditors to handle. Consequently, they need to learn a new skill and knowledge to face the digital transformation era. The era of intelligent audit technology has arrived. In the future, auditors can use big data analysis and technology to get the assistance of advanced audit analysis tools. This paper introduces a smart audit case using diagnosis-related group (DRG) data. It explains how to use computer-assisted audit techniques (CAATs) to develop the predictions of DRGs as a starting point, triggering students to analyze the editing of DRG codes in depth by using a machine-learning model to pre-audit the accuracy of inpatient DRGs’ drop point in Health Insurance Declaration forms. &nbsp

Geographic information may be used in audit tasks, such as identifying high-risk cases involving suspicious entities usually located close to each other. However, the existing approach of text string analysis on addresses may only be able to match companies located in the same city or street. Following a design science approach, we propose using the geographic proximity of two locations to address how utilizing different levels of geographic information could improve the effectiveness and efficiency in auditing and other business tasks. As a proof of concept, we used Python and Google API to build Geographic Information in Audit Analytics (GIAA), a tool for automatically collecting, generating, and outputting spherical distance information indicating geographic proximity. We used a bid-rigging case to demonstrate GIAA and perform qualitative and quantitative evaluations. This study addresses how auditors and others can benefit from more advanced levels of geographic information, supporting better judgment and decision making.

Technology trend analysis uses data relevant to historical performance and extrapolates it to estimate and assess the future potential of technology. Such analysis is used to analyze emerging technologies or predict the growing markets that influence the resulting social or economic development to assist in effective decision-making. Traditional trend analysis methods are time-consuming and require considerable labor. Moreover, the implemented processes may largely rely on the specific knowledge of the domain experts. With the advancement in the areas of science and technology, emerging cross-domain trends have received growing attention for its considerable influence on society and the economy. Consequently, emerging cross-domain predictions that combine or complement various technologies or integrate with diverse disciplines may be more critical than other tools and applications in the same domain. This study uses a design science research methodology, a text mining technique, and social network analysis (SNA) to analyze the development trends concerning the presentation of the product or service information on a company's website. This study applies regulatory technology (RegTech) as a case to analyze and justify the emerging cross-disciplinary trend. Furthermore, an experimental study is conducted using the Google search engine to verify and validate the proposed research mechanism at the end of this study. The study results reveal that, compared with Google Trends and Google Correlate, the research mechanism proposed in this study is more illustrative, feasible, and promising because it reduces noise and avoids the additional time and effort required to perform a further in-depth exploration to obtain the information.

The paper provides a machine-learning experimental process for a real-world corporate financial bankruptcy case: Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Ltd., in Taiwan in 2019. The teaching case addresses major topics in financial bankruptcy analytics to enable business students to learn how to analyze leveraged finance and distressed debt and to predict bankruptcy. It is a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teaching case with a project-based learning method. The learning goal of the teaching case is to inspire and encourage students through planned teaching activities. Students start by thinking through problems or situations and establishing a machine-learning project using computer-assisted audit technique (CAAT) software. After students conduct a self-directed project, the student can use the new knowledge to develop a new bankruptcy-case analysis. &nbsp

Artificial intelligence is an important emerging technology in the accounting industry. Fear and hype associated with artificial intelligence and its impact on accounting and auditing jobs have pervaded the professional fields of accounting and auditing. It is important to develop AI competency in accountants and auditors. This paper presents a teaching case for a professor or lecturer to use for teaching machine learning to accounting students. The case is based on openly available data from the China Stock Market & Accounting Research database and aims to teach students how to predict the future audit report type of a China ST listed company. Through case teaching, students can learn skills related to computer-assisted auditing tools and machine learning (such as ACL) develop the confidence to apply artificial intelligence in their education and future work. &nbsp

