Blockchain as a disruptive technology for business: A systematic review

Blockchain is the latest ‘disruptive innovation’ that has caught scholars’ attention. It is the underlying technology for Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Stakeholders like developers, entrepreneurs, and technology enthusiasts claim blockchain has the potential to reconfigure the contemporary economic, legal, political and cultural landscape. Skeptics claim the concept and its applications remain ambiguous and uncertain. Business scholars began publishing studies on the emergence and impact of blockchain, bitcoin, and related projects in 2014. In this study, we conduct a PRISMA guided systematic review of blockchain research in the business literature from 2014 to 2018. Our results show a rapid increase of studies over the five year period. The findings also convey key insights about the current state of scholarly investigation on blockchain, including its top benefits and challenges for business and society. We found that blockchain remains an early-stage domain of research in terms of theoretical grounding, methodological diversity, and empirically grounded work. We suggest research directions to improve our understanding of the state of blockchain and advance future research of this increasingly important and expansive area.     

Real-world model for bitcoin price prediction

Cryptocurrency is a new sort of digital asset that has evolved as a result of advances in financial technology, and it has provided a significant research opportunity. There are many algorithms for price prediction for crypto currencies like LSTM and ARIMA. However, the downside is that LSTM-based RNNs are difficult to comprehend, and gaining intuition into their behavior is tough. In order to produce decent outcomes, rigorous hyperparameter adjustment is also essential. Furthermore, crypto currencies do not precisely adhere to past data, and patterns change fast, reducing the accuracy of predictions. Cryptocurrency price forecasting is difficult due to price volatility and dynamism. Because the data is dynamic and heavily influenced by various seasons, the ARIMA model is unable to handle seasonal data. In order to provide better price predictions for crypto traders, a new model is required. The objective of the study is to apply Fbprophet model as the key model because it is superior in functionality as compared to LSTM and ARIMA additionally removing the pitfalls generated in LSTM and ARIMA model while analyzing the cryptocurrency data. This study provides a methodology for predicting the future price of bitcoin that does not rely solely on past data due to seasonality in historical data. So, after fitting the seasonality and smoothing, the model is constructed that can be useful for real-world use cases. In case of crypto currencies where less historical data is available and it is hard to find pattern, proposed method can easily deal this type of problems. Overall difference between predicted and actual values is low as compared to other model even after seasonal data was available.     

Emerging research on blockchain technology in finance; a conveyed evidence of bibliometric-based evaluations

The emergence of blockchain technology is reshaping several aspects of economies, opening a wider spectrum for the research communities, and making it critical to conduct studies that comprehensively analyze this body of knowledge. From the Web of Sciences' database, a bibliometric study using VOS viewer and biblioshiny tool is provided on the evolving research on blockchain technology in finance. Blockchain in finance has provided enabled applications such as tokens, initial coin offerings, crowdfunding, smart contracts, prediction marketplace systems, and digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. In this study, we convey a detailed bibliometric-based evaluation of scientific research publications from 2008 to mid-2020. With 157 articles retrieved, our findings show the global trends, current tendencies, and frontiers. We report that blockchain technology research in finance has evolved and is predominated by studies on crowdfunding/equity crowdfunding, entrepreneurial finance, bitcoin, entrepreneurship, fintech, and venture capital. However, several of these studies are contextually based, with scantily used cases leading to the design of frameworks and architectures. Additionally, the majority of the studies could not afford sufficient details on the practical discharge of the few blockchain-enabled prototypes.     

试论美国文化软实力建设经验及其对我国的启示

进入全球信息时代,文化软实力建设已经成为国家提升综合国力及核心竞争力的重要举措、继中共十七大之后．“提高国家文化软实力”在中共十八大报告中再次被列入议事日程．可见文化软实力早已上升至国家战略高度并成为社会主义文化建设的核心任务。美国作为世界唯一的超级大国。其文化软实力建设亦是首屈一指。本文试从文化外交、文化产业、文化价值观三方面论述美国文化软实力在政治、经济及文化建设中的一些有益探索．并结合中国实际分别提出几点启示。     

