Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Detroit Mercy, 2007. / "28 April 2008". Includes bibliographical references (p. 82-86).

Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Notre Dame, 2006. / Thesis directed by Richard Economakis for the School of Architecture. "April 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-108).

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This dissertation proposes a framework (TruSStReMark - Trust-based Service Selection and Recommendation for Online Software Marketplaces) to model, quantify, and monitor trust of software services and to perform trust-based service selection and recommendations. It provides methods to analyze and aggregate external reviews, pertaining to specific QoS attributes, of software services by performing subjective logic-based operations. This framework, first, defines trust of a software service using theory of belief and extends the multi-level software specifications to represent the trust-based attributes. It, then, proposes enhancements to two prevalent algorithms for selecting and recommending software services from a marketplace. Finally, the performances of the enhanced selection and recommendation algorithms are improved by parallelizing them. When compared with the prevalent Content-based and Collaborative filtering-based approaches, the results show that, the TruSStReMark is able to produce better results in terms of quality measured using HR (Hit Ratio) and ARHR (Average Reciprocal Hit-Rank) metrics. In addition, the parallelized versions of the trust-based selection and recommendation algorithms improve the end-to-end runtime. The TruSStReMark will enable users to select services, which are trustworthy, from online software marketplaces and use them in composing quality-aware distributed systems.

<p>Despite the high expectations that researchers and practitioners had for business-to- business electronic marketplaces (EMs), EMs have not prospered, for reasons that are not well understood. Research to this point on EM adoption is very limited due to their quickly changing nature and the complexity of the issue, which involves multiple economic, political and technical factors at both macro and micro levels.</p> <p>EM adoption and buyer-supplier relationships are related. Buyer-supplier relationships play an important role in firms' EM adoption decisions since businesses are not willing to change their current relationships with trading partners to adopt EMs and their support functionalities, such as auctions, reverse auctions, transaction support, etc. The adoption of EMs also impacts buyer-supplier relationships. A framework is proposed in this thesis to investigate these mentioned issues. A buyer-supplier relationship perspective is adopted to investigate EM adoption, and both the economic and power dimensions of buyer-supplier relationships are examined. It is proposed that power can speed up the adoption of EM functionalities and that the effect of power is moderated by market structure. Some important contingencies are suggested that underlay buyer supplier relationships, such as transaction uncertainty, transaction frequency, transaction specific investment, complexity of product description and non-contractible factors, and it is proposed that they are likely to affect choice of functionality. At the same time, it is proposed that EMs can make short-term relationships efficient and long-term relationships effective. It is also proposed that the use of EMs causes varying degrees of satisfaction of participants with their online trading partners.</p> <p>A case study approach was adopted to examine the framework. A total of five EMs and some of their participating buyers and suppliers were studied to validate the propositions. Some important findings are reported. The first finding was that the classification of EMs should not be a dichotomy, but a continuum. It was also found that complexity of product description could not explain why companies choose to use different functionalities, since simple products tended to be involved in EM trading, in all the functionalities that we studied. It was confirmed that relationship efficiency and effectiveness gains were moderated by the drawbacks of EMs and the lack of participant system and process integration into EM systems. Finally, based on the results of the case studies and the confirmed propositions, a refined framework is presented and described.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Lee Kwong Wai Thomas. / "Architecture Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Master of Architecture Programme 1996-97, design report." / Includes bibliographical references. / Contents --- p.i / Chapter Part I: --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1 --- Personal Design Objectives --- p.2 / Chapter 1.1 --- Personal Design Objectives --- p.2 / Chapter 2 --- Project Selection --- p.3 / Chapter 2.1 --- Description of Subject --- p.3 / Chapter 2.2 --- Description of Clients and Users --- p.3 / Chapter 2.3 --- Description of Site and Context --- p.3 / Chapter Part II: --- Project Analysis --- p.4 / Chapter 3 --- Subject Analysis --- p.5 / Chapter 3.1 --- Brief Formation --- p.5 / Chapter 3.2 --- Precedents --- p.5 / Chapter 3.3 --- Relevant Forms and Typologies --- p.6 / Chapter 3.4 --- Appropriate Technologies --- p.6 / Chapter 3.5 --- Architectural Language --- p.6 / Chapter 4 --- Client/User Analysis --- p.7 / Chapter 4.1 --- Functional Relationships --- p.7 / Chapter 4.2 --- Organizational Hierarchies --- p.7 / Chapter 4.3 --- Activities --- p.7 / Chapter 4.4 --- Social Patterns --- p.7 / Chapter 4.5 --- Schedule of Accomodation --- p.8 / Chapter 5 --- Site/Context Analysis --- p.11 / Chapter 5.1 --- Location --- p.11 / Chapter 5.2 --- Climate --- p.11 / Chapter 5.3 --- Landscape --- p.11 / Chapter 5.4 --- Adjacent Buildings --- p.11 / Chapter 5.5 --- Infrastructure --- p.11 / Chapter 5.6 --- Ground Conditions --- p.12 / Chapter 5.7 --- Access and Transportation --- p.12 / Chapter 5.8 --- Zoning and Codes --- p.12 / Chapter Part III: --- Process --- p.13 / Chapter 6 --- Urban Design Process --- p.14 / Chapter 6.1 --- 01 Oct 96 Review --- p.14 / Chapter 6.2 --- Process... --- p.15 / Chapter 6.3 --- 22 Nov 96 Review --- p.16 / Chapter 6.4 --- Process... --- p.18 / Chapter 6.5 --- 14 Dec 96 Final Review of Urban Design --- p.19 / Chapter 7 --- Building & Places Design Process --- p.21 / Chapter 7.1 --- 08 Jan 97 Review --- p.21 / Chapter 7.2 --- Process… --- p.22 / Chapter 7.3 --- Process... --- p.23 / Chapter 7.4 --- 27 Jan 97 Review --- p.24 / Chapter 7.5 --- Process... --- p.26 / Chapter 7.6 --- 17 Feb 97 Intermediate Review --- p.27 / Chapter 7.7 --- Process… --- p.29 / Chapter Part IV: --- Final Project --- p.31 / Chapter 8 --- Final Project --- p.32