Despite the development of HPV vaccines and screening programs, cervical cancer is still a serious threat to women's health. Early-stage cervical cancer is mainly treated by surgery. However, considering the serious complications after surgery, hyperthermia is recommended to enhance the effect of chemotherapy, retain the integrity of cervix, improve the treatment effect, which provides a therapeutic basis for the early treatment of cervical cancer. The photosensitive liposomes containing harmine and dye IR-780 were prepared by thin-film dispersion method and separated by Sephadex G-50 dextran gel column. The preparation conditions were optimized as the mass ratio of phospholipid to cholesterol membrane material being 8∶1 and that of drug to lipid being 1∶20. The results of HPLC showed that the encapsulation efficiency of harmine was 55.6%±0.18%. The prepared photosensitive liposomes were round and evenly distributed under transmission electron microscope, with the particle size of(125.2±0.62) nm determined by Marvin particle size analyzer and the Zeta potential of(-2.55±0.76) mV. Additionally, the photosensitive liposomes had the photothermal conversion efficiency, an important property of photothermal agent, of 27.1%±0.86%. The photosensitive liposomes stored at 4 ℃ showed stable encapsulation efficiency in the first 14 days without flocculation. The sulforhodamine B(SRB) assay was employed to determine the inhibitory effect of the liposomes on the proliferation of HeLa cells under near-infrared(NIR) irradiation or not, which showcased stronger inhibitory effect under NIR irradiation. The results of Transwell assay indicated that the prepared liposomes significantly inhibited the invasion and migration of HeLa cells in vitro. The findings of this study provide a basis for the treatment of cervical cancer with harmine.

Research productivity has been a critical issue in terms of academic development in higher education. In this study, we adopt a life-course perspective to examine the personal factors, mostly age-r...

Palm oil is the leading commodity of the plantation sub-sector in Indonesia, providing a tremendous economic impact for the people and the government. However, the development of oil palm plantations raises the issue of environmental damage because oil palms use large quantities of water. The purpose of this study is to explore circular water management accountability practices through disclosures issued by each company and the effectiveness of water management voluntary disclosure under the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards on increasing stakeholder trust and reducing information asymmetry.This study used secondary data collected from reports published by plantation sub-sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) and accessible online. Analysis was performed using the method of Miles and Huberman (1992): data reduction, data presentation, conclusion drawing, and verification. Data reduction was conducted by identifying plantation sub-sector companies that reported water management practices consecutively from 2018 to 2020 and seeking all disclosures related to water management and circular water management practices with 3R indicators. Data presentation was carried out by presenting findings from circular water management disclosures and comparing inter-year circular water management accountability practices to examine reporting routines. Finally, conclusions were drawn and verified.The results of this study show that only six of the 20 plantation sub-sector companies reported circular water management with 3R indicators for three consecutive years (2018-2020). Two of these six companies attached GRI index references to their reports consisting of GRI 303 (Water and Effluents) and GRI 306 (Waste), while the other four did not. In addition, water management voluntary disclosure under the GRI standards was shown to increase stakeholder trust and reduce information asymmetry.This study raises the concepts of water accounting and circular water management accountability practices in plantation sub-sector companies listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).

We broadly define computer auditing as any audit practices that may rely on information technology (IT). Such skill has long been argued and considered to be an important capability for both external and internal auditors for more than two decades though its applications were relatively limited in the past. In recent years, with the advance of information technology, what auditors can achieve with IT has dramatically changed. For example, auditors are now be able to perform both descriptive and predictive analyses, process both numeric and textual data, and apply such capability from assertion testing to compliance and risk assessments. This evolving capability has also brought the new term “audit analytics” to practices. Specifically, analytics focuses more on the business decisions and processes while the traditional computer auditing is mainly about audit. This improved capability and expanded scope have attracted a lot of attention with a wide range of applications. For instance, the PCAOB’s new strategic plan (PCAOB 2018 ) has highlighted that “[i]nnovations in data analytics and technology have great potential to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of financial reporting and the audit process” (p.9). Audit firms and internal audit functions have also engaged in the development and the use of analytics in external and internal audit processes (e.g., Forbes 2018; Deloitte 2016; KPMG 2016), which have potentially changed the role of internal auditors to internal consultants. &nbsp

Previous studies have investigated diverse topics in the area of computer auditing. However, few studies have empirically examined internal audit performance. Therefore, the present study examines the influences of various competencies, team problem-solving ability, and computer audit activity on internal audit performance. This study employs a survey and applies the partial least squares regression method. The results show that team problem-solving ability and computer audit activity positively influence internal audit performance, and that competencies indirectly influence internal audit performance through the mediating effects of team problem-solving ability and computer audit activity. Therefore, internal audit performance requires not only team cooperation and computer audit activity but also the competency of internal auditors.