西藏地域民族文化资源与创意文化产品生成——基于知识管理视角

从知识特性和存续状态两个维度对西藏地域民族文化元素进行二维划分,建立从存量型传统文化元素向增量型创意文化成果生成的知识转化循环路径模型。目的在于疏通运用新兴科技来开发和利用传统地域民族文化的路径和管理机制。通过从传统存量文化元素中提炼和挖掘隐性经验和价值观念,植入并结合新兴科技、传媒技术手段,借鉴典范创意文化产品的成功经验来向文化市场逐步推出和测试阶段性创意成果,通过新生创意文化成果的积累来不断丰富、保护和传承传统地域民族文化的内涵和形式。     

Attacking the trust machine: Developing an information systems research agenda for blockchain cybersecurity

Blockchain-based systems become increasingly attractive targets for cybercrime due to the rising amount of value transacted in respective systems. However, a comprehensive overview of existing attack vectors and a directive discussion of resulting research opportunities are missing. Employing a structured literature review, we extract and analyze 87 relevant attacks on blockchain-based systems and assign them to common attack vectors. We subsequently derive a research framework and agenda for information systems research on the cybersecurity of blockchain-based systems. We structure our framework along the users, developers, and attackers of both blockchain applications and blockchain infrastructure, highlighting the reciprocal relationships between these entities. Our results show that especially socio-technical aspects of blockchain cybersecurity are underrepresented in research and require further attention.     

International Differences in Information Privacy Concerns: A Global Survey of Consumers

We examine three possible explanations for differences in Internet privacy concerns revealed by national regulation: (1) These differences reflect and are related to differences in cultural values described by other research; (2) these differences reflect differences in Internet experience; or (3) they reflect differences in the desires of political institutions without reflecting underlying differences in privacy preferences. Using a sample of Internet users from 38 countries matched against the Internet population of the United States, we find support for (1) and (2), suggesting the need for localized privacy policies. Privacy concerns decline with Internet experience. Controlling for experience, cultural values were associated with differences in privacy concerns. These cultural differences are mediated by regulatory differences, although new cultural differences emerge when differences in regulation are harmonized. Differences in regulation reflect but also shape country differences. Consumers in countries with sectoral regulation have less desire for more privacy regulation.     

International Differences in Information Privacy Concerns: A Global Survey of Consumers

We examine three possible explanations for differences in Internet privacy concerns revealed by national regulation: (1) These differences reflect and are related to differences in cultural values described by other research; (2) these differences reflect differences in Internet experience; or (3) they reflect differences in the desires of political institutions without reflecting underlying differences in privacy preferences. Using a sample of Internet users from 38 countries matched against the Internet population of the United States, we find support for (1) and (2), suggesting the need for localized privacy policies. Privacy concerns decline with Internet experience. Controlling for experience, cultural values were associated with differences in privacy concerns. These cultural differences are mediated by regulatory differences, although new cultural differences emerge when differences in regulation are harmonized. Differences in regulation reflect but also shape country differences. Consumers in countries with sectoral regulation have less desire for more privacy regulation.     

天津滨海新区文化发展战略格局研究

当今世界,文化与政治、经济、社会交融日益密切,文化已成为一个国家或地区综合实力和国际竞争力的重要组成部分。天津滨海新区作为继上海浦东之后,全国第二个综合配套改革试验区,更应注重文化发展,以特殊的文化魅力统领滨海新区建设。因此,需要在天津滨海新区现有文化发展格局基础上,明确文化发展定位,通过树立新的文化发展观,制定滨海新区文化发展战略规划,创新滨海新区文化发展战略机制,打造滨海新区文化品牌等有效措施,促进滨海新区文化大发展大繁荣,实现党中央对其排头兵的战略定位。     