The aim of the paper is (i) to analyze the role of third parties in the VAT collection and remittance, and in the compliance with the VAT legislation according to the OECD; and (ii) to identify and compare concrete measures implemented by different jurisdictions on this subject with a focus in invoicing service providers and online marketplaces. The study is divided into two main parts. In the first part, the author reviews the OECD’s literature on the role of third parties in the VAT collection and remittance, and in the compliance with the VAT legislation. In the second part, the author compares measures taken by some countries regarding the role of third parties in the VAT compliance chain with a focus on invoicing service providers and marketplaces. In the first part of the research, the author concludes that the role of third-parties in the VAT compliance is expanded in each of the OECD’s publications and suggests additional research on the role of payment processors in the VAT compliance chain. In the second part of the research, the author concludes that regulations and liabilities involving invoicing service providers differ considerably according to different jurisdictions and suggests the adoption of international standards to ensure VAT compliance in a worldwide scale. When it comes to marketplaces, the author concludes that there is a trend for the adoption of the deemed supply approach (as such or as a penalty), although there are discordant points about the grounds which marketplaces are held liable for the VAT due in underlying transactions.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis explores built possibilities for two public street corners at the Holloway Block in Burlington, Vermont The site is at the historic commercial center of the town, and consisted until recently of abandoned buildings. The author and a partner recently purchased the site and renovated the existing structures for retail and office uses. The two corners, bookends for the block, were vacant at the time of purchase. One is in reality occupied by a building designed by architect Turner Brooks. The other will be built upon in the near future, and the author anticipates the opportunity to make the design. The programs for both buildings are based on amateur analysis of marketing and growth studies made by others. The block is largely within a National Historic District, which imposes design constraints. The designs grow from a brief discussion of the geological, climatic and historical context, and from a brief attitudinal discussion of public urban streets. / by Thomas Dudley Cabot III. / M.Arch.