The Dugdale model has been extended to a dynamically expanding crack in an orthotropic material. The stresses in the plastic zone as functions of applied stress, plastic zone tip speed and crack speed are derived. Expression for the energy release rate is obtained. The effects of plastic anisotropy and elastic anisotropy on ductile crack propagation are studied using a quadratic yield criterion and an admissible condition for self-similar crack expansion.

This study aimed to assist the Taiwanese government in evaluating the effectiveness of risk management policies. A total of 74 assessment items on the risk management of public administration were selected from relevant studies and self-assessment questionnaires were distributed to agencies under the Executive Yuan in Taiwan. The data provided by experts from these agencies were analyzed using the focus group method. The findings can serve as effective assessment criteria for the government to ensure risk management implementation and to monitor the effectiveness of public administration.

Attribute-based encryption (ABE) is an advanced encryption technology where the privacy of receivers is protected by a set of attributes. An encryptor can ensure that only the receivers who match the restrictions on predefined attribute values associated with the ciphertext can decrypt the ciphertext. However, maintaining the correctness of all users’ attributes will take huge cost because it is necessary to renew the users’ private keys whenever a user joins, leaves the group, or updates the value of any of her/his attributes. Since user joining, leaving, and attribute updating may occur frequently in real situations, membership management will become a quite important issue in an ABE system. In this paper, we will present an ABE scheme which is the first ABE scheme that aims at dynamic membership management with arbitrary states, not binary states only, for every attribute. Our work also keeps high flexibility of the constraints on attributes and makes users be able to dynamically join, leave, and update their attributes. It is unnecessary for those users who do not change their attribute statuses to renew their private keys when some user updates the values of her/his attributes. Finally, we also formally prove the security of the proposed scheme without using random oracles.

Business-to-government integration (B2Gi) requires the development of a unique, inter-organizational integration framework to meet the dynamic requirements of various business entities and government organizations. The authors proposed a conceptual framework for the inter-organizational integration service provider (IISP) as a philosophical and strategic guideline for developing inter-organizational integration. A real-world case study was discussed, with the presentation of a cost-benefit model to assess the possibility for adopting such a business model. With the assistance of the guideline for B2Gi, it is anticipated that the proposed integration model will take advantage of the trade-off between the flexibility and controllability issues.

Due to rapid progress in the internet and cloud computing technologies, electronic commerce is becoming more and more popular. Many people and businesses deal with their payment transactions via the Internet. The technologies of credit cards, electronic tickets, electronic cash (e-cash), and other advanced payment services have realized the vision of electronic commerce. In this paper, we proposed an off-line e-cash scheme with anonymity, unlinkability, double-spending checking, anonymity control, and fast anonymity revocation on double-spending. In an off-line e-cash scheme, the bank which could be a financial cloud server or the third party (TTP) must be able to revoke the anonymity of a user who doubly spent her/his e-cash(s). In our proposed scheme, the bank can quickly derive the identity of the user who doubly spent her/his e-cash(s) without the participation of TTP. Besides, if some illegal transactions are reported, TTP can also directly revoke the anonymity of the user who spent her/his e-cash(s) in the illegal transactions. Furthermore, we also provide traceability for the police to trace a specific user, and maybe a crime, in some situations. Finally, the security of the proposed features, unlinkability and unforgeability, are formally proved in this paper.

Red-emitting Li(2)Sr(1-3x/2)Eux SiO4 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) phosphors were synthesized at 900 °C in air by a solid-state reaction. The synthesized phosphors were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, photoluminescence (PL) excitation (PLE) and PL spectra. The results from the PLE spectra suggest that the strong 394 nm excitation peak associated with the (5) L6 state of Eu(3+) ions is of significance for near ultraviolet pumped white light-emitting diodes and solid-state lighting. It is also noted that the position of the charge transfer state of Eu(3+) ions shifts towards the higher energy side (blue shift) by increasing the content of Eu(3+) ions. The predominant emissions of Eu(3+) ions under 394 nm excitation are observed at 580, 593, 614, 656 and 708 nm, which are attributed to the (5) D0 → (7)FJ (J = 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4), respectively. The PL results reveal that the optimal content of the red-emitting Li2 Sr(1-3x/2)Eux SiO4 phosphors is x = 0.475. Simulation of the white light excited by 394 nm near ultraviolet light has also been carried out for its potential white light-emitting diode applications.