A blockchain-based framework of cross-border e-commerce supply chain

Blockchain technology provides us a new tool to solve the product traceability problem in supply chain management. This research focuses on the cross-border e-commerce context, to propose a blockchain-based framework, and develop a set of corresponding techniques and methods for achieving traceable products and transactions in supply chain management. A general blockchain-based product traceability framework is introduced. This framework is based on a cross-border e-commerce supply chain context, incorporating a series of blockchain-based models, including multi-chain structure model, data management model and block structure model. Several core methods and algorithms are also developed, such as information anchoring method, key distribution method, information encryption algorithm and anti-counterfeiting method. The framework, models and methods form a complete and comprehensive solution, which are evaluated by applying to several typical problems and attack cases. The case analysis results show that the framework, models and methods can successfully deal with key recover problem, and protect against clone attack, counterfeit tag attack and counterfeit product attack. The effectiveness, extendibility, security, implementation and governance issues of applying these solutions are also discussed. This research contributes to the theoretical and practical literatures on blockchain technology, cross-border e-commerce and supply chain management research fields.     

Testing sex and gender in sports; reinventing, reimagining and reconstructing histories

Most international sports organisations work on the premise that human beings come in one of two genders: male or female. Consequently, all athletes, including intersex and transgender individuals, must be assigned to compete in one or other category. Since the 1930s (not, as is popularly suggested, the 1960s) these organisations have relied on scientific and medical professionals to provide an 'objective' judgement of an athlete's eligibility to compete in women's national and international sporting events. The changing nature of these judgements reflects a great deal about our cultural, social and national prejudices, while the matter of testing itself has become a site of conflict for feminists and human rights activists. Because of the sensitive nature of this subject, histories of sex testing are difficult to write and research; this has lead to the repetition of inaccurate information and false assertions about gender fraud, particularly in relation to the 'classic' cases of Stella Walsh and Heinrich/Hermann/Dora Ratjen. As historians, we need to be extremely careful to differentiate between mythologies and histories.     

汉语问候语语用及文化特色研究

见面打招呼在世界上的各个国家都是一种习惯性行为,所以在日常生活中被频繁使用,可见问候语起到了重要的作用,虽然在不同国家问候语有所差别,但是它所代表的是一个国家的文化传统与民族特色,因此问候语研究很有必要,尤其是汉语中的问候语,更是在文化的积淀下显得博大精深。     

Facilitating interorganizational trust in strategic alliances by leveraging blockchain-based systems: Case studies of two eastern banks

Strategic alliances require mutual trust and collaboration between organizations. To increase alliance performance, organizations in a strategic alliance are more likely to interpret each other’s equivocal behaviors in a positive way to sustain the stability of the relationship. Different from traditional mechanisms to build interorganizational trust, blockchain facilitates trust among alliance partners via its technology advantages, for example, public ledger and distributed consensus. The decentralized and distributed nature of a blockchain-based system assures that no single organization can add information to the chain without an approval from the alliance, nor can it make unilateral changes in the system. Drawing from the Affordance Theory, we propose an exploratory research design to understand the structure of a blockchain-based system, as well as how this blockchain-based system influences interorganizational trust in a strategic alliance and how blockchain-enabled interorganizational trust influences alliance performance. The case studies of two eastern banks indicate that the technical features of blockchain can help reduce equivocal behaviors and improve interorganizational trust. We discuss the findings and conclude the paper with implications.     

儒家群己观对少数民族大学生思想教育的现代价值

群己观即“群己之辩”探讨的是个人和群体之间的关系,是中国古代哲学始终关注的一个重要问题。当前,中国各民族和谐团结,但民族特点、文化差异仍然存在,客观上影响着高校各民族大学生的群己关系。儒家群己观对高校少数民族大学生思想教育具有很好的启迪价值。高校在少数民族大学生思想教育过程中要重视群己观教育,引导大学生正确处理个人与他人、个人与集体之间的关系,加强文化认同,维护民族团结,培养合格的社会主义接班人。     

Configurations of platform organizations: Implications for complementor engagement

Digital platforms are an organizational form made up of a technological architecture and governance mechanisms for managing autonomous complementors. A platform’s success depends on their engagement in value creation and capture. Prior studies of such engagement have mainly focused on a platform’s governance mechanisms without recognizing their interdependence to its technological architecture. There is therefore a limited understanding of how the interplay between governance and architecture configures platform organizations, and why these configurations produce different levels of complementor engagement. In this paper, our analysis of a 12-year study of a shared platform initiative yields three configurations of platform organizations: vertical, horizontal, and modular. Based on these configurations, we develop propositions that theorize the implications of these organizational forms for complementor engagement. We further propose that these insights, which we derive from a shared platform, are particularly relevant for blockchain-based platforms.     