In electronic marketplaces, buying and selling agents may be used to represent buyers and sellers respectively. When these marketplaces are large, repeated transactions between traders may be rare. This makes it difficult for buying agents to judge the reliability of selling agents, discouraging participation in the market. A variety of trust and reputation systems have been proposed to help traders to find trustworthy partners. Unfortunately, as our investigations reveal, there are a number of common vulnerabilities present in such models---security problems that may be exploited by `attackers' to cheat without detection/repercussions. Inspired by these findings, we set out to develop a model of trust with more robust security properties than existing proposals. Our Trunits model represents a fundamental re-conception of the notion of trust. Instead of viewing trust as a measure of predictability, Trunits considers trust to be a quality that one possesses. Trust is represented using abstract trust units, or `trunits', in much the same way that money represents quantities of value. Trunits flow in the course of transactions (again, similar to money); a trader's trunit balance determines if he is trustworthy for a given transaction. Faithful execution of a transaction results in a larger trunit balance, permitting the trader to engage in more transactions in the future---a built-in economic incentive for honesty. We present two mechanisms (sets of rules that govern the operation of the marketplace) based on this model: Basic Trunits, and an extension known as Commodity Trunits, in which trunits may be bought and sold. Seeking to precisely characterize the protection provided to market participants by our models, we develop a framework for security analysis of trust and reputation systems. Inspired by work in cryptography, our framework allows security guarantees to be developed for trust/reputation models--provable claims of the degree of protection provided, and the conditions under which such protection holds. We focus in particular on characterizing buyer security: the properties that must hold for buyers to feel secure from cheating sellers. Beyond developing security guarantees, this framework is an important research tool, helping to highlight limitations and deficiencies in models so that they may be targeted for future investigation. Application of this framework to Basic Trunits and Commodity Trunits reveals that both are able to deliver provable security to buyers.

In electronic marketplaces, buying and selling agents may be used to represent buyers and sellers respectively. When these marketplaces are large, repeated transactions between traders may be rare. This makes it difficult for buying agents to judge the reliability of selling agents, discouraging participation in the market. A variety of trust and reputation systems have been proposed to help traders to find trustworthy partners. Unfortunately, as our investigations reveal, there are a number of common vulnerabilities present in such models---security problems that may be exploited by `attackers' to cheat without detection/repercussions. Inspired by these findings, we set out to develop a model of trust with more robust security properties than existing proposals. Our Trunits model represents a fundamental re-conception of the notion of trust. Instead of viewing trust as a measure of predictability, Trunits considers trust to be a quality that one possesses. Trust is represented using abstract trust units, or `trunits', in much the same way that money represents quantities of value. Trunits flow in the course of transactions (again, similar to money); a trader's trunit balance determines if he is trustworthy for a given transaction. Faithful execution of a transaction results in a larger trunit balance, permitting the trader to engage in more transactions in the future---a built-in economic incentive for honesty. We present two mechanisms (sets of rules that govern the operation of the marketplace) based on this model: Basic Trunits, and an extension known as Commodity Trunits, in which trunits may be bought and sold. Seeking to precisely characterize the protection provided to market participants by our models, we develop a framework for security analysis of trust and reputation systems. Inspired by work in cryptography, our framework allows security guarantees to be developed for trust/reputation models--provable claims of the degree of protection provided, and the conditions under which such protection holds. We focus in particular on characterizing buyer security: the properties that must hold for buyers to feel secure from cheating sellers. Beyond developing security guarantees, this framework is an important research tool, helping to highlight limitations and deficiencies in models so that they may be targeted for future investigation. Application of this framework to Basic Trunits and Commodity Trunits reveals that both are able to deliver provable security to buyers.

This master thesis is focused on freelance type work available though on-line marketplaces such as oDesk and ways to get hired. First chapter introduces on-line working and lead though the world statistics powered by oDesk. Numbers present working hours, geographical coverage and skills distribution. It makes reader familiar with advantages and disadvantages of freelancing. Second chapter is related to on-line job marketplaces, in particularly to oDesk (www.odesk.com). It focuses on pros and cons of oDesk business model and website features comparing them with main competitor Elance (www.elance.com). Third chapter disclosures positioning, branding, pricing and marketing aspects of freelance. It guides through example of starting contractor's career on oDesk considering possible scenarios of future development. Master thesis contains 81 pages, 15 Figures, 5 Tables and 10 Appendixes.