The recipe of silicone glass sealant was studied, and the influence of crosslinking agent, plasticiser and reinforcing agent on its property was investigated. After compositing the glass sealant with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) nanoparticles, a novel superhydrophobic silicone/PTFE glass sealant was obtained with contact angle of water more than 150o, and the effect of PTFE nanoparticles on superhydrophobicity of the nanocomposites was researched.

Cloud computing technology has become more and more utilized in business application in today's industrial fields. In general, many business systems developed based on web services are indeed heterogeneous software systems that process business data by complying with integrated business rules. Web services have until recently been regarded as software building blocks that can be assembled to construct the distributed business applications of the next generation and assist enterprises to promote operational efficiency and organizational flexibility. As a result, Web services can be employed to improve the integration of value chain processes and/or activities. However, Web services are usually implicit as a black box that prohibits users and developers from comprehending an actual scenario and present status inside the web service component as said developers deal with other associated heterogeneous components. Additionally, developers are unable to increase overall efficiency while integrating Web service components if they do not possess the ability to modify/improve the implementation scenario. This research first defines the component as corresponding state transitions that should be decomposed further into sub-transactions and semantic transactions, which can make possible re-implementation of the specific Web services in an efficient way and increase the overall throughputs for the new composite Web services. Secondly, this study implements an MTNet Project, which can be employed to assist developers' analysis and construction of the semantic models for Web services according to the previously described definitions. Last, the simulation experiment provided in this manuscript proved that the proposed semantic model can indeed improve the throughput and, consequently, decrease the delay time for concurrent transactions.

To investigate the PET/CT features of primary central nervous system lymphoma(PCNSL).A retrospective analysis of PET/CT imaging manifestations and clinical data was performed in 4 PCNSL cases which were confirmed by surgery or stereotactic pathologic biopsy.The pathologic biopsy in 4 patients all showed diffuse large B cell lymphoma with a total of 8 lesions. All cases were performed withPCNSL are characterized by high metabolism in

Smart mobile phones are widely popularized and advanced mobile communication services are provided increasingly often, such that ubiquitous computing environments will soon be a reality. However, there are many security threats to mobile networks and their impact on security is more serious than that in wireline networks owing to the features of wireless transmissions and the ubiquity property. The secret information which mobile users carry may be stolen by malicious entities. To guarantee the quality of advanced services, security and privacy would be important issues when users roam within various mobile networks. In this manuscript, an anonymous authentication scheme will be proposed to protect the security of the network system and the privacy of users. Not only does the proposed scheme provide mutual authentication between each user and the system, but also each user’s identity is kept secret against anyone else, including the system. Although the system anonymously authenticates the users, it can still generate correct bills to charge these anonymous users via a credit-based solution instead of debit-based ones. Furthermore, our protocols also achieve fair privacy which allows the judge to revoke the anonymity and trace the illegal users when they have misused the anonymity property, for example, if they have committed crimes. Finally, in this paper, we also carry out complete theoretical proofs on each claimed security property.

X-ray imaging has a very important role in life sciences and material microstructure analysis and other applications. One of the core components of X-ray imaging equipment is the X-rays-visible light conversion screen. Flashing transparent film is an effective way to achieve high spatial resolution X-ray imaging. M'-type LuTaO₄: Eu³+ is an excellent scintillation material. It has high light yield, high density, good radiation hardness and good chemical stability. Therefore, to research and develop the transparent conversion screen with M'-type LuTaO⁴: Eu+ is very important for the application of X-ray detector in high spatial resolution X-ray imaging. In this paper, the M'-type LuTaO₄:Eu³+ transparent scintillator films were successfully prepared from the inorganic salt and 2-methoxyethanol solution containing polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) via sol-gel technique, and transmittance, photoluminescence, X-ray excitation emission spectral and spatial resolution, and a series of film properties were characterized. A film thickness of about 2.1 µm was achieved after 8 coatings. The thick film was homogeneous and crack free, and the transmittance was approximately 70% in its emission region. The spatial resolution of the thick film was 1.5 µm, which measured by the standard spatial resolution panels. An X-ray imageof fruit fly was obtained by using this thick film. Additionally, thesol-gel derived M'-type LuTaO₄:Eu³+ thick film revealed excellent photoluminescence and X-ray excited luminescence per- formances. All results indicated that the M'-type LuTaO⁴:Eu³+ thick films have satisfied the essential requirements for applications in high-spatial-resolution X-ray imaging.