不同社会文化对企业技术创新方式选择的影响

持续的技术创新和对不同社会文化的适应已经成为全球激烈竞争中企业取得成功的两个关键因素，然而有关不同社会文化类型对企业技术创新方式选择的影响关系仍然不很清楚。以Hofstede的社会文化理论为基础，分析了四个社会文化维度对渐进创新与突变创新的不同影响，期望为企业跨国经营中依据不同社会文化背景进行技术创新方式选择提供理论依据。     

遗产文化价值的创意构建与体验

通过对凤凰古城案例的田野调查和扎根分析,本文指出文化遗产地的文化系统及其价值在创意开发过程发生着重要的变化。地方传统文化和外来文化通过创意构建和游客的交互体验产生出新的文化内容。在构建者方面,一些文化创意产品或设施的构建者发挥了引领作用,发现、自我实现和分享是其构建的重要的动机。构建者通过文化创意产品的构建,以建筑、色彩、景观小品、功能区布置等为主要手段,与游客分享某种富有文化价值的理想生活方式。在体验者方面,游客在认知和享用文化价值的同时,也参与到文化系统的构建之中。游客与经营者和其他游客广泛互动,在这个平台上创造新的文化内容和景观。现代经营者和游客以自己的认知参与到遗产价值的认知、构建和传播中来,是文化遗产价值在现代条件下实现的一种积极方式。传统文化元素被作为文化创造中所使用的材料,遗产信息以现代人需求的方式被释放出来。大量的个体参与到新的文化体系的创造过程中来,这一过程通过巨大的旅游流和现代社交媒体被推动起来。     

目的论视角下的主旋律电影字幕英译策略——以《寒战2》为例

主旋律电影在有限的时间和空间内,可以以温和而全面的方式体现我国特有的政治和社会价值观,让此类影片“走出国门”,可树立我国国际形象,增进中外交流与合作。本文以《寒战2》为例,归纳总结主旋律电影字幕英译时面临的问题与翻译策略。     

中国国际保护地资源代表性与国家公园建设

国际保护地是在国际上具有独特价值或突出意义的区域,其保护的资源在国际上具有代表性,而中国国家公园建设的主要目的是保护具有国家代表性的自然生态系统,两者在保护对象上存在一定的相似性,研究国际保护地的代表性资源,可为国家公园的建设提供资源层面的参考。本文以中国的联合国教科文组织世界生物圈保护区、世界地质公园、世界遗产地为研究对象,从建设目的和保护对象方面剖析其资源属性,并对122处国际保护地的建设现状、代表性资源进行梳理,分析资源代表性应具备的特征。研究结果表明：国际保护地的资源代表性体现在生态系统的典型性、特有物种的唯一性、地质资源的科学价值、景观的美学价值、文化遗产的象征性5个方面,在资源管理上通过定期评估考核的方式保障资源的公益性利用。国际保护地的代表性资源可为国家公园的建设和选取提供参考,具有国家代表性的文化资源可作为国家公园建设的特色内容,在资源管理上应注重培养和提高公众的国家公园公益性意识。     

国家实验室管理文化冲突及消解——以武汉光电国家研究中心为例

国家实验室建设是推进创新型国家建设的战略性举措,是强化国家战略科技力量的重要抓手。国家实验室管理中的文化冲突一是地方文化与外来文化的冲突,二是学术文化与企业文化的冲突;冲突的内部根源是不同的文化特征,外部根源在于领导者特征因素、员工行为因素和外部促进因素。实践表明,文化冲突在一定程度上影响了国家实验室管理绩效,但其消解是困难的。国家实验室成熟的标志在于其管理文化的作用机制建立和完善,各利益相关者要遵循文化冲突、融合的规律,采取恰当的文化整合策略,使之成为提高国家实验室管理运营价值倍增的动力之源。