Hydrophobic, monodisperse LaPO₄: Ce³⁺ nanoparticles, LaPO₄:Ce³⁺/LaPO₄ and LaPO₄:Ce³⁺/LaPO₄: Ce³⁺/ LaPO₄ core/shell structure nanocrystals were synthesized via a high-temperature organic solution approach. The as-synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The results show that: all the samples are a monoclinic phase, Because of the size small nanoparticles, the diffraction peaks of the sample occurs width phenomenon. The LaPO₄:Ce³⁺ nano- crystals exhibits the characteristic emission of Ce³⁺ ions, the photoluminescence intensity increases first and then decreases with the increasing doping concentration of Ce³⁺ ions, and the best doping amount is 6 at %, with the increasing doping amount, the photoluminescence intensity decreases which may caused by the concentration quenching. Compared to LaPO₄:Ce³⁺ nanoparti- cles, the photoluminescence intensity of LaPO₄:Ce³⁺/LaPO₄ and LaPO₄: Ce³⁺/LaPO₄: Ce³⁺/LaPO₄ core/shell structure nanocrystals improves about 41% and 95% respectively, this may be a synergy of larger particle size of nanocrystals and surface passivation effect. FTIR spectra data shows that the absorption peak at 1545 and 1461 cm⁻¹ corresponded to the asymmetric and symmetric stretching vibration of --COO⁻, the separation, Δ, between the two peaks is 84 cm⁻¹, The mechanism of the sample surface modification by the organics might be that the oxygen atoms of the carboxyl are coordinated with the lanthunum ions by a bidentate mode.

With the increasing popularity of e-commerce, the growth potential of business is extraordinary; however, the path toward success can also be dangerous because of problems of quality control, security breaches, and e-service failures. One of the problems is that business managers generally lack sufficient assurance that the controls over e-processes are effective and efficient and that information announced to customers is correct and reliable. Powerful metamodeling is therefore required. The objective of this research is to develop an e-process audit mechanism by applying automatic model checking to check consistency between e-process flows implemented and those originally designed; to detect errors in the structure and contents of Web applications; and to assist the internal control and assurance managers with their frequent monitoring of the internal controls of Web applications. A prototype has been developed to evaluate the feasibility of the mechanism and has been applied in a real e-commerce case. The results show that it proved useful for the internal control and assurance purposes in the case company.

PurposeAs business globalisation and internet usage continue to grow, the internet‐based version of data warehouse systems (DWS) is expected to improve traditional DWS. However applying the web‐based interfaces to client‐server‐based DWS structures may cause problems such as inflexibility, inefficiency, loss of scalability, and threats to security. These arise due to the complexity of manipulation and management of heterogeneous data with various categories of decisional tasks. This paper seeks to develop a flexible mechanism by applying Extensible Markup Language as a foundation for an internet‐based DWS and to overcome the weaknesses of solely client‐server‐based DWS architecture.Design/methodology/approachFor better control and security the proposed architecture utilises an embedded pull‐push mechanism to propagate the distributed decision information. This research also justifies the feasibility of the proposed mechanism by implementing a prototype, evaluating its performance, and conducting a real business case study.FindingsThe results indicate that the mechanism can not only improve DWS scalability and efficiency, but also enhance security.Originality/valueThe proposed architecture provides a support mechanism for business intelligence to efficiently and flexibly help companies make the right decisions in real time, grasp business opportunities and gain competitive advantage.

The peer-to-peer (P2P) system has prevailed on the Internet. The old client-server architecture is gradually becoming unable to satisfy users’ various requests and deal with the heavy loading of networks. Many applications adopt P2P architecture to provide more flexible and efficient service. However, P2P systems are not flawless. The anarchic property of P2P systems keeps participant behaviour uncontrolled. Thus, the behaviour of free riding occurs. This paper uses game theory to explore what results from free riding, designs a co-opetition framework to solve the free riding problem, and also proposes a fairness index to monitor the efficiency of the whole system. Simulations are used to test co-opetition under different environments.

This paper develops and tests a new factor of the trust model in electronic commerce; namely, internet banking. Internal control of internet banking is very consistent with high levels of trust factors such as security, privacy, and other risk issues. However, this type of association has not yet been widely recognized as a trusted model from the consumer's electronic commerce point of view. This study attempts to create new factors in IT governance and the COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies) assurance seal. The empirical results of this experiment show that customer familiarity with IT governance and the COBIT assurance seal has impacted customers' trust in internet banking. Moreover, the results also show that perceived internet banking quality and reputation impact customers' trust in internet banking. Given the results of this study, we propose future research aimed at developing a COBIT assurance web seal of internal control, applicable to information technology based on IT governance.

Microstructures and properties of plasma surfaced NiCrBSi+20%WC/12Co layer prepared on the die steel (H13) substrate were investigated. The study showed that the interface boundary existed between the layer and substrate. Compared with the typical microstructures of welded joint, the similar columnar grains in the layer perpendicular to the interface line were observed, which were never seen in the plasma sprayed coating. The conclusion could be drawn that the bonding between the NiCrBSi+20%WC/12Co layer and H13 substrate belonged to the metallurgical cohesion. The XRD analysis showed that the main phases in the layer included γ-(Fe, Ni), Cr7BC4, Ni4B3, Cr7C3 and Co7W6, which brought higher strength and higher hardness to the surfaced layer than the H13 substrate.

The purpose of this study is to build the evaluation model of the Information Technology General Control (ITGC) for the certified public accountants (CPAs) under an Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) - Integrated Framework. First, this study investigates and sorts out the control objectives of ITGC over financial reporting under ERM. The control objectives were prioritized by Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and then, the ITGC evaluation model was constructed accordingly. Finally, the study utilizes the case study approach to verify the CPAs' acceptance for the evaluation model of ITGC. According to case study and post hoc confirmations conducted with two experts, the evaluation model can be accepted by CPAs and employed to enhance the efficiency of ITGC assessment for CPAs to meet the challenges in a dynamic information technology environment.

Characteristics of CO2 laser welded 1000 MPa grade Transformation Induced Plasticity steel plate were investigated under different welding power, welding speed and shield gas. Decreasing welding power, increasing welding speed or using mixed shield gas (Ar+He) all reduced the porosity in the weld metal (WM). The weld metal and HAZ near the WM had maximum hardness. In tensile strength test of load perpendicular to the weld axis, the specimens had same tensile properties as that of the raw material. For the load parallel with the weld axis, the specimens prepared with Ar had equal yield strength (YS) and tensile strength (TS) to that of the raw material. But the elongation was lower than that of the raw material. The specimens prepared with shield gas He had higher YS, TS and lower elongation compared with that of the raw material. The welded joint had lower formability than that of the raw material. The formability of specimens prepared with low welding power or mixed shield gas Ar+He was improved compared with that of the specimens prepared using high power or single shield gas Ar.

Due to the ubiquity of the Internet and wireless networks, the development of electronic commerce is growing up rapidly. Many payment mechanisms, such as electronic cash (e-cash), credit cards, and electronic wallets, for electronic transactions have been proposed. Especially, e-cash has become popular since it can fully protect the privacy of customers in various electronic transactions. In general, e-cash can be classified into two types, which are on-line e-cash and off-line e-cash, and they are suitable for different applications and environments. All of the proposed e-cash schemes only focus on on-line or off-line e-cash, but not both. In these schemes, users must decide which type of e-cash they will use later when withdrawing. In this paper, we will propose a novel e-cash scheme, which can support each user to withdraw a generic e-cash and decide to spend it as an on-line e-cash or an off-line e-cash when paying. Owing to the integration of on-line and off-line e-cash, our proposed scheme is more convenient for users and more flexible for the bank and shops as compared with the previous schemes. Furthermore, we consider anonymity control, no swindling, tamper resistance, and other key features of e-cash in the proposed scheme. Finally, we also provide formal proofs for the security of the proposed scheme.

Blind signature is a well-known technique used to construct some advanced applications for the consideration of user privacy. Various generic ideas and variants on blind signatures have been brought up so far, but few of them considered the randomization property or offered formal proofs. The concept of randomization can form a solution for reducing the threat of coercion or bribery in anonymous electronic voting systems based on blind signatures. This manuscript will present a blind signature scheme with randomization based on bilinear pairing primitives. Furthermore, we will also provide concrete security proofs for the required properties of the proposed scheme under the random oracle model.

The information system (IS) has become an important backbone of the modern enterprise, which has caused electronic data generated by the IS to be more easily manipulated and destroyed than hardcopy data. It is therefore important for auditors to assure that the IS is well-controlled and secure. Auditors generally use Computer-Assisted Audit Techniques and Tools (CAATTs) to assist them in auditing the IS, though given the growing complexity of these systems, it is hard to completely perform a control test of the systems. This research aims to develop a mechanism, namely the Business Process Gap Detecting Mechanism (BPGAP-Detecting Mechanism), to automatically detect the business process gap between IS processes and internal control flows. This study also justifies the feasibility of BPGAP-Detecting Mechanism by providing a real case study. The result indicates that the BPGAP-Detecting Mechanism can assist the case company in resolving data quality problems that have occurred in its ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system and can also provide additional information for the company.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the performance of business processes, operational process efficiency and profitability of enterprise resource planning (ERP) pre‐ and post‐adoption in the long term. The paper also aims to examine the factors of ERP supplier types and firm size in Taiwan.Design/methodology/approachThe paper measures business process (structure capital value added and operational expense ratio), process efficiency (account receivable turnover and inventory turnover) and profitability (continuing operating income and net profit margin) of pre‐ and post‐adoption ERP. First, the overall samples are tested. Second, ERP performances are compared, classified as large, medium and small. Finally, the ERP performances, classified as international and local supplier, are compared using the Wilcoxon rank test.FindingsThe results show that the business process, process efficiency, and profitability increase in the fourth or fifth years. This shows that the benefits of ERP are evident in the long term. Regarding firm size, big firms enhance their business process through process efficiency and financial performance. Medium‐sized firms raise continuing operating income only in the first five years. Small firms show no improvement. The results show that the business process, relating to process efficiency and profitability, demonstrates significant improvements in implementing international ERP vendors. Adversely, firms using local ERP systems have a diminished outcome in overall performance.Practical implicationsThis paper suggests that when companies plan to adopt an ERP system, large firms possess more advantages than medium‐sized or small firms and international ERP vendors are preferable to local systems.Originality/valuePrevious research has rarely compared the results of process reengineering after ERP system implementation. This paper offers insight into ERP adopters in the electronics industry.

As much component-based software is developed, a software configuration management (SCM) tool for component-based software is necessary. In this paper, we propose a version management mechanism for impact analysis while components are upgraded. We separately version the components and interfaces based on a Component-Interface Dependency Matrix (CIDM), and analyze impacts according to their dependency relationship. The result of our simulation shows that CIDM is capable of managing large numbers of components without impedance mismatch. In addition, in a well-designed software system, using CIDM to analyze impacts can save resources in the software development phase.

Fraud risk is higher than ever before. Unfortunately, many auditors lack the expertise to deal with the related risks. The objectives of this research are to develop an innovative fraud detection mechanism on the basis of Zipf's Law. The purpose of this technique is to assist auditors in reviewing the overwhelming volumes of datasets and identifying any potential fraud records. The authors conducted Quasi-experiment research on the KDDCUP'99 benchmark intrusion detection dataset to verify the performance of the proposed mechanism. The simulation experimental results demonstrate that Zipf Analysis can assist auditors to locate the source of suspicion and further enhance the resulting audit processes.